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DEPOSITO

MASSACHUSETTS
STATE COLLEGE

GOODELL LIBRARY

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ft ARCHIVES

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:rATE SOUSE.

THE

FARMERS' LIBRARY

AND

MONTHLY JOURNAL OP AGRICULTURE.

VOLUME II.

THE

MONTHLY

JOURNAL or AGRICULTUEE,

CONTAINING

THE BEST CURJIENT PRODUCTIONS IN PROMOTION OF AGRICULTURAL IMPROVEMENT,
INCLUDING THE CHOICEST PRIZE ESSAYS ISSUED IN EUROPE AND AMERICA.

ORIGINAL CONTRIBUTIONS FROM EMINENT
FARMERS AND STATESMEN.

JOHN S. SKINNER, EDITOR.

VOLUME II.

(JULY, 184(S TO JUNE, 1847, INCLUSIVE.)

NEW-YORK :

GREELEY 8c McELRATH, TRIBUNE BUILDINGS.
1847.

MONTHL-S:

JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

VOL. II. JULY, 1846. NO. 1.

THE N. Y. STATE CATTLE SHOW AND FAIR FOR 1846

WILL BE HELD, UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE STATE SOCIETY, AT AUBURN, ON THE
15th, IGth AND 17th OF SEPTEMBER NEXT.

We have not space at command for all the details. The list of Premiums does not appear to
vary materially from that which has for many years been offered, and with which the public is fa-

mDiar.

ON FARMS.
For the best cultivated fann of not less than 50 acres, exchisivc of woodland, regard being had to the quan-
tity of produce, the manner and expense of cultivarion, and the profits :

First premium .$.50 ] Second do $30 | niird do $20

The persons making application for these premiums must submit written answers to a series of questions,
printed copies of which may be obtained on application to J. B. Nott, Secretary.

EXPERIMENTS AND ESSAYS.

For the most satisfactory experiment of stall-feeding cattle, with a full detail of all the circumstances $20

For the most s-atisfactory experiment in converting green crops or other vegetable matters into manure,

with full details, &e 10

For the most satisfactory experiment made for increasing manures in forming compost 10

■' " " for top dressing grass 10

f^^^-^ " " " subsoil plowing 10

t^v-/ " " " eradicating Canada thistle 10

"■"•^ " " " draining 10

v»v/.^ " " " irrigation 10

f*"^ " ** '• on the improvement of seed wheat, by culture and propagation.. 10

FARM DWELLINGS,
For the best design, accompanied with plans and elevation, combining convenience, economy, and good

taste : For best $15 | .Second be.'it $10

Corai)clito'-s for the premiums on Experiments and Designs must forward their manuseiipts to the Sec-
retary, Albany, previous to the Ist of December, 1846, free of postage.

Next on the list come the Premiums offered for Cattle, w-hich, by the trustees or Committee
foroffering Premiums, are c/fls«?^cf/ in the following order : 1. Durhams ; 2. Herefords ; 3. Dev-
ons ; 4. Ayrshires; 5. Crosses of Native and Improved ; 6. Native. — Then come other descrip-
tions of Cattle for which premiums in money, ($15 being the highest amount,) and Volumes of the
Transactions of the Agricultural Society of New-York are offered. These other cattle are icork-
ing-oxen, three year-old steers, two year-old, do., yearling steers, and fat cattle, and fat sheep.

In Massachusetts it would seem that cattle are not valued according to the preceding classifi-
cation, but how far this difference in the estimation of the farmers of the two States is to be re-
ferred to corresponding differences of circumstances, such as pasturage and food, and the uses and
objects for which cattle are reared — as, for instance, more in one State and less in the other, for
the pail, the yoke, or the shambles — we cannot undertake to say.

There, in Massachusetts, that ancient society suspended their exhibitions for a time, and appro-
priated their funds to the importation of Devons and Ayrshires.

The next premiums on the list are for Houses — in the following order : Stallig.n'S — The

beat one for all work, for blood, draught, three year-old stallions, geldings, matched horses, and

mares. It ia to be presumed that the exhibitor for the premium for best gelding and matched

horses, at least, ia required to be also the breeder of them -, for surely, there could be no great mar-

(53)

MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

it, except that of lack and a long purse, in getting possession of the best of these. Such horses
have been exhibited on some occasions, by professional horse-dealers taking the premium ; and
being sold under the prestige of that, have very soon after proved unsound.

When they have been bred and reared by the farmer, who exhibits them, they are living wit-
nesses of his having paid attention for a length of time to that branch of rural economy ; but even
that is not to be indiscriminately encouraged, as not being economical in all cases.

Sh£EP. — This animal of so much real importance, as connected with individual profit and na-
tional independence, comes next on the list; and the premiums are offered for the best long-
wooled, middle-wooled, (which includes the " South-Down, Norfolk, Dorset, Native, &c.") Merinoes
acd their grades, and Saxons and their grades. Next come the premiums for

SWINE.

Best boar, over 10 months $10. I Best sow $10.

Second best Colman's Tour. Second beet Colman's Tour.

Third best Diploma. | Third best Diploma.

Best lot of pigs under 10 months, not less than lour in number. -Colman's Tour. Second best.. Diploma.

In awarding premiums on hogs, reference will be had not merely to size or present condition, but to that
proportion between bone and meat which promises the (rreatest value from the least amount of feed.

Except that with his $10, the winner of the first prize could buy two sets of Colman's Re-
port, the "second best" would in this, as in all other like cases, get the better prize of the two.
If he could not have both, where is the father of true spirit and discernment who would not pre-
fer to give his son the book rather than the money 7

Then follow the premiums for best Poultry : $3 each for best lot of dorJcinf^/s, black Po-
lands, large fowls, ducks, geese, and lot of " best and greatest variety of bani-door fowls, owned
by the exhibitor."

Next, and more useful than any that precedes, is the following :

FARM IMPLEMENTS.

Best plow* Silver medal.

Second do Diploma.

Third do Vol. Transactions.

Best subsoil plow Silver medal.

Second do Diploma.

Thiiddo Vol. Trans.

Best farm wagon Silver medal.

Second do Diploma.

Third do Vol. Trans.

Best haiTOW Silver medal.

Best cultivator Silver medal.

Best fanning mill Silver medal

Second do Diploma.

Third do Vol Trans.

Best horse power Silver medal.

Second do Diploma.

Third do Vol Trans.

Best corn-stalk cutter Silver medal.

Second do Diploma.

Third do Vol. Trans.

Beet threshing machine Silver medal.

Second do Diploma.

'llird do Vol Trans.

Best drill barrow Diploma.

Beat straw cutter Silver medal

Second beet straw cutter Diploma.

Third do Vol Trans.

Best corn and cob crusher |10.

Second do Diploma.

Third do Vol. Trans.

Best clover machine $10.

Second do Diploma.

Thii-d do Vol. Trans.

Best flax and hemp dresser $10.

Second do Diploma.

Third do Vol Trans.

Best horse-cart Diploma

Best ox-cart do.

Best horse-rake do.

Best ox-yoke do.

Best farm-harness do.

Best saddle do.

Best grain-ci-adle do.

Best six handrakes do.

Best six hay-forks do.

Best six grass-scythes do.

Best six cradle-scythes do.

Best six dung-forks do.

Best six axes do.

Best six hoes do.

Best hay rigging $5

• The trial of plows will take place on Tuesday, September 15th.

For the best and most numerous collection of agricultural implements $10

Also, for the best and most numerous collection of af.'i;cultural implements manufactured in the State of
New- York, by or under the supervision of the exhibitor Silver medal.

The Plowing-Match, which always proves a very interesting point in the e.xhibilion, is thu«

provided for and regulated.

PLOWINO-MATCH.

First premium $1.5 I Third premium $10

Second do 12 | Fourth do Colman's Tour.

Fifth premium Vol. Transactions.

For boys under eighteen years of age .
First premium $10 1 Second $5 | Third Vol. Transactions.

One-fourth of an acre will be required to be plowed within on hour and a quarter, with tificeu minutes
for rest— the furrow-slice to be not over 12 inches wide, nor less than 8 inches in depth. The plowman to
drive his own team, imd the (brrow-slice to remain as lelt by the plow.

Butter. — On this part of the exhibition the trustees appear to have bestowed particular care,
properly deeming it a branch of economy deserving in this State peculiar attention. Steamboate
and railroad facilities have given it great extension since 1839, when the dairy products of th«
State were valued at ten and a half millions of dollars.
(54)

NEW-YORK STATE FAIR.

We should not copy all the regulations laid down for competitors in this instance, but that tht-y
may atroi-d useful hints for other societies and occasions.

BUTTKR.
For the host lot (quality (is woll ns quantity conBidercd), made from five cows, in 30 successive days— 25 lbs.

of the liutttT to be exhibited -. $"-i5

Second best. , $lo | Third best $10

Compliance with the foUowinc rules will be strictly required of those who compete for those premiums,
viz :— The cows to be fed on piisture green corn-stalk fodder, or ^rass cut for the purpose, only. No grain,
roots, or slops, of any description, to be fed during the trial, nor for fifteen days preceding the trial. Tho
cows to be owned by the competitors previous to the 1st day of February, 1846. The milk drawn froni tho
cows on some one day during the trial to be accurately weighed and measured, and the result stated A
sample of at least iT) lbs. of the butler so made to be exhibited at the fair at Auburn, for the inspection of
the examining committee. The particular breed of the cows to be stated, if known, and the method of mak
ing and preserving the butter. A cerliticate signed by the owners of the cows, and at least one other person
who assisted in milkina and making the butter, detailing the above particulars, will be required.

The e.Kccutive committee believe that few if any premiums offered on neat cattle will result in greatei
benefit to the farming interest than those on the products of the dairy, providing lixed rules, requiring uni
formity of leed, be faithfully enforced. The increased list of {jremiums is ofl'eicd with the hope that it will
induce extensive competition throuahout the Slate. Let this object be accom[)li.«hed, and an opinion, ap-
proximatins to accuracy, may be formed by Ihe public which of the several breeds of cows arc the best fol
dairy purposes ; and, from those that prove" the best, further improvement may be made.

Best a") lbs. made in June $10 I Second best Colman's Tour

Second best Colman's Tour. | Third best Silver medal.

Third best Vol. Transactions. Fourth best Diploma.

Best 50 lbs. made at anytime $15. | Fifth best Vol. Trans.

The claimants for premiums must state in wi-iting the time when it was made ; the number of cows kept
on the farm; the mode of keeping; the treatment of the cream and milk before churning; the mode of
churning, winter and sutnmer ; the method of freeing the butter from the milk ; the quantity and kind of
salt used ; whether saltpetre or any other substances have been employed.

The butter oftered for premiums must be presented in butter tubs, jars, or firkins.

CHEESE.
One year old, and over.

Best 100 lbs $l-'j. I Third best Silver medal.

Second best Colman's Tour, j Fourth best Diploma.

Fifth best Vol. Transactions.

Less than one year old.

Best 100 lbs $15. I Third best Silver medal.

Second best Colman's Tour. | Fourth best Diploma.

Fifth best Vol. Transactions.

Those who present cheese for the premiums offered must state, in writing, the time when it was made ;
the number of cows kept; whether the cheese was made from one, two, or more milkings ; whether any
addition is made of cream ; the quantity of rennet used, and the mode of preparing it ; the mode of press-
ure, and the treatment of cheese afterward.

DAIRIE.S,

For the best cheese dairy $50 j Second best $30 | Third be.ct $20

B. P. Johnson, of Rome, Oneida Co., Chairman.

For the best butter dairy $25 | Second best $15 I Third be.'t $10

Zadock Pratt, of Prattsville, Chairman.
The competitors for the above premiums must comply with the followang regulations : — They must state
the actual product of the cheese or butter dairy ; the locality of such dairy in latitude ; the composition of
the soil, as near as may be, where the dairy fai-m is 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
or butter to the hundred pounds of milk produced; the gross quantity of milk and cheese, or butter, pro-
duced ; the quality of the cheese or butter ; the method of making ; the breed of cows composing the
dairy ; and all such other details procured as shall determine the most profitable mode of conducting the
cheese or butter daily business.

Premiums are next offered for maple sugar, silk and domestic maiiufactaros, fruit and flowers,
vegetables, and the following :

MISCELLANEOUS.

Best iron gate for farm purposes Silver medal.

Best ornamental cast-iron vase, on pedestal Diploma.

Best sample drain tile Diploma.

Best quarter of an acre of osier willow, and the best specimen? manufactured from the product $8.

Best specimen wire hurdle fence, to be accompanied with an account of cost Silver medal.

DISCRETIONARY PREMIUMS
Will be awarded for —

1. Stoves and other manufactures of Iron.

2. Paintinss and drawings.

.3. Ornamental shell, needle, and wax work.
4. Implements and mat'hinery.
Also, for all such other articles and products, not enumerated above, as shall be deemed worthy of en-
couragement.

The next premiums on the list are for the best Field-Crops — as wheat, Indian com, barley,

rye, oats, potatoes, sugar-beets, mangel-wurzel, ruta baga, carrots, and peas ; and here it is to be

noted with pleasure that the trustees say, " it is understood tho above premiums are to be awarded

for crops raised in the usual caltivation of the farm— to include the entire crop raised in each case.

(55)

8

MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

It is -not intended to offer premiums for crops raided on small parcels of land, by unusual ma-
nitring and cultivation.

Premiums are also offered for best acre of com for fodder; best acre of hops; best half-acre of
flax, ditto oi tobacco; best acre of cabbage, of broom-corn, ofclover-.seed, and timothy-seed. And
by what follows, it may be infeiTcd that suspicions have been entertained that premiums have
been obtained by trickery and unfair management. Those, in fact, who have attended such ex-
hibitions with an observant eye, must have perceived that there is a little too much management,
or attempts at it, in the appointment of the judges on the ground, when those originally nomin-
ated fail to attend, and a little too much of personal importunity when they are on duty. It is to
be regretted that in too many cases, men of supposed influence and popularity are appointed, for
the sake of paying them the compliment, without ascertaining whether they will really nerve
or not ; and when the day of exhibition arrives, the judges are nearly all to be appointed over
again, and by chance, oftentimes, at the suggestion and by the indirect management of the most
eager and active competitors ; and the natural consequence is, that the result gives dissatisfaction
and disgust — doing more harm than good.

These shows are too frequent, and too much ia attempted to be done with inadequate means and
in too short a time.

The cultivation and display of fruits and flowers, for example, should be encouraged by the in-
stitution of separate societies — horticultural societies for that special object, as at Boston. It
should constitute an enterprise to itself, and is worthy of the separate and earnest devotion of men
of taste and liberality. But we must return to the subject immediately in hand. Proceeding
with the list of premiums, the tru.stees say :

Those who present claims to premiums for farm crops must state, in writinsr, the following particulars t—
The condition of the soil at the commencement of cultivation for the crop ; the previous crop and cultiva-
tion, and quantity of manure used upon it : the quantity and kind of manure the present season : the quan-
tity and sort of seed u.sed ; the time and manner of sowing, cleaning and harvesting the crop : the amount
of the crop, determined by actual weight or measurement ; and the expense of cultivation. The land shall
be measured by some surveyor, who shall swenr to the coneclness of his survey, and that it was made with
a chain and compass ; and the claimant of the premium, with two other persons who assisted in measuring;
shall certify under oath as to the quantity produced from the piece of land mentioned in the certificate of
the surveyor ; and a sample of snain shall be presented at the annual meeting, with the oath of the applicant
that the same is a fair sample of the whole crop.

The statements required from those who compete for the premiums on farms and field crops must be sent
to J. B. NoTT, Recording Secretary, Albany, previous to the 1st of December, 1846: and the premiums will
be awarded at the annual meetinc; of the Society on the third Wednesday of Januaiy.

N. B.— Plate will be substituted for money, on the application of the persons receiving the premium.

PREMIUMS FOR 1847— 1848— 1P49.
Whereas, The Asnicultural Society of the State of New-York has not an experimental farm ; and where-
as, to some extent, satisfactory experiments can be made by intelligent farmers on their own farms : ihere-

Rosolved. That the undermentioned list of premiums be offered to induce public spirited individuals to
lend their valuable aid in extending the boundaries of accurate rural knowledge.

Three premiums will be awarded of $30, $20, and $10. in January, 1848. For the best experiment upon
a herd of not less than 8 cows, to determine the relative advantages of soiling, or depasturing milch cows.
The experiment to be conducted as follows :

1. The exi)eriment must commence on the first day of May, and be continued until the first day of No-
vember.

2. The rows to he divided in two lots of 4 each. One lot to be soiled, the other depastured. Before com-
mencing the experiment, each lot must be wcished, and the record of the weight returned to the commit-
tee. It is necessary that the two lots shall be as near alike in weight and milking properties as possible.

3. The milk of each lot to be weighed separate daily.

4. The manure made from those soiled to be ascertained in cords.

5. An account to be kept of the expense of soilina ; also, a detailed statetnent of the entire management
together with the measurement of the land occupied in soiling ; and each to be returned to the committee.

6. A description and measurement of the land occupied for jjasture also to be made.

7. Each lot to be weighed at the conclusion of the experiment.

For the best experiment, to he continued through three crops, to ascertain in bushels of grain, and weicht
of stalks or straw, the actuiU value of manure to a farmer. The experimenu to be conducted as follows,
viz :

1. Three contiguous acres of ground shall be selected.

2. One acre of which shall be manured with not more than ten cords of common barnyard manure tha
first year, and plowed under. The second acre to be manured with fermented or composted manure, to be
applied in any manner the experimenter chooses ; but a full account of the mode is to be made, and the
manner of application. Also, an accurate account of the cost of the malerinl aiul it.'i auplicntion.

3. The three acres are to be planted with com the first year ; the second to be sowed with barley or ORte;
the third crop to be winter grain. An accurate account of the yield of each crop to be kept.

4. A full account of the whole management, and all the detaUs respecting the culture and the circom-
Btances affecting the crop. . ■ o o • _

.5. 'J'he several kinds of soil to be particulariy described, and specimens transmitted to the ^tate ."iocicty
for analysis before commencing the experiment— and also at the conclusion of the experimeut— discriminat-
ing carefully between each acre. ...

For the best $40] Second best $^0 | Third best fM

N. B.— The specimens of soil to be selected for analysis must be taken from the surruce in ditferent part*
of the acre. Wheni iho acre ia groen sward, the sample must bo taken just at ilie terminalion of tho roou
(56)

CHASE S CARD-SPINNER.

of the grass. Specimens should also be selected from the depth of seven or eight inches— at all events, im-
nediiitoly below the usual deprli lo which ihu plow runs. The specimens of soil must in no case be mixed
and should con^iist of about 1 lb. sewed in a cotton bag. '

$•20 will be paid, at the annual meeting of the Society in 1848, to the person who will make the most sat-
isfttctory agriculiural experiment— accuiacy and the importance of the exponmein to be taken into consid-
eration. A full detail ot the experiment and its results must accompany the application.

For the best managed entire tlockof sheep of not loss than 100, to be awarded at the annual raeetin" in 1848-

Bo.st IS:!0 I iSecoud be.n $:.'0 | Third best $10. °

The applicant for these premiums will be required to furnish the Society with the following information
viz : D ,

1. The kind and quantity of food, and its value.

2. The quanlily and quality of wool : this to be determined by its being submitted to the stapling of some
Tespeclable manufacturing establishment, whose certificate shall accompany the application for the pre-
mium.

3. The number of the increase.

4. Kind of sheep, and the number of owes, wethers and bucks.

5. The value of sheep when fattened, and the value of lambs for the butcher.

CHASE'S CARD-SPINNER.

Among the articles exhibited at the late National Fair, we are much pleased
to know none attracted more attention, nor met with more approbatory no-
tice than this late invention of Mr. Chase, for covering cotton-yarn with a com-
plete coating of wool, so as to make a cloth which cannot be distinguished from
one entirely made of wool. The machine was inspected by many persons well
acquainted with mechanics, and by manufacturers, all of whom, we understand,
expressed great satisfaction at the manner in which it operated, and appeared
convinced that it would prove very useful, and cause a great saving in the produc-
tion of a valuable material for hosiery, and clothing for the working-man.

There were several specimens of cloths and linseys made from the yarn spun
by this machine, and their appearance and texture were highly satisfactory to
all who examined them. Some carpets that were also made from the same ma-
terial, were greatly noticed and much remarked upon, as possessing a thickness
and solidity much greater than any ingrain carpeting made entirely of wool, while
the patterns and finish were beautiful.

But what makes this machine peculiarly interesting to the readers of this Jour-
nal of American Agriculture is, that it must produce such a saving in the family
manufactures of our planters and agriculturists, from the capacity it possesses of
working up both cotton and wool of inferior value, and of requiring so little use-
ful labor to accomplish it.

We cannot better conclude this notice than by giving the following quotation
from the " American Journal of Improvement and Mirror of the Patent Office,"
and the accompanying certificate from Hon. Dixon H. Lewis :

The American Journal of Improvement m the Useful Arts, and Mirror of the Patent-Of-
Jice, a mjiithly paper, piiblishtul at Washington, coutaias the following notices of said ma-
chine and exliibition, incliidins; a letter to the editor of that journal h'om Hon. Di.xon H.
Lewis, Senator of the United Stittes from Alabama, v^-hose opmiou ou all subjects is entided
to the highest reapet^t :

" Of ;J1 the iuiprovemcnts and inventions of modem limes, there is, perhaps, none of more
impoflauce to the southern planter and northern manufacturer than Chase's Patent Card-
Spiuner, of which machine Mr. George Law, of Btiltimore, is the proprietor. It is uitended
for the fabrication of an entirely new article, by enveloping a cotbm thread m a woolen fi-
bre, making a thread of 8uperif)r strength to one of the same diameter of all wool, and will
entwine from one to four threads of cotton, tlax, or other yarn (twisting ihem into one thread,)
covered with wool. The goods maiuifactured of this material possess all tlie wannth of
woolen cloth, with greater durability, and, in consequence of the pruuipal material used
(cotton) being so much cheaper than wool, they can be made at a far less cost than an article
composed entirely of wool.
(57)

10 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

" The machine is very simple in its construction, and, being made principally of cast-iron,
will only require a renewal of the cards occasionally.

"Atone operation, it cards tiie wool and envelops the cotton-yam in a woolen integu-
ment, strongly entwined around it, in larger or smaller quantities, according to the species of
goods intended to be ni:ule, at the wish of the operator, preparing the yam for the manufac-
ture of a substitute foi- aU woolen goods, from a light Hamiel to a heavy blanket."

Washington-, February 25th, 1846.
" Sir : I have witnessed the operation of Chase's Patent Card-Spinner, for enveloping
cotton, hemp, or flax, with wool, and am convinced that the machine will give a thread
much stronger than one made with wool in the ordinaiy way, and equally as wann, without
showing anything else than the wool. The fabrics I have seen are, I would suppose, stronger
than all wool, and as strong as cotton, possessing the warmth of one with the durabihty of
the other.

" I should suppose such a machine could be introduced to great advantage in private fami-
lies in the South, and can be operated easily by two very ordinary hands.

" To the Editor of the American Journal, ^-c." DIXON H. LEWIS.

We add our recommendation to these testimonials, fully believing our large
planters and farmers will find it much to their interest to possess themselves, at a
small expense, of a machine which will soon much more than pay for itself by
the saving in cost its various products for clothing, carpeting, &:c., which have
met with so much approbation from those who are well skilled in the value of
such articles.

Mr. George Law, of Holling-street, Baltimore, is the proprietor, from whom
every particular can be ascertained.

VARIOUS USES TO WHICH CORN AND CORN MEAL ARE APPLIED.

[Communicated for the Farmers' Library.]

Fine food, in all its stages, and in any way of preparation, for horses, cattle,
hogs, sheep, poultry, &:c. &c.

Its stalks make fine sugar.

The grain makes excellent whisky.

It is a delightful vegetable in its green state, and when used as such is called
" roasted ears," or it may be boiled, then trimmed from the cob and mixed with
butter, salt, and pepper — and oh, how delicious !

It makes a nice pudding.

When hard, it it is pounded so as to crack the grains and get off the husks,
and then boiled, makes hominy.

If half ground in a mill, it is then delightful as small-hominy.

Great-hominy may be eaten warm, with butter, or cold with milk or fat ba-
con ; or, it can be fried with bacon or lard, and makes a nice dish if properly
fried.

Sma//-hominy, after being boiled, can be made into small cakes and fried,
and is vcrv nice.

Parched corn is good to quiet hunger, and has served often our starving sol-
diers, when they gained the liberties of this free land we are now so proud of — •
When ground into meal, it is used in every variety of mode, and after every fash-
ion : ibr instance — mush, crush, ^/orf^rer, fried-mush, fried-bread, ash-cake, fat-
cake, hoe-cake, haker-cake, journey-cake, thin journey-cake, crackling journey-
cake, corn-dumpling, crriddle-cake, pone, light-pone, mush-pone, shorl-cake, muf-
fin, egg-pone — improves buckwheat cakes — is mixed with rye and wheal flour,
and improves both.

Of the above modes I can furnish recipes if deemed necessary.

[Pray, good friend, lot us have them all — it can do no harm, " any how."

Ed. Farm. Lib.'\
(08)

RESOURCES OF THE SOUTH AND SOUTH-WEST. 11

INDUSTRIAL RESOURCES OF THE SOUTH AND SOUTH-WEST-

CHARACTER, HABITS, AND MANAGEMENT OF SOUTHERN PLANTERS. ...NOTES ON THE'
LOMG-LEAF PINE.... TAR AND TURPENTINE INDUSTRY OF NORTH CAROLINA DESCRIBED
....SALT NOT ADAPTED A3 A >UNURE TO C.VNE-FIELDS.... LETTER FRO.M (JENERAL
EDMUND P. GAINES.

In Other places, and under various guises, have been already published some of
the scattering fruits of personal observation among, and of correspondence estab-
lished with intelligent land-proprietors and others, in the South and South-West,
while on a jaunt in early Spring as far South as Charleston, Savannah, Millodge-
ville, Macon, Columbus, Montgomery, Mobile, and so on to New-Orleans, and
along " the coast" to INatchez ; returning thence by the way of Augusta and Co-
lumbia, to " the place of starting."

It is reported of Talleyrand, that on being chided by a lady for passing with-
out recognizing her, he at once replied — "Ah ! madam, if I had stopped to look
at you, I never could have passed !" Now we recommend to all men of taste and
sensibility, who have any inkling for good company and good cheer, and who
have any claim to the hospitalities to which we had so little, if they would make
progress on their journey, not to halt at the charming places we have mentioned —
charming emphatically at that season of the year, for a Northern man, when in
his own region "grim-visaged Winter" is wont to " linger in the lap of Spring" —
while there, impatient of delay, he decks himself in flowers and sallies forth
even in February to dance upon the green and bask in the genial sunshine.

Two months have passed this day (June 3d), since, at the sumptuous table of
a friend in Mobile, supplied and served in the good old Virginia style, we met
that great luxury of the garden, strawberries, which have just now made their
appearance in like abundance in New- York. The splendid Cherokee rose-vine
was already growing over the tops of the locust-trees.

But our purpose is to note what we could see or hear of, touching the great
staples of Southern Agriculture, and here we may as well at once remark, that
on few subjects does there exist so much delusion in the North, as in reference
to the habits and character and management of the Southern Planter. We do
not propose at this time to go into any extended remarks on these points, because
as yet we are not fully prepared with our facts ; but let him who would form a
judgment go and see for himself, and converse with them as we did in the social
and public circle, and if we are not egregiously deceived, he must admit that they
are nowhere to bctexcelled for that enlarged kuoAvledge of the true principles of
good husbandry, which has been gained not alone from books, but yet more from
eager and sagacious inquiry and conversational intercourse, and from that best of
all books, experience, in the resolute and skillful and industrious, yes, eminently
industrious, management of their own estates, whatever may be thought or said
to the contrary.

Let the amateur or the connoisseur who would enjoy that most beautiful of
all prospects, large estates well and neatly managed, go and take a look at the
rice plantations in Georgia, and the cotton plantations of South Carolina and far-
ther south — such for instance, as Col. Singleton's estates, wide in extent, and yet
so much wider in renown for beauty and excellence of appearance and manage-

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12 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

anent under his own direction — or at the estates of Coh Hampton near Columbia,
where one may, with one coup d^oeil, look over some 1500 acres in a single field, and
that the very first in which cotton was planted as a field crop ; so level and cleaa
ihat a large black snake, or " horse-runner,^'' might be seen crawling over any part
of it ; and yet so carefully and judiciously drained as to bear upon its surface not a
•quart of stagnant water. Ditches without a clod to obstruct the flow of water
■or a bush to disfigure their borders, and throughout the whole estate of several
thousand acres, roads as well constructed and in as perfect order as if they had
ieen just handed over as finished work from the hands of a corps of Uncle Sam's
■engineers. It is here worthy of being noted, for example's sake, that on these es-
tates the clearing out and repairs of roads and ditches constitute a part of what is
called the " task " for the slaves, which is really a light one as compared with the
x".iistomary hours of field labor in Europe. In this way roads and ditches and fences
■lare all kept in order with as much punctuality as the adjacent cultivated fields. It
■as in view of such management and perfection of work that every onemust be struck
with the superior results of labor fully fed and clothed, and skillfully directed ;
showing by comparison, the eflTicicncy of well trained regulars over volunteers
and raw militia, as would probably be illustrated by any calculation which should
exhibit a fair account of profit and loss. We are relating facts, not discussing
principles. But we must " try back" for the present to the old North State for a
view of the Tar and Turpentine business, as it was that which first and most forci-
bly attracted attention in a series of objects, with which, by personal observa-
tion, we had been theretofore almost altogether unacquainted. The following
description of this branch of industry is the redemption of a promise exacted by
as on the spot, in the woods, the precise theatre of the experience it so kindly and
fully details, and is the article refered to in our last as being then not in hand.

We are in daily hope and eager expectation of a paper on rice culture from one
of the best and most accomplished Planters near Savannah.

NOTES ON THE LONG-LEAFED PINE.
[Pinus Palustrts. L.)
This species was originally described under the above name by Linnaeus, (Sp.
Vol. IV. p. 449.), and was thus characterized —

''Leaves in threes, very long ; cones nearly cyliiidrical, muricate, stipules pimiatitid, nmieutaceous, per-
tnanent."

It was subsequently described under the same name by Walter, Michaux, the
elder, by Pursh and Nutall. In the North American Sylva, the Forest Trees of
iVorth America, by F. Andrew Michaux— Vol. III. p. 133, pi. 6— this species is
again described and figured under the name o[ Pinus Avstrahs. The whole de-
scription of the specific character, as well as the valuable properties of the Long-
Leafed Pine, isdeservmg of a careful perusal.

In EUicott's Botany, Vol. II. p. 637, this species is again described with great ac-
•«:uracy. He restored the original name of Linna;us, viz., Pi^us Palustrts, al-
though it is inapplicable and somewhat unfortunate, as it is not found on low
marshy lands, but is almost invariablv confined to dry, sandy soils, where there
is a subsoil of clav. It abounds on ail the high, and consequently dry Pine bar-
ren lands of South Carolina, within 110 or 120 miles of the Ocean. In the moist
«r fertile lands, the subsoil Pine {Pnius Tada) is lound most abundant and at
some distance from the sea-coast ; the Pitch, or Virginia Pine [Pinus Rcgida)
takes its place.

This species does not differ in any particular from that of North Carolina,
■which has proved a source of so much profit to the inhabitants. It possesses the
same resinous properties, and viekls them in equal abundance. Tar and Resin
were formerly articles of exportation in South Carolina, although to a limned ex-
tent. Very recently several enterprising individuals have engaged in iliis busi-
•ness in South Carolina. We were afforded opportunities of inspcctiug the ar-

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TAR AND TURPENTINE MAKING IN NORTH CAROLINA. 13

tide as brought to the Charleston market. It appeared to us as fully equal to
that procured in North Carolina, and we have no doubt will add considerably to
the other resources of the State.

THE TAR AND TURPENTINE BUSINESS OF NORTH CAROLINA.

BY JOHN MACLEOD, OF JOHNSTON.

TifE Long-Leaf or Straw Pine of the Southern States of the North Amcricaa
confederacy, afibrds a most interesting subject of contemplation to hini who de-^
lighleth in reflecting on Nature's wisdom and laws — and to him, also, who look-
eih forward to a period of time when the Navies and Oommerce of the different
nations of the Earth — the arts, wants, and comforts of Mankind may be deprived
of the many advantages and blessings derived from this beautiful, commanding-
and attractive evergreen of the South. It lias been beautifully said, and may be
plainly observed, that the delight and harmony of Nature is ever arising from the
contrariety of her works — a stronger and more striking illustration of this is not
easily to be found, than may be seen in the contrast of the lofty towering
Pine of one hundred and iifiy feet, with a rounded, beautiful, and tapering bodf
of eighty or one hundred feet, clear of knot or limb, and with a diameter at the
ground of five feet, then gracefully narrowing to two at the other end of the body ;.
and yet, this peerless order of Nature's architecture is reared upon a sterile, arid^
and silicious soil, that in its original condition will scarcely produce anything:
else. On the coast of the Atlantic, bounding the Southern States, this beautiful
and valuable forest is, I believe, alone to be found on this Continent ; and there
it is confined to that level region lying and extending from the falls of the rivers
to the sea-coast ; or from the coast to that marked line in formation, which di-
vides the more primitive from the secondary or alluvian, and is usually from eighty
to one hundred miles in width. That this coast-belt remained long a barrea
waste, after the recession of the sea, is more than probable.

The age of the oldest Pine of the present generation (if I may so express them),
is well ascertained to be between four and five hundred years. That they are of
the originals is not to be supposed ; but that their continuance will be greatly con-
fined to the present growth, is much more than probable. In many other respect.*;
there is a similitude between the animal and vegetable kingdoms, as well as in their
approximation ; and the writer is much of the opinion that it may be plainly ob-
served between the Long-Leaf Pine and the race of animals once common to this
region, but which are now extinct and gone forever. And it would not be a great
effort of fancy to perceive the likeness between them and the Aborigines who
once proudly lorded over those plains. Culture and civilization are unsuited to
the nature of this splendid cloud-capped native; for, unlike all other trees, it
thrives best when let alone, and it repels and seems to spurn the nursling care of
man, and even withers and speedily dies rather than endure it — and like the allo-
dial native Indian who first companioned with this queen of the forest, they
are making preparations to leave the habitations and settlements of the Anglo
Saxons. The foundation of this speculation may be observed in all our Pine for-
ests— in the very few, or none, of under-growth now presenting themselves, to take
the place of their seniors as time may remove them. There are but very few of
these younger set, and Pines are rarely to be found, (compared with the extent of the
region), that are now less than twenty to forty years old ; and it is distinctly to be
seen, that where they are destroyed by blasts, hurricanes, or turpentine-making
in the settlements, a growth of oak, hickory, &c. immediately arises in their
stead, without a solitary instance of the Long-Leaf. This is more and more
the case as you leave the coast toward the Western extremity of the piney region.
Whether this arises from the economy displayed in all the productions of the
earth, which teaches a change and variety of crops, may be a fine subject for the
agricultural philosopher.

It is to the limits of North Carolina that these observations are mostly confined.
The annual productive value of the Pine lands here is great and profitable, even
at this day ; but, in the view of the writer, as nothing compared to the en-
hancement that a short half-century will add to theau

Turpentine, Lumber and Tar are those products: and as the culture of the-
former and latter are least known, and n?o.;; characteristic of the " good Old North,*
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14 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

(God bless her !) — one of her most distinguished sons* has inspiringly character-
ized her to the world in song, a verse of -which runs —

" And her Daufjhtcrs — the Quecnt of tlie Forest resembling —
So graceful, so ronstaut. to s^eritlest breatii trembliiia:.
And trae liijiit-wood at heart ; let the match be applied tlicm,
How they kindle and flame — Oh! none know but who've tried them."

But, as I was saying or about to say that a description of the manner of mak-
ing Turpentine and Tar was as well characteristic of the State, and least known
out of her borders — and wliich, you insist, will be interesting to a large portion
of the readers of your valuable Library, I will attempt briefly to give it:

An able-bodied man will require for his field about one hundred acres of Pine
forest as his crop. After the middle of November, boxing the trees commences.
Thus with a long, narrow ax, a box or chop is made in the tree, from three to
six inches from the ground, or just above the swell of the roots. The width of
the box is governed by the size of the tree, but usually from eight to sixteen
inches. It is not cut far inward, but aims downward and to the line separating
the sap and heart of the tree. The rim of the box is kept level, and it is designed
to hold from one to two quarts — in small trees they do not hold so much. This
boxing continues until the middle or end of March, or when the sap begins to ri*e
freely, and will embrace about four months, as the only suitable boxing season of
the year ; and he is a good hand who can in this period cut his own crop for the
coming year, though it may be done. The average number for a hand to cut in
a day is 80 or 90 — a few less in the shorter, and a few more in the longer days
of that season. Here I may remark that we estimate the cutting of boxes at
about one dollar the acre — though it may not cost quite so much, but nearly so.
The most usual number of boxes for a hand as a crop is a thousand — though
they can do well with either more or less. An acre averages about one hundred
boxes — the larger trees affording room for three boxes, the middle size for only
two ; and the smaller (being about 9 or 10 inches in diameter), only one box.

When the hundred acres are thus boxed, the hand has his crop or field in pre-
paration for the following ten or sixteen years. The boxes being cut, the next
work is cornering, which is often performed by two strokes of the same ax at each
corner of the box, taking out a light chip : a perpendicular line of about four to
six inches is thus started upward from each corner. This operation is executed
with great dispatch, as a hand will corner from six to eight hundred in a day. —
With this last work the boxes will usually fill with turpentine, issuing as well
from cornering, as from the face made in cutting the box. The next thing
to be done is to lay oft" the ground in what is called " patterns" — this is done
by staking it oft' in straight parallel lines, of forty yards in width, with visible
and pretty permanent stakes; this is necessary to enable the hand to follow his
*' through" or row, regularly, and miss no tree in all his future attention to them.
All this being done, and the boxes being full, or nearly so — but it is proper to re-
mark that the boxes are all never full alike, some trees issuing nmch more and
faster than others — the full ones indicate the necessity of " dipping," which is
done with an iron trowel-like instrument called a " dipper," having a socket to
receive a wooden handle of throe or four feet. The blade is ten or twelve inches
long, about six inches wide in the middle, tapering to an oval point, and flat on
both sides, with the substance of about one-fourth of an incli in thickness in
the middle, declining to a dull edge at the point and sides. This instrument in
iiand, and two rude pine buckets with bale or handle to them, and barrels, with
one head out, fixed at slated distances in the "pattern" or '• tiirough," the man
begins his dipping by thrusting his dipper in at one corner of the box, ranging it
down to the bottom, and pressing it upward toward the opposite corner, all with
a quick motion. When nearly the whole contents of the box are collected on the
flat surface of the dipper — which is immediately carried to the bucket, that being
set quite up to the tree — the dipper is drawn over the near edge of the bucket to
cleanse it from the adhering turpentine ; and to accomplish this the more eflectu-
ally, a strip of hoop-iron is fixed in the edge of the bucket to draw the dipper ou.
The first box being thus emptied, with quick step the next is reached, and so
»X)ntinued until the bucket is nearly full— it holding about eight gallons when full ;
the man carries it to the barrel and turns it in and there leaves it to drain, while
lie is filling the other bucket, which is soon to take its place. Thus, a hau(^ will

•Judge Gaston. t Pine.

TAR AND TURPENTINE MAKING IN NORTH CAROLINA. 15

fill I'rorn four to seven barrels a day : some active, quick hands have tilled as
many as ten barrels in a day. This is the whole process of dipping. The lirst dip-
ping of newly cut boxes is the purely " virgin dip," though the whole product of
the first year of the Pine is commonly called " virgin dip."

It is not a little remarkable that tiie lirst dipping is very ditferent, in being thin,
oily, and transparent, or more so, than any liiat the tree will ever again afl'ord ;
and perhaps not less strange that the product of each succeeding year, as Ion"-
as the tree is cultivated, is different from their antecedents. Every succeedin"-
year tlic turpentine becomes thicker and more dteply colored, from a light cream
toward an orange ; and yet not differing perceptibly in its yield of spirits. It is
from the '• virgin dip" only, that the white, transparent resin, so much used in
the arts, and especially in making the fine wiiite soaps, can be made. When
the dipping is thus over, tlie next work is to " chip" or scarify the tree, immedi-
ately over the box, and extending across the face between i)erpendicular lines,
arising from the corners .or outer edges of the box. This is done by an instru-
ment usually called a " hacker," sometimes " shave." Its form is" somewhat
like a " round shave," narrowing at the cutting place to the diameter of an
inch, with a shank, to be fixed securely into a strong heavy handle of about two
feet length, while the faces of the trees are low, but the handle is made longer an
years advance the faces higher. With the hacker the man stands nearly in frost
of the box, and makes a stroke from the perpendicular line to the corner, toward
the center or line from the middle of the box, upward, cutting a furrow-like gash

through bark and sap-wood, and about a fourth of an inch deep into the wood

This is mostly done with one stroke, when the man immediately changes hands
or position, and makes a like stroke on the opposite side, toward the centre. In
this way he passes through his " patterns" until he gets over his whole crop,
which he may readily do in six to eight days ; and, as soon as over he returns
to where he began, and goes over them again and again until his boxes are full.
The tilling is generally done with four to six " chippings," or four to six weeks,
when dipping comes round again. In chipping, each succeeding cut is made im-
mediately in the upper edge of the last, and should be made in breadth as narrow
as the hacker can be made to cut it — as it is well ascertained that a small
scar or narrow cut, if deep enough, does as well, or better, than a larger and broader
one, and the economy of the narrow cuts is in saving the tree to many years
longer culture, while the wide cut would carry the face out of reach prema-
turely.

This succession of " chipping" and " dipping" continues from April to October,
or until frost, when the turpentine is done running, from a want of suflicient heat.
New boxes are commonly dipped five or six times in that period — older boxes
only three and four times. The quantity made by a hand is quite various, but
may be rated as averaging one hundred and fifty barrels. Many make two hund-
red and some even as high as three hundred barrels in the year. When the last
dipping is finished, which is generally in the month of November, collecting the
" scrape" is the next duty. In all years after the first, the trickling of the tui-pen-
tine down the face of the box, from the chipping of the hacker, and which face
is lengthened upward about one foot every year, there adheres to the face or smooth
surface over the box a considerable portion of the issuing turpentine — it is often
nearly an inch thick on a considerable portion of the face, and is well worth
being collected, which is done by scraping it off with several ditferent instru-
ments, as may be most fancied by the operator — often with a small spade,
that detaches it from the wood, to fall into a coarse two-legged stool-box,
open at one end, which open end is set against the tree below the face, at
catch the "scrape" as it falls from the face of the tree and the instrument. —
When the box is thus filled, it is carried to an open-headed barrel near to
hand, and emptied, and so continued until the barrel is full. The " scrape"
is hacked into the barrel either by trampling or pounding, until it is made to
hold all it can.

This article has usually been sold by the barrel, at about half the price of the
" dip" or liquid, but of late, the more correct rule of selling by weight is becom-
ing generally established. Its yield of spirits is nearly as half of the " dip" per
barrel ; and for making the common or inferior resin, it is greatly preferred by
the distillers. The "scrape" is thus collected with much dispatch, and is Gn-
ished generally in the month of December or Januarv. After the boxes are five

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16 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

or six years old, they yield about as many barrels of " scrape" as of " dip ;" and
as they get siill older the " scrape" increases. But it is more than probable that
at half the price of " dip," the " scrape" is the most profitable to the maker.

This description embraces the whole operation of the culture or making of Tur-
pentine, save the preparation of the barrels. The linibcr of which they are made
is usually got out by the same hands who make the turpentine, and commonly tak-
en from the same land as the wood for the boxes. The staves are cut thirty-two
inches in length, and three-fourths of an inch in thickness — the heads about 17
inches in diameter, so that the barrel may contain thirty-two gallons.

From the time the getting off the " scrape" is finished until the season of
♦* chipping" comes round, which is generally from the first to the tenth April,
the hand is engaged in getting the barrel-tim" er, which ought to be well sea-
soned when made up for " dip" barrels ; and it will save time and a loss of turpen-
tine, to separate the heart and sap staves as they are being cut, so that the former
may be made into " dip" and the latter into " scrape" barrels — the heart staves re-
taining and holding the liquid while it will soak through the sap staves. The cost of
these barrels is estimated always at from twenty to thirty cents each. Thus it
may be seen that, like the engagements of a farm-hand in always finding some-
thing needful to be done in every day of the year, and something that should not
be neglected, so with the turpentine-hand the whole year has its various de-
mands upon him in their proper season ; so that there is no time to spare from
his turpentine crop.

The profits of turpentine labor, like that bestowed on all other products, de-
pend on price — and price is regulated by supply and demand. Compared to
other labor, this has, for the last ten years, been deemed the most profitable of all.
It is indeed difficult to put a proper value on Turpentine land, properly and con-
veniently located. Applied to the production of Turpentine, as here described, the
annual value of the acre is from four to six dollars gross in its product : at three
dollars per barrel, which is an interest on sixty to a hundred dollars, and Avhen
the trees are exhausted of their Turpentine, the acre is very nearly of equal value
in its after products of Tar — the culture of turpentine being preparatory to the
largest yield of tar from a given quantity of acres. The old faces over the tur-
pentine box, being completely saturated with resinous matter, are the richest
light-wood, and the faces are chopped out in thick scores from the standing
tree, in readiness for Tar-making. Then, even after this spoliation of their
sheba, the lands are the best of any for farming. I mean that they are more sus-
ceptible of improvement by manuring and other proper farming management
and economy, than lands of more virgin fertility when exhausted. The pine
lands are usually of table level, and mostly dry, or quite susceptible of drainage ;
but which is not often required ; their soil and surface are based upon a clay sub-
stratum, and they yield to the infiuence of art, culture, and manure, most kind-
ly and invitingly, while they undergo an entire change in their surface appear-
ance. By being well manured their whitened sandy surface becomes dark and
loamy, and is productive of many valuable crops that clay and stitf lands dO'
not grow well ; such as the various kmd of peas and sweet potatoes, than which
the Earth does not yield more profitable and comfortable crops for man and beast.
A most interesting consideration arises in contemplating the productive qualities
of the Long-Leaf Pine, bordering the Atlantic and the Gulf coast of the Southern
States. Whether they are to take the place of those under view in this article,
in furnishing the world with turpentine after these are done and gone, which
must be their destiny in less than a century, is a question of no small weight
in this connection. Time and trial can alone solve it. The opinion of the
writer is, that the Southern Pine will yield it — profusely yield it, biit for a
short time only. That the warmth of the climate will induce too profuse and
too late a ruiming; creating a disease from exhaustion, that will kill the tree in
the second and third years. Even here, where the climate seems to be of the
right temperature for this business, the trees are often, very often, diseased from
boxing, and die in acres. But this is only speculation as to the Pines of the
South, and, as just remarked, can only be corrected or verified by time and
experience.

Tar making is much more simple and expeditious than Turpentine; though
it is very questionable if making Tar is not the most profitable at the usual
prices of both articles. A hand out to making Tar alone, as Turpentine hands arc,

(C4)

TAR AND TURPENTINE MAKING IN NORTH CAROLINA. 17

will make from four to five hundred barrels in the year. The primitive method
of making Tar is yet kept up, with little or no improvement, and it is more than
likely there never will be any alteration in it, save in obtaining the liqhl-
wood from which it is made — the cast-away Turpentine faces of trees being quite
new, and ariilicial in making the material for Tar. The common and old-fash-
ioned way of making it, is lirst to collect in a central spot, all the drrj hones or
skeletons, as it were, of the decayed Long-Leaf-Pine, that lie and have lain
bleaching on ihe surrounding plain for centuries perhaps ; these are the heart por-
tion of the body and limbs of I'allen trees, afier time and fire have destroyed
the sap wood that enveloped them. With these dry bones the surface is
very much covered — not entirely covered, but so thick as to hll the body of a
horse-cart, in many places, in a square of ten yards, and very often in a
square often feet. This is what is known in the " good Old North " as " li<rhl-
wood ;" being by time and nature full of resinous matter, and so inflammable as
often to catcli fire by holding it in the flash of a gun. when it is splintered up.
With us, this is the poor man's brilliant lamp, by which the gem of mind of
many a son has been opened to science — lighted to honor, to fame, and distinction.
It is also the same with the rich man, as it ministers to his comforts and social
pleasures, blazing on the family hearih and displaying every smile and linea-
ment of the " face divine." This light-wood is carted to a place selected for
the kiln, where it is split, and chopped into pieces (indifferent as to size, so that
it is split,) of less than a foot to three feet in length ; a circle being marked
on the adjacent ground of from ten to thirty feet in diameter ; the size dependino-
entirely upon the number of barrels you design making from it : a diameter
of thirty feet, and ten feet in hight being the measure of a kiln of three hundred
barrels. The circle being struck, and its inner surface being smoothed or shaved
over with hoes — in doing which, it is scooped out with a gentle inclination from
the circle to the center, so that the whole surface may present a shallow, basin-
like form — the surface of this basin-form is then pestled, or pounded, until it
is smooth and firm. There is then a covered gutter or trough imbedded under
ground, one end a foot or two beyond the center, inside, and the other end reach-
ing eight or ten feet beyond the circle, ending in a hole of something like four by
eight feet and four feet deep — this is the hole that receives the Tar when runnino-
from the kiln through this gutter — the size of the trough or gutter must be regu-
lated by the size of the kiln ; usually it is from three to six inches wide, and
three to five deep. It is set with considerable inclination from the center of the
kiln to the tar-holc ; such an inclination as may be judged the Tar requires to
be moved briskly when a little warm. The inner end of this trough [reaching
beyond the center of the basin bottom,) is left open, and uncovered from one to
three feet to receive and carry off the Tar as it settles. Over and around the ba-
sin, in this open end of the trough, round, unsplit light-wood is raised in pen form
for three or four feet, with considerable care and taste, so that it may protect
the end of the irough from immersion of Tar. The light-wood is then laid all
around, with the same inclination toward the center that the bed had. Thus it
is continued to be laid in lengths from circle to center, keeping the outer ends
on the circle as even as possible and with the same or more inclination inward,
as it progresses, until it is made eight or ten feet high. The " selling the light
wood " being thus finished, the next thing is to " bough" it, which consists in
sticking its whole outer perpendicular circle full of green pine boughs, as thick
as they can be well stuck. It is easily and quickly done — every bough having a
small round limb on which the straw grows in thick broom form, and is what we
call pine boughs. This broken-off limb is stuck in between the ends of the split
light-wood, as before said, all around ; when " boughed," it presents a mound of
evergreen, pleasant to the eye to look upon. It is then ready for embankment,
v/hich is immediately to follow, if it is intended to " burn it off" directly ; but
unless it is to be thus burnt for market as soon as finished, they often stand one,
two, or three years, before embankment, without any injury — and this is often the
case, to await a season of better prices and to be ready to take the benefit of such.
But the embankment must immediately follow the " houghing." It is done by
throwing up the surrounding earth all around the circle, and the earth is kept up
by a pen of poles or rails fixed around the circle so as to retain the dirt per-
pendicularly ; around and between this pen and the, circle of the kiln the earth is
trampled. The use of the boughs is now to be seen, m preventing this earth from
(60) 9

18 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

penetrating the kiln through the crevices at the outer ends of the light-wood, or
in any way interfering with its covered combustion. The embankment is thus
carried up nearly or quite as high as the light wood, and is in thickness from
one to two feet ; intended, effectually to exclude the air from entering the sides
of the kiln as it is burning.

The upper surface is then to be prepared, with a similar view ; and to
reach it conveniently, a rude gangway is iirst made with long poles laid
side by side from the ground, the upper ends resting on the lop of the kiln :
a slope is given to them to make it easy of ascent, and is covered over with
turf, as it is to be in constant use while the kiln is on fire. The upper surface of
the kiln is to be turfed completely over with spits cut with the spade or hoe
from the adjoining ground, where small roots and fibres are most likely to hold
the earth together, and v/hich are to be carefully carried by hand to the top of
the kiln, and there placed in the best order and position to smother Uame ; therc-
ibre the fixing of the gangway or walk to the top is of importance. The surface of
the liffht-wood' being first completely covered with green boughs or with the dead
pine straw on the earth around it, it is thus turfed, save a small place of three
inches all around the rim of it, where the fire is to be applied, and a spot in the
center, about two feet over, that is intended to draw the heat and fire from the
circle toward the center. The turfing being finished, the kiln is ready for firing,
which is done on the top, and at the naked place left around the rim in turfing.
When the fire works well, all contiguous to this central place is well watched and
gradually lessened until the whole surface is charred when it is as well turfed over
as the rest, so that all liame may be entirely suppressed. Thus being fired, the end
of the trough in the tar-hole securely plugged air-tight, it must be constantly
watched, to keep under any outbreak of flame ; which, if permitted long,
would be dangerous and difficult of suppression. In the course of one or two
davs it will begin to " run " from the trough (when the plug must be removed)
into the tar-hole, which is usually spacious enough to contain ten or fifteen bar-
rels, and from which it is baled out into prepared barrels made pretty much after
the fashion of turpentine barrels, but with large bung-holes, into which a bucket
funnel is placed to fill the barrel. Then it is ready for market. It takes several
days for a kiln to" run off." According to size, from four to ten days, and during
all that time, it has to be attended or watched day and night by a vigilant, care-
ful man. Indeed it is a kind of vocation or trade to be a " tar-burner," as it is in
setting and burning brick. Tar is made in the same manner, from light-wood
boxed-ofl' from the cast-away turpentine trees as they stand, and it is no doubt
true that a man can make more tar, in a given time, from this light-wood than he
can from the thickest set light-wood on the surface. The coal from a tar-kiln
after it is run ofi" is very valuable, and is looked upon as the very best for smith-
works; they afi'ord a large number of bushels — a kiln of a hundred and fifty bar-
rels will give five to eight hundred bushels of the best kind of charcoal.

I have thus, sir, at your pressing solicitation, given a narration of Turpentine
and Tar-making, not in polished or searched style and language, but. as you urged,
in a fireside-like conversation, and it is done only at spare intervals from various
mental and bodily engagements. I am not myself so well pleased with it as I think
I might be, if done with a mind more abstracted from other things. If it has
any merits, they are based upon experience ; having been myself pretty exten-
sively and constantly engaged in the making and distilling of Turpmuine for the
last ten years. Un])olished as the relation may be, it may nevertheless be of in-
terest to those general readers who are in constant pursuit of knowledge, and
who have but an imperfect idea of this branch of business, and it may be of deep
and abiding interest to many who live and were born here in tlie Southern Pine
forest. I myself have seen the time that I would cheerfully have eiven the price
of a volume of your valuable Library for information like this as a guide ; and
yet I was born and raised here in the " pine woods." As before remarked, the
Long-Leaf Pine forest presents a most interesting subject to the contemplation of
the patriot and philosopher, as well as a cheering scene to the eyes of the beholder,
and no lands afford a stronger evidence of the versatility of estimates than they do ;
for it is within the remembrance of the writer, who is not far in the decline of
life, when these lands were looked upon as scarcely worth owning, or paying
taxes on them ; while now, they are the most valuable of any, as well for farm-
iug as for their natural growth and production. The purification of a noxious at-
(66)

COMMON SALT. 19

THosphere by the odor of the Long-Leaf Pine, is an engaging subject for science.
I will only here say that there is such an eficct beyond doubt, as is proven
daily. Hands engaged in making Turpentine are always more healthy than those
employed at any other business, and so are they who live in the piney region, if
unconnected with, or not adjacent to stagnant waters. If time siiall prove the
Southern Long-Leaf Pine of value, approaching those of Carolina in their yield and
products, what a source of wealth they luusi be to the ISalion as a portion of the
public lands ; and how improvident and short-sighted they must be who insist
upon giving away, or graduating the price of them, based upon present estimates
ol' value. If the liDids not sold are let alone, only to be protected by the Govern-
ment from the hands of the spoiler, until time shall bring about their true value
and they are permitted to fullil their intended destiny, in educating the rising
and succeedin<j generations, and making and improving the highways of trade
and pleasure tiiroughout the States, what portion of the habitable globe can com-
pare with these United States of America in all the means and ends necessary to
the happiness of man ?

COMMON SALT.

KEASONS WHY IT :?HOUI.D NOT BE USED AS A MANURE lOR THE CANE FIELIT.
John S. Skinner, Esq., Editor of I'aiinfi-s' Library : Parish of Ascension, La., April 5th, 1846.

Dear Sir — The last time I had the pleasure of seeing you, some one present
spoke of the favorable mention made by Judge Rost, in his address published in
the Farmers' Library, of common salt as a fertilizer. 1 observed that notwith-
standing the favorable result of Judge Rost's experiments ; and although a
sugar planter of some note in the State had, for a number of years past, made a
liberal application of salt to his land ; yet there was a chemical fact which ren-
dered it highly objectionable as a manure for the cane field. I alluded to the
combination of common salt (chloride of sodium,) with sugar, in the proportion of
one part of salt to six parts of sugar, by Avhich an uncrystali'/able compound is
formed. That I spoke authoritatively Avill appear from what follows.

Boussingault in his Rural Economy (translated by George Law) says: "Mr..
Peligot has pointed out several causes which concur to deteriorate sugar ; among,
the number, a viscous fermentation which renders the sap thick and stringy, like
mucilage, by which the boiling becomes dillicult and the crystalization of the
sugar which has escaped change is rendered imperfect. 2. An acidity which
takes place when the juice is not run at once into the coppers and boiled — an
acidity which requires the addition of lime to destroy or to prevent. The alka-
line earth, as I have had occasion to say, is by no means indispensable : its utility
under ordinary circumstances is probably confined to assisting the defecation by
forming an insoluble precipitate with some of the organic substances which are
always to be met with in small quantities in the cane juice : perhaps also to.
making an earthy soap with tlie fatty matters which adhere to the cone and are
expressed in the crushing-. When lime is added to correct acidity, it forms arv
acetate or a lactate — salts which are peculiarly soluble, uncrystalizable ancS
which necessarily retain a quantity of syrup ni the syrupy state. 3. The presence
of certain mineral salts in the cane. Common salt, for instance, in combining
with sugar, forms a deliquescent compound in which one part of salt is united
with six parts of sugar ; such a compound as this of course renders a large quan-
tity of syrup indisposed to crystalize. It is, therefore, impossible to be too cau-
tious, according to Mr. Peligot, in the choice of manure for a cane field ; that
Avhich contains any common salt must needs be injurious in one way, however
advantageous it may be in another. The entire absence of this salt" in the soil
of plantations which are very remote from the sea shore, is perhaps one of the
causes which increase the quantity of sugar obtained from the crop, and makes
it more easily manufactured in those districts."

And what follows is extracted from "A Report of Chemical Analyses of Sugars
and Molasses," by Professors Bache and McCulloh, prepared in obedience to a
resolution of Congress. " Now it follows from this fcict, and the direct experi-
ments of Mr. Hervey, that crystalizable cane sugar is the only .saccharine matter
in the cane, and that all the molasses susrar, crape sugar, &c., contained ia
the molasses, are results of decomposition of cane suirar by imperfect manage-

(67J

'SO MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

tnent. Certainl}', then, too much importance cannot be attached by the planter
to a knowledge of the causes wliich produce this decomposition, and the reme-
•dies. When beets grow in land too highly manured, or containing soluble salts,
their juice is very ditiicult to crystalize, and yields a large quantity of molasses.
So canes grown upon lands Avhere timber has been recently burned, take up the
•soluble salts by their roots, which must act very injuriously. Common salt will
.'form a compound with six times its weight of sugar, which refuses to crystalize,
;and remains in the mother liquor : so likewise alkaline carbonates, and other
salts, operate to increase the quantity of molasses, and injure the quality of the
sugar."

The authorities precited are sufricient to establish the fact of the combination
■of salt Vv'ith sugar, and that the compound resulting therefrom is uncrystalizable.
itis to be inferred, also, that all the soluble salts are obstructive of saccharine crys-
talization, and are molasses-producing agents. JNow the problem to be solved in
sugar-making, is to bring the sugar-containing liquid to the state of a pure
solution of sugar in Avater — to eliminate all extraneous matters from the mother
liquor. The application therefore of common salt to the soil, bv which a sub-
stance antagonistic to crystalization is introduced into the mother liquor, is icork-
ing backward. It is, indeed, quite apparent that the sugar planter should be
•cautious in using any mineral agent as a manure for the cane-lield, since, how-
ever, promotive of vegetation such agent may be, it is, at the same time, ob-
structive of crystalization. I am, •vvith ^reat respect, &c. H. B. T.

GROWTH OF THE WEST EFFECT OF STEAM-POWER.

■{What more striking picture could we present than that which is offered in the enclosed, from
3. gallant old soldier, whose heart, while his head grows gray, beats if possible more and more ar-
dently ill the cause of his country ; and wiihin whose personal observation such progi-css has been
aeiade iu the growth of the great region to which he refers ?]

New-Okleans, April Sth, 1846.

My Dear Sir: Notwithstanding your favor of the 2d inst. was handed to me
•ai a lime when much occupied with professional duties, indicated by the late
•.Hj»ecial message of the President, suggesting the propriety of immediate action —
"j're Peace to prepare for War" — I could not deny myself the pleasure of a com-
5»iiance with your request that I should give you some of my reminiscences and
reflections regarding the vast progress which has been made in the agricultural
developments of the country connected with the Mississippi, since the acquisi-
tion of this region under the administration of Mr. Jefl'erson.

When a young subaltern in 1709, I built at the long island of Holstein a sub-

■Rtanlial flat-boat, adapted to the navigation of the Western rivers, on board of which

i embarked in April for Natchez — a distance of sixteen hundred miles. The val-

* ley of the Holstein river to its junction with the Tennessee, and thence to S. W.

Point, at the mouth of Clinch river, a distance of nearly 200 miles as the rivers

• racander, was very thinly settled — exhibiting only the incipient stages of Agri-
<;ulturo ; half-cleared corn-fields, fat catlle, horses, and hogs, enjoying for the most

I .part the luxury of wild grass, cane-brakes, and nuts of the forest. From S. W.

.. ;Peia).t • tiD the mouth of the Tennessee, a distance of near 700 miles, thence to the

V»r.uui'li of Ohio, 60 miles, and thence to Natchez, 700 miles, was at that time a
howling wilderness, of nearly fifteen hundred miles, wiih the exception of four
^nsall military posts— namely, Massac, Ncic-Madrid, Chickasair B/uJf's, and the
Waiimt-lli/h — neither of which posts was garrisoned by more than thirty to
sixty men; nor had either place more than from five to twenty acres of land ni
cultivation. The Chickasaw Blufls, the present site of Memphis, Tennessee, had
just been occupied bv a company of U. S. troops (commanded by the Revolution-
.'iivy veteran Captain Pike, the venerable father of our late gallant General Z. M.
Pike, who fell in the arms of victory in Canada in 1813.) Not a tree of the
3hick forest of the IJluff had been disturbed, save only what was needed to cover
the company from the pelting of the storm. That beautiful Blull' which now
-sustains a fiourishing city, and exports annually 150,000 bales of cotton, worth
.-$5,000,000, could not then, nor for nearly twenty years after that period, furnish as
anuch cotton or corn as would clothe and feed a single family : and the same, oi
aearly the same, may be said of Walnut-Hills, the present site of Vicksburg.

(Of)

GROWTH OF THE WEST. STEAM-POWER, 21

The immediate vicinity of Natchez and New-Orleans had indeed begun to con-
tribute toward the cultivation of a supply of co/^ow, amounting to something more
than sufficient to meet the expense of clearing and cultivating their lands —
while the inhabitants of Louisiana were enjoying the proud satisfaction of hav-
ing succeeded in making Avhat they then deemed to be respectable crops of
yugar.

The quantity, however, of 5Mi^rtr or cotton annually produced for exportation or
for inland trade, prior to the ye'ar 1800, I have not been able to ascertain: but I.
learned from my friend, Daniel Clark, and other distinguished citizens of New-
Orleans and Natchez in the years 1802-3, that these promising products of Agri-
culture (cotton and su2;ar), had prior to that period contributed greatly to im-
prove the condition of the Agriculture of these sparse settlements, and give to
the commerce of New-Orleans a degree of activity and an interest far surpassing;
anything which the occasional trade of Kentucky tobacco and provisions, or the
peltries and furs obtained from the Indian trade, had ever produced. I am un-
der the impression, however, that the settlement around Natchez, with the cot-
ton-planters of Louisiana and West Florida, could not have furnished in any year
prior to 1800 more than is now often brought to this city in one day — say 12,000
bales ; nor that the supply of sugar could in any year prior to that period have
exceeded 5,000 hogsheads.

When 1 state to you that the sugar crop of Louisiana has been gradually in-
creasing, until it has amounted to 200,000 hogsheads in one year, (the last year,).
1 am sure 1 need not trespass upon your time by details, such as the statistics of
the country will furnish you in abundance.

I will conclude with a concise outline of the progress of improvement in the
valley of the Mississippi by presenting to you a few simple facts, embracing the
principal causes and prominent results of this Herculean progress of improve-
ment.

From the date of my fiat-hoat trip down the Holstein, Tennessee, Ohio, and
Mississippi rivers, to the last year of the War of 1814-15 — though the populatiort
of the Western States had grown from half a million to nearly three millions — yet
until the last mentioned period, few men had the temerity to predict that this
mighty river would ever afford such facilities to any description of ascending-
boats or other vessels, as to establish a respectable commercial intercourse be-
tween the vast bodies of fertile lands and mineral wealth of the upper and mid-
dle regions of the valley of the Mississippi and the sea. The great rapidity of
the current, and the numerous snags and other impediments by which the navi-
gation was obstructed, rendered such an intercourse almost hopeless. In May,
1799, I met three small barges carrying thirty tons burden, and navigated by 3G
oars each. They then made but one trip in the year — departing from Louisville
at the close of the sickly season in October, and returning tliither in the follow-
jng spring. Their price for freight was ten cents per pound, or twenty to twen-
ty-five dollars per barrel for sugar or rum or brandy.

' It was not until long after this period, that an account of Robert Fulton's dis-
covery of the successful application of steam-power to boats and other vessels in-
spired me with the pleasing hope that the time was not far distant when boats
of a larger class would be seen ascending the Mississippi river to Louisville, ia
less than one month. But it was not until the year 1821 that I ventured to pre-
dict that the time would come, when vessels carrying 800 tons burden might be
seen by persons tiien living, departing from New Orleans with a full cargo, and
rn^nningto Louisville, a distance of near Hfteen hundred miles, in some few hours
short of six days ! Tliis consummation, so long and fervently desired by me, I
have had the inexpressible happiness of witnessing.

In this great triumph of the genius of Fulton will be found why it is that, ia-
the short space of twenty-five years, the population of the valley of the Missis-
sippi has grown from three millions to eleven millions ; and, above all, that the
chivalry of the West — the fighting men of the valley of the Mississippi — have
multiplied from three hundred thousand to seventeen hundred thousand! Ag^
riculture has increased in an equal ratio.

I must here break off my narrative, with a promise to complete it soon and
send it by mail.

I am wilh great respect and esteem your friend,
J. S. Skinner, Eeq. Editor, &.c. i.c. EDMUND P. GAINE3L

(69)

22 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

MAPLE SUGAR.

[From a great mass of newspaper scraps and other trash strung tosjether in that enormous Ag-
ricultural Annual put out by the United States, called " Report of the Commissioner of Patents,"
we select for this Number what follows on the subject oi Maple Sugar.

Who the " wc" is who gives the profound advice about keeping the vessels clean and not using
"half-decayed troughs with a liberal infusion of rain-water, dirt, &c." — as if comniou sense would
not teach that — we don't know: neither can we help "we" to tell how much, or rather how
little deduction is to be made from the aggregate Sugar crop of the United States, for the Corn-
stalk Sugar ! It would probably require the use of the most powerful magnifier !]

MAPLE SUGAR .... A NEW ELEMENT.

To the Editor of the New- York Tribune : Windsor Co., Vermont, April, 1845.

We are jti.st through our annual sugar season, and all feel .satisfied. The crop is large,
very large — more than in any year for some time. Every faiTuer has enough, and many
have made one, two, or three tons.

Arranirements have been made to give more particular statistics of the amount. It is be-
coming of great importance to the Stale, and more interest is taken in improving the quality.
But my object at this time is merely to call the attention of scientific men to the nature of a sub-
stance foiind in the sugar. The sugar-makers have always noticed that a kind of grit settles
in the sugar and molasses after it is made. Tliis vaiies greatly in cpumtit>- in ditlerent years.
The present year the quantity is large. When the sugar was manutitctured chiefly in the
'woods, it was supposed to be ashes or dirt, deposited during the process of evaporation ; but
the quantity is the same when the sap is evaporated ui the house, and cleansed with tlie
greatest care. From a small quantity (perhaps 50 lbs.) I obtained nearly a gill of this sul>-
stance. 'AVheu tasted with tlie sugar, it suuply appears like sand; but upon dissolving tlie
sugar, and repeatedly washing it with water, I obtained a substance nearly white, and with
a very p^mgent, allcaline taste.

The presence of ammonia in sugar is mentioned by Liebig antl Johnston, in their woi-ks
upon agricultural chemistry ; but, if I understand their remarks upon the subject, they refer
•only to a gas which arises durmg the process of evaporation. But here is a tangible salt, and
of sufficient quantity to be of some interest.

WiU some one, through your paper, give an accoimt of tlie nature of the substance, and
thus satisfy the curiosity of many of yom- readers, and perhaps add a new fact to the re-
searches of science ?*

As most pei-sons who have not infomied themselves on the subject imagine that we are in-
debted to cane sugar for our main su]>ply, and that maple sugar is a petty neighborhood mat-
ter, not woi-th the figiurs employed to represent it, we propose to spend some sj)ace in sta-
ting the truth on this matter. We will exhil)it, 1st, the amount produced ; 2d, the proper
%vay of manufacturing it; 3d, the proper treatment of the sugar-ti-ee groves.

We shall confine our statistics to die most important northern and western Slates.

1. New-York produces aunually...lbs. 10,048,109

2. Ohio 6,3fi3,38e

3. Vermont 4,647.9:34

4. Indiana :i,727,79.5

,"5. Pcnnsvlvania 2,26.'i,7.').')

■6. New-Hampshire I,l(;2.3(i8

•7. Virginia I..n41,8:!;i

«. Kentucky 1,377,835

9. Michigan - 1,3-J9,784

Total of nine States 22,464,799

Residue thus : Add for Maine, Massa-
chusetts, Connecticut. Maryland
Tennessee, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri,

and Wisconsin 2,030.853

24,495,652

Something shoidd be sublracted for boet-r.iot and rom-stnlk sugar.\ Rut, on the other
hand, the statistics are so much below the tnith on maple sugar, that tlie deficiency may be
«et off against beet-ioot and com-stalk stigar. That the figm-es do not more than represent
the amount oi' maple sugar pi-oduced in these States, may be jiresumed i.om one ca.se. In-
diana is set down at 3.7'J7,7!i:"i lbs. ; but in the four comities of Washinglon, \N'arnck, Posey,
and Harrison, no account seems to have been taken of this article. Iti .M;iiion comity, tour
of the first sugar-making townships, Warren, Lawrence, Centre, and Franklin, are not reck-
oned. If we suppo.si? these foiii- townsliips tx) average as much a.s tlie others in Marion coun-
ty, they produced 77,G48 lbs. ; and instead of putthig Marion countj- down at J)7,()til lbs., it

* Professor Mapes could probiibly do it ofl-hand. l^'^- ^'"rm. Lib.

t We thoiiglit tliis humbug bcjonijca to ihu tribe of unimiUs— that it bad served its pui-pose, lived out its
Aue, and expired. t^**" ■*''»'^ ■^•*-

(70)

MAPLE SUGAR. 23

should be ITi.TlS Iba. It is apparent, from this case, that in Indiana the estimate is far be-
low the truth ; and if it is half as nmcli so m llio otlicr ^-i^'lit St;ites enumerated,* then 22,-
464,799 lbs. is not more" tliaii a fail" expression of tlie maple xvgar alone.

Louisi;ma is the lirst suirar-growiiig SUite in tlie Union. Her produce, by the statisticB of
1840, was 119,947 ,7-2(). or^ncaHy 120,000,000 lbs. The States of .Mi.ssiasippi, Alabama, Gew-
gia, Soutli Carolina, and Florida, togctlier, add only G45,281 lbs. more.

Cane sugar in tlic TTnitod States lbs. 120,593,001

Maple sugar iu the United States 24.495,652

Thus about one-si.xtli of the sugar made ainuially iu the United States is made from the
maple tree.t It is to be remembered, too, that in Louisiana it is the stji])le, while at the
north mai)le sugar has never been manufactured witli iuiy considerable skill, or regarded as
a resrular crop, Imt only a temporary device of economy. Now it only needs to be under-
stood that majile sugar may be made so as to have the flavor of the best c;me sugar, and that
it may, at a trifling e.xpense, be refined to white sugar, and the manufacture of it will be-
come more g(!ner<d, more skillful, and may, in a little time, entirely supersede the necessity
of importing cane sugar.t Indiana stands fourth in the rank of maple sugar-making States.
Her annual product is at least/w^r iniUion potindx, whi('h, at G cenLs a jwimd, amounts Xjd
$160,000 per anniun. A little exertion would quickly mn up the ammal value of our home-
made sugar to half a million of dollars.

Maple sugar now oidy brings about two-thirds the price of New Orleans. The fault is hi
the manuficturiug of it.]| The saccharine principle of the cane and tree is exactly the
same. If the same care were employed in their manufacture, they would be midistingiush-
able, and maple sugar would be as salable as New-Orli-aiis, and, if attbi-ded at a less price,
might supjibiiit it in the market. The average qu;uitity of STigai* consinnixl in England by
each iudividu;il is about thirt)' ll)s. jier annum. Marion county contains about 20,000 in-
habitants. At 30 lbs. per head, the .sugar consumed annually is not less than 600,000 lbs.,
and for the whole State 24,000,000 lbs., reckoning the population at 800,000. There is aji-
nually produced in this coimtj' about 17,3,000 lbs. of sugar; leaving about 425,000 lbs. to be
purchased, which, at an average of five cents per pound, amounts for this single county to
$21,250, a sum wi-U worth saving, and by a little attention to the makuig of domestic sugar,
very easily saved.

Maple Sugar Making. — 1. Greater care mu.st be taken in coUectuig the sap. Old and
half-decayed wooden troughs, \\'ith a Uberal inftision of leaves, dirt, &c., impart great impti-
rity to the water. Rain-water, decayed vegetable matter, <&c., add chemical ingredients to
the sap, are troublesome to extract, iuid injure the qiuilit>- if not removed. The expense of
clean vessels may be a little more, l>ut with care it could be more than made up in the qual-
ity' of the sugar. Many are now iLsiug earthen crocks. These are cheap, easdy cleaned,
and every way desirable, with the single exception of breakage. But if wooden ti'oughsare
used, let them be kept scnipulously clean.

2. The kettles should be scoured thoroughly before use, and kept constantly clesm. If
rusty, or foul, or coated with bunit sugar, neither the color nor flavor can be perfect. Vin-
egar and sand have bc^en used by experienced sugar-makers to scour the kettles with. It is
be.st to have at least three to a range.

* Dr. J. C. .lackson put.s VeiTnont at 6,000,000 lbs. per annum, while the census only gives about 4,000.(X)0.

t The data of these cHlculation.^. it must be confessed, are very uncertain ; and cortcfusions drawn from
them as to the relative amounts of .susar [(reduced in diU'erent States are to be regarded, at the verj' best, as
problematical. We extract the follovvini; remarks from an article in the Western Literary Journal, from
the pen of Charles Cist, an able statistical writer:

" It is not my purpose to go into an extended notice of the ciTOrs in the statistics connected with the cen-
sus of 1840. A few examples will serve to show their character and extent. In the article of hemp, Ohio
is stated to produce 9,080 tons, and Imliana 8.605 tons, eitlier eq\ial nearly to the j)roduct of Kentucky, which
is reported at 9.992 tons, and almost equal, when united, to Missouri, to which 18,010 tons are given as the
agsregate. Virginia is stated to raise 2,5,.')94 tons, almost equal to both Kentucky and Missouri, which are
given as above at 28.002 tons. Now the indisputable fact is. that Kentucky and Missouri produce more
hemp than all the rest of the United States, and ten times as much as eitherOhio, Indiana, or Virginia, which
three Stales are made to raise 50 per centum more than those two sreat hemp-producing .•^tates.

" The sugar of Louisiana is given at 119,947,720 lbs., equal to 120,000 hogsheads ; IfiO per cent, more than
has been jiublished in New-Orleans as the highest product of the live consecutive jears, including and pre-
ceding 1840.

" But what is this to the wholesale tijurc-dealing which returns 3,160,949 tons of hay as the product of
New-York for that article — a quantity sufficient to winter all the horses and mules in the United States !

" Other eiTOrs of ercat magnitude miuht be pointed out : such as making the tobacco product of Virginia
11.000 hhds., when her inspection records show .5.5,000 hhds. thrown into market as the crop of that year. —
Who believes that 12,233 lbs. of pitch, resin, and tui-pentino. or the tenth part of that quantity, were manu-
factured in Louisiana in 1840, or that New-York produced 10.093.991 lbs. of maple sugar in a single year, or
twenty such statements equally absurd, which I misht take from the returns 'f

Mr. Cist will find, in the appendix to Poet. Jackson's Final Report on the Geology of New Hampshire, a
statement thai Vermont makes 6 000.000 Ihs. of sugar annually. If this be so, we may, without extrava-
gance, suppose that New York reaches 10.000,000 lbs. So far as we have collateral means of judging, the
amount of maple sugar is Udrferstated in the census of 1940.

tCredat Judteas, &c. [Ed. Farm. Lib.

II Would not self-interest have accomplished before now a result of so much importance, as it leada
■aen to do in all other equally obvious cases. lEd. Farm. Lib.

(71)

24 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

All vegetable juices contain acids, and acids resist the process of crystalization.

Dr. J. C. Jackson* direct* one measured ounce (one-fourth of a g:ill) of pure lime-water to
be added to evei-y g;Jlon of sap. This neutralizes the acid, and not only facilitates the gran-
ulation, but gives sugar in a tree state, now too generally acid and dehciuescent, besides be-
ing charged with salts of th<; oxide of ii'on, insomuch that it ordinarily strikes a black color
with tea.

The process of making a pure white sugar is simple and uuexpensive. The lime added
to the sap, combhiing with the peculiar acid of the maple, Ibnns a neutral salt; this salt is
iijund to be eiusily soluble in aJcuhol. Dr. Jackson recommends the following process : —
I'rocure sheet-iron cones, with an aperture at the small end or apex ; let it be coated with
white lead and boiled linseed oil, and thoroughly dried, so that no part can come off. [We
do not know why earthen cones, unglazed and painted, would not answer ecpially well, be-
.sides being much clieaper.] Let the sugar be put into these cones, stopping the hole in the
lower end until it is entu-ely cool. Then remove the stopper, and pour upon the base a
quantity of sti-ong whisky or fourth proof rum ;t allow this to liltrate tluongh until the sugar
js white. When the loaf is dried it will be pure white sugai-, with the exception of the al-
cohol. To get rid of this, dissolve the sugar in pure boiUiig hot water and let it evuparate
imtil it is dense enough to ciystalize. Then put it again into the cone-moulds and let it
harden. The diibblets which come away h'om the cone while the whisky is draining may
be used for making vinegar. It is sometimes the case that whisky would, if freely used in a
sugar camp, go off in a wrong direction, benefiting neither the sugar nor the sugar-maker. —
If, on this account, any prefer another mode, let them make a. saturated ^ointion of loaf sugar,
and pour it, in place of the whisky, upon the base of the cones. Although the sugar will
not be quite as white, the drainings will fonn an excellent moliisses, whereas the diauiings
by the former methtid are good only for vinegar.

Care of Sugar Orchards. — It is grievous to wimess the waste committed upon valuable
groves of sugar trees. If the special object was to destroy them, it coidd hardly be better
leached than by the methods now employed. The holes are cai'elessly made, and often the
abominable practice is seen of cutting channels in the tree with an ax. The man who will
-^ murder his trees in this tomahawk and scalping-kniftj mamier, is just the man that yEsop
meant when he made the fable of a fellow who killed his goose to get at once all the golden
eggs. With good carfe, and aUowiug them occasionally a year of rest, a sugar-grove may last
for centiuies.

1 . As soon as possible get your sugar-grove laid down to grass, cleai' out under-brush, thin
out timber and useless ti-ees. Trees in open land make about six pounds of sugar, and for-
est ti-ees oidy about four pounds, to the season. As the maple is peculiarly rich in potash,
(foxir-fiftlrs of the potash exported is made from sugar-maple,) it is evident that it requires that
substance in the soil. Upon this account we should advise a hberal use of wood-ashes upon
the soil of sugar-groves.

2. Tapping Trees. — Two taps are usually enough — never more than three; for though as
many as 24 have been inserted at once without killing the tiee, regard ought to be had to
the use of the ti-ee through a long series of years. At first, bore about two inches ; after ten
or twelve days remove the tap, and go one or two inches deeper. By this method more sap
wQl be obtiiiued than by going down to the coloied wood at first. I state, upon the author-
ity of Wm. Tripure, a Shaker, of Canterbury, N. H., that about 7 lbs. of sugar may be made
from a barrel of 20 gallons, or four lbs. the tree for forest ti-ees ; and two men and one boy
will tend a thousand ti'ees, making 4,000 lbs. of sugar.

3. We would recommend the .setting of pasture lands and roadsides of the farm with sugar-
maple ti'ees. Then" growth is rapid, and no tree combines more Vcduable properties. It is
a beautiful shade ti'ee ; it is excellent fin' fuel ; it is much used for manufacturing purposes;
its ashes are valuable for potash, and its sap is rich in sugar. There are 27 species of the ma-
ple known ; 12 of them are indigenous to this continent. All of these have a saccharine sap,
but only two to a degree sufficient for practical jjurposcs, viz : acer sarcharinum, or the com-
mon sugar-maple, and acer jiigrum, or the black sugar-maple. The sap of these contains
about half as much sugar as the juice of the sugar-cane. One gallon of pasture maple sap
contxuns, on an average, ;3,4r>l grains of sugar; and one gidlon of cane-juice, (in Jamaica,) on
an average, yields 7,000 grains of sugar.

But the cane is subj(.-ct to the necessity of annual and careful cultivation, and its nuuiufac-
ture is comp:u-atively expensive and difficult. Whereas the maple is a ])ennanent tree ; re-
(luires no cultivation ; may be raised on tlie borders of farms vv-ithout t;Jving up gi-ound, and
its sap is easily convertible into sugar, and, if carefully made, info sugar as good as ciuie-sugar
Ciui be. Add to the above considerations that the sugar-making period with us is a time of
comj)arative leisure with the fanner, and the motives for attention to this subject of domestic
sugiu--makmg seem to be complete.

* Appendix to Final Kcport on the Geolosy unci MituTiilogy of New Hampshire, page .'iSl. Tliis admi-
rable report is an able exposition of the benotic of public State surveys.

t If those who drink whisky would pour it on the suyar in the relininy cones, instead of upon suear in>
tumblers, it would icline ilian as much as it does the suijar, performinf! two valuable processes at once.

A NEW WORK ON THE LIFE AND ARTS OF THE ANCIENTS. 25

PASTORAL LIFE AND MANUFACTURES OF THE ANCIENTS.

THE HISTORY OF PILK, COTTON. LINEN, WOOL, and other Fibrous Substsnoes ; includinK Obser-
vations on Spinning, Dyeing. luid Weaving. Also an account of the Pastoral Life of the Anci<;ijt.-?, their
Social state and attainments in the Domestic Arts — with Appendices. Illustrated by Steel En;,'iavinjjs.
New- York : Harper &, Brothers, i>\i CUti-st.

To this work of elegant literature we may have recourse for an apt illustra-
tion to enforce the views we have advanced as to the nature and variety of know-
ledge with which every farmer should endeavor to store and embellish the mind
of his son.

As it does not follow that a garden, enriched with heavy crops of potatoes and
carrots, should not also be beautified with roses and lilies ; so neither is it be-
comuig in the man of the country to study only the time to sow and the depth
to plant — how to fatten and when to shear or to slaughter. The idea that prac-
tical farmers should not study botanj', or mineralogy, or make pretension to any
knowledge of Natural History, and other of the many attractive and interesting
subjects, in natural and close association and alliance with their position and pur-
suits, has its origin in the arrogant and supercilious presumption of other classes,
or in a mean under estimate of what is becoming to themselves. The truth
is that there is no business or profession which branches off into so many and
such elegant walks of science and literature, unless it be perhaps that of the medi-
cal profession. True, the lawyer who is not content to be a mere pettifogger,
should explore the field of history, be familiar with the great poets, and often has
occasion for some elementary knowledge of several sciences to enable him the
closer to examine witnesses, and to illustrate the principles sometimes of medical
jurisprudence ; sometimes of navigation, sometimes of vegetable physiology ; but
ihe gravamen, the great labor of his professional life, is the dry siiuly of statute law.
To the farmer, the book of Nature is open to invite, instruct and amuse him oa
every hand, and if a right-minded man, he can neither be content with himself,
nor qualified to fill the high and responsible function of parent to his children, if
he does not give a portion of his time to the acquirement of such literary know-
ledge, and such acquaintance with Natural History, as will enable him to under-
stand the nature, habits, and properties of the things that surround him in his
every day walks. To suppose that it becomes him to confine himself tamely and
quietly to the mere practical working details of his profession, is an idea fit to
be inculcated by demagogues who would brutalize and then ride him: it is an
insult which his own self respect cannot too promptly resent. Such at least are
our humble notions, and on such notions we shall act in the management of this
Journal.

Were we called upon to indicate, for example, the sort of recreation in the way
of reading or study, in which it may be allowable and meet for him to indulge
at leisure moments, we might well refer for illustration to the book in
hand, " Pastoral Life and Manufactures of the Ancients." See for in-
stance to what variety of anecdote, information, and even poetry it treats you, on
the subject of the humble but useful silk-ivorm — a poor insect, for whose products
in a foreign land our industry is taxed some ten millions a year. Now ask any
of our young men, just turned out from a?i ordinary old-fashioned country
school, or most of our dandies grown to man's estate, to tell vou all thev know

(73)

26 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

about the silk-worm, and compare it with what follows. These are the sort of
books which, along with standard works on Agriculture, parents should place in
reach of their children. We take from its pages the following :

DESCRIPTION OF THE SILK- WORM, &c.

ITS NATURAL HISTORY AND HABITS.

It call never be too strongly impressed upon a mind anxious for the acquisition of know-
ledge, that the commonest things by wliich we are sinrounded are desei-s'ing of minute and
careful attention. The most profound investigations ol' Philosophy are necessarily connected
with the ordinary circumstances of our being, and of the world in which om- eveiy-day hfe
is spent. Witji regard to our own existence, the pulsation of the heart, the act of respiration,
the voluntary movement of our limbs, the condition of sleep, are among the most ordinaiy
operations of our nature ; and yet how long were the wisest of men strugghng with dark and
bewilderuig specidatious before they could offer anything like a satisfactoiy solution of these
phenomena, and how iar are we still from an accurate and complete knowledge of them !
The science of Meteorology, which attempts to exjilain to us the philosophy of matters con-
stantly before oui- eyes, as dew, mist, and rain, is dependent for its illustiations upon a know-
ledge of the most complicated facts, such as the influence of heat and electricity upon the
ail' ; and this knowledge is at present so imperfect that even these common occuiTences of
the weather, which men have been observing and reasoning upon for ages, are by no means
satisfactoiily explained, or reduced to the precision that eveiy science should a.spire to. Yet,
however difficult it may be entirely to comprehend the phenomena we daily witness, every-
thing in Nature is fiiU of instruction. Thus the humblest flower of the field, although, to one
whose curiosity has not been excited, and whose understanding has, therefore, remained un-
infiinned, it may apj^ear worthless and contemptible, is valuable to the botanist, not only
with regard to its place in the aiTangement of this poition of the Creator's works,
but as it leads his mind foi-ward to the consideration of those beautiful provisions for the
support of vegetable life, wliich is the part of the physiologist to study and admire.*

This train of reasoning is j)eculiarly applicable to the economy of insects. They constitute
a very large and interesting part of the animal kingdom. They are eveiywhere about us.
The spider weaves his curious web in our houses ; the caterpillar constiiicts his silken cell
in our gardens ; the wasp that hovers over our food has a nest not far removed horn us,
which she has assisted to build with the nicest art ; the beetle that crawls across our path is
also an ingenious and laborious mechanic, and has some curious instincts to exhibit to those
who feel an interest in watching his movements ; and the moth that eats into our clothes has
something to jilead fn- our jaity, for he came, hke us, naked into the world, and he has de-
sh-oyed our gannents, not in malice or wantonness, but that he may clothe hhnself with the
eame wool which we have stripped fi-oni the sheep. An observation of the habits of these
little creatures is full of valuable lessons, which the abLindance of the e.xamples lisis no ten-
dency to diminish. The more .such obsen'ations are inultiitlied, the more we are led foi-vvai'd
to the fi-eshest and the most delightful parts of knowledge ; the more do we leam to estimate
rightly the extraordinaiy provisions and most abundant resources of a Creative Providence ;
and the better do we appreciate our own relations with all the infinite varieties of Nature, and
our de^jendence, in common with the ephcmeroii that flutters its little hour in the sum-
mer sun, upon that Being in whose scheme of existence the humblest as well as the liighest
creatiu'e has its destined purposes. " If you speak of a stone," says St. Basil, " if you speak
of a jl//, a fftiaf, or a bee, your conversati'in will be a sort of demonsti'atioii of His power
whose hand foi-nied thfin, for the wisdom of the vi'orkman is connnonly perceived ui that
which is of little size. He who has stretched out the heavens, and dug up the bottom of the
sea, is also He who has jiierced a passage through the sting of the bee for the ejection of its
poison."

If it lie granted that making discoveiies is one of the most satisfactory of Inunan pleasures,
then we may without hesitation affirm that the study of insects is one of the most delightful
braiicli''S of Natural Histoiy, fiir it affords peculiar facilities ibr its pursuit. These faciliriea
iire found in the almost inexhaustible variety which insects present to the curious obsen'er.

There is. jjerhaps, no situation in which the lover of Nature and the observer of .mimallife
may not find o])portunitiiis for inci-easing his store of facts. It is told of a state prisoner under
a cruel and rigorous despotism, that when he was excluded from all commerce with man-
kind, and was shut out from books, he look an interest and fi)uiid consolation in the visits of
a spider ; and there is no iin])rol)al)ility in tlie story. The operations of that persecuted
creature arc among the most extraordinary exhibitions of mecliauical ingenuity ; and a daily
watchingof the workings of its instinct would beget admiration in a rightly coMsiitnled miii(l.
The j)oor prisoner had abundant leisure f"or the speculations in which the spiiler's web would
enchain his understanding. We have all of us, at one period or other of our lives, been
struck with some singular evidence of contrivance in the economy of insects, which we have

" Insect Ai-chitecturc," vol, i. p. 9. London : Charles Knight & Co.. I.udgate-st. 1845.
fT4i

F/i7/cm

silk- WoTm. Cocooias. Qirysalis. ¥otbs. and Pimia.

28 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

things, which the student of Natural History has so many opportiimties of contemplating with
delight aiul ailiniration.

In about eight days from its being hatched, its hea<l becomes perceptibly larger, and the
wonn is attacked by its first sickness. This lasts for three days ; dui-ing which time it re-
I'uses food, and remains motionless as in a kind of lediargy. Some have ihou^dit this to be
tileep, but the fatal teiTniuation which so tiequenlly attends these sicknesses seems to atford
a denial to this hypothesis. The silk-worm increases its size so considerable, ;tnd in so short
a space of time, — its weight being multiplied many thousand fold in the c<jin-se of one month,
— that if only one skin had been assigned to it, which would serve for its whole caterpillai'
state, it would with difficulty have distended itself sufficiently to keep pace with the insect's
growth. The economy of Nature has tlierefore atlmirably provided the embryos of other
skins, destined to be successively called into iLse ; and this sickness of the wonn, ajid its dis-
incUnation {(>r Ibod, may very probably be occasioned by the pressm-e of the skm, now be-
come too sm;Jl for the body which it encases.

At the end of the tliird day from its first refusal of food, the animal appears, on that account
much wasted in its bodily frame ; a circimistance wliich materially assists in the painful oper-
ation of casting its skin : this it now proceeds to accomplish. To facilitate tliis moultiug, a
sort of humor is throw^n off by the wonn, which spreading between its body and the skin
about to be abandoned, lubricates their surfaces, and causes them to separate the more readi-
ly. The insect also emits fi-om its body silken traces, wliich, adhering to the spot where it
rests, serve to confine the skin to its then existing position. These preliminaiy steps seem to
call lor some considerable exertion, as after them the worm remains quiet tor a shoit space of
time, to recover from its fatigue. It then proceeds, by nibbing its head among the leaty fibres
suiTounding it, to disencumber itself of the scaly covering. Its next effort is to break through
the skin nearest to the head, wliich, as it is there the smallest, calls for the gi-eatest exeition ;
and no sooner is this accomplished and the two front legs are disengaged, than the renuunder
of the body is qiuckly drawn forth, the skin being stUl fastened to the spot in the manner
alre;uiy described.

This moulting is so complete, that not only is the whole covering of the body cast off, btd
that of the feet, the entire skull, and even the jaios, including the teeth. These several parts
may be discerned by the unassisted eye ; but become \ery ajipai'ent when viewed tln-ough a
magnifying lens of moderate power.

In two or three minutes from the beginning of its efforts the wonn is wholly heed, and
again puts on the appearance of health and vigor ; feeding with recniited appetite upon its
leafy ban<]uet. It sometimes happens that the outer skin refuses to detach itself wholly, but
breaks and leaves lui annular portion adhering to the extiemity of liis body, from which all the
sDniggles of the insect c;ninot wholly disengage it. The pressure thus occasioned induces
swelling and uifiauimation in other parts ol" the body ; and, after efforts of greater or less dura-
tion, death generally terminates its suffering.

Wonns newly freed from their exuviaj are easily distinguished from others by the pale color
and wrinkled appeai-ance of their new skin. Tliis latter quality, however, soon disappears,
through the repletion and growth of the insect, which continues to feed during five days. At
this time its length will be increased to half an inch ; when it is attacked by a second
sickness, followed by a second moulting, the manner of peri()nning which is exactly similar
to the fonner. Its appetite then again returns, and is hidiilged other five days, in the course of
which time its length increases to three-quarters of an inch : it then imdergoes its thiid sick-
ness and moulting. These being passed in all respects like the fonner, and five more days
of feed havhig followed, it is seized by its fourth sickness, and casts its skin for the last time in
the catei-pillar state. The worm is now about one and a half or two inches long. This last
change being finished, the womi devom's its food most voraciously, and increases rapidly in
size during t«n days.

The silk-wonn has now attained to its full growth, and is a sleiid(>r cateqiillar fi-om tv\o and
a half to three inches in length. (Seel'late, Fig. 1.) The peculiarities of its stnicture maybe
better examined now than in its earlier ages. It c:m readily be seen that the wonn has twelve
membraneous rings round its body, parallel to each other ; and which, ;uiswering to the move-
ments of the animal, mutually contract and elongate. It has sixteen legs, in pairs : six in front,
which are covered with a sort of sliell or scale, and are placed un(l(M- the tluee fii-st rings, and
cannot be either sensibly leuglliened, or their position altered. The other ten legs lue called
holders: these are menibnuieous, flexible, smd attached to the body under the longs. bemg
furnished with litde hooks, which assist the insect hi climbing. The skull is enclosed in a scaly
substance, similar to tlie covering of the first six Icl's. The jaws arc hidented or sen-ated like
the t<'eth of a saw, an<l llieir strength is great, considering the size of the insect. Its mouth is
peculiar, having a vertical instead of an horizontal aperture ; and the wonn is fiiniL-shed with
eighteen breathing holes, placed at equal distances down the body, nine on each
side. Each ot these holes is supposed to be the tennination of a particular org;ui of
respiration. On either sideof the head, near to the mouth, seven small eyes may be dis-
cerned. The two bro;ul a[)pi-:u-,uices liigher upon the head, which are fre<]ucntly mistaken
for eyes, are bones of the skull. The two apertures through which the wonn draws its
(76)

HISTORY AND HABITS OF THE SILK-WORM. 29

silkfn filamimt are placed just beneath the jaw, and close to each other ; these beuig exceed-
ingly luiiiiite.

At till' [)(;nn;l above-mentioned the desire of the wonn for food beprius to abate : the first
symptom of this is the appearance of the leaves nibliled into small portions and wasted. It
soon afler entirely ceases oven to touch the leaves ; appears restless and uneasy; erect« its
head ; and moves about from side to side, with a circular motion, in quest of a place whereia
it can commence its labor of si>inuing. Its color is now light green, with some mixture of a
darker hue. In tweuty-four hour.s from the time of its abstaining from food, the mateiial for
forming its sUk will be digested in its reservoirs ; its green color will disapjiear ; its body
will have acquired a degree of glo.-isness, and have become j)artia!ly iransjiarcut toward its
neck. Before the worm is quite prepared to s()in, its body will have acquired greater iirrn-
■ness, and be in a trilling measure lessened in size.

" The SLd)sUuice," saj-s Mr. Porter, " of which the silk is composed, is secreted in thcj'orvt,
of a fine yellow transparent gttm in two separate vessels of slender dimensions, wound, as it
were, o-n two spindles in the stomach; and if unfolded, these vessels would be about ten in-
ches in length."* This stjitement Ls proved to be eiToneous, as the reader will perceive, at
the couclvisioii of this chajjter.

When the wonn has fixed npon some angle, or hollow place, whose dimensions agree wifJi
the size of its intended silken ball or cocoon, it begins its labor by throwing forth thin and ir-
regular threads, (!?eo Plate, Fig. 2.) wliich are intended to support its future dwelling.

Dunns the first day, the iiis(!ct foniis uponsthesea loose stviictme of an oval shape, which
is called Hoss silk, and within which covering, in the three following days, it forms the firm
and consistent yellow ball ; the laborer, of com'se, always remaining on the inside of the
siihere which it is fonniug.t

The silken fihmient. which wlien drawn out appears to be one thread, is composed of two
fibr(\*, unwound througli tlie two orifices before described ; and these fibres are brought to-
gether by means of two hoaks, placed within the silk -worm's mouth for the purpose. The
wonn rests on its lower e.xtreinity throughout the unwinduig operation, and employs its
mouth and fitnit legs m the task of directing and uniting the two filaments. The lilament is
not w-ound iu regular concentiic cu'cles round the ulterior surface of the ball, but in spots,
going backvvTard and forward with a sort of wavy motion. This apparently iiregiilar manner
of proceeding is phunly perceptible when the silk is being reeled off the ball ; which does not
make more than one or two eutu'e revolutions while ten or twelve yards of silk are being
ti'ansfened to the recl.t

At the end of the third or fourth day, the worm will have completed its task ; and we have
then a silk cocoon, (See Plate, Fig. 3.) with the worm imprisoned in its center ; the cocooa be-
ing from nn inch to an inch and half long, and of a yellow or oraiige color.

Wlien the insect has linislied its Uibor of unwinding, it smears the entire internal surface
of tlie cocoon with a peculiar kind of gum, very similar in its nature to the matter which
fonns the .silk itself; and this is no doubt designed as a shield against rain or the humidity of
the atmosphere, for the clirysalis in its natural state ; when of course it wowld be subject
to all varieties of weather. The silken filament of which the ball is made up. is like\\'ise ac-
compmiied, througliout its entire length, by a portion of gum, which serves to give finimess
and consistency to its texture ; and assists in rendering the dwelling of the chrysalis imper-
vious to moisture. This office it perfonns so well that when, for the pur])ose of reeling the
silk with gi'eater facility, tlie balls are tlirown into basins of hot water, they swim on the fop
with all the buoyancy of i)ladders ; nor, imle.«s thebaU be imperfectly fonned, does the water
peneti-ate within until the silk is nearly all unwound. In the Plate, Figure 4, the cocoons
are cfi-awu two-tliirds of the usual size, and are shown with pai-t of the outward floss siUc re-
moved.

The continual emission of the silken material during the formation of ite envelop, together
Avith its ir.itiu'cd evaporation, micompensated by food, causes the wonn gradually to contract

• Porter's " Treatise on the Silk Manufacture," p. 111.

t If at this time any of the threads intended for the support of the cocoon should be broken, the worm
will tind, in the pioi-ress of its work, that the bull, not bein;; properly poised, becomes unsteady, so that the
inscLt is uniJ)le properly to go forward with its Ial)ors. Under tlnse circumstances the worm pierces and
altogether quits the unfinished coeoon, and throws out its remaining threads at random wherever it pawses ;
by which means the silk is wholly lost, and the worm, finding no place wherein to prepare for its change,
dies wilhout having eft'ected it. It may sometimes happen, but such a tiling is of unfrequent occurrence,
that the preparatory threads before-mentioned are broken by another worm working in the neighborhood,
when tite same unaatisfactory result will be experienced.

[Obs. on the Culture of SUk, by A, Stevbnson.

J Mr Robinct, of Paris, made the following curious calculation on the movements a silk-worm must
make in fonn.ng a coceon supposed to contain a thread of l.jOO metres. It is known, says Mr. Robinet, that
the silk-worm, in forming his cocoon, does not sp;« the silken filament in concentric circles round the in-
terior surface of the ball, but in a zigzag manner. This it etiects by the motions of its head. Now if each
one of the^e motions gives half a centimetre of tlie silken filament, it follows that the wor.n must m.'Jie
aoO.OCO motions of its head to fonn it: and if the labor requires 72 hours in 'he performance, the crealUPB
mokes lOO.OtX," mntiona every 24 hours, 4,166 per hour, 69 per minute, and a little more thau one in a
eucoud !

30

MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

in bulk ; it becomes wrinkled, anJ tlie rings of its body approach nearer to each other and
appear more decidedly marked. ^Vh^n the b;ill is finished, the insect rests awhile Irom its
toil, and then throws off its cateqiillar garb. If the cocoon be now opened, its inhabitant
will appeal' in the fonn of a cliiysalis or am-elia, in shape somewhat resembling a kidney-
bean (See Plate, P'igiire 5,) but pointed at one end, having a smooth Iji-own skin. Its
former covering, so dissimilar to the one now assumed, will be fbmid lying beside it.

The accoinit which h;is been given of tlie progressions of the silk-vvomv shows that, in
its vaiious moditications, the aiiimnl organization of the insect has been always lending to-
ward its sim.plificalion. Count Dandolo, wn-iting ui)on this subject, observes, " Thus the
caterpillar is in the first instance composed of animal, sUky, and excremental particles ; this
forms the state of the o-vci7f/;io' caterpillar: in the next stage it is composed of anim;d and
silky particles ; it is then the mature caterpillar : and las ly, it is reduced to the animal par-
ticles alone ; and is termed in tliis state the chrysalis. The jioet Cowper, in the foOowing
lines, beautifully illustrates this subject :

The beams of April, ere it goes,

A worm, scarce visible, disclose ;

All winter lons^ content to dwell

The tenant of his native shell.

The same prolific season gives

The sustenance by which he lives,

The mulberry leaf, a simple store.

That .serves him — till he needs no more !

For, his dimensions once complete,

Thenceforth none ever sees him eat :

Though till his growing time be past

Scarce ever is he seen to fast.

That hour arrived, his work begins ;

He spins and weaves, and weaves and

spins ;
Till circle upon circle, wound

Careless around him and around,

Conceals him with a veil, though slight,

Impervious lo the keenest sight.

Thus .self enclosed, as in a cask,

At length he finishes his task :

And, though a worm v^hen he was lost.

Or caterpillar at the mo.st.

When next we see him, wings be wears,

And in papilio pomp appears ;

Becomes oviparous ; supplies

^Vith future worms and future flies

The next ensuing year — and dies!

Well were it for the world if all

Who creep about this earthly ball,

Tliough shorter-lived than most he be,

Were useful in their kind as he.

It has been already noticed that the pi-ogressious of the bisects ai-e accelerated by an in-
crease of temperature ; and some vmiation will equally be experienced where different
modes of treatment are followed ; and, in pai-ticular, where different periods of the year are
r.liosen in which to produce and real" the worm. Malpighius, in his " Anatomy of the Silk
Worm," says, that wonns \Ahii:h he hatched in May were eleven days old ere they were at-
tacked by their first sickness ; others hatched in July were ten days, and those brought forth ^
in August nine days, before they refiised theii- food, prepm-atoi-y to their first moulting.
Eight days appear to be the most usual tenn for their first attack ; and Viy his judi-
cious treatment Count Dandolo shortened even tliis tenn by two days. In Europe, ex-
cept where recom-se is had to aitificitd aid, tlie tenn of the caterjiiUar stitte is usually that
v^'liich has been already mentioned.

Sudden tnmsitions tiom cold to heat, or vice versa, are highly injuriotis to the silk-worm ;
Imt it cMi bear a veiy high degi-ec of heat, if uniformly maintained, without sustaining inju-
ry. Count Dandolo (jl)S(n-\-ed, that " the greater the degree of heat in whith it is reared, the
more actite an; its wants, the more rapid its pleasures, and the shorter its existence." Mon-
sieur Boissier de Sauvagues made many experiments on this jioint. One year, ■when by the
early appearance of the mulbeny leaves, which were developed by tlie end of April, he was
iorced to huny forward the operations of his filature, he raised the heat of tlie ;!p:u tni"nl in
which the newly halclied worms were jjlaced to 100° ; gradiudly diiniuishinu this during
their first and .second ages to !).">°. In consequence of the animal excitement thus induced,
there elapsed only nine days between the hatcliing and the second moulting inclusively. It
was the general opiinon of those ctdtivators who witnessed the exi)eriinent, that the insects
would iK>t be able to exist in so intcnisely heated an atmosphere. The walls of tlie apart-
ment, and the wicker hurdles on which tlie worms were placed, cotdd scarcely be toucluxl
from the gieat heal, and yet all the changes and progressions went tbrward perfecdy well,
!Ui(l a most aliuiidant cro[) of silk was tin- result.

The same gi-ntlemaii, u\\ a sulKcciuent occasion, exposed his brood to the temperature of
93" to O-j" during their first age ; of 89° to 91^ in the second age ; and remarked that the
attendant circumstances were the same as in his foniier experhnent, the changes of the worm
being ])erfi>rmed in the same space of time ; whence he came to the conclusinn, that it is not
.practicable to accelerate their progress beyond a certfiin point by any suiieiadditlons oi heat.
In both of these experiments the ((uantity of food consumed was as great as is usually given
during the longer ])criod employed in ilie common manner of rearing. After the .second
moulting had taken ])lace in the last experiment, the temperature was k)wered to 82° ; and
it is remarkable that the wonns occupied only five days in completing Uieir third and fourth
changes, althougli others which had been accust(uned to tliis U)wer degree from their hiith
micupied seven or eight davs for each of tliest; moultings. It would theref(>i'e seem that the
constitution of the insects ciui be atl'ected, and lui impetus given to their functions at ih©

HISTORY AND HABITS OF THE SlLK-WORiM. 31

period of their first animation, which accompiinies them tyjLrough their after stages. So fitr
from this forcing system proving injurious to iho lii^ahh of siik-wonns, M. do Siiuvagues
found tlint his broods were unusually hoaUhy ; and liiat wliile tiie lahors of cultivation were
abridged in their duratinii, mucii of the altoiidaut au.viety was removed.

Like other caterpillars, the silk wonii is not a Wiuuii-blooded animal, and its temperature
is therefore always equal to tint of llie atiiios])iiere in which it is placed. In the silk-prf>-
duchig counti-ies, where modes of iU'titicial heating have not been studied practically ;uid
scieutificallv, the dilHculty mid expense that must attend the prosecution of this heat
ing system, form abundant reiisons why it cannot be generally adopted. The great suscepti-
bihty of the insect to atmospheiic influences would also in a great degi-ee render unsuitable
the more connnon arrangements for the purpose. The plan of warming apartnu-nts by means
of stoves, in its p.issage thi-ough which the air becomes highly heated betiire it mi.xes with
and raises the general tem[)erature of the ;iir in tlie chamber, is liable to this inc<Jiivenience —
that the portion so introduced, having its vital property impaired by the bimiing he;it through
which it has passed, injures propoitionably the respirable quality of tiie whole atmosphere ;
an effect which is easily perceptible l)y tlmsc^ who inhale it. A better plan of heating has
lately been suggested, and is ra[)idly coming into jiractice, viz., of wanning buildings by a
current of hot water (an American niventiou.) winch is, by a very simple process, kept con-
stantly flowing in close chrmnels through the apartment, where it continually gives (iff ha heat
by raiUation ; and the degree of tliis being far below the point which is injurious to the vital
quality of air, the evil bf^tbre idluded to is avoided. If the expense of fiiel be not Um great,
as compiired with that of the labor which would be .sav(Ml by this invention, the adoption in
silk countries of" sucli a mode of raisuig and regulating the temperature might, probably, prove
a<lv;uitiigeous.

The silk-wonn remains in the fonn of a chiysalis for periofis wliich, according to the
cliin:ite or the temperature wherein it may be placed, vary from fifteen to thirty days. In
India, the time is much shorter ; in Spain and Italy, eighteen to twenty days. In France
three weeks ; and in the climate of England, when unaccelerated by lutificial means, thirty
days will elapse fi-om the time the insect begins to spin until it emerges in its lait and per-
fect fonn. It then throws off the shroud which hsul confined it in seeming l/felcssness, and
appears as a large moth of a grayish-white color, furnished with four wings, two eyes, and
two black horns or antlers wliich present a feathery appearance (See I'late, Fig. 6.).

If left until this period witliui the cocoon, the moth takes miinediate measures for its ex-
trication : ejecting from its mouth a liquor with which it moistens and lessens the adhesive-
ness of thrj gura wherewith it had lined the interior surfiice of its dwelling, and the insect is
enabled, by ti'equeut motions of its head, to loosen without breaking, the texture of the ball ;
then using its hooked feet, it jtushes aside the filament^s mid makes a passage for itself into light
and freedom. It is eiToneously said that the moth recovers its libertv' by gnav^-ing the silken
threads ; but it is found, on the conti-ary, that if carefiilly unwound, tlieir continuity is by tloia
means rarely broken.

One of the most remarkable circumstiinces connected with the Natund Historv of silk-
worms, is the degree in which their bulk and weight are increased, and the limited time
wherein that increase is attained. Coiuit Daudolo, who appears to have neglect'-d nothing
that could tend to the right understmding of the subject, and to the consetjuent iinprovemeiit
of the processes employed, had patience enough to count and weigh many hundred thousand
eggs, as well as well as follow out to the ultimate result Ins uiquiries respecting their pro-
duce. He found that on an average sixty-eiijht sound silk-woniis' eggs weighed one grain.
One ounce,* therefore, comprised, n9,l()8 eggs. But one-twelfth part of this weiirht evapo-
rates previous to hatching, ;uid the shells are eijual to one-fifth more. If, therefore;, from one
ounce, composed of .576 gniins, 48 grains be deducted for evaporation, and 11^ for tiie shells,
413 gi-ains will renuiiu, equal to the weight of3n,lt)a young wonns ; and at this late, .54,.0'26
of the insects when newly hatched, are reciuired to make up the ounce. After the firet cast-
ing of the .skin, 3,840 worms are found to have this weight, so that the bulk and weight of
the insects have in a few days been multiplied more \h.ui fun rtce?i (iines. After the second
change GIO wonns weigh an ounce, tlu-ir weight b^'ing increased in the intennediate time six
lijld. In the week passed between the second and third ages, the iiumb<;r of insects required
toimike up the same weight, decreases from (jlO to 144, their weight being therefore more
th:m quadnipled. During the fourth age, a similar nite f)f increase is maintained : thirty-five
worms now weigh an ounce. The fifth age of the cateqiillar compiises nearly a third part
of its brief existence, and has been descril)ed, by an euthusia.stic writer on the subject, as the
happiest period of its life, during which it nipidly increases in size, i)r<;parini: and secreting
the material it is about to spin. When the silk-wonns are fully grovvii, and have anived at
their period of finidly rejecting food, six of them make up the weight of an ounce. They hiive,
therefore, since their last change, again a<lded to then- weight sixfold.

It is thus seen that, ui a few short w-eeks, the insect has multiplied its weight more than'

* This ounce contains 576 ^^rains ; 8..J.12.') of these grains equal seven grains troy. One ounce avoirdu-
pois is therefore equal to about 53.3 grains, and between H-12 and 11-13 ounce avoirdupois equals one of
the above ounces.
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32 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

nine thousand fold ! From this period, and during the whole of its t^vo succeeding states of
being, the worm inibihes no nourishment, iuid gradually diminishes in weight ; being sup-
poited by its own substance and appearing to find suflicient occupation in fonning its silken
Web, and providing successors fjr our gei-vice, without indulging that grosser appetite which
forms the beginning and the end of their desires during their caterjiillar existence.

The moth enjoys its liberty for only a brief space. Its first employment is to seek its mate ;
after which the female deposits her eggs; and both ui the course of two or three days after,
end their beuig.

" FoRMATio>f OF Silk.'' By M. H. Straus, of Durckheira. — " It is generally admitted by
natm-alists that the thread of the caterpillar is produced by a simple emission of litpiid matter
thi'ough the orifice of the spuuier, and that it acqviii-es soliditv- at once from the drying in-
fluence of the air. It was easy to entertain such an hypothesis, for nothing is more simph;
than the Ibrmatiou of a very fine thread by such a process. But a little reflection will soon
show us, even a priori, that it is not possible ; for h'>w can we comprehend that so fine a
fibre, liquid at the uisl;mt of its issue from the apertiu'e, should instan'ly acquire such a con-
fiistence as to bear the weight of the animal suspended by it, and at the same time tliat it is
rapidly produced ? Though the fluid, holduig the silk in solution, should be quickly vola-
tilized, it must still be a matter of conjecture, how the animal suspended by his thread could
be able to arrest its issue, holding on only by the thread itself, for it caimot pinch the thread,
seeing that it is only in a liquid state inside, and the thread caimot be glued to the edge of the
openuig, as its rapid adhesion would prevent its issue while the animal is spinning. A little ex-
amination would satisfy us that silk caimot be produced in this manner, but that it is secreted
TO. \he form, of silk m. ihe silk vessels, and that the spinning apparatus only winds it. The
thread is produced in the slender posterior part of the vessel, the uiflated portion of wliich
consists of the reser\-oir of ready fonned silk, where it is found ui the fonn of a skein; each
thread being rolled up so as to occupy in the silk-wonn {Bombex mori) a space of only about
a sixth part of the real length of the skein. The fact is shown by the following experi-
ment I made for the puq)ose of ascerteiining whether the silk is fonned in the body of the
caterj)illar8 :

" Take one of the animals when about to form its cocoon, clean it in common vinegar, in
which it may remain from foiir to six honrs, open it on the back and extract the silk vessels,
there beimr one on each side of the alimentary canal. Take them np by the hinder end, just
where they begin to swell (Jarlher back the silk is not solid enough J, and draic them, out. The
membrane forming the vessel is easily torn open, and the contents expand to six or seven times
its original length. Ttic skein ha,vin^ attained its full length by the letting out of its gathers,
we obtain a cord perfectly equal in size throughout except at the end, tchere it is attetntated.
Tliis cord resembles a large horse-hair, and constitutes what fishermen call " i^/ore«ce hair." I
ought to add that in simply drawing out the silk vessel, the Florence hair is found enveloped in a
golden yellow gummy matter, formnig the glutinous portion which the worm fastens its thread.
This must be got rid of by drawing the cord through the fold formed on the inside of the joint of
the left fore-finger, converted into a canal by applying to it the end of the thumb. The glutinous
substance and the membranes being thus separated we have the naked hair. In this state, be
fore the silk becomes dry and hard, not only will it be indefinitely divided loneitudinally, which
proves its fibrous structure, but in trying to split it by drawing it transversely, the little filaments
oj silk which form it are perfectly separated, making a bundle of cctremely fine fibrils."

For some beautiiul lines, " The Silk Woi-m's WiU," see the Housewife's Department.

COST AND PROFIT OF CULTIVATING CORN AND COTTON:

I PERCEIVE that a good deal has been lately said in Massachusetts about the cost
of growing Indian corn, and am not a little surprised to find the expense of culti-
vating an acre set down by some at |50. I presume a large quantity of maimre
is used, at an extravagant price. Others estimate the expense at $6 to $7 per
acre. This must be where no manure is used.

I have thought it miglit not be without interest to some of your readers to
know what it costs us to grow both corn and cotton here in South Carolina, and
to be enabled to fortn some idea of the profits of our farmni'j;. Livuig about the
middle line of the State, and cultivating light upland which produces crops about
the average of those of this Slate, and I may add, 1 think, of Georgia, I will tell
you what, / /a/oir, are the expenses and prolits of Agriculturo here.

On land ?;j ^ood heart, without more manuring than to haul out and put on the
poor spots what we make, I may say casuatly, and can spare from our gardens
and potato patches, Ave consider it a very fair average crop to gather from an

(80)

CULTIVATION OF CORN AND COTTON. 33

acre 10 bushels of corn, or 150 lbs. of (ginned) cotton. As our laborers are almost
necessarily en<i:aq;c(l for the year, and the work-animals and agricultural imple-
ments areownod by the fanner, there may be some didicully in estimating the cost
of anv special work. Bui it is generally agreed, and I think lairiy, that a hand
including his linding and lost time costs about 50 cis. per day, and a hand and
horse $IUO. In other words, that these suras are about fair daily wages. The
expense, then, of cultivating one acre of corn at these rates of wages will be as
follows :

To Breakin? up $1 00

" Cros.-ing both ways to plant 25

" Plantinar 12 J

" Replanting and thinning 12^

" Running round corn, 2 furrows 25

" Plowing narrow way, 1 do 12 J

" Plowing out thoroughly, 4 to 5 do 50

" do. do. do. 2 do 25

" do. do. do. 2 do. or hoe:ing to lay by 25

" Gathering fodder and stacking or housing 50

" do. corn, shacking and housing 25

" Rent of land 1 50

Total $5 121

This is about the cheapest method I know of cultivating our light upland, and
the one I have used with reasonable success for many years. Most planters use
more furrows and hoe more also, without, I believe, any compensating increase of
production. The land I am speaking of seldom rents for more than SI per acre.
But that is the price of detached fields, and does not include the use of all, gen-
erally of none of the necessary buildings of a farm. Besides, to keep this land in
good heart, it should be rested at least once in three years : so that I have not over
estimated the rent here.

The expenses of cultivating an acre of cotton may be estimated as follows :

To Breaking up $1 00

" Bedding and preparing for planting 1 00

" Planting 50

" Replanting and thinning 50

" Plowing and scraping at least four times 2 00

" Hoeing do. do 2 00

" Gathering 2 50

" G inning, Packing and loss on rope and baggings 1 50

" Rent of land 1 50

Total $12 50

The fodder gathered from an acre of corn producing 10 bushels, will be about
120 lbs., and may be worth on the place $1. The corn to pay wages must
then bring about 41 cts. at the crib. These are about the prices realized for
these articles on the average of the last five years : and should cotton or any
other staple for sale abroad continue to be extensively cultivated, they will no doubt
be kept up to these points. But any change that would induce a /arge increase
of the corn crop under present circumstances, or until our population becomes
far denser and our cities much larger and more numerous, would reduce the price
to a merely nominal one.

To pay the rate of wages stated, the price of the 150 lbs. of cotton grown on
an acre at the estimated cost of S12 50 must be 8 1-3 cts. per lb. net, at the gin.
house. But for five years past the net price at the gin house has scarcely aver-
aged 6 cts., and establishing an annual loss of 25 cts. in its culture inSouth Caro-
lina and I believe in Georgia.

There is another way in which this matter may be viewed ; allowing for Sun-
days, holidays, rainy days, and sickness, the number of days that a hand will actual-
ly work is about 280 per annum ; and his wages, therefore, at 50 cts. per day, will
be $140 per annum, out of which of course all expenses incurred for his support,
for managing work-animals, implements, &;c., are to be defrayed : which sum it
is thought should be realized to make our Agriculture reasonably profitable. Now
the amount of corn necessary and usually grown and consumed on a cotton plant-
ation, is about 80 bushels per hand, which, with the fodder, I have estimated as
worth $41. The average production of cotton per hand with us cannot exceed

(81) 3

34 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

1200 lbs., which at 6 cts. is worth $12. The whole in a gross income of the
hand then, is only $113. And if we allow that in ihe 280 days, he puts his cotton
in market, thereby advancing its price j ct., or $3 on the whole: the gross annual
income will be $116, or $24 less than fair wages and rent of land.

It is true that sonie planters in South Carolina and Georgia make more to the
acre and to the hand than I have stated. Some make wages and rent ; a few
perhaps more. But if on the whole they lose at present prices, the condition
of the country must be growing worse, while those who make less than the
average, which is not underrated, I am sure, must be rapidly approaching bank-
ruptcy.

Perhaps I should, before concluding this article, state what are our hopes, and
why we do not all in a body fly from our homes and the ruin apparently awaiting
us here, to seek the richer soils of the south-west. Our first hope is,' that by a
chance in the policy of our Government, our expenses will be reduced and the price
of our staple enhanced so as to enable us to obtain fair wages for our labor. But
as yours is not a political journal I will not enlarge on that exciting topic. Our
next hope is that all the planters living near markets, or on navigable streams,
and railroads, will grow for market, corn which pays wages now, at least to such
an extent as to exclude all corn grown abroad, and corn-fed pork and beef from
consumption here. This will increase their profits, and to the extent it may
diminish the cotton crop tend to raise the price of it. We hope also that much
labor now devoted to cotton in all sections will be diverted to turpentine, tobacco,
sugar, rice, timber cutting, manufactures, &:c., &c. ; so as to reduce the aggregate
cotton crop still more. Our last, and perhaps most reliable hope is, that we will
cease to clear more land, and by turning our attention seriously to manuring,
marling, &c., so increase the production of our acres, that we shall in spite of all
competition realize fair rents and wages. This last means of arresting our down-
ward progress each individual can resort to for himself, and by himself, without
looking to the action of Government or the community at large for aid : and few,
I trust, will fail to do it eft'eclually and speedily. S. B.

The preceding suggests that it ought to be univei-sally regarded as a most essential part of
the education of every fanner's and planter's son in the Union ; that he should be taught at
Bchool, and his father should enforce it by illustration at home — that keeping exact accounts
of outlay and income, is as indispensable to avoid ruin and bankniptcy in the practice of Agri-
ture as it is in the pursuits oi commerce, or any other branch of business. An arithmetic is
■wanting with its rules applicable to, and its examples drawn from agricultural operations. Is
there, in short, anything in which so much refonii is needed, as in our systems of instiiictioa
of American youth d(!stined to rural pursuits ? Half their time is spent in learning Latin and
Greek, wliich they forget in fewer years than were required to learn tliem ; and in studying
how to " s])eak the speech " " My name is Norval, on the (irimipian liills," &c., and such other
recitals of warlike deeds and ftn-ensic displays, extaicts from which make up our school " Re ad-
ERs," and which serve to pervert and coiTupt their youthful imaginations : leading them to
dwell on topics and to contemplate ways to advancement and forhme which are utterly in-
compatible with the real welfare of society in diis countiy ! Instead of thus heating then- imagi-
nation with haibiudu.s thoughts of " bended bow and ipiiver iidl of aiTOws," how much better
would it be to teach them the tnie princii)les to be sought in the fonn of domestic animals
and in the stnicture of agricultural implements, and how so to keep accounts of all their opera-
rations, and outlays, in labor and money, thus to be enabled at once to detect any one of those
Bmall leaks that often sink great ships. How much better to teach them how to analyze the
properties and to understand the force and value of eveiy thing connecteil with the purauit
which is to be the support and the busuiess of their lives !

Alas ! to get for their sons life commissions, mid liigh aiul sure pay m the militaiy ; and to
qualify them for those parasitical professions that in our llepublican land leiul, with the least
labor, to distinction and fortune, seems to be the universal aim ; and hence the general tetuiency
t<) flatter power, and the ready submission to being ridden by demagogues. It is not to be
doubted, that many thousjuid American agiiculturistsare now on the rojul, almost in a giillop
lo ruin, who do not dream of the precipice they are approaching ; and all for the wtuit of that
(82)

CULTIVATION OF CORN AND COTTON. 35

Bort of education, which would beget a habit of thinking, and a faculty for close and accurate
calculation. In this way is it that, eveiy ycai-, swanns continue to leave the parent hives in
the old Suites, without ever cheaining of the ti-uo causes and uiflueuces by whicli (hey were
prompted to \^'ing their way to distinit wild and unwholesome regions, &c. '

This uuist ever be the case wiiile education instructs m eveiy useless tuid fri^ olous thing,
rather than in what concei-ns the rights and the interests of landholders ; iuid while landholders
allow themselves to be taxetl for all sorts of schools and sun-eys and works, except such as shall
teach the rising generation to uicrease the products of the earth, and provide tlic means of
realizmg then* value hi the best niaikets, with the least possible deduction beuig made there-
from, for the support of ptu~dsitical classes and uiterests.

We are reminded here of a statement wliich has just fidlen under our eye in a a woi-k just
received, and which so flu- proves veiy hiteresting, on the " ludustrj' of the Rhine." Tho
ye.u-ly wages on the Rliiiie ai"e, ibr men $25 to $35 per annum — women $20 to $25. The
autlior says, that from official documents, it appears that the consumption of meat in th«»
Prussian town-*, where a slaughtenng Uix is levied, and wliich aftbrds a test for calculation,
rose on an average iu the twelve yeius, from 1330 to 1842, fiom 78 5-8 lbs. per head, at
which it had stood for the twelve years precedmg, up to 83 5-8 lbs. per head — being a frac-
tion less tlum a tpiai-ter of a pound a day. Compare this with a Cleoi'gia planter, whose practice
may be considered as a fair average — Doctor W., with a family of fifty -two blacks and
eight whites, sixty all told, provides six thousand weight of j)ork and du-ee tliousaud of
beef; being jm average of 150 lbs, a year, or as nearly as may be double that which anun-
preijudiced inquirer sets down as the ascertained average consumption of the white popu-
lation of Prussia, one of the best governed counti-ies in Europe.

There are many slaves on southern plantations, who make and sell more than the wa^-es of
the white laboring women in Em'ope. Is it then to be wondered at that many thousajids ar-
rive here weekly ? Who does not see that the number will be increased beyond calculation
us steam in its illimitable progress and influence shall diftase knowledge and cheapen trans-
portation ! But let us return to make the short statement of the produce of an ordhiaiy Rhen-
ish farm of two hundred acres. Be it remembered tliiit thefr cattle ;ue kept up tmd soiled
and that they trciisure vianurc, iis we ti'easure money, for the reason timt they know it is
money.

" One horse to t%venty acres is tlie proportion of the best farmers ; but then fifteen to twenty-
five oxen and cows would be the suuillest number of homed cattle on one himdred acres,
with one or two liundred sheep. On a peasant's fann of fifty acres, we have found four
horses, fifteen head of honied cattle, tmd sevent)^ to eighty sheep,"

" In the present style of fannlnir, an estate of two hundred acres in the Dachv of Clevcs needs
ten men, and ten women or boys, as farm servants. We may assume that four horses, six oxen
fifteen cows, ten pigs, and one hundred sheep are kept. This stock will acquire on a close calcu'-
lation, ninety acres, together with the stubble turnips of thirty acres of wheat or rye. Thirty
acres of wood will give a .scanty supply of firing, wliich will nejd to be eked out with coals. Teoi
acres, yielding three hundred bu.«hels of rye. or of equivalents in potatoes and culinary ve^-eia-
bles, are devoted to grow food for the inmates. We have then seventy acres for market cropei
with (at Goch) the profit on the sale of milk, fat cattle, wool, clover-seed," linseed, the gain on the
brewery and distillery, as the revenue of the land-owner ; from which, however, wages, wear and
tear of house, offices, and implements, together with building alterations, must be deducted.
The land producing the market crops may therefore be estimated to yield as follows :
20 acres of potatoes .'")()()0 bushels, at Is. 6d. i;375 0

20 " barley 6.50 " 2 0 6.5 0

20 " wheat COO " 3 6 10.5 0

10 " flax or rape . . , . 1 50 0

20 " clover-seed 80 cwt at 4.5 0 180 0

10 " hnseed 2.5 " 30 0 37 XO

100 sheep, wool, at 5 lbs. .500 lbs 18 42 13

Total £935 3

Deduct interest on £2000 stock £100

Wages 105

Repairs of utensils, &c .50

Fuel (coal-s), veterinary bill, ice 60

310 0

Total , £645 ?

(83)

36 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

The profit on milk and catile sold may be set off against the butcher's hill for extraordinarieg,
cand if JL45 be estimated to meet the general and local taxes falling on the ground, we see that
.X600 per annum may be cleared by a farmer who would live wiili his servants off 200 acres in the
©uchy of Clevcs. If the farmer keeps a gentleman's establishment united with his farm, he
ajiust deduct the exoen.se of it from his gross profit; in doing which it will probably appear that
■MB much comfort and luxury may be jiurchased for that sum in Germany as i.'li;00 per annum
•would command in England.

In all calculations of the yield of estates, it is proper (thougli sometimes oinittcxl) t.o make
ivll and fair allowance for house-rent, fuel, provisions, washing, and (as f;u- as the farm sup
jplies it) clothing, &c. In other words what, if he stood in the street with the money in hLs
jfxxjket it would cost him to buy all the co7iveniences and luxuries -which he enjoys on his es-
lUtte. In. town, he would have to pay for his house and stable the interest of at least $10,000
■S» begin with, and then he must forego or pay hard money for every radish and sti-awbeny,
and every ounce of butter and meat, and bread, and every drop even of the cream he puts
■^without measiure in liis country tea and coffee. Ah, be it remembered after all, tliat man
EHade the town, while God made the country. Give us the coimtry forever. Ok forlunotos
iximium si sua bona norini afrricolaa !

TO RAISE OR BUY HIS BACON ;

WHICH IS BEST FOR THE FARMER?— SIZE AND KIND OF HOG BEST SUITED TO IT.

On the Hog. — Messrs. Fleet S^- Starr : At your request I forward you an account of my mode
of treating hogs. I have on my farm an orchard, containing many choice fruit-trees, bearing
«weet apples. They were planted expressly for hogs, a|)ples being the j>rincipal food on which
:!hey are fed during the season ; .sometimes, by waj' of change, they receive sour apples, always
Jfedravv, at regular hours. The food is occasionally varied by adding garden refu.se, such as cab-
'biage-Ieavc.s, cauliflower, &c. together with the slops from the house. Unless so fed. a more ex-
■jueusive oiimal can scarcely be kept, especially in a country where corn can be told for from GSJ
tfl 75 cents per bushel, and other grain in proportion. This is a luxury m}- hogs never partake
-ttf If corn and apples were worth the same per bushel, I would feed apples in preference: the
Mork is sweeter, and fifty per cent, whiter; it maj- lose a little in boiling; if it doe.s, however, I
te-ve never noticed it. They are the most prolific animal we have, producing at a birth numbers
'vsrying from six to twelve twice in each year, if found desirable by the owner. In eleven j-ears
.a single sow, averaging at each litter six pigs, will, in ten generations, produce six millions four
Jmadred and thirty-four thousand eight hundred and thirty eight pigs. Extend the calculation to
the Vwelflh generation, and the result would he as great a number as all Euro])e could sup[X)rl,
jaad to the sixteenth generation, the whole world would be overstocked.*

{* The natural term of the hog's life is little known, for the plain reason that every man's hand
' is raised agau^st him, as if he were liostis hurnani generis, a pirate and an outlaw ! But it is re-
' jated by Rev. Gii.isekt White on this subject, that a neighbor of his kept a half-bred Bantam
scrw, " who was as thick as she was long, and whose belly swept the ground until she was eev-
<6utaen, when she showed some tokens of age by the decay of her teeth and the decline of her
tfertility, and was then fattened and killed." For ten years she produced two litters annually of
.-about ten and once above twenty at a litter. At a moderate computation, she was allowed to
Jbave been the mother of some three hundred pigs !

The hog affords a striking example of the effects of ema.sculation, ^^■hich, says the same rev-
. -cterJi and amiable author, brings man, hea.st and bird, to a resemblance to the other sex. Thus,
venuTiehs have smooth, unnmscular arms, thighs and legs; broad hijis, and boardle.ss chins, and
:«MUieaking voices. Capons have small combs and gills, and have a pidlid look, like pullets, about
a3i« head ; and bairow-liogs have small tusks, like sows ; but if left in iiosscssion of their masco-
.TiD* faculties unabridged, their tusks, on which they rely as the hor.«cman on liis sword, grow to
.immense size. On our late lour to the South, we were presented with a brace of those warlike
■tweapons, sharp pointed as a Cossack's spear, and curved like a Turkish cimittir. They had been
lirandished in the days of boarish vigor by a famous gruntcr, property of Col. Hugcr, the accoro-
n]|i«hed and indefiitigable Po.stmastcr of Charleston, and were large enough for, and 80 shaped aa
tl» Miggesl tlicir being made into, handles for horsewhips.

But a certain author on Husbandry caiTies the mutilation or loss of sexual developments 6tiU
■fiKtbcr ■ for he says the loss of the insignia alone, is Bometimes followed by a loss of the femctioa
(84)

TO RAISE Oil BUY BACON. 3"?

Whnn my sows arc pregnant they arc kept apart from otlier liogs ; at the birth of the yoong
pigs ihey are removed for a few hours from the dam. as ihey are in danger of being injured by
her motions. Siie is fed judiciously for ihe first five days, after v^liich she is allowed a full quan*
tnm of food three times each day, but never overfed. Her troughs are cleaned after each metl^
and her pen daily, after which it is littered with Hne broken straw.

The pigs are daily accustomed to feed on milk mixed with bran, and at the age of two months
weajicd. They are always kept in confinement, converting rubbish into manure. My secood
brood of pigs are sent to the New-York market, and are sold to the packets as roasters.

The store hogs are wintered cliicHy on sugar-beets and carrots, occasi<mally boiled potatoesr
and frequently charcoal dust, which keeps them in pcrlVct health : their legs are often rubbed
with a corn cob, to open the issues and cau.so the blood to circulate freely, otherwise staggers may
ensue. 1 fatted two hogs year before last entirelj- on sweet and sour apples, fed alternately. For
three or four months they received no other food, e.vcept occasionally charcoal ; water even \va»
denied them. They weighed, when killed, two hundred and lifty pounds each : the whole hog was-
covered with a very thick layer of fat. perfectly while and firm ; the skin was thin, and the pork pro-
nounctid by connoij^seura exceedingly line and sweet; the ham.s were not inferior to Westphalia..
This last year. 18i.), on the first of October, I confined .si.Ktcen hogs in an enclosure about sixty
feet square, in one corner of which I placed all my pumice, after having extracted the cider, and;
permitted the hogs three times each day to partake of it ot)e hour, in which time they completely
filled themselves to repletion. They were allowed no other food during October and November..
The first week in December they were killed, and fatter animals I never saw. They were sold
in New-York for two cents per lb. above the market price. I am, &c. R. L. P.

Editorial Frmar/rs. — \Vc deem the experiments of Mr. Pell of great importance, especially ia-
the older States. If farmers can culiivute fine fruit, st^nd the finest to market, feed the refuse to-
stock, and thu.s avoid fattening their hogs, in particular, on grain, a very considerable per centage
will bo added to the profit of farming. [New-York Farmer and Mechanic.

The question between raising hogs and buying pork is one which admits of
and demands nice and cautious calculation. Here, for example, in this essay^
the writer says their principal food is apples " during the season ;" but the ques-
tion arises, What proportion does the season of apples bear to the life-time of
the hog? What is the value of land thus appropriated " expressly" tothegrowtis
of " sweet apples " for hogs, and the cost or value of other things on which they
must live during at least three-fourths of their lifetime, and also of the labor
employed in attending them ? Then, again, the breeding-sows are to be fed alf
the year round. There is, in fact, no question of rural economy which, for its^
solution, depends on so many and such various considerations, hefore we can de-
cide with confidence and certainty whether it be most economical to buy or rear
our own meat.

Generally it is belter to breed, raise, and manufacture, as much as possible^
within ourselves ; because then we are sure that, so far, there is no actual out-
lay of money ; and " a penny saved is two pence got," as Poor Richard says.
Yet there is such a thing, and that a very common one, as " saving at the spigot
and losing at the bung." In many parts of the country, hogs superinduce the
necessity of much additional outlay for fencing. They are, like some men and
nations, prone to mischief and depredation, with this exception in their favor^
that they wait to be prompted by the stings of hunger, and do not wantonly
break through or over, and pass beyond their legitimate bounds. Then, ao-ain^.
as we know, in many parts of the United States, great allowance in the number
to be bred and reared to a certain age must be made for thieves, who steal a
large proportion ; so that out of a given number in the fields and woods, the
owner never knows how many he can count upon to kill, until they are " par
up " to be fattened, and sometimes not even then. May it not be assumed that
the hogs slaughtered in the United States average a consumption of a barrel
and a half, or seven bushels and a half, of corn, after they are penned, besides all
other expenses, which are numerous and hard to be defined ?

There can, we should think, be little doubt, that on every estate there should

itself He had a boar so fierce and venereous that to prevent mischief his tu.sks were broken off;.

no sooner had. he suffered this insulting injury than his ^iQwcrs forsook him, leading him to tnn»

tail on those females from which no fence could before restrain him. Ed. Farm. Lib\

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3S MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

be a certain number of " sty " hogs to consume the oiTal of the garden, the
truck-patch, the kitchen, the dairy, and the quarters. The number to bear a
certain proportion to the number of persons subsisted, and the extent of provision
and arrangements for the different objects from which the offal is to be derived.
For everv one must be aware, that while no good manager on a farm is without
abundance of milk, and butter, and a reasonable variety of wholesome and sub-
stantial fruits and vegetables, there are too many, again, who think of nothing
but money, and for its sake forego all that money can buy, that is worth having,
in the estimation of a reasonable and cultivated mind. Ay, is it not lamentably
true, that there are many, very many, large landholders who drudge on through
the year, with but a mean, scanty, inadequate supply of milk, butter, vegetables
and fruit ?— men who do not look ahead and make provision in time for a good,
well-filled dairy, orchard, or garden ; who are often without a pound of fresh,
sweet, fragrant butter ; without a nice, clean, cool spring ; without an ice-house ;
without a plate of nice strawberries, or cherries, or apples, or pears, or plums,
or grapes, or peaches, or a melon, or raspberry, or vegetables, except, perhaps, a
few potatoes or drum-head cabbages, when these are everywhere in full season ?

instead of having, of these plain and substantial things, abundance and to

spare, for every one, black and white, rich and poor, on his estate ! We do not
decry such management, or rather gross and scandalous m«5management, as a
thino- of rare occurrence, because then, though it might be more pointedly dis-
graceful to the individual, it would not be a stigma to the neighborhood. We
deprecate the neglect to which we refer, as a thing too common throughout the
country, though less so, we may hope, than it was some years since. Its con-
nection with the subject in hand consists in the consideration that where there
is this neglect of gardens, and orchards, and dairies for the sake of exclusive (we
iiad like to have said a vulgar) devotion to a single staple crop, there can be
little or no offal for hogs; and even where an orchard of "sweet apples" is
planted " expressly " for hogs, it is to be presumed that at the least three-fourths
of the time, and as much of the growth and weight of the hog, must otherwise
be provided for.

In New-England, it is said that good managers consider the manure to be made
by a pen of hogs, kept up through the year, as affording an offset against the ex-
pense of keeping them ; but this can only be realized, to a certain extent, when
the pen is kept well supplied with litter to be compounded with manure, and that,
again, can only be done by labor, which, like time, is but another word for money.

We remember to have seen, last summer, on the road beyond Newburyport,
Mass. a very fat, large hog, which might have stood for a picture of health and
obesity. Waiting for the cars, we obtained from the owner a brief history of his
life and adventures. These were very simple, resembling very much those of
other lazy, fat, uneducated simpletons, who dole out their existence in eatino
ond sleeping ; but the sum of his big hog's statistics was, in the opinion of the
owner, that though he had taken all the offal of his house, he " guessed " he had
•"cost more than he would come to ! " so that, after all, " to buy or not to buy
—that is the question ; " and it would be curious to see how the calculation of
sagacious men would compare, when made under apparently the same circum-
stances. Finally, apples may make Yankee " pickled pork " " sweeter and fifty
per cent, whiter " than that of corn-fed hogs ; but if you would have " hams "
made into bacon " not inferior to Westphalia" — and when hams are spoken of, ba-
-con is understood, not pork — let the hogs, according to our observation, which is

(86)

TO RAISE OR BUY BACON. 39

" some," have " woods range ;" let them roam the forest, enjoying the largest lib-
erty, cracking the beechnut, the chestnut and the acorn, snufling the pure air and
sleeping in the upturned virgin earth of the country, until the middle or last of No-
vember ; let them be " put up" just long enough to increase and " harden their fat"
with new corn, or, yet better, corn meal, with clean water ; and having then, at
from 14 to 20 months old, carried them to from 130 to 160 pounds, some time be-
fore or about Christmas, let their lives be taken, not in wantonness or malice, as
men destroy each other in war, but in i'ulfillment of their appointed fate. The ham
of hogs v/cighing from 130 to 160, will be from 10 to 15 pounds. It was recom-
mended by Col. John Taylor, of Caroline, Virginia, he who prompted the land-
holders of the Southern States to think, and taught them that they had a
business to be studied, and a stake in the Government to be cared for — he
recommended that at the time of " putting up" hogs in autumn the plantation
should be swept clean of every thing in the sliape of a hog, little or big, (except
the breeding-stock,) which was not under ten months old ; as, if over that, and
carried tlirough another year, it would not be worth its cost.

A look at the census Avill show with what remarkable correspondence Indian
corn and hogs jump together ! In the production of these two great staples of life,
Indian corn and pork, Tennessee takes the lead, while New- York produces more
than four to one over Tennessee in value of " orchard produ:;ts." The " swinish
multitude" of Tennessee excels that of the great EmpireState as 2,926,607 over
1,900,000.

Bushels of Corn. Number of Swine.

Tennessee 4 1.!)86,188 a.Stye.tiOT

Kentucky 39,847,1 20 2,310,533

Virginia 34,577,591 1,992,155

Ohio 33,668.144 2,099,746

Indiana : 28,155,887 1,623,608

Nonh Carolina 23.893.163 1,649,716

Now-Vork 10,792,286 1,900,065

But it is remarkable in the agricultural economy of New- York, that the num-
ber of her swine is much larger than that of other States, in proportion to the
quantity of Indian corn she produces, going to show that she turns other re-
sources into pork, which, in other States, do not exist, or are neglected or oth-
erwise disposed of. Many are doubtless reared and sold in New- York when
young, on the offal of her dairies and orchards united ; for with her only 10,792,286
bushels of corn, she exhibils very nearly 2,000,000 of swine. To her lar^e flour
manufactories and their offal, and her vast number of distilleries and breweries,
too, may be ascribed her large number of swine in proportion to her corn ; for
they seem to be to these establishments as natural appendages as to redundant
fields of corn. In the number of gallons produced from both distilleries and
breweries, New- York claims unenviable excellence over the great corn-growing
States above mentioned — -as, for instance —

Disllllerics. Gallons produced. Breireries. Gallons produced.

■New-York 212 11,973.815 83 6,059,122

Pennsylvania 1,010 6,240.193 87 12,765,974

Virginia 1,454 865,725 5 -32.960

North Carolina 2,802 1,05?, 979 17,431

Tennessee 1,426 1,109,107 6 1,835

Kentucky 889 1,763.685 50 214,589

Ohio 390 6,329,467 59 1,422,584

Indiana 323 1,787,108 20 188,392

We leave to the moral and curious inquirer to measure the intelligence and
refinement of the people in these several States, to see, if practicable, whether
there be any connection between the quantity of intoxicating, ardent, and hebe-

(37)

40 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

tating malt liquors, and the chivalry and social progress of the people. In an-
other paper, this being already spun to a much greater length than we expected,
directions that may be fully relied on shall be given for curing bacon. In the
meantime let those who really wish to know what good "hams" are — not in-
ferior, or but little, to " Westphalia," (for they are " hard to beat,") — let them
go in among the snug, quiet, peaceable, orderly, industrious, neat, thrifty, sys-
tematic Quaker farmers and kousevnves in Montgomery county, Maryland, or
among the yet remaining gallant descendants of the old, well-bred, four-in-hand,
mint-julep and fox hunting tide-water families in Virginia, and he will then get
to know what a good ham really is ! — a thing never yet made in perfection cut
of a swill-tub or a ■pumice-trough.

INDIAN CORN.

EXPERIMENTS IN MANUFACTURING CORN MEAL.

John S. Skinner, Esq. Wilmington, June li2th, 1H46.

My Dear Sir: Messrs. Tattnal and Lea of the Brandywine mills have just
informed me that they have complied with my request and sent to their agents,
Messrs. Allen and Paxson, Wew-York, a sjuall specimen of ichile kiln-dried corn
meal, which is at your service to exhibit to the " Farmers' Club," or to experi-
ment with as a Marylander so well knows how, and thus enable him to testify
to its merits as an article suitable to the English market, under the favorable
prospect of an increased corn trade with that country. Tne sample sent is by no
means as good as may be manufactured when several hundred or thousand bush-
els are kiln-dried together, as they now do the yellow corn.

The enclosed letter from Mr. James Canby, whose experience reaches to half
a century, will not be without its interest at your discussions on corn and corn
meal at the " Institute." The long-standing celebrity of the Brandywine mills
in the manufacture of flour has not been surpassed by their success, and, indeed,
almost monopoly of the kihi-dried corn meal business — for now upward of fifty
years.

Durmg the whole of this period, except to the West Indies, and principally m
the shape of kiln-dried meal, but comparatively very little of this great and na-
tive grain has been exported from the United States to other countries. As a new
era is, however, opening upon us, and a requisition is about to be made upon the
inexhaustible supplies of Indian Corn which can be produced in our country,
every fact in relation to the best kinds, and modes of manufacture adaptmgitfor
transportation, are sought after with interest.

The facts I have been enabled to collect principally through the politeness of
the Brandywine millers, agreeably to your request, arc cheerfully communicated.
Those disposed to investigate the numerous varieties of maize grown in our
country, can readily be gratified by referring to Emerson's American Encyclopue-
dia, Lorraine's Husbandry, and the pamphlet of Peter A. Brown, Esq. of Phila-
delphia, on this particular subject. The only reference to varieties necessary to
be made in this communication, is to the white and yellow corn of commerce;
the best of which will of course be selected to suit the market and taste of the
consumer.

Early in the history of our country, you are aware that both public and private
attention were directed to the vast importance of this grain — that repeated at-
tempts to rear it in countries uncongenial to its growth have failed, and shipping
it abroad in bulk has been nearly abandoned, for the reasons assigned in Mr.
Canby's letter ; for when it cannot be safely conveyed from New-Orleans to
New- York and Boston without heating and injury, it cannot be exported to Liv-
erpocd and London, as one or more cargoes recently tried on account of t lie Eng-
lish government has fully tested. Experience therefore teaches, so far as yet as-
certained, that Corn intended for exportation must be kiln-dntd if 7iot manufac-
tured in the country wliieli produces it. This process, I am informed, was at-
tempted in Connecticut at the close of the Revolution, and about the same time

INDIAN CORN. 41

at the Brandywine mills — the Connecticut millers usinjr the white corn, and pro-
ducinof an inferior article of" meal, owini^ to want of skill in preparinj^ it and de-
fects in the construction of tlie kiln. The Brandywine millers perfected their
kiln and adopted the yellow corn by way of distinction, more for the purpose of
si^rnalizinc; their brand, tiian any supposed superiority over the white. From
greater proticiency in kiln-drying!; and manufacturing Meal, they soon cni^rossed
the West India markets for their yellow meal, and thus induced our farmers to
grow so extensively iierc the yrlloni corn. This fact is not generally known,
and is interestinij in liie history of kiln-dried corn meal.

At the several mills on the Brandywine, there arc annually thus dried and
ground some half-million bushels of corn. It is packed into hogsheads and
barrels, and is shipped principally to the West Indies — keeping for a long period
perfectly good, and does not appear to be deprived of any of its nutritive proper-
ties by having been subjected to heat. Chemical analysis will test this, and can
decide the question which of the two is to be preferred — white or yelloiv corn.

Under the auspices of the jMew-York " Farmers' Club," an important analy-
sis mai/ be made of the relative strength and value of the best varieties of our In-
dian Corn. What better contribution could they make of their lime, and money,
and talents, hitherto so liberally given to advance the interests not only of Ag-
riculture, but those of manufactures and the mechanic arts?

Ti-uly your friend, JAMES W. THOMSON.

[It appears by the At^ricultural Periodical, published by the Government of the United States,
under the title of" the Patent Office Report, that corn meal is kiln-dried in Ohio by a process
-which extracts from " 12 to 16 ponnds of water" from a barrel of meal, and that it is effected by
means of "hot air." Mr. Ellsworth says, " There may be seen to be a loss of 12 to 16 pounds of
flour ; but whenever the flour so treated is made into bread, it reabsorbs, as might be expected,
12 to 16 pounds more water than common flour ; makint,' in a cargo not a small saving:, in duties
and freight, when sent to foreign markets." This would be true if the freight were paid on the
weight. Whether there be any difference, and what, between the yellow and the white com,
grown in the same, or between both of them gi-own in different regions, may be worthy of in-
quiry ; but we have supposed that the meal of the one or the other is prefeiTed lor table use, ac-
cording to the fancy or fashion of particular families or neighborhoods — some habitually using
the one, some the other, without any solid ground for exclusive preference.

It may be regarded as a real misfortune, that the Corn bought and shipped to England on ac-
count of the English Government, should not have been kiln-dried ; hence becoming musty and
calculated to aggravate the prejudices already existing against that noble grain ; but the secrecy
which it vv'as probably deemed necessary to practice in the case, perhaps rendered that unavoid-
able. This necessity to observe the caution of having all exported corn and corn meal kiln-
dried, is an important fact and cannot be too widely known. We should have been well pleased
if Dr. Thomson, late President of the Agricultural Society of Newcastle, had described the fix-
tares and process employed in the operation. The Messrs. Gill, of Ohio, do not wi.sh to disclose
their process, " until their patent is secured," which is well enough ; but we hope never to see
the day when agriculturists shall make a mystery of any machine or process, which, in its
operation, is calculated to be beneficial to the public. Such concealment, for selfish purposes, may
suit the views of other trades and callings, but is utterly incompatible with that ingenuousness
and open-handed dealing which best comports with a pursuit which courts the light under
which it is carried on. Ed. Farm. Lib.]

MANUFACTURING CORN MEAL FOR EXPORTATION.

Wilmington, June 5, 1846.
In answer to your inquiries respecting corn, or corn meal, as articles of export
to England, I can say, afteran experience of nearly tifty years in the manufacture
of corn, that I am entirely satisfied they cannot have such an article for human
food as would be tolerated in this country, in any other way than by taking meal
manufiictured here, instead oi corn to be manufactured there. From the period
of saving the Indian corn crop, until June and July of the ensuing year, it v.'ill in-
variably heat, when permitted to lay any time in bulk, after being taken from
the cob — this produces must on the hull and heart of the corn, so as seriously lo

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42 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE,

injure it ior purposes of manufacture. It is a fact well known to every farmer
m our country, that his corn, if taken from the cob within the period of time
mentioned, and put into garners, will become musty, and hence it is an invariable
practice with prudent agriculturists, to keep their corn on the cob until sold. How
then can it be expected that corn on a voyage often extending to five or sir
weeks, can be otherwise than injured ? A prejudice on that account has been ex-
cited in England, against this excellent and nutritious article of food, and it is no
uncommon remark from an Englishman, " Our horses will not eat your Indian
corn !" It is not strange that their horses will not eat musty corn — our own
horses u-ill not touch it, and what is more, even our hogs will not eat it, when
materially injured.

The only method to get the article in England entirely sweet, is to give orders
for 7neal, and not for corn ; and let those orders be filled by manufacturers of es-
tablished character — let the meal be branded " Extra Corn Meal for the English
Market ;" then if orders come throxigh the same channel, they Avill always get an
article of uniform good quality, ready for cooking in any of the various modes
adopted, and so generally approved and admired in this country.

Dr. J. W. Thomson. With great respect, .IAS. CANBY.

THE COAL MINES OF PENNSYLVANIA.

THE READING RAILROAD AND BEAR-MOUNTAIN COAL FIELDS.

Among the various industrial resources of our country, probably not one has?
undergone such extraordinary development as that which has occurred in the last
few years in the coal regions of Pennsylvania.

Beginning in 1820, with only three hundred and sixty-five tons, as the total of
anthracite sent to market from that State, and going up to 1,631,669 tons in 1844,
one is amazed at the vast increase, and led at first to wonder for what new and
extensive demands it can have been required. The trade has nearly doubled in
the last four years. It is probable, indeed, that the Philadelphia, Reading, and
Pottsville railroad alone, will this year transport 1,300,000 tons — being more
than all the trade in the Union besides ; and even at the rate of their present
business, (not less, we believe, than 4,000 tons a day,) the supply is restricted
much below what would be sent — and for which there is ready and fair demand —
for want of adequate means of transport. But no representation, short of an ac-
tual view of this vast trade as it is going on, can give an adequate conception of
its magnitude and importance, as an clement of State riches, and, we may say,
of national wealth and power.

The works at Richmond, on the Delaware, a few miles above Philadelphia,
are on a grand scale of correspondence with the number and richness of the fields
they are intended to accommodate. It is hard to say whether these works are
most to be admired for their amplitude, the substantial nature of their construc-
tion, or the labor-saving contrivances which enable the company to load and dis-
patch seventy vessels at a time, should as many be there ready to receive the coal
on its arrival, and that without handling from the time it is dug in the mine un-
til it reaches its destination on the wharves, where it is finally sold for consump-
tion.

The whole establishment, the structure of the road and the cars, the ampli-
tude of the depot at tide-water, and the whole arrangements and contrivances
throughout, to ensure the greatest economy and dispatch, all evince a degree of
ingenuity and forecast that reflects great credit on the engineer, president, and of-
ficers of the company. If the exi)endilures have been very large, the results prom-
ise full renmneration. 'J'he whole concern presents a case illustrative of the
truth that the boldest expenditure is often the truest economy.

(tfOj

PENNSYLVANIA COAL-MINES.

The coal, on coming up in cars from the mine, is dropped by a slide into the
crusher, or grinder, and thence it passes through a sifter, with meshes or sieves
of various sizes, like a great bolting-cloth in a flour-mill, through which it is
rolled for separation into different classes, falling into as many boxes or parti-
tions— and falls thence again into as many different cars, and is thus transported
to the seaboard and shipped as before stated, at tide-water, without being handled
until it is in the vesscFs hold.

The great object to which this increased consumption is applied, is in the gen-
eration of steam for the numberless purposes for which that magical power is be-
ing every day more and more used.

Let him who thinks he knoAVS something about the coal business of the United
States only go, as we did a few weeks since, from Richmond to Pottsville, passing
train after train of cars that come rolling along as if the chain were interminable,
and, at the end of 100 miles in the gorges of the mountain enter the inexhaustible coal-
pits, and he will begin to wake up to some adequate notion of the enterprise and
power of a sinsle establishment transporting the products of so many mines, and
of the Avealth which has been lying there for ages undeveloped in the bowels of
the earth.

We have not time now to go into the statistics of this trade, as carried on by
the prodigious energy and capacity of this company, nor to do justice to their sa-
gacious and admirable arrangements. Of these we hope to give some account,
as connected with the agricvltural interests of the State ; for it is in that light
that such enterprises and operations have interest for us. In the meantime a few
items in illustration of the coal trade generally, may prove interesting to some of
our readers.

We have already stated that the anthracite coal trade had risen from a few
hundred tons in 1840, to more than a million and a half in 1844. From the
Schuylkill region there had come, from 1825 to 1844 by canal, altogether, 5,587,-
930 tons. By the railroad, which did not go into operation until 1842, there came
that year but 49,290 tons, while in 1841, the canal brought 584,692. But m 1844,
the railroad transportation had gone up to 441,491 tons, while the canal bore to
market only 398,443. The canal is now idle, undergoing repairs and enlarge-
ment. In the meantime, the Reading railroad, with indomitable energy, is aug-
menting its means of transportation, and will this year transport, as before said,
1,300,000 tons.

The price of anthracite in New- York appears to have fallen from $8 or $8 50
per ton — at which it continued from 1838 to 1841 — to about $5 50, at which it
seems to have settled down since the date last mentioned.

The anthracite coal mined in the whole United States, according to the census
of 1840, was 803,489 tons, of 28 bushels to the ton. Capital invested, $4,355,-
602 — employins: 3,043 persons. Of this quantity Pennsylvania alone produced
859,688 tons. Of bituminous, the quantity was 27,603,191 bushels, of which Penn-
sylvania yielded 11,620,654 bushels, while Virginia produced 10,622,345.

What immense resources does Pennsylvania possess to constitute her, if her
means be well and wisely directed — a great and powerful empire in herself ! —
inexhaustible in her mineral, her coal, and iron, as in her agricultural wealth. —
Proud of her preeminence, and strong in her capabilities, she has not a man of
true State pride and sound honest heart, who ought not to blush with shame at
the very thought and resent with indignation the bare i/"/<7.s7'er of repudiation ! —
An individual who would refuse to pay the last farthing of his own debts under

(91)

44 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

like circumstances, would be " put in Coventry " by every gentleman ; and what is
State honor and State pride but the united character of her sons ? The man who
is not alive to the character of his State, would patiently bear his own mother to
be slandered !

After all, this great element of national wealth is only beginning to be brought
into play. As the consumption in 1846 is to that of 1826, so will be the increase
of the next, over the last twenty years. It is impossible for the imagination,
spread its wings as it may, to keep pace with the effects of steam on the popula-
tion and wealth of the world. — Vires acquint eundo. Its productive capacity in
the saving of time and labor, and thus enabling both to be applied with so much
more effect to the production of additional means of subsistence, and, of course,
to the augmentation of population, may be likened to the fertility of the most
prolific seed or animal, going on to increase ad infinitum by geometrical progression.
Yes, verily, no one has yet approached the effects of the action and reaction — the
reciprocal production and demand of coal and steam acling on each other, cre-
ating capital which creates demand for manual labor, and without which labor
would starve.

But of all the mines yet opened, there is one, the Bear-Mountain deposit,
which seems to offer the greatest temptation to capitalists Avho think of embark-
ing their funds in a sort of property which appears to have no end in means of
supply and certainty of demand — essential as it is to give development and full effi-
ciency to the great, the wonderful invention of the age — and keeping pace in con-
sumption with the incalculable growth of population, of arts, and of manufactures.

We have neither space nor time, at present, to go into such particulars as might
prove interesting to the curious inquirer as to the general industrial resources of
his country, with which every American agriculturist ought to desire to be fa-
miliar, and yet avoid the minute details which only capitalists seeking investment
might wish to know. We expect, however, to be able to present some striking
particulars in our next, in regard to the operations and prospects of the works
and mines to which we have referred. For the present we must content our-
selves with lifting the curtain only so far as to submit the result of a calculation,
presented in the " Report of Edward F. Johnson, Esq., Civil Engineer." It
may serve to set those to thinking, at least, who have made or propose to make
investments in coal mines :

" Cost of mininf!; one ton of coal at Bear-SIotintain, and delivery at mouth of tunnel 40

Timber for supports, per ton 06

Breaking and scroenin;;, do 11

Transportation on railroad, and delivery into the boats on the canal 20

Freiglit and tolls per ton from Dauphin to Havre-de-Grace. by canal, 80 miles $1 l>3

Transportation from Ilavre-de-Grace to Baltimore, and delivery 115

Add for contingencies and waste, per ton 15

Total to Baltimore $2 jia

Or to Delaware City 2 55

Twenty-five cents per ton added to the latter amount, will probably pay for the delivery of the
coal in Philadelphia, makinf^ the whole cost to the company but 30 to 50 cents per ton fjrcater llian
the present price of coal at Pottsville, the source wlionce most of the anthracite coal wiiich issi^nt
to market is derived. This indicates that tiie Bear-Mountain coal may be brought into successful
competition with the Schuylkill coal, even in the Philadelphia market."

" Midway of the North or Bear-Mountain, and a short distance from the county
line of Schuylkill county, is a gap or opening, called Rausch's gap, through which
flows northerly from the valley between two mountains, a branch of Pine creek.
At this gap the veins of coal and ore in the North mountain are fully exposed,
and have been worked, particularly the former, sufiiciently to determine their
character and value."

It is here that the lands of the Bear-Mountain railroad company are located —

(92)

HOUSEWIFE S DEPARTMENT.

45

comprising about 5,000 acres, situated nearly in equal portions on each side of
the gap, and embracing both mountains.

"And it is fiom this point that it is proposed to constrncl a railway, passing Koutlit-rly tlironj»h a
tunnel of 800 yards in Icngtli, to be tormod tlirouprii the South or Wig Lick Mountain at its base,
tlicnce running soutlnvcstcrly across Williams' \ alley, passing clear of the north extremity of Pe-
ters' mountain, so called, and pursuing a very direct course over very favorable ground, along the
valley of Clark's creek to the canal on the east margin of the Susquchannah river at Dauphin,
eight miles abt.ve Harrisburg.

'•This railroad has been commenced, and about Sl6,000 have been expended in excavating at
the tunnel above mentioned, and in conimi-ncing nnothor tunnel of much smaller dimensions near
the Susquclianntdi river. The right of way for the road has been mostly obtained, and the ap-
praised value of the portion not released unconditionally is but $!».'')0. The ground at the lower
terminus, for a depot and canal basin, has also been secured. The total length of the railroad,
from Rausch gap to Dauphin, is nearly 30 miles, and 28 miles from the south side of Big Lick
mountain, where the coal veins are first entered by it. The road as located has an inclination va-
rying in no part more than a fraction of a foot from seventeen feet per mile, and has no curva-
ture of a lens radius than 1,910 feet. Tlie grade line of the road at ilu; canal is 23 feet above the
surface of the water in the latter, an elevation sufficient for forming chutes or slides for the more
convenient transfer of the coal from the ears to the boats. The ground is so favorable at this point,
that basins for the mooring of boats, while loading, can easily be formed on either side of the line
of the railroad, for a distance of hall' a mile."

Farther and fuller notice of this great and promising enterprise will be given
hereafter. The more delving we can have in the bowels of the earth, the greater
will be the demand for that which Agriculture produces on its surface.

In all these fields and developments for the employment of capital, there is
this comfort for the farmer — that all those to whom it gives cmployraeul must
oat his bread and meat and wear his ivool and cotton.

HOUSEWIFE'S DEPARTMENT.

THE SILK-WORM'S WILL bt hannah f. oould.

On a plain rush hurdle a silk-worm lay.
When a proud young princess came that way :
The haughty child of a human king
Threw a sidelong glance at the humble thing
That took, with a silent gratitude.
From the mulberry leaf her simple food.
And shrunk, half scorn and half disgust.
Away from her sister child of dust —
Declaring she never yet could see
Why a reptile form like this should be.
And that she vi-as not made with nerves so firm
As calmly to stand by a " crawling worm ! "

With mute forbearance the silk-worm took
The taunting words and the spurning look :
Alike a stranger to self and pride.
She 'd no disquiet from auuht beside ;
And lived of a meekness and peace possessed,
Which those debar from the human breast.
She only wished, for the harsh abuse,
To find some way to become of use
To the haughty daughter of lordly man ;
And thus did she lay a noble plan

To teach her wisdom, and make it plain
That the humble worm was not made in vain —
A plan 60 generous, deep, and high,
That, to carry it out, she must even die !

" No more," said she, " will I drink or eat !
I 'II spin and weave me a winding-sheet,
To wrap me up from the sun's clear light.
And hide my form from licr wounded sight.
In secret, then, till my end draws nigh,
I '11 toil for her ; and, when I die,
1 'II leave behind, as a farewt 11 boon.
To the proud young princess, my whole cocoon,
To be reeled and wove to a shining lace,
And bung in a veil o'er her scornful face !
And when she can calmly draw her breath
Through the very threads that have caused my
death —

When she finds, at length, she has nerves so finn
As to wear the shroud of a crawling worm,
May she bear in mind that she walks with prido
In the windiiig-sheet where the silk-worm died !"

We can speak from personal knowledge of the excellence of " rice-milk "
cooked after the following directions. So delicious a dish do we know it to be
that we could wish every housewife, with whom we may ever have the honor
to dine, to be made acquainted with it. But the directions must all be exactly
followed :

To Cook Rick Mii.k. — To three quarts of boiling milk,put atea-cupfull of rice which has
been carefully picked and washed ; cook it aJovvly, but cotutantly, for fotir boors before tiia
(93J

46 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

fire, in an uncovered vessel ; season it with butter, sugar, and cinnamon or nutmeg. The
milk must be new, otherwise it will curdle before the rice is cooked.

Jl-xe 15, 1846.-

My Dear Sir: Your favor, postmaiked the 8lh May, directed to Upper Marlboro', did

not reach me till a few days shice, or you would have been sooner an.swered. You ask

whether " there is any dilference, for nice table bread, between tlie meal of the white and

the yellow — the flint and the softer — corn? and wliich is preferred by the housewile and

the cook .' " , . , • T , , • ,

There is a Teat difference ; and I never knew it to be questioned that white coni makes
always nicer bread than yellow corn. Yellow corn has a sti-ong smell and Uiste. and is bet-
ter for stock ; it is heavier, has more oU in it, and will yield more to the distiller ; but fijr
bread is inferior to the white. Negi-oes, who are great natural connoisseurs in llie prepara-
tion of corn bread, will not, except from dire necessity, use yellow com rneal. Flint corn
makes the best hominy and bread of all kinds of corn. The Calico, or Siou.x Indian corn
makes the whitest and softest meal, more hke wheat flour than any sort of com coming un-
der my knf)vvlcdge. It looks so like wheat flour that, without close inspection, you would
be deceived as to what it was.

In reply to your other interrogatories, I have been brought to the conclusion that meal
may be too closely sifted to make good bread, juid that delicate flavor is lost where the coru
" has been too Jineli/ ground." Cue bushel of corn, after one-eighth has been taken out for
toll, should be ground just fine enough to make one bushel of me;d, clear of the siftings :
this makes it about the right fineness to be prepared into good bread.

You say tnily that " pone, is the only way tiiat corn bread can with satisfaction be eaten
coW I send you the following recipes, derived fiom some of our very best old-tune house-
wives :

JoHN.w OR .TouRXKY Cake. — Sift the meal; add a table-spoonfiiU of salt and one of lard to
one cpxart of meal ; then pour on boiling water slowly, stirring all the time till it becomes
well mixed, and of a consistency bjirely thick enough for the spoon to stand upright in it. —
Then spread on the johnny cake board ; place it -.it an angle — say an acute angle — bdbre the
fire, but not too near so as to bum. The cake should be spread about a quarter of an inch
thick on the board ; and, when browned on one side, slip a knife between the board and
the cake, and tiii-n it, so that both sides b;'Conie brown, iuid then serve it up.

A journey cake board should be of whito ojtk, twenty inches long, five broad, half an inch
thick, sti-aight, tmd perfectly smooth. I'ut a l)rick or stone behind it when you set it down
before the fire.

Tme Wafer .Tohvny Cakk is made just as the above, but you make it very thin by add-
ing more water, and it is spread on the board not more than one-eighth of an inch thick —
indeed, as thin as possible — so, when it is done, it has curled up, and is brown and cris}) —
a mere wafer, tliat crushes to powder by letting it fall.

Common Pone is made as the thick journey cake, oidy a little stiller or thicker, as dougb,
and put in a Dutch oven and baked slowly till it becomes brown, bottom and top.

Po^E — Best — (which is intended to be eaten cold at dinner.) — One quart of meal, well
sifted ; one table-spoonfull of salt ; ponr on boiling water, and stir with a spoon till well mixed
into a mush, so that the spoon will not stiuid upright in it. Tut it by the fire, or hi some
waiTxi place, that it may " lighten," as the darkies say, or leaven ; and for this purjiose it re-
quires fiom mom till night, or night till mom. When leavened, if too thin, stir in a little
meal ; add a tablc-spnoulidl of lard ; pour it in a Dutch oven, and biike it until it is brown, bot-
tom and top. It reciuiies a considerable bidving, as it ought to be at least three inches thick
and have a thick crust. It is good fm- days. It will have always a slight acidity about it ;
but, if it should be too sour when you go to bake it, you can add a little .-^deratus, which
will correct it. People who live upon tliis bread, eaten always cold, with boimyclabber,
will never die of dyspepsia, but will enjoy the greatest of God's blessmgs — health. w.w.w.b.

[A recipe for this sort of pone bread is exactly what we wanted. It sroes back,
by association in our minds, to that early period of life, when, of all things on
earth, we hate school most, and love hunting best. How could it be that in
those days, with the sort of education in vogue, a boy should not liave tired at the
very thought of school ? What was the system ? what were the books ? The sys-
tern was one of reserve and rudeness on the part of the master, and of fear and dis-
like on the part of the boy ! The books were, from year's end to year's end, the
same— Dilworlh's Spelling Book, of which the great value consisted in xlw picture}!,
such as the man dismounting to whip his faithful old dog, especially if the /tor.'ce
was a handsome one — then there was the English Reader or Scott's Lessons, and

(94)

OXFORDSHIRE SHEEP, &C. 47

the New Testament. The boy's mind was never refreshed by the consciousness
that he was every day making Iresh acquisitions of knowled£,'o, as it should be,
by instruction in natural history and in things calculated to elucidate and enliven
the business and the cares of life — but the pone, such as described, we know to
be excellent for dinner bread. We did not like it so well when fried, and given
for breakfast before going to school. ''Wheat bread" for school, forever. It
looks more genteel, too — so at least we used to think.]

OXFORDSHIRE SHEEP :

SHEARING THEM, AND THE WEKillT OF THE FLEECE.S.
BY DR. J. VV. THOMSON.
John S. Skinner, Esq. Editor of Farniors' Library : Wilmington, Tlcl., May 18, 1846.

Ml/ Dear Sir — Having just returned from Maj. Reybold's annual Sheep Shear-
ing of his home flock of some 500 Leicester Sheep, whose fleeces varied from
6 to 8 and IH lbs., I cannot ibrcgo the gratification of speaking to you particu-
larly of the clip of Mr. Clayton Reybold's two Oxfordshire bucks, selected last
year by himself from Mr. Large's flock in England, and, with some six or eight
fine ewes, now on Reybold's farm, where of course he is propagating this fine
breed, or combing Wool stock with the view of sale, and meeting the demand
in the United States of the stufl' and Mouslin de Laine manufacturers. En-
closed is a specimen of the Wool of buck A, whose measurement around the body
is 7 feet 4^ inches — length from nose to rump, 5 feet — width across the back, three
feet — aged two years — live weight, 320 lbs. His fleece was tested by a Com-
mittee, and weighed 17 lbs. strong weight. Buck B, same age, measured 7 feet
in circumference under the shoulders — 5 feet 2 inches from nose to rump, and 2
feet 2 inches across the back : weight of fleece, 13 lbs.

The Wool was well Avashed on their backs a week previous to shearing. I
enclose you a sample of this wool, and only regret with the patriarchal Major and
his numerous sons and other guests, that you were not present to jiarlakc of one of
his " fatted lambs." I have, I hope, prevailed upon Mr. Clayton Reybold to ex-
hibit these fleeces, with some of his other flne clips, at the American Fair at
Washington. As a more detailed account of this sheep shearing will appear
hereafter, I will only add that these last Sheep are fully worth a long ride from
any part of our.country to see ; and in beholding the Major's flocks, the agricultu-
ral thrift and improvement of our little State will be fully appreciated.

I hope you got my letter, with one from Maj. Jones, on Drill-Husbandry. —
Hoping to see you either at, or going or returning from Washington, I must sub-
scribe myself, hastily, Your simere friend, JAMES W. THOMSON.

TABLE OF MISCELLANEOUS DENOMINATIONS.

In copying extracts from foreign works, frequent use is made of terms and de-
nominations with which the American reader is not fomiliar. Some of these terms
are obsolete, but we think best to give them all. The following table will be
found useful as a reference in such cases.

A puncheon of prunes \,1'20 Iba.

A firkin of butter 5H lbs.

A firkin of soap 64 lbs.

A barrel of potashes 200 lbs.

A barrel of anchovies 30 lbs.

A barrel of caudles 120 lbs.

A foiher of lead 19J cwt.

A barrel of soap 2ri(; ll)s.

A barrel of raisins 112 lbs.

A barrel of butter 224 lbs.

A stone of glaes 0 lbs.

(95)

A sack of coals 224 lbs.

A keel 21 tons 4 cwt.

A ship load 20 keels.

A hundred of lime 2.5 bushels.

A ton of potatoes 40 do.

A last SO do.

A pint of butter li 'bs.

A truss of straw 36 lbs.

A tru.ss of old hay 56 lbs.

A truss of new hay 60 lbs.

A load - 36 trueeo*

48

MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

Aetacliofwood 108 feet

A conl of wood 128 feet.

A hogshead of pilchards (3,000 fish) 40 gallons.

A tun of seed oil 236 gallons.

.A tun of ii.'^h oil 2rj2 irallons.

A stone of licnip .32 11)8.

A faggot of steel 120 Ib.s.

A -seam of glass 120 lbs.

Aload of tiles 1,000

A load of bricks 500

A peck of salt 14 lbs.

A peck of flour 14 lbs.

A bnshel of flour 56 lbs.

A sack 280 lbs.

A peck loaf 17 lbs. 6oz.

A qnartei-n loaf 4 lbs. 6^ oz.

A quintal 100 lb.s.

A tuboftea CO lbs.

A chest of tea (about) fi4 lbs.

A bag of rice 168 lbs.

A wey of cheese (in Suffolk) ... 2.'i6 lbs.

A wey of cheese (in Essex) 336 lbs.

A wey of corn or cart-load 40 buphclfi.

A man's load 5 bushels.

A load of lime 20 bushels.

A (irkinof beer 9 gallona.

A kilderkin is do.

A barrel 36 do.

A hog.shead 54 do.

A butt 108 do.

A tierce of wine 42 do.

A puncheon 84 do.

A tun 252 do.

A pipe of Port wine 138 do.

A pipe of Shen-y 130 do.

A pipe of Madeira 110 do.

A hogshead of Claret 63 do.

A hogshead of Champagne C3 do.

A load of round timber 40 feet

A load of hewn timber 50 feet

A ton of shipping 40 CoeL

20 articles is a score.

5 score a hundred.

6 .score a great hundred.

PRICES CURRENT.

ICorrccled, June 20, for the Monthly Journal of Agriculture.]

ASHES— Pots, Ist sort ¥ 100 IB. 3

?earls, 1st sort, '45......-- 4

BEESWAX— Amencan Y ellow —

CANDLES— Mould, Tallow.. f lb... —

Sperm, Eastern and City —

COTTON— From .^ 115. —

COTTON BAGGING— Amencan... —
CORDAGE— American ... .... ^16. —

DOMESTIC GOODS-Shutmgs,4P' y. —

Sheetings

FEATHERS— American, live ~

FLAX — American — -

FLOUR &- MEAL— Genesee, ^ bbl. 4

Troy -

Michigan ^

Ohio, flat hoop ; ^

Ohio, Hey wood & Venice 4

Ohio, via New-Orleans 3

Pennsylvania —

Brandywine ^

Georgetown J

Baltirhoic Clity Mills 4

Richmond City Mills o

Richmond Country 4

Alexandria, Petersburg, &.c 4

Rye Flour ~

Com Meal, .Teraey and Brand 3

Corn Meal, Brandywine hhd. lo

(JRAIN— Wheat, While ^' bu.«h. —

Wheat, r.ed new —

Rye, Northern —

Com, Jiu-.sey and North., .(mcas.) —

Com, Sinilheni (measure) —

Com, Snuthem (wtiiglit) —

Oats, Northern

Oats, Southern —

HAY— North River in bales, ^100 IB —
HEMP— American, dew-rotted .. ton 80

" " water-rotted 130

HOPS— l.^t sort, 1845 —

HION— American Pis, No 1 34

" Common ";>

X,l\[f.:_Thomaston f bbl. —

LUMllKK— Hoards, N.R., •PM. ft. clr. 3.'>

Boaids, ICastein Pine 1 1

Boards, Albany I'ine •|>'pee. —

Plunk. Georjjia Pine fti. It. 32

(96)

50 ® 3 56i
03 @ 4 06i

— ®

9 ©- 11

26 -g-- 38
6}®— 10
12 @— 13
11 @— 12
."5^®— 11

7 ■g-— 15
25 ®— 29

8 «— 8i
12i@ 4 25

— ®

— ® 4

— ® 4
87.V®
50 ® 3

06i
00}

12>

25 ■a)—
12.i@ 4
— 'a —

25 ©

50 @ 2 75
_ © 3 25

50 ©

95 -gi 1 —
80 ®— 87*
63 ■&'— 64
.55 ®— 60
50 ®— 51

— ©

34 ®— 35

26 ©— 28
45 ®— 50

— ®95 —

— ®ie5 —

IB @— 25

— ®36 —

65 ®

— ®40 —

— ®13 —
10 @— 19
DO ®35 — I

Staves, Wliite Oak, pipe. ^ M

Staves, White Oak, hhd

Staves, Wliite Oak. bbl

Staves, Red Oalc hhd

Hoops

Scantling. Pine, Eastei-n

Scantling, Oak

Timber, Oak ^ cubic foot

Timber, White Pine

Timber, Georgia Yellow Pine

Shingles, 18 in f bunch

Shingles, Cedar, 3 feet, 1st quality.

Shingles, Cedar, 3 feet, 2d quality.

Shingles, Cedar. 2 feet, 1st quality.

Shingles, Cedar, 2 feet, 2d quajity.

Shingles, Cypress, 2 feet

Sliini;les, Companv

Ml 'ST Ai;l )— American

NAILS— Wrought, 6d to 20d...^ 1(5.

Cut 4a to-lOd

PLASTER PARIS— F ton

PROVISIONS— Beef, Mess, ^bbl...

Beef Prime,

Pork. Mess. Ohio

Pork, Prime, Ohio

Lard, Ohio ■¥>■ IB.

Ham.^i, Pickled

Shoulders, Pickled

Side,", Pickled

Beef, Snidlu-d %> lli.

Butter. Onuige County

Butter, Western Daii-j", new,

Butter, grease

Cheese, in casks and boxes

SEEDS— Clover F tB.

Timothy ¥ tierce

Flax, Roush

SOAP— N. York. Browni ^ m.

TALLOW — American, Rendered. . .
TOBACCO— \'irginin ® K.

North Carolina

Kentucky and Missouri

WOOL— Am. Saxony, Fleece,. ^f>' tb.

American Full Blood Merino

American V and 5 Merino

American Native and i Merino...

Superfine, PuUed

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28

MONTHLY

JOURNAL OF AGRICULTUEE.

VOL. II. AUGUST, 1846. NO. 2.

REPEAL OF THE ENGLISH CORN-LAWS.

ITS EFFECT ON AMERICAN AGRICULTURE.

Our readers will readily believe that we take no pleasure in cautioning them
(which we consider a matter of duty) not to be too sanguine in their estimate of
the benefits to be realized by American wheat-growers from the long talked of
and much wished for repeal of the English corn-laws.

For the following, among other reasons, it may not prove for us the horn of
plenty that some may have been led to imagine.

1. Wheat, there is reason to apprehend, can be produced in Europe, and sent
and sold in England, cheaper than we can do it — if for no other reason, because
of the lower price of labor and of freights.

2. The readiness with which the thousands of foreigners who are daily arriv-
ing can obtain our richest lands, almost for the asking. Immigrants accustomed
to living on potatoes or pumpernickel (black rye bread) — will augment the pro-
duction of wheat here in a manner to keep down the price to the lowest point of
depression, and yet do better and live a thousand times better than they have ever
been accustomed to do at home.

3. The act itself — the repeal — is not the out-and-out liberal and self-sacrificing
measure, on the part of the British Government, which some have been taught
or inclined to consider it.

In reference to the wages of labor and the sort of living in vogue among our
rival wheat-growers on the Continent, what does the reader imagine these to be ?
In an essay on German and Dutch Husbandry, recently published under high au-
thority in Scotland, founded on a tour of personal observation, of late date, it ap-
pears that, in the neighborhood of Dantzic, a sort of "black rye bread," called.
" pumpernickel," is the principal food used by the poorer classes ; and their
wages for the year, out of which they find themselves in everything except a
house for shelter, is not more than would sutRce to buy in this country the work-
ing and Sunday clothes of a thrifty slave on a Southern plantation.

This pumpernickel is known, too, to constitute not only the principal food

used by all the poorer classes in Germany, but in Westphalia " it is to be found

on the tables of the rich and poor." In those countries the plowmen receive \2\

cents, women 7 cents, and girls 5 cents per day — not more, at the most, than.

one-fourth of what is paid for agricultural labor in this country.
{l\o] 4

50 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

As the question must arise, in the mind of the reader, how can these people
live, in these countries where the price of meats is nearly or quite as great as
here ? the best way we can answer it is by setting forth their usual dietary,
in which the naked truth is that meat has no place, or very rarely ; for, as
we learn from a modern, candid, and intelligent writer on the Industry of the
Rhine, " in the morning the laborers get their pumpernickel, or black rye bread,
and milk ; in the forenoon, potatoes, with such ' kitchen ' or meat along with
them as they can obtain from one pig, which they sometimes fatten through the
year ; and, in the evening, either bread and milk, or simply rye meal and brose.

*' Here," says this writer, expressly, " we shall only remark that, for want of
other occupations, the wages of laborers are exceedingly low, averaging from ten
pence to one shilling per day for men, and seven pence to eight pence for women.
If food be given, then three pence half-penny a day is all that is added in money.
On the larger farms, four pounds ($20) is all the pay of the farm-servants —
whose board is valued at five pounds ($25). From this and the adjacent dis-
tricts, the greatest number of emigrants proceed amiually to America.''''

Now, against this, we yesterday visited a farm of 130 acres, belonging to Mr.
Townsend, of Long Island, managed with extraordinary judgment and economy,
as proved by its luxuriant crops and profitable results. He gives to one man,
who has been with him ten years, $10 a month, or six times as much as such a
man would get in Germany, in money, and, besides that, board far above the
customary dietary of the wealthy in Germany — such living as would give a man
the dyspepsia, were it not for the wholesome labor and glorious air of the coun-
try. Yet Mr. Townsend does not suppose he could make money by wheat, even
at one dollar a bushel, though he reaps from 20 to 25 bushels to the acre ; but
has recourse to it only as a mere paying crop to nurse and protect his young grass
crop.

It is against laborers in Europe, receiving such wages and so accustomed to
live, or against immigrant neighbors who have been accustomed to such pay
and such living in the countries from which they come, that American farmers
have to contend ; and hence we conclude that no increase of importation, under
the repeal of the corn-laws in England, is going to open a materially higher mar-
ket for the grain-farmer of the United States.

Shy it as we may, there is one palpable fact which cannot be overcome: the
long peace which has prevailed, with some inconsiderable exceptions, through-
out the world, has turned so many swords into plow-shares — has made so many
producers in place of consumers — that agricultural production is everywhere over-
done ; and again, the application of steam to railroads and to the navigation of
long rivers, by quickening and cheapening transportation, has brought so much
new and rich land under the plow which had been otherwise too distant to be
cultivated with profit, that this, too, has proved a fruitful source of over-produc-
tion and low prices.

The same traveler to whom we have already referred, remarking on the In-
dustry of the Rhine, says, " the German farmer can afford to sell his wheat and
carry it to the ship for 30 shillings sterling (or $7 50) per quarter (eight bushels ;)
and for freight per quarter, from Dantzic to England, 20 cents per bushel is con-
sidered a fair average price : hence," " says he, it follows that wheat, grown in the
north of Germany, can be sold in an English market at 41s. 6d. the quarter, with
a sufficient profit to the German cultivator." And it was very lately that it was
stated in an English paper that a cargo of wheat was lying at the wharf at

(Ufi)

ENGLISH CORN-LAWS. 61

Hull, from Wallachia, the cost of which in England was but 50 cents a bushel ;
while in the Baltimore market it is now selling at from 85 to 90 cents.

Now, be it remembered that to get wheat or flour to tide-water, from the
foot of the mountain region of wheat-growing in this country, costs more than
the freight from Germany to England ; but, leaving every one to calculate for
himself, according to circumstances, the cost of transportation from the farmer
to the port of shipment, he has then to add, according to present prices, 375 cents
a barrel for freight to Liverpool. And, while the German laborer lives on his
pumpernickel in Europe (and nearly so in this country, from force of habit), even
the Virginia negro-laborer (to say nothing of his numerous non-producing at-
taches) gets 2k to 32 pounds of fat bacon and meal at pleasure, with an aver-
age of as much milk, and vegetables, and fish, besides, as serve to make up the
entire subsistence (except the pumpernickel) of German, English, and Irish com-
mon FIELD-LABORERS.

In Westphalia, as has been seen, this low diet supplies the table " as well ot
the rich as the poor" — showing how rigid, there, is the habit — we had almost
said the instinct — of economy !

Now, Heaven forbid that the American farmer should ever be brought to live
on pumpernickel ! But do not these stubborn facts show how hard it must be
to keep from sinking, in the effort to make grain in this country, with our hab-
its— especially Avith slave labor, where the non-producing mouths bear a larger
proportion to the producing hands than in other branches of rural, especially in
planting, industry ? And, again, do not these facts go to show that the repeal
of the English corn-laws is not likely to prove that universal panacea for low
prices and hard times which wheat-growers may have been inclined to hope for ?
What, then, says the anxious, and, it may be, impatient reader, is to be done?
And that is precisely what we, as his friend, and the enemy of the mountebanks
and demagogues who are ever ready to deceive and plunder him, would like our-
selves to know and be able to advise.

The question seems at once to suggest the inquiry whether there must not be
some radical defect in the policy and spirit of legislation, under which the land-
ed interest languishes for want of reward, while all other trades that live on it
flourish and prosper ? If this were not the case, why is it that the young men
of the country are so eager to get into oflices — to get military commissions — to
learn mechanical trades, and to flock to the cities for employment ? Look at the
diflerence in the wages of labor in the towns and the country. While in the
country the white laborer, through all New-England, rises at 4 in the morning,
and works until dark, making fifteen hours a day, for $10 or $12 a month, the
town mechanic — even the street-sweeper — gets his $1 to $2 a day, under the
" ten hour system " .'

But this is of itself a subject worthy of, and shall receive, separate discussion.
There is at least no danger of being wrong in recommending the farmer to study
how he can best and most safely multiply and diversify his crops and sources of
income. Let him not for ever drag on listlessly in the old downward path. —
There must be a coimnencement to all reforms — to all revolutions and changes in
our courses of industry and objects of cultivation ; and he evinces the most sagacity
who soonest turns his attention and adapts his labor to those new objects which
changes in the relations of supply and demand indicate to be the most profitable.

Let the farmer, therefore, rouse himself to a habit of ihuikinq. Let him make
himself, by reading, and by an active and honorable spirit of inquiry, familiar

(147)

32 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

with the whole list of the products and demands of different States and coun-
tries— their uses and prices in our own and in foreign markets — and hew he is to
adapt the land, labor, and means at his command, to supply thai which is most
likely to pay best. Let him not continue to go round, like a horse in a bark-
aaill, following for ever the same rotation, and making for ever, in the same rou-
.tine, the same crops, on the same ground — while a little investigation might m-
■«truct him that a change would not only improve his pocket, but improve his
land ; for then he would not be for ever extracting from and carrying off the
same elements of fertility. Let the grower of grain, with which the market is
surfeited, learn, for instance — and we only mention them as instances and at ran-
dom, as they occur — let him learn how to cultivate and prepare for market, mad-
der, and flax, and teazles — indigo — hemp — turpentine — the oil-bearing seeds and
plants — the cultivation of raspberries, blackberries, liquorice, and even the plant-
ing and culti'vaiion of oysters. Very good judges, of our acquaintance, believe
/that near large cities there is still great opening for the yet more extended culti-
vation of fruits ; and one of our best horticulturists is of opinion that the black-
J}€rry might be cultivated into a state of very high improvement, productiveness,
and profit, for the supply of large towns. Country people at a distance from large
cities have no idea of the readiness with which the best of these berries, believed
xo be peculiarly wholesome, are sold ; and nobody yet knows how much this fruit
is susceptible of being improved by cultivation. Why may not art and culture
do for that what they have done for the crab-apple, and for our native Isabella,
and Catawba, and other grapes ? Surely it is a much more promising and palat-
able subject to begin with than the crab-apple was, or even the coarse raspberry
of the woods.

For grapes the demand is increasing every year ; sales are at double the price
and ten times greater amount than they were twelve years ago.

There is this comfort for the farmer who does turn from growing grain and
■ •meail.o other things ; that then he will derive personal advantage from cheapness
of provisions ; because the cheaper the essential elements of subsistence, as meal
and bread, the more will consumers indulge in other enjoyments and luxuries.

But, in looking around for more profitable employment of his industry and his
means, let the farmer take especial care, under all circumstances, to make, as far
as possible, on his own farm, and in his own family, every article and particle
that he can make, without palpable waste of labor, which may fairly be consid-
^ -ered essential to comely appearance, and indispensable to the comfort and con-
(r lentment of a reasonable and philosophical mind : and, when farmers have ac-
♦....complished this — lopping from the list of what custom has made them regard as
indispensable many things and expenses which are really superfluous — they will
he themselves surprised at the small amount to which their cash outlay may be
areduced, and that, too, without any approach to a subsistence on German pum-
pernickel. Having thus satisfied themselves, by a little perseverance in habits
<oi economy, how little ready money expenditure is really necessary lo all reason-
jable wants, and how miserable many of us make ourselves by falsely confound-
;ing happiness with " base lucre," the farmer will soon learn, in lieu of an eternal
^2aankering after more money— more money— to cultivate the lore of books and
a thirst for more knowledge— a thirst which maybe cheaply gratified, and which
3it once delights and ranobles those who cherish it. But Ave must now con-
clude with some observations upon the immediate effect of the English new corn-
Jaw bill, as regards trade between Great Britain and this country.

(148)

RESOURCES OF DELAWARE. 53*

This corn-bill is to go into immediate effect, and to continue until the month
of February, 1849 ; at which time a modification of it is to take place. It is un-
doubtedly a bill planned for revenue, as in the sequel will be demonstrated. We
will merely refer to the articles of Indian corn, Indian meal, wheat, and flour.

Maize, or Indian corn, is charged with a duty to the quarter, of 8 bushels. Is.
Indian meal, per ciot. 6d. Suppose maize to cost, put on board ship at New-
York, 625 cents per bushel — a common price — or equal (taking exchange into
view) $5 per quarter ; or, say £1 sterling, the duty thereon of Is. sterling, per
quarter (or 25 cents,) amounts to 5 per cent, ad valorem on the prime cost of the
article. Corn meal is differently taxed, no doubt, in order to favor the English
miller. The duty on corn meal is 6d. sterling per cwl. or 10|d. on the barrel of
196 lbs. weight. The barrel of corn meal may cost $3 : the duty, lO.id. or 22
cents, is equal to 7 3-10 per cent, ad i-alorcm duty. Thus nmch for corn and
corn meal.

Of wheat : This article has a sliding scale of duty. When wheat is at 48s>
sterling, and under 49s. 3d. sterling per quarter, the duty is fixed at 10s. This
sum amounts to Is. 3d. sterling, or 31 cents per bushel — making an ad valorem.
duty of 31 per cent, on the cost of wheat in New- York at 6s. per bushel.

On flour the duty is calculated at the rate of 38 gallons of wheat for 196 lbs»-
of flour, at the sliding scale of 4Ss. and under 49s. per quarter ; the duty thereon
being 10s. sterling. This rate of duty on a barrel of flour of 196 lbs. is equal to-
es. 2d. sterling, nearly ; and rating the present price of flour in New- York at $4
per barrel, the ad valorem duty is at the rate of 38 per cent, to be paid by the-
consumer in England.

The same scale of duties applies to all other grain and meal, barley, oats, Sec
After the month of February, 1849, the duties are to be reduced, but not lower
than those above set forth, of Is. 6d. sterling — the present rate on corn and com
meal. Consequently, the entire bill is for revenue, and we must come to ihe con-
clusion that in this bill Mr. Peel has shown himself equally adroit as he was in
fixing the income tax — as now all the people share alike — the prince and the-
operative.

INDUSTRIAL RESOURCES OF DELAWARE.

THE PEACH TRADE— ADVANTAGES OF TIDE-WATER FARM8 ON THE CHESAPEAKE BAY.

Extravagant stories have been circulated as to the amount of business done
in peaches, of late years, in Delaware — going even so far as to set down the sale
of the fruit of a single peach orchard to a company in New- York for " fifty thou-
sand dollars," and to state that the purchasers netted $16,000. As well to cor-
rect such erroneous impressions, as on other accounts, the following sketch of
the peach business of that enterprising and improving State, from the pen of a
zealous and accomplished friend of Agriculture, will be interesting to the gen-
eral reader and useful to those who may desire to embark in it on the most re-
liable information. The writer, Doctor Thompson, speaks, as we happen to
know, from extensive personal observation and experience. Particular attention
may be invited to his suggestion about the cultivatiun of apples, especially the
pippin apple. To us it seems to merit the particular regard of those who reside
on the numerous and long tide-water courses of the Chesapeake Bay.

(149)

54 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

Neither they themselves nor the public at large have, as we think, yet begun
to appreciate or realize the eminent advantages of their position. They do not
seem to be sensible of" the vast benefit of having, not only natural and navigable
canals at their doors, but canals that abound in every luxury in season, and in
respect of the cultivation of all the delicate fruits, a position which enables ihem
to pick and ship them directly to the West Indies, or elsewhere, without any lia-
bility to be bruised or injured. But how far the lands on some of these tide-water
courses, especially where they are contiguous to the capes, or otherwise exposed
to strong blasts of salt air, may prove congenial to the growth of the apple and
other fruit trees, we are not fully advised.

On a very agreeable visit, lately, to Hon. Judge Mitchill, (President of the
Queens County Agricultural Society,) at Plandome, on the North side of Long
Island, we have observed that fruit and forest trees flourish with an appearance
of extraordinary health, vigor and rapid growth — especially the locust tree — such
as we have rarely seen elsewhere. The locust there has been known to yield
good posts, squaring 3 by 4, in seven years ; and we were credibly informed that
some years since, when timber was very high, the locust timber of half an acre
sold for f 1.400. One locust tree in that vicinity sold to a wheelwright when
cut into timber, for $25. There are locust posts at Plandome, doing their office
well, that were planted in 1791. Cherries, and apples, and pears luxuriate as
if in their indigenous home ; and yet, Ave have understood that on the south
side of the island, exposed to strong winds sweeping over the ocean and carry-
ing its spray across the country, fruit trees, especially apples, do badly. But we
apprehend that for the shores of the Patuxent, one of the most beautiful rivers
in the world, and all other river-side farms where the apple tree is seen, when
cared for, to enjoy good health, its fruit offers one of the most templing and cer-
tain objects that can now be presented to the attention of the landholder. But,
alas ! our population is so unquiet, with little capital to improve Avhat they have,
with no warehouse system for their benefit, with indolent and extravagant habits
in too many cases, and with one eye fixed on cheap lands in the west and the
other on nothing in particular, how can we expect that display of patience and
steady industry which is implied in and necessary for the flaiitation and care of
orchards ? Ah ! if a wall as high as the heavens had surrounded the Old Thir-
teen, instead of the lands they have given away in the Avest, and the roads and
canals they have made to carry there their men and capital, how different Avould
now be their agricultural condition !

But to return : those who Avould embark in the cultivation of fruit with a view
to sale and profit, must go at it in good earnest, as a branch of their business
worthy of all care and study. Their land must be put, for this, as it should be
•for everything, in good and suitable order ; their trees, if not reared and budded
by themselves, as they ought to be, must be Avell selected by mirsery men who
can be relied on; and Avhen planted, attended to, examined, cleaned and cared
for, as children are by all careful parents. Their diseases must be watched and
medicated, and their enemies, external and internal, expelled and kept off.
What parents, of common decency, allow their offspring to be begrimed with
filth, or devoured by vermin Avithout or within ? Just such care do young trees
require, if you would have them enjoy vigorous health and groAv apace; and he
that is not prepared to bestoAV such attention on his orchard, of Avhatever kind,
had better not go to the expense of cumbering* his ground Avith one, that if
neglected, will only serve to reproach a'id degrade him as a farmer.

(150)

RESOURCES OF DELAWARE. 55

But we are detaining the reader from the extracts from the letter of Doctor
Thompson, so much more worthy of his attention, and will only lake room to
add, that ample instructions as to rearing fruit and forest trees, from the stone
and the seed, the propagation of them by budding and grafting, and the gather-
ing and care of their fruits, will soon be given in this journal on the most reliable
authorities. Time may be found for the subject of budding, perhaps, in this num-
ber, as that must be done by the middle of next month.

To Mr. Isaac Reeves, a native of New-Jersey, is the wliole credit due of first introducing
on a large scale the culture of the inoculated peacli tree into Delaware. The late Mr. Ja-
cob Ridgway, of I'hiladelpiiia, owning a fann near Delaware City, on the Che.sapeako and
Delaware Canal, was induced by Mr. Reeves to become liis partner, and upon this property,
in the spring of 183-2, they set out the first twenty acres of inoculated peacli trees ever plants
ed in this State, wilii the view of sujiplying the I'liiladelphia market. They rapidly ex-
tended their plantation to al)out one hundred and twenty acres — were eminently successful,
and one year — the rtcri/ bent se;ison they ever had — their gi-oss income from the sales of fruit
was some sixteen thou.sand dollars. Peaches then connnanded from one dollar twenty-five
cents to three dollars per basket, containing about three pecks each. In tVie s])ring of 1836,
the late Mr. Manuel Eyre and myself followed suit upon our " Union Fann," midway be-
tween Wilmington and Newcastle on the Delaware River, to about the extent of one hun-
dred and forty acres. In a year or two afterward, Mr. I'hilij) Keybold & iSons went into
the business — then a host of others, until now, from twenty-five hundred to three thousand
acres of land in Newca.st!e county, are planted with, and successfiiUy cultivated in peaches —
making Delaware, though the smallest of the Stales, the largest producer of this fruit. The
result has been a proportionate diminution of price, the average, per basket, one season with
another, not exceeding from thirty to sixty cents. In this way Delaware has become the
principal snj)plier of the Baltimore, Philadelphia, New-York and North River towii markets,
and many of our fine peaches now reach Boston. The whole annual income from tliis
branch of business to the farmers of this country may be estimated at from one to two hun-
dred thousimd dollars. The great improvement made in peaches within the last few years
in New-Jersey and Delaware, consists in propagating none but the finest kinds, by budding
and grafting, so as to have the fruit ax early :uid as late a.s our latitude will admit of, the
earliest ripening with us from the first week in Augii.^t, such as Troth's Earlv, Early Yoi'k.
and Early Ann, and ending in the latter part of October with Ward's Late Free, the Heath,
Algiers Winter, &,c. I need not take up yom- time now with enumerating all ihe different
varieti<>s used and planted out to keep up this succession ; some of the principal ones are (in
the order of enumeration) Troth's Early, Early York, Early Ann, Y'ellow Rareripe, Red
Rareripe. Malacatoon, Morris White, Old MLxon, Rodman, Ward's Late Free, Maiden, Free
Smock, Late Rareripe, Heath, Algiers Winter, &c. These trees ai'e geuendly obtained for
about six dollars per hundred fi'om approved nui'seiymen in Delaware and New-Jersev, and
the rearing them constitutes a distinct business of itself. They are produced by planting out
the peach stones, or pits, in the spring, which have been slightly covered with earth iu the
fall, so {IS to be exposed to the action of the winter's frost. The sooner the ])its ai'e put in the
sand or earth after the fruit is matured, the better ; they should never become dry. The shoots
fiom these stones are budded in August of the same year, from four to six inches from the gi-ound.
The ensuing spring all the first year's growth of the stock tree is cut off above where the scion
h;i9 taken — not. however, until itis well develope<l — when, in the fall an<l f<)llowing spring they
are ready for tnmsplanting or sale. The mode of prejjaring the ground for them is precisely
that with us of the Indian com crop : the earth i.s well }>lowed, and fi-om thirty to fort)- bushels
of hme is spread upon it to the acre. The trees of like kinds (for the convenience of pick-
ing) are then .set out in rows at distances varying from twenty to thirty feet apart, according
to the strength of the soil ; a crop of corn is then ]>ut in and cultivated in the usual wav, and
this is done successively for three years ; by this lime the trees begin to Ijcar. The cultiva-
tif)n of the com being the proper tillage for the ti-ees, and this crop amply paving for all in-
vestment in ti-ees, &c. After the ti-ees commence bearing, no other crop of any kind should
ever be grown among them- as I have known two rows of potatoes between a row of peach
trees not only affect the fruit, but seriously injure the trees; but they should be regularly
plowed some three or four limes in tin,' season, just as if the corn crop was continued. So
obnoxious in our country is the peacli live to the worm, or borer — the " a-geria exitiosa" —
that each tree in the orchard should be examined twice a year, summer and fall — say in June
and October — by removing the earth down to the roots, and killing with a jinining knife,
every intruder — then sci-ajiing the injured bark and removing the glue. Thus exposed, they
should be left for a few days, when ih^i earth siiould again be replaced with a hoe. The
limbs should be only moderately jiruned, or tViinned out, so as to admit the sun and air,
avoiding in the operation leaving /orA-.s-, which incline them to split when bnrthened with
fruit. \Vhen the peaches ripen, they should be carefully picked from step-ladders, seven to
eight feet high, into small baud-baskets, holding one peck each. Our operators for this pur-
(151)

56 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

pose are botVi men and women, who earn from fifty to seventy-five cents a day besides be.
ing found. These baskets are gently emptied into the regiiliir market baskets, which are
all marked with the ow^ler's name and strewed along the whole line of tlie orchard to be
picked. As these are tilled they are put into spring wagons, holding from thirty to sixty
baskets, and taken to the wharf, or landing, where there is a house, shed or awning, for the
purpose of assorting them, each kind by itself, which is into ])rime and callings — the prime
being distinguished not only by their size and selection, but also by a handful of peach leaves
scattered through the top. They are then put aboard the boats in tiers, separated by boards
between to keep them from injury, and so reach their destined market. We consider a
water communication from the orchai'ds, or as near as may be, most essential, as all land car-
riage moi-e or less braises or destroys the fruit. Our roads through the orchards and to the
landings are all ke])t plowed atid harrowed down smooth and even. The ba.skets for mar-
keting the peaclies are generally obtained in New-,Iersey at from twenty-five to thirty -seven
dollars and fifty cents per hundred. With trifling modifications our culture and practice may
be made to suit not oidy the southern but the south-westeni StJites. I may here, perhaps,
properly remark that the average life of our trees is fi'om nine to twelve years, when prop-
erly cared for and protected, as I have described. That the two great and devastating ene-
mies that the ti-ees have to contend against are the " peach icorm " and the " yellou-s ; " the
first readily yielding to the knife and the ti'eatment of semi-annual examination ; the latter
being a constitutional consumptive, or marasmatic disease, for which no other remedy is as
yet knowir to be practiced but extirpation and destruction. There are many theories and
some practice recorded on this by far the most destiiictive enemy of the peach tree. I may
hereafter give my own views on this pailicular and obscure disease. I concur, however,
with Mr. Downing, of Newbu^rgh, that the great and prevailing disposition of the peach ti-ee
in our climate is to over production of fniit in favorable seasons. Our remedy for this is to
carefully tliin it oft' by plucking all those that touch, or are within two or three inches of
each other, when the size of hickoiy nuts, which are thrown into some ranning stream or
into the hog-pens to be devoured. His mode of " heading in," or praning one-half of the
producing buds, is new to me, but which I have just tiied upon my gai-den ti-ees in the cit}%
and will be able to speak of, experimentally, hereafter. With us in Delaware, as eveiy-
where else, the peach tree succeeds best in a good soil. That preferred is a rich sandy loam,
writh clay. Many of my finest ti-ees and choicest fniits are grown in a loose and stony soil.
The trees should never be set out in wet, low or springy situations, and for the same reasons
high and rolling gi-oimd should be selected for your plantations, and for the additional circum-
stance that they are less obnoxious to early frosts. While in the vicinit)' of Richmond, Nor-
folk, Fredericksburg, Petersburg, Winchester, and other large tov^^ls of Virginia, the peach
tree may be cultivated with profit for the market, and all over the State for the pni-pose of
di-ying, every farmer and owner of a lot may raise them in abimdance for his own use. But
I am persuaded that the best fiiiit crop that Virginia larmers could raise is the apple — the
pippin apple, with perhaps some other of the finest fall and wHnter vmieties ; they will bear
ti-ansportation — always command a good price, and be saleable in our middle States and
northern markets, and find a ready sale in London and Liverpool. The veiy best and foir-
est I have seen for years was during the past winter, the giowth of Claike and Jefierson
counties, Vii-einia.

THE CANE-BRAKE REGION OF ALABAMA.

CHARACTER OK ITS SOIL.

We have already alluded, incidentally, to this district of country, as perhaps
the most fertile, and extraordinary in various respects, and adapted to a greater
number of important staples, as cotton, corn and wheat, than any other portion
of our widely extended and still extending country ; and yet, confident as we feel
in its title to this distinction, we have to confess with deep regret that we were
compelled to pass and repass without going through it last spring. But we saw
and heard enough to convince us tliat its natural attractions have drawn to, and
formed for it, a society of active and intelligent young larmers from Virginia and
the Carolinas, as the rosemary trees of ISarbonne are said to draw industrious
bees from afar off, and to give to Narbonne honey a ciiaracter for excellence
equaled only by the celebrated honey of Mount Ida. Some of the soil from the
banks of the Tombigbee, from a region that extends fur many miles, and to the

(152)

AGRICULTURE IN LOWER VIRGINIA. 57

<lcpth of 20 feet, was put into our hands by Col. John Lewis of Virginia, was com-
mitted for examinatioQ to a distinguished Professor of South Carolina College,
which is now, as is known, under the Presidency of that accomplished scholar
and eloquent Senator, Preston. It looked more like granulated coal or gunpow-
der than soil.

Below we give the results, taking occasion to add that we have another speci-
men, from Mr. Calhoun's celebrated estate, in a different part of the " cane-brake "
country, which wc hope to get yet more exactly analyzed.

Columbia College, S. C. June 30th, 1846.

Dear Sir : I have not been able to submit the specimeu of soil which was sent me,
through you, by Mr. Skinner, to a minute examination. One or two experiments, however,
touvinced me that its extraonliiuiry cliaracter for fertility is not dne to calcareous matter, as
was supposed ; but to its thorough impregnation with minutely divided organic matter de-
rived from the animal kingdom. That such is the c;ise is evident from the great amount of
ammonia which it is capable of yielding, and from the presence of notable quantities of the
phosphates. I pui-pose at a future period to make such a miimte examination of this soil as
its import<mce deserves, and will inibnn you of the I'esults.

I am just recovering fl'om an attack of fever, and scarcely al)le to hold a pen.

Very respectfully yours, WILLIAM H. ELLET.

To Col. Wade IlAMrxoN.

AGRICULTURE IN LOWER AaRGINIA.

J. S. Skinneb, Editor Farmers' Library : Washington, June 27, 1846.

My Dear Sir: Although you paid me the compliment to write me to pre-
pare an article for your agricultural journal, on the former and present state of
Agriculture in the tide-water country of Virginia, 1 cannot pretend to undertake
the task, with my limited extent of information in regard to it ; but I will re-
mark, as the result of my observations during the last twenty years, that there
has been an evident improvement, especially along the Rappahannock, some
twenty miles below Fredericksburg. Within that period the products of some
of the plantations have greatly increased. Bare fields a few years since have be-
come rich pastures ; the stock of all kinds have improved in blood and charac-
ter ; dwellings and farm-houses have very generally become more suitable for
the purposes of their construction, while soine few expensive and beautiful resi-
dences have been built, and neat and appropriate churches erected — all indi-
cating an advancement in refinement, comfort, and morals. The inhabitants of
lower Virginia have become more frugal in their habits, and less addicted to plea-
sure and dissipation, and more devoted to agricultural pursuits ; as large estates
have been divided and sub-divided. Necessity, perhaps, has given a spur to in-
dustry and economy, as prices of produce have declined ; and, by intercourse
with their countrymen of other States, which was almost interdicted before the
introduction of travel by steam power, and the extension of knowledge by agri-
cultural works, the lowlanders of Virginia have introduced among them the results
of experience elsewhere, and the advantages of a superior kind of farming uten-
sils. In the acgregate, larger crops of grain are probably made in nearly every
county in Virginia, than when a former proprietor of" Mount Airy " occasionally
sent in one year thirty thousand bushels of wheat to market, which sold at about
two dollars a bushel. The estate referred to has been divided into some dozen
parts, and one or more parts, on an average, produces more, some double the quan-
tity, than the same parts produced twenty years ago. This increased product,
with fewer laborers, has been produced by the improved mode of Agriculture,
chiefly by manures, draining, and suspension of too much grazing. Marl, lime,
clover and plaster, have contributed to these results, besides the judicious appli-
cation of other manures.

But why should I endeavor to instruct you, sir, as to the present mode of Ag-
riculture in lower Virginia? It diff'ers but little from that on the Eastern Shore
of Maryland ; and have you not studied " "Wye" like a book ? From the "Wye"
and " Mount Airy '" estates, large numbers of the efficient hands have been seat

(1531

58 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

to the cotton-fields of the West ; yet, I understand there is no perceptible dimin-
ution in their crops. At " Wye," I heard not long since, that the extensive wheat-
fields presented the same cheering prospect of an abundant harvest as in the most
palmy days of the late Gov. Lloyd. At " Mount Airy " an average crop has been
made, and the corn was never more promising.

Your various correspondents will have informed you of the harvests south of
the Susquehanna. A friend in King George county, Virginia, writes me :

" To our surprise, we discover no rust in our wheat, and it seems to be maturing well. —
The crop will, however, be curtailed l)y the scab, or blight. ^ The degree of injury caimot be
estiinated with even tolerable accuracy, but it can be hardly less than one-fourth. As far aa
I am informed the disease is general. It is the same whicli produced such desti'uctiou in the
years 1835-36. I have heard ofmst prevailing to a consideiable extent in some partd of the
county. It is liard to cninjireliend wliy it is not universal, after the recent bad weather. —
Perhaps the cool weather was not favoiable to its extension."

In my own wheat upon my Nanjemoy plantation, I had but little rust or scab,
and that among the most indifferent spots, in basins, and the last sowing on the
inferior land. Having had about 500 acres in wheat, it will exceed my average
product per acre on the same land. 1 find the advantage of early sowing : this 1
was enabled to do by the fly and rust-proof wheat I have raised now for three
years. It came originally, as I learn, from Chili, and was obtained by our friend
Hon. John Taliaferro from Hon. Dr. Naudain, Ex. U. S. Senator from Delaware.
We call it the Taliaferro wheat. Mine was sown from the 17th to the last of
September : it has fully sustained its reputation under my observation.

There has been a general failure in the wheat as far as I can understand along
the Piedmont country, through the fertile lands of Loudoun and Faurjuier, as far as
the James River, owing chiefly to the scab. Farther south the wheat has sprouted ;
and to an extraordinary degree on the plantation of Hon. George McDuffie, in
South Carolina.

My overseer on my canebrake plantation in Alabama writes me :

" The cotton crop is two or tlu-ee weeks later than last year. We have but few blooms
yet : last year there was plenty. We have had a gi-eat deal of rain and fi-eshets that were
upon and over a great deal of cotton, whicli injured it veiy much. We have had ahail-stomi
that cut the cotton. The prospect looks duU for a good cfitton crop, unless we have a late
fall. The cotton looks bad all through tliis neighborhood, and I am told it is the case
throughout."

Such is the report from the most productive cotton region in our country. Our
trans-Atlantic friends are unwilling to credit such reports, until they learn their
reality by the failure of the general crop, when their incredulity is punished by
having to give an advanced price for our staple. No part of our country is more
flourishing at this moment than the cotton region referred to ; and the hope is in-
dulged that the time is not far distant, when a railroad now in progress, east of
the Alabama river, will penetrate it, on its way to the Mississippi, and i)erhaps
at no very remote period, to the Pacific, somewhere bordering if not through Cal-
ifornia— the object, as I believe, of

Yours, faitlifuUy, BENJ. OGLE TAYLOE.

[How little is it given us to foresee many of the heaviest calamities that await us ! In one short week
after the preceding reached us, from a pen to which we have been so often and so much indebted, it was
the writer's irreparable misfortune to lose tlie partner of his bosom and of his paternal cares— a lady en-
dowed with all the most attractive and endearing qualities of her sex. Surely never were the halls of so-
cial refinement and domestic liappiness more suddenly and sadly turned into a liouse of mourning !

Ed. Farm. Lib.]

IMPORTED SAXON SHEEP.— Four Saxon bticks and four ewes liave just annved at
tliis port, in the ship Atlaiiti(- from lireincti. These superli animals wcri< selected from the
celebrated Electoral Hocks in Saxony, hy .loHN A. TAtNTKll, Es(i. of ilartllird. Ooliu. one of
the best judges of shec]) and wool in this country. lie was assisted in his ilioici? by Baron
DE Spreck, director of the flock. These are by iar the largest and best formed Saxon sheep
we ever saw. Their fh^eces are nanarkably fine and evtn, and will shear very heavy.
They were purchased for Mr. Samukt. C. Scovillk, of Siilisbury, Conn, for the improve-
ment of his present large flock of native Saxons. We consider this iiiipoitaiioii a very im-
portant one to the country. [N. V. .Journal of Commerce.
(154)

THE CHEROKEE COUNTRY. 59

DESCRIPTION OF THE CHEROKEE COUNTRY, GEORGIA.*

My Dear Sir : Enclosed I send you Col. Siiackelfobd's letter. His reaidence being in tbe mounVain
country of Georgia, enables him to answer yours, 1 li-ust, entirely satisfactory to you.

Most respectfully, your ob't servant, J. S. THOMAS.

J. S. Ski.vner, Esq. Editor of the Farmers' Library : Ca.ssville, April -Zi, IBlfi.

Dear Sir : Our mutual friend, Col. John S. Thomas, of Milledsreville, informs
mc that he has referred you to me for an answer to the inquiries contained in
your note addressed to him on the od ultimo.

I am happy to gratify, as far as in my power, his and your wishes, and to con-
tribute anything tiiat may be of advantage to your Iriends in Maryland and Vir-
ginia, as well as to the people of North-Western Georgia ; for I assure you we
shall esteem the immigration to this part of the State of such characters as you
have referred to, a most desirable acquisition to our society, independent of the
other general benelits likely to result to us from their more improved systems of
Agriculture and husbandry.

In order that you may better understand the facts I am about to communicate,
I send accompanying this letter a rough map of the country referred to in yours.
The map was never very perfect, and the additions I have made do not pretend
to accuracy, but it will assist to give you a general idea of the character and to-
pography of the country.

The Clierolcee territory of Georgia was first divided into four unequal sections,
as is shown in the colored ])erpendicuiar lines running north and south. Each
section was subdivided into districts, nine miles square, except those that were
necessarily fractional. The districts were again surveyed into lots, some of one
hundred and si.xty acres and some of forty acres each. The counties into which
the whole territory has been divided I have atteinpted to mark for you on the
map. I have also rudely sketched a much more important feature in the irre<m-
lar marks running along the line of the Coahutta and Pine Log mountains, from
the twenty-seventh district of the second section nearly south to the fourth dis-
trict of the third section, and thence south-westwardly to the Alabama line in the
seventeenth district of the fourth section. This I have marked as the dividing
line that separates the granite and older crystaline rocks from the secondary and
carboniferous scries. 1 have been thus particular because the marks and memo-
randa made upon the map are not very legible.

East of the line last referred to, the country is mountainous, and aflbrds an
abundant supply of summer pasturage or range. The river bottoms are o-ener-
ally narrow, seldom exceeding half a mile in width, but usually very rich. The
coves on the smaller streams are of a similar character. The hill-sides and
mountain-slopes of Lumpkin, Union, Cherokee and Gilmer counties are frequent-
ly of rich soil, and eminently productive of wild grasses. The counties of For-
syth and Cobb present, in compensation for the absence of richer hill-sides, more
extensive level tracts of land, but with some exceptions inferior in the character
of the soil. In all this general region, lying east and south of the line referred
to, and including part of the counties of Paulding, Cass and Murray, and the
whole of the counties of Cobb, Forsyth, Lumpkin, Union and Gilmer, gold mines
are found — some of them, especially late discoveries in Gilmer and Union, of the
richest description. In many places there are indications of other valuable met-
als not yet certainly ascertained. This division of the country is well adapted,
so far as summer wild pastures are considered, to the raising of sheep, cattle and
mules—the higher latitudes and mountain ranges affording the most luxuriant
grasses, and being at the same time less subject to failure from drouth than

* Being one of the fruits of inquiries into the undeveloped, or not generally known, industrial resource*
and natural advantages of the South and South- West — made by the Editor of the Farmers' Library, on a
tour in the early spring of 1846.
(155)

60 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

the southern portion. In relation to beasts of prey, I may say once for the entire
country, that in the unsettled mountainous regions there are yet to be found num-
bers of wolves, but few wild-cats, and some bears toward the northern boundary
of the State.

The capacity of this division for producing an abundance of Indian corn is, as
you perceive from its character, somewhat limited.

Iron ores are found in several localities. The most plentiful supply cf this
useful mineral is found along the line marking the main geological features of
the territory. Ironworks are already established near the Tennessee line on
Alaculsa Creek, and at the two points in Cass county marked on this Etov/ah
(Hightown) River and Stamp Creek (called on the map Lick Creek). Tiie two
latter produce a plentiful supply of manufactured iron and castings. Their })0-
sition is within a few (say six and three) miles respectively of the Western and
Atlantic Railroad, upon which large quantities of iron are now being transported.
Fine white crystaline marble is found in the county of Cherokee in great quanti-
ties, at the place marked " Daniels " on the map. It is successfully wrought.

The water-power is excellent and plentiful. A cotton factory has been for
several years established at Roswell, in Cobb county. A number of gentlemen,
forming a strong company, propose erecting another on Sweet Water Creek, in
the same county. This part of the country is lavishly supplied with springs and
rivulets of excellent free-stone water, and is most exempt from stagnant water
and the causes of malaria — nevertheless, portions of it have been afflicted with
diseases incident to the reclaiming of a forest region. It ofl'ers but few situations
for good settlements of land sufficiently extensive to accommodate large neigh-
borhoods.

Parallel to the line we have been considering, and immediately along, the west-
ern bases of the mountains referred to, the character of the country is suddenly
changed, and the entire region lying west and north-west becomes highly calca-
reous. There is no portion of it, except the plains of the Sandstone Mountains,
that does not contain abundant supplies of limestone for agricultural and other
purposes.

From the Coahutta and Pine Log Mountains, that sometimes rise two thou-
sand feet above the plains below, to the Look-out Mountain, making nearly the
same hight, and across the valley of Look-out Creek to Raccoon Mountain, is one
continued series of valleys and mountains or mountainous ridges, all bearing a
uniform general course from N. N.E. to S. S.W. These valleys are intersected
by the valley of the Hightown on the south, by the valley of the Coosawatee
near the center of the eastern portion, and the valley of the Coosa through the
western portion, and bordered on the north-west with the valley of the Tennes-
see. The valleys of the Connasauga and Oostanalau, no way inferior, take their
courses along the general line of mountain and valley, and which is very dis-
tinctly shown by the course of the Look-out Mountain and Chattooga River.

If you strike a line corresponding with this general range and passing through
Rome at the head of Coosa River, on the easl of it, in this division, the valleys
are frequently undulating, while in many places they contain most extensive
tracts of level country. Maintaining the same general course, they are more di-
versified on account of irregular highlands that divide the waters of the High-
town, Coosawatee and Oostanalau Rivers. Each valley usually takes the name
of some tributary of the large rivers.

The hills and mountain ridges of this region arc most usually covered with
fragments of white quartz, which scarcely extend below the surface, exposing a
fine, close soil beneath, upon which grasses and clover have succeeded well. In
some cases a calcareous shale, reddish or blue, and subject to constant disintegra-
tion, forms the immediate subsoil. These hills, I have thought, promise the
happiest results from the culture of the vine. Nature herself seems to invite us
to this highly beneficial l)ranch of Agriculture, by her lavish production of the
wild vine upon these lands.

The part of the country now under particular consideration holds preeminence
for the production of wheat, and this may be said Avithout disparagement to any
of the other rich and productive valleys of the limestone region. It is delight-
fully watered with the finest limestone springs and streams, and contains frequent
beds of iron ore, with water power sufiicient for the reasonable economical pur-
poses of life.

(156)

THE CHEROKEE COUNTRY. 61

West of the imaginary line we have drawn, ihroui^h Rome, the character of
the country chaniTes rajiidly. The valloys, wiiile they are generally rich and
productive in the highest degree, sometimes fall short of the uniform fertility of
those of the eastern part of this division. The sandstones of the carboniferous
period begin to be developed in precipitous clilfs along the regular and almost un-
broken lines of the mountains, until, reaching the Look-out and Raccoon Mount-
ains at the north-west, we have inexhaustible supplies of bituminous coal, with
extensive beds of iron ore. The iron ore, however, need not be conhned to these
mountains, as it is plentiful in all the intermediate limestone region east of them.
All these valleys are highly fertile, beautiful, and inviting. That of the Look-out
Creek embraced in the county of Dade, between the two mountains last mention-
ed, is a spot of surpassing beauty and loveliness. Standing a thousand feet above
the valley, on the clilTs of the mountain — whose broad surface, covered with for-
ests of the finest timber, and carpeted with the most luxuriant grasses and deli-
cate flowers, is no inconsiderable object in the picture — and looking from its bat-
tlements on the quiet valley — which seems to repose in unobtrusive consciousness
of its own worth, inviting man to seclusion and happiness, while its more than
generous soil offers the richest return for his labors — few men would decline the
mute but expressive invitation, or fail to be enraptured with the scene. But I
must not discriminate, or justice would lead me back over the whole country,
where each little or greater valley or mountain boasts its own peculiar beauty or
excellence, until I should find myself viewing the more extensive and scarce less
interesting prospects from the wilder and bolder crags of the Coahutta.

The Look-out and Raccoon Mountains are of very considerable extent, embrac-
ing large tracts of level land usually elevated at one or both edges above the cen-
tral plains. Look-out is from five to twelve miles Avide. High up toward its
northern point. Little River takes its rise, and leaps its cascade course along the
whole length of tlie mountain to the valley of the Coosa, of which it is a tribu-
tary. Its channel in the southern portion of its course frequently exposes tine
beds of coal. These two mountains aflbrd the very best localities we have for
the rearing of neat cattle, horses, and mules. Cattle subsist all winter without
artificial provision. High expectations were once entertained of the success of
sheep husbandry upon the Look-out Mountain; but the only two attempts upon a
considerable scale, and which have come particularly under my knowledge, have
failed. The sheep have grown poor, dwindled and died, until in each instance
the project was abandoned. The smaller streams upon the mountains have low
and marshy borders, and this statement applies also to the ponds, which are fre-
quent upon it. Whether this may not be one cause that the situation is unhealthy
for sheep, your judgment will be better than my conjecture. The soil of these
mountains is frequently productive, and would in many instances be considered
respectable land, if it lay elsewhere than beside our rich valleys. The water
power of the western portion of the limestone region perhaps equals that of the
eastern, but it is not so equally distributed. Upon Chattooga River, in the county
of Chattooga, a manufactory is just going into operation. By next July, six or
seven hundred spindles will be in motion. The character and energy of the com-
pany insure the success of this enterprise.

Lead (Galena) has been found in several places in the limestone division, but
no sufficient exploration has been made to determine whether it is in sufficient
quantity to justify mining. Mineral springs, chiefly chalybeate, are of frequent
occurrence — some of them strongly acidulous to the taste. At Trenton, in Dade
county, is an excellent white sulphur spring, containing a small proportion of
muriate of soda in its water.

Amid all this dry matter-of-fact, I may venture the opinion that the valleys of
Coosawatee and Oostanalau Rivers embrace a salt region of great extent and
value. Gypsum has not been discovered, but little doubt is entertained of its ex-
istence.

Within the whole region east of the Look-out Mountain, sheep have succeeded
well, but best farther east in the limestone region. Cotton grows well in the
southern portion, while clover and grasses may be considered as reasonably cer-
tain crops in the northern parts. But little attention has been given by our farm-
ers to this subject. The whole limestone region is so productive of Indian corn,
wheat, and other small grain, that I have heretofore denominated it the "gran-
ary of Georgia."

(157)

62 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

In most of the valleys, large settlements of neighborhoods may still be made
in favorable locations, with the advantage of water power for all ordinary pur-
poses. The best situations for the rearing of sheep are along the border of the
limestone region, and continuing south-west along the whole course of the High-
town River. The valley of this river is bounded along a great distance on the
south by extensive forests of long-leafed pine, afibrding good grass, but little wa-
ter, and a dry soil. Many interior localities present also peculiar advantages for
sheep and other husbandry. AVe have great confidence in orchards in this coun-
try, but are not practically acquainted with its capacities m that respect to speak
with certainty. Potatoes succeed admirably. Our best bottoms, without manure
or extraordinary cultivation, will yield fifty bushels of corn per acre ; the best
valley lands give about forty. I have not put this down at the maximum which
a few acres under certain circumstances may have authorized. But Agriculture
here is far from being in an advanced state, nor is the capacity of our soils under
proper treatment yet ascertained. In the county of Cass, which has been (and
justly, I think) distinguished as the best county in Georgia, the first-rate lands —
a fair proportion improved and in cultivation — are worth from fifteen to twenty
dollars per acre for large settlements, which usually embrace some broken land.
The price graduates from this sum down to five dollars per acre for the thinner
Talley lands, which are still very productive and susceptible of a high state of
cultivation, the subsoil being usually composed of the very best elements. Wood
land of equal quality would range but little above half those prices for quality,
but is more expensive and difficult to procure, as the single lots are scattered in
the hands of individuals in different parts of the State, and frequently of other
States. Land bears a higher price in Cass than in any other county, yet not al-
ways higher in proportion to quality. The price in every part of the country is
frequently regulated by accidental or temporary circumstances.

White hands for Agriculture can be had at from six to ten dollars per month,
clothing themselves. Negroes are worth from forty to seventy dollars per year.

Our richer valleys have more often been afflicted with disease than we could
wish. Usually we have not been able to trace it to any cause that was perma-
nent in its character. The clearing of lands — small water-courses, although lim-
pid and pure of themselves, choked up with decaying timber, and mill-ponds in
a more criminal state of neglect — the very low stage of the rivers one season, and
the decay of the luxuriant water-mosses— have in general accounted sufliiciently for
our afflictions. But as to these causes, none of them are or should be permanent.
Our streams, up to the size of considerable rivers, are almost as pure as crystal,
and greatly exempt from stagnant waters, while they hold their courses over beds
pebbled with quartz, jasper, chalcedony, and agate, and not unfrequently of the
more solid limestone. Beyond all this, among the mountain coves and more con-
fined valleys, there seems to be some general tendency to inflammatory disorders,
not always to be referred to any of these causes. But the active and hardy char-
acter of our population, and their capability to bear long-continued fatigue, show
that we are exempt from those terrible inroads which disease makes upon the
human system in the valleys of the West.

Our actual and prospective advantages of markets are found in the parallel
routes of the Savannah River and the Charleston and Hamburg Railroad, 136
miles, to Augusta ; the Georgia Railroad, 170 miles, to the eastern terminus of
the Western and Atlantic Railroad at Atlanta; in the Central Railroad, 190
miles, from Savannah to Macon ; the Macon and Western Railroad (formerly the
Monroe Railroad), 101 miles, from Macon to Atlanta ; and in the Western and
Atlantic Railroad (a State work), now in operation SO miles, to Dawsonville, with
an appropriation to extend it 22 miles farther to Cross Plains, which will be done
during the present year. The double lines on the map mark the route of the
Western and Atlantic Railroad, now in operation ; the continuous single line in-
dicates where it has been graded, except an unfinished tunnel. If this cannot be
successfully penetrated, a circuit of three or four miles will take the road on a
grade around that obstacle. The road will ultimately be completed to Chatta-
nooga, in the State of Tennessee, as marked on the map. From Kingston, in
Cass county, to Rome, 17 miles, a charter is granted for a railroad. One hundred
and fifty thousand dollars of stock are required to be taken before the company
commences operations. On the Coosa River, from Rome to the mouth of Wills
Creek in Alabama, a steamboat is now running, laden with the produce of a rich

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TIIK CHKROKEE COUNTRY. 63

cotton country and the merchandise of the East. In hij^h water, flat-bottomed
boats go down this river^io Mobile. From the mouth of Wills Creek to G\inter's
Landing in Tennessee, i/5 miles are reported practicable for a railroad, and the
people of Alabama propose to construct one on that line. Tiie Iliawassee Rail-
road, from the interior of East Tennessee, is almost wholly graded to its junction
with the Western and Atlantic Railroad at Red Hill, 10 miles above Cross Plains.
From Chattanooga to Nashville, the people of Tennessee propose to construct a
railroad, the route having been reported practicable by Prof. Troost.

You will perceive that the Western and Atlanlic Railroad passes through the
heart of the riciiest country in Georgia. Running through the county of Cobb, it
enters the limestone region where it crosses the Hightown River, and continues
its course through the counties of Cass, Murray, and Walker, to Chattanooga,
contiguous to the counties of Cherokee and Gilmer on the east, and the more fer-
tile counties of Paulding, Floyd, Chattooga, and Dade, on the west. The gold
mines alone furnish a market for their own particular districts.— This sums up
the advantages of markets and modes of conveyance.

Your inquiries covered an area of country embracing four millions, three hun-
dred and sixty-six thousand, five hundred and lifty-four acres of land — more dis-
tinguished for the variety and value of its mineral and agricultural resources and
capacities than any other country of the same exient probably in the world. My
reply is necessarily succinct — sometimes it may have been too general — but, to
have enumerated our valleys alone by name, and to have mentioned the leading
distinctive character and ([uality of eacli, would have filled a letter of many pages.
The resources of this country — its advantages of commercial intercourse — its cli-
mate— its beauty — its healtiifulness — the security its interior position guaranties
alike against the inroads of invasion, the horrors of insurrection, and the no less
terrible calamities of cholera and plague — and its fitness to make the home of in-
dustry and virtue the temple of domestic happiness — I dare venture the opinion,
make it among the most desirable countries on the globe. Certainly I have seen
none that equal it in the happy combination of its advantages.

Very respectfully, your ob't sorvmit, A. D. SHACKELFORD.

We took the liberty- of submitting the above letter to Dr. .T. S. Whittk.v, of Hancock
county, Georgia, who was himself makhig a tour of agricultural observation in the Norths
and, in passing, favored us with a visit.

The letter from Newcastle county, Delaware, which comes next after the Doctor's, goes
to show, in a satisfactory manner, how active is the spirit of agiicultural inquiiy, and how
e;iniestly public attention is getting awakened to the opening wliich sheep husbandry offers
to agi'icultural indiisti-y, and to the advantages which the whole range of the Alleghanies
offers for the grazing business generally, and for that division of it in particular.

The map referred to in Col. Shackelford's letter w\\\ be sent to any one who may desire
to see it.

Americnn Hotel. New-York. June 15, 1846.

Dear Sir : I perused with some care the communication of Col. Shackelford
on the subject of the new Cherokee section of Georgia ; and, at your suggestion,
make the following comments :

I only traveled through that region once, two years since ; and my attention was
principally directed to the Agriculture and agricultural resources of the country,
and really I think he is moderate in his estimate of them. What he styles the
carboniferous formation appeared to be a peculiar formation for the South — an
alpine secondary formation : below, a marble and crystalized limestone ; above,
and frequently minglin<; with the soil, a now uncryslalized carbonate of lime, va-
riously combined with clay, sand, and ferruginous deposits, and very happily com-
bined for agricultural purposes ; and the alluvium he speaks of on the water-
courses is equal in fertilitv to any soil I have ever seen. It is at the southern
termination of the great Blue Ridge, where the mountains are not so high above
the plains as to create great and sudden changes of temperature — about the prac-
tical line separating the production of cotton from that of grain and the grasses ;
and the climate, temperature and location give it a peculiar adaption to the
growth of stock and the economical division and distribution of labor, as the mar-
ket or predilections of the producer might suggest. I think wheat, clover, and

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64 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

all the calcareous grasses adapted to a temperate climate, can be produced there
profitably. It isjust south of 'the tliirly-tifth degree of north latitude, and sufficient-
ly elevated to secure a dry, salubrious atmosphere. I thnik the malaria and disease
that he speaks of are easily accounted for, and will readily yield to judicious Agri-
culture and improvement. There are some marshy flats that can be ditched,
though comparatively poor; but the whole country was and is now loaded and
overshadowed with a most luxuriant vegetation : and to the natural decay of this
is added the killing and decay of heavy forests in every direction. The decay of
all this, hastened by the calcareous solvent spread everywhere on the surface, I
think is sufficient to account for the sickness, and, if true, points out the remedy
as sure and easy, and as being the necessary result of an improved husbandry.

I am not so well prepared to judge of his topography and statistics, though I
have no doubt of their general accuracy. All that i do know would confirm his.
But I would sav to all inquiring minds — go and see.

1 am, very respectfully, J. S. WHITTEN,

To J. tr. Skinner, Esq. of Hancock, Ga.

SHEEP HUSBANDRY.

REGIONS OF THE UNITED STATES AFFORDING THE GREATEST ADVANTAGES FOR
UNDERTAKING IT ON A LARGE SCALE.

Near Newcastle, Del. .Tune 24, 1846.

Dear Sir : I take the liberty of addressing you a private note on a subject of
much importance, at least to myself, and, as 1 should suppose, to many others —
so that you can, if you think best, answer it publicly.

The subject to which I allude is the growing of wool on an extensive scale,
and as a distinct branch of Agriculture, in the mountainous lands of Virginia,
Tennessee and the Carolinas.

I address you on this subject under the impression that you possess more in-
formation in regard to it than any other man in the country. I have already-
seen several articles on this subject in the Farmers' Libraey, which furnish
much valuable information, but there are still several points which I should like
to see examined and discussed.

I should in particular like to know the section or region of country within the
limits above spoken of, that in your opinion is best adapted to the purpose.
Where the field of choice is so wide, a person unassisted by the observation and
opinions of others, might easily correct a fatal error in the selection of the pre-
cise locality for carrying on his operations — inasmuch as a new enterprise, always
attended with more or less difficulties, requires a combination of all the most
favorable circumstances to insure its success.

The following, I should suppose, are some of the principal circumstances
■which should direct the choice:

The price and fertility of the land ; the abundance of the natural, and its
adaptation to the arliiicia'l grasses ; its salubriousness with reference to the con-
stitution of sheep— particularly i'reedom from wet and sponginess : the climate —
particularly the length of time which the animals would require to be foddered
in winter ; together with the facilities for reaching a market.

In regard to the length of the foddering season, the elevation, I suppose, would
have more influence than the latitude. Can you inform me what number of feet
in altitude above the sea is supposed to be equal to a degree of latitude, with re-
gard to the iiilluencc on climate ?

Is it probable that sheep could be kept in ivi7iter pasturrs ? — that is, in pastures
that have been unstocked during sunmier, and the grass allowed to fall and lie
upon the ground. During a ramble in Western Virginia, last summer, I heard
of this plan having been successfully adopted, though not on a large scale. The
sheep, it was said, would readily remove the light snows, when there were any,
sufficiently to obtain their food. In connection with this plan, is it not probable
that the turnip could be used to advantage? It grows, I am told, to astonishing
perfection on these Virginia lands, even without the plow having been used. It
is sufficient to deaden the timber, and in a dry time burn the trash, and then har-
row in the seed upon the mellow surface.

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SHEEP HUSBANDRY. 65

The region which I visited last summer was on the route from the mouth of
the Great KanaAvtia to tiic Wliiio Sulphur Springs, and ihencc to Lvnchburg.

The lands which particularly struck my eye were situated in Kanawha, Fay-
ette, and Grcenbriar counties — the two former not coming under the designation
of mountainous lands, but svfficienU>i hilly for any pvrpose ! The price of wild
lands in these counties is from 25 to 50 cents per acre by the survey, say of 5 to
10,000 acres. In a survey of this size, of course some worthless land would be
found. I could name a single person who holds 190,000 acres of these wild land \

The two former counties being situated much lower, would be likely to have
an advantage on the score of climate, but are not, I think, so favorable to the
production of grass as Grcenbriar county. 1 have heard the Blue Ridge highly
spoken of for grazing purposes, but know nothing personally concerning it : I
however wish I did, and soon intend to. In the counties above mentioned, what
sheep there are live in winter almost entirely on what they can pick in the
woods, though it would be unreasonable to suppose that they thrive under such
treatment.

Is it not possible that the migratory system of Spain might be adopted ?

Through the region spoken of, a railroad is certain sooner or later to be con-
structed. A charter was granted at the last session of the Legislature of Vir-
ginia for this purpose ; and it is precisely on the route of the James River and
Kanawha improvement, undertaken by the State a few years since, and finished
to Lynchburg. All things considered, can a more favorable region than I have
alluded to, be pointed out ?

What breed of sheep would be best suited to the circumstances ? The hardy
and industrious merino, or a cross of that breed with some other, it is possible I
suppose, might claim the preference. Where could they be obtained best, and
'on what terms ? — And, lastly, your opinion is requested, whether such an enter-
prise could be profitably conducted at the present prices of wool ; and whether
this region would have any advantages over the prairies of the west for the pur-
poses of sheep husbandry.

According to my plan, the sheep would be managed by shepherds employed
expressly i'or the purpose, who if they did not accompany them in their wanderings
by day, would fold them at night. The lands would require to be fenced, proba-
bly, which can be done, 1 find, for 5 cents per pannel, as strange as it may appear.

You will oblige me exceedingly by answering these queries, either through
the Farmers' Library or otherwise, so that I may have the benefit of your
views oQ a tour of observation which I shall commence on the 15th of July. ^

We mvite to the above the candid consideration and reply of gentlemen who can speak
fix)m pei-sonal obsenation. For ourselves, we do not feel prepared to make any but a few
general remarks. In reference to such mountain laud as we have seen, a large proportioa
of it has appeared to be so covered v^-ith wood ajid stone as to be comparatively worthless.
The valleys, on the other hand, appear to be very rich ; but they are nan-ow, and when so
expanded as to admit of la)niig out good fanns, the price is very high, considering their dis-
tance from market. Again, we apprehend that wolves have not been so thoroughly extir-
pated as to prevent their ravages from constituting a serious difhcidty in the way of sheep
husbandry. Then, again, if wool be the object, does it not, m the mountains, become so
matted up with burrs as to create a very serious obstacle to the success of the wool grower ?
Is it possible that fencing can be procured to be done for less than a cent a rail, for each pan-
nel ? and would less than ten rails answer to keep out as well as to keep in? and would the
land inclosed be worth the cost of the inclosure ? As to sheep feeding through the winter on
the gi-ass of the country, we ai"e inclined to thuik they might, in the region to which tlie
writer refers. We once heard Doctor Brockenboro' say that he knew a fine lot of some two
dozen wethers escape, in summer, at the wann springs in that region. Lost altogether for
some time, they became perfectly wild, lived out through the whole winter, and next
spring and summer were shot as they were wanted — and finer mutton he never saw. Every
one knows that the country is peculiarly congenial to the constitution and growtli of the
sheep, and that no where in the world is better mutton to be fomid than at Caldwell's
table at the White Sulphur ; his butcher unbuttons the collars of 3,000 a year. One of hia
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66 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

chops, broiled and served up in its own juices, with a little sa'.t jind pepper spiinkled on
wliile cooking, is not bad to talic for breakfast. We envy the many who will this summer
have the happiii(!ss to prove that pudding in the best way — by eating it !

There are some strong reasons to believe that for our mounttdn ranges the Cheviot
sheep of Scotland wonld bo most profitable ; we hope some one will import them ; we are
not sure that it has not been done by Mr. Mui-dock, near Ashcville, N. C. — no one better
qualified than he to answer many of the points in this letter ; icill he ?

Farther as to climate : besides the fact that the general effect of elevation ou temperature
woidd be sufficiently evinced by the uniformly snow-capped summits of all elevated regions,
experiments have detennined with considerable certainty the laws which govern the case,
and according to which the decrease of temperature keeps pace with increase of altitude.

The theory is that these decrements of heat, as we ascend, should con-espoud with, if not
depend upon, the greater or less density of the atmosphere ; but this correspondence is liable
to be disturbed by various local causes.

Professor Leshe (Ency. Brit. art. " Climate,") estimates that the diminution of tempera-
tiu'e of 1° of Fahrenlieit's scale, correspouds to an ascent of 300 feet ; but this, it is said by
the best climatologists. will only hold tnie of moderate elevations. At the altitude of 1 mile,
2 miles, 3 miles, 4 miles and .5 miles, the increase of elevation corresponding to 1° Fahrenheit
will be respectively 295, 277, 252, 223 and 193 feet. The allowance, however, of 1° of Fahr.
for every 300 feet of ascent, is a nxle of easy recollection, and in ordinaiy rases may be
taken as a sufficient approximation. The Allegany or Apalachiau table laud v\hich extends
fi-om the great lakes into Alabama, lying about ecpiidistant from the Atlantic and the Mis-
sissippi, has, according to Fony, (iu his able work on the Climate ot the United States.) a
mean hight of about 1,000 feet; but m. some places it is much more elevated. This Apa-
lachiau or Atlantic system, says Forry,

" consists of four independent mountain groups, crossing the country in the same sreneral direc-
tion, from N. E. to S. W. each obviously separable from the others by strone:ly marked external
features, no less than by their geology. This system is less a chain of mountains than a long
plateau, crested with chains of hills, separate from each other by wide and elevated valleys.
The mean altitude is perhaps 2,500 feet " above the ocean, "of which not more than one-half con-
sists of the hight of the mountain ridges above their ba.ses, the adjacent country having an equal
elevation above the sea. These parallel mountain-chains rise on the vast tract ot table-land
which occupies the western part of the Atlantic States and the eastern portion of the ad-
joining States of the Mississippi valley, about midway between the Mississipjii and the
Atlantic. The group in New-England, which passes through New-Jersey into Pennsylvania,
consists almost wholly of primary rocks, chiefly of the stratified class. Mount Washing-
ton, the most elevated summit, attains an altitude of 6,428 feet. In the Blue Ridge group,
pursuing the south-west course from Maryland to Alabama, no rock of genuine primary charac-
ter has yet been found, but formations principally of the oldest non-fossiliferous secondary group,
or such as formerly would have been named transition. In this range. Black Mountain in North
Carolina, which has an elevation of 6,476 feet, is the highest snnnnit. The next group, lying west
of the Blue Ridge and continuing parallel with it to Alabama, has a formiition which, belonging
to the oldest fossiliferous groups, contains no rocks as recent apparently as biiumiuous coal series.
The third group, which lies to the west and north-west of that last described, presents little uni-
formity in its course ; but \% hen it has the character of ridges, the general direction is parallel.
In this triple division south of the Hudson, the eastern may be considered as de.«!tituteof a?;?/ rnul
Jhrmatio?i — the middle as embracing the svrata of the anlhracilc — and the western as containing
the vast bituminous coal formation."

In his candid and well \\Titten account of the mineral springs of N'irginia, on the margin of
the region U) wliic^h our coirespondent refers, Mr. Burke, the i)olito proprietor of the Red
Sulphur Springs, says he has never at that place seen the thermometer lower than G° below
zero, and that he has been used to consider G'-' above as verv- cold weatlier. The usual siun-
rner temperature Ls, he says, from 57 to 78, the nights and mornings being almost always
agreeably cool.

The climate of a country, says Brande, is influenced not only by its horizontal configiu-a-
lion, but also by its relief, or vertical configuration.

The question as to the altitude that may be equal to a degree of latitude for the purpose
entertained by our coirespondent, is not so easily answered. It is known that in som©
countries the line of vegetation and of congelation is much more elevated than in other. The
•ubject of climale is worthy of itself to form the basis of an article as conmnited with Agri-
culture.

(362)

CULTIVATION AND MANAGEMENT OF FLAX. 67

ON THE CULTIVATION AND MANAGEMENT OF FLAX.

Among other objects to which we appreliend the agriculturists of the United
States miglit have recourse, to diversify their staples, and so, by diminishing the
production, augment the profits of each, Flax is one that we arc inclined to
think might well reward the labor applied to it, if that labor were enlightened by
a knowledge of the most approved methods of cultivation, and of preparation for
market. Professing not to be ourselves by any means well versed in the details
of this branch of industry, it is our intention to seek the best lights to be had ;
not only on this, but in regard, also, to Hemp and to all other articles, which,
though of less importance in amount, serve yet to makeup the aggregate of Na-
tional wealth. May it not be assumed that the extension of the growth of flax
IS restrained not only by the substitution of cotton, as a cheaper article of clothing,
and by the dearness of labor in our country, but also by ignorance of the best kind
of land, and mode of preparing it ; and especially by an impression that its culti-
vation is attended ivith great exhaustion of the soil ?

We have just received from England a work lately published there, which
appears to go fully into all other views of the subject, besides " the improved
mode in the cultivation and management of flax,"

From much more that is said on the point of its being a great exhauster, and
in contradiction of that impression, we have only room now for what follows
on the next page.

We have on other occasions, intimated how much better it would be to form
associations for the promotion of the knowledge and the growth of particular
branches of industry, than to attempt, vainly as we do, to achieve great improve-
ments, by means of a single society to embrace a great number of objects. Aim-
ing to do too much, we end by accomplishing next to nothing.

In Ireland, a society was lately formed, called the '■'Flax Improvement Society.''''
Under its auspices behold the steady increase which has taken place ! In the spring
of 1844 the estimated quantity of flax sown was 40,896 hogsheads of seven bush-
els each, while in 1843 it was but 37,400. On the estimate that each hogs-
head would sow throe acres, the quantity of land in 1843 was 112,200; and
in 1844, 122,688 — increase 10,488 acres. Suppose each acre, according to their
estimate, to give an average produce of 600 of scutched flax, the entire produce
of Irish flax, in 1843 was 30,465 tons and in 1844, 39,611, being an additional
value o{ £141,507 or more than half a million of dollars. In three years, since
the formation of the society, the increase in the value of the flax crop is es-
timated at £675,000 or $3,375,000, a sum, says the writer, which would for-
merly have been paid in bullion to foreigners, but is now circulated among
the farmers and laborers of Ireland.

May we not bring about the same proportionate results for our country, with silk
and flax, wool and hemp, and grapes and wine, and other things? Help us, good
readers, help us in these inquiries I

James McAdam, secretary to the Belfast Agricultural Society, says, "As a
proof of the great demand for flax at present, I may mention that from this port
alone, orders are now out for 300 tons of flax from Egypt, and for 2000 to 300O
tons, value £70,000 to £100,000 (§500,000) from the Baltic; and this in spite

(163)

^S8 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

«of the largest home-grown crop for several years. There have lately been erected
aa this neighborhood 60,000 additional spindles, which will be aifu/l work, dur-
iing the ensuing year, and which it is calculated will consume 3000 tons addi-
fiional flax, of the value of half a million of dollars yearly." There are in
Xeeds sixteen extensive firms engaged in spinning flax, who keep in constant em-
;ployment at least 10,000 hands.*

Why cannot America rival them in this, as it has done in the manufacture of
■cotton and wool ? Are not all the mountain valleys, in the neighborhood of our
immeasurable but unused Avater power in the south and south-west, exceeding-
ly well adapted to the growth of flax? But as to the exhausting nature of the
-jcrop, says the writer in hand :

■" The main point npon which we rest our asseitiou that flax is not necessarily an exhauster
eof the soil, as far as its composition is instructive on this point, is this : Exhaustion of the
»m1, as the word implies, is the removal out of it of those elements of vegetable food which
St contains, and in the abundance of which its fertility consists. Now plants derive all their
raiineral portions from the soil — all those portions, in fact, of which, when they are burnt,
■Aeir ashes consist — and upon the quantity and quality of them their power of exhausting
:^e soil depends.

■" Taking tlie whole flax ]^lant, when hai-N-ested, Dr. Kane found it to contain 5 ])er cent.
■•-of ashes; which, comparing it with other plants, is a large proportion: Init the whole of the
i3ant need not be canied off the farm. The fact is, nolhiiig hut the fiax should be carried
'off the farm; the seed should he consnmcd ujion it; the sfcepiug-icater should be used as
liquid manure — and none better can be applied ; the bone or stalk on which the flbre grew,
'-^when se])arated liom the flax by the operation of breaking and .scutching, SHOui.n be burnt
— as it will not rot for years as manure — and can'ied to the dung-heap. The tibre is the
tesLY THING carried to market; and the point to be ascertained, by one who cultivates flax
;as he ought, in order to make up his mind as to the exhaustion of his fann consequent on its
^.cultivation, is the mineral matter can-ied off" in the fibre : and this, on Dr. Kane's authority,
-sivd for the satisfaction of all who wish to cultivate the crop, we pi-uclaim to be most uisig-
iiificant in quantity; in fact, you may take a bundle of fiax fibre, and burn it, mid it wUl
'leave no ashes.

■" I shall conclude these remarks by adthng, from the columns of the Agricultural Gazette,
■ -&. report of the speech of Dr. Kane, on this subject, at the Markethdl Agricultural Societj".
The chaii-mau, W. Blacker, Esq. said : — ' Gentlemen, I Iwg now to request your particular
•attention to such observations as Dr. Kane may be kind enough to make.'

** ' Dr. Kane said that he felt great pleasure in acceding to Mr. Blacker's request that lie
*hould endeavor to explain to the farmers present the principles ui)ou which tlie euiploy-
meaat of the refuse of the flax ci-ops, as manuie, is jiroposed. It is really very simple ; and
iie felt satisfied that, in that neigliliorhood, whei-e so much activity and intelligence were aji-
piied to the improvement of Agriculture, it only rci]uiied that the rea.'sonablencss of any
.practice should be shown, hi ordnr that its adoption in ])racrice might be secured. Evciy
iarmer present was aware that crojis exh;iustcd the soil ; that tlie plants take out of the
ground a number of materials, and that it was necessary to restore a similar material to the
. .'ground, in order to keej) up its fertility ; therefore, die manure which the fanner puts hi
'< wi^. «>r beiore his seed is, in a degree, the raw material of which tlu; grown crop is to be
ViSBaile. It is just aa much a part of the plant as the seed itself ^^'hen the fanner .sells and
sends away his grown croj), to be used for Ibod, as in the case of wheat, or oafs, or potatoes,
;%e thereby sends away and sells tin- essence of the manure which he had put into the
:^8uml; and, as he thus gets paid ti)r the manure, wIk^i it is exhausted, he must put in as
.Miuch more for the next croj), which is to be di-alt with in the same way. Now, in the case
of flax, there is the important pecidiarity tliat it is not eaten; and hence does not return to
<he land any manure in the ordinary way, wliile it takes out of the soil just the same matori-
-.tiis as oats or potatoes; so that it is really a very exhausting crop, if we only look to the'
'OTXJwing of it. But the flax crop differs i'roin other crojts in this — that the value of oats or
aotatoes, and all food crops, (lei>ends on what they take out of tlie ground ; while the valu-
^^lisle part of the flax is the line lihre, or thread, which has taken nothing out of the gi-ound.
JIT you bum away a bundle of flax-.straw, it will leave behind a large (piantity of white ashes,
■<sKbich consist of the dilVerent substan(M>s which the plant took out of the ground; but if you
Ibnra away a bundle of vvell-dre.s,sod flax, it will leave no ashes. Now, what has become
««fibe ashes? They have evidently been canned off with the waste parts of the plant ui tlie

■* According to the census of 1840, there were in the United States but l.tWS persons employed in flax
"inflbandry altogether, and the whole ciipital invested, is put down at $208,067 ; eighteen States are put

Aawn 1

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CULTIVATION AND MANAGEMENT OF FLAX. 6^9^

steeping and dressing. They are thrown away ; and yet they are materials of wliich tbo
plant hiul robbed the soil, and which sliouhl be given back to llie soil, iti oi'der to keep up
its fertility. To tlic ])ractical farmer it is, therefore, of the gi-ealcst importance to recollect"
this principle — that the fibre or valuable jiart of the Ha.\. is not fonned by the exhaustion of
the soil ; but that tlie materials which the plant takes ont of the soil are all found in tho:
steep-water and the chaff; ami that, if these be returned to the soil, they will restore its j6sr-
tility, and that thus the tlax crop may be rendered one of the lesist hijurious to the ground^
and most remunerative to the fanner. I am aware that there are many persons here ready^
to speak as to the practical use of tlax steep-water as a manure. I sh;dl, therefore, rest sat-
i.sfied with haviiij; stated the princii)le on which it rests. The tlax crop can be rendered lit-
tle or not at all exhausting, Ijy a proper use of its residues as manui'e ; but it must be recol-
lected that, unless these residues l)e thus economized, the flax crop is one of the most severe^
the Umd can have, and that the loss of substiuices to the soil is actually greater than with sit
corn or potato crop.'

" Since the meeting, Mr. Blacker has received the following letter from Dr. Kane, in re-
ply to some queries of his, relating to the exhaustion of tlig soil by the ripening of the seecli
of the Hax :

" ' I am glad that you have noticed the subject of the ripening and collecting of the seed.'
of flax, as it is important that tanners should not fall into the eri'or of extending my views-
beyond theii- proper limit. As long as the Ha.x is grown for its fibre, the ligneous tissue be~
ing fonned from air and water, the exhaustion of the soil may be counteracted l)y restoring:
to the soil, by means of the tla.x -water, what had been talcen away. But when flax is grown.
for food, or for seed — when this seed is separated ])y rippling, then it becomes like wheal^
or any other food crop. The formation of the seed takes from the soU nitrogen and phos-
phates which are consumed in use, and cannot be returned to the soil. Hence tlie economyr
of the residual fla.x product.s as manure refers to the crop as gi-owu for fibre, and does not
extend to the growth for food or seed ; these, like wheat or potatoes, should pay independ^
ently for the good they tike out of the land. The flax-chaff is certainly in itself veiy iutraefc-
able, but not so much so as it looks. When .steeped, all that is of any use is dijjsolved oat r.
aud the dry chafi'', when worked u)) iiloug with fermenting stid)le-dung, v\-ill pass into a good
mould. The chaff is, however, of little importance compared with the flax-water, vvfJiictt
certtiinly holds dissolved nine-tenths of all that the plant derived from the ground.

" ' To W. Blacker, Esq. ROBERT KANE.' "■

[We have applied to a gentleman of Louisville, Ky., of great experience, from whom we hope'
to get the best practical information to be had on the whole 6ubje<-t of raising and preparing heitrpi
for market.]

We have not room now for the full development of this subject, but will recBZ"
to it, and to hemp culture, until both shall have been fully discussed m reference-
to our capabilities for their production.

In a discussion in the American Institute, Mr. Wakeman, the viijilant afuardiacr
and friend of American manufactures — not misled, it may be hoped, by his strin-
gent principles as a protectionist — argued that before long we should probably
prepare flax for I5 instead of 3 cents a pound, and improve in machinery. We
ought not, he contended, at all events, to depend on foreign nations for that or
for any other necessity of life. "There is no land,'''' said he, "iii Europe equal to
ovrs for the production of flax and hemp, viz. the rich alluvial soil of the West."
Although this may be un pent fort — going it rather strong — the whole subject is
worthy of careful inquiry, and shall have it as far as depends on this journal.

In the discussion referred to, in the Farmers' Club, Mr. Billings, under exam-
ination, testified : " I pull or cut the flax green. We cut it now, having a proper
cradle to do it with. A man cuts an acre in a day. I dry it in the shade. I rot
it in water at 90 degrees of heat. The acetous fermentation takes place, and ?t.
three days it is rotted. I put it then in close rooms, heated until it is dry. It
was said formerly that our flax was inferior to British, Belgian, or French ; but,
when our flax is heated as I have stated, it is a superior article to any of them.'^
Ought we not to be satisfied to have things as good as other nations ? Is there
no danger that all our crows will become the whitest ? Mr. Billings confinns^
the statement that when flax is not allowed to go to seed, it does not exhaust,
the land one-half so much. It exhausts, he says, about as much as wheat.

(1C5)

70

MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

Mr. B. has patented a machine for dressing hemp and flax, with which, he
says, " seven men will dress in one day six hundred pounds of flax, and so much
less tow is made by it that it saves twenty per cent, of the flax by my operation ;
and the same process answers for hemp."

If farther trials should well sustain the pretensions of these improvements by
Mr. Billings, the result of several years of devoted attention to the subject, they
will give him higher claim to public consideration than if he had invented some
"infernal machine" for burning a ship or a town, and all in it, at the safe dis-
tance of ten miles. But we doubt if his improvements, any more than Fulton's
or Whitney's, would draw him one-thousandth part as much applause as would
be awarded to the commander in the use of such a gun ; or if they will, any
more than Fulton's, or Whitney's, or Fisk's, or Rumsey's, draw him one cent out
of the -public treasury!

Banfield, in his minute and valuable notes on the Industry of the Rhine,
speaks of a machine for heckling and scutching flax. As it is new in that
country, and possible that it may be thought worthy of being introduced in ours,
we extract what he says :

" A machine of simple construction, and demanding little outlay, has been in-
vented by M. Kuthe, of Lippe Detmold. Its utility in heckling and scutching
flax has been carefully tested, and may be estimated from the accompanying
table.

" The improved instrument affords a gain of fifty per cent., which, as in the
case of the threshing-machine, is of no importance on a single morgen (about
three-fourths of an acre), and would not even be realized on so small a scale ; but
on 500 morgens the saving amounts to no less than £1,000.

Common Land Brake.

Flemish Brake. I, Kiithe's Brake Machine.

Steeped in

Water.

Dew.

Water.

Dew. II Water.

Dew.

Flax.
284
148

Tow.
140
132

Flax.
285
14n

Tow.
144
142

Flax.
293

(157

Tow.

80

132

Flax.
311
149

Tow. : Flax.

57 !l 320

Tow.
72
154

Flax.
298
154

Tow.

4--.

Heckled

1.58

163

141

lbs.

Dressed

148

6 s

7 1

272

d.
1 n

140

£ I
7

286

. d.
4 6

157

£
9

212

J. d.
2 <?.

119

£ s
8 1

215

d.
7 4

163

£
10

226

J. d.
tJ 4

154

£ s
9 1

183

d.
i 1

1 15 4

1 11 7

2 7 10

2 9 8

2 7 10

2 4 8

Profit

5 1

4 8

5 1

i 11

6 1

4 4

6

r s

8

1 6

7 1

1 5

CRICKETS.

" Far from all resort of mirth
Save the cricket on the hearth."

It is a common superstition in some parts of tlie country, haiidod down among many things,
good and bad, from our Eiifjli.^h ancestors, that 11" tlie ciickets forsake a house whicli they
have long inhabited, some evil will befall the family. In like maimer, tlie presence or return
of this cheerfid little insect is thought to be lucky, and to portend some good to the family.

When, however, they increiise to a great degree, they become troublesome pests, flying
into the cimdles, and dashing into people's faces. In families in such time* they may be lik-
ened to Pharaoh's plague of frogs, getting into " their bed-chambers and U]>on their beds, and
ill their ovens, and in their kneading-troughs." They may be destroyed by gunpowiler dis-
charged into their crevices and crannies, or, a.s wasps are, by vials half tilled with beer, or
any liquid, set in their haunta ; for, being always eager to drink, they will crowd in till tlie

bottles are full.
(166)

BUDDING. 71

ON THE ART AND USP^FULNESS OF BUDDING.

As no time is to be lost by those who propose to provide themselves with
choice fruit of every sort by this beautiful process, we have decided to devote to
it as much space as may be necessary to enable the most inexperienced to pevform
the operation.

The season most appropriate for it, according to English writers, extends to the
last of August, but the best American authorities say that budding may be prac-
ticed in this country to the middle of September. The simple rule, however, is,
that it may be done at any time that, and only when, the sap flows so freely as to
admit of the bark being easily separated from the wood of the stock to which the
bud is to be attached.

Budding, we need hardly say, is the art of making the bud unite to the stem
or branch of another tree or shrub. Delicate kinds, says Johnson, are strength-
ened by being worked, as it is technically termed, upon more robust stocks.

A bud contains the rudiments of a plant, or of part of a plant, in a latent state,
until season and circumstances favor its evolution. A close analogy exists be-
tween a bud and a bulb, which is also a reservoir of the vital powers of the plant,
during the season when those powers are torpid. Buds consist of scales closely
enveloping each other, and enfolding the embryo plant or branch. They resist
cold only until they begin to grow ; and hence it is, according to the nature and
earliness or lateness of their buds, that plants differ in their powers of bearing a
severe or variable climate. By buds, says Smith, as we well know, plants are
propagated ; and in that sense each bud is a separate being, or a young plant in
itself; but such propagation is only the extension of an individual, and not a re-
production of a species, as by a seed. Accordingly, all plants increased by buds,
cuttings, layers, or roots, retain precisely the peculiar qualities of the individual
to which they owe their origin. If those qualities differ from what are common
to the species, sufficient to constitute what is called a variety (as, for instance,
the seckle pear, or black tartarian cherry, as distinguished from other pears or
cherries), that variety will be perpetuated through all the progeny thus obtained.
This fact, says the same writer, is exemplified in a thousand instances, and none
more notorious than the different kinds of apples — all which, says he, are varie-
ties of the common crab, Pyrvs Mains ; and he fully assents to the opinion of
Mr. Knight, that each individual thus propagated, by buds, cuttings, layers, or
roots, has only a determinate existence — in some cases longer, in some shorter —
and to this cause he attributes the fact that many valuable varieties of apples
and pears, known in former times, are now worn out, while others are dwindling
away before o\ir eyes. We have a distinct recollection of two or three kinds of
apples, and one of pears, on our grandmother's estate in Calvert county, Mary-
land, all aromatic and delicious fruits, which we feel confident have become ex-
tinct. PTopagation by seedx is therefore recommended by botanists and horticul-
turists of the most extensive inquiry and enlarged observation, as the only true
reproduction of plants, by which new and valuable varieties may be obtained,
each species kept distinct, and all variations effaced ; for though, says the author
•we are quoting, new varieties may arise among a great variety of seedling plants,

(tC7J

72 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

it does not appear that such varieties owe their peculiarities to any that may
have existed in the parent plants.

The object obtained by budding is an early and rapid multiplicaiion of any par-
ticular kind of fruit ; and though it is but too probable thai many of our readers
may not have provided themselves with nurseries of stocks to bud upon (as every
one should do, considering that they may be raised as easily, though not quite so
quickly, as corn or peas), still there are few but who may find about their grounds
or orchards subjects on which they may at once bud choice apples, and pears,
and peaches, and cherries, from choice kinds within their reach.

Johnson says that buds of almost every species succeed with most certainty if
inserted in shoots of the same year's growth ; but he says the small walnut buds
succeed best which are taken from the base of the annual shoots, where these
join the year-old wood of that from which the bud is taken. Buds, says he, are
usually two years later in producing tVuit than grafts. It is recommended, how-
ever, as a general rule, that buds be taken from the middle of the shoot, as those
from its point are said to make wood too freely, and those from its base to be
more unexcitable, and consequently less prompt to vegetate. So much quicker
and more rapid is the process of budding than grafting, that, Mr. Downing says,
a skillful budder, with a clever boy following him to tie the buds, is able to work
from a thousand to tAvelve hundred nursery stocks in a day ; and he adds, among
other reasons for giving preference to budding over grafting all stone fruits espe-
cially, such as peaches, apricots, &c., that they require extra skill in grafting,
whereas they are budded with great ease. According to the same high author-
ity, the several fruit-trees come in season for budding in the following order : —
Plums, cherries, apricots on plums, apricots, pears, apples, quinces, nectarines,
and peaches. Before commencing, says Mr. Downing, you should provide your-
self with a budding-knife, [Fig. 1,] about four and a half inches long, having a

Fig. 1.

rounded blade at one end — and an ivory handle, having a thin, rounded edge,
called the haft, at the other. But let not any indolent reader excuse himself that
there is no exactly such knife within his reach ! True, every farmer of becoming
pride will be provided with these small affairs, just as the true disciple of Izaak
"Walton will take care, before the season comes on, to have all his fishing tackle
m apple-pie order: his bamboo, and, for lighter fishing, his white cane rod ; his
lines of silk, of hair, and of silk-worm gut, manufactured from the intestines of
that wonderful insect — being, for its circumference, the strongest substance
known to the angler. He will have his tip-capped float, and his cork float, and
his plugged float ; he will have his winch, his basket, his landing net, his naked
hooks, and his flies— his May fly and his ant fly, his dun-red hackle and his can-
dle fly. Say, ye spirits of old uncle Izaak, and of Cotton, and — no less known in
his day and his sphere — of our old fellow angler. Col. Jack 'J'homas I what will
he not have that a genuine angler should, that all may be 0. K. ? Yet we have
seen a good mess of fish as ever was made into " Black Dan" chowder, taken at
old Rock Hall, with a plain cedar angle and common twisted-cotton line. Why
then should not the farmer uf the true grit lake care to have all his tackle, too.

BUDDING.

in perfect order at a moment's warning ? — his knife of peculiar make, as laid

down by authority, for budding ; and soft matting for wrapping ; and suitable
wax for binding up and healing the wounds of trees budded and grafted, or such
as, having their limbs torn off by the wind, require the care of the surgeon ? —
Why should he not have always in perfect order his knives adapted also for
butchering, and his fleams for bleeding, and his shears for shearing his flocks —
just as a dentist or a surgeon has all his tools and instruments in perfect trim?
Are farmers to be, in truth and for ever, what the world is prone enough to con-
sider them — a poor, spiritless race of drudges, without any of that pride of pro-
fession, and esprit du cor/)."!, which animates the followers of other pursuits — the
racer, the sportsman, the shipmaster, and the military man — to excel in their
knowledge, and preparations, and appointments, and in their readiness to chal-
lenge public scrutiny and comparison, each in the line of his calling? But feel-
ings of indignation are overcoming and running away with us, as usual, when-
ever we think of an American farmer, standing on his own freehold estate — the
monarch of all he surveys — being content to drudge, and live on, from hand to
mouth, without any of that forecast, neatness, or ambition of excellence and hon-
orable distinction, without which he can hardly expect to reach, much less rise
above, vulgar mediocrity, and the want of which always marks him a victim and
a hobby, to be fleeced and ridden by misers and demagogues !

The manner of performing the oper-
ation of budding is thus described by the
voluminous author whose life and writ-
ings were briefly memorialized in our
June number. The method he recom-
mends, and that which is in general use,
and which long experience has proved to
be best, is called " T budding,'''' [fig. 2]
— so called from the form of two cuts
that;

bebudded-
somet

piece of bark on which the bud is seated,
[fig. 3,] being in the shape of a shield
when it is prepared to be inserted with-
in the T cut in the bark of the stock. —
" Scallop budding " is also described by

Loudon, and M. Thouin describes twenty-three modes, which we
mention only to show the reader how much thought and ingenuity
have been bestowed on an apparently small matter about which it
may happen that he, a free born American republican landholder, in
the pride of his position and circumstances, has never spent a thought.
For every useful purpose it is deemed, however, sufficient to give the
following directions for shield budding.

With the budding knife make a horizontal cut across the rind, quite
through to the firm wood ; from the middle of this cross or transverse
cut make a slit perpendicularly downward, an inch or more long, going in this case
also quite through the bark into the wood. This is done as shown in fig. 2. Pro-
ceed with all expedition to take off a bud, holding the cutting or scion, fig. 4, m
one hand, with the thickest, or that which was the lower end, outward, and
with the knife in the other hand, enter it about half an inch or more below a bud,

(169J

are made in the bark of the stock to ^^ I jJ;
udded — or " shield budding,''^ as it is ^v /^j
etiraes called, from the form of the PS"];,] ,™

74 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

cutting nearly half way into the wood of the shoot, and then continuing it with
one clean, slanting cut, about half an inch or more above the bud, so deep as to
take off part of the wood along with it, the whole about an inch and a half long,
as in figf. 3 ; afterward cutting off at a the leaf under which the bud is situated,
leaving its foot-stalk attached to the bud, that by it you may hold it between
your lips while with your budding-knife the lines are cut in the stock, where the
bud is to be inserted, which should be at a place where the bark is smooth and
free from any bruises or knots, and on the side rather from the sun. Then di-
rectly with the thumb and finger, or point of the knife, slip off (according to the
English and European fashion,) the woody part remaining in the bud, which
done, observe whether the germ or eye of the bud remains perfect ; if not, and a
little hole appears in that part, it is imperfect, or, as the gardeners express it,
the bud has lost its root, and another must be prepared. Next, slip down the
bud close between the wood and bark of the stock tree, to the bottom of the slit.
The next operation is to cut off the top part of the shield or bark of the bud
even with the horizontal first-made cut m the bark of the stock, so as to let it
completely into its new residence, and to join the upper edge of the shield, with
the cross or transverse cut, in the stock, that the descending sap of the stock
may immediately enter the bark of the shield, and protrude granulated matter
between it and the wood, so as to effect a living union between the bud and
stock. The parts are now to be immediately bound round with a ligament of
fresh bass, previously soaked in water, to render it pliable and tough, or, as Mr.
Downing savs, with soft matting, to be lied firmly over the whole

Fig. 5. O J ' a .

wound, commencing at the bottom, and leaving the bud and the
foot-stalk of the leaf only, exposed to the light and air, as in fig.
5, not too tight, but just sufficient to keep the whole close, and
exclude the sun, air and wet.

It will be seen by the above that according to the English and
European method of performing common shield budding, you are
cautioned to be careful to take out from the bark on which is the
bud the small piece of wood on which the bark is, and which
has served you up to this time to keep the bud and bark from
drying and shrinking ; but this " nice matter," as it is called, it
is important to bear in mind, is altogether dispensed with in
the American mode of shield budding ; and the " American mode of shield
budding," says Mr. Downing, (whose works we ought to presume form a part
of every gentleman farmer's library,) " is found greatly preferable to the Euro-
pean mode, at least for this climate. Many sorts of fruit trees, especially
plums and cherries, nearly mature their growth, and require to be budded,
in the hottest part of our summer. In the old method," says Mr. D. " the bud
having only a shield of bark, with but a particle of wood in the heart of the bud,
is much more liable to be destroyed by heat than when the slice of wood is left
behind in the American way. Taking out this wood is always an operation re-
quiring some dexterity and practice, as few buds grow when their eye or heart-
wood is damaged. The American method, therefore, requires less skill, can be
done earlier in the season, with younger wood, is performed in much less time,
and is vmiformly more successful. It has been very fairly tested upon hundreds
of thousands of fruit trees in our gardens for the last twenty years, and, although
practiced English buddcrs coming here, at first are prejudiced against it, as being
in direct opposition to one of the most essential features in the old mode, yet a
fair trial has never failed to convince them of the superiority of the new one."

(170)

BUDDING. AYRSHIRE COWS. 75

Having thus gone through with a process so light, and so interesting in its
nature and results, that every schoolmaster might and ought to teach it, were it
only for amusement at play-lime, in the country schools, and even to the girls who
are to make housewives, as well as to boys who are to be their husbandmen ; we
have only to copy what wc find in the books, and what is the result of ample
experience as to the future trcatnieiU.

In about two weeks after the operation it will be seen, by the roundness and
healthy look of the bud, whether it has taken ; and we are assured that not
more than six or eight per cent, of them ought to fail. In about a fortnight
after, let the bandage be loosened, so as to allow the whole plant to swell, and
in about five weeks from the time of budding, it may be removed altogether ;
but sometimes, when the budding has been performed very late, the bandage is
left on through the winter.

Just when the sap begins to move in the spring you " head down " the stock
at about half an inch above the bud, by beginning behind it, and making a sloping
cut upward. A piece of the stock is sometimes left, about six inches long, to
which to tie the first summer's shoot, to prevent it from being broken by the wind ;
a precaution not amiss when the shoot from the bud is exposed to high winds ;
but even then it is suggested to be better, it you see any danger, to tie a short
stick on the top part of the stock, and to this tie the young shoot, when the sap
will all go into the shoot through and from the bud, instead of being divided be-
tween it, and six inches of the stock sometimes left as above stated. Mr. Down-
ing bears testimony to the great advantage, when budded trees do not take readily,
in having recourse to Mr. Knight's excellent mode of budding thus described in the
Horticultural Transactions, and in which he employed two distinct ligatures to
bind the buds in their places : "One ligature was first placed above the bud in-
serted, and upon the transverse section through the bark ; the other, which had
no farther office than securing the bud, was applied in the usual way. As soon
as the buds had attached themselves, the ligatures last applied below were taken
off, but the others were sufi'ered to remain. The passage of the sap upward was
in consequence much obstructed, and the inserted bud began to vegetate strongly
in July ; and when these had afforded shoots about four inches long, the remaining
ligatures were taken off to admit the excess of sap to pass on. Thus, the upward
sap being arrested, the union of the upper portion of the bud (which in plums fre-
quently dies, while the lower part is united,) is completed, and success secured."

Enough for the present and for the season. Having entered on the subject, the
reader may expect the whole management of fruit and timber trees, in all its
bearings, to be presented in a manner to diffuse the most recent and reliable in-
formation to be had. We will only add, that our attention was called to this
particular subject too late, we regret to say, for the July number.

AYRSHIRE COWS. — Those who have visited Mr. Pkf.ntice's fann, near this city, can
hardly luive failed to notice among tlie -stately Durham cattle there, a small family of Ayr-
shires. The latter consist of a cow which was imported from Scothmd in 1842, and some four
or five of her descendants of the first and second generations, all of which bear a striking re-
Bemblance to the th-st named cow. Only one of the young stock has yet bred, but the im-
ported cow has had a calf every year since she has been in this countiy, and has been in mUk
nearly the whole time. Though of veiy small size, she is in shape a perfect model of a
milch cow, and her product at the pail is remarkable — giving this season, on grass feed, up-
ward of twenty quarts of milk per day ; the quantity having been ascertained by actual
measurement. Considering her diminutive size, which, compared witli most other cows,
scarcely bears a greater proportion than that of the Shetlaud pony to a coach horso, wo
think this very e.ttraordiiiarj-. [Alb;my Cultivator.

(171)

76 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

WHEAT.

ON THE SOIL SUITED FOR— PREPARATION OF SEED, AND SOWING— ITS DISEASES, &c.

The number of persons and amount of capital employed in the cultivation of
this grain, and its great value, being in that respect the second, and in the num-
ber of bushels third only on the list of our staples — and the time, moreover, be-
ing nearly at hand for sow^ing — all make it proper now to submit any observa-
tions by which we may hope to benefit American wheat growers.

Few subjects have, it is true, undergone more ample discussion ; and though
It may be difficult to reflect a single ray of new light upon it, it may be useful
to bring to one focus, some of the best of such as have been shed by the many
who have favored us with the results of their observation and experience.

For various expositions of the wheat trade of the United States, over and
above the full commercial statistics to be found in Hunt's Merchants' Maga-
zine, the public has again been brought in debt, lately, through the National
Magazine, to Mr. Edwin Williams, of New- York, for interesting and clear-
ly arranged data on the subject. We have ourselves been favored by him
with valuable statistical details, which we are obliged to reserve for a more
convenient season, not having room now for more than such "■field notes "
as must be attended to " now or never " — until another season rolls round.
And this is one of the peculiarities in the position and pursuits of the agri-
culturist ! Few of any other class have so much occasion for foresight as
he. Others may hope to supply the omissions of to-day by the performances of
tc-morrow. Not so with the farmer. By him measures must be taken at once
which many months, and even a whole year may be required to consummate ;
and this, by every young farmer who takes a right view of it, will be esteemed
as one of the boasts and beauties of his profession, inasmuch as it implies thought,
forecast, intellectual attention, judgment !

Though, as we have said, statistical and commercial views and calculations as
to the probable production of wheat in our own and foreign countries as forming a
topic of interesting general inquiry, maybe postponed until after seeding time, it
will be well for the farmer to think of these now, so far as to form an opinion of
its probable price in comparison with other grain crops, that he may the better
decide whether he may not even now more profitably devote to some other grain
or other object, land which had been laid aside for wheat — to barley, for instance
— of which we may treat elsewhere and separately, even in this number, if we
can find room.

And here, again, opportunity offers to remind, and even to congratulate the
young farmer on the many occasions for the exercise of his mental facul-
ties and the display of his judgment in the practice of his profession. It
may, for example, seem highly expedient, at first view, to sow or plant a par-
ticular crop, for the reason that the immediate result will be far the most prof-
itable ; and yet if he looks ahead so far as to see the effect of the crop in ex-
hausting the land so much more than others with which it may be compared
in his calculation, he may discover, before he finishes the investigation, that he
is playing the foolish part of the man in the fable of tlie Goose and the Golden
Eggs.

(17-2)

WHEAT. 77

Where two plants or grains demand and appropriate to themseh es the same
salts and elements of subsistence existing in the soil, it is not expedient to have
them follow in immediate succession. Wheat, we are told, for example, will
not grow on a soil that has produced wormwood, and, vice versa, wormwood
does not thrive where wheat has grown, because they are mutually prejudicial
by appropriating to themselves the alkalies of the soil.

One hundred parts of the stalks of wheat, says Sir H. Davy, yield lo-o parts
of ashes. The same quantity of the dry stalks of barley, 8-54 parts ; and one
hundred parts of the stalks of oats, only 4-42. The ashes of all these are of the
same composition. We have, says Liebig, in these facts, a clear proof of what
plants require for their growth. " Upon the same field," he adds, " that will
yield but one harvest of wheat, two crops of barley and three of oats may be
raised." The standard weight for barley is 48 pounds per bushel, the present
price 56 cents ; and persons familiar with the cultivation are of opinion that land
which Avill produce twenty-five bushels of wheat to the acre will yield thirty-
five of barley. It is found to be particularly well adapted to the protection and
bringing forwardof a grass crop, as clover and timothy, which in the neighborhood
of New- York are almost invariably sowed on the same land — the clover going
out after the first year's cutting, while oats, if on land rich enough to produce
a heavy crop of themselves, or of wheat or grass, is apt to lodge, causing destruc-
tion to itself and smothering the young grass under it.

But supposing the farmer to have determined on sowing a certain space of land
in wheat — let us proceed with the subject.

Here, again, we must beg the reader to bear in mind that if we go not now
so fully into this subject and occasionally into others, as he might naturally ex-
pect us from their obvious importance, it is (and frequently v/ill be) because we
must bear in mind that we and he have a great book before tis ; one in which, in
their proper turn, he may expect such subjects to be fully exhibited — for instance,
in Stephens's Book of the Farm, appearing to him, perhaps, so far, to be so
little interesting or practical, we shall come in due season to the article on wheat,
and he may form some notion of the fullness with which it will be treated, when
he is told that besides well executed engravings of the different kinds of wheat,
and machines for sowing and cleaning, the subject itself will be treated under
all these heads : Wheat — Spring sowing of ; English method — Classification
of it by the ear, by the grain — Rules for judging of its quality, color, <S)C. —
Kinds best adapted to various purposes ; the best for seed — Detection of darn-
aged — Best loay of preserving in granaries — Grinding of it — Quantity and bulk
of flour, bran, <SfC. yielded by — Its chemical composition — Its microscopic struc-
ture— Amount of nutritive matter in — Manifacture of starch from — Straw of —
Varieties of— Weeds infesting the crop, and their removal — Insects and diseases
affecting — Proper degree of ripeness for cutting — Cutting and stooking of—
Carrying in and stacking of — Comparative u-eight of grain, straw and roots —
Autumn soioing of — Plowing, Jfc. of the land Jor it — Preparation of the seed
and solving — Best varieties — Sowing by dibbling; expense of this — Saving of
seed — Description of the process of germination.

Thus the reader may judge how full will be the description on all other great
branches of Agriculture, and how little ground is left open for us upon this one.
Although it might be instructive and useful, as a matter of general informa-
tion, to speak of the kinds of land best adapted to the growth of wheat, and
the principles on which depends their adaptation to that grain, that too may be

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78 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

deferred, because it is to be supposed that no choice is left to the farmer, for this
year : hence we need now only allude to the fact, so well known, that while
some lands are much more productive than others in the yield of Indian corn, to-
bacco, cotton, rice and other crops, they fall infinitely below these others in wheat.
As to the different varieties of wheat, each farmer must be left to his choice,
and little can be said beyond what every one knows, to guide him in his selec-
tion. For ourselves, we are the less disposed to indicate any particular one ab-
solutely, seeing how liable all varieties are to be affected and changed by change
of soil and locality, even from the eastern to the western shore of the Chesa-
peake Bay. Oh ! that we could speak on this and other points illustrative of
wheat husbandry, with the pen and the experience of our friend the Farmer of

In our country, the wheat which possesses the highest character for the excel-
lence of its family flour, is the lohiLe wheat of the eastern shore of Maryland,
perhaps, particularly that of Talbot County, and that which comes to the cele-
brated Richmond mills, from the shores of the James River below them. In the
iState of Nevir-York, General Harmon has gained deserved and enviable celebrity
by his persevering attention to this and other important branches of his country's
industry.

But admitting this liability in wheat to change of character by simple transla-
tion to situations and soils less congenial to the perfect development of its most
valuable properties, yet how easy for the farmer to recur again and again, even
from year to year, to the district and the grower who produces for him a kind
which on trial even for a single season he finds will well reward the trouble and
expense of thus procuring it? Ay, and should not even the reputation of sending
a crop of superior quality to his market be its own sufficient inducement and re-
ward for a right minded, honorably ambitious young farmer ? How much more
compatible with the public welfare would be that sort of ambition ! How much
wiser in a people and government to stimulate, and encourage, and succor it,
than to bestow all honors and applause on those who figure in the foreground of
enterprises that consume the substance of the people, and that, while they beget
individual misery and national hatreds, must be recorded in the blood of our fel-
low creatures !

In reference to the soil and the choice of seed, we may aptly quote again Rev.
W. L. Rham, who dwells on the importance of making a good selection, saying,

" Some fai-mers like to change llieir seed often ; others sow the produro of theii- own land
continually, Jtnd both seem persuaded tliat tlieir own j'lan is the best. 'J'he fact is, tliat it is
not always the finest wheat that nudvcs tlie best seed, but it depends on the nature uf the
soil on which it grew. Some soils are renowned, lar and wide, for producing good seed, and
it is well known that this seed degenerates in other soils, so that tlie original soil is resorted
to for fi-esh seed. Many places have been no'.'d for this pecidiarity, and among ihem we
may mention the parish of Burwell in Camb'idgeshire. The wheat wliicli gi-ows there is
mostly sold for seed, at a piicc considerably at. ve the average."

At the' hazard of protracting this a -.icle to an unreasonahlt length, we must
yet copy from the author just referred to what seems worthy of attention on this
point :

" It has been asserted of late, iuid we have no reason to doubt the assertion, that the vari-
ous noted seed-wheats, when analyze<l, are found t<i contain the ditVerent elements of which
they are composed in ntnirly the siurie proportion, especially tlie stiurh and gluten. For
bread, that which contains most gluten is preferred, as we obsen-ed before ; but to produce
a perfect vegetation, there should be no excess of this subsUiiice, nor auy deficiency. The
seed also should have come to perfect maturily. 'I'his lust is usually ol>taiiied by beating
tlie sheaves over a block of wood or a cask, without untying them, by which nieaus the
ripest needs lull out. The proportiou between the starch and glutcu is eaaily ascertained by
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WHEAT. 79

carefully wiisliing the flour when the wheat has been ground. It is most convenient to tie
np the flour in a cloth, wliicli, shaken and beaten in water, will let all the starch pass through,
and ret;iia only the gluten. The operation should be continued as long as the water is
tinged with the white starch. Any one can readily make the experiment; and as the soft
wheats vaiy inuih in the proportion of the gluten lliey contain, the difference will be readily
a-scertaiiied. This leiids to a i)i-aftical conclusion : it" we wish to grow any pecidiar sort oV
wheat for seed, and if we find thiif, by our preparation of the soil, or its oriiiinal comoosi-
tion, we produce a wheat in which the gluten and starch are in a different jHoportion from
that of the original seed, we may coiulnde that this is owing to more or less of azotizeil
matter in the soil, that is, more animal nmnuro, or more vegetable hunms ; and by in-
creasing the one or the other, we may bring our wheat to h.we all the pro])erlies of the ori-
g'nal seed. This h a valuable discovery, and deserves to be fully confirmed by experience."

The attention of the reader would be but ill directed to this subject, without
drawing it to some practical truths evolved by chemical investiiraiion — such as
bear upon the subject of the constituent elements of this grain, and the inferences
to be deduced therefrom, as to the soil and the manures best adapted to its
growth. These points are well laid down again by the reverend gentleman who,
if his religious be equal to his agricultural dissertations, deserves certainly not to
rank among those of his cloth after whom, it is said, the mile-stones in England
are called " Parsons," for the reason that they point the way, but never go it !

" Improved chemic;d an;dysis has discovered vaiious sulistaiices in minute quantities in
the grains and straw of wheat; and this has led to the doctrine that these substances, being
essential to its fonnation, must he excellent manures for it, it" they do ntjt already exist in the
soil in sufficient qu;mtities. Must of these substiiuces are found in all soils which contain
a due proportion cjf clay. Silica in a very minutely divided state, and j>i-obably in combina-
tion with ammonia or pt)tass, seems one of the most important to give due strength to the
straw ; and hence in some soils potass or wood-ashes which contain it may be advantage-
ously used as manures to the young clovers preceding the wheat. The analysis of the ashes
of grains of wheat chosen out of the ears, by Theodore de Saussure, who is generally con-
sidered an excellent authority, gives the foUowuig results :

Silica Oo

Metallic oxides C-25

Loss 7-59

Potass 15

Phosphate of potass 32

Muriate of potass 0-16

Sulphate of potass, a trace

Earthy pliosphates 44-5

The analysis of the ashes of the straw gave the following result :

Potass 12-5

Piiospliato of potass 5

Muriatt> of potass .3

Sulphate of potass 2

Earthy phosphates (i 2

Total ■ 100-

The analysis of the ashes of the whole plant, when in blossom, gives of

Soluble salts 41 I Metallic o.xides O.)

Earthy ])hosphatcs 10-7.5 j Loss 21-5

Earthy carbonates 025

Total 100-

Earthy carbonates I

Silica 61-5

Metallic oxides 1

Loss 7-8

Silica 26 I Total 100-

" By comparhig these results it will appear that from the time of floweiiug to the matu-
rity of the seed, a poition of the soluble sidts is converted into earthy phos])hates ; that silica
acciunulates in the straw, but not in the grain ; iuid as potass is the principal means of ren-
dering the silica sohd)le, it is an im[)ortant ingredient in a wheat soil, as well as the phos-
phoiic acid. This hwt is found chiefly in animal manures."

The plainest and most recent experiment we have met with, on the applica-
tion of lime to wheat land, as a manure, is found in a Discourse on the Use of
Lime, delivered before the Agricultural Society of Albemarle (honored by its age
and yet more by its results), at their fall meeting, 1845, by George BLiETTERMAN,
LL. D., which some friend has been good enough to send us. He thus relates
a single application : " One experiment more, made by myself, with all the ne-
cessary care and accuracy, I shall add here to what I have already said on this
subject. One acre of the field I mentioned to have been found, on analysis, to
have been quite destitute of lime, was manured with stable manure, and plowed

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80 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

in during- summer. At seeding time for ■wheat the half of the said manured acre
was sprinkled ivith fifty bushels of lime, bought for $3, being the screenings or
refuse of lime sold for building purposes. This lime was plowed into the soil,
together with the seed. The produce of the half acre manured only, and not
limed, was four bushels and a peck ; that of the other half acre, equallj^ ma-
nured, Avith the lime in addition, was seven bushels and three pecks. The wheat
from the merely manured half weighed fifty pounds per bushel ; that from the
half acre both manured and limed weighed fifty-nine (being, in the aggregate,
double the former in weight) — so that the first crop after liming, under rather
unfavorable circumstances, paid both for the lime and the labor to haul it out.

It would seem, by-the-by, that manured land, to yield but 4i bushels, must
have been extremely poor, or the loads of manure more like wheel-barrow than
wagon loads. Nothing more indefinite than a "load" of manure — it's like
speaking of a stone that killed the man, which the witness said was as big as a
lump of chalk !

A few days since, in company Avith several gentlemen, on Long Island, we
walked over a farm, and looked at some lots of wheat, of nine acres each, grow-
ing after potatoes, which had received, as the farmer stated, eighty loagon loads
of manure, for which he could have had $1 50 per load at his barn-yard ! But,
then, he next got his something upward of 200 bushels of potatoes to the acre,
off of several of these lots, which brought him 56 cents a bushel ; and, this year,
will reap his 30 bushels to the acre of Mediterranean, and 25 bushels of white
wheat ; and next he will get, from the same land, his 2\ to 3 tons of hay for sev-
eral years — say four to six years — to be consumed by cows, Avhose mnniire is all re-
tained on the farm ! Of these he keeps usually from 60 to 120, for all of which his
stable is perfectly well arranged ; and out of these he has had, at one time, a lot
of 25, that yielded twenty-five quarts of milk each ; all of which is sold at 6i
cents a quart in the New-York market — making for these 25 in this flow of milk
$1 62| a day each, or over $40 a day for the 25, or for thirty days $1,200 !

But as, some of these days, we design to give, for the entertainment of more
distant readers, the statistics of one of these milk establishments, let us return to
the preparation of seed ivheat.

We turn to this point of our subject the more anxiously, as we must confess,
from the perusal of a letter just received from Col. N. Goldsborough, of Talbot
county, Maryland — dated Otwell, 2Sth June, 1846 — in which we are sorry to find
a passage, at once so dismal and so instructive, on the subject of steeps, or pick-
ling, for seed wheat : " My wheat is wretchedly bad ; fly, scab, rust, and smut
— all, all, have assailed it. I abandoned my former plan of liming and brining,
and adopted the glauber salt, which was so highly recommended ; and it was
carried out strictly to the letter ; but I have been greatly disappointed." Thus
are we brouglit more emphatically to consider the subject of steeps.

Without waiting to inquire whether any kind of steep can act as a manure, to
the extent of perceptibly increasing the crop — but meaning to do so, on some
early occasion — the universality of the practice of steeping seed wheat in Eng-
land, and by the most judicious of American farmers, as the means of preventing
or diminishing certain diseases, as smut and rust, ought to be sufiicicnt to prevail
witli every farmer not to omit it ; for, besides that it is maintained, on the obser-
vation of the most observing and judicious, to be destructive of the fungi to which
these diseases are said to owe their origin, the undeniable fact that it affords a
ready and convenient method of floating ofl' other seeds and unsound grams,

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WHEAT. 81

and other offal matter, ought to constitute a sufficient inducement to the
practice.

The question is, what forms the best steep, and how it can be most easily put
in use ?

Virgil speaks of having seen farmers sprinkling their wheat with carbonate
of soda ; but Jelhro Tull says, in 1(360, that brining, as an antidote to smuttiness,
was discovered in the following manner: "A ship-load of wheat was sunk
near Bristol, in the autumn, and afterward at ebb all taken up, after it had
been soaked in sea-water ; but, it being unfit for making bread, a farmer sowed
some of it, and, Avhen it was found to grow very well, the whole cargo was
bought at a low price by many farmers, and sown in many places. At the
following harvest, all the wheat in England happened to be smutty, except
the produce of this brined seed, which Avas all exempt from smuttiness. This
accident has been sufficient to justify the practice of brining ever since." He
elsewhere, however, conjectures that its exemption may have been owing to its
coming from a country free from that disease.

For pickling wheat the following directions are given by Professor Low:

Let a tiib be provided, and partly tilled with nrine, and let a qtiaiitity of wheat, as a
b'«shel, bo put in at a time. Let the wheat be well stirred, and let all the lighter grains
Avliich come to the top be skimmed carefully off", and ihrowii aside as useless. The wheat
should remain from five to ten minutes, but never more than ten minutes, in the pickle. —
The successive portions of wheat thus pickled are to be allowed to drain a httle, and then to
be laid upon the barn-floor in layers, hot lime being at the same time silted upon each layer.
The purpose of spreading the lime is to di'y the grain, which should then be canned imme-
diately to the fields and sown. The lime used should be quite hot, and for this pui-]:)08e it
should bo slacked at the time. Although the immediate purpose served by the application
of lime is drying the gi'aiu, it may be beheved that it also Eissists the action of the brine m.
removing the tendency to the disease.

A vei-y stiong pickle of salt dissolved in water may be used instead of urine ; but salt-
brine is not quite s« secure a means of preventing the disease as urine ; and the latter, there-
fore, ought to be preferred.

The vvlieut, after being pickled, must not remain long unsowii, otherwise its vegetative
powers may be injui-ed or desti-oyed. No more should be pickled at a time than can be
then sown. When, from any caTise, as from rain intervening, it is not practicable to sow the
wheat for a day or two, it should be spread tliinly upon the floor, but never kept in sacks,
in which it would soon ferment.

The wheat, when pickled, then, is to be can-ied directly to the field. It may be sown,
either by the hand or by the broadcast sovAang-macliine, in the manner already described, or
iii rows by the drill-machine.

When it is sown in drills, the usual distance between the rows is from 9 to 12 inches ; but
it is conceived that the larger intervals ai"e the better, and that they may, in most cases, b»>
with advantiige more than 1-2 inches.

The qu;uitity of seeds usuajly sown is from two to three bushels to the acre. In the case
of sumraer-tiillow, the quantity need not exceed two bushels to the acre. When the sowing
takes place hi spmg, the quantity may be extended to three bushels, but rather less than
more.

When the seeds are sowii by the drill-machine, a single or a double turn of the harrows
will snflice. When they are sown broadcast, the land must receive several harro\\dngs, but
no more than are sufficient to cover the seeds — it being better in the case of wheat that there
be a certiiin roughness of clod. A double turn along the rid?e, a double turn across, and
again a shigie tuni along, w^Ul in almost every case sutHce ; and often less, namely, a double
turn along, a single turn across, and a single turn along ; but many farmers prefer finishing
with a turn across.

No sooner is the process of harrowing executed than the land is to be water-furrowed in
the followuig manner : The common plow, with one horse, is to pass once along each water-
fiirrow, and then along tlie wator-furrovvs of the head-lands, and to draw farther open fur-
rows in such hollows of the field as water might stagnate in. A person is then to follow with
a spade, to clear out the water-fuiTow of the headlands to the necessary depth ; to make
channels through the headlands to the ditch, where necessary ; to clear out the cross-fuiTows
in the hollows, so as to allow the water to nin ; and to open uj) the intersectioas of the water-
iiirrows of the ridges with these cross-fiirrows, and the water-furrows of the headlands.

The best period of sowing, it has been said, is from about the middle to the end of Sep-

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82 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

tembnr. The early part of Oc tf)bcr, however, is well suited to llie sowing of wheat, and it
may be continued till the middle of November, or later.

^Vheat may be advantageously sown after potatoes. This crop is generally removed from
the ground early in October, which admits of the wheat being sown before winter. In the
case of this crop, tlie laud being first harrowed, it is then formed into ridges, and the wheat
is sown upon these, precisely as in the (;ase of summcr-iidlow.

Every one must have observed how much wheat is liable to be " thrown out"
in the spring, resulting in serious diminution of the crop. To guard against that,
a writer in the Farmer's Magazine says he sowed his wheat by a plow drawn by
two horses, five or six inches deep, and covered it with the neat furrow at ten or
eleven inches breadth. He never harrowed it after sowing, and " horse's foot
never trod on it." The wheat, he says, was covered by the deepest part of the
furrow, and, to the surprise of himself and neighbors, tlte wheat thus sown and
covered came up sooner than wheat sown on the same day, in the common broad-
cast way, on some adjacent land of similar quality, treated in other respects in
the same manner as to plowing, liming, &c. through the summer. He goes on
to remark :

As it is well known that wheat prefers a stiff soil to a loose one, I attributed the rapidity
of gi'owth to the stiff soil suiting the wheat more than the loose broadcast ; for it not only
came sooner, but kept the start it got, and now, after heavy rains and frost, looks better —
the ground not being nin together and battered with the vsanter rains, as the broadcast wheat
is ; and, having examined it during severe frost, I found that the roots of the plant had not
suffered by it, wliUe that sown broadcast had. The roots of the drilled wheat were actuedly
considerably longer than the broadcast sown the same day ; I have, therefore, little doubt
that I shall most probably have a stiuiding crop of wheat in place of a lodged one, or at least
not so soon lodged, and that I shall escape the root falling from the s]iring frost. It is well
known that in England an insti-ument called the pressor is used in light soils to linn the
ground, and also that .sheep are often pastured or diiven over it for that pui-pose. Another
advantage of this plan of sowing is, that all trouble and time of harrowing is saved ; and, if
sudden rain comes on, the sowing is stojiped at once, without the risk of bemg half hiir-
rowed ; the ground is also much more cloddy in w^intei' — thus aflbrduig shelter to the yoxmg
plants, and an excellent cover for gi-ass seeds, if sown in a dry, bleak, frosty morning, with-
out harrowing, by the decomposition and falling down or mouldering of the ground, as the
day advances, and the effects of the sun are felt on it. My experiment extended over two
fields, comprehending about twenty acres ; and I haiTowed part of the one field, and I think
the part unharrowed looks better than the harrowed : however, time will show which has
succeeded best. I was thrice stopped by rain during the sowing, but, as I sjiid above, felt
no inconvenience from it.

In apparent corroboration of the above as to the object of plowing in wheat,
Mr. Mills, five miles out on the Jamaica road from Williamsburgh on the East
River, whose farm is the one to which we have alluded, says he plowed in, late
in October, the lot of Mediterranean wheat last referred to, and which, it was
judged, would yield thirty bushels after a crop of a f/action over 200 of potatoes.

This wheat, sowed late in October, and plowed in, did not come up to show
itself until the spring. We should judge it to be very nearly five feet high over
the entire field.

Proposing to publish in our next the prize essay of Professor Henslow on the
diseases of wheat, we must draw this dissertation to a close by quoting from
Doctor Undeiuiill, President of the Westchester Agricultural Society, a prac-
tical and scientific agriculturist, one who so far pays respect to the profession as
to believe that it loses nothing either of profit or dignity, by acting on the per-
suasion that it, too, is an art that has its principles to he consulted, ils right and
its wrong way of proceeding, and requires and will reward investigation and
study. We would sooner learn the right way, finally, through the errors of such
men, than to go right, blindfolded and by chance ; though we apprehend no error
in this case ; on the contrary, it agrees, for the most part, with what we should
have written, though not as well, from our own observation and the beet authorities.

(]78)

WHEAT. 83

We find the letter in the ponderous work of the United States Government, like
(not to stray from our subject) good wheat in a mass of chaff.

" Land that has been vvf.ll manured in a previously cultivated croj), such as corn and po-
tatoes, is, with proper plowing and harrowing, very suhable for winter wheat. It is always
best that the manure should liave boon ap|)lii'il in the jirevioiis crop, particularly if it is rank
or recently funned; or your wheat will produce too much straw, be weak and fall down.
There are a few exceptions to this nde. Bone dust, oily lish, street manure, &c. have often
been applied at the time of sowing, to secure a good croj). A .sandy loam, v\-ith a good sup
ply of calcareous earth or lime, forms the I)est soil for wheal — a cei-tain amount of sand or
-•"ilex, clay, and lime, being essential to secure a good crop.* When I say that the land
should be thorou'^hly plowed three or four times, and haiTowed as often, I am fully aware
of what is the usu.il practice, fuid also of the loss sustiiined by only one i)lowing and two liar-
rowings. I no not applv these observations 1o land just cleared from the forest, (though then
the more and better the plowing, tlie larger tlie crop,) or the prairie sod just tunie<l over,
but to the land in all the old States, and all laiuls long under cultivation. The ol)ject in
plowing the gi-ound so nuich, is to turn under more completely atmospheiic air, which con-
sists of nitroijen, oxygen, and carbonic acid, a thorough mechanical mixture of which with
the soil will insure a gi'c.at increase of crop ; it also acts as a manure. The ihoj-ough pulver-
izing of the soil, so as to make it (im^ is secured in this way, which renders it so nuich bet-
ter for the fine roofs in the early growth of the plant to get well rooted hefLire winter sets in,
thus .securing it from being wiuter-kille<l. 'J'liis also enables you to pasture your sheep and
young cattle upon it in the fore ptirt of November without any leai- of pulling it up. They
will secure it from the Hessian fly by eating oirihe larvae.

" It is also very important to prepare the seed properly ; you should \m\c tlie most phimp
and clean seed tiiat can be obtained. Six shillings or a dollai- more per busliel for the best
of seed is no consideration, when the advantages are taken iuto the account. In a barrel or
half hogshead make a brine that will beai" an egg, from the old salt taken from your meat
and tish casks ; or, if you have not saved this, ordinary fine or coarse salt, the former dis-
solving much the soonest, and is generally prefen-ed for that reason. Put in one, two, or
tliree bushels of wheat, and mix well with the brines, and skun otT all the chess and other
foul seed and light wheat lliat rises to the top. There should be brine enough to cover the
wheat three inches deep. Stir up the wheat with a stick occasionally, and let it remain in
the brine three or four hours. Some persons let it remain all night ; but 1 think there is
s(jme danger of swelUng the giain and acting upon the farina too much by leaving it so long
in the brine, and there is no real necessity for it. Draw off the brine into another cask, juid
lay the wheat on an oblique surface, .so that the brine may draw off'; then to every bushel
of wheat add three or four quarts of fine air-slaked hine, aiid rake and shovel it through
every p;irt, so that every gi-ain is coated with the lime, and the seed as much separated as
possible from each otlier. (Some good fanners use more lime than the above.) If you
have not lime, and cannot readily obt<iin it, use niileached wood a.shes instead. You must
measure your wheat before you ])repare it, or you will likely, when you sow it, put less
seed in than is proper. You will also find it difficult, from the increased bulk to hold
enotigh each time in the hand. It is, therefore, better to sow twice, and at right angles;
that is, take rather less than usual in the hand, and when you have gone over the field, be-
gin imd sow it over again in the same direction, (across the first sowing.) You wiU thus
have it mare even, and secure sufiicient seed, which is rarely the case. \Vhen you have
taken pains to prepare your land wc-11. use plenty of good seed — a virtue rarely practiced in
this part of the world. The object gained by the above preparation of the seed is, first, you
destroy all the smut, which is a jiaiasitical plant j)Iaced on the furzy end of the grain ; also
all the eggs of insects, that frequently may be seen with a glass on the same part of the grain.
The salt and lime also act as a manure to stimulate the genu of the young plant, so as greatly
to invigorate it in the early stage of its growth. Yours, truly, R. T. L'>D1'.RHILL, M. D "

* Mr. Town.'=end, to whose farm ancl good husbandry we have before alluded, pointed out a portion of
his oat-field where the crop was very manifestly the l)ek in the field, heavy as it all was, and observed that
ho had spread on that part IIX) bushels of lime "to the acre : and he, without perhaps having ever read a
word about the action of lime, called our attention cmphalically to see ho7P well it stood tip'.

In another field where a load of stable manure had been dropped, althouiih afterward scraped up and
carried off, the oats had fallen, or " lodged." and smothered the arass, because the snaw wanted the
quality of strength, which it is the provincre and property of lime to impart, by means of the silica or flint
with which it invests it. These are facts which all young fanners will know beforehand, without waiting
for experience, when our country conies to abound in .such schools as now abound in Germany for teach'
ing the. principlfs of Agriculture. " The fruit of ihese excellent establishments," says a modem traveler,
•■ h.is been chictly to lay a foundation in the minds of a large class of the people, that disposes them to in-
dustrious activity, and has prepared highly useful agents for the management of farms and iiianufacturing
e8tabli8hm<'nt3. " Few young men would now think of offering thnn.'^dves for the place of bailiff or farming
agents, without pos'scssing tistimonials of their fitness from some of these colleges. The scitnlijic eiplonations
which any inquiring; traveler can receive at the hands of almost any young man so occupied on large es-
tates respecting the soil, cUmate. manners, dtc. of the locality, will ollcn excite surprise, and no less so the
calculations by which they judge whether irapinved processes ought to be adopted, and where additional
outlay or increased economy is tlia more judicious plan to follow." We would almost agree to live oa
yumpernickel to have the sume said for our countiT. [Ed. Farm. Lib.

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84 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

FOREIGN CATTLE.

Under this head, there are some timely and very just remarks, in the last
number of the American Agriculturist, which we would copy if We liad room.
We have no false pride or narrower or more ignoble motive which would prevent
us at any time from copying from other agricultural papers what may be deemed
useful and appropriate. On the contrary, we often find in them such tilings, bet-
ter expressed than we could hope to present them ; but it seems most proper that
we should generally avoid the path in which we may suppose they are traveling,
so that our readers, who we sincerely hope are also readers of our cotemporaries,
may have the greater variety of dishes spread before them.

We had laid aside some items from the last Cultivator, for which we find we
have not room. We have been wanting to publish the Report by Mr. Phinney on
the importation of cattle by the Massachusetts Agricultural Society, with some re-
marks ; and among others the expression of our conviction that as good Devoiis
might have been had, at one-third the price they cost, of Mr. Pattekson, near
SykesviUe, Maryland, who would sooner give away a superior, than sell an in-
ferior animal, as a breeder.

It was from his stock, produce of his latest importations, that Mr. Lewis
Allen procured, several years since, some choice yearlings, which must now
be offering fine stock in the neighborhood of Buffalo. In what spirit they were
bought, and whether they are likely to have been kept pure, and whether the
enterprise deserves domestic encouragement, may be inferred from the fact that
they were selected and taken all the way to BuiTalo, under tlie vigilant personal
care of the venerable father of the purchaser, who at three score and ten abates
nothing of the zeal inherited by his stock — to whom may be applied the maxim
in breeding, that "like begets like."

Of Mr. Randall of New-Bedford, Mass. and from other gentlemen named in
the American Agriculturist, it may be presumed that Ayrshiros and other breeds
may now be had equal to the imported stock from which they are descended,
and probably at not more than one-third the price. Under these circumstances
we are sure our readers will agree that when cattle, or other animals, of equal
excellence and purity of blood, are to be had in the United States, the common
interest of all dictates that they should have a preference, even at. the same price,
..much more when they can be had for one-third.

This recurrence to foreign stock was proper and patriotic, until the home sup-
ply became adequate to the demand, and the guaranty of distinctness and purity
of blood sufficient to warrant full confidence. But there all importation should
cease, else is there to be no commencement of encouragement and reward to
those who have been at the expense and, as it would now seem, great risk of
supplying the country 1 There is no reason to doubt, that those who wish, may
now be supplied, in our own country, with pure blood Short-Horns, North Dev-
on, Hereford and Ayrshire cattle — willi Disfilcj/ or BnkeweU, Merino, South-
doivn. Saxony and Lincolnshire sheep. The Ayrshires lately imported by Mr.
John Colt, Jr., and to be seen on his farm near Paterson, are very choice speci-
mens of their breed, and cost about $350 each at landing in this country.
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RANDALL'S GEOLOGY. 85

In regard to Devons, so beautiful in themselves, so thrifty, so rich in milk, and
so docile in the yoke — we are not so familiar with otlicr herds — but, if we were
in the way of betting, we would freely wager that there is not in all old Eng-
land a herd snpenoT, if c(/ual for I /tc number, (which is very large,) to that which
grazes on the broad and fertile fields of Mr. Patterson. There have been Devons,
however, advertised near Baltimore, picked up here and there in the way of trade,
that may or may not have been altogether of the " true grit."

Finally, we heartily concur with the Editor of the American Agriculturist in
saying —

" Let us now sustain each other — at least until our domestic demand shall carry prices up
to something like a compensating ammiiit for the heavy capital already invested in our im-
prove<l stock ; or until the reduced clunipness on tlie other side the Atlantic~shall be a suffix
cient reason for passing by animals and herds of equal excellence on this."

RANDALL'S GEOLOGY.

INCENTIVES TO THE CULTIVATION OF THE SCIENCE OF GEOLOGY. Designed for the Use
OP THE Young. Bv S. .S. Rand.ai«-, Depiuy Superintendent of Common Schools of the State of New.
Yorlc. New-York : Greeley 6c McElnith.

We can deem no apology necessary for appealing, again and again, to parents
and to all men who have influence, political or social, to make it their first care
to watch over our common schools, and to see that such books are placed in the
hands, and such direction given to the minds of our youth, as will beget an earlv
fondness for reading, and an eagerness to explore those fields of knowledge in
which all acquisition must, more or less directly, contribute to their success in
the business by which they are to gain their livelihood, and by which those who
are destined for Agriculture may at the same time entitle themselves to rank with
the cultivated men of other professions.

It gives us unfeigned delight whenever a new book falls in our way which
seems calculated to lead to this result, by adapting natural sciences to the com-
prehension of the young, and, in that way, smoothing the otherwise rugged path
over which they might have to travel in pursuit of entertaining and useful know-
ledge.

Of such a nature and tendency is the small volume, " Incentives to the Culti-
vation OF the Science of Geology, Designed for the Use of the Young ; bv
S. S. Randall, Deputy Superintendent of Common Schools of the Slate of New-
York," which has been laid on our table by the Publishers, Greeley & McElrath.
To our own Sillijian (it is of such men a country has a right to be proud), and
to Lyell, who has traveled much and recently in America, the scientific world
is much indebted for the means of dilFusing a knowledge of modern geological
discoveries.

Its connection with Agriculture — lying, as it does, at the foundation of agricul-
tural science — is too obvious to need any illustration. Enough to repeat what has
been said in general terms, that

" There is this, therefore, to recommend geology, that it excites a distinct interest in the
external characters of a countiy or district, inde[)endent of the beauties, or mgirediiess. or
sublimity of its as;)ect, or of its geographical peculiarities, and endeavors to trace a cfMinectiou
between its exterior features and /«/er/o/- structure ; and in these, its sim])lest details.it
bears upon Agriculture, and ultimately upon all tho.se numerous arts in which mineral sub-
stances are concenied. The fanner should be a geologist, smd so should the architect : the
miner and the mineralogist must be so. But this is, as it were, the mere title of the volume ;
for when we come more narrowly to penise its contents, we do indeed find it "as a book
wherein man may read sti-ange matters." It is full of relics, so extraordinaiy as to arivst the
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86 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

attention of the moat superficial inquirer, and to awaken the deepest interest in the pliilo
sophic^observer : it is thronged with records of stiange and miglity changes and convulsions;
of revolutions in climate, and in tiie genei'a and sjjecies of the organic creation; it carries the
mind back to a period indefinitely remote, when our present continents were at the bottom
of the ocean, from which they seem to have been elevated sometimes by the slowest degrees,
and at others by a more rapid and violent cause, and when botii sea and land were tenanted
by distinct tribes and races of extraordinary animals and vegetables ; it shows that everything
as we now find it has been gradually and successively developed, as it were, and that man
himself has appeared but late upon this siugulai" stage."

Mr. Randall says — and therein has displayed a^aia his <Tood judgment — lliat
" the purely scientific details and technical language, with which the practical
geologist is familiar, have been, as far as possible, purposely avoided, in order to
disencumber the general survey of the ample field thus opened to view of those
perplexities and embarrassments which their introduction in the elementary stage
of our inquiries could scarcely fail to induce."

ENTOMOLOGY— THE SPIDER.

We have already and repeatedly set forth the light in which we regard the
study of natural history, in all its branches, and the importance of making works
illustrative of it a portion of the course of sludy in all our schools. Boys might
be made so fond of it as to regard it as a pastime, and almost to relinquish for it
their play-time and vacations.

However difficult, says a charming writer, it may be entirely to comprehend
the phenomena we daily witness, everything in nature is full of instruction.

" Thus, the humblest flower of the field — although, to one whose curiosity has not been
excited, and whose understanding has, therefore, remained uninformed, it may a})pear worth-
less and contemptible — is valuable to the botanist, not only with regard to its j)lace in the
arrangement of this portion of the Creator's works, but as it leads his mind forward to tlie
consideration of those beauliftd provisions for the supporf of vegetable lite, which it is the
part of the physiologist to study and to admire.

" Tliis train of reasoning is peculiarly applicable to the economy of insects. They consti-
tute a very large and iuteresting part of the animal kingdom. They are everj'where about
us. The spider weaves his curious web in oiu- houses ; the caterpillar constructs his silken
cell in our gardens: the wasp that liovers over our food has a nest not far renioveil fi-oni us,
which she has assisted to build witli the nicest art; the beetle that crawls across our ])atli is
also an ingenious ;md laborious mechanic, and has some curious instincts to exhibit to those
who will feel an interest in watching his movements ; and the moth tliat eats into our clothes
has something to ]ilead for our jiity, for he came, like us, naked into the world, and he has
destroyed our garments, not in malice or wantonness, but that he may clothe himself with
the same wool which we have stri))iied from tlie ^lleep. An obsi'ivation of the habits of these
little creatures is full nf vahiable lessons, wliicli the abundance of the examples has no ten-
dency to dimini.sh. The more such observalituis <ue muhi plied, the more are we led for-
ward to the freshest and the most delightfid parts of knowledge — the more do we learn to
estimate rightly the extraordinary provisions and most abundant resources of a creative Prov-
idence— and the better do we ai)pi-eciate our own relations with all llie iniinite varieties of
Nature, and our dependence, in common with the cphemeron that flutters its litde hour in
the sunnner sun, upon that Being in whose scheme of existence the humblest ;is well as the
highest creature has its destined puri)oses."

In these views we recur again and for the last time, for the amusement of our
readers, to the " Pastoral Life of the Ancients," for the following observations
on the Avorks of a predatory insect, whose hahits and cunning contrivances are
among the first lessons which Nature teaches us, witliout books, and almost as
soon as she opens our faculties of observation :

Of spiders there are many species ; most of them extend their labors iin farther than mere-
ly to make a web to ensnare and detain tlieir food. But othei-s are known to go beyond tliis,
and spin a bag in the form of a cocoon, for the protection of their eggs, nearly similar to that
of the silk-wonn.
(t82J

%s

\

ENTOMOLOGY THE SPIDER. 87

. . . Spiders, according to the dissections of M. Treviianus, have four principal ves-
sels, two larger and two smaller, with a number of miiiute ones at their base. Several small
tubes branch toward the reservoirs, for canning to them, no doubt, a snpjjly of the secreted
material. . . From these little llasks or bags of gum, situated near the apex of the abdo-
men, and not at the mouth as in caterpillars, a tid)e originates, and terminates in the external
spiuuerets, which may be seen by the naked eye in the fonn of live little teats suiTounded
by a small ciritle, as represented in Fig. 8, I'late IV.; tljis iignre shows the garden spider
(Epeira dladema) sus|)ended by a thread proceeding from its spinneret. . . On looking
with a strong magnifying glass, at the teat-shaped spinnerets of a spidcir, we pei'ceive them
studded with regular rows of minute bristle-like points, about a thousand to each teat, mak-
ing in all friini hvo to si.x thousand. These are minute tubes which we may appropriately
tenii spiiinendcs, as each is connected with the intennd reservoirs, and emits a thread of in-
conceivable fmeness. Fig. 9 represents this wonderfi.il apparattis as it appears in the micro-
scope.

We do not recollect that naturalists have ventured to assign any cause for this very re-
markable tnulfi[)licity of the spinneniles of spiders, so diftei-ent from the simple sjjinneret of
caterpillars. To us it appears an admirable provision for their mode of life. Caterpillars
neither require such strong materials, nor that their thread should dry as (|uickly. It is well
known in our manufactures, particidarly in rope-spinning, that in cords of etjual thickness,
those which are composed of many smaller ones united are stronger than those spun at once.
In the instance of the spider's thread, this principle must hold still more strikingly, hiasmuch
as it is composed of fluid materials that require to be dried rapidly, and this drying nmst be
CTeatly facilitatful by exposing so many to the air separately before their luiioii, which is ef
fected at about the tenth of an inch from the spinnerets. In Fig 10, I'late IV. each of the
threads showai is represented to contain one hundred minute threads, the whole fonuing only
one of the spider's common threads. In the figure the threads are, of course, gi'eady magni-
fied, so that, for the small sj)ace represented, the lines are showni as parallel. . .

Reauunn- relates that he has often counted as many as seventy or eight)- fibres through a
microscope, and perceived that there were yet uifinitely more than he could reckon ; so
that he believed liimself to lie far within the limit of tiiitli in computing that the tip of eack
of the five pa])ilhe funiished 1,000 separate fibres : thus supposing that one slender filament
of a spider's web is made up of ,5,000 fibres!

Leeuwenhoeck, in one of his extraordinary microscopical obsen'ations on a young spider,
not bigger than a grain of sand, upon enumerating the threadlets in one of its threads, calcu-
lated that it would require /o7/r millions of them to be as thick as a hair of his head !

Another important advant^ige derived by the spider from the multiplj(-it)- of its threadlets
is, tliat the thread affords a much more secure attachment to a wall, a branch of a tree, or
any other object, than if it were simple: for, upon pressing the spinneret against the object,
as spiders always do when they fix a thread, the spinneiides are extended over an area of
some diameter, from eveiy hair's breadth of which a strand, as rope-makers tenn it, is ex-
tended to compound the main cord. Fig. 11, Plate IV. exhibits, magnified, this ingenious
contrivance. Those who may be curious to examine it, will see it best when the Ime is
attached to any black object, for the threatls, being whitish, are, in otherwise, not so easily
perceived.

Shooting of thk link*. — It has long been considered a curious though difficult investiga-
tion, to detemiine in what manner spiders, seeing that they are destitute of wings, ti-ansport
themselves from ti-ee to tree, across brooks, and fretpiently through the air itself, without
any apparent starting point. On looking into the authors who have ti-eated upon this sub-
ject, it is suiprising how little there is to be met with that is new, even in the most recent.

Here the author gives the theories of various writers, which, we agree with
him, seem to be neither reasonable nor satisfactory — some of them proved to be
unfounded and impracticable ; and finally he inclines to that of Mr. Blackwall,
who says :

Having procured a small branched twi?, I fixed it upright in an earthen vessel containing
water, its base being iiniuersed in the li()ui(l, and upon it I placed several of the spiders which
produce gossamer. Whenever the insects thus circumstanced were exposed to a current of air.
either naturally or artificially produced, thcj- directly turned the thorax toward the quarter whence
it came, even \vhen it was so .slight as scarcely to be perceptible, and elevating the abdomen,
they emitted from their spinners a small portion of glutinous matter, which was instantly carried
out in a line, consisting of four liner ones, with a velocity equal, or nearly so, to that witli which
the air moved, as was apparent from observations made on the motion of detached linos similarly
expo.sed. The spider.s, in the next place, carefully a.sccrtained whether their lines had become
firmly attached to any object or not, by pulling at them with the front pair of legs : and il the re-
sult was satisfactory, after tightening them sufhriently, they made them pass to the twig ; then
discharging from their spinners, which they applied to the spot where they stood, a little more of
their liqjiid gum. and committing themselves to these bridges of Uieir own constructing, they
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88 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

passed over them in safety, drawing a second line after them, as a security in case tlie first gav6
way, and so effected ilieir escape."

Nf.sts, Webs, and Nkts of Spiders. — " Of all ports of insects," says Mr. Rennie, " none have
afforded me more divertisemrnt than the vena/ores (hunters), which are a sort of h/pi (wolve.s)
that have their dens in rafju'od walls and crevices of our houses; a small brown and delicately
spotted kind of spiders, whose hinder legs are longer than the rest. Such I did frequently ob-
serve at Rome, which, espying a fly at three or four yards distance, upon the balcony where I
stood, would not make directly to her, bnf, crawl vnder the mil, liU being arrived tu the antipo-
des, it would steal up, seldom missing its aim ; hrit if it chanced to want anything of being
perfectly opposite, would, at first peep, immediately slide do7vn again — till taking better notice,
it would come the next time exactly vpon the fly's hack : hut if this happened not to be within a
competent leap, then would this insect move so softly, as the very shadow of the gnomon seemed
not to be more imperceptible, unless the fly moved ; and then would the spider more also in the
same proportion, keeping that jnst time with her motion, as if tiie same soul had animated
both these little bodies ; and whether it were forward, backward, or to either side, without at all
turning her body, like a well-managed horse ; but if the cap7-icio-us fly took wing and pitched
■upon another place behind our huntress, then would the spider whirl its body so nimbly about
as nothing could be imagined more sivift ; by which means she always kept the head tcnoard
her prey, though, to appearance, as immovable as if it had been a nail driven into the icood, till
by that indiscernible progress (being arrived within the sphere of her reach) she made a fatal
leap, swift as lightuiug. upon the fly. catching him in the pole, where she never quitted hold till
her belly was full, and then carried the remainder home.'"

One feels a little skeptical, however, when he adds,

"I have beheld them instriicting their young ones how to hunt, which they \^'ould sometimes
discipline for not well observing ; but when any of the old ones did (as sometimes) miss a leap,
they would run outof theflcJd and hide themselves iji their crannies, as ashamed, andhaply not
to be seen abroad for four or five hours after ; for so long have 1 watched the nature of this
strange insect, the contemplation of whose so v^onderful .sagacity and address has amazed me ;
nor do I find in any cha.se whatsoever more cunning and stratagem ob.served. 1 have (ound some
of these spiders in my garden, when the weather toward spring, was very hot, but they are not
BO eager in hunting as in Italy*."

We have only to add to this lively narrative, that the hunting-s})ider, when he leaps, take*
good care to provide against accidental falls by always swinging himself from a good strong
cable of silk, as Svvammerdam coiTectly states,t and which anybody may recognize as one
of the small hunters (Salticus scenicus), known by its back striped with black and white
like a zebra.

The geometric or net-working spider (see Fig. 12) are as well known as any of the pre-
ceding; almost every bush and tree in our gardens and hedge-rows having one or more of
their nests stretched out in a vertical position between adjacent branches. The common
garden spider (Epeira diaderna), and the long-ljodied spider (Tctragnatha extensa), are
the best known of this order.

" The chief care of a spider of this sort," says Mr. Rennie, " is, to form a cable of sufficient
strength to bear the net she means to hang upon it ; and after throwing out a floating line as above
described, when it catches properly, she doubles and redoubles it with additional threads. On
trying its strength she is not contented with the test of pulling it with her legs, but drops herself
down several feet from various points of it, as we have often seen, swinging and bobbing with
the whole weight of her body. She proceeds in a similar manner with the rest of the frame of
her wheel-shaped net ; and it may be remarked that some of the ends of these lines are not sim-
ple, but in form of a Y, giving her the additional security of two attachments instead of one."

In constructing the body of the nest, the most remarknble circumstance is the using of
her limbs as a measiu-e, to regulate the distiuices of her radii or wliecl-spokes (see Fig. 12,
Plate IV. which presents the geometric net of the " Epeira diaderna'' ), iuid the circular
meshes interwoven into them. These are consequently always proportional to the size of
the spider. She often takes tip her station in the center, but not always, though it is so
said by inaccurate writers ; but slie as frecpiently lurks in :i little cliamber constructed under
a leaf or other shelter at tiie comer of her web, ready to dart down ujjon whatever prcv
may be entangled in her net. The center of the net is said also to be composed of more
viscid materials than its suspensory lines — a circumstance alleged to be proved l)y the fonner
appearing under tlie microscope studded with gloI)ule8 of gtmi.t " We have not been able,"
eays Mr. Rennie, " to verify this distinction, having seen the suspensory lines as often stud-
ded in this manner as those in the center."

At the coininencetnent of the liist century, a method was discovered in France by Mon-
sieur Bon, of procuring silk from spiders' bags, and its use was attempted in the mainifac-
ture of several articles. Mr. Bon has, however, noticed only two kinds of silk-making spi-
ders, and these lie has distinguished from each other as having cither long or short legs, the
last variety producing the finest quality of raw silk. According to this ingenious obsen-er,

* Evelyn'B Travels in Italy. 1 Book of Nature, part j. p. i?4. % Kirby and Spence, Intr. i 419.

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ENTOMOLOGY THE SPIDER. 89

the silk formed by these insects is equally beautiful, strong, and glossy with that formed by
the bilk-wonii.

. . . After a long and patient exainination M. Reaumur stated the following objectioiia
to Mr. Bon's plan for raibing spider-silk, vvhicli have ever since been regarded as insurmount'
able:

1 . The natural fierceness of spiders renders them unfit to be bred together. On distrib-
uting four or five thousand of these insects into ci.-lls or companies of from fifty to one or two
hundred, it was found that the larger spiders quickly killed and ate the smaller, so that in a
short space of time the cells were depopidated, scarcely more than one or two being found
in each cell.

2. The silk of the spider is inferior to tliat of the silk-wurni both in lustre and strength ;
and produces less in proportion, than can be made available t()r the pin-jioses of the manu-
facture. The lilauient of llie sjiidcr's Ittig can supjiorl a weight of only thirty-si.x grains, while
that of the silk-wona will sustain a weight of (jue hundred ;uid fifty grains. Thus four or
five threads of the spider must be brought together to equal cue threiid of the silk-worm,
iuid as it is impossible that tlicse should be applied so accurately over each other as not to
leave bttlo vacant spaces between them, the light is not equally ledected, and the lustre of
the material is consequently infenor to that in which a solid thread is used.

3. A great disadvantage of the spider's silk is, that it cannot be wound otf the ball like that
of the silk-wonn, but must necessarily be carded. By this latter process, its evenness, which
condibutes so materially to its lustre, is destj-oycd.

The ferociousness and pugnacity of the spiders are not exaggerated ; they fight like furies.
Their voracity, too, is almost incredible, and it is very questionable whether the mere col-
lection of Hies sufficient to feed a lurge number of the spiders would not involve an amount
of expense fatal to the project iis a lucrative imdcrtakiug. 'J'he strength of the spiders' fila-
ment is, if anything, overstated by Reaumur. Deficiency of lustre arising from the carding
of the filaments is common to the spider-fabric and to spun silk ; this objection would, per-
haps, not be of very great weiglit but for the decisive calcidatlon by wliich Reaimiur showed
tlie comparative amount of production between the si)ider and the sUk-wonn.

The largest cocoons weigh four, and the snuiller three grains each ; spider-bags do not
■weigh above one grain each ; and, after being rle<u-ed of their dust, have lost t\\-o-tliirds of
this weight; therefore X\ic irork of twelve sp/drrn equals that ot only vnc nilk-irorm ; and a
pound of spider-silk wotdd require for its production 27,643 insects. But as the bags are
wholly the work of the females, who spin them as a deposit for their eggs, it follows that .55,-
296 spiders must be reared to yield one pound of silk : yet this will be obtained only from
the best spiders — those large ones orcUuarily seen in gardens, &c. yielding not more than a
twelfth part of the silk of the others. The work of 280 of these woidd therefore not yield
more silk than the produce of one industi'ious silk-worm, audCG3,552 of them woidd flu'nish
only one pound of silk ! . . .

Thk Ingknuity of Spiders. — Mr. Thomas Ewbank of New- York, in aletter to the Editor
of the Journal of IJie Franklin Institute, bearing date September 20tli, 1842, gives us the fol-
lowing interesting descrijjtion of the ingenuity of the spider:

" The resources of the lower animals have often excited admiration, and though no comprehen-
Bive and systematic .series of observations have yet been made upon them, (?) the time is, I be-
lieve, not di.stant, wlicn the task will be undertaken — perhaps within the next century. But
whenever and by whomsoever accomplished, the mechiinism of animals will then form the sub-
ject of one of the most interesting and useful volumes in the archives of man.

" Among insects, spiders have repeatedly been observed to modify and change their contri-
vances for cnsuuring their prey. Those that live in fields and gardens often fabricate their nets
or webs vertically. This sometimes occurs in locations where there is no object sufficiently near
to which the lower edge or extremity of the web ran properly be brace<l ; and unless this be
done, light putt's or breezes of wind are apt to blow it into an entangled mass. Instead of being
spread out, like th(! sail of a ship, to tlu; wind, it would become clewed over the upper line, or
edge, like a sail when furled up. Xow how would a human engineer act under similar circum-
etaiices ? But ere the reader begins to rettect, (!) he should bear in mind dial it would not do to
brace the web by running rigging from it to mma fixed or immovable object below — by no means ;
for were this done, it could not yield to impulses of wind : the rigging would be snapped by the
first blast, and the whole stru<;ture probably destroyed.

" Whatever contrivances human sagacity might "suggest, they could hardly excel those which
these despised engineers sometimes adopt. Having formed a web, under circumstances similar
to those to winch we have referred, a spider has been known to descend from it to die ground by
means of a thread spun for the purpose, and after selecting a minute pebble, or piece of stone, lias
coiled the end of the thread round it. Having done this, the ingenious artist a.scended. and fix-
ing himself on the lower part of the web, hoisted up die pebble until it swung several inches clear
of the ground. The cord to which die weight was susi'cnded was then secured by additional
ones, running from it to different parts of the web, which thus ac([uired the requisite "tension, and
was allowed, at the same time, to yield to sudden puifs of wind without danger of being rent
asander.

" A similar instance came under my notice a few days ago. A large spider had constructed
his web, in nearly a vertical position, about six feet from the ground, in a comer of my yard. The
upper edge v»as formed by a strong thread, secured at one end to a vine-leaf, and the other to a
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90 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

clothes line. One part of the lower edge was attached to a Penyan sun-flower, and another to a
trellis fence, four or five iect distant. Between tlie.sc there was no object nearer tlian the fp-ound,
to which an additional brace lino could be carried ; but two threads, a fool a.suuder, descended
from this part of the web. and, eight or ten inches below it, were united at a point. From ibis
point, a single linC; four or five inclies long, was suspended, and to its lower extremity was the
weight, a living' one, viz. a worm, flirce ■inches lonf;, and one-eighth of an inch thick. The cord
\vas fa.stened .around the middle of tlic victim's hod}' and as no object was within reacli, all its
writhings and efforts to csc;ipc were fruitless. Its weight answered tiie same purpose as a piece
of inanimate matter, while its suH'eriugs seemed not in the least to disturb the unconcerned mur-
derer, who lay waiting for his prey above.

"Whether the owner of the web found it a more easy task to capture this unlucky worm and
raise it, than to elevate a stone of the same weight, may be questioned. (?) Perhaps in seeking
for the latter, the former fell in his way, and was seized as the first suitable object that came to
hand — like the human tyrant, (Domilian) who, to show hia skill in archery, planted his arrows in
the heads of men or cattle, in the absence of other targets. It may be, however, that a piece of
stone, earth, or wood, of a suitable weight, was not in the vicinity of the web.

To observe the effect of this weight, I separated, with a pair of scissors, the thread by which it
^vas suspended, and instantly the weh sunk to half its previous dimensions — the lower part be-
came loose, and witli the slightest current kept shaking like a sail shivering in the wind. A fresh
weight was not supplied by the next morning: but instead of it two long brace lines extended
from the lower part of the web to two vine tendrils, a considerable distance off. These I cut
away to see what device would be next adopted, but on going to examine it the following day, I
found the clothes-line removed, and with it all relics of the insect's labors had disappeared.'

Maso.n-Spiders. — A no less wonderful stnicture is composed by a sort of spiders, natives
of the tropics and the south of Euroj)e, which have been justly called mason-spiders by M.
Latreille. One of these {Mygalc nidulans, Walckn.), found iji the West Indies,

'• digs a hole in the earth obliquely downward, ahout three inches in length, aud one in diameter.
This cavity sl.e lines with a tough thick v^'eb, which, when taken out, resembles a leathern purse ;
but what is most curious, this house has a door with hinges, like the operculum of some sea-shells,
and herself and family, who tenant this nest, open and shut the door whenever they pass and re-
pass. This history was told me," says Darwin, " aud the nest, with its door, shown meby the late
Dr. Butt, of Bath, who was some years jihysician in Jamaica.''*

'■ The nest of a mason-spider, similar to this," says Mr. Rennie, "has been obligingly put into
our hands by Mr. Riddle of Blackheath. It came from the West Indies, and is probably thut of
Latreille's clay-kneader (My gale cratien.i,) and one of the smallest of the genus. We have since
seen a pair of these spiders in possession of Mr. William Mello, of Blackheath. The nest is com-
posed of very hard argillaceous clay, deeply tinged with brovi^n o.xide of iron. It is in foi'ui of a
tube, about one inch in diameter, between six and seven inches long, and slightl}' bent toward
the lower extremity — appearing to have been mined into the clay rather than built. The interior
of the tube is lined with a uniform tapestry of silken weh, of an nrange-irhilc color, with a tex-
ture intermediate between India paper and very fine glove leather. But the most wonderful
part of this nest is its entrance, which we look upon as the perfection of insect architecture. A
circular door, ahout the size of a crown piece, slightly concave on the outside and convex within,
is formed of more than a dozen layers of the same web which lines the interior, closely laid upon
one another, and shaped so that the inner layers are the broadest, the outer being gradually less
in diameter, except toward the hinge, which is about an inch long ; and in consequence of all the
layers being united there, and prolonged into the tube, it becomes the thickest and strongest part
of the .-itructure. The elasticity of the materials, also, gives to this hinge the remarkable peculiar-
ity of acting lil?e a spring, and shutting the doorof tlie nest spontaneously. It is, besides, made to
fit so accurately to the aperture, which is composed of similar concentric layers of web, that it is
almost impossible to distingui.sli the joining by the most careful inspection. To gratify curiosity,
the door has been opened and shut hundreds of times, without in the least destroying the power
of the spring. When the door is shut, it resembles some of the lichens (Leciden,) or the leathery
fungi, such as Poli/porus versicolor (MiCHKi.i.j or, nearer still, the upper valve of a young oyster-
shell. The door of the nest, the only part seen above ground, being of a blackish-brown color, it
must bo very dilHi'ult to discover."

Another mason-spider (Mygalc ccrmeataria, Lath.), found in the south of Fratice, u.sually
selects l()r her nc^t :i place bat'o of grass, sloping in such a manner as to carry oft" the water,
and of a firm soil, without rocks or snwU stones. She digs a gallery a foot or two in depth,
and of a diairieler (ecpial throughout) sufficient to admit of her easily pii.ssing. She lines this
with a tapKslnj of silk ghicil to the trails. The <loor, which is circular, is constructed of
many layers of earth kneaded, aud bound tog(>ther witli silk. Externally, it is flat and rougli,
<!orresponding to tlie eartli around tlie (nitrance, for the pm-pose, no doubt, of con(-<'alni»>iit :
on the inside it is convex, and tapestried thiekli/ vifh a weh of fine xilk. The threads of tliis
door-ta])estry arc prolonged, and strongly attached t<i the upper side of the entrance, fonning
an excellent hinge, which, whc^n j)ush('d open by the spidiu-, shuts again by its own weiglit,
without the aid of s|uing hinges. When the sj)i<lei- is at hiune. aud her dour furibly opened
by an intnuler, she pulls it strongly inward, ;uid even where half-opened often su.itches it
out of the hand ; but, when she is foiled in this, .she retreats to tlie bottom of her den, us her
last resource.! The nest of tliis spider (tlu; niasou-^pidei) is re])re.si>ntt'd in Plate IV. Fig.
14, and shows the nest shut. Fig. 15 represents it open. Fig. 16, the spider (My gale ece-

• Darwin's Zoonomiu, i. 253, 8vo. ed. f Mem. Soc. d'lJist. Nut, do Paris, An. vii.

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HOP CULTURE. 91

menfaria). Fig. 17, the oyes magnified. Figiirps 18 and 19, parU of the foot and claw mag-
nified. Knssi a-scortained that the foinalp of an alliod spocies (Mijf^alc savvagesii, Latr.),
found in Corsica, lived in one of these nests, wilh a imniei'ous posterity. lie destroyed one
of the doors to observe whiUlier a new one would be made, which it was ; Vmt it was fixed
immovably, without a hinge; tlie spider, no doubt, fortitying hereelf in this manner till she
thought she might re6i>cn it without danger.*

" The Rev. Ilevett Shepherd has often noticed, in the fen ditches of Norfolk, a very larere spi
der (the species not yet determined) which actually forms a raft for the purpose of obtainiDfj^ its
prey with more facility. Keeping its station upon a ball of wi.-eds about tlircc inches in diameter,
probably licld toi;eilier by 8lis:lit silken cords, it is wafted along the surface of llie water upon
this floatina^ island, wliicb it quits the moment it sees a drowning insect. The booty thus seized
it devours at leisure upon its raft, under which it retires when alarmed by any danger."!

Ill the spring of 1830, Mr. Ronnie foiuid a spider on some reeds in the Croydon Canal,
which agreed in appearance witii Mr. iShepiierd's.

The Watf.r-Si'iokr. — We e.vtract the following exquisitely bea'itiful and interesting fact
in nature, vonucrfrd wUk diving operalions, from Rev. Mr. Kirby's Bridgewater Treatise:

"The Water-Ppider is one of the most remarkable upon whom that office (diving] ia developed
by her Creator. To this end, her instinct instructs her to fabricate a kind of diving-bell in the
bosom of that element. She usually selects still w atcrs for this purpose. Her house is an oval
cocoon, lilled with air, and lined Nvitli silk, from which threads issue in every direction, and are
fastened to the surrounding plants ; in this cocoon, which is open below, she watches for her prey,
and even appears to pass the winter, when she closes the opening It is most commonly, yet not
always, entirely under water; but its inhabitant has filled it with air for her respiration, which
enables her in live in it. She conveys the air to it in the following wamier : she usually swims
upon her bac-k, when her abdomen is enveloped in a bubble of air, and appears like a globe of
quicksilver; with this she enters her cocoon, and, displacing an equal ma,ss of water, again as-
cends for a second lading, till she has sufficiently filled her liouse with it, so as to expel all the
water,

" The males construct similar habitations by the same manceuvres. How these little animals
can envelop their abdomen with an air-bubble, and retain it till they enter their cells, is still one
of'Nature"s mysteries that have not been explained.

" We. however, cannot help admiring and adoring the wisdom, power, and goodness manifest-
ed in this singular provision, enabling an animal that breathes the atmospheric air to fill her house
with it under water, and which has instructed her in a secret art, hi/ which ,s/ic can clothe part
of her body with air as a garment, and which she can put ofl' when it answers her purpose.

" This is a kind of attrnction and repulsion vyhich mocks all our inquiries."

Thus it appears that by the successive descents of the little water-spider under the impul-
sion of its instinct, produce effects in its subaqueous pavilion equivalent to those produced
in the diving-bell, or diving helmet, by the successive strokes of the condensing air-pump of
scientific man !

In the language of the book of Psalms, this in.^ect " Laveth the beams of" her " cham-
bers IN THE WATERS," and thcro sccures her subaqueous chambers in the manner described.

* Mem. See. d'Hist. Nat. dn Paris. An. vii. p. 125, and Laireille, Hist. Nat. G6ndr. viii. p. 163.
t Kirby and Spence, Intr. i. 425.

HOP CULTURE IN THE UNITED STATES.

INFORMATION WANTED.

Washington, Feb. 27, 1846.
My Dear Sir: A valued correspondent in Germany wishes the accompanying questions respecting the
culture and trade of hops in our community. Pray, if you can, resolve me the within.

Most respectfully, yours, FRANCIS MARKOE, Jr.

To John S. Skinnek, Esq.

1 . Where hops are cultivated in the United States ?

2. Which places are the superior situations ?

3. Arc there good commercial houses in that line, and which are the first ?

4. Are there houses capable of giving such commercial intelligence about this trade, out
of which one may be able to fonn a judgment? And, in case such a house could be found,
■would it be kind enough to make such a statement?

5. How much hops there are cultivated in the U. S. in good years?

6. What is the homo consumption ? the ex])()rt. and where does it go to piincipally ?

7. Request to give an intelli<jenco about the la.st harvest ?

8. What are the conditions for purchase and shipping?

Any other necessary and useful inforuiation will be thankfully accepted.

[The Editor of the Farmers' Library, New- York, will feci much obliged to

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92 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

any gentleman who would have the goodness to answer, or aid him in answer-
ing, the above queries.

According to that veritable document, the Census of the United States for 1840,
the whole quantity of hops raised in the United States the previous year was
1,238,502 pounds. New- York gets credit for 447,250 pounds, being nearly double
the amount of either one of the two next greatest hop-growers, to wit — Massa-
chusetts, 254,795, and New-Hampshire, 243,425 pounds. But, strange to say, in
her own returns of 1845 we find no mention whatever made of hops ! while, ac-
cording to her Slate returns, Massachusetts, in 1844, produced 365,130 pounds,
valued at $32,251 ; being less than 9 cents a pound — a low valuation, that sur-
prises us. At an average often cents, the whole product of the United States in
1839 was but f 123,850 20.

Here, again, little Delaware is made to sing small as usual when she falls mto
the clutches of Uncle Sam's agents. She is put down for 746 pounds of hops
and 52f pounds of hemp and flax ! Hops are now (July 14) selling in New-York
for 18 cents per lb.

How easy for every family to have growing about their house and garden as many
vmes as would afford more than they could use for domestic purposes. What
vine more beautiful — what growth more clean and fragrant to look at and to han-
dle? Surely nobody in the country buys any ! That would be almost as bad as
buying apples or grapes.]

EDITORIAL CORRESrONDENCE.

SUBSOIL OF THE LONG-LEAF PINE LAND OF NORTH CAROLINA.

CON.IECTURE AS TO THE CAUSE OF THE DISAPPEARANCE OF THAT TREE.

" Yor inquire the nature of the snhnoil of our piney lands ? It is various In many places
the pine lands are low and flat, or very level. Here there is no sand visible, yet it is sandy,
and of a dark cast — ofttni on a substratum of a dark, indurated sand, harder than slate stone.
Such is most common nearer the sea-board, as you may remember, 10 to -tO miles north of
Wilmington on the railroad. In the regions farther up, we have great levels of pine on low,
wet lands, with only ton or twelve inches of yellow sand and soil on a substratum of clay.
These are now, and will be in ages to come, the best fannhig lands of the country.

" The long-leaf does not grow in swamp/t or mnddy places, though they do on flats and
lands on the borders of such places. The pine which grows in the branches, nnid and
swamps, is of the s/wrMeafed kind, with very little resinous matter, and of little worth, save
the very heart, which is said to outlast even light-wood.

" Long-leaf pine and sand may be said to accompany each other in tlie .Southern States,
though, as observed, the sand is not always visible on the .surface, j-et there it is, invariably,
and of a yeUowish hue either on the surface or near it."

In giving the preceding from Col. Macleod, we take the occasion to suggest,
rather in the way of inquiry, than for the expression of any settled opinion,
whether the disappearance of the long-leafed pine over large districts of country
spoken of by him in a recent communication, may not be caused by the ravages
of some insect ? The possibility of it is brought to mind by the following pas-
sages from Rknnif.'s interesting work on " Insect Akcihtixture-"

This is another of those lighter ))roductions in which instruction is happily
blended with amusement, and which ought to be made to beguile or take the

EDITORIAL CORRESPONDENCE. 93

place of those severer studies with wliich children are too often tasked prema-
turely, and as absurdly as if a dandy were required to take up the load of a giant.
This extract cannot fail at all events, short as it is, to signify as well the value,
as the interesting nature of the study of entomology in all our country schools, as
it is obvious that by a little encouragement and explanation, it may be brought
within the comprehension of very youthful minds.

'■ It is somowliut starllii'.g to jiffinn that tho condition of tho Imman race is seriously in-
jured by these petty annoyances; but it is peifectly true that tlie art and industiy of man
have not yet been able to overcome the collective force, the individual ])erseveranco, aud
the complicaTed nuicliineiy of destruction whicli in.sects emj)l()y. A small ant, accordiu"- to
a most careful and pliilosopliiial obsener, imposes almost invincible ol)stac;los Ut tlio pro'Tess
of civilization iii many parts of tlie equinoctial zone. These animals devour paper and parch-
inent ; they destroy eveiy book and manuscript. Many provinces of Sjianish America can-
not, in conseciuence, show a written document of a hundred years' existence. ' What de-
velopment,' lie adds, ' can the civilization of a people assume, if there be nothing to connect
the present witli the past — if tlie deposit')ries of human knowledge must be constantly re-
newed— if tho monmueuts of genius and wisdom cannot be transmitted to posterity ? '*
Again, there are beetles which deposit their larvie in trees in sucli foimidaljle numbers that
whole forests perish beyond the power of remedy. The j)ines of tln> Hart/, bave thus been
destroyed to an enomious e.xtent; and in North America, at one ])lace in .South Carolina, at
least ninety trees in every liundred, u[)on a tract of two thousand acres, were swept away by
a small black, winged bug. And yet, according to Wilson, the historian of American birds, the
people of the United States were in the habit of destroying tlie red-hea(h>(l woodpecker, tlie
great enemy of these insects, because he occasionally spoilt an apple. t The same delightful
writer and tnie naturalist, speaking of the labors of the ivory-ljilled woodjiecker, says
' Would it be believed that the larvae of an insect or fly, no larger than a grain of rice, should
silently, and in one season, destroy some thousand acres of pine-trees, many of them from
two to three feet in diameter, and a hundred and tifty feet high ? In some places the whole
woods, as far as you can see around you, are dead, stripped of the bark, their winliy-looking
arms and bare trunks bleaching in the sun, luid tumbling in niiiis before eveiy blast. 't The
subternuieous larva of some species of beetle has often caused a complete failure of the seed
corn, as in the district of Halle in 1812. || The corn-weevil, which extracts ^le flour from
grain, leaving the husk behind, will destroy the contents of the largest storehouses in a veiy
short jieriod. The wire-worm and the turnip-fly are dreaded by eveiy fanner. The rav-
ages of the locust are too W(>11 known not to be at once recollected as im example of the for-
midable collective power of the insect race. The white ants of tropical counti-ies sweep
away whole villages with as much certainty as a fire or an inundation ; and ships even have
be<;n destroyed by these indefatigable republics. Our own docks and enibankmeufs have
been threatened by such minute ravagers."

GOOD MANAGEMENT, AS SHOWN IN ITS RESULTS.

"Walnut Grave, near Genev.\, N. Y. 20th March. 1846.
" I CULTIVATE about 130 acres of land, and my fann is situated on the shores of the Seneca
Lake, a short distance south of Geneva. By particular attention to three simple things for a
few yeai-s past, I have niised the product of my fann to a point which is exciting a good deal
of attention. The things refened to are, verj- deep plowing aud the very fi-ee use of clover
seed and plaster. In 1814 I raised 1,.504 bushels wheat, 700 corn, 600 potatoes, and 100 of
clover seed, and cut about 80 tons of hay. In 1845 I raised 1,500 bushels bai'ley, 800 of
com, 1,057 of potatoes and 12^ bushels clover seed, and cut upward of 100 tons of hay.
This year I expect to exceed either of the two previous years, and when this additional test
of the excellence of my system is furnished, I shall, if you deem it [as we certainly do] of
sufficient consequence, communicate the particulars for The Farmers' Library. If not tres-
passhig on your time and politeness, I will thank you to infonn me whether clover hay is
much sought and used in yom- city."

Clover hay is not in demand in cities. It is usually reserved by Long Island
and other farmers when made, as it not often is, unmixed, for their neat cattle.
It makes excellent food for n^ilch cows, cut and mixed, wet, Avith Indian meaL

* IJumboMt, Voyage, lib. vii. ch. 20. f Amer. Omith. i. p. 141.

% Aiuer. Ornith. iu. p. 21, || Bluxnenbach ; see aiao Insect Tranflfcrmations. p. 231.

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94

MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

There is to be noted a very blamcable neglect on the part of farmers in not more
generally saving their ovpn clover seed instead of buying. The purchase, in fact,
with money, of any thing that he must have, and could raise, should be taken as
prima facia evidence of bad management ; and although it may he, under certain
circumstances, true economy to do so, it is a safe rule to presume the contrary,
and to throw upon him who does it the onus probandi.

NUTRITIVE VALUE OF VARIOUS SUBSTANCES.

A RESPECTED Subscriber, E. J. of York, whose letter was received during our
absence at the South, will excuse all apparent inattention. It is presumed that
an error was committed in copying the table. The following is perhaps as much
to be relied on as any of the many to be found in the books :

Table showing the average quantity of nutritive matter in 1,000 farts of several varieties
of animal and vegetable food.

Blood. . .

Beef 260

Veal 250

Mutton 290

Pork 240

Brain 200

.Chicken 270

Cod 210

Haddock 180

Sole 210

Bones 510

Milk ....

215 White of egg 140

Wheat 950

Rice >^80

Barley 920

Rve 79-2

Oats 742

Potatoes 2fi0

Carrots 98

Turnips 42

Cabhage 73

Beet root 148

Strawberries 100

Morels.

Pears 160

Apples 170

Goosebemes 190

Cherries 250

Plums 290

Apricots 260

Peaches 200

Grapes 270

Melon 30

Cucumber 25

Tamarind 340

Almonds 650

896

" The above table represents the relative proportion of solid digestible matter contained in
1,000 parts qf the different articles of ibod which are enumerated.

" The nuti-itive matter of wheat is chiefly starch and gluten, and in this species of gr^n
the gluten is in much greater relative proportion to the starch than in barley, oats, or rye.
In rice there is httle else than starch. I'here can be little doubt that the great value of
wheat as an article of food depends upon the excess of gluten, which is a nitrogenous eub-
wlance, and has not inaptly been termed the vegeto-atumal principle.

Boussingaxjlt's comprehensive and important chapter on ''food and feeding"
will be given in an early number.

Subscribers are again requested to indicate any particular sul)ject they would
like to have discussed, and which may be supposed to carry with it an interest
10 warrant particular attention.

ARRACACHA.

Extract of a letter from Doctor 0. B. Smith, dated " Baltimore, 14th Muy. 1846.

" I DID not receive, or plant any of the Airacacha sent to you by General Dkveheux. It
was about 18'28 or 1829 that I induced Capt. Matthews to bring me a large supjily of Ar-
i-a(;acha from South Ain<'rica. I retained about 200 of the roots for myself, sent 10 roots to
the Massachusetts Horticultural Soc-iety, 20 roots to the London Horticultural Society, 20
roots to Paris, and distributed small parcels to Richmond, Charleston, Pensacola, &c. &c.

I cultivated the root for two years, until I found it to be utterly worthless in our climate.
T gave some to Samuel Feast, and he kept them several years. We all found thera
worthless."

BoussiNGAULT Composed a list of equivalents, comparing various things with
wheat flour, making 100 pounds of that the standard. He puts down apio with
a query, thus: "Apio? (Arracacha)" : and according to his estimate it would
take 1,050 parts of the substance so referred to to replace 100 of Hour.

The same author says rice is often cited as one of the most nourishing articles
of diet : he is satisfied, however, after having livid lung in countries where rice

(190)

EDITORIAL CORRESPONDENCE. 95

is largely consumed, that it is any tiling but a substantial, or, for its bulk, nutri-
tious article of sustenance. Haricots (a French bean) he says contains about
0-046 of azote ; rice no more than 0-014 ; so that if the nutritious properties be
really in proportion to the amount of azote, it is obvious that 3^ of rice will be
required in lieu of 1 of the leguminous seed. He proceeds to say:

" We hear it constantly repfatcd that rice is the sole nntrimpiit of tlie nations of the whole
oC fndia. But the fiict vvoiiUl appear iini to Ijo precisely so; and I may lieie ((note M. Le-
qtierri, who, during a long residence in India, i>aid particnlar attention txj the manners and
customs of the iuliahitants of Pondichen-i. ' The food,' says M. L. ' is almost entii-ely
vegetable, and rice is the staple ; the inferior castes only ever eat meat. But all eat kari, an
article prepared with meat, fish, or vegetal )les. which is mixed with the rice.- boiled in very
little water. It is rc(Hiisile to have si-en the Imlian.s at their meals to have any idea of the
enoi-mous quantity of rice they will put into their stomachs. No European could cram tio
much at a time ; and they very commonly allow that rice alone will not nourish them.
They very generally still eat a cpiantity of bread."

What is here said of r/ce corresponds with experience, we believe, on southern
nee plantations. There it is remarked that, though a man may satisfy his hun-
ger on rice, it won't stay satisfied, but comes on again much sooner than after a
rneal of Indian corn bread.

The English editor of Boussingault says : " The Irish peasantry, who live so
much on potatoes, have buttermilk with them, at least — often salt herrings; and
a laboring man, it is said, will consume 12 or 14 pounds of potatoes in a day."

In the " Wear AND Tear OF Human Life," Hayden says Indian corn bears
comparison with potatoes as thus: " Proportion of nutrition in 100 parts of pota-
toes, 24 ; proportion of ditto in Indian corn, 88. Proportion of water in 100 parts
of potatoes, 72 ; proportion of water in 100 parts of Indian corn, 9."

We do not know to what extent rice may or may not be substituted for Indian
corn on some rice plantations, but it may be well that every dispenser of provis-
ions, whether individuals or government agents, should understand the low grade
which rice bears, as compared with either wheat or corn, or beans or peas, as to
its nutritive qualities. Certain it is that, whether from shorter rations, or more
unhealthy occupation and exposure to malaria, the negroes on rice plantations do
not increase so fast, nor have they that fat, sleek, greasy, and robust appearance
that marks the laborers on cotton and sugar estates, where the. ration ranks, in
the average, in nutritive and palatable qualities, 25 per cent, above the rations
of the European field-laborer.

Under the system of " tasks," which prevails so generally in the plantation
States — a system which planters have told us they find to be indispensable to the
satisfaction of the slave — the common task in mauling rails is 100 a day of their
pine rails; and we have seen men lounging about at their ease, at 3 or 4 o'clock,
having, as they said, jinishcd their task.

Habit, it is well known, may reconcile the stomach and the constitution to
almost anything. How else could it happen that men could ever become fond
of chewing tobacco or of taking snuff, or be brought to rob the cow of her cab-
bage, or the hog of his appointed cucumber ? Something, as to diet, depends on
season ; much, too, on climate. " The delicious fruit, the perfumed air, the ver-
dant landscape, the endless and enchanting n(jtes of the feathered tribe — all pre-
pare a refreshing banquet for the senses of the man whose frame, subjected to
the heat of the southern climate, would soon become exhausted but for these
precious aids and antidotes that the bountiful Creator supplies. Look next at the
inhabitant of the northern region : pent up by icebergs, nought meets his eye
save sky and snow; his music is the blustering blast of rude Boreas. The vege-
table world, locked up in iron bonds, affords no store tributary to his wants and

(191)

96

MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

gratifications. Ilis country one wild, bleak, icy prison ; yet still it is preferred-
nay, loved — before the South, with all its downy comforts, because her hardy
son calls it the land of his birth and of liberty — in a word, Home. In this region
the animal kingdom most appropriately affords a diet, at once nutritive, concen-
trated, and stimulating, to meet those wants which vegetable food could not ade-
quately supply."

Physicians will probably tell us, after all, that a small admixture of animal
with vegetable food is, in general, most wholesome ; but it may be doubted
whether a diminution of meat diet, throughout the country, to the average of
that consumed by that class, whichever it may be, which consumes the least,
would not lead to an average increment of health. What say you, Dr. Gibbes ?
U^r" Please excuse us, being pressed for time, for asking here, respectfully, for
that paper you half promised on the diseases peculiar to the South and West. —
Are not such questions intimately connected with the interests of Agriculture —
at least, when that interest is viewed in the light that we understand and pro-
pose to discuss it ? For a man thinking, as too many ever are, of swelling the
current that flows, and flows, and will, it seems, for ever flow, from the old Atlan-
tic to the South and West, what more interesting subject of inquiry than the diet,
climate, and diseases connected therewith, and with any particular race or de-
scription of population ?

PRICES CURRENT.

^Corrected, July 15,

j^^gjIES— Pots, 1st sort ^ 100 ffi. 3

Pearls, iBt sort, '46 4

BEE::?WAX — American Yellow —

CANDLKS— Mould, Tallow..^ IB... —

Sperm, Eastern and City —

COTTON— From ^ 115. —

COITON BAGGING— American... —

C01lDA(iE— American ^ tb. —

DOMESTIC GOODS-Shirtings, ^ y. —

Sheetings —

FEATHERS— American, live —

FLAX— American —

FLOUR &. MEAL— (lenesee, ^ bbl. 4

'IVoy -

JMichiaan •>

Ohio, tiat hoop 3

Ohio, Heywood «&, Venice 4

Ohio, via New.Orlcmis —

Pennsylvania

Brandywinc

Georgetown

Bultiinore City Mills

Richmond City Mills

Richmond Country

Alexandria, Petersburg, &c

Rye Flour

Com Meal, Jersey and Brand

Com Meal, Brandywiiie lihd.

GRAIN— \Vh«al, Wliite f> bush.

Wheat, r^ed new

Rye, Noithem

Com, Jers(!y and North ... (meas.)

Corn, Southern (measure')

Corn, Souiheni (weight)

Oats, Nonheni

Oats, Soul hern

JIAY— ^'orth River in bales, f>inom
IJE.MP— American, dew-rotted. . ton

" water-rotted

HOPS— 1 St sort, lt'4.1

IRON— American Pie, No. 1

" Common

LIME— Thomaston F bbl.

LUMUEU— Boards, N.R., fM. ft. clr.

Boards, Eastem Pino

Boards, Albiuiy Pine Fpce.

Plank, Georgia Pine ■FM- 'I-

(192)

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taves. White Oak, pipe. ^' M 50

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Staves, White Oak, hhd 40

Staves, White Oak, bbl .W

Staves, Red Oak, hhd 24

Hoops 25

Scantling, Pine, Eastem —

Scantling, Oak 30

Timber, Oak ^ cubic foot —

Timber, White Pine —

Timber, Georgia Yellow Pine —

Shingles, 18 in !>' bunch 1

Shingles, Cedar, 3 feet, 1st quality. 25
Shingles, Cedm-, 3 feet, 2d quality. 22
Shingles, Cedai-, 2 feet, 1st quality. 17
Shingles, Cedar, 2 feet, 2d quality. 15

Shingles, Cypress, 2 feet 13

.Shingles, Company —

MUSTARD— American —

NAIL.-^— Wrought, 6d to 20d...f>' 1)3. —

Cut 4.1 to 40.1 —

PLASTER PARIS— ^ ton 2

PROVISIONS— Beef, Mess, ^ bbl... 6

Beef, Prime, 4

Pork, Mess. Ohio 9

Pork, Prime, Ohio 8

Lard. Ohio ^ ttj. —

Hams, Pickled —

Shoulders. Pickled —

Sides, Pickled.-. —

Beef. Smoked f> ft. —

Butter. < )range County —

Butter. Western Dairy, new —

Butter, grease —

Cheese, in ca.sks and boxes —

SEEDS— Clover f 16. —

Tunotliy ^ tierce 11

Flax. Hough —

SOAP— N. York. Brown ^ lb. —

TALLOW — American, Rendei-ed... —

T01?.\CC(>-Virginia 'a m. —

North Carolina —

Kc-iiiuckv and Missouri —

WOOL— .A in. Saxony. Fleece..^ Iti. —

Aniericaii Full Blood Merino —

American \ and \ Merino —

American Native and t Merino... —
buper£ino, I'lilled —

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MONTHLY

JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

VOL. II. SEPTEMBER, 1846.

BRITISH OXEN.. ..BY james h. fennell.

We cannot exactly see the applicability of the title to the context of this paper, as it is, in
fact, a curious, valuable, and highly interesting paper on the qualities of various races of
English cattle, together with instmctivc observations on their food, the management of th»
dairy, statistics of the London milk trade, &c. with little or nothing about oxen in 'particu-
lar ! We are not sure, however, that the departure of the discourse fi-om the text is wider
than we have known it to be on some other occasions — all going to show that in what wo
read, as well as in what we hear, we should keep our attention alive, and form our judgment
of wliat is said or written for ourselves, and independently, rather than from any index which
may be prefixed according to the judgment or caprice of another.

If we were asked the question, What is the use of reading about Agriculture, and espe-
cially about English Agriculture ? we should be willing to answer by reference even to thia
single paper. We could easily throw it into the foiTn of a catechism, or series of questions,
which should elicit the information and facts embodied in this article, and would then inquiro
of any one having a right appreciation of what becomes an enhghtened agriculturist, not ex-
actly how much money may be made by the knowledge it is fitted to impart, but whether
there be, in such papers, anything idle or superfluous, or anything of which an intellectual
cultivator of the soU, with a proper shai'e of professional pride and self-esteem, should be will-
ing to remain ignoi-ant ? For one, we do not hesitate to confess that we utterly despise and
detest, and feel ijidignant at the thought that an American RepubUcan freeholder, and culti-
vator of his own freehold, should be merely a successful, practical, money -making farmer! —
It was not a mere phlebotoniizer who discovered the circTilation of the blood, nor a simple
navigator that invented the chronometer ! And your 7nere practical men, while they rarely
do much for the progress of their art, except to illustrate, like the machine itself, the valuo
of inventions by men who think, are in all professions exactly those who are apt to bo made
subservient to the men who scheme for themselves. Such men as Bogakdus, the gi-eat ma-
chinist, of New- York; and Whitney, the inventor of the cotton-gin; and Audubo.v, the un-
rivaled ornithologist, are not apt to be practical money-makers ; but who would exchange
their genius and their enthusiasm, and the honor of their discoveries and writings, for any
amount of sordid wealth, united with stolid ignorance ?

The particular breeds of horned cattle may be readily distinguished by certain
characteristics. Thus the Ayrshire cattle, found in many parts of Scotland and
England, have small size, [1] line bone, much flesh, good symmetry, thin and

(1). The Ayrshire cattle which have been brought to this country are of what would be called
not " small size," but good sized cattle, about the weight of our ordinary country cattle — not so
large as the Short-Horn or Durham, but iu shape the Short-Hom ia miuiature. [Ed. Farm. Lib.
(241) 7

98 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

loose skin, fine short silky hair, light-red color, sometimes red and white, gener-
ally a black muzzle, short and fine horns, bent upward and tipped with black ;
the Durham or short-horned breed possess large size, good and well-shaped bone,
and much flesh, thin skin, fine short moss-kke hair, red and white color, some-
times self-red, and short, fine, crumpled horns. The Devonshire cattle, now kept
in almost every county in England, particularly in some parts of Yorkshire, have
good size, fine bone, and short, fleshy carcass, thin skin, very silky when handled ;
color generally red, with a light dun muzzle and ring round the eye; horns of
medium length, generally growing outward and rather inclining upward. [2.] —
The Galloway cattle, found not only in that district of Scotland, but also in Nor-
folk, and sparingly in Worth Lancashire, are of large size, strong bone, well-
shaped, rather thick skin, and long hair, color black and brindled, no horns. [3.]
The Guernsey cattle, met with in the Channel Islands and most of the private
dairy farms of England, possess small size, fine bone, very thin skin, and short,
silky hair ; light cream-color, with black nose ; short and crumpled horns, tipped
with black. The Hereford cattle have large size, small bone, good shape, thin
skin, fine hair, generally red color, with white faces ; horns of medium length,
and rather inclining upward. [4.] The Highland cattle, great numbers of which
are brought to England and fattened, are of small size, well-shaped, have thick
skin, long hair ; color black and brindled, sometimes dun black ; horns of medi-
um size, and bent upward. The Irish breed, of which great numbers are brought
to the markets of London, Manchester, and Liverpool, are of large size, strong
bone, rough shape, thick skin, long hair ; color red, sometimes red and white,
mixed or roaned ; very long horns, bent upward. The Jersey cattle, commonly
called the Alderney, are of small size, fine bone, good shape, [5] have very thin
skin, fine, short hair ; cream-color and dun, light dun muzzle ; horns of medium
length, fine, crumpled, and tipped with black. The Lancashire cattle, met with
in Warwickshire, Leicestershire, and the northern parts of Lancashire, are of
large size, strong bone, roughly made, thick skin, long and rough hair ; color va-
rious, but more commonly red and white ; the horns long and thick, and com-

(2). Let those who are buying Devons be careful to choose them with a rich yellow color
around the eyes and muzzle, and as little white about the udder and the tip of the tail as they
can get. Let not white any where else be tolerated. It is but the breaking out of an old sore, a
main in the blood. [Ed. Farm. Lib.

(3). This is the breed of cattle which we have thought ought to be imported for the cattle-
breeder in our south and south-western mountains, where they run out and have to " rough it,"
as it is called. They are the Canada horse of cattle. The late General FonsiAN used to main-
tain that the injury and death sometimes inflicted upon horses and other animals, ought alone to
induce farmers to give preference, as he did, to hornless cattle. [Ed. Farm. Lib.

(4). This race of cattle is here well described. They appear to be " on the rise " in popularity
in this country, and holding in England a hard race with the best. Mr. Cokning, near Albiiny,
owns in considerable numbers the only herd we know of, and that in great perfection. They de-
eerve more extensive notice and trial than they have had in this country. [Ed. Farm. Lib.

(5). We caimot agree in their being generally of " good sliapc." We have seen a large pro-
portion of all that have been brought to this country, and have owned a few of the best. The
best we ever saw was sold to Commodore Chauncev, many years since, and brought to New-
York ; and we would wager a trifle that we saw a few weeks since a descendant of hers on
Long Island. (Icneralli/, those we have seen had ugly " cwv-necks " and ragged hips ; being,
in many cases, what is denominated "goose-rumped.'" If, however, the drop from the hip to llie
root of the tail resembles the rump of a goose, it must be that of the gander, on particular occa-
sions. But the milk of the true Alderney is invariably and exceedingly rich, throwing up a deli-
cious yellow cream, suited to perfect a cup of old Mocha, and giving butter of the iinest color-
Mr. Colt, at Paterson, has superior specimens of the Alderney. and his son, Mr. Joh.n Colt, a
very superior prize bull of the Ayrshire breed, imported from Scotland.

One thing which causes improved cattle and sLeep to be neglected and un<lervalued, espe-
cially when they fall into the hands of the liberal and the opulent, is, that instead of charging a
high price for their services or progeny, they are apt to give them away. What thus comes
light is not so apt to be properly valued. To this, of course, ilierc arc striking exceptions.

[Ed. Farm. Lib.

BRITISH OXEN. 99

monly slouching. [6.] The Sussex ca.ltle, found in that county and in Kent, are
of good size, strong bone, wcU-shapcd, thin skin, line hair ; color red, with white
faces; horns of uiediuni length, and bent iipv.'ard. The Suffolk duns, met with
in thai rounty and in Norfolk, are of medium size, slittty made; have the skin
of medium thickness, and shaguy hair; color generally iiglilish dun ; no horns.
The Welsh cattle, now going out of use very fast in England, are of medium size,
roughly made, have a thick skin, long shaggy hair, black color, sometimes black
and white ; horns thick and long, in some of medium length.

Our various breeds of cattle are generally of hardy constitution. The Guern-
sey and Jersey cattle, though of very good constitution in their native islands, are
delicate when brought to England, requiring shelter and careful attention.

All the species and breeds of oxen have only thirteen pairs of ribs, being a less
number than in either the American or European bisons. Certain bones, found
in the heart of all ruminating animals, except the horse and the stag, have been
mentioned by some writers on comparative anatomy as accidental ossifications,
found only in the adult animal, particularly in the male. This, however, is erro-
neous ; for these bones are constant, and are found in the calf as invariably as in
the adult, in both male and female. Professor Harrison thinks that the principal
purpose of these bones is to protect the aorta from being endangered bv the enor-
mous muscularity of the left ventricle in these animals, to serve as a lixed point
of action to muscular fibres, to prevent total closure of the ventricles, and to pre-
serve the large sinuses from the powerful resilience of the aorta, to which object
the very remarkable hard mass of fat found at the base of the heart iu these ani-
mals is also assistant.

Oxen are greatly excited at scarlet, probably because, in a state of nature, they
do not frequently meet with this color ; which is, therefore, strange to them ; of-
fering, too, a strong contrast with the surrounding cool tones. "A bull," says
Barnaby Goodge, " will wax furious at the sight of any red thing ; and the ele-
phant and the lion cannot in nowise abide the sight of any white thing."* Mr.
R. D. -Hay, in an interesting work upon colors, remarks that though red-yellow
excites an agreeable, cheerful sensation, bright yellow-red conveys an intolerably
powerful impression, the active side being here in its highest energy.

" It is, thi!r(!iure, no wonder that impetuous, robust, aiieiliicated men should be especially
pleased witli this color. Amoiij sav.ige iialioiis ijie iiicliuation for it has been universally re-
marked ; and when children, leit to themselves, begui to use tints, they never spare vennil-
lion and minium. In looking steadfastly at a. perfectly yellow-red surface, the color seems
actually to peueti-ate the organ. It produces an extreme excitement, and still acts thus when
somewhat darkened. A yellow-red cloth distiu-bs and enrages luiimals. I have known men
of education to whom its etfect was intolerable, if they ch.mced to see a person dressed in a
Bcai'let cloak (m a gray, cloudy day."

In all domestic animals, the skin or hide forms one of the best means by which
we can estimate their fattening properties. In the handling of oxen, if the hide
be found soft and silky to the touch, it affords a proof of a tendency in the animal

(6). These are nearly identical, probably, with the famous Bakeicell, or Leicentcr, or Dishley

cattle, sometimes called Long-Horn — very straight on the back, tail setting high upon a line with

the spine, back generally white, with long, ugly, hanging-down horns. They have gone out of

fashion in England, chiefly on account of their laying their fat all on the outside, like a coat

of plaster on a brick wall. Bakewell deser\'es great credit for the leading part he took in

demonstrating the practicability of effecting groat and substantial improvement in the qualities

of cattle, by a careful and judicious selection of such as, with the fewest defects, possessed in

the highest degree the points and properties which were most desirable, and would make up

au animal to yield the most profit in the shortest time. But while others took tlie hint and

poshed the science far beyond anything he attained, he in some measure blurred bis owo

character as a farmer by a sinister or churlish concealment or mystery, if not disingennoitsness.

He thought it allowable, it would seem, to learn all he could, and to lock up from his neighbors

and friends what he did learn, in his own breast. This may do in other arts and trades, but

is utterly incompatible with all liberal notions of the character and duties of an airricuUnrist I

Jt is the boast of the indu.slrions and f:vir-mindcd fanner, that as ho \\ orks in the open day,

eo he wishes not to hide his lights under a bushel when they may be u.seful to his neighbora

{Ed. Farm. Lib.
♦ Bookc of ITusbaudry, :j86. p. l-i7, b.

100 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

to take meat. A beast having a perfect touch will have a thick, loose skin —
■floating, as it were, on a layer of soft fat, yielding to the slightest pressure, and
springing back toward the finger like a piece of soft, thick chamois leather. —
8uch a skin will be usually covered with an abundance of glossy hair, feeling
like a bed of moss, and hence is very appropriately termed a mossy skin. But a
thick, firm skin, which is generally covered by thick-set, hard, short hair, always
handles hard, and indicates a bad feeder.

The size to which cattle may be fattened is truly astonishing. Evelyn men-
tions the exhibition in London of an ox that was 17 feet from the end of tlie tail
to the nose. At Bartholomew Fair, in 1703, a great Lincolnshire ox was exhib-
ited, measuring 12 feet from the rump to the face, and standing 19 hands high.
The Bradwell ox, five years old, weighed 4,320 pounds ; but it was so fat that it
moved with dilliculty. Mr. T. Bond, of the Lower Marsh, Lambeth, killed an
ox whose total weight was 294 stone 3 pounds, with 40 stone 4 pounds of loose
fat.* As a general mode of fattening oxen, it has been recommended to give
them daily 2 lbs. of oil-cake, 5 lbs. of barle^^-meal, and 5 lbs. of hay-chaff, with
a. plentiful allowance of Swedes. By a composition for fattening cattle, manu-
factured by Mr. Warnes, of Walsingham, IS'orfolk, it is said that beef may be
grown more cheaply than by any of the ordinary methods of feeding. Everybody
knows that horses frequently pass some of their corn quite undigested ; but this
circumstance rarely happens Avith horned cattle ; for, as they chew the cud, they
can digest their food more effectually than those which do not — hence it is well
known to graziers that one-third less will be enough for an ox than for a horse or
■an ass. According, however, to the experiments of De Dombassle and Biot, this
depends, at least in the case of roots, such as carrots and potatoes, upon boiling,
so as to break the globular crust enveloping the nutrient matter,! which the stom-
ach cannot well effect.

Cattle are fond of the tender tops of furze and in Shetland they show a liking
for the drift sea-weed on the beach. Liimsus says that cows are fond of the
leaves of the bird cherry. Culpepper states that the leaves of the black alder
■"are good fodder for kine, to make them give more milk." Oxen will some-
times browse also on the leaves of the privet.

A few acres of land cultivated with burnet, lucerne, cabbage, turnips, and car-
rots, will supply the cow-keeper with a constant succession of green fodder for
his" cattle, and save him the expense of purchasing so much hay, frequently at a
high price, and greatly improve the flavor and increase the quantity of the milk.
For the latter purpose, carrots are excellent in winter and early in the spring, but
the butter made of the cream is generally a little higher colored, being a deep
yellow, though not worse in quality than that which is made when the cows
feed in the summer months on sweet meadow grass. Some farmers give their
•cows malt-dust, especially in the winter — not the malt-kiln dust, which should
be reserved for a top-dressing for corn, but the germ of the barley, which sprouts
out while it is making into malt. After the malt has been dried on the kiln, and
passed over a wire-screen, it falls through and separates from the malt. This
malt-dust is of a very warm, dry, nourishing quality — causes the cows to drink
freely, and yield a large quantity of excellent milk. The London milk would,
probably, have a less watery flavor, if the bad quality of grains, given so largely
•Jo the cows, were corrected by the constant addition of some malt-dust, which is
found to improve the (iuality and flavor, and to augment the quantity of the milk.
:.£ach cow might have half a peck of it at her breakfast, and as much at the time
- of milking in the afternoon. From M. Boussingault's experinients on the feed-
ing of cows with beet-root and potatoes, we learn that when cither of these veg-
etables is given, to the exclusion of all'other food, it does not fatten cattle nor in-
crease the quantity of their milk. Two cows, which were fed exclusively on
beet-root, fell off iii 17 days nearly one-sixth, and their milk diminished from S to
9 litres per day to 5 litres ; but, when they were turned into pasture, they soon
resumed their former weight, and yielded their former quantity of milk. Tiiey
•were next fed exclusively on potatoes, when they fell off still more in flesh than
ihey did on beet-root, and the milk was reduced to two litres each per day; but,

• The Smithfiold stone of 8 lbs. we presume ia what is here referred to. [EdiJor.

t This nimtor, formerly iinmed aviadinc, from il« occurring; in starch, M. Biot has tei-mcd dextrine, from
its siiigulnr pnnRTly of polarizing the ruya of light toward lh«.' riylil.
(24-1)

BRITISH OXEN. 101

on being placed on a mixed food of hay, chopped straw, beet-root, and pota-
toes, they regained their flesh, and vicldod the same quantity of milk as at
first.

It is a vulgar notion that the butter-cup, or crow-foot, abounding in meadows,
is the cause of the butter having sometimes a bright yellow color. Still ingfleet,.
in his Observations on Grasses, says he believes this to be a mistake ; for he
never could observe that any part of the plant was touched by cows or any other
cattle. The proof that cuws do not eat this acrid plant is strikingly visible id
pastures, Avherc, though all the grass is cropped to the very roots, numerous but-
tercups spring up, flower, and shed their seeds in perfect security. They are in-
deed cut down, and made into hay, together with the rest of the weeds that usu-
ally infest every meadow, and in ibis state are eaten by the cattle, partly because
they are incapable of separating them, and partly because, by drying, their acri-
mony is considerably subdued ; but there can be no doubt of their place being
much better supplied by any sort of real grass ; for the excellence of a meadow
consists in its producing as large a crop as possible of agreeable and nutritious
herbage. Every butter-cup ouglit, therefore, to be extirpated, if practicable, along-
with the hemlock, kex, and other umbelliferous plants Avhich are common in
most fields. Linnteus, in his Flora Lapponica, p. 195, says lliat it was thoutrht
by some people that the marsh marigold made tbe butter yellow, but he denies
that the cows ever touch that plant ; yet he thinks that all kinds of pasture will
not give that yellowness; then he observes that the best and yellowest butter
that he knows, and which is preferred by the dealers in those parts to all other
butter, was made where the cow-wheat grew in greater plenty than he ever saw
it anywhere else. Mr. Edwin Lees mentions an instance of seven cows having
been poisoned by feeding upon the common meadow-saffron {Colchicum autum-
nale) in a field at LlanVihangel Pentre, South Wales, where it grew in great pro-
fusion. The farmer turned them into the meadow in the early sprincf, after a
winter's feeding on hay, and, being impatient for green food, they devoured this
plant, and were all found dead next morning.* A valuable cow belonging to Mr.
William Morrow, of Drumkcrrin, near Armagh, died from being overfed with,
frosted turnips, and, after being turned out, drinking copiously of cold water. — •
Practical farmers and veterinarians assert that tbe essential oil of turpentine, in
doses of two fluid ounces, or a common wine-glass full, administered in any mild
fluid, acts as a specific in all such cases.

From the late Earl Spencer's observations on the period of gestation of seven,
hundred and sixty-four cows, it appears that it extends to two hundred and
eighty-four days, not two hundred and seventy days, as formerly stated. As all
high-bred animals have a natural tendency to degenerate, if not kept up by due
intermixture of blood, it is very desirable to know in what manner the breed may
not only be kept up to its standard, but also improved. Hitherto there has not
been a sufficiently extended and carefully conducted series of experiments upon
this subject; and, consequently, there are no positive data on record enabling us
to determine, by comparative proximity with the legitimate zoological standard
of the species, the probability of permanence in any particular breed. [7.]

In improving the form of cattle, it is necessary to select a well-formed cow,
proportionally lartrcr than the bull. j\Ir. Cline, speaking upon anatomical prin-
ciples, says that the Ijase of the cone which forms the chest of a cow should be
capacious, to aflbrd the lungs suflicient room, and thereby promote the digestive
powers of the animal, (thougli the Devonshire cattle are often deficient in their
chest ;) the liips and the twist should be broad, that the cavity for the fanus may
be sufficiently large ; the breadth of the loins is always in proportion to that of
the chest and the pelvis ; the head should be small, and the length of the neck
should be proportioned to the bight of the anima!, that it n)ay collect its food
with ease ; the muscles and tendons should be large, to enable it to travel with

(7;. These are views and opinions we have long maintained on this subject, and have hence
expressed the apprehension that for want of experience and continued attention, imported cat-
tle of improved, and more especially of made-np artificial races, would be apt to degenerate
in this country. [Ed. Farm. Lib.

* The Naturalist, vol. i. p. 215.
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102 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

greater facility ; [8] the bones, however, should not be coarse and iarsre ; a short-
legged cow is preferable ; the hair should be neither staring nor hard. A Glou-
cestershire rhyme describes a beauiiful cow as being

" Long iu her sides, bright in her ey<>3,

Short in her legs, tliin in her thiglis,

Big in her ril)s, wide in her pnis.

Full in her bosom, small in her shins,

Long in her fijcc, fine in her tail,

And never deficient in filling her pail.

There is no month in the year equal to March for the production of calves, if
we take the whole country into our calculation. As cows will propagate their
species at any period of the year, it consequently depends in most cases upon the
views of the farmer or grazier regarding the ultimate profits arising from cattle
that we everywhere find some cows producing calves at one season of the year
and some at another. Spring, however, is the priucij)al season with breeders of
stock in general, since calves produced early in spring commonly make out
better, and are more profitable upon the whole (except such as are intended
for the butcher) than those produced at any other season ; whereas cows that
calve several months before there is a supply of grass, scarcely ever yield so
much milk during the succeeding summer as if the case had been otherwise ;
and hence the profits are lessened, to whatever purpose the milk may be con-
verted. However, in large and populous towns and communities there is a con-
stant demand for milk (and butter too) throughout the whole year, so that those
persons who keep dairies, and supply their customers during the entire summer,
are under the necessity of meeting the demand during the winter also ; and
hence some of their cows are always in full milk, that is, newly calved. Much,
however, is now effected by the use of turnips, mangel-wurzel, cabbages, car-
rots, and other succulent vegetables, in the way of causing cows to supply plenty
of milk during the winter ; but as it is a well ascertained fact that these vegeta-
bles cannot be cultivated but at a greater cost to the farmer than summer grass,
this system is but little resorted to, except in situations where it always com-
mands a remunerating price to the dairyman. In the principal districts where
cheese is made in large quantities — as, for instance, Cheshire, Derbyshire, Glou-
cestershire, Dorsetshire, &c. — the dairy farmers invariably contrive to have their
cows calving sufficiently early in the season to enable them to commence cheese-
making at the period there is enough of grass for the cows being turned out to pas-
ture ; and this process of cheese-making is regularly continued into the autunui :
and in the early part of the winter the cows are no longer milked, as there exists
a somewhat general opinion that cows that are allowed to go dry for three or four
months before calving are apt to yield a greater quantity of milk during the next
season. Besides, there is a saving in the expense of maintaining dry cows ; for it
is the general custom in the dairying districts to feed these cows upon straw and
a small quantity of hay, or else a few turnips, after they no longer yield milk,
until within a short period of their calving.

Dr. Lyon Playfair, having selected a cow in good milking condition and at the
time fed upon after-grass, ascertained the average amount of her milk for five
days, and then proceeded to analyze it. In the first day it was observed that the
milk of the evening contained 3'7 per cent, of butter, and of the following morn-
ing 5-6 per cent. The deficiency in the first observation is referred to the con-
sumption of a greater portion of the butter or its constituents, from respiratory
oxidation during the day, when the animal was in the field, than during the
night, when it was at rest in the stall. When confined during the day, and fed
with after-grass in a shed, the proportion of the butter rose to a-1 per cent. ;

(8). Greater ailention to this traveling: capacity in cattle and hogs was needed formerly iliiui
now ; though it is yet necessary. Cheapness of transportation by steam, and improvement in
the art of curing provisions to suit our own and the foreign market, will cause a much larger
proportion of beef and pork to be slaughtered on the spot where it is fattened, than lias here-
tofore happened. One of the best known and most extensive graziers in Kentucky, General
T. Shelby, went this summer to England expressly for the purpose of lookin? thoroui,'hly into
this subject, and promised to favor us, for The Fakmeu-s' Library, with the result of his
observations. [/■."(/. Fiimi. LiO.

(246)

BRITISH OXEN. 103

when fed with hay, the butter was 3-9 and 4-6 per cent. ; when fed with por-
tions of potatoes, hay, and bean Hour, the butter was 6-7 and 4-9 per cent. ;
with hay and potatoes, 4'(3 and 4-9 per cent. These facts, together with Bous-
singault's experiments, and the observations of dairymen in diflerent localities,
are opposed to Dumas's theory, that the butter in milk arises solely from the fat
contained in t!ie food ; for it may reasonably be referred to the starch and other un-
azotized elements of the food, as maintained by Liebig. Pototoes are particular-
ly favorable to the flow of milk and increase of butter, from the starch they con-
tain ; so is malt refuse. Turter and beer are also well known to be favorable to
the production of butter, both in the milk of woman and of the cow, although
these fluids do not contain fat.* The quantity ofcascine (cheese) in the milk
was found by Doctor Playfair to depend on the quantity of albumen in the food
supplied on different days to the cow, and to the supposed destruction of the tis-
sues by muscular exercise. Peas and beans are the food which yields most
caseine. Pasturing in the open field is more favorable to the formation of caseine,
while stall-feeding is more favorable to the formation of butter. The proportion
of butter in the milk of woman is increased by rest and the diminution of the re-
spiratory oxidation.

In the neighborhood of towns and villages, where milk and other products of
the cow are in demand for the market, a good food for rearing the young cattle
may be supplied by dissolving pearl sago in boiling water. Eight quarts of this
solution of pearl sago will cost only half the price of the same quantity of milk, and
Avill prove even more nutritious than the latter. Oil-cake is an excellent food, along
with turnips, to fatten calves, and the manure the cattle drop while upon thisdiet
is very serviceable to the crops. An Ayrshire farmer, who uses annually about
£120 worth of oil-cake for his cattle, assures us that disease scarcely ever occurs
among his stock, although formerly he used to lose many of them, especially
calves, which were frequently carried off by that fatal and malignant malady
commonly called black leg, but which has entirely disappeared since he has com-
menced the use of oil-cake. Turnips, with a liberal allowance of oil-cake, are
found conducive to early maturity. After a long course of experience, this gra-
zier is of opinion that cows should calve during February ; for when born later
than this month, the calves are, while in the farmer's possession, an eyesore,
Irom their being so far behind their compeers in growth : but if calved earlier
than February, the cows are apt to fail in their secretion of milk before the grass
can afford them a good bite.

Mr. M'liryde is of opinion that, to obtain the greatest amount of beef in the
shortest time, the cattle should be tied up by the necks in stalls, and fed for six
or eight weeks upon turnips, with oil-cake, bruised oats, beans, &c. Mr. M'Cul-
loch, factor at Logan, whose opinion is of great weight, thinks that ordinary
sized cattle would feed fully as well tied up in properly ventilated houses ; but
that large cattle would do better in hammels, where they had a small space to
move about, and which prevented their feet giving way. He observes that the
cattle in the hammels consume more food than those stall-fed ; but whether this
extra food is expended in the production of motion or of fat he has not ascertain-
ed. From his experience he prefers cuttinij turnips into slices of from one and
a half to two inches thick ; and while this thickness prevents some little waste of
the turnips from being too much reduced, it, at the same time, allows the cattle
to masticate with ease, and to lill their stomachs with less trouble, and conse-
quently there is less expenditure of the body. The system adopted at Logan
Mains, in giving oil-cake to cattle, is to grow and to preserve the seed, which is
bruised and boiled along with equal proportions of bruised oats and bear, and of
this mixture, from four to six pounds per day are given hot, after the cattle have
been lied up about two months. The expense of this diet is amply repaid, and
the manure is very much enriched. When oats are at a low price, a few pounds
of them per day may be advantageously added to the turnips. If lumper potatoes
can be had for not more than seven or eight shillings per boll, it might be profit-
able to feed cattle upon them.

* On the fHi-m of Mr. Castle of Northboume, in Kent, a cow, having got access to some fresh brewed
strong ale hit out to cool, drank so plentifully of it that she was shortly taken ill, and died in a few
hours in a state of intoxication, although proper remedies were administered by a farrier who was
■culled in.

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104 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

Some French philosoplicrs have found that, from the same food, a cow yields
in milk twice as much food available to man as a feeding ox will yield in flesh
and fat. M. Donne states that there is a striking analogy between milk and
blood, and says that he has injected milk into the veins of many animals without
causing any injury. From lean cattle, poorly kept, milk is never known to be
good. London milk is generally deficient in thick, rich cream. The Durham
cows yield a large quantity of milk, and numbers of them are, therefore, kept in
London dairies and in the dairy-farms about Manchester. Milk of a rich quality,
fit to supply good cream and butter, is generally yielded in small quantity, as iu
the case of the Galloway, Guernsey, Hereford, Highland, and Jersey cows. The
cows used for the London milk market are mostly of a large size, with short
horns, and are distinguished by the name of Hoiderness cattle — from a district so
called in the East Riding of Yorkshire. (9). It appears that the entire number
of cows kept by the London cow-keepers amounts to 8,500 — namely, 7,200 in
Middlesex, 681 in Kent, and 619 in Surrey. Each cow, on the average, yields
nine quarts per diem, or 3,285 quarts per annum ; but deducting 285 quarts for
suckling, casualties, &:c. gives us a total of 6,375,000 gallons of pure milk to sup-
ply the consumption of London and its vicinity. But as the retail venders adul-
terate it with at least 120 per cent, of water, the total annual consumption of
what is called milk amounts to 15,937,500 gallons. Each Londoner, on the
average, consumes annually ten gallons, three quarts, and nearly two pints of
milk. The price at which milk is sold to the retail venders varies from Is. 8d.
to Is. lOd. for eight quarts ; which, taking it at the medium of Is. 9d. gives a
total of £278,906 5s. for the wholesale price, and an annual expenditure, after
the assistance of the pump, of £697,265 12s. 6d. According to the occupation
abstract of the census of 1841, the number of persons employed in feeding cows
and selling milk in London was 2,764. While the milking of cows is going on,
the pans should be placed in boiling water. If the milk be strained into one of
the hot pans, and covered with another hot pan, proceeding in like manner Avith
the whole mess of milk, you will find that you will have double the quantity of
good rich cream, and double the quantity of sweet and delicious butter. It has
lately become very common, especially in large dairies, to keep milk in zinc
bowls, which have been recommended for promoting the formation of a larger
quantity of cream, owing to galvanic action ; but the use of them has been at-
tended with poisonous effects.

" I could scarcely have believed," says Dr. Elaines of Berlin, '■ tliat zinc vessels could asrain have
come into use for holding fluids used for alimentary purposes, as Vauquelin, forty years ago,
proved that such were certain, after a .short time, (when the milk has become sour and the pans
themselves sour,) to hold a considerable portion of zinc (and salts of zinc) in solution. I have
found by experience that a solution of sugar, which had stood only a few hours, in summer, iu a
zinc vessel, contained a considerable amount of zinc salts. Cream will separate more easily from
milk kept for a short time in a zinc vessel ; but as the milk will turn acid much sooner than a so-
lution of sugar, it is the more to be apprehended that some zinc will be dis.<olvcd. and such milk
will be the more noxious, as it is well known that even a small amount of zinc will cause violent
spasmodic vomitings."

The coagulation of milk under the influence of a simple wet membrane is a
remarkable phenomenon not easily explained. Berzelius tried a very curious ex-
periment with a view of ascertaining the eflfect on the membrane itself. He
took a bit of the lining of a calf's stomach, washed it clean, dried it as com-
pletely as possible, weighed it carefully, put it into eighteen hundred times its
weight of milk, and heated the whole to 120 degrees Fahrenheit. After some
little time, coagulation was complete. He then reirioved the membrane, washed,
dried, and weighed it again ; the loss amounted to rather more than one-seven-
teenth of the whole. According to this experiment, one part of the active mat-
ter dissolved from the membrane had coagulated about thirty thousand of milk.

The experiments of Professor Traill show that the addition of some cold wa-

(9). This breed is distinguished by its large frame of coai-se bone, and is said to have formed
the chief basis of the Durham or "improved Shon-Hom." They were formerly, in Marj-land,
called the " Gough breed " of cattle, from their having been imported by Mr. Gough, of Bal-
timore. Mr. Scmmcs, of Delaware, had a herd of them, and we have seen many possessing
all the charactcrisiics of the breed at " Blakcford," a beautiful estate of the late patriotic Gov-
ernor Wright, which has returned to the family, and been highly improved in the posscs-
mon of his sou, W. H. D. C. Wkight, Esq. [Ed. Farm. Lib.

(248)

BRITISH OXEN. THE POTATO ROT. 106

ter facilitates tlie process of butter-making, especially when the cream is thick
and the weather hot ; that cream alone is more easily churned than a mixture
of cream and milk ; that butter produced from sweet cream has the finest flavor
when fresh, and appears to keep longest without acquiring rancidity ; but the
buttermilk so obtained is poor and small in quantity ; that the scalding of the
cream, according to the Devonshire method, yields the largest quantity of butter,
which, if intended for immediate use, is agreeable to the palate and readily
salable ; but, if intended to be salted, is most liable to acquire, by keeping, a
rancid flavor. The process of scalding is troublesome, and the milk, after the
removal of the cream, is poor, and often would be unsalable, from the taste it
has acquired from the heating. It also appears that churning the milk and
cream together, after they have become slightly acid, seems to be the most
economical process on the whole ; because it yields a large quantity of excel-
lent butter, and the buttermilk is of good quality ; and that the keeping of
butter in a sound state depends on its being obtained as free from uncombined
albumen or caseine and water as it can be, by means of washing and working
the butter when taken from the churn.

By a newly invented block-tin milk-churn, now in use at Lisburn and other
parts of Ireland, butter can be made in ten jninutes at all seasons of the year,
la salting or curing butter, it is preferable to use vessels made from timber
which has been previously boiled four hours, to free it from the pyroiigneous
acid ; or else made of the lime tree, the wood of which does not contain this
acid. Butter will keep without salt if melted over a slow fire to expel all
its watery particles. To remove the bad smell and disagreeable taste of ran-
cid butter, and restore its sweetness, it is only necessary to beat it in a suffi-
cient quantity of water, into which put fifteen drops of chloride of lime for
every pound of butter. After having mixed it till all its parts are in contact
Avith the water, it may be left in for an hour or two — afterward withdrawn
and washed anew in fresh water. The chloride of lime has notiiing injurious
in it, and, therefore, the number of drops may be increased if thought proper.

The hoofs and horns of a hundred head of cattle are daily consumed in Camp-
sie Alum Works in the manufacture of that beautiful yellow salt, prussiate of
potash, which Mr. Macintosh introduced among the calico-printers, who use it
extensively to produce very showy blues and greens. It is prepared by burning
the hoofs and horns in iron pots, along with potash and a requisite quantity of
iron. The residue, after this combustion, is lixiviated with water, and when
the solution is sufficiently concentrated, the prussiate of potash crystalizes.

It would be well if some good cook, acquainted with a little chemistry, would
make some experiments upon the cookery of bone, which might be made to
yield many soups and other palatable and nutritious dishes. Professor Brande
observes that —

'• Bone constitutes, upon an average, a fifih part of the weight of an animal, and one-third of
the weight of bone may be reckoned as good substantial food. The weight of butchers' meat
consumed in London annually is supposed to be 172,000,000 lbs. including .i."),000,000 lbs. of bone,
which would, yield 11,000,000 lbs. of dry gelatine, or real nutritive matter, which, at present, is so
far wasted as not to be applied to the direct support of human life. The bones of pork, game,
poultry, and fi.sh, not included in this statement, must ai.so be of great amount. From all or
any of those an excellent dry gelatine, or portable .«oup, might be prepared and sold for about
2s. per lb., equivalent to three or four times its weight of raw meat."

Ground bones are employed as a manure for dry soils with the very best effect.
Mr. Huskisson, who estimated the real value of bones annually imported (prin-
cipally from the Netherlands and Germany) for the purpose of 'being used as a
manure, at £100,000, contended that it was not too much to suppose that an ad-
vance of between £100,000 and £200,000 expended on this manure, occasioned
500,000 additional quarters of corn to be brought to market. When bones are
intended for manure, they may be dissolved by pouring some sulphuric acid over
the bone-heaps, keeping them turned until they are thoroughly in contact with
the liquid. [Journal of the Transactions of the Highland and Agri. Soc. of Scotland.

THE POTATO ROT has made its appearance in the great Miami Valley. One field of
eighteen acres, it is represented, is so badly injured tliat the owner has turned his hogs upon
It. The crop this season iu the west generally is said to be a verv abundant one, and generaiy
ol excellent quality, and we hope that it is not seriouiilv to be iuiured by disease.
(249) •'*'•'

]06 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

EGGS.

HOW TO PRESERVE— THE EGG TRADE OF CINCINNATI.

For preserving eggs the following directions are given in the Boston Cultivator
in a way to inspire the fullest confidence :

" We have seeu many recipes for preser\'ing eggs, and have ti-ied several without success.
They have been saved in good condition, a year or more, in lime-water ; but this requires
much skill, as the hme-water may be too weak or too sti'ong, there being a vast difference
hi the quality of lime. These nice chemical preparations may answer for those who are
doing business on a large scale, but for common domestic pui-poses they will not answer.
"SVe put douni some eggs in plaster of Paris last July, (1844,) hi a close vessel. First, a
layer of plaster, tlien a layer of eggs, not allowhig one egg to touch another. On top we
put a few inches of plaster, then covered the vessel over closely. The eggs were fresh, be-
ing put down as fast as they were laid, or williiii three or four days. They were placed
with the small end downward, and placed in a diy cellar. In another vessel we put down
some at the same time, and m the same manner, with fine salt. Eggs from both lots have
been tried ever}' month from Januaiy ; the last trial was on the first of this month, (June,
1345,) when the eggs had been put down nearly eleven months. They have all proved to
be perfectly sweet and pure; and at the last trial, the white, in a raw state, had its natiiral
taste, and those saved in salt had no perceptible taste of salt. The eggs looked, when
broken, like recently laid eggs, excepting for the last three monllis. In those saved in salt,
the yolk adliered to the shell ; on tliis account, and as salt is liable to melt m a cellai', wo
prefer the plaster."

There is a patented establishment in Baltimore, and one has lately been erect-
ed in Brooklyn, N. Y. in which not only eggs, but strawberries, raspberries,
peaches, pine-apples, oranges, and fruit of every sort, may be preserved through-
out the year.

The egg trade of Cincinnati alone amounts annually to 10,000 barrels, con-
taining 963,000 dozen, valued at $90,361 50, besides 1,233,333 dozen, valued at
8 cents a dozen, runs up the total value of this apparent trifle, in the business of
a single city, to ^97,066 64. There are six egg houses in that town, one of
which shipped 4,624,400 eggs.

THE ATMOSPHERIC CHURN— A FAILURE

In a recent number of The Farmers' Library and Journal, I have seen an
account of an Atmospheric Churn, whereby the butter Avas churned by transmit-
ting through the cream a current of air. I have tried this with small quantities
ot cream, at the most favorable temperature, and have never obtained butter in
less than two /lonrs, when twenty minutes were sullicient by the ordinary process.
Having given it a fair trial, I am sorry to conclude that the plan, which appeared
so plausible, is 7iot practicable. Yours, resiiecit'ull)-, N. B. WEBSTER.

Portsmouth, Va.

P. S. I hope to send you several subscribers to The Library and Journal.*

* We are receiving BiniUiar encouragement eveiy day, from gentlemen of influence and
abiUties in all parts of the country. We can only say, most thankfully, that we shall labor
without stint to desei-vo it ; and would do so, if we possessed Astor's estate, were it only

for the ^ood cause.

(','.00)

CULTURE OF TUK VINK IN THE UNITED STATES. 107

NEW STAPLES RECOMMENDED.
THE CULTURE OF THE VINE IN THE UNITED STATES.

The average crop of wheat in England, one year with another, has been es-
timated at eighteen millions of quarters, or one himdred and forty-four millions
of bushels. The whole crop of grain in the United Slates was estimated by
the census of 1840 at —

Wheat ,. 84.8-:;3,270 bushels.

Barley 4,]G1..')04

Oat.s 12.3,071.341

live 7.291,734

Indian Corn 377,531,875

Making: a total of grain 596,879,726 bushels.

But tliere is nothing more remarkable in the husbandry of any country than
the liability of the wheat crop in England to be seriously affected and diminished,
to a degree sometimes amounting to a national calamity, by the occurrence of
only a few days of unfavorable weather ; thus making the supply of the staff
of life either very abundant or very scarce, according to the uncertain and un-
controllable vicissitudes of the seasons. It happened thus that while the wheat
crop in 1844 was estimated at one hundred and ninety-two millions of bushels,
that of the next year, 1845, was only one hundred and twenty millions, making
a difference in that comparatively small country, of seventy-two millions of
bushels ; the former year yielding forty-eight millions of bushels above, and the
second twenty-four millions below an average crop !

The vast extent of our country, however, having several single States larger
than England, exempts us from these extreme fluctuations ; because the defi-
ciencies of one State may be supplied by the redundance of another. The bale-
ful influences that may prevail over a small territory like that of England are not
likely to spread over a vastly greater geographical extent, the organized por-
tions of the United States being more than twenty times the size of England ;
and besides, the greater diversity of our great staple-crops renders less precari-
ous the hopes and condition of our agriculturists, and yet more the condition of
those who have to buy bread ; for, in addition to all, or nearly all, the great sta-
ple crops of England, we have our crops of cotton, and sugar, and tobacco, rice
and Indian corn ; and it is well worthy of inquiry, considering how low the prices
of provisions are likely to continue, what stands in the way of extenditig our
crops of oil, of flax, hemp, silk, madder, and the grape and grape wine ?

Were we to pay respect to the signs which Nature herself has hung out on
every highway and by-way throughout the country, we could not fail to recog-
nize in them so many proclamations of our ability not only to produce abundance
olivine, but silk also, both of which we still get from France to the tune of so
many millions of dollars annually. Unfortunately, however, instead of being a
nation of wine-drinkers, and thereafter a sober people, as all wine-drinking peo-
ple are, we have learned from our ancestors to substitute for the grape and the
refined and refining juices thereof, still-burnt, inebriating whisky and stupefying
malt liquors. Walk or ride, in almost any direction over a great part of our
country, and there you meet the mulberry and the vine, flourishing in spontane-

(251)

108 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

ous luxuriance, seeming obviously to suggest, at every turn, the rearing of the
silk-worm and the culture of the grape as among the most palatable and healthy
of all fruits, and the manufacture of wine as a beverage that everywhere im-
plies and is accompanied by national sobriety and industry.

We were never more struck with this than in a late ride in Prince George's
county, down as low as Nottingham. Through all that county, (and no less in
our mountainous regions less adapted to the plow,) as in fact through all south-
ern grain States, there is a wide margin or turning-row left along every fence
side, enough on every plantation to make a snug New-England farm. These
immense turning-rows and fence sides soon grow up in briars, and almost every-
where exhibit luxuriant volunteer grape vines — going unequivocally to indicate
the congeniality of the soil and climate to the production of the grape and the
wines for which the grape has been used from the days of Noah to the present
time. Notwithstanding this clear intimation of a kind Providence inviting to
the cultivation and improvement of this delicious and wholesome fruit, and, as
it were, flaunting in our very face and eyes the proof of our facilities for pro-
ducing it, how many farmers there are still, who let season after season pass
without having a single well-cultivated vine about their premises ! for even one
would supply their table with grapes enough for one family. Fortunately this
classical and interesting branch of industry appears to be taking firm root in
some of the younger States, to whom we on the sea-board should have set the
example. In Ohio and Indiana, where it seems to be making most steady pro-
gress, settlers from the Rhine have probably contributed to push it forward by
their practical knowledge of the subject, counteracting in this way the pernicious
influence and bad habits of too many others who bring Avith them the love of
liquor and all its riotous and disorderly propensities.

We submit an essay on the Culture of the Grape (taken from the Cincinnati
Farmer and Gardener), which, from its locality as well as its contents, being
ourselves without much experience, we suppose to be a safe guide for those who
propose to embark in the business. If in addition to this we could be favored by
Doctor Underhill Avith a sketch of his observations and experience in the culti-
vation of the grape for the table, we could not offer to the readers of this work a
more acceptable or valuable present.

The Doctor's experiments have now been long continued, extensive, expensive,
varied and successful ; and we are glad to say that one result is, that while
many have been deterred from going into the business from an apprehension that
any addition to his supplies would overstock the market, we have understood,
but not from him, that he sends to the New-York market, some $8,000 or ^10,000
worth in a season. Be that as it may, it is certain that he gets double the price
for his grapes now that he did thirteen years ago, and feels confident that no
amount of production that can take place will keep way with the rapidly in-
creasing consumption of and demand for table grapes. He who is so familiar,
by much experience, with the subject, is well convinced that, of all others, the
culture of grapes opens now the most inviting held for the investment of capital
and the exercise of horticultural enterprise in the neighborhood of all our large
cities; and we understand him to be well provided to supply the materials and
necessary instructions for carrying it on to those who may be inclined to embark
in it. Nothing, we may add, could be more discouraging than his first experi-
ments, and the obstacles he encountered for several years — obstacles which too
easily overcome the timid and the indolent, but which have in his case been con-
{2r)2)

CULTURE OF THE VINE IN THE UNITED STATES. 109

quered by that intelligent and well-directed perseverance which usually con-
quers difficullics in every walk of life, and by which he has even conquered,
after years of mutual warfare, that loathsome and pestiferous insect, the rose-bug.

For the table, the Doctor relies mostly on the Isabella, though, as will be seen,
the Catawba has preference in the wine-making vineyards of Ohio. We are not
without hope that the Doctor may find leisure and inclination to favor our read-
ers with practical hints that may assist to smooth the way to a general enjoy-
ment throughout the country, of this delightful fruit, except so far as the diffi-
culty in the way of it may continue to consist in that disreputable supineness
which alone need prevent any man who has a rood of land from having, for
every member of his family, and every neighbor or friend who visits him, at
least as many delicious grapes as they may choose to eat.

Speaking on the experience of fifteen or twenty years, Dr. Underbill believes
the grape crop, with good management, to be in itself less precarious than any
field crop cultivated in the country — less so in America than in Europe, and far
more remunerating.

To show how precarious is the product of grapes, as connected with the man-
ufacture of wine, in the best wine districts on the Rhine, we may refer again to
a recent exposition of Rhenish Industry. It is there stated that to one good vint-
age there are estimated two of ordinary yield, two of poor crops, and one total
failure ; so that the hard labor in the vineyard is accompanied by never-ceasing
anxiety of the owner for the result of his toil.

A table is given of the product of wine in the Rhenish provinces through a suc-
cession of 24 years, ending with 1S42 ; and the quantity fluctuated between re-
markable CKtremes — as, for instance, from a minimum of 14,674 eiraurs up to
854,000. The average of the 24 years was 359,058 eimurs, or 5,385,000 gallons,
as the production of 48,9G8 morgens, or 31,195 acres — being nearly 185 gallons
l)er acre. In the twenty-four years quoted, two were average years, twelve were
below and ten above the average.

It will be seen in another place that Mr. Moshek, of Ohio, estimates at a hio-her
rate than this the vineyards of that State. One acre of ground, he saj's, planted
six feet by three apart, Avill contain about twenty-four hundred vines — conse.
quenlly, will yield about one hundred and fifty (150) bushels of well-assorted
grapes, which will make three hundred gallons of wme — sometimes a little more
" I give," he adds, " three hundred gallons as the full average quantity of wine
made to the acre in the neighborhood of Cincinnati."

Dr. U. as has been said, rather prefers, for the New-York market, the Isabella
to the Catawba ; but says both have been improved by cultivation in the last fif-
teen years, very much beyoiid iv/iat is generally believed ; and, thoufrh himself
in the market as a vender of grapes, on a very large scale, is going on to extend
his vineyard every year, and recommends it most strongly to others. More than
four years ago he had twenty-two acres in grapes, having, after some years' trial,
banished all foreign grapes from his vineyard, satisfied that they cannot be eco-
nomically adapted to open field culture in our country, under ordinary circum-
stances. "We understand the price of two-year old rooted vines, by the hundred,
to be about 20 cents each ; and that an acre set in them, all expenses told, will
be about $G00 ; while in Ohio, Mr. Moshcr says, the preparation of the ground
for a well trenched vineyard, adding the cost of twenty- four hundred vines, at
sixty dollars per thousand, or six cents each, for one-year old vines (the custom-
ary price in that market), with the cost of planting, will make the expense of

. (253)

110 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

one acre, exclusive of land, stakes, &c. at least three hundred dollars ; or, with-
out trenching, about two hundred.

The positive and comparative excellence of the Catawba and the Isabella prob-
ably depend, in a great measure, on the care Avhich has been bestowed on their
improvement by cultivation, by different persons and in different places. While
Dr. U. seems rather to give the preference to the Isabella, ]Mr. Longworth, of
Cincinnati, very high and respectable authority, is in favor of the Catawba, and
has even discarded the Isabella altogether from his vineyard. He says, in a letter
to the editor of the Indiana Farmer, paraded in the Government agricultural pa-
per at Washington — " The Catawba grape is a good table grape, though not en-
tirely free from a hard pulp ; but as a wine grape, in our climate, I consider it
superior to all others — capable to make a wine to rival the best hock and Cham-
pagne wines ; and that Major Adlum, in introducing it, has left a mine of Avealth
to the people of Ohio." The Isabella, he says, " succeeds better at the East
than with us. I deem it a poor table grape, and worthless for wine, and have
extirpated it from all my vineyards. With two pounds of sugar to the gallon, it
makes a pleasant sweet wine."

If we can't find room in this, we will make it in the next No. to enter upon
this subject, at least so far as to give ample information to all who have control
of the smallest piece of ground — fully agreeing in opinion with Mr. Hoare, an
author of the highest authority, that " of all the productions of the vegetable
world which the skill and ingenuity of man have rendered conducive to his com-
fort, and to the enlargement of the sphere of his enjoyments, and the increase of
his pleasurable gratifications, the vine stands forward as the most preeminently
conspicuous. Its quickness of growth — the great age to which it will live ; so
great, indeed, as to be unknown — its almost total exemption from all those ad-
verse contingencies which blight and diminish the produce of other fruit-bearing
trees — its astonishing vegetative powers — its wonderful fertility — and its deli-
cious fruit, applicable to so many purposes, and agreeable to all palates, in all its
varied shapes, combine to mark it out as one of the greatest blessings bestowed
by Providence to promote the comfort and enjoyments of the human race."

Concurring in the foregoing eloquent eulogy on the grape, we shall not, how-
ever, look so much to foreign authors as to American experience for the instruc-
tions we shall offer, as that experience shows that in few things does the differ-
ence of climate exert a greater influence, demonstrating that European practice
in the culture and management of the grape is not suited to our country.

We must content ourselves for the present with Mr. Mosher's letter on the
establishment of a vineyard. Hereafter we shall supply the reader with the best
information to be had on the culture of vines on a small scale for family use ; and
that information we shall dedicate to the housewife, by whom we verily believe
it will be better attended to than by the hushandman.

From the Cincinnati Karraer and Cravdener.
CULTURE OF THE GRAPE.

As public altcnlion at the present time seems to be somewhat enlisted in the cultore of
the gra[)e, and as its saccess is protty well cstablislied in the vicinity of Cincinnati, where it
is rapidly extending, a brief skt'tch of iho most approved mode of estjiblisliuig a vineyai-d
niiiy bo iicccptablo to sonio of your readei-s.

Tilt' first step then, is the preparation of the gronnd. The sides or tops of limestone hilla
are "cncnally chosen for the location, where the water runs off readily. Sonlli and soutli-
eusti;rn exposures arc the best in this cliuiat*'. Tliree niudcs of preparing tlm gionnd iuo

(V.54)

CULTURE OF THE GRAPE. LARGE FLEECE. Ill

tisually arlopted hern. The first consists merely in deep plowing, with a common plow, as
for potatoes, and makiuii ihe surface fine and mdlovv with the harrow. The second method
goes one stop farthei', ;uul a second fuirow is cut in tiie bottom of the lirst ; in the bottom
of the second fuirow a siilisoil plow is nni, wliicii breaks tiio gi-onnd, altu^'othcr, to the
depth of .sixteen or eijjhtt'cu inchi'.s ; it is then hanow'd and prcjiarud as in iho lirst. The
third method is by thoroughly trenching with the spade, to the deptli of not less than two
feet. If the hill-side is steep, (say at an elevatioti of twenty or thirty degrees with tiie
horizon,) terraces are also raised from two to four feet in hight, and extending up the hill
fi-om twenty to si.xty feet each, according to the acclivity of the surface. By this last mode,
the top soil is all thrown into the bottom of the trenches, and the subsoil, which is generally
clayey, thrown upon the top, and left sudicientlv smooth for planting. Where stones are
found in the soil, tht?y are thrown out on the surface, as the trenching progresses up the hill
and if in sulficient quantity, are laid up in walls to sup[)ort the terraces. The terraces are
trade to run horizontally along the hill side, or nearly so, with an open ditch for a drain at
the upper edge of each terrace, and a similar horizontiil ditch iis often as once in eighty or
a hundred feet, wliere the ground is not teiTaced. These dniins should lc;ul to the lowest
point in the vineyard, where a suit<ible drain -should be constructed down the hill to carry
oft' the surplus water in heavy showers, and may be covered like a culvert, or left o[)en. In
each case the vines are planted in rows, four feet apart if to be worked with the hoe and
spade, and from five to six feet if to bo worked with tlie plow or cultivator, and should al-
ways run horizontally with the terraces and drains. The distance betwiM-n the vines in the
row varies from two and a half to torn- feet, according to the mode of training which is to be
adopted.

Cuttings of the vine, with three or four eyes, are sometimes jjlanted, at proper distances,
in the vineyard ; but the usual practice is, to plant them first in a nurseiy, m rows, about
eighteen inches apart, and from four to six in a row, to strike root ; here they are to be well
cultivated, and allowed to gi-ow one or two years, when lliey are taken up in the sprin"
and planted out in the vineyard. The fom-tli year from the cuttings, (that is, after they have
had three summers' growth — two in the nursei-y and one in the vineyard,) they may be al-
lowed to bear a fiiU crop, or nearly as much as they ever should be allowed to bear there-
after ; which is about one-fourth of a peck of grapes to each vine. One acre of ground
planted six feet by thi-ee apart, will contain aboiit twenty-four hundred vines ; consequently
will yield about one hiuidred and fifty bushels of well-assorted gi'apes, which will make
three hundred gallons of wine — sometimes a little more. An acre of good ground, well
trenched, and planted with Catawba vines, after it Ins acquired six or seven years' Towlh
may be made to yield a much greater quantity ; ami some small vineyards below Cincin-
nati, on the hills of the Ohio river, have jiroduced at the i-ate of eight hundred <rallons per
acre ; but the vines were planted four feet each way, making twenty-six hundred and forty
vines to the acre ; but the proprietor admitted that his vines were injured by overbeariuT
and that his wine was inferior in quality when allowed to produce that cpiantity.

I give three hundred gallons as the full average quantity of v^ine made to the acre in the
neighborhood of Chiciunati. Of course, much variation will depend upon the manner of
establishing a vineyard, and its subsequent ti'eatiuent.

The comparative merits of the ditferent modes of preparing the gi-ound for a vineyard
cannot, as yet, be settied by exjierieuce in tliis part of the countiy, as the oldest vuieyard, I
believe, has not been estiiblished more than twelve or thirteen years. Vineyards planted at
Vevay, in Indiana, by the Swiss, merely on deeply plowed ground, failed "in fifteen years.
When the groiuid is plowed eighteen inches deep, it may bear tolerably well for twenty
years ; but a^"ineyiu•d planted on groimd well trenched two feet deep, and properly drained
and cultivated, may be expected to hust fifty or one hundred years — peihaps more. The
crop, also, is much more ceitain when the ground is well tienched, not Ijelim so liable to
suffer from drouths or rainy seasons.

The advantages of deep ti-encliing have become so apparent to those \\ ho have had the
most experience, that nearly all who can afford it are now preparing their gi-ound in tliis
maimer, ahhough done at an expense varyuig from eighty to one hundred and twenty-five
dollars pt^r acre, according to the character of the ground. This, with the addition of twenty-
four hundred vines, at sixty dollars per thousand for one-year old vines, (the customary
price in this market.) with the cost of plaining, will make the expense of one acre, exclu-
sive of land, stakes. &c. at least tlu-ee hundred dollars, or, without irenching, about two
hundred. t.-. mosher.

LARGE FLEECE. — A specimen of wool from the Lincolnshire breed has been exhibited to
nsby Kev. Dr. Lako, inclosed to him in a letter from D. W. Horne, Esq. of Jackson county.
It was taken from a \ajnh of only a year's growth, raised by Mr. H., and for length and fineness
•arpasses anything we have ever seen. The sample shown us was eleivn and n half inches in
length, and from a fleece which weighed (en a/td a half pounds. There is no country better
calculated fur sheep tlian Florida, and yet very few of our planters keep enough even to supply
tlieir own tables with mutton. We hope to see things changed in ibis respect belc>re long, and
wool form an iicm in our exports. [Tallahassee Floridiaji.

(255)

112

MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

THE "WHITE FRENCH GRAPE."

PERFECTLY ACCLIMATED IN PENNSYLVANIA.

■Extract of a letter from Jos. C. G. Kennedy, of Meadville, Pennf jivania, to J. S. Skinner, Cor. Sec. of
the Col. Horticultural Society.

I CANNOT let this opportunity pass without mentioning the existence of a very
fine variety of grafe in this section of our country. The vine was found by the
early settlers of this region, in two or three places in Venango county, near the
mouth of French creek, where Franklin is situated, where formerly stood a
French fort. The French had at an early day a line of military posts from Fort
Du Quesne (now Pittsburgh) to Canada. It is in the neighborhood of Franklin
where the grape is found growing wild, or was so some years since ; it is now
cultivated in a few gardens. The grape is white, of large size, thin skin and
fine flavor ; in appearance resembling the white grape brought from the West
Indies to your market, but larger. The vine, if of foreign origin, has become
perfectly acclimated, is very hardy, and a good learer. I doubt not it would
prove a valuable acquisition if propagated more extensively and brought into no-
tice. It was found, uniformly, growing on low grounds, and near water. I
have heard its existence in these parts accounted for in this way, viz : during the
occupancy of the military posts by the French, a keel-boat was at one time
wrecked in the river near Franklin ; that on board of her were grape cuttings or
vines, destined for Canada; that those cuttings, lodging on an alluvial shore,
took root, and thus the origin of what with us is termed " the while French
grape.'''' I am cultivating a few vines, which would have enabled me to say
more concerning them and their produce, had not the nipping frost of 2d June
destroyed their blossoms, an occurrence proving no tenderness, as the u-hitc-oak
leaves in some places shared the same fate, and they are esteemed a hardy plant

GERMAN PLOWS AND PLOWING.

How do these implements, used on the Rhine, compare with ours ? Banfielp,

in his work just published, says —

Besides the large estates in the Grand Dncliy of Darmstadt that we have already noticed
as under scientific management, we may name the estate of Bai-on Von Babo, near Wein-
heim, as very accessible from Heidelberg. From Badeu-Badrn e.xciu-sioiis may be made to
Rothenfcls and Augustenburg, comitry-seats belonging to the Margrave Williiun of Baden,
which have long sen-ed as pattern fanns. Baion Von Babo is an niithor on agric^ultural sub-
jects, and the result of a few out of numerous e.xperiments tliat he has caused to be made
with plows, will both show the interest with which intelligent fanners follow improvements
in Germany, and will throw a useful light on the plow of the Palatinate, vihich we before
praised as well adapted to the soil. One of these, with a plow in use on the Bergstrasse, a
Flemish wheel, and a Flemish swing-plow, being tried against each otlier in a dry, stony
8oil, the result was —

Plow used.

Palatinate.

(La(]enburg) ,

<Stras.«eriheiiu)

Bergstrassk.

( \V iesloch)

Flcmisli with wheels ...
Flemish swing .^^^^^^^^^

Depth

of

Furrow.

inches.

Breadth

of
Furrow.

Power
used in
lirnueht.

49

3-5
3-0

i: "7

Rt-marks.

Furrow i-lean and clod well luraed.
FuiTow not cleaii or well turned.

Furrow shallow, well turned.
Not .so well cut or turned as in the
following, which v\-a.s the best.

The simple form of stating the results of the trial of various plows may af-
ford a hint to Committees appointed to award preiniun;s for Ameiican plowing.

TYPHOID FMiUMOMA. 113

TYrHOlD PNEUMONIA.

BY ROBKRT W. GIBBES, M. D. OF COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA.

At page 9G of the August No. we took the liberty to call on the author of tlie following
dissertation on the peculiar diseases of the South and West, and there inquired — "Are not
such queslions intimately connected with the interests of Agriculture ? " and we might hava
added, humanilij .' at least when that interest is viewed in the broad light that we under-
stand and propose to dii^ciiss and defend it.

For a man thinking, as too many ever are, of swelling the cuirent that flows and flows,
and will, it seems, forever flow, from the old Atlantic to the South and West, what more in-
teresting subject of inquiry than the diet, climate, and diseases comiected with those land*
of promise, and wiih any particular race or description of population ?

Immediately after the above was written, and just too late to airest it, we receired the
following, for which many of om- readers, fanners as well as medical men, will luiite with us
in thanks to the author.

[The following article was published in October, 1842, in the American Journal of the Medical Sciences.
It was copied into one of the agricultural papers of South Carolina, and, by request, has been revised and
had some additions made to it for publication in the Farmers' Library:]

This disease prevails extensively during the winter months on our river swamp
plantations in the Southern States. It destroys more negroes than all others
combined, to which they are ordinarily liable. It is a matter of surprise that
southern pliysicians have ])ublished nothing in relation to it. In the whole series
of the American Journal of tlie Medical Sciences, there is but a single communi-
cation on the subject, and that is ot an epidemic which prevailed in the West,
and was confined chiefly to whites. I have for twelve years been familiar with,
this epidemic in the neighborhood of Columbia, and, having had a large number
of negroes under my care, my experience of it is published with the hope of add-
ing to the knowledge of its causes and treatment.

I would here premise that I am fully impressed with the conviction that the
treatment of negroes must differ much from whites. The negro lives a life of
constant exercise, and exposure to changes of weather ; he uses a diet seldom
varying, mostly vegetable : he has a fixed and certain amount of labor to per-
form ; and he usually indulges in no excesses. The action of his system is more
equable ; his nervous power is more regularly distributed ; and the various func-
tions of the organs are less apt to be impeded than with whites, who live more
or less irregularly. Negroes sufl'er more from tlie diseases of cold weather, and
but little from heat ; they are less liable than whites to inflammatory affections ;
inflammation is not so active, and is much more readily controlled, with them ;
they are more easily brought under the influence of medicine, hence their diseases
are more curable. I speak of plantation negroes; those who are employed iu
domestic attendance on families and in cities, differing in their habits, have their
complaints modified by their employments, and are assimilated more to the con-
dition of the whites. Under similar circumstances, a single bleedinij, followed
by one or two doses of medicine, will control a case of acute pleurisy in a negro,
while three or four times as much bleeding and treatment will be required by a
white man of apparently similar strength. Negroes bear depletion badly, and
stimulants well. The Thomsonian or stimulating steam practice agrees well
with them, while it is injurious and destructive to whites. Opiates produce
more decidedly beneficial elTects on them, and much less injury or unpleasant
consequences.

The disease of which I write is known by various names, according to the pre-
dominance of particular symptoms. The more violent cases being suddenly taken
with a chill and cold skin, and dying often without any reaction, it is sometimes
spoken of as the cold flague. The head being almost always affected, and be-
('■^57) S

114 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

fore the pneumonic symptoms are developed, it is called head pleurisy ; and symp-
toms of prostration and continued debility, with pain in the chest, and cough, be-
ing usually present, the term typhoid pneumonia is most commonly applied to it
by physicians: in the fall or spring, when bilious symptoms exist, it is called
bilious pleurisy.

It occurs musily during the prevalence of long-continued cold spells, and more
frequently with wet weather. It is rarely found on highland plantations, and if
at all, is confined to such negroes as are more or less exposed to work in low
and wet grounds. On swamp plantations the disease is epidemic ; but as far as
mv experience extends, I have known but few cases on upland settlements.*

I have met with most cases ia January and February, although it frequently
commences in November and continues until spring. During the winter of 1841,
the weather was unusually variable, with much rain, but so little intense cold
that there was no ice continuing for more than a day or two, and none thick
enough to be preserved. On the plantations in my charge, where there are about
twelve hundred negroes, there were then fewer cases than usual — in all, proba-
bly, not over fifty — while during the next winter, on one place, among three
hundred there were seventy-two cases, and on another, forty-seven among a hun-
dred and fifty.

Old negroes, and such as are weak from any previous disease, are more liable
to be attacked. Children under ten years are not often affected ; yet I have
known several cases of five or six years of age, where death has been sudden,
with similar symptoms as in the adults ; these have usually been such cases as
the old women call luormy — children of weakly constitutions, who have suffered
more than others from worms. When such children are attacked, they rarely
recover.

Where the disease is violent in its attack, the patient suddenly becomes cold
and pulseless, lethargic, and often insensible, without previous complaint ; and
I have known cases found dead, or die within three or four hours from being ap-
parently well.*

''Jan. 12, 1842. I Avas sent for to-day to see a case which I found in articulo
mortis, January, «t. 32, strong and active ; plowed yesterday until 12 M. : felt
badly ; had pain in head and chest ; came home ; was very giddy ; skin cold and
pulse very small and quick ; sinapisms were applied to the extremities, and a
blister to the chest ; a dose of ipecac, was given to him by the overseer ; he vom-
ited freely, but no reaction came on. 1 found him at 11 A. M. with a cold skin,
thread-like pulse, brcatiiing quick ; complained of pain over the eyes ; his in-
tellect icas perfectly clear ; tongue red at the edges, covered Avilh a dry, brown
crust ; throat and mouth dry and parched, with sordes about the teeth ; chest
.sounded clear over its whole extent ; v/as powerless. Hot applications and
stimulating frictions had no effect on his skin : carbonate of ammonia with whisky
toddy had no inffucnce on his pulse ; he died at 6 P. M."

In this case the patient seemed to die from a direct prostration of nervous
power; and the clearness of intellect was a remarkable symptom.

Jan. 30. I was called to a case taken late last night with chill and cold skin ;
pulseless; pain in head; lethargic; unable to move himself; he bad sinapisms,
stimulating frictions, pepper tea (infusion of capsicum): was dead at 10 A. M.
when I reached him.

" Bob, at. 35, was apparently well ; about 12 M. said he felt cold and weak ;
the overseer sent for me a distance of seven miles; 1 reached him in about lour
hours ; he was then dead.

Several other cases of the disease occurred on this place at this time, of mild
form ; others more severe occurred afterward : 1 did not fot a moment doubt that
he died from it. I have frequently been called to cases of twelve or twenty
hours' standing, and found them dying.

" Nat, set. 55, worked in the field and did his full task ; came home in the
evening well ; sat by the lire and talked as usual ; about 9 P. M. complained of
feeling weak and cold ; the nurse was not sent for ; he was covered with blank-
ets and remained, as was supposed, asleep until moruiag. 1 was called to see
him ; found him cold, insensible, i)ulseless. The nurse had givea him warm

* rhirinf! the ptift sjuin^ ■'t'- H^) \ undorvltini;! it ha? prcviiiU'd on «cvciul upUind pliiccs in i^t. .Mmthew's
pohcb, K. C.

TYPHOID PNEUMONIA. 115

pepper tea (which is much used oa the southern plantations as a stimulant and
diaphoretic); he swallowed with ditficulty ; I directed cataplasms of mustard
and frictions of hot turpentine, with warm loddy internally. After a fevif hours,
much against my expectation, he w;is roused ; feeble reaction took place ; his
pulse never became full ; 1 directed the toddy to be continued, with two p^rams
of quinine every third hour. He improved slowly for several days, but con-
tinued very feeble ; gained a little strength ; was able to sit up for a short time ;
his tongue was r«;d at the edges, with a dry, brown crust; became moist after
three or four days ; an occasional mild laxative was given him ; but whisky, and
quinine, and soup were constantly given. I considered him doing well, and
slowly convalescing ; no pneumonic symptoms, but a very slight cough appeared :
a cold, rainy change of weather came on ; on that night he had a chill, and died
in a few hours."

Frequently have T known cases convalescent, able to Avalk about, free from all
symptoms but debility, yield suddenly to a cold change of weather, and die in a
few hours — or linger several days with pneumonic symptoms. If a case has
been much enfeebled by a first attack, a second is very likely to prove fatal. A
cold and windy change often aggravates symptoms which were mild and favora-
ble. On one occasion I left live cases doing well, with no serious symptoms ; a
very cold, drizzling rain set in toward evening; on my visit next morning I
found three of theiTi with bad symptoms : one died on that day, seemingly of de-
bility ; the others were kept up by strong stimulants and large doses of quinine.
One of them continued very feeble for several weeks ; a large abscess formed on
the leg, which was opened ; it discharged very copiously, and exhausted her
so much that she died next day, in spite of tonics and stimulants.

The following is a fair specimen of the severe form of the disease at its com-
mencement, and is a good illustration of my view of the treatment required. I
would here premise that I have known venesection practiced frequently in the
cold stage, and I have never seen a case recover, and rarely even if used after
reaction. I have heard physicians say, if they could get to the cases early, and
bleed, the patients were generally safe. Those cases winch hear hleeding ivou/d
get better without it. On one plantation, a few years ago, the first five cases
which occurred of this disease, commencing with pain in the head and chest,
were bled by the overseer, who undertook their treatment : every case termin-
ated fatally. He became satisfied that some other treatment was necessary. I
was sent for, and introduced the treatment by stimulants, opiates and revulsives,
and twenty-three cases which occurred all recovered. In this disease, if the pa-
tients are immediately attended to, it is found quite manageable, as much so as
an ordinary catarrh ; but beware how depletion is practiced ; if the symptoms
are neglected for twelve or twenty-four hours, and are at all aggravated, they are
very apt to die.

'' Suntlaif, February I3lh, ]S-i2, Bess complained last night of headache j
did not sleep well ; early this morning was seen by the nurse ; was drowsy ; com-
plained of pain over the eyes ; pulse was small and skin cold ; whisky and in-
fusion of capsicum had been given, and sinapisms applied to the extremities. I
found her at 10 A. M. with skin cooler than natural, though not cold ; is now
sensible, but very giddy upon any attempt to raise her head ; complains of se-
vere pain over the eyes ; pulse is small and irritable, 100 by the watch ; feels
very weak ; tongue is red, looks like raw beef, very dry ; breathing rather slow ;
no cough nor pain in the chest. I directed 2 grs. camphor, 2 grs. calomel, and
5 grs. Dover's powder every two hours, until three doses were given, and the
whisky toddy to be given in small portions every hour, unless the skin became
hot; and after three powders, if the skin was not so, to continue them every
third hour until next day, with warm serpentaria infusion after each dose."' " On
Monday I saw her, and found her free from headache ; had slept well ; skin
was in good condition, soft and natural ; pulse 80. She took six powders : after
the third she perspired freely, and the headache went off; her tongue was now
moist aod with a whitish fur ; paler at the edges ; feels much better, but is
weak. I dirpctcd serpentaria and Epsom salts to be given this morning, and a
full opiate at night. On the next day she was convalescent."

Such cases as this are very common, and, where the nervous power is soon
roused, and its tone restored by opium, camphor, &:c. and diffusible stimulants
excite the circulation and restore free capillary action, no pneumonic symptoms
(259)

116 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

iippear. Where the nervous system is in a depressed state, and an effort at re-
action is unsuccessful, from a want of energy in the brain and spinal nerves,
■congestion of the lungs or brain lakes place, which continuing, in the former
gives rise to pneumonic inflammation ; the vascular fullness arising altogether
from nervous debility.

ll consider typhoid pneumonia among negroes as an adynamic disease, in which
. the nervous energy of t he fatient is directly debilitated by the sedative injluence
• of cold.* If reaction take place, the nervous system must be braced up and kept
steady, while such means are used to control local inflammation as will not re-
duce the general strength. The disease is, then, one of irritation, and not of in-
flammation. The blood is altered, and resembles bloody serum — thin, watery,
and dark colored. The tendency to sink is so great that general depletion "is
highly injurious, and local bleeding must be practiced with great caution. Small
doses of calomel, as a general alterative and excitant of the secretions, with cam-
phor and opium, and, with much debility, carbonate of ammonia and alcoholic
stimuli, producing diflusion, with free vesication, are the important indications
required. Laxatives, and not drastic purgatives, aid materially in the treatment.

Tiic following cases are examples of the mild form of the disease :

'■'■Feb. 11th, ]842. Chance, eet. 13, complains of pain in the head, ON'-er the
eyes ; is giddy ; skin dry, but of ordinary temperature ; tongue slightly furred,
redder than natural ; no cough ; pulse small, soft, quick, 130 ; breathing natural.
I directed calomel 2 grs. Dover's powder 10 grs. camphor 2 grs. to be given, and
repeated in two hours ; each dose to be followed by warm infusion of serpenta-
ria ; as soon as he sweats, stop the powders ; early to-morrow give him a dose
■of calcined magnesia."

" 12fh. Is much better ; pulse below 100 ; sweated freely yesterday ; slept well ;
pain in the head very slight ; skin soft. I prescribed the continuance of the in-
fusion of serpentaria, with 8 drops of laudanum every third hour until bedtime."

" 13^^. Is convalescent ; pulse 80."

'■'■Feb. 11th. Sally, 3Bt. 11, has pain over the eyes ; cough and pain in the
chest ; pulse small, 140,. soft ; nostrils run freely ; breathing hurried ; is weak
and seems distressed. I prescribed calomel 2 grs. Dover's powder 5 grs. every
third hour, with infusion of serpentaria; ?he had taken in the morning salts,
which had operated three times."

" 12th. I found her better ; headache lessened ; pulse 100 ; cough loose ; expec-
torates freely ; she sweat freely after three powders. Continue the same treat-
ment."

" IZth. Pulse 80 ; skin soft ; slept well last night ; feels very well but weak ;
cough loose."

Such cases constitute a large number of those which occur, and yield readily
to small doses of calomel, combined with opiates and warm, sliinulaiing infusions.
In some of the cases there are no other symptoms than of debility and wandering
pains in the back, loins, shoulders, or legs. Occasionally an acute pain in the
ball of the eye, in the ears or side of the neck, with stillness of the muscles, is
present. In severe cases the tonsils, sub-maxillary and sub-lingual glands, are
•swollen, with acute pain in swallowing, and these are usually the worst. Where
pneumonia becomes developed, the calomel and opiates are continued every third
hour, for 36 or 48 hours, aided by the warm infusion of serpentaria and laxatives,
with blisters to the chest; usually the symptoms yield in this time, although
rthey sometimes run on for six or seven days; this, hoiccver, is not often the case,
■unless depletion be practiced. The hot skin and fever, with bloody expectora-
tion, frequently induce the practitioner to draw blood ; but it is u.^ually thin and
watery — looking more like a colored serum than blood, and resembling what is
taken from dirt-eaters — having but little coagulum, and that loose and nearly
■black. The pulse, though frequent, and sometimes full in these cases, feels
more as if filled with air than fluid, and is easily compressed — frequently it has
ihe wiry, shattered feeling of anccmia. The blood expectorated is dark colored,
and the' expectoration viscid and tenacious ; it is often of a bilious-lookiug fluid,
which I consider a favorable indication.

* Since this article wns vvritlon, I linvc had reason to believe that the sedative bifiuaict of cold is not the only
cause. 1 iiiivo seen cases originate in wwin weather, and am disposed to think thnt vuriatious in the elec-
ilrical state of the atniosiihere deprive the nervous system of oner^'y. alter the blood, and difpose to this
<iiiieR«;. Tlio electiiciU coiiJilion of ihc aimosphcre varica with tcmjj)eraturo und moistm-e.

TYPHOID PNEUMONIA. 117

Frequently the pulmonary symptoms yield suddenly, and a metastasis occurs ;
and this is another argument in favor of my opinion that tiiis disease consists ia
irritation and irritability, aflectinif the nervous system continuously with its ex-
istence.

I remember one case in which the pulmonary irritation was very great for two
days, with much pain and difficulty of breathing; suddenly a most intense pain,
with great leiiderncss, attacked the peritoneal covering of the liver, and the cough
and pain in the chest ceased. Five grains of calomel, twice repeated, followed
by oil, gave relief, and no farther difficulty occurred — the girl convalesced di-
rectly.

Where metastasis occurs to the bowels, and hemorrhage results, the discharge
is critical ; when to the peritoneum, it is usually fatal ; when to the brain, it al-
most invariably terminates in efl'usijn. If nmch depletion is used in the treat-
ment, the liability to metastasis is much increased, especially to the brain.

The cases require to be carefully watched, as they, vary much in their course,
although the primary symptoms are similar, and usually yield to the general
treatment. '

On two occasions, where the pulmonary symptoms subsided, and metastasis to
the brain took place, with great congestion, I opened the temporal arteries, with
temporary relief, but deatii by effusion followed soon after in both. The conges-
tion was, no doubt, venous from weakness in the brain, and not arterial, which
is connected with high action.

I do not think the distinction is sufficiently noticed between congestion and in-
flammation ; in the former condition, the distension of the veins, Avith symptoms-
of diminished sensibility in the nervous energy of the organ, is the predominant
symptom ; in the latter, accelerated arterial action, with increased sensibility, is
apparent. If the venous congestion is but temporary, and the nervous energy
not much depressed, active inflammation occurs, when by reaction an eiTort is-
made by the arteries to repair the effects of the temporary delay of the circulation
in the veins. If the nervous energy is free and cumulative, strong inflammation;
is the result. If congestion from a debilitating cause has occurred, and has re-
mained long enough to oppress still more the vital energy of the affected organ,,
the weakened power of the arteries, when they receive the transfer of the load
which reaction throws oft" from the veins, is such as to induce only a sub-acute
inflammation in the organ. This state is removable by diffusion, diaphoresis an'l
revulsion, at the same time that the nervous energy is restored, so as to prevent
again the recurrence of the congestion, which would arise from its deficiency.

With the aid of nervous power, the arterial system repairs most of the injuries
to the organs ; if that is strong, too much action is developed by the arteries ia
this function ; if they have but little aid from it, their effort soon ceases, they
become rapidly exhausted, and effusion results. A proper balance can only be
restored to the circulation by the regular renewal of the accustomed supply of
nervous power.

That this disease may and does assume a different form, requiring different
treatment, in other localities, I would not presume to deny ; but here, where I
have been familiar with it for a long time, and had extensive opportunities of
studying its phenomena, I am satisfied that facts will bear me out in my opin-
ion of its character. The type of this disease is tliat o[ adyiiafnin ; but, with a
debilitated nervous system, local inflammation of a sub-acute character arises in
congested orirans : and it is all-important to remove the latter condition by such
means as will not only not reduce the former, but support it. The s\miptoms in
the attack are often such as would indicate depletion as necessary — such as pain
in the head, giddiness, lethargy. Sec. — but,

" Vascular energy is wholly derived from the nervous system. If, by any
means, the nerves destined to supply any vessel or set of vessels with this energy
become debilitated or destroyed, then these vessels cease to be capable of duly
performing the function of propelling the fluids to and from the heart ; and there-
fore it inevitably follows that turgescence, more or less severe, takes place, and
results in disease, depending on the organ affected for its particular character. — •
Thus a sudden, temporary suspension of nervous energy in the vessels of the
brain, rendering them for the moment incapable of propelling forward the blood,
may occasion giddiness, dimness or distortion of vision, &;c. ; and, if these symp-
toms are neglected, this temporary becomes a lasting loss of energy, producuig

118 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

either immediate death or a total suspension of vital power in the parts depend-
ent upon the debilitated nerves."*

The symptoms of debility, and especially the cold skin, point out to us the ne-
cessity of stimuli being required. The subsequent feebleness during convales-
cence— the extreme debility following tlie sanguine depletion in the cold stage of
intermittents, with the very doubtful success of that practice, should make prac-
titioners remember that the symptoms present may arise from a very opposite
state of the system than one calling for blood-letting. I believe liie pain in the
head in this affection is neuralgic. I have seen it relieved in a few hours by
laudanum, or camphor and opium ; and I have often given quinine and whisky
with advantage to it. The quick, soft pulse is one of irritation, not oppression,
(as some consider it) — indicative of an irritable condition of the nervous system,
and not an index of the amount of sub-acute inilanimatiun in the lungs. The
condition of the pulse alone will frequently mislead tiie praclitioner (as it too oft-
en does in scarlatina), if he depends on it as a guide in diagnosis; and I have
seen medical men differ in opinion about it, taking directly opposite views of the
indications. The small, weak pulse is often considered as that of oppression, and
the shattered thrill taken for wiriness and hardness.

The case which the venerable Dr. Parrish was accustomed to relate as having
occurred while Dr. Wistar was in Edinburgh, here presents itself to me:

A dog was bled to death by him and other students. Just before he expired,
an eminent practitioner stepped in ; not being aware of what experiments were
in progress, he was asked to place his hand on the dog's heart, and say whether
the action was sthenic or asthenic ? He did so, and declared the condition
sthenic.

I have often noticed at the close of fatal diseases, especially in nervous consti-
tutions, the action of the heart and carotids, and been struck with their apparent
sthenic action for hours, when debility had been gradually increasing from stead-
ily failing nervous power, and the system becoming progressively exhausted. In
the disease of which I am treating, I have never known, in a single instance, the
pulse to rise and fill out after venesection, or become slower, which should be
the case if the frequency depended on inflammatory congestion. Often have I
known it become smaller and more rapid ; and I now never think of bleeding a
negro in this disease. Where the pain is pleuritic, and the cough dry, which is
sometimes the case, dry cups to the chest and free vesication usually give relief,
with the full and free use of opiates. As I mentioned above, negroes bear opi-
ates much better than Avhites, and seldom suffer from any of their bad effects.

My object in the preceding paper being to give a practical article, and to lead
the profession to the notice of this disease, I have made no references to previous
accounts in the books of similar epidemics in other countries. I differ from some
of my professional brethren in my view of the treatment of this affection, and I
can only say that my success in the treatment will bear me out in my opinions,
whatever value may attach to the theory. During the winter of 1S40— 11, out of
fully two hundred cases, there were only five deaths. My experience since con-
firms my satisfaction with the practice. I find that special attention by the plant-
ers to keep the houses of the negroes dry and well supplied willi fuel, while they
are well provided with blankets and warm clothing, has greatly diminished the
number of cases on the plantations which I attend.

In conclusion, I would ask the attention of practitioners to an extract from Dr.
Mott, who has had much experience in disease. He says :

" Tliere is nothing more important in tlio walUs of medicine and surgory th;ni tor tlie prac-
titioner to make a clLstinctioii between two opposite st<vtos of tlie system " (irritation anil in-
flammation) ; " and, if great opportunities of obsorvation in various countries could authori/.p
me to form an opinion, tliere is no fact more Lncoiitostalily established than that the most fat;il
results in the practice of our profession are to be imputed to a toUil misconi-t-ption of thoso
lines of demarkation." [ Travels, p. 41.

Note. — "Nurse" on a Southern Plantation. — The odice of " Xiirse," so fiiniiliarly referred
to by the writer, and vn hich he supposes every one understands, is one of no little responsibility
and importance on a southern plantation. On all tliese of any considerable force and extent, a
house of ample dimensions, and with all the proper appointments and appliances, is set apart aa
a regular iniirmary or hospital. For the duties of a nurse (to reside in the hospital constantly), an

• Holland.
(262)

THE NEW-ENGLAND FAR3IER. 119

elderly woman, generally, but always one of the most truRtwortliy aiid intelligent, ia selected and
invested will) all necessary power and authority. Much experience, under the guidance, in
critical cases, of the best jiliysician in the ueighborliood, qualiiics lier to prescribe iu all ordinary
cases, with judgment and success, and in cases of more Bcrious character, some near relative, as
the mother of the patient, if a child, or the wife or sister of tlie man, if an adult, is. at the sug
gcstion of the nurse, detailed to assist in the care of the sick. The hospital is kept con-
stantly supplied with suitable medicines, and such materials for diet and drink as are suited to
the common maladies of tiie country, and the e.\igcncy of the case. If more extraordinary and
alarming symptoms supervene, a physician is sent for at the discretion of the nurse (if distant
from the proprietor's residence), who will understand that forbearance to do so is not to be prac-
ticed at any risk to the patient. Calls are made in all cases of need, and without scruple, on the
master, and more especially on the mistres.?, for anything iu the way of nourishment or delicacy
that the familj- stores can supply ; and to withhold personal attention and sympathy would be
an exception to the general practice and feeling of the country. Some of these nurses acquire
■wide and well established reputation for .skill and tact, and are often sent for and allowed to at-
tend in the sick room of the most respectable families, especiallj- in obstetrical cases ; and for
their services some of these colored women, slave nurses, derive in the course of the year consid-
erable income — much more than white women laborers in Europe obtain from the severest daily
labor throughout the year.

On one estate near Columbia, it came under our observation that at an early stage of preg-
nancy the women are required to refrain from field labor, to retire to their house, and yet every
day, iu good Weather, to take a certain quantitj- of bodily exercise, \^''e are persuaded that the
system for the care and protection of the sick and disabled is in no countrj- in the world moro
thoroughly arranged, or the provision more humane and complete than on the large plantations
in the south. One rule on the estate to which we have referred, near Columbia, is to provide
for them an abundance of warm clothing, and to have wood in such abundance at their doors
as that it may be burnt at pleasure — leaving them no occasion even to remain stationary, much
less to sleep in wet clothes.

This humane forethought on the part of Col. H. is worthy of all imitation, no less as an exam
pie of humanity than as an economical and the most effectual preventive of the Typhoid Pneu-
monia. It may be added that the.se particulars are derived in great measure from the slaves
themselves, and from personal inquiry and observation, lleturning, in April la.st, from the su
perb residence of Mr. Tlrsbull, near St. Francisville, we inquired of his driver ''What
house is that ? " The answer was, " That, sir, is the hospital ; " and he went on to say, that as
soon as an^-, especially any of the children, were taken sick, they were sent to that house, to be
looked after by master and mistress?, as the cure of them would not be trusted to any one, even
their mother, exempt from their personal watchfulness and attention. Honor to whom honor is
■dua. [Ed. Farm. Lib.

THE NEW-EXGLANI) FARIVIER.

We heartily concur in what lollow.s from The Cultivator, as to the NEW-E.var./i.vD Farmkr.
Jt is the first intimation we had of the discontinuance of, we believe, the third a"TiciiItural
journal established in the United States. Thk Amkrican Fakmkk, at Btdtimore, still fluurisli-
ing in a green old age, being the first, The Plough-Boy, at Albany, by Southwick, being
the second, and The New-Eng[,asd Farmer, now no mure, the third.

Though we have not hatl the pleasure (7th .luly ) to see a copy of " The Horticuf.turist,"
lor which Mr. Breck acts as agent at Boston, it is not to be doubted that with such Editor
and Publishers it will be brought out, as to matter and maimer, in a style to deserv-e extea-
sive and lasting encouragement, and we sincerely lio2)e it may receive it.

Mr. Breck. Editor of The Ncv-Ens[land Farmer, announces in that paper of June 24th, the
discontinuance of that work, which has now completed its 24th year. This paper, from its com-
mencement under Fesse.vde.v, has pursued the "even tenor of' its way." with less change aud
greater steadiness of purpose lha:i has attended almost any other periodical iu the country.

Punctual in its weekly visits, cheerful in its tone, sound and dLscriminatiug iu ita advice, it

(aw)

320 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

was always the wise counselor of the farmer; and we part with its "old familiar face " with'
sincere regret — ree;rct that we shall receive its visits no more, and regret that, in the rage for
new things, it should have been so far forgotten as to afford Mr. Breck. by whom it has been
conducted with great judgment, so poor a reward as to induce him, as a matter of interest, to
discontinue its publication.

IMPORTED STOCK.

DESCRIPTION OF THE STOCK RECENTLY IMPORTED BY THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY
FOR PROMOTING AGRICULTURE.

BY E. PHINNEY, ESQ. A TRUSTEE OF THE SOCIETY.

The Trustees, with an honest desire of promoting the interests of Agriculture and improve-
raent in the various branches of rural economy, had, for many years, devoted the mcome of
the Society's funds to premiums on the best cultivated farms, on the various kinds of farm
produce, farm stock, and to such other objects as they believed best calculated to promote
the interest of the great body of fai-mers. Of the effect of their labors, the public can the
best judge.

It seemed to the Trustees that very little progress had been made, particularly in the dairy
stock of the comitiy . They could point to no particular object, no decided mark of improve-
ment or penxianent change, upon ^vllicll the future and progressive improvement of our dairy
etock could, with any certainty, be calculated.*

Thousands of dollars have been offered and awarded in premiums for the best mUch cows
within the Commonwealth, during the hist twenty years, and, as appejired to the Trustees,
to very little benefit. Whoever has attended our cattle shows will have occasionally met
■with a cow remarkable for her milkmg properties, which the forbmate ownier purchased
from some drove. This accidctital co\v is exhibited at the cattle show ; well authenticated
proofs of her great yield of milk or butter are produced ; the owiier takes the highest piize,
and jjuts the money into his pocket ; the calf is sold to the butcher ; and the cow the next
year is put uito the beef barrel. And tliis has Ijeen the begimiing and the end of most of the

* We cannot, in justice to our own feelings, let pass an occasion so appropriate, without using
it to express our sincere thanks, as an humble friend of American Agriculture, for the great ser-
vices which have been rendered to its cause by the Tnistees of this ancient and most respectable
Association.

The propriety, not to say the demand, for this special acknowledgment will be better under-
stood by the few readers who were in the habit, as we were more than twenty years ago, of
noting their proceedings with a heartfelt interest in everything connected with the great subject
of American Agriculture.

In all their dissertations and plans there was evinced a degree of sincere, intellectual, earnest
devotion, which was calculated not merely to convey and to elicit practical knowledge
and details on particular points, but to cause the best men of the land to think and to reason, as
all men should learn to do who desire to understand, to influence, and to meliorate their condition
in life, morally and politically.

Nobody can look back through their ancient archives without admiration and cordial union in
the sentiment of gratitude to such men. But whore is the token of public esteem and remem-
brance— where the legislative resolves of thanks and of medals — for these truly useful patriots —
the Pickerings, the Cluincys, the Lowells, the Parsonses, the Jaqueses, and a host of patriotic
colleagues, whose thoughts and lives have been given to finding out and pointing out how more
light and fruitfulness could be shed on the course of the ploic ?

Some French epicure has said that he who discovers a new dish confers more happiness on the
human race than he who discovers a new star ! — and, truly, our American men of influence, in
and oat of power, are far more ready to shower honors and fortune on the blood-stained conquer-
or, than to say " well done ! " to those who have taught, however successfully, the arts of peace
and the principles of true liberty.

What notice would a Republican Congress, represenlins the agricultural interest of the U.
States, take of a man who should discover an eflcctual antidote to the Hessian fly, or a new fer-
tilizer, ten thousand times morC' concentrated and more powerful than even plaster or guano ? —
The same that they have done of poor Fitch, or Rumsey, or Fulton, or Clinton, or Whitney, or
Buel, or Lowell ! So gua the world .' but u-f arc u wise, a u-vudcrl'iil people.' ! [Ed. F. Lib.
(264)

IMPORTED STOCK. 12J

native cows to which the highest prizes liave been awarded. The writer knows not a single
instance wViero the offspring of any one of these liigh-preminrn native cows h;ts inherited the
valuable properties of the dam in a snHicient deirree to induce liie owner to raise it, with the
exception, perhaps, of the famous Groton cow, whoso descendant,*, in the hands ot" Colonel
.laques, might have added greatly to the value of" our dairy stock, had the Colonel possessed
the means of ciurying out liis plans ; iind, in this instance, the vahiable properties of the dara
were tnuismitted to the progeny solely by the means of crossing with the pnrt; Vjreed of a
foreign stock. The cautions fanner will not run the risk, nor incur the expense, of raising a
calf from stock, of the origin of which, and of the blood of the various breeds that runs in the
veins of his fiivorite cow, he knows nothing. Acting from a belief in the tnith of the old ad-
age, which has been taught him from his youth upward, that '• a good cow viay have a btid
calf," he can have no assurance that the descendant of his native cow will not take its char-
acter from, and inherit the inferior properties f)f some near or more remote ancestor. He
had rather take his chance in the next drove that comes along, knowing that he shall at least
avoid the expense and ti'ouble of rearing a calf uj)on wliose good properties lie can make no
certain calculation. Now it will hardly be pretended that the oflering and awai'ding of pre-
miums for this description of cows has, or ever will have, the eflfect to improve the daiiy
stock of the country.

The writer would by no means detract from the value of these accidentally good cows,
the natives of the countiy. There are, no doubt, to be found, among the fanners of Ma.ssa-
chusetts, many cows of native origin, possessing as valuable properties for all purposes, ex-
cept for breeding, as any that can be imjxirted fi-om abroad. And they are not without their
value as breeders, where they and their d(;scendants may be crossed with the pure blood of
some long and well established race of foreign animals. In this way we mav chance to per-
petuate the rare qualities of our native cows, united with the weU-cstablished ti'aits of chai-
acter of the imported stock.

It may be contended that we need not the aid of foreign stock to raise up one of the best
breeds of cattle in the world. This may be tnie ; but who Avill undertake it ? What indi-
vidual fanner has the patience, the skill, the intelligence, and the capital to engage in a task
that will require many years and much capital to bring to any considerable degiee of perfec-
tion ?* And where woidd be the jiropricty or the economy of midertaking a work of this
kind, when, by a little e.\.ti-a expense at the commencement, we may find the work already
done to oiu- hands ?

Many fanners in this part of the country, though depending principally for their income
upon their milch cows, are not aware, it is apprehended, of the small produce derived from
them ; and would, no doubt, be sui-prised on learning that their cows generally do not yield
an average daily produce of more than from two to fom" quarts of milk for the ycivc.

The average price of milk ftir the year, when drawn from the cow, will not exceed thi'ee
cents per quai't, either for the purposes of manufacturing uito butter or cheese, or to sell in
the market. t Let the farmer set otl' the expense of keeping against his six or twelve cents
a day income from his several cows, and he will see but a small chance of acquiring wefdth
from the income of his dairy. But let him have a stock that, with the same keeping, will
yield a daily average produce of six or eight quarts of mUk, and he will find the produce of

* Enough of them, if they can be assured of remunerating prices, but not if there should pre-
▼ail a general apprehension that, when such stock is needed, either individuals or societies will
continue to send abroad to procure them. [Ed. Farm. Lib.

t In New-York, and the neighborhood, the price varies. Milk is brought more than a hundred
miles by steam ; some sell on their farms, in the vicinity, for 2^ cents a quart — but lliey sell hon-
est milk from the cow, before the pail goes to the pump. Odiers prefer to take or send their milk
to town, and there the price varies in a remarkable manner. Those who sell to the hotels in large
quantities, and to few customers, are content to get 4 cents, while others, who are known to sell
the genuine article, have their old estabhshed customer.?, from whom they get G\ cents a quart.

One farmer — a most industrious, practical, economical, and exemplary man — Mr. Tow.vse.nd,
BCnior, from a farm of 1.30 acres, sells, for one item, Sl,200 of milk.

In the country around Philadelphia the farmers are getting in the way of retaining their milk,
and converting their cream into ice crciun, which they send and sell, in large quantities, in the
common market and find it very profitable. We are not aware that this practice prevails, or to
what extent, wuh farmers in the neighborhood of other cities. The price, we believe, of genuine
ice cream is rarely less than .50 cents a quart.

There are so many devices, " by hook or by crook," to get the farmer's'money out of Ids pocket,

that it is well if he can sometimes hit upon some experiment that will bring him more directly rt

contact with the consumer, and so save the commissions to the go-between, which are always

taken finally out of the first producer, as is found when the transaction is sitted to the bottom.

[Ed. Farm. Lib.
(265)

J22 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

hia dair)-, which before gave him hardly enough to pay for the feed of his cows, now afford-
ing him a net profit, wViich will more than meet the extra expense which he may incur in
the pnrchiise of hin improved breed of cows.

It may be said that the oxpcnso of keeping the improved breed will be greater tlian tliat
of the native cows. This may or may not be the case. But the question with the farmer
should not be, ■which will require the most food ? but rather, ^^'hi(■h will give the greatest
net profit on what they consume ? It is the greatest capacity which tlie animal possesses of
converting her food to milk, which ought, in the estimation of the judicious fanner, to cou-
stitute her relative value.

It was with a view of introducing among our farmers a dairy stock that should, with proper
care and management, remunerate, and more than remimerate, the expense of keeping, that
the Tnistees were induced to appropriate so considerable a sum to tliis object.

What they have now done foniis but a nucleus or starting point, from which, with the aid
and countenance of a liberal public, they hope in due time to diffuse among the fanners of
Massachusetts, not only an improved race of animals, but also an ambition to excel in every-
thing that relates to this important branch of niral economy.

The breeds of cattle which the Tnistees believed, mider all the circumstances, to be best
adapted to this country, best calculated to promote the object they had in view, and to sub-
serve the wishes and wants of the fanner, v^'ere the Ayrshii'e and North Devon.*

The Ayrshire cows have been, for nearly or quite a century, distinguished as deep milk-
ers, and at the same time are known to be a hardy, mild-tempered, and docile race, easily
kept, w^ilh a disposition to fatten when not in milk, and having a capacity' of converting their
food to milk beyond that possessed by any other breed of cows in Great Britain.

The venerable Alton, who may be justly styled the pioneer and champion of improved
husbandry in Scotland, and particularly of that branch which relates to daiiy stock, says:
■' The AyrsViires are the most improved breed of cattle to be found in the island, not only for
the diiiiy, in which they have no pai-aUel, under similar circumstances, but also in feeding
for the sliamljles. Tliey are, ui fact, a breed of cows that have, by judicious selection, cro.ss
coupling, feeding and treatment, for a long series of years, been brought to a state of perfec-
tion which fits them, above all others yet known, to answer in almost eveiy diversity of sit-
uation where grain and gi"dS8 can be raised to feed them, for the pui^poses of the daily, or for
fattening them for beef"

In the dairy estabUshment of Mr. Harley, at Glasgow, consisting of 1.50 cows, they were
principally of the Ayrshire breed, to wliich he gave a decided jjreference over any other
breed. The average quantity of mUk given by the cows iu his establislunent, for the year,
was eleven (juarts per day from each.

In the famous daiiy establishment kept by Mr. Rhodes, near London, of 400 to COO cows,
" he had tried the Ayrshires, to the nuniljer of 150 at a time, and by him they were highly
approved — affording a large quantity of rich milk — tiittening in a veiy short time, when they
left off giving milk — and producing beef which was more highly valued, and sold for a higher
price in the market than that of the Short-Horns,"

Alton asserts that many of the Ayrshire cows, m their best condition, and well fed, will
yield at the rate of 1000 gallons of milk in a year, or over ten quarts per day. Rankin, how
ever, states his opinion that Alton had given the daily average produce too high, and thinks
that few herds of twentj' cows or over will average more than eight hundred and fifty gal
Ions, or about nine quarts per day. He also states that he had seen thirty -six (piarts of milk
drawn from a cow in ojie day, and that ho had a thi-ee-year old cpiay that once tijr six weeks
after calving gave twentj'-cight quarts per day. The diiirymaid predicted that " there had
beeir o'er-muckle talk about her for ony luck to come of her," and he states that she soon
afterward received an injury whicli caused one of her quarters to become diy of milk.

The characteristic points of the Ayrshire cow, when Alton wrote, were : " Head small, but
rather long and Uipering at the muzzle; the eye snudl, but smart and lively; bonis small,
t:lear and crooked, and th(! roots at considerable distance from each other ; neck long and
slender, tapering toward the head, and no loose skin below ; shoulders thin ; fore-quarters
light; hind-(iuartt'rs large ; back straight ; broad behind ; joints rather loose and open ; car-
cass de(;p, and jjelvis capacious and wide over tlu! hips, with round, fleshy buttocks ; tail
long and sm.Jl ; udder capacif)us, broad and sqiiare, stretching forward, and neither fleshy,
low hung, nor coarse ; the milk-veins large and prominent, teats short, and all pomting out-
ward ; skin thin and loose ; hair soft and woolly."

* Which, as we have elsewhere said, might be had as pure, as larf^e, as well-formed, and as
beautiful, of Mr. George Patterson, in Maryland ; of Mr. Allen, a.s we suppose, near Bufl'ufo ; in
Connecticut, of the Ihulbuts; and elsewhere in the United States, as in England, or the world
besides.

We happen to know of a North Devon bull, bred by Mr. Patterson, wiiieli has taken several
premiums, never failing in any case wlicn exhibiied — 3 years old last winter, and equal in blood
and appearance to any, probably, iu England — perfectly gentle aud home-slaying — that may be
Iiad, near Washington, for flOO. [Kd. Farj/i. Lib

IMPORTED STOCK. 123

This is an accurate description of the Ayrshire stnok imported some seven or eight yearn
ago by tlie State Agricullunil Socitity. The improved Ayrshire stock o!' the present day,
which an^ dosceudid iVornthe tiunous Swinlry stock, and of which the recv-nt iinj)oiiation
by the Society consists, diHer in some respects from tliose above described by Aiton. The
head is shorter, wider between the eyes and horns, thiimer in the fore-ipiarttT ; the shoidders
tinor and more chjsely set ; the limbs and body shorter, and f lie .joints more closely and tirmly
8ot ; the abdcmien deeper ;md more cai)aciou3 ; the ndder broader, the milk-veins more prom-
inent, and the teats hantjing direcUy down; hair longei-, though more silky, and finer in Iho
handling; and are altogethei' a hardier race of animals than the Ayrshircs of former days.

" The color," says Robertson, " is generally a lirown of many lines, irom dark to yellow,
intermixed and mottled in many a varied fonn and pro]'ortion with white ; almost none an^
of one color. In a herd of Ibrty or fifty, theie will no two of tlu"m be alike in cf)lor — in thia
respect exhibiting a diversity not unlike a bed of tulips, and of as numy hues luid shades,
in an endless variety of beauty."

The Nordi Devon stock has long been celebrated as a breed of cattle beautiful in the high
est degree. For the dairy, they cannot be considered eqmd to the Ayrshire ; but, viewmg
them as uniting the three qualities of working, fattening, and milking, they may be consid-
ered as uin-ivaled. Some of the writers- upon English stock give them a high rank as milk-
ers, and Mr. Conyers, of Capt Hill, near E[)piug, a district almost exclusively devoted to the
"purposes of the diiiry, prefeired the North Devons, " on accoinit of their large produce,
whether in milk, butter, or by suckluig."

" The North Devon oxen," .says an English writer, " are unrivaled at the plow. They
have a (|uickni';:s of motion which no other breed can equal, and which very few hoi-ses ex-
ceed. They have also a docility and goodness of temper, and also a st/jutness and honesty
at work, to which many teams of horses cannot pretend."

Such is the character given of the breeds of cattle (a bidlav.d four cows of each) which the
Society have imported with a view of improving tlie stock of the country^ ; and in order that
there should be no mistake or disappointment ;is to the ch:u-acter of the respective breeds for
pm-ity of blood, and with a view of obtiining the best animals upon the most reasonable
terms, the Trustees decided on sending out an agent for the purpose of making the selection.
And acc(n'dhigly, Mr. Alexander Bickett, of Lowell, a gentleman of intelligence, and an ex-
cellent judge of cattle, who had resided for some yeai-s in Scotland, and personally known
and highly respected by most of the owners of distinguished herds of cows in and about Ayr-
sliire, was engaged in .Inly last to proceed to England and make the pnrchii.se. Mr. Bickett
had, within a few years past, attended some of the cattle shows in Scotland — had noticed the
best stock, and knew where he could place his hand upon the best cattle in the country. —
The ac<piaintance of Mr. Bickett with the respective owners enabled him to treat with them
Tipon terms much more favorable to the Society than could have been done by a stranger. —
The four Ayrshire cows and the Ayr.shire bull, selected by him. are probably equal, if not
superior, to any other five cattle that could be pm-chased in ScotliUid. They are all descend-
ed from the pm'est and best blood of the Ayrsliire stock, as will be seen by the pedigree
given of them.

In the selection of the North Devon stock, Mr. Bickett applied directly to the Earl of Lei-
cester, from whose beautiful herd of North Devon cows he hoped to be allowed to make the
purchase. When it was made known to the young Earl that the stock was wanted for the
Massachusetts Society for Promoting Agi'lculture, he generously and very readily fell in with
the views of Mr. Bickett ; and, possessing all the kind feehngs of his father, the late venera-
ble Earl of Leicester, toward the people of this country, he allowed Mr. B. to select from his
flock, at a very motlerate price, a cow an<l three beautiful heiters, all in calf by one of the
most celebrated North Devon bidls in the countiy. The Earl having no bull that he could
part with, he recommended a young bull of Mr. Blomfield, which JNIr. Bickett succeeded,
after much nnportunity, m purchasing.

The cattle were all shipped at Liverpofjl, about the fir»t of September last, and arrived in
Boston about the first of October. They were attended on the voyage by Mr. Bickett, juid
with so much care and fidelity on his part that no injury happened to them, and they were
in as fine condition when landed in Boston as wiien put on board the ship at Liverpool. The
North Devon cow calved on the passage from Europe, and the three North Devon Vieifers
have calved suice their arrival — the four calves furnLshiug a fine specimen of this beautiful
stock.

The apjiearance of the cattle on their anHval in Boston was very gratifying to the Tnistees
and all who saw them, and such as was highly creditjible to the skill of Mr. Bickett, and to
his in<letiitigable care and attention to them while on shipboard.

The cattle, on their arrival, were placed under the care of the subscriber, at liis farm ia
Lexington, where the public are respectfully invited to call and view them.*

* Obliged to be economical of our space, we are compelled to omit the pcdiffieex of these im-
ported cattle — which, if copied as they appear in this Report, would have occupied several pageu.
This, however, is the less important, as the owners of tlieir progeny will liardly liave occaision to
trace them up beyond tlieir imported progenitors. ,

124

MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

Fioin the Albany Cultivator.

FARM ACCOUNTS.

Mr. Editor : I observed in your January number, a fomi for keci)mg farm accounts, pre-
sented by E. V. W. Dox. Allow me to present one which I have used tor the la.st two
years, and which I find very simple and convenient. My system in regard to naming the
lots is similar to that of Mr. Dox, only I prefer letters for this purpose, and use figures to
designate the subdivisions, for it is foimd very convenient to divide each lot into two, three,
or four smaller parts, in order that a separate account may be kept of each sort of grain.
The comi)lete account of these subdivisions may afterward be so aiTanged as to exhibit the
account of the lot which they comprise. On the first page of the book should be an accu-
i-ate map of the iiinn, with the title of each division and subdivision, and the number of acres
ia each. But, for the form :

Mail's Work.

d. plow B. 1 ; 1 (1. cart ma-
nure D. 3 ; i d. repair fence
d. plow B. 1 ; Id. cart ma-
nure

d. cart manure, i A. spread
manure, | d. plow D. 3- . .
d. plow D. 3; i d. spread
manure ; 1 d. harrow D. 3.

d. plant com D. 3

d. plant corn ; 1 d. harrow

B. 1 ; i d. sowB. 1

d. plant corn

Horse's Work.

(1st) T d. plow

(2d) 1 draw 12 I'ds ma.

" 1 d draw 15 loads

manure

(1st) \ d. plow

(2d) 1 d. cart 14 I'ds ma

" 1 d. harrow

(1st) 1 d. plow

(2d) 1 d. harrow .

Weather.

Pleasant-

wind.

Fair — warm.

Fair — warm .

Remarks.

Commence draw manure;
turned cows into past. A.

B. 1 plowed, 3i days ; apple
blossoms appear.

Com'nce plw D. 3; very dry;

j man'rc'rtd, 41 I'da on 2 ac

Cloudy and warm. D. 3 plowed IJ days.

I " harrowed 1 day.

Pleasant Commence plant com.

Cloudy and cool.. Sowed B. 1— 8t bush. oats.

Com planted, 5 J d ; i b. seed.

Very warm | W. i ac. s'd steep'd in 8 Itptr

This accomit should occupy two pages of a common quarto or folio book, and for con-
venience, these pages should be opposite one another, so that they may both be open to the
view at once. The weather colunm mid column of remarks will thus fall on the ri^ht hand
j.age.

In the column of horses' work you see I designate my teams as 1st and 3d. The farmer
by pi-actice will find that he may use many abbrtjviations which will facilitate the making
of his daily entries. In this form are no names to be wTitten every day, as in Mr. Dox's
Ibrm, but merely an entry is to be made in the colunm of " Man's Work," of tlie time and

There is no herd-book in England, we believe, except of the improved Short Horn cattle. The
wide extent of our country, and the carelessness of our breeders, will render it difficult, if not im-
practicable, to keep a reliable one in the United States — though a very promising conuuencement
has been made by Mr. L. F. Ai.i.en, of Buffalo, in his America.n' Herd-Book, which shall re-
ceive, as it deserves, a more particular notice. The undertaking could not have fallen into better
hands.

As one instance of the difficulty of getting and keeping up a complete list, we have looked bat
for a single cow — an imported short-horn, that has given 38 quarts at a milking — Sophv, property
of George Law, Esq. of Baltimore. We do not find her on the list, though the search was a hasty
one.

The owners of the descendants of this imported stock, at Boston, will have to trace them up to
the Ayrshire bull, ''Prince Albert," an<l to the Ayrshire cows. Flora McDonald, and Jean-
NiE Deans, and Mirley, and Charlotte. No name, that we can see, is given to the Devon
bull. He was got by -'CIitartly." The Devon cows and heifers are — "Cyprix." by Spencer,
dam by Denny, g. dam by Samp.son, and served by Derby, in .Tunuary, 1845; •' Honri/mooii," by
(Auartly, dam by Denny, g. dam by Sampson, served by Derby, April, 1845; •' S/e/lo.'' by Q,uart-
ly, dam by Denny, g. dam by Sentinel, put to the bull, Derby, in January, 1845 ; •'Jasper," by
Cluardy, dam by Denny, g. dam by Sentinel, put to the bull, Derby, iu Jauuarj-, 184:";.

It will ihu.v be seen Uiat all were in calf by tbc same bull ; and that, if Uiey rely ou the import-
ed bull, hereafter, to breed from, he was got by die sire, and i.«, therefore, half brotber to Honey-
moon, Stella, and Jasper. If any one interested in Uiis stock, however, should express a wish to
have the fuller statement as to these animals, registered in this work, they shall be gratified. In
the mean time, the Society and the community may be congratulated that these fine cattle should
have been favored with the care and manngcment of one so widely known for enterprise, skill,
and con amorc attention lo such matter.^, us is E. Phinney. \F.d. Farm. Lib.

(2118)

THE SORT OF SHEEP FOR OUR MOUNTAINS. 12.5

labor. If you have a boy in your employ, you may readily reduce lu's labor to mau's work,
and enter it in tho same column.

The coliiniu of " Horse's Work " i:* quite es.seuti!il. By tills yon mny not only know tho
kind of labor your lioises perform each day in the year, and the number of days they ai-o
employed, but having kept ;ui accurate account of their e.xpenses, you may readily calculate
what each day's labor has cost you, and consequeutly know how iinu'h each gi-ain account
is debtor for their work. Few fanners, I apprehend, have a correct idea of the cost of
horses' labor, and yet a farm accoimt must uecessai-ily be quite imperfect without such
knowleds^e.

Next is the weather column. The weather has so much influence on the gi-owth and pro-
duct of the fannerfs grain, that he cannot help feeling a lively interest in keepmg this column,
especially as it costs him so little (ixtra labor. II(! has. moreover, the means of knowing
what w;is the weather at any j)articular season, or any day of the yciu-, and by a compaii-
8on of the weaihcr colnuni of " Remarks" — for in this last he should note how the crops
thiTve — lie may learn tiie exact eflect of almost every change of wealher on the plants at
those particular stages of their growth, and thus he will learn more thoroughly the physi-
ology oi" jilants, and will be enabled, perhaps, in some respects, to profit by the knowledge
tJius obtained.

The last column is for " remarks on the state of the crops," &c., and it may be used to
make memoranda of various events connected with fanu operations, which would otherwise
be forgotten.

Once a year the farmer should post into anothei- book, or perhaps on the last pages of the
book posted, a complete Dr. and Cr. of each crop, a Dr. and Cr. of "stock account," (in-
cluding new buildings, &c.) a " fuel account," " horse account," &x;. &c. In short, a farmer
should ascertain by his books whence comes his profit and whence his loss, and leani, from
the same, to increase the former and avoid the latter. Yours, &c.

CoicassdoK Springs, Smithjield, March, 1846. G. DE WITT EI, WOOD.

THE SORT OF SHEEP FOR OUR MOUNTAINS.

f

AsHViLLE, N. C. 7th August. 1846.

My Dear Sir : I this day received The Farmers' Library, and proceed to an-
swer the inquiry, about sheep, made by your correspondent. I consider the
ridge of mountains running through Virginia and North Carolina particuiary well
suited for sheep husbandry, and the principal obstruction to its being carried on
profitably is the want of fencing. The elevation is in no part too great for the
Cheviot sheep, wliich in nty opinion are better suited than any other ; they are
active and liardy, requiring less care and attention, and they will endure more
hardship and feed themselves in snow by scraping it away with their feet, and
thereby feeding themselves where the more tenderly brought-up sheep would
perish. Even on the top of the Black Mountain, in summer, the sheep feed
well and thrive ; and I know no ground better fitted for feeding sheep than the
Bald Mountain in this State.

As to fencing, I have agreed for putting up 12.500 rails at 6i cents per panel
of 10 rails, and can get any number put up at that price, and for which they are
well paid — only it requires them to cut the rails as near as possible to the line of
fence. Otherwise the hauling has to be added [at their expense, we presume the
writer means]. Until the ground is fenced in, it is, in my opinion, quite useless
to attempt feeding sheep; twenty shepherds could not "attend to 600 sheep on
the mountains ; unless fenced in they will wander off" and never return ; and
among under-brush who could watch them ? Once fenced in, and part of the
ground cleared for giving some food for winter — as hay, or rowen, which 1 con-
sider better still, with some rape, which I prefer to turnips, as easier cultivated,
a better crop, and a hardier vegetable, and one which sheep are fond of and thrive
well on — I see nothing to prevent any person, with tolerable care and attention,
from feeding sheep. I apprehend little danger from wolves — much more from
dogs ; but either can be disposed of with some strychnia, and which I would
have no hesitation in using, if annoyed by either. I have been told if I did sj
the whole country would be up in arms on account of having their dogs destroyed ;
but I see no reason in any man keeping dogs to injure his neighbors' sheep or
property. I consider this range of mountains far preferable to the prairies oF

(-2.59)

126 MONIIiLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

the west, particularly for winter feeding. You are aware that I did not succeed
in my first attempt at sheep feeding ; but that I consider ov/i.ig to the grossest
neglect in my absence in Pennsylvania. But what sheep I have now are doing
almost as well as I could wish, requiring little care. I consider that sheep
should yield 3 lbs. of wool each, worth 20 cents per lb. and each ewe a lamb
worth half a dollar ; so that each ewe would, all things considered, yield a dollar
yearly. Wethers or wedders would produce as much, from the additional wool
they will produce and the increase in value for mutton ; they can be driven a
great way to market, at a small expense, to the eastern cities, and where I believe
any quantity could be profitably disposed of. I intend increasing my present
stock, as I find I can do it with advantage, having the ground fixed to answer it,
and 1 feel satisfied that for the capital embarked and the care required, nothing
would pay better. I think you will admit I have put down the quantity of wool
and price at a low figure. I think, all things considered, if a person was once
well fixed, sheep could be fed in this district at a quarter of a dollar a head, all
expenses included — not certainly if they get over-high priced shepherds, put up
handsome and expensive sheep-houses and one hundred other things they don't
require in this country. In Scotland, Avhere the snows are deep in winter, and
lie for a long time, it is rarely they lose their sheep — I mean the Cheviots ; they
are a hardy, thrifty animal, and could live the winter through here, five years out
of six, except the flocks were very large and the bounds small, with little or no
winter food, such as turnips or hay — with both they would no doubt be better.
I think I have given all the information requisite. There is another thing to
be guarded against : that is, choosing a laurel district ; for in winter when the
ground is covered with snow, and also the lambs are subject to eat of it, and al-
though there are many effectual remedies, if applied in time, the chance is, they
will not be discovered in time to save their lives. Folding at night I consider
unnecessary and rather injurious than otherwise. If there is any farther informa-
tion I can give you, it will give me pleasure. If your friend wishes to import
Cheviots, I can put him in the way of doing it safely — I mean without his run-
ning the risk of his being taken in. I would recommend the importation of a
few bucks and half a score of ewes, and crossing the native ewes with the Cheviot
bucks. From all I have observed, the last winter has been the severet-t there
fias been here for twenty years, and from all the information I could collect, I
feel no doubt in my mind, that very little winter food is necessary here for sheep
in general. They suppose here they can do in winter, like the bears, without
food, from all they provide for them, as far as I have observed.

Believe me yours, truly, W. .MURDOCK.

"We apprehend that our friend has allowed rather a high price for Cheviot wool. A pur-
son embarking in the busbiess would probal)ly do well not to count on more tliau 15 cents,
oiae year with another. Col. Hampton, of South Carolina, has a flock of about 7t)0, which
are never fed, and he kills as flue mutton as ever gi-aced the table of a Lord Mayor.

[Ed. Farm. Lib.

INDLVN CORN IN IRELAND.— The Dublin correspondent ol' the Moniiug Chronicle
Rays : " The use of Indian meal lias now becomi.' quite general throughout the couutiy, auil
the people prefer it to the potato, the enormous price of which, for some mouths past, had
placed it beyond the reach of the laboring classes. One good effect of this change hi the
i()od of the humbler classes is a reduction in the price of potatoes, botli for seed and for
immediate consumption."

As Indian corn, says Hayden, has lately been imported largely into Ireland, it
may not be uninteresting to give (he following a place here:

"The Nutritivk Propkrties of Indian Cohv compared with those of the Potato.
I'rojtortion of uutrition in 100 parts of potatoes, 24; proportion of do. in Indian ecru, 88
proportion of water in 100 parts of potatoes, 7-2 ; proportion in do. of Indian corn, 9."

CULTURE OK THE ENGLISH WALNLT.— Mr. Wm. .Ienison-, of Ciunbridge, Mass.
thinks the culture of tlie English w;ilnut would be a lucrative business for the farmei-s of
Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia. He states that he has known a single tree to pri>-
jluce 24 bushels in a season. [Albimy Cultivator.

(270;

TABi.K I'Kurr. 127

TABLE FKUIT.

FILBERTS.

Is there any good reason why this excellent nut, so welcome as a part of every
dessert, should not be added to the list of our domestic productions? In Kent,
England, there are extensive and profitable orchards of filbcrt-trees — the cultiva-
tion of the tree being there well understood. This consists much in proper prun-
ing. The filbert, says a writer in the Journal of the Agricultural Society of
Scotland, is but an improved hazel — the latter being the wild original to the
former, as the crab to our improved apples. The filbert being an accidental va-
riety, produced by cultivation, cannot be certainly propagated or reproduced by
sowing the nut — that is the seeds; for not one in ten of the plants raised from
seed would prove filberts, but common hazel-nuts only. To insure the true va-
riety, says the same Avritcr, the young trees should be raised from layers, and
these, after being rowed out in nursery order for two or three years, in which
time they are trained to one upright shoot of not less than three feet high, all
suckers and branches on the lower part of the stem being constantly removed. —
The trees, says the same writer, after being planted in their final stations, are
headed down to about eighteen inches from the ground. This bight will admit
ol'a clear stem of about 12 inches below, and which part must be ever afterward
kept clear from shoots. This removal of shoots and suckers will cause the buds
at top to shoot with greater vigor. If, according to the directions of this writer,
eight strong shoots be produced in the first summer, they must be carefully pre-
served, as that number will be required to form the head ; but if less than this
number come forth, then tAvo or three of the strongest must be shortened back
to half their length at the next pruning, in order to obtain the requisite number.

A sufficient number of branches being obtained, if not in the first, certainly a}\er
the second pruning, they are to be carefully preserved and trained outward ar.d
upward into the due position, to form the permanent branches. In England,
the branches are allowed to rise to the hight of four feet — never higher ; and the
middle of the tree, or rather bush, is always kept free from shoots — so that a
well-trained head resembles a large bowl.

It is added that the easiest mode to give the tree this shape is by using a hoop
of the proper size, placed within the shoots, and to which the limbs are tied at
equal tAvelve-inch distances, in divergent order ; and this may serve as a practical
hint for giving that or other form, where it may be desirable, to other trees or
bushes, either useful or ornamental. Such lateral and curving position may be
assisted by a careful pruner always cutting at an outside bud, which, when pro-
longed, first outward, naturally turns upward into the due position to forip per-
manent branches. In our country, however, it would be sufficient to restrain the
tendency of these stoling plants (so called from their tendency to increase them-
selves by numerous suckers from the roots) to run into loo much wood, by de-
priving them of their suckers, and thus induce a stronger expansion (as is done
with other fruit-trees) of the fructiferous branches.

We are not aware of the grocery-store prices of filberts.

Being visited at the instant of writing thus far by a bevy of ladies, to go and
walk over the classic grounds about old Fort l\conderoga, we begged to be es-

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128 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULtURE.

cused on the ground of having indulged there in solitary meditation before break-
fast ; but would accompany them on condition that any one of them (some being
first-rate house-keepers, as we knew, if one might judge by the cleanliness of
their establishments and the luxuries of their tables) could tell the prices they
were giving at home for filberts ! when, mirabile dictu, they " did not know, but
thought it was a quarter and a fippenny bit a pound !" So we got off, and will
proceed only to say that it is not in this, and in many cases like it, that we would
inculcate home cultivation, merelj' or even in great part only for frofit ; but
to cultivate and gratify that taste for fruit culture, and arboriculture generally,
which every right-minded farmer should cherish in himself and his family.

HICKORY-NUTS, BLACKBERRIES, &c.

Is any sentiment more natural or worthy of encouragement than the pride
which every gentleman agriculturist may be supposed to feel in having it in his
power to say to his guests that the most luscious fruits and the choicest nuts on
his table — the grape, the apricot, the pear, the melon, the peach, the almond,
the filbert, and the hickory-nut — are from trees of his own rearing, improved by
his personal care and his skill ? We have before remarked oq the wonderful con-
geniality of the north side of Long Island to the growth of trees. In the orchard
of Judge Mitchill at Plandome, are the most thrifty and vigorous hickory-nut
trees we have ever seen, from nuts which he brought so*ue years since from
Pennsylvania ; and if we are not deceived by a very bad memory, they are be-
ginning to bear in twelve years from the nut. Such is the effect of transplanta-
tion and regular culture, in a friendly soil. For taste and skill of this sort, so
indicative of fine feeling and a character above the common order, few were so
much distinguished as the late General T. M. Formal, of Rose Hill, on the
beautiful shores of the Sassafras River, in Maryland.

We have somewhere a memorandum or list of the great variety of trees
growing, in the finest health, at Roswell House, residence of R. L. Colt, Esq.
at Paterson, New- Jersey. We shall publish it some day for the sake of those,
of whom we hope the number is fast increasing, who may be disposed to sur-
round their dwellings with as great variety as possible of the beautiful and in-
nocent inhabitants of our forests, with forms of every shape, and habiliments of
every hue. A friend at our elbow suggests that in New-Hampshire he has
known the common hazel-nut to be in fields or gardens where it was exposed to
chance cultivation, and that the nut was much enlarged, while its native flavor,
altogether superior to the filbert, was retained.

It were much to be desired, if any stimulus should be wanting in a case which
should require none, that our horticultural societies should ofler medals or pre-
miums in some form, for the best specimens of cultivated filberts and hickory
and other nuts, and especially for the best blackberries ; for sure we are that in
not many years of perseverance in a course of improvement, that berry would
take a high stand among our table fruits, as its known sanatary qualities have
given it a rank among the most efficient and agreeable medicines. For the ex-
ercise of skill and horticultural taste, few things offer a better subject for experi-
ment, or one more promising, than the blackberry, beginning with the largest,
the sweetest, and the kind most exempt from seed ; for the wild variety is al-
ready as great as that of our native grapes, and who knows but that in a shorter
time a more interesting result may be realized ? In some parts of the country it
may not be too late to preserve the seed of the best ; and from seedlings who
knows what new varieties may not come? How wide is the field ! how unlimit-

(272)

THE STRAWBERRY. 129

ed the variety of objects on which the man of the country whose dealing is with
the soil, and whose business is with Nature, may beguile his time, while he
ienejits, instead of slaughters, his fellow-creatures ! diffusing blessings instead
of spreading misery around him !

Ticondcroga, Lake Champlain, 8lh Aug. 1846. j

THE STRAWBERRY.

MANAGEMKNT WITH A VIEW TO IT3 IMPROVEMENT.

Within a short period the cultivation of various kinds of fruits has beea
crowned with success. Tlie apple, pear and peach have each greatly improved ;
but the strawberry, one of the most fragrant and delicious of fruits, has been
surprisingly neglected, owing, perhaps, to the impression of its not being capa-
ble of melioration. Now, I have ascertained by actual experiment that it is sus-
ceptible of a high degree of improvement, which fact can be verified by carrying
out the plan detailed below.

It will be necessary in the first place to procure the following implements : a
small hand-fork with four prongs or teeth, similar in length and shape to those
of the common carving-fork ; a long-handled fork like the dung-fork in use for-
merly, the teeth 4 or 5 in number. Hat, I of an inch broad, and 12 or 14 inches
long ; to which I shall add another of great value, in this dry climate, to those
who cultivate on a large scale, whether agriculturists or horticulturists: it is a
cultivator with 4 or 5 teeth, 18 or 20 inches long, 2\ inches wide, | of an inch.
thick in front, tapering back to \ an inch, set in somewhat like a coulter, but the
thick edge foremost, the point triangular, spreading about 3 inches. The proper
use of it in dry seasons will secure a good crop of potatoes where they have not
been ridged up; in the kitchen garden it is invaluable, and a great labor-saving
machine; by removing two or three teeih it maybe passed through narrow
rows, close to the plants, and when properly applied will break up and open the
soil to tue depth of 12 or 14 inches.

The prominent points of the system now proposed are few and simple, viz.:
choice of soil and preparation for planting ; selection of the best fruit-bearing
plants, and method of treatment, especially with a view to the steady improve-
ment of the fruit from season to season.

A light soil is best ; what is termed a sandy loam is preferable to any other.

In the early part of September, the weeds, &c. having been removed, plow or
spade the earth deeply, harrow or rake thoroughly until entirely cleared of roots
of grass, clover, dfc. About the middle of the month avail yourself of the first
apprtirance of rain to set out your plants. In selecting these, the first offsets
only from the strongest old plants are to be taken ; all the rest must be rejected,
producing only imperfect fruit, or being wholly abortive. Having with a pair of
scissors, or sharp knife, separated the set from the runner and the parent plant,
remove it carefully by inserting the small fork beneath, taking up a portion of
the earth with the roots. Place each separately on a hand-barrow, board or flat-
bottomed basket, to be carried to the planting-ground. The rows should be 2\
to 3 feet wide, and the sets must be planted in a straight line from 15 to 18
inches asunder, in holes scooped out of sufficient size to receive the sets as taken
up ; bring sufficient earth and press it well to the roots.

By this mode of treatment the plants will grow to a great size, and require
more space than usual ; in truth, it is impossible to keep them clear from grass
and weeds when crowded together. There will also be more room for the free
use of the cultivator, hoes and rakes.

Toward the last of November run your cultivator between the rows, or fork
up the earth, especially about the plants, dressing it neatly with the rake, being
careful to eradicate every spear of grass or weeds. Lay as much tan as will
cover a space of about 10 or 12 inches diameter and one inch in depth around
each set, bringing it close up to the plant ; it will defend the roots from the frost
and prevent the growth of grass and weeds. As soon as the weather and state
of the ground will permit in the spring, fork in the tan 8 or 10 inches deep ; one
(273) 9

130 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

or two rows may be left with the tan on the surfoce, to secure a supply of fruit

"^v'r ^''"'„r ffuk'b'eJSs'to show","; of ripen.n,, cover the earth about U
.Z'Z ItTwlr n':i? similar. to the tan ; R wUl defend tt from the dm and

-^JX:^r t^Kf^;;i;o=^- ^^he next step is of more co.
VVe nave "o^v .u i success cannot be attained without

sequence, P"h^P^- than any o^^^^' ^^^ ;" j^^^ ^^^^^ has arrived at maturity, place
taking .t ^"f„\//^Xfi„^'^en^.Ui beside those plants bearing the largest and
mS per^tty foTnferfor u"is7rom tkese only yL are hereafter to select your

^^When the bearing season is over, proceed at once to clear up the bed trina

^* Toward the latter part of November, or before the earth is frozen, repeat the
same pro'cei bXe'recomm^ during the ensuing season the same

r^hnts w 1 've the firs? decisive evidenc^e of the general improvement of the
t^l Jize,"fiavor &c. In fact, it is similar in principle to that practiced in rear-

'^\:^:^:^^^^^^^r^^^^ ,reat effect ; with plent^of
water you can be sure of a great crop of superior fruit. i^- ^■

The raHonale of the above is apparent, and we have but little to ^J in the way of con.
JnVor commendation. The much esteemed writer has chosen to be unonpnous, aiid w«
Tve oTvrun-ed to append liis initios ; otherwise there would have been no occasion for
rtradd, thit within the' wide r.nge of his acquaintance he is well known to be one ot the
most zealous and skiUfid horticulmrists in our countiy. _

Very much has been done by a few-yet very few-to improve th,s ^p^^^^\^\^^^
the difficulty consists in the want of that personal and perse.cnn, ««^« '-;; f^^^^^''^^;
on the part of the gentlemen of the country-, which it w.11 be -l^^'^ « ^^ ^^f ;7^\;^^
thing iL universal or even general prevalence, unnl an unproved pubhc ta= te for all
ele^nt and usefid employments shall have been produced by unproved education.

Whl more lasting W and higher rewards shall await such ^^^^^^^^'^^
ducin-^ a new and Wghly improved variety of a delicious inut, than is awarded by the laws
or b^publL opinion to the successful demagogue or the fortunate warnor, then w.ll ha e
been klured a progressive improvement in all the a.-ts of civilizaUon ; then wdl dome.t,c
elfo:; and nation^ prosperity follow in the wake of -U-dii^cted uuh^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
^se public legisla.on. The best m^aged and most pronnsmg -^^^^^^^^^^^
Bpring were at MUlitwod, near Cokunbia, b. U. l

DISEASE IN POTATOES_A REMEDY SUGGESTED.

Baltimore, ^iUh July, 1S46.

7,.„. „r: Vou know I an, no, nu,cl. »[,, » ^^r;; '«ml%7,V» \V,°rfni-
vli.h subjects I am unacquamted wilh ; ^ ", ' ' '^,\ »u""„":,/|,„v,. c-currcd 10

f:ri7.ronT.;t\iina,n™i=^Jl;;a';;'i::^;-.^
^ !-• s;tr,rr"i;ar;;4i^^p^5^

years ago,

(274)

THE POTATO DISEASE. 131

America, where ihey have been cultivated, may possibly bcowinfj to the oriT:inaI
vegetable havin!,^ ceased to be soundly propagated, by the gradual decay of the
power to produce it in the cuttings from the original plant, pretty much as we
have seen our pear and peach trees fall ofl' when grafted from original stocks.
Perhaps if imporlations of the spontaneous article should be made, and by culti-
vation made wliat our former crops were, we might again have a generation
of potatoes equal to any. It is Avorth examining into, and when we consider llie
mode of propagation by cutting out pieces with eyes from previous growths pro-
duced in the same icai/, it is not surprising that ^/e/er/'^ra/zo^ should follow. How
otherwise can you account for so universal a destruction ? I had a good crop
at my country place near town. On Friday night we gathered some fine young
potatoes ; on Saturday we could not get one sound one, and had to dig up the
whole. They had all been infected with the same disease. The cholera, sup-
posed to be excited bv a microscopic insect, is progressive, and runs its course
from Asia to Europe and to America in due time ; but if the potato disease is
caused by a similar insect, it is rather extraordinary that it should make its ap-
pearance simultaneously all over the world.

The suggestions of the wiiter of the preceding are worthy of attention ou eveiy account.
Though he disclaims all pretensions as a practicid fanner, he is well enough read in the lit-
erature of all nu'al arts to know that it is by no means to practical men exclusively that we
are indebted, eitlier for the history or the improvement of fniits and vegetables.

We unaffectedly regret not having been left at libei-ty to give his name, because, besides
other rea-sous, it is a part, and we trust he will believe no small part, of our reward, that our
labors should atti-act the regards of cultivated men, and be by them considered, such as they
are, as tlie gi'owth of a venial ambition to raise the ai'ts of Agriculture and Horticulture in
public favor, and to cause them to be studied and followed as pursuits tbit eminently com-
port with high and various mental cultiu'e, while they conduce to the health of their votaries.

By gentlemen wlio have ships going to South America, no time should be lost in bringing
home the natiu^al potato. At tlic same time, we should entertain the hope of realizing the
desideratum in tliis case as soon by planting the apple of the potato we have, with a view to
the establislHiient of a n<;w variety eipial to the Mercer, or the Kidney, or the Foxite, out of
the great number of mferior kinds to be thus obtamed from tlie seed of any given variet)-.
These arc the cases to which agiicultunil and horticultiu-jil societies would do much better
to apply tlieir {nenriunis tluui to the greatest quantify of this thing or that, the production
of which requires Ijut little skill and develops nothing new.

Mr. Teschemachkr, of Boston, we believe was the first to pronounce the o[)Inion tliat the
cause of this dre;ulful malady is a fungus belonging to the class of moulds, and the genus
Botrytis ; and in this he is susttuned l)y tlic concurrent opinion of Professor Moruen of
Liege, whose Essay may be found in the first volume of the Moxthly Jourxai. of Agricul-
ture, and seems to be regarded as one of the most authoritative papers which has appeai'ed
on this subject. As to the influence of variety — " Veiy early kinds," says the last-named,
wn-iter, " have escaped and are fit to be presen-ed, for they were full gi-own befi)re tlie fiin-
gU8 made its appearance."

As regards the raising of potatoes fi-om seed, Professor jM. remarks that •• Thus is a matter
of great imj)ort;mce and veiy advisable, provided the seed or apple be procured homforeign
regions ; and he urges that " The reason why potatoes equally long cultivated, but more
recently introduced than others, have better been aide to resist the disease, is the manifesta-
tion of a more energetic vital action ; and this greater energy wtis a necessany consequence
of the plant being transferred into another and better soil." Tliis reasoning, we confess, ap-
pears to us to be anything but conclusive, uidess it were shown tliat the soil of Germsmy is
a " better," as well n-s " another " soil than that of England. " It is," says the writer l>cfore
us, " farther a fact of experience that the seeds of a plant will be better able to produce va-
rieties that will live and thrive in their new native country, the more distant the country of
the parent plant is. Instances are t;iken from the dahlia, which has umumerable varieties
in Europe, but none in Mexico, its natural country ; of the camelia, which is nearly of uni-
form appeiu-.mce in China and Japan, but of which niunbers of vaiieties ai-e i-aised in Eu-
(275)

:32 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

rope." We jiroceeil to give the residue of tho remaiks by P. F. Fromberg, first assistant
in the laboratory of the Agricultural Chemistry Association of Scotland, iis they deserve at»
tentiou independently of their bearing on the disease of the plant. His remarks on the influ-
<3nce of climate upon the qualities of the potato accord with experience in the United States.
Elevated regions aTid cooler latitudes give us our best potatoes and our heaviest oats.

" lu case, however, the process of raising potatoes from seed be tried, it is of prime importance
^o select a proper poil for cultivation, and also a sound and fertile fruit, duly prepared for propa-
S'ation. by allowing only two or three in each bunch to reach maturity, and cutting oft" the rest.
When intended for use, the seed should be taken out of the fruit, and well washed, keeping only
those which sink in the water, farther dried in the sun on a piece of paper, during tv,enty-four
lK)urs, and preserved dry and safe from the attack of insects. To get verj- early kinds, the fruit
■ or apples should be taken from the flowers that have raised their petals first.

" It is also proved by experience that the potato prefers a damp climate to a dry one, and
grows better at a moderate than at a high temperature. Peru, where it grows in a wild state,
produces no potatoes that are edible, and at the same time yield large returns ; it is in the north
of America that the}- increase so much in size and produce. In Ireland, of which the climate is
■damp, and tlie temperature moderate, and in Lanca.shire, the potato culture reaches a high state
•of perfection in every respect ; but in Italy, Spain, and the South of France, and part of Ger-
tnany, tlie produce is of inferior quality. ,

" For these and other reasons, it is advisable to pay particular attention to the raising of winter
jpotatoes; they are said from experience to suffer much less from di.seaso than those raised in
summer. The potato, although it may be planted to a depth of three feet without danger, should,
'however, be sown less deep — half a foot, for instance.

•' liefercnce is made to the experiments made by Mr. GoodifRe of Granard ; by Mr. Jackson in
Manchester; to those of Mr. Williamson, made in the island of Bute and in Perthshire; and of
"Mr. Heny of Hand.«worth, to prove the advantage of raising early potatoes. Several growers in
<3rermany and France have done the same willi equal advantage.

" The practice followed in Lancashire, of planting oidy the ro.scend, and keeping the opposite
part for food, is considered the best of all. As the eyes of the rose-end produce their shoots
:a.bout three v/ceks earlier than those of the lieel-cnd, this method is well calculated to grow
.early varieties."

Dar\vik, in his entertaining " Voyage of a Naturalist," publi.shed lately by the Harpers,
.gives the foUowiug account of this important vegetable as it was foiuid on the island of Cho-
nos, in the Pacific, on the coast of South America ;

"The wild potato grows on these islands in great abundance, on the sandy, shelly soil, near
the sea beach. The tatesl ])]ant was nearly three feet in bight. The tubers were generally small,
i*>ut I found one of an oval shape two inches iu diameter. Tliey resembled in evei-j' respect, and
ha.ll the same smell as English potatoes; but wlien boiled they slirunk much, and were watery
«.nd insipid, without any bitter taste. They are undoubtedly here indigenous ; they grow as fur
-.south, according to Mr." Law, as lat. 50, and are called Aquinas by the wild Indians of that part;
.^.he Chilotan Indians have a dilfcrent name for them. It is remarkable that the same plant should
he fouud on the sterile mountains of Central Uhili, where a drop of rain docs not fall for more
than six months, and within the damp forests of these southern islands."

In this improvability of the potato by cultivation we have another example of the design
' 'of Providence that man shotdd be diligent and exercise both his mental and physical facul-
ties for the melioration of all the gifts of Natui-e — for what fruit, flower, grass, gj'ain, vegeta
'ble, or animal has not been variegated and made more beautiful and better, by domestica
tioii and artful appliances ? And shotdd not this reflection alone convince the most skepti-
cal that Agriculture and Horticulture are in their veiy natiire eminently uitollectual pursuits ?

Finally, everything goes to show the soundness of the suggestions of our coiTespondent
that we should reciu', uiuler existing circumstatices, to its native habitat for the original or
^larcnt stock of the potato, leaving it only a question whether it would bo most conducive to
tiie eiid in vie^v to bring the phuit itself, or the seed of the applo, with which to establish
1 -new varieties of youthful and more vigorous constitution ; and yet, whether the product of
\ tuese would be more exinnpt from the prevalent dist?aso is, idler all, but a problem — worthy
•of beuig solved by the experiment suggested, when we consider how easily it miglit be
done, and how iinpoitjnit is the object proposed. [£</. Farm. Lib.

?. 8. The following meets our eye iit the moment ; let it be tried, though not in the cxpcctiition that
lOiere will bo " no diminution of the roots " if the tops me removed before they are ripe — else w hat is tlie
sise of the tops? Tops have been laid on our table which have every appciu-ance of being killed by linving
oheir lienrts eaten out by worms :

Mr. M. C. Websteu has addri-ssoJ a letter to the KJiior.i of the H.nrtf.ird Conraiit. lie says the tope
o( the potatoes should be mown otl" when thoy wo about half or two-thirds :;rown. He luia tried the ex-
periment, and found it fully auceesaful. lie mowed off one-half a potiito patrh, and let^ llie reniaindor as
they wure. Those left wiili the vini-.s on were nearly all destroyed by the disease, while in that portion
■from which the vincrt were cut not a single diseased potato whs found, it has been found, too, that CQt-
. ling off the vicee does not diminish the roots.
(276)

NOTES OF A DESULTORY READER. 13*^

NOTES OF A DESULTORY READER

ON THE SWIMMING POWER OF HORSES.

On ihe capacity of liorses Ibr swimming, men's ideas are very loose and
various. Few who^have never been in the western country would believe how
very common it is there to sivim on horseback over creeks and bayous. Such
trifling impediments are not allowed to stand in the way of a hardy pioneer, who
in some respects, and especially in the mastery and use of the horse, may he
said to resemble the Gaucho of the South American pampas.

Traveling once in the western country, I expressed some fear of not bemg^
able, from the state of the roads and the absence of bridges over the water
courses, to reach a certain place by a given time. " Oh ! " said a friend, " no-
thing need be more certain. Take my horse and follow such a road ; you wili
only have to sioim the ' Big Black ' and the ' Alligator Bayou,' and you may
reach your destination before dark." On my appearing shocked at the necessity
of swimming rivers and bayous, and protesting that I could not, myself, swim a
foot, he very coolly answered, " Oh, never mind, my dear sir ; my horse swims
the driest of any horse you ever saw."

I remember hearing, when a boy, that a horse belonging to St. Mary's cocmty
in Maryland, had crossed the ferry of Patuxent at Benedict, and was turned
loose in the rich pastures of " Battle Creek," the superb estate belonging to the
father of Chief Justice Tane, in Calvert county. The next day the horse, on
being searched for, was returned non est. It was finally ascertained that he-
swam the Patuxent, where it was at least a mile wide, to get home again ; so^
true is it that with horses, even more than with some men. there is " no place- '
like home ! " Yet some moralists of the first water would degrade them and
impeach the goodness of their Creator, by divesting all animals of every feeling^
of friendship and sociality, and all except the coarsest and most brutal passions
and propensities of animal nature. Whereas every man of observation who has
traveled by that most agreeable of all modes of traveling, on horseback with
one or two good-natured, sociable and witty companions, must have perceived
that the horses which fall in v/ith each other on the road sometimes become
acquainted sooner than their riders, and part company with more evident reluc-
tance. They do n't wait to be introduced to each other ; indulge in no anti-
social or sinister speculations as to each other's wealth and standing in society ;
lay no schemes to inveigle or overreach ; and when, finally, they arrive at the
place to be baited, no degree of hunger can prompt them to rush to their meals,
with more evident apprehension of not getting their share, or with more impetu-
ous and indecent haste than we witness with disgust on the part of modern fash-
ionable travelers on " fashionable tours."

But as to the swimming power of the horse. Those who were cognizant of
the fact of the horse swimming the Patuxent river, from Calvert to St. Mary's
county, where it was a mile ividc, were almost afraid to tell it, for fear of being-
doubted ; yet, in a book before us, " Darv/in's Voyage of a Naturalist," which
the Harpers have had the good taste and judgment to let us have so promptly,,
and which will be read with the liveliest interest by all who have a taste for
natural history ; this very entertaining and popular author says : " On a former

134 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

excursion, I crossed the Lucia near its mouth, and I was surmised to observe
how easily our horses, although not used to swim, passed over a width of near
six Iiundrod yards. On mentioning this at iMontcvideo, I was told that a vessel
containing some mountebanks and their liorses being wrecked in the La Plata,
one liorse swam seven miles to Oic shore I la the course of the day I was amused
by the dexterity with which a Gaucho I'orced a restive horse to swim a river.
He stripped olf his clothes, and jumping on his back, rode into the water until it
was out of its depth ; then slipping oil' over the crupper, he caught hold of the
tail, and as often as the horse attempted to turn round, theman frigiuened it back
by splashing water in its face. As soon as the horse touched the bottom on the
other side, the man pulled himself on, and was firmly seated, bridle in hand, be-
fore the horse gained the bank. A naked man, on a naked horse, is a fine spec-
tacle ; I had no idea how the two animals suited each other. The tail of a
horse is a very useful appendage ; I have passed a river in a boat with four peo-
ple in it, which was ferried across in the same way as the Gaucho. If a man
and horse have to cross a broad river, the best way is for the man to catch hold
of the pommel or the mane, and help himself with the other arm."

So much for what a horse can do in the way of swimming when the crisis
comes to " sink or swim."

History presents no example of the efficiency and usefulness of the horse to
equal that which was realized by Cortez, among the greatest of warriors, as
related by Prescott, easily the first of American historians, and what is more,
an honest historian I for about the most detestable of all swindlers is he who
swindles on a point of history.

But the power of the few horses landed with Cortez on the shores of Mexico
was truly magical, for it was much greater in a moral than in a physical sense.

The native Mexicans had never before seen or heard of such a beast ; and un-
der the impression that man and horse were but one animal, each being part and
parcel of the other, they concluded it could be nothing less than the Devil incar-
nate, and did not wait, as did their descendants, for the charge of our gallant
May, but fled by thousands at the approach of a single platoon of cavalry.

Do not all military annals abound in examples to show the overbearing cflect
of moral influences in war, and that every General should be, practically, a good
metaphysician ? If old " Rough and Ready " had possessed the means, at hand,
to take full advantage of the running start he got at Palo Alto, and the panic his
victory spread in the enemy's camp, he might then have overrun a good part of
Mexico. A Friend of the Horse.

MACIITNERY — Savinc; kkfected by it in r.KTTiNTr out Ghain, as ascertained in
Germany. — Sowiiiij-inachinns nre only in use forrnpe, iiiul occasionally for turnips. Wlieii?
seed is abundniit and labor choap, the outlay for expensive macliines is not repaid, as is the
case where labor is dearer. This principle is farllier confinned by exjierinients that have
been made with the Scotch tliroslilng-inaclilne as moditled by M. Dombasle, in Alsace. For
small quantities tlie advaiilago of niachiacry is scarcely apparent; but machinery applied to
large quantities produces a great saving. E.vperiments made in Germany have shown that
■where —

The produce in Wheat costs to tbresli :
With the innchine. By hiind.

If the production i.s ."ijOOO sheaves i':? tlorius. 135 iioriua.

10,000 " 116 " 270 "

20,000 " 103 •' r)4l "

" 40,000 " 265 " 1,082 "

Supposing the outlay for a tliresliing-uiacliiiie, of'l-hor.se power, to be £70, it is re'iinbiirsed
in one year in a farm producing 40,000 sheaves. A farm producing only .'jjOOO sheaves
would not admit of sutricienl saving to pay the interest on the luvesUueiit.
(278)

INDUSTRIAL RESOURCES OF CANADA. 135

INDUSTRIAL RESOURCES OF CANADA.

Setting out lately to visit INiairara Falls, for the first time, by the way of Buf-
falo, we Avere easily drawn by the Rapids, and other no less resistless influences,*
down to Montreal and Quebec.

Lundy's Lane, and the Hights of Queenstown, and the Plains of Abraham, and
the old Forts ISiiagara, Ticonderoga, &c. all had their attractions of historical in-
terest. No American could regard with indifference the very localities conse-
crated by the blood of such men as Brown and Scott, where that rare occur-
rence in military annals took place — the crossing of bayonets, as at Lundy's
Lane ; and that, too, by men, as might be expected, of the Saxon race.

" AVhen Greek meets Greek, then comes the tug of war."

Neither can any man of true sensibility, of whatever country, walk without emo-
tion over the very spot where the young and gallant General Wolfe, expiring in
the arms of victory, exclaimed, " Now, then, 1 die contented." Absorbed by the
recollection of such signal events, hospitably entertained, and charmed by the
splendid music and military movements of the famous Scotch Highlanders, at
Montreal and Quebec, it may be supposed that little chance was aflbrded to no-
tice the agricultural resources and products of the region so hastily traversed ;
yet in that respect the journey was by no means devoid of value, as we may
endeavor, when more at leisure, to show our readers. For this we siiall find jus-
tification in the resemblance between the climate and soil of the Canadas and
of Western New- York and a large portion of Vermont.

The crops about Montreal, as well of grain as of grass, were to all appearance
highly remunerating as to quantity, indicative of a fine soil to work upon ; but
the cultivation generally was not marked by extraordinary neatness, nor did it in-
dicate an active and general spirit of improvement.

In such cases, as in many others, trifles " show which way the wind blows."
Of these trifles, if so they may be termed, we might mention several of strong
signification. The most inauspicious was the languishing condition or death of
societies which had existed for the promotion of improvements in Agriculture. —
Sad and unpromising is the moral condition of a great class of men, when, through
despair or indifference, they abandon the hope of promoting their common wel-
fare by communion of thought, the interchange of discovery, and by concert of
exertion and influence for the protection of those interests which, when left un-
guarded, are sure to be assailed by rival or antagonist classes : and these remarks
are as applicable, under like circumstances, to all other agricultural communi-
ties, as to that of the Canadas.

Let us advert to another symptom which, whatever others may ihink, had its
force with us. In a bookstore at Montreal, we inquired if they had any agricul-
tural works ? hoping to pick up something new. The answer was, " they be-
lieved they had one," — and then produced " A Treatise on the Theory and
Practice of Agriculture, Adapted to the Cultivation and Economy of the
Animjl and Vegetable Productions of Agriccjlture in Canada." On asking

* There were ladies in the case.

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136 MOiNTIiLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

the price, we were told, " $1 50 — if it would sell for anything'''' ! So we paid
the demand, and behold ! we found this little work of 300 pages — worth $1 50,
" if it ivould sell at alV — to be full of agricultural literature and practical infor-
mation of a high cast, and such as ought to be in the library of every agricultur-
ist in Canada who is not content to degrade his own profession — the very busi-
ness of his life — by considering and following it as a mere drudgery— a work of
routine — in the management and conduct of which it is only necessary that the
man should be one degree raised above the brute he drives. For so every man
entitles himself to be denounced who would divest Agriculture of that elegance
and dignity which are only to be associated with intellectual exercise and the
charms of literature.

To no such category does the author of this work belong. We had not time,
after getting his book, to seek the favor of a personal acquaintance with its au-
thor, William Evans, " Secretary to the Montreal Agricultural Society," — but it
requires very little observation to pronounce that, if communities are not im-
proved by the continued and enlightened labors of such Societies, it is never the
fault of such Secretaries.

We had hoped to have found in this work some exact history of the origin and
introduction of the Canada Horse. A slight examination of it, however, has not
proved satisfactory in that respect. We noticed particularly, nevertheless, as
we went along, the horses of the country, such as are literally " the horses of all
work," in Montreal and Quebec ; and, with the exception of a few in private
carriages, procured from " the States," they are, almost loithout exception, of the
frame and character of what is understood with us as the " Canadian Horse," viz.
stout, close knit, and short jointed, with a rather large and (behind) crooked leg.
The muzzle not particularly coarse, but the jowl thick, and head and neck large
and heavy, with long mane, and uncommon widtii and flatness between the eyes ;
very few of them rising to 15 hands, but evidently very hardy, true to the draught,
and exceedingly strong. Contrary to the impression which prevails, we are now
satisfied that the specimens which have been brought to the United States do full
justice to this breed of horses, which to us appear to be well adapted to the climate
and labor of Canada. We agree on this point with Mr. Evans, that " the horse
best calculated for agricultural purposes here, in summer and winter, is one of
moderate size, strong, active, spirited, and of hardy constitution. Can any horse
more nearly come up to this description than a good-sized, well-shaped Canadian
horse?" We are, m fact, almost settled in an opinion we have elsewhere inti-
mated, that Nature will take care to adapt animals, as well as vegetables, to the
circumstances of the country ; and though Art, when working in harmony with '
her, may do much to improve her productions, it must not too rudely cross and
oppose her purposes.

In some conformity with our impressions on this subject, Darwin, in his Voy-
age of a Naturalist, elsewhere referred to, remarks : " It is curious to observe
how the seeds of grass and other plants seem to accommodate themselves, as if
by an acquired habit, to the quantity of rain which falls on different parts of this
coast ;" and in " Connection of the Physical Sciences," by Mary Somerville,
lately published, from the seventh London edition, by the Harpers, of New-
York, we find — " It is even said that a distance of 25*^ of latitude occasions a to-
tal change, not only of vegetable productions, but of organized beings." So we
are inclined to believe that if the high-bred south-eastern courser, or the coarse
Conestoga wagon-horse, were turned loose in Canada, in process of time they

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APPLE-GRAFTS IN OHIO. 137

would accommodate themselves to the country, and take on the form and charac-
teristics of the Canadian horse. But a truce to speculation. Let us give, from
Mr. Evans's book, the

MEANS OF PROGNOSTICATING THE WEATHER.

By means of the barometer, vvc are enabled to regain, in some doj^ree at least, that fore-
knowledge of the weather which th(! ancients did possess. ('ha[)tal considers that (he value
of the barometer, a.s an iiidicutor of the ai)proacliing weather, is greater than llie human
knowledge of the most experienced countiyinan, and indeed of all other means put together.

Tile rising of the mercury presages, in general, fou" weather ; imd its falling, foul weather,
as rain and snow, high winds and storms.

The sudden falling of the mercury foretells thunder, in veiy hot weather, especially if the
wind is south. The rising in winter indicates frost ; and in frosty weather, if the mercuiy
falls three or four divisions, there will follow a thaw; but if it lisesiii a continued frost, snow
may be e.xpected.

When foul weather happens soon after the falling of the mercury, it will not be of long
duration ; nor are we to expect a continuance of tiiir weather, when it soon .succeeds the ris-
ing of the quicksilver. If, in foid weather, the raercuiy rises considerably, and continues
ri.sing for three or fou)- days before tlie foul weather is over, a continuance of fair weather
may be expected to follow.

In fair weather, when the mercury falls much, and low, and continues falling two or three
days before rain comes, much wet must be expected, and probably high wuids.

The unsetded motion of the mercury indicates changeable weather.

Toward the end of March, or more generally in the beginning of April, the barometer
sinks very low with bad weather, after which it seldom falls lower than 29 degrees .5 min-
utes, till the latter end of September or October, when the quicksilver falls again low witli
stomiy wind, for then the winter constitution of the air takes place. From October to April,
the great falls of the barometer m-e from 29 degrees 5 minutes to 28 degrees 5 minutes, and
sometimes lower ; whereas, during the summer constitution of the air, the quicksilver sel-
dom falls lower than 29 degi'ees .5 minutes. It therefoi-e follows th:\t the fall of one-tenth of
an inch, during the sunmier, is as sure an indication of rain as a fall of between two and
three-tenths is in the winter.

Oil of vitriol is found to gi'ow^ lighter or heavier in proportion to the less or gi-eater quan-
tity of moisture it imbibes from the air. The attraction is so gi-eat that it has been known to
change its weight from three drachms to nine.

If a line be made of good well-dried whijicord, and a j)lummet be fixed to the end of It
and the whole be hung against a wainscot, and a line be drav.ni under it, exactly where the
plummet reaches, in very moderate weather it will be foimd to rise above such line, and to
sink below it, when the weather is likely to become fair.

A liirmer who will accustom himself to observe tlie rising and settuig sun, througliout the
year, may be able to make a veiy accurate estimate of the weather. If the sun set clear,
and no clouds intervene, wben disappearuig below the horizon, the succeeding day will gen-
erally be fine; and, on the conti-ary, if the sun sets cloudy, or is intercepted from the view
by clouds at the momiMit of disappeaiing below the horizon, rain will generally fall within
the succeeding twenty -four hours. Winds and stonns will be indicated by the appearance
of the atmosphere before they occva-. In tact, Providence has afforded many signs whereby
the attentive and industrious fanner may be in a great degi-ee guarded agaList any sudden
changes in the weather, which would be injurious to him^ and in observing constantly the
rising and setting sun, he is amply reiiaid for his attention by the opportunity it gives him of
seeing the most glorious picUire Nature offers to our view. If some seasons are less pmpi-
tious to us than others, from long continued drouth or moisture, we should rejoice and be
thankful that they are not of frequent recurrence, and are generally occasioned by natmal
causes, which are pardy explained ui the foregoing pages.

APPLE-GRAFTS IN OHIO.— Israel Putnam, Esq. according to Mr. Bateman (excel-
lent authority), Editor of the Ohio Cultivator, is entitled to the honor— and such we con.sider
it — of having obtained the first grafts of apples introduced in Ohio. They were brought
fixjm the orchai-d of his grandfaUier, Gen. Israel Putnam (of wolf-killing memory), and were
"put into tlie hands of William Rufus Putnam, for him to distribute, and graft a nursery of
seedling stocks for hhnself and brother. This pioneer nurseiyman is still living, in the en-
joyment of sound health, and has in his possession the original list of tlicse grafts."
(281)

138 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

PLANTING IN SOUTH CAROLINA, AND IN MISSISSIPPI
AND LOUISIANA.

EXPENSE AND RESULTS COMPARED.

Sir : In your periodical for July, 1846, there is a communication sij^ned S. B.
on the subject of the " Cost and Profit of Cultivating Corn and Cotton " in South
Carolina and Georgia.

Presuming something on the same subject from Mississippi and Louisiana
would not be unacceptable to your readers, I offer you the following :

On the uplands in Mississippi and Louisiana, the average product of corn per
acre is not less than 25 bushels. It ranges generally between 25 and 30 bushels.

On the lowlands the average product is 35 bushels per acre, and generally
ranges between 35 and 45 bushels.

On the uplands the average product of cotton per hand is 6 bales of 400 lbs. ;
or 2,400 lbs.

On the lowlands the average product is S bales, or 3,200 lbs. per hand.

The average cost of production is rated at 2 cts. per lb. ; leaving 4 cts. per lb.
(assuming the value to be 6 cts.) for interest on capital, insurance on property,
ice. &c.

On all well-managed plantations there is no difficulty in raising com and fod-
der enough for the supply of the place, without any interference with the culture
of the cotton crop. On the lowlands it is an easy matter to raise more corn than
the place can consume, and as much cotton as the hands can pick, from August
till January,

Contrast the product in South Carolina and Georgia with that of the low lands
of Louisiana and Mississippi :

SOUTH CAROLINA AND GEORGIA.

12 bushels of com per acre.
150 lbs. of clean cotton do.
Average product per liaiid, 1,200 lbs.
Worth, at 6 cts. $72.

LOUISIANA AND MISSISSIPPI.

35 bushels of corn per acre.
450 lbs. of clean cotton do.
Average product per hand, 3,200 lbs.
Worth, at G cts. $192.

It is not universally conceded, among our most intelligent cotton planters, that
the cost of production is increased by the policy of the Government. On the con-
trary, many, very many, of our most intelligent planters — and of those, too, most
devoted and minute in their attention to their interests — believe the policy of the
Government, in fostering home industry, has diminished the cost of production,
and enhanced the value of the product.

The mere expense of feeding and clothing in Louisiana and Mississippi amounts
to but little^ and forms a small item in the plantation accounts. For example :
Take a force of 50 hands (and, to give this force, the aggregate number will be
75 or SO), and what will be the cost of clothing and feeding?

Say for 7'>(> yds. of cotton cloth, for the effective force, at 10 cts. per yd $7.5

2.")0 . . jeans, at 38 cts. per yd 9a

1'tO . . linseys, at 28 cts. per yd 42

.50 .. .. for the children. !it 28 cts. per yd 12

l.'JO . . cotton clotli, for do. at 10 cts. per yd 1.5

65 brl.s. of pork, at $10 per brl 650

Hats, shoes, and head lidkfs 1 25

Thus, the total cost of feeding and clothing a plantation (the eflbctive force on ■which is

.50 hand.«) would be $1014

Deduct the amount for pork — which is not uHi'ctod (at least, not rtilinnad in price) by

the policy of the Government 6.50

And we have for clothing $364

Now, admitting that the cost of this item is enhanced 30 per cent, by the pro-
tective duties, and it onlv adds |;109 20 to the plantation expenses. So that a

(982)

EXPENSE AND RESULTS OF SOUTHERN PLANTING. 139

plantation producing, in Louisiana, 400 bales of cotton, worth a 6 cents per b.
$9,600, is taxed, for the benefit of the manufacturing interest, !b;1U9 20 annua ly.

But, small as this item is, it cannot but be felt by those whose product is but
12 busliels of corn to the acre, and 1,200 weight of cotton to the hand ; be-
cause the expenses of producing in South Carolina and Georgia 3 bales of cot-
ton to the hand amount to as much per head as those of the Louisiana planter,
who makes 35 bushels of corn to the acre and 8 bales of cotton to 'be band.

The truth is, the Carolina and Georgia planters, who make but 12 bushels ot
corn to the acre, must cultivate more land in corn in order to produce tb.-ir sup-
plies than the Louisiana planters, and consequently must cultivate less in cotton ;
and this may be one and a principal reason why cotton planting has ceased to be
BO protilable in those Slates as it once was. The average product per acre on
the lowlands in Louisiana being 450 lbs. while in Carolina and Georgia it is but
150 Ib^. it follows, that to produce S bales to the hand he must cultivate 7
acres to the hand, while to produce 1,200 lbs. or 3 bales to the hand, he
must, in Carolina and Georgia, cultivate 8 acres to the hand. But, for the
ereater distance given to the cotton in the rich lands of Louisiana, it is easier to
cultivate 10 acres to the hand than it would be to cultivate 7 on the poor
lands of Carolina and Georgia. . • r n i <•

Besides, on the lowlands of Louisiana it is so easy to raise a full supply of
corn that most of our planters are enabled to raise more than half their supply
of meat, and thus diminish the plantation expenses very considerably, it is
pretty evident that the diminished i)rotits of cotton plantmg in Carolina and
Georgia are not so much the result of the policy of the (xovernment as of the
increased facilities of production in the more fertile valley of the Mississippi.

It is alto'^ether probable that the recent change in the policy of the Govern-
ment in the' protective dutv on sugar, may tend still farther to diminish the prohts
of the cotton planter in Louisiana and Mississippi, as well as in Carolina and
Georo-ia. It is very certain that the diversion of capital and labor txom cotton
to su"ar planting, which has been in such rapid progression for the last two or
three" years, will now be arrested, and, not improbably, that on many cotton
plantations where preparations Avere making for the culture of su^ar, the pro-
cess of change may be altogether abandoned. Whatever tends to increase the
culture of a product already superabundant, must tend to lessen the profits ot
that product. None will deny that, but for the disastrous season of last year,
the cotton crop would have reached 2,500,000 bales. Would not such a crop,
other things in Europe being the same, have reduced the price fully one cent a

^°But if the cotton planters of all sections would devote more of their time, la-
bor and attention to the improving of the quality of their cotton and to the rais-
in'-, icithni themselves, of all they consume, use or ivear on their plantations, arid
leave to politicians the regulation of the policy of the Government, they would
do more and better for their own direct interests. X. Y. Z.

Rapid,:, La. July 20, 1840.

13^ ir a-i-iculmrists could break or ■' slip" the hUmi bridle!^ of parly, with which dema
gogues ride them for their own aggraiiilizenient, and, instead of " ]ea%-iiig to politicians" the
regulation of the policy of the Government, would have their sons so instructed tliat they
mi°ght be qualified to tlmik, and to understand and regulate the policy of the Goveniment for
themselvo^, with reference to the landed interest, which is the basis of aU other interests, it
would afford some ground to hope for the prosperity- and perpetuity of tl* Kepubhc. If
farmers would vote for good, well-instnicted, well-inform(;d landholders, or uivariably fijr
persons who have something to lose by vicious or ill-directed legislation, we should not have
witnessed tlie willingness or the ignorance with which the landholders of this country have
allowed themselves to be fleeced, for the last thirty years, of about three hundred mi/lions,
for the maintenance of the railitaiy, or man-killmg, machineiy of this Government !— money
enough to have overspread the land with a flood of useful knowledge, and to have carried
a canal or a railroad to almost every msui's door, and to have bound together all parts of thft
Union as with a chain of adamant. Instead, then, of having aU our young men, sons of
broken-down families, suj)pllants for clerkships, we should see them seeking contentment
(233)

140 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

luid honorable distinction as intellectual cultiviitors, on a scale however small — satisfied with
homely and wholesome fare — despising the honors to be won by the arts of the demagogue,
and looking, for happiness and charact<ir, to intellectual enjoyment and a life of virtue and
usefulness. [^Ed. Farm. Lib

INDUSTRIAL RESOURCES OF THE WEST.

HEMP CULTURE.

To the suggestion of Mr. Johnson, (son of our old and lamented friend, the late Hon.
F. Johnson, of Kentucky,) of the distinguished firm of Johnson & Fellows, commission-
house in New-Orleans, we wish to make acknowledgments for putting us in communication
with the wi-iter of the following — than whom no man iu the Union is better infoiined on the
hemp industry of the country.

This is another of resources for the benefit of our readers, developed by a very short, but
most agreeable sojourn in the South last spiiiig.

John S. Skinnek, Esq. Louisville, August 1, 1846.

Sir: I have received your letter of the 24th ultimo. I will now, with much
pleasure, reply to a portion of its contents, and will hereafter communicate to you
such facts, in relation to the hemp industry of our country, as I may deem of suf-
ticient interest for record in the pages of The Farmers' Library.

I can now assert, without the shadow of a doubt, that the hemp trade has been
brought to perfection. This has been done by the beautiful combination, in one
machine, of the brake, the scutcher, and the heckle ; for whioli combination we
are indebted to the joint ingenuity of Dr. Leavitt and Messrs. Crocker and Hawes
of this city.

I have been a daily inspector of tlie operations of the machine for the past
week, and though I have been engaged for the last four years in the construction
of a great variety of hemp machines, yet I am compelled to acknowledge that
this is the only one that approaches even toward a complete machine. We fmd
no difliculty in breaking, cleaning, and heckling iinrotted or rotted hemp on the
same machine. The operation is performed with great expedition, and without
converting an undue proportion of the hbre into tow ; indeed, I am convinced that
there will be much less tow made by the machine than is usually made by the
hand-brake. This machine is equally well adapted to flax, rotted or unrotted, as
to hemp.

Knowing now that the machine has been brought into existence for the rapid
breaking and cleaning of unrotted hemp, let us for a moment enter into some
speculations in relation to that description of hemp, and its adaptation to naval
purposes. An experiment was made many years ago in rigging the ship I^orth
Carolina with hemp in its unrotted condition. On her return, after an absence
of three years, her rigging was examined, and found to be in a state of decay —
produced, as was stated, by a fermentation of the hemp. This examination was
considered as conclusive, and no consideration was ever after given to unrotted
hemp, so far as the INavy Department was concerned.

I am aware that such would be the fate of all hemp, so manufactured, of an
unprepared article. Its decay was caused by fermentation, and fermentation is
now looked on as the beginning of decay ; hence all American water-rotted hemp
has commenced its decay before it has been spun into cordage — it being impossi-
ble to prepare it for the hand-trade without carrying it through the process of
fermentation.

My object has been (and T am sure that it has been attained) to decompose the
fermenting agent wliile the hemp is in its unmanufactured form ; and, doing so,
surely fermentation cannot ensue.

There is but one element in vegetable matter that can produce fermentation,
and that is nitrogen; that can be evolved by the application of a high tenipera-

(284)

AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE. 141

"~T ' 7~ -A ^T Kv an iR-ili as either will answer. I choose that

IT h'eal Ts'mos^co'n emem' ^^^t a'pplieat.on to hen,p, can cure it or sea-
son U and Jive it as ?reat a duralniity asSicat or water,^ apphed to any other

''?ou wouid'i^oTexpt't'tofind a good ferment in your yeast after havin. sub-

S b'e w'ih hem?: it lemg governed by the same laws that govern every varx-

'VoL m"y'.nier"}-rom the above remarks that I do not consider Billings's rha-
c^JS^^s process, for the preparation of hemp, as likely to he genera ly

adopted. Yours, veo- respectfully, JAMKS ANUbll.^ jn.

AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE NEAR PHILADELPHIA.

.v„ ;,, .!>.» rJovmintown (Pa 1 Tcletjrapb. that .Tames Gowci) has recently
"We leani by a notice in ^^/f. p„':'"^f"^""";„7'^'a^^ his beautiful farm and residence

purchased the old c"Hej?e bmUhngs and p,„„n^ ^ if sutlicienl encourage-

at Mt, Airy, -'ih tlje Je^.^n "^.^^^fj^^''^^; q,--- intelligence, energy and skill, and h,»
ment is oHered. i rom Yj"' '^„? f. niiin- to"ether with the admirable adaptedness ot hm
ihoroudi practical knowledge ot '•^''"">;T ,'Xot 1 esitaie to avow our opinion that he is just
grounds and buil-iingB for the P-P-;;^-^^,,'^"-^^^?:.. institution ot^his kind. Let the
the person, an.l ^^'-^^^ '^X .he fr ends of agricultural improvement, lend their aid and tcst.-
Lty i.rbeh^rifX S an Mar undcrtaHn.s, nVen ..Ucl, com.nenced, and Ikcre can

'':^ii t'S.^name -ntioned in the Je^gr^as^^^^^^
^^S^:iJi:^T^^ :^t^^:^^^:^^^^^ . .Lo. or his advanced
''^tIp above, from the Ohio Cultivator, ia the first notice whicb we have seen (17th of
Au^st) of the tnatter to which it refers. We agree as to the location and the pubho sptn^
of Mr G and his high appreciation of the great benefit to be denved to the whde counhy
by measures which shall result in aMghtcning, as the best means of improving tk. pracHce.
of Agriculture. As to Mr. Colm.n's willingness to " assume the respottsibdity of the
Presidency, we do not know ; but we do not agree with our respected colleague of the Cul-
tivator that it would be inexpedient on account of the reason named, or atxy other of whK=h
we are aware. On the co.Urary, we s!.ouUl judge Mr. C. to be eminently fitletl for such a
trust with suitable assistants in the various departments, and hinxself placed nt a posittou
perfectly independent and above the control of inferior nmids. In one thing fnend Bate-
^^ wUl a^re! with us-that if he were to underU.ke it, judging by all we have seen from
his pen he would enter upon the duties with an elevated view of their nnportance, a^,mn^
to do <r^ood, and leaving fame to follou; uninfluenced by gross mercenary' motives, and scorn
ing thlt sort of popularity wltich is caught by setting traps to amu.se or to bamboozle the

^"xhe number of agricultural institutions which are being established in various parts o|
the country, aftbrd a most gratifying proof that the sentiment has taken root, that Agricul-
ture has its science and literature and is a fit subject for the oeeupafion of the rrnnd It is
by planting and disseminating that sentiment that American Agriculture ,. now to be per-
manently Ld essentially benefited and elevated-more than by oifering a fevv ,£.««« for
L ho^. or lar.e crops on small lots. We should like to receive and publish a complete
list of au'the agricultural schools, their tenns, course of instmction, &c. &«.

An ARi-icultural School has, as we have casually seen, been opened on the farm of Gen.
H.uMos, in the western part of New-York ; one by Mr. .John Wilkinson in Dutchess Coun-
ty New-York, and a "Scientific and Practical Agi-icultui-al InstiUite ' near \\ aide.., n.
Orange Cou.ity of the same State. These may be considered among the first fruit, ot

Bi'mh" 18 it possible, then, that Russia hemp can undergo the process of fernientauon ?
(265)

142 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGPaCULTURE.

greater attention to, and Vjetter systems of education in New- York ; but wliat ai-e ihoir tern\3
and rcgnliitioiis — the number and qualification of the Professors, and the plans of instmction,
we are not informed. Such institutes shoidJ be gotten up with gi-eat care, under the best
lights, and be <;onducted by men of adequate acqnii'ements, and of elevated ideas of tho
im{)ortance ;uid usefulness of then- office ; and we have no reason to doubt that this has been
done in the cases refeired to.

Our General Govertmient, by the vote of the Representatives of the landed interest, ap-
propriates annually more than $100,000 to the object oi military instruction .' Suppose in
their wasdom these Representatives had supportetl also, at the same expense, for the last
thirty years, an Institution for the Instruction of Teachers of Surveying, Mineralogy, Botany,
Comparative Anatomy Agricultural Chemistry, Carpentry, and Engineering as connected
v)ith the StructAire of Roads, Canals, Bridges, ^-c. Mechanical Philosophy, and all the ai"t3
and sciences, necessary to a better understanding of the principles of Agi-iculture and Horti
culture and the manufacturing arts ? What a mass of useflil knowledge might by this time
have been diffused through every State in this Union ! Knowledge which could not be
put in use without increasing the comforts of and happiness of Society I Ay, and this will
come to pass, in time, when, by the proper education of the rising generation, fanners are
brought to think for themselves to feel their power and to know how to use it.

FAIR OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE.

For the IMineteenth Fair of the American Institute, including an exhibition of
pure-blooded and other cattle, a plowing match, and spading match, and horticul-
tural show, the Managers announce the completion of extensive arrangements on
the spacious premises, corner of Twenty-third street and Fifth-avenue.

Feed of every description will be provided on the ground at the cheapest pos-
sible rate for those who wish to purchase ; and as no entrance money for cattle
will be required, and exhibitors may bring their own feed, the expenses on the
occasion will he greatly reduced.

Animals offered for premiums will be under the special direction of a member
of the agricultural board.

All entries of stock must be made in writing, and delivered to the clerk at the
time of entry at the committee room, on Monday, the 12th day of October, with
full pedigrees of the animals, their breed, ages, owners' names, &c. : and with
such observations as to their food, thrift, constitution, milking or fattening quali-
ties, as they may sec proper to add. If previously sent to T. B. Wakeman, Cor-
responding Secretary of the Institute, they will be attended to. This is abso-
lutely necessary, that the Secretary may be able to prepare lists in time for the
use of the Examining Committee ; and neither the Secretary nor the Committee
will be responsible for the omission of any animal on the lists, if this rule is not
complied with. Labels stating the breed of the animal, age, owner's name, num-
ber of entry, &c. will be appended to each animal, as soon as located.

The rule in force at former Fairs, of excluding animals which have already
taken prizes of the American Institute, is abolished, and the premiums are now
open for competition without reservation.

In a work like this, which is patronized over the whole country, and, in pro-
portion to population, with remarkable equality as to the number of its friends,
it cannot be expected that we should lill several pages with the details of these
arrangements; nor is it necessary, since they will be so widely diffused through
other channels. Suflice it to say that these arrangements are the result uf manv

143

comptimea. .o ac, on <l,e prc,u,np.«,n tl,a ho. -^ ^J^' ^ « « „^^ ,„„,„,
of the departments of this most nnportant brand, of nraan mdu y

by ,„o„ves far abo.e the » .f.^;,'",^ ^'^.^^i: ^T ^ aurin, fa.ni.y tro!
have offered to a nobler annbit.on the chance ol wi ,,ricuhural

,by.ormenr„ria,in.hesapeoamd o pe-^^^^^

rd"Tr;r h°: ::r::: rVeferred .o .ere physical strength and the

means of sensual .S;»''''7';°;„i^„,.„„, i„p„ve,nen. »,11 everywhere illustrate
After all, associat ton for a="cu p ^ _,_^.^ __^^^^^^,., ,^.„j ,„

"""' '""iTf" LTr an It hm n^:: J„ 'pr.de in their pursnit-in propor-
msptre among '•"""" °"° . .„„eciation of its intellectual requirements,
"Z "Vra^:ter„nr - n its practical success, as well as the honor
:?'tho who" lot it, depend on various .ntelligcnce as well as on unfrtng .„-
„f those «"° , t j,,„jet, according to their means,

dustry and expenditure, llBera, ^^.^^ ^^ j„„,| by

When public ^^X/ut jrTold "and tille s of the soil will get ,0 have
more -^^I'-'-l X:'"^.''ll^ZZtZn...U.s. and will take care that all ex-
. better knowldgeo "h ^^ j^^,^, ,„„ .^, f„i„ „f ^heir industry.

rrb:':;;:io:ria't:r:'z::, ;».»». ,r.,„r,...»». ..«c,/,..„ th^r own

benefit. .

CATERPILLAR AMONG THE SEA-ISLAND COTTON.

«„.rP.T.ON OF AN ANNUAL MEETING OF AGRICULTURISTS AT SARATOGA, AND AT TIIK
SUGGESIION OF AN ANMJ^ ^^^^^^ sULPHUR SPRINGS IN VIRGINIA.

South Carolina, Aiiipist 3, Wid.

near S,r: ^^f^^^^":^-, ^^^ ll^^^^i IS ^ ^ t
summer at home '^ ^is t s e _ntu jestrucliou of the long cottoa crop nearly
appearance ot the catepla^^^^^^^^^ himself earlier by three weeks than was ever
certam. ihe enemy lui^ ^ cnhlne*^ of the spr ns, are unusually back-

known, and our cotton ^^Id' from the codntoM^^^^^ Lood and the presence of

t^:% •SrcarnV!tr,':tl"ontiigh.trho,t: in. the^expectation of

rum, perhaps, to ma"y- our Secretary, who resides in Columbia, a number

About ten days ,^5"^ ,f "';^;",„'^!^'j J^JSem if he thought proper. As they will

of questions, and b'^.f f '^^ ^'^"^^ ° f '^ I d ected him to forward a copy to every U.

be printed, you ^^al have a cx.pv 1 d rc^^^^^^ ^^^^^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ j^li^^.j ,o

l!?::^:^Trtl^:^^S^^ The one l^r the T^ew-York Society

will be directed to your care. .^_^„., „t the White Sulphur and Saratoga

r^sA;;sSs::^s'of^rS»i^|^^^^
;;Xt"d-l^,rL'rpr,t"»rgLr£:r;p.t::;:it>^ifto^ing^

144

MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

to further the great cause of agricultural improvement. Let printed questions
be prepared and circulated through the Union, in order that such of the visitors
who feel an interest in the matter might be prepared to rei)ly to them. I give
you the hint. Bring it to the notice of the readers of your journal, if you con-
sider it worthy of consideration.

J. S. Skinneb, Esq. W. B. S.

We publish the suggestion witli pleasure, and the hint would be taken and carried out il
agriculturists were imbued with the same enlightened and ardent devotion to their concerns
that animates other classes ; but, of all others, they are the most hstless — as, for instance : At
the late meeting ot the Fiirmers' Convention at New-York, a '' Central Committee" was ap
pointed " to collect information, &c." Well, the Cliainnan called most respectfully on the
good offices of the Presidents and Secretaries of Agricultural Societies, only so far as that they
would take the trouble to write down the name of the Society and its President, and trans-
mit the letter, postage unpaid, to J. S. Skinner, Chairman as aforesaid; and oxit of the many
hundred Agincultural Societies in the Union, how many, does the reader suppose, have taken
the enormous trouble to write the five lines required in the case ? Not more than Jive or
six ! Men must be brought up to read in connection icith their catling in life, and to un-
derstand that it has its principles to be studied, and its rights to be defended against hostile
legislation, before they can be brought to compare notes and devise the means of anticipating
or counteracting it, or to diffuse among all the most recent and valuable discoveries in the
processes of their art.

PHICES CURRENT.

[Corrected, August 22, for the Monthly Journal of Agrictilture.'\

ASHES— Pots, l8t sort •F 100 ffi. .'i

Pearls, 1st sort, '46 4

BEESWAX — American Yellow —

CANDLES— Mould, Tallow.. ■F Itj... —

Spenn, Eastern and City —

COTTON— From F It). —

COTTON BAGGING— American... —

CORDAGE— American F ffi. •

DOMESTIC GOODS-Shiitings, ^ y. - -

Slieetings —

FEATHERS— American, live —

FLAX — American —

FLOUR & MEAL— Genesee, F' t)bl. 4

Troy 4

Michigan 3

Ohio, flat hoop 4

Ohio, Hey wood & Venice 4

Ohio, via New-Orleana 3

Pennsylvania

Brandywine 4

Georgetown 4

Baltimore City Mill.s 4

Richmond City Mills 5

Kichmond Country 4

Alexandria, Petersburg, &c 4

Rye Flour ." 0

Com Meal, Jersey and Brand 2

Com Meal, Brandywine hhd. 14

GRAIN— Wheat, White F bush. —

Wheat, Red new —

Rye, Northern —

Com, Jersey and North., .(meas.) —

Com, Southern (measure') —

Com, Southern (weiglit) —

Oiits, Northern —

Oats, Southern —

HAY— North River in bales, F 100 16 —
HEMP— American, dew-rotted .. ton 70

»■ " water-rotted 130

HOPS— 1st sort, 184.') —

IRON— Ameiican Pig, No. 1 .'52

" Common '~~

LIME- ThomMton F bl)l. —

LU.MBER— Boards. N.R., FM. ft. clr. 30

Boiuds, Eiistern Pino H

Boards, Altifuiy Pine Fpce. —

Planlt. Crtjorgia Pino ^(<l ft. '~>7

(288)

561®

12.VS1

26i@— 27

9 @— 11
26 ®— 38

7i@— 1(H

13 ®

11 ®— 13

.5 @— 11

6i@— 15

24 @— 30
8 ®— 8;V

— ® 4 06i

— ®

97 ® 4 —

— ®

37i@ 4 50
50 ® 3 62i

25 ® 4 50
18i@ 4 25

— ®

50 ®

12.V® 4 25
— "® 4 12i

75 ® ■

561® 3 —
75 ®15 —
90 ®— 95
80 ®— 86
72 ®— 75
59 @— 60
53 ®— 54

— ®

29 ®— 30
23 ®— 25
45 @

— ®90 —
— ®185 —
19 ®— 16
50 ®35 —
M ®2r. —
70 ®— 75

— ®35 —

— ®13 -
10 ®— 18

— ®30 —

Staves. WTiite Oak, pipe.F M 50 — @

Staves. White Oak, hhd 40 — ®

Staves, White Oak, bbl 30— ®

Staves, Red Oak. hhd 24 — ® 26 —

Hoops 25 — ®30 —

Scantling, Pine, Eastern ®15 — .

Scantling, Oak 30 — ®35 —

Timber. Oak ^ cubic foot — 22 ®— 33

Timber, White Pine — 15 @— 22

Timber, Georgia Yellow Pine — 20 ®— 22

Shingles, 18 in F bunch 1 75 ® 2 —

Shuigles, Cedar, 3 feet, 1st quality. 25 — ®

Shingles, Cedar, 3 feet, 2d quality. 22 — ®23 —
Shingles, Cedar, 2 feet, 1st quality. 17 — ®18 —
Shingles, Cedar, 2 feet, 2d quality. 15 — ®16 —

Shingles, Cypress, 2 feet 13 — ®14 —

i^hingles, Company ®28 —

MUSTARD— American — 16 ®— 31

NAILS— Wrought, 6d to yOd.-.F tt). — 10 ®— 12.}

Cut4dto4()d — 4®— 4i

PLASTER I'ARl.^— r ton 2 37}® 2 .50

PROVISIONS— Beef, Mess, fbbl... 6 25 ® 7 —

Beef, Prime 4 25 ® 5 —

Pork, Mess. Ohio '. 9 75 ®

Pork, Prime, Ohio 8 — ® 8 12i

Lard. Ohio F Jt>. — 53®— 7

Ham.-!, Pickled — 4}®— 4i

Shoulders, Pickled — 3i®— 3,^

Sides, Pickled ®

Beef. Smoked F tts. — 5®— 5}

Butter. Orange County — 15 ® — 16

Butter, Western Dairy, new — 12i® — 14

Butter, grease — 6J3 — 7

(^heese, in casks and boxes — 6 ® — 6}

SEEDS— Clover F tb. — > 6 ®— 7}

Timothy F tierce 11 — @15 —

Flax, Rou-h 8 .50 ®

SOAP— N. York. Brown F »>• — 4®— 6

T.^LLOW — American Rendered .. . — 7 ® — 7J

TOBACCO— Virginia @ lb. — 213— 6

North Carolina — 2.1® — 5

Kentucky !uid Missouri — 2i® — 7

WO(JL— Am. Saxony. Fleece,. F tti. — 32 ®— .34

American Full Blood Merino — 27 @ — 28

American k and 3 Merino — 22 ® — 2.5

American Native and i Merino... — 20 ® — 21
Superfine, I'uUed — 22 ® — 26

^-^/-^

4 4 ^ ¥

lVU

\ ii-i^aW

son JAME3 ai-.

'"■'i V7~S \\

itnilies ui.

146 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

character and morals. James Wadsworth's ambition was more wisely directed.
He did not see in his superior education the means of escaping from the pursuits
of his forefathers, as if rural toil were disgraceful to the man of intelligence, but
rather the instrument by which intellect and mental energy might be substituted
for rustic manipulation. At that moment, the adoption of the Federal Constitu-
tion promised a Government of sufficient strength to maintain supremacy over the
Indian tribes bordering upon the settlements of more ancient date, and large
tracts of land hitherto held as Indian hunting grounds lay open to purchase under
unquestionable titles, derived from cessions by the aborigines to the States within
whose chartered limits they lay. Massachusetts and Kew-York had com-
promised their claims to the country west of the Seneca Lake ; the former acquir-
ing the right of soil, the latter that of jurisdiction ; and Massachusetts, in a happy
hour for the prosperity of New-York, had sold her wide but apparently valueless
estate to the copartnership long conspicuous on the maps of the State of New-
York under the name of Phelps and Gorham. This firm, buying at a price which,
estimated by the acre at the present day, would be called nominal, contracted
from the vast extent of the tract to Avhich they had acquired a title, engagements
large for the time, and both for the purpose of diminishing the amount at stake,
and realizing early profits, sought to embark others in the speculation as pur-
chasers from them. Among these was Col. Wadsworth of Hartford, Conn.,
who from his wealth, and public services in the war of the Revolution, was
looked up to by those of his name as their chief The young Wadsworths,
while they were unable to count kin with him, were acknowledged as the de-
scendants of a common ancestor, and he, with the patriarchal feeling which has
now become almost obliterated, was willing to extend his patronage to those
who bore the same patronymic as himself. To James and his brother William he
gave not only sound advice, but what proved to be the most useful aid. He pro-
posed to them that they should take an interest in his remote and almost mac-
cessible estate, by purchasing a part and becoming his agents for the management
of the remainder. It has rarely happened that young men of intelligence, edu-
cation and sure, although limited capital, have been induced to make such
obvious sacrifices for the attainment of a certainly distant, and possibly unattain-
able benefit. What difficulties beset and long attended them will be understood
from our narrative.

The patrimonial property of the two Wadsworths was worth some $12,000 or
$15,000. It consisted in lands in the township of Durham, Ct. for which
there was but little demand, and served rather as the basis of credit than as a
moneyed capital. Their purchase was situated in what are now known as the
townships of Geneseo and Avon, on the eastern bank of the Genesee River. In
the year 1790, when their enterprising journey commenced, the Little Falls of
the Mohawk formed the extreme limit of continuous cultivation in the State of
New- York. Small clearings were beginning to appear on the German Flats and
at Cosby's Manor. The Indian trade enabled a couple of white families to earn
a scanty support at each of the two places where Utica and Geneva now stand,
and Canandaigua was the seat of the land office of Phelps and Gorham. With
these exceptions the whole region was a wilderness, rendered more dreary by
the necessary ravages of Sullivan's army, and more dangerous by the rancor
which those ravages had excited in the breasts of the warriors of the Five Na-
tions. This rancor was kept up by the promptings of traders issuing from the
fortress of Niagara, over which the British flag still (luattd, and had for its only
(338J

LIFE OF JAMES WADSWORTH. 147

soothers the magnanimity of the chiefs Avho disdained to feel resentment for the
woes of open war, and the fears which tiie inferior warriors entertained of the
prowess of the Long-Knives. To encounter the perils of this po&ilion, and per-
form the labor of bringing their land into cultivation, the brothers hired a small
baud of hardy axmen in Connecticut, purchased provisions to maintain them
until the first crops should ripen, and provided agricultural implements sulhcient
for their proposed i'arm. The whole party, with its heavy incumbrances, as-
cended the Hudson to Albany, then often the voyage of a week ; made the long-
portage through the pines to Schenectady ; embarked in bateaux upon the Mo-
hawk, not yet improved even by the partial operations of the Western Land and
Navigation Company ; and followed its tortuous course until they reached the
limit of continuous settlement. Here cattle were purchased to serve as the
foundation of a future stock and for temporary support, and the party was divided
into two bands. James continued the laborious task of threading nameless
streams, encumbered by wood-drifts and running in shallow channels, while
William undertook the still more difficult duty of driving the stock through the
pathless forest. Finally the party was again vinited upon a small savannah ou
the bank of the Genesee, a spot which, hardly altered in appearance, is now
overlooked by a flourishing town and mansions which, if unpretending, unite in
the highest degree the refinements and elegances of civilization. Here the bold
and gallant bearing of William Wadsworth, united, or we may even say di-
rected by the sagacity, moral courage and strict justice of James, won upon the
neighboring chiefs to such a degree as to have made them the instruments by
which the enterprise was preserved from almost immediate ruin. A house hav-
ing been built by the aid of no other implement but the ax, crops were planted
and the cattle turned to graze in the rich savannah. The virgin forest which
then encumbered much the greater part of the selected portion of the Geiiesee
Flats, was vigorously attacked, and the mighty trees yielded to the Yankee ax.
Classic superstition in the events which folio w^ed, would have seen the Drjj^ads
uniting to avenge the destruction of their desecrated groves ; for, with the au-
tumn came the enervating and unmanning attacks of the ague. This, to natives
of a country where it was unknown, presented such terrors that the hired men
broke the conditions of their engagement and hurried as they best could toward
the older settlements, leaving the two brothers almost if not quite alone in their
log-built cabin. In this position even mere passiveness on the part of their
neighbor Big-Tree, the chief of the Indian village on the Genesee, immediately
opposite to the settlement of the Wadsworths, might have compelled tJieru Xo
follow their servants ; but they now obtained from him ready and efficient aid —
an aid not given, however, without satisfactory equivalent, and far more than
repaid to his race in their waning fortunes.

With the opening of a new spring, a fresh supply of white laborers was ob-
tained, and whether they were acclimatized or had been familiarized to the en-
demic disease, no farther interruption occurred in the progress of the clearing.

The Indian corn of their first crop was beaten into meal in a mortar fashioned
by the ax from the stump of a gigantic oak, and the pestle was swung as on a
spring, from a long and pliant pole. Gradually in the progress of the clearing,
the falls of a little stream were reached, where a saw and grist mill, erected by
the Wadsworths, formed the nucleus of the now flourishing village of Geneseo.

The gradual extension and successful prosecution of the enterprise, together
with the duties of the land agency, led to a division of the labors of the two

(339)

148 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

brothers. Upon William, more robust in frame and more valid in constitution,
devolved the direction of their own agricultural labors, and of necessity much of
the direction of the business of the land oflice ; while to the lot of James fell the
traveling necessary to the successful prosecution of their own business, and for
keeping up their connections with the landholders whose concerns were commit-
ted to them. To judge of the extent of the labor involved in the first of the
branches committed to James, it may be stated that the first plan which pre-
sented itself for rendering available the exuberant fertility of their meadows, was
the purchase, fattening and sale of cattle. This was the only form in which a
surplus agricultural product could be made to yield a remunerative price in the
distant and secluded valley in which the Wadsworths had placed themselves.
The cattle which formed the subject of this trade were purchased young and
iean in the Eastern States, driven to Geneseo, and when fit for market were either
again driven to the remote markets of New- York and Philadelphia, or to Hor-
nellsville, on the Tioga branch of the Susquchannah, whence they were trans-
ported in the rude embarkations called arks to Baltimore.

The West, although then limited by the Niagara River, liad not begun to ex-
ercise that fascination wbicli it now docs. Men residing on comfortable farms,
and delicate females, were not willing to abandon the homes of their youth to
try the perils and labors of the wilderness. Purchasers for lands and tenants of
farms were, in consequence, to be sought for at the places of their birth, instead
■of swarming at each returning spring from the native hive. It therefore be-
came one of the tasks assumed by James Wadsworth to travel on horseback
through the regions most abounding in population, and endeavor to make sale of
ihe wild lands of his agency, or by the tender of liberal terms acquire tenants to
occupy lands already brought into cultivation.

The parties most desirous to remove were those in the least affluent circum-
stances. Persons, who by the continual division of lands among successive gen-
erations, had reached that stage in which the amount of soil held by them was
inadequate for their support, and who in a population wholly agricultural could
lind no room for occupation as laborers. With these the great difficulty to be
overcome was to find purchasers for their worn-out and impoverished possessions.
To meet this case, lands in the Eastern States were taken in payment for those
of the Genesee Valley, or for the outfit necessary to remove families to occupy
farms as tenants. The lands thus acquired were in their turn to be sold, or
made productive of rent. In the records of operations of this description, it ap-
pears that there were instances in which six acres of the virgin soil of the West
were given in exchange for a single acre of little better than rock in New-
England ; and it is now certain that, after an interval of fifty years, tiie relative
value of the two portions is reversed. Thus, while the objects of the specula-
tors in the Genesee Valley were completely answered on the one hand, on the
otiier the parties wlio purchased from them liave multiplied their original capi-
tal thirty-six fold.

The success which attended the early operations of the Wadsworths in draw-
ing settlers to their own lands, and those of which they were the agents, at-
iracted the attention of other parlies holding properly of the same description.
It was obvious that it was to the personal address and business talent of James
that this success was in a great degree to le attributed. He was in consequence,
in the year 1796, requested to undertake a mission to England for the purpose of
interesting the capitalists of that country in the lands of the Western District of

(340)

LIFE or JAMES WADSWORTH. 149'

New- York. Direct advantage was to be derived by the proprietors of large
tracts by the sale at a profit of what they held as a speculation ; but more im-
portant, although indirect, bcnelit was to be attained by the whole region, in a
manner that will be presently seen.

The circumstances of this mission, and the high character of the parties for
whom he was to act, gave him introduction and brought him into contact witlt
persons whose position in Europciin society was best suited to enlarge the views,
improve the mind, and polish the manners of a young man of so apt a disposi-
tion. While, therefore, he was successful in accomplishing the objects of his.
mission, he derived no small amount of personal advantage and gratification
from his foreign tour. His manner and address must have been from his youth
prepossessing, but he would have differed from all his Connecticut brethren had
he been free from provincial peculiarities, which, whether the growth of the
Ouse, the Trent, the Severn, or the Housatonic — nay, even if generated within
the sound of Bow-bell, taint with vulgarity manners in other respects the most
gentlemanly. In the subsequent years- of Mr. Wadsworth's life, there was no
trace of such a defect ; and so far as language is concerned, he might have un-
dergone the most severe and surest of tests, that of being able to pass through
every region in which the English language is spoken, without exciting an in-
quiry as to the place of his birth.

The results of Mr. Wadsworth's mission to Europe had effects on the pros-
perity of the region in which he had fixed his residence little appreciated at the
time, and now in a great degree forgotten. It is the fashion of the day
to advocate the infinitesimal division of the national domain, and to consider
purchases of large contiguous tracts as a public evil. The experience of the
State of New-York was in direct opposition to these narrow views. The large,
estates would have been destined to remain an unproductive wilderness in the
hands of their owners, had they not been opened to the view of persons seeking
for places of settlement. Hence roads were laid out and worked, bridges built,
aids given to the erection of schools and churches, and under the influence of
this forced growth, the region between Seneca Lake and the sources of waters
running to Lake Erie outstripped in its improvement the more accessible and
equally fertile Military Tract, which the gratitude of the State of New- York had
divided in small lots among its Revolutionary soldiers. The accunmlalion of
the surplus products of the former region created a necessity for the means of
transport, and its population, animated by the ardor of a youthful vigor and di-
rected by minds of no little power, formed the popular force which Clinton
wielded with such skill, when the construction of the Erie Canal was decreed,
in opposition to the vote of the City of New-York and of th* River Counties.

It has been asserted, and the assertion is supported by evidence almost intrin-
sic, that for thirty years from the time the Pulteney family acquired the estate
known by their name, no remittance had been made to them in England, either as
mcorae, or as a return for the original investment and the large additional capital
expended in opening communications. The condition of the Wadsworth estate
was not different, with the exception that the funds destined by the foreign pro-
prietors to the support of agents, served to defray the unostentatious but liberal
hospitalities of the American landholders. When the lime at length arrived at
which the profits of the long struggle were to be reaped, the ditference between
the foreign and resident owner became apparent. The former had indeed fairly
earned them by the employment of his capital, and deserved them for the benefits a

250 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

regard for his own interest had induced him to confer. Here, however, his in-
fluence ceased. The remittance of his capital and accumulated profits created a
vent for the products of the very fields of which it was the price, to an equal
amount, and the account Avas balanced without farther profit or loss to either hand.
The Wadsworths, on the other hand, adopted as the principle of their action,
that their profits should be reinvested upon the spot, and in this way gave a
second impulse to the industry of their neighborhood. Thus, while a part of the
original purchase was actually disposed of in fee, a larger quantity of land than
was sold was added to the estate. Of this, the death of Gen. William Wads-
worth without children left the subject of our Memoir the sole proprietor.

Mr. Wadsworth was probably the only instance, since the breaking out of the
Revolutionary contest, of the investment of a fortune accumulated by the indus-
try of a whole life, in agricultural propertyi In most, if not all, of the other
cases in which fortune has been derived from the purchase and sale of land, it
lias been changed in its investment from the tillable soil, to city lots or moneyed
securities. It would be difficult to form an estimate of the enormous magnitude
of the amount which has thus been drawn, in the western part of the State of
^ev/-York alone, from the support of Agriculture. Flourishing as that region
is, imagination can hardly ccaiceive how much more flourishing it might have
been had the whole of the profit derived from the rise in the value of its wild
lands been reinvested upon the spot.

The estate of the Wadsworths, reserved in compliance with the principle
originally adopted, that their capital should not be withdrawn from the re-
gion in which it was accumulated, was partly held in their own hands, part-
ly leased, and partly cultivated " upon shares." The Home Farm, cultivated
ynder their own immediate direction, comprises upward of two thousand
acres, of which more than half is a rich alluvial fiat of the Genesee River. —
This portion was for many years the only part from which any profit was de-
rived ; and to the raising and feeding of cattle, of which mention has already
been made, was added the culture of hemp, for which crop the inexhaustible fer-
tility of the soil was admirably adapted. The hilly land which borders the al-
luvial soil on the east was, in its original state, what is styled an " oak open-
ing," namely, a swelling surface studded with gigantic black oak trees, and free
from undergrowth. The latter had been kept down by the fires which the In-
dians were accustomed to light in it, for the purpose of rendering it a profitable
hunting ground. Where this custom is put a stop to, young trees and bushes
speedily made their appearance, and unless cultivation of some description be
applied, the whole soon becomes a tangled thicket. This description of land
was at first considered to be of little value. When, however, the state of the
Spanish peninsula led to the importation of considerable flocks of Merino sheep,
the Wadsworths were speedily among the largest proprietors of animals of that
species, which were fed upon the uplands ; and the high price which the fleeces
long bore upon the seaboard, sufficed to defray the cost of the tedious transporta-
tion to the navigable Avaters of the Hudson. Experience has shown that the
oak openings, so much underrated at first, are better fitted for the growth of
wheat than any other soils. But it is not surprising that this valuable property
should have so tardily developed as to be considered by some a fortuitous dis-
covery. It was not until the Erie Canal was opened, that wheat would yield a -
return of the bare freiglit from the Genesee Kiver to a market, and hence there
was no inducement to cultivate more of that grain than could lie consumed oa

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LIFE OF JAMES VVADSWOIITH. 151

the spot. In spite, hoM'ever, of the admirable adaptation of the upland of the
Homo. Farm to the production of wheal, grazing was to the very last the princi-
pal object. This application to a purpose whicli might at first sight appear the
least profitable wasdictated by the prudence of Mr. Wadsworth, who was aware
that It was impossible by means of hired labor to cultivate grain on as good
terms as could be done by those who held their own plows. For similar reasons
root crops never formed a part of his system of husbandry.

The leasehold lands were at first granted to tlie settlers for the term of two
joint lives and the survivor, the parlies named being usually the settler and his
wife. By mutual agreement these were subsequently changed to leases for a
term of years, and this became, from tliat lime, the form of the original contract.
'J^hese farms usually comprised each about one hundred acres. The rent was in
most cases fixed by a money standard, but it was many years before money began
to pass from the tenant to the landlord. The convenience of the former demanded
that It should be received in the product of the farm, or worked out in labor. I<.
was not until the War of 1812 caused the expenditure of government funds in the
Western District of INew-Yorlc that money made its appearance, and this was in
the form of a partially depreciated paper. The establishment of banks speedily
followed, and although their charters were doled out as the rewards of partisan
polities, or were directly purchased by political corruption, they were, in spite of
the taint on their origin, the instruments of no little benefit to the poor landhold-
ers and the tenants of small farms.

Larger farms than those of 100 acres were leased for shorter terms, on the con-
ditions of the payment of a share, usually one-third, of the grain crops, and a
stipulated sum for the portions not under the plow. The rotation of the crops on
property of this description, and the manner of cultivation, required much indi-
vidual attention from the proprietor, and, although more profitable to him than
lands leased in the other manner, were far more troublesome to manage.

In the collection of his rents, Mr. Wadsworth looked for the same punctuality
and good faith from his tenants that he was accustomed to exhibit in his own
dealings with others. Hence, with the improvident or careless, he gained the
reputation of severity. That this was unmerited, none acquainted with his ac-
tive benevolence and equanimity of temper can doubt. The knowledge on the
part of his tenants of the steadiness of his course in this respect was, to the in-
dustrious, rather a benefit than an injury, for it compelled them to a close calcu-
lation of their profits : and the requirement of punctuality in payment prevented
the careless from accumulating debts beyond their ability to discharge.

Many of the farms held for long terms of years reverted to Mr. Wadsworth
before his death ; and, while the land itself was generally in good order, the
tenants had, for the most part, made such profit from the occupation as to be in
comfortable circumstances. From inquiries and comparisons made upon the spot
it was inferred that the tenants of his estate were upon the whole more success-
ful in their pursuits, enjoyed a greater share of comfort, and laid by larger profits
than those who purchased upon credit lands of equal quality in the neighborhood.

Mr. Wadsworth married, in the year 1804, Naomi Wolcott, of East Windsor,
Connecticut. By this marriage he had several children, three of whom survive
him. In his wife he had the good fortune to meet with tastes and disposition
congenial to his o^vn ; and those who had the good fortune to enjoy her acquaint-
ance still speak in the highest terms of her worth. Under her inspection and
management, under circumstances thai all who have attempted housekeeping ou.

152 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

a liberal scale in new settlements will know to be those of difficulty, the mansion
at Genesee became a model of well-ordered, generous, and yet unostentatious
hospitality.

The loss of his wife, of his brother, and of a dauofhter who had just reached
the age of womanhood, and been fortunately raarriud, shed a gloom over some
of his later years ; but he still took pleasure in collecting a circle of select friends
at his residence during the season at which Geneseo was readily accessible. In-
telligent, well informed, and fond of intellectual converse, he possessed in a high
degree the happy talent of drawing out his guests, and bringing their several tal-
ents and acquirements into requisition for their mutual entertainment. The vis-
itors of his house, hence, never felt the pains of ennui ; and while he laid no re-
striction upon their engaging ia games of chance or skill, the customary resource
of vacant minds in country residences, it is said that no desire for amusements
of this description was felt by his occasional inmates for the last twenty years
of his life.

The success which attended Mr. Wadsworth's career was due in a great de-
gree to his regularity and skill as a man of business. We have seen how act-
ively he was employed for many years in bringing his property into a productive
state. In his later years he, without noise or apparent effort, directed the culti-
vation of the large farm retained in his own hands, superintended the numerous
tracts let upon shares, and gave due attention to his interests in tlie leases for
long terms of years, while he at the same time fulfilled with punctilious exacti-
tude the duties of agent for several considerable estates. All this was effected
with so much ease and method, that to his visitors he had the air of being en-
tirely at leisure.

Habits of this description gave him, during the winter and times unfavorable
for traveling, the command of many hours in each day. These were employed
by him in reading and literary correspondence. His favorite study was political
economy, but he did not fail to keep himself informed of the progress of all the
physical sciences. He, in fact, furnished a singular mstance of a person who had
closed his elementary education, and entered into a life of great activity, at a pe-
riod when the very names of chemistry, geology and mineralogy were yet un-
IcnoAvn in our colleges ; and had notwithstanding, and at a distance from all the
usual facilities, contrived to acquire as much of them as is considered necessary
as an accomplishment in our modern schemes of instruction.

The interest he took in these pursuits was enhanced by the clear view which
he took of their power of being usefully applied to Agriculture ; and while, upon
his own lands, the necessity of renovating the soil appeared in a perspective too
remote to affect his descendants for several generations, he notwithstanding felt
a generous impulse to bring the aid of science to those less fortunately situated.
^Selected tracts on scientific subjects in general, and others specially devoted to
the application of science to Agriculture, were for this purpose printed at his ex-
pense for gratuitous distribution. In many cases the fact of his intervention m
these publications remained unknown, except to himself and the editors. Other
articles of less extent he caused to be inserted at his expense, not only in agricul-
tural periodicals, but also in the newspapers circulating among the farmers of the
State.

The utility of these efforts was evidently limited by the want of educatioii
among the persons for whose bentlit they were intended ; and a knowledge of
this fact led to the direction of his attention to the extension and improveraen'

(3^4)

LIFK OF JAMES WADSWORTII. 153

of the school system of the State. The subject of the education of the body of
the people thus became the absorbing interest of his later years. In his reflec-
tions on this subject he formed the conclusion that the important point was to
form a taste for reading, and provide suitable books ; and it was among his pro-
jects to give to subjects of instruction the popular form of the newspaper. To
carry this into effect would have required more lime than he could have person-
ally devoted to it, and he found no one equally enthusiastic in the cause with
himself. Failing in this, he suggested the plan of the school district libraries;
and, when this had received the sanction of the State Legislature, his influence
was exerted in procuring the printing of an annual series of suitable works, and
his taste consulted in the choice of a competent editor. To insure the publica-
tion of the series thus selected, he became responsible for the sums directed by
the law to be raised in school districts in his own neighborhood — of wliich in
most cases a part, and in some the whole, became an actual contribution to the
cause of education from his private purse. lie had thus the consciousness of
bestowing a charity of the best description, and in the most unostentatious man-
ner ; for, so far as the publishers or the public could learn, the funds appeared to
be raised in the usual manner, by subscription or assessment among the inhabit-
ants of the district.

His influence was more directly and openly exerted in urging the enactment
of a law by which the Controller of the !Statc of New- York was authorized to
purchase and send to every school district in the State a copy of Hall's " Lectures
on Teaching." Finally, aware of the want of text-books specially adapted to the
use of the common schools, he placed in trust a sum sufficient to call the best
talents into competition, to be paid to the authors of the best elementary treatises
on certain speciiied subjects. After much delay on the part of the very distin-
guished gentlemen who were invested witii the power of awarding the prize, the
money was paid to the successful candidates ; but, by this time, the want he had
desired to supply had been satisfied by individual enterprise, and the successful
treatises have not been published. In the selection of his umpires, Mr. "Wads-
worth had regard to a character beyond suspicion of improper influence, and in-
telligence of the highest order. It Avas not his fault that they undertook a duty
which their important avocations as statesmen prevented them from performing
for a long time, and then, it is believed, by deputy. Nor can we blame him if
the works exhibited for competition were so inferior in quality, or the judgment
in awarding the prizes so imperfect that the authors of the preferred treatises
have not yet been able to find a publisher bold enough to risk his capital on the
faith of the award.

His plan had embraced the publication at his own cost of the successful com-
positions. The necessity of such publication having been done away with by
private enterprise, the fund he had set apart for this purpose was applied, by his
directions, to the publication of a Avork drawn up by Professor Nott and Mr. Em-
erson, entitled " The School and the Schoolmaster."

With views of the same description, he encouraged the access of lecturers on
subjects of utility to his neighborhood, and the sums with Avhich he eked out
their renmneration from their auditors reached, in the aggregate, a large amount.

His position as a large landholder, and the agent of large estates, led to con-
tinual calls upon him to contribute to the establishment of places of public wor-
ship, to the building of school-houses, and to enterprises of similar character. In
his contributions to such objects, no complaint can be made of his not bemg, in
1345;

154 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

the aggregate, even more bountiful than was demanded by his position. But he
chose to be governed by his own views of the useful to the bodies as well as the
souls of his tenants and poorer neighbors, and was in consequence more disposed
to be liberal to schools than to churches. He, in fact, was occasionally heard to
complain that the clergy of his neighborhood were more solicitous to enhance
their own importance in the assemblies or convocations of their sects, than to ad-
vance the intelligence, whether of spiritual or temporal matters, in their flocks ;
and, in no little sorrow, pointed out to his guests, as an illustration, four spires
surmounting as many comfortable churches, at the four corners of a cross-road
in view from his house, which overhung a school edifice that a good farmer
would not have considered an adequate shelter for his swine.

Educated in the strict tenets of Connecticut Calvinism, the duty of aiding his
tenantry in building and supporting places of worship brought him into contact
with clergy of all denominations, and he became entirely free from any sectarian
bias. Those who cannot conceive religion to exist without bigotry, and heard
his remarks on the apathy and even the opposition exhibited by some of his cler-
ical neighbors to his efforts to improve the schools, have not failed to cast as-
persions on his faith. No aspersion can possibly be founded on less tenable
grounds. It was rarely that he entered upon religious topics. He felt them to
be too sacred for the discussion of mixed companies; and, while he neither in-
vited nor repressed it among his guests, seldom took a share himself. But there
are those who, in more close relations of intimacy, have become aware that the
orthodox impressions of his youth were not obliterated, but only rendered more
catholic in their tendency. Religious forms and observances were treated by
him with marked respect, and he was punctual in his attendance upon the stated
Sunday service of the Presbyterian Church during the early years of his residence
at Geneseo, and toward the close of his life upon those of the Episcopal Church.

In his efforts for the promotion of education and the dissemination of know-
ledge among the people of the State, Mr. Wadsworth studiously avoided publi-
city. He appears to have shrunk Avith instinctive modesty from any mention of
his name as a public benefactor. Many of the facts which have just been stated
have been reached with difficulty, and it may be inferred that they are far from
being a complete list of the benefits he conferred upon his fellow-men.

The same sensitiveness seems to have prevented him from seeking political
distinction, or taking an active share in party struggles. So long as the Federal
party continued to have an existence, he gave it his vote ; and his example, unat-
tended by any attenapt to exert a direct influence, had, no doubt, its due influence
on his neighbors. In the frequent divisions and nice shades of distinction that
arose in the triumphant Republican party, he took no part, with the exception
that all his views were strictly conservative. He gave, to the last, the best pos-
sible proof of his reliance upon the suHiciency of our democratic institutions to
insure the enjoyment of life, personal liberty, and the security of property, by con-
tinuing the investment of his estate in land, although there were times at which
he might have realized vast sums by its sale.

Thus exempt from the bitterness that occasionally grows out of party feeling,
he enjoyed the esteem and personal intimacy of those of all parties who, by the
extent of their views, rose from the character of mere partisan leaders to that of
statesmen.

The correspondence of Mr. Wadsworth was necessarily voluminous, from the
amount of the interests which he either possessed or represented. But, in the

LIFE OF JAMES WADSWORTH. 155

later years of his life, it took a more extended form, and to the details of mere
business he added a series of communications on subjects of literature and sci-
ence, in particular relation to his darling scheme of extending and improving the
means of popular education. His letters are marked with the precision of the
man of business and the pure diction of the scholar, and it is said that they were
occasionally extended into well digested essay? on tiie subjects he had so much
at heart. Of these, but one has seen the light in a priuicd form. This was a
letter on the subject of civilizing the Indians, which appeared in the newspapers
of the day. The publication, however, took place without his knowledge, and,
had he been consulted, he would probably have refused his assent. The distin-
guished statesman to whom it was addressed was, no doubt, of opinion that he
had no right to lock up so valuable a communication from the public, on whom
it was well calculated to produce a poweriul impression, and that favorable to
the mterests of a race which, unless some powerful agency intervene, seems des-
tined to destruction.

We have already spoken, in part, of the manner in which his home farm was
conducted. Devoting it chiefly to grazing, the sources from which his stock was
derived varied with the progress of settlement. Drawn at first from New-Eng-
land, the supplies of young neat-cattle were finally obtained from Ohio, and States
still farther west. This, of course, did not preclude the breeding of stock upon
his own farm ; and here he manifested a sense of practical utility, by which it
would have been well had others, who have devoted large sums to the obtaining
of foreign breeds, been influenced. The breed of his native valley of the Con-
necticut was that which he preferred, and upon his rich pastures it has attained
an excellence which may be envied by those who have resorted to foreign races.
It so happens that the stock of the earlier settlers of New-England was, from the
fact of all the vessels taking their final departure from the south-western ports
of th« mother country, derived from the very county, Devonshire, where the best
of the improved breeds of England have their origin. This has been thoroughly
acclimatized, and although it may have degenerated in barren soils, and for want
of care, the valley of the Connecticut still possesses it, rather improved than fallen
from its original good qualities.

His attention to fine-wooled sheep was governed by similar practical and judi-
cious views. He had no share in the mania, under the influence of which Meri-
no rams were sought for at the price of thousands of dollars ; but, no sooner did
the price fall to reasonable limits, than he became the possessor of the largest
flock in the State ; and he did not condemn it to the butcher when the unreason-
able expectations of sudden and enormous profits, which others entertained, were
proved to be fallacious.

Besides neat-cattle and sheep, the breeding of mules formed for several years
an object of his attention.

It might have been expected that with such extensive concerns to manage as
a land agent and landlord, not to mention the great extent of his own farm, cul-
tivation on a small scale could have created but little interest in his breast. But
this was not so, for he delighted in directing the culture of his garden, and in
propagating the finest descriptions of fruit adapted to the climate, although he
eschewed the costly luxury of the forcing-house.

One peculiarity marks and distmguishes his possessions not only from those of
small proprietors, but from those of the greater part of large landholders. This
is, the manner in which they are studded with trees, isolated and in clumps, or

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156 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF ACiRICULTURE.

surrounded and divided by belts. In this respect their aspect is that of the most
admired portions of England, with this difiVrence in their favor — that the trees
are not planted by the hand of man, but continue to exhibit the grandeur of form
and dimensions which they had acquired in the primeval forest. In England,
according to his own statement, he learned to love trees, ere it was too late to
prevent their entire destruction on his own domains by the unsparing ax of the
pioneer of cultivation. He moreover was taught that a time is finally reached
in the progress of population when timber is of more value than any other pro-
duct, even of the most fertile arable soils. With this love of the beauty of trees
as a mere object of sight, and sense of their prospective value, he Avillingly en-
tountered the prejudice which represents them as injuring the meadows, whether
for the scythe or for pasture, by their shade. To his surprise he found no dimi-
nution in the product of hay in his sheltered savannah, while to his stock, in the
summer of our climate, the umbrageous shelter proved of incalculable benefit.
More particularly his rich alluvial land, extended in the form of a peninsula from
a narrow isthmus, has been protected from encroachment and from the wash of
the river by the native belt of wood which surrounds it.

Few as are the events which mark epochs in the quiet and successfully indus-
trious life of Mr. Wadsworth, it would be possible to dilate at great length upon
these and other points in which his example and experience might be of great
value to the proprietor and cultivator of land. We have, however, already ex-
ceeded the limits to which we are confined, and must hasten to a conclusion.

In 1843, Mr. Wadsworth became sensible of a decline in his health. His dis-
order soon exhibited symptoms which demonstrated its probable incurable nature.
The certainty of his dissolution at no distant day became apparent to him, and
although he yielded to the Avishes of his friends and children, by trying a change
of scene and air, he was himself aware how fruitless must be the attempt. The
slow and gradual approach of death he awaited with equanimity and fortitude,
and although he no longer manifested his accustomed interest in his favorite ac-
tive pursuits, his intercourse with his friends was not devoid of its usual cheer-
fulness, which was damped rather by their anxieties than by his own. Return-
ing to his residence at Geneseo, he there died on the 7th June, 1844.

CHEVIOT SHEEP,
AND OTHER DOMESTIC ANIMALS, AT MARSHFIELD.

To John S. Skinnkb, Editor of The Farmers' Library :

Speaking of shecj) in yoiir August No. you say, '• there are some strong reasons to believe
that, for our mouuUiin nniges, the Cheviot sheep of Scotland would be most profitable." I
agree with your Delaware friend in saying tlie laud in Western Virginia, which can be pur-
chased so very cheap, is the veiy country for sheep. But you are wrong in .saying the pure
Cheviots have not beeu imported. On a late visit to Marshfield, we found that great lover
of his counti-y, Danikl Wkiistkr, had iuijxjrted a tlock of •-.'() pure Cheviots, and tiiey were
doing very well, as were also some South-Downs. \Ve saw also, at his farm, Ayrshiri-s bred
from his imi)orted stock, and certainly tliey have not deteriorated under the judicious mtm-
agement at Marshfield. We also saw his fine breeil of " Macky " pigs, and handsomer i)ig8
are not to \h^ found in the length or breadth of our land. The sire of his stock is now 12
years ojd, and a most respc'ctiible pig he is. He has been sent for to ahnost every county in
the good \^■,^y State, and his reputation is so good and well known that he has even visited
New-Ham[)shirt!, where one finds die marks of ins having been, by the beautiful white pnv
geuy that have followed his steps. In truth, Mr. \Vebster des<n-ves high coiiunendatlun for
hJH praiseworthy eflbrte to benefit the agricultural interest of his counDy. C.

(3«)

WHEAT ITS DISEASES, &.C. 157

WHEAT— ITS DISEASES, &c. &c.

Mr. Editor : I feel impelled by a sense of duty to resjwnd to the call you
have made on me to communicate an article on the subject of wheat; but lot
me say to you candidly, that you have placed too high an estimate on my ability
to discharge such a duty. In truth, I had meditated throwing out something to
elicit information I'roin other sources, as to what is best for wheat growers to do
in this part of the country, where wheat is the staple. Clouds and darkness rest
upon our vocation ; the cultivation of wheat has become a most uncertain thing ;
the disasters of the present year will not soon be forgotten. We possess a soil,
as you have stated, heretofore celebrated for producing " White Wheat ;" but
the failure of all the smooth varieties is deplorable — and there are many of them
cultivated here. So far as my inquiries have extended, there cannot be more
than a third of a crop, and that, too, of very inferior quality. Fortunately, uiany
have seeded a portion of Mediterranean or German wheat, and some few have
grown an entire crop; but there are numbers who have placed their reliance
exclusively on white wheats, possessing soils particularly adapted to their
growth : among these your correspondent happens to be a suiferer. The Medi-
terranean has been exempt from the disasters which assailed other varieties, and
will make a fair crop, though not a great crop. It has also improved much in
quality since its introduction here, having become whiter and the rind thinner.
It is a remarkable fact that this wheat will bear early seeding and escape the
ravages of the Uy, or, if assailed, possesses some recuperative energy, to make
a crop. I have always had a prejudice against bearded wheat, but have almost
made up my mmd to try the Mediterranean in part, for my next crop. Facts are
wanted, and tiie first question for consideration is — What is the best variety of
wheat to grow when the seasons are so frequently unfavorable for the produc-
tion of a fair crop. Unhappily for the community of farmers, much humbug is
practiced about seed, and many puffs are put forth about this or that new variety,
claiming an exemption from the ills to which the plant is subject. That excel-
lent man, old John Singleton, told me, nearly thirty years ago, that he once col-
lected and seeded twelve varieties of wheat the same season ; that among the
number, one had a solid stalk, of which he expected much, but the whole twelve
were attacked with fly, and he held the doctrine that none was exempt.

This conversation was the result of an inquiry addressed to him on my part,
whether he intended to procure any oi' (his new variety of ivheat, which claimed
exemption from the ravages of the fly ? No sir ; you young men may try it ; I
want faith in such reports. It may be here remarked, that he was, or rather
had been, a great experimental farmer. This is an apt illustration of some of
the humbugs perpetrated in these our days. Perhaps the wheat alluded to was
the " Lawler," which had its day, and afterward reappeared under a new name —
not as old books do sometimes, '• 7iuilto emendatior ct correctior " — but quite a
new variety ; and, as you well know, Mr. Editor, there is much in a name, it
was christened " Talavera," a place rendered illustrious as the theatre of a great
battle. But does any body hear of it now, as possessing claims to preeminence,
under either name ?

All the varieties of wheat are proper subjects for discussion, and many farm-
ers, old as well as young, may be saved much mortification and loss. The first
great desideratum is, early maturity, thereby diminishing the chances of disas-
ter. There are many varieties of smooth white wheat, possessing the qualifica-
tions for making the best family flour, and also of being very productive, wheii
the season suits ; but they are too late. The old Washington or Virginia White,
for many, many years almost exclusively grown on the salt water lands of the
Eastern Shore, gave a character to our country for producing the best white
wheat. The Point lands having a fine friable inould, intermixed with shells,
and whose substratum is a rich, unctuous yellow clay, (about the color of an old-
fashioned gold watch,) produced this wheat in its greatest perfection ; and al-

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158 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

though the still' white-oak lands in the immediate viciniiy — within the same
inclosure — would produce a tine crop, yet, nevertheless, it was essential con-
stantly to recur to the former for seed, or depreciation would he the inevitahle
result. For productiveness, quality and quantity of Hour, it has never hcen sur-
passed, if equaled ; but it has disappeared from among us; it had to be aban-
doned ultimately, to the reirret cf many, on account of the great uncertainty cf
making a crop, its great liability to rust, and consequent deterioration of grain.
This wheat never succeeded well except in a saline atmosphere, on farms bor-
dering on salt water ; and I apprehend that the successful planter and i'armer at
"Doden " is mistaken in supposing that the beautit-ul white wheat wiiich he
grows, and always commandinsj the top of the market, to be the old Viri^inia While.

The old rare-ripe, a beautiful white wheat, fine for Hour, the earliest variety
then known, and perhaps still so, has been abandoned years ago — not, however,
for the causes last assigned. It was too uncertain, the straw very short, and
most diliiculc to bind on account of its weakness : and hnally, its great liability
to smut, when the means of prevention or modification were neither well under-
stood nor practiced.

The Pennsylvania white chaff bearded, grown here for some years, had a
beautiful white grain, but was never known, under any circumstances, to make
a maximum crop: it has passed away like a " summer's dream."

The Wew-York improved White Flint, to which the name of" Harmon " has
given celebrity, possesses high qualifications, but has also entailed on it the de-
fect of being too late.

The " Polish." — I procured for seed some of the first crop grown in this coun-
try ; and that, too, at an unusually high figure. It was cultivated successfully
by me for several years, but had to yield to another : this may be classed with
the preceding, having similar qualifications and defects.

The " Rock." — A learned Judge of the Court of A^ipeals and a good farmer,
now no more, told me several years ago, that this was a humbug. I have never
seen a field of it growing ; it has, however, been cultivated with some success in
one section of our county, and much esiecmei.. by a few. Whether its great
failure this disastrous year will cause its abandonment, remains to be seen. Mo
variety could be less suited to such a season.

The "Etrurian," introduced by the gallant old Com. Stewart, the White Kloss
blue stem, the " Hershey," are now being grown, and all have the merit of
being early smooth varieties. Perhaps the first named is the earliest. I speak
of this from report only, and that, too, limited. The grain is represented to be
beautifully white ; that it escaped the rust, but was excessively injured hy fiy.
I have seen printed statements claiming almost total exemption from fly for this
wheat — in short, lly-proof. I have it in contemplation to try soine of it for my
next crop. The blue stem White Kloss was ushered in the past season, as the
" UP. plus ^iltra.''^ I procured some for seed, and it was placed side by side with
the Hershey, and under equal circumstances : they ripened about the same time ;
but the Hessian and the rust contended for the empire over both, and seemed to
liold equal dominion : which suffered most 'twas difficult to determine. It may
be added, that scab and smut brought up the rear, to aid in the work of destruc-
tion. I have heard of fair crops on several farms being made of both these va-
rieties.

An enterprising young farmer in my neighborhood sowed two bushels cf eacli of
four varieties, side by side, to test their merits — the " Etrurian," " White Kloss"
China, or Hardware, and a large red bearded, obtained from New- York. He
stated to me that the White Kloss beat them all considerably. The Etrurian
was literally demolished by fly. The China produced very inferior grain, and
less in quaniily. So far as this season is concerned, the testimonies are strong-
est in behalf of the Kloss wheat over other smooth varieties. Such, however,
has been the result of my inquiries.

I introduced the Hershey here some five or six years ago, and grew it with
much success for several crops ; in fact, with more success than any other
•wheat ; but it is passing away. I have come to the conclusion, Mr. Editor, that
frequent change of seed is necessary, and that no variety can be successfully cul-
tivated on the same farm beyond a "few years. Almost all the above named have
been grown by me, and every change made has generally proved advantageous.

(a:.o)

WHEAT IT8 DISEASES, &C. 159'

But to return to the Mediterranean : this seems to be an exception ; it has
been grown by a few lor ten or twelve years, and has evidently improved in
({uality. For several years numbers have seeded it becauie of its being more
certain to make a crop, under all circumstances. It is remarkable in another re-
spect, its exemption from rust when other wheat is most seriously injured. 1
know of one case where thellershey was actually cut before the Mediterranean,
because the former bad become rusty, and the latter was entirely free. This
wheat will doubtless be very cencrally seeded here. Bui what is to be done for
the best white family flour ? Our Baltimore millers have become extremely fas-
tidious on this point. 'J'be Ileri^liey, which makes as good bread as any wheat
in our countrv, was decried the past season becaUL-e, forsooth, the loaf had not
the snowy whiteness of the old Virginia or White Flint, but has a rich cream
color. The best reply to this is afforded in tbeapprojiriate language of the Man-
tuan bard — " Nimium ne. crede colori."

But of the Diseases of Wheat — How is that most formidable enemy, the Hes-
sian, to be combated ? That the eggs of the parent tiy are deposited on the
upper surface of the blade, and very low down, too, where the blades begin to
branch, cannot admit of a doubt. And if, in Ihnl stage, they could be eaten off
by sheep and young cattle, it would cause their destruction. This remedy is
suggested in the " ponderous work " to which you allude, and by very high au-
thority, as an argument for early seeding ; but it is a nice point to hit. But
what IS the next .stage of this destroyer of the hopes of the farmer? If the
weather be warm, as is ihe case wben you seed early, the egs, is so6n hatched
and a very minute worm is the product, which descends within the plant and
places ilse ' Delow thesurhice of the earth, and beyond tlie reach of the teeth of
animals '".ended to graze it off. Any man who wishes to examine the condi-
tion of tiie insect must take out his knife and scoop out or cut round the plant
below the surface, and he will then find the chrysalis. In the subsequent stages
of the wheat plant, in spring, it may be found above ground, and even above the
first joint, both in the chrysalis and flax-seed state. After the descent is made,
perhaps, the tread of heavy beasts, or the passing over of a very heavy roller,
might destroy many, the surface of the earth being at the time favorable for such
an operation. All my attempts at making wheat, seeded in September, have
proved failures from the depredations of the Jli/. It is proper, however, to state
the fact that I have never grazed, having always had a reluctance to see stock
grazing on a arrowing crop. But I have heard of success attending it on several
occasions. The best time for seeding, in our latitude, to avoid the attacks of
both fall and spring fly, may be stated from the fifth to the twentieth of October.
But, if about the first of October there be a fall of rain, and a cool change super-
venes, this may be regarded as the best condition of things to escape the destroyer,
and the work should go on forthwith. The present year has defied all the usual
precautions, even in the strongest lands ; for wheat seeded from the tenth to the
middle of the month was, with me, the most injured. This is not, however,
usually the case.

The rust is the next most formidable enemy, and I am not certain that as
much loss has been sustained during the course of my agricultural life from this
cause as from fly. It would seem, however, from the statement of facts wiiich
have appeared in agricultural papers, that the application of charcoal is a pre-
ventive. So powerfully impressed am I with this belief, that it is my purpose
the ensuing winter, " Deo volente," to attempt largely the conversion of jjine-
wood into charcoal. I have also heard from unquestionable authority of another
manure, which has always proved effectual ; but this must necessarily be con-
iined to certain localities.

Mr. Editor, you have doubtless seen frequently in the tributaries of the Chesa-
peake Bay, the grass growing in water from two to four feet deep, in inmiense
(juantities ; and the little sand-snipe and kildeers running about on its surface.
Some of our farmers haul up this salt-water grass. Having previously plowed
up a headland, the grass is carted thereon, and covered up with the plowed earth.
It is very soon decomposed, and forms an admirable compost. It has been ob-
served that the portions of a field dressed with this manure will be entirely free
from rust, while other parts to which the contents of the farm-yard have beer*
applied will be much diseased with this pest of the farmer. Its action in other
respects is unsurpassed. This suggestion mav be of some value to your Long-
I3:a)

160 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

Island farmers, who are so liberal in ttieir expenditures for manure ; and also in
various other localities.*

The truth is, too much dependence is placed on growing wheat and corn in
this section of the country, 'i hey are our staples ; and the great uncertainty at-
tending the growth of the former imperiously demands the substitution, in part,
of some other agricultural product. Your suggestion, therefore, is of great value
on the subject of barley, and merits especial consideration. I have no experience
in growing this grain, and earnestly solicit information. Among the apprehen-
sions that may be entertained respecting this product, can we always get a rea-
sonable price for it ? Vast quantities are consumed in England for mall liquors,
but we are not a beer-drinking people. The Arabs sustain, or formerly did, their
unrivaled race of horses on this grain ; and it might be, perhaps, so employed in
our own country. t It is stated in the Domestic Encyclopeedia that " calcareous
soils which have been long in cultivation, and frequently manured, will yield
abundant crops of barley." Such is emphatically the condition of this wheat-
growing region ; whether they possess the capacity for producing barley abund-
antly, remains to be proved. We want light.

Of Steeps. — You are aware that I tried the " Chemical Solution," in the hope
that something had been found out as an antidote to some of the ills to which
the farmer is subject. A letter of inquiry was addressed to me by the vender of
the article, respecting its action ; and a true statement was made as to the con-
dition of the wheat at that time. Unfortunately, an extract from this letter,
which was never designed to meet the public eye, was put forth prematurely,
and led some into error. It had the effect of bringing up the wheat earlier, and
of producing a striking difference through the winter and spring ; but, as harvest
approached,' the superiority was scarcely, if at all, perceptible. But the experi-
ment resulted in one very unhappy effect — the wheat thus treated had consider-
able smut in it ; while, in its immediate vicinity, that which had been limed and
brined, had not a smut-head. Various and conflicting opinions have been pub-
lished as to the mode of preventing this disease ; it is a serious evil, and merits
the closest attention of the farmer. I had for some years washed my seed-wheat
in strong brine, and then applied lime recently slaked. It is true that, after dili-
o-ent search, a little smut would occasionally be found, but it was loo unimpor-
tant to merit notice. Two years ago I was tempted to depart from this course,
bv reading Mr. Ellsworth's Report on this subject, and other authorities. The
wheat was accordingly permitted to remain in pickle through the night, and the
next morning limed and seeded. It did not seem to me to germinate as well as
by the former process, and was not so healthy and vigorous in its early growth.
And what appeared to me conclusive of the fact was, that not liking, on two oc-
casions, to put my wheat in soak in the evening, being apprehensive of rain the
next day, and then necessarily merely washing and liming, there was an obvious
superiority in the appearance of the wheat thus treated. The past season, as
you are already aware, the Glauber salt was employed exclusively, and much
smut was the result. Another farmer of this county had the same result from
its use.

It is unpleasant to diflfer from great names and high authority, but there can
be no impropriety in every man giving the result of his own observation and ex-
perience. I have no particular theory to establish, and am ready to adopt whal-

[* We are strongly persuaded lliat if tliis grass, as we have seen it about the head of West
River, were spread over tlie ground of tielJs and gardens, quite thinly, soon after the crop \»
above ground, and weeded, no other cultivation would bo necessary. This covering of salt grass,
free from seed, would keep down the grass and keep the land moist, letting through llie rain and
shutting out the sun from tlie ground. It might easily be tried in garden.s, at least Hogs are
very fond of il — whether for the sake of the salt, or for any nourishment it may contain, this depo-
nent never understood. Very large boatloads were to be had in a very short time ; and being as
valuable as manure, as stated by our correspondent, we are quite sure that Lo>i!^ Island farmers
would send miles for it ; while on West River we never .«aw it gathered up from the water, ex-
cept a few boatloads — ihougli some do haul up the drier, and, as we should think, the much leas
valuable eca oar, or sea ooze, or whatever be the proper name. Ed. Farm. Lib.]

[t It is much used as food for stock in New -York. Mr. Bem., oPMorriaania, a knowing Scotch
fiirmcr, vahico it highly, and uiics it freely b that way. Ed- Farm. Lib.]

(352)

WHEAT ITS DISEASES, &C. IGl

ever comes well authenticated. Some years ago I read an essay which emanated
from the Society of Useful Knowk'dsre in England, by a Mr. Hayward, in which
it was slated that to sow wheat ol the preceding year was an elTectual prevent-
ive of smut. Not long since, conversing with an old Bay-side farmer, he remarked
incidentally that he had no opinion of steeps curing smut. There was but one
way in his opinion — sowing wheat two years old. "Have you ever tried it ? "
said I. " Yes, and I had no smut." This is the only case that has come to my
knowledge of its trial in this country. This man never peeped into an agricul-
tural journal in his life ; and, if I were to propose to him a subscription to Tiik
Farmers' Library, he would set me down as demented. Important facts in
Agriculture are often obtained from humble sources, and such a fact as the above
is worthy of being recorded. Attention to details is indispensable in all farming
operations — success largely depends upon it. I will not trouble you with my
simple process, having already occupied too mucii space.

For the honor of our Shore, I will trespass a moment longer. A member of
our Board recently spent a night with a venerable man — Gen. Potter, of Caroline
— now far declined in the vale of life. In the course of conversation the General
said to him that, many years ago, the British Government appointed an agent to
visit the various wheat-growing regions of the earth, to examine their relative
merits. The aforesaid agent was at his house, and remarked to him that, after
traveling over Europe and the United States, he had come to the conclusion that
the best wheat he had ever seen grew on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. This
was, doubtless, in those days when the old Virginia white wheat produced such
beautiful and abundant crops. And must we now be reduced to the necessity ot
growing the dark, thick-skinned Mediterranean, to be certain of living ? What

a calamity ! Most respectfully, yours, THE FARMER OF OTWELL.

1^* Seeing that, in the culture of wheat, early maturity is a desideratum, there would
appear to be no doubt of the importance of obtaining seed-wheat of the best quality from as
far north as possible ; and this might easily be doue by fanners uniting to engage or import
it, through the agency of mercantile houses trading with the north of Europe.

No fact is better known than the rapid growth of all plants in high latitudes. Even in our
northernmost States, and in Canada, the bm^t of spring, the splendor of summer, and the
maturity and incipient decay of autumn, follow each other with a swiftness scarcely credi-
ble. It is f;\rther observ'ed by the same English writer on this subject (and is not the obser
vation equally applicable to our own countrj' ? ) that

"The com [grain] sown to-day is in a very few weeks ready for the sickle ; and tlie higher the
latitude where it can be made to grow, the shorter is the period it requires for its growth and
ripening. Corn which has been grown in the extreme north, when used as seed in a southenj
country, gives its first produce more speedily, ripening in a much shorter time, although at a sec-
ond sowing it loses this quality. This fact has been recognized, and is acted upon pretty exten-
sively in this country, it being commonly recommended to obtain seed from colder situations than
those in which it is intended to be sown. In Sweden, corn is annually brought for seed from
Torneo (in the north of the gulf of Bothnia, and almost within the arctic circle), and sown in lauds
so much exposed that the sowing time is thrown so late that corn, excepting from seed thus ob-
tained, has no time to ripen. Districts formerly, on this account, utterly barren, are thus rendered
fruitful."

It would be very ea.sy to obtain seed-wheat from Canada, at least, or from Maine, if not
from northern Europe.

On the principle here advanced, the Irish import their flax-seed from Riga. Vegetables,
as well as animals, acquire habits suited to the cUmates where they are raised ; which habits
are transmissible for some years after emigration, but are sooner or later lost, in conformity
with that law of Nature under wliich the cUmate v^-ill ultimately change all anini;il and vege-
table productions, and coerce tliem to conform to its superior force. Even on the human sys-
tem, the author of Vestiges of Creation remarks that

" the style of living is ascertained to have a powerful effect in modifying the human figure in tlie
coarse of generations, and this even in its osseous structure."

Has nobody obserN'ed that the cliildren of poor people, who lead a precarious life, subsisting
on fish and oysters jmd clams, in pincy wood, along creek shores, have generally dead-look-
ing, wliite hair ?

The Cuba tobacco loses its peculiar fragrance, more and more, on being transplanted to a
(353) 11

162 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

foreign soil and climate, until, in two, or, at most, three years, its fine odor and other charao-
teristics disappctir. So is it with wheat. Bnt how estsy for men who disdain to surrender
thomselves to that w's inertia:, that sloth, which is so apt to overcome — shall we write it ? —
farmers, ahove all people ! — how easy for such men to supply themselves, as occasion may de-
mand, with that change of seed which, it cannot be denied, sometimes gives capacity to re-
sist some unpropitioiis iuflueuce of climate, or disastrous ravages of the countless tribe of
msects, to which the (Jod of Nature has given the same right that man enjoys to derive nour-
islmient from plants and animals, and to some of which " even man himself pays tribute with
his blood." lEd. Farm. Lib

CULTURE OF SILK.

Mr. Editor : In looking through a recent French work, I met with an article entitled'
" Failure in the Attempt to grow Silk iu the United States, and the Reasons for it." Though
it might readily be shown, in the neighborhood of Macon, Geo. and elsewhere, that the andior
is mistaken in the assumption that we have failed in the introduction of the silk culture, yet,
as his essay contains many sound, practical views and, withal, some novelty, I have be-
stowed an idle hour on its translation, in the hope that it may prove acceptable and useful to
such of your patriotic readers as are determined to persevere in establishing for their country a
product for which .she annually pays -f 10,000,000 at least to foreigners. Let them hear the judg-
ment of those who had begun to dread their rivalry. F. G. S.

" Failure in the Attempt to grow Silk in the United States. — It is but a few years
since the United States, jealous of our success in the production of silk, endeavored to introduce
its cultivation there, in many parts of the Union, particularly in the Middle and Southern
States, immense plantations of the mulberry were made. The soil was so fertile, and the
jdanters so energetic, that we had reason to fear that the result for us would soon be a formida-
ble competition. And was there not, in fact, ground for apprehension in .«ceing one of our
national products thus attracting the attention of a peojile never turned aside by difficulties,
and so ardent in the jirosecution of novel enterpri.ses 1 Hence it was with regret that we ■wit-
nessed the departure from our shores of vessels laden with mulberry-trees and barrels of silk-
wonn eggs ; for faithful to their habits of enormous speculation, the Americans planted forests
of mulberries, and to this is their failure to be attributed. If what we learn be true, the pro-
duction of silk in the United States is now hopeless : the trees are being grubbed up and the
filatures closed. The discouriigement is so complete that notwithstanding the vast scale of some
of their establishments, the product this year in cocoons will scarcely reach 180,000 kilogrammes.
We may now continue, without danger of competition, to draw annually from the United
ytates some $10,000,000 in exchange for our silks.

" Let us now endeavor to account for these disastrous results. We at once i>crceive a capital
•■rror in the exaggerated extent of their plantations and filatures; and it is held apropos to recall
a truth that has been too often misunderstood : The producfivn of silk in no ivi^e resembles
•most other industrial productions. We may weave flax, wool, or cotton to any extent. With
talent, capital and machinery, a man may increase his manufacture indefinitely ; but it is indis-
pensable to the succes.sful management of a mulberry plantation that the inunber of trees should
be limited. As a good shophei-d should know individually each of his flock, so widi the cultiva-
tor of the mulberry — he should study the wants and qualities of each particular tree. What is
there to be expected of a plantation to be abandoned to itself, and visited but to bo despoiled ? So
with the management of worms: iu large establishments an active and minute inspection is diffi-
cult; the silk-worm, which in an isolated state is hardy and robust, loses this quality in a measure
when gathered together in mas.ses. The greater the agglomeration, the grcaicr the danger; hence
the necessity of small rooms and a very limited number of worms. Another cause that has acted
more powerfully and fatally than any, was the selection of the Mnlticaiilis instead o( the Brous.'ia
mulberry : the former is so sensitive that the sap oscillates in its stem at the slightest variation of
temperature ; its existence is precarious in France — what must it be in a climate so viuiable as
that of the United States.

"Another fatal error has been the selection of the richest soil, on which to make the planta-
tions a proof of the old adage, "Uiattoo much of a good thing is good for nothing," is the fact
that leaves from trees of exurborant foliage aftbrd less substantial food, produce less silk, and
are frequently unhealthy. Hence, we liear every day of the muscardine being produced by
leaves from trees of a luxuriant vegetation.

" Mr. Mallau de Callesaume has proved that die muscardine is much more frequent whh worms
fed upon leaves from young wood, and tliat the disease dimiuisbes as leaves are small and drj,- ;
>-acb as produced on sinull and alJcr-wood.''

SCIENCE AND AGRICULTURE. 163

SCIENCE AND AGRICULTURE.

THE FARMERS' LIBRAUY-OUSEKVATIONS ON STEl'IlENS'S BOOK OF THE FAUM.

John 9. Skinner, Esq. Montgomery, Oiangc Co., N. Y., August 21, 1846.

Dear Sir : In the July and Au2^ust numbers of your excellent periodical, The
Farmers' Library, you have published the excellent work of Mr. ytephcns, en-
titled " The Book of the Farm" — a work entitled to hi<j[h praise lor its practical
good sense, taken as a whole ; althou2;Ii I think the author somewhat in error
in some of his remarks in relation to the benefits to be derived by Ai^riculture
from science. Even in this respect I believe him to be in the main correct, the
error being in stating his opinions in terms too general, which would be strictly
true if more guardedly expressed. It would be truly lamentable if the business
of Agriculture were not susceptible of improvement by the aid of science. The
most necessary, and, I also think, the most ennobling, occupation of man would
thus be sunk below almost every other of his pursuits; because human pursuits
are noble or humble in proportion to the amount of intellect they require for
their successful prosecution. If to be an eminent farmer only requires good ma-
nipulations of the present modes of Agriculture, without any hope of improve-
ment from science to lead and direct practice, the business of Agriculture has
arrived at a point to repel liberally-educated men from pursuing it as an occupa-
tion. That science has hitherto done but little, directly, for Agriculture, is freely
confessed ; but how long has science been directly devoted to this object i The
time has been so short, and the dithculties of the subject so great, that the won-
der is rather that Davy, Boussingault, Liebig, Johnstone and Dana have done so
much to prepare the subject for future laborers, than that they have done so lit-
tle. Every thing must have a beginning. Astronomy had its origin in astrology,
and chemistry in alchemy ; but now we can calculate the distance of Sirius, and
detect the curious isomeric laws of organic matter — now we have got beyond a
knowledge of not only the Solar and Astral Systems, and are enabled to specu-
late rationally about nebular systems — beyond a knowledge of primitive earths,
to the metalloids which constitute their bases. Vegetable and animal physiology
and chemistry are yet in their infancies, but they are quite as robust and as prom-
ising as any of their predecessors at the same age — nay, it may be said, more ro-
bust and promising, because, instead of being fed with the stimulating diet oi"
their predecessors, a more rich, nourishing, and simple food is presented to them
as the fruits and joint offerings of all of their predecessors.

But, apart from these considerations, " The Book of the Farm*' is written with
sound practical judgment. The error is on the right side, as practice without
theory is safer than theory put in practice without experience. The matter, how-
ever, to which I especially desire to ask attention, is the combination of practice-
and theory he recommends for the education of youth for agricultural pursuits as-
an occupation. His remarks on this subject are eminently practical and useful.
" Experimental farms as places for instruction in farming" he very properly con-
demns. But I think he should have been more particular in defining what he
considered an experimental farm. I regard that an experimental farm upon
which are collected, for practical instruction, more pupils than can he profitably
and economically employed in the several branches of Agricultvre conducted on
such farm, by the easy labor of the farm hands and the pupils. If there are
more pupils than can be profitably employed, the excess cannot acquire practical
information ; or, if they should be employed, the whole number will acquire imr-
perfect knowledge. This observation applies with equal force to the practical'
farmer who takes twenty, or even five pupils, if he has not profitable and eco-
nomical employment for them, as to the institution which takes one or two hun-
dred pupils. They differ only in degree. The practical farmer havinsf more pu-
pils than he can profitably employ will probably turn olT many slovenly, careless
and imperfect farmers ; but the institution with one or two hundred pupils will
probably turn otY many experimental farmers — a class who soon waste an estate,
become disgusted with their business, and bring agricultural science to shame.

The economy of a farm has a wider signification than is usually attributed to

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164 ' MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

it. It signitles everytliing relatins: to the profitable management of a farm. It
bestows the exact amount of h\l)or to produce the largest results. It demands
the exact amount of outlay in manure, stock, buildings, 6tc. to insure the largest
profits. It exacts the performance of labor in the right manner, and at llie right
time. It requires the produce to be sold, as a general rule, the moment it is
ready for market. In short, it must pervade the whole farm, in all of its opera-
tions, and cannot be taught in experimental institutions, nor upon farms which

.have more pupils than can be profitably employed.

We have, in this county, " The Orange County Scientific and Practical Agri-
•cullural Institute," which, I think, is admirably calculated to impart to pupils
more of the right kind of agricultural knowledge, in the right way, than any in-
stitution or method I have heard of. It is superior to ihe plan recommended in
" The Book of the Farm," in this, viz. that the farmers who are engaged in it —
the price for board and tuition being very low — take no more pupils than they

■can profitably employ. They do not, therefore, depend on the pupils for a living,
but on their farms ; consequently, the pupils learn exactly wliat they will have
to practice when they operate for themselves. At the same time, they have the
advantage of being instructed in the scientific branches of an agricultural educa-
tion, by a thorough-bred scientific gentleman, who is at the same time engaged
in Agriculture on a farm of considerable extent, and is capable of performing any
of the practical labors. Here, then, we have an institution, the first and only one
•of the kind, combining all the advantages recommended in " The Book of the
Farm," in the highest degree. I can speak of its utility, because i have a son a
pupil in it, and live in the neighborhood. I have, however, no other interest m
the institution than what is common to the neighborhood, and all others inter-
ested in the general improvement and elevation of our agricultural population. —
But I feel a degree of pride that a plan so practical, and promising such impor-
tant results, should be conceived and executed by the ingenuity, enterprise and
public spirit of my near neighbors, who projected and perfected it : and, if you
think this letter worth a place in your very useful pages, it will afl'ord me
pleasure to contribute this, my mite, in communicating a knowledge of it lo oth-
ers who may desire to be benefited by the advantages it offers.

Very respectfully, yours, \V. F. VAN AMRINGE.

GRAPES NOT MATURING, &c.

"Mr. J. S. Skinner, New- York : Philadklphia, August 3, 1846.

Dear Sir: I should be glad to obtain information respecting grapes. I have
one vine covering a large arbor, on which the fruit never matures. It hangs t'cry
yull every season ; and, about the time of attaining their full size, there appears
on them a small speck, whicii gradually increases until they turn black or purple
all over, wilt, and fall off. This vine has acted so from its first bearing up to
this time, now six years. 1 have a number of vines on the opposite side of the
house, covering a long trellis, which I perceive are going, t/iis season, in the
same manner ; while an intermediate one, against the house, is not at all affected.
J have tried close pruning, and very little of it, without any perceptible effect.

I observed, I think, noticed in the meetings of your Agricultural Society, re-

fported in The Tribune, some time ago, an account of a superior farm ffote. I

Ihave not had time to examine the Library from the beginning, which only came

•to hand a few days ago, owing to a mistake of your agents, but hope I shall find

a drawing of it. A good gate is needed. Your.'<, respectfully, w. ii. cajir.

We should be plea.sed to give the iiifi)miation, if in our power.

In the garden of Mr. Smith, at Astoria, wo lately saw a vine in veiy fidl iuid promising
■'bearing, for the first time since it was tran.splanted. It was an old vine, and had proTcd bar-
Ten until this year. The projjrietor had buried near its root a good part of an old horse,
-which ho had caught floating in the river.

Philadelphia and its viciuitj-, with tlicir Biiists and their Laudreths, are by no means defi
cient, comparatively, in horticultural knowledge and experience. As to the gatf, we can
only repeat — all in due time ! In Stephens's Book of the Farm, which we are republislimg,
there are 12 pages given to tliis subject, with engraNings.
(35G)

IRRIGATION. 165

IRRIGATION.

\Ve embrace with pleasure the first opportunity since we received, by the pohtcnees of
Mr. Sherwood, the President of the New- York Stiite Aj^riciilliiral Society, a copy of its Trans-
actions for 1845, to lay before our readers the "PuiZE Essay on Irrigation, by J. J
Thomas."

We have already taken occasion to remai'k, in reference to this subject, how surprisingly
the facihties for hn-igation are neglected in our countiy, in which, with plenty of water at
command, and with our hot suns, wonders might be produced in the way of horticulture. —
So well is this understood, as stated by a coiTespondent m the last volume of our Monthly
Journal, th;it in Euroiie a horse is kept constantly at work, between pumping water and
plowing in the garden. (See page 430.) By means of the hydraulic ram, so fully described
and illustrated at page 347 of the same volume, eveiy fanner who has a small stream of wa-
ter is enabled to convey for irrigation a constant cuirent con.siderably above the natui-al ele-
vation of the stream, at a trifling expense. The extension of its use in Baltimore and Hart
ford Counties in Maryland, lately, might be rcfeired to in proof of the utilit}- of this contii-
vance. Grapes, and other luxurious fniits and vegetables, may now be cultivated with suc-
cess ; and kitchen gardens, heretofore liable to be parched and bhghted in dry seasons, may
be made to produce in abundance the finest esculent vegetables. While indolence and folly
proclaim that there is notliing new under the sun, nor any avenue open to improvement, the
curious and spirited inquirer sees a boundless field inviting to hopeful experiment, and preg-
nant with new and profitable results. To such men every path presents its objects for inves-
tigation ; and iti the hope of some useful discovery, and new means of benefiting societj',
they find their ample recreation and reward. We shall never tire of holding up to the emu-
lation of all young men in the countiy, the studies and the works of the men w'hose annable
and usei'ul propensities lead tliem to prepare for the common vt'elfare such essays as the fol-
lowing :

IRRIGATION.

PRIZE ESSAY, BY J. .T. THOMAS.

Its Utility. — The application of water to the surface of lands, for the promo-
tion of vegetable growth, has been practiced, in warm countries, from the earli-
est 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 cli-
mate of Britain, it was afterward less extensively practiced in the system of Ag-
riculture witich 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 diflerence 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 crrowth, are benefited by frequent
showers? Who has not noticed the great diminution in the amount of pasture
and hay, in potatoes, ruta-bagas, and other farm products, resulting from long
continued or unusual drouth? What farmer is ignorant of the fact that mead-
ows 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 luxuri-
ant than the diminished products of dry and unwatercd 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 ?

There appears to be but very few examples in this country, of well conducted
and systematic irrigation. A few, however, have sufficiently shown its advan-
tages.

(35?)

166 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

E. D. Andrews, of Pittsford, N. Y. says : " In the hilly country of Vermont, 1
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, formerly 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 Avhich passed through the center.
About one day's work was needed in arranging and plowing tiiese 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 practiced.
Permanent meadows are selected on the two facing slopes toward 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 farmer of
western New- York, by allowing the wash or liquid manure from a barn on ele-
vated ground to spread over about five acres of meadow, cut from a part of it
«o 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 con-
sisting mostly of barren side hills, and dry, sterile, sandy fiats. He discovered,
Mrhh the eye of an engineer, that a stream of somg 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 different directions. It is an interesting spec-
tacle, 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
500 Of 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 watering. 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 sometimes triple in product ; and so clear was
the line of demarkation 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 tlie 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 Avho 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 in a growing state have at hand a supply of the
water which enters so largely into their composition. Secondly, that there be
enough to dissolve freely all substances which ascend through the stem from the
roots ; for, without solution, no fertilizing substances can enter the plant.

The large quantities of water needed duruig vegetable growth, are evident
from the abundance which exists in nearly all living plants. Some plants con-
tain 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 wither 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 t!ie hydrogen they consume.

But u most important office performed by water, is its solvent power. During

(30Sj

IRRIGATION. 167

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 afterward 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 effi-
cient modes of manuring; the quantity of foreign matter thus held in solution,
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 En land, and in all countries so cool and moist that plants do not suffer
greatly from drouth, the chief benefit resulting from irrigation arises from the
foreign matter contained in the water. Hence it becomes a very important ob-
ject to obtain such streams as contain the most enriching substances. Some in-
teresting 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 imparled 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 irriga-
tion, was analyzed, and was found to contain per gallon about 10 grains of com-
mon salt, and 4 grains of the salts of lime. After passing over fifty yards of
meadow, it was again analyzed, and yielded only 5 grains of common salt to the
gallon, and 2 grains 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 neces-
sary that streams should always appear to the eye turbid or impure, in order to
be well adapted to this kind of manuring ; indeed a turbid stream, rendered so
bv 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 ail hard waters contain considerable portions of gypsum or sulphate
of lime ; and that not unfrequenlly every two thousand parts of the water of our
rivers and brooks contain one part of gypsum. [{, therefore, every square yard
of common meadow soil absorbs only ei^jht gallons of water, more than a hun-
dred 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 enormous amount
of wealth lost to the country yearly by a neglect to secure the liquid manure
with which it abounds. The quantities v/hich are every year swept from our
fields and flirm-vards, 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 tiie Earl of Moray, which
was watered for several years by drainage fVom the city, yielded so heavy a crop
of grass that it Avas cut six times a year, and the whole yearly crop was sold at
$120 to SloO dollars per acre.

But even tiirowing the manuring process, strictly speakins, out of the ques-
tion, who can estimate the beneficial results of judicious irrigation, 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 he at once stimu
lated into freshness and viifor, and doubtless be double in product. The artifi-
cial improvement of supplying manure to the soil is universally practiced 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 cartaae, but is often equally if not more im-
portant, seems to be nearly unknown. Why should the Yankees be behind

.168

MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

other portions of the world in this particular ? We do not lack proofs, sufficient
to every observing mind, even in the rough and wild manner in which it is per-
formed by the inundation of the flats of creeks and rivers, nor has such proof
been wanting, from the overflowing of the JS'ile in ancient days down to the
present age of the world ; but the artificial process possesses this eminent ad-
vantage, that while the former is uncontrollable and uncontrolled, the latter may
be applied or withheld at pleasure, as the crop sufi'ers from drouth, or becomes
injured by too heavy a flooding.

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 which 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 will di-
verge 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 surface. 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 distributing the water, as in
fig. 2, may be upon the ridges, and the drains in the dead furrows. This is
shown by the section represented by fig. 3, c c c c, being the distributing chan-
nels, and d d d, the drains.

Laying out the Channels. — This can never be done with sufficient accu-
racy without a leveling instrument. The cheapest for this purpose is repre-
sented by fig. 4. It consists of the two legs AB and AC, which should be
light, but not less than ten leet Ions, connected and stillened 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 center and toward.

(300)

IRRIGATION. 169

that lower le^. The difference in the level of the two legs will be accu*
rately indicated by tlie 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 ani^le,) then a nioveuient of the plumb line half
an inch from the center, would indicate a diU'orence in the level of the two
points of the legs of about two inches. The following is a jjeneral rule fur
this purpose applicable to all cases with suflicient accuracy, where the ground
does vary greatly from a level. Multiply the distance AD by the number of
times the leg exceeds it in length, then, as fourteen is to twenty, sc is the
product to the dift'orence in the level of the two points of the legs.

If the two points are therefore one rod apart, a cliannel 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 plumb will fall half an inch Irom
the center if the distance AD is one-third of AB, or seven-tenths of an inch
irom the center, if AD is half of AB, according to the above rule. Success-
ive points are thus found by alternately bringing forward the legs of the in-
strument, each being two inches lower than the preceding. Small sticks are
driven into the ground at these points, and by them a uniformly descending
furrow is easily and accurately plowed for a distributing channel. If half
that slope only is needed, one-half the distance from the center of the gradu-
ated 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 accurately known. But, on
large tracts of nearly level land, it Avill be easier to attach two sig/ils at the ends
of the cross bar, and take longer observations— a rod, marked at a hight equal to
the hight of these sights, being held at a distance by an assistant.

Such a level may he made to close, like a pair of compasses, when not in ac-
tual 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 impor-
tance, 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 up
land 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 accustomed to the appear-
ance of plants when in the most rapid and healthful state of vegetation, will de-
tect 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 water-soaked subsoil, the remedy for which should be drain-
ing. Indeed, so different in nature is a water-soaked and an irrigated soil, that,
while the former injures, the latter benefits; the former state resulting from a
want of draining, and the latter always proving most eminently beneficial on well
drained land, where stagnant water can never accumulate.

Equal success has not always attended irrigation, in consequence of the differ-
ent quantities of enriching matter contained in different streams. The most val-
uable, 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 valua-
ble. Sometimes, however, there arc fertilizing substances derived from the soil
or the minerals it contains, which may not in the least disorder the water, and
yet be of very important benefit. These can only be known by their effects in
practice, or by analysis. But these considerations more particularly demand at-
tention in cool and moist climates, as in Britain, where the simple application of
water is unimportant. Hence, there autumn and winter irrigation is much prac-
ticed— the water being then charged with animal and vegetable matters which
have accumulated during the summer. In the United States, where a supply of
(361) ' n y

170 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

water during drouth and heat is so much more essential, this difference in the
richness of water is not so visib)' observed.

In using small streams, on considerable acclivities, by catch-ivork as represent-
ed 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 hatches, or solid framework furnished with a sliding grate,
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 Avill 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 sta-
ble 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 drouth, 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 VVaterloo,
IN. Y. states that, during a severe drouth, he admitted water in small gutters be-
tween the hills and rows of vegetables in his garden. " In ten days, early pota-
toes grew two-thirds in size." In fact, he never obtained good potatoes before.
Other vegetables were greatly benefited. The great increase by watering, in the
growth of spinach, lettuce and strawberries, by the English and Flemish garden-
ers, 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 period of maturity approaches,
or diminished fiavor will be the consequence.

Calculating the Velocity of Water in Channels. — It often becomes a mat-
ter of some consequence, not only in cutting channels for irrigation, but for sur-
face 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 cal-
culate 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 iratei' in a caiial or river Jlowing through a
straight channel of et/ual 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 . 23\/df-

The hydraulic mean depth is a quantity which, when multiplied by the perim-
eter 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 rod : to tind the quantity
(a62)

BARLEY. 171

of water that will (low in it. It will fall 320 inches in a mile : the perimeter in
contact with the water will be, f<ix inches on the bottom and four inches at each
side = 14 inches ; the area of the section will be 6 times 4 = 24, which, divided
by 14, the perimeter, skives 1.7^ the hydraulic mean depth. Then by applying
the above rule,

v= 1.23^/320X1.7 = ] . 23X7.4 nr 9.1 inches, the velocity per second, 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 larger channels, the
calculation would be more accurate.

BARLEY.

We much regret, and for one particular reason, that we have not had time to
compile a paper on this subject for this number, as we have reason to think that
some judicious wheat-growers may be disposed to try it, in lieu of that grain,
which the attacks of pestiferous insects and the casualties of seasons have con-
spired to render a very uncertain crop, and which the cheap lands and cheap la-
bor of the Western States, with the facilities provided by the Atlantic States for
its transportation to our sea-ports, still farther cooperate to render an unprof-
itable crop, even when not overtaken by either of the disasters referred to. How
can the grain-grower, especially the slaveholding grain-grower, whose force, to
be constantly supported, is applicable to the production and preparation of this
crop, for so short a period of its growth and preparation for market, compete,
when it gets there, with the new settlers of the prairies, who, according to the
judgment of an Editor of a leading Journal of Commerce, who lately traversed
that region, can make wheat at 16 cents a bushel ? The question is indeed a
serious one with farmers of the old States, to what product of the earth shall
they turn for a living profit ? Where are the non-producing consumers to be found
to demand to eat or to wear it when made ? Hence, the truth can never be too
deeply impressed on the actual cultivators of the soil, that the hapi)iest condition
for them is that in which there is the greatest number of people, and these in
the most prosperous circumstances, with bellies and backs waiting to demand
his meal, his flour, his meat, and his wool. Better, if he must be taxed, that he
should be taxed for this, than for the support of armies and army contractors.
But, to come back to Barley : we have reason to expect a paper on the subject,
in time for our next number, from the pen of a gentleman in the western part of
JNew-York, who is thoroughly conversant with its culture in that State, and to
whom we have addressed a letter covering the whole ground of inquiry. This
has been done more particularly for the benefit of Wheat growers in Maryland.

From the Library of Agri. aud Hort. Knowledge.

BARLEY.

On THE Cultivation' OF Barley; Commu
Micated by Mr. Hitchi.ns, Laud-Surveyor,
Brighton.

Barley. Hordrum. Tryundria Digj"'nia,
Linn. — Nat. ord. (Traiiiiiicap.

Barley is considered to rank next in im-
portance to wheat : then; are six species and
sub-species in cultivation, besides varieties.
(363)

1. Hdrdcumvulgare, spring or early haT]ej.

2. " ccek'ste, a. vm-'iety o{ the above.

3. " kexdsfickon, ■winter, square, or

bear barley.

4. '• disiichon, common or long-

eared barley.

5. " distichonniidum.naikeAhwcley.
C. " Zcocriion, .sprat or battledore.
There is no grain, perliap.s. more affected

by soil and cultivation than barley, the same
species exhibiting opposite qualities, modified

172

MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

by the nature of the soil from which it is pro-
duced : these opposite tiroductions of the
same individual will, if sown at the same pe-
riod, oil the same land, aiid under the same
course of cultivation, exhibit coirespouding
differenct^s, which are manifested during the
growth of the crop, and subsequently in the
quality of the sample when in hand. Thus
the linest samples, the growth of suitable and
w^ell-cultivatetl lands, would, if sown on a poor
and sterile soil, become alike coarse in appear-
ance and iudirterent in quidity. This fact,
however important, has hitherto but little en-
gaged the attention of the fanners in the
southern part of England ; and the sjiring or
early barley, without reference to quality, is
therefore indiscriminately sown, as being
ibund more prbductive lor the purpose of
malting tlian any of the belbrementianed va-
rieties. Tlie sprat or battledore bailey makes
good malt, and being short and erect ui the
ear, and tapering in the stem, is, on strong
lands, less liable to injuiy from falling, and is,
consequently, preferred by a few individuals.
The common or long-eared barley, being long
ill the ear and weak in the straw, is very lia-
ble to lodge early, whereby the graui is ren-
dered mierior in quality, and is, therefore,
not extensively cidtivated. Naked barley, or
wlieat bai'ley, is so termed in consequence of
the grain separating readily from the chatf
when threshed. It is a native of the North,
and will bear sowing early in the season ; it
is not, however, in much estimation in the
south of England, and is seldom cultivated,
although it makes strong malt, and is excel-
lent for fattening of hogs and cattle. Winter
barley, or square-eared barley, is grov^'ii to a
considerable extent in the north-westeru part
of England and ui Scotland. It is visually
sown for the feeding of sheep in the south of
England, and mixed with tares for the soihng
of catde. As food for sheep it is far more
jiroductive than lye, aii it admits of being fed
down every two or three days during sum-
mer ; and if intended for seed, it may previ-
ously be fed oft' by sheep eai'ly in the season
without injury to the crop.

CuLTUUK, &c. Soil. — The land diat pro-
duces the best bai'loy is generally of a siU-
r:ious, light, pulverulent and dry nature; for
H good mellow [Ji-eparation and free soil arc
essential to the gi'owth of malting barleys.
Oold. wet soils, which are peculiarly reten-
tive of water, are ill mlapted to the gi'owth of
this grain, both in ixMi-rence to it^ weight and
malting (jualities. The whole matter of bar-
l!;y and its straw contains nioii; silicious par-
ticles than thai of any other grain cnltivated
by the British I'armor, aiul hence the reason
why a sandy soil is most congenial to the
growth of this plant.

I'uoi'AGATKD — Bi/ sred -sown either broad-
cast or in drills, the (piantity vaiying accord-
ing to the quality of the soil, cultivation and
time of sowing ; less being reqitired on rich
mt;llow lauds tlum on poor soils; early sow-
ing with good tillage requiring less seed than
late sowing with uiditferent tillage.

The quantity of seed per acre, if sown
broadcast, varies from four to six bu.shels; if
drilled, a less quantity will be required ; and
on very rich soils less than four bushels will
be sufficient.

Ti>/icofSowi7ig. — The common sprat bar-
leys may be sown from the second week in
March, if the weather prove dry, until the
tenth of May. The Big, a variety of the win-
ter barley, will stand agauist the winter, and
may be sown either in the autumn or the be-
ginning of Mai-ch. The Bear or square bar-
ley should be sown as early in the autumn as
the clearing of the harvest will admit, and
may be sown after wheat, bai'ley, oats, or any
pulse crop, being a plant of sturdy growth.

In the Choice of Seed, gi-eat care should bo
taken that it is not of a reddish hue, as in that
case it is more than probable that a gi-eat part
of it will never vegetate ; the sample should
be of a pale lively color, and unilbrm through-
out. Some fanners, not aware of its import-
ance, are in the habit of sowing iki7i corn,hut
unless the land is quite adapted from its na-
ture and cultivation for the idlest encourage-
ment of the plant, it will in the end be found
a ' penny wise and pound foolish' speculation.
In all cases it will be well for the farmer to
select the finest samples and the plumpest
giown, for, in unfavorable seasons, the crop
from thin gi'ain is always delicate, and as-
sumes an unkindly hue — wliile, on the con-
trary, plum]i seed throws up strong, healthy
stems, capable of resisting the eflects of in-
clement seasons, and in more congenial weatii
er pushing forth with renewed vigor and
redoubled strength.

Preparation of the Soil. — Barley, for the
most part, succeeds best after tuniips, tares,
potatoes, ctUTOts, mangel-wurzel, or other
green ameliorating crojis, but does not suc-
ceed so well after wheat or other white sti'aw
crops, nor after rape so well as other green
crops, except on the south downs and certain
liuids adjoining the sea coast — where botli the
quantity of grain is greater, and the quality
better after wheat (particularly wheat sown
upon a clover ley), and al.so after lajie, tliau
from any other course of tillage. T!ie land
requires more or less plowing, according to
the quidity of the soil, and the state in which
it is found, after the season for the working
of it commences. On retentive soils, as com
pact gravelly clay, if the turnips have been
led off during wet weather, the earth breaks
up in large clods, and re(|uires to be reduced
by the roller, and at least a second plowing
should be given before the bark'V can be
safely sown. On light soils of the best quality,
one plowing may be suHicit;nt ; but if the huid
is twice ])lo\veil in the spiing as soon as it is
suliiiiently dry for that purpo.<e, it will be
found amply to repay both the labor and ex-
pense. E;u1y weeding should be atter.ded to,
or the crop will be injured by treading, and
the roller should be used before the blade
becomes spinilled.

Harvesting. — In the harvesting of barley
more caie is requisite llian in talving any of

BARLEY. THE APrLE-TUEE BORER. MICE.

173

the other white crops, even in the best of sen-
sons ; and in bail years it is often fouiul very
difficult to save it. It siiDulil not Ik; cut nntil
quite rii)0, the ears selJoin falling olf except-
ing from high winds. It shonld be sutfered
to lay in the lield until ihestmw is cjiiite dry,
being turned over early in the morning while
the dew is still upon it: this j)ractice is found
to improve the color of the skin, and tlu-rchy
renders the grain of more value to the malt-
ster. It shoidd never be carried unless per-
fectly dry, otherwise it is in danger of being
heated in the mow, which reduces the value
of the gi'ain very materially, for the undue ac-
tion of the heat destroys the spear or gennina-
tion of the grain, the malting process ii> con-
sequently very unei|ually performed, and, as
the duty has to be paid upon the whole bin,
maltsters will scarcely purchase such sanii)les
unless for the purpose of giinding, and then
always at an inferior price. It will be pru-
dent, ther(;fore to cany oaU in the early part
of the moniing, until the heat of the sun has
evaporated the dew from the barley, when it
should be cairied in a perfectly dry state the
remainder of the day, until the dew is again
deposited in the evenmg.

It is a very common practice to sow clover
and other grass seeds with this crop, but
great care must be tiiken that they are thor-
oughly hnrvested, for, otherwise, considerable
fermentation will be created, and the sample
injured. It not unfrequently occurs, that,
when it is supposed to be well harvested,
heat is soon found to subsist in the mows,
which should be daily examined, by placing
a long iron spit, that should be kej)t for the
purpose, deep into the mow, when, if the
heat is found to increase, no delay should take
place, but the middle should be instantly cut
asunder and taken out, in proportion to the
size of the mow, u'lien it will generally es-
cape vv'itliout farther injuiy. This operation,
however, must not be deferred, as the injuiy
sustained rapidly uicreases. \Vhen barley is
grown in large quantities, it is usual to tread
the mows vsdth horses or oxen, to get as much
as possible into the bams, in which case more
guarded caution is necessary than when
thrown loosely over the floor.

Threshing. — This grain should never be
threshed by a machine, as the injury done
thereby is fre([uently of a very serious im-

port to the grain ; it biiiiscs the malting spear,
whic^h is as injurious to the maltster as if
heated in the mow. and should therelbro be
guarded against. Care must also be taken
not to havo too l;u"ge heaps lying together
without frequent examination, as, until it has
undergone a proper fennentation in the mow,
it will be very apt to heat in the heaj), in or-
der to prevent which, it requires to be moved
daily, or each other day, till cleaned np from
the chatl", which, frf)m the liiieness of its tex-
tin-e, scarcely admits the introduction of air,
and consecpiently promotes fennentiilion.

UsK. — 1. This grain is not only the most
useful for making into malt, but is the best of
f )od for promoting the fattening of hogs, after
they have been fed to a certain extent with
beans, peas, or other food, from which it ha.s
been found that the meat is not only more
tender, but increases in boiling, wliile the
meat of those fed on beans and peas alone
has not only been hard, but has not yielded
any increase. Barley is also good food for
horses after being soaked in water, and al-
lowed to vegetate, if given in the spring of
the year in smidl proportions with oats ; and
when given with other grain in its ground
state, is an excellent food for liittenlng bul-
locks.

2. The straw is used for feeding cattle and
for litter.

3. Malt is the great purjjose to which bar-
ley is applied in this coimtry. To understiuid
the process of malting, it may be nccessaiy to
observe, that the cotyledons of a seed, before
a young plant is produced, are changed by
thi' heat and moisture of the earth into sugar
luid nnicilage. Malting grain is only an arti-
ficial mode of effecting this object. The grain
is steeped in cold water during a certain pe-
riod ; the water is then allowed to drain off;
the grain is spread out into a deep heap ; it
gradually heats; the roodets begin to shoot out;
afterward the plumula begins to grow ; and
when this has grown to a certain extent with-
in the grain, the farther germination is checked
by exposing the grain on a kiln, heated by
lire to such a degree as e.xtinguLshes the vi
tality of the seed. At this period it is foimd
th.it the starch is, in a great measure, con-
verted into saccharine matter, and by subse-
quent tcjnnentation or distillation, either beer
f)r spkits is obtained.

THE BORER IN APPLE-TREES.— \V. Buckminster, at an agnctiltural meeting at
the Stale House, Boston, stated that the borer, which is a fly in its perfect state, lays ten
eggs on the tree near the ground ; that they hatch young worms and enter the bark the first
year ; the next, they eat into the wood and ascend ; and th(? third, come out and change to
the periect insect. He says the best remedy is to wash the trees with strong lye in .luly,
after the eggs are laid, and before the wonns have buried themselves in the bark.

PROTECTING TREES FRO.M MICE.— A correspondent of the Gardener's Chronicle
mixes soot and milk till of the consistence of thick paint, and dien applies it to the trees
with a bi-ush. This, applied once a year, he finds effectual protection against hares and
rabbits. Would it not be equally so against mice ?
(365)

,174 MONTULY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

PROFESSOR OF AGRICULTURE FOR YALE COLLEGE.

Among the most auspicious signs for the cause of Agriculture is the appoint-
ment, recently, of J. P. Norton, Esq. to an Agricultural Professorship in Yale
College, Connecticut.

Mr. I^orton had the fine spirit and good sense to go, some years since, to Edin-
burgh, the head-quarters of chemical science as applied to Agriculture, and has
there had the advantage of pursuing the study under the ablest teachers, as well
in the field as in the laboratory ; and we shall be mistaken in the tokens of an im-
proving public taste, if his class at College be not as numerous as he can do jus-
lice to. But we should suppose he would be demanded, if to be had, for the
Smithsonian Institute, at Washington.

There must be a beginning to everything ; and we apprehend the beginning
is now, when Agriculture will no longer lag in the rear of other pursuits, either
m public opinion or in the fostering care of the Governments, of the States, if
not of the Union. Is there any good reason why the people should be taxed for
educating two or three hundred every year, and to whom life commissions and
good pay are to be given, to strengthen our arms for wa?-, and yet not give one
dollar to teach (without afterward giving them commissions and pay for life)
and qualify men to go teaching surveying, and mapping, and the art of road-
making and bridge-building, and chemistry, and mineralogy, and botany, and
natural history, and all applications of the arts to industrial pursuits, which
would promote a better knowledge of Agriculture, manufactures and commerce ?

If the people had sense and self-respect enough to compel their Representa-
tives to expend one-fourth as much for the dissemination of useful knoidedge
and the perfection of the industrial arts as they now expend every year on war
and warlike objects, the time would soon arrive when all wanton promoters of
War would be dreaded and doomed as so many mad dogs.

UNCERTAINTY OF THE WHEAT CROP.

"Berries of Wheat." — We hope neither this expression, nor miy cockncj-ism, may
grow into use among our agricultural writers. Blackbemes and whortlebemes, iuiJ even
bt>rries of grapes — but not hemes of wheat. Is it not enough to say, tlie grahi of the wheat
is smootli, or I'ound, or red, or white ?
Extract of a Letter, dated " Taibot County, Md. 17th Sept. 1846.

" I don't know what to do niyst;lf ; I Ir.ive never known so much uncertaint\- mimifested
by fanners in mv life — ^l)y men," too, liaving nmch practical experience. Since I wTote you
Ihave ascertained the jiroduct of my Klus.i Blue S/cm Wheal. I procured 10 buslieLs of
seed; it was seeded on fair, good land, and yielded just 3-i bushels, three titnes tln-()u>,'h the
fan. Another fartner sihmIccI .'J bu.shels on well-prepared fallow, al)out the middle of Sep-
leinbi^r, and got but lOh : it was desUoyed by tly. (ien. T., on ihi! odier hand, made a
fine cr()p of this wheat' the seed obtained from tlie same source. Of tlie several viu-ietie«
alluded to as having been seeded by a young farmer near me, the Kloss was the best, and
the famed China, or Hardware, good for nothing. Again, another f;u-mer, who had Mediter-
ranean, Kloss anil llersluiy aU growing in the same held, infonned me reeeullv tiial the latter
had proved the most ])roduclive. And yet another, who had the roli.sli, which is a beauti-
ful wliitc wheat, and llershey growing in the same held, the latter vyas so white <uul tine
that he mixed it with the other, and expected to get the maximum price for the best family
Hour ; and T. have no doid)t that he will, from tl»e rei)resenlalion of .-.everal to me who luve
eeen it. Tlius you see the great uncertiiiuty of the wheat crop with us, :uul the necessity
of throwing out all the light which can be shed upcu the s'>l).iert."
(3WiJ

COLOR Of KOWl.S. 175

COLOR OF FOWLS.

" Beaufort, S. C. 24th June, 1846.

" A NEiGHHOR iiifonris ine thai he had nine youuj; fiuinea low-Is of that color (ash) and
throe of the dark gray, hatched by the same hen and treated ahke, the resuh of which was,
that he raised the three common ones, but not one of the ash-colored. The white could not
well raise less, but must, if possible, be still more delicate. 1 had a pair of white for two or
three years, but never saw a young one from them. I had also, for two years, a pair of
white ducks, with large white top-knots, or crests, like Poland fowls, but never raised one
with the U>p-knot. They also, are found to be very hard to raise.

" By-the-by, I quite agree in opinion with Gen. Harmon about the kinds of sheep for
pe^rsons situated far from a market, and have acted up to my belief; for I have refused Bidte-
well's, offered in exchange, and even for nothing, {jrefeiring to keep to the Merino, which
unquestionably gives the sweetest Iamb and mutton, more especnally when fed, as mine are,
upon salt marsh pastures. The Parisian taste quite agrees with mine on the subject of sheep
pastxire, as I well remember that in the Magazin dc Comestibles there, the " Gigots de
Pri Sale," are much more remarkable for the size of their price, than for their own size."

We have heard it remarked by a gentleman of science and very various knowl-
k'd<^e, the Editor of the Southern Cultivator, published at Augusta, that a fowl so
remarkable as a white Guinea fov/1 is originally produced, like the " white black-
bird," (which is seen occasionally,) by some disorder in the secretions or coloring
matter, indicating unhcalthiness in the individual. The inference is, that such pe-
culiarities cannot be so continued as to establish a new varietj\ Sometimes we
meet with persons who are born with a tvft of white in the midst of a suit of dark
hair: the celebrated Alex. Hamilton was so marked at his birth and the mark was
inherited by his son of the same name. Doubtless white fowls of almost every
kind are more tender than others ; so it certainly is with the white turkey and
the white Guinea fowl ; still, that these are established varieties of their fami-
lies respectively, is proved by the fact that we continue to have them. The eg^
of the Guinea fowl is far richer and yet more delicate than the hen's egg, and
the turkey egg stands next on the list for flavor and excellence, to be eaten from
the shell ; yet we were surprised to hear Judge Mitchell say that in New- York
his market man had to give "two for one," to make sale of his Guinea fowls'
eggs. As for the white top-knot duck, we suppose it to be an original natural
variety, as we have often seen them, and lately more especially, quite a large,
healthy looking young brood at Plandome, on Long Island, and though not yet
feathered, their top-knots were well developed. So, too, at Roswell House, New-
Jersey, there are the white turkies, the while Guinea fowls, the white puddle
duck, with and without top-knots, and Avhite Muscovy ducks.

No better sign, in our judgment, than to see a farmer take pleasure in all these
apparently small affairs. It shows that he has a mind attuned to nature — one that
qualifies him to enjoy what may be called the music and the poetry of his pro-
fession, and in lack of which he will be apt to seek relief from its inevitable
t;ares and labors in things less useful, as well as less innocent.

Apropos of the coloring of birds, we find the following in a newspaper :

A Remarkaist.e Discovkry. — Professor Auckland, at a meeting of the Royal Society in
Lontlon, (tlie Duke of Cambridge in th'i chair) rtiad a paper upon a discovei-y he has re-
cently made, which promises not to be of any great utibty, but. ut the same time, will b«
(3C7) 13

170 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

very ornamental, and a source of great pleasure to many peraons. His expriiments were
made upon what Linnicus teniis the Oiseau Noir, our connnon blackbird. He took seve-
ral of these birds (which were hatched early in the sja-ing) immediately from the sliell —
kept them in a well wanned apartment, and fed them three times a day, upon different kinds
of flower seed, from which the husks had been carefully picked. Tiie result was, each bird
had the phunage of the flower that would have grown from the seed, if planted in tlie
gi-ound. This is a beautiful research, and riclily has the learned Professor been paid. He
exhibited to the Royal Society several specimens. His Highness, the Duke of Cambridge,
immediately gave orders to the keeper of his aviary, to make experiments on an extensive
scale. Professor Auckland's birds were sent by special express to the Queen.

TABLE TO MEASURE PLOW-WORK.

The following table may prove serviceable, as ii will enable the farmer to
reckon, with exactness, how much work is done — that is, how many miles are
traveled over in a day when the work done, as it proceeds, is of a given width.
If, for instance, the plowman turns a furrow of seven inches wide, and he can do
at that rate an acre a day, traveling fourteen and one-eighth miles, then it fol-
lows that with a cultivator or harrow, which operates as it goes, over a breadth
of twentj-^-one inches, he ought to get over three acres a day, to say nothing of
the time saved in turning once instead of three times ; and this shows the econ-
omy of the cultivator over the plow, for it not only enables one man to get over
as much ground in a day as three would do with a plow, but it requires only one-
third of the horse power and horse feeding.

Here, in truth, in the substitution of the cultivator for the plow, lies the secret
of the so much greater quantity of corn and tobacco being made to the hand than
was formerly done within the recollection of many of our readers. If contriv-
ances for saving our crops had kept pace with ingenious devices to save labor in
making them, much more would have been achieved for Agriculture. In no
country does land so much demand capital, or Agriculture so vehemently cry
aloud for labor-saving implements, as in America.

We are confident that while much has been done, as we can affirm, within our
own recollection, much more remains to be accomplished. Steam, for instance,
has scarcely been made to contribute all it should do to the purposes of the hus-
bandman— nothing in comparison with what it has done for commerce, for man-
ufactures, aye, and even for that scourge of the world, tear ! But, when the
proper books and proper sort of study come to be in use, and prevail in all our
coimtry schools, the landed interest, and those who are to represent it, will be-
come imbued with a just sense of its importance and its rights ; and these will
be reflected and guarded by jiublic legislation, and the public sentiment, until
those who appropriate the common treasiure of the people, of which so much is
drawn from the agricultural community, will not dare give a dollar for any pro-
ject or establishment, without appropriating at least an equal amount for agricul-
tural knowledge and discoveries. But what can one journal elTect toward awak-
enin<T public sentiment, when even kindred journals deem it not expedient or
safe to say a word for the political rights of Agriculture ? Still we will not
altogether repress the hope that the faintest whisper, in so good a cause, may
swell into the trumpet's blast, and the people of the land become awakened to a
sense of their rights and a consciousness of their power.

(368)

TABLE TO MEASURE PLOW-WORK.

177

TABLE BY JOHN MORTON.

Shelving the distance traveled by a horse, in plowing or scarifying an acre of
land ; also, the quantity of land worked in a day, at the rate of sixteen and
eighteen miles per day of nine hours.

\ Breadth of
fun-owslico

Space trav-
eled in plow-

Extent plowed per day,
at the rate of

Breadth of
furrow-slice

Space trav-
eled in plow-

Extent plowed per day
at the rate of

or scnritirr.

in a: an acre.

or scarifier.

ing an acre.

Inches.

Miles.

18 Miles 1 16 Miloa.
Acres. -

Inches.

Miles.

18 Miles. 1 16 Miles.
Acres.

7

141

11-

11

46

21

81

7f

8

12i

11

11

47

2iV

8

7f

9

11

If

U

48

^^2

8f

7f

10

q 9

I5

1^

49

2

^V

7/0

11

9

2"

If

50

2

^T%

8^

12

H

H

1/0

51

ItV

J 91

81

13

n

21

2-1-

52

K^

91

8f

14

7

21
2

21

53

It^o

9f

81

15

61

21

2|

54

11

91

8r^^

16

H

2/0

2|

55

11

10

8 f

17

5f

3iV

2f

56

If

101

9

18

5*

31

'*10

57

If

lOf

n

19

5i

31

3tV

58

ItV

lOf

91

20

^A

3|

31

59

li^

lOf

91

21

4tV

n

31

60

If

10/0

9J-
•^10

22

41

4

31

61

1|

111

91

23

4

41

3tV

62

If

111

" 10

24

4

41

3t'o

63

If

m

101

25

4

41

4

64

11

11/0

101

26

H

4f

H

65

11

lU

101

27

3f

4t\

4i

66

11

12

lof

28

^

51

41

67

11

121

101

29

H

51

4|

68

11

I2f

11

30

^

5|

4|

69

If

12|

111

31

31

5

5

70

If

12f

111

32

3tV

5A

H

71

If

12A

111

33

3

6"

H

72

If

131

llf

34

9 9

61

H

73

11

131

11-1 :

35

94

61

5f

74

11

131

12

36

2f

61

51

75

11

13f

121

37

2f

6i

6

76

h\

131

121

38

n

61^

-61

77

If^

14

12^

39

H

71

61

78

11

141

12»

40

21-

71

61

79

11

14f

122

41

^

7|

6|

80

11

14|

12i^o

42

^

7

6|

81

11

14|

13t'o

43

2-3_

71

7

82

11

15

131

44

2

8

7i^

83

11

151

13|

45

01

"5

81

71

84

11

15i

13|

(369) .

.12

178

MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

From the Soulhcra Agiiculturist for June, 1846.

ANALYSIS OF THE ASHES OF THE SUGAR CANE.

New-Haven, April 28, 1846.

Mr. Editor — My Dear Sir : Knowing that some of your readers would take
an interest in the following results upon the ashes of the sugar cane, obtained
by Mr. Stenhouse, I have been at the pains to condense them from a very valua
hie memoir published by this gentleman in a supplementary number of the Lon-
don, Edinburgh and Dublin Phil. Magazine and Journal of Science (No. 183,
Dec. 1845, p. 533), and herewith offer them to you, with a remark or two of my
own, provided they meet your views.

Substances.

Silica

Phosphoric acid

Sulphuric acid

Lime

Magnesia

Potassa

Soda.

Chloride potas.sium .
Chloride sodium . . .

1.

2.

3.

4.

4.V97

42-90

46-46

41-37

3-76

7-99

8-23

4-59

6-66

10-94

4-6.5

10-93

9-16

13 -'20

8-91

9-11

3-66

9-88

4-50

6-92

2.5-50

12-01
1-39

10-63

15-99

3-27

7-41

8-96

2-02

1-69

9-21

2-13

5. I

46-481
8-16
7-52
5-781
15-6l|
11-931
0-57|

6.

50-00
6-56
6-40
5-09]
13-01
13-691
1-33 1

7.

45-13
4-88
7-74
4-49
11-90
16-97
1.-64

3-95 3-92 7-25

8.

17-64
7-37
7-97
2-34
3-93

32-93

10-70

17-12

10.

52-20
13-04

3-31
10-64

5-63
10-09

0-80

4.29

48-73154-59
2-90' 8-01

5-35

11-62

5-61

7-46

16-06
2-27

1-93
14-36

5-30
11-14

0-84
3-8*

Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 4 were very fine, full-grown canes from Trinidad, consisting
of stalks and leaves, but without the roots ; Nos. 5, 6 and 7 were similar canes
from Berbice ; No. 8 from Demarara ; No. 9, of full-grown canes, but with few
leaves, from the island of Grenada ; No. 10 from Trelawny, Jamaica, consisting
of transparent canes in full blossom, grown about six miles from the sea and ma-
nured with cattle dung ; No. 11, of transparent canes from St. James's, Jamaica,
growing about two hundred yards from the sea, being old rattoons, and also ma-
nured with cattle dung ; No. 12, young, transparent canes three and a half miles
from the sea, and manured with cattle dung, guano and marl.

From these analyses, it appears that the cane for successful cultivation re-
quires a very large quantity of silicate of potassa and also a considerable amount
of the phosphates, few cultivated plants, except the cerealia, require so much.
Wheat, or any of the cereals, necessarily causes the removal of a portion of the
valuable inorganic constituents of the soil, such as the alkalies, phosphates, &c.
■which can only be returned to it indirectly ; but with sugar the case is quite oth-
erwise. Sugar is a purely organic substance, consisting of carbon and the ele-
ments of water, all of which can be derived from the atmosphere, and contains
neither alkalies nor phosphates ; so that if the ashes of the canes were carefully
collected and returned to the soil in an available state, there is no reason why
cane might not be grown upon the same lands almost indefinitely.

In the West Indies, where wood is scarce, the crushed canes are employed as
fuel, under the coppers of the boiling-house, to concentrate the syrup, and as the
heat required is great, a large amount of the silica and the alkalies present is
converted into a hard, insoluble glass, Avhicii in this form being useless, is thrown
away. We can therefore readily understand the reason of the rapid exhaustion
of their sugar-lands, and the comparatively slow wearing out of those in Lou-
isiana, where from the abundance of wood, the cane-trash is never thus cm-
ployed, and where in addition to the inorganic ingredients of the cane, the soil
receives (at least where the planiership is what it ought to be) the almost
equally valuable mineral constituents of the wood itself

Yours, very obodi.'iitly, CII.\1U.ES UPH.iM SHEI'AKD.

LONGEVITY IN HORSES.— The Mar<iui.<« of Riimecroix has just lost an Arab mnre. by
death, which was Ri.xtylhrce years old, but v.hich dfcoiirtie Iiiul loiii; buoii useless. Mr, Jesse
Hill, of Cheddar, the steward of the Marquis of Uatli. lias a mare lie is ready to prove to be in her
fiftieth year. She is daily used in hajuese, her chief food beiug bran, potato riuds and grass.
(370)

A PLEASANT VISIT TO AN EMINENT FARMER. 179

A PLEASANT VISIT TO AN EMINENT FARMER.

The writer of the following, with whom wo ought to be acquainted, having been iu con-
stant personal intercourse witli liim for neai-ly threescore years, allows us to tiansfer it, with
such correclioas as may be necessary, to the pages of The Farmers' Library ; and as
he says we were of the party, we dare not deny it, but confess the corn! Were we to add
a remark or two of our own, the result of some agreeable personal intercourse uith excel-
lent, plain, practical famiei-s in the neighborhood of SiU'atoga, we should feel Ijound to indi-
cate two glai-ing defects in the habits and management of most of them. Reader, do you
wish to know what these are ? ^Ve wiU tell you : They don't (some of them) provide them-
selves with icc-houHCs, which they might do so cheaply with so much satisfaction aud profit;
neither do they ever nib a pen in the way of keeping accoiinls of outlay and income ! !
Need we dwell upon the improvident and reproachful omission in both cases ! No ; it is too
obvious. Where so much ice-cream is eaten, the fanner should supply it ready-made to-
the hotels, a& they do near riiiladelphia. But oidy think of sensible and otherwise well
managing, economical and industrious fai-mers, even I'resideuts of Agincultural Societies,
having no ice-houses, and keeping no accounts of income and expenditure ! ! But om- object
is to introduce a narrative — not to write an essay ! We will only add to the testimony of our
correspondent, that this President m his shirt-sleeves entertained us gi-acefully, cordially, and
with an animated, well-infonned aud highly interesting conversation, on his part, on the va-
rious branches of his business. His family are all of the '^ peep o^ day boys" stock; and
eveiy department, eating, and sleeping, and rising and working, all proceeds with uniformity
and therefore with certainty as to residts — three horses, in nice order, to do the work
through the week and take the family to meeting ou the Sabbath.

From the Saratoga Republican.
A VISIT TO THE PRESIDENT OF AN AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY, WITH AN ACCOUNT OP
WHAT OCCURRED— INTERSPERSED WITH SOME REFLECTIONS BY THE NARRATOR-
ALL CONTAINED IN TWO LETTERS, OF WHICH THIS IS

NO. I.

■■/ like to be particuhtr."

Saratoga, 28th August, 18-16.

Mr. Editor : Happening to be present on occasion of a chance visit, a few days

since, to the President of an Agricultural Society in county, N. Y., a brief

relation of what transpired may, to your southern readers, serve to lift the cur-
tain on the life and iiabits of northern farmers. The office of President of a so-
ciety for the improvement of the noble art of Agriculture, under the patronage-
of the Empire State, warrants the presumption that the host on this occasion ""is-
above the average standard in personal consideration and intelligence, and quite
up to it in style of living. To proceed :

Two gentlemen, on an equestrian excursion from " the Springs," for the sake
of exercise, and to take a look at the country roundabout, stopped near an anti-
quated, very ordinary-looking dwelling, on the road side, and inquired respect-
fully of a lady at the door, " Pray, Madam, can you inform us where Mr. C

lives? " for they had heard of h'im as the Rural Philosopher, or Klyogg of the
neighborhood. " Yes, sir," was the polite answer ; " this is his residence, and
there he is himself, at work in the field," pointing to a hill-side meadow, which
he afterward told us had been sowed over and harrowed down to timothy by his
father, fifty-two years ago,* and from which a crop of hay had been taken every

[* We have since learned, in the neighborhood of Lebanon Springs, that it is no uncommon
thing to mow the same meadow fifty years or more in succession. This explains, hi part., the
uniformly high price of these lands ; for the greater part of them, upland and lowland, is laid
down to grass, with which they combine sheep raising and dairy husbandry. When a man baya
one of diese farms, lie knows ihct, witliout cultivation, every acre will yield a certain amount of
a salable commodity. //j Farm lib]

{371j ' ' • ' -i.

180 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

year since, without ever having been manured or top-dressed, except last year
that a ton of plaster had been divided between it and another lot, wliich had so
wadded to the bulk of the crop, that this year he will rut "between two and three
.tons to the acre." In this lot he was at work, Avith his two sons, of seventeen
a.nd nineteen, and two men hired for this particular occasion.

The timothy had been left longer in the field than was designed or proper,
"waiting for weather that he might be sure, as he said, " to have it after making
'it," meaning that no accident should happen between the mowing and the
'housing. The process was simply this : as the men went over, making exceed-
ingly close and smooth and beautiful work of it, at the rate of a little more
than an acre a day each, his younger son scattered after them with a wooden
fork, made on a rainy day, and costing next to nothing. Be that noted, as " straws
show which way the wind blows." In the afternoon the grass v/as to be thrown
into cocks, and the next fair day to be spread to the wind, and thence taken to
the barn, or rather, in tliis case, to be stacked ; for his barn, 36 by 60, 19 feet
pitch, was tilled to overflowing.

To me it was a highly interesting operation to see these young men, without
^even stopping to look at us, moving on with their work with so much cheerful-
ness, alertness and sleight-of-hand, not stopping, as skulkers are so apt to do,
every five minutes, to consume five minutes more in whetting their scythes, or
wetting their whistles.

Seeing that there were two gentlemen, strangers, at his door, 3Ir. C. came at
•once to the house, and the strangers introduced each other, when at once, in a
way equally removed from boorish awkwardness and unmanly servility, but
rather with a natural ease, and even gracefulness of manner, he invited them to
saiight, to let their horses be fed, or at least to be put away, and to " walk in and
refresh themselves."

This man, for he was " every inch a man," who came in his shirt sleeves, from
iiis work in the field, stood about six feet high in his stockings, and weighed
about 220 or 30, with a head on his shoulders that would not have disfigured a
bust of Cincinnatus himself.

But, sir, it may be well that I should give you the whole dramatis person<T.
"It leaked out that one was the veteran Editor of The Farmers' Library, who
ifounded the old American Farmer, in 1819, and the other an opulent Southern
planter, Col. F. W. P., who had a few years since voluntarily retired from Con-
■gress, and more recently declined the offer of the first foreign mission abroad,
wisely preferring the pursuits and the quiet of the country, with its wholesome
•exercises and intellectual enjoyments — the true otin/7i cum dli^tiitate, most be-
..-■coming and desirable to an independent American agriculturist.

Well, Mr. Editor, scarcely were they seated in the house, before they entered

•iipon all the operations of the field — the stores of the barn — the secrets of the

dairy, and even the contents of the stercorary. You would have been amused to

witness tlie quiet way in which the cosmopolite Editor began to catechize our

aaortheni President of an Agricultural Society, the southern planter all the while

planting a home-thrust here and there, to make the catechism tlie more thorough

:and complete; until the way they wormed his management out of Col. C. was

. a caution ! Of the two interrogators, you could not well say which was in the

'lead. Both followed up the chase with the eagerness of dogs " running to kill,"

"ivhile he, like a wary old boar of the black forest, or a Numidian lion, kept his

( pursuers at bay, allowing no vantage to be taken of him. If their questions were

VTapJd and searching, his answers were prompt and full. He gave the gentlemen,

"With all civility, a " Roland for their Oliver," I tell you ! To make a long story

short, Mr. Editor, (not very short, the reader Avill say, after all.) the sum of their

inquiry into his agricultural condition and management amounted to liiis :

His farm, near Lake Saratoga, consists of 100 acres, of wiiich 20 arc in wood.
His force is made up of iiimself, his wife, his daughter of 16, and his two sons
of 17 and 19 years of age.

With these resources he lives abundantly, increases his crops, improves his
^estate, and is pushing the education of liis children, in winter, rather beyond the
' common standard. He indulges in a wagon and pan- of horses, that work through
ahe week, and take his family to meeting on the Sabbath, and at the end of the
year nets from two to three hundred dollars to be added to his capital.

J3ut, to go a little more into detail. His slock of domestic animals, well kept

(372)'

A PLEASANT VISIT TO AN EMINENT FARMER. 181

on this farm of 100 acres, (of which 80 only are under the plow or in permanent
pasture,) consists of about 20 hogs, little and big, 16 head of neat cattle, 3 horses^
and 50 head of sheep. His sheep yield him an average clip of 3 pounds per
head, and the wool is exchanged at a neighboring factory fur, or made into clotfe
and casinet, for his own use ; so that there is no outlay on that score. "A penny
saved is two pence got," as Poor Richard says. His sheep are, for the most part,,
pastured on a lot of 10 or 12 acres.

The Editor aforesaid was earnest in persuading him that he would find a great
savhig in the entire substitution of mules for horses; urging tiiat of all machines
on a farm, a horse, especially an idle one, was the ntoxt c.rpcnsivc, even worse
than an idle man or woman, except that thougli their mouth goes, their to7is;uc-
docs not ; but with tbe prejudice against this useful animal, which is universal
if not instinctive, throughout Pennsylvania, New- York, and perhaps all New-
England, Mr. C. intimated that his family umSt have a conveyance to meeting,,
and that neither they nor he would consider it comely or respectable to drive
mules'. Thus, after all, there are })oints on which you may touch the pride of
these northern people, and on which they are as ready as some others, to sacri-
fice pecuniary considerations for sake of appearances. In vain did the Editor,..
who seemed very //o/Zfishly inclined, urge, that in some countries, as in Spain
and Portugal, and the Brazils, the use of mules is reserved as an aristocratic
privilege To noble and royal iamilies. This republican farmer, this American
Klyogg considered himself "as good as any nobleman of England." In vain
did the Editor tell him that in New-Orleans, where so many men make their
living by the use of the dray, they would not have a horse as a present — that h.*!-
had seen ladies driving mules in their carriages into Augusta, in Georgia, and
that he had iiimself ridden from the residence of the Farmer of Ashland to Gen.
Shelby's, in his private carriage, behind a pair of mules, 8 miles within the liour^
and without the touch of whip.

All would not convert the President of the Agricultural Society to the use of
this despised hybrid. You might as well "pour water on a goose's back," —
while the truth is that, especially with their light land in this county, millions
might be saved by using and driving the nmie, in place of the shorter lived, more-
luxurious, more sickly, and most expensive of all beasts — the horse. I could not.
myself help reflecting on the force of this prejudice, at the sight of a team of'
frail horses, every day hauling brick into Saratoga from Mr. Denton's, a very in-
dustrious and thrifty farmer in the neigh i)orhood ; knowing, as I do, how muck
mules are prized wherever their value is known, especially for that steady, er-
ery-day, measured drudgery — such as working in machinery, hauling iron ore^
working on canals — where the labor is constant and steady, day in and day out,
from year's end to year's end. Ask the Ridgleys, the Ellicots, and the Patter-
sons, of Maryland, and they will tell you on this point, as General Ridgely, of
Hampton, once did the writer, (your spy on this occasion,) that if you would fit
them out, in the commencement of the iron business, with a set of horses, and
require them to keep them up by repairing wear and tear, for a series of years,
ihey would not accept them as a gracious gift.

Mr. C. was of the connuon opinion among people who are not acquainted
with mules, that they are very difficult to break, and require to be " broken
over again " every once in a while. Pie seemed surprised when the Editor told
him they were much easier than a horse to !)e broken to the plow or the wagon;:
and yet more when the southern planter told him that, in the South, all they
had to do was to get them hitckcd to the wagon, and drive them off at once^
For myself, there needed no argument in favor of oxen or mules, for I had read
all that had been written by this Editor himself, of tiie natural history and econ-
omy of both, amounting to more than has been said in their favor bv any (I was
going to say, friend) either living or dead, of these patient and speechless crea-
tures— even to the relation of the story from the writings of Rev. Dr. Sterne^,
where he recounts how two nuns, deserted by the muleteer, and getting be-
nighted in the mountains, could not persuade the mule to advance another siep>
until they bethought themselves to have recourse to a certain expedient.

The fact is that; the prejudice against mules is like that against snakes — both,,
perhaps, deducible from scriptural injunctions, one of which says, tiie heel of
the son of Adam sbalt bruise the serpent's head, and the other that thou shall
not let l!iy cattle gender with divers kinds — meaning, perhaps, the horse and ilxe

(373)

182 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

ass. And yet, how strange that the produce of this unscriptural connection should
exceed either of" the progenitors in so many qualities that give usefulness to each
—in size, strensth and activity, excelling the one in longevity, hardiness, sure-
footedness, caution and self-possession — in traveling over dangerous precipices,
so much excelling the nobler of the three. After all, give me a mule for being
"rough and ready" to work at all times, and to last next after iron. nemo,

THE RIGHT WAY TO MANAGE A FARM.

To the Editor of The Farmers' Library : Charleston, August 15, 1846.

Dear Sir: Having just read the communication of "S. B." in your July No.
I take the liberty of presenting you with an oasis which the admirer of scientific
planting may meet with in his route across the desert laid down by S. B. In the
summer of '45, while wending my winding way through South-Western Georgia,
I had the misfortune to lame a valuable horse while crossing one of the " cord-'
uroy" bridges indigenous, I believe, to that region. It was four miles to the
aearest plantation in my rear, and nine to the next in my route; so I shouldered
my saddle-bags and took the back track, leading my horse. The place to which

1 was now backing., I had but a short while previously passed, but not sufficiently
■contiguous to enable me to form any conjecture as to the chance of my being en-
abled to obviate the " phix" in which I was placed.

I reached my destination about noon, and found the proprietor just in from the
labors of the forenoon. The good taste displayed in the different buildings, &c.
which presented themselves to my view, notwithstanding they were constructed
of logs, gave me considerable hope that I should not be long detained on my
travels. Upon making known my situation, I ascertained that my only chance
to purchase another horse would be up in Americus, 27 miles distant — to which
place the proprietor happened to be going in the morning, and kindly offered me
a seat in his buggy. By this time the melodious peals of the dinner-horn saluted
my auriculars, and the pugnacious condition of my gastric functions made an
invitation to pot-luck peculiarly interesting, and not to be declined — for here I
felt assured that cow-peas, corn-bread and ham were not the order of the day. —
Arrived at the domicil, and our ablutions performed, I was escorted by my host
to the dining apartment — a commodious shed, erected for summer use, under the
wide-spreading boughs of an ancient oak — where I was introduced to the land-
lady, whose fine personal appearance drew from me my best city bow and salu-
tation, which was returned with such dignity and lady-like composure as to put
me at once upon my Ps and Qs. The dinner I found most excellent, and of a
variety that would have flattered the most fastidious gourmand.

After dining, my host in^rited me to a stroll through his grounds, which, he
informed me, contained exactly 75 acres under cultivation. Passing the garden,

2 acres, I noticed flowers, shrubbery, and vegetables, of every variety, blending
in beautiful contrast, and exhibiting a skill that I had noticed in no other gar-
den. The different jmlches of corn, cotton, peas, potatoes, vVc. &:c. ice. present-
ed a neatness of cultivation and luxuriousness of growth that I never before ob-
served, even in the fancy farms of the North. Expressing surprise at the small
<juantity of land in cultivation, for his force, he informed me that he planted
fully as much as could be properly tended. His products, however, were aston-
ishing. His yield of corn was, the past season, 05 bushels to the acre, and the
arrowing crop'would be much larger. I do not now remember the yield ojf cot-
ton, but it was very heavy. I have seen nothing in Mississippi or Louisiana
to come up to it.

His barn, stables, mill, gin-house, Jcc. were upon a new plan to any I had
seen. The difl'erent manure bins showed that this article claimed particular
attention, and the proprietor informed me that he never cultivated more land
than he could keep well manured : and that, notwithstandin-i the smallness of
his plantation, his crops would outmeasure many of his neighbors' Avho culti-
vated four times the quantity. Amid all my travels through the States, I have
never found an individual who appeared better informed upon all points relating
(:n4)

^ /i

184 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

tnes. We incline with him to the opinion that among the things requisite t&
the improvement of the arts, and a high degree of civilization, are a set of ele-
gant homes, ready and sumptuously furnished, with luxurious stores and appli-
ances of all kinds, and above all, as he says, complete social enginery — in other
words, strong laws, and a strong and honest disposition of executive power, to
enforce them, to give the most^ unquestionable security to life and property.

We hold nothing to be more pernicious than a jealousy of the poor toward the
rich, whose fortunes, acquired generally in this country by industry, give those poor
employment; nor anymore worthy to be regarded in the light of mad dogs, than
demagogues who would appeal to or excite their animosity against those Avhose
capital creates demand for their labor.

But truly we hardly know how Roswell House should have drawn from our
pen such a train of reflection, for we meant only to give a picture of an impos-
ing, capacious, and hospitable mansion, and to recommend the grounds to general
imitation. And why? Because they combine what every where indicates good
and salutary taste, and one which at once shows and promotes the best sort of
affections — to wit, the love of beautiful trees, and choice fruits, and various flow-
ers— a taste which has been almost common to good and great men from the
days of Virgil and of Spenser to the present.

See, in the following lines from the latter, how, better even than some prac-
tical farmers, he understood both the habitation and uses of many of our forest
trees :

"And forth they pasge with pleasure forward led,
Joying to hear the birds swecte harmony,
Which therein shrouded from the tempests drcd.
Seemed in their song to scorn the cruel sky ;
Much can they praise the trees so straight and high :
The sayling Pine, the Cedar proud and tall,
The vineprop Elm, the Poplar never dry,
The builder Oak, sole king of forests all,
The Asper, good for staves, the Cypress, funeral.

" The Laurel, meed of mighty conquerors

And poets sage, the Firre that weepeth still,
The VVillovi', wornc of forlorne paramours.
The Eugh, obedient to the bender's will,
The Birch for shafts, the Sallow for the mill,
The Myrre sweet bleeding of the bitter wound,

The warlike Beech, the Ash for nothing ill.
The fruitful Olive, and the Platane round.
The carver Holme, the Maple sildom inward sound."

The gentle reader will excuse only two more lines, and these from his own

the great poet of Agriculture, Virgil:

•' Fraxinus in sylvis pulcherrima, pinus in hortis,
Populus in fluviis, abics in montibus altis."

Connected with Roswell House are 95 acres of land, 62 of which are included
in one lot, surrounded by a stone wall, and Madura hedge, or board fence, with
no division fences.

It would not be easy to conceive a ruder and more unmanageable piece of
orround than that was which is now occupied by this superb mansion, and the
ornamental and fruit trees that adorn and enrich it. A black alder swamp, of
five acres of mud and quick-sand, has given way to two large ponds or miniature
lakes, where swans, which, according to an old notion, " cannot hatch without a
cracke of thunder," are ever sporting their graceful iorms.

Between these two ponds there is a fall of five feet, of which Mr. C. took ad-
vantage, by raising a dam, and placing a wheel of eight feet diameter, to put in
motion, by the How of the upper pond, a forciug-puinp, supplied not from the

(37(i)

ROSWELL IJOUSE. 185

pond, but from a well at the wheel-house, with the purest spring water, which
is forced to the top of his house, 100 feet above its level ; and this supply is equal
to all the requirements of his family, his stables and cow-sheds, and to irrigate
his garden and grounds.

But what, as we before stated, is most to be admired, in our estimation, is the
number and variety of trees which have been added to the few white and black
oaks, and chesnuts, that stood at the foot of the hill when he commenced the
improvement of this rude and ill-shapen piece of land. If the reader should ask
why we have taken the space occupied with a not quite periect list of these, the
answer is ready. This is a beautiful species of improvement, which almost any
farmer may imitate ; while many of them fail, even in that simplest and cheap-
est, if not most agreeable of the cardinal duties of life — for they do not evea
" plant a tree."

These trees planted by Mr. Colt arc all in the most flourishing condition, but
not without care and attention. Children won't thrive that are not sometimes fed,
combed, and washed. One of them, however, the Linden, ( Tilia europcea,) seems
to have attracted the bitter enmity of an insect borer, that with his saw encircles
the young branch in the neatest possible manner, leaving just enough at the
heart to hold on until broken by the first breeze that shakes it — ^just as false
friends drop off and disappear when misfortune threatens or slander assails their
benefactor.

Besides these, there are several hundred fruit trees, imported from England
and France — such as pears, plums, apples, and peaches — in addition to some 1500
of Mr. C.'s own raising, or procured from Rochester, Cincinnati, or Boston, of
the choicest varieties.

In vineyard, in open ground, there are 700 choice European vines, of the best
kinds, besides 300 of the best European grapes, which are cultivated according
to the Thomery plan at Fontainbleau, where the best grapes are produced for
the Paris market ; and he is now putting out 700 to 1000 more. He raises a
choice collection of grapes under glass, and his supply of black Haraburghs,
Victorines, black and white St. Peters, Muscat of Alexandria, Frontinacs, and
" Cambridge Botanical Garden," will yield him, it is estimated, more than 1000
pounds of as fine grapes as are raised in this country ; and, using the Yankee's
privilege, he guesses he will have from out-door vines over 5,000 pounds of sim-
ilar grapes.

He finds whale-oil soap suds, 1 pound of soap to 15 gallons of water, the best
wash for fruit trees. It kills all kinds of vermin, opens the pores of the bark, and
makes it smooth and healthy ; and, if a quart of it happens to run down to the
roots, so much the better. For protection of his peach trees, he first cuts out the
enemy at the root, and then paints the rascals' damaged and vacated quarters
with gas tar. This proves, likewise, an excellent protection to the Mountain
Ash, which is also liable to attack and depredation at the same point. This
Mountain Ash, by-the-by, is one of the enviable boasts of this northern country.
We are not aware that it flourishes south of the Chesapeake.

Mr. C. has near half a mile of luxuriant hedge of the Osage Orange, (the Ma-
dura aurantiaca,) which he much prefers to all other plants for hedges, and
which is so much admired at Mr. Cushing's celebrated villa, near Boston. He
agrees with Gen. Dearborn, in thinking the Buck-Thorn the next best.

Experiment is bemg made at Roswell House with the Cherokee Rose, (not
the least of the many good and beautiful boasts of the sunny South.) It might

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186" MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

have been well to have ascertained the result of those which we procured to be
planted, many years ago, at Green Mount, then the hospitable residence of the
late Robert Oliver. Forever honored be his memory for his public spirit and
benevolence !

The green-house, as shown m the accompanying sketch, is in dimensions 80
by 37 feet, with a forcing-house 35 by 14, and filled with a variety of fine plants,
but not equal in rarity or variety to Mr. Manice's, on Long Island, or to pro-
fessional collectors and cultivators — as he raises only to exchange or give away,
which is done to his friends with a lavish hand, saying, as the liberal man who
can afford it always does to his friend, " what is mine is thine."

For reasons that do more credit to his feelings than his arborical taste, Mr.
C. professes to take most pride in his Horse-Chesnuts, which he raised from
the nuts, and planted with his own hands in 1794.

And now, having very hastily, for want of more time, given a sort of outline
sketch of Roswell House and Grounds, should the cynical reader demand cui
bono ? for what good ? we repeat that those who have money to lay out in a
delightful residence may have the benefit of its plan, or beat it if they can. —
While the many are too lazy, few are so poor but they might turn to advantage
such a beautiful and praiseworthy example of taste and perseverance in the
simple and elegant arts of arboriculture and horticulture, as we have here pre-
sented ; though we regretted not to find, in a collection so extensive and well-
chosen, the Tamarac or Hackmatac, [Larix americana) which abounds in the
neighborhood of Lake Saratoga, and which, to our taste, is the prettiest of the
Pine family. ,

For a better description, we might have referred to one which we remember
to have seen in that excellent journal, the American Agriculturist, but have
not the volume that contains it.

LIST OF TREES GROWING ON THE GROUNDS OF ROSWELL HOUSE,

Near Patekson, N. J.
With their common and botanical names.

English Oak, (Qnerms robnr.) Common Willow, (Salix alba.)

" Sycamore, ( Acer paeudoplatanus.) Weeping Willow, ( Salii babylonicn.)

" Linden, (Tilia evropaa.) Weeping Birch, (Betida alba pendula.)

" Walnut, (Juglans regia.) Button-wood Tree (Platanus occidentalis.)

" Yew, (Taxiis baccara.) CaVd\pa, (Catalpa s>/ringirfolia.)

" Elm, (Uhnus campestris.) Black Spruce, (Abies nigra.)

Dutch Elm, (Ulmus c. major.) Hemlock Spruce, (Abies canadensis.)

Scotch Larch, (Larix europcea.) White Pine, (Pimis strobus.) Same as Weymouth

Norway Spruce, (Abies urcelsa.) Pine.

Weymouth Pine, (Piiivs strobus.) Balm of Gilead, (Fic.ea balsamea.)

Cedar of ],ebanon, (Cedriis libani.) Arbor Vita?, Chinese, (Thuja orientalU.)

Indian Cedar, (Cidrus deodnra.) " American. (Thuja occidaitalis.)

Imperial Paulownia, (I'aulovnia imperially:.) Holly. European, (lln aqvifoUvm.)

Mountain Ash, ( I'yrus auciiparia.) Large-dowercd Magnolia, (Magnolia grandifiora.)

Weeping Aah, (Pyriis a. pnidula.) (Ihiucous-leaved do. (Magnolia gtavca.)
Copper-leav(;d P.i'ecli, (Fagns syhmtica ciiprea.) Cucumber Trees, (Magnolia macrophylla ? cordata f
Purple or Blood-leaved lliecli, (Fagvs s. purpurea.) &.c.)

Irish Yew, (Tnriis brirrnia fastigiala.) Chinese Vias;ao\\!ia, (Magnolia conspicua ; purpurea ,

Laburnum, (Cytisus Ud>iirnum f ) gracilis; iic.)

Ailantus, (Ailnntus gliindiilosa.) Black Walnut, (Juglavs vigra.)

Abele Tree. (Populiis alba.) White Hickory-nut, (Carya alba.)

Spanish Chesnut, (Castavea vesca.) American Chesnut, (Ca.-nama vcsca americana.)

French do. do. Butternut. (Juglans civern.)

Sugar Maple. (Acer saccharinum.) Wild Cherry Tree, (Ctrasus rirginiana.)

Soft Mai)le, (Acer iriocarpnm.) Persimon Tree, (Diospyros rirginiana.)

American Kim, (Vlmus americana.) White Mullierry, (Morns alba.)

Weeping Kim, CWniHS a. praf/wZa.* Black do. (Morns nigra.)

Stippnry Elm, (Utmus a. fulva.) Chinese do. (Morns aiba sinensis.)

Note.— The botanical names as given above are in accordance with the system adopted in Browne's
Trees of America — wliich we heartily recommend to every one who professes, or who would have hia
family contract, a fondness for this beautiful branch of rural study and recreation.

•14 4^

J Us cost

h\^

t\*^\

188 MONTHLY JOLfR?JAL OF AGRICULTURE.

character of those in attendance, and whether they constitute the hone and sinew

the staple of the agricultural community of the State ; and whether the animals
and other things produced go to show that the fanners generally have taken
hold and embarked heartily in the cause, with a conviction of the utility of these
shows and with a determination to excel in the various branches of industry in
which their capital is embarked and on which their labor is bestowed.

Contemplating the Auburn exhibition in this light, the question is, whether it
demonstrated a general and praiseworthy spirit of rivalry, and a marked advance
in a way to assure us of continued and general melioration of agricultural life
and pursuits. In the first place, it is a source of unfeigned pleasure to testify
that in the most important department, agricultural implements, there were
abundant proofs of zeal and ingenuity on the part of those who devote their o-e-
nius and labors to these objects — which we the more readily denominate as the
most important, because some of them, as the plow and the harrow, lie at the
bottom, and serve, as it were, as the entering wedge to all agricultural opera-
tions ; and all of them are designed to achieve that great desideratum in our
country — economy of labor. In this branch of the exhibition there was most
satisfactory evidence that the mind is at work, and that we may hope to realize
for Agriculture some degree of that improvement which has been effected in the
vehicles and machinery appropriated to commerce, manufactures, and other arts
and trades. But even these improvements have been stricken out, not so much
by any action of the mind within the circle of practical farmers, as by the stimu-
lus which the wants of Agriculture have applied to the mind of the mechanic —
of men who live in nearer communion and rivalry with each other, and who
have been brought, by encouraging influences, to think — yes, in a word, to think.
But look again over the field for proofs of improvement in the race of domestic
animals, and especially of cattle, so important in the agricultural economy of the
State of New- York— emphatically a butter, a cheese, and a beef-growing coun-
try ! After using every persuasive to prevail on the farmers of the country to
bring forward their bulls, and cows, and heifers, of the country breed — offering,
year after year, the same premiums as for the various races of imported stock —
what is the result ? What was the number of competitors ? and what were the
signs of bulls of better form, and cows of deeper milking properties, or heifers
of fairer promise, than might have been gathered up twenty years ago in any five
miles square in any part of the State ? Let it not be said — we sincerely wish it
could be said — that improvement has been pushed to the ne plus ultra m that de-
partment. Were that true, how should we account for the recommendation of the
Committee that these premiums be hereafter withdrawn, on the ground that the
prizes are worth more than the animals to which they are awarded ? Whai can
be the influence under which the farmers of the State generally hold back from
this area of honorable and praiseworthy rivalry 1 Is it that they indulge in an
unworthy, or a well-founded suspicion of trickery and management in the bc-
stowment of tlie premiums ? or that they are restrained by a puerile shame to
exhibit their best in the same field with imported animals which have been
carried to the highest point of improvement that wealth and skill in animal
breeding and physiology can raise them ? Of the milch cows of " country breed,"
it might be well to be silent, on the score that the least said is the soonest mend-
ed, and leaves less chance of being gored. Still we may venture to wonder why it
was that the first premium was given to tlie mother of " three <it'i«" calves ! Proli-
ticncss in the hog is a quality to be promoted, but even in that unclean beast it has

(380)

THE STATE FAIR. 189

its limit of usefulness — unless, perhaps, it be in Texas, or California, or Oregon, or
sonfic of our new territories, acquired, or to be acquired, by hook or by crook — but,
for Jicat cattle, we should think one, or at most two calves, would sufiice and be as
many as the mother could well bring up. We have heard of sows having twenty
at a litter; but, rather than encourage such extravagance in pig bearing, we would
sooner give a premium to the owner of a sow that should be content with littering
eight, provided he would bring them like eight such as we saw a few days since
in the piggery of Mr. B. A. Hall, of Lebanon, which will weigh, at little more
than 12 months old, about 2.400 pounds !

The display of stallions at Auburn proved, as usual, the most attractive and
admired point of the Fair ; and truly they were meritorious as they were numer-
ous. Here, again, we trace the immediate connection between competition and
excellence, and the hope of immediate gain. The animal is itself locomotive,
easily brought to the ground, and the owners have recourse to the Fair as the
best theatre for exhibition and sale. Hence the great number to be usually met
with, not only here, but on militia parade grounds and at political meetings. But
where are the large, roomy, well-bred, fine foreliandcd, flat-legged, brood mares,
that we should expect to find by dozens in the heart of a country so famous as
" Western New-York" is, throughout the southern country, for the production
of the most showy and the best harness nags ? For these we have looked in vain,
as indeed for match horses, such as bring, in the middle and southern States, from
$500 to $1,000. They must be somewhere ; but these Fairs seem not to bring them
forth. An exhibition such as we might and had hoped for, of a large number of
such superior mares and single colts and match horses, would be a most acceptable
indication, not only of a general spirit of improvement, but of a readiness to take
some little trouble and to be at some little expense to promote the patriotic ob-
jects of this great State association. But of this proof of a common zeal and a
common readmess to cooperate in the public useful objects of these shows, there
was no proof at all. The few mares and cattle of common breeds, except oxen,
that were exhibited were of such character that we believe the Committee recom-
mended the premiums to be withheld. A better show of mares would be met
with at any county exhibition in Maryland or Virginia. So we return again, with
pleasure, to remark that the display of stallions was superior to any we have seen
in the State. It must be for some very odd and unimaginable purpose that a
man wished to breed anything of the horse kind, who could not be suited here,
whether in the heavy-bodied dray horse ; the huge Cleveland bay; the thin-
skinned, courageous racer; the hardy Canadian ; the Mambrino trotting stock, or
the short-jointed, close-knit, active Morgan horse. All were there, at his com-
mand. Of Hogs, we shall only remark that those, if any, who could not be sat-
isfied with such as were there, can easily breed for themselves, even to a given
number of white-feet, as pigeons are bred to a feather.

The display of fruit, especially of apples, served to corroborate the proofs, so
everywhere abounding, of the suitableness of the soil and climate of New- York
to the growth of that fruit, and to make it apparent that the apple crop is wor-
thy of more general attention.

Finally, is it not to be apprehended that in most of the departments where ex-
cellence was exhibited, it was rather the fruit of individual exertion, stimulated
by gainful purposes, and which would have been elicited under that influence in-
dependently of the Stale Society, or the fruit of a generous and most commend-
able disposition on the part of importers of cattle, which have been now so fre-

(381)

190 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

quently exhibited, and by which it was intended to show to the farmers of the
country what they might accomplish in the same way if impelled by a real
love of their vocation and a desire for excellence and distinction in the pros-
ecution of it ?

On the whole, unless the mass of the farmers can be prompted to enter more
generally the lists of competition — unless we can show increased production by a
more and more skillful preparation and application of manure, with other evi-
dences of general improvement clearly traceable to a closer study of the princi-
ples of Agriculture — and as the fruit produced by these Annual Fairs, where, it
may be feared, thousands come now to see, as to any other spectacle, rather than
to contribute — may not the question begin to be put, whether we should not strike
nearer to the root of the evil or deficiency we would cure, by applying a larger
portion of the time and the means which are now applied to getting up specta-
cles, rather to the dissemination of knowledge — which, after all is power, and
the basis on which 'all hopeful improvement must rest ? General improve-
ment in a great branch of national industry, implies influences deeply seated
and widely diffused: it implies change and melioration in the system of edu-
cation and the habits of thought ; and that is not so easily wroua;ht on men
advanced in life, any more than espaliers can be made of old trees. It may
well be questioned whether greater good would not be achieved by a pre-
mium, for instance, for the best essay on the art and principles of draining
land — such an one as Mr. Thomas would write ; or an essay from Downing on
rural architecture ; or Audubon on ornithology ; or Doctor Darlington on botany ;
or Anderson on hemp ; or Goldsborough on wheat ; or Randall on barley ; or
Harris on entomology ; or Seabrook on cotton ; or Pvost on sugar ; or Franklin
Minor on practical farming ; or Wilder on horticulture — &c. and causing these to
be read in every country school, and in every Farmers' Club, It may be doubted
whether such dispositions of the funds at command would not lay the founda-
tion of more good than all the premiums that ever were bestowed for large
crops, or fat hogs, or cows with three calves ! It is not with the spirit of cu-
pidity in the old, but with the love of knowledge in the young, that we must
deal. By particular ablution we may wash away the dust or insects from the
branches of a tree ; but if you would have it strike deep root and take firm
hold of the ground — if you would invigorate its stem and give it fruitfulness
and longevity, you must manure and cultivate at the root. So, if we would ac-
complish a radical and permanent and Avell-grounded reform in the great indus-
trial interests of society, all effectual efforts to do so must be connected with the
intellectual cultivation of the rising generations with reference to these particular
interests ; and although, as in the case of some accidental influence prejudicial
to the fruitfulness of a particular crop, it may be removed, and the crop saved
by expedients, yet it would he the bight of folly and empiricism to rely on
such expedients for the regular enjoyment of abundant harvests. The juggler
may amuse the vulgar by his sleight-of-hand tricks, and fill their minds with
amazement and his pockets with their loose change ; but the piiilosopher and
the man of sense knows all the while that nothing can break the regular and
natural connection between cause and effect, and is eager to see what that connec-
tion is in the case before him. A glittering premium may cause any man to stuff
his bullock into excessive obesity ; but how much more useful to stimulate some
man of science, by high and adequate rewards of profit or of honor, to analyze and
explain, for common and universal benefit and information, the properties of the

(M2)

THE STATE FAiR. 191

soil on which the corn and the grass grow, and the nutritive properties, again, of
the corn and tlie grass on whicli tlie bullock feeds, to the end that through all
his operations the young fiiriner may proceed undcrstandingly — else can he never
proceed with the same pleasure or honor, or, with any thing like certainty, to
adapt his means to his ends ! Who does not know, as the result of experiments
a thousand times repeated, what immense crops of corn can be made to grow on an
acre — how much wool to grow on a sheep's back — how much milk a cow can be
made to yield, and how mucii a hog be made to weigh ? But how few understand
thoroughly the principles upon which these results depend, and by what most eco-
nomical means and processes they can be with certainty accomplished ? Have we
not, in a word, collected a suflicient mass of facts, and is it not time that we were
drawing deductions from them, or, in other words, time that we were looking from
effects to causes ? Finally, the production of great crops and the exhibition of
well-formed animals, and implements of the most perfect structure, are all highly
worthy of encouragement — not to show that such things can be produced, but,
as demonstrations of problems on the blackboard, to show, at the same time,
how they have been done! Any fool can tell that if a hen sits three weeks
on an egg it wall produce a chicken ; but it took science to ascertain the de-
gree of temperature — about 100 of Fahrenheit — essential to incubation, and
that artificial heat might be made to perform the office of the natural mother,
and just as well. When shall we cease to appeal, as a stimulus to improve-
ment, to the baser elements of our nature, and learn that no walk of life opens
so many and such entertaining studies as those which lie in his path to charm
the cultivator of the soil, and to make him establish his natural right to be ac-
counted among the most learned, and, as he ought to be, of consequence, among
the most useful and virtuous of mankind 1 How long shall we sufler all other,
classes to talk of and to treat us as fools or babies ? Let our efibrtsand our means
be applied to the better education of the rising generation in the principles of
Agriculture in all its branches, and to providing well-paid and highly honored in-
structors and suitable books for all our schools, and for Farmers' Clubs. Thus
would we lay a broad and solid basis out of which general and permanent im-
provement would grow up— improvement founded on pride in their profession, to
which an understanding of its principles is always to be implied as essential.—
We only say that the time may come when the question will arise, whether it is
not better to give this other direction to a large share of our exertions, and to
most of the means at our command, and even to the action of the Government,
if the Government can ever be brought to act specially for this great interest as it
does for others, that live, like horse-flies, on its blood.

We cannot draw these hasty remarks to a close without bearing our humble
testimony to the patriotic efforts and designs of all concerned in projecting this
exhibition, and to the assiduity and tact of the officers and assistants to whom
was consigned the duty of superintending it. We regretted that, for more rea-
sons than one, it was impossible for us to hear the Oration ; but we shall read it
with the greater attention, and with a pleasure for which we have ample secu-
rity in the admitted and admired talents and eloquence of the orator.

Without the slightest wish to detract from him or from the obligation con-
ferred by him on the Society, we will only add, that when agriculturists are
brought by improved education in direct reference to their business, to a better
knowledge of it and of their rights, knowing, they will " dare maintain them ;''
and will no longer consider themselves obliged to go annually to some raembej

(383)

192

MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

of a "learned profession " to advocate the interests of their own, which thus, by
implication, at least, they seem content shall be for ever considered as among
the unlearned .'

If, with some experience, and thirty years of zealous devotion to these sub-
jects, we may be permitted to offer one suggestion in a friendly spirit, we would
add that, instead of giving premiums to animals without merit, because they are
without competitors, such animals should be stigmatized as unworthy of exhibi-
tion and of their race. Several such prized animals at this exhibition might be
named. At all events, the number of competitors in all cases should be stated,
along with the awards, as that would serve in some measure to explain that suc-
cess does not always imply merit. The object of such Societies — especially State
Societies — should be not so much to swell the number as to exemplify excellence
in things exhibited. If proceedings are not conducted in this spirit of judgment
and independence, the public will turn away in disgust from an institution so lia-
ble to be ill-directed or perverted.

PRICES CURRENT.

[Corrected, September 23, for the Monthly Journal of Agriculture.]

ASHES— Pots, iBt sort ^ 100 lb. 3

Pearls, 1st sort, '4f) 4

BEESWAX — American Yellow —

CANDLES— Mould, Tallow..^ 16... —

Spei-m, Eastern and Citj' —

COTTON— From ^ It). —

COTTON BAGGING — American... —

CORDAGE— American f ft. —

DOMESTIC GOODS-Shii-rings, f y. —

Sheetings —

FEATHERS — American, live —

FL.4X — American —

FLOUR & MEAL— Genesee, ^ bbl. 4

Troy 4

Michigan 4

Ohio, Flat Hoop 4

Ohio, Roimd Hoop 4

Ohio, via New-Orleans —

Pennsylvania —

Brandy wine 5

Georgetown 4

Baltunore City Mills —

Uichmond City Mills 6

Richmond Counti-j' 4

Alexandria, Petersburg, &c 4

Rye Flour 3

fJorn Meal, Jersey and P.rand 3

Com Meal, Brandywine hhd. 15

ORAIN— Wheat, White ^ bush. 1

Wheat, Red new —

Rye, Northern —

Com, Jersey and North ... (meas.) —

Com, Southern (measure) —

Com, Southern (weight) —

Oats, Northern —

Oats, Southern —

HAY— North River in bale?, ^lOOm —
HEMP— American, dew-rotted . . ton 75

« " water-rotted 130

HOPS— 1st sort, 1845 —

IRON— American Pig, No. 1 32

I " Common 22

limp:- Thomnston ^ bbl. —

LUMBER— Boards, N.R., ^hl. ft. clr. 30

Boards, Eastern Pine 11

Boards, Albany Pine f>'pce. —

Plank, Georgia Pine ^M. ft. 27

(384)

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Staves, \V\nte Oak, pipe. ^ M 50 — @

Staves, \\'hite Oak, hhd 40 — -3)

Staves, White Oak, bbl 30 — ®

Staves, Red Oak, hhd 24 — ®26

Hoops 25 — @30 —

Scantling, Pine, Eastern @15

Scantling, Oak 30 — ®a5 —

Timber,"Oak ^ cubic foot — 22 @— 33

Timber, ^\liite Pine — 15 ® — 22

Timber, Georgia Yellow Pine — 20 ® — 22

Shingles, 18 in ^ bunch 1 75 ® 2 —

Shingles, Cedar, 3 feet, 1st quality. 25 — 'a)

Shingles, Cedar, 3 feet, 2d quality. 22 — @23 —
Shingles, Cedar, 2 feet, 1st quality. 17 — ®18 —
Shingles, Cedar, 2 feet, 2d quality. 15 — @16 —

Shingles, Cypress, 2 feet 13 — ®14 —

Shingles, Company -giSS —

MUSTARD— American — 16 ®— 31

NAILS— Wrought, 6d to 20d...^ 16. — JO ®— 12i

Cut 4d to 40d — 4®— 4i

PLASTER PARIS— ^ ton 2 25 @ 2 50

PROVISIONS— Beef, Mess, ^bbl... 6 75 @ 7 —

Beef, Prime, 550® 6 —

Pork, Mess, Ohio 9 75 ®

Pork, Prime, Ohio ®825

Lard. Ohio ^ IB. — 64®— 7i

Hams, Pickled — 4*®— 5

Shoulders, Pickled — 3}®— 4

Sides. Pickled @

Beef. Smoked ^ ft. — 71®— 8

Butter. Orange County — 15 ® — 16

Butter, Western Daily, new, — 12} ® — 14

Butter, Grease .' — CJ® — 7

("heese, in ciisks and boxes — 6 ® — 7

SEKDS- Clover ^ K. — 6 ■&— 7J

Timothv -P tierce 11 — ®15 —

Flax. Itough 8 50 ®— 9

SOAP— N. York, Brown ^ ft. — 3}®— 6

TALLOW— American Rendered ... — 7®— 7^

TOHACCO— Virginia @ ft. — 2ia— 6

North Cai-olina — 2}® — 5

Kentucky and Missouri — 2^® — 7

WOOL— Am. Saxony, Fleece,. i* ft. — 32 ®— 34

Amciuran Full Blood Merino — 27 ®— 28

American A and i Merino — 22 ® — 25

American Native and i Merino... — 20 ® — 21
Superfine, Pulled — 24 'W— 25

MONTHLY

JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

VOL. II. NOVEMBER, 1846. NO. 5,

EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES.

T7tc firxt Plate, accompanying this number, belongs to the Monthly Journal of Agri-
CULTL'UE, and is designed to present a view of The State Fair, held at Auburn, N. Y., Sep-
tember, 1846.

The aecond Plate belongs to The Farmers' Library, and will come in, at its proper place, in
the " Book of the Farm." It is the portrait of a black Draught-Stallion, of the true Clydes-
dale bi-eed. He gained the first prize at the Highland and Agricultural Society's Show at Glas-
gow, Scotland, and obtained premiums elsewhere. He is represented as being fully 17 hands;
and, though otherwise a large animal, being 8 feet 7 inches in length, yet of high and uncom-
monly light action.

[Mr. Corning, at Albany, and others, have imported fine specimens of this breed. Their stock mnst
prove of great value in Pennsylvania, and wherever it is necessary to throw great weight into the collar,
for heavy draught. — Ed. Farm. Lib.\

The third Plate represents an elevation of the East-Lothian Plow, and belongs to The
Farmers" Lihrary, and will take its place in the " Book of the Farm," where it will be fully-
explained in all its parts.

[The beam and handles or " stilts" of these plows are almost invariably now made of malleable iron, and
it \a said there is no end to their endurance. — Ed. Farm. Lib.]

AGRICULTURE IN MASSACHUSETTS.

We do not know how the space it fills could be better occupied than by what
follows on the subject of legislative provision for Agriculture in the sedate and
sober old Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Well has it been written by Benja-
min P. Johnson, Corresponding Secretary of the New-York State Agricultural
Society — " Look at Massachusetts, that noble Commonwealth ! Look at her Ag-
ricultural Associations, sustained and patronized by the Government, and witness
the results of their efforts ! The Empire State is indebted to Massachusetts for
almost every superior implement of husbandry ; and her agricultural products,
upon a soil far less favorable for cultivation than ours, are such as to require the
most improved and efficient system of husbandry to equal her."

As we rejoice in the belief that the landholders of the United States are at last
Waking up to a sense of their rights, as well as of their deficiencies, and that they
are beginning, in most of the States, to form the determination to take their own
affairs in their own hands, we are glad of the opportunity to assist them in ma-
turing measures for the promotion of Agriculture — such measures as have beea
adopted, and attended with the best results, in a State whose policy and proceed-
ings have, been thus characterized by Mr. Johnson, late President of the New-
York State Agricultural Society.

Attempts, always well meant, however sometimes abortive, have been made»

and we trust will soon be made again, with better success, in Virginia and other
(433; 13

19i

MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

States, to give practical effect to the spirit of agricultural improvement — a spirit
which, we are sure, is elsewhere "not dead, but sleepeth."

What invaluable institutions might be established, and arrangements made,
for the diffusion of agricultural knowledge in that State, by means of her share
of the sales of the lands which she surrendered for the benefit of the country ! —
But our purpose is not to enter into any discussion as to where the means are to
be found. " Where there is a will, there is a way." And when landholders be-
come satisfied that a very small share of the common treasure, appropriated for
the benefit of Agriculture, would as well comport with, and promote, the " gen-
eral welfare,'' as a million a week for war, they will not be long, or ought not to
be, in finding out hoio to come at it. In the mean time, in the following " Ad-
vertisement" to the first "Abstract from the returns of Agricultural Societies of
the State" of Massachusetts, the friends of similar measures in other States may
see what she has done, and will not, we yope, be long in acting up to the con-
viction that they should " go and do so likewise."

Some passages of this Advertisement have been omitted, as not being material
to the history and understanding of the proceedings of that Commonwealth, to the
extent that a knowledge of these may be useful as a model for those in other
States whose patriotism may lead them to get up measures analogous, in spirit at
least, if not in detail.

ADVERTISEINIENT.

The Massachusetts Society for jH-omotiug
Agriculture, the first association of the kind
in the Commonwealth or in America, was
founded in the year 1792, and incoqiorated
by an Act of the General Court of that
year.

Obtaining means of operation by an amiual
assessment upon its members, and by a sub-
scription amounting to four thousand dollars —
a Uberal sum for that period — it proceeded to
invite public attention to its objects, to distrib-
ute premiums for agricultiu-al improvements,
and to import valuable animnls with a view
to the introduction of better breeds of cattle
and other stock. In 1797, it instituted the
Agiicultural Journal, a pul)lication continued
more than thii-ty years. It took measures for
the institiition ot" Couuty Societies, and for the
erection of a Hall, at Brigliton, in Middlesex,
for the exhibition of domestic and other mmi-
ufactures. It contiibuted to the establishment
of the Professorship of Natural Histoiy, iuid
of the Botanical Garden, iu the University of
Cambridge. In 1818, began a series of pub-
lic addresses, pronounced successively at its

autumnal celebi'ations, by John Lowell, Jo-
siahQuincy, Ricluml Sullivan. Henry Cohnan,
Timothy Pickering, John C. Gray, James
Richardson, Edward Everett, Henry A. S.
Deai'boni, and perhaps others. The dehveiy
and jiublication of addresses from such sources
exerted an impoilant influence in attracting
attention and favor to the objects of the Asso-
ciation.

The example was followed by other insti-
tutions for the same purpose. The Common-
wealth extended to them its paft'onage ; and
the pohcy has been continued, and has grown
in favor, to the present time. An Act of 1819
(chapter 114) appropriated two hundred dol-
lars annually, from the Commonwealth's trea.s-
uiy, to eveiy Society which should raise the
sum of one thousand dollars for the promotion
of Agricidtin-e, and in like projiortion for any
greater sum, not exceeding three thousand
doUais. The following Table exhibits a list
of the Agiicultui-al Societies \\o\\ in existence,
with tlie dates of their incorporation respect-
ively, the dates of their first grant of money,
and the aggregate iunounts received from the
Conunon wealth :

Mas8achu80U8 Society tor proinotiri": Agriculture

Western Society of Middlesex Husbandmen

Name changed to Society of Middlesex Uusbondmen and

Manufacturers

Berkshire Apicultural Society*

Hampshire, Franklin and Hampden Agricultural Societies. . .

Worcester Agricultural .Society

Essex Agricultural Society

Agricultural Society in the County of Plymouth

Bristol (Jounty Agricultural Society

Afrriculmral .Society of the County of Hami)deu

Barnstable County Agricultural Society

Date of incorpo- Date of jirM pay- Total amount
ration. tiient. received.

March 7, 17it2.
Keb. 26, ISm.

Jan.

Feb.

Feb.

Feb.

June

June

Juno

March

March

24, J 820.
2.5, 1811.
19, 1818.
2:}. 1818.
12, 1818.
11, 1819.

14, 18-j:).
5. 1844.

15, 1844.

Oct 29, 1817.

^Jan. 13,1820.

Oct 29, 1817.
Oct. Ki. 1819.
Jan. 12, lf20.
Jan. 12,1820.
Oct. 27, 1820.
Nov. 9, 1824.
Nov. 21, 1844.
Feb. 11, 184.1,

$18,300 OO

14,340 80

13,736 60

lti.200 tX)

1(\200 (X)

I,').] 40 40

12,1^84 49

734(i 32

1,200 00

408 00

$115,816 61

The CatUe.Show and Fair of this Society, at Piusfield, in 1814, were the first held in this country.
(434)

AGRICULTURE IN MASSACHUSETTS.

195

The following Societies have also been in-
ooqioratcd at the dates annexed, but ai'c not
known to have gone into operation, viz :

Parmcrs' Apsocialion Feb. 13, 1821.

Hampshire Agricultural Societ}-, June 11, 1814.
Suffolk Agricultural Society April 10, 1839.

In 1837, Resolves (chap. 67) were passed
of tlie following tenor, viz :

" Rrxolved, That His Excellency the Gov-
ernor, by and with the advice of the Council, i.s
hereby authorized and re<iuosted to appoint
some Buitabk' and con)pctenl pennon, whose
duty it shall he. under the direction of His Ex-
cellency the Governor, to make an Agricultural
Survey of the Commonwealth, collect accurate
infonnation of the state and condition of its Ai,'-
riculture and every subject coimected with it,
point out the means of improvement, and make
a detailed report thereof with as much exact-
ness as circumstances will admit.

'• Rcxolrrd. That a sunnnary of such survey
and examination shall be furnished to His Ex-
cellency the (jovenior every six months, until
the whole shall be completed, and at such other
times as shall be required, to be published in
euch way and manner as he, with the advice of
the Council, shall deem to be expedient and
useful ; and he is authorized to draw his war-
rants, from time to time, upon the Treasurer, for
such sums as may be necessary to defray the
expen.ses of said survej-, and to enable the per-
son, so appointed to proceed in the execution
of tlie duties that shall be required of him ; and
to pay the same to him, not exceeding the sum
of two tliousand five hundred dollars per an-
num.''

Mr. Henry Cohnsui, the Agricultural Sur-
veyor appointed under this authority, pub-
lished four Reports, which had a wide circu-
lation hi the country, and attracted favorable
attention abroad. The Resolves were re-
pealed, and the office discontinued, by a Re-
solve of 18-11 (chap. 14).

The laws now in force, relating to the sub-
ject, are the foUowhig, \'iz:

[Revised Statutes, Chap. -13.]
OF AGRICULTUR.\L CORPORATIONS.

Section 1. Everj- incorporated Agricultural
Society, which shall have r,ii.scd or may here-
after raise, by contribution of individuals, and
put out at interest, on public or private security,
the sum of one thousand dollars, as a capital
stock appropriated for the uses of such Society,
shall be entitled to receive, in the month of Oc-
tober, annually, out of the treasury of the Com-
monwealth, the sum of two hundred dollars, and
in that proportion annually for any greater sum
so contributed and put at interest, as a capital
Slock; provided, that no Agricultural Society
shall receive from the treasury more than six
hundred dollars in any one year.

§ 2. Any Agricultural Society, formed with-
in any county or counties wherein there is no
incorporated Society for the same purpose, and
which shall raise and put out at interest, as a
capital stock, not less than one thousand dollars,
for the uses of such Society, shall receive, on
application to tlie Legislature, an act of incorpo-
ration, in the usual form, and witli the custom-
ary rights and powers ; and. after sncli incorpo-
ration, the Society shall have all the privilesfes
secured to other Agricultural Societies, on com-
(43.",}

plying with the terms and provisions herein
contained : provided, that no Agricultural Soci-
ety shall have the benefits of this section unless
the same be formed in a count_v. or in an asso-
ciation of counties, including a population of not
less than twenty-five thousand inhabitants.

$ 3. I'] very Agricultural .Society which shall
claim the said allowance out of the public treas-
ury shall, in the month of October, aimuallj-, file
in the office of the Secretary of State a certifi-
cate, signed by the President and Treasurer of
such Society, specifying under oath the sum ac-
tually contributed, and put at interest, and then
belli by them well .secured as a capital stock;
and a warrant shall be drawn for the sum to
which such Society may be entitled.

«J 1. Every Agricultural Society which shall,
receive the said allowance from the public treas-
ury shall offer annually, by way of premiums,
or .shall apply otherwise, at their discretion, for
the encouragement or improvement of Agricul-
ture or manuficturcs, a sum not less than the
amount annually received, as aforesaid, out of
the public treasury ; and they .shall also tran.smit
to the office of the Secretary, in the month of
January, aunuall}', a statement of their proceed-
ings in relation to the expenditure of such mon-
eys, specifying the nature of the encouragement
proposed by the .Society, and the objects for
which their premiums have been offered, and
to whom they were awarded : and .shall accom-
pany the same with such general observations,
concerning the state of Agriculture and manu-
factures in the State, as they may deem import-
ant or useful.

^ .'). All moneys offered for premiums, which
shall not be awarded or paid, shall be put out at
interest, and added to the capital stock of each
Agricultural Society.

§ 6. Every Agricultural Society which .shall
receive the said public allowance shall offer, an-
nually, such premiums and encouragement for
the raising and preserving of oaks, and other for-
est trees, as to them shall .seem proper, and best
adapted to perpetuate, within the State, an ade-
quate supply of ship timber.

^ 7. The foregoing provisions shall not ex-
tend to any Agricultural Society which has been,
or hereafter n)ay be, incorporated for any terri-
tory less than a county.

^ 8. All incorporated Agricultural Societies
may. by their officers, define and fix bounds of
sufllcicnt extent for the erection of their cattle-
pens and yards, and for convenient pas.sage-
waj's to and about the same, on the days of their
cattle-shows and exhibition.s, and also for their
plowing matches, and trials of working oxen ;
within which bounds no person shall be permit-
ted to enter or pass, unless in conformity with
the regulations of the officers of said Societies,
respectively.

^ 9. If any person shall, contrary to the rec"-
ulations of the said officers, and after notice
thereof enter or pass within the bounds so fixed,
he shall forfeit a sum not exceeding five dollars,
to be recovered in an action on the ca.se, for the
use of the Society, bj'the Treasurer thereof

^^ 10. The foregoing provisions shall not au-
thorize such Societies to occupy, or include
within the bounds which they .shall fix for the
purposes aforesaid, the land of any person, with-
out his con.sent, nor to occupy any turnpike or
public highway, in .such a manner as to obstruct
the public travel.

$ 11. The officers of every such Society may
appoint a sufficient number of suitable persons.

196

MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

aal^abitants of the county, to act as marshals, at
•catlleshovvs and exhibitions; and they shall
Jiave and exercise all the powers of constabl s,
in relation to the preservation of the public
5pea,ce, and the service and execution of criminal
'process, within the towns, respectively, where
much shows and exhibitions may be held ; and
any such criminal process may be directed to
them accordingly ; and they shall exercise their
•eaid office from twelve o'clock at noon of the day
jprecedina: the commencement of such shows
and exhibitions, until twelve o'clock at noon of
id\e day succeeding the termination thereof, and
aao longer.

[Act of Feb. 25, 1842, Chap. 31.]
^N ACT RELATING TO RETURNS FROM AG-
RICULTURAL SOCIETIES.

Section 1. No Agricultural Society which,
Kja the first day of April, in the year one thou
eaiid eis^ht hundred and fortj--two, shall have
neglected to make returns to the Secretary of
ahe Commonwealth, as recjuired by the first and
fourth sections of the forty-second chapter of the
2ievised Statutes, shall be entitled to receive the
allowance from the Commonwealth, as therein
provided.

$ 2. No Agricultural Society which shall not
J\ave made returns to the office of the Secretary
<of tlie Commonwealth within the month of Jan-
aiary, in the year one thousand eight hundred
and forty-three, and within the month of Janu-
:ary in each succeeding year thereafter, as re-
•tjaired by the sections of the Revised Statutes
saentioned iu the preceding section, shall be en-
titled to receive any aid from the Common-
■wealth.

[Art of March 7, 1845, Chap. 111.]

AN ACT REQUIRING ADDITIONAL RETURNS

FROM AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES.

Section 1.* Every Agricultural Society en-
titled to receive money from the treasury of the
Commonwealth shall, in addition to the return
■of premiums paid, now required to be made in
the month of January, make full returns of their
<doiags into the office of the Secretary of State,
.loa or before the first day of January, in every
year — embracing all reports of committeei?, and
Sill statements of experiments and cultivation,
•■deemed, .by the officers of the several Societies,
■worthy of publication.

^ 2. The Secretary of each Society, whether
iiis retura be iii printed or manuscript form, .shall
aaiark, in a manner to be easily distinguished,
aiiosie passages in the several reports and state-
aneuls which he regards as most worthy of pub-
lilc notice, study ajid application.

^ 3. The Secretary of State is directed to
ttrausmit a copy of this Act to the Secretary of
MSvery incorporated ALrricviltural Society in the
't'jjHjmonwealth, on or before the first day of
."Septcm'ber, ■184.1.

<5 4. The Secretary of State is hereby dircct-

* It has been made s question whether this section
jnxyvides for an additiomil ntnrn. into the SecretHry's
djflice, to that required in the fourth section of cbai)-
fter 42 of the Revi.sod Statutes, or whether the ineor-
raoralion, into the old form of return, of the infornia-
anon speeitied in the new, is ii suliieient foniplianre
•with the law. The former api)enrs to be the eoneel

"-.- _....; — ^e •u,. ...^..mit l;i.>ii,»^ 'I'ti/, »-#'MirTi nil.

•der

;ary, am

11 lilt; inv*. I in. i\ntiiK,L ..j^j.v.... .. ..^ ..^. ..--

•rpretation of the recent statute. Tlie return un-

the old law must be made in the month of .lanu-

ry, and may be made on any day of that nionih. —

TJie return under tlie new law may he made ai any

aime before .lariuary, hut ci.rinot be made later than

nhiC first day of that ii:onth.

(436)

ed to cau.se as full an ab.slract from said returns
to be made and published in each j-ear, for dis-
tribution, as in his judgment will prove useful.

§ 5. Any Agricultural Society which shall
neglect, in any year, to comply with the provis-
ions of this act, shall forfeit its claim to bounty
from the Coirmouwealth the succeeding year.

§ 6. Any paits of passed acts inconsistent
with the provisions of this are hereby repealed.

The present publication is the first which
has taken place under the authoiity of the
Act of 184.1. The Societies have all com-
plied with its provisions so far as to furnish a
summary of their proceedings for the year ;
but more tlian half (if them have neglected
that part of the law which requires them to
mark those passages deemed by their Secre-
taries worthy of the public notice, sttidy and
application. All the returns were made
within the legal time, with the exception of
that of the Society in Bristol.

Of these retunis, the most complete is that
of the Essex Agi'icultural Society, which,
from its long experience in publishing annu-
ally a volume of its transactions, has attained
to a high rank in the fullness of its reports
and the exactness of its statements. The
^Vorceste^ and the I'lpnouth Societies' re-
ttinis are also highly satisfactory. The
Hampden vSociety, consideiiiig its youth,
(it having been established but two years.)
has made a ven^' credit;ible return of its do-
ings. The officers of all the Societies have
appeared desirous of furthering the design of
the Legislature in enacting the law of last
year, by making as full a return as the char-
acter of their proceedings admits.

The object of the law obviously is, to bring
together the practical knowledge of our best
fanners, horticulturists and nnmufacturers, in
their respective branches of labor. In order
to secure a valuable volume of this descrip
tion, the Legislature of New-York, in a law
simiLn- to our own on this subject, requires
of all Agricultural Societies receiving the
bounty of the State, that " before any pre-
miuni" shall be delivered, the person claiming
the same, or to whom the same may be
awarded, shall dehver in writing, to their re-
spective officers, as ttccurate a description of
the proct^ss in jneparing the soils, including
the (piaiitity Jiud qtitility of the intiiuire !ij>-
l)lied, and in raising the crop or feeding the
animal, ;us may be ; and also of the expense
and piodtict of the crop, or of the increase in
value of ihe aniintds. with the view of show-
ing acctirtitely the i)rotit of ciiltiviiting the
crop or feeding or fattening the animal." Our
sttilut;- establishing Agriciilttiral Societies tmd
gr:mting to them pectniiary aid, makes no
provisioti for the collee-ting of infonntition on
these points, rerhaps it was thought that
the Trustees of these Societies would secure
the iiccoiniili.shinent of the object, so far as it
might be deemed de>irable, by reguhilions of
their own. And we iind. in fact, that several
of the Societies, at least, do retjuire accurate
statements of this description from claimaJiU

AGRICULTURE IN MASSACHUSETTS.

197

of their premiums. But the misforlime is,
that thsso niU's are iniiKJrfectly or not at all
complictl with. The returns made to this ot-
fice, with some exceptions, are deficient iu
accurate details of the modes of cultivation,
of keeping stock, of expenses, and of oliier
important incidents. These details would
acquaint farmers and others with tiie precise
manner in which the valuahlo residts record-
ed can be again obtained, and would furnish
the means by which a gi-cater or more gen-
eral progress would be made in practical
Agriculture.

The coure adopted by our Societies is, in
the first place, to publish a list of premiums
for excellence in certain agricullunl and me-
chanical productions. Committees are then
appointed to decide upon the claims of com-
petitors. Their awards are made and sanc-
tioned by the Societies, and the names of the
successful claimants of premiums are pub-
lished in the newspapers. In some cases,
the wiitten stjiteinents requircxl by the So-
cieties from the clannants, accompany the
Reports of the Committees ; but more fre-
quently there are none made, and the Reports
are meager from the deficiency of materials
from whicli to prepare them. It seems im-
portant, as well for the interests of the Socie-
ties as lor the full accomplishment of the
good re.sults contemplated by the Act of 1845,
that all our Agi-icultural Societies should not
only estiiblish rules requiring these state-
ments, but should enjoin and requii-e a rigid
adherence to the rules, as a necessaiy condi-
tion of awarding their premiimis. By pur-
suing this course from year to year, our fann-
ers would soon acquire habits of accurate ob-
servation and exact I'ecording of processes
and results. P'rom the documents thus pro-
duced, the whole agricultui'al community
would learn what is most valuable in forming
and jnost worthy of imit<ition ; and would
leani, too, how to imitate it. Fanners would
thus be the teachers and the tjiught. Through-
out the Connnonwcalth, they would (Ijrm a
class for muUial imi)rovement. They would
not and could not complain of such instructors
as mere book-fanners, but would strive them-
selves so to excel, that their own coiuse of

husbandry should be submitted in print to
the imitation of others.

Another source of valuable infonnation for
the ]>ageB of the finnual volume, is suppliecE
by the public Addresses usually delivered on
tiie days of holding the exhibitions of the Sck
cieties. These Addresses are generally ]>re"
pared with care by competent individuals ;
and, besides aiding the cause of Agriculturer
bv impressing on the farmers assembled frora
different parts of the same county, the inj
portance and dignity of their calling, usually
convey a large jimount of sound and judicious
hints as to the practical details of the pursuit.
Those Addresses ai'c frequently given to iba
puljlic througii the pre.ss — a practit;e which
doubtless exerts a wholesome influence in
causing them to be prepared not merely for
rhetorical eflfect, but for profitable peioisal ia
print. *****

In the prejiaration of the volume, as a first
experiment in this Commonwealth, it was
thought judicious to study brcN-ity ; aud a
leading principle in making selections was toi
present whatever was peculiar to any So-
ciety, so as to afford a variety of infonnation
to the reader, aud extend the knowledge of
local experiments. On the other hand, in
some particulars, it is meager ti-om want of
materials. It might have been ad\;uitage-
ously enlarged, if all the returns luul been
equally rich iu their specimens of reports of
Connnittees, and of statements of successfhi
competitors for premiums.

In the pi'eparation of the Abstract, I bav«
availed myself of the well known judgmeut
and talent of Hon. Allen W. Dodge, an ex-
perienced fanner of Hamilton, iu the county
of Essex. *****

Li the return of the Massachusetts Society
the statement of its recent valuable impoi-ta-
tion of foreign stock is not accompanied by
any description of the animals. Believing^
that the sul)ject would attract the particuliU"
attention of fanners, I have placed in thw
Appendix a full description, which appeared
in the columns of the " New-England Farmer.""
after the bulk of the volume had been prhited.

J. G. P. :

Secretary's OJice, March 17, 1846.

We shall avail ourselves of these abstracts, for practical uses, when room and
occasion present themselves. A willing spirit and a clear perception are visible
m the combined brevity and lucidness of this Preface to the first performance of
Mr. Palfrey, the accomplished Secretary of the Cornrnonwealth, under the acl
of the Legislature which devolves on him the duty of making tliese abstracts.

A READY RULE FOR FARMERS.— We have been frequently asked to ex-
plain the difference between the price of wheat per quarter and per barrel. The
simple rule by which every man can ascertain this for himself is this : Multiply
the price per quarter by 7, and divide by 12 ; the result will give the amount per
barrel. Thus, 56s. per quarter multiplied by 7, and divided by 12, gives 32s. Sd,
per barrel.

(437)

198 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

AGRICULTURAL FAIR

OF THE WORCESTER COUNTY, Mass. AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.

WitJi some Notice of tlie Men and Things.

There is among New-England men an admirable spirit of persistence in what
they undertake to do, which it would be well if our countrymen generally could
imitate. Deliberate in undertaking, when they do resolve there is no looking
back. If they are slow, like their own noble oxen, like them also they are steady
to the draugiit, and what they do they do well. If they are inventive in genius,
they are not impulsive in action. If wary in making engagements, they are
faithful in fulfilling them. In every walk of New-England life, in every phase
of New-England society, you observe these characteristics.

Invited by this ancient and most respectable branch of the oldest Agricultural
■Society of the Union, to pronounce an Address on Agriculture at their late Fair
at Worcester, we did not feel at liberty to decline the honor ; but, deeming its
performance the least important among the occurrences of the occasion, we pro-
ceed to notice some others, such as would naturally strike the attention of a
stranger and a southern man, and the relation whereof may have some interest
for readers generally.

Steamers from Ne-vfr-York to Norwich, Ct., and thence by railroad, offer a pop-
ular and easy conveyance to Boston ; but the traveler who can stop at Norwich,
and take the afternoo;i train eastward, may be well repaid for a few hours' delay
m a view of the town, and its environs and manufactories. This was the thea-
ire of the Last of the Mohicans — here repose the bones of Uncas. The only
manufactories which we had time to visit, under the polite guidance of Mr. God-
dard, were designed for very opposite purposes. One was Mr. Thurber's, for
snanufacturing revolving pistols ; the other, Mr. Waters's, where the models
are preparing for a contrivance of extraordinary ingenuity and power for making
scythes. Mr. Thurber exhibits also a curious ivriting-machine. It looks, for all
the world, like a piano-forte. On the keys are marked the letters of the alpha-
bet ; the paper is fixed, like a picture in a frame, sitting before the player ; near
the paper is a small, sharp-pointed, brass tube or bill, like a bird's bill. On
striking a particular letter, this bill of the bird, as we call it, pecks at the paper
moving along, to make one letter in a line with another — exactly as the reader,
when a boy, if not since, has seen a red-headed woodpecker " tapping a hollow
beech tree." By this machinery the tongue is protruded from the bill, and writes,
or rather prints the letters " as fast as a horse can trot." Of the pistols we say
nothing, because we hope the day is coming when nations will give up shooting
and stabbing each other, or give up talking about Christianity and civilization,
and sending missionaries to convert the heathen nations, who never do anything
worse, cannibals only excepted.

Of Mr. Walter, and his invention for scythe making, we hold it to be a sort of
duty, and that in " our line," to make more particular mention.

Mr. W. is decidedly of a scythe making family, for that honorable and useful
handicraft was the business of his own father and grandfather. His mother's fath-

(438)

AGRICULTURAL FAIR. 199

er, and some of his brothers and cousins have all been scythe makers. But Mr.
Henry Waters's genius takes a wider sweep. Tliey say he can write poetry, set it
to music, and sing it afterward. But what is more important, and ought to render
him a favorite witli the ladies — a high privilege, to be coveted by every man of
common sensibility — he it is, the identical man, who invented the machine which
carried the art oi papering pins, at a single move, from the tame, tedious opera-
tion of sticking into the paper, pin by pin, with the hand, to this wonderful
result.

With his machine the pins are thrown into a box, ail in a mass, head and tail,
and, presto .' they come out at the other end, already stuck into papers, just as
the ladies buy them — three sets of papers ; not three rows on one paper, but
three different papers rolling out of the machine at one time, all prepared for be-
ing cut into lengths and folded up for sale.

"When this machine was finished, and not before, Mr. Waters set about his
scythe making machine, on which he has been at work for two years, until he is
now about to put it into immediate operation at Troy, on account of Messrs. Dra-
per, BroAvn and Chadsey, at the " State dam," as it requires a strong power to
drive it. Mr. W. is in one respect unlike the generality of inventors. When he
commences one thing, he perseveres with that, and that only, until it is com-
pleted.

This great desideratum in the manufacture of one of the most important im-
plements in Agriculture seems to consist in this : In the last thirty years there
seems to have been but one essential improvement in scythe-making. This was
made twenty-five years ago, and has not been so essential as to have been adopt-
ed by all manufacturers even to this day. So that scythes are and have been (as
far as the forging is concerned) manufactured mostly by tilt and hand hammers,
involving the expense of much labor and fuel, as they are now heated some ten
or twelve times.

Now, in place of all this heating and hammering, Mr. Waters proposes to in-
troduce a set of machinery (models of which he showed us), consisting of some
six massive machines of different devices, and most of them novel in their lead-
ing principles. The first of these machines will take the iron in the bar when
heated, divide and cut it, and introduce the steel, forming the moulds.

These moulds will then be placed in a furnace, and there be brought to a propei
welding heal, when they will be introduced into the welding macjiine ; after
which, and at the same heat, they will be introduced from one machine to an-
other, until the scythe is forged complete, ready for tempering — thus saving not
less than SO per cent, of fuel and labor, and some GO per cent, of power ; besides,
it is expected that the article Avill be much more uniform in its temper, as it is
sure to be in its form — consequently a lighter and stiffer article can be produced.

The first set of machinery is to go into operation at Troy, N. Y., on account of
Messrs. Draper, Brown and Chadsey, of that place — now Avell known in the man-
ufacture of scythes — some time about July next. Mr. W. has favored us
with an invitation to be present to witness the operation thereof, when (or he is
much mistaken) it will produce a better article than has ever before been pro-
duced, and at the rate of eight or ten dozen scythes per hour.

As it is only by some reduction of the price that this distinguished inventor
may expect to take the wind out of the sails of the present manufacturers, the
farmers must be benefited in proportion. It 's an ill wind that blows nobody any
good, and we rejoice in such as bring " success to the farmer." We have ac-

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200 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

cepted Mr. W.'s invitation ; and, when his promises are realized, we shall wait
impatiently to see what will be the recompense, in the way of honor or reward
conferred on him by Congress !

While on the subject of agricultural implements and machinery — all improve-
ments in which we shall be glad in any way to illustrate and bring into notice,
when aided by their inventors — reference may here be made to the great agricul-
tural implement and machine manufactory of Messrs. Ruggles, Nourse & Ma-
son, where both iron and wood seem to be as easily wrought upon, and made to
assume any desirable form or shape, as if they were but a piece of cypress shin-
gle, under the action of a sharp knife, in the hands of a tavern loafer, in a cer-
tain latitude that shall be nameless.

This establishment at Worcester employs about fifty hands, and, being the nu-
cleus of their larger one in Boston, may be considered the largest in this country
and must constitute one of the important resources of a town which, in a few
years, has quadrupled its population — numbering now about 12,000, and present-
ing, from the different points about its environs, various and complete views of it
— all wearing an aspect of freshness and cleanliness, as if every dwelling had
been finished off, painted and occupied within the past week.

It would be deemed out of place here to speak of its hospitality and social ad-
vantages and enjoyments; but we shall have said multum in parvo, when we
note the fact that Worcester is the residence, and, we believe, the native county,
of Governor Lincoln and of " Honest John Davis" ! What a compliment to
the man whose life and actions win for him such a title ! — or, shall we say, what
a commentary on the times — as if it took again a lantern at mid-day to find, as
in Athens, one honest tnan I

We might, if it Avere not out of place, dwell, too, on other institutions besides
that of this old Agricultural Society — such as the Catholic College, occupying a
most commanding and beautiful site in the vicinity ; and on the Lunatic Asylum,
unrivaled, as we suppose in the Union, for spaciousness of accommodation and
appropriateness of locality and scenery — wanting only, could that be had, an ex-
panse of water prospect in the distance, but as admirable as it is celebrated for
the persuasive gentleness and humane philosophy of its management and admin-
istration.* On none of such things, however interesting to every considerate mind
and to humanity, are we permitted to expatiate.

For the Fair itself, the day was as fine as ever came from the heavens — a little
warm for the season, but tempered with the hazy mellowness of the Indian sum-
mer, that made it delightful. As to the number of people in Worcester on the
8th of October, these might be computed, if one knew the number of inhabitants
in the county ; for surely the county must have been depopulated on this occa-
sion. The oldest members of the Society said they had never seen so many in
attendance as at this Twcnly-Eighth Catt/c-Shoic ! proving, as we have already
said, that when these Yankees do take hold, they mean to keep going ahead. —
You don't see them kicking in harness, sometimes snapping the traces, by fit-
ful efforts, and then rearing up and falling backward. One may judge how per-
fectly all their rules are digested, and how exactly they are carried out, when it
is considered that all these men and animals are brought together — every animal
thoroughly examined — the claims for premiums carefully inspected — the plowing
match and hauling match conducted with the utmost deliberation, by practical

* We had not then visited the Asylum at Hartford, Connecticut, of which wo may speak, and that, too.
In connection with agricultural and rani] life, in an early number.
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AfiRICULTURAL FAIR. 201

farmers, all of whom do now, or have taken a hand at the same work, and well
know, therefore, how to tell " the true from the sham," — all this is completed,
and premiums awarded, in one day. Strict compliance with well-considered
rules is invariably enforced. Wo plausibility of excuse is allowed to avail — no
degree of excellence in the animal, or article — no consideration of rank or influ-
ence of the owner, delinquent in a compliance with the printed rules of the So-
ciety, is permitted to justify a departure from them in administering the aifairs
of this most respectable and valuable institution ; of which it is not only a mat-
ter of sheer justice, but even of duty, on the part of this Journal, to note that
Gov. Lincoln Avas oriq-inally the most active of its founders, and is now the ofli-
cial head and animating spirit. How encouraging should it be to all young
farmers of the Commonwealth and of the country, to see this veteran in the
cause of agricultural improvement still entering into all the proceedings of the
occasion, not as in the reluctant performance of an official duty, which, with its
novelty, has lost its interest, but with all the cheerfulness and buoyancy of the
most youthful member — evincing at the same time, by all his remarks and com-
mentaries, explanatory of the Society's rules, and of every report and proceeding
under them, that his heart enters cordially into the spirit and purposes of the
Society, with a perfect familiarity with its regulations, and the reasons on which
they were based. Nor was all this any the less apparent in the tone of pleas-
antry, and sallies of wit, that distinguished his presidency over the dinner table.

Where such spirits preside, none other will ever be wanting — as none other
were here provided — to give life and animation to these annual festivals of the
sun-burnt, hard-fisted yeomanry of old Worcester. If it could not be sung that
" the wine doth sparkle on the board," it may be truly said that good feeling
and pleasantry, and lively and patriotic speeches and sentiments, sparkled none
the less around it.

We have already spoken of a scythe-making family in Connecticut. Here in
Worcester, too, some things seem to " run in families." Among the plows and
plowmen, it was a strange coincidence that the Avinners of the first three prizes
should bear the name of Carpenter ! all at the handles of their own plows and
teams. And here, again, in assisting and pushing forward this old model Soci-
ety, it was Lincoln this, and Lincoln that, and Lincoln the other — Lincoln Treas-
urer, Lincoln Secretary, Lincoln President — all offices of labor and of love, with-
out fee or reward ; from all which we may infer that there they stand, ready to
be linked on to any duty that may be assigned them for advancement of the ag-
ricultural interest. Nay more : at the very moment that we are taking liberties
with a name linked by so many associations to useful works and patriotic causes,
the eye is caught by an advertisement of " 1,000 loads of pond mud, of excel-
lent quality, for sale — nearly equal to barn-yard manure — at the pond on ihe LtU'
coin estate. Apply at 148 Main-street." Thus may hints and instruction be
found in almost everything ; for while, in some parts of the country, " barn-yard
manure," when accumulated, is itself deemed an incumbrance, here the pond
mud of the Lincoln estate is offered for sale I

For reasons that will readily occur to every reader, and that need not be reit-
erated here, we shall forbear to give the list of premiums, and other details of
this exhibition. Enough has been said in stating that, at this 28th of their reg-
ular annual exhibitions, there was a larger concourse of people and more inter-
2St evinced than on any former occasion.

Here, among these men who know that out of the ground they are to get their

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202 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

living, this is their festival. They are to " come one — come all ! " It aeeds no
advertisement, by way of attraction, that "a troop of light-horse tuill be on the
ground ^\' On the contrary, they eschew horses, as the most short-lived, uncer-
tain and expensive machines that can be employed by men who act on the princi-
ple that every little makes a mickle, and, therefore, that the cost of everything
must be counted — even pennies more than pounds, for " pounds will take care of
themselves."

Of ail the features of this exhibition, except such as displayed the handiwork
of New-England housewives and their daughters, the most admirable and inter-
esting to every Southern man must have been the plowing and hauling matches.,
exclusively with oxen, and exclusively handled by their owners.

The Committee reported 18 teams as having been entered, while 16 appeared
to contend for the prizes. Of the absentees, one gave " a satisfactory excuse,^''
and the other was tinderstood to be sick ; for it is worthy of notice that, as the
ground required to be plowed depends on the number of competitors, they are
compelled to make their entries beforehand, long enough to allow of suitable
ground being engaged for the purpose, and if afterward they don't come to the
mark, or give a good excuse, they are forever after excluded from competition
for a premium of that Society. We go the more into these particulars, in the
way of information for those who may be engaged in the patriotic service of get-
ting up such societies in other States.

On tne stone fence, inclosing the lot to be plowed, sat, as it was estimated, not
less than 4,000 spectators ; yet not the slightest press or disturbance took place.
So quiet and interesting was the whole scene, that, as stated by the Committee,
the commands of the plowmen to their teams could be distinctly heard from one
side of the field to the other. And here was exhibited, in the equal patience of
the owner and his team — in the kindness of the one and the docility of the other
— the beauty and perfection of New-England husbandry, in the most important
branch of the art. Not a blow was struck, nor a word said, that could wound
the sensibility of a child. There they moved, sixteen span of noble oxen, bend-
ing all their strength to a sward as tough as ever plow turned up to sun and air
— every ox seeming to participate the emulation of his master. The same may
in general be said of the hauling-match in the afternoon, where the powers of
this noble animal were again exhibited in hauling up a plain considerably in-
clining, a cart weighing probably not much short of a thousand weight, with a
load of 4,000 weight of stone ; then bringing the same load down, with their
heads proudly elevated to hold it back ; and again backing the whole cart and
4,000 weight up the hill, a distance of probably less than a hundred and fifty
yards !

On seeing this wonderful performance by one yoke of oxen, without an oath,
or a blow more than enough to kill a horse-fly, we could not but be carried back
to the remembrance of three yoke going in Maryland with a hogshead of tobac-
co (1,000 pounds) to the inspection-house, and reckoning it quite a feat to take it
there, some four or five miles, and get back safely at night. And again, lately,
in the neighboriiood of Natchez, seeing five and six yoke creeping along, with a
half cord of wood, or a few bales of cotton.

In fact, the proverbial sagacity, as well as the self-command, kindness and
skill of New-England farmers, are in nothing more conspicuous than in their
preference for and treatment of their oxen I They seem to love and rely on them
next after their wives and children ; and as we have elsewhere hinted, might

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AGRICULTURAL FAIR. 203

almost be taken for descendants of the Egyptians, who worshiped Osiris in the
form of a beautiful bull— except that their bull was white ; and it may be doubt-
ed if any one ever saw, or, as Sammy Veller says, ever saw a man that ever saw
a white ox in Massachusetts. We are not sure that such an one would not be
gored to death by his fellows, nor would it display a more senseless and unreason-
able prejudice than was exhibited by a nation of humpbacked people of whom
we read that a well-set, straight, athletic man, like a Kentuckian, getting in
among them, they stoned him to death on the ground of his monstrous de-
fer mi ti/ !

Although Mr. Earle, the Editor of the Worcester Spy, whom we are not sure
of ever having had the pleasure to see, very much overrated our own humble
part in this farmers' exhibition, we agree with him in his general estimate of its
character and influences, and in the following particulars, which, being better
said to our hand, we gladly adopt. We unite with him emphatically: for we,
too, remarked it with particular satisfaction, that the most perfect order and har-
mony were apparent during the day, and that no scenes of intemperance were
visible to mar the pleasures of the occasion :

" The display of domestic manufjictui-es, embracing a great variety of usefixl and orna-
mental articles, atti-acted, as usual, large crowds of admirers. There were magnificent spe-
cimens of ladies' needle-work, wrought in the most ex<]uisite style and workmanship. There
was also a beautiful and superior collection of various articles of professional skill in almost
every department of art and science. We noticed with pride the exhiliition of farming and
culinary implements, including ahnost eveiy improvement in style aiul utility — the former
appiU'entlv deslini.'d to work a glorious revohuiou in agricultural operations, wiiile the latter
embraced pleasurable evidence of advantages in promotmg the convenience and ease of
household labors.

" The collection of animals at the show was distinguished fi)r great superiority, jmd the
criticism which it received from the several Committees appointed ibr tlie purpose of deter-
mining its merits, reflected the highest credit to those who h;i(l aided m su.sttiiuing it. The
qualities displayed in this exhibition eviuced rare specimens ot" beauty, strengtli and service.
Some of the cattle were the finest ever seen in Worcester. The collection of fat cattle and
heifers particularly called forth unbounded approbation, as bemg far superior to that of any
former year. Of fat cattle there were more in luimber than on some of tlie last annual exhi-
bitions, though tliere were fewer entries. We have not room to speak in detail of this very
important bnmch of the Fair, and we can render but slight justice to the competitors when
we say, tliat on the whole the exhibition of auiiuals this year was really of a superior order,
and as we are nifonned from reliable authority, has not been sm-jjassed by any similar ex-
hibition, the present year, in any part of the coimliy. In some respects, however, there
■were evident defects, and a manifest want of imjirovement, a hint vv'hich we hope will not
be lost, especially in reference to milch cows, in which, judging fiom those produced at the
Fair, there is miu'h lack of interest and attention. We trust that another year will witness
a commendable progress in enhancing the value and improvement in dairy stock, a s])ecies
of stock eminently worthy of attention, as being capal)le of retuniing a large per cent, ou
the labor imd capital employed."

We confess our disappointment on looking through the pens appointed for
milch coics, and were therefore the less surprised at the animadversions on this
point of the exhibition made in the interesting Report of the Chairman, Mr.
Thompson, of the Vaccijie Committee, wherein he stated the significant fact that
the quality of their cows should be an object of most earnest attention in a county
where the income from cows is one-fourth of the income from all the cows in
the State, and more than double the amount from any other county. "The
average value of neat cattle," adds Mr. Thompson, "as returned throughout the
State of New- York is $19 ; that of Worcester $20 by the last census. By the
New- York returns, it seems that one-third of the neat cattle of that State art-
milch cows. Taking that basis for this county, the average income of each cow
is about $21." We don't exactly understand the process of his calculation, bu
the Report goes on to add, very significantly, and, we doubt not, truly, " the cap>

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204 MOiNTflLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE,

ital in this branch of business in this county is $1,000,000. This amount in
mechanical business would be sufficient to create in the mechanic a strong desire
to be in possession of all the improvements and facilities within his reach, fof
the more profitable prosecution of his business." " There are," he farther says,
" only two branches of agricultural and nine of mechanical industry in the whole
Commonwealth, that yield a greater income than that derived from cows " —
meaning, we suppose, their dairy products, not their natural increase. *"

Here we may mention that we heard from Mr. John Bkooks, of Princeton,
Massachusetts, another evidence in favor of the reality and truth, in the main,
of the " Cow Book," translated from the French and published in this journal.
Mr. Brooks is one of the most exemplary, industrious and intelligent farmers of
New-England, and he avers explicitly that he has no fear of ever being again
mistaken in the qualities of a cow, or in the milking promises of a calf, being
guided by the marks for judgment and selection laid down in that work. He
tells of a dairy of eight cows whose yield of milk he pronounced accurately
within one quart, when they were in full milk. Several gentlemen of unques-
tionable truth and judgment, have declared their belief in " the signs," (as far as
they had used opportunities of observation.) Among them are Col. B. Taylor,
of Columbia, S. C, Mr. Bell, of Morrisiana, proprietor of a very large dairy near
New- York, and Mr. Randall, well known to the whole agricultural commu-
nity. Supposing that to be a reliable guide, and that •' like begets like " in
breeding cattle, and there is nothing to prevent a great, and general, and rapid
improvement of the stock of milch cattle throughout the country.

About the show of sheep at Worcester, the least said, perhaps, the better ,
so we will not butt our head against them. " A beggarly account of empty
boxes "tells the story literally and truly. There was one gentleman of that race
who was not ashamed to sport his four horns publicly ; but for the honor of
our country he was said to come from Africa ! His fleece had the appearance of
being uncommonly coarse and long, as if it might suit peculiarly well for the
clothing of another woolly race, also originally from his own country. There
was, too, an uncommonly large, fine-looking young ram, apparently of "country
blood," labeled " long-wool sheep.' We know not what respect was paid to
him by the Committee. He went away in the afternoon Avith a sullen air,
(probably without any dinner,) riding in a cart alone and magisterially, drawn
by a pair of noble oxen.

The cheese exhibited on this occasion v/as pronounced by the appropriate Com-
mittee never to have been better. That cheese should improve is one of the
fruits of a better and more steady market in Europe. In their gallantry they as-
cribe its excellence to the careful attention and nice management of Worcester
housewives. In this we doubt not in the least their correctness ; and when we shall
have shared with this Committee, if that should ever be our happy lot, the honor
of having been let into the mysteries of their nice dairies, and the enjoyment of
their buttermilk and other nice products, we will go as far as he who went the
farthest in saying that Massachusetts dairy women excel in all that is commendable
and requisite, " the goddess of the ancients, who presided over this department."
For the nonce, however, we would respectfully suggest that, in our poor judg-
ment, this Committee would not have erred if they had recommended that their
premiums for clieese and butter, and all household products, whicb are in fact
usually the fruit of good housewiferi/, rather than good husbandry, should be
bestowed not in money on the husband, but in pieces of plate, or appropriate

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AGRICULTURAL FAIR. 205

hooks, or other liandsome and enduring memorials, on the wives, to be kept by
them as their own, and as trophies of their diligence and thrift more precious
than rubies, to be exhibited to their friends, and finally to be handed down as
tokens of parental love and aflection, to notable and dutiful daughters. We
venture even to suggest to this ancient and considerate Association of farm-
ers, whether the time has not arrived when more " mind " is to be thrown in
among the plows as well as the " spindles," and whether it would not be expe-
dient now to bestow some of their premiums in knowledge instead of pelf —
in books rather than in money ; and whether there are not in the signs of the
times sulHcient evidence to warrant the belief that this change, at least to a
considerable extent, in the the direction of the rewards and the patronage of the
Society would be but in accordance with a corresponding change in public senti-
ment as respects the application of science and book knowledge to agricultural
affairs ?

If we are not egregiously deceived in the tokens of the age, the time is not
distant when boys who are to be farmers will be as expressly taught for their
profession as those who are to " folloAv the sea " are now taught navigation. If
in this we are not mistaken, surely a large portion of the funds of Agricultural
Associations, and appropriations by public authorities, ought to be distributed in
books preparatory to a more enlightened cultivation of the soil. Turning again,
for convenience, to the " Spy,'''' we quote Mr. Earle with confidence in his judg-
ment and better opportunities of comparison, where he says of the horticultural
department — " It was in all respects equal to the anticipations of its friends, and
superior to that of any former year. This was especially the fact in relation to
pears and late peaches. Of pears there were something like three hundred lots
entered, with a much less proportion than usual oi ordinary kinds. The variety
of peaches was very large, embracing several new and splendid kinds." Few
things can be so particularly referred to as indicative of INew-England perse-
verance and refined horticultural taste as the splendid exhibitions of fruit — ap-
ples, pears, plums and grapes — more especially when we refer to the climate.
On this occasion we had not leisure for anything like a careful inspection of the
fruit. In plums it did not strike us as remarkable, but the show of apples, pears
and various vegetables was truly superh. There was a gentleman there, on a
visit to Governor Davis, who sat on the left of the President at the dinner table.
He brought with him to his friend, some noble specimens of " black Hamburgh''^
grapes, which were not intended for, but somehow found their way to the exhi-
bition ; and the unanimous verdict was, that if these, the gentleman and his
grapes, were fair specimens of the soil and climate of New-Bedford, she has
other things besides her hooks and harpoons that are very taking !

Of the ''pigs" at this exhibition we need say but little. If they fell much
short of our expectation in numbers, deficiency m vhat was made up by their
quality, /or New-England uses and management. The hog, as every one knows,
leads in the North and in the South a very different sort of life, reversing, as
some would say, the habits of their owners respectively. Here in New-England
the function and habits of the grunter consists entirely in eating and sleeping.
Stuffed to obesity, his faculties remain uncultivated and dormant, while his car-
cass turns all into fat. How different the destiny and habits of his brethren
in the South ! There, notwithstanding the heat of the climate, he leads a life of
labor and vigilance, in all seasons, ever on the alert for the means of subsistence.
Instead of close confinement, shut out from the light of heaven and exempt from

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206 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

the animating excitement of an empty stomach, the southern hog traverses the
fields, and woods, and meadows, and mountains, from the rising of the sun to the
going down thereof, in search of "creature comforts," as persiraons, and acorns?,
and nuts, in company with his rivals, brothers and sisters, and cousins, with all of
whom he sleeps o' nights without sense or deed of sin or shame. Sometimes
you will see them all waiting under a stray peach or apple tree in an old field,
watching and scrambling for the fruit by its sound as it falls, like boys round a
bandy-ball. Kept thus constantly on the trot, working hardly, though it may be
sometimes roguishly, for their living, the southern pig has time to groiv and ac-
quire the name of hog before he dies, weighing not more, if it can be helped,
than 160 at eighteen months. Thus his flesh acquires a proper texture and con-
sistency, or "hardness," as it is termed, which, if cured by a good, thrifty, man-
aging, and well bred and brought up housewife, comes out of the smoke-house
worth, as bacon, its weight in gold — red and juicy, and savory, and tender, and
yet firm ; neither too salt nor too fresh, too hard nor too soft ; with, in short, a
je ne sais quoi to be found in the bacon of no other part of the worl^, except
Westphalia, outside the five corn-growing States, Maryland, Virginia, North Car-
olina, Kentucky and Tennessee. We should not be afraid to bet any wager that
for pork — " pickled pork " — all England — Old England — could not beat the hogs
that were exhibited at Worcester.

"Very much beyond our design or expectation as we have drawn out this de-
sultory notice, we cannot draw it to a close without repeating with admiration,
that throughout the vast fields and houses of exhibition thronged with such an
unparalleled concourse of people, we saw not a sign of intoxication, nor of any-
thing, anywhere, to produce it. And now we must steal a brief space to express
our humble approval of the good taste which winds up these festivals for the
men with a ball for the amusement of the ladies. Honored with an invitation to
the one which made the finale to the gala-day at Worcester, and accompanied
by one of refined taste, whose observation is more exact than ours, we must de-
clare that we never saw an assembly, except some at Charleston last winter,
where the young ladies were as uniformly handsome, and dressed in such per-
fect style of chaste if not rather severe simplicity and true elegance, marking the
happy medium between carelessness on the one side and ostentatious gaudincss
on the other. Regarding it in the light of an agricultural ball, incidental to a
great display of agricultural industry, we are not traveling beyond the line of the
occasion to add,^and even if we were we would not deny ourselves the personal
satisfaction we have in adding, as to the young gentlemen in attendance on the
ball, that we never witnessed a higher measure of good breeding and beautiful
propriety than was displayed on their part throughout. No wall-flowers were
made of young ladies who happened not to be wealthy or popular : all were in-
vited to dance, while the elder ladies were treated with respectful attention and
seasonably served with refreshments in genteel abundance without vulgar su-
perfluity. There was no skulking or shirking away of the young men from the
ladies, into withdrawing rooms and card rooms, for the sake of drinking and gam-
bling. Oh ! how differently have we seen these things managed in other times
and places, as who has not ? But, thank God ! the world is waking up to the
love of knowledge, and knowledge is everywhere the sure precursor of reform
and the best parent of virtue.

(446)

HORTICULTURAL SOCIETIES.

207

HORTICULTURAL SOCIETIES.

INTELLIGENCE AND SPIRIT OF AMERICAN FARMERS.

Horo stands tlie Case 1

As It may be hoped that associations for promoting variety and excellence in
fruits and flowers will be multiplying in the country, it may be well to publish
occasionally a lew of the most approved regulations for conducting them. The
following were in force at the late exhibition at Princeton, where, we understand,
as well as at Newark, the display was exceedingly creditable to the taste of the
members and the neighborhood. We very much regretted it was impossible to
comply with the invitations of friends to be present at both of them. May we
not lament the existence of a taste which still calls for such premiums to be de-
livered in " chink" instead of books, or plate, or medals, or other enduring me-
morials, however small in money value, but which might be preserved as fam-
ily trophies ?

power of withlioldiiig premiums, if the arti-
cles exliibited do not merit them.

Evei-y article, if possible, is to be accom-
panied by its proper uame.

It is also desirable tliat the fruits, vegeta
bles auil flowers exhibited should be accom-
panied by short observations ou the mode of
cultivation, if peculiar, together with any
otlier remarks of utility.

It is clearly to be understood that all fruits,
vegetables, flowers, &c. brought for competi-
tion, are to be the growth of thi^ competitors.

Dishes and glasses will be furnislie d by the
Sfjciety to contributors, for the jiurpcjse of ex-
hibiting their productions, if required.

RICHARD S. FIELD, Piuaident.

Wm. W. King, Rec. Sec.

REGULATIONS.

Any person may deposit articles for exhi-
bition, but premiums will be awarded to
members only ; but this is not to prevent
those who are not members from depositing
articles for premiums, provided, at the time
of deposit, they announce their intention of
becoming members, and pay the annual dues
for one year.

All premiimis not called for w^ithm three
months will revert to the Society.

Articles for which a distinct ^jremium has
been awarded cannot be put in competition
again at the same meeting m a general dis-
play.

Committees shall have the discretiouaiy

It would be better if agricultural societies having in view the culture of the
great staples of the plow, would leave to special societies the business of promot-
ing improvements in horticulture, and reserve all the means they can command
for eliciting and diffusing knou-Iedge. Advancement in Agriculture depends not
on the number of experiments and the exhibition of results, but on a knowledge
of the structure of implements, the qualities of the fertilizers, and the processes
employed to reach such results, with an explanation of the principles involved
in the germination, growth and increase of the animal or the crop. The two
great wants of American Agriculture now are capital and knoiviedge I The av-
erage wheat crop of England has been gradually brought from twelve bushels
up to an average of between twenty-five and twenty-eight or thirty. This has
been effected by horse-hoe husbandry and by turnip-culture, and now by thorough
draining. But knowledge, the result of scientific investigation, is doing more
for it now than industry has done before. Liebig himself has declared that all
future improvements in Agriculture must result from the application of science.

We have before us a Prize Essay, of more than 400 pages, with engravings —
being a report on the agricultural progression of a single countv, (Norfolk^ elicited

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208 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

by a premium offered by the Royal Agricultural Society — which, even for our owd
country, may be turned to more valuable account for the cause of that interest
than all the premiums that will be given this year in the United States for fat-
test bullocks and swine.

But how different the spirit which prevails in that country, among the friends
of the plow, from the apathy existing in this? In the case of this report, the
learned author acknowledges himself under obligations to not less than eighty
practical farmers in one county for materials. There of the 700 farmers' societies
and clubs, there is not one that is not known to all the others. Here, a public
call on their officers only for the name of their Society and its whereabouts, to be
answered by a single line, postage unpaid, is answered by six, perhaps eight, in
the whole country! We boast of our superior intelligence — the growth of free
institutions ! Where are the proofs of knowledge on the part of American farm-
ers in the statistics, the philosophy, the political claims of their profession ? In
Kew-York, the product of their labor is more than $100,000,000, and their num-
bers to that of the lawyers as 80 to 1 ; yet, in a Convention to model the Consti-
tution for the government and protection of their lives and property, the lawyers
about equal them in number ! Where are their libraries, provided to make skiU-
ful and accomplished men of their sons ? Why, the merchants' clerks and their
employers in New- York have provided for them 24,000 volumes ! How many
volumes make up the library of any Farmers' Club or Society in the Union ? —
But have agriculturists any occasion for books ? Can 't any fool measure a bushel
of corn, or stuff a hog or a bullock, or milk a cow, or yoke a span of oxen ? Ay,
surely can he !

HYMN* By George Lunt.

Once more amid the harvest fields with Autumn's stores embrowned,
With Howers and fruits and golden grains iu rich profusion crowned.
Behind our steps the Summer fades ; before us all appear
The hues that with their glory paint the closing time of year.

Once more we've seen the genial Earth fling Winter from her arms,
For us unfold her mighty heart, and give us all her charms ;
Once more we've met the Summer's sun amid the blaze of June,
And gathered Nature's bounties in beneath the harvest moon.

The forest leaves, of late so fresh, lie strewn and withered round ;
The voice of coming storms sweeps o'er the naked ground ;
The birds that filled the living air have spread their wonted wing
Afar beneath another sky to seek anollier spring.

Yet though the circling seasons change, and each resumes its reign,
Oh ! not for this we grieve to see the year's departing train ;
For hopes that flushed the vernal hour have found their rich reward.
And smiles should cheer the wintry hearth where plenty decks the board.

Like men we met our honest toils with every rising mom ;

Like men we bore the fervid beat amid the bending com ;

And now with grateful hearts we come to bless the bounteous Power

Whose goodness sent the ripening sun and poured the kindly shower.

And still to seek Thy fostering hand and own Thy constant care,

May we and ours to endless years Thy glorious name declare !

Thine are our fields, and flocks, and herds, and all that crowns our days !

And still to Thee, Almighty Lord ! eternal be the i)raise !

• ■Written for the public exorcises of the Essex Agricullural Society nt Lynn, Mass
(448)

ADDRESS ON AGRICULTURE. 209

ADDRESS ON AGRICULTURE,

Delivered, by request, on tJie Eighth of October, 1846, before the Agricul-
tural Society of Worcester, Mass.

BY JOHN S. SKINNER.

WoacKSTKB, Mass. September 1, 1846.
John S. Skinner, Esq.

Dear Sir : I have the pleasure to communicate to you the request of the Committee of Arrangements
of the Worcester County Agricultural Society, that you would do them the honor to deliver a public
Address to the Society on the day of their approaching Cattle-Show and Exhibition of Manufactures, the
8th of October next. It is highly gratifying to me to be made the medium of conveying the expression of
their wishes to you, and I would respectfully add my own desire that you may find it convenient to com-
ply with the application.

I am, Sir, with great respect, ycur most ob't servt.

JOHN W. LINCOLN,
Cor. Secretary Worcester Co. Agricultural Society.

John S. Skinner, Esq.

Dear Sir : I am desired by the Committee of Arrangements for the Cattle-Show and Exhibition of Manu-
factures by the Worcester County Agricultural Society, to express to you their grateful acknowledgments
for the very useful and instructive Address delivered by you to the Society this day, and to request of you
the additional favor that you would be pleased to furnish them a copy of it for publicatioo.

For the Committee,

JOHN W. LINCOLN, Chairman.
Worcester, Sth OUober, 1846.

How may I hope to justify my acceptance of the invitation with which you
have honored me to appear here, in the very heart of the old Bay State, to dis-
course about Agriculture to her practical farmers ? Ay, even to the farmers of
old Worcester, whose intellectual and physical energies have so well triumphed
over a rugged and churlish soil, and a climate certainly not the most congenial to
the growth of the great staples of agricultural industry?

To expose to deserved ridicule the most irrational enterprises, we have some-
times heard them compared to the folly of him who would go with coals to sell
at Newcastle ! But who ever, till now, actually undertook anything so unprofit-
able and extravagant ! Yet, the story may have reached you of a speculating
genius of the " universal Yankee nation," who amassed a large fortune by taking
a cargo of warming-pans to sell in the West Indies ! Happening to arrive just in
the nick of time, when the sugar planters were boiling their cane, he took off the
tops of his warming-pans, and there he had, I guess, the best sort of ladles to dip
up the cane juice, and cullenders to strain off all its impurities. Would now that
I could dip up something from the mass of agricultural materials worthy of your
consideration, and so divest it of all error and humbuggery as to present you
nothing but the pure grains of useful practical knowledge.

I say of useful practical knowledge, for, to tell the naked truth, the community
has become tired of hearing our professional orators, to whom farmers are so much
accustomed to look, commending Agriculture in stereotype phrases for its antiquity,
its dignity, its universality, ay, and even for its honesty ! They take us back

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MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

even beyond the hunter state, and tell us how God took the first man and put
him in a garden ; and then they would reconcile you to your profession by re-
counting how Emperors have condescended, once a year, to touch the handles
of the plow.

Now, my friends, for my part, I have long been of Poor Richard's opinion, that
"a plowman on his feet is taller than an Emperor on his knees" — and would
not all rulers do more honor to themselves than to Agriculture, if they would
lead nations to honor the plow rather than the sword ? — if they would strew
the fields more with grain, rather than with blood i

Instead, then, of lavishing, at this late day, unavailing and superfluous eulo-
gies on Agriculture — let rulers and orators rather teach us how its labor is to be
economized to meet the exigency of low prices — how it can be most effectually
protected, not only against insects injurious to grain and fruit — but against a
more pestiferous class of the suck-blood order — demagogues, assuming new forms
with every change of the political season ; stereotype law-makers, who flatter
and wheedle the farmer ; and parasites, who live on the fruits of his industry.
Let them show us what Governments can be made to do for the plow in return
for their enormous exactions from its produce for the benefit of other pursuits. But
I have said how much I should be pleased if I could sift from the mass of
floating theories and humbugs that infest the field of agricultural inquiry,
some practical facts and suggestions that might be useful to ofler you in re-
turn for the honor you have done me. And yet, as to mere practical details —
the quantity to sow, and the distance to plant ; how much grain can be gotten
from an acre, or butter from a cow, according as you stuff the one or the other —
the time, in my humble apprehension — thanks to the progress of agriculwrai
knowledge — has gone by for dwelling exclusively or chiefly on these. Such de-
tails were well enough when, more than a quarter of a century past, he who
now addresses you caused the first agricultural paper to be put forth, without
encouragement and in defiance of ridicule and predictions of failure ; but now
that, by means of many such and very able journals, we have accumulated a mass
of facts based on careful and repeated experiments, is it not time to begin to
combine and compare them, for the establishment of regular systems of practice,
•thus to rescue Agriculture from the reproach of empiricism, which justly at-
taches even to the most successful practice of every art when its principles are
not understood by those who follow it, so that it may be hereafter characterized
and followed as an intellectual profession, based, as well as any other, on sure
and certain laws? Shall we not begin now to encourage the young and in-
quiring agriculturist to go deeper into the subject ? What occasion have we,
for example, to go on descanting in set phrases for ever and for ever on the value
of manure and the more than miserly care with which every reflecting and saga-
cious farmer will hoard it up — not, like the miser, for the sordid pleasure of
contemplating it in the heap, but to distribute it, and that not too widely, but as
both should be distributed, with libcraliti/ and judgment ?

The veriest tyro in the art of Agriculture— for it is a great art— may now be pre-
sumed to know that every crop subtracts from the soil a certain amount of ingre-
dients which are just as indispensable to the composition, growth and sustenance
of Indian corn, of wheat, of hoy and of oats, and all other crops, as these are, again,
to give strength to the ox, milkiness to the cow, and fatness to the hog ; and that
if you would save your land from exhaustion and barrenness, you must not fail to
restore, by some means, tliose ingredients when they have been thus subtracted

(450)

ADDRESS ON AGRICULTURE.

and carneil dff— wliolher in ihe form of grain or grass, or fruit, or beef, or butter,
or cheese, it matters not. The time, 1 say, has come, tiiat " it needs no ghost
come from the grave to tell us this ;" and hence it is, that he who willhigly per-
mits a hoof, or a horn, or even a bone, to be thrown away, has no claim to a seat
among frugal and considerate farmers. And here let me remark, for the benefit
of those who are in the habil of speaking sneeringly of book knowledge as con-
nected with Agriculture, that it is not the mere pnictiral working man, useful
and worthy of respect as all such men are, who would of himself ever make the
discovery ; no, it is to the scientific investigator we owe the knowledge, by
chemical analysis, that even a single 'pound of bone contains as much of a certain
substance, composed of phosphate of lime and other compounds, as is contained
iu twenty-eight pounds of wheat, for instance, or in two hundred and fifty pounds
of potatoes. It is to the man educated in a knoivledge of the principles of Agri-
culture, in a word, that we must look for an acquaintance with the fertilizing
j>roperties of all those ingredients which are indispensable to the healthy growth
as well of plants as of the animals by which those plants are consumed. Nor
will the just and sagacious farmer delay payment of the debt which he thus
contracts to his land, by bearing off the elements of its fertility, any more than
to the veriest Shylock among his money creditors; for both these creditors, the
land no less than the money lender, are in the habit of charging interest night
and day, Sundays not excepted ; and you all know that " he has a short Lent
who owes money to be paid at Easter." But while I forbear to dwell, before
this enlightened assembly, on mere matters of practice, based on repeated ex-
periments, and now promulgated, far and wide, by our numerous agricultural
journals of the highest merit and the widest circulation, let me the more
earnestly reprobate the idea that there is nothing farther to be learned of the
philosophy and the principles of Agriculture — nothing more of the composition
of manures, of the structure of implements, of the physiology of plants or of
animals. Who has even yet fully solved the problem of the action of gypsum
or plaster of Paris ? Some say it acts by attracting moisture from the atmos-
phere ; but if so, why should it act like magic, as I happen to know it does, on
one farm, while on an adjoining one it is utterly effete and useless ? No, no ! my
^'riends ; so far from the subject having been exhausted and closed to scientific
explorers, let none dare say of its progress, in the presumptuous arrogance of
Canute to the waves of the ocean, " Thus far shalt thou go, but no farther !"
On the contrary, in the great scheme of an all-wise Providence, there is no fea-
ture so conservative as that which presents you only the rude materials of your
art, and the elements of your industry, to be infinitely, ay, infinitely improved
by assiduous study and ingenious experiment. It is that constant hope of dis-
covering something new and useful which saves the human mind from the can-
ker of inactivity, and the soul from sinking under idleness and that oppressive
ennui, the very thought of Avhicii is horrible to every man of spirit. Nay, it
is this quality of improvability which is the soul of civilization itself, and saves
the world from relapsing into universal barbarism and slavery !

As an earnest of what may yet be eflected, we have but to compare the vari-
ous and delicious fruits displayed at your noble exhibition of horticultural indus-
try, in all their magnificent variety, with the bitter and rude originals from which
they sprang, to see and acknowledge what has been done by Uinging the mind
to direct the hand in the field of Horticulture ! For, after all -< us never forget
that it is the province of the mind to investigate, to discoT .d give orders.

MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

■while to execute only is the humble but indispensable office of the practical man.
And as with fruits and with animals, so it is with grains, which are said to be
the bounty, and with flowers, which have been called the smiles of God '. See
the dahlia, transplanted from its native Mexico, with its one simple, uniform
color: how it has been made — not, again, by your mere practical man, but by
thinking, cultivated, spirited horticulturists ; by your Wilders, and your Walk-
<ers, and your Hoveys, French, Breck, Lincoln, Colton, and a host of others that
might be named — to sport, either separately or combined on the same stem, the
most delicate and the gaudiest hues of every flower ! Let me rather insist that
progress in agricultural improvement and the love of flowers are identical with
advancement in civilization and the arts that most embellish life ; else how does
■it happen that a passion for them breaks out and shows itself in the life and
Y/ritings of so many of the most gifted and illustrious men of all ages and
countries ?

See, in the very midst of all the toils and anxieties of the Revolution, when
'fhe destinies of his country seemed to hang even more on his virtue than his
■skill, and when his whole soul was devoted to her deliverance, how miimtelyall
the operations of his estates in Virginia were watched and directed by the Far-
mer of Mount Vernon ! Behold, again, the great Statesman of the West, volun-
tarily retiring from his commanding position in the Senate — that sheet-anchor of
the Republic — to look after and contemplate his flocks and herds, reposing on
beds of blue-grass in the shades of Ashland ! And do you not believe that your
adopted son, the ornament of your State, and the pride of his cotmtry, takes as
iiiuch pleasure in being known as the Farmer of Marshfield as in the title of
•''the Great Defender of the Constitution?" Nor, let me add, do I doubt that
feoth he and his great compeer, Senator Calhoun, from what we have heard of
iiis management, would shine as conspicuously in the field of Agriculture as
of politics. May I not add, even here, without ofi'euce or impiety, may Heaven
bless them both, for their powerful agency in averting one war, if they could
not anticipate and prevent another ! a war whereof the greatest evil would
have been the stain it would have left upon this boasted age of Christian civili-
zation ?

And who, again, can doubt the inoral injhience of this passion for rural life
and its pursuits, when once it takes root in the heart ? Who, without unspeaka-
i/le admiration of the great Creator of all things, can contemplate, at this season,
the various and splendid hues of our — yes, of our — autumnal forests ? And pres-
ently, when stern Winter's icy breath shall wither every green, will not even he
'bring with him a feeling of comfort and grateful sensibility to the blessings, so
oniversal in our country, of a warm and comfortable home? Avhere every diligent
farmer may realize what Thomson says of Industry :

• sullen Winter, cheered bv him,

Sits at the social hcanli, and h!({)py hearu
Til' excluded tempest idly rave along."

If, indeed. Agriculture be not in its nature a progressive, improvable art — if
its destiny be to travel the same dull round for ever, like a horse in a cider-mill,
without going forward — why not go back again to the practice of your Saxon
forefathers, and hitch your plow, as they did, to the tails of their oxen, until, as
iiate as the seventeenth century, since your first importation of cattle by Gov.
Wmslow, Parliament actually interfered to prevent the cruel practice, by "an
Act against plowmg by the tayle, and pulling the wool off' living sheep !" How,

(45S!)

ADDRESS ON AGRICULTURE.

I pray you, would one of your Worcester farmers like to be caught in a fix like
this?

'^^-'^^^ff^^P^^i^^^^^'^^^^^^^M

THE MODE OF PLOWING PROHIBITED BY ACT OF PARLIAMENT, 162-1.

With the swing plow of the present day, says an English writer, a pair of
stout horses can plow deeper, and turn over more ground in the same space
of time, than could have been done by a team of eight or ten oxen, with the
cumbrous wooden implement Avhich was almost exclusively employed here some
forty years ago. Prior to the present century, the plow was very clumsy and im
perfect, requiring six or ten horses, sometimes twelve oxen.

No, my friends ! So far from Agriculture not being a liberal and improving
pursuit, its march has been pan passu with Liberty itself, as may be seen by a
comparison of the form of the implements and the state of the art in England
and the United States as contrasted with countries whose institutions are less free,
as in Spain, and Portugal, and Russia, and even in France, where the rude ploTW
described by Virgil is still in use ? An Englishman traveling recently for agricul-
tural observation in the North of Europe, says, that in adjacent fields he saw three
or four hundred women at the ploAV — white, not black women — without hat or
bonnet, or shoe or stocking. That the able-bodied men are almost all either ia
the army, or working as mechanics in town.

Yes, gentlemen, we may be assured that what Ave now need, and that for
which I shall plead for the residue of my days, through the work under my
charge. The Farmers' Library and Monthly Journal of Agriculture, is,.
suitable instruction for the rising generation in all our schools, not merely in the
professional and military, but in all the arts and sciences connected with Agri-
culture and all our industrial, useful and peaceful pursuits. And how is this to
be done but by providing (as is done for our military) suitable institutions, ade-
quately provided and maintained, to prepare and send out through the country
accomplished, high-minded, because well paid and duly honored, instructors,
who would be qualified to take charge of agricultural schools in all the Slates?
To secure an equal amount of agricultural science for each State, according to
population, they might be appointed as the Cadets are at West Point, with this
difference, that when graduated they would be discharged without any pay frora
Grovernment, but with a diploma that would be the best sort of capital with
which to enter upon life — a certificate of capacity to create, not to destroy .'
When the glorious light that will thus be diff"used shall have been spread over
the country, then will your vocation be lifted in the public consideration to tlte

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MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

level of the more favored and less productive employments. Then will the fol-
lowers of the plow, rising in the power and self-respect which are the offspring
of improved intelligence, see that provision is first, and above all, made for the
diffusion of knowledge (that most glorious attribute of the Deity himself — that
mother of all the virtues) among the cultivators of the soil, the producers of the
necessaries of life and the materials — the woof and the warp — of universal pros-
perity. In this enlightenment of the yeomanj-y of the country, and in this alone,
must we look, not merely for the prosperity, but for the security and preservation
of the Republic itself. Until that provision is made, your course as a free and
independent nation will be as capricious, your destiny as uncertain, as the ship
on the ocean without chart or compass. In halcyon weather, she may spread
abroad her white sails to the favoring breeze, and all on board rejoice in her
promising career ; but ere the dawning of another day she may bilge on hidden
rocks, or be swept from the bosom of the ocean " as chaff that the storm cat-
rieth away."

For my own part, I should never tire of dwelling on the importance of begin-
ning at the root, by suitable preparation of the rising generation, for realizing all
great national improvements. By particular ablutions, you may wash away the
dust or pestiferous insects from the branches of your trees, but if you would give
vigor to the stem, and impart to them fruitfulness and longevity, you must culti-
vate and manure at the root. Yes, my friends, I even hold with confidence that
no nation is to be considered on the high road of national progress, or secure in
the enjoyment of its liberties, until its people shall come, with Solomon, to con-
sider " wisdom as the principal thing," and to honor and recompense those whose
glorious office it is to disseminate useful and virtuous knowledge, as among the
greatest benefactors of the human race, when their office is properly understood
and faithfully executed. And, may I not emphatically ask you, who is entitled
lo the highest honor and the most liberal reward : the well qualified, conscien-
tious instructor of youth, he on whom you have devolved the highest, the noblest
of all trusts, that of imbuing your son with useful knowledge, such as will make
him an honor to his parents and his country, and a benefactor to mankind — or
they whose duty it is, in execution of the wise, or it may be Avicked, policy of
rulers, to shed the blood of their fellow creatures, or those again, who live by
the contentions and the maladies of their fellow men? Does any one now-a-
days dare the insulting inquiry, what occasion has the farmer for book knowledge ?
Who could believe it possible that an experimental and intellectual pursuit like
Agriculture has no necessity for special education — no occasion to be familiar
with the accumulated and recorded experience of ages, and the discoveries that
every age brings forth ?

If to be an eminent farmer only requires good manipulations of the present
modes of Agriculture, without any hope of improvement from science, to lead
and direct practice, then indeed the business of Agriculture has arrived at a point
to repel liberally educated men from pursuing it as an occupation. That science
has hitherto done but little directly for Agriculture is freely confessed ; but how
long has science been directly devoted to this object ? The time has been so short,
and the difficulties of the subject so great— so little has been done for it by public
sentiment, and so much less by public legislation— it has been so postponed for
all other interests, that the wonder is not that Davy, and Boussingault, and Petz-
holdt, and Liebig, and Johnstone, and Thaer, and our own Sillinian, and Tay-
lor, and Hitchcock, and Dana, and Teschemacher. and Ruffin, and Buel, have

(454)

ADDRESS ON AGRICULTURE.

done so little, but that they have done so much, to prepare the way for hiture
laborers.

Every thing must liavc a beginning. Astronomy had its origin in astrology,
and though for a long time indebted to it lor the principal part of its progress, the
daughter has yet demonstrated the absurdity of her mother's fantastic imagina-
tions and absurd predictions, until it has deprived her of all esteem except among
the most benighted tribes of Asia and Africa.

The noble science of Chemistry, again, is based upon isolated facts accumu-
lated by alchymists, whose labors had been otherwise wasted upon visionary and
impracticable objects ; but, thanks to the labors of the pliilosoplier and the edu-
cated man ! we can now, by the laws of these sciences, Astronomy and Chemis-
try, calculate the distance of heavenly bodies, and detect the chemical properties
of organic matter ; so that an eminent lecturer in Europe has lately expressed
the opinion that in Scotland, Avithin a few years, a farmer will make out his pre-
scription for specific manures, according to the crop he wishes to cultivate, and
send it to an agricultural chemist to be compounded according to order, as the
apothecary makes up the doctor's prescription for any of the various disorders
that "flesh is heir to."

But to make a pursuit or even a pastime attractive — to insure a knowledge
of its rules and principles — to inspire a devotion to it for the sake of its physical
exercise or intellectual enjoyments, we must be attached to it by the force of
youthful associations. You can no more incline a grown mind, fixed in its habits
and character, to shake oti' its habitual languor, and give it a sharp appetite and
keen thirst, and animate it to enduring efforts after knowledge, than you can
make a rope-dancer out of an octogenarian, or turn the stagnant pool into living
Avater.

Hence the amusing literature, even before the science of Agriculture, should
be taught in our schools, as the boy tolls the bird into his trap, by sprinkling his
bait on the outside. But, unlike the bird, when he is caught — when he has fairly
tasted of the bait — when he has been led on by reading something of the natural
history of Agriculture and Horticulture — of the insects that undermine at the
root, and the birds and squirrels that ravage and feed upon the grain — when thus
seduced, as it were, to contract a habit of reading and research connected with
rural life, he turns his back on idle company and vicious courses for ever after,
and becomes, ere he knows it, a willing and delighted captive to the charming
fascinations that lead him on with insatiable curiosity to explore all the various
apartments in the Temple of Knowledge.

Is there any man who hears me among you, farmers of Worcester, who would
not delight to have his son taught at school, by well paid and accomplished gen-
tlemen instructors, so much, for instance, of the Natural History of birds as would
enable him to know to what group, whether of air, earth, or water, any individ-
ual he might meet with belonged 1 and whether a friend or an enemy to the ag-
riculturist ; — enough of Etitomology to say to what order and class any insect
belongs, and to describe its habits, whether useful, as the silk-worm or the bee —
predatory, as the Hessian fly — or poisonous, as the spider ? Yet more, that he
should know something of Geology, which, as it traces the connection between
the exterior features and the internal structure of the earth, bears directly upon
Agriculture, and opens to every inquisitive mind " a book wherein he may read
strange matters ?" Ought not every farmer who has the means be ashamed not
to have his son, who is to follow his pursuit, taught, as the Cadets at the Mili-

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MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

tary Academy are taught, the art of surveying and mapping — so far, at least, aa
to be able, by a knowledge of practical mathematics, to lay down the bound-
aries, and be able to calculate with exactness the contents, of every lot of his
land ? Should he not, by all means, endeavor to have him taught as much of
Botany as would enable him to tell the names and to classify the plants spring-
ing up everywhere under his feet, and to say whether noxious or medicinal ?
Ought not the rising generation of cultivators of the soil to be sulliciently in-
structed, in all our schools, in the principles of mechanical philosophy, to judge
of the power and suitableness of all agricultural machinery — whether or not it be
constructed in a form and on principles to achieve, with the least labor and cost,,
the greatest attainable results ? Ought not your sons, too, be taught at school,
as they are at our military schools, enough of Mineralogy and Chemistry, animal
and vegetable, to ascertain and describe the character and properties of lime, of
plaster, and all the various manures, the component parts of the soil, and of the
plants that grow on it — to designate the elements necessary to the production of
various crops — and, by analysis, to determine the value of these crops when used
to promote flesh in the bullock, milkiness in the cow, and wool on the sheep —
all the properties, in a word, that give value to domestic animals, to land and to
labor ? Should not the cultivated agriculturist — he who aspires to the honor that
ought to follow success in every calling — be as much ashamed to be ignorant of
those things which are so immediately connected with the intellectual prosecu-
tion of his business, as the commander of a ship who should be forced, in time
of danger, to acknowledge his ignorance of all the principles of navigation ? Or
are the independent republican, freehold cultivators of the American soil content
to hare their sons go on in their profession, working for ever as common sailors
before the mast, with no minds of their own — ready to let out or to reef, as they
are told — knowing, indeed, how to turn the glebe, but utterly ignorant of what
elements it is composed — expert to mow the grain, but totally without a knowl-
edge of the principles of vegetation, and of all the laws of vegetable physiology,
which refer to the qualities of the soil and regulate the value of the various
manures ? It would be absurd to suppose that such education can be absolutely
universal, but ought not all to aim at it who own land, and who are to superin.'
tend agricultural capital and labor ?

Tell me not that farmers have no need of book knowledge, unless you would
degrade them to the level of the beasts they drive. There is no occupation which
can be so much benefited — none whose toils and condition demand and admit of
such variety of entertaining knowledge, or which derives more benefit from the
application of science than those of the farmer ; and this he may provide for his
son if he will begin by laying a broad foundation. That is, by providing, as I
have before said, an ample supply of well instructed, well paid teachers, under
whose example the office of instructor shall rise, as it deserves, above all others
in public esteem, and as it would then be elevated in public usefulness.

It would not be long, after this shall have been accomplished, when the landed
interest of this country would cease to ask imploringly and submissively, "Where
can we obtain the means for this wide-spread diffusion of industrial knowledge ?"
for a much higher degree of popular intelligence would be reflected in the legis-
lation of the Government ; and that interest, with which all others flourish or
decay, as the branches sympathize with the root of the tree, would be the first,
instead of the last, to be cared for. Where, let me ask, have been obtanied the
htmdreds of millions— ay, hundreds of /ni7//ons— which your Representatives

(456J

ADDRESS ON AGRICULTURE.

have found the means to bestow, since the last war with England, for military
uses, includin£f miUtarrj instruction ? — for military surveys, charts, roads, sliips,
fortifications — palaces for the well, and hospitals for the sick ? Of all these un-
derstand me not as complaining — but why can nothing be done, at the same time,
for the arts of peace and the prosperity of peaceful and productive labor ? If no
other resource can be found, while so many millions are appropriated for war,
and all the science and machinery of war and bloodshed, (being ourselves in no
danger of invasion,) why not at least set apart something — the proceeds of the
sales of public lands, if nothing else — that the sons of the soil, and those who
are to follow Agriculture, and produce for all the very staff of life, may be bet-
ter instructed in the use of the plow, and better enabled to conquer the difficul-
ties that stand in the way of agricultural prosperity — which is, in fact, but an-
other word for the " general welfare." Why, in New- York, in a few years, by
a voluntary association of merchants' clerks, and the assistance of their employ-
ers, for the benefit of young men brought up to Commerce, a library of 24,000
volumes has been amassed. IIow many volumes compose the Farmers' Libra-
ries and the Farmers' Clubs? Why, your very premiums, small as ihey are,
are given in money !

Once more, then, and finally, let me ask who dare say that in agricultural
and horticultural improvement the measure is full — that the race has been tun,
and the goal reached ? That nothing rernams to be done by individual enter-
prise, by associated efforts, or by the action of governments. Slate or Federal ?
No ! gentlemen, no ! In some things it may be true that wise policy consists in
" masterly inactivity," but not in your pursuit. On the contrary, there is non«»
for which the past holds out more encouragement for continued investigation and
diligence — no art or science in which what has been done may be considered
shorter of what may yet be accomplished — ^none more neglected, if not abused —
shall I, dare I add ? — because there is none more undervalued, in proportion to its
real importance and its claim on the Government, even hy those ivho fol-
lo%v it for their subsistence ! Yes, gentlemen, I dare say that what is now most
needed is, not so much how much corn an acre of land may be made to pro-
duce— how much milk a cow can be made to yield — how much fat can be accu-
mulated on the outside or the inside of a bullock or a hog — all — as well the land
as the cow, the bullock and the hog — by high feeding. No ! no ! no ! The great
desideratum of American husbandry now is to impress more deeply, and as soon
as possible, on the whole community the paramount necessity for such reform of
public opinion as shall tend to a higher estimate of the political rights of Agricul-
ture as the greatest of all national interests, and to a fonder and juster appreciation
of it as a field for intellectual recreation and distinction — one to be, far above all
others, regarded in the education of the rising generations, and in the policy and
legislation of the country. To this consummation, so devoutly to be wished, let
me repeat, I am devoting, in my humble way, through the columns of The Far-
mers' Library — a work for which the publishers put at my disposal the best
materials, and authorize me to employ the best artists to be found in any coun-
try. Hence, too, one prominent feature of that work is to give portraits and me-
morials of eminent leaders, not in fields of" blood and carnage," but in agricultu-
ral improvement — such men as have been the boast of Massachusetts — Elliott, and
Deane, and Pickering, and Lowell, and others, as fast as they can be had, and of
their noble compeers in the grain-growing and the plantation States — to the end
that, as far as my poor abilities and the support of liberal publishers can contri-

(457)

MONTHLY JOIRNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

bute to that end, the young farmers of our country may be assured that, for excel-
lence in the most laudable and useful of all occupations, one voice, at least, shall
be heard in their praise, even though that be but as a still, small voice in the
wilderness. To Van Rensselaer and Wadsworth of New- York, and Peters of
Pennsylvania, and to Liebig and Loudon of other countries, justice has already
been attempted. Their portraits have been delineated, and their labors described.
If the same has not yet been done for other American benefactors of your pur-
suit, it has been because those who could, and whose filial piety should prompt
them to aid us, have declined or postponed the solicited favor. In an early num-
ber will be presented the likeness of the ill-used Whitnet, the inventor of the
cotton-gin, and the creator of so many millions of national wealth for our country
• — one whose genius may be said at this moment to give activity to the millions
of capital, itself the fruit of noble industry, now so skillfully employed through-
out your Commonwealth, in communicating vitality to the dormant powers of the
Merrimack and other rivers — raising up, as if charmed into existence by the music
of their waters, great, active, expert and moral communities, to consume on the
spot the surplus products of your fields and gardens.

Some have objected that, even in the failure of their relatives to aid us in giving
memorials of eminent Awiertcan cultivators, vie should display in an Americanvior\.
the features and labors q{ foreigners, however distinguished by their contributions
to agricultural science and literature, even of such men as Liebig and Loudon :
but is it not the boast, the pride of your profession, that those who follow it in the
true spirit are, by its very nature, imbued with a catholic temper that embraces
the whole Avorld in the bonds of a common fellowship ? With them the maxim
is that science owns no country — that Agriculture is of no politics — that horticul-
ture belongs to no religion. The earth is their country — the common happiness
their common religion. To Him Avhose hand spanneth the heavens, and who
caused the waters to flow out of the rock, do they owe their allegiance ! And
as to England — the land of Tull, of Young, of Sinclair, of Loudon, — of Bacon, of
Locke, of Shakspeare, and of Milton — what country can compare with her in what
her illustrious men have done to make matter subservient to art, and all the gifts
of Nature auxiliary to social purposes, and to the glory of the human intellect !
And then, again, is nothing to be allowed to the pride of ancestry, that conserva-
tive spirit, given to us by God himself, to stimulate, to save, and to exalt us '
That spirit which prompts History to cast her shadows of immortal deeds before
and so beckon us forward in the road to virtuous renown ! What American doea
not participate the noble sentiments of Allston, where he makes the daughter,
in this very spirit, address the mother country ?

"Tliongh iiges loiii^^ have passed
Since our fathers left tlieir home,

Their pilot in the blast,

O'er untraveled seas to roam,
Yet lives the blood of England in our veins ;

Anil shall we not proclaim

That blood of honest fame,

Which no tyranny can tame
By its chains?

" While the manners, while the arts,
That moidd a nation's soul,
Shall cling around our hearts,
Between lot oceans roll. ,**'

Our Joint communion breaking with the suu I
Yet still from either beach
The voice of blood shall reach,
More audible than speech —
Wo arc one ! "
(458)

ADDRESS ON AGRICULTURE.

In this endeavor to lift your pursuit from being considered a mere mechanical
drudgery, calling only for the exercise of plodding industry in the use of the ani-
mal functions, up to the rank of a proud profession, demanding the highest ex-
ercise of the mind, and to be lightened and relieved by various and captivating
studies, let me again implore your cooperation, and that of every friend of the true
and great interests of the country — yes, let me implore it as for an aim and a
purpose in which we may contribute not merely to the benefit of your pursuit,
but to the strength, and safety, and true glory of the Republic ! It is only
by such improved systems of agricultural education, that science will re-
flect her steady light on the course of the plow, and the most successful farm-
ers shall come to be accounted as among the best informed and most virtuous
citizens, and safest depositories of the highest public trusts ; and that the laws
enacted by men who represent a more enlightened constituency may be expect-
ed to conform more perfectly and faithfully to the public v/elfare. Then, and
then only, will it come to pass that the opulent will regard Agriculture as the
safest investment for their wealth. Then will the talented and ambitious turn
to it as to the field in which excellence may hope for distinction — the literary man
seek it as a path strewed as well with flowers as with fruits — and, last of all,
if not above all, when thus your profession comes to be a guaranty for knowl-
edge— as knowledge is the only sure foundation of virtue— the agriculturist will
stand an equal chance with the lawyer, the doctor, and the soldier, to win that
reward so much to be coveted by every gallant man — the smiles and the suf-
frages of the softer and the fairer sex.

Finally, I pray you to excuse me for detaining you so long, and allow me to
add but a single sentence. If I had but one moment to evince my sensibility to
the honor you have done me, and to make for it, in that moment, the best return
in my power, it would be to repeat emphatically, for American, Avhat has been
said for English Agriculture — and with less occasion — " The age is still far off"
when of Agriculture it can be said, 'Proceed; to exceed is impossible;'" and
he, indeed, must have profited but little by the experience of the last few years,
who does not admit that, notwithstanding the science by which the present sys-
tem of Agriculture is directed ; notwithstanding the practical skill which now
promotes the operations of the plowman and the plow ; notwithstanding the
knowledge of agricultural chemistry which now informs the farmer concerning
what sorts of manures are required for different productions, and are best adapt-
ed for different soils ; notwithstanding the introduction of artificial food, and
the consequent enormous increase of sheep and cattle grazed for market ; not-
withstanding all these vast strides toward perfection, that man must be little
advantaged by the knowledge he has acquired who does not perceive that Agri-
culture is still in its infancy in regard to the extent to which chemical science
and mechanical ingenuity may be profitably applied in increasing and varying
the productive powers of the soil. Now, gentlemen, farmers, freemen of Massa-
chusetts, of whatever sect or party, where, I ask you, will you find the patriots
to devote their minds and their hearts to the subject, until provision be made
that the rising generation, sons of the soil, shall be taught not merely to " read,
write and cipher," but how this application of science and mechanical ingenuity
can be made most effectual for " increasing and varying the productions of the
soil." That is, or deserves to be, the great question for American landholders.
May I not leave it to your good judgment, to your sense of duty, to your pat-riot-
ism, to answer it ?

(459)

220 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

THE LONG-LEAF PINE OF NORTH CAROLINA.

LIABILITY OF TREE3 TO BE DESTROYED BY GOATS, SHEEP, HOGS, AND CRABS.

Mr. Editor : I have been greatly instructed in a very important branch of
industry, by the valuable communication of Col. McLeod on the management of
the Turpentine Business of North Carolina, and was much struck with the re-
markable fact he mentions, of the destruction or disappearance of all the young
growth. Of rather the absence of young trees, of that kind.

Is it not worthy of inquiry, what can be the cause of it ? To me it has occurred,
whether it may not be caused by hogs or sheep, or both ? — the hogs looking for
and devouring the roots, and the sheep pasturing, perhaps, in the winter season, on
the young trees that survive the ravages of the unclean beast ? Were the whole
forest of pine cut down and then succeeded by a different growth, it would ex-
cite no surprise, because we know that according to the laws and economy of
Nature, growths of pine and oak, when cut off, are often succeeded by each other
alternately. What is here hazarded as a mere conjecture will not seem so wild
as it might otherwise do, when we look at Avhat has occurred in other parts of
the world ; as, for example —

Darwin, in his entertaining Voyage of a Naturalist — a good school-book, pub-
lished by the Harpers — in Vol. II. page 289, says :

" The history of the changes which the elevated plains of Longwood and Deadsvood have
undergone, as given iu General Beatson's account of the island, is extremely curious. Both
plains, it is said, in former times were covered with wood, and were therefore called the
Great Wood. So late as the year 17 16 there were many trees, but in 1724 the old ti-ees had
mostly fallen; and as goats and hogs had been suffered to range about, all the young trees
had been killed. It appears also from the official records that the frees were luiexpeotedly,
some years afterward, succeeded by a wire-gi-ass, which spread over the whole surface.*
General Beatson adds, that now this plain ' is covered with line sward, and is become tho
finest piece of pasture on the island.' The extent of smface probably covered by wood at
a former period is estimated at no less than two thousand acres ; at the present day scarcely
a single tree can be found there. It is also said that in 170!) there were quantities of dead
trees in Sandy Bay ; this place is now so utterly desert, that nothing but so well-attested an
account could have made me believe that they could ever have grown there. The fact that
the goats and hogs desti-oyed all the young* trees as they sprang up, and that in the course of
time the old ones, which were safe from their attacks, perished from age, seems clearly
made out. Goats were introduced in the yeai- 1502 ; eighty-six years afterward, iu the time
of Cavendish, it is known that they were exceedingly numerous. More than a century af-
terward, in 1731, when the evil was complete and irretrievable, an order was issued that
all stray animals should be destroyed. It is very interesting thus to find that the anival of
animals at St. Helena iu l.''>01 did not change the whole .aspect of the island until a period of
two hundr(;d and twenty years had elapsed; for the goats were intnxluccd in 1502. and in
1724 it is said ' the old trees liad mostly fallen.' There can he little douht that this great
change in the vegetation affected not only the land-shells, causing eight B2)ecies to become
extinct, but likewise a multitude of insects."

The goat and the sheep resemble each other in habits and tastes. The sheep
browses, we know, on cedar and pine, and these are considered so congenial to
their health that watchful sheep-masters cause boughs of both to be placed in
their way when otherwise they might not get them. In North Carolina, my
impression is that feeding sheep is not in the agricultural catechism. The
ground is rarely covered with snow, but when it is, occasionally, may not their
flocks find a convenient and palatable resource in the young pine ? I think it,
however, much more probable that the g^runtcr is the chap that does the most

* Bentson'e St. Helena. Imroductoi y tbiijitcr, ]i. 4.
(460/

DISAPPEARANCE OF THE LONG-LEAF PINE. 221

mischief. Like some radical politicians, his propensities are subterranean ; nor
does the resemblance stop there ; for both, when they get to the bottom of the
best things, are very apt to upturn and destroy them. In one case, at least, the
best remedy is, a ring in the nose.

Let not the reader smile in derision at the idea of forests of trees being de-
stroyed by hogs. How much more numerous would be the growth of the oak,
and the chestnut, and the beech, and the hickory, were it not for him and an
ally, his aniipode in taste and habits, the agile, cleanly and beautiful squirrel,
destroying the nuts and acorns ! But there are, Mr. Editor, many things in na-
ture that "are not dreamed of in our philosophy." One must travel, if he would
pick up information, and lay prejudice down in its place. On this subject
of devouring the germs of trees and forests, what, gentle reader, would you think
were I to tell you that on the Keeling or Cocos Islands, situated in the Indian
Ocean, immense numbers of cocoa-nuts are destroyed by — crabs! On Keeling
Island the pig, at once prolific and omnivorous, is the only domestic animal, and
the main vegetable production is the cocoa-nut tree. On this tree the whole
prosperity of the place depends. The hogs, " loaded with fat," almost entirely
subsist on its nut, as do the ducks and poultry. "Even a huge land crab is fur-
nished by Mature," says Darwin, " with the means to open and feed on this most
useful production. The front pair of legs terminate in very strong and heavy pin-
cers, and the last pair are fitted with others weaker and much narrower. It would
at first be thought quite impossible for a crab to open a strong cocoa-nut, covered
with the husk, but Mr. Liesk assures me that he has repeatedly seen this effected.
The crab begins by tearing the husk, fibre by fibre, and always from that end un-
der which the three eye-holes are situated ; when this is completed the crab com-
mences hammering with its heavy claws on one of the eye-holes till an opening
is made. Then turning round its body, by the aid of its posterior and narrow
pair of pincers it extracts the white albuminous substance. I think this is as
curious a case of instinct as ever I heard of, and likewise of adaptation in struc-
ture between two objects apparently so remote from each other in the scheme of
Mature as a crab and a cocoa-nut tree ! "

But if Nature has provided for all her living creations external enemies or m-
ternal seeds of destruction, is she not equally lavish in the means of distributing
all organized beings over the face of the earth ? — some carried by migrating
birds, and others wafted by the ocean, without losing their power of germination,
for thousands of miles ! How boundless is the field she spreads before us for study
and amusement ! How innumerable the objects to excite our admiration of the
great Artificer of all !

In regard to the progress of destruction, even to extinction, of some races
of animals, and even of men, there is this reflection to be made, disparaging
to the character and humiliating to our pride: that while other animals make
war against each other, not in mere wantonness, but to satisfy hunger and sus-
tain existence, it is not their own kind that they devour. It is only as a figure of
speech, and to describe and denounce some horrible and loathsome action, that
we say it was "dog eat dog" between them. But man's ingenuity, from the
earliest annals, has been stretched to its utmost in devising infernal machines
for the destruction of each other ; and, alas ! as if to put the seal of shame, not on
man alone, but on the cause of civilization itself, the whitest and the most civil-
ized, those on whom the God of all has shed in greatest profusion the light of
science and the benign precepts of Christianity, have been the most distinguished
r46i

222

MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

and successful in the career of rapine and extermination of their own species !
Thus, wherever the more enlightened and polished European has gotten foot-
hold, the aboriginal has fallen by his deadly weapons, like the trees of the for-
est before the ax of the white man. Those whom his violence has not exter-
minated, his contagious vices have melted away as snow is melted by the sun.
Even now, on this " day of our Lord," and of the boasted progress of Christianity
and Gospel light, see us — republican, agricultural America — self-imposing a tax
of $100,000,000, raising immense armies, and sending ships even round the
Capes, loaded with Christian men, and all the engines of destruction, to conquer
distant territories by fire and sword ! from a poor, benighted, ignorant and dis-
tracted people. How much more magnanimous and Christian-like — how much
more in keeping Avith the spirit of the age, and our boasted mission of liberty
and civilization — how much more economical, in the fullness of our strength,
to have forgiven them the debt! When will agriculturists, who ultimately pav
all its expenses, take the government in their own hands ?

CURBS.

AN APPARATUS EITHER TO GIVE PRESSURE, OR FOR TUE APPLICATION OF TOPICAL
REMEDIES, TO CURBS.

Those who were conversant with what was transpiring on
the turf in the days of Black Maria, Shark, and other of the
get of Eclipse, will remember how much talk and excite-
ment there was about the supposed tendency to curb, on the
part of the Eclipse stock. Several of his get were reported
to have sprung a curb at very critical periods in their life
and " performance on the stage."

The " Veterinary Record " gives the following article on
the subject :

Mr. Robb : A curb is often viewed as !v very simple affnir l)y some
persons, and it may be so to a horse used only for slow work ; but to
a hunter, during the season, it is of serious moment. The usual treat-
ment for curbs may he said to consist in blistering and firing. Pres-
sure, however, has been repeatedly suggested, ;ind, on a horse of my
ovim, I once endeavored to obtain it by employing sheet lead, and to
some extent I succeeded. That the experiment did not succeed per-
fectly, I attribute to the difficulty I had of fixing any substance upon
the hock -joint, iuid the oliject of the apparatus I now present to the
Association is to overcome this obstacle. It is the invention of an old
friend of mine, Mv. Airil, of Glasgow, a gentleman well known in the
liunting-lield. By means of this instrument he readily obtains pres-
sure, and, as he conceives, gets ri<l of the lameness arising from a curb, without depriving
the animal of that walking exercise which is so essential to the maintenance of a hunter in
conilition. The instnnneat almost speaks for itself: it consists of an iron ])late curved in
some measure to th(> form of the posteiior part of tlie hock, and sujiported Ivy an iron bar,
w^hich is attached to tlio ])late by means of a hinge. The lower end of the bar is inserted
into a strap, wiiicli is fixed around the inlijrior part of the metatarsal bone, and above the
pastern joint. On either side of the plate there are holes by which it is fastened around the
hock, and by which the pre.ssure can be regidated. By inserting any .siibsumce between
the joint and tiie plate, pressure to any extent, and equal on every part, may be gained ; or,
if tliis be contra-indicated, we are enabled to keep a wet sponge uixm the pint, or apply iiny
agent we desire.

I thiiik the invention merits attention ; and I am assured by those who have tried this in-
Btrumcnt, that by its use horses have been able to follow the hounds, which only a week
before had sprung a curb. During the hunting .-ica^on. thereflire, its employment must bo
of service; but when tlie suunncir came, I should fire the h.)rse and luni him out.
(46i!)

VAIR OF THE AMERICAN IIVSTITUTE. 223

FAIR OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE.

As the interests of Agriculture, as well as manufactures and the arts, come
professedly within the purview of the Institute, Ave may be allowed, without
traveling " out of the record," to take some notice of its proceedings, in the sin-
cere hope that they may conduce to obvious and substantial advancement in the
sciences, and improvement in the arts, implements and mMcliinery employed in
the prosecution of American industry.

Their great annual exhibition has gone off with even more than usual eclat
and satisfaction to the public and the friends of the Institute. Far from being
put back any by the loss of its old theatre at ISiblo's, the accommodations at Cas-
tle Garden seemed, as far as we could judge, to be peculiarly well adapted to a
display of the endless variety of curious, highly polished and useful articles sent
in for exhibition.

Judging from the number of visitors, said to have considerably overgone 200,-
000, the income must have been very large ; of which the Directors of the Insti-
tute will take advantage, and make corresponding provision for bringing into play
the inventive genius of the artisan, and the knowledge of the man of science.

To satisfy the enlightened and patriotic views of those who control the patron-
age of this popular establishment, it will not be enough that these exhibitions
shall serve to bring together every year, at a given point, for the gratification of
the thousands who come to admire them, vast collections of rare and beautiful
commodities, which, with more pains-taking, might be seen in the shops and
manufactories ; their higher aim is to make these exhibitions answer to stimu-
late, to note and to reward only what constitute improve/nenls in the trades, the
arts, and the sciences applicable to the industrial pursuits, and calculated to aug-
ment the creative power and wealth of the nation. They design these exhibi
tions not so much to bring out repetitions of what has been already achieved
in the structure of implements of husbandry, and the practical operations of
Agriculture, in the work-shop of the artisan and the laboratory of the scientific
investigator ; but that they shall rather display the marks of all such recent
improvements as may serve to indicate distmctly the progressive advancement,
if any, which is going forward in any branch of national industry — taking spe-
cial care to record and do honor to the names of those inventors and authors
of improvements which entitle them to be known and esteemed as the real
benefactors of their country.

Of what avail, say they, in a national point of view, and as promotive of yet
higher improvements in the industrial pursuits of the people, to collect, year
after year, from the workshops and factories of the city, the most finished and
shinuig specimens of cutlery, of saddlery, and of jewelry— of tin-ware, of hard-
ware, and of glass-ware — to display illustrations of all known machines, and
samples of the most beautiful fabrics — to draw, as to one great museum, the
most wonderful products from every kingdom of Nature, and the most curious
inventions of civilized life, unless it be for the purpose of comparison, with a
view to discover and proclaim how and wherein the mind, the Godlike part of
our nature, has been at work to meliorate the condition of society, to manifest

(4C3)

224 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

the supremacy of the intellect, to display the inventive genius of our country-
men, and, by all these means, to confirm in them the sentiment of patriotism,
and inspire the hope of yet higher renown for our once glorious country, in all
the blessed arts of peace, and ways of true national glory.

Such being oBviously the high aims of those who are invested with the
management of this favored and popular insiilution— successful as they have
been, to their hearts' content, in winning the universal support of the press,
and in attracting the public countenance and patronage, from far and wide —
we may venture the assurance that effectual measures have been taken to ena-
ble the anxious and patriotic inquirer to judge with some exactness, from sys-
tematic reports, in what consists the real improveinents in the various arts and
branches of industry, within the past year, as elicited by the high rewards and
honorary encouragements of the Institute ; and wherein there appears to be room
and demand for the still farther exercise and application of ingenuity and science ;
for this, in short, creates the necessity for, and constitutes the usefulness of, all
such institutions. To aim merely at getting up a glittering spectacle, and to
draw a crowd, by factitious excitements, would be altogether unworthy the am-
bition of men whose days are devoted to the highest purposes that can engage
the anxieties of the patriotic and the virtuous. With confidence, then, we may
repeat the assurance that the public will be favored and enlightened by elab-
orate reports of men of high standing, of whom we have so many in all the
walks of science and industrial ptirsuits, who are familiar with the existing
state of the various arts and manufactures, and who can state, with precision
and effect, as well the advancements which have been made, as brought out by
the premiums of the Institute, and illustrated by these exhibitions, as those
which are still needed, and may be hoped for.

The deliberate and careful reports (referring only to what is really new and
useful) of such men, known and respected for their acquirements and judgment,
and properly remunerated, (without which their labors could not be expected,)
will command earnest attention, and do honor to us at home and abroad ; and
will convey far and wide through the press, and send down to posterity, inform-
ation of ten thousand times more real utility than the mere exhibition, to ad-
miring crowds, of the countless variety of beautiful articles that serve to make
up such a show.

These reports, from Committees of disinterested scientific and practical mon,
will serve to advise the public whether what may have appeared new and beau-
tiful to the uninitiated, is commended to public favor by anything truly original
and useful in principle or quality, or Avhethcr it was a mere repetition of an in-
vention, or duplicate of a manufacture, as old as the hills, and stale as a tale
twice told. These reports, in a word, will serve to draw from their obscurity
the names of modest and meritorious inventors, and men of exemplary perse-
verance in useful labors and researches, and to place them where they deserve
to stand, far above those of the intriguing charlatan and self-sufficient pretender.

From what we know of the expanded views of those who regulate the affairs
of the Institute, we cannot doubt that measures have been taken to give this
useful and practical turn to their labors, and to secure for the indoor study and
lasting benefit of its constant patrons such descriptive statements and reports in
respect of every considerable branch of industry illustrated at the late Anniver-
sary Fair, as will present a summary view of what has been accomplished in
each department. The genius and ambition of our countrymen will moreover

(464)

FAIR OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 225

be pointed to what remains open to be yet achieved, and on these reports
schemes of prizes may be framed in the hope of obtaining the desiderata which
may be thus indicated. We need hardly say that we shall learn and journalize
with great satisfaction what these reports may disclose as indicative of progress
in that most important of all industrial occupations lo which our pages are de-
voted. It is not to be expected that the praises or premiums of a great National
Institute will be bestOAved on things with which the public is already familiar,
and that possess not even the merit of novelty in qualify or quantity to recom-
mend them. True, the elephant can pick up a pin, but it rarely condescends to
employ its colossal trunk for a purpose so little and so beneath it. In Agriculture
we shall doubtless have a report, whether there be or be not any thing really
new and more efficient in the form and strt;cture of the plow, the harrow, the
roller, the cart, the wagon, the threshing-machine, the flax-brake — in the ma-
chinery or the mill, to cut or to grind the grass or the grain of the farmer ;
whether there be any essential improvement in the appliances or principles for
conducting dairy husbandry — any hope of any extended application of steam, or
other artilicial power, to lessen the cost or to economize the use of productions
to the agriculturist, such as have been devised for the machinist, the manufac-
turer, the ship owner, and the merchant. We shall learn, and with pleasure
treasure up, from these reports, descriptive statements of any marked meliora-
tion in the forms and properties of domestic animals by importation, or new dis-
coveries in the art of breeding and the laws of animal physiology ; and perhaps
we shall hear that between honors and rewards which smaller institutions are
unable to offer or bestow, some able physician or veterinarian, skilled in compara-
tive anatomy, has been prevailed on to institute post mortem examinations of
horses dying with the prevailing epidemic ; and that remedies for or preventives
against it may have been discovered by the agency and public spirit of an Insti-
tute ?iational as well in its views as in its name.

We may have disclosed to us, as have been discovered by the rewards held
out by similarmational Societies in England, what new manures have been com-
pounded, and what new rotations have been tried, producing better and more
ameliorating and pcofitable results for the farmer and his estate.

At one result of the growing popularity of these Fairs, we maybe allowed par-
ticularly to rejoice. It will enable the Trustees to indulge their well known de-
sire to put in requisition the best talents of the whole nation, by offering large
and liberal rewards for essays on important subjects and branches of national in-
dustry and useful science, and such as in their nature require for their elucidation, a
range of scientific knowledge which comparatively but a chosen few possess. We
may be well assured that a Committee of able and scientific members will be de-
tailed to consider with care what subjects we most need to have investigated as
connected with the progress of the arts and the advancement of all the industrial
pursuits of which it professes guardianship, and whose fruits it displays ; and that,
if their funds will admit, they will offer, at the option of the winner of the prize,
either the money or plate of value sufficient to prompt our ablest professors of
entomology, of agricultural chemistry, of botany, and other natural sciences, to
enter the lists. But we are too apt in our country to expect men of science to
Grahamize themselves down so far as to live on bran bread or barley gruel and to
work for nothing. Such men as Silliraan, and Renwick, and Mapes, and Em-
mons, and Smith, and Ruffin, are expected at the beck and call of Tom, Dick and
Harry to classify insects and plants, and to analyze soils, and to examine and label

(465; 15

226 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

minerals, as if they Avere not entitled to be paid for the use of their knowledge
as much as the lawyer for his brief, the doctor for his prescription, and the car-
penter for the exercise of his trade. The ofiicers of the Institute have a great
and glorious duty before them — the highest, the most noble of all enterprises —
tkat of undertaking and being invested with means and authority to augment knoivl'
edge and extend the horizon of the sciences, and to prompt, to note, and to pro-
claim advancement in all the arts conducive to individual comfort and prosperity
and to national glory. Such is their sacred trust. They will stand up to it with
an konorable and elevated ambition, and while all pecuniary considerations and
all thoughts of accumulation for the sake of enriching the Institute, except in
the elements of usefulness, will be put behind them with disdain, they will seize
with alacrity every chance of expenduag to the utmost farthing in their power, to
elicit and bring forward the latent resources of their country, and to throw light
upon every branch of useful industry embraced within the range of their prom-
ises. They themselves, while they devote their time with enthusiastic ambition
to the great objects of the Institute, should be not well, merely, but liberally paid,
which we understand they are not. We believe that Mr. Chambers, the ami-
able and assiduous Librarian or Assistant Secretary, who gives all his time to the
institution, gets but $500 or $600 a year, whereas such labors and devotion are
entitled to not less than double that amount ; and for men in the position of the
vigilant and indefatigable Wakeman and the Recording Secretary, with his
various and remarkable acquirements, no men acting in their functions, and quali-
fied to appreciate and forward the comprehensive and elevated purposes of a
great national establishment, ought to receive less than the officers of a pro-
fessed moneyed and money-making institution. We know not what tlieir con:>-
pensation is ; we only mean to speak in behalf, and to assert the rights of intel'
lectual labor honestly and with pure ambition devoted to great public uses. The
only security for a Republic is the virtue of its citizens; the only solid founda-
tion for virtue is knowledge : argal, then, as the grave-digger says in the play,
let knowledge, above all things, be sure of encouragement and suitable reward.

MR. STEVENS'S ADDRESS AT AUBURN.

We the more regret not being able to hear Mr. Stevens's Address at Auburn,
since we have seen a brief sketch of it in the Cultivator. We felt every assurance
that it would be worthy of the orator and the great cause he was called on to
advocate ; and truly rejoice to see that he struck the right nail on the head —
Education with reference to agricultural pursuits ! It is as remarkable as it is
gratifying, to see that this is now the view which all the Annual Addresses are
presenting. Schools, too, are springing up, almost without adequate prepara-
tion, to meet the pressing call of public sentiment. We hope to jiublish an ac-
count of Professor Lee's and others in our next.

The ball is in motion ! Let its motion be accelerated by every paper, and every
patriot in the country, until the Representatives of the agricultural interest in
Congress, shall not dare give one dollar specially for any other sort of instruc-
tion, or for collecting any other sort of information at the common expense of the
people, without distributing dollar for dollar for agricultural educalion. Yes,

(466)

THE AGRICULTURAL FAIR AT NORTHAMPTON. 227

the ball is in motion ; the signs are as plain as the Great Bear in the heavens.
But Rome was not built in a day.

In our next, if we have time, we will give the sketch of a Memorial, to be ad-
dressed by the farmers of the United States, and especially by Agricultural So-
cieties, to the Legislatures of the several Slates, calling on tiiem to memorialize
Congress for a share of the proceeds of the public lands, for the dilfusion of agri-
cultural knowledge in each of the Slates. We invoke the aid and counsels of
the friends of the plow, of all parties. As for a great *« Agricultural Department "
at Washington, it sounds very well, but will never come to a practical head.

THE AGRICULTURAL FAIR AT NORTHAMPTON.

We have no room at command to give even general accounts of the numerous
Agricultural Fairs which have just passed by. Of two of them — the one at
Northampton and the one at Worcester, Mass. — the Editor might be expected to
say something from personal observation, as in regard to each he might say,
pars quorum fui — however humble that part was.

Some general remarks have been made upon the Worcester Show, in the way
of information, in quarters where it may be desired to get up such exhibitions of
agricultural and of domestic industry. The Fair occurring there a week sooner
than at Northampton, left us time for these remarks, while none remained for
any description of the Fair at Northaniplon. In reference to this, we can only-
quote the remark of the Northampton Democrat, which, after a vivid description
of the storm the night before, and the apprehension of its effects on the Exhibi-
tion, says : " The days on which it occurred were, for the most part, uncommonly
pleasant for the season, and the town was literally filled to overflowing with the
people who came to enjoy the festivity. The Fair, and the cattle, and the horses,
are said not to have been equal to the exhibitions of last year, but all the adjuncts
to this festival were fully equal to whatever has been here on other similar occa-
sions."

In the next number of this Journal, we shall so far depart from the practice of
omitting particular Reports — a practice imposed by necessity rather than by
choice — as to give, in the Ladies' DEPARTME^fT, the Report on Domestic Manu-
factures, from the pen of Mr. Gorham, and perhaps some others. In what has
been said under the head of "Agriculture in Massachusetts," it will have been
seen that the Societies on which are bestowed the patronage of the Slate are re-
quired to send in the Reports of their Committees to the State Department. —
From these reports, "Abstracts" are to be made by the Secretary of the Common-
weahh, of such parts as appear to deserve particular attention and distribution.
These reports, being thus written under the knowledge that they are liable to be
published, may be supposed to be drawn up with somewhat more than ordinary
care ; but for this, in most cases, too little time is allowed — as at Worcester par-
ticularly, where the whole Fair must be arranged and disposed of in a single
day.

It may be worth while to advise the patrons of this Journal that we shall be
regularly supplied with these "Abstracts" when published, when these will be
again sifted, and such parts given to our readers as may appear to be of greatest
importance and most general applicability.

(467)

228 MOxNTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

A PLEASANT VISIT TO AN EMINENT FARMER.

Fiom the Saratoga Republican.

A VISIT TO THK PRESIDENT OF AN AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY, WITH AN ACCOUNT OF
WHAT OCCURRED— INTERSPERSED WITH SOME REFLECTIONS BY THE NARRATOR-
ALL CONTAINED m TWO LETTERS, OF WHICH THIS IS

NO. II.

Number I. having already appeared, excuse me, but " Hike to be particular,
Mr. Editor — and now as to his sales. Col. C, President of the Agricultural So-
ciety of county as aforesaid, from his little farm of 100 acres, of which

20 are in wood, sells some hay, some pork fattened on cooked potatoes and
meal, gradually diminishing the proportion of the former, until the unclean non-
cud-chewing beasts are nearly ready for the sacrifice, when the potatoes are en-
tirely withdrawn-, and the king of grains, the pride of our country, entirely su-
persedes them.* He sells some butter at never less than a shilling a pound, at
the village of" Sarritog," as the country people hereabout call it ; some poultry,
and divers other odds and ends, too tedious to mention ; therein acting on the
maxim of Poor Richard that " every little makes a mickle." And furthermore,
according to the saw of the same sage economist, so says Mr. C. " if you would
have a faithful servant, and one that you like, serve yourself^ Hence it is,
that he has no servant of any sort about his house. His thrifty wife cooks,
washes and mends, and performs with untiring diligence the household duties,
that her husband " may be honored as he sittelh at the gate among the elders."

If the house is homely in its exterior, the inside was all neat and " in order."
There were shelYcs in one closet loaded with beautiiul cheeses, and in another
bending under the load of the nicest patch-work quilts, and counterpanes, and
house linen for every use, and as white as the driven snow.

" As huswives keep home and be slining about,
So speedeth their wiimings, the year throughout."

Wondering how he could get from his only twenty acres of wood an adequate
supply of fuel for this northern climate which locks up the earth and covers its
bosom with frost and snow during five months of the year, he showed his visit-
ors that he kept but one fire going generally, and that in a stove that served at
■once for cooking and warming. The fact is, Mr. Editor, that men who are ever
at work rarely suffer with cold, and Mr. C. is one of those who handles his tools
-".without mittens," rememberin* Poor Richard says, again, that " the cat in
gloves catches no mice."

With a provident economy characteristic, not so much of himself as of the
country to which he belongs, this side of the Potomac, while content to put up
a little longer with his old mansion, Mr. C. had built himself a capital barn,
which was as " full as a tick." Its ample dimensions and convenient arrange-
ment, atlbrding shelter and security to his crops, his implements, his cattle and
manure — except that, as before stated, his increasing stores have this year swelled
Ibeyoud calculation, and his hay is some of it stacked in the field.

There is one thing observable to a southern-bred farmer here, as throughout
this State: Their ivonnfoices, made with rails, much longer than in the South,
are generally not more than (3 or at most 7 rails high, and scarcely anywhere se-
cured by stakes and riders. Such fences in the South would be considered a
temptation rather than a barrier. Hence it is undoubtedly to be inferred that
the cattle are of more docile and peaceable temper ; and it may be worthy of in-
quiry, whether these qualities be not transmissible? May it not, in fact, be

■* It is lime we had given u name to this nuble grain — an American name. Aute, for instance, what it
was called by the aboriginal owners of the country, wliom we robbed, as the strong will always rob the
weak, and when they won't submit, the usual expedient is to kaock out their brains ! Indian corn is no
name at ifll ! Neither is the Greek iianio Maize. The Indians call il 'mole.' [Ed. Farm. Lib.

(i(J8)

A PLEASANT VISIT TO AN EMINENT FARMER. 229

doubted whether the progeny of these cattle, if transplanted to the South, and
there kept beyond the contagion of bad example — for with all animals " evil
conmiunications corrupt good manners " — whether, 1 say, the progeny of these
cattle would not retain the quiet and unobtrusive disposition which restrains
tiiem from walking, as southern cattle would, over such fences ; or is it that in
the more scanty pastures of the South hunger sharpens their faculties and causes
them to " break "in and steal ? " The inquiry is worthy of the philosopher and
ihe naturalist, with some of the most inijuisitive of whom, I am disposed to ad-
mit, that with the dog and other domestic animals particular propensities and
obliquities of temper and character arc as inheritable as physical conforma-
tion and diseases of constitution. " Thou shalt not muzzle the ox," sailh
the Scripture, and these northern farmers seem to understand it in the manage-
ment of their cattle.

Of the education of his children, (and at the very tliougiit of it I cannot but
pause to contemplate the utmost aicful resjionsitnlit y of parents on tins point,)
Mr. C. spoke as he acts, with becoming solicitude. His daughter was out now
to a better school than common. All his family assist in milking and in all the
operations of the dairy, cJntrnins: being his own work in that department. Speak-
ing of his daughter's education in household duties, and evidently as if he con-
sidered it one of its important degrees, he said she was now " beginning to bake ! "
For his land he would not take $60 per acre.

An interesting fact, as connected with the dietary and economical habits of
the northern farmer, and which may be well applied to illustrate the question
of positive and comparative consumption of meal by ditferent classes and differ-
ent parts of the country, he said that for the use of his family, including an extra
hand hired on emergencies, he retained only the three smallest hogs in his
pen, weighing about 200 pounds each. This would be 600 pounds, equal to not
more than 500 weight of cured bacon : and for not less than six persons, being
not over two pounds per head per week.

Thus, sir, considering how much more meat nature demands in northern thait
in southern climates, may it not be assumed as a fact, in our agricultural and
household economy, that two pounds of meat per head per week is the average
and sufficient consumption of the white rural population of this country, where
bread is eaten ad libitum, with the addition of milk, vegetables, eggs, poultry,,
fruit, tkc, to be had in the country everywhere. I have long been of opinion
that it may be so considered; but the problem is worthy of more exact solutioa
by statesmen and political and agricultural inquirers.

If any one is curious to see a fail, he may be gratified by a Visit to this well-
stored barn of Mr. C, whose philosophy for persisting in the use of it is. that it
gives employment to poor men, Avho in the absence of work Avould have to be
supported "any how." I have not time to go into the calculation, how much
is won or lost by the use of it, and doubt if he has done it ; for, strange to say,
let me repeat, few farmers in this vicinity keep accounts. This calculation would
require that note be taken of the cost for getting out grain per bushel in this
way as compared with more expeditious processes ; and how much is gained in
the value of the straw, 7c/iere that is sold of the farm. For this there may be
ready demand at Saratoga Springs. But the practice of selling anythino off a
farm that may be converted into manure on it. is always a doubtful and suspi-
cious one, and he who does it ought to be heldio a strict accountability to prove
that it is not wasteful, especially where he is within striking distance of an
available market for milk, and butter, and veal, and meat of every sort ; and yet
more especially when the farmer happens to be the President of an Agricultural
Society. Be all this as it may, let it be known that Mr. C. depends on the slow
and hard knocks of the flail to get out his grain. True, his crops are not large,
from so small a farm, and might not justify the use of more expensive machinery.
The motive he assigned was one that does honor to his heart, and it may be
to his judgment, which in his general management is practical and sound.
These are the subjec's that Agricultural Societies ought to investigate, in-
stead of directing all their energies to some old, everlasting, stereotype questions,
as — Hotv much corn can be stuffed into, and how much fat be laid on a builoch or a
hog? or, for the ten thousandth time. How much corn can be made to grow on
an acre ? One fact was disclosed in the course of conversation with this gentle-
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230 MONTHLY JOUR\AL OF AGRICULTURE.

man, who may be cited as a model of his class of intelligent, upright, independ-
ent working farmers, a fact which he related Avith evident chagrin and regret,
to the disparagement of his township; and I confess I heard it with surprise, not
to say disgust — for the whole township of Saratoga, containing 652 voters, of
which one-half are farmers, only six practical farmers — recorded be their names !
Chaj)man, AVilcox, Olney, two Caldwells and Holmes — can be found to con-
tribute as members of an Agricultural Society, to which the annual contribution
is but fj'ti/ cents a year !

It seems that the Slate divides $10,000 annually among all the counties — $120
being the maximum allowed to Saratoga County, and that only on the easy con-
dition that it raise among its 5,256 practical farmers the like sum of $120 — less
if it raise less — and to make up tJiis appalling sum (not three cents a head), only
six can be found in Saratoga township to join the Society, on payment oi fifty
cents ! " Tell it not in Gath! publish it not in the streets of Askelon !"* Is it,
sir, to be wondered at that a class of people so insensible, so dead to the advant-
ages of association of mind and means for the exchange of information, and co-
operation for the improvement and protection of their common interests and pro-
fessions, should see the landed interest made a stalking-horse, as it ever has been,
on which all others do ride? — that it should pay annually many millions for the
dissemination oi miUlnry knowledge, and for providing the art and the means of
manslaughter? — for the establishment of arsenals — the building of armed ships
and fortifications — the opening of military roads — the manufacture of guns and
all the implements and munitions of war and destruction ? — that it should pay
$400,000 a year for military men '■'■ icaituig orders,'''' while not a dollar can be
had to open a canal or remove a bar — no, not to make one link to fill up a gap
in a chain of 2,000 miles of railroad, for the transportation of agricultural produc-
tions, nor a single dollar for agricultural academies ?

But why dwell on the fatuity of men who gtand thus in their own light —
doomed to be forever used and abused by the selfish and the cunning, as assuredly
the men will be who prefer base lucre to knowledge — who, instead of imploring
knowledge from the God of light, worship mammon as the heathen worshiped
the golden calf. It is only when Ave hearken to the injunctions of Solomon —
*' Wisdom is the principal thing, therefore get wisdom," — that the day of re-
demption shall come for Agriculture, and the farmer shall cease to be, as he
has ever been — a "hewer of wood and drawer of water" for other classes of
society.

Throughout this country it strikes me there is one defect in the'domestic man-
agement, about which public sentiment requires to be put right. Parents, with
the best feelings, are too grudging in the time which they allow to the education
of their sons ! True, it is the well-grounded boast of all New-England that ev-
ery mother's son can " read, write and cipher ;" and in this, merely, the educa-
tion of the masses too much and too often consists ; but this is by no means suf-
ficient to qualify the man, the would-be freeman of the country, to understand
what belongs to bis profession as a man, or to himself as a freeman. If reading
and writing only do not come " by nature," as Falstafl'says, they are not of them-
selves sufficient to a vigorous and' comprehensive understanding. In Gcoigia,
and other Southern States, you may find many men who cannot tell " B from
Bull's foot," and who yet possess a natural quickness of comprehension, a sort
of practical sagacity, sharpened 'ijy thought and experience, that qualifies them
to rough it, and go ahead in the world, in advance of him whose chief acquire-
ment and dependence has been to boast that he could " read, write and cipher.''''
These simple ac(|uirements are usually made in a few month's schooling in dead
winter time, under instruction of men too often not well qualified, because, for one
reason, their occupation is not respected or remunerated as it ought to be. The
moment the frost rises out of the ground, even before the buds begin to swell un-
der the genial wacmth of the vernal sun, their sons are withdrawn from school,
to assist on the farm. Their books are consigned to dust and cobwebs; and the
lioe and the pU)W take their place, until grim-visaged Winter returns again to

* The voluntary Mcicnnliln Association in Ncw-Yoili has provided for those who follow commerce for
a livelihood a librniy whii-li already numbers v.wnty-fonr tlwusand volumes .' How many volumes are owned
■by any Agricultural Insiiiution, or Karmeri' Club, in America ( lEd. Farm. Lib.

(170)

A PLEASANT VISIT TO AN EMINENT FARMER. 231

lock up the bosom of the earth ; and even this schooling is not long continued,
only until they can "read, write and cipher."

Docs not this explain some tliincs so disreputable to the agricultural commu-
nity of this .State ? Look at the Convention now (August) in session at Albany !
How is it composed ? Look at the wlasses represented, and the amount of their
productive labor! There are in the State 253,292 as:riciilturisls, 125,000 me-
chanics, 13,000 mamifaclvrcm, 20,000 merchants, 3,549 lawyrrs, and 4,610 doc-
tors. Now look at the value of their productive industry ! That of Agriculture
is SIOS, 000,000 ; of manufactures, $50,000,000 ; of commerce, $24,000,000; the
lawyers' income, wliicli must come out o^ somebody, at $G00 each, is $2,129,000 ;
the doctors', $2,756,000. Now look at the power in this Convention for fixing
the organic law of the State, as exercised by these several classes of society I —
Of farmers there are in the Convention 50: of lawyers, 47 ! doctors, 8 ; mechan-
ics, 8; merchants, 12. If there be any virtue in the fundamental representative
principle of our Government, does it not require that the representative should
reflect, as nearly and fully as possible, the interests of tlie mass of his constitu-
ents ? — and does anything but the disre]iutable neglect which has attended the
education of tiieir sons, who were to follow their fathers' occupation, drive the
agricultural community to look, in such great and unreasonable proportion, to
other classes and professions, for men to represent them in the creat and respon-
sible trust of laio-ma/cin<r I — in delivering lectures at agricultural fairs, and, in
lact, on all occasions where there is to be an exhibition, or a communication of
anvthing more than the most ordinary intelligence ? This resort to other profes-
sions proceeds, it is true, not alu-ays from deficiency of knowledge, or of power
to communicate it, but sometimes from an unmanly self-distrust, and disparage-
ment of their own profession, or from want of due discrimination between what
is really useful and practical, and what is superficial and flowery.

At a certain meeting of farmers, during the session of the American Institute
last autumn, we happened to be present and to witness somewhat indecent im-
patience, while a plain farmer of Delaware was "giving in his experience," ev-
ery item of which was suggestive of solid information and useful facts, but with-
out ornament or flourish. Those who undervalue their own calling and their
own associates are not likely to be exalted by others. It 's an old saying, as true
as it is trite, that " it 's a dirty bird that fouls its own nest."

It is not meant, by anything here said, to detract from the legal or other
'^learned proressions," since they alone, and jmr excellence, must still be called
the learned ; on the contrary, nobody knows better than Nemo that there is some-
thing in their training, and course of reading, which enlarges, as all knowledge
does, both the understanding and the heart ; and hence has it been that history
places high among the great votaries and martyrs of liberty, in all countries, men
of the learned professions and of the most finished education ; and that probably
not so much from anything peculiar in the nature of these professions themselves,
which docs not equally belong to other callings — to Agriculture, to commerce,
and to mechanical pursuits — but because those who follow them are the most
.earned, and may be expected in their lives to exhibit, especially in all great cri-
ses, the truth of the French motto, " /e savoir est puissance," — knowledge is
power. Such men will rise to the surface and take the lead — just as, in the
prairies, the horse of exceeding strength and spirit takes the lead alike in love
and in war I

It will only be when farmers are equally well educated that their power in
the management of public concerns — in which they have, by all odds, the great-
est interest — will bear anything like a just proportion to their numbers, to the
products of their labor, and to their contributions to the jmblic treasure. If now
American farmers were so represented in Congress, how much greater would be
their direct influence in public aflairs, and their share of the public patronage !
Under the elTect of better education, their influence would rise like the mercury
when the thermometer is pluncred into water at blood-heat.

The father can so nicely calculate the money value of the son's labor, even by
the day and the hour, that he abridijes too much his chances of havin? his mind
fairlv opened to the light of science as connected with his calling. He lets him
not drink deep enough at the Pierian spring to sret fairly inoculated with the love
of knowledge for knowledge's sake. One year more, at that critical season of

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232 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

life when the character is taking its set, under competent and high-spirited in-
structors— proud of their profession, from consciousness of the importance attached
to it, and the enjoyment of the respect to which it is above ail others entitled —
would so imbue his son with the love of books that he would never he cured of
the holy thirst for the knowledge and the entertainment they contain. They
would be his readiest and best companions in the many leisure hours incident to
every condition of life, and his stead in hours of conftnement and sickness. To
them, instead of the dice-box or the bottle, or idle and frivolous conversation, he
would turn as the best refuge against the pains of indolence, and the dissipation
to which indolence drives men as against that which is worse than sickness or
the sword. With an increased love of books, Avhich this much more insight into
books of a proper character would give, all opportunities of intellectual improve-
ment would be seized upon with avidity. In a word, our whole population, as a
mass, would be elevated in useful knowledge and a just apprehension of their
rights. Demagogues of every party would be banished from the public councils,
and legislators would willingly, or be forced to, respect the interests of Agricul-
ture, as the primary interest of every country ; and you would not tind any man
so poor, so penurious, or so benighted as to grudge 50 cents to sustain an A?ri-
cultural Society ; and the landed interest, instead of being kept down at the foot,
would be placed at the head of all public concerns in the esteem of the people,
and the care and consideration of Government. nkmo.

P. S. Let me give warning, Mr. Editor, that these Saratoga farmers had better
" keep an eye to windward " next summer. There may be a " chiel among 'em
takin' notes," when they little dream of it ; and if their good housewives will onlv
give him a bowl of fresh buttermilk, he will teach them how to raise ducks, and
" no mistake .' "

SILLIMAN'S AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SCIENCE AND ARl.

Of this profound work of science, with which we are regularly favored as it
appears, Ave can only say, that it has served at once to do honor and disparage-
ment to the country — honor, in showing that we have men of genius and ac-
quirement employed with ardor and the most disinterested and honorable ambi-
tion in exploring and laying under contribution the various kingdoms of xiseful
knowledge ; while the limited patronage it has received heretofore has cast dis-
credit on the country. The able Editor must look for requital in the approval
of men of learning abroad yet more than at home, to whom his labors have made
his name familiar, and to the consciousness of his own high and generous
purposes.

RAVAGES OF THE CATERFILLAR ON THE COTTON CROF.— Wc have re-
ceived a letter from a friend in Tchula, (Miss.) dated Sept. 28, 18-lG, from which we learn
that

" The most remarkable evcntof the present year, with us, has been the appearance of the cater-
pillar among the cotton. This visitation lias. I believe, been universal over the cotton region, and
united with the previous rains, has done immense injury. The crop will undoubtedly be a
shorter one than has been known for many years. You could scarcely credit, without actually
witnessing, the ertcct of thi.s enemy to the great staple of our country. I do not think I speak
rashly, or lar from the truth, when I say there is not a cotton leaf to be found in the country. The
fields present the appearance of having been burnt over, and look like old sedge lields. They
have destroyed all the latter portion of the crop. I trust the price will in some measure compen-
Bate the planter for the deficiency."
(472)

CULTURE OF BARLEY. 233

CULTURE OF BARLEY.

[The following infonnation on the culture, uses, product unci value of Barley, as compared with other
grain crops, it will be seen was given at the request of the Editor of The Farmers' Library ]

Auburn, N. Y., September 15, 184C.

Dear Sir : The various injuries to which the wheat crop is obnoxious in Maryland has set
BOtue of the best farmers there to casting about for a substitute less liable to the ravages of iusecta
and the casualties of the seasons. Sonic think of having recourse to barley as the most promising
alternative, and, being almost destitute of practical experience, have requested me to obtain for
them the best information from persons most conversant with its culture in this State, where it
seems to constitute an important staple in your system of husbandry. I pray you, therefore, to
excuse my asking you (being persuaded that much practice, with your habits of close observa-
tion, has made you familiar with the subject) to give me information on all the points upon wlich
you may suppose a farmer would desire to have light, who is altogether in the dark — as, for in-
stance, in respect to the kinds of barley, the time of sowing, and quantity to the acre — the kind
of land (and preparation thereof) best adapted to it — whether or not it serves well as a protection
to a grass crop, or whether it is not liable to injury, or to much difficultj' in the process of curing,
when used as a covering to grass. Do you find it nutritious and commendable as food for stock,
and for stock of what kind ? and how prepared when so used ? What is its usual product per
acre (and its price) as compared with wheat, corn and oats ?

My own ignorance of the subject, and the haste with which I write, may have led me to over-
look some points material to a thorough understanding of the culture and economy of barley hus-
bandry ; m which case, I beg you to supply what may be needful to a full development, for the
benefit of gentlemen who, as I can confidently undertake to say, are not given to hiding their own
lights under a bushel, when the communication of anything they know can be useful to their
brother farmers. If you could conveniently furnish me with such reply as you may be kindly
di.sposed to make, within the first week of October, you would greatly oblige

Yours, with esteem and respect, J. S. SKINNER.

To U. S. Randall, Esq.

CoBTLAND Village, N. Y., September 26, \9i6.

Dear Sir : I employ my first leisure in answering your inquiries on the subject
of barley and its cultivation.

1. Varieties. — Barley [hordeum distichum) is of two general varieties, known
as winter and spring barley. The former is not cultivated in this Stale, that I
am aware of. It is said to be easily winter-killed ; but on lands which are kept
constantly covered with snow until the beginning of warm weather, or on those
which are not subject to freezing and thawing in winter and spring, it is belter
and produces heavier grain than the spring variety. It can be harvested in time
for a second crop of spring barley, in favorable situations.

Spring barley is subdivided into the Siberian, skinless, sprat, chevalier, etc. ;
but the two varieties most commonly known and cultivated are the " six-rowed"
and the " two-rowed." The six-rowed has three seeds united at the base, at
each joint of the racfiis, on each side alternately ; the two-rowed has but one
row of seeds on each side of the rachts. It puts forth three flowrets on a side, at
each joint, like the preceding, but the outside ones are barren. The " four-
rowed" is but a deviation from the six-rowed.*

There is but little difference in the yield of the six and the two-rowed. The
former is about a week the earliest, and, for reasons which I am unacquainted
with, usually is quoted two or three cents higher per bushel in the New- York
market.! Both bear the same price in the country markets ; if there is any diifer-

* The varieties of barley will be illustrated when we come to that subject in the republication of Ste-
phens's Book of the Farm.

t Some experienced manufacturers say that there is. perhaps, no intrinsic difference in quality, but that
the two-rowed requires more time and care to extract thoroughly its (luaUties. [£d. Farm. Lib.

(473)

MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

ence, the two-rowed is preferred, it being the largest and plumpest grain. No
difference is perceptible in the varieties as food for stock. The two-rowed is
much the most generally cultivated in this region.

2. Time of Soicini'-. — As early in the season as the ground can be got into
proper condition, is with this, as with all the other cereal grains, the best lime
for sowing. The early crops are almost invariably the best. Barley, however,
requires that the ground be in a dry, mellow condition at the time of sowing. It
will do to sow it late — as late as oats — with no greater depreciation in the crop
than follows the late sowing of the latter. It is customary with our farmers to
get in their spring wheat first, barley second, and oats third.

3. Quantify of Seed Sown. — Full three bushels are required to the acre. Of
the iwo-rowed, the grains being larger, I sow at least three bushels and a peck.

4. Kind of Land adapted to it — Dry loamy or gravelly soils ; but it will flour-
ish in any of our loose soils which are sufficiently rich and dry. It fails on stiff
clays, and on all wet, cold lands.

5. P reparation of the Soil. — It requires about the same preparation, by plow-
ing and harrowing, as spring wheat. It requires land, too, as rich as prime wheat
land. On poor and worn-out soils, oats are more profitable. It has one peculiar-
ity which distinguishes it from all the other cereal grains : it will yield well, and
the ears will fill, on highly manured lands, on which the others would run to
straw, fall down, and entirely fail to fill. Earley, under such circumstances, will
fall down, like the other grains, but the ears will fill when it is lying nearly flat
on the ground. I always have it, therefore, follow highly manured hoed crops,
in my rotation. I frequently apply sixty two-horse loads of manure to the acre
for turnips. If I follow them with wheat, it always fails ; and it would require
no experiment to demonstrate the folly of sowing oats under such circumstances.
Barley will generally fall down, but I have raised sixty, and even more, bushels
per acre on soils in that condition. This year I had a small patch of it mixed
with flax, on excessively manured land adjoining a barn. The growth was ex-
tremely rank, and a whirling wind threw it down, and twisted and tangled it m
a manner I never before saw equaled, about the time the grain began to set. —
While this went on ripening, the roots put out a new set of shoots, which stood
up. At harvesting, the first heads were full of fine plump grain, and the barley,
though much smaller, was sufficiently advanced to cure, on the second growth.

6. As a Covering for Grass. — It is generally preferred, by those who cultivate
it, to any other crop, for this purpose. I have never had my grass seeds fail
with it.

7. Liability to Injury. — It is less liable to injury than any other grain crop
with which I am acquainted. Its tendency to fill, when down, has been alluded
to. No insect enemies have yet attacked it, so far as I am aware. I have never
known it to rust, though oats are very prone to on my lands. It has a remark-
able power of resistintj drouth. Its greatest enemy is continued rainy, warm
weather, at the time of harvesting. It sprouts readily after it is cut, which seri-
ously injures the grain. I have known crops of it injured in this way, though I
never had one of my own thus injured, nor do I think it very necessary.

8. Difficulty in the Process of Cicrtng. — It cures with as much facility as any
other grain, and is cut with as little labor, when taken in season. It should be
cut when the kernels are in a doughy state, and while the straw is somewhat
greenish, and stands erect. Left until dead-ripe, the straw "crinkles," and is
cut with more difficulty, and the grain shells out in handling it. When it stands,
it is cut with the cradle, raked and bound, exposed in shocks (where two rows
are set up loosely together, without any cap) for a day or two, and then carted
in. If the straw is green, it is generally left a day or two in swath, before bind-
ing; but care must be taken that it does not cure loo much, on account of shell-
ing. If the crop is down or " lodged," it is cut with a scythe, suffered to lay on
the ground a day or two, raked into swaths and cocked like hay, or, if already
dry enough, carted in. It may be raked with a horse-rake, if not too dry. This
IS a cheap way of harvesting barley, but it is liable to the objection that the un-
bound straw takes up an entirely disproportionate amount of barn-room. It is
also difficult to stack it unbound, tlie straw being short and singularly " slippery."

9. Its Value for Ferdim: Slock. — According to the careful experiments of
Thaer, tlie coniparative values uf wlieat, barley and oats, ui feeding cattle, are

CULTURE OF BARLEY.

235

represented by 47, 32 and 24, the mrasure beinjT the same. It is considered by
our fanners, by measure, to be about halfway betwecQ oals and corn, in its nu-
tritious properties — perhaps rather nearer the corn than would be indicated by
sucii middle point.

1 have fed it to all kinds of farm stock, and like it for all, excepting carriage-
horses. For these, oats are preferable. Eut for draught-horses, oxen, cows,
young cattle, sheep and swine, it forms an excellent feed. I prefer it to corn for
draught-horses, and also for other kinds of stock, excepting swine, where the ob-
ject is not directly to fatten for slaughter. I prefer it, because I consider it less
stimulating and less cloying. For fattening swine, nothing can exceed corn ;
but barley is beginning to be used quite as generally for that purpose in this re-
gion. Very fat hogs eat it better toward the last than they do corn. No differ-
ence can be detected in the pork made from the two grains.

10. Preparation.— li should be ground for all kinds of stock. Some soak it
soft and feed it uuground, but it is poor economy. The meal is fed dry to horses
and sheep : mixed wiih water or milk, and i'ermeuted until it acquires a sweet
taste, to swine ; and either dry or cooked, to cattle.

11. Product per acre and Price compared with other Grains. — In my answer
to Mr, Walker's " Treasury Circular " (in 1845), I submitted the following ta-
bles, which I believe to be essentially correct, and Avhich include iriost of the in-
formation you desire under this head :

Indian Corn . .
Spring Wlicat

Barley

Oats

Cost per acre.

Avpraee num-
ber of bushels
per acre.

$15
9
9

30

1-2
28
38

Average value

of stalks or

straw.

$5 00
1 00
1 25
1 25

Tutal value, es-
tiinatin:» grain

at average
prices for the
last five vears.

$-30 00

12 40

13 29
10 18 •

Net profit per
acre.

$5 00

3 40

4 29
3 18

AVERAGE PRICES OF GRAIN'S FOR FOURTEEN YEARS.

Year.

Wheat.

Ind.Com.

Barley.

Oats.

Buckwh't

Peas.

1832

$1 12
1 12
1 06
1 25

1 38

2 00
1 60
1 50
1 25
1 07
1 06

88
85
90

SO 56

-)(;

62
69
87
1 00
88
SO
62
62
60
44
44
50

Cts.
65
65
60
75
75
75
70
62
50
50
45
40
40
40

Cts.
35

33
37
38
40
44
42
38
30
28
25
20
20
25

Cts.
44

44
40
56
50
62
50
50
38
38
38
31
30
31

as.

60

1833

62

1834

62

1835

75

1836

75

1837

80

1838

1839

62

1340

50

1841

50

1842 ^

50

1843

40

1844

44

1845*

40

* The prices of 1845 estimated up to the 15th of October.

It will be understood that the average product above stated includes every va-
riety of land and cultivation. My own crops of barley have averaged not less
than 38 or 40 bushels per acre for ten years, and I have raised 65 bushels per
acre in some cases.

12. Miscellaneous Remarks. — Having replied to your questions seriatim, I will,
in pursuance of your request, make such other suggestions as occur to me, which
I think would prove useful to those unacquainted with the nature and culture
of barley.

Climate. — Barley is cultivated and comes to perfection in a greater variety of
climates than any other grain.

Mijcingit with other Crops. — The two-rowed barley is frequently sown mixed
v.'ith oats, and in some instances Avith flax. I have tried both. They do very
well together, but on the whole I prefer separate sowing.

Effect of Barley on Soils. — Barley is generally considered a less exhausting
crop than oats. Such is my impression, but I am not able to adduce any de--
«isive proof.

(475)

236 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

Barley Straw. — If the barley is cut quite green, and the straw is cured so
that a considerable portion of it retains this color, it is eaten by cattle, in cold
weather, almost as readily as hay. It is softer than the other straws, and is
much more readily eaten by all kinds of stock, where the process of cutting is
not resorted to. I usually cut my oat straw for my horses ; I feed the barley
straw uncut to my cows. For two winters, it has been my custom to give the
latter two feeds of barley straw a day, and one lightish one of hay, with a feed
of from six to eight quarts of turnips. They will do as well on this as on a full
supply of hay, and it is much cheaper. I have also fed barley straw without
hay, giving turnips, or a little barley meal. Either way is cheaper than winter-
ing on hay exclusively, and with proper management will do as well.

Barley in the Rotation of Crops. — It is customary among the best farmers in
this region, to take but three grain or root crops before seeding down. The first
is generally a hoed crop, on good soils, viz., corn, potatoes and turnips. The
first crop receives all the manure. Where the manure is not applied very plen-
tifully, wheat is often the second crop, and barley or oats the third, with grass
seeds. But it is common, with many (who make large quantities of manure), to
manure their turnips, potatoes, and as much of their corn as they can, very
bountifully— say from 40 to 60 loads per acre. In this case barley is the second
crop, followed by wheat and grass seeds. On ordinary lands I have sometimes
sown oats on the inverted sward without manure ; followed them with hoed
crops, well manured ; and then seeded down with barley. This leaves the land
in capital condition for good, luxuriant meadows. On some lands, spring wheat
would be more profitable than oats as the first crop in this series. But whatev-
er the order of my rotation, barley invariably constitutes one of its crops. A
very extensive and successful farmer here takes but two crops before seeding
down, viz., roots or corn highly manured, then barley with grass seeds. He
prefers to purchase his oats, and raises barely enough wheat for his own use.

Advantages of Barley over Indian Corn. — On prime corn lands, and where
force enough can be obtained to manage it, no crop will yield a belter profit than
cern ; indeed, no one, perhaps, equals it. But it requires the choicest land, great
quantities of manure, a great amount of labor, and a favorable climate. On no
ordinary farm can all the arable land be kept in a suitable condition for corn ; on
many farms the requisite amount of manure cannot be had. It is difficult, and
would be here impossible to obtain suflicient labor to manage the crop, if it be-
came anything like a general substitute for the other grains. And finally, on
many of our hill lands corn is always a precarious crop, even with the best man-
agement, by reason of the shortness of time between the spring and autumn
frosts.

When any of these considerations prevent tlie rearing of corn, I regard barley
as the best substitute. It has these advantages over the former : it does not ab-
solutely require so rich land as corn, though, as I have said, it will yield a prof-
itable return on the very richest land. Its cultivation requires no more labor
than the cultivation of wheat. It will ripen in the shortest season and on the
frostiest lands. Its early ripening gives it an advantage over corn under any cir-
cumstances, for summer and fall feed to cattle and swine. Where pork is fat-
tened to any considerable extent, this is an important consideration. Pork is
made nearly a half cheaper in warm than in cold weather ; and to make its pro-
duction profitable, swine should be at least one-third fatted by the time corn is
ripe.

Threshing Barley. — This may be done by machines, by the fiail, or by horses.
It threshes more easily than wheat or oats. Much is written about " hummel-
ing," or breaking off the awns or beards from the grain. I thresh out the grain
as I would oats, and that is all. It is then fit to be sent to the mill to be ground
into meal for stock.

Storing Barley.— 1 put it into bins holding, say one hundred bushels each, m
a granary ; and I never have had occasion to move it or shovel it over, and I
never have had any receive injury.

You will please excuse me for the desultoriness of these rapid remarks — and,

believe me, sir, Your friend imd obedient serv't, HENRY S. RANDALL.

John S. Skinnek, Esq.

(47G)

THE TRUE COTTON REGION. 237

THE TRUE COTTON REGION.

To John S. Pkocner, Editor of The Farmers' Library :

Sir : When I wrote the hasty article on the Culture of Cotton in South Caro-
lina and Eastern Georgia, for your July number, it Avas very far from ray inten-
tion to provoke a discussion of the Tariff, or to elicit a comparison between the
productive capacity of this reijion and the valleys of the Mississippi and Red
Rivers. Your correspondent X. Y. Z. in your September Journal has, however,
made issues with me on these topics, and I trust you will indulsje me in a few
words by way of reply. As the Tariff has been materially modified, and will
never again be increased, it is, perhaps, more a matter of curiosity than real in-
terest to'refer to its past provisions, and it would be a waste of your valuable
space to discuss them to any length. The amount and cost of clothing which
X. Y. Z. allows to a plantation of 50 hands I do not except to. But he has by no
means enumerated all the articles used on such a plantation that are subject to
duly, nor even the major part of them. He should have mentioned iron, and
manufactures of iron, which items alone cost me about as much as negro cloth-
ing. Cotton bagging, rope and twine cost fully as much more. Then ihere is
leather, used extensively for other purposes than shoes ; salt, sugar, molasses,
and many other articles, all of prime necessity, which were heavily taxed. I
will venture to say, if X. Y. Z. keeps an account of his plantation expenses, that
after deducting what he pays his overseer, his physician, and for his provisions
not raised at home, he will find a balance of $,20 to $25 of cash expended for
each hand in articles subject to duty. And it so happens that the duties imposed
on these articles are generally the very heaviest in the old seven in the new
Tariff. I hazard nothing in saying that, under the act of 1842, they averaged 50
per cent, ad valorem ; and I could prove it, if necessary, by a reference to the
items. It follows, then, that even at the lowest rate of $2U per hand expended
for dutiable articles, the amount of tax directly imposed bv that Tariff was $6 66
on each hand, or $333 on 50 hands, instead of $109 20 ; or $4,329,000 on the
650,000 hands which I presume are engaged in cotton culture; or $11,984,000
on the 1,800,000 working slaves of the South, supposing the rest to consume no
more than those on cotton plantations. If the six millions of free persons of all
ages and classes in the South consumed no more each than the effective slave
on a cotton plantation, the tax on their consumption under the Tariff of 1842 was
$39,960,000, and the aggregate tax on the whole population of the Slave States,
white and black, was $51,944,000, estimated at these exceedingly moderate rates.
And this enormous tax was paid by them as consumers only. The additional
loss to them as produces and exporters I will not undertake to estimate. Nor
will I make a point of it in this communication, since some political economists
(and I presume X. Y. Z. thinks with them) deny that there is any loss in ex-
changing oar productions for articles subject to heavy duty, rather than for those
not subject to duty. I will only say, en passant, that the Tariff men think dif-
ferently, whatever they may say, since they refused to allow any duty to be im-
posed on tea and coffee, for which articles almost the entire amount of manufac-
tured cottons exported from the United States are exchanged in China, Brazil,
and a few other places. I do not, by any means, intend to say that the tax thus
paid by the South goes into the Treasury of the Union. Far from it. Perhaps
one-fifth may go there. The other four-fifths go to protect " home industry.^"
Not that " home industry," indeed, which goes to make and improve a "home"
on the broad and fertile lands of our heaven-favored country, which shall be a
perpetual fixture on our soil, and never-failing source of wealth, strength and
happiness to our republican people ; but the " home industry " that labors within
walls reared and sustained by capital, which is here to-day and there to-mor-
row, and belongs to anv country and to any institutions that will bid highest
for it.

But X. Y. Z. contrasts the productive capacity of our region with his own. —

(477)

238 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

Now I have seen such statements as his before, and sometimes to my sorrow.
I long agitated in my own mind — as who here has not? — the question of emi-
grating to his golden region. I ardently sought, and sometimes bought, informa-
tion, and the result has been the conviction that no nian has gained by it. If any
who removed hence have done Avell in the West, they Avould have done well,
perhaps better, here. And I would cheerfully abide the issue, if this opinion of
mine could be put to vote among the emigranls. With due deference to X. Y. Z.
I must say I do not put full faith in averages of 25 and 35 bushels of corn per
acre, and 2,400 to 3,200 lbs. cotton per hand, in Louisiana. On the best lands,
tn favorable seasons, such results have, I do not doubt, been realized. But as a
general average for a series of years — the past ten for insl^ince — he is a fortunate
planter who has, even in Louisiana, made an average of 20 bushels of corn and
2,000 lbs. cotton. Here is an issue of fact which, of course, cannot easily be de-
cided. But I state an opinion which I have taken much pains to form, and which
is, I think, at all events, entitled to full as much credit as my previous statement
that our average production here is 10 bushels of corn and 1,200 lbs. of cotton. —
When the difference in the prices of land in Louisiana and this region — our supe-
rior healthfulness — the greater increase of our negroes, and the advantage of At-
lantic markets, &c. &c. are considered, I do not think a great deal more dear
money can be realized there from 20 bushels of corn and 2,000 lbs. cotton, than
from 10 bushels of corn and 1,200 lbs. of cotton here. Of this I feel sure — that
if the cost of moving hence to that country — the innumerable small losses incur-
red— the sacrifice of lands and fixtures here — the far greater cost of them there —
and the immense disadvantage of planting soil one is not acquainted with, and
very often losing several years before a full crop can be made — if all these things
could be estimated and reduced to a cash value, and that amount expended here
in improving our homesteads, I am perfectly confident that we should, in any se-
ries of years, make more money per hand, if not per acre, than the emigrants to
Louisiana have made heretofore or will make hereafter.

IMothing is so easy as to point to fine crops or fine plantations and draw general
conclusions so brilliant as to carry away the imagination and defy all sober rea-
soning. It could be done here, also, if this were not an old country and every
body did not hnoiv that it is no El Dorado. People will not look at " sunny
sketches " if the scene is in South Carolina or Eastern Georgia. Place it any
where beyond Flint River, however, and nothing is too highly colored for their
credulous imaginations. Now, in this region we make on our bottom lands from
30 to 60 bushels of corn, lohen freshes do not interfere. I have myself made 83
bushels per acre on a field of 25 acres. These crops were more frequent before
our country was cut down. Now they occur once in six or seven years only ;
but they do occur. One of my neighbors made, last year, an average of 2,000
lbs. seed cotton on a ten-acre field, unmanured, fresh swamp land ; one selected
acre made over 2,700 lbs. On a few acres I averaged, myself, 2,600 lbs. and I
have this day (15th Sept.) picked 564 lbs. from a single acre, selected as the
best of 100 acres of fresh swamp, planted this year for the first time. It will, no
doubt, produce considerably over 2,000 lbs. Permit me to say, that such of us
as have resolved to stay here and improve our lands with the money we know it
would cost us to move West, are opening virgin swamps far above higli-water
mark, which, though expensive to bring into culture, promise to be of vast and
exhaustless fertility. When the same is done generally, tliis region will com-
pare with any in the world. Permit me also to state an opinion which I well
know will be met by an universal smile of incredulity, and perhaps diminisli any
confidence that may be placed in my previous statements: Georgia and South
Carolnia are, after all, the Cotton Stales, and time in/t jirovc it. We have the
cotton climate ; and our lands are susceptible of improvement to any extent ; our
best lands remain yet untouched. Time, energy and loiv tares will bring them
out. With tiie present race of planters and system of management tiie rich bot-
toms of the south-west may go beyond us ; but when to their extreme seasons —
becoming more uncertain ; to their innumerable insects — becoming more numer-
ous ; to their sickliness — becoming more so — shall be added a war/n soil, the im-
proved lands and culture, and, above all, the genuine cotton climate of these
States will prevail over them.

One word more to X. Y. Z. : Is he sure that the reduction of the Tarifl' will

(478)

THE POTATO DISEASE. 239

materially reduce the price of sugar and divert planters from that business ? I
very niucli cjuestiou any permanent fall in the price of sugar. Let any one scru-
tinize our imports — ascertain the amount of sugar entered at our Custorii-Huuses ;
add to it the amount produced in the United Slates, and then estimate the quan-
tity that must be consumed in our cotmtry, and 1 think he will come to the con-
clusion I have long entertained, that under our high Tariff an immense propor-
tion of the sugar used in the United States has heen smuggled. The present
duty will offer no bounty on smuggling. At any rate, it is pretty certain that
since the British West Indies have been falling off in the production of sugar, the
demand for it has been gaining on the supply. The reduction of our Tariff, or the
British Tariff, and the reductions contemplated in Russia and the Zollverein,
will give a still greater impulse to consumption, and leave it scarcely doubtful that
for the next ten years sugar will command as high a price as it has done for teu
years past. S. B.

THE POTATO DISEASE.

REPORT ON THE DISEASE OF THE POTATO CROP IN SCOTLAND IN THE YE.UI 1845.

The Highland Agricultural Society of Scotland, impressed with the imnort-
ance of placing on record the results of the experience of agriculturists regarding
the disease which had so widely affected the potato crop last year, directed at-
tention to the subject, in a paper drawn up with care, which has been widely
circulated in the agricultural districts of that country.

The points to which this learned and patriotic Society invoked inquiry were,
the period at which the disease manifested itself; the state of the weather ;
the appearances presented by the stem, leaves, flowers, and tubers ; the degree
in which different varieties were affected ; whether potatoes recently obtained
from seeds have been less subject to the disease than those which have been long
raised from sets or tubers ; whether any particular condition of the soil as to
wetness, previous cultivation, or the kinds of manures used, appear to have had
any influence in promoting, retarding, or preventing the disease ; and, finally, as
to the mode of storing the potatoes. With an alacrity and public spirit which
cannot be too warmly admired or too earnestly commended to the emulation and
the shame of agriculturists in some countries, all these queries have been an-
swered by many of the most distinguished farmers in the country. These an-
swers have been most carefully sifted and the results classified and presented in
the clearest form.

The Society in their publication quote from 132 replies to these several queries,
and give the result in a brief summary, for which we hope to find room in our next.
Here is capital material, in these answers in extenso, for the United States Gov-
ernment agricultural periodical. They Avill altogether make about as much [200
pages] as was published in their last under the title of " Patent Office Report ;"
and though this part of the document, like its predecessor, will have no merit of
originality, it will be ten times more valuable than much of the trash that ap-
pears in that crude, chaffy and ill-digested annual. Like that, too, this dish of
murphies may be spread before the sovereign people at a cost to the Government
of not over $20,000. In the mean time, we will serve up the essential extract
and substance of it to our readers for not more than five cents each. We will
only anticipate the results of this careful and authentic examination of a subject
of the greatest importance, so far as to state now, that nearly all the reporters

240

MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

state that potatoes raised recently from seeds were equally subject to the disease
as those which had been long propagated from tubers ; and in the opinion of
many of the reporters, the potatoes recently raised from seeds were more liable
to be affected than the others ; and as to manures, the great mass of authority
goes to establish that no modification of the disease was observed to result from
the condition or kind of manure, and that it manifested itself to an equal extent,
and with equal virulence, under all applications, whether of common manures,
or of what have been called special manures. With reference to potatoes from
seed, the above statement agrees with wliat we were told some lime since by
Mr. Mclntire, of Albany, a farmer of uncommon intelligence and the highest re-
spectability.

S^^ Therk were imported into Livei-pool, this year, from Amenca, 877.059 barrels of
flour, and from Canada 24G,27(J, in all l,123,0o5 b<iiTels. The increase of Indian corn is re-
markable. In 184.J the hn]U)rt was 37.000 quavteis ; in 1346, ] 5)2,000 quarters. The .stock
at present in Livei-pool is 340,000 barrels of Hour, free and in bond, and about 200,000 quar-
ters of wheat, free and in bond. Tlie other grain may be estimated at about 100,000 quai-
ters. Thus we see what a trade the corn Uade in Liveqiuol is likely to be. [English paper.

PRICES CURRENT.

[Coj-reclcd, October 24, for Lhe Monthly Journal of A gri culture. \

ASHES— Pots, ]st sort ^ 100 111. 4 50 ■«>

Pearls, 1st sort, '40 5 — 'w

BEESWAX — American Yellow In — 27

CANDLES— Mould, Tallow.. |)' K... — i) ®— 11

Sperm. Eastern and City — 25 « — .38

COTTON— I'rom ^113.— 8 ®— 111

COTTON BAGOINCi- American... — 12ia— 13

CORD AGi:— American ^ lb. — 11 ®— 12

DOMESTIC GOODS-Sliirtings, !>■>'. — 5 Tv— 11

Stieetings — <!i &' — 15

FEATHEUS — American, live — 25 •g — 30

FLAX — American — 7 '&> — Ik

FLOUR & MEAL— Genesee, ^ bbl. 6 — Tv

Troy 3 QSJS-

Michigan 5 87i a) 5 93^

Ohio, Flat Hoop 5 87^- a) 5 93 j

Ohio, Round Hoop ®

Ohio, via New-Orleans ®

Pennsylvania "©

Brandy wipe 6 — ®

Georgetown 6 — 'a)

Baltimore City Mills ®

Richmond City Mills 7 — ''w

Ilichmond Country 0 — ®

Alexandria, Potersburg, &.c 6 — ®

Rye Flour ® 4 50

Corn Meal, Jersey and Brand 4 25 @ 4 50

Com Meal, Brandywino hhd. a)

GRAIN— Wheat, White ^ bush. 1 30 @

Wheat, Red 1 15 ® 1 20

Rye, Northern ; '(i — tO

Com, Jersey and North ... (meas.) — 75 w

Com, Southern ('measure') ®

Corn, Southern (weight) — 75 'a>

Oats, Northern — ^5 ii) — 3G

Oats, Souihen) ®

HAY— North River in balof, ^100 m — 45 @— 50
JHMP— American, dewroiicd.. ton 85 — ®95 —

" " waier-roUed 130 — ■S>185 —

HOP.S—l3t sort, 1845 — Ula— 12t

IRON— American Pig, No. 1 30 — ■•«32 .50

" Common 22 .50 «'25 —

LIMi:— Thomaston !>■ bbl. — 75 @

LUMBER- Boards, N.R., ^'M. ft. clr. 30 — -6 35 —

Boards, Eastcm Pine 11 — S 13 —

Boards, Albany Pine -^pce. — 10 a— 18

Plauk. Georgia Pine f .M. It. 27 — ®30 —

(480)

Staves, A\'hite Oak, pipe. ^ M

Staves, White Oak, hhd

Staves, While Oak, bbl

Staves, Red 0;di, hlul

Hoops

Scantling, Pine, Eastern

Scantiin;;, Oak

'Pijnlier, Oak ^ cubic foot

Timber, White Pine

'Pimber, Georgia Yellow P:iie

Shhigles, 18 in <^ bunch

Shingles, Cedar, 3 feet, l.«tqualiiy.

Shingles, Cedar, 3 I'cc-t, 2d quality.

Shingles, Cedar, 2 feet, 1st quality.

Shingles, Cedar, 2 feet. 2d quality.

Shingles, Cyjiross, 2 leet

.'^hingle.s. Company

MUSTARD — American

NAII,S— Wrought, 6d lo 20d...f Its.

CuL-ld to40d

PLASTJ;r J'ARIS— F' ton

PItOVlSIONS— Beef, Mess, f>bbl...

Beef Prime,

Pork, Mess, Ohio

Pork, Prime, Ohio

Lard. Ohio ^ Its.

Hams, Pickled

Shouldi rs, Pickled

Sides, Pickled

Beef, Smoked ^ It).

Butler, Orange County

Butter, Westtnn Dairy

Butler. Grease

Cheese, in casks and boxes

SEEDS— Clover !>• Its.

Timothy !>■ tierce

Flax, Rough

SOAP— N. York. Brown V It).

TALLOW — American Rendered ...
TOHACCO— Virginia ® Its.

North Carolina

Kentucky and Missouri

WOOL— .'Vm. Saxony. Fleece,. ■P' Itj.

Amc^rican Full Blood Merino

American V and \ Merino

American Native and J Merino...

Supertine, I'uUed

-^ —

®- .

40 —

76

30 —

®

24 —

@2f! —

25 —

®30 —

®15 —

30 —

®35 —

0.1

®-- :«

— i5

@— 22

— 20

®— 22

1 75

® 2 —

2.5 -

®

22

®23 —

17 —

®18 —

15 —

®1G —

13 —

®14 —

®28 —

— IC ®— 31

— 10

®— 12}

— 4

®— 4t

o

® 2 2o

7

® 8 —

fi —

® G G2i

10 12

I® to 25

® 0 25

— 7

rif— s

— 5

r®— C

— 41®— 4i

— —

@

r*

5®— 9

— 1(>

®— 18

— 14

®— 15

®— 7

— 7

®— 7i

— G

®— 7V

11 —

®15 —

y 25

®

— 3}®— 6

7

if»— H

— 2

,a>— 6

2

1®— 5

2

(2)— 7

— 32

®— 34

— 27

@-28

22

®— 25

— 20

® — 21

— 2G

®- 27

MONTHLY

JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

VOL. 11. DECEMBER, 1846. NO. 6.

EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES.

The first Plate presents a Portrait of Mr. W. R. Grinnell's prize colt, Champion, three years
old, by Almac — he by Mambrino.

Th.e second Plate. — The second repres<ents, as will be seen, analytical sections of niould-boarda
of the East LotJiian, Mid-Lothian, Berwickshire and tlie Lanarkshire Plows — being illustratioos
of Stephens's Book ol the Farm.

FARMERS' CLUBS.

RULES FOR THEIR ORGANIZATION AND GOVERNMENT ; WITH SUGGESTIONS AS TO THEIR
OBJECTd AND MANNER OF PROCEEDING.

"We have long been persuaded that these Clubs, holding monthly meetings for
free and familiar discussion, when well and judiciously conducted, are better calcu-
lated for the increase of agricultural knowledge and, of course, for the proraotioa
of agricultural prosperity, than are our Annual Fairs ; for which much time and
expense are appropriated by those who contribute to them, and which, when the
year rolls round, come and vanish, very much like "trials of speed," leaving time
scarcely sufficient, among the thousands who are brought together, for a day,
even to exchange salutations — much less to exchange information, and so ac-
quire and impart a better knowledge of the various branches of their commou
pursuit.

The thief benefit of a show is the opportunity of letting those who go, see
what are the qualities of the various breeds of domestic animals, and, by the
display of the best specimens, evince the degree of excellence which may be at-
tained in the cultivation of fruits and vegetables by superior care and intelligence.
And still farther are they useful in this: that some are prompted to buy and take
into their counties and neighborhoods specimens of superior animals for the
improvement of the neighborhood stock ; but it sometimes happens, unfortunately,
that these purchases of large, sleek, fat-looking animals, captivating to the eye,
are made without judgment or reference to the particular resources and circum-
stances of the region to which they are carried ; and thus may mischief, instead
of benefit, ensue the most patriotic and well-meant designs of the purchasers.
One farther remark here may not be out of place : In the States south of New-
York and Pennsylvania, if a man buys, no matter at what cost, a male animal
of the choicest blood and qualities, his neighbors are apt to think him churlish
and mean if he does not allow the free use of him to all who choose to send,
if indeed they do not expect the animal to he sent to them! This is one of the
(Sia) 16

242 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

evils that sometimes come out of good. It is an abuse of a commendable
trait — an injudicious exercise of a hospitable and generous temper characteris-
tic of the people of that section. Now, where an opulent farmer chooses
to buy and make an out-and-out present of a costly animal to a Society or a
neighborhood, that 's very well — as the French say, une autre chose. We
would like to be among the first and the loudest in applause of such munificence
on the part of those who can afibrd it. Heartily do we wish we could see a little
more of it ; but observation has shown that where a man gets choice animals,
cattle, or sheep, or hogs, and then lets any mean or miserly neighbor have the fre«
use of them, exchanging evenly, for instance his choice Leicester or South-Down
Jambs for common ones, those who thus get easily into the blood, set very little
store to it. Like woman's love, what is lightly got is lightly valued ; and thus
the race soon degenerates, and steady, progressive improvement, which should
be the object of all, is sacrificed to gratify a mean spirit on the one side, and good
nature, and too often a low spirited thirst for vulgar popularity on the other.

It is not by cheapening anything really excellent of its kind that melioration
is secured. It has not been by such a system of making good things common,
that the progress of improvement has been kept up in England Avithout abate-
ment for the last hundred years. It was not under the influence of any such
slip-shod, careless, mistaken system of liberality that, in August last, Jonas Webb,
the great South-Down breeder in England, had at his annual letting of rams
some " 250 noblemen, gentlemen and agriculturists," on which occasion one ram
was hired for the season at $250 ; and the first sixty, let hy the season to the
highest bidders, at an average of $80.

But to return to Cattle Shows as compared to Farmers' Clubs. The former
are highly useful in the lights and for the objects we have mentioned. £ut
they are far more liable to abuse and perversion than Clubs for discussio?i ; and
when intrigue and management supervene, and the people begin to see that
" kissing goes by favor," ill blood and disgust soon take the place of patriotic ex-
ertion and honorable and generous rivalry. There is, however, no human insti-
tution or enterprise that is not obnoxious to some objection or abuse ; and all we
can do is to endeavor to eschew the evil, and to keep the right constantly in view.

Of one thing we respectfully think we may hazard a word of suggestion: that
agricultural papers, especially, would best promote the valuable objects of these
exhibitions by a severe, though just and impartial criticism, rather than by in-
discriminate praise of everything that is exhibited, of every thing that is said,
and every thing that is done ! Especially should they reprobate all low, mer-
cenary, underhanded attempts to bias the minds of judges for aAvarding premi-
ums ; and yet more the parceling out of premiums, here and there, on objects
devoid of any extraordinary excellence, scattering the funds of the Association
as so many seeds from which to gather a rotten harvest of ill-grounded and ephe-
meral popularity. We have known, for example, resolutions of thanks to be
passed complimenting a Mayor and the citizens of a town for their hospitality,
when at that very meeting, a wealthy and hospitable Member of Congress com-
ing from a great distance, President of an Agricultural Society at home, and in-
troduced as such, sat up all the first night after his arrival, by the tavern fire ; and
the next night was forced to leave at 9 o'clock for want of a bed. And at another
town, mors recently, hotel charges were enhanced, for the occasion, practicing
on strangers from foreign territories and distant States the most shameful rapa-
city. So we repeat, that praise, to be useful, should not be indiscriminate.

(530)

farmers' clubs. 243

So much for Agricultural and other Fairs — to which we are not to be suspect-
ed of entertaining any hostility, for we caused many to be gotten up before some
of those, if any there be, who would harbor the mean suspicion, were old enough
to know '• a B from a hull's foot." After all, Farmers^ Clubs, instead of being
opposed, are cminenlly subsidiary to Annual Fairs ; and those who are impressed,
like our correspondent, with a sense of their usefulness and good tendency in an
intellectual point of view — the only vicAV in which almost anything is worthy ot
regard — will rejoice with us to see how they are extending throughout the coun-
try ; so much so that we hope it will not be thought that the space is ill em
ployed which is here appropriated, perhaps once for all, to this subject.

A Farmers' Club, or rather an Agricultural Society which practically assumed
the more useful character of a Farmers' Club, has been steadily maintained in
Talbot County, Maryland, for now twenty years or more, and its good eft'ects are
visible, not only on the face of the country around, but in the fine spirit, intelli-
gence and correspondence of those who are connected with it, or who live and
practice Agriculture within the sphere of its inliuence ; for in all such cases,
though these Associations depend upon a few to form and keep them up, the ben-
efits, as respects information and improvements in processes and implements, ac
crue to the whole county, and often extend beyond its limits.

If farmers were half as watchful of their own welfare as other classes are
there would not be an election district in any State in the Union without one ol
these Clubs ; and all would form a common League for common action when
needed. Erratic and desultory as discussions at some of them are apt to be, com-
ing at last to no specific resolution, to be published as the result of them, they yet
serve to elicit and diffuse much valuable information.

In the deliberations of these Societies and Institutes, formed by the various
trades and pursuits z;i the cities, almost all measures for their peculiar benefit and
monopoly, have their origin. They are not content even with collecting libraries,
causing lectures to be delivered, holding exhibitions and offering premiums to fur-
ther and to illustrate the progress of improvement in their several arts and voca-
tions. They go farther : they interpret the wishes, make known the wants, ex-
pose the wrongs and vindicate and assert, before the sovereign power of the coun-
try, the rights of the entire body for whose benefit, as a class, they have been or-
ganized. They constitute, in a word, not mere talking, but active working Socie-
ties, bringing their united talents and influence to bear, promptly and efficiently, oa
the law-makmg power, for their own peculiar advantages ; while, with shame be
it written, farmers are too inert or too timid, to examine, criticise, and boldly ar-
raign and denounce, as they should, where needed, all public measures and acts
of omisson as well as of commission, on the part of men in authority, calculat-
ed injuriously to affect them. Alas ! they seem, in too many cases, to be de-
void of the common instinct of self defence. They will scarcely turn when
trodden upon. Else how is it that they will submit to go on being taxed, year
after year, thousands on thousands, for military schools, maps, charts, surveys,
voyages of discovery and journals of travel over sea and land, " mountain and
valley ;" and yet not demand one dollar for direct instructioii in Agriculture !
Well we know what the answer will be : We do not choose to be considered
ignorant of the fact that voyages of discovery and explorations through unknown
regions of land and water 7nai/ open up new sources of trade and commerce ; and
so by possibility ultimately benefit Agriculture ; but we hiow that Agriculture
•would be very soon, and throughout the whole nation, benefited by schools which
(531)

244 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

should instruct the rising generations in the reason and philosophy of everything
on which agricultural labor, and capital, and mind are brought to operate and to
depend for prosperity and enjoyment. The solemn fact, however, is, that agri-
culturists are so spread over the whole country, that they can hardly be said to
constitute a class, for any efficient action useful to themselves, and hence there
is none of that personal sympathy for them, in public bodies, that there is for
those who constitute more distinct, well-defined and privileged classes and
branches of industry. Thus it is, will the reader believe it, that it was not until
comparatively very lately, that in Congress, or State Legislatures, any Commit-
tees have been appointed on the great business and concern of the nation .' And
even now their appointment is, in most cases, rather a matter of form and hitm-
buggery, than for any real service they are intended to do or actually do perform I
"Who can point us to any of their Reports on the condition and wants of this great
fountain of national wealth and power?.

Propose a law that affects the navigation class, or the mercantile class, and
some Chamber of Commerce is perpetually sitting in its midst, like a great
spider in the center of his web. The least breath of harm reaches him, as
news is conveyed by the telegraph, and wakes him up in a spirit of deter-
mined resistance to the first approach or sign of aggression. So with the
Army and the Navy ; not a Member of Congress whose personal feelings may
not be enlisted through sympathy with some member or some influential con-
stituent nearly connected with some member of the profession. Every proposi-
tion which in any way affects particular classes becomes the personal concern
and commands the personal interposition of every member of that class. How
different with the great body of farmers, who are, in fact, the people ! Their
business, their welfare, their rights, as far as they are to be affected by the action
of Government, are left to the care of everybody and of nobody — the result
whereof need hardly be told. There is an old song which runs—

" I care for nobody, no, not I, for nobody cares for me."

Farmers, as a class, might with truth sing — " Nobody cares for us, no, not they,
foi we — don^t care for ourselves I "

Not so will it be, may we not hope, when Farmers' Schools and Farmers'
Clubs shall come to be established wherever population is sufficiently dense to
admit of it, and when these, acting with sound understanding, and in concert,
for the good of the land, shall teach men in power that Agriculture, " the nursing
mother of all the arts," is, of all human concerns, that which should command
.their first and most anxious care and devotion.

Here, for example, the following advertisement catches our eye, in a morning
paper, and even before they break their fast, will probably have been road by
thirty thousand, at least, of those for whose benefit these Institutes are gotten up:

Season tickets $3 ; single Lectures 25 cents. To
members of the Institute free. 'I'crms of member-
shij), $1 initiKiion and $2 yearly dues. Kights and
privileges of a member : Ownership in all property.

C^ MecbnnicM' Iiistitute Lectures —Pro-
fessor HuMKS iiilroductoiy Lecture to his Cour.te
on Kxperimenlal ('hemi.stry, as applied to Arts and
Manufactures, will l)e ijiven on Wednesday evenim;,
11th inst. at 8 o'clock, in the Institute Lecture Room,
City Hall.

The Course will comprise one of the most usetul
and practical series of experiments in Chemical Sci-
ence ever presented to the pulilic. In connection
with this Course will be one on the Steam l<:ni:ine,
illustrated by one of the largest Didactic Models in
the country ; and also one on Astronomy suid Me-
chanical Philosophy.

use of reading-rooms and library, free admission to
all lectures, and a discount from regular charges to
non-members, of 20 to IdO per cent, in the schools
and classes. -Minors under 18 cim have yearly
privileges for only §1.

For season tickets or membership, apply at the
Institute ilooms. City Hall.

By order of Lecture Committee.

CILVKLKS L. BAKKITT, Actuary.

Among the unread (for want of time) pamphlets on our table, is an Address
by Rev. Albert Gallatin Palmer, delivered before " The Mechariics' and Working'

(532)

FARMERS CLUBS.

245

Men's Literary Association of Stonington, Ct." and we could name a list a yard
long of such Associations of classes of people, of all pursuits, except that of
Agriculture, who have their libraries, their lectures and their laboratories.
Farmers ! can you think of these things and not rouse up from your Rip Van
Winkle lethargy ? Do you wonder that not only the capital but the elite of the
young men of the country, should concentrate in the towns, where, owing to su-
perior enterprise, so many aids are provided for sharpening tlie intellect and pre-
paring it to cut its way through every obstacle to competence and distinction ?
Rouse up, then ! if not for your own sakes, for the sake of your sons — those
who inherit your name and your blood. As for giving them money — base lucre !
— consider it but as trash, when contrasted with inherent personal capacity for
self support and usefulness to the country. How many of them fool away in-
herited fortunes ! How few even of the largest estates descend to the third or
even to the second generation ! How much oftener large expectancies enervate
and ruiu than invigorate, and elevate, and bless those on whom they descend !
Give them knowledge, give them character, and you give them the best sort of
estate. Let us quote a passage from a noble address which we read last night
after ten, and then retired deeply impressed with admiration of the author and
his sentiments:

" I repeat it, I know no move honorable
object for a riglit-minded tarnier to propose
to hunself, than to teach his sons, by economy,
and by improvements learned by expeiiment
and observatitjn, or i'rom books, each to get a
comfortable living on his portion of the jiatcr
nal acres ; just as tVie Roman fanner, in the
classical story, portioned oft' one daughter af-
ter another on a full share of his vineyard,
reserving for himself only as much as he gave
to each one, and yet continued to produce

In the author* of such noble thoughts, now, we believe, elected to Congress,
the plow will have at least one honest, earnest advocate. Let us hope he may
be put on the Agricultural Committee.

But we could not, in any language of our own, describe in fewer words, or so
well, the utility and the objects of such Clubs, as we find it done to our hand :

tural implements, or in the manasrement of

just as much as when he possessed the whole.
Such a laiTner is a good economist ; he is lay-
ing up the best resource for his old age, in
keeping his children about him, witli their
affectionate society. He is a good parent, for
he provides lor lliose who look to him the
best chances of respectability and happiness.
He is a good patinot, for he does his part
toward making the community stable, well
ordered, prosperotis, and safe."

" By means of these institutions much valu-
able information is diffused, different modes
of cultivation are compared and their residts
ascertained, improvements are suggested and
made public, and the interchange of thoughts,
opinions and observations promotes good
feeling, and in various ways exercises a bene-
ficial influence. Among tlie objects sought
to be obtained by P'ariners' Clubs are the
following : To ascertain the nature and (juali-
ties of the soils and subsoils of the district ; to
inquire into the comparative value of different
sorts of raaimres ; to test by experiments al-
leged improvements in cultivation, m agricul- )

Now, the probability is, that most of those who read this will say — 'Yes,
doubtless, it's all very well ; but how are we to go about putting your advice into
force ? What can / do toward it V — Hold on, reader, and we will tell you ; for
our aim has ever been, in our humble way, not to amuse our readers with some
humbug of the moment, as children are amused by tying on a siring and letting

* John G. Palfrey, of Cambridge, Mass.
(533)

stock ; to discover the most profitable varie-
ties in corn, seeds, or roots, and the most ad-
vantageous rotiitlon of crops ; to collect in-
fomiation resj)ecting the state and progress of
Agriculture, by correspondence, by the es-
tablishment of agricultural libraries, and by
sucli other means as may be deemed expe-
dient ; in a word, to advance the interests oj
As-ricii/tiirc in every possible n-ay — reducing
theory to practice, and throwing the light ol
knowledge and science over the most useful
and unportant of the arts of life."

246

MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

fly a June-bug or a kite ; but rather to bring our suggestions to some practical
and useful bearing. We therefore recommend that any young farmer or planter,
wishing to be of some use in his day and generation, transcribe the following
rules, and as he meets one neighbor and another, get them to sign, agree to meet
at a convenient place, his own or some neighbor's house, or neighboring village, and
there at once commence the organization of a Club. Five or six will be sufficient
to form a beginning. We merely give these rules as we find ihera at hand ;
they may be modified according to circumstances. In another place, in subse-
quent numbers, if not in this, we will respectfully suggest some questions, and
chalk out some work for these Clubs when formed :

RULES. I shall be temiinated by 8 o'clock at the latest ;

1. That the officers of tills Club shall con- i and all questions upou which it may be ne-
sist of a Chairman, Secretaiy (who shall also ] cessary to come to a division shall be decided

act as Treasurer), and a Committee of five
members, all of whom shall be elected an-
nually. Five of the Committee, mcludiug the
Secretary, to forai a quorum.

2. That at each meeting the authoritj' of
the Chainnan upon all disputed matters shall
be final.

3. That it shall be the duty of the Secre-
tary to receive the subscriptions, to keep the
accounts of the Society, and also of the books
in circulation.

4. That it shall be the duty of the Com-
mittee, in the absence of the Chairmaii, to
elect a Deputy Chaimian, to take care that at
each meetuig a subject be proposed for dis-
cussion at the succeeding one, and to decide
upon all matters comiected with the business
of the Club.

5. That any person wishmg to become a
member of this Club must be proposed by
one member and seconded by another, when
he may be elected by a show of hands.

6. That the annual subscrifjtion payable by
«ach member sliall be $1 50, which sum shall
be paid in advance.

7. That the Chib shall meet on the last Sat-
urday in each month.

8. That the Chairman shall take the chair
at 3 o'clock, and any business of the Society
shall be fir.st transacted ; after which he shall
call upon the member introducuig the subject
for that evening, the discussion upon which

by a majorily of votes.

9. That there shall be no forfeits for non-
attendance.

10. That the first meeting of the Club shall
be held at, &c. &c.

11. That the amuial meeting for choosing
the officers, and auditing the accounts, shall
be held in January.

12. That all party politics and questions
shall be totally excluded ti'om the discussions
of this Society.

13. That tlie books purchased by this So-
ciety shall be confined to agidculturai and hor-
ticultural works, the price of which shall not
exceed the existing funds of the Club.

14. That it shall be competent for any
member to propose the purchase of a work
which, if seconded, shall be ordered or re-
fused by a show of hands.

15. That all an-angements regarding the
books shall be decided by the Committee.

16. That any member may introduce a
friend ; but no })erson residuig within ten
miles of the place of meeting shall be intro-
duced moie than once as a non-subscriber.
Such visitor shall be at liberty to Ud^e a part
in the debate, but not to vote on the subject.

17. That any member wishing to etlect an
alteration in the above rules shall give notice
in writing to the Secretaiy of his intention at
oue meeting, who shall j)n>pose it at the next,
when it shall be determined upon by vote.

Let us here make a few observations on the above rules. We doubt the neces-
sity, in the first place, of a special Committee of five particular members, being
persuaded that as these meetings are to be but once a month, all business might
be transacted in a Committee of the whole body present ; only providing for the
number necessary to form a quorum and transact business. A man of judgment,
having witnessed the operation of these rules, and being asked Avhether in his
opinion it would be better to hold these meetings at farmers' houses, combining
with them a series of monthly dinners, replied substantially that he thought it
•would be better to meet, after an early dinner at home, at some county town, or
central village, or cross-roads, convenient to the majority of the members. Tak-
ing dinner at one, they migiit assemble at the distance of ten miles, and be in
session at 3 o'clock. Where they meet to dine with each other, a very ridicu-
lous and absurd rivalry soon ensues, originating, as they pretend, with their
wives, but generally winked at by themselves — to see who shall give, not the
(.-,34)

farmers' clubs. 247

most plain and simple, and therefore the best ; but the most luxurious and ex-
travagant, and therefore the worst and the most unsuitable and out-of-place sort
of dinner that could be set before sensible men professing to be in search of the
best means of ejilighleniiic; the minds and bctUring the conditioii of themselves
and their children. What do such men, if men of hard, solid sense, animated
by the true and appropriate feelings, care about Julienne soup, soft crabs sent for
to a market ten miles off; for fish hoUandese sauce, and the various rich and lux-
urious dishes spread upon the talle d^hote of a fashionable hotel, such as Mitchell's
U. S. Hotel, Philadelphia — such as lapcreau roll ; canards aux navels ; ris de
veau, aux epiiiards ; cotellettes de mouton, sauce hashee ; pigeeons roti ; poulets,
grillee ; des huitres, a la poulet ; tete de veau, sauce cerviJle ; fricandeau de veau,
Madere sauce, and poulets a la provencale .' In lieu of all these, would not any
sensible man, on such an occasion, be much better pleased to be interrupted only
while he might take a slice of nice cold corned beef (the plate), such as Col.
Jack T. or J. G. D. of Baltimore, knew so well how to choose, and to cure, and
to cook afterward ! But besides the fact that these convivial dinners are apt to
degenerate into sensual and extravagant indulgences, pleasant enough, we do not
deny, in their way and with certain appliances, but not suited to the main pur-
poses of such Associations, they are, in fact, ill adapted to them in various ways.
They are too much and too long confined to the same persons, and do not admit
of extension ; or when extended by invitation, they are made to embrace, for the
most part, those who are already the most zealous and the best informed, whereas
the object should be, as the true desideratum is, to draw into the vortex of these
Clubs and absorb the most lukeicarm and the least enlightened. " They that are
whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick : I came not to call
the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."

While memory holds her seat, we should be the last to undervalue the social
enjoyments of these reunions of farmers at each other's houses, to discuss agricul-
tural questions, especially such as are submitted to the Board, after undergoing the
revision of the good housewife. Especially shall we always remember the fun
and frolic of the mind and spirits we ever had in view; the baiting Tiiv:e\\ as the
debating that awaited us when we repaired on the appointed day to persuade our
old frieiid, the Treasurer, to go into the country, to which he never failed to yield,
but always with pretended reluctance. Who of that joyous party has forgotten how
at Hayfields we called upon him, and how he rose and let out kink after kink,
until presently he stood up in all his bight and animation, in fervid reply to Gov-
ernor Barbour's Speech at the christening of the La Fayette Tankard, filled
for the occasion with mint j'ulep of John Merryman's inimitable coinpounding ?
Ah I those were truly limes of genuine hospitality and good cheer and good fel-
lowship to be remembered.

" Care, mad to see a man sae happy,
E'en drowned himself anianp the nappy;
As bees flee hame wi' lades o' treasure,
The minutes winged their way wi' pleasure."

Alas ! — but we are out of the latitude ! and so to return to the practical opera-
tion and influences of such Clubs, we respectfully suggest that a short account
of what is elicited by the debate, particularly as regards any striking facts brought
to light, ought to be drawn out by the Secretary and offered for publication to the
nearest village paper. Beyond all dispute, all papers read before such Clubs or
Societies should be open and accessible to all Editors who choose to make them

(535)

V

248 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

■ » ■

public. To lock them up as soon as read, among their archives, or to keep
them exclusively for their own use, or for any partial purpose, or for publication
with a view to sale, would be totally incompatible with the true and proper
spirit and objects of such Associations. Such a narrow course of proceeding
will never be countenanced by any liberal minded friend of the cause. Again, a
question may arise whether the subject for discussion should be given out, month
by month, one month beforehand, or whether it would not be better to have one
for each month, agreed upon in the beginning of the year, so that there would
be ample time to make observation and trial of manures, animals, implements
and processes with a view to the question being well discussed and settled. For
example, at a meeting in January, twelve questions are decided on, one for each
month. When that for February is disposed of, another may be propounded to
take its place the ensuing February, and so through the year, twelve months, be-
ing always on hand for inquiry, research, and experiment. If any particular sub-
ject should present itself, seeming to demand more immediate investigation, an
intermediate special meeting might be called for its consideration. These, how-
ever, are matters of detail to be arranged by each Club, and are only mentioned
as seeming to be likely to arise and to be worthy of early attention among the
few who, in the beginning, must always be relied on to bring such Associations
into existence. Until farmers can feel interest enough in their calling to assist
in their formation, and to enter with spirit into their design and proceedings,
they must be content to play second fiddle to other and subordinate pursuits, that
live on their substance ; and would do well to own at once that they are devoting
their lives to an unworthy, spiritless and submissive calling ; that, in fact, they
have no profession, and are willing to lay down their necks to be trodden upon
by those who have more forethought and sagacity ; and a higher spirit and de-
termination to take care of themselves.

To give an idea of questions discussed at these Clubs, we copy the first at hand,
as having been the subjects of deliberation at the last twelve monthly meetings
of a Society whose proceedings are most conveniently within reach :

QUESTIONS.

The use of saltpetre as a manure.

The use of gypsum as a manure.

On the comparative advantages of using fer-
mented or unfermented mainures.

On the management, and clieapest method of
Ijeeping cart horses.

On spade husbandi-y.

The writer from whom we have already quoted to impress in more forcible
terms our own ideas as to the objects and the usefulness of these Clubs, makes
another remark to which Ave would especiaUrj invite the attention of every -pa-
rent farmer in the United States, and if we could, we would make it a part of
his grace, to be said daily " before meat :"

On the be.«t method of improving the breed
of neat cattle in this district.

On stall feeding.

On the besr plan of keeping farming accounts.

On the advantac;es of cutting hay into chaif.

On the turnip fly.

On the effect of soil on manures.

On the selection of seed wheat, and the best
method of steeping and planting it, &c. &.c.

"There is another point I might name,

•WHICH IS, THAT POINTING OUT TO THE FA-
THERS THK ADVANTAGES WHICH SCIENCE
MAY CONFEll ON A (ilUCULTUKF., HUT WHICH
THEIR OWN EDUCATION HAS GIVEN THEM l.IT-
OU NO TASTE TO FOLLOW UP, MORK

TION, BETTER SUITED TO THE ALTERED SIT-
UATIONS THET MAY 1!E CALLED UPON TO FUL-
FILL ; AND THEKE IS NOTHING TENDING TO
THE PROGRESSION OF AGRICULTURE FROM
WHICH I AUGUR HAPPIER RESULTS, THAN
FROM GIVING A HETTER EDUCATION — AN EDU-

READILY INDUCES THEM TO PUT ! cation specially directed to their fd-
THEIR SONS IN THE WAY OP RK- I ture employment — to the rising genera-
CEIVING A MORE LIBERAL INSTRUC- ' tion of farmers."

Finally, we must close these remarks on Farmers' Clubs, which have been
drawn out by our anxieties, a? usual, to a greater length than the reader may be

(536)

FARMERS CLUBS.

249

willing to excuse. We will make but one more suggestion : these discussions
should be entered upon, not in an idle, ridiculous, slip-shod, frivolous manner, but
after due and suitable inquiry and reflection. "Whatsoever thy hand fiudelh to do,
do it with thy might ; ibr there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wis-
dom in the grave, whither thou goest," says the proverb. What is known or con-
jectured should be imparted in the plainest possible style, and in the briefest man-
ner, consistently with perspicuity. Some men cover up and obscure what is ob-
vious, by too much explanation ; some are so fond of hearing themselves talk,
and so apt to conceit that what they say is new and impressive, that they go on
talking, ad infinitum, about matters and things in general. No encouragement
should be given either to the overweening conceit of some or to empty garrulity
of others. The men among farmers who most need to be enticed to give in
their experience, are often those whose experience is most worth knowing. With
the careful — we were going to say conscientious — preparation for the subject,
such as we have suggested, in a spirit of decent respect for the grave and impor-
tant objects of such Associations, almost every question might be so far considered
and exhausted as to enable the Club to come, at the close of each session, to a
conclusion on the subject, and to the passage of a resolution which should em-
brace and express, as far as that question is involved, and as it involves the in-
terests of Agriculture, the opinion of a decided majority of the Club ; and these
resolutions should be invariably and widely published for information and criti-
cism. This would be less necessary if farmers could be sure of seeing the full
debates, because then they might judge for themselves. We will give, for ex-
ample, a few of the resolutions, such as may be called the denouement or prac-
tical result of such discussions, in Clubs whose proceedings are before us. It is
in this way that we would urge all our Farmers' Clubs to bring their debates to
what we would call a practical bearing, one that means something. For instance,
the ques'.ion discussed was, " The Yarioxjs Manures and their Application."

The gentleman who inti'otluced this im-
portant (luestiou arranged the subject under
tliree heads, viz., organic raamires, or such
as are of animal and vegetable origin ; iuor-
gaiiic, as the earths, &.c. ; and saliue, or arti-
ficial manures. After explaining with great
clearness the nature and properties of each,
their adaptation to particular crops, aud
the fittest time for applyuig them, the speak-
er proceeded to mention the superiority of
farm-yard manure above all others as the
fitjiple commodity upon which the British
farmer nuist mainly depend; because, lirst,
the elements of such manure, when decom-
posed, become the natural food of plants ;
second, the variety of theK(! elements makes
it serviceable to all kmds of vegetables ; tliird,
that when seasons are not favorable to the
fuU development of the powers of f;irm-yard
manure, yet it is neither lost nor proves in-
jurious, as is frequently the case with saline
or artificial manures ; fourth, that common
practical experience enables a farmer to use
It safely and advantageously, which caimot
be said of some of the earths aud artificial
manures, which in many cases are positively
injurious ; aiid, lasdy, that it is the most
economical of all others, requiring little more
than labor for its due preparation.
(537)

The observations of the speaker, which
CN-inced great intelligence, were listened to
vyith more than ordinary attention, and gave
rise to an animated and interesting discussion.
At a subsequent meeting the following reso-
lution, emljodying the views of the members
of the Club upon the question, was uuani-
mously agreed to, viz. :

Resolution. — "The subject of the nature and prop-
erties of the difterent manures, <fcc. having received
the fullest consideration of the members present,
they are unanimously of opinion that among all the
various manures none can be so safely depended
upon as well prepared farmyard manure, both as re-
gards certainty in respect to the produce, on an av-
erage of crops, and on the score of economy as re-
gards expense. That this opinion, which has been
held by the best practical agriculturists in all ages,
is fully borne out in this district by the individual
experience of the members present. That the true
interest of the British fanner is to husband his home
resources ; and to that end his best attention should
be devoted to the due preparation of farm-yard ma-
nures, so as to produce the best quality and the
greatest quantity. Tha^ although the members are
fully sensible of the great value of many aitilicial ma-
nures, yet they consider such ought not to be de-
pended upon as principals, but only to be used aa
auxiliajnes whenever a deficiency of farm-yard ma-
nure exists, or local circumstances point out tha
propriety of their employment."

250

MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

It would be impossible in a standard work like this, to give a sketch of the
debates and proceedings of any of the thousand Clubs that we hope yet to live to
see come into existence ; but where they bring their discussions, in this way, to
something tangible, we shall endeavor to chronicle them, as an abstract of the
agricultural information of the present day, and the conclusions at which men
have arrived who have most earnestly and with the best lights at command,
studied subjects of most frequent occurrence and of the greatest general im-
portance. We have applied to the President of the ISew-York Farmers' Club,
which with force and zeal meets bi-monthly at the ofiice of the American Insti-
tute, for a list merely of the questions discussed and the conclusions arrived at,
for any given time back that it may be convenient to supply, as well for the in-
trinsic worth of these conclusions, as to give an idea of the scope and utility of
these Associations. We learn by the papers that the New-York Agricultural
Association has put forth a collection of the papers read before it, and anticipate
much satisfaction in the perusal of them, when we can get a copy. From
some account of a paper from Doctor Stevens, on the Supply of Plants with
Moisture, by force of capillary attraction, in dry weather, we are persuaded we
shall find its suggestions of much value, as we should expect from anything he
would oifer.

N. B. Questions before these Clubs should be restricted to some tangible, spe-
cific forms and objects. Sometimes they are so general as to amount to pretty
much the same as if you were to ask a man " What do you think of matters and
things in general ? "

For the subjects discussed in the New- York Farmers' Club, the reader is re-
ferred to the following :

Subjects discussed before the Farmers^ Club of the American Institute, from
November, 1845, to November, 1846, inclusive — Meetings semi-monthly .

Extra Meeting. — Same subject continued.

Cuhure of Silk ; also, Iiitliau Corn — the
best kinds and best modes of flouring it for
food .

Indian Com — its Cultivation, &c. continued.

Culture and I'reservation of Com; together
witii Insects Injiu'ious to Vegettition.

Insects Injurious to Vegetation ; with the
Curing of Hay.

Insects Injurious to Vegetation.

Same subject continued.

Culture of the Tuniip — its Various Kinds,
and the Insects which attack it.

Domestic Wines ; and the Root Crops for
Cattle.

Domestic Wines ; and the Preservation of
Fruit.

I'reservation of Fruit and Vegetables.

No meeting in October, on account of the
Fair.

The Noxious Influences of the Fires and
Gases of Brick KiliLs on Fniits and Vegeta-
tion.

Marls.

State Bounties on Silk.

Care of Cattle in Winter, and the best kinds
of Mulberry for our climate.

Care of Cattle, conlintied, with the Cut-
ting of Wood for Fuel and Timber.

Extra Meeting. — Same subject contuuied.

Green Crops for Maimre.

Culture and Manufacture of Flax.

Culture of Flax and Hemp, and their Man-
ufticture in the United States.

Priming of Fruit-Trees and the Care of
Cattle, esi)ecially Cows.

Pruning of Fmil-Trees and the Care of
Cattle, continued.

Same subject continued ; wtli the Pruning
of Grape Vines.

Extra Meeting. — Pi-uuing of Fruit-Trees
and Grape Vines, and Care of Cattle.

Cultivation of the Grape, and the Keeping
of Cattle.

Same subject continued.

Keeping of Cattle and the Cultin-e of SUk.

13P Nine on. tkn Sheep of the Lkicesteii Breed, imported from England by Hon.
Henry Clay, passed through Pittsburgh a few days since, ou their way to Aslilanu, under
charge of a shepherd who came vviili tiiem.

. , J — . — ^— — ^

charge of a shepherd who came vviili tiiem.
(538)

REMARKABLE DISCOVERY. 251

REMARKABLE DISCOVERY.

MODE OF KXOVVING THE QUALITIES OF MILCH COWS, BY EXTERNAL SIGNS.

If there was any one thing which, more than any other, we determined from
the commencement to avoid, in the management of this journal, it was that of
flying kites for the amusement of our readers — exciting false hopes by proclaim-
ing wonderful discoveries, and panaceas for agricultural complaints, contrary to
the laws of reason and Nature. Such tricks sometimes serve for a while to keep
up a factitious excitement, until, vanishing into " thin air," one after another,
their aggregate nothingness at last strikes the public mind, dissipates all con-
fidence, and leaves for the wonder-workers, inventors of crude machines, and
compounders of nostrums, little else but ridicule or contempt.

It was in this cautious spirit that we announced the extraordinary discovery
of M. GuENoN, the son of a French gardener, by which he undertook, after more
than twenty years of close observation and study, by examination of visible exter-
nal marks, to pronounce with certainty on the rnilking qualities of cows.

Although we had unbounded confidence in the fidelity of the learned translator
of the work, (Mr. Trist,) and the highest respect for his judgment, so far as that
was staked or made up on his own observation, in favor of the truth of M. Gue-
non's system, still we ventured only to say that it " was maintained " that, by
the signs laid down, " one may without fail discover, even in a calf a few months
old, whether it will make a good milker ;" adding, " strange as may appear such
a discovery, it yet seerns to have been subjected, in many cases, to the severest
test." And then we proceeded to give the proofs. These consisted mainly in
very explicit statements and certificates by Committees of various Agricultural
Societies in France, from which the following are extracts.

The Asricultural Society of Toulouse report:

" We conducted M. Gueuon into seven cow-stables, with which he was entirely unac-
quainted. Here forty-six cows were submitted to his inspection. In twenty-two instances
he named tlie exact niunber of pints given by each cow ; in fourteen he came within a pint,
and in ten witliin two or three pints. But the main fact of the discovery we consider as es-
tablished, as Monsieur Guenon invariably distinguislies the good from the bad milkers. —
From this fact, with which the Committee was much struck, there residts the consequence
that there is really an ejcistin'^ relation between the milking properties and the visible ex-
ternal siirns or escutcheons mdicated. The Committee consider <is a \ast sen-ice rendered
to Agriculture, a discovery which l);is taught us to distinguisli good from bad milkers ; and
it is the greater ;is the system applies to calves, ;uid thus enables us to discard, by handing
over to the butcher, worthless heifers tJiat we would otherwise be at the expense of rear-
ing-"

Again : The Agricultural Society of Bordeaux appointed a Committee, of
whom the Veterinary Professor of the Department was one, and in a very special
and particular report, after putting the author and his system through the closest
possible examination, (as may he seen at large in Vol. I. of this Journal,) they
say, in so many words, to the Society : " This system, gentlemen, we do not fear
to say is infallible.^''

Again : A Committee was appointed by the Agricultu7-al Society of Aurillac,

their report will be found as follows :

(539)

252 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

" Yesterday, the 25th of May, M. Guenon arrived at Aurillac, and immediately proceeded
■with the uieriibers of your Committee to the Yeyrac farm, beloiigiiig to the President of the
Society. He examined witli tlie utmost care the fine cow-stahle of that domain, wiiich em-
braces one hundred cows, of tlie best varieties that we possess. He then began his experi-
ments upon a number of cows which were presented to him, and which liad designedly been
selected from among the best, the moderately good, and the most inditferent of the establish-
ment. Upon each of these separately, M. Guenon pronounced with precision, both in regard
to her daily yield of mUk, and to the time duiing which she continued to give milk alter be-
ing got with calf"

When Jenner commenced his examinations concerning the cow-pox in Eng-
land, in 1776, it was at first treated by the physicians as unworthy of attention,
and twenty years elapsed before it gained credence to be introduced in the public
hospitals. " It was," says the French Committee, " after more than twenty years
of observations and researches, that M. Guenon succeeded at length in discover-
ing certain natural and positive signs, which constitute the basis ol his method —
a method henceforward proof against all error." The famous Tyrian purple
was produced from an animal juice, discovered by accident in a fish's shell.

Reflecting on the singularity and the importance of this discovery, especially
to dairy husbandmen, (and, indeed, to the poorest man keeping a single cow,)
founded, as it is, on observations of certain phenomena observable on that portion
of the cow's frame appropriated as the depository of the milky secretions — a cer-
tain diflerence being there observable, not only in the direction of the growth of
the hair, but in what is called the dandruf, or scurf, at the roots of the hair — it
occurred to us as having some analogical support in the admitted effect of a dif'
ferent secretion, the presence or the absence of which is seen and acknowledged
to produce a very marked difference between the entire and the mutilated male,
and that as well in the human race as with birds and animals: a difference not
confined to ihe form and size of particular parts of the body, as the head and
neck, but extending to the color and the voice, and even to a striking modifica-
tion of the moral qualities, in man and beast.

How unlike the roar and fierce spirit of the bull are the squeaking voice and
docile temper of his brother, the ox — the hair on the forehead of the one curhng
like the grain of the gnarled oak, while the face of the other is mild and smooth
as a young heifer's. Behold the gallant " cock of the walk," strutting erect and
bold, the very emblem of courage and chivalry; while his caponized brother
creeps along on the outskirts of the dunghill, humble and crest-fallen, looking as
if ashamed to be seen, without voice to crow defiance or spirit to resist an insult !
See, again, how this hideous calamity transforms, in moral and physical charac-
ter, the wretched human victim of Turkish cruelty. Take away the fountain of
that noble passion which, more than any other, leads men to the performance
of great actions, and his very fibres and muscles are seen to lose their elasticity ;
his throat contracts, and he acquires the physiognomy and the voice of a woman.
From being brave and generous, he becomes intellectually feeble, cowardly, mo-
rose and cruel. Even his heard ceases to grow ; while, strange to say, on wo-
man, this operation, which, according to ancient historians, was by no means
uncommon among the Greeks, had quite an opposite effect — since, though it ex-
tinguished the sexual appetite, and the bosom disappeared, the voice became
harsh and masculine, and the beard appeared on the chin and upper lip. Who
would know, a fortiori, or without a series of observations, for instance, that
leaving a horse in his natural condition would enlarge his neck and thicken and
elongate the hair of his mane and tail ? INow are not all these obvious effects,
resulting, as will be admitted on all hands, from the presence or withdrawal of a

(540)

REMARKABLE DISCOVFRY. 253

certain secretion, quite as strange, and as remarkable in themselves, if we were
not so familiar with ihcm, as the signs and escutcheons, consisting in a difference
in the growth of the hair on the milk region of the cow, systematized by M.
Guenon, after twenty years of study ? There are such qualiliei as ignorance,
self-conceit and obstinacy, as well as gullibility. The most casual observer, as
he walks along, may see on any cow that these marks do exist and differ great-
ly in different individuals ; the^nly question is of their co7inection w'nh the milk-
ing properties of the animal.

Unfortunately, of all the people in the world, Americans are the most difficult
to be prevailed upon to be patient, and quietly lake systematic observations to
arrive at an uncertain fact or a distant object. They are ever on the (jut vive for
change— expecting to go to-morrow, or next year at forthest, either into another
State, or into— an office ! They " never are, but always to be blest." Hence,
says Mr. Colman, it is characteristic of a Yankee to rush diagonally across the
street, being too impatient to wait to reach the corner, where he may pass with
cleaner foot on the flag-stones.

We have been hoping, nevertheless, that some gentleman would take the pains
to o-ive the Frenchman's system a full and careful trial. The cause of truth in
such cases is not served by anybody's conceits, and conjectures, and suppositions.
All these one man may hazard as well as another. The public want opinions
which are deduced from well-conducted, well-attested experiments ; otherwise
it is like the doctor who prescribes without taking the trouble to learn the exact
symptoms of the case. We had casually heard that a few had made sufficient
observations to satisfy them that there was foundation for the theory ; so that
hereafter they would have no fear of buying a cow worthless as a milker ; and
we took the liberty, which we hope they will excuse, of referring to them in our
last number. To these we may now add the name of Mr. Colt, of Paterson,
New-Jersey. Still we apprehend tiiat very few have thoroughly, and in many
instances, first carefully studied the system, as laid down in the Monthly Journal
OF AoRicTrLTURE, and in the " Cow-Book," and then applied it so as to speak
with precision and confidence.

We have now, however, the pleasure to submit the following letter, just re-
ceived, and which we hand to the printer for the benefit of our readers — word
for word, and letter for letter — from one among the most intelligent, trustworthy
and respectable practical farmers in the State of Massachusetts. It will be Seen
that it is in answer to a letter from the Editor of The Farwers' Library, which
he was prompted to write from hearing the facts detailed in it, or some of them,
mentioned publicly by the writer at the late Worcester Cattle Show. It is prob-
able that since then Mr. Brooks may have taken care to ratify his previous im-
pressions by farther trials. Let us ask if any examinations of a single person
could be more conclusive ? Yet his testimony is more than borne out by that of
the several Committees of different Agricultural Societies, based on investiga-
tions conducted with great care, and m a great number of cases, and with precau-
tions to guard against the possibility of mistake or deception. To these we have
already referred, giving brief extracts, but the whole reports are worthy of being
read. ?

Some have, as we think with more squeamishness than good sense, objected
to the nature of the engravings which make a part of the Cow-Book ; but, if that
be not the suggestion of mock-modesty, we should be glad to be informed how
else it was possible to spread, far and wide, such an explanation of the system,

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254 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

true or false, as would enable the plainest farmer to judge for himself? The
celebrated " John Randolph of Roanoke" once complained to us, as Editor of the
old Turf Register and Sporting Magazine, for having allowed a correspondent to
use the phrase, sired — " Black Maria was sired by Eclipse," instead of " got by
Eclipse," — saying it would be quite as well to say that she was " dam'd by Lady
Lightfoot ;" and then told the story of a certain old maid in Virginia who was so
fastidious that she always called a certain old coin, that some of our readers
may remember, a water-reen !

At all events, the publishers were at a heavy expense in having these engrav-
ings prepared for the Journal ; and we had the satisfaction, when they presented
M. Guenon's discovery for sale for the merest trifle, in pamphlet form, to attach
to it other matter worth the full price of the whole ; so that no one was obliged
to buy in the first place, and, if he did, could not fail to get his penny worth. —
After all, does not this letter of Mr. Brooks settle the question ? May it not
now, in M. Guenon's own tongue, be considered iin fait accompli ?

PniNCETON, Mass., October 15, 1846.

Dear Sir : I received your favor of tlie 8tli inst. desiring me to state my opinion of the
value of M. Guenon's Treatise on Milch Cows, translated from the French, and published
in The Farmers' Liisrart. On my first meeting with tliis Treatise, I was so impressed
with its value, from my previous knovi'ledge of some general marks whereby the milking
properties of cow^s may, in some measure, be determined, and from the fact that I had my-
self noticed the oval marks above the hind teats, mentioned by M. Guonon as indicating good
milking qualities, that I immediately commenced the study and application of his method to
every cow that came under my observation. I have examined more than one hundred cows,
and after carefially marking then- escutcheons, I have become satisfied "that M. Guenon's
discovery is one of great merit, and can be relied upon as ti'ue. I have no doubt that I can
judge veiy nearly as to the quantity and quality of the milk any cow will give at the hight
of her flow, and also the time she will contiime in milk after being with calf.

The way taken to convince myself of the truth of M. Guenon's method has been to visit
the cow-yards of some of our piincipal dairy-fanners, and examine the escutcheons and marks
on their cows, and make up my judgment as to the quantity and quaUty of milk each cow
would give at the hight of her flow, and how long she would continue in milk after being
with calf; then inquire of the owners how much milk their several cows would give at the
hight of their flow, and how long they would hold out after being with calf; compiu-ing the
owner's account vnth my own judgment. I fiial I have been mistaken in only five cases,
out of more than one hundred examined.

I have great confidence in M. Guenon's method of testing the milking pix)pertics of cows,
and consider it one of the great discoveries of the age. The advantage of this discovery to
our dairy farmers, enabling them, as I think it does, to determine the milking properties of
their young stock at an early age, must be veiy gi'eat, and will be appreciated by eveiy one
who is in the slightest degree acquainted with the subject. In my opinion, no dairy fanner,
after acquainting hhnself wdth M. Guenon's discovery, need possess himselt'of a bad milking
cow.

M. Guenon informs us that his system is applicable to calves three or four montlis old. I

have traced the escutcheons upon calves as e;u-ly as two or three weeks old, and I see no

reason why their value as tliture milkers may not be judged of at tliis age as well as at any

other age.

Yours respecUu'.ly, JOHN BROOKS.

To J. S. Skinneb, Esq , Editor of The Fanners' Library, New-York City, f

(542.)

VISIT TO THE FARMER OF MARSllFJELD. 25-S

A VISIT TO THE FARMER OF MARSHFIELD.

WITU SOME ACCOUNT OF HIS FARM MANAGEMENT.

We had once the pleasure of making a visit to this man of gigantic mind,
among his turnips and his cattle, a day's journey from Boston down on the sea-
board, in sight of Plymouth Rock. The pilotage of a brace of good friends —
their odd jokes and rare stories causing the sides to split with laughter on the
way — and all attendant circumstances, to its close, conspire to mark this visit to
" black Dan" as one among the many green spots in the so far bygone journey
of life — the onward view of which is, alas ! rather dry and sterile to look upon,
without even what the farmers call a " ivet cloud," promising refreshing showers.

As to the Farmer of Marshlield, we have our doubts whether any man who has
so completely within his grasp the most glorious and covetable of all triumphs,
the triumphs of intellect, and all the pleasures that wait on the command of ev-
ery social enjoyment, ever more eagerly and heartily withdrew from them all,
to the more quiet and careless exercises and amusements of rural life, than does
the " great Expounder," when he can get away from Boston to the sea-shore. In
his fondness for Agriculture, there is nothing of idleness or affectation. Of this
we can judge and may speak from what we have heard and what we have seen.

At home or abroad, in country or city, Mr. Webster is habitually an early riser.
At Marshfield, his early walks are to look at his stables — his horses, his cattle,
his sheep, ay, and his ducks and geese, as they play on the bosom of an artificial
lake near his residence. Sometimes he takes a gun or a line, and with these
fetches down a duck or lands a fish for his guests' breakfast, while they lie snor-
ing in their beds.

His cattle, more especially his oxen, and the young things bred on the farm,
seem to attract his particular regards. On the occasion referred to he could boast
the largest and the best field o{ ruta bagas in all the Bay State. In a very plain,
strong buggy wagon, we traversed his 1200 acres before breakfast, taking one
elevated point of view that commands a prospect of the whole farm, and of the
waters of the dark blue sea, spread out in the limitless and unruffled expanse of
a calm and delightful " summer's morning." On its shores we remember to have
seen, for the first time, that remarkable substance called kelp — the more remark-
able when used as a manure, in that while it has been proved in Scotland to equal
barn-yard manure in several experiments, on turnips and other crops, like plaster
of Paris, its efficacy seems to bear no proportion to the quantity used. On the
contrary, although it appears to have largely contributed to the increase of crops,
that increase has been greatest where the smallest quantity has been used. —
" From the quantity of alkali which it contains," says a writer on the subject,
" it may naturally be expected to operate by rendering the animal and vegetable
matter soluble and a fit food for plants ; but, from a series of facts which have
been noticed, kelp would seem to possess other qualities as a manure."

At a fishing lodge on a creek which meanders through Marshfield, near its en-
trance to the ocean, Mr. Webster keeps his boats, and all the tackle and appli-
ances constantly in order for his favorite diversion — being, to all seeming, a more
willing disciple of " Sir Isaac," than of " Sir Edward." There you find his rods,

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256 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

lines, winces, floats, hooks, nuts, plummets, bailing needles, disgorgers, cleaning
ring, split shot, pliers for putting them on line, caps for float, kettle for bait, India
rubber, thumb winder, shoemaker's wax, bit of soft leather, and pocket-book of fish-
ing tackle, with reel to hold lines, and his hooks ' of sizes ;' and then, as for cook-
ing the fish on the shore, when it is caught, he has few rivals, especially in the
chowder line. But, returning to his penchant for Agriculture, and talking of fish,
considering how much he must have been engrossed in England in seeing and be-
ing seen by the " big fish " of that wonderful nation, it is wonderful to those with
whom that homely subject is a favorite topic of inquiry, how familiar he had
managed to make himself with the great branches of her Agriculture, and es^
pecially with all the modern inventions and resources to which recourse has been
had, of late years, for the prodigious improvements in that great art, and by
which they have been enabled, until now, to keep pace with their prodigious in-
crease of population. On these leading points in the progress of agricultural in-
dustry he discourses not so much in cjsetail as he does philosophically. But that
every one knows to be the character of his mind. He likes to reach after the
bottom of things !

His guests, on their arrival within his gates, are shown, after what we are told
is the English fashion — and what we are sure must be everywhere a good one —
at once to their apartments, which are their oicn for the nonce ; and are at once
and very quietly made to feel " at home." If, after that, from day to day, incli-
nation does not invite, or the weather forbids, them to go abroad, through garden
or grounds, why there is the delightful resource of a noble library, teeming with
choicest editions of works in all the departments of literature, and all so well and
beautifully printed and bound as that the very handling is a luxury.

We know very well that, in alluding thus to a gentleman's personal and do-
mestic habits in retirement, we rather invade a sanctuary that should be invio-
late ; still it is one of the penalties to which extraordinary men have to submit,
and it may even be not without its moral bearing, should they happen to learn
that the public will be curious about their incomings and their outgoings.

We had entertained some hope of hearing from a friend of Mr. W., yclept Jo.
Sykes, something like a systematic account of the economy and management
practiced at Marshfield. but fear he has been lost in the fog or the mountains.

Mr. W.'s stables are so peculiarly constructed that, while all the liquid manure
passes freely through, to be absorbed by the compost below, the floors are always
dry, and moreover admit of being easily taken up and replaced, as occasion may
require.

A large proportion of the estate, as its name imports, consists of salt marsh,
yielding heavy crops of coarsish hay, used for cattle, and forming a great resource
for making manure. Under some immemorial custom that, being curious, we
would like, if we could, to explain, the surrounding farmers, even from a great
distance, drive down to this immense salt meadow, and, without a word to any
one, fall to cutting and curing hay, and, when they have finished, leave one-half
stacked on the ground for the proprietor, and bear ofl' the other without let or
hindrance. Whether this right or privilege is inheritable, or under what limita-
tions and restrictions they enjoy it, we know not. It seems to be an antiquated
right or custom, handed down, along with their blue stockings and big buckles,
as we guess, from the days of the Puritans. We sometimes almost wish that
everything else had remained as unchangeable, except that o{ riding on bulls, as
old John Alden rode to that same Cape to be married, on one of the descendants

(544)

VISIT TO THE FARMER Ol'' MARSIIFIELD. 257

of the bull and three heifers imported by Governor Winslow, in the good ship
Charity, inl624.

Speaking of big fish and of English Agriculture, our honest but rather crusty
old friend, John Bull, must begin to have a high notion of the agronomical tal-
ents and capabilities of his daughter, America, from the impressions which ap-
pear to have been made by her three successive Ministers. We, who notice such
things, used to admire how Mr. Evekktt made the old gentleman roar, at his
agricultural festivals, to which the American Minister seemed always a welcome
if not a favorite guest. And Mr. Stevenson, before him, was not slow in getting
into the old gentleman's good graces. But in easy and graceful, not to say some-
what self-confident manner, and in fresh appearance and manly bearing, Mr. S.
might well pass for one of John's own get ; and, as John Bull is well known not
to be deficient in the conservative virtue of self-esteem, Mr. S. got along fa-
mously with the great English farmers, titled and untitled, and brought away
with him, as we happen to know, not only the high esteem of the crack men,
but the best sheep of the crack flocks, of the kingdom — even of that great South-
Down prize breeder, Mr. Webb. Moreover, in hunting and shooting, over brook
and through briar, with his Virginia horsemanship and dexterity, Mr. S. could
not fail to shoot ahead in the regards of a people who pass so much of their time
m the noble exercises of the field and the luxurious enjoyments, both of sense
and intellect, for which such exercises furnish the keenest zest. And then last
we sent to them again Mr. McLane, a very zealous inquirer into the principles
of Agriculture, and being, too, like his immediate predecessor, a constant reader
of this journal, we are bound to suppose him to be a good practical farmer ! —
He had only to bind up, on this second visit, what he had before gathered of
John's partiality. We know he was on the most friendly footing with some of
the most opulent and best English agriculturists, and familiar with Ruflin's great
essay on " calcareous manures," with which he plied them, so that some of them
will no longer inquire, "What American has written a book?" But of him it
should be enough, if he had done nothing more, to say, " Blessed are the peace-
makers !" though, in our republican country, neither Franklin, nOr Godfrey, nor
Rittenhouse, nor Whitney, nor Fulton, nor Clinton, would stand any chance
against a man in regimentals, who could prove that he pointed a gun that killed
forty men at one discharge !

And now, in respect of the following letter, we confess to the weakness of a
pride in having our labors for the greatest and the most neglected interest of the
country well thought of by men of eminent usefulness and ability ; but, truth to
tell, we should not have so much valued the following voluntary offering of ap-
probation, coming from Mr. Webster the statesman, or the politician, (for with
politics we have nothing to do,) nor even from him as a dilettante farmer ; but we
do value, and venture to record it, as from a man of profound sense in all things
to which he gives his mind ; and we have long known it to be addicted, with
unfeigned predilection, to Agriculture.

New-York, November 4, 1846.
Dear Sir : I have looked through the 4th and 5th numbers of the current volume of The
Farmers' Library, and I think I ought to take this occasion to express my sense of the
value of the whole work. Its plan is comprehensive and excellent, and the execution thus
far successfully caiTied out. lu my opinion, the work ought to be distributed by the various
Agricultunil Societies, to the end that practical knowledge may be diffused, and a spirit of
inquiry- and improvement awakened among young farmers.

There are two things which you appear to bear in mmd, and wliich I think of great im-
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258 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

portance. The first is, that, as you republish largely'from European writers, your readers
should be constantly reminded that differences of climate and soil demand, always, with us,
well considered modifications of European practice in most branches of Agiiculture. A too
close imitation of the modes adopted in other countries would often be quite injurious here.
In addition to differences of soil and climate, the higher rate of wages which, fortunately for
the general good, exists with us, must itself make a material change in all agi-icultural calcu-
lations.

The second tiling which I would presume to suggest is, the importance of la)"ing your
stores of information before yoiu* readers in the plainest possible language. Mtmy valuable
treatises are, to general readers, nothuig but a sealed book, from the use of technical words
and phrases. I may say this without disrespect to the mtelligence or learning of farmers in
general, since it is certainly my own case. Scientific works on Agriculture nuist be abridged,
explained, interpreted, ti-anslated out of technical language into our common mother tongue,
or else their utility must always be in a great degi-ee lost to the great body of actual fanners.
Most of us are not chemists, for instance, and do not understand the technical language of
that science ; and the improvements in Agi'iculture, which are eveiy day resulting from
chemical experiments, should be so stated, if possible, as that all may understand and apply
them.

With the best wishes for the continued success of your valuable labors, I am, dear sir.

Your obedient servant, DAN. WEBSTER.

Jno. S. Skinner, Esq.

AMERICAN AGRICULTURISTS.

THEIR "PASSIVE SUBIVHSSION AND NON-RESISTANCE" TO POLITICAL IMPOSITIONS.

We take pleasure in calling the attention of every friend of the agricultural
interest, in the Union, to the following Memorial, now being circulated through
the country for signature, and for presentation to the Legislatures of the several
States.

It is to be hoped that it will find a place in all agricultural and other papers
friendly to the landed interest, and tliat all Agricultural Societies and Farmers'
Clubs will take it in hand and promote its success, as a measure of practical ser-
vice to the interest they represent.

To every movement there must be a beginning ; and, surely, it is time that
agriculturists were moving in good earnest for some share of that patronage and
protection so freely bestowed on other classes, unless, indeed, they are sleeping
the sleep of death !

On this topic of general concern, at least, all may unite, heart and hand, with-
out respect of parties.

When manufacturers conceive their interests are about to be assailed by public
measures, see, no matter to what party or branch of manufactures they belong,
how they all rush together into one compact mass, with all their backs up and
purses open, like a herd of wild hogs in the woods, at the squeal of the smallest
suckling among them — the old boar pointing the wedge, in tlie programme of
defence, supported on all sides by the fiercest and strongest of his companions.

Even the cattle teach us a lesson of common fellowship and self-protection ;
for, let but an old cow snufl' one drop of the spilt blood of her kind, and the alarm
is instantly sounded, and you will see the whole drove come together, bellowing
and raving mad ! And shall we fall behind the very beasts of the field in fellow

(5-lG)

AMERICAN AGRICULTURISTS. 259

feeling, self-respect and self-protection, imitating only that meekest of them all
wiiich stands quietly to be sheared ? See, in England, at tiie sound of a sin-
gle voice, how the//ce traders met, again and again — subscribed their thousands
and their tens of thousands ; how they sent in memorial after memorial, and agi-
tated and agitated, until they carried their point, and rewarded their great advo-
cate with a donation of $360,000 ! Here, in our country, we have schools prop-
erly provided for the Army and the Navy ; Observatories to survey the heavens;
Light-houses to guide the mariner; and Telegraphs to convey hiformation, even
quicker than light itself, between speculators and merchants embodied in cities,
giving them ilie first warning, from one end of the Continent to the other, of all
changes in the value of agricultural products ; all this under control of the Gov-
ernment, and avowedly to collect and diffuse information to and among other
classes, whose employment and subsistence is derived from ihe fruits of agricul-
tural labor and the products of the earth ; and can nothing be done by this people^s
Government to enlighten and prosper those who toil at the plow?

Is this our boasted Government of the people, powerful in all else, and power-
less only when the people call for a share of the common treasure ?

But what said Hercules to the wagoner imploring his assistance? If men wish
to be helped, they must first learn to help themselves. Farmers, you have the
power of numbers, the power of productive labor, the claim of much the crreatest
contribution to the national means ; you have all sorts of power and all sorts of
title to superior influence in the Government on your side, eicept the power of
knowledge and of enterprise ; and there you are beaten by every class of society !
Look at your relative numbers. Persons engaged in learned professions, 65,255 ;
in internal navigation, 33,076 ; in navigating the ocean, 56,021 ; in manufactures,
791,749 ; in commerce, 117,607 ; in Agriculture, 3,719,951.

Then look again at the value of the annual products of your industry, consti-
tuting the solid wealth of the nation, inasmuch as it affords subsistence to the
whole population of the country, and the means of increasing its population and
power ; and as it furnishes the subject and elements of employment and subsist-
ence to every other class. Look, we repeat, at its annual value — $654,387,579 !
being more than the value of the annual products from manufactures, commerce,
mining, forests and fisheries, all united. And yet, would you believe it ? until a
comparatively recent date, neither the National nor State Legislatures have paid
to you the compliment of even appointing Committees on a concern thus trans-
cending in itself /Ae aggregates of all others ! Nay, it is even doubtful whether
some of the Slate Legislatures go through that formality even to the present day.
They and the National Legislature have working Committees on Elections, on
Commerce, on Manufactures, on Finance, on Grievances and Courts of Justice —
on everything that wears any appearance or pretension of a public interest — but
where do you find the Reports of Committees in exposition of the wants, griev-
ances, condition and claims of Agriculture ? — of its comparative contributions
and its right to a distributive share of the public treasure so freely parceled out
for other classes and objects ? True, Committees on Agriculture have sometimes
been appomted of late years, but, hearing nothing from their constituents, they
naturally conclude that all idea on their part, if they ever had any, of any claim
on the attention of the Government, has become an " obsolete idea ;" and so,
when called on for their Reports, the return of the Agricultural Committee is —
non est inventus — no such interests to be found ! Let this memorial, then, give
tnem something to do — for agam it may be asked, Who ever were helped — who

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260 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

ever deserved to be helped — that had not the energy and courage to help iheni-
setves.

Farmers, you have, both in and out of Congress, numbers and power on your
side. All you want is self-respect — respect for your own rights — energy — com-
bination. On this one subject, then, be persuaded to lay aside parly spirit. —
Move in a body — make yourselves heard — and you will soon cause yourselves to
be felt. Who will begin the work ? Rely on it that knowledge — knowledge is
at the bottom of every valuable progressive and enduring improvement in the
condition of mankind. Your Government is expending your money to give
knowledge, and to throw light, and to insure safety and honor to every concern
of life except yours. Why, then, may you not demand something for the dissem-
ination of knowledge in the sciences, on the application of which the fruilfulness
of the earth depends, as much as does success in any other profession, art or man-
ufacture ? Next, then, after your prayer to " our Father who art in Heaven,"
repeat you the prayer of the victorious warrior on the walls of Troy — " Ye Gods,
give us but light ! " and they who, in the halls of power, shall first hearken to
your righteous demands, shall be registered and remembered as the grateful ben-
efactors of those to whom they owe their elevated and glorious trust — glorious,
if wisely executed for the welfare of society.

For one, at least, among the humblest of their constituents, we shall watch to
denounce or to bless. We crave the assistance of the press — that powerful lever
which, in swaying public sentiment, sways the world. Proud will we be to take
the lowest rank, and to raise even the feeblest voice in an enterprise commended
by every consideration of beneficence and public usefulness, to every sound head
and every honest heart.

MEMORIAL

From the Agriculturists of the United States to their respective State Legislatures.

'The undersigned, on behalf of the agricultural interest, to which they belong,
'beg leave to request your attention to what they feel to be their just, but too long
neglected claim on the General Government.

Not wishing to deal in vague generalities, the measure we solicit is that you
would urge our Representatives and Senators in Congress to use their influence
to procure an appropriation from the proceeds of the public lands, or from the
general treasure, for the use of each State, in proportion to its representation
tn Congress, to be applied, in each Stale, expressly to the establishment of a
Normal School, for the instruction and preparation of teachers in agricultural
chemistry, mineralogy, vegetable and animal physiology, civil engineering, rural
nrchitccture, and practical surveying — in such arts and sciences, in a word, as
will enlighten practical Agriculture, and render more eflicient and profitable the
capital and labor empluyed in it. Teachers thus prepared would be ready to take
charge of minor agricultural schools, in each county in every State of the Union ;
and thus would tlie foundation be laid for spreading among the mass of the peo-
ple a knowleilge of tiiose sciences, on the application of which, according to the
opinion of the ablest writers of the age, "Agriculture must hereafter depend for
all material improvements."

In the name of justice to the landed interest, and in anticipation of objections
as to want of means or power, the undersigned would refer to the very large ex-
penditures under all administrations, not only for the establishment of naval and
military academies and schools, and llie publication of surveys, maps, and jour-
nals, without number, of military officers, explorins: sea and land, but to the
boundless acriuisition of foreign territory, by acts of Congress. We may also re-
fer to lar"-e and repeated appropriations, not merely for the establishment of Ob-
servatories, and lines of Telegraph, under the control of the General Government,

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MEfllORIAL. 261

but to an object strictly analogous to the one we seek, to wit, the annual Agri'
cultural Reports from the Patent-Office.

All these appropriations of the public money — chiefly, it is true, as connected
with the military operations of the Government — have been avowedly for the
purpose of collecting and distributing warlike or other information.

These facts and considerations induce your memorialists to hope that Congress
will not now refuse to the people a portion of their own money, for the purpose
of providing within each State, conformably with its own policy, institutions and
courses of industry, schools for the instruction, also, of the risinir generation of
planters and farmers in the principles of ihdii great pursuit which has been well
pronounced " the nursing mother of all the arts," — a pursuit upon which Con-
gressional Reports, useful though they be in their way, can yet throw but the
partial light of facts and statements promiscuously gathered up, not always well
digested, and, after all, distributed or not, according to the individual pleasure
and discretion of Members of Congress.

For the warlike machinery and purposes of this Republican Government, em-
bracing the objects above referred to, several hundred millio?is of dollars have
been expended since our last war with a trans Atlantic power ; and this enormous
expenditure has really been collected, in very large proportion, from the landed
interest, since it is that class which has chiefly consumed the imports on which
the revenue has been levied.

Your memorialists are far from repining at the liberal pay, life commissions,
certain promotion, pensions, residences, hospitals, schools and academies huilt,
provided, and kept up, at the public expense, for the tAvo military branches of the
Government ; but they humbly think that the time has arrived when the people,
the yeomanry of the country — those by v.^hose toil its solid wealth is dug out of
the ground — may inquire why, in what view of the " general wellare," it is that
since any amount can be found to promote advancement in the science, and suc-
cessful practice in the art of war, nothing can be granted for the better instruc-
tion of the rising generation of freemen in the science and practice of that great
peaceful pursuit which employs, feeds and pays all others?

Under the most despotic monarchies, men of genius who have conferred signal
benefits on the industrial pursuits of the people, by scientific discoveries and use-
ful inventions, have been lavishly rewarded, and raised to the highest honors. —
Mechanics, chemists, astronomers, great naturalists, and learned and enterprising
men in every walk of civil life, have been there endowed with titles and fortune.
If, under such Governments, stars and garters, and badges of power and respect,
have stimulated to heroic deeds in fields of battle, so have they been held up as
certain prizes to intellectual excellence, and great accomplishments in the arts
and employments of peaceful industry. If schools have there been maintained
for training youth in the art of war, so have they been maintained for teaching
the application of the arts and sciences to all the industrial pursuits of life.

As republican freeholders, then, we would respectfully inquire whether it be
becoming or politic for this nation, whose Government rests lor security on the
popular intelligence, to imitate European Governments only in the favor and pat-
ronage they confer, with seli-preserving instinct, on that Executive department
of their power upon which they lean to protect their existence against the progress
of free principles, and the force of public opinion seeking to carry iheni out ?

It would indeed be passing strange, as it seems to your memorialists, that in a
Government called free, deriving so chiefly all its resources from the airricultural
interest, its powers should be so organized as to preclude the application of any
portion of the public treasure to confessedly, and by far, the greatest of all public
concerns ! We would respectfully forbear from remarking, as it would seem to
deserve, on that monstrous perversion and abuse of sovereign authority, in a Gov-
ernment called republican, which should reserve all life tenures, and all pensions,
and all enlightenment, for the military, while it renounces the glorious faculty
of aiding and rewarding the labors of intellect in the humbler, but so much more
useful paths of peaceful, laborious and productive industry !

In behalf, then, not so much of thejnselves, as of the rising generation of agri-
culturists, on whom our country and its liberties must mainly depend under all
vicissitudes, we call upon you, to whom Ave have consigned for the time the sov-
ereign authority of the State, to demand from the General Government that some-
thing be now, at last, done to foster Agriculture, by diilusing that knowledge

(549) J o ' J a =

262 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

which is power, no less in the field of labor than of blood. They believe ihcy have
a right to expect for this great national purpose, so identical with the general
welfare, appropriations bearing some proportion to the amount which the pro-
ducts of Agriculture bear to the aggregate wealth of the nation, and to the degree
of dependence of the Government itself, and all classes under it, on that class for
employment, protection, safety and support.

THE DISEASE IN POTATOES.

WHEN PLAx\TED FROM THE SEED, ARE POTATOES MORE EXEMPT THAN
WHEN PLANTED FROM OLDER TUBERS?

Toledo, Oliio, November 3, 1846.

Mr. Editor : I am well aware that many theories have been advanced to account for the
" disease," as it is called, so universally prevalent among potatoes. Some affinn that numer-
ous '• animalculffi" are the cause ; others " fungi ," and others, without any apparent reason
whatever, that it is owdng to wet weather which we have untimely (?) experienced.

From repeated obsei'vations and experiments recently made in the cultivation of tliis escu-
lent, I am fully persuaded that the " disease," or "rot," is nothing more than the deteriora-
tion incident to their having nearly run out.

I notice in your valuable .lournal for September a communication from a Baltimore corre-
spondent (who seems to favor the above opinion), recommending importations fif the original
plant from its natal place, South America, with which to start a new nm of crops. This
plan, if fully carried out, I doubt not would result in giving us sound potatoes, Uke those
produced after the plant was first introduced into Europe and the United States ; but tlie
impi'obability of its ever bemg done, to an extent sufficient to establish an entire new run
of crops, detracts, I think, materially from its importance to us at the present time.

The loss of at least one-half of my crop in the year 1843, being a large increase upon pre-
vious years, satisfied m e that they had actually run out, or were fast approximating to it, and
suggested the feasibility of reproducing them from the seed of the apple. Accordingly, the
uext year (1844) I planted the seed of the apple in about twenty hills near the center of the
field, while all around them were planted potatoes of the previous year. After gathering all
the other potatoes in the field, I opened the remaining twenty hills, which I found yielded
on an average a dozen to a hill, and about the size of a large. walnut. These I planted last
year in detached parts of the field, and gathei'ed therefrom potatoes of the usual size, entirely
free from the " disease" or "rot" which infected those raised from the old potatoes. This
year I planted my whole field wdi these potatoes, and have gathereil a usual-sized crop, en
tirely Iree from " disease," as before.

^Vith the above facts in view, I would ask, cannot a new nm of crops be produced tVom
potatoes raised from the seed of the old or deteriorated plants, equal to any that could bo
raised from the natal plant itself? If so, let it be urged upon the attention of fanners through-
out the United States, and thereby save the food of ihonsauds — that valuable esculent, tha
potato. G. B.

In publishing the above, we feel called upon to say that the weight of testi-
mony greatlv preponderates against relying on potatoes raised from tubers which
have recently been produced from the seed.

The most elaborate and careful investigation, after that of the Commissioners
appointed by the British Government, is to be found in the October number of the
Journal of the "Highland aisd Aukicultural Society of Scotland."

(550)

THE DISEASE IN POTATOES. 263

They framed and sent to hundreds of the most distinguished agriculturists the
following queries :

"1. At vvliat jicriod in tho sesisoii, and after wliut sUito of the weather, the disease mani-
fested itspir.' \Viiat were the genei-al appearances presented hy tiie stems, leaves and flow-
ers, and by the tubers, when the taint had extended itself to them ?

"2. Whether any oi' tin; varieties of potatoes connnonly eullivated have escaped the dis-
ease, or been less affected than the otliers ? Whether potatoes recently obtjuned from seeds
have been less subject to it than those which have been long i-aised from sets or tubers ? —
Whether any particular condition of the soil, as to wetness, previous cidtivation, or the kinds
of manures used, appear to have had imy influence in ])romotmg, retarding or proventuig the
disease ?

" 3. ^Vllat have been the modes em])loycd in storing the potatoes, and what are the meaiL*
whicli have Ijeen found most successful in preserving the healthy tubers, and preventing the
extension of the taint from tlie disi'ased to the sound ones?"

We liave not room in this number for even the substance of the answers to
these queries ; but it is admirable to see the promptness and explicitness of the
replies from no less than 132 farmers. The Society first embody in a very con-
densed statement the substance of these answers to each question, and then by
numbers refer to and publish the answers themselves, that the reader may see
the precise ground of their summary statement. Wc can only give their state-
ment of the answers received to the branch of the second query, '• Whether pota-
toes recently obtained from seeds have been less subject to it than those which
have been long raised from sets or tubers ?" and on this point the Society say :

" The answers to tliis inqnii-y are numerous. Nearly all the reporters state that potatoes
raised recently from the seeds were equally subject to the disease as those which had been
long propai,'at<>d from the tubers; and, in the opinion of many of the reporters, the potatoes
recently nused from seeds were more liable to be affected than the others."

They then refer to twenty-three reports, from as many different persons, and
say :

'• All these reports concm- as to the fact that potatoes from seeds were as l^ad as, or worse
than, others. The contnuy opinion is reported by only three gentlemen, viz.

" Mr. John Hogarth, Berwickshire, who states that some raised from seed were free from
disease, tmd kept well.

" Mr. .\le.\aiider .T. Main, Edinburghshire, who says that sets of potatoes raised for four
years from seed were not so much affected iis those fi-om older tubers.

" Mr. Fi-aiicis McMinn, Lanitrkshire, who mentions that the only potatoes rai.scd from seed
in his neigliboihood have kept."

Nor is it probable that potatoes lately raised from seed will be more exempt
than potatoes of the oldest stock, if the cause of the disease is such as stated in
the next chapter.

Those who have observed the progress of investigation on this interesting ques-
tion with proper and enlarged views, and a fair disposition to do justice to those
to whose acquirements and labors we might be indebted for the best elucidation
of the subject, cannot have failed to notice the very quiet and unostentatious, bu*
at the same time very efficient part performed by Mr. Teschemacher, of Boston
one of the most disinterested and accomplished vegetable chemists of the age.

In giving place to the following from a late number of the London Gardeners
Chronicle, it would be a gross omission not to refer to the fact that as far back af
October, 1844, Mr. T. took the opportunity of examining chemically and witb
great care the first diseased potatoes which came within his notice, and pro-
nounced the opinion since promulgated by Morren, and now again insisted upon in
this most recent Report, made oliicially to the Danish Government, through the
Polytechnic Institution of Copenhagen, being written by Professor Liebmann,
and, in Denmark, thought to give a satisfactory solution of the cause of the sick-
ness. It is, however, proper to state that Professor Lindley, Editor of the Lon-

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264

MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

don Gardeners' Chronicle, in which we find the following article, and who was
one of the Coramissioners appointed to make exanainations into this subject, does
not seem by any means to be satisfied either as to the real cause or as to any ef-
fectual remedy. He recommends /«/Z planting, for reasons which we shall prob-
ably give in our next. There is, he says, no danger of potatoes being killed by
frost in winter, in the ground.

" Although the potato complaint already in the
course of several years has been known in vari-
ous places in Europe, it did not become the sub-
ject of general attention before last year, when
almost all over Europe it caused great devasta-
tion. Also this year the sickness has broken
out suddenly, and with great violence at the
same time, all over the country, and has, in
short time, destroyed the greatest part of the
parts of the potato plant vegetating above
ground ; but it is not yet decided whether the
complaint will have as great influence on the
tubers as was the case last year. According to
all accounts we have been able to collect, as
well as from our own observations, the com-
plaint this year has chiefly attacked the early
ripe potatoes ; but those later ripe have been
much more free. Although where the potato
complaint last year made its devastation.s, it has
become subject of investigation carefully con-
ducted by individuals as well as by Committees
appointed to this effect, employing large sums
of public money for the promotion of these in-
quisitions ; still, notwithstanding all that is done
in this direction, and that our literature has been
increa.sed to an enormous extent, still the result
of all these endeavors is comparatively nothing.
None of the remedies so variously proposed have
been effective. La.st year the attention was
only drawn to the illness when far advanced ;
its first beginniag, as well as its cause, came
not at all under experienced and scientific men's
observation. This year, when attention has
been early directed to the vegetative process of
the potatoes, it has been possible to ob.serve all
the phenomena of the illness from its first be-
ginning, and there can no longer be (hmht. of the
cauxe of the illnesx. It is a parasitical /'/<»;;'■»»>■
belong III g to the mil dew orthreml fiiugi\\\\\ch
attacks the parts of the potato above ground,
and which shortly, in the way peculiar to fungi,
destroys the cellular texture of leaves, flower
and stem ; this fungus presents a fine cobweb
texture of uncolored branched fibres, and in-
creases with great speed by elastic germinating
grains, which only appear by a considerably
magnifying power. These germinating grains
are so small and so light that they are floating
about in the air, and descend with the dew-
drops on the sound plants, develop themselves
in few hours to threads, and destroy the leaves.

" The sickness in the tubers appears only
some time after the part of the plant above ground
is destrojed, and shows itself by destroying the
cellular texture which, by the destruction of the
leaves, is deprived of the regular nourishment
which is derived from these parts.

" The existence of the potato thread fungus is
like all fungi generally, only brief, and it is only
plainly discernible on leaves not yet blackened
or faded. We feel bold to assert that the pe-
riod of vegetation of this parasitical fungus this
year, has been confined to the fir.«t fourteen
days of August, and that it will only be the con-
sequences of the ravages of the fungus during
these fourteen days which will be lult this au-
tumn.

, ''iSince it is now made apparent that the illness
is caused by this parasitical fungu.s, it is evident
that all previous suppositious about the degener-
ation of the potato plant as cause of tlie illness are
groundless, and tliat orders for seed potatoes
from placeshltherto free would be useless. That
may easily be conjectured when the cause of the
illness is known ; and what confirms this opinion
is, that Liebmann, on a journey through llie
island of Tionia, in the beginning of this month,
learned that several fanners who, at great cost,
had got seed potatoes from places in the United
Slates free from illness, had, notwithstanding, got
several such fields attacked as much as others
with the common seed.

" The Committee feels therefore pleased that
already, before these experiments were made,
it advised not to import from Spain or the United
States, feeling convinced that there was small
probability of the complaint being from degene-
ration of the plant. // ix therefore evident that
all trials to destroy the complaint will be useless,
inasmuch as it originates in a parasitic funi;us,
the invisible germinating grain of which is car-
ried about in the air, and which ;Aill develop
itself wherever it finds a suitable .soil, viz., pota-
to plants, be they natives or from abroad, or
whether the seed tubers have been washed or
not in water or solutions of salt.

"The potato complaint is an evil which we
hope time will heal as it hiis brought it.

E. A. 8CIURL1NG,

F. LIEBM.VNN,
A. WEILI5.\CH.

" Copenhagen, August 31."

It is certain that the illness is produced by this
parasitical fungus.

Would it not be well, by the by, however indifferent he may himself be about
it, as a matter of justice and of right to him, and to the country, that Mr. Tesche-
macher's communication on this subject, made, bi/ request, to the " Nkw-York
State Aoricultural Society," as Axr back as Dec. ISio, and in which he too
assigned fungus as the cause for this disease, should be allowed to see the light ?
Was it mislaid, that it did not form a part of their annual publication ? for it is
not easy to imagine any paper which, in that stage of this question, could have pos-
sessed greater interest for agricultural science and literature — coming from such a
mind and such a pen, and proclaiming titen the identical opinion to which some of

(552)

THE DISEASE IN POTATOES. 265

the ablest vegetable chemists in Europe have since arrived. For one, if that paper
be still in existence, we should be glad to see and compare it with more recent
researches, and even to preserve it as a matter merely of justice to the individual,
and of agricultural history ; and, as far as it goes, as a proof of our claim to " pri-
ority of discovery." With men of the true stamp, discoveries of the mind are
far more preciously esteemed than discoveries oi mines ; and the society or com-
munity that does not well guard its fellow members in the possession of the hon-
ors thus hardly earned by intellectual courage and labor, but illy consults its
own welfare.

It seems, too, not the less remarkable that Mr. Teschemacher's communica-
tion to the same Society, accompanied by eight or nine samples of various
qualities of guano, with the analysis of each, as we see stated in the Patent-
Oflfice Agricultural Report of 1846, page 514, Doc. 140, has been in like manner
withheld from the public. Was it that the Prize Essay afterward publi.shed
happened to embrace enough of similar views and analyses to render the publi-
cation of his communication unnecessary ?

It has been gratifying, nevertheless, to see that his Essay on Guano, the most
elaborate, scientific- and practical we have had, and which was published else-
where in this country, we believe in that lamented organ of New-England Agri-
culture, the New-England Farmer, has attracted notice and been published
widely and approvingly in England.

These annual volumes put out by the New- York State Agricultural Society
are doubtless prepared with due circumspection and impartiality ; still it will not
be ofiensive to any fair mind to have it suggested that our men of science get so
inadequately paid, when paid at all, for the hardest sort of labor, that too much
pains cannot be taken to see that when they do work for nothing and find them-
selves, the public be allowed to enjoy the benefit of their gratuitous services, and
the opportunity of paying them in costless thanks at least. For every periodical
there is trash enough to be had, if the publishers go for quantity. We would not
dare ask it of men of real science, with whom minutes are hours, to write for
The Farmers' Library, but we are much mistaken if when such men as Jackson
and Teschemacher do put pen to paper on questions of agricultural science, there
is much said that would deserve to be suppressed.

As TO THE Remedy. — In the same unpublished and unnoticed communication
from Teschemacher to the New- York State Agricultural Society, he suggested
salt as the remedy or preventive of the potato rot, and we have been told that
this remedy has been signally efficacious in many cases where it has been tried
in the neighborhood of Boston, many having there tried it whose potatoes have
escaped, while all around suffered. Below we give instances reported in late
numbers of the London Gardeners' Chronicle to the same effect. But here again
it is our duty to state (being absolutely unprejudiced and impartial on this sub-
ject, as we endeavor to be on all) that in the same number the Editor of that
journal, standing high as a botanist, at home and abroad, and having bestowed
on this matter perhaps more thought and observation than almost any man liv-
,ing, seems to be utterly at a loss and confounded. After referring to the sev-
eral remedies recommended, and lime and salt among the rest, he says : " For
ourselves, we feel it to be as presumptuous in ourselves as in others to hazard
any recommendations, where all is confessedly most uncertain ; nevertheless we
cannot shun the responsibility which attaches to our position." He then goes
on to recommend " Autumn planting," as the best under the circumstances,

(553)

12,66 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

" yet," says he, " we by no means pretend that it is a security against the potato
disease."

The following are the items we find in the same number of his paper, going-
so far to corroborate the opinion expressed by Mr. Teschemacher three years
ago, and still entertained by him, fortified by more recent instances in the vicinity
of Boston :

Salt a Manure for Potatoes. — I have heard of several instances of sound potatoes being
grown where the land was previously dressed with salt, and one very striking' instance has come
within my own knowledge. I am satisfied that all light soils that have home diseased potatoes
this year, or that is intended for planting potatoes next spring, should be dressed with from 10 to
15 cwts. to the acre, applied half now and half in the spring. This application is simple and
cheap, and, at all events, can do uo hann.

Salt a Preventive of the Potato Disease. — A very intelligent laboring man, who culti-
vates about 4 acres of laud, informs me that he this year tried the effect of soot and of salt on
small portions of his potato crop. The potatoes were planted in drills, and manure from the pig-
sties was laid over the sets. In two of the rows soot was sprinkled, in .small quantities, over the
sets before the manure was laid on. In three other rows, salt was similarlj- applied. When the
potatoes were got up, a short time since, only two or three were found diseased where the soot
had been applied, and none at all where the salt had been used. Tho.se to which nothing had
been applied except the manure, contained a large proportion of diseased potatoes. The soil
on which thi.s experiment was tried is light and gravelly.

We boast that ours is the best and the wisest Government in the universe,
resting on public virtue and guided by superior intelligence ; and so it may be ;
but taking a partial view, one might be led for a moment to conclude that wis-
dom and virtue are confined to no particular forms, but that " that which is best
administered is best."

Here is a question — this dreadful malady which threatens extinction to the
most valuable of all esculents ; raging and increasing now for some years, and
which, according to the gloomy theory of Malthus, we might suppose had been
sent by Providence as a check upon the natural prolificness of the human race ;
yet where is the commission appointed, or the reward offered for its investiga-
tion, by any Government, General or State, or any Society or Institute in the
whole country ? In England, in France, in Germany, commissions consisting of
the ablest men to be found in these countries respectivelv, have been appointed,
and well paid, to bring all their powers of investigation, and all the lights of sci-
ence to bear on a subject admitted on all hands to be of the greatest national con-
sequence; and even though it were true that neither cause nor remedy have
been discovered, to the satisfaction of all, yet the cause of agricultural litera-
ture itself has been promoted, and a great service rendered, if only in showing
how indispensable are the aids and the instruments of science, to all researches
into the principles of vegetable physiology. Ah ! truly, we had forgotten ! We
have made a grand display of public spirit ! Congress paid about $20,000, we
suppose, for the 250 pages dedicated to this particular object, in that great and
brilliant exposition of national industry, the Patent Office Annual. More
of that anon.

A CURIOd.S FACT IN AGRICULTUHE.— W(.' find in tlir New-York Post an account
of the pi-otliiction of potatoes in the followniu' manner: A i;ciilleni;in, in the inoiitli of May,
conceived that it was necessary to cut (jiie or two more branches from his p-ape-vine, and
he accordingly lop])ed olV the lumecessary branches, w-liicli caused them to bleed ; and to
remedy this, he split a potato into two i)ieccs, one of which he stuck on the end of the bleed-
ing branch. lie then tied a rag fast to the branch, so as to cover the potato and keep it
from falling off, and then liift it. The rag was not dislurbtnl again until a day or twro since,
when it was removed and found to contain a crop of ll)ur small pot;itoos, wliich had growu
froiH the piece stuck on the eud of the brtuicli.
(50-1)

THOROUGH DRAINING. 267

THOROUGH DRAINING.

ITS PRACTICAL EFFECTS AND RESULTS.

This, now, is one of the great openings for improvement of farms in the Old
States. By its means, an immense quantity of land, worse than waste, may be
})rought into play, the value of whicii cannot well be overrated ; fur, in the first
place, the land to be by this means reclaimed is generally the best on the estate
naturally ; and, secondly, it may be then laid down to grass, and produce for
years heavy crops, without expense of cultivation ; and we need not add that the
most lamentable deficiency in the resources of the American farmer is want of
grass.

No agriculturist of the right sort of sense and ambition can "sleep easy in his
bed," if he does not feel sure that, while he is drawing from his land the fair
results of well-directed labor, his estate is at the same time in a course of pro-
gressive improvement ! That he should aim at, as one of the principal items to
be carried to the credit side, in his account of proht and loss ; and, without look-
ing closely to that, he is just as sure to be finally overtaken with bankruptcy
as the merchant, who would not be trusted by any one on 'Change who should
know him to be guilty of neglect in keeping accounts.

Well, how is he to make sure of this progressive improvement in the product-
iveness and the value of his estate, unless he make sure of an adequate supply
9f manure ? Ay, my dear reader, you may blink the matter, if j^ou will, for the
moment — you may try to postpone and get round it — but to that you must
come at last. There is no other way — no short cut to escape from ruin to your
land and yourself — unless, by some means, you feed it with manure, at least
equal to what your crops and your animals carry off it. For the farmer is be-
ginning now to understand that, in the very blood and bones of every beef he
consumes or sells, there is a certain amount of the productive capacity of his
land subtracted from it. You might just as well expect a mill-hopper to go on
yielding meal, without pouring in the grist, as your farm to continue, without
food, to give full crops ; and the most sure, obvious and reliable resource for
manure is grass. The want of it is as fatal, in most cases, as the loss of the
horse-shoe nail, as related by Dr. Franklin — where, for want of the nail, the shoe
was lost ; and for want of the shoe the horse fell lame, the messenger failed
in his journey, and great calamity fell on the State.

In England, where they have a moist climate and plenty of capital, they keep
up and greatly increase the fertility of their lands by a single root. Yes, the
population, the wealth, the power of England is in her turnips. We might have
them, too, in our country, as we aje inclined to believe, to a much greater ex-
tent than we do, if farmers would well manure and thoroughly prepare their
land, and sow much earlier. There 's Mr. Sotham, on Mr. Coming's estate, near
Albany, never fails in a heavy crop of Swedes. But at any rate, to come back
to our subject, much may be done toward having the means of keeping stock to
increase the manure by draining. Even the smallest spots — say many half acres,
here and there — might and ought to be thus reclaimed. But, then, it must be
thoroughly done. There is no work the result of which so much depends on

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268

MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

its being completely well done. In this business it is hit or mixs. It is not more
or less — it's everything or nothing ! On this subject, as to the means of doing
it, and the profits of it when well done, no patron of this journal shall plead ig-
norance before we are done with it ; for we know of no subject more worthy of
attention. But we have not room to dwell longer at this time.

Might not farmers associate, and appoint agents in this city to engage Irish
ditchers — for they are like muskrats in a swamp — on their arrival, to go and live
by the year, at certain wages. But we shall return to and elaborate this idea on
some early occasion. We think it might be practicable to get laborers and me-
chanics in this way, to the advantage of all parties.

DRAINING.

BY THE VERY REV. DR. BUCKLAND.

He would iidvise the fiii'iners of Devon and
Dorset to go by railway to Lincolnsliire and
Norfolk, where the most beneficial chan:;es
had been realized over entire counties. There
were men now living who could remember
when 40,000 acres of land belonging to the
late Lord Leicester, in Norfolk, which are
now worth £40,000 a year, were nothing but
rabbit warrens and barren heaths. Lord YiU'-
borough had 30,000 acres of land in Lincoln-
shire, which formerly let at 4s. fid. [$1 03]
per acre, and at this low rate ruined almost
every fanner who rented it ; this same land is
now rented at an average of 2.5s. [$6 25] per
acre, by fanners who are all makuig such
large fortunes that many of them keep their
carriages. In Norfidk it was the custom of
Lord Leicester, when applied to for a iimn,
to ask the applicant how much capital he
could command. " I have farms," he would
say, " of all sizes for every amount of capital
— from 2,000 downi to 200 acres." This was
an admirable plan. He was satisfied that one
gi'eat cause of bad fanning was the ambition
of tenants in undert;iking a lai'ger fann than
they could slock and adequately maiuire. It
was not sm-prising that the farmer could not
succeed who, having a capital of £ 1,000, took
a fann which required £2,000.* The learned
Professor then reterred to the important oper-
ation of draining, as the foundation of all good
farming. It was useless to put tons of manure
on land that was not dry ; in that case it would
only Hoat upon the surface, for wet clay coidd
not allow it to gf) down — it w;us almost en-
tirely thrown away. Draining rendered the
land pen(!trable by water, and enabled the
rain to dowx'iul freely through it, carrying to
the roots those fertilizing elements of carbonic

* The reader must bear in mind that this means
the capital requisite for a tenant — not to purchase the
land ; and this explains, to a great extent, the greater
productiveness of Knglish farms. They have a great
amount of capital — we nothing, comparatively, but
the naked land 1 Hut all difficulties vanish to meu
of resolution and ihoughl.

acid and ammonia with which rain-water w^as
always charged. Caibonic acid was contuiu-
ally supplied to the air from chimneys, and
from putrefying animal and vegetable sub-
stances, also from the breath expired from the
lungs of animals, and a hundred other sources ;
it Hoated in the atmosphere in a gaseous form,
and was brought down again by ram. Fall-
ing upon drained land, this rain penetrated
its surface, and, as he had just .said, earned
with it to the roots of plants two of their
greatest elements of fertillt)'.

It was the landed proprietors' and the farm-
ers' incumbent duty to increase the fertility
of the soil, because the soil alone afforded the
food which it was our business to provide for
ourselves and families. Fifty years ago. Par-
liament had given a premium for drauiing to
Mr. Elkiiigton ; and his system, where it was
applicable, had answered the required pur-
pose ; but it was not applicable so generally
as newer systems, for the publication of which
the country was mainly indebted to Mr. Smith,
of Deanston. He remembered, vidieu retuiTi-
ing from Scotland after visiting Mr. Smith's
farm at Deanston four years ago, being taken
by Sir Robert Peel into a field of his near
Tamworth, which was almost swampeil with
water, and nearly unproiluctive. He advised
Sii' Robert to drain it after the manner of Mr.
Smith, which he linthwith did, and the result
was in the very first year a splendid crop of
turnips, and the second year a crop of barley
so luxuriant that the stalks could not supjiort
tlie ears, imd fell prostrate to the ground. —
The expenses were repaid in two years, and
this worthless field was now a most profitable
piece of land. The Rev. Doctor then men-
tioned another instance of the effect of drain-
age near Wolverhampton, in Staffordshire, by
Lord llatherton. His Lordsliiji had reclaimed
a wild tract ot 1,500 acres adjoining Cainiock
Chase, on hills higher than those in East Dev-
on, and had increased its value from 5s. to 253.
per acre. After intpressing thus forcibly the
import:u;ce of draining, as the first step in ag-
ricidtural improvement, the learned Professor
proceeded to remark on the application of
maniues.

(556)

APPLICATION OV MANURES.

260

APPLICATION OF MANURES.

The reader but too probably nauseates at the very word manure! yet what
so important ? — and besides, like it or not, the doctor must give the medicine he
thinks best suited to the case ; and so we shall continue to give in doses, broken,
though they may not always be small, what may seem best suited to the condi-
tion of our patients. By the by, when did any one know brokers and merchants
to tire of hearing and talking about the rise and fall of produce and of stocks ?

In the preceding chapter, we have given some striking facts on the subject of
draining, from " the Very Reverend Doctor Buckland," and the following is a
continuation of his lecture.

When shall we have lectures on botany, and natural history, and vegetable
chemistry, from our country clergy ?

As the elements of m;mui-e could only act
on plants wlieii in a state of solution, it oufzlit
never to be iipplied ;is a top-dressing, except
in wet weather. It was commou to see ma-
nure applied to turnips during the dog-days,
when the sky was bright and clear, and not a
particle of rain falling. In this case, so far
frtim the manure doing any immediate good,
its ammonia was speedily evaporated, being
extremely volatile, aud pjossed into the atjno-
sphere, instead of the roots of jjlauts. In a
dry season, if manures were used at all, they
ought to be buried in the ground, and not ap-
plie-d as a top-dressing ; in rainy sejtsons the
virtue of manures descended wiili the rahi-
water, to the immediate benefit of the grow-
ing plants. There were two advantages to
be derived fi'om draining, which were — time
and money. He who was always behind-
hand could not be a good fanner. The eai'ly
farmer takes his commodities early to nwrket
from ^vell-tl rained land, which is fit to be
worked at almost any time, and has threshed
his barley, and converted it into cash, while
tlie late fanner's crops are not yet ripe for the
harvest. No finn on a wet clay soil can pro-
duce half the com it is capable of growing, if
thoroughly drained. Hefen-ing to different
kinds of manure applied to land after it was

})repared by drainage for receiving it, the Pro-
iessor observed that he need hardly say that
the best of all manures was fann-yard dung,
though he was sorry to remark the faniu-rs
did neither produce or ]>re3erve so much of it
as they might easily do. Fann-yard dung
was the best of all manures, because it gave
back directly to the soil the elements of the
plants that had been consumed by cattle as
their food. But. besides the manure produced
on his own land, the good farmer is obliged
to borrow and fetch from a di.-itance the ele-
mentary substances of imported aititicial ma-
nures. The farmers of the east side of Eng-
land "o to London for bone-dust, and to Hol-
land for rape-cake and oil-cake. This oil-cake,
(557)

together with straw, is used for the winter
food of oxen in their f inn-yards, which are
thus annu;illy charged with an abundance of
rich manure. There was another kind of ma-
nure, which he wished particularly to impress
upon the farmer's attention — he alluded to gu-
ano. It was, as they knew, the droppings
of sea-fowl, accumulated for ages upon islands
off' the coasts of Africa and America, and on
many islands in the Pacific Ocean. Since its
first importation, four yeare only ago,* guano
had been used with the greatest success in
various parts of the country. It was notorious
that experiments made with it during the
present year had almost univei-sally failed ;
and their failure proved that it ought never to
be applied as a top-dressing, except in rainy
weather, and vv'hen the plant is in a state of
active growth. There were many advantages
attending the use of gumio, not the least of
which was its portability, aud its power of re-
Uiining its properties for many years, if kept
di-y and excluded from the air. It was much
cheaper now than on its introduction into tliis
country, and next year the supply would be
such i\3 to reduce its price to half of that
charged last year. He knew that no lesS than
600 sliips had left Liverpool alone last year to
get gu;mo, and they would bring back at least
(50,000 tons. Some of the guano sold in this
country was adulterated by art, and some by
Nature ; but a little precaution on the part of
the buyer would j)revent his being imposed
upon. He had only to put a tea-spiwniul into
a tumbler full of warm water, and to wash
and rinse it, whirling it round briskly, when
the sand (if any were mixed with it) might
be detected at the bottom. The learned Pro-
fessor then referred to the night-soil and cloa-

* The Editor of The Farmers' Library, then Ed-
itor of the American Farmer, distributed two barrels
of it in Maryland twenty years ago ; and as far back
as that told the whole story of Alpacca sheep— their
history, uses, value, itc. — with cDgiavicg*.

270

niOiNTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

cine, as the most viiliiiiole of all animsil ma-
nures. It was extensively used on the Conti-
nent, though not in Britain. In Belgium it
was valued at £ 1 17s. 6d. [$9] per individ-
ual, while Englishmen are traveling to distant
regions of the earth — to Africa and America —
traversing sea and land, to bring home ele-
ments which they may readily obl;iin at liomc.
Night-soil was most valuable, Ijccause it con-
tained the elements of all kinds of food con-
sumed by man, and in applying these to the
soil we returned the identical cojistituents
which fonner crops and animals had t;(ken
from it. It contained pho.sphate of lime, wliich
was indispensable to the growth of luiimals'
bones, and to the nutriment of phuits, and
which was not supplied from the atmosphere

like carbonic acid and amnifjnia. He recom-
mended the preserving of all Huid and solid
excretions, by mixing with them saw-dust, or
ashes, or burnt clay, in a dry place, which
would deprive them of their unpleasant smell.
The Proi'essor then urged that, in all good
farming, there must be a debtor and treditor
account between the fanner and his laud. —
Give and Take must be the nile ; if no ma-
nure be applied, it was mijust and idle to ex-
pect abundant produce. If tlie fanner stai-ves
the land, the hmd will a.ssuredly starve him.
The man who gives nothing deserves nothing.
He is a jjlunderer — a plunderer and a robber
of his mother eartli — and his speedy nun is
the merited pimislunent of his ravage.

AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS OF TEXAS.

Bastkop County, (now) State of Texas, Sept. 7, 184S.
To the Editor of The Farmers' Library :

Mv LtEAR Sir : I have just read the August number of The Farmers' Libra-
ry \ND Monthly Journal of Agriculture, and am extremely gratified to see
you have recommended the culture of flax and hops. They are both indigen-
ous in Texas, and consequently could be_ cultivated with profit. If you, like a
good "schoolmaster, will do what you promised should be done for every tree of
the orchard and the forest, every grain of the field, every vegetable of the gar-
den, and every vine shall tell its own history " — and will please look,

" With equal eye, as fiiend of all,"

on Texas as on the Old Thirteen, and give us some instruction about growing
the sugar-cane, and manufacture of sugar, also Spanish tobacco, hemp, and in-
digo, to the growth of all which our climate and soil are congenial, I think
our musqueat, prairie land will come in competition with the cane-brake region
of Alabama for growing Indian corn and cotton. We can, on the virgin soil,
with " brute labor," grow seventy-five bushels of the former, and four thousand
pounds (seed) of the latter per acre. I send you a few musqueat grass seed (not
knowing the botanic name). Sow in a rich, stifl' soil ; it will grow all winter,
and go to seed in August. The beef, butter and milk which it produces are su-
perior to anything of the kind I ever tasted. You would be astonished to see
(as you could, if here) an ox fifteen hands high, with horns three feet long, and
five feet from point to point, fed solely on grass — fat in winter and summer.

(Cordially, with respect, your obedient servant. An Old Tkxan.

P. S. May God speed the pen, enlighten the head, and refine the heart of him
who converts the wilderness into a fruitl'ul field! There ought to be a hundred
subscribers to The Farmers' Lii^rary, not only in this, but every county in the
State. t), T.

LONGEVITY OF PEACH TRRES.— There is no part nf the United States where the
peach tree is more healthy, or attains a greater age, than in Western New- York. It is only
improper soil or cultin-e, and bad treatment, that has caused early decay whei-e it has oc-
curred. The best orchards in this section, now in full vigor, are bordering on 20 years old.
We have just been shown ;i collection of fniils. by Col. Colby of Ogden ; and among odiers,
a fair-looking, natural peach, from a Uxefort^ years old, yet hcidlhy and producdve.

[Genesee Fanner.
(558)

CULTIVATION OF THE ORANGE.

271

CULTIVATION OF THE 0RANC4E.

Throuch the kindness of A. H. Palmkr, Esq., Director of tiie American and
Foreign Agency at New- York, we have received the Journal of the Agricultural
and Horticultural Society of Perth, Western Australia, from which we extract
the following observations on the Cultivation of the Citrus Tribe, by W. Tan-
ner, Esq., a member of said Societj'. From the adaptation of the soil and cli-
mate of a large portion of the southern territory of the United States, to the
profitable cultivation of the Orange and other species of citrus, we trust that
his remarks, together with the subjoined notes by Mr. Browne, will be duly
appreciated by a large portion of our readers, particularly those who reside in
Florida, where this species of culture has long been practiced with success.

The fjeims cifrux comprisinsr, according to
some, eigVit species, and some of these spe-
cies containing several varieties, is 8U])|)osed
to have been brought originally from India,
and perhaps other parts of Asia, wliero it is
now found growing wild. Tnie, it is also to
be seen in a wild state in parts of South
America, yet these plants are probably re-
mains of gardens long since abandoned. It . .„ ^„

is now cultivated in the open air in the East I li""'^'';^'''; i'erhaps no person in Florida had more

] \i' » T T T 1 » . T 1 ; tnan Uie latter nmnbcr in fu boarni'' condition at

and West Indies, Japan and Australia; and the time of the great frost, which occurred on the
in Europe, in Spam, rortugal, r ranee. Italy, I 9th of February of that year. There were many
and the Azores. The oraiiiies of St. Miehael j "'*^<^* 'hen to be found in St. Augustine, which ex-
are now the best that are 'to bo met with in ^-fC'lcd 40 leet in hight with tninlis from 20 to 27
-u -c< 1 » 'ni, I . f .u- ' ""^"cs "' "'»nit!'er, and which, probabv, were more

the Europeiin market The plants of this : than a century old. But there are manV persons S
genus, m audition to the useuimess of their that vicinity, at the present time, vlio are extensively
products, are worth cultivating were it only engaged in the liusiness. The late IMr. Kineslev left

for their beaut\-. In Eiiroi.e orange trees TT*^,*?' ^•"'"'''f ™S •"■eS;in.lB43, all of Which

' aie on the bt. John's. In addition to these, there
are al.-^o on the same river, more than one hundred
orange gi-oves, which, it is estimated, contain 20,000

1,000 lemons each, yeiu-ly ; oranges 300 to
."iOO chests. The imports into England, from
all parts, have sometimes averaged 270,60'}
boxes a year.*

* For many years past, no email deg^-ee of atten-
tion has been paid to the culture of the common
edible orange, at St. Augustine, and on the river St.
John's. The number of trees owned by ditfeient in-
= prior to 1845, varied from ten to tifteen

dividuals

continue flowering nearly all summer, and
the fniit takes two years to come to maturity,
60 that for a eonsider-.ible period of each year
a healthy ti-cc exhibits every sbige of the
production, from the flower bud to the ripe

trees. At St. Augustine, it is said, there are, at least,
30.000 standard trees, 4,000 of which are owned by
Mr. J. Douglass, about the same number by Mr. V.
Sanchez ; and by Mr. J. Drisdale, and the lady of the

fruit in perfection at the same time. In Spain late rir. Anderson, fifteen hundred each. Notwith-
there are old orange trees foniiing large tim- ^tanding the injuries which the trees have suftered

ber. In the convent of Santa Sabiiia at Rome, ^Zll'n. t?f''^'"i«"^" "<^ '"='^«-'^' fo'" « [ew years, as
»i • ^ on r . 1 • 1 , . ,M well as by the oiscouragenient caused by trost, it

there is an orange tree 30 feet liiga, and said [ may be observed that there are more standard trees
to be 600 years old. At Nice in 1789 was an I planted in Florida, at the present time, than there
orange tree 50 feet liigh, requiring two men I V^'' """*' "' ^''V former period. Previous to 183.%
to embrace it. The orange is a taller and r=;nnn,fV'?.';'i?'l"'-;*:i^"""'!"y <■'■"■", ~-^""'000 ^o

more beautiful tree than either tlie citron or
lemon. In Algarve and Andalusia, the onmge
trees are of great size.

" The present amount of oranges and lem-
ons exported from St. Michael, is upward of
120,000 boxes, and 70 or 80 vessels are some-
times seen lying in the roads waiting to carry
them to Europe. The imports into" England
from I'ortugiil in lemons and oraiiires are
200,000 boxes. The principal exports from Se-
ville are bitter and sweet oranges and lemons.
The sweet oranges are more cultivated than
the bitter. About .")0 vessels of from 80 to
120 tons are annually loadetl with oranges
and lemons at Seville. The exports from
Malaga are from 11,000 to 14,000 chests of
(559)

2,.')00,000 oranges, which were equal in bulk to
about l.'i.OOO barrels. They were shijjped to Charies-
ton, Kahinioie. New-York, Boston, Arc, and usually
brought from -SI to S3 per hundred, or about $3 per
barrel, producing in the aggregate a little short of
.S.)U,000 per annum. During the orange season, the
port of St. Augustine formoriy presented quite a
commercial aspect, there being frequently from fif-
teen to twenty vessels in at a time, loading with
fruit. A person who was the owner of IIIO standard
trees, could safely rely on a yeadv income arising
therefrom of $2,000— sometimes $.3,000, and even
S4.00U ! In 1829, Mr. A. Alvarez gathered from a sin-
gle tree, 0,500 oranges ; and it is said that there was
a tree on ihe St. John's, which bore 10.000 fruits in
one year! But ordinarily each tree produces about
2,000 fruits. The orange has also lieen an object of
culture fur a long time in Carolina and Georgia ; and
in 1762. it will be seen by the London '• Annual Re-
gister " for that year, that there were four barrels of,
this fruit shipped from Charleston to England

[Brvwiu — Trees of America.

272

MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

It would be tedious to enumerate all the
varieties of this tribe ; besides, the learned
differ as t<^) which are species and which va-
rieties. V/ho, then, shall decide? I give,
however, from the large work of Risso of
Nice, an arrangement which may suffice :
Sweet orange 43 ; bitter and sour oranges
32 ; bergamots 5 ; limes 8 ; shaddocks (! ;
lemons 46 ; citrons 17 sorts. In India the
shadilock, when it arrives at its largest size,
is called Pam])leniouse. There are in N. S.
Wales some veiy good varieties of sweet or-
ange rai.sed from seed ; the iiriucipal objec-
tion to them is their thick rind. A gentle-
man in Sydney has imported a number of
varieties of choice oranges from China. Chief
Justice Forbes imported a very superior or-
ange called the Selitta orange ; its fruit is
much prized.

The fruit of the shaddock is fi-om two and
a half to eight inches in diameter. Tlie juice
is sweet in some varieties and acid in others ;
is rather insipid, but excellent for quenching
tliirst. The rind is very thick, in conse-
quence of which the fruit can be kept much
longer during sea voyages than that of any
other species of citrus. In the West Indies
the shaddock has been neglected ; from hav-
ing been usually i-aised from seed, harsh and
Bour sort of fi-uit of little value is obtained
there. Thunberg says that it is commonly
of the size of a child's head, in Japan. Dr.
Sickler describes it as weighing fourteen
pounds, ■with a diameter of from seven to
eight inches. Bishop Heber thus describes
the shaddock of India. The shaddock re-
sembles a melon externally, but it is in fact a
vast orange with a lind of two inches thick,
the p'dp much less juicy than a common or-
ange, and with ratlier a bitter flavor, cert<iinly
a fniit which would be httle valued in Eng-
land, but which in this burning weather I
thought rather pleasant and refreshing. In
N. S. Wales the shaddock has produced fruit,
but is veiy inferior ui quality.

It appears that at Seville, orange trees in
good years will yield from 1,000 to l,.'iOO oi'-
anges each. In St. Michael each tree, on ar-
rivmg at full gi'owth, will anniuilly, ujion an
average, produce from 12,000 to 16,000 or-
anges ! A gentleman told me he had once
gathered 16,000.

In addition to the fruit as used in its fresh
state, that of the different varieties, but espe-
cially of the citron, is used very extensively
as a conserve. The expressed juice of the
lime is exported in considerable ([Ujuitilies
from the West Indies uito England where it
is used principally in the process of calico
printing. The rind of the bergamot yields,
both by pressure and distillation, the scent
called bergamot. It is said to have its name
from the town of Bergamo. Even the flow-
ers ;ii-e made to produce a reveniu-, as some
gardens in France yield from £100 to £200
a year from this item alone.

The fijllowing observations apply to the
cultivation, &,c. of tho orange tree ; without

(DCO)

doubt they ^e most of them equally applica-
ble to the other species. Wliere either of
them requires a different treatment [ shall of
course, if I am aware of it, describe it.

MoisTURK. — If there be any instances in
Western Australia in which the orange has
thriven in what is commonly called dry soil,
it has not come to my knowledge ; should it
be cultivable in such, I shall be agi-ecably
disappointed. The only chance of success in
such situations, 1 should say, is deep trenching
in a soil eitlier naturally or artificially rich. I
do not mean that ground natnrally dry may
not be made available for this ti-ee by irriga-
tion, but I think that unless water can be
ha-d for it either naturally m the soil, or otli-
ei-wise, success will be at least doubtful.
Shepherd, who appears to have been a prac-
tical gardener, says that in N. S. Wales in a
dry season hundreds of bearing orange trees
die for w;uit of water. Were they well wa-
tered and maniu'ed they would be seldom at-
tacked by insects. I should like to see the
orange tried in the black friable soil of our
richest flats on the Swan — a goed unitation
of which would be old hot-bed dung, two or
three years old, or compost of decayed ve-
getable matter. I would plant the trees in a
depth of at least three feet of this compost.

As some persons who might wish U^ form
orange groves no doubt possess situations
suitable to the orange as to moisture, but with
a soil totally unfit from its being too sandy, or
otherwise too poor — I ^vould say in such sit-
uations dig holes 4 feet deep and either 2 or
3 feet across, accordmg to the abundance or
otherwise of the compost with which they are
to be filled. This space vi-ill suffice to nour-
ish the trees and enable them to flourish and
produce fruit for some years at least, as wit-
ness the orange ti'ecs in tubs or boxes which
many of us have seen in England, Flanders,
France and Italy. At a future time these
trees can be supplied with additional pabu-
lum without greatly distin-bing their roots, by
adding at their four sides, during foiu- suc-
cessive years, or at longer intenals, tmd to
the depth of the original holes, a similar com-
post. The compost recommended by die
French, and described belovk-, or something
like it, might be used for trees thus managed,
on the same principle as that is, by them, for
tubs, their intention is to compensate for
(juantity by richness. I would suggest that
the holes on this plan be not shallower than
four feet, as it would not be e;isy to increase
the depth hereafter. The horizontal diame-
ter across may be as little as two feet but not
less, as the roots would completely extend
over this space in one or two years. When
they shall have been increased U^ four feet
diameter they would ecpuil in bulk the largest
boxes I have ever heard of and though not
of suflicient bulk to produce trees of the very
largest size, yet would cany a considerable
quantity of fmit, iuul could be at any time
heriafter increased indefinitely, limitetl only
by ttie scarcity' of rich soil or compost.

CULTIVATION OF THE ORANGE.

273

Thoniih it is the opinion of gardeners that
Binairsized boxes are best for this tree, I can-
not conceive tliat asmiill tree — which it must
be, comparatively, with its roots so confined —
can produce 2(>,000 oraiij;es. In very stiff
soil, if holes be dus; in this way, and any g^reat
qu;uitity of water led over it, indeed with the
raui of a wet winter npon it, it will be neces-
sary to form drains from the hotloin of each
hole, which drains may bo either hollow in
the miuiner of nnderih-aining, by means of
stones or logs, or it may be siillicient to fill
m the hollows of these di'ains with very loose,
coarse sand, gravel, or other very penneable
substance. In the nei''hl)orhood of Seville,
the or;mge trees are irrigated every ten days,
and the soil is disposed in small trenches to
allow the water to spread. One plantation
was there irrigated by means of a steam-
engine, not, however, erected for the purpose.
Tnis may serve as a hint itir those so favora-
bly situated, to make use of any power at
their command, whether wind, water, or
Bteara, to raise vvater for this or a similar pur-
pose. I dislike surface irrigation for two rea-
sons— firstly, because where water is scarce
there is necessarily a much greater evapora-
tion, juid consequently waste ; secondly, lie-
cause the soil, when moistened at and near
the surface, will offer a greater inducement
llian the drier soil beneath to the roots of the
tree to push into it, where they will, in this
dry climate, be in greater danger of being
injured by the sun, especially if, by any ac-
cident, the in-igation were suspended for any
length of time. In which case not only may
a crop of fruit be lost, but even the life of
the tree, and thus the labor and hope of years
at once blasted. I would say, if you irrigate
— if you lead water in trenches through a
soil naturally dry, let your trenches be at
least one foot and from that to two feet deep.
The writer has thus, by trenches about a foot
deep, led water to thirty or forty orange trees
planted on dry soil at sixteen and a half feet
apart every way ; the water having been ob-
tained by digging horizontally into a sand-
bank diyon the surface, and upvvai-d of fifty
feet from the nearest row of trees. A trench
runs along one side of each row at an uni-
form distance of three or four feet fi-om it.
This may turn out to be too near when the
trees become larger and extend their roots.
^Vhen this time arrives, these trenches may
be advantageously filled up with rich soil or
c(mipost, and new ones dug in lieu of them
one or two feel farther off.

Soil. — The soil for the orange must he
rich. Some writers — among others Loudon
— insist en the necessity of clay being a com-
ponent part of the soil, but though it thrives
Well in a clay, provided it be richly manured,
I am of opinion, from all that I have read and
seen of its cultivation, that it will do equally
well in a rich soil into the composition of
which clay does not enter. In the neighbor-
hood of Genoa and Florence the sod is clayey,
which is richly manured. Shepherd says,
(561) 18

" The soil best adapted for the orange is a
fine, free, rich, black or yellow loam." In
the south of lt;dy, and at the Cape of Good
Hope, I have seen onuige trees growing well
in i! rich, dark soil, and in the fonner of gi-eat
size. At Naples, and ui the Azores, in lioth
of which places the soil is entirely of v olcanic
origin, the mountain slopes are planted with
oranges and lemons. When we recollect
that one of these islands, St. Michael, is the
source wh?ncc chiefly England is supplied
with this fruit, we may venture to pronounce
that clay is not indispensable. The French
gardeners recommend as a soil fijr the orange
a compost made as follows : To a fresh loam,
which contains one-third clay, one-third sand,
and one-third vegetable matter, and which
has lain a long time in a heap, add an equal
bulk of h;df rotten cow dung. The following
year turn it over twice. The succeeding
year mix it with nearly half its bulk of de-
composed horse dung. Turn it over twice or
three times, and the winter before using add
one-twelfth part of sheep's dung, one-twen-
tieth part of pigeon's dung, and one-twentieth
of dried ordure.

Henderson, a most successful cultivator of
the citrus tribe, takes one part of light brown
mould from a piece of ground that has not
been cropped nor manured for many yeai's,
one part peat earth, two parts river sand, or
pit sand if it be free from mineral substances,
one part rotted hot-bed dung, and one pai't
rotted leaves of trees, and mixes all well to-
gether, so as to form a compost of uniform.
quality.

Ma.n'ures. — Well prepared rotten leaves,
two to three years old, one-half; rotten cow
dung, two, three, and four years old, one-
fourth ; mellow loam one-fourth ; with a
small quantity of sand or grit. Garbage from
the butcher's yard is reconunendod to be
added to compost for these trees, but to be
mixed twelve months before using. Shep-
herd says rotten dmig should be applied to
the soil in which the trees are to be planted.

From the practice, then, of different culti-
vators, we may say that the soil should be
richly manured, but I would say on no ac-
count apply crude or mirotted dung.

Tkmi'ek.\tiire and Shkltf.k. — Loudon
says: "The standard temperature for the cit-
rus tribe is 48 degrees ; but in the gi'owing
season they require at least 10 degrees of ad-
ditional heat to force them to produce luxu-
riant shoots. The air should never be al-
lowed to fall under forty degrees, though the
orange will endure a severe degree of cold
for a few hours without injury." Humboldt
observes : " The orange requires an average
temperature of 64 degrees." I do not under-
stand what Loudon means by stating 48 de-
grees as the standard temperature : I think
he cannot mean the average. It requires a
situation well sheltered fiom every cold wind,
as a violent storm will sometimes lay the
whole crop on the ground in a night, and in
New South ^Vales it succeeds very well with-

274

MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

in twenty or flirty miles of the coast, but
cannot be ciiltivatctl at Bathurst or Arg;^'le,
on account of tlie severe cold. The orange
plantations of St. Michael are always encii--
cled by a wall of fi-om 1.5 to 20 feet high, and
■within, a thick plantation belt of trees to
protect the orange trees from the sea breezes.
Even within these .sheltered groves, the
young plants, when first set out, are sur-
rounded )jy j)lantatlons of laurel, broom, &c,
until the tender orange trees are sufficiently
strong, at which period the plantations imme-
diately round tliem are removed, and each
plant begins to shoot up. In England, even,
this ti'ee is enabled to Ijear the climate by a
little protection ; for at Saltcombe, Devon,
there are in a few gardens orange trees which
have withstood the winter iu the open aii- for
upward of 100 years ; the fruit is as large and
fine as any from Portugal ; but I believe these
are trained against walls. They ai-e sheltered
with mats of straw during whiter. The cli-
mate of Portugal is rather too cold for the
orange ; they suffer much in the severer win-
ters, and only do well on the low grounds
and more sheltered situations. The tops of
the trees ai'e often injured by the cold winds
in common winters, especially when they
grow at all lofty. They bear the open ail' at
Nice, Genoa, mid Naples. But at Florence
and Milan, and often at Rome, they require
the temporary protection of a shed. With
this knowledge, then, we cannot doubt that
they will succeed in the present settled dis-
ti'icts of Western Austi'alia wliich lie between
the darling range and the sea. It will be de-
sirable, however, in the colder localities even
within these limits, to raise plants /row seed,
on the spot, as these are found to bear the cold
better than trees imported. As to our hill
districts, I think it doubtful whether the or-
ange will succeed in open compartments, on
account of the lower tempei-ature of the win-
ter nights so far in the interior, produced by
the greater elevation above the sea. It should
be tiled, however ; and with shelter, as that
of an aw^ning of canvas, or temporaiy thntchcd
roof during the colder months, it would no
doubt do well. Pnjbably the most effectiud
plan for protecting the ti-ees irom the cold
would be to plant them on the western side
of a wall. A row might be j>laiitcd the
whole length of the wall, and at the distance
of about 8 feet from it, and the same distance
apart in the row. \Vliere the space will al-
low, a second row might be laid out !! feet
from the first. These latter will be almost
88 well protected as the first, and indeed
quite so, if it hapijon that the ground slope
much to the west ; the object being to shade
them from the morning sun, and to allow the
temperature of tin; surrounding air to become
somewhat wann before the direct rays of the
8un fall on the trees — it having been found
that the orange will bear a veiy great degree
of cold if continued only fur a .short time ; but
sudden heal applied to the cold jilants greatly
injures them. Dr. Seckler says. " ii is rc-

(562)

markable how much cold and snow the com-
mon oranges and lemons will bear at Rome,
provided tliey are planted in a sheltered sit-
uation, not much exposed to the sun. Thus
I saw in the two winters of 180-5 and 1806,
under my windows at Monte Pincio, three .
standard orange ti'ees in the open ground
heavily covered with snow for more than a
week. The gi-een leaves, but still more the
golden fioiits, nearly ripe, looked singular,
but lieautifuL amid the snow ; neither fruits
nor trees had suffered, being in a sheltered
place, while many liranches and leaves of
other ti-ees of this kind, which were exposed
to the sun, turned black and died, reudeiing
the whole tree sickly." As Knight has re-
marked, "It is more the sudden transition
from cold to heat and the contraiy, than the
degree of either, which destroys vegetables."
Another row of trees should be planted along
the wall itself say 6 inches from it, with the
view of being trained to it as directed below,
under the head of training. These trained
trees sometimes produce large crops of fruit.
It will sometimes happen that settlers, when
layuig out their homesteads, can so an-ange
theii- buildings that the western wall of either
the dwelling or some of the offices may form
the eastern fence of a garden or court, with
a view to making it a protection for ;m or-
ange grove. The projecting eaves will not
injure the tree, as the orange will bear to be
shaded ; if, however, the rain be kept off by
the eaves, the trees should have water dashed
over thein once or twice a week during sum-
mer, when not in flower. I believe the or-
ange is the most hardy of the tribe ; probably
this only would succeed in the interior.*

* The oranse is found to flourish best in a warm,
fertile soil, composed of sand and loam, or sand and
clay, not too dry. and sheltered from chilly and
parching winds. But it is cultivated in varied soils,
and will thrive in any country, with a mean annual
temperature of 02° to 84" F. Hence the locality fa-
vorable to the growth of this species depends fully
as much upon soil and situation as upon latitude;
and we are induced to infer that if the temperature
be sufticiently hii:h for maturing the liavor, the fruit
is delicious in proportion to the uniform salubrity of
the air; and that those high temperatures which
often force a very large expansion ofliuii are against
the fineness of its quality. For instance, we will
contrast the fruit of St. Michael's in the Azores, of
Bahiain brazil, or of some ofthe\Vest India Islands,
wiili that of Malta. The former is always exposed
to the equalizing breezes wafted across the Atlantic,
while that of the latter, lying near the arid and sultry
coast of Africa, is subject to more changes of season
and a gi-eater and higher range of temperature.
There is also some ditl'erencc in the soil of these
jjlaces. The artificial earth, which forms the soil of
.Malta, was originally brought from Sicily ; and by
the decomposition of the rock, or of the saline par-
ticles brought by the same "pestilent sirocco" that
blasts the fruit of the south of Italy and Sicily, a
crust is formed, which, if not removed by trenching,
at the end of a certain number of years ceases to be
productive, or the oranges become so bitter that
they are neither palatable nor healthful. But St. Mi-
chael's, Dahia, and the other places refeiTed to, have
no such disadvimtage ; the soils in those places are
native, and deposit nothing calculated to injure their
fertility or impair the qualities of their fruit The
same fact may be conoborated in comparing the
cUniale of the elopes and valleys of the K3treUa,"neaF

CULTIVATION OF THE ORANGE. I'EACH TREES.

275

Distances. — The distances at which or-
ange trees are planted vary considerably. In
a thri\'ing grove I have seen them growing
about IG feet apart. It appears that in the
iieigliborhood of Seville tliey are planted at
the distance of 21 or 2'2 feet. We are in-
formed that onuige trees do best when plant-
ed rather wide asunder ; lemons are better
for being crowded together. This obsena-
tion, iiovvever, is rather vague. For oranges
against walls or trellises, plant about ten or
twelve feet distance, allowing a hirger s]>acc
for the citron, lemon, and shaddock. I would
say, then, having no infonnation as to tiie dis-
tances of others of the species in open com-
partments, that any of them may be placed
at K)^ feet aport each way, which will tiike
IfiO trees to the acre. This would give plenty
oi" room for any of tlie sorts for a number of
years, and if found too crowded, the supera-
bundant trees — say the alternate rows — might
be cut out. The distance for planting them
appears to vary from 6 to 22 feet, accorduig
to circumstances. So long as plants may be
obtainable at the low rate at which they now

the lower Tasfus, and that of the maritime Alps, and
the Appenines, in Provence and Liguria, with that
of Andalusia. At t^t. Augustine, in Florida, the fruit
is generally of a superior quality, owing to some
peculiar induence of the soil and climate. The mean
annual temperature of that place in ]84;i was "3° K.,
and in 184:5, 72°. The extreme heats from June to
September are usually as high as 9'20; but they
have been known to reach 97". The extremes of
cold generally range from 38 to4(P ; but sometimes
the mercury has fallen as low as 3(P. On the 9th of
Fcljruary, 1835, the time that nearly all the orange
trees of Florida were cut oti' by frost, it is said that
tlie thermometer indicated a temperature of 10 to
150. In February, 18"33, as well as in the same
month in 1839, the trees also suffered in their ex-
treme branches, from the etfect of frost. On the
morning of the 9th of Januar)-, 170.5, the thermome-
ter stood at 260 at r^t. .Augustine, and the around

may, I shoiJd say that it could not be wrong
to set them ttt the shorter of these distances
one way at least, say 6 by 6, or C by 12 ;
when found too crow<led, each alternate plant
or row iniirht be taken out. I would, how-
ever, do this, only where the natural soil is
siiittible to the plant, or at least with the ad-
dition of manure, and with low-priced trees.
Where much e.xpense is required, as in dig-
ging dee|) holes, and bringing stiil or compost
fiom a distance; or in case of expensive
worked |)lants, I would take IG or IG^ feet
as the distance. Under waUs, also, or wheiv*-
the situation ))roper for them is very confined,
I would adopt the plan of short disUmces for
obvious rea.sons. The (|uincunx iiiaimer, the
plants in one row being opposite the spaces
in the ne.xt, seetiis preteinble for plants at
short distances at least.

Beaiii.vg Age. — In Europe the orange be-
gins to bear fruit w-hen about 6 or 8 years
old. I am not aware of the age at wliich
otliers of the species begin to produce. In
Western Australia lemons have fniited in
several gardens, and I am infoniied they are
looking most promising this season. Probably
the lemon, when not worked, is the more
])recocions of the two. The writer has had,
during the seasons of 1842 and 1843, in his
gai(l(;n on the Swan, no less than five orange
trees in tlower or liiiit. He believes these are
the only oranges which have yet fruited in
the Colony, though others have trees very
mnch older and larger. This is attiibut<ible
entirely to their having been worked. Two
of these trees flowered within two years from
the bud ! the stocks not being an inch in di-
ameter. Nothing can show more clearly the
great cflect of working trees — a circumstance
lar too little attended to in this coinitry with
all fruit trees. He has also liad a hme under

was frozen to the depth of an inch, on the banks of j two feet hisrh ui flower, and has a citron now
the St. John's. This extreme cold proved fatal to the i „, t„ i^ , -.u „ e » r •»

orange and many other tree.=. bending down With magmiiceut truit. ^

[ Browne — Trees of America. I

"Wc must here stop short with our extracts. The subject will be concluded
in the next number, in Avhich it will be treated under the heads of Propagation,
Budding, Grafting, Seed and Seedlings, Layers, Cuttings, Training an»
Pruning, Insects ; together with a list of the varieties of the sweet orange, un-
der the head Desiderata — concluding with a note on the subject of Insects
which have proved so destructive to orange orchards in Florida. True, we
have not as many readers as we could wish, in a region to which we plead
guilty to the charge of partiality ; but that is no reason why we should not have
more ; at all events, those we have there, are " some," in quality at least !

RENOVATION OF PEACH TREES.— The peach tree, in this climate, is liable to ser-
end diseases. When it is obser\-ed to sicken, no time should be lost in carefully removing
the soil from the roots, and sujiplying its place with charcoal. A fiiend infonns us that
during the past season a veiy healthy tree in his garden sviddenly sickened and began to
cast its foliage. He adopted the measure above prescribed, and was stuprised at the sud-
denness of its renovation.
(563)

276 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

THE COMMERCIAL REVIEW.

The first number of this work that we are av/are of havmg seen, reached us on
S — day, and we can only say, judging by that, we lament not having seen all —
except the one in which our able and worthy brother says he "quarreled" with
us about the Patent-Office Report. Where ignorance shields us from pain,
would it not be " folly to be wise?" We will begin as soon as we can, to give the
very interesting paper on the Culture and Management of Sugar ; having ourselves
failed to get, from friends to whom we applied, an essay on the same subject.
We need hardly say that we were charmed with this Review, when we add, that
we read it through " at a heat," as the smith would say. If the Editor, how-
ever, thinks the Patent-Office Report a becoming National General Government
exposition of the industrial resources and progress of this country, why, all
we have to say is, that his judgment makes us distrust our own ; and we would
make any sacrifice to agree, and yet more not to " quarrel " with him. Still, in
respect of a thing that looks, in our eyes, so much like " smohe " we can't quite
agree to say it looks " very like a whale." Will the Editor, nevertheless, say to
his friends at Baton Rouge whether he thinks it would, or would not, be expe-
dient for them to distribute The Farmers' Library, in bound volumes, as pre-
tniums, in lieu of the same amount in lucre ? One thing in the Commercial Re-
view which bears a peculiar charm in our eyes, is the liberal and generous man-
ner in which it speaks of a kindred, if not a parent work, our friend and neigh-
bor Hunt's most excellent and most popular periodical. Let us all, then, like
fathers, sons and brothers, rival one another in seeing who shall do each other
the most kind offices; or, if we do "quarrel," let it be like Ovid's "Lovers'
Quarrels," the renewal of love ! Such, thank God ! is the editorial spirit that for
thirty years has animated this deponent !

SOUTHERN AGRICULTURAL ALMANAC

THE AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST.

If we had Uncle Sam's long purse and long scissors, and did not think it
would be unworthy of us, we should not desire a more valuable journal than
we could slice, every month, out of the American Farmer, the Farmer's Cabi-
net, the American Agriculturist, The Cultivator, the Southern Planter and South-
ern Cultivator, and other journals. The last two, for some reason, we have
not received for months. We cannot particularize the many things in them all,
which we should like to copy ; among them Mr. Affleck's dissertation, in the
American Agriculturist, on the cotton caterpillar.

Mr. A. is in the heart of the great cotton region, with the requisite knowl-
edge and spirit to enlighten his brother planters in all branches of husbandry
adapted to their region and climate; and it is matter of congratulation for them
that he has engaged to do it tiirougli tbe poi)u]ar medium of an Almanac, un-
der the title of " Norman's Southern Agricultural Almanac," of which the first
of the series, tlie one for 1847, is already published.

SUPERrilOSI'IIATE OF LIME.

277

From ihe (London) Farmer's Magazine.

SUPERPHOSPHATE OF LIME.

USE OF SUPERPHOSPHATE OF LIME, PRODUCED WITH ACU) AND BONES FOR MANURE.

BY W C SPOONKR.

[Prize Essay of ihe Royal Agricultural Society.

The (litriciillifs under which the pursuit of
Agriculture has for some years hibored — the
iuiportauce, and, indeed, the absohite neces-
sity of i~aising the largest crops of roots at the
lecist possible expense, afford ample reasons
for the Council of the Royal Agricultural So-
ciety of Eughuid proposing as a subject suita-
ble for a prize essay, " The Use of Bones
with Acid," which on high authority' has been
designated " the most important saving which
wiis ever held out in the use of manure." If
any additional reason were recjuired v^hy the
utmost attention should be devoted to tliis
irapk)rtant matter, and the most extended in-
fonnatioii gained respecting it, it may be
f(juud in the fact that while the constantly in-
creasing population of this country demands
a corresponding augmentation of animal and
vegetable food, the sources of supply both of
bones and guano are likely to become greatly
diminished. Thus, not only as it affects the
interest of the occupier and owner of the soil,
but also on national grounds, is the subject
of our essay worthy of the deepest considera-
tion. The superior economy of ein|iloying
bones mixed with an acid, over that of using
bones alone, is no longer a hypothetical or
even a probable statement, but an established
fact ; and though I shall have to offer somt^
results in corroboration, yet I do not hold
tliem as essential to the subject, so fully has
the success of the mixture been es1al)lislied
from the numerous e.xperiments related in
the .louniiil of the Royal Agncultural Society-,
and more particularly iu the excellent and
elaborate essays of ]Mr. Hamiam. And though
I shall liud it necessary to pass i'a]iidly over
all the various branches of the subject, yet
mv claims for hoiioraiy notice will princi-
I»ally rest on affording such practictd intbrma-
tiou on points hitherto but briefly attended
to, as may, I hope, render this essay of really
practical aud pecmiiary value to agriculturists
in geuer:J.

The specific effect of bone as food for the
turnip crop has long been known — long, in-
deed, before science was in a position to ex-
plain the cause of its peculiar effects, or to
assign correctly to what portion of its con-
stituents the benefits are chiefly due.

It was found, greatly to the surf)rise of
niiiny, that bunit bones, in which of course
the organic parts had been desti-oyed, were
equal, if not superior, in their eflect to bones

(565)

not so treated : and that when l)oiled, in
which state the fat had been expelled, they
were more productive than bones in a fresh
state. It was thence supposed by those who
jinn[ied to conclusions too hastily, that the
suljstances thus expelled were useless at any
rate for the turuij) crop, and they were ap-
parently supported by the theoiy of a very
ennnent chemist, who, if we mistake not. laid
it dov^-n as his opinion that the value of ma-
luii-es depended principally, if not entirely, on
their inorganic ingredients — a doctrine alto-
gether at variance with the previous generidly
I'eceived notions, that ammonia was the true
fertilizing element, and that its amount af-
forded thtj measure of the value of manure.
In medio tufissimHs ibis — the truth, we take
it, will be foimd to lie between the two ex-
tremes. We may justly reg;u'd the inorganic
constituents as being the most imiiortant and
essential portion of manure, affording to the
plant what the skeleton does to the anim;il,
the basis of support ; and, as plants can ob-
tain no other supply but through the soil, we
may justly regard them as Ihe most essential
constituents.

The other elements are, to a great extent,
supi)lied through the atmosphere, and even
nitrogen and its combinations may thus be
furnished. The avenues through which this
atmospheric supjily is furnished are the leaves
of the pbuit, and their size afl()rds a correct
criterion, ccrferis 'paribus, of the amount ot"
nutrhnent derived from the aerial source.
Thus beans and other pulse obtain more ibod
from the atmosphere than cereal plants ; roots
more than tiie fonner; and wheat, from the
stnall size of the leaves, less than any. Thus
only can we accoimt for the striking fact that
if we give a good supply of inorganic ele-
ments only to the tnnnp crop, we shall very
probably have a plentiful crop, while it" these
be absent, however rich the mamire may
otherwise be, the crop will be a failure. Not
that we must therefore draw the conclusion
that the organic manures are of little or no
imjiortance to root crops : they are of value,
aud particularly to the grain crops which
succeed.

The organic matter which composes about
one-third the substance of bones is, however,
so intimately combined with the earthy por-
tion, and their disunion is accomplished with
sucli difliculty, that the good effects of either

278

MO?."THLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE,

are to a cerUiin extent neiiti-alized, at least so
far as the first crop is considered ; and we ai-e
consequently obliged to supply five or six
times as much as the crop actually roquii-es,
and to render them availaljle by means of
pulverization. It is on this principle that the
assistance of sulphuric acidiis sought lor and
obtained : it serves by its chemical affinities
to separate the component parts of the bones,
and render them more soluble and available
as food for plants. In the excellent and ac-
curate experiments of Mr. Hamiam, related
in a fonner number of the Journal, it was
clearly proved tliat fresh bones when ground
were superior to boiled ones, fi'om which the
fat was exti-acted ; and the latter were supe-
rior to burnt bones, fi-om ■which the gelatine
was also removed. This result was, how-
ever, far more striking when the Itones were
dissolved in sulphuric acid, a difference of
nearly two tons of turnips being obsen'cd,
while with the bones merely gi'ound a ditler-
ence of 17 cwt. only was exhibited. From
the same expeinment we likewise leani that
the beneficial effects derived from the eailhy
part of bones are 4J times gi'eater than that
derived from the organic parts. I refer to
the Journal for the particulars of these ex-
periments, and to the previous number for
other state7nents. from wliich, if we had no
other evidence, we should be justified in
drawing the conclusion that 20s. laid out in
bones and acid will go much farther than 40s.
expended in bones alone, so fai' us the tuniip
crop is concerned.*

These experiments, however, appear to
have been made with the addition of a veiy
considerable quantity of water, so as to ap-
ply the manure to the land in a liquid state,
winch, without denying its superiority, is yet
attended with such difficulty, ti-ouble, and
inconvenience, that it is vain to expect that
farmers generally would uicur it. The ex-
pense of a proper cart for the application of
this manure in a liquid state is veiy consider-
able, and sufficient to prevent its general
adoption. And, although it was in tins form
that the ]ml)lic were first made accpiainted
with its valuable properties, yet its general
adoption must be attributed to the additional
discovery that it can readily be applied in
the state of compost by means of the conunon
di'ill. Having (Urected my attention to the
preparation and employment of this valuable
manure in the form of compost, I am in a jio-
sition to state that by its means one-lialf the
usual expense in the purchase of bones may
be saved.

We cimnot. however, do better than take
as our text, or rather llie hi-ads of our sub-
ject, the points to which the attention of com-
petitors are drawn V)y the Council of the

* Mny wo not expect somelliing like the same re-
sult when applied to other plmits of largo leaves— as
Indian corn, and tobacco, and clover ? We should
be glad to attract to this suliject the attention of
friend IIollowcl, or hh: Teschciuucher. [£d. F. Lib.
(566)

Royal Agricultural Society of England, which
are —

1. State of Bones.

2. Proportion of acid in a given weight of
bones.

3. Proportion of water, if any, mixed with
the acid.

4. Mode of mixing the bones with tlie acid
and of preparing the compost.

.5. Effect of various quantities applied in
comliinarion or comparison with common
bones and other known manures.

1. First, then, the state of the bones — with
regard to which I have merely to observe
that they should be as fine as possible, but
the ordiiiaiy state of Ijone-dust will answer
the purpose veiT well. The dust is decidedly
preferable to half-inch bones, f(jr, while the
increased weight of the former will compen-
sate for its greater price, the points of contact
being greatly increased by subdivision, the
bones are more rapidly and more perfectly
acted on by the acid, and require, in fact, a
less cpiantity both of that and of water.

We next come to the second and more im-
portant point.

2. The proportion of sulphuric or muriatic
acid to a given weight of bones.

Sulphuric acid is preferable to muriatic
acid for several reasons : it is stronger, cheap-
er, has greater specific gravit>% and contains
much less water. On mixing it with water,
a much higher temperature is attained, which
conduces to the dissolving process, particu-
larly of the organic portion of the bones. In
addition to these reasons, we find that in the
trials which have been made, muriatic acid
has been found somewhat inferior. I have,
however, been rather surprised that there
should not have been a more decided differ-
ence than proved to be the case in Mr. Han-
nam's experiments ; and we can oidy account
for this by bearing in mind that the lowest
proportion of mtniatic acid employed was
one-half which was perhaps sufficient to af-
fect idl the phosphate of lime contained in the
bones, whereas, if one-third had Ijeen em-
ployed, as was tried with the sulphuric acid,
the result might not have been so favorable
for the muriatic acid. Besides this, probably
the muriate of lime formed by the nniriatic
acid is more fertilizing and soluble than su!-
j)hate of lime fonned by tlie sulphuric acid ;
and, from its great attraction for moisture,
particularly advantageous in such a diy sea-
son as that of 1844. It is, therefore, by no
meiuis improbable that an equal quantity of
bones i)iepared .^separately with the two acids,
and .iflerwaid mixed together, might be more
jiroductive than bones prepared with either
acid alone.

The proportion of sulphuric acid most de-
siial)ie to enq)loy is a veiy important j)oint,
inasmuch as it has been shown that sulphin-ic
acid aloni\ or mixed willi water, jiossesses
very little HMtiliziiig powers. This, probiil)ly,
is owing to the circumstance of the soil gen-
erally containing a sufficiency of this element,

SUPERPHOSPHATE OF LIME.

279

and to the fact that phosphoric acid is so ex-
tremely esseutial, particularly in the early
etages of the growth of the plant, that it will
not prosper without it, wliatover we may
otherwise eiiii)l(>y as manure. A neiglibor-
ing agriculturist during the last year tried to
raise a crop of turnips with a good dressing
of salt and soot, which contain no phosphoric
acid, though ])lenty of ammonia and other
fertilizing ingredients, but the result was a
total failure. In a garden experiment, I may
here observe, I found .sul[)huric acid and wa-
ter succeed as well as bones in raising tur-
nips, but the soil no doubt contained phos-
phoric acid, as well as alkalies, on which the
acid could act favorably.

Before we authoritatively pronounce on the
quantity of acid necessarj- to be mixed with
the bones, it will be better to inquire into the
nature and properties of the substances we
propose mixing together.

Sulj)liuric acid, or oil of vitriol, as it is
more freijucntly tcnned, consists of tin; union
of two parts by weight of sulphur with three
of oxygen gas, and its strength de])ends on its
purity and freedom from water, for which it
has a remarkable affinity, so much so that if
exposed to the air it w^ll cpiickly absorb wa-
ter from the atmosphere. Its relative weak-
ness, therefore, is owing to the quantity of
water mixed with it. In speaking of sul-
phuric acid, I must be understood t(j mean in
its concentrated state, possessing a specific
gravity of from 18-4.') to 18-.50. And it .should
be borne in mind, in purchasing the acid,
that 50 lbs. of the al)Ove is at least equal to
GO lbs. of the specific gravity of 1-71-1, and
therefore if the weaker acid is used, its quan-
tity must be increased in projiortion to the
diminution of its sti-ength.

On applying the vitriolized bone to the
tongue, we find that it tastes both .soiu- and
sweet. The sourness arises probably from
the ph:)sphoric acid, and tli* sweetness from
the gelatine sugiu", which is fonned by the
action of the acid on the gelatine, converting
a substance very difficult of decomposition
into one readily soluble, and wliich can be
easily absorbed by plants. When concen-
trated acid is mixed %vith a quarter of its
weight ot water, the temperature of the mix-
ture is raised to 300^, and boils away at a
great rate. The action of this heat on the
animal part of the bones renders it of a dark
color ; but if a small <piantity of acid only be
employt^d, the mixture is white, from the
carbonate of lime which then predominates.
From an average taken from .several anjJyses
of bones of man and various animals, the liil-
lowiug appeals to be tolerably near the mean:

Organic matter, consisting of gelatine, cartilage,

and fat 34

Phosphates of lime and magnesia 59

Carbonate of lime 7

Total 100

Or, in rough numbers, the organic matter
may be regarded as forming one-third and
(567)

the earthy poilions two-thirds. Of coin'se, if
the bones ai"e very fresh, the former will lie
in larger proportion than one-third ; thus Mr.
Hainiam gives it as 4.5 per cent. The above,
however, may be considered as a fair average
in the state usually employed by fanners.

Four bushels of bones, which may be con-
sideretl to be a fair allowance for an acre, will
weigh, in a fine state of bone-dust, about 180
lbs.* This quantity contains 12^ lbs. of car-
bonate of lime, consi.sting of carbonic acid .5^
parts, and lime 7 parts, which will require
10 lbs. of sulphuric acid to convert it into sul-
phate of lime or gj-psum. This is the first
result of the mixture, and is the cause of the
very unpleasant fiunes which are given off,
and which consist in fact principally of car-
bonic acid disengaged from the carbonate of
lime in consequence of the sujierior affinity
which lime htis for sulphuiic acid. This re-
sult takes place before the acid acts on the
phosphates of the bones, and thus it is that
when a small quantity of acid has been sprin-
kled over bone-dust, the good efi'ect has been
but moderate, the carbonate of lime alone has
been acted on, and the phosphate of lime has
remained undeconqiosed.

The quantity of phosphate of lime existing
in the 4 bushels of bones is about 106 lbs.,
contahiing 47 lbs. of lime and .^9 lbs. of
phcjsphoric acid. If we consider sujier
pjiospiiate of lime to conUiin a double por-
tion of acid — a fact, however, not quite de
cided — then 33 lbs. of sidphuric acid will be
recpured, which by uniting with half the
lime, or 23.^ lbs., forms gypsum, and leaves
the other moiety of lime united with a double
portion of phosphoric acid in the state of a
superphosphate. Thus, 43 lbs. of acid will
be required to effect these changes, leavhig
any additionsd quantity for other purposes.!

Phosphate of lime is a substance very diffi-
cult of solution, and thus in a very diy .sea-
son the effects of bones are often very slight
and imperfect. Sujierphosphate of lime, on
the otlier hand, is exti-emely soluble, so much
so that the vitriolized bones can be entirely
dissolved or suspended in water, and thus ap-
plied. This at once explains the cause of the
valuable properties of the preparation. The
bones in their iratural state are extremely in-
dige.stible : the acid cooks them — converts
them into a species of souj) which can readily
be eaten and digested by the young turnips.
The adamantine fetters with which the vari-
ous elements composuig bones are bound so
compactly together, are, by means of this
new agent burst asunder — the compact is
broken, and each constituent element is left
to pursue its own course and to exercise its

* I tind that the average weight of bone-dust, as it
comes from the mill, is 168 lbs. per 4 bushels, al-
though I have found it reach the weight stated in the
text. [Avt.

t 1 do not mean to say that these are the precise
changes which take place, but only an approxima-
tion to them. Prubably some portion of phosphoric
acid may be left in a free state in the prepared
mi.Kiure.

280

MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

own natural affinities. Tlie chemicnl changes
which take place between the sulphuric acid
and the organic portion of the bones are, no
doubt, very complicated. Sugar is one result,
and probably sulphate of ammonia is another ;
but I cannot venture to state what quantity
of sulphuric acid may be necessary to eflect
these changes. If we presume that one-third
is the proportion of sulphuric acid employed,
then there will remain 17 lbs. to act on the
organic portion of tlie 4 bushels of bones — the
remainder having been required by the
earthy portion.

We find that manufacturing chemists, in
the preparation of phosphorus from bones
(now largely required for lucifer matches),
first destroy the org;mic part of the bones by
means of fire, and then mix the remainder
with half its weight of sulpliuric acid. Thus,
if we suppose 180 lbs. to be the quantity em-
ployed, by burning it will be reduced to 120
lbs., requiring 60 lbs. of acid to foiTU super-
phosphate, which would be one-third the
weight of the bones previous to burning. I
suppose, however, that in this case an excess
of acid is required to render the process com-
plete, as one-half would otherwise appear to
be more tluin the quantity demanded.

From these and other reasons we may
justly consider that the jiroportion of acid to
the bones should never be less than one-third
nor more than one-half The former, I think,
is the most economical, but probably the pre-
cise quantity most desirable will be 42 jier
cent, of acid. I may, however, observe that
in an experiment during the last season, in
which one portion of the land was manured
v*ath bones and acid in difterent proportions,
that which had more bones and less acid
proved to be a somewhat better crop than
where fewer bones and more acid were used ;
the expense being the same in both instances.

3. The proportion of water to be mixed
with the acid will next receive our attention.

Wlien one part by weight of water is mixed
with four of acid, the temperature is raised
to 300° Fahr. It is, therefore, veiy desira-
ble that sutiicient water shoidd be used to
produce this gi-eat heat, which facilitates the
dissolving process ; and tlic (piantity above
stated, or, if moi-e convenient, the same meas-
ure of water as of acid, which will be rather
more than half the weight, will be a very
good proportion. More should not be used,
as no useful j)urpose will be acconiplislie<l.
In an experiment tried last year with ditVer-
ent proportions of water, I could not detect
any difference in the result. The water
should be api)lied first by means of a water-
ing-pot, so that it may be intimately combined
with every portion t>f the bones. This is an
important point, and gieally facilitates the
dissolving process, which without it is very
likely to be imperfectly acc()ni])lished.

Another reason for ap[)lying th<> water first
is, that the bones becoming partially sHlunited,
the acid, from its gi-eat atlinity fur it, rashes
as it were into the pores of the bones in seaich

(568)

of the water, and thus the bones become
more rapidly and perfectly mixed with and
acted on by the acid. When no water is em-
ployed, and the bones are not entii'ely in the
state of fine dust, as they never are unless
purposely sifted, the surfaces of the small
pieces of bone become acted on by the acid,
and a coat forms around them which seals up
the interstices of the bones, and prevents the
acid from penetrating. I have no doubt this
is often the case likewise from careless or im-
perfect niixture, and the good effects of the
manure are thus materially diminished.

4. Mode of mixing the bones with the acid,
and of preparing the compost.

It has been reconnnended that a large heap
of a.shes or mould should be made with a hole
or depression on the top, in which the bones
are to be placed, the acid poured over them,
and after some time the whole shoveled up
and mixed together. Now, if we examine
into the effects of this mode of procedure, we
shall readily perceive the objection to which
it is subject. The ashes, no doubt, contain a
considerable portion of carbonate of lime, be-
sides other salts, for which sulphuric acid has
a very sti-ong affinity. Thus the bones are
robbed of a large proportion of the acid, of
which they ought to have exclusive posses-
sion. And even if common moidd is used,
or any other substance \vhich has no particu-
lar chemical affinity for tlie acid, still this
mould will mechanically absorb much of the
acid, and thus deprive the bones of it.* I hold
it, therefore, as a point of much importcUice
that the whole of the acid should be directly
applied to the bones, and that no other sub-
stance should l)e allowed to uitercept or ab-
stract their mutual affinities.

A very convenient and cheap vessel for
manufactming the mixture is a sugar hogs-
head, having its hole stopped with plaster of
Paris. It is verj^ desirable to avoid if possi-
ble any measuring or weighing of the acid, as
it is so very dangerous a substance to liandle.
Many serious accidents occurred to my knowl-
edge during the last ye;u', and it is very dif-
ficult to impress farm servants with a siifli-
cient degree of caution, or even to convince
them that a liquid which ajipears so colorless
will burn their skin and clothes. In emptA'-
ing a carboy of acid even into a tub it is diffi-
cult to ])rcvent a little slo]iping about and
damaging the clothes of the attendants, as
well as the basket, vK:c., which contains the
carboy. To jirevent these unpleasant conse-
cpiences I have adopted the fi)llowing plan :
The carboy is ])laced on a stage or cask the
same bight iis the sugar hogshead, into which
is put the ])recis(^ quantity of bone-dust we
intend mixing with the carboy of acid. The
water is now added with a watering-pot hav

* I have not found thai any considerable quantity
of the acid passes through the bones into tlie heap
of ashes or earth ; and though Mr. 8pooner'a is the
better plan, where his apparatus eiin be easily pro-
cured, I still think that the exjiedicnt I nientioned.
may be found souu limes convenient. [Pit. Pusiy

SUPERPHOSPHATE OF LIME.

281

ing a rose at the end, so as to disperse it thor-
oughly, and tiic carboy ot' acid is then emp-
tied by means of a siphon. Tliis siphon is
formed of a piece of block-tin i)ipe, which
can be bent into any form, about ^ of an inch
in caliber, and 4 feet in length. A brass cock
is soldered to the long end of the sijihon, on
which the rose of a watering-])ot may be
placed. The siphon is now Idled with wa-
ter, and its long end closed with the cock,
and the small end with the hand or finger.
Tlie latter is then <iuickly inserted into the
mouth of the carboy, the cock turned on, iuid
the acid will continue to flow till the vessel
is nearly empty, without any assistance, so
that the attendant has no occasion to expose
himself to the injuries and ot!ensive fumes
which almost innnediately begin to escape.
He may, however, approach the windwaixl
side of the tub, and give the mixture a little
stirring, which should be continued for some
little time afterward, so that the mixtxire may
be complete. A convenient utensil for this
pui-pose is a fork with two grains, long in the
gram, bent at some distance from the gi'aius
nearly at right angles, and fixed in a wooden
handle. On the same day a fresh lot of bones
mav be added, and the process repeated un-
til the hogshead is iieai-ly fidl. In two days
afterward the mixture may be shoveled into
a heap, luid either rem;un till wanted or mixed
at once with a certain portion of ashes. It
should be shoveled over several times and
ashes added at each time of turning, which
will thus render the mixture fine and diy
iiiough to pass through an ordinary (h-ill.

It must be evident that much of the value
and economy of the manure depends on its
being perfecdy mixed, so that eveiy particle
of bone should be exposed to the action of
the acid. In many cases I have no doubt
tliis has not been suflicieStly attended to,
and the result has been either that more acid
has been used than is really required, or that
much of the advantageous effects has been
lost.

By the method which I have here recom-
mended, and which I have adojjted after
many trials, the mixtui'e can be readily and
accurately manufactured, and with perfect
safety to the attendants.*

0. EtTect of various tpianiities applied in
combination or comparison with common
bones and other known manures.

My own experience of the advantages of
sulphated bones commenced in the veiy dry
summer of 1344. Wishing to try iheir effects,
and thinking that it was highly desirable to
apply them as a compost by means of the
drill (though I had not heard of any inst^iuces
in which they had been so used), I resolved
to make the attempt. I intendt;d to apply

* In manufacturing a considerable quantity of the
mixture to meet a large demand for the present sea-
son (184G), I have found much advantage from con-
structing various utensils of ditferent shapes, so as to
perfect the mixture without inconvenience to the
attendants, as well as from other improvements in
the mnnipulaiive process. [Aut.

(569)

the bones at the rate of 3A bushels j)cr acre,
and lialf tlifir weight of acid : but from not
making suflicient allowance for the dampness
of the maiuire, it extended over a large por-
tion of land, so that little more than 2 bu.shels
per acre were tised with about l(i bushels of
iislies. On the same day (in tlie early part
of .luly) other portions of the field were
drilled with bone-dust at the rate of l(i bush-
els per acre, and some ])art8 witii South
American guano. The bones and acid
Swedes were the first to appear, and their
toj)s grew jiiost luxuriantly. The turnips
suffered from not biniig hoed till they were
too forward, but the crop throughout the field
(considering the late period of their being
drilled, and other unfavorable circumstances)
was a very f lir one, abotit 14 tons to the acre.
Tiie bones and acid j)ortion was fully equal to
the rest, and indeed somewhat better than
where IC bushels of boues had been applied
to the acre.

Every alternate ridge was carted off, and
the remaining half fed off by old ewes with
no other food, with the exception of a litde
inferior iiay. The field was then sowii with
dredge (a mixture of beans, barley and peas),
and the croj) was a veiy excellent one ; that
where the vitriolized bones had been used
was at the least fully equal to any portion of
the field, and indeed somewhut superior to
that dressed with bones alone. Thus it will
be seen that the manure answers perfectly
well so far as the second crop is concerned ;
and there is now the prospect of a good clover
crop.

The result of the preceding year ha\'ing
fully satisfied me as to the value and econo-
my of vitriolized bones, I did not think it ne-
cessaiy to test their merits against other ma-
nures during the last season, particularly as
other equally successfid experiments had
been tried and published.

But, wishing to ascertain the most econom-
ical proportion of acid to be employed, I pre-
pared two lots for a field of G acres. In one
the bone-dust was at the rate of 4 bushels to
the acre, and the acid one-third : and in the
other the acid was half the weight of the
bones, but the latter was diminished so as to
reduce the cost of both lots to the same sum.
The mixture in each instiuico extended over
half an acre more than was intended, and was
mixed with equal portions of ashes, viz. about
20 bushels to the acre.

The Swedes came up well, and. though at-
ticked by the fly, soon got out of its way, and
{jfovcd a very good crop. The average of
the field, however, was veiy much reduced
by the great cpiantity of hedge-row timber by
which it was surrounded, and which spread
its blighting influence a consiiierable distance.
However much these trees might add to the
beauty of the landscape, they cert;iinly de-
stroyed most effectually the beauty and uni-
fonnity of the turnip crop, antl reduced the
average of the field seveial tons jier acre. A
good portion of the field appeai'ed to average

282

MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

about 22 tons per acre, and the half where
the larger quantity' of bone-dust with one-thii"d
its weight of acid was used, proved superior
to the other, though whether to be attributed
1o the difference in the manure, or to the fact
of that ]iart of tlie field being somewhat drier,
it is difficult to say.

The field was a clay loam on the London
clay, and was partially drained.

I also supplied various agiiculturists in my
neighborhood with vitriohzed bones, prepared
in the proportion of 4 bushels (180 lbs.) of
bone-dust, and filT lbs. of concentrated sul-
jjhuric acid, which I reconnnended to be ap-
plied to an acre when no other manm-e was
employed. The result m nearly eveiy in-
stance has been decidedly favorable.

Mr. ^V. Gater, of Westend, employed it at
the rate of 2 bushels of bones to the acre, in
addition to a fair dressing of fann-yard dung.
On a poi'tion of the field the dung was used
alone. The foiiner was fit for the hoe several
days before the latter ; and on weighing por-
tions of each, in January last, thei'e was a su-
periority of 5 tons to the acre in favor of that
portion which had received the addition of
sulphated bones.

Mr. J. W. Clark, of Timsburj-, used the
manure which I suj)plied him with in the
same proportions also, in addition to fann-
yai'd dung, and the Swedes proved the best
on his fann. The amount of viti'iolized bones
used per acre varied in different parts of the
field, tuid the goodness of the crop precisely
corresponded to the quantity applietl.

Mr. J. BlundeU, of Bursledou, also used it
at the rate of 4 bushels of bones to the acre,
with C bushels of ashes m competition with
night-soil and ashes. On visiting his fann a
few weeks afterward, I noticed, at several
fields' distance, the superiority of one portion
of the field, which I found was that on which
the viti-iolized bones had been used. The
dampness of the season, however, proved so
favorable to the development of the other ma-
nure that, on weighhig them in December,
the latter was found about half a ton per acre
heavier ; the e.xpense, however, was nearly
double. The weight of the crop was between
17 and 18 tons per acre. I have no doubt
that if Mr. B. had :ip])hed 20 bushels of ashes
to the acre, instead of (i, with the sulphated
■bones, the result would have been much more
favorable. When we bear in mind the largo
amount of potash contained in tlie crop, it
must be very evident ihal it is of importance
to suj)ply a good (|iiaritity of ashes which con-
tain a fair proportion of |)otash ; I would
therefore reconuaend that 20 bushels of ashes
per acre, at least, sliould always I)e emjtloyed.

Mr. Poco(^k, of llickley, used tlie manure
at the rate of 4 l)ushels per acre, and one-third
acid, and was well pleased with the result,
though he did not ascertain its amount.

Ml'. Withers, of Luzborough, was anotlier
farmer to whom I fumished a (juantity, pre-
pared as before mentioned, and he reports
very fiivorably of the results.

(570)

Mr. Fielder, of Sparsholt, was induced by
my representation of its favorable effects to
try the manure, Jind he found that on his light
land on the chalk it answered admirably. —
Two jjushels of vitriohzed bones with ashes
successfully rivaled a small portion of ground
drilled at the rate of 60 bushels of bones to
the acre for the puipose of ex2:)eriment.

Although the vitriohzed bone has proved
veiy successful with white tuniips, I beheve
that its peculiar excellences are most fiiUy
proved by Swedes. I wished to ascertain this
by experiment, and accorduigly on the same
day and on similar land, a clay loam, 3 acres
were drilled with Laing Swedes, and 3 acres
with Matson's white globes after tares. The
Swedes proved decidedly superior both in the
early and later stages ; and though the root.-..
as might have been anticipated, were but lA
moderate size, in consequence of the veiy late
time of drilling (early in August), yet on com-
paring a few rods without manure the ditier-
ence was very striking. A small poi-tion of
the globes, drilled ^vith ashes alone, also ex-
hibited a similar inferiorit)'.

It should be obsei-\-ed, however, that m this
experiment the land was probably more suit-
ed for Swedes than white tuniij)s ; but, on the
other hand, the lateness of the season was
more unfavorable to the Swedes, besides wliich
the ciop previous to the gloljes had been ma-
nured wath stable-dung, while the other field
had received no dressing since 1843.

Supposing that these residts are to be at-
tributed to tlie gi-eater suitability of the ma-
nure for Swede, and not owing to other causes,
the result is certainly in keeping \v4th the
comjiarative analysis of llie ashes of Swedes
and white tnrnips, which tells us that the
ttirmer contains 408 lbs. of phosphoric acid,
and the latter •nly 73 lbs. in 100,000 lbs.
each.

It mtist be evident from this circumstance
that wliite tuniips do not reqiiire so large a
quantity of bones, whetlier vitriohzed or not ;
and it also corresjionils with the well-kno\\-n
facts that Swedes rcquu-e a larger quautit)' of
dung to supply the necessaiy pho.sphoric aciil.
and also that white turnij>s on favorable land jj
can be raised witli ashes alone far more easily ||
than Swedes. '

I would therefore recommend in all ca.ses.
witli white turnips, that a less qiuuitity of vit-
riohzed bone be employed, and that guano,
or some other manure possessing its proper-
ties, should be used in C(uiibiiiation with it.

In May last, a portion of laud, consisting of
l.J acres, was drilled with iNhitson's green top
globes, .and manured with 1 bushel of sul-
phated bones, 1 cwt. of African guano, and
about 2.") bushels of turf-ashes, per acre. The
crop was a very good one, excecdhig 20 tons
to the acre.

In several instances within my own knowl-
edge, where guano has been used wth ashes,
the crop has been destroyed by the pungency
of the manure, probably owing to the ajnmo-
ixia whieli it cont;iiiLs. There is iio danger of

SUPERPHOSPHATE OF LIME.

283

this takinj; place vvnth vitriolized bones; and
I have found, though seeds will not vegetate
if entirely surrounded with them, they readily
\v\\l if tlio manure is mixed with twice its
weight ol' mould.

The last season has not been a favorable
one for displaying the peculiar advantages of
vitriolized bones ; or, rather, it has Iieen from
its wetness so favorable for common bones,
and every other description of manure, that
an indili'orent field of turnii>s has been the ex-
ception and not the rule. It is in a dry sea-
son, when the Hy is particularly rife and act-
ive, when crop after crop is desti'oyed by this
entomological pest, that the advantage of in-
surmg a vigorous growth to young plants is
properly appreciated. Among all the specif-
ics or imtidotes lijr the fly, tliere is none, I be-
lieve, equal to the employment of vitriolized
bones. Hitherto I have not met with or heard
of a single insttuice in which it has failed to
force the plants out of the way of the fly. It
is ill a dry season, too, that the adxantages of
early and vigorous growth are shov^^l, when
the plant may languish for weeks for want of
rain with ordinaiy manures, and thus lose
time that never afterward can be compensated
for.

In a garden experiment tried on a small
w^ale, to show the effect of different prepara-
tions in forcing the young plant out of ground,
I found the following results :

1. Vitriolized bone applied in solution
above the seed caused the plant to appear on
the fourth day.

2. The same applied below the seed
brought up the plant on the fifth day.

3. Vitriolized bones as compost brought up
the plant on the sixth day, both when applied
above and below the seed.

4. Sulphuric acid and water below the seed
caused the turnip to make its appearance on
the sixth day.

5. Bone-dust below the seed brought up
the plant on the seventh day, the same time
as it appeared where no manure was em-
ployed.

In the above instances, with the exception
of the fourth, the exi)ense of the manure was
the same in each case.

General Conclusions.
From the facts and reasons which we have
detjiiled and urged in our pnH-eding Essay, as
well as from infonnation supplied by previous
experimenters, we may deduce the following
conclusions :

1. That superjihosphate of lime is the e.s-
Bential manure tor turnips, and particularly
lor Swedes. That with it alone a good crop
can be raised ; but without it the turnip will
not thrive, however rich the manure may oth-
erwise be.

2. In preparing the mixture, the bones
should be in as fine a state as possible.

3. That sulphuric acid, from its greater
strength and cheaj)ness, is preferable to muri-
atic acid.

(571)

4. That water, in the proportion of one-half
the weight of the acid, should be first sprin-
kled over the bones.

5. Tiie proportion of sulphuric most eco-
nomical to emj)loy should not be le.ss than
one-third, nor more than one-half the v^'cight
of the bones, and that proi)ably the medium
between these two quantities is most advant-
ageous.

(). That the mixture can be applied either
diluted with a considerable quantity of water
by the aid of a watei-cart, or with ashes by
means of an ordinary drill. That though the
former may be more spi^edy in its effects, the
hitter can be more conveniently applied, and
has the advantage of admitting the addition
of a large quantity of ashes.

7. That viti-iolized bones may be used
either alone or with other manm-es, and that
whqja the latter are at h;nid, it is more advant-
iigeous to use the fonnerin combination witli
them. For histance, if there are 30 acres to
I)e prepared, and only sufficient dung to dress
l.'j acres, it is better to give a half-dressing of
dung over the whole of the turnip break, and
make up the deficiency by moans of sulphated
bones. Thus the plant will be forced in its
early, and supported in its later growth. For
the same reason, vitriolized bones may be ad-
vantageously combined with guano.

8. That vitriolized bones are equally ad-
vantageous to the second year's crop, when
the turnips are either wholly or partially fed
off' vvitli sheep.

f). That, while the economy of tliis manure
is tlms proved by practice, it can be as read-
ily explained by theorj-, e. g. : The tops of
Swedes are known to possess double the phos-
phoric aciil contained in the bulbs. Thus the
supeqiliosphate of lime in the manure causes
the rapid devclo[)ment of the leaves — one of
its peculiar properties. The leaves being tliiLs
early and largely developed, are enabled to
extract a considerable portion of nourishment
from the atmosphere — much more, indeed,
than where the leaves are small and back-
ward. The difference between the amount
of food derived from the atmosphere by a for-
ward and flourishing crop, and that obtained
by a backward and dwarfish crop, is so much
al)solute gain to the farmer, or rather to the
land. It co.sts nothing on the one hand, but
fields considerably to the land if the crop is
led otr on the other. A jnanure that would
thus force on the turniji in the early stages of
its growth, was long fi'lt to be a desideratum
by agriculturists. This want hjis now been
supplied ; and even if this were the only rec-
ommendation sulphated bones possessed, its
discovery and introduction would still be a
boon.

Lastly. The value of vitriolized bone may
now be considered to be fully and fairly es-
tablished. Its claims rest not on the asser-
tions of a few experimenters. It has been
tried during the la.st season by hundreds with
success, and in the next it will be tried by
thousaads. It affords, in fact, a triumphant

284 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

answer to the question — What has science
done for Agriculture ?
Southampton, Fth. 27, 1846.

* ^* The preparation of bones for turnips,
as described by Mr. Pusey (being lieated with

ashes), and other substances, has been long
practiced with success ; and this preparation
causes a softening of the substance so much
that the smaller parts become immediately
proper for th^food of plants.

J. KIMBERLEY.

LIQUID-MANURE CART,

FOR FIELD-CROPS, GARDENS, AND TOBACCO-BEDS.

We rarely see one of the carts at work, sprinkling the streets so evenly and
handsomely, to lay the dust in the towns, without thinking how useful such a
contrivance would be, on every farm or plantation, to water, and at the same
time manure, lawns and tobacco-beds, and small squares or beds, such as plant-
beds, strawberry-beds, &;c. and in gardens. Quite sure we are that no mechanic in
a town would suffer, in his business, the vital damage that the planter suft'ers
for want of early plants, if any particular difficulty in his way could be obviated
as easily as the planter might do this, if he has only water at command — and
that every farmer should have who has roofs on his houses.

Let a plant-bed be made— a permanent one, adjacent to water. If the soil is
not exactly suitable, a permanent one may easily be compounded and inade there ;
and then how easy it would be, in dry weather, to water one large bed, once a
day, if necessary, by means of one of these liquid-manure carts, either with
water alone, or the water might be impregnated with some fertilizing substance,
as guano, or tobacco, or the litter of stables or the cow-yard. Besides this, a
machine for sowing grain or plaster would serve to sprinkle lime, or ashes, or
other manure, or even common " road dust ;" or this might be done by hand,
and some appliance of this sort might, perhaps, serve not only to manure the
plants, but to destroy or prevent the fly. This suggestion is hazarded on the
following remark of Mr. Baker, a learned entomologist, in a lale number of
the London Farmer's Magazine. We shall give the whole of his lecture " On
Insects Destructive to Growing Crops," if we can command room for it in
this number. But tiie particular observation applicable to our subject here is one
relating to the turnip fly. " The best mode of getting rid of these insects," he
says, "is by a very simple process. I am quite satisfied that there is no method
so good as the application of common road-dust, which should be strewed with
the hand upon the rows of plants, early in the morning, when the dew is upon
them. It will be found that they will not touch any of the plants upon which
the dust has fallen." Now although it does not follow that road-dust will repel
the attacks of the fly so destructive to the tobacco-plant in the bed, yet it may
do it ; and the experiment is easily made.

Let the planter and the farmer be ambitious to discover remedies for himself
against the calamities that overtake his labors, and not ingloriously wait for
these discoveries to be made by other classes, or for suggestions to come from
other countries than his own.

How many of the improvements in agricultural implements have been struck
out by the ingenuity of practical fvmcrs ? One or two occur to us at the mo-
ment: l\ie horse-rake, invented by Fennock, of Delaware — a practical Quaker

(572J

LIQUID-MANURE CART. POTATO WATER.

285

farmer, we believe — who is also said to liave improved on the English drill ma-
chine ; but we know not exactly in what that improvement consists, although
we have endeavored to get a history and drawings to explain it, and to secure
for him the enduring record of the credit and gratitude to which he is entitled,
even above that which is reserved in our republican country for blood-stained
patriots.

To return to this liquid-manure cart. It might often happen that the use of
it would not be needed, still it might be used for spreading the liquid manure,
wliich ought to be collected at least from all stables to be hereafter constructed.
Spaces might be left in these beds, unsown, at distances corresponding with
that between the wheels of the cart, and one between for the horse or ox. One
ox would be all-sufficient. The spreaders, attached to these carts, admit of
being so regulated as to distribute the contents of the hogshead more or less
freely.

The best liquid-manure cart would be a good subject for a premium to be
offered by our agricultural institutes and societies. The one here described has
lately obtained the premium at several agricultural exhibitions in Scotland,
where the progress of agricultural improvement, especially as it is promoted by
the application of science and mechanical ingenuity, is at this day, probably,
more marked and visible than in any country on the globe.

•' It may not be out of place to notice, un-
der this head, a li([uiil-niamire cart, of a veiy
approved coustniction, which was invented
a few years ago by Mr. George Morice, Ken-
muck, near keilii-Mall. The cask for con-
taining the liquid is mounted upon an axle
and wheels, which are attached in the usual
manner to a pair of shafts. The machineiy
for maintaining the cask always in a horizon-
tal position, and for regidating the discliarge
of the liquid, is botli simple and ingenious. —
At the fftreinost end of the cart is iixed what
w technicdly termed a ' bridle,' with a mor-
tise in its center, in which works an upright
bar of iron perforated with a number of holes,
and fastened to the cross-bar of the sliafts. —
Attaclie<l to this bridle, and wthin reach of
the driver, is a lever, by means of which
either end of the cask can readily be elevated
or depressed to suit the irregularities of the
gi'ound, or in traveling up or down hill. From
the circumstance of the ca.sk being maintained
in a horizontal position, the weight on the
horse's l)ack, as well as the pressure on the
discharging apparatus, is always unifonn,
however uneven may be the surface of the
gi'ouud. The apparatus at the posterior end
of the ca.sk, for regulating the flow of the
liquid, is also very simple and effective. The
dischartrino; orifice is furnished with a ' shut-

ter,' which is opened to any required extent
by means of a short lever, and attached to it
is an iron pipe for conveying the liquid into
the spreading box. This short pipe is closed
at its outer extremity, but is provided with
two apertures, one on each side, through
which the liquid, in escaping from the cask
into the spreader, diverges ecpially to both
sides. By means of the lever and shutter, the
flow of the liquid can be regulated to any re-
(piired quantity, while the perforations in the
bottom of the spreader admit of being widen-
ed or narrowed, as may be fijund necessary.
The spreading box is commonly seven and a
half feet long, but can be made to any re-
quired length, and is easily detached from the
cart after being used. The wheel-rims are
five inches m width, that the gi'ass may not
be injured or cut up, and the axle is curved
downward to allow the cask to bo kejit a.s
low as possible. The weight of the whole
cart when the cask (which contains 118 im-
pcriid gallons) is liill, is 19 cwt. TliLs li(juid-
manure cart has obtained a prize at each of
the animal conqietitions of the Aberdeen,
Banff, and Kincardine Aginculliu-al Associa-
tion. The inventor is at present attempting
some farther improvements. The price at
Aberdeen is £10 10s." [$.52.]

t^ The water in which potatoes have been boiled, sprinkled over grain, plants, etc.
completely destroys all insects in cveiy state of their existence from the egg to the fly.

We cut the above from a paper, and it may be so, but all that is in print is nqi
gospel.

(573)

286 MONTHLY JOUKxNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

HOGS.

This is a subject on which every one likes to be allowed to cut and come again.
If any one desires to see it " done up brown," that is, well done, let hira look at
The Cultivator for October and November. We wish we had room for these ar-
ticles. The writer has evidently " eaten salt " with practical farmers, if he be not
one himself, and knows " a hawk from a handsaw." He designates clearly the
difference in the quality of various breeds of swine, and why and wherein it is
that a breed eminently suited to one locality and purpose may be as eminently
unfitted for another. We have put extracts from these articles aside for early
insertion.

Of the (Captain John) Mackay breed, so highly and justly praised, the writer
says truly that " only a few of them now remain which retain the characteristics
of the originals in such a degree as to be recognized."

On this, as well as on all subjects near akin to it, Major Jacques, of Massachu-
setts, stands at the head of the, well informed; and he told us, we remember,
some 18 months since, how Mr. Webster had sent a long distance for a genuine
Simon Pure of this breed, and which we believe he has now at Marshfield.

If we have not given much space to this subject, it is under the impression
that it is one with which most farmers are familiar, and that it is altogether so
much within the control of every farmer to modify and manufacture his hogs to
his liking and purposes, that very little new can be said about it. The Cultiva-
tor gives about all that need be noted.

Forty years ago, the " Parkinson'''' was the best breed of hogs in Maryland and
Virginia. He was a spotted hog, but much lighter in color than the Berkshire —
white, with black spots, rather than black, with white spots ; stood on a stronger
foundation ; was square built, like a Dishley sheep, with a good ham, and ac-
tivity and constitution to travel in search of his victuals, instead of having it
brought to him. But, in our judgment, the best breed of hogs ever brought to
this country was a black hog, sent many years ago — say twenty, at least — into
Maryland, to the Editor of this Journal, then Editor of the American Farmer,
by a Mr. Wright — brother-in-law of Charles Champion, from whom we im-
ported the bull Champion, and heifers White Rose and Shepherdess ; also the
bull and two heifers for Gen. Van Rensselaer, that were brought into this State.
Mr. Wright came consigned to us, and of course, as was then our wont and de-
light, we did the best we could by him, as a "stranger within our gates." We
did not leave him to be fleeced by tavern-keepers, for we look him to ourselves.
After going to many Agricultural Fairs, and being well pleased, on going away
he said: " Well, Mr. Skinner, there 15 one thing I can send you better than any
in your country, and thai is hogs .' " — and accordingly he sent a Mack boar and
sow ; sucli animals for shape of the right sort, and meat of the right sort, as we
have never seen, before or since. The breed was sent into Virginia, where it
got the name of " Skinner's breed," and has been much inquired fur lately. —
Heartily do we wish the name may never belong to anything worse ; for what
can man or beast do better than well fulfill the highest purposes for which Na-
ture designed him ? True, a hog is a glutton, and so is man : but, while re-

(574)

VIRGINIA LANDS.

287

pletion is congenial to the coHStilulion and growth of the hog, the gluttonous
man surfeits himself against light and reason, to the destruction of his health
and his usefulness.

True, too, the stronger hog will boat ofi' the smaller, and rob him of his corn,
or potatoes, or apples ; but does not, all the world over, the stronger nation
trample on the weaker (as the hawk devours the sparrow), and go out of his
Avay to take their lands or — knock oAl their brains ? What have we done with
the Indians, who owned all this country as much as a man owns the pen in his
hand ?

Well, of these superb English black hogs, we sent a pair to Gen. Lafayette,
and the old General, (blessed be his memory !) whenever distinguished English-
men and foreigners would go to La Grange, would take them out to his barn-
yard, and show exultingly and boast of his American hogs I " There," would
he say, " you have no such hogs as these in England ! " By the by, the old
General's chamber looked out upon his barn-yard, to the economy of which he
paid great attention. It was one of his habits to go, the first thing every morn-
ing, to the barn-yard, carrying in his pocket a hard-boiled egg, and the first
animal attended to was a one-eyed American Raccoon ; to whom, with his own.
hand, he gave the egg for his breakfast.

We were going to give some extracts from The Cultivator, but, as they would
necessarily be brief, we think it better to postpone ; and, besides, we much doubt
the propriety of our copying much, if anything, from American agricultural jour-
nals, for two reasons : first, we have a right to presume that we could not re-
turn the obligation we should be under in eating out of their basket, since they
never dip into ours ; and secondly, because we hope all these cheaper papers
are taken, and that more for their merit than their cheapness, by all our patrons,
as we sincerely think they should be.

VIRGINIA LANDS.

Mr. Editor: I herewith give you some
extracts from a letter I received from a friend
of mine who is now living in Siin-y County,
Virginia. You are aware that much is said
aud a gi'eat deal written and published about
the advantages of going to Virginia, to buy
land, and farm. Feeling an interest in giv-
ing the experience of others well calculated
to judge, for the benefit of your readers, I
liave coj)ied part of the k-tter in order that
eome might be benelited — the writer is a
gentleman somewhat advanceil in lii'e, raised
a farmer, and always followed tiirmiug ; he
had a good training and good land to operate
on, in a part of Chester County, I'a., that will
compare with any other land in the State, at
least in any other part of Chester Co. Added
to this, he is an agricultural statistic — a plain,
bhint man, who writes what he thinks and
sees, without fear of being called in question
by any. I had written to him and stated
several points that I wished information on.
His letter takes these up separately and an-
swers them very satisfactoril}'.

" Beptkmber 1, 1816.

" Never in my recollection have I enjoyed
good, tmintemipted health so loug, as since I
(575)

came here, and all the family have been well
except M., who has had something of her old
complaint (I believe erysipelas.) I see noth-
ing here indicative of sickness ; if people
anywhere would live as many do here, they
would be sickly — out late at night, hunting,
and going home drunk, and reckless of every
means to preserve health. If not so, why
the undue proportion of sickness and death
among the males, which is about 4 to I ? In
most counti-ies they are about equal. I do
believe, all things considered, there cannot be
a better place to live in — a more delightful
climate. I have felt far warmer weather in
Pennsylvania than here ; and my Philadel-
phia newspaper says it has been \Tarmer at
New-York than here. We have as kind
neigiiijors as ever honored a neighborhood;
some of them have endeared themselves to
us beyond what you could imagine. I speak
advisedly when I say, a man can fix himself
here better for $1,000 than he can for $10,000
in Pennsylvania. Two gentlemen, one from
near Lancaster and one from Franklin Co.,
wese here to see the place, through a letter
I wrote to Rev. M. H. They alf like the
place very much, and wonder why I slioidd

•288

MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

be the first discoverer. One of them was
looking at a place of fiOO acres, price $4,000 ;
he told nic while looking ;it the liuid, that he
could sell his place of 120 acres hefore he got
home, ihr $131 per acre, $15,720, and he was
Bure, if he was a young man, in seven years
he could make the place here as good as his
own. Only look at that ! He is a man of in-
telligence, and owns one of the best famis in
Lancaster County, and was attracted here by
M. B. i"eadmg to liim a paragi'aph of my let-

ter. Why, sir, there are inexhaustible marl
beds here, that on analyzation contain 97 per
cent, pure hme. Fequa hme, Chester Co.,
Pa., contiiius 20 per cent, magnesia, a very
deleterious article in Agiiculture. I have
seen the western parts of Pennsylvania and
Virginia and the eastern part of Ohio, and have
read and heard much of other jiarts, and am
free to say, there is none equal to this."

[American Farmer.

WHAT THE FARMER WANTS.— Next to good crops, the farmer wants a maiket for
them. He will sow, he will reap, he will labor in vain, if at the end of his toil he can find
no price, no market, no vent for his produce. " We now realize, beyond a cavil or a doubt,"
says the Trenton Gazette, " that England and Europe will not afibrd this market. With her
ports almost free to whatever we please to send them, with but a moderate duty upon bread
stuffs, with wants gi-eatly enlarged by a deficiency in her ovra crops ; yet we find England
fairly gorged w^ith oiu' produce, and unable to consume the tenth part of what we have to
spare. It is certain, therefore, that we cannot send it there. iSome other outlet must be
found for it — some other demand created. Home indu.stry — the diversified and well paid
lalior of our own countr)- — the increase of the class of consumers among ourselves — these
only can supply the uidispensable encouragement and support to Agriculture."

PRICES CURRENT.

[Corrected, November 21, for the Monthly Journal of Agriculture.]

ASHES— Pots, 1st sort f^ 100 ft. 5

Pearls, 1st sort, '46 5

BI'IKSWAX — American Yellow —

CANDLES— Mould, Tallow...^ 113... —

Sperm, Eastern and City —

COTTON— From ^ Itj. —

COTTON BAGCilNG— American... —

CORDAGE— American ^ m. —

DOMESTIC GOODS-Shirtings, ^ y. —

Sheetings —

FEATHEKS— American, live —

FLAX — American —

FLOUR & MEAL— Genesee, ^ bbl. 5

'I'l-oy —

Michigan o

Ohio, Flat Hoop 5

Ohio, Round Hoop —

Ohio, via New-Orleans

Pennsylvania

Brandy wine

Georgetown

Baltimore (,'ity Mills

Richmond City Mills

Richmond Cdunliy

Alexandria, Petersburg, &c

Rye Flour

Com Meal, Jersey and Brand

Com Meal, Hrandywine hhd.

GRAIN— Wheat, White %v b„sh.

Wheat, Red

Rye, Northern

</Om, Jersey and North. . .(meaa.)

Com, Southern (measured

Corn, Southern (weight)

Oats, Norlhera

Oats, ■'^oulhem

HAY— North River in bales, ^lOOm
HEMP — American, dew-rotted., ton

" " water-rotted

HOPS— 1 St sort, 18-1.')

HION— American Pig, No. 1

" Common

LIME— Thomaston ¥ hbl.

LUM15F.R— Boards, N.R., fM. ft. clr.

Boarils, Eastern Pino

Boards, Albany Pine i>'pce.

i'limk. Georgia Pine ipM. ft.

(.576)

— ® 5 12i

75 ®

•27 @— 2Ti

9h'a— 11
2fi ®— 38

81@— IH
lO.Vg)— 13
11 @— 12

.5 n— 11

6i®— 15
25 @— 30

7 «— 7i
37.t@ 5 50

— ®

25 ® 5 37i
25 ® 5 37.V

®—

5

50

® —

5 50

® —

—

7

® 7

25

5 50

-gi —

—

5

.50

•S —

3 75

@ 4

3 935® 4

—

18

—

®—

—

1

15

5) 1 20

1

05

® 1

OS

77>

a—

7rt

—

78

@—

80

73

fi —

75

—

36

@ —

37

__

—

'•*—

40

@—

45

85

—

®!)5

—

130

—

®185

—

9

®—

12

30

-5.32

.50

<v>

50

ti 25

—

83

■S- —

85

30

@35

—

11

—

®13

—

10

® —

18

27

—

©30

—

Staves, White Oak, pipe.^M 40 — -a— 45

Staves, White Oak, hhd 40 — ®

Staves, White Oak, bbl 30— ®

Staves, Red Oak, hhd 24 — ®26 —

Hoops 25 — ®30 —

Scantlins, Pine, Eastern @15 —

Scantling, Oak 30 — -0)35 —

l^iber.'Oak f cubic foot — 22 ®— 3.3

Timber, White Phie — 15 ®— 22

Timber, Georgia Yellow Pine — 20 ®— 22

Shingles, 18 in I^' bunch 1 75 ® 2 —

Shingles, Cedar, 3 feet, 1st quality. 25 — ®

Shingles, Cedar, 3 feet, 2d quality. 22 — @23 —
Shingles, Cedar, 2 feet. 1st quality. 17 — ®i8 —
Shingles, Cedar, 2 feet, 2d quality. 15 — ® 16 —

Shingles, Cypress, 2 feet 13 — ®14 —

Shingles, Company ®28 —

MUSTARD— American — 16 ®— 31

NAILS— AVrought, 6Jto20d...F lb. — 10 ®— 12J

Cut4dto40d — 4®— 4i

PLASTER PARI."^^— !>■ ton 2 12V®

PROVISIONS— Beef; Mesa, |>'bbl... 7 — ® 8 —

Beef Prime .5 75 ® 6 25

Pork, Mess. Ohio !> 50 ® 9 Sej

Pork, Prime, Ohio 8 — ®

Lard. Ohio ^ n>. — 7®— S

Hams. Pickled — 5i®— 6

Shoulders, Pickled — 4|@ — 4J

Side.s, Pickled ®

Beef Smoked ^ IT). — 8*®— 9

Butter, Orange Covmty — 16 ® — 18

Butter, Western Dfjry — 13 ®— 15

Butter, Grease ® — 7

Cheese, in casks and boxes — 7 ® — 7i

SEEDS— Clover ^ tts. — 7®— 7^

Timothy %^ tierce 11 — ®I5 —

Flax, Rough !> 25 ® 0 50

SOAP— N. York, Brown •F ft. — 3}®— 6

TALLOW— American Rendered ... — 8}®— 9

TOliACCO— Virghiia ® ft. — Si®- 6

NoHh Carolina — 2^® — 5

Kentucky and Mishouri — 2}® — 7

WOOL— Am. Si'xony, Fleece,.^ ft. — 35 ®— 37i

American Full Blood Merino — 30 ® — 32

American 4^ and J Merino — 26 ® — 28

American Native and i Merino... — 22 ® — 24
Supertine, Pulled — 25 a — ~S

'f^'

i

\ .^

I

*%%*<

benefactors m
nost irapor' V '

i^fSN

1'-%%^'

aid soon tM> the condition of everv cU^ nf no-

k'^'^"

■5nd the bor.

•i Iroiasor

^^^.S-^

290 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

in civil life, whose inventions have brought l.inded capital into profltableaclivity>
and created for manufacturing and commercial enterprise their greatest facilities?

Beyond the precarious, ill-secured and insufficient immunities of a patent-right
— which, if worth the expense of procuring, is sure to be set upon by pirates, as
the eagle is assailed by the meanest of the feathered race — we may demand to
know what honorary distinction or recompense has been voted by the people or
bestowed by the Government of the United States on those whose labor-saving
contrivances have multiplied the products of agricultural industry, and facilitated
the exchanges of internal and of foreign commerce, and (he spread of knowledge ?
Where are the votes of thanks, the medals and the pensions voted to authors
and investigators in the natural and useful sciences ? or' to those patriots who as-
sisted in laying the foundation of our great civil structure ? or to those again, few
and far between, who have gathered up and luminously arranged the scattered
and fading lights of our national history ? Look at Prescott, for example, who,
though physically blind, has shed such a blaze of light on the first " Conquest
of Mexico," reflecting in his history all the incidents of that great event, from its
inception to its close, as faithfully as the image is reflected by the mirror, and
establishing for his country another, if not her highest, claim to etminenl rank in
the republic of letters ! Yet may it not be doubted whether his name would be
allowed to find a place in any resolution of Congressional thanks, so freely voted
to the youngest warrior whom fortune may have favored with a chance to flesh
his maiden sword in Mexican blood ! And are such to be forever our proofs of
popular discernment — such our manifestations of republican justice ? But to the
subject of our memoir, if only to show that one pen, at least, is ready, however
inadequately, to render the tribute which is due to the memory of a countryman
whom history will rank, for his inventive talents, along with poor heart-broken
Fitch, and Rumsey, and Clinton and Fulton, all as having Ji^ded incalculable
measure to the wealth and power of their country.

Eli Whitney was born December 8th, 1765, in Westborough, Massachusetts,
where, and in the same house, some of the family still reside. His parents be-
longed to that middle class which in New-England, above all countries, consti-
tutes the mass — the bone and sinews of society. By the habitual diligence and
frugality which may be said to characterize the people of that venerable Com-
monv/ealth, they managed to provide well for their family. It is from that class
that have arisen most of those in ISew-England who have attained high eminence
and usefulness ; nor, as it has been well said, is any other situation in society so
favorable to the early formation of those habits of economy, both of time and of
money, which, when carried forward into the study of the scholar, or the various
fields of active enterprise, afford the surest pledge of success. Thus it is that
those who have attended the annual Fairs in New-England must have observed,
with admiration, that the plows and carls contending, always with ox teams,
are usually managed by their owners in person and unassisted — being every-day
■working farmers ; such as compose also their Committees of Judges, who often
draw up, on the spur of the occasion, well-written and lucid reports. From Sec-
retary Pickering to Senators Webster and Davis, most of their most distinguished
men have been reared in the performance of all the practical operations of New-
England husbandry.

As biography would lose much of its entertainment, as well as its usefulness,
if it did not relate incidents in themselves trivial, but which serve at once lo
show or to confirm the youthful bent of the character, we shall accordingly re-

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MEMOIR OF ELI WHITNEY. 291

peat here what has been said of Whitney's earliest indications of mechanical ge-
nius— picniicing, however, lliat we must otherwise contine this notice chiefly to
the bearing of his great invention, the cotton-gin, on the interests of Agriculture.
To follow him, pleasing as the task might be, into all the diversified walks of
mechanical ingenuity, would be wandering too much beyond the limits of agri-
cultural biography, to wliich we are restricted. Even thus far, pleasing as is
the duly, we could not indulge, to the exclusion of more practical matter, were
it not to give assurance to the votaries of the plow that liere, at least, if nowhere
else, a Register shall always be open, where justice may be done to those real
benefactors of their race to whom the more solid rewards of Government are de-
nied by the wise policy of enlightened legislators, faitkfully representing a dis-
cerning and — alas! may it now be added, without the smallest spice of party
spirit ? — a u-arJikc people I

Of Whitney's early passion for mechanical employments, his sist<y gives the
following account : " Our father had a workshop, and sometimes made wheels,
of diii'erent kinds, and chairs. He had a variety of tools, and a lathe ibr turning
chair-posts. This gave my brother an opportunity of learning the use of tools
when very young. He lost no time ; but, as soon as he could handle tools, he
was always making something in the shop, and seemed not to like working on
the farm. On a time, after the death of our mother, when our father had been
absent from home two or three days, on his return he inquired of the housekeeper
what the boys had been doing? 8he told him what B. and J. had been about.
* But what has Eli been doing ?' said he. She replied, ' He has been making a
■fiddle.' 'Ah !' added he, despondingJy, ' I fear Eli will have to take his portion
in fiddles.' He was at this time about twelve years old. His sister adds that
this fiddle was finished throughout like a common violin, and made tolerably
good music. It was examined by many persons, and all pronounced it to be a
remarkable piece of work for such a boy to perform. From this time he was em-
ployed to repair violins, and had many nice jobs, which were always executed to
the entire satisfaction, and often to the astonishment, of his cu'stomers. His fa-
ther's watch being the greatest piece of mechanism that had yet presented itself
to his observation, he was extremely desirous of examining its interior construc-
tion, but was not permitted to do so. One Sunday morning, observing that his
father was going to meeting, and would leave at home the wonderful little ma-
chine, he immediately feigned illness as an apology for not going to church. As
soon as the family were out of sight, he flew to the room where the watch hung,
and, taking it down, he was so delighted "vvith its motions that he took it all in
pieces before he thought of the consequences of his rash deed ; for his father was
a stern parent, and punishment would have been the reward of his idle curiosity,
had the mischief been detected. He, however, put the work all so neatly to-
gether that his father never discovered his audacity until he himself told him,
many years afte.rward."

Whitney lost his mother at an early age, and, when he was thirteen years old,
his father married a second time. His step-mother, among her articles of furni-
ture, had a handsome set of table-knives she valued very highly, which our young
mechanic observing, said to her, " I could make as good ones, if f had tools ; and
I could make the necessary tools, if I had a few common tools to make them
with." His step-mother thought he was deriding her, and was much displeased ;
but it so happened, not long afterward, that one of the knives got broken, and he
made one exactly like it in every respect, except the stamp on the blade. This

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292 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

he would likewise have executed, had not the tools required been too expensive

for his slender resources.

When Whitney was fifteen or sixteen years of age, he suggested to his father
an enterprise, which was an earnest of the similar undertakings in which he en-
gaged on a far greater scale in later life. That being the time of the Ptevolulion-
ary War, nails were in great demand, and bore a high price. At that period, nails
were made chiefly by hand, with little aid from machinery. Young Whitney
proposed to his father to procure him a few tools, and to permit him to set up
the manufacture. His father consented, and he went steadily to work, and suf-
fered nothing to divert him from his task, until his day's work was completed.
By extraordinary diligence, he gained time to make tools for his own use, and to
put in knife-blades, and to perform many other curious little jobs, which exceed-
ed the skill of the country artisans. At this laborious occupation the enterprising
boy wrought alone, with great success, and with much profit to his father, for
two v/inters, pursuing the ordinary labors of the farm during the summers. At
this time he devised a plan for enlarging his business and increasing his profits.
He whispered his scheme to his sister, with strong injunctions of secrecy ; and,
requesting leave of his father to go to a neighboring town, without specifying his
object, he set out on horseback in quest of a fellow laborer. Not finding one so
easily as he had anticipated, he proceeded from town to town, with a persever-
ance which was always a strong trait of his character, until, at the distance of
forty miles from home, he found such a workman as he desired. He also made
his journey subservient to his improvement in mechanical skill, for he called at
every workshop on his way, and gleaned all the information he could respecting
the mechanic arts.

In respect to his proficiency in learning while young, we are informed that he
early manifested a fondness for figures, and an uncommon aptitude for arithmet-
ical calculations, though in the other rudiments of education he was not particu-
larly distinguished. Yet, at the age of fourteen, he had acquired so much gen-
eral information as to be regarded, on this account, as well as on account of his
mechanical skill, a very remarkable boy.

From the age of nineteen, young Whitney conceived the idea of obtaining a
liberal education ,• but, being warmly opposed by his step-mother, he was unable
to procure the decided consent of his father until he had reached the age of twen-
ty-three years. But, partly by the avails of his manual labor, and partly by teach-
ing a village school, he had been so far able to surmount the obstacles thrown in
his way, that he had prepared himself for the Freshman class in Yale College,
which he entered in May, 1789. An intelligent friend and neighbor of the fam-
ily helped to dissuade his father from sending him to college, observing that " it
was a pity such a fine mechanical genius as his should be wasted ;" but he was
unable to comprehend how a liberal education, by enlarging his intellectual pow-
ers and expanding his genius, would so much exalt those powers and perfect that
genius as to place their possessor among the Arkwrights of the age, while, with-
out such means of cultivation, he might have been only an ingenious millwright
or blacksmith. While a schoolmaster, the mechanic would often usurp the place
of the teacher ; and the mind, too aspiring for such a sphere, was wandering off
in pursuit of perpetual motion. While at home in the month of July, 178S, mak-
ing arrangements to go to New-Haven, f r the p'lrpose of entering college, he
was seized willi a violent fever attended by a severe cough, which threatened to
terminate his life. At length the disease centered in one of his limbs. A pain-

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MEMOIR OF ELI WHITNEY. 293

ful swelling, extending to the bone, ensued, which was finally relieved by surgi-
cal operation. After his recovery, he went to Durham, in Connecticut, and fin-
ished his preparation for college, under the care of that eminent scholar. Rev.
Dr. Goodrich. As we are soon to accompany Mr. Whitney beyond the sphere
of his domestic relations, we may mention here that he finished his collegiate
education with little expense to his father. His last college bills Avere indeed
paid by him, but the money was considered as a loan, and for it the son gave his
note, which he afterward duly canceled. After the decease of his father, he took
an active part in the settlement of the estate, but generously relinquished all his
patrimony for the benefit of the other members of the family.

The propensity of Mr. Whitney to mechanical inventions and occupations was
frequently apparent during his residence at college. On a particular occasion,
one of the tutors, happening to mention some interesting philosophical experi-
ment, regretted that he could not exhibit it to his pupils, because the apparatus
was out of order, and must be sent abroad to be repaired. Mr. Whitney proposed
to undertake this task, and performed it greatly to the satisfaction of the Faculty
of the college.

A carpenter being at work upon one of the buildings of the gentleman with
whom Mr. Whitney boarded, the latter begged permission to use his tools during
the intervals of study ; but the mechanic, being a man of careful habits, was un-
willing to trust them with a student, and it was only after the gentleman of the
house had become responsible for all damages, that he would grant the permis-
sion. But Mr. Whitney had no sooner commenced his operations, than the car-
penter was surprised at his dexterity, and exclaimed, " There was one good me-
chanic spoiled when you went to college."

Soon after "Mr. Whitney took his degree, in the autumn of 1792, he entered
into an engagement with a Mr. B. of Georgia, to reside in his family as a private
teacher. On his way thither, he was so fortunate as to have the company of
Mrs. Greene, the widow of Gen. Greene, who, with her family, was returning to
Savannah, after spending the summer at the North. At that time it was deemed
unsafe to travel through our country without having had the small-pox, and ac-
cordingly Mr. W. prepared himself for the excursion by procuring inoculation
while in New- York. As soon as he was sufficiently recovered, the party set sail
for Savannah. As his health was not fully reestablished, Mrs. Greene kindly in-
vited him to go with the family to her residence at Mulberry Grove, near Savan-
nah, and remain until he was recruited. The invitation was accepted : but, lest
he should not yet have lost all power of communicating that dreadful disease,
Mrs. Greene had white flags (the meaning of which was well understood) hoist-
ed at the landing, and at all the avenues leading to the house. As a requital for
her hospitality, her guest procured the virus and inoculated all the servants of
the household, more than fifty in number, and carried them safely through the
disorder.

Mr. Whitney had scarcely set his foot in Georgia before he was met by a dis-
appointment, which was an earnest of that long series of adverse events which,
with scarcely an exception, attended all his future negotiations in the same State.
On his arrival, he was informed that Mr. B. had employed another teacher, leav-
ing Whitney entirely without resources, or friends, except those whom he had
made in the family of Gen. Greene. In these benevolent people, however, his
case excited much interest, and Mrs. Greene kindly said to him : " My young
friend, you propose studying the law ; make my house your home, your room

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294 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

your castle, and there pursue what studies you please." He accordiugly com-
menced the study of law under that hospitable roof.

And here may we not pause and 'urn aside for a moment to remark what a
field lies open for some man of capacity and generous temper to do credit to his
country by sketching the portraits of eniinent women of the Southern States — no,
not exactly eminent, but whose noble deeds and dispositions would have gained
eminence for any man in any age in which courage, humanity and high moral
bearing under adversity have been esteemed worthy of cotemporary honor or his-
torical renov^^n.

The annals neither of our Revolutionary or subsequent times Avill ever have
been filled up with anything like fullness or fidelity, until they shall have been
made to relate at least the most conspicuous of the numberless instances of de-
voted heroism, of unshrinking fortitude and unfailing humanity displayed by high-
bred Southern women, under the most trying bereavements and vicissitudes of
the war — a war which seemed to reserve its fiercest rage for that devoted region.
Their ready sacrifices of property — their ministerings with equal readiness to the
wants and the sickness of friend and foe — of the soldier and the slave — such as
should carry down their names, with Mrs. Greene s, to posterity, along with the
most illustrious matrons of Greece or Rome. Who, let us ask, in the name of
justice and patriotism, will take up this too long neglected task of chivalry and
gratitude ? But, to return to our narrative.

Mrs. Greene was engaged in a piece of embroidery in which she employed a
peculiar kind of frame called a tambour. She complained that it was badly con-
structed, and that it tore the delicate threads of her work. Mr. Whitney, eager
for an opportunity to oblige his hostess, set himself at work and speedily pro-
duced a tambour-frame made on a plan entirely new, which he pr^ented to her.
Mrs. Greene and lier family were greatly delighted with it, and thought it a won-
derful proof of ingenuity.

How curious would appear a recital of a series of extraordinary acadents, as
they are termed, which have seemed to be turning pivots in the lives of eminent
men, lifting them at once from obscurity to distinction, and leading perhaps more
frequently to fortune, in military life, but sometimes to extraordinary mechan-
ical inventions and profound discoveries in science, and sometimes influencing
even the industry and the fate of whole nations. Every reader is familiar with
the alleged pomological origin of the Newtonian philosophy, by the light of
which we have lately seen one of his great discii)les indicate, without looking
for it, the existence and exact locality of a hitherto undiscovered planet, in a
particular portion of immeasurable space, at a distance of one hundred thousand
millions of miles !

All such events, however, which, from their suddenness and obscure or con-
cealed causes, we are prompted, in our short-sightedness, to call accidents, or
miracles, are really in the eye of philosophy but so many links, all of equal de-
pendence on each other, in an unbroken chain of moral and physical causes
and effects, which become causes in their turn, from the beginning of time
to the present hour; and being, as all of them must be, the result of ade-
quate influences to produce them — could not at the instant have happened
otherwise than they have done. Thus it is under the same universal law that
the sun goeth down in the west and the autumn leaf falleth to the ground. 'J'hus
it is, too, in the scheme of Providence, that nati(Mis tempered in the fire of ad-
versity, rise under the auspices of good and wise counselors to prosperity and

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MEMOIR OF ELI WHITNEY. 295

^ealness — until, intoxicated with power, they become demoralized, and degen-
erate, and cruel, and finally bow submissively to the rule of some upstart usurper,
prepared again by Providence to govern and to punish those who had not virtue
to govern themselves. Quisque suos patiniur manes. After all, who cannot per-
ceive that the greater or less perfection in all social arrangements and systems
of government, consists in their presenting, or not, motives adequate to the in-
surance of virtuous deeds, and actions most conformable to the general weal ?
Hence the policy as well as the obligation which rests on all nations, and espe-
cially on republics, to see that the laws offer adequate incentives to patriotism,
and that, above all things, reliable security and reward be held out to inventors
and discoverers in the sciences and in useful branches of national industry.
Without security there will not long be any industry or invention. No man will
freeiv exercise his mental powers unless he be well convinced that he will be
allowed to reap all the advantages accruing from his skill or genius, no more
than the merchant will invest his capital in securities tainted with the least odor
of suspicion. The inventions of such men as Bogardus and Whitney constitute
their legitimate property ; and a most sacred and honorable species of property it
is ; and it has been well observed, that if, owing to the weakness or ignorance of
Government, the security of property or of inventions be materially impaired, all
sorts of industrious undertakings that do not inonuse immediale return, would be
immediately abandoned. The want, in such cases, of adequate security and reward
to individuals, is in truth one of the greatest of public calamities. In their ab-
sence we should soon find nothing but the most abject poverty and barbarism ;
and supposing other things equal, the wealth and civilization of nations would
be pretty nearly proportioned to the security of property they enjoy and the re-
ward they bestow on scientific and distinguished benefactors of .industrial pur-
suits and men of eminent virtue in civil trusts. Every other circumstance con-
ducive 10 the advancement of industry may exist in a country, but without secu-
rity to property and to inventions these will be of no material service. A high
degree of security and rewards proportioned to the usefulness of inventors and
the integrity of public service will compensate for many disadvantages in the
condi''on and circumstances of a nation, but nothing can make up for the want
of these. They constitute, in a word, the sine qua non of every species of pros-
perity.

We are now at that point in our narrative where one of those prominent and
proximate circumstances usually denominated accidents was to put in imme-
diate play the mechanical genius of Eli Whitney for a new combination of me-
chanical power, that was destined to revolutionize not merely the agricultural
industry of our own country, but, in cooperation with the subsequent invention
of Arkwright, of kindred genius, was to influence the manufacturing, commer-
cial and money power of the whole universe.

ISot long afterward a large party of gentlemen came from Augusta and the
Upper country, to visit the family of Gen. Greene, consisting principally of offi-
cers who had served under the General in the Revolutionary army. Among the
number were Major Bremen, Major Forsyth, and Major Pendleton. They fell
into conversation upon the state of Agriculture among them, and expressed great
regret that there was no means of cleaning the green seed cotton, or separating
it from its seed, since all the lands which were unsuitable for the cultivation of
rice would yield large crops of cotton. But until ingenuity could devise some
machine which would greatly facilitate the process of cleaning, it was in vain

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296 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

to think of raising cotton for market. Separating one pound of the clean staple
from the seed was a day's work for a woman ; but the time usually devoted to
picking cotton was the evening, after the labor of the field was over. Then the
slaves, men, women and children, were collected in circles with one whose duty
it was to rouse the dozing and quicken the indolent. While the company were
engaged in this conversation, "Gentlemen, (said Mrs. Greene,) apply to my
young friend, Mr. Whitney — he can make anything." Upon which she conduct-
ed them into a neighboring room, and showed them her tambour frame, and a
number of toys which Mr. W. had made or repaired for the children. She then
mtroduced the gentlemen to Whitney himself, extolling his genius and com-
mending him to their notice and friendship. He modestly disclaimed all preten-
sions to mechanical genius ; and when they named their subject, he replied that
he had never seen either cotton or cotton seed m his life. Mrs. G. said to one of
the gentlemen, " I have accomplished my aim. Mr. Whitoey is a very deserv-
ing young man, and to bring him into notice was my object. The interest which
our friends now feel for him will, I hope, lead to his getting some employment
to enable him to prosecute the study of the law."

But a new turn that no one of the company dreamed of, had been given to
Mr. Whitney's views. It being out of season for cotton in the seed, he went to Sa-
vannah and searched among the warehouses and boats, until he found a small par-
cel of it. This he carried home, and communicated his intentions to Mr. Miller,
who v/arraly encouraged him, and assigned him a room in the basement of the
house, where he set himself at work with such rude materials and instruments
as a Georgia plantation afforded. With these resources, however, he made tools
better suited to his purpose, and drew his own wire, (of which the teeth of the
earliest gins were made,) an article which was not at that time to be found in
the market of Savannah. Mrs. Greene and Mr. Miller were the only persons
ever admitted to his workshop, and the only persons who knew in what way he
was employing himself. The many hours he spent in his mysterious pursuits
afforded matter of great curiosity and often of raillery to the younger members
of the family. Near the close of the winter, the machine was so nearly com-
pleted as to leave no doubt of its success.

Mrs. Greene was eager to communicate to her numerous friends the knowl-
edge of this important invention, peculiarly important at that time, because then
the market was glutted with all those articles which were suited to the climate
and soil of Georgia, and nothing could be found to give occupation to the negroes
and support to the white inhabitants. This opened suddenly to the planters
boundless resources of wealth, and rendered the occupations of the slaves less
unhealthy and laborious than they had been before.

Mrs. Greene, therefore, invited to her house gentlemen from different parts of
the State, and on the first day after they had assembled, she conducted them to
a temporary building, which had been erected for the machine, and they saw
with astonishment and delight, that more cotton could be separated from the
seed m one day, by the labor of a single hand, than could be done in the usual
manner in the space of many months.

Mr. Whitney might now have indulged in bright reveries of fortune and of
fame; but we shall have various opportunities of seeing that he tempered his
inventive genius with an unusual share of the calm, considerate qualities of the
financier. Although urged by his friends to secure a patent, and devote him-
self to the manufacture and introduction of his machines, he coolly replied, that
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MEMOIR OF EH WHITNEY. 297

on account of the great expense and trouble which always attend the introduc-
tion of a new invention, and tlie difliculty of euibrcing a law in favor of patentees,
in opposition to the individual interests of so large a number of persons as would
be concerned in the culture of this article, it was with great reluctance that he
should consent to relinquish the hopes of a lucrative profession, for which he
had been destined, with an expectation of indemnity either from the justice or
the gratitude of his countrymen, even should the invention answer the most
sanguine anticipations of his friends.

The individual who contributed most to incite him to persevere in the under-
taking, was Pluncas Miller, Esq. Mr. Miller was a native of Connecticut, and
a graduate of Yale College. Like Mr. Whitney, soon after he had completed his
education at college, he came to Georgia as a private teacher, in the family of
Gen. Greene ; and after the decease of the General, he became the husband of
Mrs. Greene. He had qualified himself for the profession of law, and was a
gentleman of cultivated mind and superior talents ; but he was of an ardent
temperament, and therefore well fitted to enter with zeal into the views which
the genius of his friend had laid open to him. He had also considerable funds
at command, and proposed to Mr. Whitney to become his joint adventurer, and
to be at the Avhole expense of maturing the invention until it should be patented.
If the machine should succeed in its intended operation, the parties agreed, un-
der legal formalities, " that the profits and advantages arising therefrom, as well
as all privileges and emoluments to be derived from patenting, making, vending,
and working the same, should be mutually and equally shared between them."
This instrument bears date May 27, 1793, and immediately afterward they com-
menced business under the firm o{ Miller Sf Whitney.

An invention so important to the agricultural interest, (and, as has proved, to
every department of human industry,) could not long remain a secret. The
knowledge of it soon spread through the State, and so great was the excitement
on the subject, that multitudes of persons came from all quarters of the State to
see the machine ; but it was not deemed safe to gratify their curiosity until the
patent-right had been secured. But so determined were some of the populace to
possess this treasure, that neither law nor justice could restrain them : they
broke open the building by night and carried off the machine. In this way the
public became possessed of the invention ; and before Mr. Whitney could com-
plete his model and secure his patent, a number of machines were in successful
operation, constructed with some slight deviation from the original, with the
hope of evading the penalty for violating the patent-right.

As soon as the copartnership of Miller & Whitney was formed, Mr. Whitney
repaired to Connecticut, where, as far as possible, he was to perfect the machine,
obtain a patent, and manufacture and ship for Georgia such a number of ma-
chines as would supply the demand.

Such is the history of one of the most important on the list of human inven-
tions, taken, in great part, from a Memoir which traces to its close the useful
and instructive life of a man as distinguished and admirable for his uprightness
and fortitude under some of the severest trials to which human nature can be
subjected, as for the beneficent tendency of his genius. The narrative to which
we refer relates interesting particulars of Whitney's connection with the Gov-
ernment as the inventor of important improvements in the manufacture of fire-
arms, in which he continued through life to be employed. But of all employ-
ments, that is the least congenial with the great national concern to Avhich this

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298 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

Journal is exclusively dedicated, and one which by every wise and provident
Government should be fostered first, and above all others.

But for Whitney's invention of the cotton-gin, Arkwrighl's spinning jenny,
and other iniprovoments in cotton manufacturing machinery, as well as the whole
cotton region of our Union would have been comparatively uncalled for and val-
ueless. This ingenious but unfortunate artist, says Seabrook, in his compre-
hensive and classical Essay on Cotton, by his machine doubled the wealth and
employment of his countrymen; while Judge William Johnson, of South Caro-
lina, in deciding one of the numberless suits which Whitney was compelled,
with infinite cost and vexation to institute for violation of his patent, declared :
" If we should assert that the benefits of this invention exceed $100,000,000, we
can prove the assertion by correct calculation." But painful and mortifying
would be the task, even if we had room, of enumerating here the piracies and
persecutions he encountered. Instead of proving, as such an invention would
have done, under any despotism of the Old World, a source of unbounded
w-ealth, and title to enduring honors at the hands of the people and the Govern-
ment ; it seems, by the fuller narrative before us, to have brought down upon
him a series of difficulties, and even of derogatory and groundless suspicions and
charges, which remind the reader of the heart-sickening train of calamities that
stuck, like the poisoned shirt of Nessus, to the unfortunate discoverer of the
philosopher's stone, as related in the celebrated romance of St. Leon.

So numerous, so protracted, so expensive and harassing, were these suits for
violationsof his rights, violations that, especially in Georgia, fovmd too much en-
couragement in the selfishness of a community that should have promptly lent
him their sympathy and support, that Hon. S. M. Hopkins, a gentleman of
much experience in the profession of the law, who was well acquainted with
Mr. Whitney's affairs in the South, and sometimes acted as his legal adviser,
observes, in a letter, that in all his experience in the thorny profession of the
law, he had never seen such a case of perseverance, under such persecution,
<'nor," he adds, " do I believe that I ever knew any other man who would have
met them with equal coolness and firmness, or who would finally have obtained
even the partial success which he did. He always called on me in Kew-Vork
on his way South, when going to attend his endless trials, and to meet the mis-
chievous contrivances of men who seemed inexhaustible in their resources of
evil. Even now, after thirty years, my head aches to recollect his narratives of
new trials, fresh disappointments and accumulated wrongs."

But our limits admonish us to turn from the story of these accumulated
wrongs to a useful citizen, which stand out in bolder relief for having been per-
petrated under a Government which is said emphatically to be founded on public
virtue.

A Summary of the Stale of Cotton Ilushandry immediately before, as con-
trasted ivilh its progress immediately after, and ever since the rnvcntion of the
Co</o7i-GiVi, will follow this Memoir. It discloses a development of industrial
resources for Avhich we should search in vain for a parallel in the agricultural
annals of any nation on the globe ; and never did chick issue from the egg more
obviously than this wonderful expansion of American industry from the effect
of an invention in suitable reward for which, Eli Whitney, instead of a con-
temptible patent, should have received a million of dollars, along with the bene-
dictions of his country. How difl'orent the treatment of Cobdkn by the friends
of free trade !— a donation already amounting to $750,000 ! When Whitney ni-

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MEMOIR OF ELI WHITNEY.

299

vented the cotton-gin, in 1793, the whole cotton crtfp of the United Slates was
5,000,000 pounds, and the total exportation 487,600 pounds. In 1845, the U. S.
cotton crop was 1,029,850,000 pounds ; the exportation 862,580,000 pounds, the
domestic consumption being 167,270,000 pounds. And this development, which
began to sliow itself instantly^ all must admit to be the fruit of that invention.
Now by what rule shall we measure the value of such a benefaction to the
country, and how should it be rewarded ? Shall we take a lesson from the colo-
nial policy of an old, ill governed monarchy? There the Royal Board for the
encouragement of Agriculture on the Island of Cuba, have offered

" One thousand doHars to the person wVio,
during the month of December, 18-15, shall
Boonest prejiare and put into the most perfect
state ot" tillage, one cabahelleria ot land,
witli tiie improved Ameri(-au plow, worked
by mules, and managed l)y whites.' One
thousand doUars to the person who sliall, on
the lirst of December, 13 16, sliow two ' ca-
belleruis ' of kind well stocked with red clo-
ver of six mouths' growth. 2''wenty thousand
doUars, in ammal installments of $2,000, to
the first person who, during tlie vears 18-4.'),
'46, and '47, sliall set up or establish a sugar
estate or plantation, in which the cultivation
of the cane sltdl be perfonneil by thirty white
families, consisting of a manned couple each
at lejLSt. One thousand dollars for the intro-
duction of the bean uaed in the sugar estates
of New-Orleans, asi an article of food. Four
thousand dollars to the person who sh;\ll show
on tlie first of December, 1818, an artihcial
planfcition of trees, of three years' grijwth.
Six thousand dollars to the person who shall
introduce f -om the East Indies 200 thriving
and luxuriant stfjcks of sugar canes, &.c.
Twelve thousand dollars, in annual install-

ments of $2,000. to the person or persona
who shall set uj), during the years 1845 and
'46, a permanent establishment for the im-
provement of the breed of horses — four stal-
lions, viz.: one of each of the following breeds,
to be kept for public service, at prices to be
lixed by the owner — one Andalusian, one
Arab, one Norman, and one English — each
to be of the genuine breed, of good form, size,
&c. Six thousand dollars, in animal install-
ments of $1,000, to the person who shall im-
port direct from England one bull and six
cows ' of the ilnest and most reputed breed
of that countiy.' Tvo thousand dollars to
the person wlio, on the first of December,
1846, shall show a herd of the ' largest sized
swine,' introduced ti'om the United States of
America, or any other countjy. One tkou-
xand hard dollars to the person who shall,
on the first of December, 1846, ' present or
produce a breed of the largest domestic or
bani-door fowls, (gallinas,) hatched or born
on tiu; Island, of a breed mtroduced from the
United Stiites of America, or any other
country.' "

What, may it not be asked, has this enlightened Republic, and all the States
and Societies in the Union done, in comparison with those munificent offers by
this Royal Board '■'■for the encouragement of Agriculture " in the Island of Cuba ?
Suppose the Government which every year derives so many millions of dollars
on goods paid for with cotton, should have secured for the inventor of the gin
even one cent a bale, to which none would have objected, the revenue to his
family would now be $20,000 a year. Under the most absolute monarchies of
Europe, men of genius who make discoveries in natural and practical philosophy,
and by their genius confer great benefit on the industrial pursuits of the people
have been enriched by Government patronage and raised to the highest politi-
cal rank. Alas I for American character and the cause of American Agriculture,
how different the treatment and the fate of the English barber's boy and the
American farmer's son ! The inventor of the spinning jenny. Sir Richard
Arkwright, died with a fortune of $2,500,000 ! Is it, then, that our " govern-
ment of the people " is to imitate them only or most nearly in their bestowment of
education, and liberal pay, and high rank, and life commissions, and pensions, on
that arm of power which despots maintain to stay the progress of free princi-
ples ? Truly, the fate of Fitch, and of Rurasey, and of Clinton, and Whitney,
and a host of inventors and men whose talents and virtues have improved and
adorned the civil service and pursuits of our country, would seem but too justly
to warrant the painful Lnquirv !

300

MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

In the final illness and death of this great benefactor of Agriculture, he dis-
played the unshaken forlilude and strength of mind which seem never to have
forsaken him. He has, we believe, left but one son who inherits his name and
his virtues, but of his mechanical genius, of that, as of a genius for poetry, it
may perhaps he said, nascitur non fit.

Through long and severe bodily affliction and partial repose, he leached the
32th of November, 1824, at which period we are told his sufferings hecame al-
most unintermitted until the 8th January, 1845, when he expired — retaining his
consciousness to the last, closing his own eyes, and making an effort to close
his mouth. It was his particular request that there should be no examination
of the body to ascertain the nature of his disease, and he desired his funeral to
be conducted with as little parade as possible,

A single inquiry for reflecting agriculturists, and those who nominally repre-
sent them: If any man should invent an engine of war, Avhich in fields of battle
should accomplish results as far beyond anything achieved by other nations and
other times as Whitney's invention excelled all that had been done for a great
field of national industry and wealth, what would be his reward ? Does not the
answer which every one must make to this inquiry, prove that there must be
" something rotten in the state of Denmark" — something unsound in the public
morals, which in all countries are greatly influenced by the spirit of the laws?

APPENDIX TO THE MEMOIR OF WHITNEY.
The Effect of his Cotton-Gin on the Cotton Husbandry of the United Slates.

In 1793, the year of the invention, the
whole cotton crop of the United States was
.5,000,000 lbs., and the total exportation 487,-
600 lbs. In 1793, when the cotton-gin was
first extensively introduced into Georgia and
South Carolina (then the principal region of
that production), the whole crop increased to
8.000,000 lbs., and the exportation to 1,()01,-
7()0 lbs. In 1800, when the machine had
been tin-own open to the people, v^'ithout lim-
itation, from regard to the legal rights of the
patentee, the total production of cotton in the
United States during the yeai' amounted to
3.5,000,000 lbs., of wliich 17>89,803 lbs. were
exported. In 1805, the whole production
was 70,000,000 ll)s., and the amount oi'n pi fnid
cottf)n exported Sa.fiOi.-l'iS lbs.— (value, $9,-
445,000.) In 1810, the crop was increased
to 85.000,000 lbs., and the exportation o^ up-
land cotton to 84,6.57,384 lbs. In 1815, tlie
whole of the United States crop was 100,000,-
000 lbs., and the exportatiou of upland votion
74,548,796 lbs. In 1820, the whole United
States crop was 160,000.000 lbs. ; the export-
ation of upland 116,291,137 lbs., valued at
$22,308,667. In 1825, croj) 255,000,000 lbs.,
exportation of upland, 166,784,629 lbs. In
1830, crop 350,000,000, exportation 290,31 1,-
937. Li 1835, crop 475,000,000, exportation
379,000,000. In 1840, crop 880,000.000, ex-
porUition vahied at $63,870,307. In 1845, tlio
United Slates cotton crop was 1,029,850,000
Ib.'^., and tlie ex[)ort;iti()n of coltou 8(i2,580.00U
lbs. ; the domestic consumption being 167,-
270,000 lbs.
(63li)

The recent aimexation of the immense cot
ton-lands of Texas, the abolition of the import
duty on American cotton in Great Britidn, and
the vast and rapid increase of the manufacture
of cotton fabrics in all parts of the United
States, are evidences of the certaiutj" of a far-
ther increase in the production of cotton iu
this country. Euonnous as has been the pro-
gress of this staple, from 1791 to 1845, u is
destined to a yet gi'eater extension in amoimt
and value.

The exclusion of East India cotton fiom its
jircvious monopoly of the markets of the civ-
ilized world, froiu the beginning of tlu? pres-
ent century, was m;unly due to the introduc-
tion of the cotton-gin in the Southern States
of the American Union, whit:li substituted the
rapid operations of machinery for the tedious
and costly labor of human hands in thp prep-
aration of the crop for the use of the manufac-
turer. The recent atteinpts of the British
Government and the East India Company to
restore the successfid production of cotton in
Hindostan have consisted largely in the intro-
duction of Americjui improvements, especially
of •' TfiK Amkiuc.\n CoTTo.N-Gi.v," into those
provinces wliich are adai>ted to the culture.
The greater chea])nes8 of labor, and even tho
su])erior <]uality of the product (in the prov-
ince of Dliarvvar), were found to avail no-
thing, without the adv;uitages of American
machinery.

The pecuniary advantiige of tliis invention
to the ruitt'd Suites is by no means fully pre-
Beuted by an exhibition of the value of the

BARLEY.

301

exports of cotton (amounting; to more than
$1,400. 000, Onf) in the last forty-thren years),
nor by tlio imnicnso proportion of llio ineiuis
wliich it has ftiriiirtliod this country to meet
the onomi:ms fichts continnally incurred for
imports from Britaui and the Etn'opean conti-
nent— COTTON havinj:; for many years consti-
tuted 1-2, 3-5, or 7-10 of the value of tho ex-
ports of the Union. But it was the introduc-
tion of the cotton-<;in which first gave a hi<,'h
v;Jiie and pennnnent inark(>t to the pul)lic
lands in the Soiith-W'csl. Tiie rapid settle-
ment and iniprovenient of alinust tlu; eiitii-e I
Slates of Alal>ama, Mi.s-sissippi, Louisiana,
Florida, and Texa.s, is mainly due to the en-
larged production of cotton con.sequent upon
the iiivenlion of Whitney. The States of
Georsria and Tennessee have iilso been largely
benefited by the same means in the disposal
of their domain, a vast portion of which must
have remained unoccupied and valueless but
for the immense increase of facilities for the
preparation of cotton for tlie market. In tho
three States of Alabiuna, Mi.ssissippi and Lou-
isiana, the sales of tho jniblic lands of the
General Goveniment amounted to l!),099,.'30.'j
acres, during the eleven years enduig on the
30th of June, 1844 — yielding to tlje Nationid
Treasury more tlnm $:{0,000,000. The sales
of upland cotton lands by the United Suites
land-oflices have amounteil to many tens of
millions of acres ; and none lla^e been sold at
a lower rate tlum $1 25 an acre — a large pro-
jwrtion at a higher rate.

It is to be remaj'ked, fin;Jly, that tho cot-
ton-gins now in use throughout the whole
South are truly the original invention of Whit-
ney— that no improvement or successful vari-

ation of the essential parts has yet been effect-
ed. The actual dtiractciristics of th(! macliino
(tho cyluider and l)rushJ,tho sole real instru-
ments \>y which the seed is removed and tho
cotton cleaned, remain, in cotton-gins of even
the most recent mimufiicture, precixrly ax
Whitney left I hem. Tho principle has not
been altered since the first cotton-gin was put
in motion by the inventor, though great im-
provements have been made in the applica-
tion and direction of the moving force.s, in the
employment of steam-power, in the running-
gear, and other incidentals. Every one of
tho various cotton-gins in use, under tho
names of different makers, contjiins the essen-
tials of Whitney's patent, without material
change or addition. The brn.sh and the cyl-
inder remain, like Fulton's paddle-wheel, un-
changed in form and necessity, however vast
the imjirovements in tho macliinery tliat
causes the motion.

A more imposing result of mechanical inge-
nuity direct(!d to the benefit of a whole na-
tion, and, through it, of inankind, has not
been recorded in the history of the human
mind. Certainly there is no patriotic Ameri-
can who will not rejoice to accord to this emi-
nently useful, though basely wronged invent-
or, tlie judgment so well expressed by Mr.
I/anman — that " Whitney earned tho credit
of gi\ ing a spring to the Agriculture of the.
South, vvhich has been continued, unimpaired,
to this day — a credit that will endure while
the cotton-plant whitens the ])lantatioiisof the
South with its snowy harvests, or the ma-
chinery of the cotton-factory clatters upon the
waterfall !"

BARLEY.

THE FOUR-ROWED AND TWO-ROWED VARIETIES.

We do not know when we have read a letter with more pleasure than the one
which follows this — not more, as the reader may suppose, on account of the in-
formation it imparts, than the free, enlightened spirit which dictated it. Surely,
such acts of courtesy, and readiness to impart the knowledge of practical experi-
ence, ought not to be so uncommon as to call for remark, although always to be
received with becoming thankfulness. But is not the fact so ? Those who
have enjoyed the opportunity to judge must have perceived how lamentably dif-
ficult it is to get farmers to write down what they know. Many of them would
sooner sit down and be mesmerized for a tooth-pulling, than to take pen in hand.
Not so, as all must liave perceived, with men of other professions — " business
men," as they are called. Is it that farmers' minds, like their hands, become stiff
and rusty ? If so, let them accustom themselves to read — ay, to read even The
Farmers' Library, if they can get nothing better. That will keep their minds
in exercise. And let them write notes on what they see, and require their sons,

(637)

302 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE,

when they come home at night from school, to read every night a few pages ;
and let them accustom themselves to putting on paper notes of what may occur,
m the way of commentary on what they read.

See, in this letter about barley, how one of the most distinguished brewers,
even of the celebrated " Poughkeepsie Ale," has been looking thoroughly into
his business, even through the breweries of London ; and how he can, at once
and off-hand, tell more about the different kinds of barley than one farmer out of
ten thousand ? May not the reflecting farmer, even in this, read a lesson of in-
struction ? Is there anything in this letter on the varieties and properties of bar-
ley that any young, enlightened agriculturist should be ignorant of? Mr. Vassar
was among the many who, at the Poughkeepsie Show, did, indeed, throw his
house open to the stranger within the gates. There Committees were in attend-
ance to hunt for and take charge of gentlemen coming from distant States to ob-
serve the products of the land, and in doing so could not be expected to shut their
eyes to the habits and icai/s of the people. Every gentleman's house was the
house of every gentleman.

The information here given was sought from Mr. Vassar with a view to ap-
pend it, more particularly for the benefit of inquiring friends in Maryland, to the
clear and satisfactory communication from Mr. Randall, which, we see, as we
expected, has found its way into that safe, and sound, and well-wearing old re-
pository of agricultural knowledge, the American Farmer — into which, we doubt
not, this will follow it, with or without these remarks.

Poughkeepsie, N. Y., November 96, 1846.

Dear Sir : Your letter of the 19th ultimo came to hand in my absence, or it
would have been replied to ere this. In answer to your questions, '•Whether
there is usually a difference in the price of four and two-rowed barley, and what
that difference is, and on what founded ? &c. &;c." I reply, yes. The former is
usually preferred by the trade on account of its superior malting properties, espe-
cially during the warm period of the malting season, requiring some three to five
days less time to finish the process. It also yields more saccharine matter, pound
for pound, compared with the two-rowed ; the latter, possessing more gluten,
germinates more slowly, and is therefure more difficult to convert into perfect
malt.

The difference in price depends on their respective weights ; the nearer the
four approaches the weight of the two-rowed, tlie greater difference there is in
price — and vice versa. When the former weighs 47 to 48 lbs. per bushel, and
the latter 48 to 50 lbs., there are usually three to five cents in favor of the four-
rowed, provided each grain is equally sound, &:c.

It may be proper here to remark that the two-rowed barley in this State has
greatly deteriorated within the last ten to fifteen years, chiefly through the neg-
ligence of the farmers in not selecting pure seed. The soil and climate, I am
aware, have much to do in producing the necessary properties of good malting
barley ; but the inferiority of our two-rowed may be attributed chiefly to a mix-
ture of several species of the same kind.

Large quantities of two-rowed were many years ago raised in the Slate of
Rhode Island, and which was a heavy, coarse, dark and thick-skinned grain,
very difficult to germinate. In the process of time it found its Avay into this
State, and is traceable in all our two-rowed at the present day.

My father visited England in 1821, and bruuiiht over some twenty bushels
of JS'orfolk barley (^two-rowed). This was a short, plump kernel, thin skin,
and very free to tnall. In some sections of this State it is still discernible, but
more or less mixed. The four-rowed is not so liable to deteriorate, as it ma-
tures or is ready to harvest several days earlier than the two-rowed. I believe
there is no four-rowed raised in England ; or, at least, none is used in brewing.
The climate, being more cold and humid, is better adapted for the growth of
tlie two-rowed ; and we find iu this country that this kind of barley does best ou

(638)

TRAP ROCK AS MANURE. 30S

high clay and gravelly soil, and a cool, moist season ; while the four-rowed re-
quires a warm, sandy loam, and is not so easily afFectcd by drouth.

I was in En<;land last year — visited most of the London breweries — saw their
barleys and malls, and compared their samples with our own. Theirs was
heavier and coarser grain, but an equal weight of ours Would produce more
saccharine matter than theirs.

The average price of barley at Albany this season may be stated at 5a cents
for two rowed, and 5S cents for four-rowed. The proportion cultivated is about
33 per cent, of the latter. The total quantity brought to tide-water this season
(I think) is about 1,300,000 bushels. I am not sufliciently conversant in the
management of stock to inform you of the relative advantages of each kind of
grain, but barley (in its raw state) has not been considered by our farmers very
profitable feed for stock. With regard to mailing it for that object, I have no
doubt of its advantages, and only wonder our farmers have never tried the ex-
periment. Barley, by the process of mailing, increases 2 to 3 percent, in bulk,
and loses about one-lifth in weight.

I should be pleased to do all in my power to aid the circulation of The Farm-
jsRs' Library, and in the meanwhile, I subscribe myselt'.

Your obedient servant, WM. VASSAR.

Hon. John S. Skin.ver, New- York.

P. S. — The six-rowed barley is much of the same character as the four-rowed,
but It has become proverbial to distinguish it by the name of the latter.

TRAP ROCK AS A MANURE.

EMPLOYMKNT OF CIIt:MIrfTS.

Ought not every Slate, or Agricultural Society or 'Jnsiiiuie, possessing the
means, to employ a competent chemist, whose duty it should be to analyze such
soils and substances as might be sent from different parts of the State for the
benefit of its Agriculture ? Could any more useful office be well established ?
And would it not have been done long since if farmers were not the most neg-
lected and the most self-neglecting class of beings that go to make up the great
social compact. In the November number of the English Farmer's Magazine,
we find the following, and deem it worthy of a place. We have heard of tur-
keys being fattened, not only on English walnuts, given to them whole, which
we believe, but on " brickbats," which we do not believe. We were not be-
fore aware that land might be fattened, and its crops increased, by pulverized
trap rock. But the march of inquiry is bringing many strange things to light —
called strange, as the Indian calls the ship that heaves, and the lightning that
flashes, and the thunder that rolls on the stage — strange, because he is not be-
hind the curtain !

Here we may introduce the suggestion of a late Avriter, that the chemist would
do well to test the efficacy of different manures on fictitious soils, the composi-
tion of which he knows exactly ; and he might make fictitious soils of silica,
alumina, lime, Sec, alone, or in any combination. Thus he would fix his data,
and form for himself, so to speak, a zero, or starting-point, by which all his sub-
sequent experiments on natural soils might be regulated. He would thus be
enabled to speak with positive confidence, says this Avriter, on matters that are
now but probable, and would reduce to system and regularity the whole theory
of manures.

(639;

304

MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

P. S. We believe Mr. Bogardus of New- York has invented a mill that " make*
nothing" of grinding up stones, " trap rock," for instance.

Query. What would tlie Legislature of Maryland say, should the farmers of
the State, constituting so large a portion of their constituents, call upon them to
establish an office of Agricultural Clieraistry and Geology, to be always open for
their use and benefit ? Yet, how better for the public interests could a small
amount of their money be better employed ? We trust, at least, that they will
have no scruple in instructing their Representatives and Senators in calling upon
Congress for money to establish a Normal School for the instruction of teachers in
the sciences akin to and promotive of Agriculture ; and we call respectfully on the
Agricultural Societies and Clubs to put a Memorial to that efi'ect in circulation.
Let these memorials go to an Agricultural Committee ; and, at all events, let us
hear whether there is such an interest to be recognized in the proceedings of the
States. In New-Jersey and in Virginia, in leading papers of great and de-
served influence, we have noticed that a sort of foreshadowing has been thrown
out of the prominent measures that would occupy the attention of their Legisla-
tures this wmter, and we remark Avith shame, but not surprise, there is no more
allusion to anything to be done for Agriculture, except as it is concerned in some
schemes of internal improvement, than if there really was no such thing to be
cared for.

Agriculturists ! you have been so long ridden by other interests that is it not
time to pluck up courage, so far, at least, as to propose with them the game
of" ride and tie ? "

TRAP ROCK AS MANURE.

Sir : In my former letter I stated that I
had used a quititity of what I tenned marl,
but which tei-m ought to be a ti-ap rock, con-
taining felspar and hornblende. The con-
stituents of trap are silica in a soluble or dis-
integrated state, available tf) plants, alumina,
potash, soda, lime, magnesia, oxide of iron,
and oxide of manganese ; and this rock con-
tains, in addition to the constituents of trap,
eleven per cent, of carbon.

Any person wishing to see its effects as a
manure on vegetation, may, at Cwiuguaninn
Clyro, Radmorshire, see three fields luider
wheat, that were dressed with it last year —
two of them with a ton per acre, and about
six tons of dung, and one with two tons,
which was veiy low^ in condition, and no
dnng. The result is, that tlie three fields
■will average from 4^ to 5 qrs. of wheat i>er
acre, which is an increase in favor of the ma-
nm'e of l^J to 2 qrs. per acre, as th(>y never
exceeded three before. In 1844, I dressed
an acre of the poorest jiart of a field with a
ton of the tra]) for turnips, and the remainder
of the field with 25 loads ])er acre of dung for

I)otatoes. I sowed Swedes ou the part which
lad the ti'ap rock, and the flies took the most
of them oft", and I then luiTowcd in others

wliich the flies also destroyed ; there were
some few of the first sowing that escaped
both the fly and the harrow, which grew in
that dry season to a large size. I sowed
wheat after the potatoes at Michaelmas, and
tlie tuniips were gathered off in the spring
and the ground sown with wheat. This year,
without any other manure, I sowed the
whole field with wheat in March, to see
what proportion the one ton of trap would
have to the twenty-five of dung, and the dif^
ference is in favor of the trap rock. In the
second crop I have dressed three meadows
with it, and the increase in crop is more thsin
a third, as well as a better and more nutri-
tious herbage.

Any person washing for infonnation re-
specting trap rock as a manure, if he will look
at Professor .Johnston's Elements of Agricul-
tural Cheinishy and Geology, will see it
stated by him that it contains every nutriment
vegetation requires. If it was pulverized to
a fine powder, five cwt. per acre would be
sufficient.

1 \\'ish to have it viewed by agiiculturista,
that they may see its effects on vegetation,
corn, and grass, before 1 offer it for side.

JOHN \V. LLOYD.

Haij, Jtilij 20.

r^ The Memorial in behalf of the riow, })ubli.<hed bi the last number of Thk Farm-
ers' Library, is receiving warm supiiort in Delaware. Surely there will be friends enough
of the cause ui all the States to force it on the attention of their Legislatiu-cs, and to extort
from Committees some indication of what is to bo expected for AijricuUure while the pubhc

tueans are so lavishly bestowed on other concerns.
((540)

BREAKFAST-TAIIALE CONVERSATION. 305

A BREAKFAST-TABLE CONVERSATION,

Between the Editor of The Farmers' Library, and a hard-worhing, practical
Northern Farmer. About what ? Read and you shall know.

The fashion prevails lately in England, to a certain extent, to substitute public
breakfasts fur dinners at great meetings and fairs of Agricultural Associations. —
These occasions give rise to public discussions, more or less extended ; but, for
our part, we have never been able to discover that much information could be
imparted or acquired where people come together to see, rather than to talk or
to listen — where, in fact, everything is calculated to divert and distract, rather thaa
♦.o compose the senses and instruct the mind. Hence we have often found that there
was more information to be obtained in half an hour's horseback or fireside con-
versation, with such a man as friend Jones, of Delaware, or with Mr. Crawford,
superintendent of Dr. Stewart's Doden estate (a Napoleon in his way), or evea
with an experienced negro manager on a large plantation in the South, such as Col.
Hampton's man Lymus, than is to be gathered in the confused scene of an annual
public fair or exhibition, by the conversations or discussions to which they give
rise, such as they are. To see half that is to be seen, and to exchange salu>a-
tions with the hundreds you meet, is as much or more than can be done with
satisfaction. That, then, is a false view of the advantages of such annual fairs,
which refers them to the benefits to be derived from oral interchange of knowl-
edge.

In excursions about the country, and sojournings at watering places, last sum-
mer, for health and observation, pastimes among the most agreeable were found
in occasional visits, unceremonious and without any formal introduction, but none
the less respectful on our part, to plain, practical farmers, in the midst of their
liimily circle, or their field labors, as it might happen — to such farmers as had.
won, throughout their bailiwicks at least, the humble but honest renown of be-
ing industrious, frugal, thriving managers of their own little estates ; and who,
by skill and diligence, had gotten to be what is expressively termed, "well to
live in the world." And how much more to be coveted and enjoyed, the unpre-
tending fame and livelihoods thus acquired, than the much bruited renown and
overgrown fortune of the millionaire, gotten (as the professed gambler makes his
by the turn of a card) by dashing, hit-or-miss speculations in trade — which may,
perchance, elevate their projector to the giddy and dangerous hight of sudden
adluence, or which may plunge himself and family into irretrievable bankruptcy,
dragging down with him, as most frequently hapj)ens, his and their most reliable
and confiding friends, into one abyss of common ruin.

How still more enviable is the humble estate and condition of such a farmer,
than the ill-gotten wealth amassed by the surer and more cautious schemings of
the wily shaver, who, gloating over the embarrassed fortunes of his neighbor and
friend, generously grants him one pecuniary favor after another, at the rate of
cent, per cent., until, having griped his last dollar, he leaves him in helpless
dr.d hopeless despair, ♦o fall into the gulf of ruin to which he had kindly assisted
tv condvct him !

Iti-Jl) 30

306 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

In such " middling" farmers, so thriftj-^ and so independent, no country in the
world abounds as docs New-England. The best s)'^stenis, however, may be car-
ried to extremes ; and, truth to tell, there are defects in the domestic arrange-
ments and economy of these farmers in the "Free States," which the cause of
truth, and the duty of impartial inquirers after it, require to be noticed, and to
which we now can only incidentally refer — intending, if not presently, on some
future occasion, to speak of them more at length and more explicitly. Suffice it
here to say that, in their eagerness to accumulate, and to make everything tell
as much, or more, by saving than by making, labors too onerous, and cares too
multiplied, are thrown upon the good houscivife ; while the children are stinted
in their education from the time that the value of tlieir labor in the field can be
counted with precision.

Well are we aware how we expose ourselves to resentful animadversions for
what is here hazarded, without meaning any particular application, much less to
the case in hand. We know that such a charge should be followed at once by
specification, and sustained by argument, lest a wound, that might now be as-
suaged, be left to fester in proud and jealous minds ; but, leaving ourselves for
the present in the hands of the skillful and accomplished Physician of the Hart-
ford (Ct.) Infirmary or "Retreat" for the Insane, so renowned for its excellent
management, we must proceed to our already long-neglected purpose of giving
some account of a breakfast-table conversation, in September last, with Mr. B.
A. Hall, whose farm and residence are in that beautiful valley which is over-
looked from the southern piazza of the principal hotel at Lebanon Springs — as
it is, indeed, from any one of the hundred eminences which there command a
view of some thousand acres (including the Shaker village), all checkered with
numerous well-cultivated little farms, and limited by a serrated line of well-de-
fined mountain scenery — the whole scene reminding one of the famous " valley
of Abyssinia."

Mr. Hall's farm consists of 200 acres of land — 20 in wood, and ISO arable. Of
these, about 50 are kept constantly under the plow — the residue being in grass.
His staples are butter and pork. Of the fomier he sells about 4,000 pounds a
year, and of the latter some 15,000 pounds.

Those of our patrons who take this journal for the sake of reading it, as we
would fain persuade ourselves all of them do, may remember that, with the aid
of a certain Mr. Nemo, an account has been given of a visit made by the Editor
of The Farmers' Library, last summer, in company with Col. F. W. Pickens, of
South Carolina, to Col. Chapman, the President of an Agricultural Society, near
Saratoga Springs. By the aid of that same good and ever present friend Nefno,
will we endeavor now to relate what was learned on this occasion of Mr. Hall,
as to the management of his farm of 200 acres. The sketch must, however, be
quite imperfect, and can only assume the ill-arranged form of the skeleton of
notes and remembrances of an unstudied catechism on the one side, and olf-hand
responses on the other. But, even such as it is, it may prove to have some inter-
est, especially for our friends in the South, who are wont to ask, " How do these
northern people contrive to hire their force — to rear and educate their families,
keep out of debt, and even lay up something out of their wee-wee farms at the
end of the year ?" Well, to proceed :

Having heard the common rumor of IMr. Hall's well-conducted dairy establish-
ment and piggery, and that he was going ahead and improving his land at the
same time, riding by one afternoon at twilight, Ave halted, "hitched" our horse

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A BREAKFAST-TABLE CO.WERSATIOX. 307

(a most miserable, flat-footed, down-headed beast), and going directly to the cow-
pen, very near his house, met Mr. H. witii his pail in hand, just about to join his
men, and lake his own station to pull away at the well-tilled udder of a well-fed
cow. Here, methinks, I can almost hear the southern reader, sitting probably
at that very moment In his piazza, whiffing his fragrant Havana, while his care-
less colored women were half-milking some twenty cows a mile off, without su-
pervision or responsibility — we almost fancy we can hear him exclaim, " That 's
enough, sir — you need not proceed. Where one reason is all-sullicient, the rest
may be omitted. If the man milks his own cows, I give it up .' for, with such a
root, any tree must flourish !" But let us get along with our sketch.

Mr. Hall, laying aside his milk-pail, insisted that we shuuld go into his house
and take a seat, that being deemed a sine qua non toward getting acquainted,
and discharging, on his own part, the duties of hospitality. In exterior his dwell-
ing was as unpretending as dwelling could well be — like Col. C.'s, at Saratoga ;
but like his, too, inside all cleanliness and comfort. By the by, who can avoid —
for the life of us we never could — on entering a dAvelling, the true province and
dominion of the good huswife, from slyly casting around to see how things look
in her department — whether the windows are washed, paint scoured, hearth
cleanly swept up, cupboard neatly arranged, mantle and chairs and chair-boards
dusted, cobwebs not a speck to be seen — all, all " set ia order," and neat and
clean " as a bandbox"? But, gentle ladies, even all that, let us warn you, does
not satisfy the judgment of men who, while they may closely scrutinize your
housewifery, entertain, as we profess to do, the highest possible respect for the
important, the noble station which Providence has assigned you in the eyes of all
men of sense, and which honor and duty alike enjoin upon you to fulfill, with
care and with pride, whatever, whether high or low, may be your rank or for-
tune ; but, if possible, with more obligatory force and necessity in the country
than elsewhere.

Too well are all men of observation aware that all is not gold that glitters —
the fairest looking apple is sometimes rotten at the core. The hall, the parlor,
the show-rooms, and all apartments in common view, may indicate minute atten-
tion and good taste on the part of the mistress, whose eye is best of all brushes ;
and yet, as it sometimes happens, the chambers of such a house may be the re-
ceptacles of fllth — the cellars the convenient repository of every offal — the kitch-
en the scene of waste, and lounge of every idle loafer about the place — the dairy
be poisoned with the bad odors of superfluous moisture and half-scoured utensili?.
"We have seen such establishments with disgust ; but much more doth it rejoice
us to say that we have known and enjoyed establishments (when we had one to
enjoy) where " the lady of the house," like the truly brave soldier who, when
roused at midnight, springs at once to his arms, ready to do battle — so can such
a woman, in proud defiance of the strictest scrutiny, take husband or stranger by
the light of the lamp or the light of the sun, by day or by night, from the garret
to the cellar — open every closet and every drawer — and demand, "Where do you
find, in my department, a pin or a feather out of place, a mickle of waste, or a
garment without a button V But, to achieve all this, she should have all need-
Jul help. Such only is the woman who deserves the name of a good housewife ;
hut he who possesses her possesses a treasure of inestimable value, and bad in-
deed must be his own management if, with her thrift and her example and en-
couragement, he fail to thrive. " She looketh well to the ways of her household,
and eateth not the bread of idleness."

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308 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

But to return once more to Mr. Hall and his management. Being at the time
of this first call " belated," and yet wishing not to indulge an idle and imperti-
nent curiosity, but catering with honest intent for that which is our chief care —
information or amusement for our readers — we excused ourselves from staying
for supper, saying to the good lady of the house that, if she could promise a glass
of fresh buttermilk, we would ask the favor to have a seat at her breakfast-table
the next morning. The promise was graciously made, the hour announced, and
so we departed.

True to our engagement (arid not forgetful of the buttermilk^, the next morn
ing found us seated at the table — and with whom, does the reader suppose ? —
Mr. Hall and his wife and children, with servants in attendance to fetch and
carry, and laborers eating or waiting in an out-house ? Not at all. There were
the husband, the wife, and several laboring young men, who had milked the
cows, and were busy with other work until after breakfast, when they should
all, with the boss in the lead, repair to the fields for the regular labors of the day.
A most substantial breakfast, too good for tyrant kings and no less tyrannical
demagogues, had been all at once placed before us, to be partaken of at once and
equally by every one whose labor contributed to the products of the farm. The
*' help" in attendance consisted of one young woman, who had assisted to cook
what she served up. The laboring young men were in their working-clothes,
and their deportment marked by that discretion and good temper, and their ap-
pearance indicating a degree of physical energy, which were all calculated to in-
sure harmony in the social circle, and success to the labors of the farm. Of what
that labor produces, and the system on which it is conducted, we have now to
speak — not, as before stated, systematically, but as the facts came to light in the
course of unstudied inquiry and impromptu answers.

About one-half of the 50 acres kept under the plow is in " hoed crops," chiefly
corn, pumpkins and potatoes. For these his practice is to plow his land in au-
tumn and spring, according as he can get time ; but, to an inquiry on that point,
jie answered that he was of opinion that the nearer the plowing should be to the
^planting time, the belter. The relative advantage of fall and spring plowing
"pr-esents to the inquiring agriculturist, it may here be remarked, an interesting
question. Much in this case depends, no doubt, on "the previous crop and con-
dition of the land, and on the climate. But we must avoid farther episodes. —
Mr. H. plants his corn only three feet each way, and six or seven grains in a hill,
counting on five or six to " stand," and, if the land is rich, to average an ear
for each stalk. In this may be found one of the mysteries how it is that such
heavy crops of Indian corn, from 80 to 100 bushels— premium crops — are gath-
lercd from land in this northern climate, considered to be comparatively uncon-
■genial to the constitution of that noble plant. Hills at 3 feet apart give 4,840
:to the acre, and 5 ears to the hill give 24,200 ears. The reason that it bears to
'be thus thickly planted is, that it does not grow to more than half the hight
of southern corn. Nature seems to have provided for the drier climate of the
South a plant with more leaf to imbibe the dew and rain, and, if planted as
thick as at the North, it would not produce half a crop. The pollen could not
fall upon the silk to impregnate the car. The much vaunted " Duttoji corn''^
proved a failure in the South. Behold another digression !

If it be sward laud, designed for corn, Mr. H. plows it but once. The sward
is inverted, and the top of it so inverted left undisturbed through the season >
swhile the soil which, by inversion, is brought to the tup, is afterward worked

(G41;

A BREAKFAST-TABLE CONVERSATION. 309

exclusively with harrow and cultivator. These implements, by the by, have
become so common that, like old, familiar friends, we rarely reflect on their
hibor-saving and excellent qualities. Let those who would calculate them turn
to the table in the Monthly Journal of Agricultukk, page 177 of the current
volume. His manure is all composted, and carried into the lields, but not
spread or used before the land is turned up with the plow. It is there put in
heaps, where it is turned two or three times, and soon ferments and becomes
mellow. His compost is made in the barn-yard only when intended for use
near at hand. After the land is plowed for its crops, the manure is spread
broadcast, 20 to 25 loads of half-cord — that is, 4 feet long, 4 feet deep, and 4
feet wide, to the load — equal in fertilizing power, probably, to 100 loads of
ordinary coarse manure, from barn-yards where cattle are fed entirely on straw
and "shucks," and the manure exposed to all weathers. Slic/c a pin there,
good reader I

laZr' Again : He then "cultivates" or harrows the land two or three times,
before planting, mitil the land is in fine tilth and the manure thoroughly inter-
mixed ! Then he "lays it ofl"" with a labor-saving marker, that will mark
three rows at a lime. This marker " any smart man will make in two hours
with cultivator teeth." He wishes never to disturb the underlying sod, which
is going on rotting, and as it rots affording nourishment to the crops above it.
Twice going over with the cultivator each way, making four times, he finds suffi-
cient for corn. But the reader will do well to bear in mind the ends in view,
the staples — as he goes along, to wit : Hogs and Cows to be fed through the
summer — the former being always "kept up," except when sometimes turned
into the pea-field. Oats and barley arc sown sometimes separately, but fre-
quently as a mixed crop. Sometimes peas — a " Juvie pea " resembling, but
smaller than the Marrowfat. Sometimes the hogs are turned into the pea-field.

Instead of peas in Kentucky they sow fields of rye for hogs, which are turned
in when, perhaps, not dead-ripe ; and the grain Avhich finds its way and is left
iu the ground, inakes fine fall pasture for mules and cattle. This we have sup-
posed might be done with profit on the southern Atlaatic board. But the peas
are most usually cut and fed to the hogs in the pen. When barley and oats are
sowed together, which are found to do well, or either separately, the measure is
three bushels of seed to the acre, and with them, or rather on them, clover and
timothy. Of these grains (barley and oats), mixed or alone, his usual crop is
40 bushels to the acre, which he considers a good fair crop, though he frequently
gets 50 and 60 — sometimes 50 of barley, but esteems 30 to 35 to be a fair yield.
These grains are ground together, and mixed with vegetables ; so are all sorts
of grain — corn, rye, buckwheat; and all are the better for being cooked, espe-
cially when used with vegetables, which generally consist of pumpkins and po-
tatoes— usually the latter, though these have been difficult to raise the last four
or five years.

He sometimes feeds his hogs on apples, but does not value them highly. He
depends much on cutting clover for his hogs ; yet you shall hear many who have
abundance of clover wonder what men can do for want of food, other than grain,
for hogs that are kept up in summer time.

Mr. Hall killed last year 75 hogs, that weighed 15,000 pounds, and got
for them 5\ cents per pound. He keeps an average number of about 22 cows
through the year, and sells about two tons of butter, 2,000 pounds to the ton, at
an average of 20 cents a pound. He has ibis year sent about 1,000 pigs to the

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310 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

Boston market, by railroad, from a depot of which, at Canaan Center, he lives
some 7 or 8 miles. These pigs averaged about 45 pounds at two months old,
and brought 9 cents a pound. They are fed " on the sow" and on sour milk and
meal. They begin to eat at four weeks old, when he gives them "something
they like." Without entering upon philosophical disquisitions about the matter,
Mr. Hall sententiously remarked that the proper business of a hog's life was "-to
do nothing hut to eat and sleep."

His hogs not unfrequently reach 600 weight at 18 months old. He showed
eight pigs of one litter that, when killed, at about 14 months, will, he judges —
we think within the mark — average 300 each. He makes it a point in cold
weather to keep his hogs clean and dry — a dry bed and clean straw are the sine
qua non with him. How unlike two hogs we saw, late in November, not many
miles from Washington, in a small pen, from which there Avas no escape for the
very liquid mud and water, several inches deep, in which they were standing all
day, and lying down only when they could stand no longer, without a particle of
litter of any kind, or any precaution to save a particle of their manure ; and this
in full view every day. Though one swallow may not prove the access of sum-
mer Aveather, yet one sight like that would convince the most partial judge that
the farmer who could sleep in his bed, with hogs left to sleep in such a bed as
that, had altogether mistaken his calling. It would be as impossible to make a
thriving farmer out of such an one, as to make great and wise rulers out of
demagogues.

Mr. Hall looks to pumpkins as quite an important item in his resources for
both cows and hogs. His pumpkins are planted among corn, thick as that is
planted, and he gets from an acre about 20 loads of the common field ptmipkin.
These he finds quite susceptible of frost, and are best kept in a shed covered with
straw, and not in cellars. It is important to keep them dry. As they are liable
to be destroyed by frost, good economy dictates that they be fed early in the sea-
son, both raw and cooked ; when raAV, they are cut in half for the cows, and " they
will manage them." His cardinal rule is to sell neither grain or straw off his
place, but, turning all into manure, he keeps his farm, as every man does whose
foundation is not giving way, alioays in a state of progressive improvement,
be that never so little. Another great reliance with him for manure is on muck,
of which there is a constant supply within a few feet of the back of his piggery.
That is kept well supplied with muck generally, but most especially when his
hogs are fed with vegetables, and when, therefore, their voidings turn the muck
to most account.

We were not a little surprised to learn how long their meadows, even some
on hill-sides, as at Col. Chapman's, near Saratoga, are kept unbroken, yielding
good crops of grass. Mr. Hall showed a lot which had been under the scythe
for more than fifty years.

This whole region enjoys the reputation of being very healthy. The water
is good, the temperature delightful, the topography of the country such as to
secure it against stagnation and malaria, and, above all, the people industrious
and sijber. Mr. Hall's father had moved here from Connecticut 65 years ago,
and died last spring, at the age of 85. He showed a field of corn, which he
seemed not to consider extraordinary, and from which he counted on 60 bush-
els of corn to the acre. With such management, and such appliances of ma-
nure— such fine tilth in the way of preparation, and such frequent and nice cul-
tivation— what crops might not be grown on the river and creek bottoms of

(6-16)

A BREAKFAST-TABLE CONVERSATION. 311

Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina? Take, for proof, the following ex-

^^^^^ • " Washington, D, C.

" I have lately returiiod from my plantation in Charles County, Md. I have made some-
where about 11,000 barrels of com. ueaily half ' housed,' of tiie best sound quality ; and some
of the land has been so much more productive than Maryland corn-lands have credit for, that
I must make a statemeat, on the credit of my overseer, upon which I rely, that seems to me
worthy ol' j'l'blication — as ibllows:

'' Upon scant two acres of my land, by measurement, situated immediately adjacent to
Nanjamoy Creek, imder the management of Jamks K. Nash, the overseer, tvventj-hve bar-
rels, or one hundred and twenty-tive bushels, of good merchantable corn, by actual measure-
ment, were i-aiscd the juLst season, and five bushels more of * nubbins,' or short com — thus
making upward of sixty bushels to the acre. The corn had been 2)lauted 3^ feet apart, 2
feet between die hills, and two stalks in a iiill.

" The ovei-se(n- (sujjeradiled to the fivorable season for those who had planted early) as-
ciibes his success to deep plowing. There had been no luuisual application of maimre. —
The preceduig year the same laud had produced a fair quantity of tobacco, of good quality.

"Truly yours, B. O. T."

It will be seen that, according to the above arrangement, there stood on the
acre 12,444 stalks, while on Mr. Hall's there were 24,200. We think it probable,
however, that on Mr. Tayloe's land each hill of two stalks yielded an average
of 3 or 4 good ears. But the probability is that his was of the yellow or white
gourd seed species, which would considerably oversheil, ear for ear, the bright,
hard, yellow (lint corn, planted in the Northern States. So much for the over-
looked, neglected, and much berated and belied lands of Maryland and Vir-
ginia, possessing advantages of cheap transportation, vicinity to market, and
easiness to be worked, unequaled, when combined, to any in this Union. But
some other occasion must be taken to amplify and verify this incidental point.
For that purpose and to execute it more thoroughly, we propose, when we can
get lime, a personal survey. Let us proceed with our breakfast, and familiar
categorical conversation over our pitcher of buttermilk.

Mr. Hall and his neighbors are getting, we were glad to learn, all alive to
the vast importance oi under-draining their lowlands. He cuts his drains about
2k feet deep, and fills in with about I5 feet of stone; then inverts the sward
on the stone, and fills up with the dirt thrown from the dram. He doubts not
that the lands in the valley generally will double their present crops when well
under-drained, but we apprehend much will be imperfectly done in the begin-
ning. Our memorandum is that he could get under-draining done, where the
stone is at hand, for 50 cents a rod of I65 feet ; but that seems almost too cheap
to be correct — that is, if the drainer completes the work from beginning to end;
though we feel confident that Avas the statement ; and, upon reflection, a stout
man — especially an Irish ditcher, with his amphibious, muskrat habits — might do
good work at that, especially if found by his employer. We think it probable
that 31 instead of 2^ feet deep would be better, and even cheaper in the long run.

After laying down his fields to grass, succeeding his root crops, the heaviest
crop is taken off the second year, but he counts on about 2| tons for the first
three years. Hay being worth there about $7 at the mow, this would give
$17 50 an acre, with none but the cost of cutting and curing. And, after all,
the great difference between the North and South is, that in the North their
crops are but a short time on hand — that is, their hoe crops, and their staples,
hay, stock, butter and cheese, hops, wool, apples, and fruit and poultry, require
comparatively little labor and short time to realize their value ; whereas, in the
South, the crops — rice, cotton, sugar and tobacco — are on hand from year's end
to year's end. The harvest-home trenches on the seed-time; it's toil, toil, toil
. — trouble, trouble, trouble — all the year round. Instead of the northern farm

(647J

312 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

requiring superior skill and diligence, as many suppose, the reverse is the fact.
The owner, who should always be the head manager of the southern planta-
tion, should be able not only to teach the soldier how to go through the man-
ual exercise, but he must have the skill and the firmness, the science and the
tact, of the general, to combine and command. He has need to be a practical
chemist and a manufacturer, as well as a practical planter. The public mind
is in a fog on tnis subject. The management of a northern farm lies in a nut-
shell— a cow-bell may be heard l>om one side of it to the other. A southern
cotton or rice or sugar plantation is a wide domain, and he who makes the most
of it must know something of hydraulics, of civil engineering, of complicated
machinery, of vegetable chemistry, and of physic and metaphysics in thje bar-
gain I But enough of this, too, for the present — let us back to our theme, or
we shall never be done Avith this buttermilk breakfast.

We profess to hold in great contempt all mere statements of facts and re-
sults, without affording the means of applying them or of drawing some useful
and practical conclusions — as premiums are given by Societies for big crops
and fat hogs, without examination or means furnished for exactly understand-
ing the means to the end. Of what avail to say, for example, that Mr. Hall
makes a certain quantity of hay or corn on the acre, or a certain quantity of
butter, or that he kills a certain amount of pork, without affording the means
to judge of the profits, by showing the value of his investment in land, and
of the food employed, and the marketable price of the commodities produced
and for sale, &c. ? So we proceed to slate that, at the time referred lo, hay
was worth $7 at his barn-door, corn about 50 cents, oats 33, barley 52 — the
last generally about 50, and Mr. H. thought it worth that for food for hogs.
He thinks the relative value of corn, barley, and oats, as food, bears about
the same proportion they do lo each other in u-eight ; the weight of corn
being 56 to 60 — which we suppose to be somewhat heavier than southern
corn — barley 48, and oats 32. These are the standard weights. The real
weight of oats is usually here from 30 to 32. Our impression is that mount-
ain oats — Alleghany oats, for example— go up usually to 40 pounds to the bushel ;
" Eastern Shore" oats, 28. For various grains, in many States, there is no stand-
ard weight. Better would it be to sell everything, where it is possible, by loeight
than by measure ; and better for the farmer, and the character of any market,
that the standard of quality (flour, for instance) should always be kept high, and
lionestly preserved.

At Quebec, meats are nearly all sold by women, sitting in carts, in a square
outside the market, and the purchaser pays, with confidence, according to small
gashes cut in the grain of the meat — as thus, IX. for nine pounds. You turn over
the pieces, into which the meat is all ready cut up, until you find one bearing as
near as may be the mark of the weight you want : and, when you find these Utile
gashes, you pay the old woman accordingly; and we were told that such a thing
as cheatery or deception was almost unheard of. Well, says the reader, this was
a most unconscionable breakfast, to last so long.

Inasmuch, then, as we have yet to speak more particularly of his butter — its
manufacture, sending to market, and sale; also, the facilities the railroad affords
to agriculturists, so much beyond what is enjoyed in the South ; also, of the for-
malities of sending to market and getting account sales, together with the price
of lands in the neighborhood — we must here break off, and finish wiih some re
marks on these topics in our next number, if not "crowded out.''
(648)

SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 313

SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH.

[The series of letters of which the following are the beginning, from Henry S. Randall,
Esq., of Cortland Village, N. Y., to R. F. W. Allston, Esq., of Waccamaw Beach, (near
Georgetown, South Carolina,) will be continued; and will be found, when completed, to
embrace a full Manual of Sheep Hu.sbandiy and Wool Growing for the Southern States, with
a very fair and thorough investigation of all the facta which go to throw light on the feasibil-
ity and profitableness of those branches of industry in the region alluded to.

It was certainly not from any want of sheep books, nor of essays on Sheep Hu.sbandry,
within our reach, founded either on general inquiries into the subject, or on local and partiid
experience, that we urged on the writer the pre[)aration of these letters. The good will
of authors and pubhshcrs, and the liberality of the Publishers of The Farmers' Library
keep us supplied with all works of any authority on this and other branches of agricultural
industry. But in the midst of these abundant materials for general information, we have long
desired to present something which, without interference with the rights and labors of
others, might be confidently exhibited as th(; special fruit of careful investigation and actiial
experience on the part of sotne enlightened and practical sheep fanner. Here, accordingly,
we ofter the views of one, acquu-ed under circumstances and with a power of discrimination
that enable him to adapt his observations to the climate, wants and means of that very large
portion of our country in which this important resource appeal's to have been too long over-
looked and neglected.

It would be altogether supei-fluous to enlarge on the importance of adding to the staple
products of any region one so considerable as is Wool, where Nature has proN-ided the
means of producing it.]

LETTER I.

EFFECT OF CLIMATE ON THE HEALTH AND WOOL-PRODUCING
aUALITIES OF SHEEP.

Introductory Remarks... \Vool-Growin£» and Manufacnuins Ptatistici! of the Southern States compared
with those of New- York. ..Effect of Warm CUmHtes on ilie lliiilth of .Sheep. ..?heep in the gouthern
States below latitude 3'J'^. ..Eflect of Climate on Wool-Producing Qualities of Sheep — on the Quantity of
the Wool.. -Weight of Fleeces in the Southern States indicated by U. S. Census of 1840 — Important Omis-
(rions in that Census — Other important Errors in it. . .Table of Weights of Fleeces in Four Counties where
they average highest in each of the Southern Slates and in New-York — Latitude, Topography and Climate
of those Counties. . .Warmth of Climate conducive to the Production of Wool — Reasons.

R. F. W. A1.LSTON, Esq—

Dear Sir : That spirit which prom{)ts communities and States to at-
tempt to I'cncler themselves independent, so far as the supply of physical
wants is concerned, of other communities and States, is an eminently
proper one, up to certain limits. Beyond these, it degenerates into mere
sectional selfishness, as deserving of reprobation in the community as in
the individual — nay, more so, for it militates more widely against the in-
terests and happiness of mankind. Agricidture supplies the mo,>^t of our
physical wants which are not administered to spontaneously by Nature.
In this great department of human labor,it is not difficult to decide how far
the inhabitants of each particular region are called upon to rear from the
earth what their wants require. Nature herself has, in the distribution of
soils and climates, both indicated and limited the production of many of
the agricultural staples, bv geographical boundaries, sometimes topically

(649) .- c= o 1

314 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

and sometimes by whole regions. This compels those practicing Agricul-
ture, both as individuals and masses, to make that " division of labor"
which, as in the mechanic arts, gives a better knowledge of its principles
and a greater expertness in its practical manipulations. It also creates
the necessity of exchange. Exchange is commerce, and commerce begets
and diffuses civilisation.

Agricultural production, then, should be controlled by the demand or
want, and by the adaptation of the country to such production. It would
be absurd, for example, for New-York to attempt to raise its own rice
and cotton, instead of exchanging the surplus of what it can most readily
produce for that rice and cotton, or selling its surplus where it is wanted,
and buying the rice and cotton with the proceeds. But, on the other hand,
it would be equally absurd for New-York to be dependent on South
America or Australia for her wools, when she can raise that staple just as
w^ell as those countries, and thus save paying for transportation and the
hire or commission of the agents of exchange.

Though Nature both indicates and limits the production of staples by
soils and climates, she too rigidly enforces the primal curse, or perhaps
we should say blessing, of labor, to bring forth each, indigenously, in the
regions adapted to it, or ever to place them there, unless transported by
the enterprise and industry of man. The potato and maize were a recent
gift from this continent to the easteni. The debt has been repaid by rice,
the sugar cane, the horse, the cow, the sheep, and a multitude of other
plants and animals. How singular is the history of some of their deporta-
tions ! The sugar cane, now furnishing an important staple in some of our
own Southern States, originated in the eastern confines of Asia ; was not
vouchsafed to the Greek and Roman ; traveled into Arabia about the
last of the thirteenth century ; passed thence into Africa ; was carried
by the INIoors into Spain ; by the Spaniards and Portuguese into the West
India Islands ; and thence we received it. Rice, the gi'eat staple of
your own State, sir, a plant of which it has been said that it " has altered
the face of the globe and the destiny of nations," originated also in Asia,
and has traveled by the same slow stages, until it has reached that low
zone which skirts our south-eastern shores, to render its vast marshes, oth-
erwise useless, as jjrofitably productive as the best grain or cotton lands
of the Southern States.

Here, sir, we find an instructive lesson. Other regions there are in our
Southern States, now, nearly as useless as would be her "hammocks"
without rice, inviting the introduction of some other gieat staple to sup-
ply, if feasible, a home demand, and a sur})lus for profital)le exportation.
If this great object can be achieved, and by the same means, the husbandry
of the regions now under cultivation be made to assume that mixed and
convertible character which will both add to their present proceeds, and
better sustain their fertility, for future demands on them, a benefit will be
conferred on the South the present and final results of which it would
be difficult to overestimate. Repudiating theoretic speculation and vague
conjecture — advancing just so far and no farther than we find our way
illumined by the broad and certain light of facts, let us inijuire what im-
portant staple tliere is, not now extensively ]noduced at the South, which
would come within and at the same time fill the requirements I have men-
tioned.

Woolen fabrics constitute an important item in the imports of the South-
em States, and for those tliey exc]iau<rc the proceeds of no inconsiderable
2:)roporti()n of their industry wilh tint Northern States and with Europe.

The fi)llowIng table will exhibit the po|)ulation, and the amount of home

(G50J

SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH.

315

production inthe.se staples, according to the U. S. census of 1840, in the
States south of the Ohio and Potomac, and west of the IMiss^i.ssippi, (in-
cluding Louisiana,) in 1839. To these are added, by way of comparison,
the stati.stics of the State of New-York, under the same heads, for the
same year :

TABLE No. 1.

States.

Population.

A'o. of Sheep.

Lbs. of Wool.

IVo. of Woolen
Factories.

Value of IVooUm]
Maniifacturedi
Goods. 1

1,239,797
7.53,419
.594.398
691,392
54,477
590,756
375,651
352,411
829,210
779,825

1,293,772
538,279
232,981
267.107
7,138
163,243
128,367
98,072
741,593

1,008,240

2,538.374

625,044

299,170

371,303

7.285

200,3.53

175.196

49,283

1,060,332

1,786,847

41 1 147.792 !

North (Carolina . ..
South Carolina . ..

3

1

26

40

3,900
1,000
3,000

14,000
151,246

Alabama

Mississippi

Louisiana

Tennessee

Kentucky

Total

6.-,-6 1.336

4.478,852

7,1.33,187

114

320.938
3.537,337

New- York

2.428,921

5.118.777

9 84.5.295

323

The above is only given to indicate approximate general results ; for,
as I shall subsequently show, the returns of the product of wool are inac-
curate to the last degree.

The question now arises, whence the immense disparity in the growth
and manufacturing of wool in the State of New-York, comprising 46,000
Bquare miles of territory, and less than two and a half millions of popula-
lation, and the ten States above enumerated, covering an area of 49.5,000
square miles, and exceeding six millions of population ] Is the growing of
wool, (for we will first consider this, as the main question, leaving the sub-
ject of manufacturing for subsequent examination,) to its present extent,
})roHtable or unprofitable in the State of New-York \ I contend, and shall
attempt to prove, that taking a term of say ten or fifteen years, it has been
the most profitable branch of industry carried on in the State. If this is
true, why is it not equally profitable in the Southern States ?* Is there
anything in their climate which renders them less favorable to the health
or wool-producing (jualities of the sheep — or is there anything in their
topographical features, soils, herbage, or other circumstances, which unfits
them for a natural and easy adaptation to sheep husbandry ] Or have
they other staples so much more profitable that it is not an object to grow
wool ?

Having bestowed some attention on these points, and having been prac-
tically familiar with the most minute details of sheep husbandry from my
childhood, I have thought that the conclusions I have anived at, and the
facts on which I have based them, might not be uninteresting to you. To
bring these facts connectedly before you, I shall necessarily be driven to
repeat some matter from my own and the writings of others, which you
have doubtless before seen in the publications of the day.

Let us now take up the first of the two preceding questions ; and first I
will call your attention to the effect of Climate.

Sheep have been bred, time out of mind, on the Eastern Continent,
from the Equator to the 65th degree of north latitude, from the buniing
jilains of Africa and Asia, to the almost perpetual frosts cf Iceland. The
Merino, (the different families of which, as will be shown, constitute the
only varieties suitable for wool gi'owing on a scale of any considerable
extent,) has been bred in Europe, for ages, as far south as between the

* When I u=e the words " >'outhem States," without farther speciticnlion, you will understand me to
mean the ten enumerated in Table Ist.
(651)

3iG MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

36th and 37th parallels of latitude, and has, within the last few years, been
acclimated with perfect success as far north as various points in Sweden.

If any difficulty exists in the chmate of tlie United States, rendering it
unsuitable for the rearing of sheep and wool, it must be its heat ; and this
must affect the wool-producing qualities of the animal alone, and not its
health, as the following facts will show. There were upward of GGO,000
sheep in the five most southern States, in 1839. In Florida, they have
been acclimated as far south as the 29th degree. In Louisiana, Mississippi,
Alabama, and Georgia, they not only flourish in the northern and more
elevated sections, but on the low, fenny, tide-water region which skirts the
Gulf of Mexico. In the above five States there were, in 1839, upward of
190,000 sheep below the 32d degree of latitude, viz. : in Georgia 32,986,
Florida 7,198, Alabama 22,053, Mississippi 56,780, Louisiana 81,627.*
They graze with equal impunity the vegetation on the margin of the
Great Okefinokee Swamp (in Georgia and Florida) and on that which
rankly flourishes among the ooze at the mouths of the Mississippi. It may
interest some less acquainted than you are, sir, with this subject, to know
that in 1839 the county in which New-Orleans stands (Orleans) contained
1,807 sheep; Jefferson, on the opposite side of the river, 6,871 ; St. Ber-
nard, extending from Orleans to the Gulf, 1,154; Plaquemine, almost sur-
rounded by the waters of the Gulf, and comprising the delta of the Missis-
sippi, 1,832 ; Lafourche Interior, on the Gulf, 1,253 ; TeiTobonne, another
Gulf county, 1,013; St. Mary's, another, 8,211; and La Fayette, another,
2,622.t

No portion of the United States is lower, hotter, or more unhealthy,
than much of the preceding, and none, according to commonly received
notions, would be more unsuited to the healthy production of sheep. Yet,
that they ai"e healthy in these situations is a matter of perfect notoriety to
all conversant with the facts. So far as health is concerned, then, we are
assuredly authorized to assume the position that no portion of the L'nited
States is too warm for sheep.

We come now to the effect of climate on the wool-producing qualities
of the animal. Assuming the census returns of the United States in 1840
as reliable data, they would furnish strong proof that the warmth of the
climate has a marked effect in diminishing the weight of wool per sheep ;
and they have been adduced as furnishing conclusive evidence to that ef-
fect, by persons more accustomed to broad assertion than patient investi-
gation.

The following will give the weight of wool per head in the States enu-
merated in Table No. 1, estimated from the census returns of 1840 :

TABLE No. 2.

Lbs. Oz.

Virginia 1 7 845

North Carolina 1 2 iJ'21

South Carolina 1 3 C>'M)

Georgia 1 4 487

Florida 1 0 410

Lbs. Oz.

Alabama 1 4 146

Mississippi 1 4 227

Louisiana 0 8 040

Tennessee 1 4 809

Kentucky 1 6 971

New-York 1 lb. 7 680

But an examination of the census will show that so far as several of
these States are roncemed, it is entitled to very little credit, in this par-
ticular, and that it is correct in relation to none of them.

In Louisiana, in fourteen counties from which 30,201 sheep, or nearly
one-third in the whole State, are returned, not a pound of wool is returned.

In Florida, four counties, returning 228 sheep, return no wool. Let us

U. S. Census, 1840. t lb.

(602)

SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 317

examine the comparative products, per head, as set forth in some of the
counties from which returns of sheep and wool are botli made, with a view
of testinj^ their accuracy. Escambia returns 485 sheep, and 837 lbs. of
wool ; Walton 386 sheep, and .075 lbs. of wool ; Leon 1,798 sheep, and
3,360 lbs. of wool — or an approximation to 2 lbs. of wool per head. Nas-
sau returns 436 sheep, and 1,200 lbs. of wool, or about 3 lbs. per head.
On the other hand, Gadsden returns 1,875 sheep, and 512 lbs. of wool;
Jefferson 752 sheep, and 300 lbs. of wool ; Madison 223 sheep, and 50 lbs.
of wool; Jackson 960 sheep, and 376 lbs. of wool, or not quite a third of
a pound per fleece ! Now Leon is bounded on the west by Gadsden, and
on the east by Jefl'erson, and all lie in the same latitude, and do not differ
essentially in their soil, herbage, or temperature ! Madison lies imme-
diately east of Jefferson, (though its southern angle extends somewhat
farther south,) and Jackson joins Walton. Nassau is in the same latitude.
Hamilton, returning no sheep, returns the product as 20 lbs. of wool !

In Mississippi, eight counties returning 15,227 sheep, return no wool ;
and there are repeated instances of the same glaringly obvious errors that
have been exhibited in the statistics of Florida. For example, Smith
county returns 741 sheep, and 1,067 lbs. of wool; Wayne 921 sheep, and
1,166 lbs. of wool. Jasper, bounding Smith on the east, returns 1,848
sheep, and 418 lbs. of Wool; and Clarke, bounding Wayne on the north,
1,199 sheep, and 188 lbs. of wool ! By this, the sheep of Clarke shear less
than 3 oz. per head, while those of the next county shear over a pound
and a half per head. There are various other instances of under retunis
in the State.

In Alabama, two counties returning 2,138 sheep, return no wool; and
in eight counties there are the same glaring instances of under returns with
those given above.

In Georgia there is but one omission to return the wooj, where the
sheep are returned. In that county there were 3,360 sheep. There are
eight or nine instances of obvious under returns, but these in the aggre-
gate of the State are partly balanced by two gross cases of over retunis.
Cobb county returns 3,524 sheep, and 36,057 lbs. of wool ; and Richmond
758 sheep, and 3,032 lbs. of wool !

In South Carolina there are at least six instances of under returns.

In North Carolina there are no returns of wool in one county, contain-
ing 2,163 sheep, and in another 7,260 lbs. of wool are returned, and no
sheep. There are ten cases of obvious under returns. In one of them
46,340 sheep are made to yield but 12,686 lbs. of wool.

In Virginia there are no omissions, and no obvious under returns. There
are several over returns.

In Tennessee there are no omissions, but there are seven obvious under
returns and two or three over returns.

In Kentucky and New-York there are not sufficient erroneous returns
to materially vary the aggi'egate.

The foi-egoing facts show that the Marshals in many counties in tha
most southern States entirely neglected their duty in returning the pro
duct of wool ; and where over or under returns have been made, it is
probable that, by a misappi'ehension of duty, the amount of wool on hand
was ascertained and noted down, instead of the annual clip.

And there is another and general error in these statistics, throughout all
the States, by the census including in the number of sheep the lambs of
the current season, which had not, of course, been sheared at the time of
taking the census. A, at the time of. taking the census, owned a flock of
200 sheep over one year old, and 100 lambs. He would give in his flock

(653j

318

MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

to the Marshal as oOO, of course, for the census makes no distinction be-
tween lanil>s and grown sheep. He gave in 600 lbs. of wool, which would
be 3 lbs. per head for those which had been sheared. But by the lambs
being included in the census returns, it is made to appear that his sheep
sheared but 2 lbs. of wool per head. In the next census the lambs and
sheep should be separately returned, not only to obtain accuracy, (without
which such statistics are valueless,) but the annual increase thus indicated
would be, of itself, an interesting and valuable statistic.

In the preceding enumeration of eiToneous returns, I have set down
none as under retunis where the product of wool has nr^t been given as
less than a pound per head; and where it has fallen under that amount,
the returns from contiguous counties, possessing the same natural features,
exhibiting a far superior product, as well as the general complexion of the
returns throughout the State, have authorized me beyond a reasonable
doubt so to consider it. I may add, that it is a fact of universal notoriety
that there is no variety of sheep in any section of the United States, whick
shears but a pound of wool per head.* A careful inspection of the census,
moreover, will not fail to satisfy any one that there are a multitude of under
returns, (not specified by me, as the product is given over 1 lb. of wool per
head,) in most of the States. This is shown by the same kind of compari-
sons which have already been alluded to. These are far more common in
the extreme Southern States, where wool growing had not yet (in 1839)
been reduced to any system, and where sheep had been little looked after
or regarded. These eiTors grow less, as we approach the wool-growing
regions of the north and noith-west.

Taking those returns which we are authorized to consider con'ect,f it
will appear that there is no gi-eat difference in the average product of wool,
per head, in States separated by from ten to fifteen degrees of latitude,
and no more than is clearly referable to incidental or extraneous causes,
unless we come to the conclusion that the difference is in favor of the
Southern States. In proof of this, the following table is offered, giving
the products of some of those counties in each of the States enumerated
in Tables No. 1 and No. 2, which exhibit the highest averages per head,
(excluding those obviously over returned. )|

TABLE No. 3.

Virc

North Carolina.

County.

C Fauquier. . . .
] Harrison . . . .

• ] Ohio

1^ Rockingham.

Currituck . . .

Person

Perquimans .
Tyrrel

, Average PVeight nf Wool\ Total average of
per Skcfp. It/ie Counties givenW

Lbs.
9

Oz.
0225 0
"'7 011

O.y'"-'^'

35119
9 9JJ15_P_
'-' ^ 2 t) 6 H a
9 111143
^4 7 9T

714 3

'459

' 3 0 :> 7

J M (

; 3 i? 3

q 1 2(l_
'-1947

Lbs

2 H

2 0

* I conskler such to be under returns, inclcjjendenl of the mistake inade by including !aral)S in th«
enumeration,

t With vhe exception of tlie error arising from the return of lambs— which perhaps would not gr'-atly
vary the proporlionalile result.

t'lt is proper to gay that though I designed to tMte the highest averages. 1 did not go throush n formal
reckoning of the average in every county in the eleven States. I took those which ai)peared the bigbcGt,
after a somewhat careful general in.ipeclion.

II Excluding the IVaclioiia of the ounces in preceding column.
(liSl;

SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH.

319

TABLE No. 3— fCoritinucfl.)

County.

.Aouuge WciglUoj yy'uol
' per tlhei-p.

South Carolina.

Beaufort ....

Darlington . .

Gc'ori^ctovvn .

^ RichhmJ . . . .

Lbs. O.'..
^) lOlOQt

*ao4r
2 0

1 1911SJ0

Georgia

Florida

Bibb . . .
Murray

Tv\t'^l;\s
Ware .

•^ Q 30 6
"- '^117¥

'- ^'^5 7 8

'-' ^"^20 13

2 1^^

Escambia
Leon ....
Nassau . .

Alabama

Blount. .
Jackson .
Autauga
Greene .

1 ll-^-^~

^ ^ ^ 4 8 .5

8 9 9

2 13JL0-

1 V.

1 15Jf

0 fi6.3_90
"6551

1 15-1-9-3-

^ ^-^1883
9 0 --^ai.

Mississippi

Louisiana

Claiborne
Hinds . . .
Perry - - -
Warren . .

Concordia. . .
St. Helena . .
St. Tammany
W'asliineton .

Tennessee ...

Kentucky

De Kalb
Franklin
Smith . . .
Wilson .

Bourbon .
Clarke...
L awrence
Scott ....

New-York

Westchester

Ulster

Suratoga . . .
th'lean.s ....

.Riii

65^7

71 iS
' i»5 3

2 151-51-

1 713 6 1

'- '15 13

2 i^a
1 14||

9iil2.
-7 29
7 ti 1 7 9
'95^1

n H91

'^rso9

915 O 4.6
■^ 1 9"^ 0 9

1 1 3o9 7

^23 7 19

1 1 9133

^^20953

1 •'! 2 9 5 5

"1119

.-. t<9
^"6ir5 5
•^5 716.6.
604 1
9A2JL5^£
^ 1; 9 5 fi 3

J'o/'U actrojtf 1/;
ihc Cininties ginm

Lbd. Oz.

2 3V

2 n

2 1

9 71
' 2

2 11

9 9_3.

2 7^

Taking these averages as the test, it would appear that the differ-
ence between the average products of the Southern States and New-
York is, in some instances, in favor of the former. Kentucky in the
middle, and. Mississippi in the extreme South, exceed the average of New-
York.

It is proper to say, however, that various local circumstances may have
effected these results, and that taking the average of a coiisiderable num-
ber of counties, in the several States, would essentially vary them. Not-
withstanding this, the testimony which they offer is important, and he-
comes more so regarded in connection with another circumstance. The
comparative statistics of the extreme Southern States themselves show
that in a mnjority of cases their best products of wool come from their
Southern and warmer counties.

Of the four counties in Louisiana, the product of which is given above,

(635)

320 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

the most nortliern lies between the 31st and 32d degrees of latitude, and
all of the other three south of latitude Sl*^. St. Tammany, which exhibits
the second best product, borders on Lake Pontchartrain. The State ex-
tends north to latitude 33^.

In Florida, all the counties given lie in the same latitudes.

Mississippi extends north to latitude 35°. All the counties given are
south of 32° 30', and one in latitude 31°.

In Alabama, extending north to the same latitude with the above, two
of the counties given are in the northern or mountain region, and two of
them south of 33°.

In Georgia, (same northern line,) one of the counties given is in the ex-
treme north, two south of 33° and one in latitude 31°, being the county
in which lies the major portion of the Great Okefinokee Swamp !

In South Carolina, two of the counties (both bordering on the ocean)
are in the low, marshy, tide-water region ; and the other two are in the
central region.

In North Carolina,two of the counties given join the ocean ; one is on Albe-
marle Sound, while one lies in the central and northern portion of the State.

In comparing the product of wool in the Southern States with that of
the Northern — and more particularly with that of New-York — we must
not lose sight of the fact that in the latter wool growing has become an
important business, and is reduced to a system. The sheep are kept in
pastures, and are sheared at regular inteiTals. In the Carolinas, Georgia,
and the Gulf States, precisely the reverse of all this was generally true,
at least up to the year 1839. The sheep were little cared for; were suf-
fered to breed promiscuously ; and they roamed at large through forests,
where, as the warm season advanced in the spring, their wool, beginning
to detach itself, was left on shrubs and brambles, and in not rare instances
considerable portions of it were thus lost prior to shearing.*

Giving their due weight to the preceding facts, the defects in the census,
etc., it is, I think, undeniable that they account for all the deficiency in
the average product of wool per sheep in our most southern States, com-
pared with that of New- York, as set forth in Table No. 2. Indeed, sir,
my own convictions are decided, and the facts reported appear to fully
sustain them, that warmth of temperature, at least to a point equaling the
highest mean temperature in the United States, is not injurious, but abso-
lutely conducive to the j^roduction of wool. The causes of this are in-
volved in no mystery. Warm climates afford green and succulent hej'b-
age during a greater portion of the year than cold ones. Sheep plentifully
supplied with green herbage keep in higher condition than when confined
to that which is dry. High condition promotes those secretions which form
"wool. Every one at all conversant with sheep well knows that if kept
fleshy the year round, they produce far more wool than if kept poor. A
half a pound's difference per head is readily made in this way. Within
the maximum and minimum of the product of a sheep or a flock, the ra-
tio of production always coincides with that of condition.

I have dwelt on this point at great and perhaps tedious length, sir, as
the results set forth in the United States Census, unexplained, would
clearly point to a different conclusion from that to which I have arrived.
To invalidate testimony, ostensibly so certain and reliable, as well aa to
combat deep-rooted prejudices, I have deemed it necessary to scan thor-
oughly the accessible facts in the case.

* I make no arrount of diffiTrnco in bnvils, bs affoetins ihe product of wool between the South nnd
North. The i'nule Merinoa, not unconiiiKm in New -Yurk, would produce fiu- more wool than ilie " na-
tives," the iirincipal sheep in the South in 1839. But the hitter would equal or exceed the product of the
numerous Saxou flocks of New-York.
(C5(i)

SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 321

LETTER 11.

EFFECT OF CLIMATE, CONTINUED.

Kffcct of Climate on quality of Wool ... Warmth of Climate rendeiu Wool coarser — Reasons. . .Effect of
Herbage. ..Opinions of Youatt — Doclor Parry — F^nglish Staplers — VVnter...Can the tendency to grow
coarser be resisted?. . .Opinions of Yountt — Lasteyrie — Mr. Lawrence. . .Experiment in Australia — Cape of
•Good Hope — riouth of Illinois — Kentucky — Tennessee — Mississippi— New-York. . .Warm Climates render
Wools softer and Ionizer, ilius adding materially to their value. ..Proved to be the case in Australia. ..Tes-
timony of Enelish Wool.futtors and Staplers. ..Same eftect produced in the United .States. . .Testimony
of Mr. Cockiill.

Dear Sir : We come now to discuss the effect of Climate on the quality
of Wool.

There can be but little iloubt, other things being equal, that the pelage
of the Sheej) and some other animals, becomes finer in cold climates and
coarser in warm ones. This is usually attributed, by theoretical writers,
to the effect of cold and heat in contracting or expanding the pores. This
may have some effect, but to suppose that the delicate tissues of the skin
can act, to any great extent, mechanically, in compressing the harder and
highly clastic ones of the hair or wool, or compel their attenuation so as
to permit their escape through diminished apertures, like the process of
wire drawing, is, it seems to me, to assume that matter acts contrary to
its ordinary laws. I am rather disposed to look for the causes of this
phenomenon, in the amount and quality of the nutriment received by the
animal. It was stated, in my preceding letter, that warm climates, by
affording succulent herbage during a greater portion of the year, maintain
in greater activity those secretions which form wool, and thus increase the
quantity or weight of the fleece. The weight is increased by increasing
the length and thickness of the separate fibres, just as plants put forth
longer and thicker stems on rich soils than on poor ones.

Mr. Youatt, in his excellent and much quoted work on Sheep, after dis-
cussing and admitting, to a certain extent, the influence of warm temper-
atures in rendering wool coarser, says :

" Pasture has a far greater influence on the fineness of tlie fleece. The staple of the wool,
like every other part of the sheep, must increase in length or in bulk when the animal has
a superabundance of nutiiment ; and, on the other hand, the secretion which forms the wool
must decrease like every otlier, when .sufficietit nourishint nt is not afforded. When little
cold hits been experienced in tlie winter, and vegetation has been scarcely checked, the
sheep yield an abundant crop of wool, but the fleece is perceptiljly coarser as well as
heavier. When frost has been severe and the ground long covered with snow — if the flock
has been fairly supplied with nutriment, although the fleece may have lost a little in weight,
it will have acquired a superior degree of fineness and a proportionate increase of value.
Should, however, the sheep have been neglected and stai-ved during this prolongation of
cold weather, the fleece as well as the carcass is thinner : and although it may have pre-
served its smallness of filament, it has lost in weight and strength and usefubiess. These
are self-evident facts, and need not be enforced by any labored argument."*

Doct. Parry, a coirect and able English writer, remarks :
" Sheep breeders have observed a sort of gross connection between the food and quality
of the fleece. . . . The fineness of a sheep's fleece of a given breed is, within certain
limits, inversely as its fatness, and perhaps alsn (although I am not certain on this point) as
the quickness with which it grows fat. A sheep which is fat has usually comparatively-
coarse wool, and one wliic^a is lean, either fi-om wtuit of food or disease, has the finest wool ;
and the vciy same sheep may at diflerent times, according to these ciicumstiuices, have
fleeces of all the intermediate cpialities from extreme fineness to compaxcitive coarseness."

* Vouatt on Sheep, p. 70,

(657) ai

322 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

In an examination before the English House of Lords, in 1828, various
eminent staplers* testify, most decidedly, to the deterioration (in fineness)
of the British wools and their increase in length of staple, *' since the
introduction of artificial food and the adoption of the forcing system."

My own observations fully corroborate these positions. I have exam-
ined, in repeated instances, with a good microscope, the wool of individ-
ual sheep in my flock, taken in seasons when they have maintained a high
condition, and in others, when, from some incidental cause they have beea
in ordinary or poor condition, and the difference in length and fineness is,
uniformly, distinctly perceptible.

If the sheep breeder in warm climates can take advantage of the ten
dency to produce greater quantities of wool, following that supply of suc-
culent herbage throughout the year which Nature has placed at his disposal,
and at the same time, by any unexpensive means which he can employ,
combat the coi'relative tendency to inci'eased coarseness of fibre, he has
most assuredly, other things being equal, an entire advantage over the
breeder in colder regions.

We come now to the important inquiry, Can this latter tendency be
successfully combated ; or, in other woi"ds, can wool of any desirable
fineness be produced in countries as warm, for example, as Louisiana^
Mississippi, &;c. 1

Let us examine Mr. Youatt's testimony on this point also. He says :
" Temperature and pasture have influence on the fineness of the fibre, and one which the
farmer should never disregard ; but he may, in a great measure, counteract this influence by-
careful management and selection in })ree(tuig. ... A better illusti-ation of this camiot
be found than in the fact that the Merino has been ti-ansplanted to every latitude on the
temperate zone, and some beyond it — to Sweden in the North and Austr.ilia in the South —
and has retamed its tendency to produce wool exclusively, and wool of neai'ly equal fineness
and value. "t

Mr. Lasteyrie, equally good authority, uses the following language.
When he speaks of the preservation of the breed in its " utmost purity,"
we are undoubtedly to understand him to refer as much to the fineness of
the wool as any other point, this being the distingviishing mark or excel-
lence of the breed.

" The preservation of the INIeiino race in its utmost ])urity at the Ca]>e of (ioml Hope, m
the marshes of Holland, and under the rigorous climate of Sweden, furnish an atlditional
support of this, my unalterable principle : fine wool sheep may be kept wherever iutelli
gent breeders exist."t

Samuel Lawrence, Esq. the head of the great Lowell Manufacturing
Company, in Massachusetts, who, by his vast purchases of fine wool in all
parts of the United States for a long term of years, and his intimate prac-
tical acquaintance with the quality of the article, is entitled to have his
o])inion on this j)oint regarded as of as great weight as that of any other
individual, says :

" That the properties of wool are aflected by herbage and soil, I have not a doubt, and
were it not invidious, I w'ould name some sections where wool growers are greatly favored
by Nature. One thing is certain, whatever may be the character o^ the soil, where there
are good shepherds there is sure to bo found good wool. By judicious selections and cross-
ing, I believe a breed may be reared whioli will give four pounds of exquisitely fine wool
to the fleece."||

This last sentence of this imi)orlant extract, though not bearing so par-
ticularly on the point under examination, is recorded in its original con-
nection for subse(|uent reference.

Australia and the Cape of Good Hope being cited by the distinguished

' Vouutt on .*hoep, p. 71, where the names snd teBtimony of these individuals ore given, and more at
Icrmth in Bischoft'on Wouls, &c. vul. '.', p. 118 to 20(), t Tji (»— 70.

\ Lasteyrie on Merino Sheep, p. 101. || Letter of Mr. L. published in ".\aierican Shepherd," p. 436.

(658J

SHEEP HUSDANDRY L\ THE SOUTH. 323

English and Fi'ench writers above quoted, as offering instances of the per-
fectly successful acclimation of Merinos, ■\vitlu)Ut detciiuration of their
wool, in warm climates, it may be well to inquire a little more particularly
Avliat the climate of tliose countries is ; and ^^•hat, if any, the other cir-
cumstances connected with theui, having an iufluence on the quality of
the wools grown in them.

Port Jackson, in Australia, in the vicinity of which the Merinos were
first introduced, and are now extensively bred, lies in 33° 55' South lati-
tude, corresponding as nearly with the latitude of Georgetown, South
Carolina, as that of any other important point in our country** In do
scribing this region (New South Wales) INIalte l^run says :

'• The coast itself is lii<ih but not inoinitjuuous ; and it is p;utly shaded by trees of gigantic
size. Toward the soulh-ejist a great part is covered witli coppice ; nmcli also is occupied
with marshes. About Botany liayt the soil is black, rich and exceedingly productive in
plants. The north-east part seems lower. The coast is covered with mangroves. . . .
The heat ol" December rises to 112*^ Fahrenheit. The forests and the grass have been known
spontaneously to take fire.l The North-west wind, like tiie Kliamseen of Egypt, scorches
the soil and reduces it to a light dust. . . . Notwithstanding these disadvantages, the
climate is very healthy, and veiy favorable to populaiion. . . . Those parts in which
ditlerent trials have beiMi made have rather too warm a climate lor connnon barley and oats,
tiiough these grains have been found to succeed tolerably well on the poorer soils. . .
All the vegetables grown in England are produced in the English colony. . . Peaches,
apricots, nectarines, oranges, lemons, gnavas, locpiets, cherries, walnuts, almonds, grape*
pears, pomegranates and melons attain the highest maturity in the open air."||

The country, most of it, is remarkably dtsficient in watei,§ though many
portions are subject to destructive inundations.^ Its drouths are uncqualed
for their duration and intensity in, pcrliaj)s, any inhabited portion of the
globe.** Its vast plains, occasionally highly fertile, but more usually, only
in detached spots, aftbrd pasture throughout the year.

The physical featiu'es of this country, its system of sheep husbandry,
etc. will be more particularly alluded to hereafter.

The English first introduced into this remote possession the coarse hairy
sheep of Bengal. In the short sj^ace of three years these were so far
changed by the effect of the climate and other circumstances, that their
liair was entirely gone, and was succeeded by a fleece of wool.ff The
South-Down and Leicesters were subsequently introduced, and their
crosses with the Bengal sheep soon became as fine as the pure bloods of
the former. At length some Merinos were imported by tlie colonists,
and, says Mr. Youatt, " The experiment was satisfactory beyond their ex-
pectation. The third or fourth cross with the then prevalent sheep of the
colony produced an animal with a fleece equal to that of the pure Merino
in Europe ; and the wool of the pure blood seemed to improve as rapidly
as the native breed had done."f j In 1810, the export of wool from Aus-
traUa and Van Dieman's Land was 167 lbs.; in 1833, it had reached
3,51G,S69 Ibs.llll I" 18-13, it amounted to 16,220,400 lbs.§§

The following, from a table in McCidloch's Dictionary of Commerce,
will show the current prices (reduced to American currency) of some of
the imported and domestic wools, in London, March, 1834 :

$ Ct3. $ CtS.

Spanish per lb. — 60 to — 77

Portuguese — 44 '• — 02

German, Saxon, &c — 48 " 1 If)

Australian — 50 " 1 00

English : .§ cts. $ its

North & Sonth Down, per lb. — 44 to — 48

Leicester — 33 '• — 44I

Lincoln, Cotswold, Romney j

Marsh — 40 " — 44

■* Georgetown is perhaps half a doaree nearer the Equator,
t This place is twelve miles south of Port Jackson.

♦ Maltc Brun cites Collins (an author frequently quoted in relation Ui New .^outh Wales) for this strona
and, perhaps, exaiicerated assertion. || Malte Brun, vol. i. pp. 6O0-G0.5.

§ Spooner, \ouatt,etc. Ij Malte Brun. ** See McCulloch's Comtnerciai Dictionarr.

tr » ouatt on Sheep, p 184. Spocner, Diseases of Sheep, p. 63.

t: lb. p. 164. yil lb. et Spooner. §§ Spooner.

324 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

It will be seen from this, that the best Australian wools already excelled
the best Spanish, and were more than midway between them and the best
Saxon. When we consider the almost infinite difference in the care, both
in bi'eeding and management, bestowed on the Saxon and Australian sheep,
it shows most conclusively tlie adaptation of the climate of Australia to
ihe production of the finest wool — or, at least, that the adverse efi'ects of
its warm temperature, and the incidents to tliat temperature, are easily
overcome. IrK-Saxony, sheep are numbered, oftentimes their separate ped-
igrees registered, and each breeding ewe is stinted to a T'am carefully se-
lected with reference to her individual qualities. In Australia, where less
capital and labor are e4nployed, fiocks of about three hundred breeding
ewes* — where the country is destitute of timber, sometimes a thousand! —
loam from one fertile and watered spot to another over the vast plains, in
( harge of the convict shepherd ; and this system is fallowed throughout
the yeai', including the tujiping season. Three flocks are always penned
together at night,| so that as many as nine hundred bleeding ewes, of va-
lying quality, must be promiscuously bred to, say, fi'om thirty to thiiiy-five
lams, running promiscuously among them.

The Cape of Good Hope is in south latitude 34° 23' 40".

Mr. Youatt, in describing the sheep husbandry of this region, overesii-
rnated, I think, the heat of the climate. Separated by lofty mountain
ranges from the interior of Africa, the iertile regions adjoining the coast
are not swept by its scorching winds, and the temperature is comparatively
mild. " In a meteorological register kept at Cape Town, from Sept. 181S
to Sept. 1821, embracing a pei'iod of three years, the highest heat marked
is 9(P, the lowest 45°, Fahrenheit. The mean and amuial temperature
scarcely 68° — of winter 61°, of summer 89°." i| l->ut sheep and their wool
suflfer from the fine sands which are lifted and driven by the prevailing
winds. Says Malte Brun, " the wind blows often fi-om the south-east with
gi'eat violence. Nothing can be secured fi-om the sands which it drives
before it ; they penetrate the closest apartments and the best-closed trunks.
At this time it is not prudent to go out without glasses, lest the eyes should
be injured."§

Though the climate can scarcely be designated a " toirid " one, as Mr.
Youatt speaks of it, the mean temperature of its winter (61°) conclusively
shows that cold can have nothing to do here with rendering the wool finei
by a contraction of the pores. If, therefore, it can be shown that the wool
of the fine breeds does not deteriorate in (juality, it snfliciently proves that
Australia is not an incidental exception in the testimony which it presents
on the point under examination, but that it illustrates the uniform opera-
tion of the physical laws which ]icrtain to the growth of wool.

After one or two unsuccessful attempts, the Merinos were accliinated
at the Cape by the English colonists. In ISO 1, the colony numbered 536.-
634 sheep. In 1811, there were 1,293,740. In 1810, the import of wool
into (-Jreat Britain was 29,717 lbs.; in 1833, it was 93,325 Ibs.'f

In Willmer & Smith's " Liverjiool Animal AVool lie]iort." for 1846. it
is stated, " The shipments from this (|uarter (Cajie of Good Hojie) show-
great improvenunit, amply testified by tlie high rates the best flocks have
commanded during the season. . . The best parcels now take rank
with those from Australia."** The system of bree<ling and general man-
agement at the Cape closely correspond witii those of Australia.

Let us now, sir, turn to the experience of our own country. I do not

* Cunninstiam's "Two Yours in Soulli Walr-i."' t lb. t ">.

II MiiUf liiun, vol. ii. p. 110. ^^ 11). vol. ii p. 110.

11 Youiiit on Slioup. p. 1S4. ** Williuci >S. .-^iniili'b lOuiupciin Tiiin.s of Jan. -I, IS-Ib.

(OOU)

SHEEP IIUSCANDRV IN THE SOUTH. 325

know that a sufficient number of experiments have been made as near the
Equator as Caj)e Town and Port Jackson, to have their testimony regard-
ed as entirely decisive on the point under consideration, but those have
been made which throw much Hjrht on tliis question, if, indeed, any more
is considered necessary. In the soutli of IlUnois (Edwards county), in
about latitude 38° 30', the finest varieties of sheep were introduced by
Mr. George Flower, about twenty years since, from which he has bred up
an extensive flock. That gentleman says :* " No deterioration in the wool
has taken place ; on the contrary, the wool fibre is somewhat finer." I
have myself seen various specimens of Mr. Flower's wool, of the clip of
1844, and it bore an excellent character for fineness and evenness.

In a letter which I received from Hon. Henry Clay, in 1839, he says :
" I have for some years had only the pure Saxony at my residence ; but I
am now satisfied that I should have derived more profit from sheep pro-
ducing a wool less fine.t The climate of Kentucky is, however, well
adapted to the Saxon sheep." Mr. Clay's residence is in about latitude 38°.

Mr. Mark R. Cocki-ill, of Xashville, Tennessee, in a letter published in
the American Sliepherd,| says :

" I have about a thoiisaiicl head of fiiie slieep, and from 400 to 500 loiij-wooled or mutton
sheep. My Saxon sheep were imported in 1824 or '26 — I caiuiot say which — and I find as
yet no falling off in quiuitity or quahty of their fleeces ; on the coutrar\% I believe a little
improvement on both jioints, and a little more yolk, when well provided for, svhich, you
know, does not aliound much in tiie Saxon breed. In addition, the fleeces are a little more
compact th;m tormerly — hence more weight ; and, from our mild climate, the xlaplc has be-
come longer. . . I assert it to be a fact tiiat tiie cotton region I am now in [Mr. Cockrill
dates from Madison county, Mississippi, where a j):ut of his sheep are kept], in about lati-
tude 32^ north, is belter than any country nortli of it to grow wool, as the sheep can be kept
all the time grazing, by sowing small grain ; for, if grazed off, it (piickly gi'ows again in a
few days; and the wixA of the fine .Saxon sheep in this climate is softer and more cotton-like
than any I have ever seen, althouirli I have sani[)les from all parts of the world. I have
traveled from this very jjlace to Boston, sampling all the .sheej) of note on tln^ way, and I
found nothing on my jonniey or at Boston as good as the wool I had gi't)\\ni, ami so sjiid all
the wool staplers whom I met with, and they were not a few. I presumed, in reality, that
the blood of my sheep was no better than in;my I saw, but the superioiitj' of my wool I tis-
cribed to our climate, and the provision for the .sheep of succiUent food the year round. —
The weight of my fle(!ces is fair — say from 3 to 5^ lbs. each. . . Tennessee is not the true
erass clhnate ; about 28^ north is the most congenial for grass : notwithstanding, our State is
lair for pasture ; blue and orchard gi~tss, white and red clover, [)i-osp(n- ])retr\- well. . .
There is much country in Temiessee and other Southern States not fit for the plow, and
Avould do admirably well for fine-wooled sheep, and can be profitably so employed. A small
capital thus appropriated here hi Mississippi would do better than cotton gi-owing at present
prices."

Nashville is in about latitude 37° 15' ; and Madison county, Mississippi,
is about half a degree farther north than mentioned by Mr. Cockrill, viz.
extending from 32^° to 33°; its county seat (Canton) being more than a
degree nearer the Equator than Port .Jackson in Australia, and about two
degrees nearer than the Cape of Good Hope !

Mr. Morrel, the compiler of the "American Shepherd," has obtained
specimens of Mr. Cockrill's wool, and he says of them, " Judging from the
samples, the conclusion is inevitable that little or no deterioration has been
produced by the climate. "||

This testimony of Mr. Cockrill is very important, both from the length
and extent of the experiment. I have no doubt of the perfect correctness
of his assertion that his wool has improved in those low latitudes ; but the
cause assigned by him cannot be received as the correct one, so far as the
increased fineness of the fibre is concerned. The improvement in this par-
ticular, under a system of feeding which has " increased" both the " quan-

* In a letter published in the Prairie Farmer. t Mr. Clay here alludes to the .Merinos.
t P. 409. II American Shenherd, p. 41.

(GCl)

326 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

tity" and the " yolk" of the fleece, cannot be ascribed to the chmate, nor
to the feeding itself. It is undoubtedly owin'jc to Mr. C.'s system of breed-
ing and s(dection, a point which will be fully discussed hereafter.

If feed or condition exercise the principal influence on the fineness of
wool (that is, within the range of variation to which it is subject on the
same individuals), it follows that the effect may l)e produced in any climate,
for high condition throughout the year is attainable in the most rigorous
ones, by the supply of plentiful and rich food. The wool secretions are
incident on condition — fatness, however superinduced.* It again follows
that if wool of the h.ighest degree of fineness (for the breed) can be pro-
duced in New-York, although the sheep is kept in a decidedly fat state
throughout the year — quite as fat as it would become, grazing on green
feed all the year round — that wool of equal fineness can be produced by
the observance of the same influencing conditions (apart from feed) by the
southern breeder.

Here agsin, undeterred by any considerations of what I deem a false
modesty, I shall offer facts founded on my own personal experience as a
sheep breeder ; and I Avould remark, once for all, that throughout thi3
whole of these letters I shall never so far prefer beliefs founded on the as-
sertions of others, to actual knoivledgc, based on facts repeatedly and con-
stantly brouyht under my personal inspection, for a number of years, as
to suppress the latter, to rely solely on the former.

I have succeeded, in repeated instances, in producing an excjuisite qual-
ity of wool, decidedly above the average of the breed (Merino) in the
heavy fleeces of sheep kept fat the year round. I have made it a sort of
a test latterly, in the selection of rams, to choose only those which not
only caiTy heavy fleeces, in any condition, but which, in the highest, yield
a wool equaling the choicest samples to be found on this variety. These
facts will, by and by, be placed in a definite and tangible form, by the re-
corded testimony of the scales and the microscope.

But though the natural effects of warm climates and their incidents, to
increase the bulk or coarseness of the fibre, is one which can easily be I'e-
sisted, they work a change of another kind in the character of wool. They
cause a longer fibre and a greater softness of staple. The effect of succu-
lent nutriment during the year in increasing the amount of the wool will
exhibit itself; but the skill of the breeder can so far regulate its action,
that the increase is in the length, rather than in the diameter or bulk of the
fibres. It is not difficult to conjecture why a staple of more rnpid growth,
supplied to excess with the secretions which enter into its composition, un-
exposed to great and rapid variations of temperature, should retain a
greater degree of softness than one produced under opposite conditions.
But, whatever the causes of these phenomena, theii- existence is placed
beyond a doubt.

The increased Irns^th of staple, resulting from the nutriment of warm
climates, has been sufficitmtly advi.-rted to. The following statements made
by some of the most eminent wool-factors, staplers, etc. in England, before
a Committee of the House of Lords, in 182S, place the other point beyond
controversy.!

Mr. Henry Hughes, wool-broker, London, says :

* No ono has asserted, bo far as I am informcil, that dry feed will produce less wool than cToen feed, if
the Boine decree of fatness is kept u]!. On the other hand, the ricli cereal iiraius, oil-cnke. &c. (withoat
some of which a hijjh di.'i;ree of fulness ciuinot be inaititained, on dry feed alone, durina the four or five
months' winter in latitudes north of 4-J'), might be supposed to be quite as conducive to the production of
wool as glasses.

t For extended minutes of thi.s very interesting invcstiLiition into the state of the wool-trade, &.C. &c. ia
Great Britain, see bischot}' on Wool, SiC, vol. ii. p. 118 to iUO.
(662)

SHEEP HUSBANDRY Ii\ THE SOUTH. 327

" I.ntterly tliey (Austialiaii and Van Dieniau's Land wools) have been nJ" v:u-ied qiialititjs,
bat all [Hissessinfi an cxtnioulinaiy sothiess.^wliicli tlu? niannracturers hero so much admire
tlia' they are sought lor more than any other desc-riplion of wools, from tlial pecuhar qu;ihty,
whitl) is supposed to arise from the tlimate alone. Tliey are knowji to require less of the
milling or fulUiig power tluui any other ilescriprions of wools. . . They are better adapted
than the (Terman wools to mi.x with Briti.sli wools, because the superior softness which I
liuve stated gives a character, when mixed with English wool, that the other does not, from
tiie hardness of the fibre."*

Mr. Stewait Duiiaklsoii, merchant, Loiuloji, says :

" I have no hesitation in pronouncing that the wools of IS'ew South Wales and Van Die-
m:ui's Land are decidedly prefeiTod to the apparently similar descri[itions of Gerniiui wool
They have a softness and silkiness about them which, when woiked up into cloth,
siKjws it.self more distinctly llian hi llie ravv- malt-iial. I conceive that it is dependent ou the
climate alone. 1 am of oi)inion that wo(jl of that ipiality could not be produced iu any pait
of Europe. "t

Mr. Thomas Legg, wool-stapler, Bermondsey, says :

•• There are some of these wools of very beautiful quality, as good as any of the Gennaii
wools. "+

Mr. Thomas Ebsworth, wool-broker, London, says :

'• The peculiarity of the climate of New South Wales appears to have a veiy great effect
on wool, so as to reduce it from a harshness to a very fine textm"e."||

This was the substance of all the testimony on this particular point ;
ami when it is understood that the investigation was an issue between rival
interests, where all the facts were thoroughly sifted, the fact that the above
as.-'erlions were undisputed shows that they were considered of an undis-
putable character.

Alhision has already been made to the loose and careless system of
sheep-breeding, etc. in Australia, compared with that in Germany. Tak-
ing this into consideration ; taking also into cxmsideration that the flock
furnishing the best wool in Australia (Capt. McArthur's) is composed of
grade sheep (Bengal and English, graded up with Merino and Saxon rams),
t!ie trifling effect of climate is made more strikingly to appear.

The statements of Mr. Cockrill in relation to the softness of the wools
grown in Tennessee and Mississi])pi, sustain and are sustained by those
above given ; and they go to show that it is the result of a general law
and not of any peculiar local influences peculiar to Australia

MADDER — Informatio.v Wantkd. — We extract from a letter dated Columbia, Arkan-
sas, the following :

" You have requested your subscribers to call for information on any particular agricultural subject which
they might suppose would be useful. I will thank you for any you can give on the cultivation of madder
in the United States — where seed may be had, &c."

Our subscriber's request .shaD have due attention when we can get time. In the interim,
to show that we are in earnest, the Publishers of The Farmers' Library authorize us to
offer, as a premium, the two volumes into which The Farmers' Library a.nd Mo.sthlt
Journal of Agriculture for the first year are handsomely bound up. They each embrace
about 600 pages, and one of them contains works worth $50 to any cultivated, inquu-ing
farmer — if, indeed, it be not out of all character to estimate knowledge in dollars and cents.
This premium to be given to the best and most complete essay answering the above inqui-
ries, and to be awarded by a Committee to be appointed by the Farmers' Club of New-
York.

• Bischoff on Wool, &c. vol. ii. pp. 182-3. t Ibid. ISS-l. t Ibid. 184. || Ibid. 184.

(663)

328 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

PLANTING IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND IN MISSISSIPPI.

EXPENSE AND RESULTS COMrARED No. 2.

Mr. Editor : 1 have no wish to be drawn into a controversy on the vexatious
question of the Protective Policy, nor have I any desire to involve others in it ;
but I feel called upon to reiterate the statements made in my former communi-
cation in regard to the product of cotton and corn on the lowlands of Mississippi
and Louisiana. I do not wish to be understood as speaking or writing in refer-
ence to the product of this particular section, for it is well known that for the
last six or seven years the product of cotton here has been anything but satisfac-
tory. But I do know that there are plantations, and a good many of them, on
the lowlands, that have averaged 7iine bales to the hand for a series of teii years,
and I know some plantations that have done still better. I therefore confidently
assert that the average product per hand, on all well-regulated plantations not
subject to inundation, has exceeded eight bales for the last ten years ; and I am
quite as confident in asserting that the average product of corn per acre, on the
same plantations, has been over thirty bushels.

In reference to what I said in my last on the subject of the injury to the plant-
ing interest from the Protective Policy, allow me again to say that, if the cotton
planters on the lowlands of Mississippi and Louisiana are oppressed by high du-
ties, they do not seem to be aware of it : and it is only among political cotton-
planters that we hear of this "oppression'''' in this region. I did not mean to ad-
mit that the cotton-planter's expense of clothing for his people was enhanced in
proportion to the duty ; I simply meant to say that if the whole duty was added
to the cost of the article, and paid by the consumer, the " oppression" was not
so great as to be onerous.

I am aware that there are other articles which are consumed by the cotton
planter, besides clothing, that are slightly afl'ecied by the Tariflf; but I do con-
tend that as cotton-planters we have no just ground of complaint against the Pro-
tective System, even though many, 7iay, all the articles we consume are enhanced
in price by it. If the domestic fabrics are rendered dearer to the consumers here,
they are reduced in price to the consumers elsewhere ; and thus the consumption
of our staple is extended and enlarged, and the ultimate interests of the planter
promoted. But 1 cannot admit that the price to the consumer here is enhanced
to anything like the extent of the duty ; for to yield this would be to admit that
many foreign fabrics are sold far below the cost of production, and far below, in
some instances, the cost of the raw material. I contend that many of tiie articles
consumed by the planter have been reduced in price by the Protective System ;
and I boldly assert that, so far as ray acquaintance extends, the most intelligent
cotton-planters, who are far from the influence of political aspirations, do not
think their interests injuriously aifected by the system. True, my acquaintances
may be more dull of comprehension, or less quick in their perceptions of injury
and oppression, than they should be. They may be robbed, and yet, not " miss-
ing what is stolen," deem themselves "not robbed at all."

If the cotton-planter gets his bagging and rope for less than one-third of what
he paid prior to the Tariff of 1S24 and '28 — and an article, too, that protects his
cotton belter, on account of its superior fabric, and sells for more, on account of
its greater weight ; if he gets his negro shirting, of belter quality, for less by half
than he formerly paid, and less than he can manufacture it, by his oivn labor
from the raw material groirn bij himself ; if he gets Kentucky linseys and jeans,
of a more durable quality, and for half the price he formerly paid (before the
Protective System was adopted) for English plains and kerseys ; and if he gets
his plows, hoes, axes, nails, files and spades, for half what ihey formerly cost
him, and his shoes for a third less, he may be " oppressed,'"' but I really have not
been able to see how or where ! ! And 1 am disposed to doubt whether he will
get these articles at a lowir price under ihe Tariff of '4G than he paid for t^eni

(664)

EXPENSE AND RESULTS OF SOUTHERN PLANTING. 329

under that of '42. Most of the articles consumed by him are so reduced by do-
mestic competition as to admit of no greater reduction in price by the change to
Free Trade. There may be occasional reductions from glutted markets, but no-
thing permanent, especially if the y»«//7// of the domestic fabric be compared
with the foreign. All this, however, we will be able to lest, for the new Tariff
will last long enough to afford us the opportunity, though I am not willing to
admit that it will be the permanent policy of our Government. Salt will un-
doubtedly be reduced in price some 10 or 15 cents a sack. Iron will not, for a
reason that will alike operate on sugar. I am now free to admit that the price
of the latter is not likely to be so reduced as to interfere with new investments
of capital and labor in its production. But if the price to the consumer is not
reduced, where the benefit of the reduction of duty ? "Will not the reduction go
into the pocket of the foreign producer? The price of batrging cannot be lower
under the new Tariff; for it cannot be imported free of duty and sold for less
than the Louisville prices of last summer and spring, to wit: 1\ to 8 cents;
and but for the protective system, we never slmuld have had domestic bagging,
but still have been dependent on the foreign fabric, the quality of which is fully
one to one and a half cents per yard inferior to the domestic.

I therefore cannot see wherein the cotton-planter is to be benefited by the new
Tariff; and I may be pardoned for my obtuseuess, but not suspected of willful
blindness.

Why is it, that with the opening of the ports of Great Britain, and the im-
mense demand for our bread stufl's consequent upon another short crop in Europe,
and the almost total and universal destruction of the potato crop, there should
be so little importation of foreign goods ? Why is it that exchange on England
is so far below its legitimate par ? If our new Tariff has invited importations,
why is it that we do not see the effect of large orders on the rate of exchange ?
The reason is obvious : our own importers believe the country will buy no more
than it will consume ; and they arc willing to lea e the exporters to bring back
their returns in gold. Is the cotton-planter to be benefited by this? If returns
could be made in British goods, with any reasonable hope of profit, surelv there
would be no returns in gold. Is it not fair, then, to assume that a greatly en-
larged consumption will not necessarily follow a modification of the TariH" of '42 ?
That our markets may and will be glutted by foreign fabrics is possible, nay
probable, and the price of commodi»ies reduced thereby ; but it will be bv British
manufacturers, to get clear of surplus stocks ; and the effect will be but tem-
porary.

But I have already written more, much more, than I intended. I hope S. B.
will not attribute to me a desire to prolong a controversy which is not likely to
result in conviction on either side. My only object is to satisfy him that out of
Carolina there are persons who do not hold to the Carolina doctrines.

I am free to confess that there is the strongest probability the '■' true cotton
res^ion" will be found farther north than 31° 30' — nay, I am disposed to think
that for the next ten years it will be found to be north of 33°, and in ten years
after, north of 35°. I believe the whole region south of 33° Avill be, to a great
extent, abandoned as a cotton producing country. We have fearful indications
that this will be the result ; and /lotv far north the culture may be pushed or
found advantageous, time will soon tell.

Before I conclude, let me assure S. B. that I had no wish by my first commu-
nication to invite South Carolina planters to migrate to this region ; I could not
conscientiously do it. For the last seven years in this parish we have not aver-
aged 5 bales (or 2,000 lbs.) to the hand, and this year not one and a half hales.
It would be preposterous if not wicked and cruel to invite planters from any sec-
lion, into this region, and I have too high an opinion of the chivalry of the Caro-
linians to expect them to settle among the rcpudiators of our sister State.

.\. V. z.

Rapides, La., lltli November, 1846.

P. S. I owe you an apology, Mr. Editor, for this long communication, the
greater part of which may be deemed improper in a periodical such as yours ;
but I promise you this shall be my last.

The Editor tnists that no friend caii misiuiderslaiid him. The object of his first and

greatest anxiety is, that the readers of this Joiuiial, and AuiericaD agricultm-ists generally,
(665)

330 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

should be persuaded that theirs is, even beyond all others, an employment oi the mind; and
that, as Liebig says, it must depend hereafter for all material improvement, on the applica-
tion of science to its practice. On tliis depends both its dignity and its profit. We eam-
esdy desire, therefore, to see American cultivators rise in the strength of their numbers and
the value of their products, and extort from Government their full proportion of the means
for the diffusion of knowledge connected with their pursuits. This is a theme which «tf
itself opens a wide field for discussion, and in vvliich, we lament to say, we have not had the
benefit of the brighter lights of our brethren of the agricultural or the general press of the
country. Yet can any one, even the most careless uiquirer, fail to perceive that on no one
thing does the prosperity and true glory of our country depend, in anything like the same
proportion that they do on the general enlightenme^it of the landed interest ?

Again : We desii-e, also, to describe all useful improvements in the tools and machinery
of Agriculture, and to present tlie result, as far as possible, of all field experiments — not to
excite vulgar, senseless amazement at the sight of what can be done, but, by accom-
panying such extraordinary results with plain philosojihical explanations, show m that way
on what j)iinciples they depend. Hero, again, is another field for practical inquuy and
obsen'ation, which demands much S2)ace and all the aid of die best assistance to do it justice.

We are far, very far, from failing to perceive that the respectability and the success of the
cultivator are connected with his knowledge of the bearing of the laws on the welfai-e of
his employment. No one can be more sensibly impressed than we with the truth of the
fact that there is between national legislation and national manners and well-being, a con-
stant, indissoluble connection. It would be almost impossible to overestimate it, in extent
or influence. The spirit of public legislation in this countiy, for years 2)ast, and under all
parties, is a base preference for and j)romotion of military over civil services and virtues !
such as well becomes despotism, where the tlu-one is to be upheld by the bayonet, against
the progi'ess of reason and philosophy. In vain have we implored the cooperation of abler
pens in exposure of this degenerate prostitution of public sentiment and public legisla-
tion. Not an Editor nor pati'iot writer comes to our assistance. We pomt hastily at these
objects to show that this Journal, being alone in this path of public duty, we have need of
much space to endeavor to persuade the friends of Agiiculture that the plant must be wa-
tered at the root — that the rising generation must be instnicted in the application of the arts
and sciences to field practice, and that for this they have a right to demimd ten dollars for
every owe that is applied, of their money, to any other sort of science or instmction. We
have need, too, of much space to keep way with the progress of practical improvements in
the machmery and processes which discovery brings to light, and winch experience and
philosophy prove to be expedient and profitable. Hence it is that we are compelled to be
anxious not to have our pages engi'ossed by the discussion of questions in political economy,
which, especially tlie doctrine of protection, being coimected with the sti-uggles and the
ascendency of parties, find room and welcome in everj' village paper in the Union, while
scarcely one of them, even those which arc exclusively dependent on country support, wiU
come to our aid hi chiiming for Agriculture the establishment of scliools and academies for
instruction in its elementary and practical principles, or any sort of public care and consid-
eration. Well we know, ;uid we are proud to say, that we are honored with the patronage,
whether many or few, of a class of readers qualified by every attjiinment and taculty. to
tlu-ow the fullest lights on both sides of the vexed question: How fiU' is it expedient and
wise to invoke the powers of Govennnent to influence the jirofits of labor and capitiil, over
and above such duties as may be indispensable to an economical a<lministration of Govern-
ment? Wo are, moreover, proud to refer to the temper and s])uit of the respected coiTCspond-
ents who, we dare say, almost insensibly to themselves, have glided more largely tiian they
bad intended, into tliat topic ; and were it certain that the smne temper and limits would
always be observed, far from discouraging, we should invite, such statements of important
facts and such conflicts of reason, on piincijile. Wo would do it were it only for that high-
est of all pleasures, tlie intellectual gratification to be derived by every liberal mind fiom
witnessing the manly and the gentlemanly conflicts of cultivated intellecta. On this, as on
(CG6)

NEWCASTLE AGRICULTURE. CORN xMEAL. 331

every subject to which the raiud can find time to turn its attention, the prayer of well consti-
tuted mind will be for light — more light. Oh that we could witness one-tenth as much zeal
on the subject of AgricuUural Education as is everywhere displayed for and against protecl>
ive duties ! We doubt pot we have said enough and even more than wa.s necessaiy, to make
ourselves understood. \Ve presume not to shut our pages against discussion so limited and
well managed as tiiat with which they have been lionored on this occasion ; but every con-
siderate reader knows how hard it is to set limits, wlien they are once opened, and how in-
vidious to criticise tlie language into wliich the most liljera! minds may be honestly betrayed
in the warmth of controversial discussion.

NEWCASTLE COUNTY AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY— Its Lvflue.vce, Offickrs,
&c. — Few Societies for the promotion of Agriculture have been conducted with so nmch
zeal, judgment and perseverance; nor has any made its influence more visible in the im-
proved aspect, productiveness and value of the countiy over wliich it has operated.

We very much doubt whether, in any part of Pennsylvania or New-York, the progi-ess of
improvement has been so marked — the cultivation .so neat and thorough — the principles of
improvement better, if .so well, understood — or the aj)preciation so steady and decided in
tlie selling price of the lands. Nor is there any section of country where agi-icultural melio-
ration may be \run-e distinctly tracetl to the effects of association for these puqioses. Out of
that association have grown discussion, comparison of opinion and e.x:perience, the exJiibi-
tion of the results of experiments conducted with intelligence, and the pati-onage and peru-
sal of agricultural journals, &c. Among these last it would be unjust, in this connection, not
to refer particularly to the Far.mer's Cabinet, published clo.se at hand, and conducted witli
singular judgment and discretion, by Mr. Tatum. We may frankly add that we should need
no better proof of a culpable insensibility to the value and the plea.sures of knowledge, in his
own calling, on tlie part of any landhf)Ider in Delaware or I'ennsylvania, than to know that
he was not a patron of the Farmer's Cabinet. It might be deemed invidious to refer, es-
pecially too, to the .active and untiring zeal of Dr. Thompson, of Wilmington, for the benefi-
cent results of which we have spoken, if it was not on all hands matter of notoriety and of
applause. Some time since, the Doctor succeeded in his wish to retire from the Presidency,
but, not weary of doing good, we are glad to perceive, by an account of the proceeduigs of
the last meeting, that he consents to continue his valuable services in the no less useful sta-
tion of Corresponding Secretary. At their late meeting, an evidence of their good judgment
was evinced in changing and alternating the places of exliibition, and in separating the Hor-
ticultural Department fiom the Agricultural Society. Either branch is enough to ta.x as
much judgment and attention as can be commanded for either, and both are worthy of much
more than can generally be gotten for them.

James Canby having declined reelection as President of tlie Newcastle Agiicultural Soci
ety, at the Eleventh Annual Meeting in October last, the following officers were elected .

President. — John C. Clark.

Viu Presidents -ioM'^h Carr, John II. Price, Jas.
J. Brindlcy, M. U. Ocholtree, Rathmell Wilson,
Giles Lambson, Philip Reybold, William Rothwcll,
John Jones, George Tybout.

Cor. Secretary— Dr. J. W. Thomson.

Rec. Secretary — Bryan Jackson.

Treasurer — James Canby.

Counselor — Edward W. Gilpin.

Directors— Authimy Higgins, Samuel Canby, Z. B.
Glazier, John W. Andrews, Dr. R. M'Cabe, Richard
Jackson, William Robinson, Henry Latimer, James
N. Cleland, Henry Du Pont, J. S. H. Boies, Jesse
Gregg, Philip R(>yl)old, Jr., Wm. Tatnall, William S.
Bouldin, John lliggins, Francis Sawdon, Edward T.
Bellah.

Kiln-dried Corn Meal. — A new commodity has been inti-oduced into Buffalo
market, in the shape of kiln-dried com meal, which bids fair to become an important article
in trade. It is manufactured, at Toledo, where is erected an ajiparatus capal^le of turning
out "2,400 busliels per day, and it is })ut up in very neat packages shnilai- to fiuui-.

(667)

332

MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

CULTIVATION OF THE ORANGE.

(Concluded.)

Propagation. — It is said that plants of the
orange and lemon — the same may not hold
good of the other species — raised fi-om seed,
and never gi-afted, produce the best crops,
both in quantity and quality; but these
trees, when old, become so thorny that it is
troublesome to gather the fruit. If it be
sired to have any particular vai-iety of fiiiit,
grafting or budding is a means of doing
so with certainty. These operations also
cause the plant to fruit at an earlier age.

Stocks. — The citi'on stock is the best for
erange, lemon-citron, and probably for all the
species. It grows more quickly, and causes
the graft to fruit sooner, as it would appear :
fortunately, then, the citron is the most ea-
sily propagated by cuttings. It is said that
in the neighborhood of Seville, the stocks
used are raised from seed of the bitter or-
ange. Loudon says : " Shaddock stocks are
the sti'ongest, and next to these the citron."
" Four years old is a good age for stocks." I
conceive, however, that with all trees, but
especially the orange — as the gi-owth of the
bark is veiy slow over womids m the trees,
unless covered with a composition to exclude
the air — it is better, whether in budduig or
grafting, to follow the modern British prac-
tice of grafting — that of using small stocks.

BuDDi.vG. — In btxdding, observe that the
shoots from which you take your buds are
round, the buds of these being much better
and easier to part from the wood than of such
as are flat and angular. Let the buds be in-
serted at the south side of the stock. By in-
serting more than one, you mcrease ihe
chances of success. In a month it will be
observable which have taken ; then untie
them. A head may be formed by cutting
back the shoot from one of the buds — destioy-
ing the other if it have taken — to four buds
or eyes. The stock .ohnuld be tsiken oft', if
small, with a knife ; if large, with a hue saw;
the cut should be made in a slanting direc-
tion— not directly across the stock — the cut
terminating immediately above the inserted
bud. The operation of budding may be per-
formed at any season.

Grafting. — This operation also may be
performed at any time. Whip grafting is
j)robably the best mode : grafting the stocks
when small — in fact with the stock and graft
iis nearly as possible of the same size. A va-
riety of the whip manner is described bv
Gushing, in which \\\c top of the stock is lei't
on. from the scion as tor the common whip-
graft, and then, without taking olV the head
of the stock, cut from the clearest part of its

stem an equal splice as smootlily as possible ;
do not tongue the scion, but tie it (jn neatly
and firmly with matting and clay, in the man-
ner of a graft. AVhen the scion begins to
grow, remove the matting by degrees. I
have sometimes seen the orange grafted un-
der the surface of the ground, removing the
earth from around the stock so as to lay it
bare down to the roots, iuid inserting the
graft as low as possible. When the opera-
tion has been finished, replace enough earth
to completely cover the insertion of the graft.
These grafts are to be treated as those insert-
ed above-gi'ound, except that they need not
be clayed. Cut otTthe stock as directed un-
der the head of budding.

Sked and Seedlings. — In raising plants
from seed, if the seeds be received fiom
abroad, they should be sown immediately, as
they will not keep many weeks after having
been taken from the iniit. The seed from
I'otten fruit is tlie best. It behooves every one
who is interested in extending the culti-
vation of these plants to be on the look-out
for the seeds of such fruit as come within their
reach, whether the produce of the Colony, or
imported, for we occasionally receive them
from the Cape, and from the East.

If taken from the fruit, first dry them ; then
sow in light, rich eaith, covering them about
a quarter of an inch. In three weeks they
will be up, if the weather be genial. When
they shall have been up a month, transplant
into pots, or, for want of these, small boxes,
singly or into imrsery rows 18 inches by 6,
accorchng to convenience. The pots or
boxes should be sunk to the edge in the
ground, to prevent the risk of the mould be-
coming di-y by the sun or wnd. The advan-
tage of having single plants in pots or boxes
is, that when you form your orangery, you
may at once turn each tree out into its place
without checking its growth. They are
planted so close in the nursen.' rows, that
they may be drawn up with straight stems.
If preferred, the planting out into pots or
rows may be deferred till they ai e half a
year old, or more, titking advantage of the
proper planting seiison, indicated by the dor-
mancy of the plant. If, however, you j)lant
in a drv soil, the removal shouhl take place
from April to ,Tune.

Layers. — In this country, where we have
so little fruit whcn<e to obtain seed, and tlie
snp]ilv from abroad is so scanty, every means
should be had recourse to for increasing the
number of i>lants. Layering seems to be the
common mode of producing them in St. Mi-

CULTIVATION OF THE ORANGE.

333

chael. This is done in the usual way, by

beiuliiig down some of the lower shoots into
a hole opeut'ct ia the -(lounil to n-ceive tlit-m,
leaviiii,' Uu! point or end ot the shoot above-
ground, !Uid conruiing the bent part in the
hole with a hooked stick or otherwise, and
well covering' it with fine, rich mould, which
has more or less of sand in it. The stiiking
is much facilitated by taking a shce or two
of bark otf the shoot, at the part to be laid
under-giounil, at a bud, if possible, iuid mak-
ing a cut half through it between the buried
part and the parent stem. Both layers and
cuttings may be budded or grafted to hasteu
the time of fruiting, or to produce a viu'iety
different from the parent tree.

CuTTiNos. — Henderson considers cuttings
the quickest mode of getting [fruit-bearing ?]
plants, and has practiced it for 37 yeai-s past.
His directions are as follows : " Take the
strongest young shoots, and also a quantity of
the two-year old shoots ; these may be cut
into lengths of from 9 to 18 inches. Take
the leaves off the lowest part of each cutting
to the e.vtent of about 5 inches, allowing the
leaves above that to remain untouched ; then
cut right across under an eye ; and make a
email incision in an angular direction on the
bottom of the cutting. When tlie cuttings
are thus prepared, take a pot and fill it with
sand (sandy soil) ; size the cuttings so that
the short ones may be altogether, and those
that are taller in a different pot. Then, with
a sm.all dibble, plant them about five inches
deep in the sand, and give them a good wa-
tering over-head, to settle the sand above
them. Let them stand a day or two in a
shaxly place, and if a frame be ready with
bottom heat, plunge the pots down to the
rim. Shade tliem well with a double mat,
which may remain till they have struck root ;
when rooted, take the sand and the cuttings
out of the pot, and plant them in single pots,
in the proper compost. Plunge the pots
with the young plants again into a frame, and
shade them for 4 or 5 weeks, or till they are
taken with the pots ; when they may gradu-
ally be exposed to the light. From various
experiments, I found that pieces of two
year old stnack quite well ; tuid m place,
therefore, of putting in cuttings six or eight
inches long, I have t;iken off cuttings from ten
inches to two feet long, and stnack them with
equal success. Although I at first begiui to
put in cuttings only in the month of August,
I now put them in at any season of the year,
except when the plants are making voung
wood. By giving them a gentle bottom heat,
and covering them with a hand-glass, they
will generally strike root in seven weeks or
two montVis. The citron is most easily struck,
and is the freest grower ; I therefore fre-
quently strike pieces 18 inches long, and a*
soon as they are put into single jiots, and
taken with the pots, they are grafted with
other sorts, which gi-ow freely. I am not
particular as to the time of stiiking cuttings.''
It may be observed that the citron tiilje, like
(669)

other fruit-bearing plants raised from cuttings
or layers, though they may prove very pro-
lific trei's, yet seldom grow with that vigor,
and ])rodiu e such large fruit, as those propa-
gated by budding or gralting on seedling
stocks.

Training andPruning. — Standard orange
trees require very little pruning. Cut off
any stra^ghng, iiregidar branches, and where
a vacancy appears in the head, cut back any
strong free-growing shoots in the neighbor-
hood of it, which will cause them to send
forth smaller side-shoots to fill the gap. For
plants agaiust a wall or trellis, the lim man-
ner of training is that generally adopted. In
pnming the.se trees, it must be considered
that the mo.st useful blossoms of most sorts of
citrus are produced in the form of terminating
peduncles on the wood of the cur; ent year'i
and hence the grand object of the pruner
ought to be to encourage the production of
young wood in every part of the tree, by cut-
ting our naked wood and sliorteuing vigorous
shoots where wood is wanting.

Insects. — In St. Michael they tar the
stems occasionally to prevent injury from in-
sects. Vegetable tar only should be used.
■' If insects do attack, strong lime water is as
good a remedy as I know," says Shepherd,
" to destroy them, which is to be thrown upon
the tree with some force from a hand-engine."
For want of which, it may be dashed against
them from a cup or other small vessel.* t

Desidkkata. — It may be of advantage to
give the following list of what appear to be
the most desirable varieties of the sweet or-
ange, and which, if imported, would prove a
veiy valuable addition to the fruits of the

* See Browne's Trees of America, p. G8.

1 Inquiring of the Senators from Florida as
to the staples and capabilities of that State,
to which both have given the attention which
becomes men of their high trust and position,
we learned with sorrow that the culture of the
Orange otherwise so promising and profitable,
had been arrested and nearly destroyed by the
ravaa^es of an insect of which an intelligent cor-
respondent of Hon. Senator Yulee gives the
following account :

St. Augustine, Fla. Jan. 4, tStb.

Dear Sir : I have salistied myself perfectly as to
the identity of the insect. It is the Coccus He^peri-
dum. I have observed it daily since my own ti-ees
have become infested with it, and have frequently
examined it with a tolerably good single magnitier.
I cannot see more than one male to throe or four
hundred females. The males are also much smaller
than the females. The males are winged, and ex-
tremely active, and can be seen running about
among the females, by observing very closely. They
are. however, 9o extremely small that the closest at-
tention is necessary to see them at all with the un-
assisted sight, and then only in a bi-ight sunlight.
By means of a microscope that enlaiges it to about

334

MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

Colony. It is a selection from ti larger list iii
the Penny Cyclopfcdia :

" Citrus Aurantiiim. the Sweet Orange va-
rieties.

"/,_The pcarsliapwl orange, with elliptical,
acute leaves, and great top-shaped Iruit, with a
deep yellow, smooth rind ; a rare and curious
sort, not known in the market; it ts one oj the
moH capable of resisting cold.

u c— The orange of Nice, with ovate-acute

M inch in length, the male exhibits six legs, wings,
and bristles on the abdomen. My microscope not
being achromatic, I cannot tell what its color is.
This male is seldom observed, from its diminutive
size, and when it is shown to people, appears so
very unlike the sc-cdy, torpid female, that lew per-
sons can be made to believe it to be the same insect.
Those females which are too small to be seen at all
by the naked eye, are seen to crawl slowly under
the magnifier. The smallest that can be seen at all,
appear of a reddish color.— But you solicited informa-
tion concerning its introduction here ; and I have
been detailing, I find, the result of my observation of
its appearance and habits.

I will premise that the insect is not a native of
Europe, but was originally introduced there with
exotic plants, from warm climates, (the East Indies
or Chma.) h is now to be found in almost every
hot-house in Europe or America, introduced with
plants from one to the other.

In 1S38, Robison, of Mandarin, on the St. John's,
introduced the insect there, on some Mandarin
(Chinese) orange trees which he received from
New-York. The insect excited little apprehension
at first. But in 1840 it had extended its ravages so
rapidly that Robison, in the autumn of this year de-
termined to top all his trees, in hope of thereby
an-esting its progress. But this had no elfect what-
ever.*

No soil, no kind of manuring or attention to cul-
ture can anest it. Its ravages on St. John's, where
a sandy loam prevails, are as great as they are here,
■v{\\sre s. calcareous sandy soil exists. No stonns or

* From this beginning il has gradually .spread over
the greater part of Florida.

leaves, and large, thick-skinned, rough, dark
yellow, round fruit. Tliis is considered one of
the finest of tlie whole genus, both in regard to
beauty, size, productiveness, and quality. It is
a good deal cultivated about the town whose
name it bears.

" It. — The sweet-skinned orange, with broad,
taper-pointed leaves, roundi.sh, ratlier ovate,
heavy truit, and a deep yellow, smooth, thick,
swec"t. sort rind. This is the Pomme d'Adam,
or forbidden fruit of the shops of Paris. Its pulp
is subacid and pleasant, and as deep a yellow-
as the rind, which is soft and melting like the
Hesh of a clingstone peach; die acidity of the
pulp is agreeably mixed with sweetness, which
renders the iruit extremely pleasant. This is '
vei-y ditfereut from tlie forbidden fruit of the
London shops, (which is the citrus decumana,
the shaddock.)

"i, The Mandarin orange, with flattened,

rough, deep-orange fruit, and a thin rind, which
separates spontaneously from th.e pulp. This
sort has been raised in China, where its fruit is
chiefly consumed in presents to the great ofiS-
eers of State, whence its name. It is now cul-
tivated in Malta, where it arrives at perfection.
Its singularity consists in the rind so completely
separating from the pulp when quite ripe, that
the latter may be shaken about in the inside.
In qnality this yields to no kiiotcn kind. There
are two subvarieties.

" A.— The Saint Michael orange, with small,
round, pale-yellow, seedless fruit, having a thin
rind, and an'extremeiy sweet pulp. This, when
in a state of perfection, is perliaps the most de-
licious of all oranges, and it is by far the most
productive. Great quantities are imported
from the Azores, where it appears to be excla-
sivelv cultivated as an object of trade. It is
said 'that -20.000 of these oranges have been
packed from a single tree, exclusively of the
larije quantity which were blown down or re-
jected as unfit for sale."

seasons seem to arrest its progress, until all the or-
ange trees are destroyed, The same insect in lots
where it has destroyed all the orange tiees, has
betaken itself to the English Joy and prickly ash.

I have scarcely room left to express myself, re-
niectfully, but devotedly and sincerely, j-ours,

J. FORMAN.

Hon. D. L. Yrr.EE.

A PICKLE FOR ONE HUNDRED POUNDS OF ^^^^'"^-^^[Zl'S^i-^^^lJ^
finguished RicHAKU Stockton of Nr,r-Jersey.J-Yu-.i put 5?"^ ^"T,^^^^"/ !-"J" ^^ ".j;^^^^^^
drain out the blood ; then hang it up 34 hours to dry Dissolve ;nG gal nsot^^ arm vva^^
salt so as to make the brine bear an egg; add 3 ot a pound ot saltpetu , ~ ' »rts o " "'"^^^,' "
ounces of cayenne pepper, 1 ounce of pearl ash-di.ssolved in warm water ; un la 1 ^ ;>">«« aU
Z impurities ; theii \>ln in the beef In this pickle, and in 4 or 5 days it will ^^ "^^^^^f ^^J
continue so until April-after which, boil over the hquor ; skim it after jou ha%e adUed some
more salt, sugar, &e. , , <• t .«

Some time ago I was at Marslifiehl, an.l better salt pork, or better salt beef. I never ate
The distinguished fanner of that place-as dlstingnished timong his neighbors for his knowl-
edge in Agrictiltnre as he is h, the cottntiy for his legal Uilent.-t«ld me that the pickle of
the fine salt beef and pork I was then eating was CO years ol.l-lhat is. some of the pukleot
his harness cask was upward of fiO years old-as it hud been in u.e in the Thomas fanuly.
from whom he purclnvsed a p;u't of his estate, (reguhvr descendants from the May ]■ lower,) ce^
fcmdv for that period of time, that spring .u.d fall they boile.l ,uul skimmed the hquor, and
retained it for use. Tiiis piekle was not very dilVerent from Uie above, only no pepper, and

•wood ashes iiislcad of pearl ashes.

(C70)

TO CORRESPONDENTS. JUDICIOUS PREMIUM, &C. 335

TO CORRE.t'PON'DENT.'?.

Our " FricnJ " in Richmond has put us to the trouble of looking back to see how it could be

that we had used the phrase '• one L ;" and we are glad to find that he is mistaken. The

language is, that a passenger in the stage answered that the farm belonged to a Mr. L. It is quite
obvious that anything but disrespect was meant.

The Address did not come to hand. We should, doubtlcs.s, be much graliliod and edified in
reading it. The well-known talents of the author give a.ssurance of that ; but we arc compelled
to forego the publication of addresses generally, for there are as many delivered and offered as
would fill the whole journal. We have been long desirous of publishing an extract, at least, from
one of the ablest and most useful, in a practical view, that we have seen for many a day, by
Fka.vkli.s' Minor, Esq. If we have publiabod our own, it was in no spirit of vanity, but because
we have taken occasion of these invitations to deliver addresses to say only what we had desired,
and, with little variation of language, should have said editorially, in any event.

We have an Address, sent expressly for original publication in The Fau.vikrs' Libkarv, de
livcred lately at Woodville, Mississippi. The style is captivating and beautiful, and we should
be unaffectedly gratified in publishing as we have been in perusing it; but, after all, it is but an
exhortation, in glowing and eloijuent language, to the farmers of that region, to contemplate the
various proiluctions of Xaturc, and to learn from them to diversify their crops — to lessen the quan-
tity of cotton, and to make more of other things. As a beautiful specimen of composition, the
friend who sent it cannot more admire it than we do; but the (jucstion is. whellier we can yield
pix precious pages to its insertion.

The source of our deepest and most frequent mortification is the reluctan<:,o with which we lay
aside so many admirable addresses, and so much of other matter, that we would gladly spread
before our readers. Several have been lately delivered in South Carolina, that we should like
much to see — one especially, recommending the culture of ihe olive, and which, we suppose, will
have been published in the Southern Cultivator, but it is our misfortune lately not to receive that
very able paper. When we can't publish an address, we must endeavor to make extracts. Dr.
Bayne's is an excellent one — but were that published it might be ascribed to improper considera-
tions.

A .lUDICIOUS PREMIUM.— The flighl;uid aiid Agricultural Society of Scotland have
offered a premium of a silver medal to the beat shee^-shearer, in each of the disti-icts in
which llie Society's or local premiums for sheep are in operation. There is nothing ia
which there is more of what is called sleight-of-hand than in sheep-shearing. The whole
economy of sheep husbandry is little understood iuid badly Ibllowed in a greac portion of
the United States. How msmy sheep will an expert shepherd shear iu a day ? How would
this operation be accomplished in case of veiy large flocks, say flocks of 10,000. which some
have contemplated in Te.vas and elsewhere ?

t^* We entreat our friends throughout the coiuitry to opes) and encom-age discussion on
the rights of Agriculture, above all interests, to instruction out of the public means. Let
discussion be opened in the local papers, and memorials gotten up to the Legislatures of
States — more especially is this the duty of Agricu/lural Clubs and Societies and Insti-
tutes. Now let us see whether any heed will be paid to this matter of plain, obvious, and
almost incalculable importance. As we have elsewhere !<aid, if a man's son unluckily fall
and break his leg, lie employs the best surgical aid to have it set right and straight. Is it
not equally the dntj of us all to do what we can to keep the minds of the rising generatioa
of cultivators of the soil from all the feeblene.>s and defonnitj- which can be prevented by
instruction in the arts and sciences that may enligliten them in the prosecution of the pursuit
by which they are to Uve or starve :
(671)

MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

THE HEREFORD COW.

It is proper to say of the portrait in this number, of Mr. Cornixg's cow, Matilda, that it has been very
faithfully cupii'd from a pKiniing done under his direction — and which, we think, does credit to the very
meriioiious artist, Wr. Van Zant.

It may be that the cow— a superb one of lier breed — is not made np to order. The portrait is what it pur-
ports to be, and what all portraits should be,' but what not many are — a liktne^s, and not a fancy sketch —
parin" oil' redundancies, and supplying defects, to make up something a little better than Platiirt can do. —
When ."he does her part as well as she has done, almost without any detect or exception, in Mr. Coming's
herd of Herefords, for ourselves we should be content to let very well alone. We consider the cow a su-
perior animal of her breed — distinguished particularly, as to color and marks, by those which characterize
that breed of cattle.

We have before intimated that, with such a resource as Mr. Coming's herd within reach, it would be
folly to send for Herelbrd cattle to England, where they still maintain their long and sharp contest with the
Short-Horns.

One secret of their being so well sustained here in their excellence, now for many years, might be stated
if one could state the secret by which Mr. riotham, like Mr. Webster, never fails to have crups of Swedes
that would do credit to a Norfolk English farmer.

CHAMPION.

In the last number we gave a portrait of Mr. Grinnell's fine colt — Champion. In the award of the
premium, there was no hesitation on the score of his pirrsonal Jiirrits. His size, his blood, and his extraor-
dinary performance — doing his mile in 3..5 at two yeai-s old — cleared the way (if all difficulty. The Judges
zeerc judges, and well knew to what a standaid a colt like hira will fill up, when "of age,'' and to what a
horse of the Mambrino stock may be brought, wlio can do his work at such rate and in such style, when
only in the gristle. Trotting stock are usually not fairly taken in hand iiunl they are six. For performance
in that gait, the stock of old Messenger, coming down through Mambrino, has no rival ; and Champion bids
fair to stand in tlie shoes of his world-renowned sire. Saying that, what more need be said ;

Not wishing to draw on his masculine povvurs prematurely, his owner consents to let him pay his com-
pliments this season to a very limited nuinber of good mares, at Levaxa, Cayuga County, N. V.

PRICES CURRENT.

[Corrected, December 23, for the

ASHES— Pots, 1st sort -F 100 ffi. 4 6-3.1® 4 68i

Pearls, 1st sort, '46 5 .50 -g)

BEE.'^WAX — American Yellow — 27 'g' — 27i

CANDLES— Mould, Tallow.. #■ 16... — 9^@— 11

Spenn, Eastern and Chy — 26 ® — 38

COTTON— From ^ IC. — 91 -©— 12^

COTTON BAGGING— American... — 10^2)— 13

CORDAGE— American ■F ft. — 11 @ — 12

DOMESTIC GOODS-Shii-tings,'Fy. — ."5 ©- 11

Sheetings — 6i®— 1.5

FEATHERS- Ameiican, live — 25 @— 28

FLAX— American — 7 @— 8

FLOUR & MEAL— Genesee, ^ bbl. 5 50 ® 5 56i

Ti-oy 5 50 ®

Michigan 5 50 "g)

Ohio, Flat Hoop 5 50 «

Ohio, Round Hoop ®

Ohio, via New-Orleans "S

Pennsylvania 2

Brandyvrine 5 50 -©

Georgetown 5 50 ©

Baltimore City Mills ®

Kichmond City Mills 6 75 'a) 7 —

Richmond Country 5 25 @ 5 37.^

Alexandria, Petersburg, &c 5 25 ® 5 3?i

Rye Flour 3 87.V'a) 4 —

Com Meal, Jersey and Brand 3 871 S) 4 —

Corn Meal, Brandywine hhd. ®17 50

GRAIN— Wheat, White !>• bush. 1 15 a< 1 20

Wheat, Red 1 02 ® 1 08

Rye, Northern — 84 'w

Com, Jersey and North. . .(meas.) — 78 "S — 80

Com, Southern (measure) '&

Com, Southern (weight) — 73 « — 78

Oats, Northern — 3:* 'a— 40

Oats, .'^outheni ®

HAV— North River in bales, ^lOOttS — 56 @— 62.V
IIEMP— American, dew-rotted .. ton 95 — 'n 110 —

water-rotted 150 — ®200 —

HOP.S— 1st sort, 1846 — i'S®— 11

IRON— Ameiican Pig, No 1 30 — '«32 .'JO

Common 22 50 TiMTy —

I,IME— Thomaston I> bbl. — 80 ^a

LUMBER- Boards, N.R., ^M. ft. clr. 30 — g35 —

Boards, Eaet^m Pine '"'

Boanls, Albany Pine ^pce. — 10 ■a— 18

Plank, Georgia Pine ^M.rt. 27 50 'w

(672J

Monthly Journal of Agriculture.]

Staves, wniite Oak, pipe.^M 50 — ®

Staves, White Oak, hhd 40 — ®

Staves, White Oak, bbl 30 — ®

Staves, Red Oak, hhd 24 — ^28 —

Hoops 20 — ®30 —

Scantling, Pine, Eastern 15 — ®16 25

Scantling, Oak 30 — ®35 —

Timber, Oak ^ cubic fool — 20 ®— 30

Timber, White Pine — 13 ®— 20

Timber, Georgia Yellow Pine — 24 @ — 28

Shingles ^ bunch 1 75 -® 2 —

Shingles, Cedar, 3 feet, 1st quality. 26 — ®

Shifcgles, Cedar, 3 feet, 2d quality. 22 — ®24 —
Shingles, Cedar, 2 feet, 1st qualitV. 17 — ®18 —
Shingles, Cedar, 2 feet, 2d quality. 15 — ®16 —

Shingles, Cypress, 2 feet 13 — ®14 —

Phinales, Company 28 — -©30 —

MUSTARD— American — 16 ■®— 31

NAILS— Wrought, 6dto20d...^ IB. — 10 6- 14

Cui4dto4()d — 4 @— 4i

PL.'^STER PARIS— f>' ton 2 12^3 2 25

PliOVISIONS— Beef, Mess, ^ bbl... 8 — ® 8 50

Beef Prime 6 — ® 6 50

Pork, Mess, Ohio 10 37A ® 10 50

Pork, Prime, Ohio 8 25 ® 8 374-

Lard. Ohio f m. — 7®— 7i

Hams, Pickled — 6i®— 6J

Shoulder.?, Pickled — 4i®— 5

Sides, Pickled ®

Beef,Smoked ^ tl5. — 8j®— 9

Butter, Orange County ,- . — 18 "ff— 19

Butter, Western Daii-j' — 13 ®— 15

Butter. Grease ." — CI®— 7

Cheese, in casks and boxes — 6i5' — 7J

SEEDS— Clover ^ ffi. — 6i®— ^■i

Timothy •F tierce 11 — ®15 —

Flax, Rougn 9 — ® 9 25

SOA P— N. York, Brown ^ ». — 3i ®— 6

TALLOW— American Rendered ... — 81®— 8|

TOBACCO— Virginia ® IB. — Ua/— 5

North Carolina — 2 ® — 4

Kenluckv and Missouri — 2® — 6

WOOL— .Am. Saxony. Fleece,.^ ». — 35 ®— 374-

Am«n-icnn Full Blood Jlcrino — 30 ® — 32

American i and i Merino — 26 ® — 23

American Native and i Merino... — 22 ® — 24
Superfine, Pulled — 25 ® — 28

N%V*

ft

.4:

f 4

V^V/.

MONTHLY

JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

VOL. II. FEBRUARY, 1847. NO. 8.

CHEMISTRY AS APPLIED TO AGRICULTURE.

THE OBLIGATION OF GOVERNMENTS TO PROMOTE SCHOLASTIC INSTRUC-
TION IN THE ART OF HUSEANDRr.

There would, we must confess, be no violence in the presumption that we
had stolen a leaf from the book of the esteemed author of the following Report,
when we very hastily penned, for the last number of The Farmers' Library,
the following query ; " Ought not every State, or Agricultural Society or Insti-
tute, that possesses the means of doing it, to employ a competent chemist, whose
duly it should be, for the benefit of its Agriculture, to analyze such soils ana
substances as might be sent to him for that purpose from the different parts of
the State ? Could any more useful office be well established?"

Coincident as are our views with Mr. Naill's, and gratified as we are to find
them so, it was only the coincidence of different minds, animated by the same
spirit of devotion to the same object. It was only since our remarks were in
type, that a chance, fortunately for us, brought us acquainted with Mr. N. ; and
to learn, incidentally, that as far back as March, 1840, exactly at the time that
we were called upon to take charge of an important Bureau of the public ser-
vice at Washington — and so had our attention partially diverted, but never en-
tirely withdrawn from the interests of Agriculture — he, as Chairman of the
Committee of Agriculture in the Senate of Maryland, had actually presented to
that body the following Report, and Bill in conformity with it, for the establish-
ment of just such an office — one that, with some modifications, every enlightened
friend of Agriculture must see could not fail to be attended with the most im-
portant benefits to that branch of the State's industry :

House of Delegates, March 5, 1840.
Mr. Naill, from the Committee on Agi-i-
ciiltnre, delivered the following Report:

The Committee on Agriculture, taking into
consideration the deranged condition of the
finances of the State, and the difficulties into
which she lias been thrown l)y her system
of internal improvements, beg leave to sub-
mit the following lioport :

Your Committee, regarding the agi-icul-
tuml product of the State as the great basis
open which all her various interests mainly
(721) «3

depend, and as almost the only source from
which returning prosperity may be expectetl
to How, have been deeply impressed with
the importance of the subject and induced to
inquire whether anything could be done to
augment the agricultural product of the State.
It is admitted, on all hands, they believe, that
knowledge is power ; consequently, if means
be a'^opted to extend knowledge, an increase
of power will follow. Tlius, then, iflhemmd
of the State be cultivated, will it not lead to
the better cultivation of the soil? And who
can estimate the mighty results that may be

338

MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

made to flow fi-oin these 1 wo great primary
sources of wealth, the mind of the State and
the soil of the Stfite? If they remain unculti-
vated, must not the wealth and power of the
State remain stationary ? It is appalling to re-
fleet upon the amount of capital, enterj)rise
and population that have left the State in the
last thirty years. Can it be believed that
these masses of citizens would have left the
places of their nativity, and all those lial-
lowed recollections, and foregone the advan-
tages of an Atlantic market, if they had been
taught to appreciate the v;ilue of marl and
lime in the renovation of exhausted lauds ?
Your Committee think that it cannot, ;md en-
tertain the belief that when the pi'operties
and effects of those agents are more generally
understood by tVie fanner, and their applica-
tion regulated by analysis, universal confi-
dence in theu- use will be estaldished and
uniform success attend their application. In
proportion as the means of rendering home
agreeable and business profitable woidd be
increased, emigi-ation would subside, and
capital and population become fixed.

Your Committee propose, by the accompa-
nying bill, to take a small pittance from th<>
coffers of the State to further this great ob-
ject, assuring the Legislatiirc, and their I'el-
low-citizens tlu-oughout the State, thut it has
been prompted by a high sense of duty, and
under a conviction that it will be returned
many thousand fold", not only in the increa.sed
products of Agriculture and its influence upon
all other business, but ia awakening a thirst
for, and disseminating knowledge among our
people, that gi-eat palladium of our liberty
and security.

All of which is respectfully submitted.
From the Committee. D. W. NAILL.

Mr. Naill, from the Committee on Agii
cultui-e, repoi-ted a bill entitled " An Act to

provide for the appointment of an Agricul-
tural Chemist for the State of Maryland.'"
An Acl to provide for the appointment of an
Agricultural Chemist for the State of
Maryland.

Sectio.v 1. Be it cnaetrd hij the General
Asxcmhly of Maryland, That tile Governor,
by and with the advice and consent of the
Senate, shall ainiually, hereafter, appoint and
commission a person of talents, integrity and
suitable scientific attainments, as Agricultural
Chemist of the State of Maryland ; and the
said officer shall receive in consideration of
the faithful peiformance of his respective du

ties, an annual salary of dollars, to be

paid as the salaries of the other civil officers
of the State are or may be directed to be paid

Sec. 2. And he it enacted, That the State
be, and the same is, hereby divided into three
Districts, viz. : The Fnst Gubernatorial Dis-
trict shall constitute the First Distiict ; the
Third Gubernatorial District shall constitute
the Second District ; and the remaining Gub-
ernatorial District the Third Distiict ; and
that it shall be the duty of the said officer to
visit the First District during the year 1841,
the Second during the year 1842, and the
Third during the year 1843.

Sec. 3. And be it ejiacted. That it shall be
the duty of the Agi'icultural Chemist, to be
appouited as aforesaid, to deliver a course of
public Lectures on Agricultural Chemistry ia
each County embraced within each of the
said Gubernatorial Districts as aforesaid, and
analyze not less than three diflerent soils ia
each Couuty in each year, and shall also, as
Ikr as time will pennit, visit such places where
valuable marls or minerals are beheved to be,
and examine and rej)ort the same to the
Legislature, together with all his proceedings
daring each year.

Without stopping to discuss the details of a proposition so honorable in its
general features to the judgment and forecast of its author, we feel called upon
to record it in this Journal, on the principle that the enterprising pioneer blazes
«ertain trees in his progress through the wilderness, for the benefit of those who
may come after him. Motwithstandiug the apathy that has so long pervaded
the cultivators of the soil as to their claim on the Government and the advan-
tages to be derived from having the lights of science reflected on the course of
the plow, the time may yet come Ayhen this movement of Mr. Naill may be
looked back to and regarded with something of that grateful reverence with
which we view the spots where our hardy ancestors first opened settlements and
kindled the fires of civilization in a land of savages. Even now may we n6t
ask, could stronger proof be adduced of the supineness of the agricultural com^
munity — of their habit of overrating all other concerns and depreciating their
own — than is to be found in the coldness with which this enlightened proposi-
tion seems to have been received, and the quick oblivion into which it had been
allowed to fall? Yes, witliout meaning any flattery to the author, when wc con-
sider his previously retired mode of life ;tnd limited opportunities, and the almost
total absence of all sympathy and encouragement from the community or the
press, we may truly call it an enlightened proposition, much, it seetns, in advance

(722;

CHEMISTRY. 309

of public sentiment and the circumstances of the times and the country. But let
us ai least hope that the day will come — we trust it is not far distant — when those
who should have lent a joyful countenance to at least this one legislative movement
for the benefit of those who constitute so large a majority of the people of the
State, will awaken to a sense of that self-respect, failing in which men need never
hope to be respected by others. Where — how employed, has been the pi-ess of the
State, that it did not hail and encourage this one public cffurt to provide for her
greatest interest, that augmented power and increased prosperity which ahvays
flow from augmented knowledge ? Alas ! the sympatlues of the press of our
country are almost universally allied to and dependent upon other branches of
industry. Look at the buoys that have been anchored out, the light-houses that
have been built, the breakwaters constructed, the banks incorporated, the hospi-
tals erected, the schools and academies supported, surgeons and chaplains pro-
vided, and the vast amount of expenditure bestowed for enlightening, protecting,
and invigorating commercial, and warlike, and all other particular classes and
pursuits, while Agriculture, which supports them all, is left to grope its way in
the dark, like a blind giant, and is only not ridden down and killed right out
because then these other classes would infallibly perish.

Agriculture, and the various classes that subsist on the fruits of agricultural
industry, may be likened to a great sow, with a large litter of pi^s. If you would
have them fatten and grow apace, she must be well fed and cared for ; but if she
has not sense enough to know where to find her sustenance, and is too lazy to
hunt for it, the litter that tug at her sides, caring only for themselves, will suck
out her very vitals.

As to the advantage of special instruction in Agriculture, it is only when men
have the hardihood or stupidity to maintain that ignorance gives efllciency to labor,
and that the short-sighted man is best able to provide for the future, that they will
come 10 deny that the cultivation of the earth will be more successful and product-
ive in proportion as the youth of a country is reared in a knowledge of the sciences
that explain all the phenomena of animal and vegetable growth, the principles in-
volved in them, and the laws by which they are regulated. This being once ad-
mitted, and all that the friends of agricultural instruction contend for follows
of course. If Government has any power to protect, or what is the same
thing, to favor a particular class — as the military, for instance — by boarding
and educating them at the public expense — being virtually at the expense of the
landed interest — it surely ought to have the power to let that interest appropriate
some of its own means to the purpose of self-enlightenment in the principles of
its own pursuit. And which, let us ask, is the more useful appropriation of the
public treasure in this republican country — that which should be applied to dif-
fuse among farmers the mathematical principles and the knowledge of engineer-
ing or of chemistry, that would enable them to construct a road, or a bridge, or
a canal, or to build or understand the mechanism of a threshing-machine, or to
analyze mineral or vegetable substances in a manner to determine their fertiliz-
ing or nutritive qualities — or that appropriation of public money which should
be employed to teach our youth the art of constructing a gun-carriage, or how to
make a bomb-shell or a rocket? We don't ask, by the knowledge and use of
which does a man gain the most eclat or the highest pay, or which will the more
readily insure him a place for his son in the Army or the Navy, or the comforts
of a hospital for himself, or a pension for his wife ? We ask, which of these
appropriations would most conduce to the substantial interests of those uho make
(723^

340 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

the laws and pay the taxes ? Very well do we know that if Mr. Naill, for ex-
ample, had himself the means of carrying out his patriotic conceptions and de-
signs for the benefit of Agriculture, until, by increased knowledge of all the laws
on which its productiveness depends, its fruits should be quadrupled from a given
amount of land or labor, he would yet, if overtaken by sickness and misfortune, be
left by thepeopleandtheGovernment of this republican country, to perish in a com-
mon jail ; while honors and rewaras without measure would be heaped upon
any man who should come reeking from the battle-field, and whose only merit

should be that of having shed the blood of " the enemies of his country" ! ! !

Can any man endowed with the high, the — as we regard it — almost sacred
trust of legislation, the most honorable and responsible that any man can fill, un-
less it be that of instructor of youth — can any man so endowed with power to
influence the public weal, need any argument, at this time of day, to convince
him how absolutely and directly the success and the honor of Agriculture are
connected with and depend upon those who follow it, or at least those who direct
its operations, being trained up in familiarity with those sciences that enable us
to detect the nature of various soils, and the constituents that compose not them
merely, but all the plants we cultivate, and all the manures which the most igno-
rant acknowledge and apply, though without knowing why, to promote their
growth ? Just as well might it be said that a knowledge of anatomy is not es-
sential to the surgeon — that the iron-master may be ignorant of the qualities of
ores, and the art of smelting — or the dyer of his coloring matters, and how to fix
them. We don't speak of or to the common farm-laborer any more than of the
journeyman dyer. Both may be as ignorant as an ass, and, like an ass, be em-
ployed in the lowest drudgery, content to labor and be fed from day to day. —
AVhat we write, such as it is, we intend for gentlemen, and gentlemen's sons;
and by these we mean men who pride themselves and covet the distinction that
is to be found, not in money nor in fine clothes, but in the highest possession they
■can reach of the qualities that distinguish the man from the brute — the intellect-
ual farmer from the unintellectual operative. It is knowledge that humanizes,
civilizes, elevates and adorns the human character. Ignorance brutalizes and de-
grades— makes men tyrannical and cruel, yet cowardly and fond of blood. We go,
therefore, above all things, for knowledge ; and, first of all, for knowledge of the very
sort that makes a man most skillful and prosperous in the very business by ivhich
he is to support himself and family, without which he must be miserable. For
the sea, he who wishes not to live and die a common sailor, learns the art of
navigation ; he gets acquainted with the form and magnitude of the earth— pro-
•cures his charts of the coasts, and maps of the harbors he may have occasion to
wisiU He must understand the use of instruments by which the direction in
wliich the ship is steered, and the distance she sails, are ascertained from day
to day ; and be able to deduce, from the data supplied by such instruments, the
situation of his ship at any time, and to find the direction and distance of any
place to which she is to be taken. Observe the elegance and beauty of
the art which forms our splendid flint-glass out of such coarse, mean ma-
terials as silica, potash, and oxide of lead. Now are these arts, does the read-
er suppose, to be acquired without study ? without exercise of the mind ?
without bringing into play the noble faculties that lift us above the beasts of the
field, and assimilate us to our Creator in tiio only way that it can be done with-
out an insult to Infinite perfection ? And will the farmer, the practitioner uf the
greatest of all arts — he who with soil, and soda, and lime, and potash, and wa-

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CHEMISTRY. 341

ter, and various materials, manufactures the very staff of life — will he be the
first to degrade his own enipluyiiient, lo disown its connection with science, to
stultify himself, and place on the same level of brute force the occupation of his
sons and his oxen ?

The views which present themselves to illustrate the immense auxiliary power
of science in the prosecution of agricultural industry, and the obligation of those
who represent the landed interest to provide for the instruction of the sons of
their constituents in a better knowledge of the principles on which all material
advancement in Agriculture must depend, are really so obvious, and we might
say innumerable, that one hardly knows which lo select by way of argument —
if, indeed, it be practicable to bring oneself to recognize the necessity of adduc-
ing any argument in such a case. It is not, we apprehend, that public men-
legislators — representatives, so called, of the landed interest, but really more at-
tentive and alive to all others than to that — it is not, we apprehend, that they
do not see how nmch the whole country would be elevated in character, and Ag-
riculture be made to prosper, by express instruction in all the sciences that ap-
pertain to it. The difficulty, it may be feared, is rather with the farmers
themselves. Their representatives perceive their lukewarmness, in the fact that
they never call them lo account for the enormous sums levied on the country for
protection and instruction to other classes, while they and theirs are utterly neg-
lected. What inference can they draw Avhen they see the Legislature of one
State refusing lo expend a few hundred dollars, byway of commencing a system
of agricultural instruction, as in this case of Mr. INaill's proposition for a course
of lectures on Agricultural Chemisiry ; while sister and contiguous Stales,
equally sensitive and slow in matters of expenditure for agricultural purposes,
will yet by unanimous vote give many thousand dollars to lit out a General Gov-
ernment regiment for warlike service in a far distant country ! While men betray
insensibility to their own welfare, iiow can they expect their representatives lo be
mindful of it ? But are there not hopeful signs of a change in public sentiment?
If farmers possessed the same benefit of the poivcr of the press which is enjoyed
by merchants and the town classes, that change would now come over the coun-
try almost as fast as one of Espy's great storms. Then we should have educated
every year, at the public expense, men prepared for difl'using a knowledge of the
principles of animal and vegetable chemistry, of mineralogy, botany, road-mak-
ing and bridge-building, and agricultural engineering; and architecture — in num-
ber at least equal to the number that are fed, clothed, and educated, and com-
missioned, and paid for life, at the expense principally of farmers, for practicing
with more deadly efliciency all the arts of war. Look at the advantages, the
power, that science has conferred on the civilized, over the savage warrior ! —
When has the former appeared that the latter has not given way, as snow melts
away under the meridian sun ? And can it be within the scheme of a beneficent
God that science, the crowning glory of man's nature, should do less to push
forward the great conservative art of cultivation, the source of every blessing,
than it does for the bloody art of human slaughter ? No ! the very thought is
impious !

But who can hope that this glorious direction will ever be given to any portion
of the public means, until the holders and the cultivators of the soil shall make
such demonstrations as will convince legislators that they know their rights, and,
'* knowing, dare maintain them " ?

We have spoken of the want of sympathy on the part of the press (which so

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342 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

powerfully influences public men) with rural interests. Can anything better
prove the want of concert and sympathy on the part of the agriculturists them-
selves ? For, as to numbers, take away Baltimore and IS'ew-Orleans, in the
slaveholding States, and not more than one in thirty lives in towns, and even
with the inhabitants of those cities, not one-sixteenth. Yet look at the spirit of
legislation in all those Slates. In what proportion does it lean toward, or is it
influenced by, regard for the agricultural class ?

Let us see, for example, what the Agricultural Committees of the Legislatures
now in session will venture even to propose toward agricultural education ; and
let us see what will be granted .'

There are those who may suppose that in these hasty remarks, for instance,
there may be something worthy of the consideration of the public and of public
men. If so, they would naturally like to see them more widely spread ; but
could they get any newspaper in any of these States to give them, or anything
like them, circulation? Nous verrons. The Editors of such papers too well
understand their business to batter the face of their type in care for men who
don't care for themselves.

But, as to the immediate connection between practical Agriculture and that sci-
ence for which Mr. Naill would diffuse some taste and some knowledge in Ma-
ryland, the reader is respectfully referred to the observations presented in the fol-
lowing chapter. If time allowed, they might be amplified and extended, and
will be as opportunity may offer.

SUGGESTIONS FOR SOME REFORM IN THE COURSE OF INSTRUCTION IN

COUNTRY SCHOOLS.
Let us endeavor to exemplify, in the simplest way that is possible, some of
the facts and principles immediately connected with practical Agriculture, and
Avhich every boy who is to live by terracullure ought to learn ai school first and
before all else, as fast as he has capacity to comprehend them — yes, as invaria-
bly and for the same reason that a military student at West Point is taught, by
the Government, the principles of fortification, gunnery, or any other branch of
the military art. Ask one of these students what is gunpowder, and he will tell
you that it is a compound of about 78 parts of saltpetre, 12 of charcoal, and 10
of sulphur ; and then he will go on, for his education has taught him to know
that its force of explosion is the consequence of the sudden and abundant produc-
tion of the gaseous matter expanded by the intense heat resulting from the action
of the combustibles upon the nitre ; that the gases evolved are chiefly carbonic
oxide, carbonic acid, nitrogen, and sulphurous acid ; and that their volume ex-
ceeds two thousand limes the bulk of the powder. And so he can proceed to
tell you the nature of, and the difference between, all these gases. This same
student, boarded, i)aid and educated at the public expense, will tell you at once
that, in the art of gunnery, the object is to hit a proposed mark, at any distance,
within the range of the shot ; and then he will go on to explain that, to accom-
plish this purpose, it is necessary to know the nature of the path which the ball
describes in the air with a given initial velocity, the quantity of powder neces-
sary to produce that velocity, and the elevation that must be given to the gun in
order to counteract the effect of gravity and the resistance of the air on the ball
in its flight ; and all these calculations he is tauglit to make. In short, he is
thoroughly instructed, not only in all the brandies of the military art, but in bot-
any, mineralogy and chemistry, mining, &c., some of which are as useful and

(726,

CHEMISTRY. 343

necessary to the farmer as to the soldier. But the oflicer, naval or military, not
only gets his four years' instruction, at the expense of the landed interest in the
proportion that that interest is the most numerous and contributes most to all
Government expenses, but he is paid besides, and finally insured to receive a
commission and good pay for life. Now we are not finding any fault with this,
but what we marvel at is that the landed interest, that class of the community
on which the burden of Government chiefly falls, should require no appropria-
tion, no assistance, no provision for instruction, also, out of the public funds, for
their own sons, in their own profession. We don't say provision for board, and
clothes, and pay, and life commissions, and hospitals, and pensions, with the
run of the Army and Navy for their sons, but an appropriation simply for
instruction.

We have barely hinted at the sort of instruction received at the Government
schools, by the privileged classes. Now let us see how, in what branches, the
rising generation destined to be cultivators of the soil are instructed. Take one
of these, and, for example, instead of asking him what is gunpowder, ask an
elementary question appropriate to his destined pursuit. Ask what is soil ? and
ten to one but he answers, soil is earth, and earth is soil ! Yet, if taught in the
matter and manner that every farmer's son should be taught, by men properly
prepared, and qualified, and paid, as Professors are qualified at our military
schools, he would not be fourteen years old before he would answer that soil is
the primitive earth in a state of mixture with organized matter fit for the growth
of plants ; that the surface of the earth, in every country on which plants have
grown and decayed, is properly denominated soil ; while the earth at a foot or
more beneath the surface, commonly called subsoil, is comparatively without or-
ganized matter, and is therefore properly denominated earth, clay, sand, gravel,
lime, rocks, or stones, as tlie case may be.

If agriculturists were alive to their own interests and rights, animated by a
proper sense of self-respect, and conscious of their power, as other classes are —
enjoying, as they do, the means of complete control over that greatest of all
earthly concerns, the education of the youth of a country — they would see that
public instruction in the art and principles of tillage and husbandry was at least
as thorough and complete, and as much out of the public treasure, as in any other
art or profession. In that case, no boy, designed to be a farmer, would leave his
school, and enter upon his trade, without having learned, for example, the num-
ber of elements which are found existing in plants and animals. Of these he
would know how many are supplied by the atmosphere and by water (as carbon,
hydrogen, nitrogen and oxygen), and that these are they which constitute by far
the greatest proportion of every organic substance. He would be taught what
these gases are, and what uses Nature designed them to perform ; and again, he
would learn, at school, that the remaining twelve elements, though usually pres-
ent in much smaller quantity, are no less essential to the Avell-being of the plant,
and must be obiained/ro?« the soil on which the plant grows. To yield all these
other elements, he would of course learn that the soil must be of a complex na-
ture. If it do not naturally contain them, or if it contain them in not sufficient
quantity or proportion, he would learn, before he entered on his profession', that
they must be supplied by the farmer, or he must be content to have little or no
return for his labor. He need not be, nor should any country school-boy reach,
14 years of age, before he should have been taught that each crop, removing from
riie soil certain quantities of these elements, making a part of and indispensable

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344 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

to the existence of the oats, barley, wheat, corn, tobacco, potatoes, flax, or what-
ever the crop may be, must diminish in that pro-portion the power of the soil to
produce future crops ; and thus he would learn his first great lesson, to wit : that
to sustain the fertility of his land, and insure himself a remunerating return for the
labor and capital employed in its cultivation, the exhausting effects of vegetation
must be compensated by suitable additions from some source. A well-quali-
fied, well-paid, competent instructor — such as, before many years, ought to be in
the management of every country school — and might be, if legislators would do
their duty — would soon make any boy of common capacity understand that, in
the words of an able writer, in those few and simple propositions is contained
the clue to the most refined and successful systems of Agriculture ; and that
the objects of the philosophical agriculturist, as well as the most effective
means of practically advancing husbandry, consist in —

1. Studying the composition of the Soil ;

2. Studying the action of Plants upon it.

But surely we should be wasting time in arguing farther that the farmer needs
instruction in the various branches of knowledge that are allied to his pursuit,
and that such instruction will give additional efficacy and profit to his labors, as
much as it does to that of any other profession or employment. Instead of this,
what have we taught to all the youth of the country, until they are singled out
and favored, by the pleasure of a single individual, with a warrant that insures
them a highly finished education and support for life, or until they are designated
for one of the so-called learned professions? Why, generally, the ultima thule
is, to be taught to read and write, and there, it is at this point, the edu-
cation of the great mass of boys stops — mistaking that which constitutes only the
means of acquiring knowledge for knowledge itself. Will somebody give us a
list of the books generally employed now in the country schools ? In our own
time, in Maryland, they were — Dilwortli's Spelling Book, the New and Old Tes-
lament, and Scott^s Lessons or the English Reader. High prognostications were
ventured in those days in favor of the promising lad Avho could come before an
admiring Fourth of July audience, and pronounce with ease and confidence, " To
be or not to be," *' My voice is still for umr," " My name is Norval," or " All the
world 's a stage," — neither pupil nor master, perhaps, understanding anything of the
men or the times for which these speeches had been written. To get by heart these
fictitious orations of Pagan orators, and to pronounce them with the requisite de-
gree of self-confidence and flippancy, was, and for aught we know is still, thought
to be a sure sign that the boy would rise to great eminence not as a planter or
farmer, (for the idea is that any dunce has sense enough for that .') but as a doctor
or a lawyer ! And the parents — good, easy people — saw in their applauded son an-
other Patrick Henry, or Pinckney, or Rush, or Wistar, at least. And this was
and is yet called education for an agriculturist !

Now in lieu of the speeches of Cicero against Vcrres, or Adhcrbal's to the Ro-
man Senate, or Antony's oration over the dead body of Ca;sar, we propose what
will be found in the two following chapters aS Fourth of July recitations, at an
exhibition such as we remember in our youthful and joyous days in the country,
when, with our dear school-companions, the Grays, the Wilkinsons, the Chews,
the Reynolds and the Dukes, each in his turn, dressed out in his holiday clothes,
we stepped out on the platform, under one of those fragrant, sweet-smelling, rude,
rustic arbors, recently shaded with the fresh boughs of the chestnut and the beech.
We only wish we had room for a few more of these agricultural .speeches ; but,

(728)

CHEMISTRY. SOIL.

345

one of these days, we will arrange a series of ihem from the various branches of
agricultural literature — ay, for Agriculture has its literature.

We beg pardon of the reader fox dwelling so long on one topic, and promise
not soon to oflend in like manner again. But the fact is that we are so thoroughly
convinced that almost all wide-spread, enduring and honorable improvement for
Agriculture now lies in that direction, that our feelings run away, perhaps, with
our judgment, so that we are half persuaded that it would even be not unbecom-
ing in our pulpit orators to pronounce an occasional discourse on the duties and
occupations of rural life, the high accomplishments that properly belong to it,
and its tendency to foster sentiments of benevolence toward every living thing,
and reverence for the great Creator of all.

Sell-love thus [nislied to social, to divine,

Gives thee to make thy neighbor's blessing thine.

Is this too little for the boundless heart/

Extend it — let thy enemies have part:

Grasp the whole worlds of reason, life and sense

In one closti system of bcncvolenee :

Ha[>pier as kinder, in vvhate'er degree,

And hight of bliss but bight of charity.

And now for our recitations, which we take from the works and materials sup-
plied by able writers, from whom we are making up The Farml-rs' Library.

SOIL

ITS NATUnE AND ITS OFFICES.

The soil is formed by the decomposition
of the minerals, of which the cnist of the
globe consists. The water which flows over
the surface is absorbed into the ])ores and
fissures of the rocks ; and in winter, on
freezing, it expands with sncli irresistible
force as to crumble down even the materials
of the densest and hardest stone. The pul-
venileut or gravelly material so afforded, is
carried down by rains or floods to the lower
grounds, and spreading over the more level
country forms the cultivable soil. Inde-
pendent of the mechanical action of water,
the constitution of numei'ons rocks is such as
to cause their gradual decoinjiosition by its
chemical action, as in the case of felspar anil
other minerals ; and by the direct action of
the atmosphere, all rocks which contain pro-
toxide of iron very rapidly decompose and
crumble down. Such being the origin of the
soil, its constitution will be easily understood
to depend on that of the rock from which it
has been formed; and as on this constitution
its fertility or its power of supplying plants
with the materials they re(|uire for tlieir
growth, mainly depends, it will be seen that
the agricidtural capabilities of a country are
immediately connected with, and dependent
on, its geological charac;ter. A district of
which the rock is simple in constitution can-
not furnish a fertile soil. A pure quartz rock,
or a pure limestone, could only furnish fioin
Its soil to plants, lime or silica, and they
should hence languish for want of other
equally imporUmt elements. The edges of a
geological district, where various rocks are
m coutict, will, therefore, always be more
fertile as to soil than its interior, and the more
uumcrous the rocks in the ueighborhood,
(729)

and the greater the diversity in their mineral
character, the more complex will be the soil
furnished by tlieir decomposition, and by its
power of furnishing the elements of growth
to dirtereut khids of plants, the greater will
be the range and energy of its fertility. * * *
The office of the soil is not merely to afford
such chemical elements as the constitution of
the plant requires, but also, and what, in an
agricultural [)oint of view, is nearly of as great
importance, to afford a mechanical support to
the plant during its existence. This support
must be consonant to the habits and structure
of t!ie plant, and hence is the special classifi-
cation of soils, as adapted for the cultivation
of various kinds of crops, quite independent
so far of their chemical coni[)ositi(ni. Thus
if we take a tenacious clay, which, when drj-,
becomes hard and solid, and when wet forms
an impervious paste, it is evident that plants
which either required to extend delicate roots
to a distance, or to generate a single root of
considerable bidk, could not grow there in a
hccdthy maimer; while a light and very
porous soil would be adapted natiii-ally for
such crops. On the other hand, a plant of
which but little stretches under ground, the
stem and other portions presenting a consid-
erable mass and surface to the air, would find
in a tenacious clay a sure anchorage and sup-
port against the effects of the wind and rain.
It is thus that wheat and turnip soils are al-
most synonymous with stiff and adhesive
clays on the one hand, light and friable loams
upon the other, and similar instances of the
mechanical adaptation of soils to agricultural
practices will have occuired in the experience
of every practical farmer.

It is not merely, however, in tliis mechan-

MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGraCULTURE.

ical point of view, tliat the physical proper-
ties of tlie soil become important, but also,
end indeed especially, as affecting the condi-
tion of drainage of l!ie ground. The greater
or less diyness of a soil influences powerfully
the nature of the vegetation it tends to nourish.
The {)la.Us of a marsh ditler from those of a
dry upland, not merely in greater or less
abundance or luxuriance, but in nature and
in organization. The plant which is naturally
funned lor dry ground will no more flourish
in a wet situation than an animal, inhabitant
of the land or air, can seek its subsistence,
and live habitually under water. It is, there-
fore, of vital importance to Agi'iculture, that
all supei-fluous water should be as rapidly as
possible removed. Its presence not merely
affects the character of the natural vegetation,
and renders the soil unfit for the cultivation
of plants which belong to a dry situation, but,
what is even more practical in its conse-
quences, it retards the pi'ogi'ess of vegetation
iu a very material degree, by preventing the
rays of the sun from warming the substance
of the soil A certain moderate heat is in-

di8pensa]>le to vegetation ; an increase of heat,
provided it did not exceed cei"tain hounds,
augments its rapitlity and force in a remark-
able degree, and the constitution of ordiuaiy
soil, by its dark color and rugged, dull aspect,
is precisely such as to absorb the heat of the
sun with most effect, so as to advance the
vegetation on its surface ; but if the soil be
sensibly wet, no heating effect can take place,
all the warmth will be absorbed in producing
evaporation of water from the surface, and
rather, as one may verify by holding a wet
hand in the air, even before the sun, an im
pression of greater cold will bo produced.
Long experience as to the result has even
fixed, in orduiaiy language, the word cold as
expressing the imperfection of such soils. The
remedying of this evil, as of the former one
consists in relieving the soil from the excess
of water wliich lies upon it, which Ls to be
effected by attending to the general drainage
of the district, and by lessening the retentive
quality of the individual soil, where such is
economically practicable

ROTATIONS.

RELATION OF GRAIN CROPS AND GREEN CROPS — AMOUNT OF FOOD PRODUCED BY VARIOUS SI9-
TE.MS OF CULTURE — INFLUENCE OF DIFFERENT CULTURES IN THE EXHAUSTION OR AMELIO-
RATION OF THE SOIL.

There is, however, another mode of re-
storing fertility which is of practical import-
ance, as it has led to the greatest of all im-
provements in husbandry, the rotation of
crops. A soil which has become exhausted
becomes restored by lying at rest for a cer-
tain time, particulaily if it be well broken up
and fresh surfaces be exposed to the action
of the atmosphere ; in fact, then, by the de-
composition of the mineral nia.sses which the
soil contains, a fresh soil is produced. The
orgaiiic remains of the former crops become
also rotted, and assume a form suited lor the
nutrition of young plants, and thus after a sea-
eon's fallowing, still more after lying out of
cultivation for some years, the soil resumes a
very considerable degree of fertility. But it
is evident that this pnjcess entails considera-
ble loss by the land being so long idle, and it
becomes of great importance to the farmer to
make some use of the land vs'hile this j)rocess
of regeneration is going on. This is actually
tlone by changing from one kind of culture
to another ; while the land is recovering from
the effects of one plant it is capable of .sus-
taining a plant which does not act upon it in
tae same way, and after this a thiid, differ-

ently exhausting from either of the others,
will give a coume of rotation of three years,
during any two of which the gi'ound is recov-
ering from the^ exhausluig action of the plant
grown during the third. I take this oidy as
an example, for it is found that three years is
too short a term to be of much practical
utility.

In selecting the plants adapted for such a
rotation, we must be guided by their chem-
ical composition, and by their mode of growth.
The results of both, however, lead to the
same conclusion. In addition to those ele-
ments which are common to all plants used
as food, certain plants are remaikable for the
great <piaiitity of silica they take from the
soil — such are the grasses and com plants ;
certain others for the pot;ish they take up —
such are turnips, the beet, the potato ; oth-
ers, again, for the quantity of lime — as the
pea, vetch, clover, tobacco, &c. Such are the
kinds of plants that should succeed each other
in a rotation, and the proportionate action of
each class may be judged from the following
fable derived from Liebig's investigations.
From a space of land of ^-47 acres, lie found
there were tidven up by

Crop.

Alkaline Salts.

A crop of wheal lOiiJ lbs.

A crop of peas I 1!I(J J

A crop of beet wiiliout the leaves.. I :!G1

Suits of Lime
and MnKiicsia

78i lbs.
37J

Silica.

260 lbs.
•1(5

The quantity of phosphates taken up by
these crops are —

Pcau..n7lhs. Wheat.. H-J lbs. Beet. .:)r2 lbs
(7J«)

The reason of the beet taking so little pno»-
phoric acid is, that it is not allowed to
form its seed, and iu all plants it is in the

ROTATIONS OF CR0P3.

347

•eed that the phospliates are principally Jo-
posited.

From these numbers it is evident, that on
§uch a field, ii" by the ^adiial decomposition
of its soil it could furaish but UOO lb.s. r)f alka-
line salts, aiid 200 lbs. of liiiic and magnesia
siilts each year, we would g^row upon it but
half the proper croj) of l)ect, tor a full crops
would require 3f)0 ll)s. of alkaline salts, and
al.HO only a hali' cro|> of peas, for tlie full (^01)8
would re(]uire 371 Ib^i. of lime iuid magnesia
salts. The continuous culture of either i)hmt
would, therefore, lie most un])rotitable and
injurious, but if w;» cultivated beet one year
and peas the other, the soil would have two
years to jirepare tlje materiuls which cadi
crop would recjuire to take up in one. There
would be available 400 lbs. of each kind of
8;ilt3, and thus so far from exhaustion, there
should be a surplus steadily increasing tlie
fertility and augmenting the produce of the
soil.

As it is seen in the above lal)le tiiat the
quantity of alkiUme and earthy salts taken up
by the corn crop (wheat) is so much less than
required for the other kinds of plants, and
that the principal demand of the corn crop on
the soil is for silica, of which wo may consid-
er it certain that no soil is in danger of behig
exhausted, it might appear natural to con-
clude that the corn crop should be at least
deti-iraental to the ground, while it is well
known to practical agriculturists that wliite
or coi-n crops are ainong the most exliausling.
Their injurious action on the soil is, however,
not so much duo to the inorganic materials
they take up as to the nitrogen, for which

element they are altogether dependent on tho
soil, while other kinds of plants act upon the
atmospliere, absorbing nitrogen, and actually
serving rather to enrich the soil upon which
they grow, than in any degree to impoverish
it. This is in fact what constitutes the re-
markable relation between the white cropit
and green crops as members of a rotation.
The former exhau.sting the soil of nitrogen,
the other fixing in tlio soil nitrogen derived
from the air, and thus preparing for the nu-
trition of the corn crops that may succeed it.

The coni[)lete illustration of tho principle
is due to Boussinq:ault, who has established
it as well by experiments on individual plants
in the laboratory as by the operations of an
extensive farm. Thus on grov\ing com in
artificial soil deprived of nitiogen, it was found
that the j>lant, when arrived at its full matu-
rity, contained only the nitrogen that had ori-
ginally existed in the seed. On the other
hand, on growing peas in the same way, tho
quantity of nitrogen in the mature plant was
found to be much greater tliaii had been in
the seed, and for this there was no other
source than the atmosphere. The foUovving
tables will show how fully this result is bomo
out on the large scale.

In a three years' cultivation of two sue
cessive ci'ops of wheat manured and then h
year of fallow, the produce was 3,318 kilo-
grammes of wheat, and 7,.'500 kilos, straw per
hectare, from 30,000 kilos, of manure. Now
tiiking these dry, the following table shows
their composition and the relation of their
constituents :

Constituents.

Weight dry.

Carbon.

Hydrogen.

Oxygen.

Nitrogen.

Ashes.

Wheat

2836
5550

1037-4
2686-2

164-5
294-2

1230-8
2159-0

65-2
22-2

68-1
388-5

Straw

Sum

8386
4140

3W3-G
1482-1

4.J8-7
173-9

3389-8
1068-1

87-4
82-8

4.56-6
1333-1

Manure

Difference

+4246

-1-2511-5

-{-284-8

-1-2321-7

-I-4-6

—876-5

It is here quite evident that the crop con-
tained only the nitrogen of the manure, as the
difference 4-6 is so slight as to be within the
unavoidable errors of e.xperiment in such
cases. On the other hand, the carbon of the
crop is nearly trebh^ that of the manure,
Terifying in an admirable manner, the at-
mospheric origin of tho carbon of plants, to
which I have already alluded. Hydrogen
and oxygen were also gained abundantly.

and almost exactly in the proportions to form
water.

In contradistinction to this corn culturo
may be placed the results of the continued
growth of Lucem for five years, followed
by a crop of wheat, all at the expense of
44.000 kilos, of farm-yard manure per hec-
tare, put out on the land at the commence-
ment of the period. Those results were pub-
lished by M. Crud, an eminent agiiculturist.

Cultures.

Produce per hectare

('ontentj* in nitrogen

Lucem dry, 1st year

2(1 •'

3d "

1th "

5th "

Wheat 6th "

Straw

3.360 kilos.

10,080 "

12.500 •'

10,080 "

^,000 "

l,.-.80 "

3,976 "

79 kilos.
237 "
294 "
237 "
188 "

31 "

12 "

1078

Manure employed containec

224 kilos.

f 4

(731)

348

MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

Or for the five years of Lucem, 171 kilos.
per year, as the whcnt of the last year did
not take aiiy from the atrnos[)here.

Now as the residues of these green crops
which remain in the soil, contain a corre-
sponding quantity of nitiogen, they are the
means of transferring to it such porli(jns of
that element as serve, if not fully to sustain
its fertility', at least prevent the exhaustuig
action of the white crops from being so soon
or so severely felt. This is still more fiilly
carried into effect when these crops, or the
last growth of them, in place of being con-
sumed, are plowed into the soil, where they

act as the best form of manure, their fresh
and juicy structure facilitating their decompo-
sition, and their composition being such as to
provide almost every element subsequently
required.

The substitution of these plants as sources
of food for the animals of the farm, for the
common, or, as they are called, the natural
gi-asses, has been one of the mo.st important
improvements in husbandly. The liillowing
table, which is collected from the best ati-
thorities, exhibits the quantity of actual nu-
tritious material which is usually derived
from an acre of land :

Crop.

Weight.

Starch
and ."^ugar.

Gluten.

OU.

Total.

W heat

1500 lbs.
1700 •'
1600 "

825 lbs.

850

sno

185
230
380
604
540
1120
240
420

45

95

45

45

45

200

120

180

1055
1175
1225
4076
5040
6920
1720
2400

Oats

Potatoes

Turnips

9 tons. 3427
20 " 4500
25 " .5fi00

Meadow hay

Clover hay

11 "

2 "

1360
1800

It i.s here seen that turnips and carrots
yield from five to seven times the actual quan-
tity of food that the corn crops give, also that
potatoes and clover yield twice as much, and
as it should be always the object of the farm-
er to do as much as possible in a given time,
on a given space of ground, he should fix his
attention on those systems of culture which
thus produce the greatest quantity of food,
and by the least exhaustion of the soil.

Practical experience bears out fully the
principles I have here endeavored to ex[)lain.
The Board of Agi-icultu)-e in England direct-
ed special uiquiries as to this point, and the
result led to the general conclusion, that one
year of tares, rape, potatoes, turnips, or cab-
bage, gives thrice as much food as one year
of medium pasture grass. In his very usefid
Lectures on Agricultural Chemistry, Profes-
Hor Johnstone adopts the same general propo-
sition, but he couples it with some money
estimates which I consider it important to
notice. He says : " With the exception of
rich pastures, it is said that land under clo^ or
or turnips will produce three times as much
food for cattle as when under gi-iiss. If such
a green crop, then, alternates with one of
corn, the land shoidd every two years (second
year) produce as much food for stock as if it
had been three years lyuig in gi-ass, besides

the crop of corn as food for man, and of straw
for the production of manure." Professor
.lohnstone then proceeds to tliscuss the money
value of the produce of similar pieces of
gi-ound under such crops, and concludes, that
" Although more food is raised by converting
the land to arable purposes, and more people
may be sustained by it, yet more money
would be made by meadowing the land,
where a ready market exists for the hay',
where it is allowed to be sold off the farai,
and where abundance of manure can be ob-
tained for the purpose of top-dressing the
land every year." In order to arrive at tliia
result he takes the price of produce as follows;

Hay, £5 ($25) per ton.
Turnips, 10s. ($2 50) per ton.
Barley, 4s. ($1) per bushel.
Wheat, 7s. ($1 75) per bushel.

Such a price for the hay could certainly b<
obtained only in excepticmal cases ; the other
circumstances he mentions could only be re-
aliz(Hl in some few localities, and tiiere is no
<loiibt but that, as a general prmciple in Agri-
culture, the cultivation of gi-een crops and
aitificial gras.ses is not only that by which the
largest (juantity of food is raised, but idso that
by which the greatest money return is atliird-
ed to the famier.

[The reader will bear in mind that while tlierc are in this chapter facts and information of
practical value, to be read profitably, he must not forget the diflbrenco in the cost of labor, which
in Kngland encourages the growth of hoed crops, and the difference in the greater moisture of
the climate of that Island, which favors the production of grass throughout the year. In onr
country, the dcaruess of labor would go to encourage grazing in preference to cultivation where
the country will admit of it; as in our Eastern States, and also in the South and West, whore the
moantain range, in summer, is connected with great fertility and abundant production of Indian
com in the adjacent country for winter use in fattening hogs and cattle. £d. Farm. fAh]

foR THE IIovE IN Catti-e. — No better cure hos yet been found than an egg-shell filled
with tar. The second application seldom fails.
(732)

THE HORSE.

349

THE HORSE :

(Prtte Essay, which obtained, in England, the reward of Fire Ponnds.)

TERMS COMMONLY MADE DSK OF TO DENOTE THE EXTERNAL PARTS OF THE HORSK.

1. Muzzle.

2. Race.

3. Forehead.

4. Poll.

5. Crest.

6. Withers.

7. Back.

8. Loins.

9. Hip.
10. Croup.

11. Dock.

12. Quarter.

13. Thigh, or Gaskin.

14. Ham-string.

15. I'oint of the Hock.

16. Cannon.

17. Fetlock.

18. Large Pastern.

19. Small Pastern.

20. Hoof.

21. Coronet.

22. Ham, or Hock.
2.). Stifles.

24. Sheath.
•ir,. Flank.

26. Girth.

27. KU)0W.

28. Heel.

29. Hoof.

30. Small Pastern.

Large Pastern.

Fetlock.

Cannon.

Knee.

Arm.

Breast, or Bosom.

Point of the Shoulder.

Windpipe.

Gullet.

Jowl.

AN ESSAY ON THE EXTERNAL FORMATION OR STRUCTURE OF THE HORSE, ANU
ON THE DISORDERS ORIGINATING THEREIN.

PIcrique omnes faciunt adoles-centuli
Ut animum ad aliquod ptudium adjunaant, aut ad equoa
Alere, aut canes ad venandum, aut ad Philo3oi)hos.

Terence.

I PURPOSE, in the following' pages, first, to
give a succinct, but, I trust, useful and explicit
description of the exterior conformatiou — the
make and shape of that valuable animal the
Home : discriminating die orifrina/fi/ veil
formed tit from the cross-shaped, and likely-
to-heromediseafcd brute, and the na^ that c^an
go With safety and plcasanti-y on the road, or
carry si.xteen stone across a heavy country,
from the imbecile and ■weakly-constitrUtoned
tpidcr ; and, lastly, to show by what ready auid
^733)

certain modes we may detect unsoundness in
the purchase of a prad, and when we are to
pronounce that he is perfectly sound.

The HoKSE, in the estimation of a sportsman,
stands preeminent above other quadrupeds, as
man does above everj' other animal : not only
do matchless beauty a:id ntrongtli of form, coni-
tiined with unrivaled speed, distinguish him,
but the extensive utility he is of to us. and the
share he takes in our diversions and perilous
enterprises, serve to inspire us with even a de-

350

MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

gree of affection for him. Every liorso if? adapt-
ed to some ])articular purpose ; ibr horscn not
only differ in kind, but, liliu mou, in utility, in
temper, in stamina, &c., and the selection of
them, in regard to tliese particulars!, constitutes
one of the most arduous and nicest duties of the
connalsaeur ; ho must readily acknowledge
good or bad conformation — trace genealogj- in
the outline, and discover a.je ne sa/s qnoi about
the lout ensemble that denotes good or bad in-
Btinctive and unalterable qualities.

In describing the good and bad points of a
horse, it will be necessary to make use of many
terms, denoting diflerent external parts, ■which,
to all horsemen will not re(iuire any explana-
tion ; lest, however, the reader be unacquainted
with some of those terms, a plate is annexed,
having references to the parts themselves in the
figure of a horse. It requires some experience,
but more attentive observation, to be what, in
modern horse-phraseology, is called a good
judge; i. e. (if we were asked to define a good
judge,) to know, at once, by a cast of the eye,
whether the nag, as soon as he is pulled out, is
likely to suit : is he cut out for a hackney, or is
he calculated for harness ? Does he look like a
hunter, or has he any good looks about him '/
Does he shovj any blood, or is he all over a
mongrel 1 In fine, is he the sort of thing jou
want, or won't ho do until he meets with a
greenhorn I These, and various other import-
attt sousidcralions we hope to nnravel the na-
ture of in the course of this inquiry, offering
such remarks, from time to time, as may prove
of practical service to the young and inexperi-
enced horseman. At first sight of a horse, a
judge takes a general survey of him, and if he
observe any apparent disproportion or defonnity .
his attention is at once fixed to that particular
point. Every horse, for example, that is tol-
erably well formed, should exhibit due propor-
tions of limb and carcass ; in fact, nine out of
ten have as much carcass as is equal to the area
of the space occupied by the legs in ordinary
standing ; but should his legs be extraordinarily
long, or his carcass disproportionately .small, he
is said to have too much daylight under hivi,
and that is certainly no mean objection. Should
his head be very large, his neck of dispropor-
tionate length, his fore legs stand under him,
or his quarters heragged and nglj-, such glaring
imperfections cannot fail to attract our notice as
soon as, or even before, the groom has set him
on his legs. But we shall have occasion to par-
ticularize these things in a detail of the perfec-
tions and imperfections of the diflerent parts en-
tering into the composition of the animal.

The exterior of the horse may he divided, for
the convenience of thus describing his several
parts, into head, neck, body, and legs. First,
•we shall delineate a good head. The nob .'should
be small. A large head is not only a plai/i
head, but a bad point, iua.smuch as it really, un-
der certain circumstances, detracts from the
powers of the horse ; he has, in fact, more to
rurrj- — it is a burden to him, and the only ^^•ay
in which he can possibly carry it to advantage,
is at tiie extremity of a short and upright neck.
Like the weight of a pair of steelyards, if it is
supported by a long and horizontal neck, its
burden becomes enormously augmented, .so that
the weight tnin«milt(Ml to thi- fore extremities fior
those parts su|)port the head at.d i.eck as v ell as
half the carcass) is much incr.'iised, and. from the
natural preponderance of it before, is very likely
to prove the csuiso of the iior.'io's falling doun.

more especially if the rider is heavy, every trip
or mis-step he may chance to make. In addi-
tion to all this, a lawyer (or big-headed liorse)
is apt to have a hard month., or rather, we say,
7io month, so that wc arc always apprehensive
of his being heavy in hand, and unpleasant to
ride. It is proper, however, to state, before we
proceed farther, lest we incur censure lor these
remarks, that the formation of the neck, and the
mode in irhirh the head is set on. and how he
carries it, will have much to do v.ith the head
being objectionable from its size, and with his
being light or heavy in hand ; ibr wc have
known many big-headed horses ride veil, and
be as safe and as light in hand as any others.
Next to size, its shape becomes a consideration.
Every feature should give animation to .the
countenance ; let the forehead be broad, and
Jlat ; the eye staring and full of fire : the ear*
thin, fine, and often erect ; the nostrils circular,
dilated, and reddened withiii ; the lips soft,
thin, and hairless ; the jowl extended, and the
cheeks kcU marked.

" Fire from his eyes, clouds from his nostrils, flow."

This, at least, is what we would have it in the
thorough-bred, and as a general rule, the nearer
that of any other description of hor.se approaches
to it, the better \\\e family he springs from, and
the more sanguine we may be in our prognostic
of his abilities. That such a hor.«e looks like a
sticker, or is a. perfect gentleman about his nob,
are no uncommon nor very unmeaning expres-
sions in the mouths o{ sportsmen and copers. But
his bend may be very long, or it may be very
short, though we do not know that either is
particularly objectionable, except as an eye-sore,
if the countenance is .somethine: like what we
have just described ; unless he be a Yorkshire-
man, and then, certainly, we should not fall in
love with such a big canister. The race ought
to be perfectly straight, (sec plate,) and the
muzzle, in the blood horse, square, and such as
will zo into a pint pot : a Koman nose (one in
which the race is curved) is by no means de-
sirable, though his napper be but of ordinary
dimensions ; it is seen mon; commonly, how-
ever, in a big head, which it, in a side view,
makes ajijiear not only much larger. I)ut ex-
ceeiliiigly ugly ; this may be said to constitute
a. plain Ycrkshirc head. Withal, the head, to
render it handsome, .should he veil .«</ on; its
junction with the neck should form a sort of
curve, so as to leave ample space in th(> throat
for a hu'ge and prominent crullet. by which we
may judge him to be a good-trinded horse.

The neck now demands our attention : if
good, the crest will form an arch of agreeable
curve from ihc poll to the n-ithers,

'■ With neck like a rainbow, erecting his crept."

It will be of proportionate length, and progress-
ive increa.se in breadth, as it approaches the
chest. A long neck, if it be .'Straight, or but
little curved, is objectionable, for reasons we
stated when speaking of a large head : a short
one, however excellent it may he on the princi-
ple of the steelyards, is never handsorne and
seldom exists without rendering even a good
hackney piggish. That short-necked horses are
better winded than others, because the air has
less distance to pass to and from the lungs, is
;iu opiniini to which we caiiiiot subscribe. Th':
nick should al.M) be thin, not thick and heavy,
and rounded and straight along its loirer mar-
gin : should the canal ct tlic Jugular vfiii be-

THE HORSE.

deep, and the windpipe/?/?/ and prominent be-
low it, we m;»y regard it as a sign of !:;ood
wind. When llie, arrli of it is reversed, i.e.
below InHtead of above, and iho orcnt, or what
ought to be the crest, near the withers, is hol-
low and sunken, the horse is said to liave an
circ-nccic, one of the greatest natural deformities
common to these parts. Under tliese eircum-
ttanccs it is usual for a dealer to eay that the
neck is put on the wrong side upward; but, in
reality, it appears to arise from the junetion of
it with the eliest being too low down.

Of all the points of a hor.se. the shoulder, for
a hackney, or a hunl(;r, is of the utmost conse-
<jtience : without a f;ood shoulder, no horse can
fide incll ; he may be a good ltnr>iex.>i home, or
he may race well ; but it is pliysically impo.ssi-
ble for him to carry his rider with ease and
pleasure on the road. Tlie.se are no speculalive
ojiinions, but faoLs, grounded On the experience
of all men who knoir a horse vIlcii they ace one,
and the result of our own everj'day obscrva-
lions — so much does the action of the fore ex-
tremities dejiend on the structure of this part.
And now, what is it that constitutes a '^ood
shoulder, and how are we to know a i^ood from
a bad one ? In order to render our an.swers to
these (jucstions intelligible, it will be necessary
lor us to deviate a little, and say something on
the internal raeclianisni of the part. The
Krapiilir, or shoulder blades, are attached to the
ribs by many powerful musele.s, which move
ttunn, during the action of the animal, round
their own axis, or, at least, in a very similar
way ; and though they can only revolve through
the small segment of a circle, that segment is
greater in proportion as they are more obliquely
placed against the sides of the chest ; hence it
will be seen, that what is called an obli(iue
shoulder is most advantageous for motion. —
Again, the l/cst shouldered hor-scs have, gen-
erally, THi.v withers; but this is not indispensa-
bly necessary to the formation of a good shoul-
der, for we know some, and irood jiidi(e:f, who
are of a contrary opinion. Wa mu.st confess,
however, for our own part, that we preferyj«e
withers. The Ihirkncxs of the withers will de-
pend on the conformation of the chest and the
obliquity of the acapulor, and not so much as
(iome persons, high in veterinary reiiute, have
supposed, on the length of the dors<d spines.*
Now, if, in viewing the; fore j)arts of a horse, we
find he rises upon the; withers, (and we must
take care that this be not an illusion, produced
by placing his fore legs upon rising ground,) and

■* Bones of the withers. It is confrnded, on anoth-
er side, that the sittuition of the scapulcf! has nothing
to do with the thir.kue.'<s of iho shoulder, hut that it is
wholly owing to the Itnglh of the npinoii.f prortssrs
Iff the dorsal vertebra-. To cslahlish this opinion
must be proved two data, viz : Ut, that these spines
ai-e short, or comparatively so. in all Ihick-shotddtred
Aorscs, isnd Ion;; in thin-slwit/dcred ones; and, 2(lly,
thai the converse of this never liappens. To vne
icho has dissected sko'ilJcrs, these are certainly home-
thrusts ; such, at It-as', as we could not paiTV ; though
we know ih:U the diuiensions of these hones may
and do, like those of mo.st others, vary in ditferent
horses. But they also vary in their dei^rees of in-
clination ; and may nut this circumstance alone, in
some measure, atfect ihe construction of it ( .\t all
events, we know these facts, dray or cart horses have
tiide cliests and thick shoiddcrs ; others with wide
dusts have thick skoiildtr.-^, but with narrow chests
tliin, unless the scaputi£ be vpright. Now, if ihey
who differ with us, mean to assert that all this arises
soUly from the lenyth of the dorsal spines, wo can
Only say, credat jiuiwus appella.

that no tracea of his bladebone can be seen un-
der the skin, but all appears smooth and level,
we may conclude that tlu; shoulder is obiirpie;
though a more direct [H'oof is funii.shed us by
carrying the eye from the summit of the with-
ers to the extremity of tiie point of (kc shoul-
ders. If it is upright, or nearly so, unless it be
in a thorough-breil horse, (such a shoidder is
oidy /// for Ihe collar,) we shall perceive an ir-
regularity under the skin, just below the with-
er.s, by passing our hand over the part, and find,
on grasping the part, that it is thick and clumsy,
because we are actually at the time grasping
llie blade-hone as well as leilherhotte ; though
(as before observed) these may be thick from
the eon.struelion of the chest.

A lean shoulder is one having (hin withers,
covered wilhjine and L^eniiine mi/scle ; a load-
ed, or overloaded shouMer, one witii thick with-
er.s, clothed with coarse and flabby muscles;
ami the thickness of the wither, as was said be-
fore, dei)end3 on the obliquity of the shoulder-
blades, and the proximity of their superior bor-
ders to the dorsal spines. That horses have
been fast runners on the turf with //c//i .shoul-
ders, is no proof that they would not have gal-
loped better and ijuicker with i^ood ones ; and
we must recollect that in a racer the /( ind quar-
ters are of primary importance, the fore quar-
ters only of .secondary consideration ; but, on
the road, we know that bad-shonldcrcd horses
are never pleasant nor safe hackneys; tlicy
step short, are puddling iralkers, roll about in
their trot, and are exceedingly likely to go to
prayers.

Tlie fore-leg should descend in a .straight line
from the bottom of their shoulder, i.e. in a lat-
eral view ; but when seen in front, it ought to
incline gently inward. If the elbow projects
directly backward, and the toe points with pre-
cision forward, we may rest satisfied that the
horse is not tieisted in his fore le^ss. Turiiin"
the toe in or out in standing is apt to be accom
panied with distortion, or deformity of the limb
This circumstance, therefore, is "seldom seen
without materially lessening the value of an
animal. Of the two faults, turning them out ia
the greater, for the pointing invard is seldom
carried to the extreme. A good arm is broad
and thick, long, when compared to the leg, and
marked exteriorly by muscular prominences.
The elbow cannot /)/-o;cf< too far back, and the
plumper the muscle is immediately above it,
the greater we may conclude to be the animal's
powers.

The knees ought to be large, broad in front,
and distinctly marked with several bony knobs ;
lateral thickness is, also, of much importance.
When the radius, (the bone of the arm,^ in-
.stcad of descending in a straight line, is direct-
ed backward, so that the knee appears to re-
cede from it, the hor.se is said to be calf-kneed,
a term that well conveys the idea wo have of
this formation : it is always objectionable for the
saddle, but not for the collar. The leg should
fall in exactly jierpendicular from tiie carcass,
and be short when compared with the arm, the
converse of this being indicative of weakness ;
and of sufficient breadth to enable a purchaser,
even at a distance, to distinguish the tendons
and bone, with jierfect clearness, in their rela-
tive situations; for, if he cannot do thi.s, there rs
reason for suspecting that he is gummy, the ef-
fect of hard work or premature u.se, and never
a natural defect. Should the legs be round
and straight bekjw, they arc called s/?7/^, and

\52

MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

are never ^rm and pood. B at tJie best and only
correct way to judi^e of legs, is to pans the hand
doW7i them ; if they measure mucli round, and
the sinews feel firm, hard, and distinct, like
well-braced cords, and if the intervening spaces
between bone and sinew be clean — free from
gvm — we may pronounce that they are good.

The fetlock, as a joint, should be of large di-
mensions, proportionate with other parts; no
joint, in fact, is too large, providing its bony
prominences be distinctly seen with the naked
eye, and its lig-ament^i perceptible under our
fingers. I need not. therefore, farther enforce
this truth in speaking of these organs. Knnck-
Ungover in the fetlocks is a sign of original mal-
formation, such as iiprighiness in the paatems.
or else is the result of hard work ; and the tot-
tering affection of the limb, accompanying this
state, is caused by local debility and excessive
irritability in the nervous S3'stem. The pasterns
always deserve much of our attention ; when
f^ood, their length is proportionate with that of
other parts, and they incline, with much oldiqiri-
ty, downward and forward to the foot, should
they approach the 'perpendicular, they are al-
most always short, and are said to be straight
or upright ; but when they approximate to the
horizontal, they are long, and called, though
erroneously, oblique ; for they are not so ob-
liquely placed, under these circumstances, with
regard to the leg, as they are when properly-
constructed. Perhaps no part of the horee ex-
hibits the wisdom of Nature more, in regard to
the adaptation of it, in point of structure, to the
purpose for vs'hich the animal was designed,
than this : in the racer, for example, the pas-
terns are lengthy, and incline to right angles
with the legs, whereby more weight is imopsed
upon the hinder parts of the fetlock and hoof, in
which situations are placed pieces of mechanism
which by their elasticity serve as so many
springs in diminishing the effects of concussion
BO requisite in this animal, which was intended
to perform swift and sudden movements ; but
in the cart-horse, whose action is slow and pow-
erful, the pasterns are short and nearly vp-
right, so tlaat most of the weight is thrown upon
the main bones of the ibot, and thereby his
springs, which have less play than those of the
Arabian or thorough-bred, are not so much act-
ed upon ; con.sequently Uss provision is made
against concussion, for strength, and not elasti-
city, is sought for in the construction of this
powerful animal. Horses with very oblicjue
pasterns are more likely to break down, and for
this reason they ought never to be shod with
thin-heeled shoes; on the other hand, if they are
very short and upright in these joints, they are
seldom or never sure footed, and will soon be-
come stilt// and groggy from work.

The hoof next engages our notice, and this is
a part of which we should be more than com-
monly scrupulous and nice in our insjiection :
" No foot, no hor.^e," is a trite but very true
adage, and one that is not kept sufficiently in
view by the purcha.scrs of horses, or tiiey would
not have so frequently to lament their hard fate
in having gone to VKirkcl for a screw. First,
we shoulil look to the size of the hoof: a small
foot is not only objectionable in itself, even
though it be a natural formation, but is often a
characteristic ofdisca.se; but a small and vv-
right foot is a morbid striictun', and is scarcely
ever siu'n in any one but a dancing-master, or
light-tiinl)er(>d tit. Whiti; jjoofs are to be eyed
with Hus|)icion; they arc really weaker, and
(730)

more liable to disease than dark or black ones;
and if a horse has one white and the other dark-
colored, and he is lame, in nine cases 'lutof ten
it is the \\ bite foot that is aflected. So much
with regard to the exterior of the foot before it
is taken vp. Other considerations now engross
our attention. Is it contracted ? i. e. is its cir-
cularity destroyed by narrowness at the heels ?
A good hoof is circular in the tread, or nearly
so, measuring as much from side to side as
from toe to heel; but we frequently find those
that are morbid measuring as much from toe to
heel as twice the lateral diameter. On the other
hand, the wall of the hoof which should, at all
times, be perfectly smooth and free from ridges,
(the contrary indicating di.sease,) may be very
oblique, in which case it is not only circular, but
spreads ovt, even to a morbid degree, in the
tread. Large, heavy horses, such as are bred
in low, marshy situations, are most subject to
have this kind of foot, in which parts of the
country it is preferred by many people, who
contend that their hunters derive advantages
from it. As the strong and vpright foot is like-
ly to become contracted, so is this subject to a
(iiscase cnWed fleshy soles; indeed, in the for-
mer, the sole is concave ; but in the latter it is
flat, on w hich account the two require different
modes of shoeing.

The body, or carcass, may be subdivided into
the chest, belly, and loins. So far as regards the
constitution of the horse, his stamina, or his
bo'tom, no part is of more consequence than the
chest ; but, like that of many other parts, no
particular construction of it is the best for all
kinds of horses. That of the cart-horse should
be circular, broad, in the bosom, and targe in the
girth ; that of the thorough-bred more circum-
scribed, but not flat-sided, very deep, and, also,
extensive in the girth ; so that the two differ
more in width than in depth. Had the racer
possessed a broad, circular chest, his shoulders
must have been thick, and his fore legs far apart;
and no horse so made can gallop well or fast,
though many such are ridden as hackneys ; they
are apt to have a rolling gait, and an awkward
mode of going altogether, percej)tible at all
times to the connoisseur in horseflesh ; but we
must be careful, even in choosing racers, not to
run into the other extreme ; for. if both legs come
oui of one hole, or he he flat-sided, he cannot en-
dure much fatigue, is very probably a bad feeder,
and certainly predisposed to disease of the
chest. A full and prominent bosom is a fine
point; and the ribs should stand out with suffi-
cient curve to afford space enough within ; for
which reason, some, as we before remarked,
prefer a thickish shoulder, if it be an oblique
one; and another advantage accompanying
such conformation is, that ue have sometiiing
between onr legs when mounted, a properly,
certainly, that every horse ought to possess. As
to the belly, its shape will depend mucli on
that of the chest and loins. A narrow-carcas.icd
horse can never do much work, readily loses his
condition, and with difficulty recovers it, being,
very commonly, but n queer feeder. We should
have something to kick against, and unless he
carries his dinner with him, his breadbasket
cannot be said to be of the best description.

The back should be perfectly straigki ; a hoi
low back is a sign of want of strength ; but it is
oi'ten (extremely pleasant to the rider. A mack-
back, the reverse of a hollow back, is by no
means handsome, though some argue that horses
having such are stronger ; cue objccliou to il w

THE HORSE.

353

that it is (ipt to cliafe from tlio saJille. The loins
,aru a jjoiul thai we ohould alwaya bu nici; about.
A IujHuw back and a iwirroio loin aro generally
indicative ot natural weakness; but the latter
is lar more exceptionuble than the Ibrnier : a
horse so lornied can seldom carry much vveif,'ht,
Boon knocks up. and ol'ien proves a bad feeder :
his co.islaiit huLlon'iu:<s in the Hank, and hxal/ink
appearance altogether, al'ier a day's hunting,
domonbtrate how incapable he is ol bearing llie
exertions reiiuired ol liira.

The 'Mil, in regard to the manner in which it
is se' on, is not to be overlooked : a horse that
cai'ries In-o good cnda (of which the head forms
one, and the tail the otlier,) always louk< grand
— ix a pcifecl genUcmiiii in his appe iraiice.
Above all others, the charger should possess this
poiut iu perfection, to coincide with the grarid-
cur of kit carr/a^e in the ostentatious parade of
a field-day. Hnic beHalor cquus campo seae
ardans iiifcrt. The tail, in most horses, should
form, when elevated, a straight line, or nearly
so, with the back. A gentle declivity of the
croup, however, from the summit of the rump,
denotes the blood-likc quarter, and adds much
grace to this part in the thorough bred : should
this line decline very much, the hor.'^e is said to
be droop-arscd, and the <piarters lose much of
their beauty as well as their natural power.
Nothing is so ugly, in aJ'ullquarUred h irse, as
to see the tail set on low down, issuing abruptly
from the rump as if a Irroomat'c k hod been
stuck in the p'ace. The dealers who indiscrim-
inately fig all, often spoil tlic sale of a horse of
this description by curling tlu: /ail upward with
a doiC of ginger. Some horses carry a good
tail naturally — others, by means of art having
undergone tl>e operation called nicking. Gin-
gery OT peppery hackneys seldom require nick-
ing; indeed, hackneys are often called, from
this circumstance, cocktails, in contradistinction
to Lkoroagh-bredi, who seldom or never carry
any but a drooping tail, better known by the
name of blood-iail ; a cocked-tail would be in-
compatible with a blood-quarter : hence it is
that blood-horses should 7icver be Jigged, or
nicked.

The quartert may he full, small, or fine and
blood tike. Full quarters are such as are pos-
sessed by carthorses, large machine-horses, and
hackneys able to carry great weight. These
horses are wide in the hips, though their hips
are but indistinctly marked, in consequence of
being enveloped by large, coarse, fiabby mus-
■oles. People are too apt to regard wide hips as
an objectionable point, from their giving to the
horse that appearance called ragged liips, which,
indeed, are not ouly ugly, but denote bad con-
formation, though, of themselves, they denote
good make ; for the fact is that ragged kips are
produced by a bad loin, and a lank, flat and
weak quarter. Were these parts well formed,
we should pronounce the hips to be of the best
description. The small quarter is one that is
often seen in a horse of this form ; though the
general contour of it may be regular and uni-
form, it is a<together disproportionately small
when compared with the carca.ss: if it grows
narrow toward the hinder part, the animal is
often said to be goose-rumpcd. But, of all other
Btruotures, the blood-like quarter is the best
adapted for speed : in it the tail is set on high
vp, and t!)j hips au high and prominent, but
not ragged; so that many of our best racers are
higher behind than before the spaces between
tliem and the points of the quarters great, aa are
also those between the latter parts and the sti-

(737) as

Hes; the haunches want the ■pbimpnc^x and
roundness of the full quarter; but, co far from
being either lank or llun, arc striped with bold
and prominent mufclet, which, being free from
the adipose and ce.Hular subslnnce that consti-
tutes the fahlrincss of those of the full quarter,
arc so distinct, even through the skin, that we
can distinguish where one ends and another be-
gins. The stilles should pyojcrl boldly forward,
and have a perceptible irregularity of surface.
The thighs are good, when long, thick and mus-
cular ; little hillorki, or rotundities, upon them,
mark the coursi! of muscles, and always denote
great power; the nearer the angles which they
tbrm with the parts above and below approach
to right angles, the more force tlie muscles can
exert; ergo, the more powerful the horse. The
hock, of ail other parts is in the racer of the ut-
most importance ; it should be broad, flal, and
of large dimensions. The propulsion of the
machine is efTectcd chiefly by those muscles that
an; attached to the point of the hock ; so that
the more projecting this is, the greater the force
they can exert, simply on the principle of the
lever: as a man with a long oar can row with
more facility and ett'ect than he who uses the
short one, or scull, so can a horse with broad,
projecting hocks get over the ground with com-
parative ease to himself, and pleasure to his
rider. The advantages the half bred hor.se with
good hocks possesses as a hunter, are of no lesg
moment than those a good hock confers upon
the racer : his great propelling powers will en-
able him to clear his raspers* with so much
grace that the rider will find it a difficult matter
to prmnd him,\ and empowers hiai to make suck
play in the mud as will soon sew up his lank-
Ihghed Rwii straight-hocked competitors. The
point of the hock cannot stand out too much;
indeed, the greater its dimensions, altogether,
the better, provided it be not ^(/wmy, or that its
various bony projections and sinewy parts be
distinctly seen or felt. li^the hock is narrow,
its point round, and not well defined, it is said
to be straight, and, from being very liable to
curbs, is often called a curby-lu>ck : should its
point be directed inward, and the toes turned
outward, the horse is cow-hocked, or cat ham med.
As this is a part very liable to defect, as well as
to original malformation, the nicest examina-
tion is required to detect all that may prove dis-
advantageous or injurious to its function, the
proper performance of which is of so much im-
portance that the propulsion of the whole ma-
chine depends chiefly upon it,

Rkmarks on the Purchasf, or a Horse. —
Having selected a hor.se whose make and shape
please us, our next consideration is his sound-
ness; for, though the horse-dealer may declare
that he is as sound as a bell, we are to take the
phrase as one having various meanings, and not
be deteiTcd from examining him, and narrowly,
too, on that account. Sight, u-ind, and limb,
must be the uppermost objects of inquiry ; for
nine hundred horses out of a thousand are de-
fective in one of these particulars. First, then,
examine his eyes, and do this before he comes
nut of the stable. Having placed him so that
the light may fall upon the eyes but in one di-
rection, .see that they are of the same size, and
equally full ; thai the haws arc not prominent,
and that one does not proji-ct more than the
other; that the eyes are perfectly clear and

* Rasper, a high and dangerous leap.

* Surrounded by inaccesaU/U ratpen.

364

MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

transparent; and tliat the pupils, or npplcx of
the eyes, are exactly alike in size as well as color.
A sunken eye, or one over which the lids are
partly closed— a projecting' hnw — an opa(iue or
scmi-opaqnc front" — a pupil dilated, or a white
or clouded one — are so many omens of disease,
for which we should reject the ;>/-rt<f as a <:7/p;W,t
or, what is often worse, a Wmi-e/-, who will shy
at all he meets with, and break }our neck the
first po^erX you ride him at. Having sati-sfied
yourself in regard to his/)c/'/7<v.<, have him pulled
md, and next proceed to examine his pipen. If
((ood ■d.ni KOHud, on being nipped in the gullet,
he will utter such a sound a.'! cannot fail to strike
the ear as the emission of a good pair of bellows;
but if his luniks are tovchcd, and he is a piper,
(that is, broken- iciiulfd, or having no iriiid at all,)
he will give vent to a dr>/, linsk//, .short cough.
Should a horse be su.spected ol7/«(Z 7r/7(fZ, how-
ever, the purchaser cannot do better than direct
his attention to the flanks, whict, under such
circumstances, will work either much quicker
than ordinarily, or heave deeply, and with great
irregularity ; they will be considerably longer
in contracting themselves, in order to squeeze
the wind out,|| than in falling to let it in,^ which
they do, if he is a piper, quite suddenly. But,
though not a piper, he may be a uhisller, or.
what is worse, a roarer : the first may be known
by the peculiar wheezing he is addicted to when
put to sudden or long continued exertion; tlie

latter, by blowing ki-i horn clamorously under
similar circumstances ; and either may be made
to display itself, by the purchaser giving him a
smart cut, or even feigning to do so, with his bit
of a.^k.

Thirdly, and lastly, as to the limbs. If, in pass-
ing our hand down his legs, we find any unnat-
ural protuberance, or puftiness, or if, in feeling
first one leg and then the other, we di.scover any
difference between them, disease, nK)re or less,
is present; he may not be lame, but he is not
clean upon his legs. Splents, windgalls and
ringbones may be present without occasioning
lameness, but they are all unnatural, are consid-
ered blemishes, and are all to be regarded with
a suspicious eye, as either denoting past hard
v:ork, or betokening future evils. On the same
principle, a horse may have a spavin, and be
only stiff from it at starting, or he may have a
curb, or a Ihoroitah-pin, and be perfectly scmnd ;
but these are still blemishes, and as such detract
from the intrinsic value of the animal. In ex-
plaining the advantages resulting from good
conformation, we are naturally led to make re-
marks eii passant, on the disadvantages from
bad. ; in pursuance whereof, I have shown why
such a structure is bad, a question that necessa-
rily entails upon us the mention of the disorders
originating therein ; i. e. the diseases to which
such parts, in con.sequence of being vialformed.
^xe predisposed. Inopes.

CULTIVATION OF THE VINE.

If any exhibition of supineness on the part of American agriculturists could
surprise us, it would be the neglect of so large a portion of them to provide,
every man his own table at least, with an abundance of one of the most whole-
some and delicious contained in the whole catalogue of fruits adapted to our
climate, and of easy cultivation.

In the last September number we adverted to this subject, referring to the
opinions and experience of Dr. Underbill, as of the highest authority, and gave
at the same time an niteresting letter from Mr. Mosher, of Ohio. With a view,
however, to the interesting nature of the subject, and the necessity for fuller in-
formation on the part of those who would like to cultivate grapes on a scale at
least adequate to the wants of their own family — and seeing, especially, that
the time is at hand for the commencement of this beautiful and interesting de-
partment of Horticulture — we have pleasure in transferring, as we are allowed to
do, what follows, from Browne's book on " The Trees of America," for which
a gold medal was awarded by the American Institute. We are forced to stop,
in this number, with what the author says of management during the first year.
The residue, up to the " seventh year and subsequent treatment," will be given
in our next, with engravings to illustrate the progress of its growth and manage-
ment from year to year. The cut on the next page represents the Isabella
(Vitis labrusca J.'sabclla).

Vauieties. — Several attempts have been
made to classify the varieties of this species,
but nut with imich success. In most ca.ses,
the fimn iuid c()l<jr of tlie fruit aloiio have

* Transparent cornea.
II Expiration.
ipt)

\ A blind one.
§ luepirution.

been considered, and iu others the shape and
clotliiiii; of the leaves; but, as it will be im-
possible for us to ,"nter iut.j all of these con-
aideratioii8, we shall only treat of a few of

i So called from plnuting nil but the nonpartilt.

CULTIVATION OF THE VINE.

355

those that have BucccsBfully been brought un-
der cultivation, which ar« ;v9 follows :

1. V. L. iSABET.i.A, Prince. Isabella Grape-
vine.— This variety is distiu^xished by its
large, dai-k-piirplo tVuit. of an oval form, and
of a jnicy, musky flavor. It possesses great
vigor of growth, is a healthy and abundant
be-arer of fruit, luid what renders it exceed-
ingly valuable in our climate is, that it re
quires but little protCKi'tion daring winter. —
Crinceming its origin and history, we are in-
debted to General .loseph Swift, of Geneva,
New-York, for the following account, which
we Inist will be no less acceptable in Coining
from so respectable a source, than in the in-
terest elicited in so valuable a [)roduction. It
appears that Gen. Smith, of Smithville. Noith
Carolina, in 1808, proctu-ed from Dorchester,
South Carolina, several roots and cuttings of a
hybrid vine, which, it is said, had been origi-
nate<l there by some families of Huguenots,
between the Burgimdy grai)e of Europe, and
the native Fox grajio of that vicuiity. In the
year 1817, a vine producecl from these cut-
tings was transplanted from Smithville, by
Mrs. Isabella Gibbs. in honor of whom this
variety was named, to the garden then owned
by her husband. Col. George Gibbs, which
was situated along the soutlierly side of Cran-
ben-y, between Willow and Columbia streets,
in Urooklyn, New-York. In loU). the garden
was purchased by Gen. Swift, who veiy gen-
erously distributed roots and cuttings of this
vine among his neighbors and others — more
especially to the late \Vm. Prince, of Flush-
ing, Long Island : through whose etforls it
became widely disseminated throughout the
l.'nion, and was sent to sevend countries in
Europe, Madeira, &x. The garden has since
been divided into lots, and occupied by build-
ings ; and the original Isabella vine, after at-
taining a cu'cumterence of more than a foot,
was severed to the ground in 1838. Fortu-
nately, howevei', several vigorous vines have
since spnmg up trom the roots, which con-
tiiuie tobeai- fruit in abundance. From other
btateineuts, it wotdd st^t^ui thai this variety is
not a hybrid, but was known in lliis countiy
yxMi- to 1800.
l"9)

2. V, L. HACois ALIUS, Loudon. Bland's
Pnfc-red Grape, Bland's Fox Grape, Bland's
Virtrinia Grape, Red Scnppemonir Grape,
Carolina Grape, Miizzei Grape, — Thia vari
ety may be known by its pale-green leaves,
leugliienod clusters, with large berries, of a
roundish oroljlate l(>nn, pahi-rcd color, and
sweet, juicy pulp, of a jileasant flavor; in
some cases, however, at full niatmity, the
fruit is said to acquire a dark-jturple or red-
wine color. It is tnoro esteemed by .some, as
a table fruit, than that of the Isabella, having
a iViinner skin, and containing ;i pulp of less
consistency. It was deemed for some time
as nn.suitable for our northern climate; but it
has been found to succeed in maturing its fruit
in most 8eas(ms, in the neighborhor)d of New-
Y'ork. and may successfully hi^ cultivated as a
wall fruit in a much higher latitude, both in
Europe and America. It ha.s !>een contended
that this variety was brought from Italy by
Mazzei ; but it is well known that it was cul-
tivated by Col. Bland, of Virginia, long before
that gentleman visited this country. The
original vine is said to have been found on the
Eastein Shore of Mai-ykmd, by Mr. Bland,
who {)resented cuttings of it t(J tVie hue Win.
Bartram and Samuel Powel, of Philadelpliia,
and some ol' the persons who received slips
of it fnjm the latter gentleman gave it the cog-
nomen of Powel Grape.

3. V. L. CATAWiiiENsis. Catawba Grape-
vine.— The fruit of tliis variety Occurs in looso
bunches, of an inconsiderable size, and of a
beautiful appearance. The berries are large,
and much varied in their flavor and color, ac-
corduig to their exposure to the rays of the
sua. Those which receive the full effect of
the .sun are of a bluish-purple, and a slight
musky flavor; but, when ]>artially exposed,
they are of a lilac hue, and those which gi-ow
entirely hi the shade are of a Iran.slucent
while, sweet, and devoid of musk in then-
taste. The fiTiit is earlier in ripening than
that of the preceding variety-, and, when al-
lowed to remain on the vine until perfectly
mature, the pulj) nearly disappears. It is es-
teemed as a fable gi'ape, and has also beea
manufactured into an excellent wine. The
original vuie is said to liave been procured
from the banks of the Catawba, and planted
in the garden of the late Mr. Schell, at Clarks-
burg, in Maiyland, and has been knowni to
bear nearly eight bushels of fruit in a single
season.

4. V. L. Ei.siNBURGESsis, Priuce. Elsan-
ho rough Grape-vine. — This variety is noted
for its sweet, juicy tiiiit, which is free from
pulp, and musky taste. The clusters are of a
medium size, with loose berries of a blue
color, which are said to make an agreeable
wine. Its foliage is of a pale-green, and re-
sembles that of die wine-bearing grape of Eu-
rope, more, perhaps, than that of any other
American variety. It somewhat rt^emble.s
the Isabella ui its bark iuid wood, but its fniit
is thought to ;isslmilate more nearly to that
of the Meuiiier, of France. The original >'iiio

356

MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

vas found and brought under cultivaliou by
tr. Hulings, in Elsrinborougli, in New-Jersey,
\\ here, undoubledly, it was indigenous.

Soil and Situation.— The Isabella grape-
vine flourishes best m a soil that is neither
j-Qor nor exceedingly rich, rather loose than
t:< mpact, moderately moist, uistead of being
wet or very dry, and is fi-ee fiom an excess
of salts, pernicious gases, and corruption ; and
in general, land recently cleared of wood is
preferable to that which has been for some
time under tillage. The siUiation should be
chosen on mocterately rising ground, rathei-
than on that which is plain or abruptly steep,
and the aspect should be inclined toward the
south or east, sheltered both from the wind
and intense heat of the sun, particularly du-
ring the latter half of the day, but not so mnch
BO as to impede a free circulation of air. The
climate should be rather dry than moist, and
warm instead of being cold. A doctrine ad-
vanced by various authors is, that the region
of the maize and peach culture is also that of
the wine-bearing grape of Europe. By parity
of reason, the Isabella, and several other vari-
eties, which are equally or more hardy than
the European species, nray be successfnlly
cultivated fiom Mexico to those parts of
America where the maize, or Indian com, is
to be considered & sure crop ; that is, they
will succeed along the shores of the Atlantic,
in any parallel snuthwaid of the forty-thiixl
degree of latitude, and much farther to the
northward, west of the Rocky Mountams. —
The Isabella will also often prosper under
cii-cumstances considerably at variance with
any of those above stated, bnt its fiTiit will
Jiot be of so fine a quality, nor so rich in its
ilavor.

Propagation and Management. The

Vitis labrusca Isabella, like all its congeners,
may be propagated from seeds, by cuttings or
layers, and by grafting or inoculation ; but the
mode almost universally adopted is by cut-
tings fmm the ])ranches and roots. A simi)le,
detailed account of the growth of a vine, from
its separation from the parent stem to the pe-
riod of perfecting its fruit, perhaps will con-
vey the best idea of the process, and we will
offer the following, as deduced fiom experi-
ence :

It was the opinion of L. Junius Moderatus
iColum(;lla, a distinguished writer on husbaud-
i-y, who flourished more than eighteen hun-
■dred vears ago, and who owned an extensive
Ahievaid in that part of Old Spain now called
Arragon, that no kind of land whatever can
be fruitfnl unless it be diligeiUiy. carefully and
skillfully tilled, more especially when em-
X)loyed for vineyards- " For a vine," said he,
" is a delicate, tender and weak thing, and
can by no means bear with hard iisagi- ; and,
for th'.i most part, it is consumed by too much
labor, and bearing too gieiit a quantity of
fruit ; and, if you do not restiain it within due
bounds, it jx-rislies by its own fruitfniness. —
But when it has, in some measvire, strcMigth-
oned and hardened iUelf, and attained, as it
(740)

were, to the vigor of youth, it mny prosper
under neglect. Bnt a young vineyard, whUo
it is growing up, unless it receives duo caro
and attention, will be reduced to the poorest
and most sta'"\mg condition, and will pine and
Waste away hi such a manner that it can never
afterward, by any experience whatsoever, be
recovered and restored. Tiierefore, the foun-
dations, as it were, must be laid with tho
greatest care ; and, from the first day of jdant-
ing, it must be managed like hifants, with un-
ceasing attention — which, unle.=,s we do, all
our expenses will be laid out to no pur[)ose,
nor can the proper season of anything l.)e re-
called when unce we let it puss." First, then,
let us select a jn'opcr site of ground, and pro-
ceed at once and trench it to the full depth
required. If it be situated on a plain, or in a
valley, it shouki be dug two feet in dejdh,
and on rising groimd three ; but on a hill-side,
somewhat steeper, it should bo turned up at
least four feet, in order that the i-oots may
penetrate beyond the reach of drouth. If the
ctiltiugs are intended to be planted in dnlls
or rows, let there be formed trenches three
feet in length, two feet in depth, and tiie
width of a spade — leaving intervals or baulks,
a yard in length, betv.een tho tienches, till
the row is fini.ihed. Then, with good virgin
soil, if it be at liaud — if not, let it be procured
from tlK> woods — let us fill the trenches there-
with, mixing it at the same time wth a due
])i'o])orlion of leafmoidd tn- well-rotted ma-
nure, or, what is still better, the leaves and
husks of vines, or grape-seeds, in order to
quicken and strengthen the growth of ti:e
l)lanls. If a vineyard be tho object which
we have in view, let the rows or drUls be
trenched fioiu five to ten ieet asunder, accord-
ing to the surface of the ground a-nl the lati-
tude of the place. If the situation be on a
plain, in a high defci"ee of latitude, the rows
should be eight or ten feet apart ; but if it be
on the side of a veiy steep hiU, or in a low
degree of latinide, five feet will be sulKcient;
and on moderately inclined surfaces, or in
higher latitudes, six or eight feet apart will
i)(^ all that is required. With regard to the
direction of the rows, and the hight to which
the vines should be tiained. they may nm in
a manner that will allow them to face any
point of the horizon between smith and east;
and they may be supported on props, or trel-
lises from six to ten feet in liiglit, and even
more, according to the vigor ef the vinc.>. —
lUit in cities, and about houses in tiie coiuitry,
single vines may be trained on the sides and
ends of buildings, along the side's of fences, or
on the trunks and branches of trees.

The most favorable season for planting the
Isabella grajjc-vine in the United States is
wluni the red-flowered maple is in bloom,
which usually occurs in (Jooi-gia from the "^Oth
to the last of Fi-'-ruaiy, and five or six weeks
later iiear l'hilad> Iplii.i and N"rw-York. lii
selecting the cuttings for a vineyard, they
slioulil be of one variety, and taken fiom the
most fiuitful pait of the vine. Let us not coii-

THE VINE. WATER FOR PLANTS.

357

tent onrselves with single clusters, but those
which are the in<!et prolific. The jrreatest
proportion of fiiiit grows from the buds ou
the last year's shoots next to the old wood,
with the exception of tlie nearest ej'e the top
buds being iinfraitful iind seldom bearing at
all. Some prefer to plai.it cuttings containing
a considerable portion of the old wood ; but,
8is it is not always prudent nor economical to
mutilate a favontc vine too much, it is liest to
select fruitful cuttings of the last year's growth,
with the wood well ripened. Thoy should
be of a moderate size, short-jointed, and con-
taining from six to eight eyes or buds in each.
They should bo cut otF transversely from the
vine, with a sharp knife, close to the old wood,
and not less than two inches of blank wood
should be left for the protection of the temii-
ivil buds. The ends of the cuttings that are
to remain above the ground should be cut in
an oblique dii-ection, and the sloping side
should be opposite the side containing the up-
permost bud. If possible, they s'nould be
planted in calm weather, immediately after
separation from the parent vini», and be ob-
tained from a soil, situation and climate simi-
lar to those in which they are intended to
grow; but, if any difference in these respects
should unavoidably occur, it will be 'oetter to
tTcUisplant from a poorer to a richer, and from
a dryer to moister soil, as also from a colder
to a warmer climate. But, should it be ne-
cessary to convey the cuttings from a distance,
their lower ends should be immersed in a
composition of fine earth, well mixed with
linseetl or other oil, of about the consii^tence
of tar, as soon as they are cut off from the pa-
rent stock ; at the same time taking the pre-
caution not to cut off the top ends till the mo-
ment they are to be used.

Management during the First Year. —
The ground liaviug been prepared in the man-
ner above described, the cuttings are ne.xt to
be planted in the centers of the trenches, so
that each tenninal bud will be even ^vith the
sui'face, and directed toward the south. Then
the earth must be finnly pressed round eacli
plant, and, should it subsequently settle and
leave more than one bud above the ground,
more eailh or mould must be added to bury
lliem up.

As soon as the season becomes hot and dry,
it will bo necessary to protect the cuttings
fmm the mid-day nun, by means of matting
or other materials, which should be removed
tov^'ard evening, and allow them to remain
uncovered until the next morning, at about
the time of the disappearance of the dew. —
Strict attention must now be ob.«er\-ed in
keeping the soil around the cuttings continu-
ally moist, and, should not this be effectf^d by
natural means, it must be done by sprinkling
rain or river water over them, or, what is
still better, soap-suds, or other stimulating flu-
ids, specially prepared for the purpose, but
not too strong. Soon after the cuttings begin
to take root, which m;iy bo known by the
swelling of the buds above the surface, young
shoots will gradually protrude, and the plants
will require but little attention during the re-
tnainder of the season, except an occa-sional
hoeing, to destroy the weeds, and to loosen
the soil in order to admit the air and moisture
about the roots. Should the season prove
diy, however, and the earth around the plants
become parched, it will be necessiirj' to irri-
gate them frequently with rain or river water,
or with prepared liquids as suggested above.
Early in autumn, rub off all the buds from
each plant, except two, which are to be re-
seived for training the ensuing year.

The method of managing tlie vine from the
first to the sixth year, as practiced by Mr. B.
E. Valentine, of Philadelphia, and published
ill Hoffy's " Orchardist's Companion," for
1841, is the same as that recommended by
Clement Iloare, a highly esteemed writer on
the cultivation of the vine, and whose mode,
with a slight variation for climate or seasons,
is btlieved to be best adapted for tViis species
of culture of any practiced in the United States.
■' On the first of December, or as long as the
weather remains open," says he, " the soil
round the roots should not be covered over;
but, as soon as frost comes, a good covering
of litter or well-rotted manure must be laid
over the gi-ound, as far as the roots extend ;
and, if the weather be very severe, it will be
better also to cover over the stem to the depth
of five or six inches above the top of it. The
young plant, being thus well protected from
the severity of the winter, may remain in this
state till the first of Mai'ch.

C^ S. B.'s last, in wliich he courteously takes leave of X. Y. Z., was received too late
for this number. We are glad to see them part without any signs of that animosity which
intellectutd controversy too often engenders in minds less libei"al and e.xpanded. We
should still farther rejoice to have them open and work some of the rich veins in practical
Agriculture wliich have not yet been exliausted or explored.

Best Water for Plants. — It is well known that rain water is much better than spring
water for promoting the growth of plants : this is owing to the former containing ammonia,
and which ia abundant in liquid manure. Pounded carbonate of ammonia mixed with water
will quickly show the eilicacv. when sprinkled on grass.
(741,

358 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH.

LETTER III.

ADAPTATION OF THE SOILS, HERBAGE, &;c. OF THE SOUTHERN STATES TO
SHEEP HUSBANDRY. 1. OF THE LOW OR TIDE-WATER REGION.

Natural Features of the Southem State-3 — Divided into three Zones. . .The Natural Feafures, Soils, &c. of
each. ..The Tide-water Zone— Its destitution of Aniticial Pastures and Meadows. ..Causes— Small amount
of Domestic Stock kept — Unsuccessful Experiments in raising Clover and Grasses. ..Reasons why those
Experiments were unsuccessful— Land too much E.xhausted by ,'^evere Tillage — System of Tillage com
pared with that of the Grazing Regions of New-York— Experiments unsuccessful, also, because itnproper
varictiss of Clover and Grass were tried... Much of the Land adapted to Grass- Shown by ita Natural Pas-
tures— Statements of Col. Allston — Opinions of Mr. Ruffin— of a Committee of the S. C. Agricultural Soci-
ety...Land compared with that of Flanders— also with some parts of New- York. ..Climate peihaps unfa-
vorable to certain Northern Grasses and to Red Clover — Oiiinion of Mr. Rutiiu— Statements of Milton (S.
C.) Agricultural Society. ..Clover not indispensable. ..Experiments suggested. ..Valuable indigenous and
acclimated Grasses— Crab Grass — Millet— Bermuda Grass— its great value— Statements of Mr. Affleck...
Peas — Their great value in the Southern States as a Green Crop Manure— Sprengel's Analysis of them—
The Value of their Straw as a Manure compared with various substances — Table of the Value of Manures
bj Payea and Boussiiigault. ..Oats, Rye and Barley — Corn Blades — Sweet Potatoes. ..Conclusions from
foregoing. *

Dear Sir : Having discussed, in my previous letters, the effects of w^arm
climates and some of their incidents, on the health of sheep, and on the
quantity and quality of their wool, we come now to the second branch of
my original inquiry — Is there anything in the natural features, soils, herb-
age, &c. of the Southern States, which unfits them for a natural and easy
adaptation to sheep husbandry 1

The vast region south of the Ohio and Potomac, and west of the Missis-
sippi— comprising an area considerably exceeding that of France, Spain
and Portugal* — is distinguished, by its natural features, into three distinct
zones, parallel to each other and to the Atlantic coast.

The lower or tide-water zone, which skirts the Atlantic, is a low, flat,
•iandy, and oftentimes marshy plain, from 50 to 100 miles wide, compara-
tively recent (tertiary) in its formation, and covered with pine forests ovej
the greatest portion of its extent. Tlie soils on the dry lands are generally
light, and sometimes too sterile to admit of profitable cultivation ; that in
the swamps and river bottoms, where the sand is replaced by a rich allu-
vion, is exceedingly fertile. The middle or hilly zone rises from the le%-el
of the preceding, first into gentle hills, and finally into high and oftentimes
broken ground, as it approaches the mountains. The width of this does
not greatly vary from that of the preceding. The formation is almost ex-
clusively primary ;t and the soil varies, sometimes being poor, but more
generally ranging, in its natural state, from medium to highly fertile. The
forests consist of oak and other deciduous trees. The third or mountain
region is formed by the different chains and groups of the great Apalach-
ian range of mountains, and occupies not far from 70,000 square miles of
the central portion of the territory under consideration.^ It comprise:; the
middle of Virginia, the west of North Carolina and South Carolina, the
north of Georgia and Alabama, and the east of Tennessee and Kentucky.
Its formation on the eastern declivities of the Blue Ridge (the most east-
ern chain) is primary, and thence to the Alleganies the rocks belong to

* Spain contains 170,000 square miles, Portugal 40,000, France 200,000— in all 4 10,000. Allowing 10,000
«quare miles of Louisiana to be cast of the Mississippi, the area of the region referred to is 4.')(J,000 aquaro
miles.

t There are one or two interrupted belts of new red sandntmie—v'uXv McCliire.

J Estimated not far, 1 thiak, from correctly, by myself. 1 can tind no authority on this point.
{74ii)

SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 359

■the Transition order.* Its soil varies from thin and light to that of exu-
berant fertility. West of the mountains, tlic hilly zone rests on Transition
rocks and coal measures, and is succeeded west and south of Virginia by
the vast rolling or level plains which extend to the Ohio and Mississippi ;
and which, histead of the silicious sands of the eastern coast, exhibit rich
and varying soils resting on limestone and other Transition rocks. In Vir-
ginia, the hilly region, which is one vast coal measure, extends to the bot-
tom lands of the Ohio ; and its soils, taken as a whole, range from ordi-
nary to meager.t

We will now proceed to examine the capabilities and adaptation of each
aone, separately, for the })urposes of sheep husbandry. It has already been
shown that shccj) are liei:4thy, and produce as heavy, and may he made to
produce as tine fleeces as elsewhere, in the tide-water zone. They are
easily kept — finding, in a climate so mild, considerable succulent food even
in the winter ; and, south of North Carf)lina, large numbers would subsist
during the entire winter on the hardier wild herbage which continues green
in the forests and swamps. If this region was stocked with sheep, to the
extent alone to which they could find subsistence, summer and winter, on
wild herbage — or, in other words, get a living without costing their own-
ers anything — the present number would l)e largely increased, and their
"wool and mutton would add materially to the annual income of the own-
ers of the soil. But a better system would undoubtedly be not to depend
upon wild herbage alone, but to have pastures or sheep-walks seeded with
the best grasses which will flourish on them, and provision made for a quan-
tity of dry fodder, or some substitute for it, for winter use.

Can this summer and winter feed be produced, in the region under ex-
amination, to any considerable extent, at an expense which would render
its conversion into wool and mutton profitable ? There are patches of
good natural pasture in many parts of the tide-water zone, apart from the
salt or fresh water marshes. But artificial pastures and meadows have
rarely been attempted. The planters in this portion of South Carolina, for
example, actually import hay ! " Many of the cotton and rice planters .
. . in some cases buy hay from New-England. . . . Northern and
(in some cases) European hay is even can-ied up to supply Augusta and
Columbia, along rivers which flow through swamps covered with natural
grass, so rank and luxuriant as to be almost impenetrable."!

This neglect of grass culture springs from several causes. Little farm-
stock, comparatively speaking, is reared or kept by the rice and cotton-
planters, from the fact that most of the labor on such plantations is per-
formed by men ; and the few animals kept are fed on wild herbage, or the
offal of crops which ai'e raised for other purposes. The carnage and
draught horses and mules are fed in the winter on the leaves or " blades"
of corn ; and the neat stock get their living in the swamps, and in the
corn fields, where the greatest portion of the stalks are usually left stand-
ing.

Nor is it to be denied that various imsuccessful experiments have been
made in the cultivation of the grasses and clover, which have discouraged
farther efforts, and led many to infer that the soil or climate, or both, are
decidedly uncongenial to them. That the soil or climate is as favorable to
the production of rich, thick swarded pastures or meadows, as in many

* So tennod by WeiTier. TViduijU liMle used now by ^oolosists, I resort to it as the shortest descriptive
epithet which will include all these nx-ks, unless it be the Hemilisyiin of Brongniart, the Subinedial of Co-
aybeare, or the Graywacke of Di; 1« Beche— neither of which is so fiimiliar. nor, it appears to me. any bel-
ter. The Transition rocks are equivalent to both the Oiimln-ian of Prof. Sedgwick, and the Silurian of Mr.
Murchison — whose uomenclature is adopted by Lyell. Phillips, Mantell, &e.

t Dr. Morse, Mitchell, &;c. % Ruffin's Agricultural Survey of 3oulli Carolina, 1843, p. 73

(7 43)

3G0 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH.

parts of the Noitliem States, I do not contend. Some of these soik are
doubtless, naturally too barren to be made to produce good yields of grass,
witliout an expenditure which would more than counterbalance the profits
accruing from them. Others have been sunk nearly to the same level by
wasting and improvident tillage ; and it is on lands of the latter class,
mainly, that the experiments in introducing the grasses and clover have
been made. As long as they would produce cotton or corn, these crops
were annually taken from them, with perhaps an occasional year of rest
(i. e. lying without any crop being sown on or taken from them) ; and,
when reduced to such a degree of baiTenness that the crop fell short of re-
pay i tig the cost of producing it, clover or giass was resorted to in the vain
hope of suddenly repairing, through their instrumentality, the ravage and
desolation of years. Tlie following is from the report of a Committee of
the Fishing Creek Agricultural Society, Cliester District, South Carolina,,
made to the President of the State Society in 1843 ; and, though this dis-
trict is not in the tide-water zone, the system of cropping described is more
or less the prevailing one* throughout much of the cotton growing region :

" We genei'ally plant cotton on fresh land four or five years in snccession — then com —
then wheat or oats — again corn and cott(jn ; and, after it will produce little else, we sow it
iri rye, and let it rest two or three years. Tliere are no fixed principles observed in the ro-
tation of crops. . . . We have no data whereby to lix the expense of cultivation accu-
rately. ^Ve know this, however, that at the price of protluce for the last two or three years,
we are sinking money. ''t

I ask what would be expected, in the way of grass or clover, from some
t)f the best grazing lands of New- York, after being cropped with grain
crops from ten to twelve years consecutively, with litth; or no manure ? —
However carefully seeded with the best grasses, or with clover, they would
not form meadows worth mowing, nor pastures where an acre wotild sum-
mer a sheep — though, as now managed, an acre is poorly grassed that will
not summer five or six sheep. Take the map of New-York, Sir, and draw
a right line from Buflalo to a point a little south of Albany — say Coxsackie
— and all the region, speaking in general terms, south of this Hue and west
of the Catskill Mountains, is mainly devoted to grazing. It is the best
graaing region of the State, and much of it is equal to any in the Northern
States. The best farmers in no part of it take off' to exceed three grain or
root crops before seeding down to grass ; and, unless the soil is unusually
rich, it is customary to give barn-yard manure to one of these crops. This
is almost invariably the case ^vhere the land was in meadow when broken
up. Where no manure is given on meadow lands, or even on lightish pas-
ture lands, two grain (;rops are considered sufficient by the most provident
farmers — it being an axiom among such, that all ordinary or thiiniish soils
should be nearly or quite as rich when seedtid down as when broken up.
In other words, thoy draw from the soil only what is equivalent to the
strength or fertilizing ])ropcrties of the sod, and of the manure given. —
When seeded down to grass, these lands are usually depastured by cattle
or sheep several years before they are again broken up. If ct)nvcrted into
meadow, they are top-dressed from time to time with gypsum, and some-
times with stable rnanures.| The ])oorest soils, rocky hill-si-tles, declivities
much subject; to washing and gullying, are rarely broken up after being
once properly seeded down. I repeat it, Sir — take all the grazing lands
of New-York, and crop them as severely as it is reported above to be done
in Chester District, South Carolina, and they would become so sterile that,

* Jd est, so fur nit conotnnt cropping witlioiil rotiirninii anvtliins; to the soil is concemoil.
t Sec Rulliii's Ai,M-iciiltur;il rturvcy of South Ciirolinii, lt*4H— Appomiix, p. 6.

X It 18 not conMidcicd t-'ood economy, however, to top-dress any inendows with Etabic manures wiiick
CTf dry and arable, and can thus be subjected to ihe reg^ilar rotulions of the farm.

(74.))

SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 361

unless resuscitated by copious applications of manure, they would not
yield ^rass enough to pay the expense of ke(!j)ing them under fence, until
they had lain waste for a quarter of a century.

Another cause of the failures which have attended some of the efforts to
introduce the culture of clover and the grasses on the tide-water zone, in
the Southern States, may, and probably has, existed in the improper selec-
tion of the varieties sown. As the firtst crop on a very meager soil — red
clover, for example — is not appi'opriate in any region. In Flanders, the
natural soils of much of which so closely resemble those of the zone under
examination, it js not sown until the land is enriched and got in condition
by several preparatory crops.* The diflevent grasses seem to be affected
by various conditions in the soil or atmosphere, or both, which it is fre-
quently difficult or impossible to detect. Timothy grass (Phleum pratensc)
is decidedly the favorite meadow grass of the grazing regions of New-
York. AVhite clover ( Trifulium rcpcns) invariably comes up spontane-
ously on those lands. Red clover ( T. 'pratmsc) is sometimes sown with
Timothy in meadows, and generally in pastures. Red Top* ( Agrostis
( striata J vulgaris) is preferred on wot lands, where it comes up spontane-
ously. It is considered a prime pasture and meadow grass in such situa-
tions. June or Spear gi-ass (Poa pratcnsi.s), the Blue grass of the South
em and Western States, so prized there and also in England,t is consid-
ered an unprofitable intruder in our meadows, where it comes up sponta-
neously, and ultimately drives out the Timothy. The meadows are then
said to be " run out," and are broken up. I have never known the seed
of this grass sown in a single instance ! The favorite Rye grasses of Eng-
land (Liolium pcrcnne. var. hiennc), Lucern ( Medicago sativa), Sainfoin
( Hedijsarum o?iibrichi.'i J, Orchard grass ( Dactylis glomerata), and various
others equally celebrated in England and on the Continent, have been
tried in New-York, and the experiments are generally regarded as decided
fiilures. None of them, at all events, have obtained a footing among the
grasses sown by our best farnlers. On the other hand, the Red Top of
New-York is but little regarded in England, | and Timothy was not in
much better repute imtil the Woburn experiments demonstrated its great
value for hay. Even now it is considered inferior, in general value, to
many other grasses. || All this goes to show that even the hardiest grasses
have their favorite situations ; and that we are not authorized to pronounce
against the practicability of forming pastures and m(!adows in a given re-
gion, because we have failed in a trial with two or three gi'asses, out of a
list of as many hundi'eds.

It has already been remarked that there are patches of good natural
pasture on the dry as well as the wet portions of the tide-water zone.
These are frequent and extensive, and could be rendered infinitely more
so by simply clearing the land. In your Memoir on the Cultivation of
Rice, furnished to INIr. Ruffin, while making the Agricultural Sui"v-ey of
South Carolina, in 1843, you say :

" At first, rice wns cultivated on the high land, and on little spots of low ground, as they
were met with here and there. These low f^ronnds beinfj found to aj^ee better witli the
plant, the inland swamps were cleared for tJio j'tirpose of extending the culture. In the
process of time, as the fields became too ^-assy and stubborn, they were abandoned for new
clearings ; and so on, until at length was discovered the superior adaptation of the tide-lands,
ajid tlie great facihties for irrigation afforded by their location. For the.se, the iiilan<i pliuita-
tions were gradually and slowly abiuidoned, until now, that the gi-eat body of land, which

» Pometimcs known ivs " Uprii;ht Bont irrass." and in the Southern States as Herds-grass.
t Pron<ninced by Sole the host of all the crasses.

S Agrostis fid^aris is pronounced •' a worthless or rather a mischievouc plant," by Sir Georpe Sinclair I
"Our opinion." says Loudon, •• is that neither Timothy nor (some other grasses named) is ever likely
to be cultivated in Britain."
(745)

362 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH.

little more than a century ago fnraished for expoi-tation o%er 50,000 bairels of rice, now lies
utterly waste, constitiitinjj, where trees have not overjrrown it, the finest natural paaUira
which could be desired."*

Mr. Ruffin in his Report of the Survey, of the same year, asserts :

" Few countries possess gi-eater natural facilities, or which are more ijnprovable by in-
dustry, ff)r producing in abundance, grass, hay and live-stock, and their products of meat,
milk and butter, all of which are now so deplorably deficient."t

The Committeo appointed by the State Agricultural Society of South
Carolina to take into consideration the scheme of reducing the quantity
of cotton gro\vn,| in their Report observe :

•' Millions of acres in South Carolina, including the lower country, are admirably adapted
to the raising of rich gi-asses. This might be added as another branch of industry, from
which reasouiible profits could be realized, and might very well be added to the cotton
planter's income."

Cwrresponding statements, on equally indisputable authority, might be
indefinitely multiplied, tiot only in relation to that portion of the tide-
water zone lying within the limits of South Carolina, btit in all the South-
ern States. South Carolina occupying a central geographical and lati-
tudinal position, in reference to this zone, and its soils on it, about
averaging, so far as I can learn, with that of the other States, it is not
necessary to pursue the inquiry.

Where fine natural pastures spring up spontaneously on deserted lands,
more or less impoverished — probably in most instances considerably so —
how little difficulty wotild there be in forming, almost immediately, the
best artificial pastures and meadows on millions of acres of just such land,
(only that it is in its virgin state, and consequently far better,) now in un-
productive forest ! And how small would be the ainount of skill requisite
to convert millions of acres more of cotton lands — which do not now yield
remunerating crops — into pastures and meadows, which, as I shall show,
would yield their owners a handsome remtmeration !

And the culture of the grasses need not stop with these comparatively
good and medium lands. They can be made to stretch their carpet of
green over the poorest of your sands — over those now covered with stunt-
ed pines, or which, scorched and naked, reverberate back fiercely the
btirning heat of a southern sky.

There are few regions in the tide-water zone possessing poorer soils
than some cultivated portions of New-York. In the vicinity of Albany,
(between that city and Schenectady, for example,) the same loose, silicious
sands, the same, though perhaps rather more stunted, growth of pines,
would almost compel you to fancy yourself somewhere between Richmoiul
and Wilmington, on the route of the great Southern Railroad ! Denuded
of their meager covering of dwarf pines, and the cohesion produced by
their interlacing roots, these sands would be lifted and driven about by
the winds. Y(;t on such a soil as this, you find the farm of the late cele-
brated .Tesse fJuol ! And fertile grass fields, dotted here and there with
splendid mansions, are every year stretching out farther and farther among
the arid sands. How are these rapid transformations in the fertility of
the soil accomplished \ The stables, and mews, and cesspools of Albany
can give the answer !

The following description of the natural soils of Flanders, now prover-
bial for its fine crops and rich pastures and meadows, is from the pen of
that able English agricultural writer. Rev. W. L. Rham :

* AGTiculturft} .Survey of South Crtvolinn, lS4n. Apjipiidix. p. 14. i lb. p. 7:i.

\ Tlio f'omrnittoo consislod of Whitcnmr-;h I!. .Srnbrook, Ksq., John B. O'Neal!, Esq., jiiid W. J. AUston
Ebq. — and tlio Report was made, I believe, in January, in 1840.
(746)

SHEEP IlUSBAiNDRY IN THE SOUTH. 363

" The greater part of the land in Flanders is iiatiirdily poor ; Hnd in extensive districts,
which nnw havo the appoaranco ot'lJK; srreatest richiietfs athan(.'.-<t tiiii(>, thi; fniginal soil wa«
once litllo bt'ttor than the blowing sands vvhicli arc mot with in tiio nei<:}il)orhood of the sea.
Neither is it a fjenial climate which brings forward the fruits of the eiirth m abundance; for
the climate is inferior to that of I'" ranee or the soiilhoni paits of Germany. The soil may bo
divided into two classes. Tlio hrst consists of the alhivial clay loams near the coast ; the
second, of various .sands and lii;lit loams which are found in the interior. The most fertile is
that of llie low lands whicli Icive been i-eclaiuied from tlie sea by eml)ankments ; it is chiefly
composed of a muddy deposit mi.xed with fi'agment.s of maiiue shells and fine sea sand ...
In the interior of Piust and West Flanders the soil varies considerably ; but the principal
part is of a sandy nature. The sand, and a heavier loam which scarcely deserves the name
of clay, are found much intennixed, whicli is owing to an alternation of layers of sand and
loam, which are found by digging to a coiLsiderable dei)th. These layers are not of great
thickness, and the ac(^idental circumstance of the waslnng away of the sand in some places
and the depositions from riveis in others esisily account for this variety. Some i-f the eleva-
tions, which are nowhere coihsiderable, consist of a very poor sand, and suggest the idea of
their having onct; been the sands of the sea blown into hills, as is obsei"vable on the coast.
These hills, if thi'V may be so called, are naturally so barren that they were, not very long since,
covered with heath, or at best planted with fir t-rees ; but they have gradually been' culti-
Yated iiuil improved, and only a few remain in their original state of heath and wood. The
poorer sands have been brought into cultivation chiefly by the persevering industry of small
proprietors and occupiers."

Have we not here a good general description of much of our southern
Atlantic coast — the tide swamp and sandy plain — and even a graphically
minute account of the " Sand Hill " region of South Carolina 1

Instances of the reclamation of such lands might be indefinitely mul-
tiplied.

1 do not offer the above facts to prove that it is either profitable or ex-
pedient to reclaim all the sterile lands of the southern sea-board by the same
means that have been resorted to abotit Albany, or in Flanders. Except
in the vicinity of cities, where maiuires are plentiful and cheap, and un-
common market facilities are off'ered, it would not be profitable, unless it
can be accomplished by less expensive means.

But it proves one and an important position : that it is the sterility of
such soils — or perhaps their loose and "blowing" character in some places,
their sun-baked hardness in others — which prevents them from spontane-
ously producing esculent herbage ; and nothing in them, as has been
frequently fancied, positively deleterious to vegetation. And it follows,
hence, that whenever it is iirojitahle to convert them into grass lands, it is
practicable so to do by the proper application of manures. But do I hear
some of your South Carolina neighbors, of the anti-improvement school,
(if you have any such,) say, " If our soils are, or can be made, generally,
suitable for the production of the grasses, our climate cannot ? " This
position is obviously incorrect, as warmer climates, as, for example, Aus-
tralia, the Cape of Good Hope, and various others, produce, where the
soils are favorable, a luxuriant growth of grasses; and South Carolina
herself, as has been already shown, produces them bountifully in situations
where neither the latittide nor the elevation abates one jot of the heat of
your fervid climate.

It is not impossible that the climate of the States farthest south — south,
Bay, of North Carolina — may l)e unfavorable to certain grasses and clovers ;
and perhaps so to the favorite ones of the Northern States. In relation
to red clover, however, the acclimation of which is regarded by many as
so important to those States, it seems Mr. Ruflin thought otherwise. He
says:

" Perennial, or other permanent gi-asses, of wliich, dotd)tless, there may be found some
peculiarly suited to the warm climatt;, (South Carolina,) would still more scr^•e to give the
great benefits of changed condition to the fields, iiuhqiendent of the much needed benefitn
of grass husbandly for feeding of live-stock and giving rest and maimre to the land. The
grasses whose value has been fully established by long experience in more northern couu-
(747)

364 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH.

tries, should be tried — not because they are fiom ihe North, (which in itself is a strong ob-
jection,) but nicrcly because their good qualilios are known, and possibly some such grasses
inay as well suit a more soulhern clime. And such. I trust, is red clover, the best of all
green and manuring crops. For although this was long held to belong to the North oidy, I
have fully experienced that i;-j locality and the perfection of its growth are fixed much more
by peculiarity of soil than by latitude. Not more than twenty years ago it was as general
a iKjlief in Lower Virginia, as now in South Carolina, that there the soil was too scantj- and
the sun too hot to raise red clover. But since marling and liming have made many of these
Boils calcareous, it is found that neither the simdy soil nor hot antl dry climate forbid the
raising excellent and profitable crops of clover. And so hereafter it will be found iu South
Carolina."*

In a Report by a Comrnittee of the Milton Agrscultnral Society, (em-
bracing adjacent parts of Laurens and Newberry Districts, S. C.) made to
the State Society in 1843, they state :

" Our native grasses, except the crab grass, are of the poorest kind, principally sedge. Of
the artificial grasses, some fciids have been made with red clover and herds-grass. t On rich
lots the first appears to succeed very well. For alternatuig with tillage crops we do not
know of its having been tried ; but our impression is, that without manuring more liighly
thcUi is customary here, it will not answer. We are not aware that it has ever been sowed
with gypsum. The herds-grass, as far as it has been tided, appeal's to succeed veiy well on
the bottoms that border our branches and creeks. "^

Lawrence and Newberry are not in t4ie tide-water region, but so far as
the effect of climate alone is concerned, their testimony has an equal
bearing.

I have little doubt that red clover may be cultivated on good, rich soils
even in the States south of North Carolina, and mny possibly become, un-
der some circumstances, a profitable crop in their rotations ; but, as has
been already remarked, it will not do as -a first crop on very meager soils,
in any climate — and still less so, I apprehend, on such soils south of lati-
tude 34°. It is not, therefore, the crop which you need, to cheaply ame-
liorate yovir poor and exhausted soils, to fit them either for grazing or for
tillage. Grant that such soils can be fitted to produce it, as Mr. Ruffin
suggests, by the application of lime or marl,|| these mttnures will be found
expensive, can be but slowly obtained in quantit»ies sufficient to apply to
large tracts, and, besides, when the soil is sufficiently ameliorated to cairy
clover, it will carry most if not all of your ordinary tillage crops. Though
cloYer would aid materially in the rotation, in i^tislaimng or even improv-
ing the fertility superinduced by lime or any other fertilizer, it is not, and
cannot be made the original fertilizer on the sterile sands of warm climates.
When we talk, therefore, of the initiatory steps by which such soils shall
be brought from a state of baixenness to a state of production, clover does
not come within the category of appropriate agents.

Though red clover ranks in the first class, if not the first in that class,
on appropriate soils, as a grazing and mamiring (aop, I have never regard-
ed it as indispensable — as what the lairi/crs would style a sine qua non — •
even in sustaining fertility anywhere except on rich calcareous wheat
lands, where a severe and exhausting rotation is resorted to, \Vhere
wheat is taken from the soil at hast every alternate year, for ten, fifteen,
or twenty years, without any manure, excepting the intervening crop, and
the droppings of animals depastured on it, clover will better sustain the
land in the ultimately fatal struggle, than perhaps any other green ma-

* Ruffin'B Airricultural .Survey of .S. C, lP4n, p. 81.

t This should l)o the Agrost'iK stricta or vidijarU — the Red Top of the Nonh. .Some writers designate it
tin the oik: specicH, come rb iIk! other.

X Kuffin's Af^riculturnl Survey of S. C, 1843 ; Appendix, ji. ft.

II Unlosn, however, the soil contains more organic raiitter than I suppose to be the cnpe with innny of
your sandy poils. tlicory mid pnu-licc both sliow that hine will not prove the proper ninnuiv. Thouph e»-
oeediniily vnlimble in its place, experience ghowB that it in no agricultural jjanacea. I phall allude to this sub-
ject more fully in n subeequont loiter.
(74P)

SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 365

■uring crop. But on the sillcious grazing soila of Southern New-York, it
IB rarely used cxdusively as a manuring crop, and is but liltlc used, ex-
cepting slightly admixed with timothy, for pasture or meadows* 1 think
it should be used more ; but the fact stated shows that clover is not re-
garded by practical men, who are perfectly familiar with it, as that indis-
pensable crop, in all situations, which some of its more extravagant pane-
gyrists would lead us to suppose. The conclusions which I would have
you deduce from the above facts and statements are, simply, that if clover
is found to flourish with you without extra trouble and expense, you will
do well to make use of it in your rotation ; if not, it is chimerical, in my
judgment, to engage in an expensive struggle with natural disadvantages
to force Its cultivation.

The herds-grass (red top) spoken of by the Milton Society, is a good
gi-ass on inoiat (but not boggy) soils, and having been found to succeed
with you, is worthy of trial in such siluatlons, but on dry soils, especially
on arid sands, it would entirely tail. Nor have 1 much confidence in
either timothy or spear (blue) grass, in such situations, In your latitude —
none at all in the former.

It would be well, probably, to try limited experiments with all grasses,
domestic and foreign, which have succeeded well on soils similar to your
own ; as among these, some maybe found which disregard climate, or are
even better fitted to your climate than their indigenous one, as was the
case with timothy at the North. The same remark is also true in rela-
tion to certain other esculents which are used as substitutes for the grasses,
and for gieen manuring crops.t

Notwithstanding the evident propriety of such experiments, I am
strongly Inclined to the opinloji that it is to your own native gi-asses ami
esculents, or those of some kindred climate, you must look mainly for the
basis of your grazing husbandry — and through this, the amelioration of
your poor and exhausted soils.

I regret that I can find no list of those native grasses which sward over
the deserted lands of the tide-water zone, and flourish with a tropical lux-
uriance in ilB swamps. You allude to them as ' native " grasses, so does
Mr. Ruffin. Mr. Seabrook, in his Report on Cotton Culture, | speaks of
"crop grass," by which I suppose he means Crab grass, ( Panicum, san-
guinalv,) coming up spontaneously after spring-sown peas ; but farther
than this, neither of you speclfyvarieties.il Among these indigenous ones,
particularly those which spontaneously make their appearance on dry
lands, it would be exceedingly singular if there are not several very valua-
ble gi'asses for your soils and climate — grasses the seeds of which should
form a part, if not suitable for the whole sowing, on the same kinds of
soils on which they are found flourishing.

Crab grass grows in all parts of the southern States, and is a fair, though
not a very superior pasture and meadow grass.

Golden millet (Panicu)7i 7nilliaceumJ is a great producer and withstands

I know of but very few fanners excepting; myself, in this, (Cortland,) one of tlie best of the grazinj^
counties, who sow unmixed clover seed. I confess myself decidedly partial to the crop. You may ride
ten miles or more in many directions from my house, where half and frequently more than tbrec-fourthd
of the fields are in pasture or meadow, without observing five acres of unmixed clover.

t See Appendix, A.

t Kor this elaborate and e.'iceedingly able Report or Memoir, see Farmers' Library, 1645, October, No-
vember and Pecember Nos.

II Since writing 'he above, I have rccoivcd from a South Carolina cnrrcsponde/it the fo'lowing list of
grasses and other esculents which flourish in the lower part of that Slate. Crab erass (Digilaria sangni-
nalis), earlier — the " Crowfoot" (Khiishic Indko), a little later, are. ho says, the best erasses for hay, and
thri%e in cultivated Grounds from llie month of June till froet. The " Wild Okra" (Viola palmata), the
"Partridge Berry" (MitcheUa repeim), the Wild Pcx Vine, and several other esculents, obscure and un>
Jcnovm by name, flourish in most natural pasttires from eai"ly spriiig till November.
(749)

366 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH.

a warm climate, but it requires a good soil. It has been caltivated with
great success by Mr. Aflleck in (Adams county) Mississippi.

Bermuda grass* ( Ci/nodon dactjjlon) I have been led to consider, from
the representations of Mr. Affleck, as the bqst grass, both forpastuie and
meadow, on the sterile sands of the tide-water zone. If half this enthu-
siastic admirer believes of it is true, it is of inestimable value to the South,
and for permanent pastures and meadows, is by far the best grass in the
United States. Mr. A. says :

" We are fully aware of all the objectioiiti made to the spreading of this grass, and have
a practical knowledge of iiU the trouble it occasions ; and having also had several yeara' ex-
perience of its great, its incalculable value, we have no liesitation in 8t;iting that the latter is
manifold greater than the formt^r. The time is not far distjuit when all the rough feed cdd-
sumed on phuitations will be made from this grass ; and when the planter will consider hia

hay crop as of much more importance than his sugar or cotton The excellence of this

plant for pasturage is evinced by two circumstances. It is prefeiTed by stock of every de-
scription to all other gi'siss, and it grows luxuriantly in every kind of soil. It possesses an
additional advantage, that of binding the loosest and most bairen sandy ti'acts. But when it
has once taken iwssession of close, rich soil, its extirpation is so difficult as almost to defy all
the skill, industry and perseverance of farmers. It is used to bind the levees on the banks
of the Mississippi, and of railroads. We saw it at Macon, Geo., Charleston, S. C, and so
on, as far north as City Point, Virginia, where it partially covers the wharf. One hundi-ed
poimds of grass afford upward of fifty of dry hay ; and we do cut. as a regulai* crop, five
tons of hay per acre each season. Were we to state how much more lias been cut, we might
strain the belief of om- readers. No other grass will yiekl such an amount of valuable hay ;
surpass it ui nutritive qualities ; support on an acre of pasture such a quantity of stock ; will
improve the soil more quickly ; or so effectually stop and fill up a wash or gully. But, on
the other hand, its extirpation, when once well established, is almost impossible ; though to
check and weaken it, so far as to grow a grain or cotton crop, is easy enough. To do tlois,
pursue the course of the best fanners of Kentucky in their management of a blue-grass sod —
with a good breaking plow, having a wheel and coulter, and a stout team, turn over evenly
and nicely a sod four inches thick and as wide as the plow and team are capable of, follow
in the same furrow with another plow which casts the dirt well, and throw out as nuich of
the fi-esh earth on top of the sod as possible or the depth of the soil will aihnit of. The crop
that follows can easily be tended without disturbmg the sod, and its gi'adual decay will
greatly increase whatever crop may be planted on it — and that -should be a shading one,
com and peas or pumpkins, or whiter oats followed by peas. Good farmers will understand
that heavy crops of hay cannot be removed, for many successive yeais, from any land, with-
out some return in the shape of manure. To the careful, judicious fai-mer, who wishes to
improve his land and his stock, and who does not expect to grow any crop wilhont trouble
and who uses good plows, and keeps a stout team and that in prime order, we earnestly
recommend to try an acre or two of this grass, in a situation where it ciumot readily spread.
To the careless farmer we say, toucli it uot."t

Tke same gentleman writes me under date of Dec. 10th, 1846 :

" Bemiuda grass well set, which aff"ords the finest and most nutritious pasturage I have
ever seen, will keep almost any number of sheep to the acre — tlu-ee (jr foiu' tunes as many
us the best blue-grass ! "

Unless this is gross and willful exaggeration,! here you have a grass
which is not only highly palatable and nutritive, but which will yield
more than double both of pasturage and liay, than the best grass or clover
of the Northern States! 1| It has been tried as far south as New-Orleans,
and the climate found no detriment to it. It will flourish on dry and al-
most barren sands.§ What can the farmer on the dry lands of the tide-
water zone ask more % [ts inextirpable charaeter I regard as decidedly in

* Cumberland Grass — Wire grass of Virginia — Creeping Panic grass.

f See Norman's Souliiem ,\^ricultural Almanac, for 1847.

% Neither of wliicii are we penuiueti to suspect, from tiie well-laiown character and intelligence of Mr.
AlHeck.

11 P''0!)le here in the North sometimes talk of gettini; three tons of timothy and four tons of clover (at
two C'itlii'.iis) per acn', but il is not done on one acre in u^ii tlioiisuii.l, on the bi^it meadows ! Two tons is
n good, and by fur above a medium yield, of liiiioUiy, and three, of clover. The larije amounts of Ber-
muda sometimes cut, which Mr. A. does not menlion for fear of "straining the belief of his readers." ho
)ia8 stated to me jjer^onutly. to be ciglit tons I '. — (Equivalent to the yield of thret first-rulo acres of tiinolb/
on thebeft grazing Inndj of Southern Now-Vork.

§ Mr. Afileck informs me he has rcpouledly seen ii growing w;U in such situations.
(75UJ

SHEEP HUSBANLRY IN THE SOUTH. 367

its favor on millions and millions on the thinner and poorer soils of that
xone — as once admitted, it will put an end to the unprofltahlo tillage
practiced on them, and remove all temptation to resort to it on others, as
they are p;radually rescued from harrcnness. It will thus compel the
adoption of that pastoral system which can alone make these lands prof-
itable, or save tlK^m, if the forel)t)dings of those who have been reared on
them and are deeply attached to tiiem, can be credited, from ullimate de-
sertion.*

You have another fodder crop — and \\ liich may be made a green ma-
nuring one, in no respect inferior to clover. The pea is to the South what
clover is to the North.T There is something in your soil or climate, or
both, which seems to be specifically adapted to the development of thi3
plant — for it flourishes with you under a much gTeater variety of soils and
circumstances than at the North. A leguminous jjlant, like clover, it draws
much of its aliment from the atmosjjhere ; and it is perhaps as sensibly
affected by the same cheap manure, plaster. Its haulm or straw, if cut and
cm-ed greenish, and well taken care of, makes a good, rich fodder relished
by all kinds of stock. Peas are greedily eaten by neat stock, swine, and
sheep, for which they form a healthy and highly nutritious food. The
white field pea of the North is considered equivalent to our corn,J by
measure, in fattening swine. For sheep, and particularly for breeding
ewes, there is probably no feed in the world etjual to nicely cured pea
haulm, II with a portion of the seed left unthreshed.§ It gives them condi-
tion and vigor — and prepares them to yield a bountiful sup2)ly of rich milk
to their young.

Though the pea is an animal, it becomes in effect a perennial, South,
when it is desired, by suft'ering it to stand until some of the grain shells
out.^ It will mature in a southern climate, sown late in the summer, so
that one, and even two preceding crops of it might first be plowed in as a
manure. It will rij)en among Indian com, sown after that plant has ceased
to grow, and there have been successful experiments of sowing it late with
wheat, oats, &c., to have it obtain its growth (to be plowed under as ma-
nure) after those crops have been harvested.

Sprengel gives the following analysis of the pea. 1,000 parts in the
common dry state yield—

Seed. Straw. I Seed. Straw.

Potash and eoda 15-50 2-35 | Sulphuric acid. 0-52 3-35

Lime and magnesia 1-95 30-70 Chlorine '. -39 000

Phosphoric acid 1-90 2-40 I Silica, iron, &c 4-40 10-85

' Statements of this kind have been repeatedly made in the \mgea of the Monthly Fai-mer by southern
gentlemen.

t I had labored under the hnpreseion that the so-called pea — cultivated as a manuring crop in the South-
em Statef^, was in reality a variety of the beayi ; but Mr. Ruffin in his Agiicultural Survey of South Caro-
lina, (see Report of 184li, p 81.) and Hon. W. li. Scabrook in his Memoir on Cotton Culture, (see Monthly
Journal of Auriculture, Dec., 184.), p. 287.) fspeaks of tliis crop — the former again and again— as ^ms, with-
out the qualilicHtion which would be expected from gentlemen of so much learning, in case they were
speaking of a plant by a vulgar misnomer, instead of its real name. The peculiar value of the crop at the
South in the particulars described, I tiiid asserted by Mr Ruffin, Mr. Affleck, and various other writers and
Agricultural Societies, in the strongest terms, and therefore it makes little difference, practically, whether
the name is correct or not , but if not, the following analyses, &c., are misplaced. The bean resembles
the pea in its qualities and value, but is rather inferior to it. See Appendix, B.

i The small, hard coi-n of the North contains more nutriment per bushel than the large southern com.

II That is, cut and cured so that it will come out of the stock or mow bright, and with the leaves looking
green— instead of having the ferruginous hue of over-ripe clover.

§ If cut greenish and well cured, the greener pods will not thresh cut readily, and then they are in ex-
actly the proper condition for breeding-ewes. If the crop is very light, cut it when all the pods are quite
green, and feed it out without threshing.

11 This i?, however, poor economy in any case. If the objcc is peas, it is wasteful to the crop, and the
quantity fown is uncertain : be?idcs, the haulm is ruined for lodder. If the object is manure, the loss is
BliU greater. Plants in dryinc lose the nitrogen contained in their sap, give up their saline matters, and are
"resolved more or less completely into rarboni(! acid, wliieh i >xap<s into the air, and is so fur lost."— -See
Liehig on this subject, and ul«o the clear and able remarks of Johnston, (.lohnston's Agricultural Cbemietry,
TuL ii. p. 176, it tupra.)
(751)

368

SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH.

The following table of the comparative value of manures, deduced from
analyses made by Payen and Boussingault, will show the remarkable com-
parative value of the pea as a manuring crop, and it will be found other-
wise useful for i-eference :

TABLE No. i.

Kinds of Manure.

Farm jard dung

Dung water

VVIieat straw ,

liyo Btraw

Oat straw

Barley straw ,

Wheat chaff.

Pea straw

Millet straw

Buckwheat straw

Dried potato tops

Witli'd I'ves of beet-root

Do. of potatoes

Do. of carrots

Do. of heather

Do. of oak

Do. of poplar

Do. of beech

Clover roots

Burned seaweed

Oyster shells

Sea shells

Sea side marl

Solid cowduiig

Urine of cows

Solid horse-dung

Horse urine

Pig dung ,

Sheep dung

Pigeon dung

Guano

Do

Fresh bones ,

Feathers ,

Woolen rags

Horn shavings

Coal soot

Wood soot

Picardv allies

Nitrogen in | Quality
\W) of matter, according
I state.

D.y. Wet. I

0-41
0-06
0-24
0-i7
0-28
0-23
0-8.'-.
1-79
0-78
0-48
0-37
O-hO
O-S.'i
0-8.J
1-74
1-18
0-54
1-18
1-61
0-38
0-39
0-0.5
O-.Tl
0-32
0-44
0-5.5
2-61
0-63
1-11
8-30
5-00
13-95
5-31
Glll5-34

78 14-36

1-3

1-1
0-65

Dry.i

Too

230

117

150

97

80

66

78

90

00

20

3

26

117

194

113

641

172

1.53

462

323

807

903
1039

809
8i
67
36

Wet.
100
2

60

42-;

70

57-;
212-;
447-;
195
120

92-;
125
137-;
212-;
425
293
134
294
402-;

95

80

13
1-28

80
110

137-;

652-;

1,57-5

277
2075
1247
3487
1326
3835
4495
3;590

337

287

162-5

Egnivnlent
according
to statf.

Dry.

ToT

1-27

6.50

975

542

7.50

207

100

203

361

453

43

85

66

103

125

167

102

110

488

488

3750

377

84

51

88

15i

58

65

2H

■ill

12^

11
95

1-22
149
275

lOU

68
167
•235
143
174

47

22

51

S3
108

80

73

47

23

34

74

34

25
105
125
769

78
125

91

73

15J

63

36
5

80

28 i
^ 1

• 2

Remarks.

Average of Bechelbronn.
Washed by the rain.
Fresh of Alsace, 1838.
Of Alsace.

do.

do.

do.

do.

do.

do.

Of mangel-wurzel.
VVitl'.ered top and leares.

Dried in the air.
Leaves fallen in autamn.

do.

do.
Dried in the air.

Dried sea shells of Dunkirk

The horse drank but little, the
[urine waa thick

Of Bechelbronn.
Imp. into Eng. in its ord. state
Imp. into France, do.
As sold by the meltera

It will be seen that pea straw is worth, as a manure, from 5 to 9 times
as much as the straws of the small grains — is better than clover roots, and
actually equals farm-yard dung !

Rye, oats and barley send tip a good growth of straw, in many parts
of this zone, even where the product of grain is small ; and, sown in the
fall, they afford sweet green pasturage, during the entire winter, in the
more southern latitudes. This is a very important and a very favorable
consideration in an economical sy.stem of sheep husbandry. All winter
green feed (roots) in the Northern States mu.st be cultivated, harvested,
protected from the frosts of winter in cellars, and daily fed out — which ne-
cessarily renders it expensive. Where winter field crops can be depaa-
tui'ed on the ground, it saves the greatest proportion of this expense ; and,
though winter giecn feed is not indispensable to sheep, it promotes their
liealth, early maturity, and is especially valuable to breeding-ewes. AH
the crops above named, too, can be profitably made use of as green
manure.

(752»

FISH-PONDS. 369

Blades of corn, well cured, are relished by sheep, and they thrive on
them.*

The sweet potato is also readily eaten hy them, and it fattens them per-
haps as rapidly as any other root crop. Although it might be regarded as
too valuable for sheep feed, in regions where the whole fon-e is given to
the cuhure of cotton, there are others where, 1 cannot but btdiove, it might
be occasionally if not regularly resorted to with profit, unless rye, oats,
barley, &c. can be provided so much more cheajily that it is no object so
to do. It is so cheaply planted by slips, and tilled with so little trouble,
and it so admirably prepares land for subsequent crops, t that, on rich and
otherwise favorable soils, my impression is strong it is, at all events, as
cheap a winter feed for stock in the South as the Irish potato is in the
North. Its average yield is about two-thirds that of the latter. The Irish
potato is universally regarded as one of the cheapest feeds that can be
given to all kinds of stock, to which it is adapted in the North. It is tnie
that it is not fed so much as it would otherwise be, with us, in the winter,
by reason of the cold. It is difficult to protect this root from freezing, and
at the same time leave it accessible for daily feeding, without putting it in
dwelling-house cellars, which are usually at some distance from the feed-
ing barns and yards ; and besides, the conversion of this citadel of a north-
ern matron's culinary stores, into a great, dirty root pit, would be a most
grievous infringement on all the canons of good housewifery !

The foregoing facts show that the Southern States have already all that
is necessary to feed stock and fertilize their fields. Their pea, take it all
in all, is a full equivalent for the clover of the North.| By means of it —
of Bermuda and some other grasses — aided by the droppings of sheep, and
other cheap and convenient manures, a large proportion of the tide-water
aone, now so unproductive, can be converted into grazing lands, which will
yield as good a per centage on present capital and investment as the best
cotton uplands, and produce wool at a less expense per pound than any re-
gion of the United States north of the Pofomac.\\

FISH-PONDS.

THEIR CONDUCTION AND USEFULNESS.

The utter indifference displayed by a vast majority of our farmers and planters
to those means which tend to embellish and render attractive their homes, and
add to the innocent enjoyment of their families, is inconceivable. How few are
there supplied with an abundance of the finest fruit ! And yet, what is the cost ?
A few hours in budding (as simple a process as any in Agriculture), and a little
labor. They are all willing enousrh to rob a " bee tree," and that at the cost of
five times the labor it would require to make a few boxes to hive and domesti-
cate the bees in. They have all heard of, and know, or ought to know, the sim-

* A friend of mine wintered a few Merino sheep on not only the blades, but the stalks, of our northern
com, chopping the whole up together, and adding a little bran or shorts. He found it cheap feed, and the
sheep got fat enough to slaughter before spring.

t After the crop is harvested, swine are turned in, and they root the ground over so deeply and thor-
oughly that it is in a better state of tillage than could be produced by mere spring plowing.

i Mr. Ruffm. the great advocate for clover, admits thni in the South it is not fitted to precede Indian com,
on account of the destructive cut worms it harbors, unless the land be plowed " early in winter," or other
precautionary steps are taken. The pea is not liable to this objection. See Ruffin"s Ag. Survey of 8. C
1843, p. 78.

II See .\ppendix, C.
(753) 84

370 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

pie process of caponizing- fowls ; yet ihcy are contented to sit down to a scraw-
iiev, stringy, skinny chicken, instead of a fat, tender, luscious capon. He wko
dwells far inland may serve upon his table as fine fish as he who lives upon tide-
water ; hut it would require some enterprise and a little trouble — so he sticks to
his hog and hominy to-day, hominy and hog to-morrow, Irom year's end to year's
end.

Of fish and fish-ponds it is our intention here to treat.

In Europe the fact is notorious that both the dove-cote and poultry-yard are
far behind the fish-pond, both in the quality and quantity of their products, though
far more expensive.

The first mention of fish-ponds in history is among the Romans ; their inven-
tion is attributed to Murena. Those of Cato the ancient were immense, and the
fish were regularly fed and fattened for consumption. We have an account of
the ponds of Hortensius, of Lucullus and Csesar, but they were on a scale that
required to form them the wealth of the most powerful men in a nation that had
seized the riches of the world. Lucullus severed a mountain that he might con-
duct an arm of the sea to his reservoirs ; hence (as Pliny tells us) the great Pom-
pey called him the Roman Xerxes.

A species of fish called the Lamprey was, it appears, held in the highest es-
teem for its delicacy. History has transmitted to us the name of Vedino Polho,
who had the hideous fantasy to feed his large lampreys on living slaves.

Fish were tamed and came at the call of their feeders. The orator Hortensius
shed tears at the death of one of liis lampreys, and his heiress Antonia decked a
favorite fish of hers in gold rings, and it became an object of great curiosity in
the neighborhood.

They had, too, their ponds for oysters, that were brought from immense dis-
tances. But enough of this that is merely curious, and let us turn to the prac-
tical.

The pond should, if possible, be near a spring, and thence derive its supply of
water ; those upon larger streams are liable to be swept away by freshets. The
lot in which the pond is situated should be kept permanently in grass ; otherwise
the water at every rain is liable to become muddy, and the pond to fill up from
the washing of the soil. To construct the dam, commence by sinking a ditch
(until you reach the solid subsoil) four feet wide, and in the center of the place
to be occupied by the dam ; the earth thrown out to be laid on each side. This
ditch is to be gradually filled with clay, a little at a time, and that to be kept
moist and well pounded. This wall (as it were) of clay to be carried quite to
the top of the dam, and will form what is called the key. The dam should al-
ways be three times as wide at the base as it is high, and its width at top should
equal its hight. The more gentle the slope from the top of the dam each way,
the greater its strength. Trees and shrubs should never be planted upon it, as
the decay of their roots is liable to let the water through. The stream running
from the pond might in many locations be turned to good account, either as wa-
ter-power for the minor domestic purposes, such as forcing water, churning, &c.,
or for irrigation.

In Europe their fish-ponds are usually stocked with the carp, tench and pike,
but we have a fish that is worth them all, and that is the James River or North
Carolina chub. We find it hard to say how we like him best — fighting gamely
for his life (as he always does) at the end of a line, or smoking on the board with
*' sauce and fixins a la Guy.'" Your old Baltimore friend, unexcelled if not un-
equaled in his profession. How could he be otherwise, growing up under the
eye of your other old friend, Kinc; David ?

Now that the land is webbed over with railroads, there can be but little diffi-
culty in getting this noble fish anywhere. Doctor Thornton, of Rappahannock,
Virginia, ranks it next to the salmon. He has succeeded perfectly in transport-
ing them alive over eighty miles of bad road, at the speed of ordinary road-wag-
ons. There is no fish tliat will thrive better ; even in small ponds they sometimes
attain 15 pounds in weight ; and though last, not least, young Wade Hampton,
(than whom there is no better authority) says it 's a crack sporting fish! k g. s.

(754)

BOTANft'. 371

LECTURES ON BOTANY

AS CONNECTED W I T 1£ A G U 1 C U L T U R E .

Who can read the fullowiiif^ without being again powerfully impressed with
the necessity of such a reform in our systems of rural education as shall insure
the youth of the country, who are to live by the labor and products of the coun-
try, being early instructed, not in a senseless repetition of speeches by Greek
and Roman orators and generals, as — " My voice is still for war," &:c. — but in
branches of knowledge that will ofen to them the beauties of their own pursuit,
and lead them to see that it cannot be followed with the highest profit or honor
without a better insight into the sciences that serve to enlighten the practice of it.

Does any one undertake to manage and direct all the complicated operations
of a large manufactory, without having served an apprenticeship to the business
and learning its mysteries i And yet is it not obvious that Agriculture, too, is
nothing but a manufacture ? For the manufacturer's business is so to manage
and combine and bring into cooperation his soil, seed, manure, labor, and vari-
ous materials, as that out of them he may most economically supply himself
with other products more desirable, as beef, butter, cheese, cotton, sugar, rice,
oorn, wheat, &:c. What, then, but a great manufactory on a large scale, and
requiring rare tact and high qualities in conducting it, is such an estate, for in-
stance, as Hopeton, near Darien, Georgia, which employs not less than $30,000-
worth of machinery, in its various operations?

How gratifying to see Governor Aiken, and all other Governors in the country^
calling the attention of Legislatures to provision for school instruction in the sci-
cnces applicable to Agriculture ' The truth is, that there is no guaranty in any-
thing but that for permanent, sure, wide-spread, respectable, and progressive im-
provement in this greatest, because most useful of all arts. But we have not time
to indulge in the rcHections that rush upon the mind, with deeper and deeper con-
victions of its importance, whenever we begin to write or think on this matter-
Our present purpose was merely to submit the following to the mind of the
reader, and to ask respectfully of every father whether he ought not to feel the
same obligation to have his son instructed in these branches of useful as well a&
elegant knowledge, so directly allied to his calling that he would do to have his
leg well set if fractured by a fall from a horse. A crooked leg is unseemly, to
be sure, but the father of true sensibility will regard in his son a crooked or
empty mind as a much more lamentable deformity. But, thank Heaven ! the
ball is in motion. See Doctor Thomson's letter, and a thousand other auspi-
cious signs.

COURSE OF LECTURES ON BOTANY IN REFERENCE TO AGRICULTURE.

By Charles Joh.vson, Esq., Professor of Botany at Guy's Hospital, 4-c. 4-c. At Messrs.
Nesbit's Agricultural arid Scientific Training School, Kciinington Lane, Lambclh, near

London.

INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. [.coutimie to be, of the utmost importauce to

We commence this day a series of Lectures
on Botany, not as an abstract science, but a.s
one intimately connected with various branches
of hum;m economy, and more especially with
ihat which, as it ever has been, so it must
(755)

mankind, viz., the cultivation of the earth, tht
prime source of our civilizaiion and of aU
most every art that ministers to the elevation
and improvement of Society. Itself an art of
the liighest antiquity, Agiiculturo must al-

372

MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

ways have been one of progi-ession ; more or
less simple in its practice at the first, obser\-a-
Kon and cxpeiience season after season sug-
gesting new plans of operation, new means
of improving or maintaining the fertility of
the soil, and of gnarding against those casu-
alties that in every country and climate nifect
the productiveness of the crop. The success
— sometimes, perhaps, rather fancied than
leal — of one experiment led to the in.slitution
of others, and thus the pursuits of the hus-
bandm;m, originally followed without rule,
and j)recai-ious in their results, were by de-
grees brought to a state of perfection and
lixity of purpose that elevated the art to the
science, the mere laborer to the philosopher.
Such has been its progress in all ages among
:dl nations. But to advance beyond a certain
point, the cultivator of the earth must extend
his sphere of infomiation. must seek the aid
of other sciences, possibly of those which,
from imperfect acquaintajice with their ob-
jects, he has hitherto regarded as completely
isolated fi-om his own. So mutually depend-
ent are the laws and operations of Nature
upon each other, such her unity of action,
that to confine ourselves to any branch of
knowledge abstractedly is folly, willful blind-
ness : learn all you can, and you will not
keep it seven yeai-s without turning it to
some usefid pui-pose. We are advancing in
our estimation of these things daily ; and you
whom I now addre.s8 will stride, I trust, "not
one, but many steps, beyond your fathers in
the gi-eat work of improvement, whatever
may be the duties of jour after life. A liigh-
class fanner of the past generation would
have ridiculed the idea of his son and intend-
ed successor being taught at school the rudi-
ments of chemisti-y and natural philosophy :
they might, indeed, be veiy usefid to a man-
ufacturer, but quite supertluous in his case.
As to Botany, he would regard it as down-
right nonsense. Not thirty years back, I
knew a gentleman, residhig in one of the best
cultivated districts in England, who had the
reput<ijion among his poorer neighbors and
■dependents of dabbling in magic, and among
those of his own giade, even the best ui-
fonned, was looked ui)on with a sort of pity as
a monomaniac — shnply because, being a man
of some scientific acquirements, he was labor-
ing by rational means to enhance the value
■of his own property, and suggest im])rove-
anents to tiiose around iiim ; had written a
ibook on the natural hi.-itory of his native
county, employed his leisure fron> other
pur.-iuits in analyzing, in a small, well-fiir-
nished laboratory, the subsoil of his own
and his neighbors' fields ; occasionally cul-
tivated ]>atchcs of all sorts of weeds, e.\-
otic and British grass(>s, &c., with a view to
the best means of extenninating the fonner
and ascertaining the value of the latter, in a
plot of ground set apart iiirthi; jiurpose ; and,
more wondei'fid than all, sought to discour-
age poaching by taming away iiis gamekeep-
er and neglecting liis preserves. The preju-
(756)

dices against new methods of cultivation are
now quickly subsiiling, in proportion to the
diffusion of general knowledge ; the numer-
ous Agiicultural and Horticultural Societies
that have successively started into existence
in this country, the increasing numbers of
their members, and interesting cliaracter of
their meetings, all evince that a spirit of in-
quiry is extending its influence among our
rural population, no less than among our
mamd'aclurers and merchants, the resiita of
which it is at present difficult to speculate
upon, but the general cry is, " Foi-ward, for-
ward." In Great Britain every movement of
the kind has been hitherto due to the energy
of private individuals and the ready resjionse
of an industrious and enterprising people ;
baton the Continent — in Fnmce, Prussia, and
most of the German States — public schools,
under the auspices of the Governments, and
established by them, are open for the educa-
tion of youth in this important department of
human economy, fimnt.lied with professors
in the auxiliary branches of science, as chem-
istiy, botany, geolog}', &.C., and with all the
essentials requisite tor combining theoiy with
I^ractice. The advantages already derived
to the States in question trom these establish-
ments have been sufficient to prove the value
of the extended system of education they
have afforded ; and old prejudices are miiver-
sally disappearing as their pupils become dis-
tributed tlirongh the Provinces, carrying with
them the most unbiased views and openness
to conviction which are the natural results of
a liberal course of instruction.

The value of Botiiny, as a j^ractical ssience.
is not so well appreciated in this countiy as it
is abroad ; and this simply because the atten-
tion of our practical men has not been liith-
erto sufficiently directed to it, nay, has even
been averted in consequence of the very gen-
eral jirejudice that it is better fitted for a
plaything than a tool ; a notion — I will not
call it ;m oj>inion — that originated very natu-
rally, from the su[)erfici;d m;uiner* in which
its study was followed in this country by
most of those who aspired to rank mnong its
votaries, even so recently as twenty years
ago. It was then little more than the ail of
distinguishing one plant from miother, of al-
lotting to each its learned name and place in
an aibitraiy system of an~angcment, and,
sometimes, of adding to these cajiabilities a
remembrance of the (jualities of those used
as food or medicine. Now, to use the woitis
of a modern writer, one of its most able and
industrious professors, " it comprehends a
knowledge not only of the names :uid uses of
plants, but of tlieir external iuid internal or-
ganization, and ol their anatomy imd i)hysio-
Idgical plifiinmena ; it embraces a considen^-
tion of the plan upon which those multitudes
of vegetable fonns that clothe the earth have
bi-on created, of the skillful combinaliims out
of which so many various organs have em-
anated, of the laws that regulate the disper-
sion and location of species, and of the influ-

BOTANY.

373

ence that climate exercises upon their devel-
opment ; and, isistly, from botany, as now un-
derstood in its most extensive signification, is
iusepartible the knowledge of the various
ways in which the laws of vegetable life are
applicable to the augmentation of the Inxu-
ries and comforts, or to the diminution of the
Wants and miseries of maukhid. It is by no
means, as some suppose, a science for the
idle philosopiier in his closet ; neither is it
merely an amusing accomplishment, as oth-
ers appear to think ; on the contrary, its field
is in the midst of meadows, and gardens, and
forests, on the sides of mountains, and in the
depths of mhies ; wherever vegetiition still
flourishes, or wlierever it attests, by its re-
mains, the existence of a fonner world. It is
the science that converts the useli'ss or the
noxious weed into the nuti'iiious vegetable ;
wliich changes a barren, volcanic rock like
Ascension, into a gi-een and fertile island ;
and which enables the man of science, by
the power it gives him of judging how far the
productions of one climate are susceptible of
cultivation in another, to guide the colonist
in his enterprises, and to save liim li-om those
eiTors and losses into wliich all such persons
tmacquainted with botany are liable to fall.
This science, finally, is that which teaches
the physician how to discover in every region
the m(?dicines that are best adapted for the
maladies that prevail in it; and which, by
famishing liim with a certain clue to the
knowledge of the ti'ibes in which particular
properties are or are not to be found, renders
him as much at ease, alone and seemingly
without resources, in a land of unknown
herbs, as if he were in the midst ol' a maga-
zine of drugs in some civilized countr}'."

This department of science, which is now
becoming a .subject of general interest, in
consequence of the new views of the economy
of Nature in her development of organic be-
ing, that have been obtaineil by a deeper in-
sight into vegetable anatomy and physiology,
cimnot but be more especially valuable to
those whose pursuits are so intimately con-
nected with the objects of its study, the culti-
vators of the soil. There may be, doubtless
there are still, many such as those of which
we have previously spoken as existing thirty
years ago, who in the pride of tlieir ignorance,
may laugh at and des[»ise the lessons of the
theorist as opposed to old practices, the result
of the experience that has been handed dowii
from their forefathers; until wakened to slow
conviction of tlieir impoitance by the success
of tlieir more enterprising neighbors, and
then deplore the time they have lost, and
which others have occupied in the steady
progress to improvement. The views of the
merely scientific man may often, it is true, be
only speculative ; they may sometimes be in
direct opposition U) facts, of which he has
himself no direct means of becoming ac-
quainted. But who is to test the value of
his experiments, unless the m:m of practice ?
He alone, in his broader field of inquiry, is
(757)

competent to detect in their action the errors
in minutiie that have escaped the notice of the
chemist in his laboratory, and the naturalist
in his closet; ho chieHy is to derive the bene-
fits accruing from their united labors; and a
knowledge of the leading principles of their
science and of natural philosophy in the ag-
gregate will materially assist, nay, is abso-
lutely necessary to qualify him ibr both the
trial and the benefit. It is surprising that
the very evident advantages to cultivation
that an acquahitance with the structure and
vital function of vegetables promises, shoulil
have hitherto been so little estimated by the
agriculturist : the practical gardener has far
anticipated him in the pursuit of incpiiries
e(iu<dly essential to them both ; although,
perhaps, himself in the main, .'<till veiy dis-
tiuit from acquaintance with a vast body of
facts that might be rendered available by his
skill. How much, for instance, has a knowl-
edge of the organs and attiibutes of the tlower
contributed to the advancement of his art ?
Let us look at a flower : it is really a compU-
cated object ; much more so than many who
have long admii-ed and clierishi^d it for its
beauty and iragnmce have any idea of; or,
if they have, have not thought worthy of ex-
amination. Its greatest beauty ct)iisisls not
in the gorgeous color, nor its value in the
most exquisite odor, but hi the admirable
adaptation of its parts, and their subservience
to the reproduction of its kind.

Take any common flower of the field or
garden, only obsening tliat, if one of the lat-
ter loc-ality, it is not of the kind called
" double," which, however admirable as gai--
den ornaments — and not altogether to bo
despised by the botimist, on account of the
illustrations they afford him of the morbid
development of parts to which the individuals
of the vegetable kingdom are hable under
peculiar circumstances — are not at all calcu
lated to display the unity of design that com-
stitutes the chief object of interest in a per-
fect flower. Externally, investing the base
of the flower, is a series of small leaves, nsu-
ally of a green color, and from three to five
in number, separate, and spreading, as in the
buttercup and the peony, or conducted into
tlie form of a cup or vase, as in the primrose
or pink : this is the cali/x, or flower-cup ; it
covers the rest of the flower in the state of
bud, and sen'es to support and hokl together
the more delicate internal organs when ex-
panded. AVithin the calyx is the corolla or
blossom, composed of leaves, generally of the
same number as those of the calyx, which are
either white or variously colored, and called
petals ; these are either distinct, as in the
rose and the wall-flower, or connected, as in
the fox-glove and potaloflower. AVithin the
corolla are the stamens, generally thread or
wire-like processes, with yellow, or, occa-
sionally, jiurplish or reddish tips; these are
veiy variable in their size, length and num-
ber, in the flowers of different plants ; some
flowers have only one or two stamens — in tho

374

MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

bell-flower there are five, ia the tulip six —
aad in some others they are too numerous to
be counted. The stamens suiTouiiil tlie pis-
til— so called from the Latin word pisfi/lum, a
Ut/le pi 1/(1 r or column, or, by a more homely
inteii:)ret,aiion, a pestle : look at the pistil in
the Hower of the lily ; at the lower extremity,
where attached to the flower, is a thickish,
green body, called the germen, or ovary,
h-oni cDHtainiiig tVie rudiments of the seeds ;
the long, wire-like part in which this tereiin-
ates is called the style, and the knob at the

Fia

extremity' of the st)"le is named the stigma
Look at the pistil of the tulip ; ui that the
germen is long and three-sided, bearing the
cui-iously three-parted stigma on its summit,
and thc! style is wanting. The pistil is m)t
always solitary ; in many flowers there are
two, three, or more together; and they ai'e
frequently veiy numerous, as in the common
buttercup, where the many little green, pouit-
ed grains in the center of the flower ai"e so
many pistils. See fig. 1 : a the calyx ; b iha
corolla ; c the stamens ; d the pistils.
1.

f:>^>o mh^ ^ '''

STRUCTURE OF FLOWERS.

m most of the higher orders of plants, all [ lyx, and in many the stamens and pistils oc-
ofthese parts are present in the perfect flower; cupy distinct flowers — all very important
and sometimes other appendages, of which chiU'acters in distinguishhig one family of
we may speak hereafter; but in some there plants from another, and especially deseiving
is no corolla, in others neither corolla nor ca- I of the attention of the cultivator

DIFFERENT FORMS OF THE ANTHKIl

Of all the parts or organs of the flower, the I when vei-y slender to a thread of hair, is fre-
stamens and pistils are the most oss'-ntial. i (|uently absent, the colored tip being attached
The stamen is a very curious l)ody ; the lower to ihe corolla or some otlier j>art of lUr (lowiM- ;
part, calicd the_/!7ffwf?t/, from its resemblance I tli s tip, denominated the anther, is a little

BOTANY.

375

•case or box, usually double, opening at a cer-
tain period on eiich side, and scattering an
excepilingly fine powder, called the -pollrn.
The forms of the anther ai-e various, and like-
wise the modes of opening. (See figure
2.) Thus sometimes, and indeed most fre-
quently, the opening is by a longitudinal slit
the whole lengtli of die anther ; in many in-

Fig

stances it is a small pore or pei-foratioii at the
extremity, and in others it tukes place by a
little door or valve turning upward, as shown
in our figures.

The grains of pollen arc very beautiful ob-
jects for the microscope, tinder which they
present a gi-e'at diversity in size, fonn, und
structure. (See tig. 3.)

GRAINS OF POLLEN MAGNIFIED.

The pollen is an agent of vast importance in
the economy of the vegetable kingdom ; the
maturity of fruit and the production of seed
being dependent upon the contact of these
minute bodies with the stigma or summit of
the pistil. About the period at which the
anthers burst and scatter the pollen, the sur-
face of the stigma is seen to be moistened by
a viscid, secretion, that, occasioning the ad-

Fi

herence of such grains as light upon it at tno
moment of dispersion, so acts likewise upon
them as to stimulate the ejection of one or
more slender tubes from the surface of each
individually ; which tubes e.xtending more
or less according to the length of the pistil,
penetrate through its tissue until they reach
the interior of the germen and come in con-
tact with the embiyon seeds. In the event
.4.

POLLEN TUBES.

of this contact not taking place, the seed be- 1 oidy two or three perfect seeds, instead of
comes abortive ; and hence in many seed- nine or ten, perhaps, whose rudiments were
cases, as those in the common pea, we find ' present. The grains of pollen, examined by
(759;

376

MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

a very high magnifying power, are founcl to
consist of a membrane, inclosing a fluid, in
which an infinite nmnber of excessively mi-
nute particles are seen in active motion ; these
contents are eventually discharged through
the tube, the gram being left empty. The
figures in the 4th wood-cut are intended to
illusti'ate this action of the pollen tubes ; of
the two larger ones, that with the triangidar
pollen represents it as taking place on the
stigma of the common evening primrose ; the
other, the descent of the tubes through the
stigma and parts of the style of the gi'eat snap-
dragon or calve's snout. This curious pro-
cess was unknown to naturalists until recently,
though the influence of the pollen in the fer-
tilization of the seed seems to have been un-
derstood in relation to certain plants from a
period of great antiquity, especially some of
those iu which the stamens mid pistils are
produced in diiferent flowers, and occasion-
ally on different individuals, whose male and
female attributes must have been recognized
by the cultivator before success could have
attended his labors. As a strikuag instance,
we may refer to the date, the stajile food of
the nations of the Arab stock from time im-
memorial. The date tree is a kind of palm
growing abundantly in the sandy and rocky
districts of Persia, the adjoining Provinces of
Western Asia, Arabia, Egypt, and Northern
Africa, and is largely and assiduously culti-
vated b}"^ the inhabitants. A forest of dates is
a magazine of pi-ovision for a city, and the
failure of a crop spreads depopulation through
whole provinces ; the quantity of fruit yield-
ed by a single tree iu each season is, on the
average, from two to three hundred weight;
every village has its plantation, and even the
splendid city of Zenobia derived its Roman
name of " Palmyra," and its Arabic and
scriptural appellation of " Tamor " or " Tad-
mor " in the desert, from the groves of dates
by which it was from necessity surrounded.
These plantations are, of course, chiefly of
the trees with pistil or fruit-bearing flowers ;
but in order to insure a crop, the natives arp
accustomed to gather the large launches of
flowers from the male dates, about the time
at which the stamens are ready to scatter
their pollen, ;ind suspend them over the oth-
ers ; nay, to guard against an adverse season,
they lay by stores of pollen from yesu" to
year. This " marriage of the palms," as it is
c;illed in the figurative language of the East,
is a festival f)f too early origin to be recorded
even by tradition. ISo well is the necessity
of the process understood even by the wild-
est of the wandering and predatory tiibes,
that in cairying war uito the lands of their
neighbors, they frec[ueutly cut down the
stem-bearing dates as ihe most drcadtul
vengeance they can inflict. Some idea of
the importance of tin- act may be gatheivd
from the statement of Kicmpler, that the
thre;it only of so iloing once put a stop to an
intended invasion of a then vei-y fonnidable
power : he mentions, " I remember it hap-

(760J

pened in my time that the Grand Signior med-
itated an invasion of the cit>- and territory of
Bassora, which the prince of that countiy pre-
vented l>y giving out that he would destroy
aO the male palm tiees on the first apjiroach
of the enemy, and by that means cut otf from
them all supplies of food during the siege."

Tliis principle iu cultivaticm, so long under-
stood and made available in that of the date,
was afterward found to be applicaljle ui the
nurture of all kinds of flowering plants. Of
the experiments by which it became estab-
lished beyond the reach of controversy, or of
the means by which our present knowledge
of the important fact has been acquired, it is
unnecessaiy for us now to iucjuire ; however
interesting the detail, we must wave it for the
consideration of the result, viz., the vast
power that knowledge has placed in the
hands of civilized man, to multiply and en-
large these sources of food and luxuiy which
he derives from the ve^ettdjle kingdom, and to
which the plasticity ot nature seems scarcely
to have assigned a hmit. The almost endless
varieties exhibited among our cultivated
plants, whether iu root, or leaf, or flower, or
frait, or seed, have all their origin in the re-
ciprocal action of the stamen and pistils ; Na-
ture herself has contributed many, but man
has far ouLstridden her slow progress. The
bee iu passing from flov*-er to flower, carries
away stores of pollen destined to fonn the
waxen fabric of his dwelling, and deposits
stray particles adhering to his wings and body
upon the pistils of others of a difterent kind ;
while numerous small flies and beetles are
occupied, in their search for food, in impre^-
natuig in a similar maimer the seeds of one
plant with the pollen belonging to another.
Hence the uncertahity attending the preser-
vation of cherished varieties of annual plants
in cultivation. When the gourd knowii by
the name of " vegetable marrow," wiis first
introduced uito this country, I received some
seeds of a very fine variety brought horn the
Continent, and celebrated there tor the hu-ge
size and luscious character of the white fruit;
for several years no deterioration was (^jsei-va-
ble ; but having sown one season some of the
seeds belonging to one large " nuurow " fruit
reserved for tlie purpose, my sui-]>rise \\as
great to find, when the i)laiits came into
bearing, no fi-wer than three different varie-
ties of gourds were the produce of different
individuals, all of them totally unlike the ori-
ginal. Tliisap])areiit anomaly wa;* aflervsard
explained away by the fact that, while my
vegetiible marrow was flourishing on one side
of a high wall, my neighbor had trained a
punipkiii !Uid an orange gourd on the oppo-
site ; and the reserved fruit must ha\e had its
seeds fertilized by the pollen of both of them,
and of some other species or viu'iety brought
by the bees or other insects from a greater
distance. These freaks — if we may so teim
them — of Ntiture are not only productive of
occasionid loss and disapj)oiiitmeut to the cul-
tivator, but even of much greater evil, as

BOTANY.

377

evinced by a cirtunistaiicH rt'Cdixlcd l)y R;iy
I to have t;tken pLice u short time previous to

the promuli;;iliou of the discoveries of Sir
Thomas Millinjrtou respectiun; the functions
of tiie flower. It appears lliat a niarket-
gardtMier of Brentlbrd, named Kichard Baal,
sold a (juantity of the seed of the caiihilowers
at that period bearing a very high price, to a
number of persons carrying on llie same trade
in the vicinity of tlie metropohs, who, having
sown it in tlie usual way, were surprised antt
alarmed on findiuLr that, instead of cauliflow-
ers, it produced a kind or variety of cabbage
then in common use, and known as the long-
leaved, probably resembling some of the cole-
worts or kales of the present day. Enraged
at their loss, and attributing it to dishonesty
on the part of liaal, 1 hey joined in a ])roseca-
tion against him. The trial took place in
Westiuinster Hall, where he was adjudged to
be guilty of fraud, and .sentenced not only to
|)ay back the pi-ice of the seed, but to com-
pensate the garileners for their loss in culti-
vation, and the diminished value of their ex-
pected crop. Thus was poor Baal ruined
both in forUuie and character by the ignorance
of his judges, who, had they been acijuainted
with the true state of the case, would in all
probability have acquitted him of all iraudu-
leet intention, attributing the misliai) to the
accielentid impregnation of the pistils of the
cauliflower by the ])olleu of the colewort,
through the medimn of insects, or wafted by
the wind.

To attempt a detail of the advances made
in Horticultui'e and Agriculture, particularly
in the fbnner, since the time oi" Ba^d, solely
in conseq jence of our knowledge of a fact
that, unknown, caused his ruin, wotdd be an
all but interminable task. The natural va-
rieties of esculent and ornamental 2^1'iiits
were then comparatively few : those artifi-
cially obtained since are now approaching to
a number the e.\tent of which it is impossi-
ble to foresee or calculate ; their name is al-
ready ■' Legion." The most astonishing ex-
amples are to be found in the annals of the
florists, the cultivator of geraniums, roses,
heaths, and pansies. The art which luis suc-
cessively produced their hundreds and their
thousands, diflering only in the form or ar-
nmgement of a petal or the disposal of its
tints, a spot or line may perhaps be regarded
with contempt by those whose pursuits are
directed to an end more immediately and ob-
viously useful ; but, without seeking to op-
pose their prejudices by tracing the necessary
association between the elegant mid the use-
ful in elevating man in the scale of being, let
me remind such persons that the plastic
power of Nature is equally efficient in enlarg-
ing a root and seed as it is in varying the col-
ors of a flower, and that the same means dit-
I'erently directed will efl'ect both. How else
the vast diversity of our home-grown fruits,
almost equaling in many kinds, and in some
surpassing those of our garden-flowers .' The
varieties of the apple alone — the most valua-

(7Ut)

ble of them all — amount to aljout two thou-
sand ; yet idl of them are derived from two
originiU species, viz., the malus acerbn, iho
harsh and sour crab-tree of our forests, and
\.\\(- inulus mi/is, or sweet apjile of a milder
climate; both of which are by some bota-
nists considered to be natural varieties of the
same, though their origin cannot now be
traced. These two thousand varieties, about
one thousand kinds of pear, and h:df of the
latter number of cherries and plums Individ
ually, have all originated frcmi seed, and aro
indebtetl lijr tlieir peculiarities in flavor, hue,
and iiu'in or size, to the pollen with which
that seed was fccundated. That which has
been eflected with regard to fruit and flowers
is equally possible with roots and grain, as
well as other vegetable products requiring
cultivation on a large scale. If by crossing
till! breed in cattle the agility and musiular
tbrces of the horse have been inq)roved,
adapting him to the various purposes for
which his powers are requux-d, the flesh,
of the o.\. and sheep rendered more pal
atable and nutritious, and the wool of the lat-
ter increased in iineness and quantity, the at-
tributes of the plant may be called forth and
rendered nun-e sXibservient to the wealth of
the agriculturist by similar means. The
I)lant and the animal are both organic sti'uc-
tures, subject to the same general laws of de-
velopment and reproduction, oi improvement
and deterioration ; and in pennitting the
manifestation of those laws, though only to
the slight extent of our present knowledge,
Nature has bestowed on man a power of fore-
stalling, for his own immediate purposes,
changes that, under her own dominion, would
perhaps never take place, or but after the
lapse of thousands of years.

We might jjursue this subject much far-
ther, but It would carry us beyond the or
diuary limits of a lecture ; and as my pur-
pose in this, the introductoiy one of a course
of s(mie extent, is rather to call your atten-
tion to the science of Botiiny as one of prac-
tical utility, than as a mere source of amuse-
ment, if that purpose has been attauied it will
be sufficient for the present. In om- next,
some detail of the functions and organs by
which vegetable life is maintained will be
necessary to the understanding of those that
will follow. The cultivator of plants who
knows nothing of their anatomy and physi-
ology is much in the same position as the
quack who undertakes to lop ott' a man's limlj
without knowmg the veins and arteries he
must sever in the operation, or who pre-
scribes a course of diet or medicuie, ignonmt
alike of the nature of either, and of tlie vital
energies through which he expects them to
prevail. [Lundon Farmer's Magazine

To Destroy Thistles. — Mow the plants
close by the ground, split open the root stalks,,
and put sail in tiie opening.

^78 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

MADDER.

N the last number we evinced our desire to have the latest and most authen
tic information on the Culture of Madder as a crop adapted to the United States.

But what is needed in this, as in all similar cases, is the most recent actual
experience. A frank, full, honest statement of expenditure, both of labor and
money, as well as of the income. If half were true that has been published in favor
of the cultivation of madder, one would suppose it should have spread before now,
like the cultivation of tobacco, until, like that, as well as some other things, it
should have broken down by its own expansion.

We have no difficulty in learning enough about the commercial and agricul-
tural history and uses of madder in other -countries, and even in our own, going
back to its culture in South Carolina before the Revolution. It may, indeed, be
instanced here as a proof of the abundant materials at our command, for illus-
trating topics on which our patrons desire to have information, to state, that in
this case we have within arm's reach twenty different works in which the sub-
ject of madder is treated in some of its relations to Agriculture and the indus-
trial arts, and more than double that number of essays and communications in
reference to it in the various annals of industry. But, in turning from one branch
of his business to another, so different from his usual routine, the American
Farmer wishes to know, if to be had, the actual results of experiments made by
one of his own countrymen, working under circumstances analogous to his oAvn.
and if these results give reasonable assurance of profit, then, as with our cor-
respondents from Arkansas and Virginia, they naturally inquire. Where can we
get the materials — the seed or the roots — and the price ? [C?" The price is always
wanted. On this point we are promised farther information by Mr. Allen, in a
day or two. He says several attempts here to raise madder from the seed have
failed, and recommends writing to friend Bateman, of the Ohio Cultivator, Co-
lumbus, who will please consider himself, on seeing this, as having been served
with notice.

The quantity of madder imported and entered for consumption, in Great
Britain, in 1832, was as follows, the first, we suppose, meaning o-;-o?//u/ madder:

Madiler 60,340 cwls.— equal to 6,758,752 lbs.

Maddcrroot 51,76!) " •' _ 5.797,904 "

Being. 12,55G,656 lbs.

Supposing one-third of that amount to be used in the United States, we should
have 4,000,000 pounds, which at 15 cents, about the average price, would be
$600,000, now sent out of the country for an article to which our soil and cli-
mate are as well adapted as to the sweet if not the Irish potato.

But we are left to conjecture as to the amount imported ; for, while many
other articles of less importance are given in the Secretary's Report — such as
woad, or pastel, barilla, vinegar, statuary, burr stones, nuts, berries, crude anti-
mony, fee. &c. — madder is smothered up in the mass of ;!o«-enumerated articles.
But being an item in which ai^nculturisls are deeply concerned, who takes the
trouble to care about the legislation relating to it? Yet surely this greatest in-
terest of tlie nation labors under disadvantages and burde«s enough, without

(7G2)

MADDER.

37;)

expressly putting out or withholding the lights that might serve to disclose, and
perchance to remedy some of them !

Where was the vigilant representative of the agricultural interest? Where
the vigilant Committee on Agriculture, to look after this item in the adjustment
of the Taritt', with such efl'ect as that we find the present " Free Trade " Tarifl"
protecting it with a duty of Jive per cent, on the imported article, and the late
more protective Tarifl" of 1842 encouraging the American production by letting
in the product of the Dutch cultivator entirely free ! Think you that the manu-
facturer was not there, looking closely after his interest ?

After all, however, what we imagine is most to be apprehended is the amount
of labor demanded for its cultivation when conducted in a manner to bear any
comparison with what we see is applied to it in Holland and elsewhere in Eu-
rope. Still, with Government encouragement, comparable with that which is
extended to some other branches of industry, it would take root and become an
established item of our agricultural staples, and so far relieve other branches,
where production is so much beyond all remunerating demand. In many new
enterprises of this sort, half the difficulty consists in the timidity and irresolu-
tion of those who contemplate them. Especially is this the case with men
whose habits of life are anything but encouraging to intellectual versatility and
enterprise. Another bar to the general culture of madder is the long time — sev-
eral years — that elapses between the seed time and the harvest — demanding the
exercise of a quality of all others the most incompatible with the genius of the
American people.

We proceed to give one out of the many communications before us, because it
seems to be among the most recent and nearest home. The result of still more
recent ones shail be sought for, and given as they come to hand.

From the Albany Cultivator.
THE MADDER CROr.

Hon. J. Fuel — Sir: As I consider the
madder crop to be one of impoi-tance, as well
to the grower of the article as to the countiy
at lai'ge. I deem it proper to send you a few
lines, giving some details of the most im-
proved method of cultivating and preparing
the article for use ; which, it" you deem them
worthy a place in the Cultivator, you are at
liberty to insert.

The liuid best adapted to this crop is a re-
tentive, strong loam soil, moist, but so situated
that the water may pass off in the wet sea-
sons of the year. The plant accommodates
itself to almost any soil ; for I last fall har-
vested a piece that yielded at the rate of five
thousand pounds to the acre, (in hills,) which
was in a dry, loamy soil, suitable for the
wheat or corn crop.

The method of planting has been formerly
in hills, from four to six feet apart. The hills
yielded from two to three pounds of ground
madder each, on good land.

Madder growers have lately made great
improvements in the mode of planting. The
drill method was inti'oduced two or three
years since, and is now the only way prac-
ticed by those who raise madder in any con-
siderable quantities. The first drOls that
were planted were set in single rows, about
(7U3)

six feet apart and eighteen inches from plant
to plant. These were found to be too near
together, boili for the good of the crop and
the convenience of tending it. It is now aB-
certained that the best method of planting
madder is in beds six feet wide, with four
rows of plants to a bed, leaving a space be-
tween the beds nine feet wide unoccupied ;
or it may be planted with rows of corn or po-
tatoes the first season. This space is useful
for various purposes, as passing with a team
to carrv manure, should it be considered neces-
sary during the first and second seasons. The
manure should be cropped between the beds,
and mixed with a plow before it is used in
beds.

Particular care should be taken at the time
of planting, that the ground be not too diy.
It should be covered with clear, moist dirt,
about two or two and a half inches deep.
yoon as it has come up, it should be carefully
hoed and cleared fiom weeds. AVhen it is
six or eight inches high, the tops should be
covered up nearly to the ends, and covered
agtiin ;is soon as they are six or eight inches
high as before. In the fall, before the frost
kills the tops, they should be covered entirely
tip. It is then left to lie till the next spring.
It should be managed in the same manner

3S0

MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

during tlie second as the first season ; but re-
quires only two tlressings before covering up
in the fiill. During tlie tliird season it should
be dressed once certainly, and twice if prac-
ticable ; and by this time the tops may be
expected to cover the ground nearly from
one bed to the other. During the iijurdi sea-
son, it requires no attention till the time for
digging, which may be any time in tlie
months of September or October. At dig-
ging time, the tops shoidd be cut otf with a
scythe, and rolled out of the way ; then, with
a plow, cut a deep furrow on each side of the
bed ; afterward take dungforks and shake
the dirt fi-om the roots. They may then be
])icked up. Proceed in this manner till the
wliole bed is dug, washed clean, and dried
in a hop-kiln. A store is preferable to char-
coal for drying. Fifty bushels of roots may
be dried in a kiln 12 feet square. They
should be turned while in the kiln, at least
once in six hoUrs, until they are thorouiihly
dried, which takes from 3(5 to 40 hours. When
taken out of the kiln, they should be taken
immediately to the mill for grinding. Mad-
der has fonnerly been ground in grist-mills,
but a much more convenient and economical
way, is to grind in cast-iron mills, constructed
expressly i()r grinding madder. They also
answer a valuable purpose, for grinding coarse
grain for provender, in sections of country
where grist mills are not near by. They
may be propelled by horse power, (one horse
being sufficient,) or by water power if it is
convenient. One of these mills \vlll grind
800 or 1,000 pounds a day with one horse.

Improved mills of this kind can be obtained
by aiiplying to me at West-Wiufield, Herki-
mer coimty, or Lester Curtis, Nelson, Madi-
son county. Orders for mills will be promptly
attended to ; price $20.

The followhig bill exhibits nearly the cost
of cultivating an acre of madder, hicluding
the expense of digging, diying and grinding:

Seed per acre S32 00

Interest of land 4 years, at S40 11 20

Plowini^ and harrowing twice 2 50

Planting 2 00

Dressing first year 8 00

Do. second year 7 00

Do. third year 3 OO

Digging 21 00

Drying, 2.jc. per cwt 12 50

Grinding, 25c. per cwt 12 50

Total cost Sill 70

Product, if well cultivated, 5,000 lbs. at

20 cents per lb Sl.OOO 00

Deduct cost Ill 70

Net profit SS88 30

A good crop of madder looks small the first
season, but those interested need not be dis-
couraged. I have now planted nine acres,
and slicdl be ready at the season for digguig
to suj)ply seed to a considerable amount
Those who wish for seed had better obtain it
in the lall. Quantity per acre, as I plant, 8
bushels.

Price of seed: under 6 bushels, $4 per
bushel ; over 6 and under 12 bushels, $3 50 ;
over 12 bushels, $3.

HERBERT WOODBERRV.

West- Winfidd, N. Y., July 20, 1835.

In our next we will give a supplementary communication from Mr. Woodberry.

A GREAT OPERATION PROPOSED.

Extract from a Letter to the Editor of The Farmers' Library.
* * * " The domain I told you of is in Pickens Distiict, South Caroluia, and contains
more than 100,000 acres — beginning, say two miles above the mouth of Chatuga River; nin-
ning up that stream to about the dividing ridge between Village Creek and Tomassee Creek ;
across, along it several miles, and thence slojn'ng wider to embrace the country of the Chau-
ga, and extending toward the source of Long Nose Creek ; then making a detour to com-
plete the circumscription at the Chatuga. I took die State Geologist all over it. He thought
it one of the most beautiful and interesting portions of the State. The forest is particularly
fine — the " range" superb. No loss from rocks ; almost every acre cultivable ; the soil good,
resulting from decomposed hornblende, gi-antic slates, &c. As the hills are in ranges, the
roads are surprisingly good. Iron ore, of several sorts, abundant. Lime, gold, &c. are
known to exist. Water-power pervading and innnense. The navigable waters of Tugola
River are only three miles distant from its western limit, and the Greenville Railroad will
come within some twenty miles of its eastern. The cheapest, easiest, healthiest and most
Jiataral route for coiniecting with the West, either by canal or railroad, is up the Tugola,
through the Rabun gap, and down the L. Teiniessee. [See the map.] "

The owner's motive for selling: is with him a very natural one. Havins; very
large possessions besides, enough to employ all his lime, he would iind it more

(7G-1)

SOUTH CAROLINA AGIIICULTUUAL SOCIETY. 381

convenient to convert this property into some other form that should place the
proceeds more immediately under his own supervision and management.

The Editor of The Farmers' Library has authority to form a Company for
the purchase of the above properly, belonging to a gentleman than whom the
Union does not contain one of purer or more exalted character in " ail that can
give assurance of a man" of intelligence and probity. It is probable that the
property may be had on long time ; and that it aflbrds a rare scope for the estab-
lishment of foundries and flictories, and for a walk that would maintain 20,000
sheep. We publish the extract to upon the eyes of the public to the opportuni-
ties that offer for investment near at home, in old, civilized regions, blessed with
health and social advantages, instead of wandering away to distant and sickly
frontiers, there to be overrun or swept along by and with the restless and eagT
crowds pressing onward to the shores of the Pacific. The better way would be
to form a company here, and make a payment in the way of forfeit, securing time
to go to Europe and engage settlers.

STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF SOUTH CAROLINA.

At a late meeting of this Society, proceedings were had which indicate that
those who carry it on are looking to something beyond and above the mere ephem-
eral influence of exhibitions of rare things, such as large mules and sleek horses.
They are for setting and keeping the mind at ivork, to look into the sources of
public evils and of public prosperity, and to expose and lay them bare in such
manner as that men of patriotic impulses may the better and more certainly ac-
complish the noble purposes for which such men are born to society. After call-
ing Gen. Allston to the chair, Mr. Seabrook offered the following resolutions,
which he advocated at considerable length :

Resolved, That Committees be appointed
for the following purposes, viz ;

1. A Committee to report on the defects of
the present Free School system, and the
cJianges necessary to insure the accomplish-
ment of the end for which it was established.

2. A Committee to report a plan by which
the agricultural capabilities of South Carolina
might be accurately ascertained, accompanied
by suggestions for their early development
and improvement.

3. A Committee to prepare a digest of the

views aflfecting the slave population of tho
State, and to report such as, in their judg
ment, oufjht to be repealed or amended, and
whether farther legislation on the subject is
re(iuired by policy or the public interests.

4. A Committee to report on the expedi-
ency of lowering the legal rate f)f interest.

5. A Committee to report on the expedi-
ency of clianging the present mode of work-
ing the public roads.

6. A Committee to ask of the Legislature
the immediate abolition of the lottery license.

We shall wait with hope and anxiety for the reports which may be expected
under these resolutions. We trust the Committees will inquire particularly into
the effect of the rale of interest on the interests of Agriculture, and whether any
plan may be devised that will place within the reach of prudent cultivators the
means of profitable improvement of their estates. That the whole face of the
country might be so improved, if capital could be placed in combination with pru-
dence, and with a reasonable degree of skill, such as disiin;^uishes those who.
with better preparation, follow other pursuits, we have but little doubt. —
The whole question, however, is one of the gravest character, to be entered up-
on with care and circumspection to elucidate it. One thing is very certain, that
there exists some strong attraction drawing capital and intellectual energy from
the country to the towns, which it becomes those who pretend to represent the
country to look into. And here we venture to propose this as a fitting subject

382 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

for inquiry by the Agricultural Committees, so called, appointed tn the several
State Legislatures.

There is, beyond its limits, and especially south of it, a decided impression
that Agriculture is in a very flourishing condition in Western jS'ew-York. Our
own view of it, along the great lines of travel, would not justify that impression.
The country there generally wears a half-worn-out and about-to-be-deserted
aspect. Fences are generally indifferent ; houses look old and ragged, few of
them newly painted ; very few new gardens, and orchards, and plantations of
ornaT' ental trees about the farm-houses. On remarking upon these appearances
to a plain, shrewd, sensible farmer near Saratoga Springs, last summer, and ask
ina his explanation, and desiring to know what became of the net income, more
or less, Avhich is said to remain with most of them at the end of the year, and
why it was not applied to improving the appearance and productive powers of
their estates, so as to give to the eye of the traveler that delightful picture which
is presented by countries in a course of general melioration, he answered promptly
that the reason was to be found in the laws of the State regulating interest. As
Jong, he said, as a farmer could, without the labor of cultivation, send his sur-
plus money, much or little, to the city of New-York, to be invested in " bond and
jnortgage" at 7 per cent, he would neither appropriate it to the purchase of more
land or to the improvement and brushing up of what he had ; or, at least, it would
be rarely done. It would be a curious result, by-the-by, if one could ascertain
what proportion of the State and City of New-York is under ^'bond and mortgage ".'

We would like to have an essay on this subject, such as we anticipate from
the South Carolina Committee, and such as Mr. Carey, of Philadelphia, or Mr.
C. F. Mayer, of Baltimore, might supply. All we can do is to offer the 2 vols
of The Farmers' Library — not for their value to such writers, but as a token of
the importance we attach to the subject, and in the hope of being favored by
those who have turned their minds that way, and with whom pecuniary compen-
sation would be no object ; and, if it were, \ve are not able to offer it.

There are millions of acres of land in Maryland and Virginia that, were they
in England, would bring an annual rent far exceeding their fee simple value in
this country. How is this ? Certainly not from difference in the value of agri-
cultural products or the cost of agricultural labor in the two countries, consider-
able or great as that is. Is it because we have all land and nothing else ?
Neither is it, we apprehend, that the capital, if it existed, to be applied with tol-
erable judgment to Agriculture, would not well remunerate the investment.
What is it ? The question is of much more importance for Agricultural Soci-
eties and Committees than how to make the fattest hog in the shortest time.

WILLIAMSON POTATOES,

FROM THE PLAINS OF BOGOTA.

Mr. Skinner: Nkw-York, .Ian, 10, 1847.

Sir : You will please to accept, for yourself ond friends, the inclosed lot of potatoe.s.
Thoy came from the plains of Bojrota, in the Republic of New-Grenada. I sent for them
for the })urpose of getting new seed. I have sent for a few bushels more- and 'Hiy of your
friends who are inw;uitcan he supplied gratuitously by leaving their names with you. Also,
a few dozen of the Yucu plant. There is no jiurticular name for tlie Potatoes.

Yours, J. D. WILLIAMSON, 47G Broome-et.

Reply to the ahove.
Dear Sir : The potatoes alluded to have been received and distributed to per-
sons who will be careful in the cultivation, and report the result. Looking back

'76C;

^ INDIAN CORN. 383

to the volumes of the American Farmer, which I founded and edited nearly thirty-
years ago, you will find that in the numberless cases of fruits, plants, animals
and fowls received from abroad, and especially from officers of the Is'avy, I al-
ways insisted, where they bore no particular name, on tiie policy of calling them
after those whose jmblic spirit had led tliem to procure and import them for the
benefit of our country ; and the public should honor more higiily, if it knew its

own interest, actions like these, and the fame ihey deserve, than .

The public taste, however, is far otherwise, and powerless would be the effort of
an individual to change it.

I have accordingly given to these the name of the Williamson Potato ; and
have registered your note, on the principle that all such liiincs should be pre-
served, as the means of tracing the iiistory of fruits, trees, vegetables, animals,
&c. to which they may refer, and which in time to come may be the subject of cu-
rious and interesting inquiry, as has been the introduction of coffee, tobacco, &c.
in Europe. The Yuca will, when it arrives, be thankfully received, and dis-
tributed in the South. Should it succeed there, it may be coaxed along to the
North in process of time, though it may be against the general tide of migration,

Respoctfully, your ob't servant, J. S. SKINNER.

INDIAN CORN AND ITS VARIETIES.

The most remarkable specimens that we have ever seen accompanied the let-
ter from which the following extract is made.

There are few things in nature more remarkable than the hivariableness of an
even number of rows on corn. The procreation of male and female by the pigeon
is said to be not without exceptions. Is it so? We have seen ears of corn which
commenced with a certain number, always even, at the end attached to the stalk
— say 12 rows — and which, for some reason, perhaps dry season or failure of ma-
nure, it could not complete, and accordingly changed the number, and run into
a smaller one, say 10, but always dropping so as to maintain an even number.
We recollect to have seen an ear at the Newcastle (Del.) Exhibition, where
this change took place twice in the growth of one ear, so that it ended with
four rows less than it began ; but, Avhat is remarkable, it never drops one, or three,
or any other odd number of rows.

We had once, many years ago, nigh got into a scrape by saying that we
had seen an ear of corn Avith 40 perfect rows. It was the yellow gourd seed, (and
in fact, we have seen them not unfrequently) on a farm where ears of the larg-
est number of rows had been selected for seed for a succession of years.

The fact is that grains and vegetables may be bred to run into excess, as well
as animals, in particular points and qualities ; but climate, after all, will not be
forced to adopt what any willful experimenter may choose to transplant from one
region to another. The large corn of the South can't be forced upon the North,
nor vice versa.

We question if any man in the Union has experimented with this noble grain,
m as many varieties of kinds and ways, and with as much intelligence, j^rsever-
ance and success as the writer of the following.

We had written thus far before we saw again that the writer had forbidden
the use of his name. We received the letter while Assistant P. M. General at
Washington, and then distributed the corn. Since then, far from having ground

(767)

384

MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

to cultivate, foci but too glad to have enough to stand upon, and health and heart
to work for corn enough to eat.

Long Creek, Louisa Co., Virginia, May 25, 1844.

Sir : I tliiuk it probiible the gourd seed corn which I cultivate (niiiiked No. 1) is similar to
that mentioned in your note to the Editor of the Southern Planter, ])ubli.shed in Febmaiy last.

I cultivate several kinds of com wliich I consider very valuable ; indeed, I have never
seen any which I consider equal to them. Samples of five kinds accomjiany this note ; they
are the result of 30 years' ci'ossing and experimenting with many varieties of com.

In the year 1839, I raised corn so large tliat nearly a quart was shelled from a single ear.
I found one ear with 44 rows upon it, and upward of 50 giains in each row. Each package
sent herewith is marked with the number of rows, and of grains upon the ear, shelled, and
put into it. I prefer No. 3, thougli No. 2 is excellent, and No. 1 will produce more bushels
but not many moi-e pounds than Nos. 2 or 3. I measured an ear of No. 4, which grew upon
thin land, that was twelve inches long. It is heavy, sound com, fine for bread. No. 5 will
grow well upon very ^loor land. I do not recollect that I ever gathered a decayed ear of it
I raise it to feed horses and hogs. It is heavy, nuti-itious, and very productive. Nos. 2, 3,
4 and 5 will weigh from 57 to 60 lbs. per bushel of 2,178 cubic inches.

If, upon examination, you incline to cultivate any one of the kinds accompanying this note,
I will send it to Baltimore by a steamboat from Richmond, to the care of any person you
may name. But perhaps it will be safest to plant the samjiles and see the product beforw
you make a selection.

This note is not wTittcn to acquire notoriety, or to see my name in print. Far from it.—
I do not raise corn for sale ; and, if you wish to cultivate any of the kinds I send you, it will
give me pleasure to farnisli you seed, without charge.

Yours, respectfully, W. N., of Louisa.

To J. S. Skinneb, Esq.

PRICES CURRENT.

[Corrected, January 23, for the

ASHES— Pots, 1st sort ^ 100 IB. 4 87i@ 5 —

Pearls, 1st sort, '46 5 A'.ii ai

BEESWAX — American Yellow — ifi-i a< — 27

CANDLES— Mould, Tallow..^ It5... — 9 ®— 10^

Spei-ni, Eastern and City — 2fi ■g/ — 38

COTTON— From ^ tti. — 1(« ®— V.A

COTTON BAGGING- American... — WhTii— KS

CORDAGE— American ^ tl3. — 11 ^ — 1-2

DOMESTIC GOODS-Shirtings,|>^y. — .5 -a— 11

Sheetings — 6J®— 1.5

FEATHERS— Americmi, live — 25 Ti— 27i

FLAX — American — 7 ® — 8

FLOUR & MEAL— Genesee, f>' bbl. 5 fi2.V® 5 fi8|

'IVoy 5&i\S) 5 fi.')

Michigan 5 Sfil'a' 5 6-^1

Ohio, Flat Hoop 5 5()i® 5 62*

Ohio, Round Hoop 'a

Ohio, via New-Orleans T) 37A ■ff) 5 ."iO

Pennsylvania 5 1 'Ji 'hj 5 25

Brandy wine . . ; 5 .W fi)

Georgetown 5 50 'a

Baltimore City Mills '&

Richmond City Mills 6 75 ■a 7 —

Richmond Country 5 25 a

Alexandria, Petersburg, &c 5 25 ■&

Rye Flour 4 — @ 4 12i

Com Meal, .Jersey and Brand 3 87V-3i 4 12*

Com Mciil, Brandywine hhd. 17 50 -S)

GRAIN- Wheat, White •^ bush. 1 15 ® 1 18

Wheat, Western, Red 1 06 @ 1 1 2.}

Rye, Northern — 85 ®— 86

Com, Jer.=ey and North ... (meas.) — 78 ® — 80

Com, Southern (measured ®

Com, Southern (weight) — 78 ®— 80

OatB, Northern — 43 ® — 45

Oats, Jersey — 40 @

HAY— North River in balcp, ^100 m — 56i®— 62^
HEMP — American, dew-rottod.. tonlOO — ■3/115 —

" water-rotted ]50 — @200 —

HOPS— 1st sort, 1846 — !> ®— H

niON— American Pig. No 1 30 — @32 .50

" Common 22 50 •a'25 —

LIME— Thomitflton !>■ bbl. — 70 ®— 75

•t,UMBER— Boards, N.R., f M. ft. clr. 30 — •5)35 —

Boards, Eastern Pino '5'

Boards, Albany Pine <¥^pce. — 10 @— 18

Timber, (Jeorgia Pine ■P'M.ft. 24 — ®28 —

(768)

Monthly Journal of Agriculture.']

Staves, White Oak, pipe. ^ M 50 — '3)~-

Staves, White Oak, hhd 40 — @_

Staves, White Oak, bbl 30 — @—

Staves, Red Oak. hhd 24 — ®28

Hoops 20 — ■aSO

Scantlina;. Pine, Eastern 15 — ®16

Scantling, Oak 30 — @35

'i imber, Oak ^ cubic foot — 20 ® —

Timber, White Pine .— 13 ® —

limber. Georgia Yellow Pine — 24 "S —

Shingles ^ bunch 1 75 ® 2

Shingles, Cedar, 3 feet, 1st quality. 26 — ® —
Shingles, Cedar, 3 feet, 2d quality. 22 — ®24
Shingles, Cedar, 2 feet, 1st oualitv- 17 — ®18
Shinales, Cedar, 2 feet, 2d quality. 15 — '©16

ShinL'lcs, Cypress, 2 feet 13 — ® 14

ShinL:]es, Comjiany 28 — @30

MUSTAKD— American — 16 ®—

NAILS— Wrought, 6d to 20d...^ lb. _ lo ®—

Cut 4d to 40d — 4 ® —

PLASTER PARIS— %'►■ ton 2 12i® 2

PROVISIONS— Beef, Mess, ^bbl... 9 — ® 9

Beef Prime 7 — ® 7

Pork. Mess. Ohio 12 25 ®—

Pork, Prime, Ohio 9 75 ®—

Lard. Ohio ^ tb. — 8 ®—

Hams, Pickled ® —

Shoulders, Pickled ®—

Sides, Pickled ® —

Beef Smoked ^ 115. — 7i®—

Butter, Orange County — 18 ® —

Butter, Western Dairy — 13 ® —

Butter, Grease ® —

Cheese, in c.i.sks and boxes — 6}® —

SEEDS— Clover ^ Its. — 6 ®—

Timothy ^tierce 12 — ®]S

Flax, Rough 9 — ® 9

SOAP— N. York, Brown |>' lb. — 3J ®—

TALLOW— American Rendered ... — 8 ®—

TOBACCO— Virginia ® Its. — IJ®—

North Carolina" — 2 ® —

Kentucky and Missouri — 2 ® —

WOOL— Am. Saxony. Fleece,.^ m. — 35 ®— .

American Full Blood Merino — 30 ® —

American A and J Merino — 26 ® —

American Native and \ Merino... — 22 ® —
Supcrtinc, PuUed — 25 »—

31
14
4i
25

19
15
7

u

25

5*

8i

5

3

6
37t
32
28
24
28

MONTHLY

JOURNAL OF AGEICULTURE.

VOL. II. MARCH, 1847. WO. 9.

EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES.

ArnsHiRE B»LL, Geordik — whose faithful Portrait appears in this Dumber — was imported in
the ship Europe, June, 1846, for R. L. Coi.t. Esq. of Fatcison, N. J. Geordie is a descendant of
tlie famous bull of that name, the brag bull of Scotland, and is now rising 3 years old. He was
selected for Mr. C. by John Ternant, Esq. of Shields. Mr. T. is Vice President of the Ayrshire
Agricultural Society, and a very distinguished farmer. He selected this bull and Mr. Coil's cow-
Bessy from the best and purest Ayrshire stock in Scotland. The bull whose portrait is here given
took the premium at the Ayrshire Cattle-Show last year ; so that those who see him will see what
is deemed a crack specimen of that favorite breed in its very home of homes. This and the Devon
race are the two lately selected by the Massachusetts Agricultural Society for importation.

We understand that some lately arrived at Baltimore for Mr. McHenry, of Hartford county,
sent by his friend and relative, McHenry Boyd, Esq., lately Secretary of Legation to our Mission
to England. We have now as fine specimens of cattle, of all the principal breeds of Great Brit-
ain, as arc to be found there.

Devon C.\ttt,e. — We may express our own doubts whether there is a herd at once so per-
fect and so large as Mr. Geougk Patterson's, in Maryland. He, too, has lately imported an-
other bull, laying his agent, as usual, under no limit as to price. We understand that Col. Capron
lately hail the good luck to get some of his stock, and we hazard nothing in saying they will be
pnzcd and cared for as they should be, which has not always been the fate of this race of cattle.

MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

The signs that indicate an awakening interest for Agriculture throughout the
country, and the desire now evinced in some of the States to see what aid it, too,
may fairly claim from men in authority, lead us to believe that we may render
an acceptable service by a review of what has been done in the " Old Bay State,"
where excellence in the various brnnches of rural industry has been elicited and
rewarded, for many years successively, by the ofl'er of premiums, under legisla-
tive sanction. Massachusetts is selected, to show what has been there accom-
plished, not only for the reason that she is among the oldest sisters of the Re-
public, and that she was among the first to form Societies and publish Memoirs
for the benefit of the cause — but because, having to contend, with indomitable
persistance, against natural ruggedness and disadvantages of soil and climate,
there seems to be a peculiar fitness and usefulness in holding up her excellence,,
in various departments, as being at once worthy of emulation and quite within
the reach of successful rivalry, and even of being surpassed by States more fa-
vorably situated, if undertaken with a corresponding degree of earnestness and
constancy. We do not say skxU, for the reason that we are not among those
who believe, and would persuade the world, that the principles and true pro-
cesses of husbandry are better understood in the North than in the South ; that
(817) 35

386 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

is to say generally, and among those who have the direction of the labor and"
capital at work in the field. We should doubt, indeed, whether, in any part of
the world, agricultural operations are conducted on so large a scale — we might,
perhaps, say on any scale — with more skill, neatness and completeness, than, for
example, and from what we have heard, on Colonel Singleton's and Mr. Cal-
houn's estates ; and, from what we have seen, on Colonel Hampton's ; and, with-
out intending to be invidious, we may add, at Hopeton, near Darien, Georgia,
by Mr. I. Hamilton Couper, where thirty thousand dollars' worth of steam and
other machinery employed in the various processes of flooding and draining,
and of cleaning and preparing the various crops for market, demands not only
practical knowledge of ordinary performances in the field, but no inconsider-
able acquaintance with book-keepmg, hydraulics, civil engineering, and even
agricultural chemistry — as far particularly as relates to the complex process
of sugar making. Nor are such capital and means to be conducted to their
fullest development without a decided talent for the command and appropria-
tion of the forces at hand — sometimes to be employed in combination, accord-
ing to the exigencies of the season and the crops ; and again to be divided, and
so separately applied as to make everything tell to the greatest advantage. —
Such estates may, it is true, fall occasionally under the control of men without
ambition, knowledge, forecast, or energy ; but they are not to be profitably and
honorably managed without the possession of all these qualities, and that in no
ordinary degree. But to our subject.

The " Massachusetts Society for Promoting Agriculture," the first in the
State of its kind, was founded and incorporated as far back as 1792. It raised a
fund of $4,000 by subscription ; and by an annual assessment on its members it
proceeded at once to distribute premiums and to import valuable anknals. In
1797, it instituted its " Journal,'''' which was continued for more than thirty years,
promulgating papers that evinced remarkable ability, and a public spirit and dis-
interestedness highly honorable to its members. It took measures, also, for the
establishment of County Societies, and for the erection of an Agricultural Hall.
It also contributed to the establishment of the Professorship of Natural History
and of the Botanical Garden at Cambridge.

In 1819, the State appropriated $200 annually to every Society which would
raise $1,000 for the promotion of Agriculture, and in like proportion for any
o-reater sum, not exceeding $3,000 ; so that no Society, whatever may be the
amount of its funds, can claim of the Commonwealth more than $600. From
the date above mentioned to 1845 inclusive, as appears by the " Abstract" from
which this statement is taken, there had been ten Societies incorporated, to
which the State had contributed $115,816 61 ; besides three others, which, at
the date of the Abstract, were " not known to have gone into operation."

In 1837, Resolves were passed by tbe Legislature, authorizing and requesting
the Governor to appoint some suitable person to make an " agricultural survey
of the Commonwealth ; collect accurate infoimation of the state and condition
of its An'riculture, and every subject connected with it ; point out the means of
improvement, and make a detailed report thereof, with as much exactness as cir-
cumstances will admit."

Writin'T now from home, and not in reach of our books, we can only venture
the impression that this enlightened measure on the part of the Legislature was
enacted in conformity with a suggestion from Gov. Everett, now the accom-
plished President of Cambridge. It would be well for the country, and promis-
(81 a)

MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 387

ing to the welfare of a branch of industry more productive, in most of the States,
than all others united, if some other Governors would cast about to see how the
laws affect it, and to suggest for the landed, as Avell as for more partial and lim-
ited interests, such enactments or modifications of laws as might tend to relieve
its products of unjust burdens, and to enlighten the pursuit of it in tlie field ; un-
less, indeed, it be that, as some seem to suppose, the laws have nothing to do
with Agriculture.

It was made the duty of the Agricultural Surveyor to furnish the Governo'
with a summary of his survey, every six months, and at such other times as hi:
might require, to be published in such manner as he may deem expedient ; an'5
he was authorized to draw his warrants " to defray the expenses of such surveV:
and to enable the person so appointed to proceed in the execution of the dutiec-
that shall be required of him ; and pay the same to him, not exceeding the surri
of two thousand dollars per annum."

Under this authority, Mr. IIenky Colman, appointed Agricultural Survey-
or, published four Reports, which, as has been truly said in the "Abstract" be-
fore us, " had a wide circulation in the country, and attracted favorable attention
abroad." Of the zeal and ability displayed in these Reports, and of their great
usefulness, we have repeatedly expressed, but not as strongly as we feel, our
warmest approval. We had lately the good fortune to procure a second-hand
copy in Boston, and intend to fortify our opinion of their great value by occasional'
extracts. It would be, with most readers, superfluous to add that the Surveyor
appointed by the Governor is the same Mr. Colman now on an agricultural tour iu
Europe, and whose personal observations there are read here at home with pleas-
xueand with instruction — except, perhaps, by some, of whom there are always and
everywhere too many, who know so much already that they have nothing more
to learn ; and who, because it is colder or hotter, or wetter or drier, in some parts
of Europe than in parallel latitudes elsewhere — and because, forsooth, labor is
cheaper there than in the United States, together with some other differences
of institutions and circumstances — therefore sagely conclude that we have nothing
to learn. from European books or essays on Agriculture, or descriptions of their
implements, machinery, or processes; as if the principles of mechanics, and of
chemistry, and botany, and civil engineering, as applied to draining, and road
and bridge making, the composition of manures and the constituent qualities of
soils and plants, &:c., were not the same in one country as another ! and as if the
American reader had not sense enough, in comparison of the modes and labor
employed in tillage in various countries, to make allowance for specified differ-
ences in the cost of these, and of food, &c., in a way to arrive at just conclusions,
and to avail himself of the lights which all admit science has of late years re-
flected on all the operations of husbandry in some parts of Europe, and especially
in England and Scotland, very far beyond what it is yet doing for the same branch
of industry in the United States. For ourselves, our temper is to take pride,
first and sincerely, in all that is the fruit of American skill and genius, if better,
or even as good, as to be found abroad ; but, at the same time, to consider no
place as too distant or too bad to go to for knowledge !

Moreover, while we exult in such names as Franklin, and Clinton, and God-
frey, and Whitney, in natural and mechanical sciences; and in such benefactors
and illustrators of American Agriculture, in its practice and literature, (ay, in its
literature !) as Taylor, and Madison, and Garnett, and Ruffin, of "Virginia ; and
Audubon, and Bachman, and Pinckney, and Poinsett, and Seabrook, and many

(8t9)

388 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

others, of Carolina ; and Peters and Biddle, of Pennsylvania ; and Livingston,
and L'Homraedieu, and Ruffin, and Mitchell, of New- York ; and Lowell, and
Quincy, Sullivan, Colman, Pickering, Gray, Harris, Dearborn, Everett, &c. of
Massachusetts — vire should still think it strange if there were not yet much to be
learned of both its practice and the sciences that make that practice more fruit-
ful, from the country and the descendants of such men as Newton, and Brindley,
and Napier, and Parkes, and Davy, and Watt, and Arkwright ; with the wealth
and munificence of a Coke or a Francis, to patronize genius, and to lead it,
through poverty and every difficulty, into activity and public usefulness, for the
benefit and glory of their country.

But in all this, perhaps, we are wrong, and not sufficiently practical I With
some there is a vulgar belief, and with others an aff'ectation of it yet more dis-
gusting, that none can impart instruction in Agriculture except those who daily la-
bor at what they teach — as if Mr. Downing's sketches of cottage residences were
any the less elegant and tasty because he whose fine fancy designs them may
not be practically expert in the use of carpenter's tools. But once more back to
our subject.

To aid those who may be honorably inclined to help along the good cause, and
whose number, we trust, is rapidly increasing, we published in the September
number of 1846 the laws now in force in Massachusetts relating to the subject.
We proceed, therefore, to give such view of the proceedings of the several Soci-
eties in that State as will place before the reader the results of competition, in
the several branches of her agricultural industry, together with such accounts
of the means employed to reach them as will, altogether, give something of a
picture of the whole husbandry of a State which, as before said, has attained un-
der great difficulties a degree of success worthy of emulation — one which has
won for her inhabitants the high reputation of bemg , a remarkably laborious,
skillful, thriving and intelligent people ; out of debt, and independent in their pri-
vate circumstances ; proud of their liberty, and ever ready and able to defend it.
And, after all, is it not by knowledge, and that virtue which is the sure fruit of ^
hnoidcdge only, that any yeomanry can hope to reach and to maintain such a
condition ? If this republic is at this moment in any peril, it may be ascribed to
the want of sufficient and suitable education on the part of the owners and tillers
of the soil !

First, as to the Massachusetts {State) Agricultural Society proper — we have
shown in the number referred to, containing Mr. Phinnet's description of the
stock imported by it last year, how it was led to pretermit the offer of the. ordi-
nary premiums, and to reserve their funds for the importation of Ayrshire and
North Devon cattle. There it is expressly stated that " thousands of dollars have
,been awarded in premiums for the best milch cows, during the last twenty years,
and, as appeared to the Trustees, to very little benefit." Indeed, Mr. Phinney,
whose statement appears to have had the sanction of the Trustees, says gener-
ally, as to the effect of these shows to promote improvement in the various
branches of husbandry, that they had for " many years devoted the income of the
Society's funds to premiums on the best cultivated farms, on the various kinds
of farm produce, farm stock, and such other objects as they believed best calcu-
lated to promote the interest of the great body of the farmers ;" and that " it
seemed to the Trustees that very little progress had been made, particularly in
the dairy stock of (he country." That whole paper is well worthy of re-perusal,
as the deliberate testimony of practical men of unsurpassed judgment, vouched

(820)

MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 389

and corroborated by one of their own body, than whom no one stands higher in
the agricultural annals even of his State. On the total uncertainty that attends
breeding from an ordinary stock of no particular blood, he says : " The cautious
farmer will not run the risk nor incur the expense of raising a calf from stock of
the origin of which, and of the blood that runs in the veins of his favorite cow,
he knows nothing."

" It may be contended," says he, " that we need not the aid of foreign stock to
raise up one of the best breeds of cattle in the world. This may be true, but who
will undertake it? What individual farmer has the patience, the skill, the Intel
ligence and the capital to engage in a task that will require many years and
much capital to bring to any considerable degree of perfection ? And wher«
would be the propriety or economy of undertaking a work of this kind, Avhen, by
a little extra expense at the commencement, we may find the work already done
to our hands ?"

It is not enough, it may be added, that any gentleman should make an occa-
sional importation of a pair or more of the best animals ; for, without having re-
course to different families of the same blood, they would soon degenerate by close
breeding, and want of nice judgment in the choice of breeding stock. In answer
to the question, Who has the capital, and who will take the requisite pains? we
may, without invidiousness or prejudice to others, name a few that occur at the
moment, owners of choice specimens of crack breeds, besides the Devons and
the Ayrshires of the Massachusetts Society, so prudently placed in the care of
Mr. Phinney. There is, for instance, the very superior herd of Short-Horns im-
ported and bred by Mr. Vail, of Troy, and Mr. Sherman, of Auburn ; and the
Herefords, no less numerous and perfect in their way, of Mr. Corning. Mr. Pren-
tice has, we believe, disposed of nearly all his Short-Horns; but it is not to be doubt-
ed that the gentlemen named, while they continue to breed of their favorite races
respectively, will import the best bulls every three or four years, and brino- all
their judgment to bear in keeping their h-ecding stock clear of everything that is
stained in blood, or defective in form. So we may predicate of Mr. Hurlbut, of
Connecticut, and of all others engaged in breeding improved stock /or sale. This
we know to have been the practice of Mr. Patterson, with his splendid herd of
Devons, in Maryland. His practice is to import frequently the very best bulls to
be had in England, without regard to price ; and, with an eye and a jud"-menl
not to be deceived, he unites a pride in his own character as a breeder, and in
that of his stock, that would lead him much sooner to give away a superior than
to sell a decidedly defective animal for any price. And here we may as well say,
once for all, currcnte calamo, that as we ever have, so we ever shall, heartily
despise the malign and particularly the covert insinuations of those who would
ascribe improper motives either to our praise or our censure — too humble, it may
be, either to benefit or disparage any one. One thing we may fearlessly say, that
we are conscious of never having harbored any thought but thoughts of kindness
to all our colleagues, whether editorial or otherwise, co-workers in the field of
agricultural or horticultural improvement ; nor shall we be easily provoked to
act otherwise against, equally, our habits and our nature.

For the matter of plainly and frankly commending the examples, and testifying
to the judgment of cultivators of exemplary industry and discernment, far from
seeing anything in that either reprehensible or indelicate, we hold it to be in the
line of our station and duty. Occasions of censure on the other hand, much more
of retaliation for totally unprovoked attempts to injure, may be often and again

390 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

omitted. Much more agreeable is it to do good for evil ; while to professed moral-
ists, and mea of more leisure, must be left the task of shooting " folly as it flies."
And Heaven knows it flies thick enough, especially in the appropriation of what
little can be collected for improvement in Agriculture ! In this matter of doing
justice, or, if you will, praising and bringing out into the relief they would shun,
the friends of rural industry, there are those to be found in this world more nice
than either wise or honest, who can strain at a gnat and swallow a camel. Hence
if a man of war have the good luck to imbrue his hands in the blood of his fellow
men, and by the prowess of his right arm succeed in adding largely to the list
of widows and orphans, no praise is too extravagant for hi?n. Medals and thanks
are voted by Congress, and none too rich or too exalted to do him reverence. The
* Sovereigns ' throw up their " greasy caps," and huzza as he passes, and Editors
with one voice join in the universal hosanna ! until every village is eager for the
honor of claiming, not its Confucius or Homer, its Franklin or its Clinton, but
some gallant knight

" That never bowed his stubborn knee
To anything but chivalry."

We do n't mean your real, old, thrice-tried heroes, such as have led m our
Army and Navy, whose humanity gives to their chivalry its highest lustre, and
whose love of peace and mercy has been known to subdue their military ambi-
tion, where opportunity presented redundant harvests of glory. No degree of
enthusiasm, no measure of praise is deemed extravagant, if excited by the smell
of powder, or the sight of blood ; but if one poor Editor lift his feeble voice in
eulogy of men who would by their industry, or their liberality, or their enter-
prise, or their learning, benefit the human race, by benefiting the most useful
and productive of all the industrial, though it may be " dull pursuits of civil
life," straightway some craven spirit, alike devoid of manliness and discern-
ment, imputes unworthy motives to the action, interpreting the feelings of others
according to the meanness of his own nature. Once again, then, and for all, we
mean, while we have the power, to leave on record, as far as our pen can go,
what we trust may prove testimony of some endurance, to the really virtuous,
because really useful actions and deportment of those who do good to American
Husbandry, whether by the pen or the plow! and for the rest, all we have to
say is, hojii soil (jui mal y pcjise. But let all such evil thinkers remember that
two, at least, of those whose living examples of skillful tillage and management
we have most particularly commended, and the portrait of one of w/i07n we
shall endeavor to preserve in this journal, are what are called " overseers," or
managers of large estates ; neither patrons of this work, nor dispensers. of patron-
age in any form, but distinguished for their unassuming manners, industry,
judgment, and firmness, tempered with humanity ; and therefore, at least in our
humble esteem, more worthy to be honored than your mere red-handed war-
riors, fighting for pay, without care for cause or consequence ! The reader will
bear with this digression when we express the hope that as this is the first, so
may it prove the last time that We shall turn aside to speak in this connection.

Recurring to Mr. Phinney's interesting exposition of the views which prompt-
ed the Massachusetts Society to import cattle instead of off"ering the usual stereo-
type list of premiums, it will be seen that he expresses the opinion that the
cows of farmers who depend principally on that source for their income, " do not
generally yield an average daily produce of more than from tieo to four quarts
of milk throughout the year." Whereas, he adds, in another part of his state-

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MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 391

ment, " Alton asserts that many of the Ayrshire cows in their best condition, and
well fed, will yield at the rate of 1,000 gallons of milk in one year, or over ten
quarts of milk per day. Rankin, however, states his opinion that Alton had
given the daily average produce too high, and thinks that few herds of twenty
cows or over will average more than eight hundred and fifty gallons, or about
nine quarts a day ! " Mr. Colt's Ayrshire bull, Gcordie, whose faithful portrait
is given in this number, was imported with evidences oi personal merit, and un-
der other circumstances to insure him to possess in an eminent degree the char-
acteristics of his race. The same gentleman has other imported and pure speci-
mens of that and of the Alderney race of cattle. There were also two
cows and a bull well selected and sent last autumn, consigned to Mr. George
Law of Baltimore, by McHcnry Boyd, Esq., to his relative Mr. McHenry of
Hartford County, Maryland. Of the particulars of that importation and the
considerations which induced it, so far as it may have been prompted by any
particular observations or information in Scotland in favor of the breed, we shall
endeavor to possess ourselves. We need not say that all notices of the importa-
tion or possession of animals, or grasses, or grains, of particular kinds are in-
tended as historical of the facts, and to facilitate the wishes of those who may
desire to make farther inquiries with a view to information or purchase.

Having referred to what is said by Mr. Phinney, one of the Trustees of the
Massachusetts Society, and doubtless with the sanction of his associates as to
the Ayrshire cattle, we may add his remarks on the other breed, the North
Devons, also selected by them for importation. " The North Devon stock has
long been celebrated as a breed of cattle beautiful in the highest degree. For
the dairy they cannot be considered equal to the Ayrshires, but viewing them as
uniting the three qualities of working, fattening, and milking, they may be con-
sidered as unrivaled. Some of the English writers give them a high rank as
milkers, and Mr. Conyers of Capt Hill, near Epping, a district almost exclu-
sively devoted to the purposes of the dairy, preferred the North Devons "on ac-
count of their large produce, whether in milk, butter, or by suckling." " The
North Devon oxen, says an English writer, are minvaled at the plow. They
have a quickness of motion which no other breed can equal, and which very few
horses exceed. They have also a docility and goodness of temper, and a stout-
ness and honesty at work, to which many teams of horses cannot pretend."

We would add, that in our judgment the horse (as a precarious and expensive
machine) ought to be banished from field labor, except where the land may be
too heavy for the mule, and the climate too hot for the ox — two circumstances
that combine only over a comparatively small portion of our country.

But in our eyes the most attractive feature in the proceedings of the Massachu-
setts Agricultural Society is the following, as set forth in this first "Abstract"
made out by Hon. " John G. Palfrey," Secretary of State, and now elected, we
believe and hope, to Congress — and that not from any knowledge or care about
his party politics, but because in him we know there will be at least one patriot
disposed to think that the true and substantial interests of a country may be at
least as well served by guiding the plow-share as by brandishing the sword.
Here is the act of the Trustees, to which we allude, and that we would holdup
for imitation. By-the-by, among many other things that we have at heart to
publish, if we can ever find the space, is a beautiful lecture of the celebrated
Doctor Pvush, on the importance of the study of Comparative Anatomy by co'in-
try practitioners of medicine.

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392 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

*' The offer of a premium for the best Essay on the Diseases of Domestic Ani
mals was subsequently modified. The subject being discussed, it appeared thai
this department of medical science had been little regarded in this Common-
wealth ; that if an animal be sick, or was wounded, regular practitioners were
not usually summoned, and the farmer had to depend upon any one in his neigh-
borhood who had acquired a reputation by some little experience for skill in
cases of diseased animals. It was therefore voted that Doctor Warren, one of
the Board of Trustees, he authorized to offer pecuniary aid to any student of
medicine (whom he thought qualified for the purpose) to assist him in com-
pleting his education abroad, upon the condition that he should give a portion of
his time and particular attention to the veterinary establishmenls, for the relief
and recovery of ivounded or diseased animals, in Europe, and especially in
France ; that he should attend the Lectures of the most eminent surgeons on
these subjects, to qualify himself to deliver lectures as well as to practice in this
department of science on his return." And here again we cannot shut our eyes
to that want of knowledge, or sensibility to their own rights, or that tame, sub-
missive spirit on the part of agriculturists, which qualifies them to look on and
see, without a murmur, the provision that is made, out of their substance, for
enlightening all interests and classes but their own, without any attempt to
claim their share of the public patronage for agricultural science. How many
young men of the Army and the Navy have been sent abroad really to study, or
under pretence of examining the most modern warlike discoveries and systems
of managing light-houses, &:c. and tliis on the mere dictum or pleasure of tlie head
of a department ! But if the object be to enlighten or benefit Agriculture, as in
this instance, it can only be done by private subscription ! and this, too, under a
system of policy and administrations of public affairs established by the legisla-
tion of the representatives of the landed interest, the first to be taxed and the
last to be cared for !

Here we find the pen has run over a space which makes it necessary to draw
this essay to a close. The reader will please regard it as merely preliminary.
The next will be altogether practical, presenting a view of Massachusetts Agri-
culture in all the counties where there are incorporated societies, and serving,
for readers in other States, as the next best thing after a personal attendance at
their cattle-shows — we had hoped to accomplish that purpose in this sketch, but
we find we have only cleared the way, as the good husbandman picks off the
stone and grubs his ground before he begins to plow.

GREAT IMPROVEMENT IN MAKING BRICKS.— Alfred Hall, Esq., late of Cox-
sackie, has invented a machine for making bricks. As to its properties and value, T. B.
Wakeman, Esq., Corresponding Secretary of tlie American lustitiite, has received the follow-
ing letter :

" Tliis machine we have used for the last three years, ^o our entire satisfaction ; it is sim-
ple in its construction, easily kept in order, and can be worked by men of the most ordinary
capacity, moulding with ease from ten to twelve thousiuid per day, better bricks tliim can
be moulded by hand or any oilier macliine. Wo have had thirty of thorn in oju-ration for
the last two years, using fifteen of them altoniato days, making each year about 1.5,000,000
bricks, and during that lime the expense of repairing the thirty machines has not amounted
to $10. This is not an exaggerated statement, but the plain, simple ti-ulh, sucli as we are
willing U) give in person to any one who wishes more partitidar information upon the sub-
ject, and wil' favor us with a call. " 1'. Hubukll,

eharUiiovm, Mass., Dec. 9, 184C. " Almon AbbcI t."

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AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 393

AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION.

PROGRESS OP PUBLIC OPINION INDICATIONS OF A FAVORABLE CHANUE.

National habits of thinking and acting on the great topics of public education
and morals, are not to be expected to undergo those marked and visible muta-
tions which are seen to take place, in a single season, in the taste and costumes
of the luxurious and fashionable world. On the contrary, great chanrjcs in social
institutions, and in courses of instruction and of industry, especially among agri-
cultural communities, are necessarily the work of time, and to be finally accom-
plished with ditlicully, and then only by the enlightened and imperfectly concert-
ed labors of public spirited benefactors, too few and far between to rival in ener-
gy the more active and systematized exertions for improvement by merchants
and manufacturers. Yet all anxious observers must perceive that a salutary
change is now in progress for the benefit of American Agriculture — one whictk
guaranties not only greater fruitfulness for the capital and labor embarked in it,
but, what is yet more gratifying, higher rank and honor to those who resort to
it as the means of support for themselves and their families.

The change to which we refer, and in view of which all enlightened friends
of the cause may felicitate each other, consists in an evidently increasing dispo-
sition to investigate the principles which affect the results of practical Agricul-
ture ; and without a knowledge of which it can never attain either that dignity
or success which God hath kindly ordained should only be won by the triumphs
of mind over matter — of light over darkness. The American public is beginning
to see that between the rude physical labor of the boor, who aspires only to know
when and how to plant and to reap, as his father did before him — and the calcu-
lating forecast of the educated farmer, who has been taught to know exactly
what each crop will demand and take away from the soil, and hence what it
will require to be restored to it — there is as wide a gap to be filled up as has
been llled up in the progress of medical science, by which the well-weighed
remedies and skillful appliances of the accomplished physician and surgeon have
banished the vile nostrums of the conjurer and the quack. Yes, truly, and for
its honor be it said, that it is getting now to be understood that as wide a space
is to be overcome in the art of cultivation, by a more thorough knowledge of the
principles of tillage and of vegetable physiology, as has been passed in the art
of ship-building and the science of navigation, as indicated by a comparison of
the Indian's bark-canoe with the steam-frigate, plowing the " deep waters of the
dark blue sea," with the precision of the sun itself as it marks its course on the
dial-plate.

A great stumbling-block, however, in the way of science coming to speed the
plow, is that want of ambition — that absence of all thirst for distinction — which
is at once the parent and the offspring of ignorance ; that lethargic self-content-
edness, which creates the very difficulties it imagines to exist in the road to far-
ther advancement. How common to hear even otherwise sensible men observe,
" Oh ! what can books teach us ? What more have we to learn ? With plenty
of manure, and sufficient force, and good plows to work with, J can make as
good crops as any of your book farmers I " — forgetting, or rather never having

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394 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

learned, all the time, that a kind of manure comparatively without effect when
applied to one crop, or kind of soil, may be powerful when applied to another ;
and that certain soils, if he were educated to know their nature, would be found
to contain the constituents of one plant, while they may be quite deficient in what
is necessary to the growth of another. Such men, who in their ignorance and
self-conceit already know everything, forget how much the labor they employ
has already been economized by the inventions of ingenious, thinking minds, ap-
plied to the structure of the plow itself; and that, long since, your anti-book-
knowledge men, like themselves, believed that the plow had already reached
the last stage of amendment of which it was thought to be susceptible. How
different with the intellectual man — the man of progress — he who believes that
the Almighty endowed us with reasoning faculties above all animals, that they
might be kept in constant exercise for the melioration of our condition in all
things ! Such men, looking back on the field over which we have passed — ad-
vancing, even during the last half-century, from one labor-saving invention to
another ; from a less to a much more thorough knowledge of the nature of ma-
nures ; noting the improvements in the form and economy of our domestic ani-
mals, until the art of breeding has been reduced to a science : marking the in-
troduction of new and valuable fruits and vegetables — such men, thus blessed
with hopeful and inquisitive minds, are readily persuaded that the end is not yet,
in the progressive advancement of Agriculture, any more than in the arts of man-
ufacture, in the application of steam, or in the discoveries to be made by astron-
omy or navigation. Such men see no good reason why steam itself should not
yet be made far more contributory to the purposes of the farmer, in some propor-
tion to what it has been forced to do for the civilizing operations of commerce,
and the barbarous purposes of war. Thus enlightened and animated by a retro-
spect of what has been done, to hop,eful exertion for the honor and benefit of their
own pursuit, the intellectual cultivator and friend of American husbandry is seen
to realize much of that which at first he only hoped might, in process of time,
prove to be possible ; and thus it is that Agriculture is destined to undergo still
greater ameliorations, of which the ignorant, the slothful and the desponding
have yet no conception — ameliorations that proceed by geometrical ratios ; for iu
this, as in other sciences, every advance that is made shall add to the hight and
the strength of the scaffolding employed in making additional improvements.

So marked and extraordinary have been the strides made in the application
of the sciences to the art of cultivation lately in Scotland, that Professor Johnston
has predicted that, within the next five years, prescriptions for particular manures
having reference to the next succeeding crop in a given rotation, would be made
out as systematically, and with as much confidence in the results of their appli-
cation, as are the medical prescriptions of the physician to the apothecary. Nor
IS this evidence of the progress of agricultural science in that country to be won-
dered at, when we read, as in the last Edinburgh Review, that the writer, des-
canting on the increased productiveness of the lands in England and Scotland, by
which these countries have been enabled, until now, to meet the demands of a
steadily increasing population, remarks that on stepping into a country school on
the wayside, in Scotland, he witnessed an examination of a class of " poor bare-
footed boys" of 14 years of age, who were going creditably through a close cate»
chisra in Agricultural Chemistry.

But we have been insensibly drawn off from the sole design of presenting a
few of the signs of a general change in favor of special education for the plow,
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AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 39^

as for all other things, when it is intended that he who is to follow any particu-
lar pursuit shall rise from the level of the operative to that of an intellectual di-
rector of the force employed in carrying it on. These evidences of change are
to be found, among others, in the more frequent references to the interests of Ag-
riculture by our Govcr7iors in their Inaugural Addresses ; almost all of them ap-
pearing now to think it incumbent on llicm at least to recognize the existence
of such an interest in the State, while it is to be remarked there are yet some
of them who deem it not worthy to be referred to — as if the land and the capital
embarked in its cultivation were not subjects for legislation, and in no way liable
to be affected by good or bad government. We see these signs of favorable
change, too, in the appointment, of late years, of Committees of Agriculture, in
legislative bodies ; some of whom even go the lengthof making reports— however
yet, for the most part, vague and general, and in empty compliment, rather than
practical contribution to tliis, by lar the most important in the whole catalogue
of legislative cares ; but begetting the hope that, ere long, we shall see Congress
and State Legislatures putting forth and circulating Reports — not such as cost
$20,000 for diatribes from every conceited scribbler on the potato disease, but
elaborate dissertations on the condition and wants of Agriculture, such as we
have annually from the ablest minds of the country, selected on that account, and
placed on Committees to elucidate the interests of commerce, manufactures, and
the condition of the financial and military branches of the Government. And
who can hesitate to believe that the country would be as much benefited in its
growth and advancement to wealth and power by having its agricultural con-
cerns and capabilities thoroughly overhauled and illustrated by such men as
Calhoun, and Lewis, and Berkien, and Clayton, and Benton, as by the Reports
we have printed and circulated, by the thousand and tens of thousands, in refer-
ence to navigation, manufactures, finance, and war ? Ay, and how much better
and more generally might we expect the rights of American husbandry to be un-
derstood and guarded from the encroachments of parasitical classes, if, under the
beneficent influence of such annual expositions by our ablest men — those whose
sole business it is — the yeomanry of the country were steadily and systematically
educated in all that relates to the cultivation and the rights of the soil, and its
claims to precedence in all legislation for particular branches of industry ! But,
alas ! what farmer of common observation has not learned that, where the mas-
ter is notoriously ignorant or inattentive, he soon becomes the victim of dishon-
esty and neglect on the part of his manager and his men ?

Another indication of an improving public sentiment on this interesting subject,
encouraging to the cause itself, and honorable to the discernment and patriotism
of the mover, is the following Order, following up a kindred movement some
years since by the enlightened Chairman of the Committee to whom this Order
was referred in the Senate of Maryland :

In Senate, January 19, 1847.

On motion of Mr. Guither, it was

"Ordered, That the Committeo on Agriculture inquire into the expediency of pro\ading
by law for the inspection of guano, and the ap[)ointment of an inspector thereof; and, also,
that said Committee take into consideration the best means of diffusing among the people of
the State information on the subject of agi-icultural chemistry, and sucli other subjects a«
may, in their judraicnt, be best calculated to benefit the agricultural interests of the State,
by teaching such knowletlge of the composition and application of manures as will promote
die improvement of the exhausted soil of the State ; and that they have leave to report by
bill or otherwise."

And here, again, what a proof is exhibited of the slow progress of knowledge
and of discoveries in aid of Agriculture ! Twenty years have elapsed since the

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396 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

writer of these lines distributed gratuitously two barrels of guano, sent to hita
for that purpose all the way from the Pacific, by Commodore Ridgely ; but, un-
til its value was lately promulgated in England, no effort was made to extend
the use of it ; and now, after so great a lapse of time, and after the English have
removed entire islands of it, we see a Senator very judiciously moving to have
an inspection oi guano established by law !

But, among the most encouraging proofs we have that the truth of Professor
Liebig's declaration — to wit, that for all permanent and material improvement
we must hereafter look to the application of the sciences to Agriculture — is mak-
ing its way to public conviction, is the one to which we have before referred —
the spontaneous and unassisted establishment of agricultural schools in various
parts of the country, and in advance of a more enlightened legislation by which,
in a few ye&rs, the public will require and compel them to be upheld and placed,
as they should be, in possession of all those advantages of emolument and dis-
tinction which can beget confidence and respect in the eyes of the good and the
wise — on a footing, in a word, somewhat approaching at least to that which has
been for years past provided, at the public expense, for military schools, where
large salaries and most ample free quarters are furnished for Professors in mili-
tary and civil engineering, in chemistry, mineralogy, botany, French, drawing,
&c., for the better instruction of paid students destined for the Army and Navy.

Another token, not to be mistaken, that the public mind, no longer content
with mere isolated facts(which thirty years ago it was useful to accumulate,)and
the exhibition of extraordinary fruits, is now disposed rather to enter into the
philosophy of this great department of national industry, may be found in that
change which is going on in the objects designated as proper subjects for pre-
mium. There is evidently an increasing impatience at the sight of stereotype
offers of premiums for the biggest crop of corn on an acre, the heaviest year-old
pig, the best-gaited gelding, the fattest yearling calf, and the largest mule. Time
was, in the infancy of associated efforts, when we had just entered on the thresh-
old of agricultural inquiry, that the cause of improvement demanded actual ex-
hibitions of mammoth pumpkins, and large potatoes, and turnips, and cabbages ;
and more especially when it was useful to stimulate experiments with mangel-
wurzel and Swedish turnips, and other vegetables theretofore untried or but par-
tially known — as it might be now to test more extensively the suitableness of the
soil, climate and circumstances of our country to the cultivation of madder, and
woad, and silk, and Lucern, and rye-grass, and Jerusalem artichoke, the citron
and the olive, &c. It was well, in the infancy of associations for improvement,
to test the weight, activity and strength of animals employed or used for various
purposes ; and even yet it is highly beneficial to keep up such exhibitions. But
why? Not to draw a crowd by the impulse of an idle and vulgar curiosity,
which finds its highest gratification in the sight of monstrous products of Nature
and of art. All such men of such minds had better at once be directed, for light
and momentary gratification, to the museum and the circus. Such displays of
monstrous products are only useful to rational minds, when exhibited in a way
to illustrate the principles of their production, and to enable us to judge how far
the materials and processes made use of in procuring them are to be sought out and
imitated, or rejected and shimned.

Hence the wisdom of the law of New- York relating to Agricultural Societies.
Foreseeing, apparently, that the Trustees of Societies could not be relied on to
exact such statements from competitors for premiums, the law has expressly pro-

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AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 397

vided that, " before any premium shall be delivered, the person claiming the
same, or to whom the same shall be awarded, shall deliver in writing, to their
respective officers, as accurate a description of tlie process in preparing the soils,
including the quantity and quality of the manure applied, and in raising the crop
or feeding the animal, as may be ; and also the expense and product of the crop,
or of the increase in the value of the animals, wilh the vicxo of shoioing accurately
the profit of cultivating the crop, or feeding or fattening the animal." Too truly,
however, has the enlightened Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,
to whom the Reports of the Societies of that State are made, remarked — " But
the misfortune is that these rules are imperfectly or not at all complied wtth.''^ —
These statements, in detail, should not only be rigidly exacted by the Trustees,
but they should undergo deliberate examination, and be either ratified or subject-
ed to strict and impartial commentary and criticism. The vagueness of these
statements, where they are made at all, often takes away from them all charac-
ter and pretension to usefulness ; and the carelessness, not to say partiality with
which the premiums are too often awarded along with them widely sows feelings
and expressions of dissatisfaction, "not loud but deep;" and this accounts for the
great difficulty of making up the required subscriptions, and for the final discon-
tinuance of many of these associations.

To return to the character of these shows. It may be alleged that, without
the multifarious and attractive elements employed in " getting them up," the
people could not be brought together ; and therefore we must needs take the
frivolous along with the useful — that those must be amused with the shadow
who have not sense enough to distinguish it from the substance. And this may
all, to a certain extent, be admitted, until by degrees public opinion shall be re-
formed by better systems of agricultural education, and these associations for use-
ful purposes shall cease to be mere gull-traps. In the mean time, all men of
sense and of exalted and patriotic views, taking part in the direction of such in-
stitutions, will earnestly lend their thoughts and their influence to a gradual cor-
rection of the public taste in these respects — leading it to seek for the useful
instead of the showy — the intellectual in preference to the ridiculous — until, in
process of time, valuable instruction and solid scientific advancement in Agricul-
ture shall take the place of prodigiously prolific patches of grain and vegetables,
and fat hogs, and cows with three calves, and other wonderful phenomena of the
animal and vegetable kingdoms. Thus may we expect to see reason and philo-
sophical deduction take, in Agriculture, the place of custom and prejudice — as
superstitious star-gazing has given way to astronomy, and the reveries and pre-
tensions of the alchemist have been superseded by the noble science of chemistry.

In this view of these subjects, it was well observed by Mr. Bryant, in a Report
to the Hampden Society in Massachusetts, remarking on great crops of vegeta-
bles— " But in order that we may have these results, to any extent, under our
control, the science of Agriculture, in all its hidden recesses and wonderful mys-
teries, needs to be explored."

Much as these remarks have been extended beyond our expectations, we must
yet take room to refer to another most propitious sign, in the declaration, by the
•' Farmers' Clue of the American Institute," that " there are 7iow constant
inquiries by wealthy merchants, professional men, and others, for schools of this
character, engaged in a safe and healthy employment, free from ciiy habits and
temptations." Something of a solecism, it is true, is observable in this declara
tion, when connected with the averment, in the same petition, that " the City of

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398 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

New- York is a fit place for a college and for a trial farm;" at all events, there is greai
comfort in their declaration, with their opgortunities of judging, that " the useful
arts, especially Agriculture, are required by public sentiment to be elevated to
their highest possible rank." But, for our humble selves, we confess that reflec-
tion would prompt us to locate such a school beyond the contaminating allure-
ments and vices of a large city ; nor would we have the course and brai\ches o*
instruction, in an Agricultural Institute, connected with the study of any other
" arts" or sciences than those which are immediately allied and auxiliary to it,
for we should strongly apprehend that, in all such partnerships, these other
" arts " would be artful enough to appropriate to themselves the lion's share —
taking to themselves, sooner or later, all the choice pieces, and throwing the olfal
to the unpretending rustic member of the firm. Thus has it proved, so far, in all
that has been done for Education by the Governments, State and Federal, and even
in institutions founded on the voluntary contributions of farmers themselves ; for,
how little is taught in any of our colleges in direct aid o{ agricultural researches
and industry ? We shall soon see what better, if anything, will happen in the
arrangements and conduct of an Institution founded on the munificence of a for-
eigner (the subject of a great nation for whom we are taught, even from the
nursery, to entertain a deadly antipathy), expressly for the " increase and diffu-
sion of useful knowledge among men." We may be permitted, however, to say
— and we do it with the greatest pleasure — that we have heard enough of his
sentiments on the subject to inspire strong hopes that, in the learned Secuetart
of the " Smithsonian Institute," Agriculture will have an advocate duly im-
pressed with a sense of its paramount importance, and with the exceeding use-
fulness of all knowledge that may serve to enlighten its practice in the field, and
to place it where it deserves to stand, in the front rank of our industrial occupa-
tions.

Finally, we feel it to be a sort of duty to exhort all those in the several States
who take concern in the kindred causes of education and Agriculture, to use their
influence to have agricultural books, and branches of study that bear upon Agri-
culture, gradually introduced into the schools already in existence. Here a be-
ginning may be made. Here, even in the way of amusement, the youngest boys
may learn the natural history of all domestic animals — the principles to be con-
sulted in all endeavors to modify their forms. Here they may learn, before they
set out in life, the natural and commercial history and medical and artistical uses
of all grains and plants. In this way the rising generation, instead of wasting
their youth in the perusal of trashy old stuff, nonsensical or pernicious, may be
so reared as to leave school already endowed with a vast fund of elegant and use-
ful knowledge, such as they will never acquire if not inspired in youth with a
taste for reading. Every sportsman knows how diflicult, if not impossible, it is
to take a lazy old hound, whose habits are fixed, and break him in to be a loader
in the chase ! To give him the keenest relish, you must take him out cub-hunt-
ing, and let him be " blooded" when young. So must we be blooded, as it were,
to the love of that greatest of all blessings, the love of knowledge and of books,
when we are young ; and common sense suggests that it should be in the love
of the books and the knowledge that will give us pleasure and eflicioncy in the
practice of the pursuit by ichich we are to live. The community that neglects
this obvious duty to the rising generation deserves the fate of the mother whose
son, under the gallows, for her neglect in not punishing his first theft, bit off her
ear.

(830)

CHEESE DAIRIES IN VIRGINIA. 399

P. S. — We have just, by chance, heard of an evidence of the feeling that is
spreading on the subject of agricultural education, so gratifying that, without the
least suspicion on the part of him to whom it does honor, we cannot forbear to
mention that Dr. Williams, the worthy President of the Senate of Maryland, has
tendered 100 or 150 acres of land for the establishment of a well organized Agri-
cultural School. That, we believe, is more than the United States Government
has done for civil education in any of the old States, whose blood was shed to
acquire the lands so freely given away in the new.

Finally, Memorials, on the principle of the one sketched in a late number of
The Farmers' Library, have been lately presented, with numerous signatures,
from various counties, to the Legislatures of New-Jersey, Delaware and Mary-
land, calling on these bodies to demand, through their Representatives in Con-
gress, some assistance for the establishment of Normal Schools, for the prepara-
tion of teachers qualified to give instruction in the Public Schools of the Slate in
the sciences allied to Agriculture. We want nothing now but that sympathy and
support of the press of the country, which so quickly responds to the voice of
particular classes.

CHEESE DAIRIES IN VIRGINIA.

MAJOR STEVENS'S RECIPE FOR MAKING WELSH RAREBIT.

Are you, Mr. Editor, sufficiently observant of the progress of the arts to know
that the art of manufacturing cheese is traveling southward close on the tail of
the red fox ? The latter has but very lately crossed the line from the Old Do-
minion mto the old North State, somewhere about Milton, and the former has
been yet more recently established in the mountains of Virginia.

Doctor P. Thornton, w^hose ideas of what may be useful and feasible have
been observed to march in advance of his neighbors, has lately procured,
from the North, a very respectable and intelligent person, acquainted with
the business, to establish a cheese dairy at Montpelier, a most delightful resi-
dence, as its name imports, situate in a charming valley between the mountains
of Rappahannock ; and most excellent, I can truly say, are the specimens I have
seen and tasted from the Montpelier dairy — far more palatable to my taste, than
much of the dry, husky, so-called old English cheese they give us at many of
the hotels. The color is of the right cast, while in richness and flavor it is all
that could be wished, unless it be that, perhaps, for Vvrant of age, it may not have
reached that haul gout, or attained that degree of active liveliness which the
more pampered and delicate palate Of the epicure might demand. We have
heard, also, of other movements for the establishment of cheeseries, far back
from tide water in Virginia ; nor does there seem to be any good reason why
they should not be reasonably profitable — I say reasonably, because we are all
for making money too fast. It is time we had learned — for we shall have to
learn that they are fortunate who by the utmost diligence and economy can
support their families decently and make both ends meet ; nor can that be done
m many cases, unless all — yes, all — who consvme, are made to /jro^^j^c^.

In the mountains and valleys far back from tide-water, and to and from which
transportation is expensive, they have the grass in summer and the fodder and
corn in winter !oo distant to be sent to market, and more prolitablv convertible

400 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

into cheese than butter, because it is easier to accomplish in its manufacture a
certain degree of excellence. The quality of cheese is more likely to be uniform
than that of butter, while it is more easily preserved, more conveniently trans-
ported, more salable in neighborhoods distant frcm lide-water cities, and more
exchangeable for articles which will bear keeping u:\iil ihey can be sent thither
for sale. Those who, like Doctor T., pioneer in all reasonable enterprises to es-
tablish new branches of industry, are entitled to the thanks of all to wliose bene-
fits the results may enure ; and even though such enterprises may sometimes fail,
those who project them have a right to enjoy the self-satisfying reHection that if
they have not succeeded, they have done more: they have deserved success.
Who has not observed that he who is destitute of all spirit to try new things is
among the first, when anything fails, to exclaim, " Ah, I lold you so ! " " i knew
It ! " Were the world regulated by such men, sheep-shears would never have
been invented, and we should see these wise men, who can foresee everything,
after it happens, still plucking the wool from their sheep, as old women pluck
the feathers from their geese, by the routs ! What is wanting, Mr. Editor, on the
part of American agriculturists, as you have said, to diversify their staples and
to make more out of their means, is, more reading, more inquiry, more reflection,
and more enterprise — more energy, in a word, to do ! to try and to have less
of what they call " a great mind " to do so and so, which usually ends in a little
greater mind to do nothing. But, returning to the manufacture of cheese, one is
naturally led to think of coics, and, in that connection, to remark, that the accu-
mulated evidence in favor of the truth of M. Guenon's theory about the marks
that indicate good and bad cows, makes it obvious that every one, whether he
be on a small or larger scale a manufacturer of cheese and butter, or whether he
be an humble cotter, with but one " hawkie,"

" That 'yout the hallan snugly chows her cood,"

yielding their chief sustenance to his little family, all should be alike familiar
with the marks laid down in the " Cow Book ; " for, being guided by that, he
need never own a bad milker. That little book should hang on the breast of
the chimney, on the same nail with the Almanac. Rusticus.

Paterson, N. J. December 19, ]e46.

Dear Sir : I have read with great satisfaction M. Gl'enon's work on Milch Cows, by
which one can judge by certain infallible signs the milking qualities of the animal. I luive
ctimpared the marks he gives for his first grade Flanders qow, and find tiiey coirespond
■with the escutcheon of my favorite Devon cow Ellen, th.it has taken the first preniiiniw at
the last two Cattle-Shows of the American Institute. My farmer has great faith in M.
Gutnon's work, and so has one of my neighbors, a knowing Scotch milkman who keeps
fifty cows. He says that after careful examination he places confidence in these marks, and
they will govern him in his future purchases.

I rciurn you my sincere thanks l()r giving to us farmers this valuable treatise of M. Giie-
nou. 1 shall hereafter make my selection of the calves I will raise from my choice stocks
from the mai-ks given by this author. I think every fanner should own this work.

With regard, yours, &c. ltO^•WEl.L L. COLT.

To the Editor of the Fanners' Library.

Apropos to Cheese Recipe for Welsh R.vREniT./mw Maj. Sam. Stevens, Shade* Hotel,

Thames-fttreet, New-York City — the hi<^hest au'.korily and the headquarters in all the
United States for Ale and Welsh Rarebit:

' Presented by Maj. Stkvens, with his most respectful compliments, to Mr. .Skinner, Assistant Post-
master General, and in confonnity with his promise. May good digestion wait on appetite. Now-Yorli;
January 28, 1845 "

Select the finest new cliecKc yon can procure ; chop it very fine ; put at least a (|uarter oi" a
pound into an iron or tin saucepan ; add a little beer or water ; stir it over the (ire until perfectly
dissolved ; Lave your slice of touHt on a wann plate rciidy to receive it ; j)Our it over the tonst,
and serve it up immediately. U.-^e lor dressing, mustard, pepper, luid sail, as you like it. Th«
above furnishes a WcLih Rarebit lor a single person.
(83-2)

DEW AND WATER-ROTTED HEMP. THE PLOW. 401

SOFTENING DEW AND WATER-ROTTED HEMP.

INQUIRY BY A MANUFACTURER.

Patebson. Jan. 6, 1847.

Dear Sir : I wanted to see your new books and talk farmin;? ; but more es-
pecially to ask you to make inquiry of some of your Kentucky friends as to the
process they have in practice there for softening Dew and Water-rotted Hemp,
to render it as soft as Flax. They do this here, and in Scotland, but it is by a
very imperfect machine and cumbrous withal. In Kentucky, I am told, they do
it at little expense and less trouble. If it can be done well, it would bring this
hemp into very extensive use. I have done it very successfully without the aid
of a machine ; but a gentleman from Kentucky, visiting me, assured me it was
done better, with less trouble and expense, in that State.

If you should get any information regarding it, I hope il will be of such a
character as to avail of the process without farther inquiry. If it be a machine,
let us have a drawing ; if a chemical agent, let us know what it is that is to be
applied to produce the desired effect.

Very many happy New-Years to you from yours, truly, JOHN TRAVER3.

J. S. Skinner, Esq.

"We hope the aoove will fall under the eye of Mr. Anderson, of Louisville, or some other gen-
tleman of experience and public .spirit, who will give us the information desired. By-the-by, we
bad hoped to hear again from A. before now ; but were we asked, On what claim? we should
be nonplussed, as they say in the Slashes.

THE PLOW,

A3 ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE PROGRESS OF AGRICULTURAL IMPROVEMENT— OBJECTIONS

TO MONEY PREMIUMS.

HAvmc on various occasions alluded to the labor-saving inventions and
changes in the structure of agricultural implements, and the admitted progress
which is making in the knowledge of the composition and use of manures, the

vast improvement in fruits and vegetables, as well as the additions to both

and to the better understanding of the principles of breeding, rearing and fatten-
ing our domestic animals, within the last half century — as arguments which
should at once put to shame and disarm the opponents of" book knowledge" and
of public expenditure for agricultural education, it may not be without its use-
fulness to go back to some facts in the history of that king of implements, the
Ploio — not back to the time, long since the discovery of America, when the haul-
ing of the plow "by the tayle " was forbidden by act of Parliament, but to the
comparatively very recent period in our own country, and even in our personal
recollection, when the wooden mould-board and the lor ought-iron share, o-ave
way to cast-iron, against all necessity or promise of usefulness, in the opinion of
those wise disciples of the stand-still school, who, time out of mind, have con-
tended that we are already standing on the topmost round of the ladder of all
useful discovery. It may be some gratification to those who entertain at least
an innocent curiosity to be instructed in the history of Agriculture to see how
modestly and cautiously the first use of the cast-iron share was announced ; and
yet how short was it of the superb cast-iron plows now produced at all our great
manufactories of agricultural implements !

In the " Transactions of the Society for the Promotion of Agriculture, Arts
and Manufactures," so highly honorable in its origin and proceedings to the Liv-
ingstons, the L'HoMMEDiEus, the Mitchells and De Witts in those palmy days
(633} ae

402 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

of the Republic, Col. John Smith communicated to the Society that in the last
spring and summer he had used " the cast plow-share which had been exhibited
to the Society at their meeting during the last session of the Legislature, and
found it to exceed his most sanguine expectations." " It is," said he, " cast in the
form of a Dutch share, after the best model that could be procured by the Society,
with this exception, that the edge is not complete, and not so wide, by about
three inches, as it will be when finished with the false edge, which is made of
wrought iron or steel, and fastened on with rivets. The soil in which 1 used
this share was light and free from stone, though I believe, with careful usage,
it will answer in any other soil, although the same may be stony and incum-
bered with stumps. This plow-share, besides answering every purpose of those
made of wrought-iron, will last to plow as much as two of the latter before it is
worn out, the cast-iron being nearly as durable as steel before it is hardened. By
this experiment it is very obvious that the cast plow-share will be very beneficial
to farmers, and ought to be encouraged by this Society. They may be had of
Mr. Peter T. Curtenius, in New-York, either with or without the edge, which
is made of wrought-iron or steel." Thus might we dwell, could we believe it
necessary, on the invention, within the period designated of P^nnock's horse-
rake, on improved threshing-machines, z.wdi cutting-hoxes, and corn-shellers ; and
though last, far from being the least, on the modern mowing-machines of Hus-
sey and Hotchkiss and others, to show not only that the course of agricultural
improvement has been progressive, but that the rate of its progress has been just
in proportion as its wants have engaged the attention of ingenious minds, and
even in spite of those denouncers of all book knowledge and all application of
science to the subject — your wise men, only in their own conceit, who ever hang
like dead weights on the wheels of useful discovery, and whose counsels would
have still kept us in the use of the hand-gin, the uwoden ploic, and the truck-
wheel, " when it required two yoke of oxen and a horse to speed the plow, and
tin horns and sleigh-bells to stop the speed of bees going off to swarm." Our
agricultural annals show still greater improvement since that time in this im-
portant implement, the plow, than was characterized by the change from the
wooden to the iron mould-board, until now, even the most sanguine may he ex-
cused for doubting whether we have not reached the highest attainable degreee
of perfection. Take, for illustration, the following extract from the Report of

F. W. Gale, Esq., on Agricultural Implements at the Worcester (Mass.) Show,

in the autumn of 1845 :

The Committee commence by saying that

they believe this department, of mechanic

tools and agricultural implements, afFoids fa-
cilities for mmiers and m(!chanics to t>btaiii a

knowledge of the various new and useful tools

and implements which science [mark yini,

reader, science,] and active invention are

constiuitly supplying, that cannot, generally,

be obtained in any other way. And then

they proceed to observe, in respect to the

show of plows: Messrs. Riiggles, Nourse &

Mason contributed their usual (]uota toward

the exhibition. Twcnly-niHC vfirictie.i of

plows, a coni-shcUer, a vegetable-cutter, an

improved han'ow and a well-made road-
scraper were sent in by ihi-m. It seems al-
most incredible that so many kinds of plows

can be necessary for all soils and situations.

But yom' Committee do not hesitate to say

that, in their opinion, the peculiar and Jin-

linrtivc mrritx of each arc vinihie upon trial
and crplauaiion. Man)" of the improve-
ments upon the old-l;ishi(jned plows, which
these gentlemen have introduced and adopt-
ed, are already so much in vogue as to be
known to all farmers; while others of later
date have become known to only a portion
of the agnciiltural interest. It seems to us
that the farmer neglects his own real interest
in neglecting to imderstanil the jieculiar
utility of most of these iniprt>vements. An im-
|)roved form of the moulil-hoard, by wliich
the soil is turned more easily and with less
exertion to the hanil than fonuerly, com-
mended itself to the attention of all. The
draft-rod upon plows of recent introduction,
also those of meadow fixtures, used in re-
claiming meadows, and cai)al)le of being re-
movcii, and the sjune plow used for upland
plowing, deserve particular notice. Tho

THE PLOW. 403

chiltfd share luid latul-s^ido inaimfa<'tured by
them aro d<'cldt'd iniprovenicnts over most
plows now in use. A wheel at the (brward
end of the cultivator, has been recently added
by thetn and greatly lacilitafes turning, regu-
lates the dejitli, and steadies the movement of
the implement. Theirsiil>.-!oil-plo\v, made upon
j)recisely the same ])riiici])l<- as oiu? impoiled
by them from iScotlauil, in UMO, has been
8imi)lilied in consti'uction, and reduced incest
from fifty doll;u-s in Scotland to filteen dollars
in Massachusetts, of corresponding size. For
this they deserve the thanks of every fanner.
Every real improvement in any agiicultural
iuiiilemeiit may be said, in one sense, to be

an additional pair of hands, or at lea,«t an
e.vtra brace of muscles, to the fanner, which
he gets without paying them extra wages. In
this, view, too much encouragement cannot
be given to those who are seeking to improve
and j)erfect every kind ol" imph^meiit which
the husbandman employs. Messrs. Ruggles,
.Noursint Mason have lor years exercised an in-
defatigable zeal and perseverance in thisbehalf,
and have been rewarded with great success.
Your Committee recommend that a gratuity
of tvn dollars be given them, as a trifling
though inadequate proof of the Society's ap-
preciation of their indisputable skill and con-
stant exertions to imj)rove U[)on the past.*

And if so much has been realized, in spite of popular prejudice and pusillanim-
ity, and in the absence even of all demand on the part of the lauded interest for
Government provision for civil as well as warlike education, who shall say what

* We cnnnot forbear the opportunity once more to suggest whether it would not at once indicate and
help to form a better ta.ste, were Societies to give their tokens of approbation in almost any other shape
than thai of money .' There seems to be in a V. or an X. dollar note something so mercenary, so sordid, sa»
incompatible in its very appearance and uses, with the fine sentiment of pride and love of distinction
■which premiums arc, or should be, intended to promote, that really we could never bring ourselves to
comprehend how it is that the distribution of these trifling sums, down as low even as one dollar — and
that even to matronly housewives and young ladies, for beautiful samples of female ingenuity and indus-
try—should be continued among refined peojjle. Wliat, for instance, is a ten dollar note to the proprietors
of a great manuftictory of agricultural implements ? Yet even they might value something, the merest trifle,
which could be exhibited to their friends and transmitted to their children, as a visible trophy won br their
own ingenuity and public spirit. Much sooner, we presume, would Messrs. R. N. &. M. have gircn the
worth of the X. in some improved im])lement, selected by the Society to be labeled with its approba-
tion, and placed in some public museum or repository of useful inventions. It is not the gi-oss passion for
money, the axtri sacra fames, to which Societies desire to appeal in these cases ; and if they did, such tri-
fling reward would be inadequate — for that and the mere record of approbation itselPwoutd answer as well.
How much more appropriate would have been, in a case like this, some small piece of plate, with a suitable
scription, or some agricultural work, or work on mechanics, or the biography of sotne distinguished me-
ehanician, a Memoir of Sir John Sinclaik, the great promoter of Agriculture, or of Watt, or Akkwbight,
or Franklin, the printer, or Pratt, the tanner, or IUikritt, the learned blacksmith, or a copy of Ran-
eorae's work on the I'Luw, or any agricultural periodical, as the Cultivator, the Agriculturist, the Farmers'
Cabinet, the American Fanner — something, however trifling in cost, with an appropriate and enduring ex-
pression of the Society's approval of their ingenuity and enterprise— in short, anything but a little monty !
Even under the supposition that there exists in any community, which we can hardly believe, a feeling of
preference for V argent, on such occasions, over any other even less costly tokens of approval, the coarseness
of such a taste ought not, by a Society, to be presumed or recognized, as we humbly think, much less en-
couraged. Education, the ennobling and salutary thirst for honorable distinction, can hardly be said ti>
have elTcct where, for instance, a silver pen, vi-ith a gold blade, such as that which is doing this sad speci-
men of chirography, and presented by a fair lady, would not be far more valued than a V. note, even though
the former a»stbut $2 .jO, while the latter would, in the open market, command 100 wt. of •• pickled pork ! '
Well are we aware that such notions are not what are called "practical ; " still we believe that in the long
run the highest practical results are to be realized, by appealing to the highest and most elevated motives
of action. Our notion may be "diseased," as Tom Tough says in the song; but if so, "it's a disease we
shaH die un." V>''hat we have ventured to suggest wae not designed for this case in particular. The oc-
casion has been used to say, in the way of a note here, what might as well, and perhaps better, have been
set forth in a separate article ; but we thought it as well to "strike while the iron is hot.''

The above reasoning does not apply to the premiums of one, two, or three hundred dollars, oft'ered, as
they should be, for elaborate, scientific, and really oriirinal and valuable essays, which demand great labor
and research, and which necessarily occupy much of that time which their authors are forced to dedicate
to the, after all, inadequate support of their fJimihes. In such cases, the successful asthor may be said to be
employed in the line uf his profession, and though the honor of winning the prize constitutes a large port
of its value in such cases, yet something else must be had, to use a common but significant expression, " to
make the pot boil."

Societies that find it difficult to get subscribers at $3 (or even, as we have known in some cases, at 50
cents) a year, think nothing of calling on a man who has nothing but mental labor to depend on, to furnish
them with an essay or an address, involving as much labor as. in the way of business, a lawyer would ex-
pect to be rewiirded with at least a |lOO note. Ed. Farm. Lib.
(835)

404 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

improvements and what amount of knowledge might not have been realized for
Agriculture under the same favor of public opinion and equal expenditures of
Government, which have served to promote the growth and spread of knowledge
in respect of all other pursuits, and more especially of that one whose aim is to
kill the greatest number at the greatest distance, and with the greatest economy
of time and materials ! For is it not one of the greatest problems of the day and
the Government whether cotton may not be employed to destroy the human race
at less expense than saltpetre and brimstone ?

CISTERNS.

We are glad to lay our hands once more on the following. We lately said that no one
need want good drinking water who had roofs to their houses. These cisterns affoi'd the
best sort of drinking water, when iced ; and the quantity is surprising which the roof of a
dwelling house will supply. Here is proof that no one need want a supply of water in his
kitchen, and in his chamber for washing and bathing, at a comparatively small expense.

We lately saw a cistern at Mr. Buck's in Hartford, Connecticut, which, we understood,
was made altogether of cement without any brick ; but what Doctor Jones has done, assu-
rance may be felt is thoroughly well done — he has that old English vay with him.

J. S. Skinner, Esq. Washington, Sept. 16th, 1843.

Bear Sir : I send you the following items respecting the dimensions, struc-
ture and cost of my rain-water cistern. It was dug 7 feet in diameter, and 10
feet deep, is paved with hard brick, laid in hydraulic cement ; is walled up with
a 4-inch wall, well bedded in hydraulic cement ; a thin grout of the same was
poured in between the bricks and the grouml, every four courses, so as to leave
no interstices. A perfect coat of cement is plastered over the whole interior. —
The top is formed of two flag stones, making a square of 7 feet. This is less
costly than a crown of brick-work, and takes nothuig from the interior of the
c-istern. One of the stones is perforated to admit a pump, and the opening con-
stitutes a man-hole, when it is desired to clean out the cistern.

The following is the cost :

Dig-ging ^ 8 on

Brick, (hard) 1800 at $7 per M l-:2 CO

41 bbls. of Cemeut at $2 9 00

Bricklayer's Bill $16 68

Flagging fortop $15; cutting hole $1.. 16 00

Total $(j3 28

1 admit the water through a cast iron pipe, about a foot below the top, but a tin
pipe passing through the flagijing would answer perfectly well. An'
opening ihesize of a half brick is left below the flagging, to discharge
the waste, and this is closed bv a gate to keep out" insects, &c. thus:

A cistern of this size will contain about 1900 gallons, or 35 hogsheads at 54
gallons to the hogshead. Each foot in depth contains 190 galls, or 3? hlids. the
diameter being 6 feet 3 inches in the clear. One of 8 feet in the clear would
contain about 312 galls, or 5 4-5tli hhds. for every foot in depth. Should greater
capacity be required, make it deeper but no larger in diameter.

A pump and lead pipe will cost about $12.

I shall use two pumps, one in the yard and one in the kitchen ; the latter will
be a force-pump, to raise the water into a bath room in the third story of my
back building.

Any other particulars which I can furnish will be cheerfully communicated by

Youi-8 truly, THOS. P. JONES.

To PRKVENT Harks and Rahrits from Barkino Trke.'.— Mix soot and milk until
the mixture acquires the consistfiicy of thick paint, and apply it with a paiiU brush, choosing
a dry day, if possible, for the operation : once a year is sullicient.
(S361

DIBBLING WHEAT.

405

DIBBLING WHEAT.

WITH INTERESTING REMARKS ON THE CHANGE IN THE CHARACTER OF WHEAT SINCE THK

FIRST NOTICE OF IT IN THE DIVINE RECORDS. OREGON CORN. —

ENGLISH AND AMERICAN EXPERIMENTS.

Its character eiiice its first notice seems to
have changed. In the Divine records we are
told of " seven ears" coining up " in one
stiilk, full and good;''* and this appears to
account reachly for that and the adjoining
countries biinging forth such ti-emendons pro-
duce as " an liundred fold," or at the rate of
two bushels seed per acre — a produce of 2.5
quarts to the acre !

Now, however, we never see more than
one ear spi-ing from one stalk ; our climate
seems to have the unaccountable tendency to
diminish the number of ears to one, while in
Egyj>t six or seven ears are no uncommon
occurrence. The wheat plant appears to pos-
sess a wonderful power of repnxliiction under
favorable circumstaiices ; and the capability
to fonn ears out of stems seems in this coun-
Uy to be developed in producing steins from
one root. The writer has in his possession
at this moment a root of wheat of the creep-
ing red variety, wliich was given to him by
Colonel H. Croft, of Stillington, in Yorkshire,
which has seventy-tv^'o stems from it, full and
vigorous as is ))ossible to conceive. It is an-
other exti'aoi'dinary property of the wheat
plant that it possesses, polypi-like, the power

of being subdivided in an ahnost infinite de-
gree. Mr. Lance, of Lewisham, obt<iined by
transplantation in some roots, 40 to .50 stems,
with ears from six to seven inches long, and
in one instance obtained actually the extraor-
dinary number of 190 ears. Mr. Miller, of
Cambridge, produced from one grain of cora
.3| pecks, or nearly one bushel. Mr. FuUa,
of Newcastle, in an experiment on sowing
wheat, gives the following comparative re-
sulls:

No. 1 , transplanted into 6-inch lines, 62.^ bush per acre.
No.2, .. .. 9 .. 56i ..

No.3, .. .. 12 .. 61 ..

No. 4, drilled ..12 .. 65^..

No. 5, broadcast, 58

The above are given by no means as advo-
cating or recommending tlie practice. It is
evidently illusory as regards a farmer attempt-
ing it ; and doubtless the situation was such,
when tlie triids were made, as no farmer
could possibly have, except perhaps on the
remains of a celery or cucumber bed ; but it
proves the amazing ca])abilities of the wheat
])lant to reproduce its kind, with a degi-ee of
fecundity equaled only by its utility to man
kind.

R. L. Colt, Esq., at Paterson, in the autumn of 1845, dibbled 1 quart of wheat
on less than a tenth of an acre ; and, though much of it was blown down by a
heavy storm, and much depredation yras committed by his poultry, which are of
all imaginable kinds, he cut and threshed 156 quarts of beautiful wheat. He has
put in an acre this year on the same plan, and promises to give us the result.

He has this /ear reared some Oregon corn, generally upward of 12 feet high.
On one stalk, without selection, he had 4 ears of 24 rows each, and 1200 grains
to the ear. Here, then, is the astonishing production of 4,080 for 1 ; but Mr. C.
thinks this species of corn will not answer for this northern region.

Mr. Colt is one of the few (for the public it might be better if there were more
of them) who, being able, farms for his own amusement, and to see, not how
much money can be made— for that is not a "part of his sastim," as O'Toole
says — but to see what may be done or in'roduced, that may be useful and turned
to account, by economical and practical men, for the general good of the country.
Would that all men of means were actuated by the same enlarged and generous
views I and that their whims or fancies would in a greater number of instances
take the same bent in favor of Agriculture and Horticulture ! Even their fail-
ures, when they try experiments, are more useful than the successes of churls
who hide their lights under a bushel. A lump of selfishness may make a suc-

* Genesis, ch. xli., v. 22.
(837)

406 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

cessful voyage ; and the proverb says, "a fool for luck ;" but there 's no mistak-
ing the motives of him who plants buoys.

We have lately looked with pleasure at Mr. Colt's immense heaps of manure,
in vi^hich it would be hard to say what t/iere is not ! Old shoes and hats ; dead
cats, and dogs, and horses ; bones, and rubbish of all sorts from the streets ; the
mortar from old houses repaired ; and all the night-soil of a town of 12,000 pop-
ulation, well to live, which, with some plaster of Paris, is converted into poudrette.
To all these are added charcoal dust of several foundries, which he gets for the
cartage ; to these, again, large quantities of anthracite ashes, on same terms ,
and then the waste of two large paper-mills, with the liquor from the bleaching
of the same. Thus, it is easy to imagine, will his lands soon be restored, which
had been exhausted by the old Dutch system of " always taking out of the meal-
tub, and never putting in ;" and, where that will soon come to, Poor Richard
has told us ; and he who does not take heed, sooner or later will be rapped over
the knuckles or — tapped on the shoulder !

MIGRATION FROM NEW- YORK TO VIRGINIA.

The following is from a gentleman of superior worth and intelligence, known to the Edi-
tor of The Farmers' Library. It has not been long since he removed from Albany,
where he was generally known and as generally deservedly esteemed.

[We were compelled to decline the invitation ; in the meantime had said about all that ia necessary on
the subject of Farmers' Clubs. We have propounded various questions to the Club, through our cor-
respondent, and doubt not that the more detailed information we shall receive will be worthy of commu-
nication.]
J. S. Skinner, Esq. Lake Bobgne Place, Prospect Hill, Fairfax Co. Va. Dec. 14, 1846.

Dear- S?r; Before this reaches you by due course of mail, you will have seen
our mutual and excellent friend, and my most valued and esteemed neighbor.
Com. Jones, who will have communicated to you our desire and most earnest re-
quest for an Address from you on the occasion of the organization of our " Far-
mers' Association " at this place early in January. I trust you will find it con-
venient to spend a few days with us: as w-ell for this purpose, which I know
you have at heart — the improvement of our Agriculture by means of associated
intellect — as for conferring on us the pleasure of your society, and enabling us
to extend such hospitality as may be in our power to one so highly esteemed and
regarded as yourself.

You will perceive by the noni dc guerre which I have given to my future
farm, that I am not unmindful of the gallant services Avhich Com. Jones rendered
to his country in time of peril, in the famous naval action near Lake Borgne, in
the vicinity of New-Orleans, a few days only preceding tlie great battle of the
8th Jan. 1815. Having purchased some eighty acres, part of and adjoining his
extensive and well cultivated estate, 1 deemed it a fitting mark of res])ect to give
to it an appellation which should at least testify my appreciation of his charac-
ter and services, if it accomplished no more permanent object.

I am, thus far, well satisfied with my position and prospects in this delightful
portion of Virginia. The climate is exceedingly mild and agreeable; the soci-
ety, in all respects, pleasant ; and the soil — that portion of it, at least, which has
come under my observation — rich and fertile, requiring only a moderate degree
of industrv, and a judicious application of capital, to render it fully equal to the
most profitable soils of New-York. Much of it, it is true, has been inconsider-
ately exhausted by its former proprietors and left to " waste its sweetness on the
desert air," but it is easily susceptible of reclamation ; and there are hundreds
and thousands of acres in this single county, wi'.hin from five to twenty miles of
one of the best markets in tiie United Stales, whicli may be obtained at prices

(838)

CUBA TOBACCO. 407

varying from $5 to $10 and $15 per acre, whicb, with two or three years of sys-
tematic culture, may be made worth from §30 to S40. The farm directly oppo-
site my own, consisting of two hundred acres and having on it a large and well
built two-story brick house, which alone cost the original owner $7,000, was pur-
chased two years since bv Mr. Sherman, (an intelligent and enterprising farmer
from Connecticut,) for $5,200, or $2G per acre— and he lias repeatedly refused
$10,000 for it, a sum which he might command at any day he cliose ! I shall
be very much surprised if lauds of this description and quality are much longer
sufl'ered by Northern enterprise and skill to go a-begging for live, ten and fifteen
dollars an acre. Quite a colony of immigrants— chiefly Irom the banks of the
Hudson and Western New- York — have alreajjy taken up their abode in this vi-
cinity ; and a large amount of capital has been profitably invested in the cultiva-
tion and improvement of the rich soils thus laken up.

A few days since a colony of Quakers from Pennsylvania — a class of shrewd,
intelligent, enterprising and industrious men, to say nothing of their well known
religious principles, so eminently conducive to order, quietude and peace — pur-
chased some three or four thousand acres near Mount Vernon, in this county, and
I understand, intend occupying them at once. In short, I know of no investment
which in my humble judgment — and in this respect you can correct me, if I
speak unadvisedly — is capable of affording a more certain and compensating re-
turn, within, comparatively speaking, a brief period, as the purchase by an enter-
prising, industrious, practical Northern or Eastern farmer of a hundred or two
acres of what are generally termed the exhausted lands of this portion of
Virginia.

Since I have been here I have received numerous letters of inquiry as to the
capacity, productiveness, resources, &:c. &c. of these lands. My limited ac-
quaintance with the surrounding localities and characteristic features of the soil,
will not as yet permit me to speak, except in general terms, upon those points
of greatest interest to inquirers : but I feel authorized, from what I have seen,
to invite the closest and most rigid examination not only as to the susceptibilities
of the soil, but the healthiness and salubrity of the climate, the advantages for
disposing of the surplus produce of the farmer, and the general excellence of
the society. To its genial breezes and sunshine I feel indebted, under Provi-
dence, for a complete restoration of health and strength, within the short space
of two and a half months ; and I do not know that I can more appropriately
testify my gratitude for this blessing than by devoting myself henceforth, as it
is my intention to do, to the practical culture of its noble soil.

Truly yours, S. S. RANDALL.

CUBA TOBACCO. — R. Adams, Esq., of Virginia, has received through General Camp-
bell, our Consul at Havana, a bottle of the seed of the tar-famed Havana Tobacco, which
he proposes to cultivate and to distribute in Vii-ginia. All such enterprises are worthy of
being noted, if only historically; but we have little expectation that in Virginia, except it
may be in some warm, light laud m the south part of it, the tobacco will retain its flavor in
jmy remarkable degree after the first year.

In Maryland, the fine odor is strongly perceptible in the first crop, but in the third it is
lost. ^Ve c;ui see no reason why the culture of this sort of tobacco and the manufacture of
cigars, should not be very profitable in Florida, if the seed were imported, as they might
be, every year — protected as the article is by a liigh duty.

If Madder and some other things were protected iu like maimer, they might be produced
with remunerating returns in our country.

We shall hunt up, for republication, au article of Genei-al Hernandez, of Florida, on the
culture of Cuba tobacco.

By a fiiend in Natchez, we were furnished with a translation of a Spanish Essay on the

subject, but the fact is that, in all modes and manners of cultivation they lag so far in the

•rear of us that, except perhai)s in the handling, we could make nothing out of it.
(839)

408 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

PENNSYLVANIA FARMING

KECOMMENDED TO BE PRACTICED IN MARYLAND, NATURALLY A BETTER WHEAT COUNTRY.

The following letter was written by % plain, practical, working Farmer, giving his views
in plain terms — as one neighbor does to another — without any view of appearing in print-
It need not be read with the less attention or profit, on that account. We are sony to under-
stand that fanning is not improving as generally as might be wished, in a region so blessed
by Nature with a rich and enduring soil and pure healthy atmosphere. If she does not
keep pace with other sections, query, is it that her inhabitants despise book -knowledge ; or
is it, as some would contend, that tliey read too much of what is going on in the wide world
of Agriculture ? On reading, we solicited the favor of being allowed to publish it. If there
be in it nothing absolutely new, there is that which cannot well be too often repeated.

Utica, January 29, 1847.

Dear Sir : In my last letter I mentioned something relative to the improve-
ment of land in Lancaster county. I am fully convinced that, if a proper and
judicious mode of improving land was introduced mto Frederick county, that in
the course of six or eight years it would produce double to what it does at this
time. I consider that part of this county, where I am acquainted, a much belter
wheat-land than that of Lancaster county, and, under similar cultivation, would
bring more wheat to the acre. I would not dare to say that every farm would
bring double. No doubt there are many good farmers here, as well as there ;
yet, I must say, I have been unfortunate in not meeting with many of that kind.

The most of all the farms within my knowledge both in the limestone, as well
as the red-lands, have become deteriorated and inert from the circumstance of a
Avrong mode of farming. A uniform mode of shallow-plowing, say from five to
seven inches deep — and that almost continually under the plow — with now and
then a little starved crop of clover, and often the cattle turned on before it is six
inches high: is it any wonder that these complaints are heard about bad crops?
Nothing is a more convincing proof to me that plants derive a great deal of their
nourishment from the air, seeing the crops, and considering the manner of culti-
vation. All land that has a good subsoil and what is generally called loam, is
susceptible of improvement ; and the only time it can be made available is late
in the fall, after the subsoil has become saturated with the fall rains, the wetter
the better. There ought, by all means, to be a heavy coat of something to turn
down. The plowing must be a foot deep. Three inches or four of the subsoil
which lies under seven inches, if well applied, would soon pay the State debt.
What a pity to have so much hidden treasure unemployed and unproductive !
When the genial rays of the sun spread a benign inllueuce around in the spring
season, causing man and beast and bird to rejoice, vegetation also rears its head
to praise its Maker. This is the time also to prepare food, first for plants, and
afterward for man and beast. Fermentation and decomposition then take place.

I would now say something about the deep-plowing: A considerable
quantity of the five inches of subsoil turned up last fall, and frozen last
winter, will now become available for the food of plants : amelioration takes
place, it becomes friable and moulders down, becomes commingled with the top-
soil, undergoes now a slate of ferincntalion — a kind of chemical process ; and
here is also going on, at the same time, the deco<nposition of the vegetable mat-
ter turned under in the fall. Here is a fine range for the corn-roots to seek their
supply — instead of six or seven inches, here are tAvelve. Here is a place to hide
the roots from the sun, and here is a little cistern to hold water when there is a
little to spare, to be drawn up by the rays of the sun when wanted.

As we have got through with the fresh start lor improving the land — especially
if it is possible, before planting the corn, to put a little manure ou, as also lii'ly,

(840)

TO CORRESPONDENTS, &.C. 40&

bushels of lime to the acre — (this would be doing the thing right) — we will now
leave you with this advice : Work the corn well early ; be sure to have no wcrk
to do in it after it becomes a foot high. The next crop to be put in is wheat, the
next summer. Commence plowing in May, harrow in June, plow lu July, har-
row in August, plow the third and last time the lirst week in September, and
sow about the middle of the month. As soon as you have finished harrowing
the wheat, sow to each acre eight quarts of timothy seed ; then on with your
roller, and roll all down smooth.

Then in the spring, to every six acres, one bushel of clover-seed. The next
summer there must be no stock put on bi'fore the first of July, and be sure none
the fall before except a few hogs, if they do not root, after ttie wheat is oft'. The
next summer, mow the first crop about the first of July ; and let the second crop
stand, to be turned under as bclore, a foot deep. Now you have got one once
through. This plan may be altered and changed to suit circumstances, as may
be required. If wished, it may be put in ri/c after the wheat ; or it might re-
main three years in grass. The field might be put in wheat the same fall, by
cutting off the corn, but the grass will never succeed so well, and, therefore, I
would never advise that plan. It is large crops of grass that will improve the
land cheaper and faster than any other mode of improvement.

As 1 have ?pun out a pretty long yarn already, I will soon come to a close,
after saying something about the subsoil and deep-plowing. 1{ the land is light
and dry, and the subsoil-land is open and porous, pervious to water, with a large
proportion of sand, such land might be plowed a foot deep in the spring for corn.
The fall, however, is the proper time for all subsoil-plowing, and no other time
will answer for land when the subsoil is of a hard, stiff clay. The frost is the
only and proper agent to commence the work of deepening the soil.

I really feel as if the boy was making an attempt to instruct the master.
Well, if it should be so, I know you will attribute my saying what I have said
to a pure intention.

To conclude the whole matter, a deep rich soil is indispensable, if you want
good crops. Now, the great point is, let every larmer go to Work. Let him not
only work, but read and study ; and the man that shall find out the most judi-
cious plan of deepening and improving the soil, let him have a great monument
raised to his memory. I am sure he would be more deserving than if he had
killed a thousand Mexicans.

I see you are doing something on the subject of Agricultural Chemistry. I
hope it will meet with favor ; the subject ought to be introduced and encouraged
everywhere. Rrspectfuiiy. WM. todd.

N. B. If I should have the pleasure of seeing you, I will then tell you the
kind of a plow necessary to plow a foot deep, and many other things that may
be entertaining.

To Hon. D. W. Naill, Senator, Annapolis.

TO CORRESPONDENTS— ONE AND ALL.

There are many communications on hand that we fehonld gladly have given in tliis num-
ber, if tliei-e had been space at our command. The necessity of going from home com-
pelled us to supply the matter for this number earlier than usual. A short excursion in
" Little Delaware " has confirmed our impression, that iu Agiiculliu'o she i« moving with a
go-a-head-ativeness that -wWX place her much in advance of some of her hirger sisters. As
to her hospitalili/, nothing need be said. The " Oi,d Bi.uk Hen" ti'eats all sojourners
within her borders as kindly as if they were her own cliickens. We traveled witliiu her
huiits nearly 100 miles, and though the purse was sometimes brought forth, it was never al-
lowed to be opened — opeuii).

Yeast Cakes. — Any good liquid yeast will make good cake yeast, by working corn meal
in it until it becomes stiff; let it set until it begins to rise a lilUe ; make it out in cakes, and
dry it in '.ho shade.
(SU)

410 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

VEGETABLE FOOD.

VALUE OF THE INORGANIC INGREDIENTS OF VEGETABLE FOOD, AND PARTICULARLY
OF THE PHOSPHATES.

To read the following, would, one would think, be sufficient, if anything were needed,
to show the practical applicability of science to Agriculture, and the criminal supaieness of
agticultural communities iu not pro\"iding for a stronger infusion of agricultural knowledge
iu the coiu-ses of insti-uction adopted in oui" country schools for the rising generation of
American agriculturista.

I low sincerely do we lament that the waiter, and the few others our countiy can boast of
lilce him, accomplished and capable, to exemplify the connection between science and field
practice, have so little leisure to favor us in this way. It is, however, a matter for congratu-
lation that the bamers which have separated theoiy from practice in the art of cultivation,
are eveiy day giving way, and the time fast coming when the practical fai'mer will solicit
the good offices of the animal and vegetable chemist, inviting him to walk with him to his
stercorary and his fields, as the surest means of securing for his vocation both respect and
profit.
To the Editor of The Farmers' Library :

My Dear Sir : In page 6 of Mr. E. N. Horsford's Essay on the Nitrogenous
Ingredients of Vegetable Food, is the following passage :

" The various forms of food derived from grains, herbage and roots furnish —

lat. Bodies containing nitrogen ;

2d. Bodies destitute of nitrogen ;

3d. Inorganic salts —
all of which are serviceable in the animal econoni j'. The nitrogenous bodies, from their solution
in the blood, form the tissues, the actual organism. The bodies wanting nitrogen contribute, by
their more or less perfect combustion, to the warmth of the animal body ; aud the salts of the alka-
lies and alkaline earths (the inorganic salts) serve to build up the osseous framework, besides
constituting an essential part of every organ of the animal system. Their values for the latter
purpose are in proportion to the phosphates their ashes contain."

Hence will be seen the value of the inorganic ingredients of vegetable food,
and particularly of the phosphates.

Mr. Horsford also states that the difference of the nitrogenous ingredients in
different analyses of the same kind of grain probably arises from a difference in
the soils in which the samples analyzed were grown. That the differences in
the inorganic ingredients of the same kind of grain shown by the various analy-
ses of the best chemists arise from the same cause cannot be doubted, and no-
toriously in the phosphates ; for we find that when a soil is exhausted of this
valuable ingredient, all the nitrogenous manure in the world, without phos-
phates, will not produce the cereal grains.

1 will add, that in feeding young animals whose bones and muscles have yet
to grow and enlarge, the importance of a liberal supply of phosphates iu their
food is too evident to admit of a doubt.

The phosphates, then, being clearly next in nutritive value to the nitrogen, it
becomes a subject uf the highest interest for the agriculturist to discover by what
means, or if at all, he can increase the quantity of these ingredients in the grain
and roots on which he feeds his stock.

This question has not yet been opened by the scientific agriculturists of Eu-
rope, and it is one the true sulution of which of right belongs to the Public
Model Farm and the Agricultural College; for it combines and links together
experiment on the manure and, through the food, on the animal, the Alpha and
Omega of Agriculture.

I have already stated in various publications, that analyses, made at my insti-
gation, of Indian corn grown with guano, which contains the phosjjhaies in the
fittest state for immediate assiiiiilaiiou by the plow, show about 30 per cent.

(842)

BARNS. 411

more of this ingredient than the same grain grown on the same spot of ground
with cominon barn-yard manure. Accounts from Europe show also that experi-
ments with bones treated with sulphuric acid according to the recipes given, by
which the phosphates are rendered soluble and therefore more immediately
available to the plant than in bone-dust alone, have resulted ia most surprising
crops of fine and full-looking grain.

But the experiment has not yet been carried forward there by contrasting the
fattening of stock with this grain, and with that grown under the influence of
common manure. Is'or have they yet continued it by contrasting the quantity
of the [thosphates in the grain of one year's growtji, with that in the grain
arising from this same seed sown the second and ihird years. It is far from im-
probable tiiat treatment with superphosphate of lime (bones and sulphuric acid),
or with guano, may, to a certain extent, add something each season to these
valuable ingredients of food. This consequence theory shows to be of vast im-
portance. With respect to the practical proof of this theory by the fattening of
animals, 1 can only state that a kw experiments made here with roots grown
on guano soil have been attended with great success; much more, however,
remains to be done before its value can be i'ully estimated.

What effect may be produced by such phosphated food on the milk, the
butter, the flavor and quality of the meat, or the strength of bone and muscle,
of course I cannot answer. My opinion is favorable toward the experiment,
and the chief object of this communication is to call the attention of agricul-
turists to the subject in order that these experiments may be made carefully

the ensuing spring. With respect, yours, J. E. TKSCHliMACHER.

Boston, V-Mi Feb., 1847.

BARNS.

PLAN AND DISSERTATION ON THE BEST SORT OF BARN UNDER GIVEN CIRCUMSTANCK3.
J. S. Skinner, Esq. Charlestown, Jefferson Co. Va., Jan. 4, 1847.

Dear Sir: In this day of improvement and investigation, I hope it will not
be thought amiss to ask the favor of you to solicit a strict comparison between
the different kinds of barns — embracing the items of cost, convenience and utility ;
viewed as a house for stock and shelter for grain, hay, straw, ice. ficc. Some
prefer the four-sided barn, with stabling beneath, having but one front ; others
the eight-faced barn, with stabling beneath, with a door and distinct yard to
each or at least to seven fronts, thereby being able to keep separate as many
different kinds of stock.

It is urged in favor of the four-sided barn, that it is more simple in construc-
tion, particularly in the roof, and consequently cheaper, and that it can be ex-
tended to any required size by adding to its length. This is conceded ; but the
object in view is to ascertain whether an eight-faced barn cannot be built of a
size sufficient to accommodate 8 horses and 8 cows, 40 hogs, 2 or 3 colts, and as
many calves, and still retaining an area (circular), in the center, of 30 or 35 feet
in diameter, to hold the various kinds ol' food for the stock that occupy the sur-
rounding stables. The next story to have a similar area in the center for thresh-
ing and cleaning grain with the surrounding space for granaries, stacking grain,
&c., and also over-head, and if the building be IS or 20 feet to the plates, would
it not hold, in the straw, 1,200 or 1,500 bushels of wheat? and whether that
quantity of grain can be packed away and then brought to a machine in the cen-
ter as conveniently, or more so, in an eight-sided barn than in a four-sided one?

I understand both kinds are built at the North, and if some gentleman ac-
quainted with both will favor the readers of your valuable periodical with the
pros and cons, and the exact dimensions and arrangements of the most approved
eight-sided barn, and also of the most approved four-sided one of equal capacity,
together Avith the cost of each, he will confer a real favor on a community that
is too apt to act without due deliberation even in the very important business of

barn-building. I am most respectfully yours, (fcc. .\ Farmer.

^W Aud the Publishers of The Far.mers' Library and Monthly .Journal of Agri

CULTURE will jave their two volumes, eleg.-uilly bound, as a token of thanks for the best

drawing and dissertation, to meet the views of the writer. \_Ed. Farm. Lib.

1843)

412 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

THE GREEN TWIG PEACH.

J. S. Skinner, Eaq. Clabksville, Va., Jan. 22. 1847.

Dear Sir : Believing any communication I can make to you to be of so little
importance in itself, and so little worthy to consume even a moment of your time,
I have concluded to send you, by way of remuneration for the trouble I occasion,
the names of two subscribers.

You recollect, while we were traveling in Alabama last spring, you gave me
a vegetable pear (or Militon), at the same time receiving my promise to commu-
nicate to you my success in propagating it. It was given to one of my daughters,
who, I fear, nursed it to death. It never vegetated at all. You also recollect I
promised to send you a green twig peach-tree ; which would have been sent last
fall, by some of our merchants, if it had shed its foliage. I hope to send it in
the spring. The small limbs of all peach trees are red, except the green twig.
If you bud it on common peach, and let each kind grow equally on the same
trunk, it is a very uncommon as well as beautiful tree.

The one reserved for you is suffered to retain limbs of the common kind, to
show the striking contrast. If you choose, you can lop off the red limbs,
and permit the green only to grow. The bloom is different from all other kinds
of peach blooms, being -perfectly tohite as snow, and resembling more the bloom
of the cherry than the peach tree. The fruit is cling-stone and pale yellow, large
size and very delicious.

I did not intend to write more than ten lines, and beg to be excused for it, after
wishing your Farmers' Library may circulate throughout the wide expanse of
these United States.

Accept ray best wishes for your health and happiness.

JNO. LEWIS.

[The peach tree has been given away, in advance, to a friend, who will cherish it, and
gratuitously and freely distiibute its progeny.

The vegetable spoken of was a very remarkable one, which we met with at the hospita-
ble table of Col. Taylor, an old friend residuig on the bank of the Mississippi at Point Coupee.
We never saw its like before or since. It was cooked like parsnips, boiled and buttered,
and makes a very acceptable addition to the list of vegetable esculents.]

NATIVE GRAPES OF TEXAS.

John S. Skinnek, Esq. Bastrop, Texas, October 7, 1846.

Dear Sir : . . . I take pleasure in sending you some seed of a rery supe-
rior grape. Like the Musqueat grass, it is indigenous and peculiar to the JN.VV.
Prairies ; and, if propagated from seed and cultivated, will improve it as much as
it has done the original Irish potato. The wine-bibbers of the Old Thirteen will
be as much indebted to Texas for it as Great Britain is for the potato, while it
will add one more link to the never-ending chain of Nature's varieties.

o. T.

p. s. — Please send some of the seed to Rev. S. Weller, of North Carolina.
He will find them preferable to the Scuppernong, which is an original productiou
of N. C.

Long Preservation of Apples. — At a Horticultural E.xhibition of the Carlton Cottage
Gardening Society, in England, in July, 184G, there was exhibited " a specimen of apples,
gathered in 1844 by Mr. Liveridge, in an excellent state of preservation."

(844)

GRAPES. shepherds' DOGS. 413

GRAPES.

Dear Sir : I find that Gen. Dearborn joins Dr. Underhill in asscrlin? that for-
eign grapes cannot be grown by open culture in this country. It is very possible
that the delicate grapes of the south of Europe cannot be reared by open culture
in the neiijiiborliood of Boston, or on the sea-shore norlli of New-Jersey ; but I
have raised at my farm, as you know, rvliller's Burgundy, in great perfection, in
open culture; also, Muscadine grapes, in bunches of over two pounds, and Black
Hamburghs weighing from half a pound to over one pound bunches ; and the fla-
vor of the Hamburghs is better than those raised under glass.

1 am determined to try and raise the Fontainbleau grape, as cultivated at
Thomery for the Paris market ; and, if 1 succeed, all lovers of fine fruit will
thank me.

I wish you could persuade Mr. Wetmore, our Navy Agent, to get some grape-
cuttings or grape-seeds from Oregon and California. I am told he is very oblig-
ing, and desirous to benefit our country. If he will procure any kind of seeds or
plants, you know I will do all in my power to propagate them, and distribute
them as he shall direct.

What do you know about the native flax that grows west of the Rocky Mount-
ains ? Couid we get some seed, or some of Oregon wheat, that weighs 66 lbs.

to the bushel ? Ever yours, C.

[We should be glad to be made the medium for pi-omoliiig the enlightened and utilitarian
views of our esteemed correspondent.]

SHEPHERDS' DOGS.— How Tkained.— A gentleman wi-ote us, not long siBce, that he
had succeeded in procuiing a pair of Shepherds' Dogs, and that the slut had whelped eight
fine pups.

The dog, on going into the field, would collect a flock of any size into a compact initss, but
then ho found difficulty in giving him to understand when he was to let them go at large,
and asked for instruction.

We referred liis letter to a gentleman of much experience in the observation and use of
such dogs in the old countries ; and, on his receiving a letter from him, our original corre-
spondent writes what may be of use in the management of dogs generally, for all purposes.

We are inclined to believe in the superior efficacy of mild and humane over testy and bel-
licose treatment, in our management and intercourse with dogs, as well as with other ani-
mals, not excepting man — who we seriously believe to bo uiore iuchued than any other ani-
mals to make war wantonly on his own species.
J. S. Skinneb, Esq. ISbdford (near Augusta), Ga., Jan. 7, 1847.

Dear Sir: Your kind favor of the 16th December came to hand in regular course of mail, and
I return j'ou my grateful acknowledgments for your attention. Since its receipt, I have received
one fi-om Wm. Murdoch. Esq., of Asheville, giving me such directions as will aid me much ia
the management of my Shepherds' Dogs.

He advises kind treatment, with suitable punishment, administered with judgment, when the
dogs are too rash with the sheep ; and observes that the dogs po.ssess great sagacity — vfill watch
every look and gesture of the owner— anrl the government must be left to the judgment of the
shepherd, as each shepherd has his peculiar management of his dog, as each sportsman has his
peculiar mode of treating his pointer or .setter. Young dogs should at first be coupled to well-
trained old dogs.

It will give me great pleasure to add to the number of subscribers to your valuable work. . .
If my agricultural ideas are worth anything to me (and I think they are), I am n.iuch indebted to
you, and tliereforc owe you the exertion to inciea.sc your list of subscribers. Your " American
Farme-" was the first agricultural paper that ever fell into my hands; aiid I only regret I did not
read it with morp care.

Most rcspcci fully, J. L. C.

(84.5)

414 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH.

LETTER IV.

THE ADAPTATION OF THE SOILS, HERBAGE, &c. OF THE SOUTHERN
STATES TO SHEEP HUSBANDRY, CONTINUED. 2. OF THE MIDDLE OR
HILLY ZONE. 3. OF THE MOUNTAIN REGION.

Climate, Soils, and Productions of the Middle or Hilly Zone — Its evident Adaptation to Sheep Husbandry
...The Mountain Region. . .Altitudes ofditt'erent Ranges and Peaks — Their general Shape — Freedom from
Rocks, Precipices, «5i.c.. .Table Lands— Their Geological Formations — Products. . .Mr. Clingman's Letter
describing the Roan and other Mountains in North Carolina. . .Mr. Buckley's Counler Statements. . .Mr.
Earle's Description of the Mountains in Henderson and Rutherford Counties, North Carolina. . .Col. Cols-
ton's Statements in relation to the Mountains in Berkley County, Virginia. . .Hon. A. Stevenson's in rela-
tion to the Blue Ridge, and the Mountains in the South-west of Virginia — Hon. W. L. Goggin's in relation
to the same... Judge Beatty's Account of Sheep Husbandry on the Cumberland Mountains— Mr. Kramer's

Mr. Buckley's Views in relation to the North Carolina Mountains examined and objected to. . .Climate

of the Roan and others compared with that of the Grazing Lands of New-York. . .Statistics showing the
Forwardness of the Seasons and the Temperature in New-York. . .Etfect of P^levation on Temperattire
On Vegetable Productions.

Dear Sir : The middle or liilly zone is liigh, dry, healthy, and has a
mild and, compared with the North, equable climate.* Its soils possess
the ingredients due to its formation — disintegrated gi-anite — and are far
more fertile than those of the lower zone. Sometimes on the summits of
the hills they are poor and thin, and there are occasionally extensive ranges
of poor land, as in Virginia ; but as a general thing, they vary from fair to
good ; and on the bottom lands of some of the rivers and larger creeks,
they possess remarkable fertility. The valleys, however, are generally
narrow, and are everywhere the bed of streams, which abundantly water
this whole region, and furnish inexhaustible facilities for mills and manu-
factories. The slight cohesion of the soil, aided by the face of the country
and the system of tillage pursued in many parts of it,t render it peculiarly
subject to washing by heavy rains. The hill-sides are frequently cut into
deep gullies, rendering aration difficult, | and the surface soil is washed
into the valleys and into the beds of the creeks, not only impoverishing the
high lands, but, by impeding the courses of the streams, in some regions
converting those of the valleys into unhealthy marshes. |I

Grasses suited to the climate flourish /c?tc// .foir?/, and on lands not ut-
terly worn out, throughout all this region ; and there is little doubt that
every variety which could be acclimated on the sands of the lower zone,
could be more readily acclimated here — and probably various othei's. The
pea succeeds in nearly every situation ; oats also form a valuable ma-
nuring crop in some parts ; while on many of the alluvial bottoms, such,
for example, as the Blackjack lands of South Carolina — rye grows luxuri-
antly, answering a valuable purpose either for grain, manure, or for winter

* The range of the thermometer is sometimes 6(P to 75° in a single month (March or .\pril') in New-
York !

t That is, a constant succ/'ssion of clean tillage crops, such as cotton, com, and tobacco.

J The Fishin" Cre<'k Aijncultiiral Society, in their Report before quoted from, say : "The only really
Waste land we nave; is our old fields, many of which are so washed and gullied as to be absolutely irre-
claimable." Mr. Ruflin says that "the destruction both of soil and of fertility has been enormous" from
this cause.

II " The country was, at first, as its features indicated, nearly free from malaria and nil its noxious effects.
Put as soon as the incessant and injuilicious use of the plow ca»ised the soil to be washed from the hilly
prounds into the bottoms, the before unobstriK'tcd clean bordered channels of all the small streams were
filled and clogged with earth, and veiiel.ible rubbish, and finer matter, ami the adjacent low lands were
thereby rendered swampy. The wasliing of the high land earth into the valleys so altered the original sur-
face level as to kill the trees ; and their decay, an<l, later, the obstructions by their fallen trunks, increased the

pcneral evil I infer " that these eauVes "have mainly served to nourish malaiin and increase the

niulignifv of disease." [Ruflin's Ag. Survey of S. C., 1643, p. y6.J
(S4(i)

SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 415

feed for stock. In this last particular, it- would be, as I have before said,
an important auxiliary in slieep husbandry.

The adaptation of most of'tliis reirion to slieep husbandry is too obvious
to require extended comment ; and it liecomes, therefore, simply a ques-
tion of profit and loss, wliether it is expedient to introduce it.* Let us turn
therefore, to the adaptation of the mountain re2;if)n to this branch of industry

The altitude of the soutlieni mountains, with a few exceptions, is not
very considerable. The loftiest, the Black and the Koan, in North Cai-o-
lina, are respectively G,476 and G,03S; leet in hi^ht. The Peaks of Otter,
the liighest, and summits of the Blue Rido;e in A'irtrinia, are 4,2.'30, and the
highest Alleganics '2,rA)0 feet high. Table Mountain in South Carolina
is about 4,000, and the terminal masses of the Blue Ridge in Georgia are
about l,-300.t The hight of the Cumberland Mountains, the most western
chahi, I nowhere find stated, but they are not reputed as high as some of
the preceding. It will be seen, therefore, that none of the southern moun-
tains rise above the range of the grasses. They are usually broad at the
base, easy of ascent, and rounded or flattened on their summits, instead
of rising from nanow bases into steep pyramidal forms with conical peaks ;
and from their geological formations and their shape (resulting probably
from that formation,) they are uncommonly free from exposed rocks, preci-
picos and abrupt acclivities. With the exception, perhaps, of the Cum-
berland chain, large, exposed rocks abound far less, on most of these
mountains than in many parts of New-England, or even the Old Red Sand-
stone region of Pennsylvania, which are not only pastured, but plowed !
Indeed, a side-hill plow, drawn by oxen, could be used on very many of
t^ie southern mountains, if cleared, to their very summits ; and this is true,
singular as it may appear, of some of the loftiest of them.| The Cumber-
land Mountains are spoken of by Doct. Morse, as " stupendous piles of
craggy rocks," and in these statements he has been followed by moi-e re-
cent geographers. But if this description applies to some portions of the
chain, it certainly does not to others, as I shall have occasion to show.

On the sides, and sometimes on the summits of the mountains in differ-
ent parts of this whole region, extensive plains or table lands, already
pretty well covered with wild and domestic grasses and nutritious escu-
lents, not unfrequently occur. Esculents suitable for sheep are to be
found in gi-eater or less quantities on nearly all of them.

West of the summit of the Blue Ridge, the geological formations, as
has before been stated, belong to the Transition period — a rather unusual
circumstance in mountain ranges, and undoubtedly more indicative of
fiertility in the ssperincumbent soils than the ordinary Primary formation. }[
Indeed, they are the same with those of the best grazing lands of South-
ern New-Yoi'k, and subtracting climatic and other§ effects of elevation,
they shoTild possess a general correspondence in their properties and pro-
ducts, with the latter.^

* This quostion will lie fully discu??pd in a subsequent letter.

t For these altitudes. I am indebted to Professor Mitchell.

J For example, the Roan.

II It is true that soils formed from Primary rocks, when sufficiently fertile to sustain herbace of any kind,
are peculiarly adapted to the production of sweet grasses: but mouniains of this formation are usually
steeper, from the slower decomposition of fn'anite, cnoies, and other Primary rocks, and their steepness ex-
poses them to increased abrasion, or washing. Hence their soils frequently but thinly cover the rocks,
and are of a moa<rer and lixiviated character.

§ To wit, abrasion and denudation by rains. And, moreover, the " northern drift " of New-York has added
a little lime to the soils formed Irom these rocks, and thus supplied, measurabl}-, a want existing in all of
them for most tillage crops.

TI For example, the " Slate Hills." which rise on the west of Augusta, llockingham, Shenandoah, Fred-
crick and some other countios in Virginia, are com))0.=ed of the same rocks (Hamilton uMoup, including
Genesee slate of the New-York system,) which underlie some of the best soils in New-York : and much
of the land between these hills and the Alleganics resti on the same rocks, (Chemung.) which underlie
the southern grazing region of New-York.
(S47)

416 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH.

In ascertaining the particular products of these mountains, their climate,
and general adaptation to sheep husbandry, I will first call your attention
to the often quoted letter from Hon. T. L. Clingman, of North Carolina,
to John S. Skinner, Esq., in 1844. Mr. Clingman says :

•' You state that you have directed some attention to the Sheep Husbandly of the Unitsd
States, in the course of which it has occurred to you that tlie people of tiie mountain regions
of North Carohna, and some of the other Southern States, have not availed themselves sufli-
cieatly of their natural advantages for the production of sheep. Being myself well acquaint-
ed with the western section of North Carolina, I may perhaps be able to give you most of
the infonnation you desire. As you have directed several of your inquiries to the county
of Yancey, (I presume from the fact, well known to yon, that it contains the highest moun-
tains in any of the United States,) I will, in the first ])lace, turn my attention to that county.
First, as to its elevation. Dr. Mitchell, of our University, ascertained that the bed of Tow
River, the largest stream in the county, and at a ford near its center, was about 2,200 feet
above the level of the ocean. Burnsville, the seat of the court-house, he found to be be-
tween 2,300 and 2,900 feet above it. The general level of the counti-y is, of course, much
above this elevation. In fact, a number of the mountain summits rise above the hight of
6,000 feet. The climate is delightlldly cool during the summer; in fact there are very few
places in the county where the theiTnometer rises above 80-' on the hottest day. An intel-
ligent gentleman who passed the summer in the northern part of the county (rather the
more elevated portion of it) informed me that the thermometer did not rise on the hottest
da 's above 76°.

' You ask, in the ne.\t place, if the surface of the gi-ound is so much covered with rocks ;i!>
to render it unfit for pasture ? The reverse is the fact; no portion of the county that I have
passed over is too rocky for cultivation ; and in many sections of the county one may ti-avel
miles without seeing a single stone. It is only about the tops of the higher mountains that
rocky precipices are to be found. A large portion of the surface of the county is a sort of
elevated table-land, undulating, but seldom too broken for cultivation. Even as one as-
cends the higher mountains, he will find occasionally on their sides flats of level land con-
taming several hundred acres in a body. The top of the Roan (the highest mountain in the
county except the Black) is covered by a prairie for ten miles, which affords a rich pasture
during the greater part of the year. The ascent to it is so gradual that persons ride to the
top on horseback from almost any direction. The same may be said of many of the other
■mountains. The soil of the county generally is uncommonly fertile, producing with tolera-
ble cultivation abundant crops. What seems extraordinary to a stranger is the fact that the
soil becomes richer as he ascends the mountains. The sides of the Roan, the Black, the
Bald, and others, at an elevation even of five or six thousand feet above the sea, are covered
with a deep, rich vegetable mould, so soft that a horse in dry weather often sinks to the fet-
lock. The {act that the soil is frequently more fertile as one ascends is, I presume, atti-ib-
titable to the circumstance that the higher portions are more commonly covered with clouds ;
and the vegetable matter being tlins kept in a cool, moist state while decaying, is incorpo-
rated to a greater degree with the surfoce of the earth, just as it is usually found that the
north side of the hill is richer than the poi-tion most exposed to the action of the sun's rays.
l\ie sides of the mountains, the timber being generally large, with little undergrowth and
brushwood, are peculiarly fitted for pasture grounds, and the vegetation is in many places as
luxuriant as it is in the rich savannah of the low country.

" Tho soil of every part of the county is not only favorable to the production of grain, but
is peculiarly fitted for grasses. Timothy is supposed to make the largest yield, two tons of
hay being easily produced on an acre, but herds-^rass, or red-toj), and clover succeed emudly
well ; l)lue-grass has not been much tried, but is said to do remarkably well. A friend
showed mo several spears which he informed me were produced in the norlheru part of tho
county, and which Ijy measurement were found to exceed 70 inches in length. Oats, rye,
potatoes, turnips, &,c., are produced in the greatest abundance.

" With respect to the prices of land, I can assure you that large bodies of uncleared, rich
land, most of which might be cultivated, have bee,n sold at prices varying from 2.') cents to
50 cents per aero. Any (juantity of land favorable for sheep-walks might be procured in
any section of the county at prices varying fi-om one to ten dollars per acre.

" The few sheep that exist in the county thrive remarkably well, and are sometimes per-
mitted to run at large during the winter without being fed and without suffering. As the
number kept by any hidividual is not large enough to justify tlie emj)loyinent of a shepherd
to take care of them, they are not unfr(H|uently desti-oyed by vicious dogs, and more i-arely
by wolves, which have not yet been entirely exterminated.

" I have been somewhat jirohx in my observations on this county, because some of your

inquiries were directed particularly to it, ;uid because most of what I have said of Yancey is

trut! of the other conntios west of the IMue Ilidge. Haywood lias about the same elevation

iuid climate as Yancey. Tho mouutuiiis are rather more steep, and the valleys somewhat

(848)

SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 417

broader ; the soil generally not quite so deep, but very productive, especially in grasses. In
ttonie sections of the county, however, tho soil is equal to the best I have seen.

" Buncombe and Henderson are rathor less elevated; Ashvillc and ni-udersoiiville, the
county towns, being each about 2,200 feet above the sea. The climate is much ihe same,
but a very little wanner. Tho jnore broken portions of these counties resemble much tho
mountainous parts of Yancey and Haywood, but they contain much more level land. In-
<leed the greater portion of Henderson is (juite level. It contains much swamp land, which,
when cleared, with very little if any drainage, produces v(Ty fine crops of herds-grass. I'or-
lions of Macoa and Cherokee counties are quite as favorable, botii as to clinuite and soil, as
tliose above described. I would advert particularly to tho valley of the Nantahalah, in Ma-
con, iuul of Chooh, in Cherokee. In either, for a coinparalively trilling price, some ten or
fd'teen miles stjuare coidd be procured, all of which wcjuld be rich, and the major part suf-
iiciently level for cultivation, and especially fitted, as their natural meadows indicate, for tho
production of grass.

" In conclusion, I may say, that as far as my limited knowledge of such matters authorizes
me to speak, I am satisfied that there is no region that is more favorable to the production
of sheep than much of the country I have described. It is everywhere healthy and well
watered. I may add, too, that there is water-power enough in the difrerent counties com-
])osing my Congressional District to move more machinery' than human labor can ever place
there — enough, perhaps, to move aU now existing in the Union."

A writer in the Albany Cultivator, Mr. S. B. Buckley, of Yates county,
New-York, who has visited these mountains, thus objects to the views of
Mr. Clingman :

" These mountains have a cold, damp climate, the summits of the highest being covered
with clouds and mists a large portion of the sunnner season. Cold rains ;u-e of frequent oc-
currence, doubtless causing the deep vegetable mould alluded to by Mr. C. A large por-
tion of the county of Yancey is an elevated Uiblc-land which is so damp and cold that the

inhabilsmts do not raise corn sufficient for their own consumption iMr. Husled in-

fonncd me that in many seasons there was scarcely a month in the year without fi'ost ....
that he had been on the top of the Roan on the 2.5th of .Tune, when a snow stonn arose and
completely covered the mountain, and that there were few days in the year but that it was

foggy on the Roan I have ascended most of the high mountains in that State, and

rarely without encountering a storm, or finding their tops covered with mists, which disap-
peared in the cool of the evening, to be resumed by iho warming rays of the morrow's sun.
In encamping on the mountains, I generally found the thermometer to range from 4.")° to 60°,
and on the high mountains, during the day, it seldom rose above 6.5'^. The inhabitants of
the valleys pay great attention to the raising of cattle and horses, which, in the summer sea-
son, are turned upon the mountains in what is termed ' the range,' wliich consists of tall
weeds, native grasses, and in many places white clover has become naturalized. * * * *

" These remarks will apply more or less to the mountainous region of Haywood and Ma-
con counties, from which we conclude that they are not suitable to the raising of frne-wooled
sheep, judging from their elevation, damp and cold climate, which, as before remarked by
Mr. C, creates a deep vegetable mould, in v^hich a horse wiU sink up to the fetlock. And
would not sheep .sink in also, and be liable to have the jbot-rot ? And in yeaning time would
not many lambs be lost from the fi-eqiient cold rains so common tfiere duiiug tho month of
May?"*

In a previous communication in the Cultivator the same writer says : t

" On the 12th of May I arrived at Ashville, (the capital of Buncombe county,) intending
to visit Mt. risgah, a high conical mountain in full view, about twelve miles distant, over-
topping its neighbors. I was told that the season was not far enough advanced to bring
vegetation forward on the high mountains. . . . The climate of this region is not much, if
any, warmer than that of Western New-York. During the summer of 1842, the thennome-
ter ranged generally from 70° to 8.5° in the valleys, while on the mountains it was frequently

about GO-, and sometimes much lower \Vhen I left the southern portion of Alabama,

it was the middle of March ; the woods were green, with their full expanded leaves ; in
about a week I had reached the elevated region south of Huntsville, in the northern j)art of
the State, where the leaves had not yet attained hiilf their usual size. From the 1st to the
10th of April, in Middle Tennessee, the leaves were nearly full grown and the inhabitants
were busy in plantuig corn; but at the middle of April, for thirty miles on the table laJid of
the Cumberland Mountains, the trees had just begun to put forth their leaves, and the ground
Wfas white in the morning with a severe frost.

'• On descending into the plains of East Teimessee, the country was green witli verdure,
and the fanners were there also busy in planting com, and now, the middle of May, among

• See Albany Cultivator, 1846, p. 242. t lb., 1846, p, 174.

(849) 'it

418 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH.

the mouiUairis of North Carolina, I found myself where vegetation had scarcely clothed the
plains and woods with green, while the leaves of the high mountain trees were about hali
grown. I should also lemai'k that tlie spring of 1842 was from two weeks to a month ear
lier than usual."

I record a portion of the last extract for subsequent reference ; and the
object of these communications being to arrive at the truth, and not to
ride a favorite hobby, or advance a preconceived theory, I have thought
it proper to give the substance of all this gentleman's remarks, embodying
as they do all the objections, real or supposed, which exist against the
highest mountains in tlie. icliole Southern States for the purposes of sheep
husbandry.

Per contra, we have the following statements of Henry M. Earle, Esq.,
of Pacolett, Rutherford Co., North Carolina : *

" On the question whether wool-growing will succeed in North Carolina or not, I would
say that it depends entirely upon the exertions used, as I am thoroughly convinced that the
country and climate are altogether favorable. The objections raised by Mr. Buckley, if they
existed in all the mountain region, might be considered serious ; but as they can only be of-
fered against a few very higVi mountains, situated in the midst of many other mountains, and
far from any level or plain country, such a hiduig place as he speaks of would not be such a
place as persons raised in civilized or reiined society would wish to setde in. The Roan
and Black Mountains were selected by Mr. Tlios. Clingman, because they were the most
elevated and noted mountains in Yancey Co., and not, I presume, because he thought they
would aiford the best pasturage for sheep ; if so he v^'as mistaken. On those mountains and
in their vicinity are the finest grazing lands for cattle ; and so there is in the low, marshy
land of South CaroUna; but neither location is favorable for sheep. I agree with Mr. Buck-
ley, ' that a large portion of the county of Yancey is an elevated fcible laiid, which is so
damp and coJd that the inhabitants fretpiently do not raise com sufficient for theii* own con-
sumption.' This IS partly owing to the climate ; but i7iostly to the character of many of the
inhabitants of those sparsely inhabited regions, where they too frecpiently depend upon the
success of the chase for the largest portion of their subsistence.

" But if Mr. Buckley, or any other gentleman of observation, will come 60 miles far-
ther south — on the line of the Blue Ridge, into Henderson and Rutherford counties, about
the Tryon Mountain, which is the first that lie will ascend in rising up fi-om the level coun-
try east of the Blue Ridge, along the Howard-Gap Turnpike — liigh on the acclivity of the
Tryon he will find a bench of land which possesses a very peculiai- characteristic. At night,
generally, there is a pleasant breeze, and for several miles along the mountain side there is
never any dew to be found, and it is veiy rare that they have frost except in winter ; and
when the whole country above and below is covered with sleet, along this mountjmi side
there is none. Here grow the finest native gi-apes that I ever sav/, and the fruit crop never
fails. And here are grown the heaviest wheat and lye m all the country. Here the inhabit-
ants have the first dawn of the moniing smi, and persons unaccustomed to the view fancy
that they can almost see hhn coming up from the watei-y deep. On the eastern side of this
mountiiin is the earliest pasturage in sprmg, imd the latest in the fall tliat is found in tlie
whole range of mountains.

" This location is about 46 miles E. S. E. from Asln-ille, and 20 miles S. S. W. from
Rutherfordton. Here two of those ever perseveiing men frf)in tlie North, called Yankees,
have commenced to wall in a vineyard, and to cultivate the broom-corn foi' manufactmnng
brooms. They have the purest water that flows out of the earth, and aioimd them are
beautiful cascades more than a hundred feet high, and above them the top2)ling peali of the
Tiyon.

" Thousands of persons throng this mountain region during the sunnner, to enjoy the pure,
bracing atmosphere, v^'hich on the eastern face of the mountain is diy and healthful ; but
farther back, in the mountains of the French Broad, there is niuch more dampness and
heavy fogs.

" You may readily conclude that along the eastern slopes of these mountains, the climate
and country are finely adapted to the growth of wool, as may also be seen by many of the tine
flocks of native unim|)roved sheep, which wander here uutended, regardless of wolves or
dogs, their gi-eatest enemies.

" For two hundred miles along the eastern slopos of these mountains, south, there ar&
Bituations well suited for large flocks of sheep, and land is cheap. In many j>lace8 it does
not cost more th;ui 20 cents per acre, and very fair land may be had for 40 cents per acre."

In an Address,! remarkable for the force and pertinency of its sugges-

■* See Albany CuUivfttor. ISlfi, pp. 335-336.

t Delivered in Maitiuaburg, Va., Oct, 3Uth. 184.'>, bnfore the Berkley County Agricultural Society, pub-
lished in the Valley Fanner, Dec. 1815, and Jail. 184(5.
(850)

SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 4J9

tions, Col. Edward Colston, of Berkley county, Virginia, makes the fol-
lowing statements :

" Tlio western part of our county, containing jx'rliaps :{0,00() acres, is Tnoiintainous. I
have i-idden there for ten miles witliont seeing a linniuu hal)ilation, anil althonsli from its
abundant herbage it might sustain lor its owners 20,000 head of sheep, not a single one is t»
be found grazing on its surface. In this region may he found, also, much land fit for culti-
vation, with fnie meadows and abundant water. Vet all this is worthless lo our communilv,
and a dead capital to the proprietors. There is lerntory and grass enough here to be di-
vided into three or four sheep-walks, each sustaining fi(un H,000 to 4,000 sheep during the
suininer, with meadow and arable land enough, at a small expense, to provide amply lor
winter sustenance."

Hon. Andrew Stevenson, of Virginia, in a letter to Mr. Skiinier,* says :

• Virginia has many advantages for breeding sheep, not surpassed in the United States
The middle part of the State, and especially the whole range of the south-west Mountains
and Blue Ridge. atVord the greatest facilitjes for- tuie sheep-walks. Hills covered with tine
herbage, extensive inclosures, abundance of running water, and well sheltered by trees
against the heat and sun of summer."

The following extracts are from a communication in the Monthly .Jour-
nal of Agriculture, t by Hon. \V. L. Goggin, who recently represented the
District he describes in Congress :

" Bedford, the coimty in which I reside, is bounded on the south side by the Staunton
River, on the noith by the .Tames River, while its western extremit}', the whole length,

leaches the top of the Blue Ridge The Peaks of Ottert are situated in this county-.

on the north-west comer — they are not only beautiful themselves, when seen its they are in
the disttmce, but the whole range of the Blue Ridge presents, perhaps, here, the most inter-
esting view of the kind in the State. These moiuitains afford an unlimited range for stock.
and the advantages for sheeji-walks (mild as is the climate, combined with the productive-
ness of the soil) that are nowhere equaled, as is believed, except by similar situations in

the ntnghboring counties Ranges for sheep may be had at a veiy reihiced price on

Uie mountains, and where, too, could be produced all the grasses in which thev delisht, such
as the red and white clover, the meadow fox-tail, short blue meadow-grass, hicern, rye-grass,
&c. These advantages, and then the beautiful, clear streams which abound in all the moun-
tain regions, invite a pastoral life." Speaking of Amherst and Nelson counties, he says :
' The ranges for stock here, too, are extensive, and the beautifiil, rich mountain sides inter-
spersed with fann-houses, some of them even elegant mansions, betoken an independence
amnng the inhabitants that is often found in such situations. ]\Iany of the mountains, to
their verj' summits, are covered with the richest verdure." Of Madison and (ireene coun-
ties he says: " Here, too, are abundant ranges, and the wonder is that sheep husbandry is
not introduced."

The character of the loftier mountains of Virginia and North Carolina,
for the production of grasses, would seem to leave no doubt, in this par-
ticular, in regard to the lower ones which form the prolongation of the
same chains in South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama. Let us now turn
our glance to the great western chain — the Cumberland Mountains — in
Kentucky and Temiessee.

The following extracts are from a communication published by Hon. A.
Beatty in the American Agriculturist :

" But it is not upon our high-priced rich lands alnue that we can cany on sheep husbandly
to advantage. Kentucky luis a belt of hill and mountain countiy, bordering on the Vii-ginia
line on the east, and on the rich lands of the State on the west, averaging about sevent>--tive
miles in width, extending from the Ohio River and Big Sandy, latitude 38^ 30', to the" Ten-
nessee line, 360 39' north. The whole of this legion is admu-ably adapted to sheep hus-
bandry ; the most northern part but a few minutes noith of my residence, and extenduig
about two degrees farther south. The lands are very cheap : the State price of those not
yet appropriated only five cents per acre, and those purchased second-hand, mure or less
improved, may be had from 25 lo .'30 cents per acre, and still less when miimproved. This
country in a state of nature furnishes, duruig the spring, summer, and fall months, a fine
range for sheep, and is susceptible of gi-eat iinprovement by clearing up and sowing the cul-
tivated grasses for winter feeding. This whole country is finely adapted to the Spanish

* Monthly Journal of Agriculture. July, 184.5, pp. 37-39. t lb., October, 1843, pp. 161-183.

X The lofueet mountains, 88 before elated, of Virginia.
(851)

420 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH,

mode of sheep husbandry. Very lar^e flocks might be driven to the mountain region, some
thirty to sixty milos f.om the rich lands, immediately after shearing time, grazed till late in
the fall, and then brought back to be snstained during the winter on the luxuriant blue
grass pastures of the rich lands of the interior.

" A very intelligent friend, i-esiding in the eoutheni part of the above district of countr}-,
speaks of it in the following terms : ' One of the strongest proofs of this region of country
being favorable to the growing of sheep stock is that we are situated in the same degree of
north latitude with the sheep-raising parts ol Spain — Leon, Estremadura, Old Castile, &c. —
only that our mountains are mure richly and abundantly clad with luxuriant wild grasses
and fern, pea vine, and shrubbery, than the mountain regions of Spain, wliere they raise
such abundant stocks of sheep. Wayne County, with a few adjoining counties, affords more
fine water-power than any country of the same extent that I have ever known ; and for
health, and fine, pure drinking water, no country excels it on the face of the globe. Now is
the time to commence the business of sheep husbandry, while land can be got almost for
nothing. It is worthy of remark that our sheep, which are suffered to roam and graze in.
the mountiiins altogether, produce about one-fourth viore wool at a shearing than the sheep
that are raised and grazed altogether on our farms, and of much better quality.^ In an-
other part of his letter he says : ' The tops of the mountains of Spain are sterile, without
verdure, producing no food for sheep, or other animals, to graze on. Our mountains are
quite different. They are thickly clad from bottom to top, and all over the top, with fine
rich wild grasses and shrubbery of every variety, for stock to graze on. In the midst of
our mountains ;ire to be found a great abundance of .salt water and stone coal of the fuiest
quality, together with a great variety of mineral waters and pure sprmgs.'

" Another friezid, residing in Knox County, writes to me : ' My sheep upon my fann, ad-
joining Barboursville, do not thrive, even with pasture and winter food, like the sheep in
the extremities of the county, which have neither pastures nor winter food, except what
they get in the woods. Without cultivated grasses of any description, sheep will live and
do well all the winter, subsisting on the spontaneous growth of the countiy.'

" Another friend, residing in the northern poition of the above-described mountain region,
writes that ' the counties of Carter and Lawrence, and the eastern portion of the State, are
admirably adapted to sheep husbandly. There are several flocks of sheep in this neighbor-
hood that thrive and uicrease wonderfully, rvnning at large, at little cost or trouble to their
owners. Many flocks have no other reliance, during the winter, but what they get in the
woods. The great advantages of this country ibr sheep husbandry are, the cheapness of the
land, it adaptation to grasses, grain, and roots — its healthfulne.ss. Sheep delight in moim-
tain or hilly land ; the natural evergreens and shrubbery upon which sheep can feed and
subsist on in winter ; though it is not safe to rely altogether upon these. ' "

Mr. C. F. Kramer of Woolverly Farm, Marion Co. Temiessee, ix a com-
munication in the Nashville Agriculturist,* says :

" After having spent part of the years '43 and '44 on different parts of the Cumberland
Moimtaius — the part of Tennessee more particularly recommended by all \\Titers in your
,iournal, and others, for sheep-walks — I have, since last fall, settled on a portion of tiiem
near Jasper, Marion Co. and will, as briefly as possible, give you the result of my experi-
ence, which will, I believe, fully remove any eironeous impressions hitherto made.

" First, as to climate : The extreme salubrity of the mountains makes them the general
refuge of the sick. Sheep here are remarkably healthy, and exempt from disejise. The
temperature is veiy even, varying during summer seldom more than from 75^ to 80'-' of
Fahrenheit, nor in winter more than from 45^ to 30°. Snow during the two winters, little
as there was of it, never remained forty-eight hours on the ground.

" The forest, so far from being dense, seldom contains more tinil)er, after cutting out the
smaller growth, as dogwood, &c. than is desirable for woodland pasture.

" Tlie rocks, as far as my rambles have extended, are ' few and far between.' The bet
ter spots of soil (and there are enough to provide every farm witii sufficient remunerating
arable land, under a provident and enlightened system of tillage) are covered with nutri-
tious weeds, as pea-vine, &c. &c. which are nearly all greedily devoured by sheep and cat-
tle, ami on which they fare well. The poorer soil is covered with sedge-grass, which my
feheep have invariably eaten with avidity.

" When our herds and blue grass lauds, which we are laying down, will be fit for pa.'<tur-
ing, the cost of wintering will be greatly reduced, as the former yields good gi-azing in Feb-
ruary— the latter during the whole winter. Our young cattle kept in good condition on the
winter-range and two ears of com per head per day.

" Although the wolves of our mountains are larger than those of the prairies, and may be
more diflieult to exterminate entirely, yel, thanks to our good hunters, tlieir ranks have been
already ho thinned that ihey mostly prowl about idone, or at most in pairs, conmiittuig their
depredations by night, on the sheep and hogs that are left to shift for themselves. lu the

• June, 1846.
(852)

SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH.

421

two years that I have been here, I know of but two instances of their having attacked young
stray cattle by night. By clay, sheop are perfectly safe; and T should presume that every
{^ood sheep-master would have his Hocks, for inspection, home at night, when any common
fence will be an ample saleguard for them."

To recur, for a moment, to Mr. Buckley's statements in relation to the
Roan and some of the contiguous mountains in North Carolina — if wo
concede all his positions to be correct — it hut proves that they are excep-
tions to a general rule. But a review of his facts, it seems to me, scarcely
justifies his conclusions.

The vegetation which seemed so backward to him, coming from the
warmer climate of Alabama and Lower Tennessee, was in fact but little,
if any, later than that of the elevated grazing lands of Southern New-
York. The following table* will show the average forwardness of the
seasons at the location of fifty-eight Acadc^mies, scattered over New-York,
for a term of fifteen years. And these Academies, as would be supposed,
are rarely found on the high lileak hills. In fact, the number in the south-
ern graaing region is but small, and they are mostly on the low bottoms of
the larger streams. The same remark will also apply to the high region
between the St. Lawrence and Lake Champlain,

TABLE NO. 5.

Men /I Date.

No. of Localities.

No. nfObsnrvai.iuns

May 1

" 2*

4

6

7

" 15

June 12

July 18,

" 25

Sept. 23

Nov. 5

48
57
58
52
52
59
58
34
45
57

168
175
269
264
2.'')0
374
210
127
18G
471
536

First killiner Frost .

First fall of Snow

* As the Peach does not grow in the northem part of the State, this date must be considered the mean
for thesouthei-n and middle parts only, and hence is too early as compared with other trees.

The blossoming of the apple tree in the grazing regions of New-York
takes place when the leaves of the forest trees are considerably less than
half grown, as INIr. B. found them on the " high mountain trees" of North
Carolina on the 12th of May.

Snow storms sometimes occur in New- York as late as the one recorded
by Mr. B. on the Roan ; cold, damp fogs are not found destructive to
sheep in some parts of England and Scotland, where they prevail 2:)roba-
bly quite as much as on these mountains ; and there are many parts of the
grazing region of New-Y^ork, and good grazing lands, too, where the in-
habitants " do not raise corn sufficient for their own consumption." As
Mr. B. gives neither the dates nor the altitudes of his own thermometrical
observations, no conclusions can be deduced from them. Speaking of the
region about Asheville, the more definite statement is made by him, that
during the summer of 1S42, the thermometer ranged generally from 70 to
85 degrees, (which he pronounces not much, if any, warmer than Western
New-York,) "while on the mountains it was frequently about 60 degrees,
and sometimes much lower." If hy frrqtient, he meant ordinary temper-
ature, the summer climate of these lofty mountains much resembles that
of New-York in June — usually considered the month of the pleasantest

* lliis table was prepared by James H. Coffin, a tutor in Williams College, from the Report of these
facts annually required to be made by the .Academies to the Regents of the Univer.iity. This and some
other tables and statements of Mr. C.'s, which I shall have occasion to quote, appear in a very able paper
from him on the Climate and Temperature of New-York, in the forthcoming volume on Agriculture, in
the Natural History of the Stite : some sheets of which have been politely sent me by Doct. Emmons, the
8uite Geologist, who has that volume in chaige.
(853)

422

SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH.

temperature of the year — equally removed from the chilliness of spring,
and the sultry heats of the last two summer montlis. But as the altitudes
of the latter observations are not given, they present us nothing definite or
tano-ilile. A smart walk of a ihw moments up or down a mountain side,
would carry one through a variation of temperature amounting to a degree.
By the rule of Professor Leslie,* commonly adopted, 300 feet of elevation
diminishes the temperature 1° ; but the experiments of Humboldt, Gay-
Lussac, and various other observers, have shown that this cannot be relied
upon. One degree is usually equivalent to a greater ascent. Mr. Coffin
(in the paper before alluded to) deduces the conclusion that in the State
of New-York, the ascent necessary to decrease the temperature 1^ is 350
feet. Taking the mean of the range of temperature of Asheville, as stated
by Mr. B. it gives 77^^ as the average summer temperature of that place,
which, as will appear in the table below, is about 10^ higher and warmer
than that of New-York for the same season and year, (excepting on the
beds of two rivers — the Hudson and Mohawk.) Applying the New- York
rule to the region of Asheville, it would require, then, an elevation of some-
thin"' like 3,500 feet on the mountain sides above that place, to equalize
the temperature with that of the greater portion of New- York.

To show the entire accuracy of the subjoined table of temperatures, I
would remark that it is founded on the Annual Reports of the Academies
to the Regents of the University. The observations are therefore made
by correct instruments,! on fixed conditions, and by scientific men. I have
selected the points indicated in reference solely to a fair latitudinal and
geographical distribution over the State ;| and to enable you to find them
on the map, the name of the place, instead of the Academy, is given :

TABLE NO. 6.

Lati-
tude,.

Eleva
lion.

40

Temp

er at lire

1842.

June.
6? 28

July.
72 16

Aug.
69 97

Flatbush..

40'^73'

Po'keepsie

Albany

Potsdam ..

41 41

42 39
44 40

130
394

61 29
05 85
59 02

76
72

67

83
00
30

71 561
70 23
07 12

Lowville..

43 47

800

00 51

67

52

04 40

Utica

43 00

173

63 58

70

15

69 15

Syracuse..
Pompey ..
Homer

42 59
42 .56
42 38

1300
1090

.59 75
.57 70

58 88

05
04
04

77
20
14

04 80
63 50
65 67

Ithaca

42 27

417

03 80

09

05

67 74

Prattsburg.

1494

50 83

05

24

08 71

Rochester.

43 08

506

00 60

00

94

67 35

Wyoming.

42 49

800

59 9?

71

50

56 99

Frodonia .

42 26

345

03 42

69

60

08 71

Lewiston..

43 09

280

02 05

08

91

08 50

Near the extreme southern point of Long Island. ..
i On the Hudson. Elevation not given

In St. Lawrence County; north part of State.
On the Black River

Both in same county, but given on account of dif-
ference in elevation

In the southern or grazing region

Do. do.

Do. do.

In the heart of the Wheat growiner region

Do. do. "

In the grazing region ; on the shore of Lake Erie..
On Niagara River

The five laat named places are in " Western New-York."

But there is one fact stated by Mr. Buckley, in relation to the lofty
mountains of North Carolina, which, in-espective of all thermometrical
observations, demonstrates conclusively, to my mind, their adaptation to
sheep husbandry. This fact is, that u-hife clover grows (of course, spon-
taneously,) on them. Or perhaps I shoidd rather say, that the mountains
themselves become thermometers, their vegetation registering, by a well
settled natural law, tlunr temperate climate. Says Make Brun :

" Under llif burning climate of the toirid zone, we have only to ascend the mountains, to
enjoy the fniits und flowers of the temperate regions. Tournefort found at tlie base of Mount

* Prof. L.'s rule, however, was only niKtle Hpplicnble by him to tropieal regions,
t H'llf, probal)ly, of the thormoinoters in common use art> innccurato !
J For the records of tcmperauiros given, gee Report of ihe Regpnt.^, 1843, p. 210.
valioua of the Academiea, see Hcport of 1838, pp. 212 to 215, and map.
(«54)

For latitudes and ele-

SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 423

Ararat the common vegetables of Armenia; half way up, those of Italy and France; and
upon tiip summit, those of Scandinavia. Forster saw several Alpine plants upon the moun-
tains of Tcna del Fuego."'

Mr. Muilic also remarks :

" If we take each mountain as the index of its own meridian, we shall find that each ono
expresses, by ita vegetation, all the vjirieties of chmate between it and the pole."*

Humboltlt, and our own Doct. Forry, notice an equally striking develop-
ment of this law, on the Western Continent.!

This would go to show what I have little doubt is the fact, (my impres-
sions, too, being strengthened by a comparison of latitude, elevation, and
recorded thermonietrical observations,) that on the sides of the Roan and
other lofty mountains of North Carolina, and pretty well vj^ on their sides,
too, the climate is not greatly dissimilar from that on the high grazing
lands of New- York and New-England. On the sweetest and liest of the
latter, white clover always comes up spontaneously, and will immediately
re-sward any field thrown out of tillage. It sometimes flourishes on soils
of ordinary fertility, but never on rery sour or boggy ones, or on those
the poachy character of which would render them liable to communicate
hoof-rot '-»r other diseases. It indicates, most decidedly, both a soil and
climate fitted for sheep.

You will not understand. Sir, of covirse, that in the remarks made and
facts stated, at so great length, in relation to three or four mountains, my
object has been simply to refute the riews of Mr. Buckley in relation to
them. In a region of 70,000 square miles, the unadaptation of half a
dozen mountains, or a much greater number, to this or any other branch
of husbandry, would be of but little comparative importance. Anticipat-
ing, however, the croakings of the timid — the exaggerated counter state-
ments of those rash and sanguine men who are ever ready to rush into
whatever is neio, without judgment to guide or perseverance to sustain
them : who abandon their undertakings at the first obstacle, and apologize
for their ficklety by magnifying the difliculties encountered by them : I
deemed it expedient to lay before you some useful data for comparisons,
(and conclusions.) which will be equally applicable in the case of all our
southern mountains.

The hilly and level regions u'est •f the mountains, and lying between
them and the Mississipj)i and Ohio rivers, scarcely require a separate no-
tice— particularly after the statements of Mr. Cockrill, given in my second
letter. As a whole, they are undoubtedly more fertile, and better adapted
to the production of the grasses, than those of con-esponding latitude, in
even the hilly zone, east of the mountains.

ARTIFICIAL INCUBATION.— " The moan temperature of incubation is 100° Fahr. ;
it may vaiy from 95^' to 105'^. and toward the close of the process may be suspended for
one or two hom-s, or for a Ioniser period, according to the degree of extraneous heat which
the eggs may derive from their situation, without fatal consequences to the embiyo." [See
Johnson's " Farmers' Encyclopa'dia."]

* Mudie's World.

t Since makins; the extract above from Malte Brun, I observo the followinj bettor, or. at Iea.it. more defi-
nite exprpBSiion of the same fact by Doct Forry : " In ascendina; a lofty mountain of the torrid zone, the
.greatest variety in vcgetatinn i^ di-^played. At its foot and under the burning snn, ananas and plantains
flouri.sh ; the reeions of limes and oranues succeeds : then follow fields of maize and lu.\uriant wheat ; and
.still higher, the series of plants known in tlie temperate zone. The mountains of temperate regions exhi-
bit, perhaps, less variety, but the change is equally striking." See Forry 'a Clima'.c of the United StaUs
(855)

424 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

THE TRUE COTTON REGION.

Mr. Editor : To answer fully the last communication of X. Y. Z. would re-
quire a very thorough discussion both of the history and principles of the Pro-
tective System, which would be manifestly out of place in your journal. 1 will
therefore, Avith a few general remarks, abandon liie controversy into which I
have been unexpectedly drawn. Immediately aiter the passage of the Compro-
mise Act in 1833, which provided for a reduction of duties, the price of cotton
rose. The same thing has happened on the repeal of the Tariff of 1S12. I do
not mean to attribute the advance in cotton solely to these acts of Congress ; but
I do not doubt they have had some agency in it. The coincidences would be
very remarkable, if merely accidental. With the price of cotton, the price of
everything in this country advances. Should manufactures, therefore, fail to fall
at once, it must not be argued that low duties do not produce low prices. Free-
Trade is as yet an experiment, founded, indeed, upon the soundest reasoning,
and thus far, to the extent it has been fairly tried, fully answering the expecta-
tions of its advocates. Let the act of 1846 be allowed to operate for only half
the period we have submitted to the Protective System, and if it does not de-
monstrate that adding 50 per cent, to the cost of an article enhances its price,
and taking off that much lowers it, then its friends will abandon it, surrender
their doctrines, agree that 2 added to 4 makes 3, and substracted from it makes
5, and admit that the benevolent and sagacious manufacturer seeks a monopoly
to enrich himself not by selling his goods higher, but actually by selling tiiem
lower, thus practically solving the ancient paradox of " lucus a non lucendo.'^

That the prices of nearly all manufactured articles have materially fallen since
our Tarifl' of 1816, is unquestionable. So has cotton fallen. Tsot only in Amer-
ica, but all over the world, have manufactures of all kinds and the raw mate-
rials of them come down. Have our Tariffs produced such wide-spread effects?
Has our legislation revolutionized the world in these last 30 years ? Is this
what X. Y. Z. and the advocates of the " American System " would have us
understand, when they tell us that we get "shirtings, plains, kerseys, plows,
hoes, axes, &c. at half what we formerly paid for them ?" Then they expect
us to forget that for these 30 years the world has enjoyed almost unbroken peace ;
that for all that period the energies, mental and physical, of a very large portioQ
(and that the most enlightened and most enterprising) of the human family, have
oeen exclusively and ardently devoted to the advancement of all the arts and
sciences which promote the prosperity and happiness of man. Monopolies and
Tariffs have existed in all nations and all ages from the time of Josei)h to the
present day, yet what have they done for mankind in the way of cheaji produc-
ture, compared with what steam alone has accomplished since 1SI6? Inveterate
habits of thought, large vested interest, and, above all, unwise Bational jealou-
sies, have greatly retarded the progress of Free-Trade during this unparalleled
era of development; but its day has at length fairly dawned, and thirty years
more o{ \)g^cg, under its mispices, w'xWumie the human race in bonds of brother-
hood that shall encircle the globe, and make War a mere thing of history — ban-
ished from use, like the stylus and papyrus of antiouiiv and the mail armor of
the middle ages.

As to the Cotton region and the actual production of the rich lands of the
South-west, if the first and last paragraphs of X. Y. Z.'s last article are taken
together and the average made of his own statistics, it Avill be seen I liave not
been so far wrong. Good seasons and " well managed plantations" are not to
be taken as standards of the production of Agricultural countries. I gave before
some examples of what had been done here under fiivorable circumstances. To
go into a calculation of what might be done here, would occupy more time than
I can spare just now and more space than you would be v.'illing to allow me. —
But my opinion grows stronger every day, -that if "let alone" and allowed to
enjoy the fruits of their own intelligence and industry, the planters of this region
need not go elsewhere to improve their fortunes.

Allow me to say, that notwithstanding his side thrusts at "Carolina doctrines"
and "chivalry," I part from X. Y. Z. in perfect good humor; and that 1 thank
you, Mr. Editor, for your courtesy in publishing my articles. S. B.

(8.-(;)

MA.NUFACTUKt: OF SUGAR. 425'

T"

MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR.

DEROSNE AND CAIl's SYSTEM EXPLAINED.

J. S. Ski.n.neii, Esq. Parish ok Ascension, La.

Dear Sir : With the N-iew of making a small contiibution to the mass of varied and most
useful iniijrmation contained in your valuable periodical, and in fulfillment of a promise made
you, I foiward the inclosed. It is a translation of a publication of Messrs. Derosne and Cail,
of Paris, the object of which is to show the superiority of their system for the manufacture
of suj;ar over all other systems. It would, indeed, seem difficult to go beyond it, either iu
the mechanical or cliemical processes. By high liming, and filtration through animal char-
coal in grains and iu large masses, the juice is said to be brought to the state of a pure solu-
tion of sugar in water, which Drs. Bache and McCuUoh consider the gi-eat problem to be
solved in sugar making. The evaporation takes place in vacuo at a low temperature; and a
savbig of fuel of more than 40 per cent, is demonstrably realized by the " double-cJj'cctS^

The system is in a fair way of trial in Louisiana. Notwithstanding its manifest e.xcellence,
some modidcations may be found necessary to adapt it to the conditions in which the sugar-
cane exists in our State. At all events, the developments of the system will not be uninter-
esting to sugiU" planters — to the progressivisis among them, as well as to the stand-still or
Chinese — to those who are willmg, as to those who are unwillmg, to adopt improvements re-
quiiTUg a heavy outlay.

Although the sugar-cane is not a subject of as much general interest as its congeners corn,
\vheat, &c.. and must yield to them in importance, yet it is not whhout peculiar claims on
public attention. Tiiie, sugar is not blotxl-producing, according to the Liebigian theory; it
contains no nitrogen — is not dignified by the presence of the phosphates ; but, if not blood-
producing, it is blood-purifying. Besides the experience that planters hare of its health-
givuig properties upon man and beast, during sugar-making time, it is the opinion of one of
our most eminent iihysicians that the virtue of the catholicous, panaceas, &c. resides chiefly
in the syiiip, which those who prepare them pi'etend to have only a vesicular agency. —
Now, impurity of the blood, if it is not, as the venders of sarsapariUa affinn, the only source,
is certainly one of the sources of disease. Impurit}' of blood in our country is owing, iu a
great measure, to the immense consumption of the flesh of that unclean animal, the swine ;
but let the consumer never eat it vdthout molasses, and let liim put a double dose of sweet-
ening in his pics and puddings, his tea and coffee, his juleps and anti-fogmatics, and he may
devour pork ad libilum.

Corollary : the " blood" of a country is "pure" iu proportion to the quantity' of saccha-
rine matter consumed.

With great regard, H. B. T.

KXAMINATION OF THE DIFFERENT PROCES.SES FOR MANUFACTURING SUGAR. Tried up to-
tbU lime (1B43;. and the Motives which should induce a Pieteience for the Double-Eft'ect Vacuum
Appan.iiis for application in the Colonies.* liy Messrs. Deros.ne and Cail.

The manufacture of beet-root suj^ar in France has gone through so many pro-

cP5t;ps — so muny different systems, such a Viniety of nppcirntue has been li'icd —

that everything upplieabie to the manulacture of sugar lias been subjected to the
ordeal of experiment ; so that, at tiie preseui liuie, theory being combined with
practice, we may pronounce with a lull undersiaiuiing of the siil)ject.

The manufacture of sugar embraces three distinct processes — 1st, the mechan-
ical, for the extraction of the juice of the cane or of the beet-root ; I'd, the cliem-
ical, lor the defecation of said juice : 3d, the evaporative, the object of which is
to separate the sugar from the water in which it is held in solution.

* This term cmbracea all the European Colonial establishments in the East and West Indies.

426 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

We do nol intend to examine here the mechanical processes, the object of
which is the extraction of the juice from the cane. We will not include in our
present investigation those advantages which consist in an increased yield of
juice — advantages which are not to be neglected, but in regard to which we have
still experiments to make, and to the study of which we are devoting our whole
attention.

As for the chemical and evaporative processes, the object of which is to obtain
from the juice extracted from the cane the greatest possible quantity of sugar, in
regard to which at this day everything is known, they come entirely within the
sphere of investigation which Ave have proposed to ourselves.

Chemical Processes.

The operations acknowledged now as indispensable in the treatment of the
juice are — 1st, the defecation by means of lime ; 2d, the filtration tlirough ani-
mal charcoal in large masses. These two indispensable processes give each other
mutual aid.

Defecation in double-bollom Kettles, heated by Steam.

The first point in the manufacture of sugar is a good defecation, Avithout which
all subsequent operations proceed badly. The defecation should be so made as
to furnish juice perfectly limpid, exempt from any milky appearance. This de-
fecation is accomplished, in the old as well as in the new method, by means of
lime. Brought in contact with the juice, lime neutralizes its acid, and concretes
the mucilaginous matter given out by extraction. In the Colonies, lime is used
in quantities too small to effect the separation of the heterogeneous matter, the
presence of which is essentially injurious to sugar. It is well known there that
defecation is more perfectly accomplished by larger doses of lime ; but it has also
been remarked that syrup defecated with an excess of lime cooks badly ; hence
it is used sparingly and with caution, and vegetable matters are allowed to re-
main in the juice, which are highly prejudicial, by converting a portion of the
sugar into molasses. In the new process, a quantity of lime is employed, suffi-
cient to effect a perfect defecation, without regard to what may happen to the
syrup in the after processes. Our Derosne has employed in Cuba Ik measures
of lime per kettle, instead of 21 employed in the common process.

The excess of lime which may remain in the juice is immediately eliminated
after defecation by its passage through animal charcoal. This is one of the ben-
eficial effects of this agent in the manufacture of sugar. The result is that the
juice, well defecated with a sufficiency of lime, and then filtered, is nothing more
than sugar and water, which only requires to be evaporated and cooked in a suit-
able manner to be converted into sugar containing the least possible quantity of
molasses.

The kind of kettles employed in the defecation is a point of much importance.

Defecation by naked fire* (fire directly applied to the bottom of the kettles),
after the fashion in the Colonies, and as was practiced in the first stages of the
beet-root manufacture, is very objectionable; because the moment the lime en-
ters into combination Avith the extraneous matters in the sugar, the poAver should
exist of immediately arresting the ebullition, so that the liquid may be at rest. —
This is accomplished in double-bottom, semi-spherical kettles, healed by steam.
By means of a stop-cock, the action of the caloric and the ebullition are immedi-
ately arrested, and the scum separates in two layers, one of Avhich rises to the
top of the kettle ; and the other, Avhich is heavier, falls to the bottom. In the
intermediate space is a licpiid perfectly clear, Avhich is draAvn ui\' by means of a
cock connected Avith a tube running uj) through thu M-diuient into the clear liquid.

Ill ilic dcfc.;rtiion by n.ikcd tiiL", wlien the moment of coiubiiiation arriviw. ilic
fire has to be put out or damped, the eiiullilion still continuing for a longer or
shorter time, during Avliich tiie scum breaks and mixes Aviili the mass of ihe
juice, thereby rendering it impossible afterAvard to give it clearness or limpidity.
This is one of the principal causes of defective manufacture. The extraneous
substances remain in the mass during the Avhole lime of evaporation and cooking,
and decompose more or less of the sugar. Hence the necessity in the Colonies
of continually skimming the kettles ; Avhereas in the ncAV system, once the juice

* In contrfidistinclion to the a:.'plicati()n by sleaiii. wliicli ia iiidirciU.

(85S)

MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR. 427

13 drawn oQ' clear from the defecating kettle, not a particle of scum is found in
the subsequent operations.

The imperfect defecation in the Colonies is the cause why the brown sugars
made there do not dissolve clean, thouijh their color may be good. This is an
obstacle* to the direct consumption of those sugars, which must be removed.

Kettles having vermicular or gridiron pipes at the bottom have been used for
defecation ; such kettles do not answer well, the pipes rendering it dilhcult to
get rid of the scum and to clean the kettles, which should be done after each
strike.

The importance of the process of defecation being well understood, it will be
seen hovv^ little notion of sugar-making those persons have who propose to do
away with it.

Filtration through Animal Charcoal in Grains. — Employment of Large Filters.

The filtration through animal charcoal is a process which is not analogous to
the lillralion of water through sand. Animal charcoal acts chemically on the
sugared liquid : it takes hold, as we have already observed, of that excess of lime
wliich is necessary for a good defecation, but whicii becomes hurtful in the after-
boiling ; it absorbs the vegetable matter, wliich, while it darkens the color of the
syrup, favors the decomposition of crystalizable sugar. Animal charcoal, there-
fore, acts by abstracting substances Avhich are in combination with the juice, and
not by arresting, as would a strainer, substances in simple siispcnsion.

It is by not taking into account this dill'erence, real as it is, betAveen the proper
action of animal charcoal and that of any mere filter-serving substance, that many
persons have taken up the erroneous impression that animal charcoal might be
dispensed with by filtering through sand or any other inert substance.

Filtration through animal charcoal is one of the most important points in the
manufacture of sugar — not so much, as is generally supposed, in regard to the
improvement of quality, as to increase of quantity ; for upon the purity of the
juice depends the amount of crystalization. There are manufacturers of beet-
root sugar that employ 200 kilogrammes! of animal charcoal for 100 kilogrammes
of sugar obtained. The expense is small, considering the facility of revivification.

From observations made by us during some years past, we have satisfied our-
selves that it is highly important tiiat the juice or syrup should remain a long
time in contact with the charcoal. Far from being rapid, the filtration should
be very slow. This consideration has induced us to substitute, in place of the
Dumont filters, other filters of a different shape and of greater capacity. The
smallest biters should now hold 1,200 kilogrammes of charcoal. We have had
some put up in beet-root sugar manufactories which hold as much as 3,000 kilo-
grammes.

Although the filters employed should be of great capacity, their size does not
preclude the use of any quantity of animal charcoal less than the full measure
of the filter, even so little as 10 or 12 per cent, of that amount ; but then the
juice must remain longer in contact with it.

From the importance Avhich, it is seen, should be attached to the chemical
processes of the manufacture of sugar, no planter would, from motives of econ-
omy, be disposed to dispense, in such a system as that described in our work,
either with the double-bottom defecating kettles, or with the large size filters.

Planters should bear in mind that the manufacture of beet-root sugar has be-
come possible only since the application of animal charcoal in grains.

Processes of Evaporation.

If, for a number of years past, manufacturers agree in regard to the nature
of the chemical processes to be employed in the manufacture of beet-root sugar,
except as to some changes in the manipulation of those processes, the same
agreement has not existed in regard to the evaporative processes.

For twenty years past, a great number of systems of apparatus have been

* Note by Translator.— This does not apply so stionijl.v lo tin; Louisiana brown sugars, which, although
♦hey leave a sediment when dissolved, are cleaner and better flavored than the generality of West India
sugars. Oui suyHi ia iimde in thi: lull and vvimor. when wc are not troubled with Hies and other insccta,
and, having a weaker juice to operate on. are oblieed to use more care and cleanliness. Indeed, the adapt-
ation of our sugars for consumptiun. in tlieir unrefined state, will probably have a tendency to limit the re-
sort to improved but expensive processes.

t 1 kilo2ramme=2'30 lbs. avoirdupois.
(859)

428 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

tried and saccossively abandoned ; until, at last, opinion has settled down in
favor of the double-effect vacuum system.

We say tiiat opinion has sealed down in favor of our system, although our
apparatus is far from having been introduced into all manufacturing establish-
ments ; but its superiority is acknowledged, as well by those who do not, as by
those who do, make use of it; and, were it not for the uncertainty that hangs
over the sugar-making interest, it would be universally adopted, because it is
established by the experience of the great manufacturers that without it com-
petition is impossible.

It is now fully recognized by chemists, and admitted by all manfacturers, that
ebullition at a high temperature is injurious to syrup ; that under the influence
of that temperature the greater part of the sugar in solution becomes uncrys-
talizable, and is converted into molasses. Hence the importance of rapid evap-
oration, by withdrawing more quickly the saccharine solution from the influence
of high temperature.

It is admitted by the last chemists who have analyzed the juice of the sugar
cane, that molasses is not preexisting in it, but that it is wholly formed during
the process of evaporation. Our Derosne, while in Havana, concreted, by solar
heat, cane juice that had undergone no previous preparation ; and he obtained
a completely dry and crystalized substance, without any indication in it of the
presence of molasses.

These principles, now undisputed, should therefore direct attention to that
system of evaporation which secures most completely the fulfillment of all the
requisite conditions.

We may class the systems of evaporation that have been successively tried in
three categories :

1. Apparatus by naked fire ;

2. Apparatus by steam in free air [under atmospheric pressure] ;

3. Apparatus in vacuo, operating at a low temperature.

We will examine successively each of these divisions, in order to bring to
view the advantages and disadvantages incident to each.
Apparatus hy Naked Fire.

The apparatuses by naked fire were the first to be tried, being those which
naturally were the first suggested. In those apparatuses, ebullition, that causes
the evaporation of the juice, begins at 100°,* and terminates when the syrup has
acquired the density of the strike, or cooked syrup, at llo^^.f This last temper-
ature especially is highly injurious. Attempts were made in France to temper
the action of this last degree of heat, by diminishing, as much as possible, the
time during which the concentrated syrup was exposed to it. With this view
the bascule kettles were constructed, by means of which a small quantity of
syrup could be cooked at one time, and, when cooked, could be quickly emptied
out. This contrivance did not, however, prevent the syrup from being exposed
to the hurtful temperature of a blazing furnace, and from experiencing a very
disadvantageous modification.

JMaked fire was therefore abandoned in France, after a few years' trial, in beet-
root establishments, for the apparatus by steam in free air.

In the Colonies, the mode of heating by naked fire was persisted in, and exists
at this day in conditions much more unfavorable than those to wiiich the beet-
root manufacturers Avere subjected from the beginning. The kettles, in most
cases of cast-iron, exposed to the heat of a furnace, are emptied one into an-
other by means of ladles and buckets. During the time of emptying, the lire in
the furnace continues to act, and the level of the syrup falling continually, that
portion which is exposed on the sides of the kettles is burnt ; hence the caramel-
ization of a portion of the saccharine matter, which, mixed with the syrup, forms
a leaven that decomposes a portion of the sugar. The cooked syrups thus ob-
tained yield but from 45 to 50^ per cent, of crystalizable susar.

Kettfes iieated by naked fire, called jumellcs, were tried in the Colonies, as
well as bascule kettles ; but it was found that the advantage resulting therefrom
cost more than it was worth — the temperature of cooking experiencing- no dimi-
nution.

* Centi},'rn(le— C(mnl to '21-J F. t OHO'' Fahrenheit.

X Note bv Tbanslatok. — A uiisidkc. They yield, even in Louieiana, about 65 per cent, of sugar.
(860)

CULTIVATION OF THE VINE.

429

CULTIVATION OF THE VINE.

(Concluded from page 337. J

Management during the Second Year.
— March 1. — lleniovo the covering, and
fi)rk up the surl'ace of the ground, to the
depth of two or t.liree inches, that tlio sun
and air may freely jieiietrate it. April 1. —
Keep the soil round the roots free from weeds,
and the surface of it loose, either by raking
or forking it up as often as necessary. May
1. — Now remember that only a single shoot
is permanently to be trained throughout the
summer; the object of leavnig two buds the
previous autumn being to provide against the
loss of a shoot in case of any accident. As
soon, therefore, as the strongest has grown
sufficiently to be out of danger of being ac-
cidentally rubbed off, the other is to be cut
out, as hereafter directed. If any other shoots
liave pushed besides the two principal ones,
rub them all off. As soon as the shoots have
grown about a foot in length, nail them to the
wall or fence, as the case may be. Do this
very carefully, for they are as yet extremely
tender. When they have grown about si.x
inches from the last nailing, they must again
be nailed, and continually kept so, never suf-
fering the tops of the shoots to be blown about
by the wind. As the tendrils and lateral
shoots successively ap[)ear throughout the
summer, pinch off the ibrnier when they have
gi'own about three inches in length, and the
latter to an inch beyond the first eye. June
1. — Throughout this month, and the two fol-
lowing ones, whenever the ground appears
pai'chcd through by the heat of the weather,
givo the roots, once a day, about half a gallon
of soap-suds, or dung-water. Keep the groiuid
irce from weeds, and the surface loose and
open, by raking or forking it up om^e a week
throughout the summer. July 1. — The young
shoots being firmly united to the preceding
yt;ar's wood, and therefore past all danger of
being broken off by any accident, uniiail the
weakest .shoot of the two and cut it out close
to the stem, making the surface of the wound
quite smooth and even. The renr.iining shtiot
must be kept nailed to the wall as before di-
rected. November 1. — Cut the vine to the
two lowermost buds, and in the winter, if the
weather be frosty, cover the ground over in
the same manner as in the preceding winter.

Third Year. — March 1. — The winter cov-
eriug nray now bo removed, (provided there
ehould be no hard frost.) and the surface of
the ground must be made quite; m(41nw liv i
using lightly a garden fork or trowel, observ- j
ing great care to avoid disturbing the roots, I
as they will now be found very near the sur- I
lace. Let the subsequeat treatment through- !
(861)

out the season be precisely the same as in tho

preceding summer. If any fruit be shown,

pinch it off as soon as it appears. November

L — It is presumed the stem of the vine will

now be more than two inches in girth, and

therefore two leading shoots are to be perma-

m-nlly retained the next year.

For this purjjose, cut the vine

down to the three lowermost

buds, thus i-esei-\-ing one to

spare, in case oUaccident. The

vino will then resemble the

adjoining figure. The roots

being now sufficiently strong

to withstand the severity of the weather, -will

not in future require covering.

Fourth Year. — March 1 . — Clean the sur-
Hice of the ground, and fork it up lightly, and
let the subsequent management throughout
the season be the same as before. May 1. —
As soon as the shoots have grown a sufficient
length, nail or tie thi;m carefully to the wall
or trellis, and rub ofi" all the others, if any
should have pushed.. If fruit be shown, pinch
it off as in the preceding year. July 1. — tJn-
nail and cut out the weakest of the three
shoots, and train the two remaining ones care-
fully during the remainder of the season.
Sojjt. 1. — Pinch off the tops of the shoots.
November 1. — As the girth of the stem will
not be less now than three inches, the vine
may be permitted to mature fruit the next
year, not exceeding five pounds weight ; for
this purpose, cut down the two shoots to the
seven lowennost buds each. Prune away
the remaining portion of the tendrils and dead
wood close to the shoots ; and cut out care-
fully all the lateral shoots close to the base of
the buds, whence they have sprung. If the
outer bark of the stem be decayed,"rub it oft'
clean ; and then n;iil or tie the shoots to the
wall or trellis in a temporary manu(;r.

Fifth Year.— February 1.— As soon after
this time as tho weather is open, cut out of
each shoot the first, second, fourth, fifth, and
sixth bads ; then bend the two shoots care-
fully down, and secure them in a horizontal
position, similar to that represented by the
shoots in the adjoining figure. March 1. —
Clean the surface of the ground, and fork it
up as in the preceding year. May I. — Traia
the shoots that push from the buds 3 and 7,
in the maimer represented by the dotted lines
1, 2. 3, 4, and if more fruit shows than is
equivalent to the weight before mentioned,
the excess must be cut off Vvhen the berries
are set. July 1.5. — Continue the same courae
of management as in the preceding yeai', and

430

MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

when the roots require watering, they are liquid manure that can be most conveniently
now sufTiciently strong to have ap{)Ued to oV)tained. September 1. — Pinch off the tope
them i'or tliat purpose any description oi" ) of tlie shoots, and the sap will then accuoju

late in the Ijuds. Here we will leave our
author, and pursue a somewhat different
treatment. Early in October, or soon after
the fruit is gathered, let the shoots numljered
1 and 4 be cut back to as many buds as may
be deemed necessaiy to produce the quantity
of fruit which the N'ine can mature tlie next
year, and let those marked 2 and 3 be cut
back to the three lowermost buds. The lat-
eral shoots, as also the stumps of the tendrils,
hhould be cut out as directed in the preceding
year. Let the loose and decayed bark be
rubbed or scraped off, and the shoots fastened
to the wall or trellis, to protect them during
the winter.

Sixth Year. — Commence early in March,
and treat the ground in every respect, during
the season, as in the preceding year, taking
care to incorporate all the leaves or clippings
of the vines with the earth about the roots.
Early in May, or as soon as the shoots num-
bered 2 and 3 have urown a sufficient length,
fasten them carefidly to the wall or trellis,
and let them gi-ow until the first of July.
Tlien cut out the Vi'eakest of the three young
shoots, and treat the two remaining ones (as
indicated in the adjoining figure) precisely as
those numl)ered 1 and 4 were the year pre-
ceding, due care being observed to deprive
all the shoots of any superfluous fruit or leaves

■which may put forth. In October, soon after | lowermost buds, thus reserving one to spare
th-; fruit is guthered from the slioots num- in case of accident, ui order to pn)duce
bcred 1 and 4, cut them down to the tliree I double shoots the following year. No farther
(SCi)

CULTIVATION OF THE VINE.

431

trcatnifjnt will be required than rubbing or
Kcraping off all loose and decayed bark from
tJio vinos, until the next spring.

Skventh Year and SunsKcjnF.NX Treat-
ment.— Goinnience e;u-ly in the mouth of
March, and treat tho gi-ound thi-oughout the
Beasou a«» directed for the preceduig yeai".

Eai'ly in Abiy, or as soon as the shoots nnm-
hored 1 and 1 have attained a snlHciontlon^th,
carcfidly fasten them to the wall or trelli.s,
and let them grow until the fir.st of Jidy.
Thm cut out the weakest of the three young
shoots, and treat the two remaining ones (in-
dicated by 1 and 4 in the aiuiexed iigure) in

every respect as those numbered 2 and 3
were the year before. By the end of the 7tli
year, if the plant belongs to a vineyard, in
which the vines are grown at the distance of
six feet apart, it will have acquired a suffi-
cient number of leading shoots to bear fruit
in abundance. But if it be an isolated vine,
the hc-rizontal branches may be allowed to
extend themselves, and a pair of new shoots
added each year, as long as the fertility of the
soil and the nature of the situation may re-
quire it. During every subsequent year, the
treatment of the ground during spring and
summer should be the same as ia tJie two
seasons preceding. Early in September, the
tops of the young shoots should be pinched
off, in order that the sap may be assimilated
into buds ; and in October, or soon after har-
vesting the grapes, cut back the shoots of the
same year and leave but four eyes to each ;
as, by leaving too many, the vine becomes
exhausted and yields but little fruit, and is
soon destroyed by prematiu-e decay. The
shoots should be cut off in an oblique diiec-
tioa, opposite to, and about an inch and a half
above, the fourth eye from the old wood, in
such a manner as will shed the rain and allow
the buds to suffir-r no injury from the wet. In
the course of the month of May, the vines
should be examined and all tho shoots from
the old wood rubbed off"; and if an eye of
the last year's growth should be found to pro-
(803)

duce twin shoots, the weakest of the two
must be removed, in order that the remauiing
one may the better thrive. In the course of
the season, the superfluous leaves and twigs
nmst often be thinned out; and about the
first of September, as in the preceding years
7>inch off the tops of the shoots, in order that
the sap may assimilate in the buds that are to
be resin-ved for the next year. If the vines
appear to be too exuberant, they may be
pruned at the roots, without injury, at any
season of the year. The most convenient pe-
riod, however, for performing this operation,
where the climate is mild, is in November,
when the roots should be exposed to the light
and air, by drawing away the earth, and let-
ting them remain till .spring ; but where the
wnuters are severe, and subject to continued
ice and frof^t, early in December they should
be re-covered with earth, mixed with well-
rotted manure, leaf-mould, husks and seeds
of grapes, or the clippings and leaves of vines.
If they remain exposed during winter, early
in March the earth should be restored, and
mixed with the manure or other substances,
as named above. This mode was called "ab-
laquoatio " by the Romans, and is still prac-
ticed with advantage in some parts of Italy
and Spain.

Although spring and summer pnniing of
the vine may advantageou.sly be adopted in
all countries of the globe, yet iu places ex-

432

MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

])ose<l to the svin, wifli mild winlers, pinning |
in autumn is tlinuglit to be the best, the most j
natxn-al, at wliich time trees and sin iihs, by a I
divine and eternal law, dmj) Iroth tlieir liuit
and leaves. "Snag pruning" is tliought to
be jn-eierable by some, because, in '• close
pruning " the wounds spread, and prevent
the piotrusion of buds near the attected [larts ;
but if these parts be covered at the time of
pruning with a (preparation of fine earth or
white-lead, mixed with linseed oil, they will
immediately heal.

Mr. Loudon, in treating of the vine, men-
tions three modes of pruning it in hot-houses,
viz : the frait-tree method, in which the plant
is spread out in the manner of a fan, and
trained like a common fruit tree ; the long
or young-wood method, in which all the wood
above a year old is cut out down to the stool
or stock ; and the spun-ing-in method, hi
which the fi-uit is produced from young wood
grown aimually from the seeds of the main

shoot, or Khoofs of old wood. The last two
methods h.o regards as ihe best.

It is cusioniiry willi many to culiivate
(lowers, or vege!,jbi..-s of vaiiniis kinds, be-
tween or near tiieir vm-s. wiilidiil retlecting
that they are doing ihem great injury by ab-
.stracting iheir jiroper nourisliniiMil from the
soil ; a practice not in\\y siridly guarded
a£jaiiist by the most intelligent vine-dressers
of the present tlay, Vnit condemned by aJ!
ancient writfM-s on the .subject ; and .Mijses, in
exhorting the ))eople <A' Israel, very iorcibly
elucidated his discourse by coinmanding tliem
not to defile their vijieyards with the fruit of
divers seeds :

"Thou shall not sow thy vinryanl with divrra
seeds; lest the fruit uf thy S(-i.'d which Ihna hhst
sown, and the fiuil of thy vineyard, be diHIfd "'

Dkutehonomy, x.xii. 9.

Thus plainly showing that the wisdom and
jirndence of this important law was well un-
derstood even at that early day.

PRICES CURRENT.

[Corrected, February 24, for the Monthly Journal of Agricultvrc.]

6 fT.^Q' 7
®—

6 7.') ® —

ASHES— Pots, 1st sort ^ 100 IB. 4 87t®—

I'eavls, lEt sort, '46 5 56}®—

BEESWAX— American Yellow — 2fii® —

CANDLES— Mould, Tallow.. #■ ID... — 9 S)—

Siiemi, Eastern and City — 28 ®—

COTTON— From 4P' tt>. — i'E ®—

COTTON BAGGING— American... — lit® —

CORDAGE— American ^ ft. — 11 ®—

DOMESTIC GOODS-Shirtings.^y. — .'J ®—

Sheetings — 7 "S—

FEATHERS — American, live — 27 ® —

FLAX— American — 7 ®—

FLOUR & MEAL— Genesee, f bbl. 7 — ®—

Tioy ''' — ®~

Michigan 0 !!'7.V® 7

Ohio, Flat Hoop

Ohio, Round Hoop

Ohio, via New-Orleans

Pennsylvania

Brandywine 6 75 ® —

Georgetown 0 75 ® —

BHllimore City Mills 6 75 ®—

Richmond City Mills ~~ ®'~

Richmond Countiy C ~5 ® —

Alexandria, Petersburg, &c 6 75 ® —

Rye Flour 5 — ® 5

Com Meal, Jersey and Brand 5 — ® 5

Com Meal, Brandywine hhd. 22 — ® —

ORAIN— Wheat, White ^ bush. ® 1

Wheat, Weftern, Red 1 55 ® 1

Rye, Northern — 95 ® 1

Com, Jersey and North... (meas.) ® 1

Com, Southern (mea.suro) ® —

Com, Southern (weight) ® 1

Oats, Northern ® —

Oats, Jersey — 42 ®—

HAY— North River in bales, ^100 ffi — a6J®—
HEMP— American, dew-rotted., tonl 15 — ®130

water-rotted 150 — ®200

HOPS— 1 st^sort, 1846 — 9 ®—

HtON— American Via. No 1 '''^'•>~

Conmion 22 ."iO ®2o

MME— Thonu\ston ^' bbl. — 70 ®—

LU.M HER— Boards, N.R., •FM. ft. clr. SO — ®35

Boards, Eastern Pine <2)

Boards, Albany Pine f>'pce. — 10 ®—

Timber. 'Jeorgia Pine fhlAX. 27 50 '3—

(864)

12.V

Staves, White Oak, pipe.%>M .'iO — ®

Staves, White Oak, hhd 40 — 'a)

Staves, White Oak, bbl 30 — «

Staves, Red Ouk, hhd 24 ~ ®28 —

Hoops 20 — ®30 —

Scantling, Pine, Eastern ®

Scantling, Oak @

Timber, Oak ^ cubic foot — 20 ®— 30

Timber, White Pine — 13 ®— 20

Timber, Georgia Yellow Pine — 24 ® — 28

Shingles ^ bunch 1 75 ® 2 —

Shingles. Cedar, 3 feet, Ist quality. 26 — @

Shingles, Cedar, 3 foot, 2d qualiiy. 22 — ®24 —
Shingles, Cedar, 2 feet. 1st quulitv. 17 — ®I8 —
Shinales, Cedar, 2 feet, 2d quulily. 15 — @16 —

Shingles, Cyjacss, 2 feet 13 — ®14 —

Shinales, Compauv 28 — ®30 —

MUSTARD— American — IG ®— 31

NAILS— Wrought, 6d to20d...f^ lb. — iO @-- 14

Cut 4d to -lOd — 4J®— 4t

PI.A.^TER PARIS— F ton @

PROVISIONS— liecf. Moss, ^bbl... 10 •50 ®1] 50

Beef, Prime, 8 50 ® 9 25

Pork, Mess, Ohio 15 — ®

Pork, Prime, Ohio 12 75 ® 13 —

Lard. Ohio F Id. — lOi®— 11

Hams, Pickled — 9®— %

Shoulders, Pickled — 6A®— fij

Sides, Pickled ®

BeoCSmoked ^ lb. — 9i@— 10

Butter. Orange County — 20 ® — 22

Butter, Western Dairy — 14 ® — IG

Butter, Grease — ®

Cheese, in casks and boxes — 7 @ — 7J

SEED.S— Clover Fib.— 8®— 9

Timothy F tierce 20 — ©25 —

Flax, Roush 11 — ®11 25 '

SOAP— N. York, Brown F ». — 3.1®— 5J

TALLOW— American Rendered ... — SivJi- 85

TOBACCO— Virginia ® lb. — 2 ®— 5

North Carolina — 2 ® — 3

Kinitucky and Missouri — 2® — *>

WOOL— Am. Saxony, Fleece,. F lb. — ^J ®— 37}-

American Full Blood Merino — •"'2 ® — 34

American } and J Merino — 25 ® — 27

American Native and i Merino... — 23 @ — 25
Superfine, PiiUed —2a ®— 01

^'^N

^ ^Jt

^

i

! cJ ^ ^ ^

'N

^ '^

0

c\

0

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-5

MONTHLY

JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

VOL. U. APRIL, 1847. NO. 10,

WASHINGTON'S ACCOUNT

OF THE

AGRICULTURAL ADVANTAGES OF THE UNITED STATES IN 1796.

[Correspondence on Agriculture between Sir John Sinclair and Gen, Washington.]

An Account of the Circumstances which induced Sir ^ ~Xj y ' ^^
John Sinclair to apply to General WASHiNGTON>r ' f^ ^^■'<^'yt^C'-tiyy>^

information respecting the several States of North Amer-
ica, in the year 1796.

/<^«^ /^g,2/.

" At the commencement of the year 1796, the aspect of public affairs in Great Britain be-
-came of the gloomiest description. Such was the success of the arms of France, and such
the terror which they inspired, that the Continent seemed to be completely subdued ; while
the affairs of Great Britain itself were so unsuccessfully conducted as to give rise to the most
serious apprehensions, in the minds of many, that it could not much longer continue the
contest. The Minister who then governed this conutrj- (the Right Honorable William Pitt)
was endowed with extraordiiiarj' talents and almost unequaled powers of eloquence. Ho
was much better calculated, however, to shine in a popular assembly than to conduct a war,
more especially in conjunction with other States, whom it was necessary to manage, to con-
ciliate, and to rouse to the greatest possible exertions. He had not, himself, acquired any
knowledge of foreign nations, and he would not listen to the communications of those who
wished to give him true information respecting their characters and views — how far they
might be depended on, and what they were capable of effecting. For some years I hod
been in habits of great nlimacy with him, during which period every suggestion ti-ansmitted
by me for his consideration was almost uuifonnly attended to. But latterly, from an inor-
dinate confidence in his own resources, uu unwillingness to Usteu to disagreeable truths,
(which an independent character felt it his duty to state, when any occasion required it,)
and a dislike to those who would not be completely subservient to him on all occasions, he
all at once altered so much his style of behavior toward me that our coimection together wa«
dissolved.

" At that period of time, any person who did not believe in the infallibility of William Pitt
■was considered a species of public enemy. Disgusted with a nation which had thus sub-
mitted itself to the control of one individual, whom I considered in the light of a personal
enemy, and seeing but little prospect that the countiy would be extricated from the difficul-
ties in which it was involved, unle.ss a different system was pursued, which was not veiy
probable, I naturally thought it necessary to look out for an asylum for myself and family,

(913) as

434 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

where we mit'ht live at a distance from the c:ilamities of Europe, which seemed more likely
to increase than to diminish. I was thence induced to apply to a most respectable coiTe-
spondent (tho President of the United States) to know what part of America was the most
desirable as a place of residence for a British emigrant.

" Tliis short narrative will explain to the reader the circumstances which led General
Washin-^ton to transmit to me the following account of the several States of America. Owing
to the difficulty, however, of removing a numerous family, and unwillingness to quit a coun-
try for which I had naturally a strong predilection, and whose commercial interests and agri-
cultural prosperity I still hoped it might be in my power to promote, the plan of emigration
to America was, after much deliberation, relinquished. This was attended with fortunate
consequences to the country. The Minister was hiduced to adopt a measure recommended
jjy me — that of issuing two millions of E.xchequer bills, by the loan of which the commercial
interest was saved from almost general bankruptcy — and soon aftei-ward he supported with
his influence the plan of instituting ' a Board of AgriniHure,' moved by me in the House
of Commons, where it met with considerable opposition, but whose establishment (to which
the support of the Mmister certainly materially contributed) I trust will fonn an important
era in the history of the first of arts.

" It is only necessary to add that, by various accidents, neither the original copy nor the du-
plicate of the subjoined letter reached me ; but, fortunately, ' a triplicate' was sent, which
safely arrived. It was accompanied by a letter, in General Washington's hand-wniting,
which I thought it proper to have engraved, ' That, with an account of the United States
of America, drawn up by that great statesman, every public-spirited native of America
mi^ht have it in his power not only to possess himself, but to bequeath to his posterity ' the
autograph' of the founder of American Independence, and of one who is justly ranked
among the greatest and most illustrious characters the world has liitherto produced.' "

Answer.

Letter from his Excellency General Washington, to the Right Hon-
orable Str John Sinclair, Baronet, containing an account of the several
States of America, as they ajypeared calculated for the residence of a
British emigrant, in the year 179G.

[Ti-iplicate.] Philadelphia, Uth Dec, 17P6.

Sir • The near view which you liave of the Revolution in France, and of the
political state of things in Europe, especially those of Great Britain has enabled
vou to form a judgment, with so much more accuracy than I could do, ol the
probable result of the perturbated state of the countries which compose that
Quarter of the globe, and of the principal actors on that theatre, that u would be
presumptuous in me, at the distance of 3,000 miles, to give an opiniun relatively
to either men or measures ; and therefore I will proceed to the inlormalion re-
auired in your private letter of the 11th of September, Avhich I will give from
the best knoAvledge I possess, and with the candor you have a right to expect

The United States, as you well know, are very extensive— more than 1,500
miles between the north-eastern and south-western extremities— all parts oi
which from the sea-board to the Apalachian Mountains, (whiah divide the east-
ern from the western waters,) are entirely settled, though not as compactly as
thev are capable of, and settlements are progressing rapidly beyond them.

Within so great a space, vou are not to be told tliai there is great variety of
climates • and you will readilv suppose, too, that there are all sorts of land, dif-
ferently improved and of various prices, according to the quality of the soil ; its

(914)

THE UNITED STATES FIFTV YEARS AGO. 435

contiguity to, or remoteness from, navigation ; the nature of the improvements;
and other hjcal circumstances. These premises, however, are only suflicient for
the furmation of a general opinion, for there are material deviations, as I shall
mention hereafter.

In the New-England States, and to Pennsylvania inclusively, landed property
is more divided tlian it is in the States south of them. The farms are smaller,
the buildmgs and other improvements, generally better, and of consequence the
population is greater. But, then, the climate, especially to the eastward of Hud-
son Kiver, is cold, the winters long, consuming a great part of the summer's la-
bor in support of their stocks during the winter. Nevertheless, it is a country
abounding in grass, and sells much tine beef, besides exporting many horses to
the West Indies. A mildew or blight (I am speaking now of the New-England
States particularly) prevents them froni raising wheat adequate to their own
consumption ; and of other grains they export little or none, hsh being their sta-
ple. They live well, notwithstanding, and are a happy people. Their numbers
are not augmented by foreign emigrants, yet from their circumscribed limits,
compact situation, and natural population, they are filling the western parts of
the Stale of New- York, and the country on the Ohio, with their own surplusage.

New-Jersey is a small State, and all parts of it, except the south-western, are
pleasant, healthy, and productive of all kinds of grain, &:c. Being surrounded
on two sides by New-York, and on the other two by Delaware River and the
Atlantic, it has no land of its own to supply the surplus of its population ; of
course their emigrations are principally toward the Ohio.

Pennsylvania is a large State, and from the policy of its founder, and of the
Government since, and especially from the celebrity of Philadelphia, has become
the general receptacle of foreigners from all countries, and of all descriptions,
many of whom soon take an active part in the politics of the State ; and coming
over full of prejudices against their own Governments — some against all Gov-
ernments— you will be enabled, without any comment of mine, to draw your
own inference of their conduct.

Delaware is a very small State, the greater part of which lies low, and is sup-
posed to be unhealthy. The eastern shore of Maryland is similar thereto. The
lands in both, however, are good.

But the western parts of the last-mentioned State, and of Virginia, quite to
the line of North Carolina, above tide water, and more especially above the Blue
Mountains, are similar to those of Pennsylvania between the Susquehanna and
Potomac Rivers, in soil, climate and productions, and, in my opinion, will be
considered, if it is not considered so already, as the garden of America ; foras-
much as it lies between the two extremes of heat and cold, partaking in a de-
gree of the advantages of both, without feeling much the inconveniences of
either, and with truth it may be said, is among the most fertile lands in America,
east of the Apalachian Mountains.

The uplands of North and South Carolina and Georgia are not dissimilar in
soil, but as they approach the lower latitudes, are less congenial to wheat, and
are supposed to be proportionally more unhealthy. Toward the sea-board of all
the Southern States, (and farther south the more so,) the country is low, sandy,
and unhealthy; for which reason I shall say little concerning them: for, as I
should not choose to be an inhabitant of them myself, I ought not to say anything
that would induce others to be so.

This general description is furnished, that you may be enabled to form an idea
of the part of the United States which would be most congenial to your inclina-
tion. To pronounce with any degree of precision what lands could be obtained
for in the parts I have enumerated, is next to impossible, for the reasons I have
before assigned ; but upon pretty good data it may be said that those in Pennsyl-
vania are higher than those in Maryland, (and I believe in any other State,) de-
clining in price as you go southerly, until the rice-swamps of South Carolina
and Georgia are met with, and those are as much above the medium in price as
they are below it in health. I understand, however, that t'rom oO to 40 dollars
per acre (I fix on dollars because they apply equally to all the States, and be-
cause their relative value to sterling is well understood) may be denominated
the medium price in the vicinity of the Susquehanna, in the State of l^ennsyl-
vania ; from 20 to 30 on the Potomac, in what is called the valley — that is, lying

(915)

436 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

between the North Mountain and the Blue Mountain, which are the richest
lands we have, and less, as I have noticed beibre, as you proceed southerly. But
what may appear singular, and was alluded to in the former part of this letter,
the lands in the parts of which I am now speaking, on and contiguous to tide-
water, (with local exceptions,) are in lower estimation than those which are
above and more remote from navigation. The causes, however, are apparent —
1. The land is better; 2. Higher and more healthy ; 3. They are chiefly, if not
altogether, in the occupation of farmers ; 4. From a combination of all of them,
purchasers are attracted, and of consequence the price rises in proportion to the
demand.

The rise in the value of landed property, in this country, has been progressive
ever since my attention has been turned to the subject, (now more than 40 years,)
but for the last three or four of that period it has increased beyond all calcula-
tion ; owing it part to the attachment to, and the confidence which the people
are beginning to place in their form of Government, and to the prosperity of the
country from a variety of concurring causes — none more than to the late high
prices of its produce.

From what I have said, you will have perceived that the present prices of
land in Pennsylvania are higher than tiiey are in Maryland and Virginia, although
they are not of superior quality. Two reasons have already been assigned for
this: first, that in the settled part of it the land is divided into smaller farms,
and more improved ; and, secondly, being in a greater degree than any other the
receptacle of emigrants, these receive the first impressions in Philadelphia, and
rarely look beyond the limits of the State ; but besides these, two other causes
not a little operative may be added, namely, that until Congress passed general
laws, relative to naturalization and citizenship, foreigners found it easier to ob-
tain the privileges announced to them in that State than elsewhere ; and because
there are laws here for the gradual abolition of slavery, which neither of the two
States above mentioned have at present, but which nothing is more certain than
that they must have, and at a period not remote.

Notwithstanding these obstacles, and although I may incur the charge of par-
tiality in hazarding such an opinion, at this time, I do not hesitate to pronounce
that the lands on the waters of Potomac will in a few years be in greater demand
and in higher estimation than in any other part of the United States. But as I
ought not to advance this doctrine without assigning reasons for it, I will re-
quest you to examine a general map of the United Slates, and the following facts
will strike you at first view: That they lie in the most temperate latitude of the
United States ; that the main river runs in a direct course to the expanded part
of the western country, and approximates nearer to the principal branches of
the Ohio than any other eastern water, and of course must become a great, if
not (under all circumstances) the best highway into that region ; that the upper-
seaport of the Potomac is considerably nearer to a large portion of the State of
Pennsylvania than that portion is to Philadelphia, besides accommodating the
settlers thereof with inland navigation for more than 200 miles : that the ama-
zing extent of tide navigation atTorded by the l>ay and rivers of Chesapeake has
scarcely a parallel. When to these are added, that a site at the junction of the
inland and tide navigations of that river is chosen for the permanent seat of the
General Government, and is in rapid preparation for its reception ; that the inland
navigation of the river is nearly completed to the extent above mentioned ; that
its lateral branches arc capable of great improvement at a small expense, through
ihe most fertile parts of Virginia, in a southerly direction, and crossing Mary-
land and extending into Pennsylvania in a northerly one, through which (inde-
pendent of what may come from the western country) an immensity of produce
will be water-borne, thereby making the Federal city the great emporium of the
United States — I say when these things are taken into consideration, I am un-
der no api)rehension of havinir the opinion I have given relative to the value of
land on Potomac controverted by imi)arlial men.

There are farms always and everywhere for sale ; if, therefore, events should
induce you to cast an eye toward .America, there need be no apprehension of
your being accommodated to your liking ; and if I could be made useful to you
tliercin, you might command my services with llie greatest freedom.

Within full view of Mount Vernon, separated therefrom by water only, is one

(91GJ

THE UNITED STATES AT THE PRESENT TIME. 437

of the most beautiful seats on the river, for sale, but of greater magnitude than
you seem to have contemplated. It is called Bclvoir, and did belong to George
William Fairfax, Esq., wiio, was he living, would now be Baron of Cameron, as
his younger brother in this country (George William dying without issue) at
present is, though he does not take on himself the title.

This seat was the residence of the above named gentleman before he went to
England, and was accommodated with very good buildings, which were burned
soon after he left them. There are near 2,0U0 acres of land belonging to the
tract, surrounded in a manner by water. The mansion-house stood on high and
commanding ground. The soil is not of the first quality, hut a considerable part
of it lying level may, with proper management, be proiitably cultivated. There
are some small tenements on the estate, but the greater part thereof is in wood.
At present it belongs to Ferdinando Fairfax, son of Bryan Fairfax, the gentle-
man who will not, as I said before, take upon himself the title of Baron of Cam-
eron. A year or two ago the price he fixed on the land was (as I have been in-
formed) 335 dollars per acre ; whether not getting that sum, or whether he is
no longer disposed to sell it, I am unable with precision to say ; for I have heard
nothing concerning his intentions lately.

With respect to the tenements I have offered to let, appertaining to my Mount
Vernon estate, I can give no better description of them and of their appurten-
ances, than what is contained in the printed advertisement herewith inclosed ;
but, that you may have a more distinct view of the farms, and their relative
situation to the mansion-house, a sketch from actual survey is also inclosed ; an-
nexed to which I have given you, from memory, the relative situation and form
of the seat at Belvoir.

The terms on which I had authorized the superintendent of my concerns at
Mount Vernon to lease the farms there, are also inclosed ; which, with the other
papers and the general information herein detailed, will throw all the light I am
enabled to give you upon the subject of your inquiry. To have such a tenant as
Sir John Sinclair, however desirable it might be, is an honor I dare not hope for :
and to alienate any part of the fee-simple estate of Mount Vernon is a measure
1 am not inclined to, as all the farms are connected and parts of a whole.

With verj' ereat esteem and respect I have the hnnnr to be, Sir,

Your most obedient and obliged h'ble servant, G. WASHINGTON.

P. S. As I shall have an opportunity in the course of the present Session of
Congress to converse with the members thereof from different States, and differ-
ent parts of each State, I will write you a supplementary account, if essential
information should be obtained in addition to, or corrective of, what is given to
you in the aforegoing sheets.

The first public allusion to the preceding correspondence, between the founder
and first President of the British Board of Agriculture and the illustrious Far-
mer of Mount Vernon, is to be found in a letter addressed by the former to the
Editor, then of the American Farmer, and now of this journal. It was pub-
lished in the former paper twenty-six years ago — nearly two years after its es-
tablishment.

In that letter he says : " I think it right to add, that owing to some peculiar
circumstances, I have in my possession a description of the States of America
drawn up by the * illustrious Washington ' himself. I have some thoughts of
publishing that most valuable and curious document, that every true American
may be able to possess an account of his native country, from the pen and sanc-
tioned by the signature of ' its greatest ornament.' "

With the names of Sinclair and Washington there are associations too in-
teresting to every true patriot and friend of Agriculture, to make any apology
necessary for appropriating to these documents, now more than fifty years old,
the space we have assigned them — even though, as may be admitted, thoy may
not directly conduce to any sheerly profitable result, which some would contend
everything should do which is offered for perusal to practical Farmers. As if

(917)

438 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

they alone of all creation, whose physical labors are the most incessanl, should
have neither relish nor opportunity for any iatellectual recreation.

In the course of their subsequent correspondence, on topics mutually engaging,
Sir John Sinclair sent to Mr. Skinner what purports to be a fac-simile copy of Gen.
Washington's letter, together with an original letter, of which our publishers have
here given a fac-simile. With these, the Baronet sent also his own original and
interesting " statement of the circumstances " which led to his reception of the
Washington letter. This statement is now published, probably, for the first time,
though the letter, we believe, is in Sparks's Collection. With these documents
came the sketch of a Monument, which it was proposed to have erected to
Washington at Caithness, Scotland. Sir John Sinclair evidently anticipated that
the proceeds from the sale of these documents to Americans would be very
considerable, as he recommended them to be printed in an attractive form, and
the type to be " kept standing." — "The inclosed letter should be printed in a
large type, so as to fill as large a space as possible — the press should be kept
standing, so as to supply any demand." It seems somewhat strange that he did
not suggest or allude to its being stereotyped, since that process had been per-
fected and brought into general use twenty years before ; and the more so, as
among the most prominent in this great improvement, were artists Ged, TuUoch
and Foulis, of Edinburgh and Glasgow, in his own country.

It was the expressed wish of the venerable Baronet, that the publication
should be dedicated, if his permission could be had, to that eminently pure
patriot, Col. Monroe, then President of the United States, with whom he
claimed to be distantly related.

For certain reasons, the project of the publication was not carried out.
It is not a little curious now, after the lapse of more than half a century, to
compare the state and prospects of the country, as they then appeared in the
view of General Washington, Avith its subsequent unparalleled growth in popu-
lation and extension to — the Lord only knows where !

JNot without significance is his remark in the close of his sketch of Pennsylva-
nia. Not foreseeing the effect of the public works, on which the great and ever-
swelling tide of European emigration is now floated on to the great, cheap, fer-
tile, and illimitable West, his anticipations for Western Virginia were very
natural ; and but for the forecast and influence of Bayard, and Clinton, and Van
Rensselaer, and their powerful associates, in opening the "big Ditch," his predic-
tions for the Old Dominion would ere this have been measurably fulfilled. Nor
are we sure that those who have gone farther have not fared worse than if they
had settled there, " above the Blue mountains, between the two extremes of heat
and cold." What glorious fields that old Mother of States has kept, and still
keeps open, for every industrial enterprise ! Can nothing break the malign
spell, whatever it be, that keeps them l>om being occupied ? If by a unani-
mous vote, in the fervor of her well-tried patriotism, she can bestow $10,000 to
fit out a single Federal regiment, for distant wars, can she not find an equal sum
for the establishment of a ISormal School of Agriculture, at the seat of her
Government, in which the Youth of the Slate might be prepared to develop her
rich resources, by being thorougiily instructed in natural and mechanical phi-
losophy, chemistry, geology, mineralogy, animal and vegetable physiology,
civil engineering, practical surveying, and rural architecture of all descriptions?

But alas !

As to what the General says of the Southern States, then extending only to

(918)

THE UMTED STATES AT THE PRESENT TIME. 439

the southern line of Georgia : " As I would not choose to be an inhabitant of
them myself, I ought not to say anything that would induce others to be so" —
doubtless he thought as he spoke ; but where in this country of ours, which is
fast getting to be " some," is there such a delicious climate for three-fourths of
the year ? so genial ! so hospitable ! And then, such a people — true descend-
ants of the Cavalier stock — with hearts warm and generous as their clime ; and
as for their women I — what lighted up so briglitly the darkest periods of the Rev-
olution, as the fortitude and humanity of Southern matrons ?

So well did Washington's ablest coadjutor think of the South, after years of
marching and counter-marching, fighting and running and fighting again, in sun-
shine and in rain, that he, the " Quaker " General, Greene, chose it for his per-
manent residence. True, he died there ; and do not men die everywhere ? Are
we not told that " all flesh is as grass ?"

The last reason assigned by Washington for the higher price of land in Penn-
sylvania, than in Maryland and Virginia, will not fail to attract the notice of the
observant reader, and is as true now as it was then : "And because there are
laws there for the gradual abolition of Slavery, which neither of the two States
above mentioned have at present, but which nothing is more certain than that
they must have, and at a period not remote." Such was the opinion, not only
of Washington, but of Marshall, of Jefferson, and Madison and Monroe, and all
the brightest luminaries in those brightest days of this Republic. Let the in-
quirer who would know why it is that his prophecies have not been fulfilled, ask
those fanatical reformers, who in all ages have allowed their zeal to outrun all
discretion. But has it not been said, time out of mind, that where God sends
meat, there the Devil is sure to send cooks ?

That his anticipations in respect of the lands on the tributaries of the Chesa-
4)eake would have been realized, if at a time then "not remote" Slavery had
been removed from the State, many of the best informed of his countrymen still
believe ; for what portions of this Union can be compared with Delaware, Mary-
land and Virginia, for climate and facilities to bring forward their products in ad-
vance of all other places of equal contiguity to domestic markets, and open at all
seasons to the ocean, to take advantage of all favorable changes in the markets
abroad ? But the fact is, that slave-labor cannot be profitably employed in alli-
ance with grain staples I Where the crops are to be labored almost the entire
year, and where to some of its processes every species of force may be applied,
so that nearly every consumer is also a worker — sustenance and production thus
going hand in hand — the case is quite different ; and in no agricultural field is the
labor of a given number of operatives applied with more system, exactness, ef-
ficiency and prolit, than on large plantation estates. But we only meant to ex-
plain the " circumstances " under which this correspondence came into our pos-
session, and not to comment on it. The "statement" of the great founder of the
renowned Board of Agriculture is, we believe, both original and curious in its
items of history, political and biographical. But as for the idea of a perishable
pile of stone and mortar in memory of one whose renown is but compacted and
polished by the hand of Time, that destroyeth all things else, types and his-
tory may be safely left to do their office. While these can speak, his name will
be carried down with increasing admiration to posterity. The very vices of suc-
ceeding ages will increase its lustre.

(919)

440 JUDGE BUEL AND EDMUND RUFFIN.

JUDGE BUEL AND EDMUND RUFFIN.

The Editor of The Farmers' Library, with due deference, suggests to the
New- York State Agricultural Society the propriety of awarding every year,
for some important and worthy display of agricultural excellence, a suitable and
characteristic premium, to be known and contended for, as the

BUEL PREMIUM.

While gold medals, and costly swords, and elevated rank are bestowed by the
wise men of the nation out of the public funds, for distinguished success in fields
of battle and blood ; and gallant men are stimulated to excellence in that way, by
the public bestowal ofmagnihcentrewards,high pay, and merited honors for them-
selves and pensions for their families ; would it be out of place, we ask it most
respectfully, in you, who are appointed to watch over the landed interest, to offer
every year your leading premium in honor of him who labored so long, so zeal-
ously, and with so much effect, to turn the minds of the young generation to ways
of peace and usefulness : and to look on Agriculture not as a mean drudgery, in
which any clown might succeed with strong back and strong arms, but as a
business demanding high and varied mental attainments, and eminently condu-
cive to private and public morals ?

The object might be for the best cultivated farm, or a labor-saving implement
or machine, displaying something new and economical in its construction. Any-
thing but the fattest hog, or the heaviest half-acre of corn or carrots, or the fat-
test bullock or biggest turnips ; unless the animal or the vegetable be reared on
some new and, hitherto, untried food, or new mode of preparing it, constituting
altogether a novel and useful discovery in rural economy. And as Mr. Ruffin
— whose works have been deemed worthy of being pirated on the other side of
the great water — does not live in the State, but has added immensely to Amer-
ican agricultural literature and products, it would, we most respectfully suggest,
evince a commendable liberality and enlarged views to offer a similar premium',

to be called the

RUFFIN PREMIUM.

If Agriculturists would have their calling respected, let them lose no occasion
to stand up for themselves. We respectfully submit the same suggestion to the
American Institute, that being, in its very name, a national institution.

Each might offer premiums, too, to be called after their successive Presidents.
It would seem to be but a fit compliment to those who must be presumed to
haverisen entirely by their usefulness and liberality, to the head of such institutions.

There might also be the Van Rensselaer, and the Clinton, and the W'adsaorth
medals, for these were all great promoters of education and agricultural improve-
ments. As nothing is to be expected from Government to reward or honor great
promoters of industrial pursuits, let societies use every occasion to make their
names honorably familiar to posterity, if only to excite emulation. What was the
fate of Robert Morris, without whose financiering there could have been no
fighting ? — The man to whose linancial operations the Americans were said to
owe as much as to the negotiations of Franklin, or even the arms of Washington,
was allowed by his country to pass the latter years of his life in prison — con-
fined for debt !
(920)

MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 441

MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

ESSEX COUNTY.

Plowing with Double Teams— Single Teams— Subsoil-Plowing— Working Oxen— Milch Cows and Heifers—

The Dairy.

Having in a previous number given some account of the last doings of the old
Massachusetts State Society, we come now to the Abstract of the proceedings
of the County Societies, as exhibited by the returns of their officers, under the
law requiring them to make report to the office of the Secretary of State, not
only of what disposition they have made and propose to make of the funds de-
rived from the State, but to " accompany the same with such general observa-
tions concerning the state of Agriculture and manufactures in the State as they
may deem important or useful."

We stop a moment to remark, that even here the Agricultural Society is
charged to look after another interest besides its own — " concerning the state of
Agriculture and manufactures.'''' ISIow to this we are entering no objection, but
m all the annals of industrial associations, have we ever seen a manufacturin<'-,
or commercial, or mechanical association charged by the law-making power to
look after Agriculture? Well, let that pass ! It is from these Reports and ob-
servations that we select what follows, being guided by what it is supposed may
be most generally acceptable and useful, if not new, more particularly to readers
without than within that venerable Commonwealth — a Commonwealth of which
Mr. Colman has beautifully and truly written : " Let the children of I\Iassachu-
setts, then, love and honor their good old Mother. Her soil may be hard, but
labor compels it to be bountiful. Her climate may be harsh, but it gives strength
and elasticity to the muscles, and the brightness of its own stars to the mind.
Her voice in winter may be sometimes hoarse, and her face wrinkled and frown-
ing ; but her children will not love her the less for a sternness of discipline by
which she trains them up in habits of unremitting labor and self-dependence,
and thus qualifies them to be blessings and ornaments of their own community,
the substantial pillars of the federal edifice, and the pioneers of learning, civili-
zation, humanity and religion in the boundless West." And first, of the

ESSEX COUNTY SOCIETY.

Whose Report is said to be the " most complete," that Society having from its
long experience in publishing annually a volume of its transactions, attained a
high rank in the fullness of its Reports and the exactness of its statements.

Plowing avith Double Teams. — At the Cattle-Show, Sept. 24, 1845, there
were thirteen competitors, and the quarter of an acre assigned to each was to
he plowed not less than seven inches deep, and was done in from thirty-five to
forty minutes. Notwithstanding, say the Committee of Judges, (who in Massa-
chusetts are themselves many of them habituated to the use of the plow,) these
trials have been so often repeated, (more than twenty years,) they are still re-
ceived with increasing interest, and (listen, you of the stand-still school,) "every
succeeding year brings to notice some valuable improvement.'" Now how, but
by bein? printed, and thus taking the furm of that " book knowledge " so much

442 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE,

sneered at, would these " improvements " which " every year brings to notice,"
get to be widely known and available '■?

The Committee proceed to remark, that they are strongly impressed with the
superior value of those plows which lay the furrow-slice /a< and even, especially
in the cultivation of grass. The trials which we have witnessed in Massachu-
setts have generally been in tough old sward-land. The harrow is afterward
brought into play. It fills up all the chinks, makes smooth work, and the suc-
ceeding crop is planted or sowed on the sod thus inverted, Avithout disturbing it ;
and as the grass and its roots perish and roi, the succeeding crop gets the whole
benefit,

Plowing with Single Teams. — The experiments detailed go to show that an
acre of land may be plowed by a single yoke of cattle and one man in four hours,
and " probably nearly two acres in a day." The Committee ask whether it would
not be better when two pair are employed instead of one, to use them separately,
applying the second pair to a s7i/iA027-plow to follow the first one. This must
somewhat depend on the depth of the soil. In Worcester County, where this
whole business is as well understood as in any part of the world, the premiums
are limited to one pair of cattle without a driver. By driver is meant, not the
plowman, but one who attends him to lead and urge forward the team. A plow-
ing-match at Worcester is the most beautiful and impressive of all agricul-
tural operations. Nothing can exceed the quiet self-possession, calmness and
docility of the plowman and his team. It is indeed to be remarked of the ox
that he never commits the blunder of going to the right when ordered to the
left, or vice versa. His instincts are infallible.

Subsoil-Plowing. — The only entry of subsoil-plows was made by Benjamin
Poor, of Indian Hill farm, West Newbury, and distinguished as the winner of
the premium for the best cultivated farm in the State submitted for inspection —
an honor that in any highly enlightened and virtuous Republic, would win higher
social and political reward than the most triumphant success on the ensanguined
field of battle. The Society acknowledged their obligations for being often in-
debted to Mr. P. for contributions to its Shows.

The Committee close their Report with the general remark : " Farmers every-
where, who have tried subsoil-plowing, concur in representing it as beneficial in
draining wet lands, and in counteracting the effects of drouth on dry soils ; and
your Committee believe its advantages will be made apparent to all who will
make a trial of it."

Working Oxen. — This term in Massachusetts seems to be applied, where
premiums are offered, exclusively to oxen working in carts, hauling heavy loads
to test their strength. It is only where oxen are so almost exclusively used that
men get to be versed in the niceties that come into consideration in awarding
premiums to the best.

The highest premium was awarded to " Jonathan Berry, Jr., of Middletown,
for his speckled-face ctlWIc, five years old." They were " large of their age, well
formed, not full in flesh, well matched as to temper, and well trained for cattle
of that age." One important point is, that they should work " even and true."

Milch Cows and Hfjfers. — All that were entered for premiums were of
"native breed." The first premium was awarded to Henry Cressy for a cow
six years old, and as readers generally may be curious to know some particulars
of a premium cow in old Essex, Massachusetts, Hou. Tiinotky Pickcring^s county.

MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTTRE. 443

we give Mr. Cressy's statement: "She calved 21st May, and gave milk as
follows :

From May 21 to June 'iJl Milk l.ino Ihs. 4 oz.

■' June 'Jt to July 21 ■• i,2ii4 " & "

" July 'Jl to Auj^'ust 21 '■ 1,127 " 8 •'

" August 21 to September 21 " 95<> " 8 "

Total in four months " 4,817 lbs. 4 oz.

Mr. Cressy says he sold most of her milk, but he found by experiment that 19
pounds of it would yield one pound of butter. At that rate, she would have
yielded in the four months 253 pounds of butter, or something more than two
pounds a day. He stated as to her keeping, that it had been " good grass feed:
with the exception of seven weeks, when she had two quarts of shorts per day."
How much more valuable such a cow, so fed or pastured, than half a dozen such
as we have in many of the States, which in summer yield a scanty supply of
butter, and in winter give scarcely cream enough for their coffee ! Nothing pays
better, in the whole round of domestic economy, than a little extra feed and
care, shelter and shorts, with a dust of Indian meal, to a good cow.

Mr. Warren AvERiLL took the second premium. His cow was six years old.
She calved 21st April. The calf was kept to 13th May. With what milk "the
calf left" until that time, and all afterward to 20th May, one month, she pro-
duced twenty pounds eight oimces of butter. In the four succeeding months she
gave 4,375 pounds of milk, that yielded 211 lbs. 2 oz. butter ; being something
more than twenty pounds of milk to one of butter. Her feed was pasture only,
except from 30th of August, when he began giving her 1 quart of Indian and 1
quart of rye meal every night.

WiLLiAJi Williams took the third premium for a cow whose calf he sold for
$10 at 6 weeks and 3 days old ; and during these six weeks he sold 52 quarts
of milk and got Tj lbs. of butter from her. She gave, from the time the calf
was taken from her, from 14 to 15 quarts of milk a day for a few days over four
months. She calved 6th Feb., 1845, and on the 23d Sept. she was giving 8
quarts a day. Her keep was salt hay until she calved ; then one feed of " English
hay," at noon, and half a bushel of carrots per day for two months ; after that
no carrots, but one food of English hay at noon, and salt hay night and morning
until " pasture time." " The first two weeks after she calved she gave 10 qts.
of milk daily more than the calf could suck." P. S. She made 9 lbs. of butter
per week till pasture time ; then the milk was put with that of the rest of my
cows."

The reader may here see how valuable is even one cow in a family, when of
good quality and well kept; but these " pastures" in Massachusetts are gener-
ally well set in old English grass, one acre of it bearing more milk-producing
grass than six of ordinary pasture in some other old States. How valuable will
" The Cow Book" prove, in process of time, to all who thus rely on the cow for
the sustenance of their families and for a portion of their income, supposing the
signs laid down in it to prove as infallible as they have been found by Mr. Brooks,
a practical farmer of the highest respectability, whose letter we published, and
whose testimony has been corroborated by several others who, without going so
much into detail, have assured us that with this book in hand they have tested
the theory far enough to have no fear of being imposed on with an indifferent
cow. As we desire in all cases to arrive at the exact truth, we respectfully re-
quest that the Trustees of all Societies would place The Cow Book in the bands
of their Committees appointed to award premiums, with instructions to see bow

(9^3)

441

MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

far the theory is borne out. Should this fall under the eye of Mr. Phinney, we
take leave to ask tlie favor of him to apply the t-igns to tlie imported and other
cows, when convenient. The book is in great demand in the Eastern States.

And now, having got through with the Essex Premium Cows, and shown to
our southern friends " what they are like," we proceed to tlie Report

On the Dairy. — Premiums were awarded for 1st, 2d and 3d best June butter,
and same for September butter. As the reader maybe curious to know the pro-
cess and the quantity, we will give the statements of the two gentlemen who
took the first prize in each case. Although other processes may be as good, it
is fair to presume those to be at least equal to the best, who, following them,
took the highest premium, for quality and quantity combined. Thus, as to the
June butter, we give George W. Dodge's statement :

GEORGE W. DODGE'S STATEMENT.

I present for your inspection one box of
June butter, conUiiuing 25 lbs., being a spe-
cimen of 132 lbs. made between the 1st of
June and the 9th of July, from .5 cows ; also,
2 boxes of September butter, containing 27
lbs., being a specimen of 405 lbs. made be-
tween the 20th of May and the 20th of Sep-
tember, from the same cows. > Theii- feed has
been common pasture until August; since
then, the pasture being very poor and diy,
we have fed them night and morning witli
green corn fodder, which was raised lor the
purpose.

Process of Making. — The milk is strained
into tin pans, where it stands from 36 to 48
hours. It is then skimmed and the cream
pat into till pails, standing on the bottom of

For the September butter the first premium was awarded to Warren Averill,
Esq. It will be observed that in one case the buttermilk is worked out by hand,
and in the other tvashed out with water, so that this long mooted point is yet in
abeyance :

the cellar ; a little salt is put into the pails
before putting in the cream, which, at the
times of addition, is stirred. We chum twice
a week. The buttermilk is thoroughly
worked out by hand, no water being used
for that purpose. In warm weather, the
cream is lowered into the well the night be-
fore cliurning. Immediately after tiie butter-
milk is worked out, the butter is salted with
an ounce of giound rock-salt to the pound,
and in about 24 hours it is again worked
over.

N. B. The June butter is packed down in
layers of five pounds each, and salt sprinkled
between ; the top is covered with s;ilt, and
the pot is set on the bottom of the cellai'.

Wenham, Sept. 24, 1845.

WARREN AVERILL'S STATEMENT.

I offer for your inspection one pot and box
of September butter, containing 32 lbs., be-
ing a specimen of 211 lbs. 2 o/. made from
one cow since the 20th day of May until the
20th day of September, inclusive.

Process of Making. — The milk is sti-ained
into tin pans, and stands from 24 to 3G hours
in a cellar, when the cream is taken off and
p\it into a tin pail. We cliurn, the first part
of the season, <mce in four days ; tlio latter
part, once a week. The cream is brought
from the cellar in the morning, and sti-ained
tlirough a cloth into the chum. After it is
churned, (whirh hxs taken, on an average,
Bcven minutes,) the butter is taken out of
the churn, put into an e;nthen pan, ;uul water
put with it. This is lepeattxl until the butter-

milk is thoroughly rinsed from the butter, so
that there is scarcely any color in the water.
The butter is then worked over. Then it is
put into an earthen pan, and sjilted with one
ounce of salt to a pound of butter. It is then
worked over again thoroughly, piece by
piece, tlien made into balls and put into the
cellar, fit for market.

I keep two cows. Flora and Kendall. —
Flora I keep ibr butter ; Kendall I keep for
milk to sell, and use in the family. Flora
has made 211 lbs. 2 oz. of butter since the
20th day of May to the 20th day of Septem-
ber, inclusive.

Ipswich, Sept. 21, 18)5.

K<ife. — The manner of keeping the above
cow and her jneld of uiilk are given in a pre-
ceding statement.

Among other branches that remain to be touched upon to show what is deemed
the right thing in New-England, we shall have to present from this Abstract no-
tices of Meadow and Swamp Lands — Premium Farms — Fruit Trees — Lime —
Fences, and Vegetables.

(924)

farmers' club in FAIRFAX COUNTY, VIRGINIA. 445

FARMERS' CLUB IN FAIRFAX COUNTY, VIRGINIA.

SETTLEMENT OF NORTHERN FARMERS IN THAT REGION.

Having heard contradictoiy accounts of the piogrens of emigi'ation from the North into
Fairfax County, Virginia, and very diflerent statements lus to the success of the movement,
and whether their northern systems and liabits had l>een maintained and become contagious
in their new abodes, or whether they liad laid tliem down and taken up those of the sous
and daughters of the Old Dominion, we have been anxious to make personal observation to
ascertain the exact " state of the case " — more especially as it would have afforded the oc-
casion for brightening the chaui of afiection with some old fiiends in that quarter ; but so far
we have found it impossible to find time enough to giatify our wishes in that respect.
Aware that a gentleman from New-York, eveiy way reliable, respected wherever known
and well qualified to give the infonnation, had joined the settlers from that State, we ad-
dressed him a letter, of which we have no copy, but the tenor and purport of it may be
easily inferred from the contents of the following :

J. S. Skinner, Esq. Lake Bokgne Place, PnosrECT IIili-, Fairfax Co., Va., liJth Jan. 1847.

Dear Sir : In part compliance with the request contained in your letter of tlie
5th inst., I transmit you herewith a condensed outline of the Constitution of the
Farmers' Association formed in our neighborhood, and a general sketch of ihe
progress and results of northern and eastern emigration to this portion of Vir-
ginia, so far as I have been able to collect the same.

1. The general objects of our Association are declared to be " the acquisition
and ditl'usion of useful and practical knowledge in reference to agricultural sci-
ence ; the most approved and successful modes of farin husbandry in all its de-
partments ; the most proiitable, judicious and economical application of labor and
capital in tilling the soil ; and the general relation and connection of physical,
moral, political and social science with agricultural improvement." Its officers
consist of a President, two Vice Presidents, a Corresponding and Recording Sec-
retary, a Treasurer and Librarian ; together with a Standing Committee of three,
charged with the selection and arrangement of topics for discussion and the ob-
taining of occasional lecturers, &c. The meetings are held monthly, and in the
evening ; the officers are annually elected ; and the topics for discussion are
taken up in their order as reported from time to time by the Committee, and
may be preceded or followed by resolutions enibracing the sense of the Associa-
tion, or of the member presenting them, on the subject matter under considera-
tion. The payment of lifiy cents on subscribing the Constitution, and the same
amount quarterly thereafter, constitutes the sole condition of membership.

2. In reference to " the number of actual settlers from the IS'orth within a
given number of years, the quantity of land each has purchased, and the prices
given" — I am not prepared, at this time, to lurnish you with tliat full and ac-
curate statistical information which I hope io be able at a future period to ac-
complish through the agency of investigation to be set on foot by our Associa-
tion. By information, however, derived from the very intelligent Clerk of our
County Court, S. M. Ball, Esq., and from other reliable sources, I am enabled to
stale that not less than two hundred families have removed into this single
counir from the Northern and Eastern States within the past five years, and are
now domesticated here, without the remotest intention, wish, or desire, so far
as I can learn, to " take the back track " — that upward of $200,000 in the ag-
gregate have been invested by them in the purchase of land for farming pur-
poses ; and that the amount paid per acre for such land would not exceed, on an
average, from $5 to $S. The highest price ascertained to be paid is $26 for an
improved farm of two hundred acres, with buildings originally costing .1^7,000,
and the present value of which could not fall short of $'1,000. Lands of the
best quality, with ordinary improvements, may be obtained at prices varying

446 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

from $10 to $20 per acre, and large tracts of unimproved, but naturally fertile
soils, are fti market for from $2 to $5 per acre. The quantity of land taken up
by the settlers respectively, varies greatly, many purchasing from five hundred
to a thousand, and even two thousand acres, with a view to future speculation ;
and others being governed in this respect by their means, their peculiar views of
farming operations, and their probable prospects of realizing compensating prof-
its on the capital and labor hivested. Probably the greatest number of settlers
have contented themselves with from one hundred to one hundred and fifty acres,
although there are several with twenty-five, thirty, forty and fifty acres, who
find themselves "well to do in the world " Aviih these humble allotments, and
who contrive by a thorough and systematic cultivation of every portion of their
domains to compensate for their limited area when compared with that of their
neighbors.

3. With regard to the average products of these lands, and their comparative
productiveness under their former and present owners, I am not in possession of
sufficient means of information to speak with any certainty ; and probably a suf-
ficient length of time has not yet elapsed since the change to afford the requisite
materials for determining this point. In the greater number of instances, 1 am
inclined to the opinion that an injudicious and exhausting process of tillage, unac-
companied by the application of fertilizing manures, has rendered the work of
reclamation a slow one, and that at least a period of from two to five years will
be required to place the soil in a condition for testing its capabilities of production.

4. The improvements already introduced by the new settlers in buildings, pro-
cesses of labor, agricultural implements, &;c., are very perceptible and obvious;
and it is easy for the passing traveler in any portion of this county to distinguish,
at a glance, as he rides by, the farms belonging to the " Yankees," from those of
the original settlers. In fact, in many instances, he may travel for miles with-
out discovering any other but these " Yankee " settlements, the " steadings " of
the Virginians being generally remote from the road and for the most part out
of view, while the Northerner uniformly locates within a few rods, at farthest,
from the highway, that he may " have an eye to windward," and know " what
IS going on." There is likewise a very manifest difierence between the archi-
tectural taste of the two " people " in the erection, arrangement and conveniences
of the family mansion — the advantage being decidedly in favoV of the North.
Seldom, moreover, do you find a good, substantial barn, on a Virginian farm of
ordinary pretensions. Never do you find a Yankee without one, even though its
expense may seriously cripple and retard the construction of his dwelling. The
vast, lumbering, unsightly and cumbrous market-wagon of the Virginian, with
its retinue of five powerful horses, surmounted by " out-riders," and filled with
supplies adequate to the relief of any ordinary garrison, to say nothing of beds
and bedding for the accommodation of men, women and children, during the
journey of two or three days and nights to the market town, is wholly unknown
to the enterprising and ingenious Yankee ; nor could he by any possibility be
made to believe that his two-horse lumber-wagon could not easily transfer to
Washington and Creorgetown, in a single day, at least twice the quantity and
value stowed in these immense and formidable machines. As to the matter of
fact involved in these rival pretensions, 1 cannot undertake to determine ; but 1
" opine " that ten years hence the present market-wagon of Fairfax County will
be ranked among the curiosities of the past. Sure I am that a New-Yorker who
had never witnessed a similar vehicle would stare with amazement upon its
enormous volume and its intricate machinery : and that the advent of sucii a
wagon, accompanied with all its " fixins," in Broadway, would create a sensa-
tion at least equal to that with whicii the good citizens of Newburgli on the
Hudson surveyed the first steamboat which anchored opposite their goodly town.

5. The wages ordinarily paid for free labor in this vicinity are from seventy-
five cents to one dollar per day ; and so far as my own experience goes, and my
information ext<;nds, no difiiculty exists in obtaining this species of labor for aH
tiie various purposes for which it may be required.

6. The " proximity of slaves and slavery," except so far as this institution is
to be regarded in a moral point of view, and in connection with the principles of
a sound and enlightened political and social economy, is by no means " olVensive "
or "annoying" to our people, under the circumstances iu which they find them-

(926)

FARMERS CLUB IN FAIRFAX COUNTY, VIRGINIA. 447

selves placed. In fact, it seldom obtrudes itself upon their observation, unless
they voluntarily go in search of it ; and when they come in contact with it, in
the ordinary interchange of the civilities and amenities of life, they possess too
much good sense and entertain too just an appreciation of what is due to the
courtesies and reciprocal obligations of social intercourse to volunteer their opin-
ions, unsolicited, upon the abstract question of its justification. Wlien called
upon in a proper manner and on an appropriate occasion to express their senti-
ments on tliis head, they do so, without ofience being given or received ; nor have
I perceived any unwillingness on the part of the owners and holders of slaves
freely to discuss this topic in all its relations, to "define their position," and to
combat, temperately, courteously and dispassionately, the views of those who
entertain opinions and convictions on this subject different from their own. The
treatment of the slaves, so far as it has come under my personal observation,
presents none of those repulsive features so frequently insisted upon by northern
abolitionists. Their hours of labor, clothing, food, attendance in sickness, moral
and religious culture, are, in all respects, upon a par, at least, with the ordinary-
class of day laborers at the North ; and the only dilTerence — a difference, indeed,
not to be estimated in silver or gold, "or all this earth can afford " — consists in
the hopeless servitude of the one, and the entire physical freedom of the other.

7. Unslaked stone-lime commands at Georgetown and Washington, our near-
est markets — a distance of from four to ten and fifteen miles from the farms of
our northern settlers — twenty cents per bushel, or from fifty to sixty cents per
barrel of three bushels.

8. I am not aware that any experiments have, as yet, been instituted in this
neighborhood, with a view of testing the efiicacy of plaster alone, as a fertilizer
or a manure. Wherever it has been resorted to, however, in aid of and in com-
bination with the ordinary farm-yard manures, the most benchcial results have
ensued, and a more abundant and valuable crop has been secured than mi"-ht
under ordinary circumstances have been depended upon from simple manures
alone, without the agency either of plaster or lime. Very few farmers, however,
who are desirous of permanently improving their lands and developing their re-
sources to the best advantage, neglect a liberal sprinkling of lime — unless an
abundant supply of marl is conveniently accessible, and the resources of the barn-
yard are ample. From fifty to one hundred bushels of the carbonate of lime to
the acre, either as a top-dressing or plowed in and left t<3 itself during the inter-
val between fall and spring plowing is regarded by the most competent and ex-
perienced judges as the most suitable preparation for reclaiming exhausted soils ;
after which an abundant supply of plaster, acc(impai)ied wiihvard manure and
an occasional turning-under of clover, buckwheat or i)eas — not forgetting a resort,
now and then, lo the subsoil-plow — will elleciually prepare the ground for a
luxuriant and abundant crop.

9. Very few purchases, so f\ir as I have been al)Ie to ascertain, have been
made in ibis (juarter by northern or eastern men for purposes of mere pecuniary
speculation. In several instances a greater quantity of land has been taken up
Inan was needed for agricultural purposes by the purchaser ; but this was almost
invariably because in this way a much more advantageous bargain could be ef-
fected with the original proprietor ; and the purchaser, being himself a bona fide
settler, was well salislied that within a brief period he should be able to dispose
of any surplus beyond his own wants, to actual emigrants, at a reasonable ad-
vance. The low price at which valuable improved and unimproved lands are
everywhere offered, forbid the supposition that the "land mania" of the West
has as yet taken root among us.

I have thus. Sir, endeavored to answer, to the best of my ability, the various
points presented by your letter ; and shall be happy from time to time to furnish
your readers with such specific information in reference to the climate, soil, ca-
pabilities and resources of this delightful and attractive region as may be in my
power. If in any respect I may have erred, or shall hereafter err, in my es-
timates m any of these particulars, your own fiimiliarity with this entire portion
of the Union will enable you to set me in the right.

Very truly and rcspcctiully your ob't serv't, S. S. RANDALL.

[.The gallaiit Commodore T. Ap. Catksbv Joxes, who, it will be remembered, was su-
perseded ui the command of om- Tucitic squadrou. or ralbcr om- squadron in the Pacific, and
(927)

448 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

ordered home to be tried for being rather too quick on the tngger, in capturing the town
of Monterey, owns, by inheritance, a fine estate — one which ho has made so— in this
very part of the Old Dominion, and is, moreover, regai'ded as one of the most resolute pio-
neers, in the course of improvements so visible there within the last few years. We have
understood that his field — not patch — of com averaged, last year, not less than fifty bushels
to the acre. Years have passed away, alas .' too swifdy, since we remember to have been
once and again at " the Pines," and to have enjoyed a running view of that then somewhat
haggard looking region. It was not, however, be it confessed, under circumstances very
favorable for a leisurely agricultural survey, as the reader may guess when we add that it
was when we used to go out from Washington at the "first blush of day" with a set of
choice spirits under command of our old fiiend " honest George," as General Jackson used
to call him, upon neighljorly and patriotic excursions, to beat up the quarters of the good
fanners of Fairfax v^ith a good pack of hounds, purely to save their young pigs and poultry !

" Oh 1 how glorious 'tis
To right th' oppressed and bring tlie felon vile
To just disgrace ! "

Those were indeed glorious times, with the British Secretaries, the amiable and gentlemanly

Adams, and the frank, hearty and indomitable Crawford to lead us back to reunite at 6

around the mahogany of " Sir Charles Vaughan," there to do our duty most loyally to —

his noble round of beef and his honest sherry I

" Alas ! 'tis not easy to say what will bring to the mind
The joys that are fled and the friends left behind!"

In another part of Fairfax, lower dowm, near Mount Vernon, a considerable purchase, 2,000
acres, has recently been made by a party of " Friends " from Pennsylvania, to be cut up
into small farms and cultivated with free labor. This may be an enteiing-wedge to the re-
setdement of the country still lower down, which for twenty miles along the high-road has
been in a manner abandoned — so that within a few years taxes have been paid or money
received for wolves' heads! and the door of General Washington's pew two years ago had
been put to the " base use " of being made to secure a free negro's poultry -house. The
world does not present such a field for industry, enterprise and capital as Virginia. What is
she doing to secure for the rising generation that sort of education which gives capacity for
developing her inexhaustible and neglected resources ? Ed. Farm. Lib.'\

STRAWBERRIES. — There is an object in the cultivation of this, and indeed in that of
every other fruit, luiiversally acknowledged to bo worthy of attention, but seldom attended
to, and that is, to have it in succession during a considerable time. It is a remarkable fact
that since cultivators began to search for improved varieties by sowing seeds, not one ear-
lier than the old Scarlet has been obtained, while of fine late varieties we have abundance .
I believe the estrliest now in cultivation is tiie Grove-end ; next to that comes Keen's Seedluig,
and .some other good sorts, and among them tiio delicious but neglected Carolina ; and lastly,
tlie Elton, which lasts a long time. The Alpine is both an early and late sort, and carrie.t
on the .■iiiece,i.<ion till frost commences. Wliat is wanted is an early variety, and to this ob-
ject cultivators should lend iheir attention. We have, as yet. no good pale or white variety,
and one should be sought for. I have raised a considerable number, and one remarkably
prolific, and lasting a long time ; but they all wanted firmness and flavor. By perseverance,
and many pursuing this ol)ject. a fine variety may at last be obtained. Although it lias been
stated in the Chronicle that strawberry plant^s would continue to yield good crops diu-ing
many years with a little care, I am still of opinion tli;it what 1 recommended many ycais
ago is of use, viz., to mnhe new planUitiuns every second year. I\Iy reason for tliis recom-
mendation was, that when the plants are left longer, new sorts rise among tliem from the
seeds of berries that droj) or are left, and thus the crops are, for the most j>art, deteriorated
by mixture, and it may become difiicult to recover the original variety. My practice was
to plant in Februaiy, not to reckon a crop the same year, and to take two crops at'tei-waril ;
so that when I dug down the ])lan1s I liad another set ready to produce. The j>iil>lic would
be better si-rvcd wi'li this ami otlur fruits, if iliey were not expijscd to the sun in shop
\vindows, and at the doors, but ke|)t in a cool, sliady place. The strawberries brought to
the Edinbnrgh market, ont^e famous, are now t()r tlie most part very inferior ; and the effects
of careless liaudling are so conspicuous as to be ratlier disgusting.

[Cunespoudcnce of an Edinburgh paper.
(928)

ALPACCA SHEEP. 449

ALPACCA SHEEP.

THE WOOL TRADE OF ENGLAND IN 1846 IN PERUVIAN AND UNITED STATES WOOL.

In answer to inquiries about this breed of Peruvian sheep, we scarcely know
what to say. As in the case of the revival about Guano, it was no new story
to us: More th.-m twenty-five years ago, we not only published a beautiful his-
tory and description 8f these sheep, from the polished pen of William Davis
Robinson, but caused engravings to be made, from drawings supplied by him,
characteristic not only of the Alpacca, but of the Llama, the Vicuna, and the
Haanaco ; with the costumes of the shepherds, both natives and descendants of
European stock.

All these will be found in the 3d volume of the American Farmer, for which
the sketches were expressly prepared by Mr. Robinson, then in New- York, his
first letter being dated 28th of April, 1821.

There, too, will be found from Mr. Robinson, as elsewhere in the early vol-
umes of that work from other sources, interesting accounts of the Arracacha
— spoken of in the following letter — a vegetable, at that time, very highly re-
commended. General Devereux, always prompt in doing kind and benevolent
acts, sent home some of the roots, which were tried under the skillful care of
Doctor G. B. Smith of EaUimore, and by him " found wanting."

If ever we should find the space at command, we will re-produce these essays
on the Sheep of Peru, which Mr. Robinson was of opinion might be introduced
with great advantage to the United States. For ourselves, we confess we have
our doubts. In the East, the climate would seem to forbid ; and in the South-
say the mountains of Western Virginia, Carolina and Georgia, which God and
Nature intended for sheep-walks, and woolen, and cotton, and iron manufactures
— they would be in every way too much exposed. We are positive that in one
of his lectures, or on some public occasion. Professor Johnson observed that a
friend of his in Scotland had informed him that he had sufficiently experimented
to convince him that the attempt to rear them, as a stock sheep in Scotland,
could not succeed. How many attempts have been made in England, and with
how little success ? and they are not a people to fail, for want of either capital
or care, skill or perseverance, in such things. See how they took hold of the
Guano, when they got a few bags of it a few years since ! Yet, twenty years
or more ago, the writer of these lines told the whole story about Guano, too,
from Ulloa and from Humboldt, and even gave the analysis of French chemists
of the first renown, whose description has stood the test to this day — and, more-
over, distributed two barrels of it. So that we had the history of its uses in
Peru, an account of its constituents, and ample specimens for trial of the article
itself. What more was needed ? Look at the old volumes of the Americaa .
Farmer. But no ! — we are so eternally involved in party politics — every farmer
ambitious to bo a great little man — a magistrate, a judge of the Levy court, or a
delegate — an ensign, a lieutenant, or a " noble captain " in his district or his
county — or otherwise is so much taken up with ideas of " moving to the West "
that he loses all, or, rather, never acquires any true relish for his own native
(929) 39

450 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

home and proper business. Nor is it much to be wondered at. For are not our
youDg men brought up as if purposely in contempt of the plow, and all that be-
longs to it ? Do they hear anything of it at school ? Is it made by their wise
farmer-parents to form any part of their education ? Do they hear anything said
of Agriculture in any of our halls of Legislation ? Any honors awarded for ex-
cellence in killing noxious weeds and insects, or for fat sheep and bullocks, or for
killing any other creatures, except — our/e//'oit)-crealures ? No, no! Were a
man to discover the means of utterly extirpating the tobacco fly, or the Hessian
fly, or the sheep rot, or the potato rot, not a man could be found so poor as to
" do hira reverence"! Congress — the Representatives of Farmers — would let
him rot in jail. Yes ! the very men who would vote, without scruple, $100,000
for a military survey ; or to send officers, year after year, to examine and study
in the military schools of the military despots of Europe ! And to all this far-
mers make no objection, raise no outcry. Even agricultural committees of the
States, where they exist, are most of them too lazy or too timid to probe such
barefaced perversions of legislative power ! and the whole press of the country
looks in silent acquiescence on such reprehensible disregard of all the legiti-
mate ends of good Government.

Well, to return to the Aipaccas. Seeing as we think we have seen the abor-
tive attempts at propagating the Alpacca in Europe, and their prompt apprecia-
tion and appropriation of whole islands of guano, we reluctantly conclude that
the abortion in the former case did not proceed from any deficiency in the at-
tempt, and that, as in this country, it is only in a climate the most similar to
England that we could expect the experiment to be well and adequately con-
ducted, there is little encouragement to believe that the Alpacca will be suc-
cessfully introduced and propagated in the United States. And here it occurs
to us to say, that as some of the inquiries that have been made of us may have
been prompted by the fact that our name was placed on a Committee to import
some from Peru, it is not to be inferred that anything we have said is the result
of inquiries or information obtained in that connection .' Not at all. In the fitness
of the members of that Committee, in all respects, for any scientific or useful
undertaking they would enter upon, we have unbounded confidence ; but we
do not know exactly what has been done or what is in contemplation. We
have not formally withdrawn, as we might have done, for want of time to
attend, because we would not in any way seem to discourage the proposition by
the withdrawal even of the little, very little, influence it could borrow from our
name ; but for the reasons here assigned, and others that might be given, as
we should, if we had time, with more deliberation, we are far from being
hopeful of any attempt to add the Alpacca to the wool-bearing animals of this
country. We shall sincerely rejoice to find ourselves in error.

In the last account we have seen of the English " Wool Trade of 1S16," we
find the following under the head of " Peruvian and At.facca : " " Here we
notice a very large increase. Sheep's wool, with the exception of best qualities,
has been diflicult of sale, even at receding rates. Since our last monthly Circu-
lar, the market has been nearly cleared of this description, principally taken on
speculation. For Alpacca, up to May, the demand was very languid. During
that month there was a large business done, induced by low quotations. The
inquiry again fell oft' until within the last few weeks, since which time the sales
have been extensive at advancing prices. The Customs' Report docs not keep
Alpacca distinct from sheep's wool ; we can therefore merely guess at the quan-

(930)

ALTACCA SHEEP.

451

tity which we believe to have been a full average import. The high prices cur-
rent on the other side have led to shipments of very inftrior quality, which we
expect to continue til! the completion of the contracts entered into at high rates.
It is reported that supplies will be very much diminished this year, in conse-
quence of the c.rlcnsive drouth, which has caused <rrcal morlalily tn the A/pacca
and Llama flocks." Of Wool from the United States, the same Circular, ot
Hughes & Ronald, of Liverpool, says :

United Statk*. — Tliis article promises at
■10 distant date to becoiiie of (irst-ratt! iin-
]KiitaiK'e. Tlie present growth is umch greater
than we in this conntry liave generally an
idea of, being upward of sixty millions of
pounds weiglitat the lowest estimate, far ex-
ceeding their domestic requirements. It is
inqiortaut to notice the great weight of the
tleece, wliich is nearly double that of any
other counti-y producing similar qualities;
and when we consider the facilities for ex-
tending tile production, there cannot be a
doubt that, in a short time, the quantity
available for export will he very considera-
ble. Moreover it appears, that, of late much
attention has been directed to tbe subject in
the Western States, with this view, as otVer-
ing. to some extent, a more })rofital)le return
than the cultivation of cotton ; and when it is

stated that one pound of wool, nearly fid I
Mood, can be grown at the sajue cost as two
pounds of cotton worth (id., there is everv
)'ea.son to expect that the trade will evemually
prove renunieratiug. The receipts last year
were below the previous one, ihe conse-
([uence of fonner shipments generally not
having been attended with advanta:,'e; but
this is accoiuited for, to soiue extentr bv llio
indii'cct chamiels through which many of the
lots cimie, ami their inferior condition inmost
cases. Until they are got up with more care,
better washed, and more evenly graded, wo
see little prospect of a profitable result. Tlio
greater part hitherto received has l)ecn so
deficient in these essential requisites dial pur-
chases have been atleudeil with extreme"
hazard to die buyer, which has operated
much against their sale.

We have had, as will be seen, for many montlis on file, the following from a
gentleman who has resided in Peru, and with habits and every capacity for use-
ful observation. His description of the Peruvian sheep, as far as it goes, corres-
ponds in the main with Mr. Robinson's.

J. S. Ski.vn-kr, Ksq. NkwVork. l^ih AFny, lg-16.

Dear Sir : In answering your esteemed favor of the 7th instant, I beg to say
that what I now write will be from casual observation, not having given the
subject any attention during my long stay in Peru, with a view of communica-
ting information to others.

The " Alpacca " is indigenous to Peru, generally 4^ to 5 feet high, neck 2 feet
long ; they carry themselves, particularly the neck, very erect, so that their head
is from ok to 6 feet from the ground ; they move majestically, limbs very clean.
They are used among the flocks of Llamas as beasts of burden, and are much
esteemed, being sure-footed ; and in droves never run one load against another,,
as mules and horses are apt to do, thereby frequently destroying their cargoes if
of a frail nature. Alpaccas carry from 15 to 100 pounds, and, when overloaded,
lie down and will not rise until lightened ; are very docile and fond of bein"-
caressed, and make fine pets. Color generally light brown or dark nankeen,
though I have seen many black, and some beautifully white. The Alpacca is
not considered so noble as the Llama, and, I suppose, it is owing to the wool of
the Alpacca being much longer (say S to 12 inches), which injures their appear-
ance. They eat anything and little, and will live when manv other animals
would die ; are tough and hardy. Formerly you could buy thein for $1 ; but
they are now worth from $4 to $6 in the interior, and would cost about $25 on
board ship.

As food, they are not much esteemed.

The value of their wool has been much increased, in consequence of the large
demand for England, and most or all the wool has been contracted for, for some
years to come. When last in Peru (1845), I wished to purchase some Alpacca
wool, but could get none at Tacna, from Avhich the most is exported. A friend
then gave me an order for 10,000 lbs., to be received at Islay ; but as we only-
stopped there one night, I could not take it, as it would have detained me 3 or 4
days for the necessary orders at the Custom-llouse.

I have ordered twelve Alpaccas, and if they are procured in time, shall re-
ceive them in October [last], per ship " Orpheus," which I expect here
(931)

452 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

about that time. Sometimes they die on the passage. Of 297 shipped on own-
ers' account to England — 1 male to 9 females, 2 years old — only 3 arrived. The
vessel was loaded with guano in the lower hold. Frequently 12 or 15 have
been shipped, and only one or two die ; the risk of bringing is great, on account
of distance ; at least 12 or 14,000 miles must be sailed over.

" Quinua " is a small grain much used in Peru, produced in the highlands of
the interior ; is sowed like wheat, and gives a large crop. It is cooked by boil-
ing with potatoes and meat, or alone, like rice ; but the natives generally cook
it with a small piece of meat, cheese, or other substance, to give a flavor. It
also makes a delicious sweetmeat and pudding, and is much used as a diet. The
Emperor of Russia ordered it sowed largely in his dominions ; with what result
I know not.

At the request of a friend, when I visited Peru in 1844, I sent to the val-
ley of Jauja for a bag of Quinua, which I brought with me to the United
States, and sent a part of it to the Commissioner ol Patents, and a part to the
person who requested me to obtain it ; and he has since informed me that he
had sown some, but that it did not grow. I supposed that it must have been
kiln-dried, or mjured on the voyage. I have no doubt that it would be much
liked if it could be produced here, and I see no reason why it cannot.

Arracacha is unknown to me by that name.

So far as my observation goes. Merino, or part-blooded sheep (as they keep in
the best order) are superior for sea-stock to other classes of sheep.

The " Vicuna'''' I have frequently seen when crossing the Andes, or on the
Punas (highlands), which I have crossed fourteen times ; and it is a fact, as I
have been told, that if you can encircle them with a red yarn two feet above the
ground, that none will leave the circle ; and by shooting one of a flock, you can
take all but two or three, as they all congregate about the dead one until only a
few remain, when they run olF.

Respectfully, your most ob'dt, SAM. F. TRACY.

SHEEP AND WOOL— NUMBER AND VALUE IN THE UNITED STATES IN 1340.

The quantity of Wool sheared in the United States in the year 1S39, accord-
ing to the census of 1840, and the estimated value by Professor Tucker at that
time, as the result of his inquiries on the subject, are as follows :

States. Pounds. Value.

Maine 1,465,551 $492,942

New-Hampshire 1,260,517 441,181

MassachaseUs 941,906 329 677

Rhode Island 183.830 65.340

Ootinecticut 889,870 311,434

Vermont 3.699,235 1,284,232

States. Pounds. Value.

Alabama 220,3'33 66,206

Florida 7,285 2,185

Louisiana 49,283 16,428

Mississippi 175,192 52,-559

Arkansas 64,943 20,483

Tennessee I,0ti0.332 265.583

Missouri 562,265 140,564

Kentucky 1,786,847 446.712

Ohio 3.685,315 921,329

Indiana 1,237,919 309,473

Illinois 650,007 162,500

MiehiRan 153,375 38,344

Wisconsin 6,777 2,259

Iowa 23,039 7,679

District of Columbia 707 212

Total 35,802,114$H,341,390

Total New-Englaud States. 8,440,909 $2,924,806

New- York. 9,845.295 3,44.5,853

NewJersey 397,207 139,022

Pennsylvania 3,048,564 1,066.997

Delaware 64,404 22.541

Maryland 488,201 170,870

Virginia 2,.538,374 761,512

North Carolina 625,044 1.56,261

South Carolina 299,070 89.721

Georgia 371,303 111,391

The average value, by this statement, is about 33 cents per pound.

Since the census of 1840 was taken, an immense increase in the number of
sheep, in the Western States particularly, has taken place.

The total number of sheep in the United States, when the census was takeu
in 1840, was 19,311,374. Of course the average weight of their fleeces cannot
be ascertained, as the number of lambs is not given in the census ; but, making
u liberal allowance for the lambs, it would appear that the average weight of
fleeces did not exceed three pounds each.

(932)

EGG-COUNTING MACHINE. COMMERCE IN EGGS. 453

INFALLIBLE EGG-COUNTING MACHINE.

The counting of e2:gs, in large quantities, by the ordinary method is an opera-
tion always attended by much loss of lime, liability to mistake, and risk of break-
age. The machine described below may be made in a day or two, by any one
possessed of mechanical skill sufficient to handle a saw and hammer, unless neat-
ness of finish is desired. Let a frame of wood-work be made precisely similar
to a chest of drawers. The drawers should be one inch deep (or sufficiently deep
to admit of one layer of eggs), and the bottoms formed of thick plank.

Previous to putting together, hollow places should be dug in this plank, in
rows, at regular distances. They should be one-quarter of an inch deep, and of
the size and shape requisite to allow an egg to be laid in each one. A square
yard will contain more than five hundred of these hollow places. They should
be painted black, and the remainder of the board white. When (illcd with etro-s,
the board will present an entirely white surface ; should one or more eggs be
lacking, the black spots will immediately be apparent to the most casual ob-
server. Black lines should divide the hundreds, and tens ; and, when full, the
drawer may be shoved back into its place, until the contents are wanted for
market. Any number of drawers may be made, of any convenient size and
shape.

It will be conceded that it is as easy to deposit the eggs in these drawers as
in any other proper place ; and, when once in, they are ready counted to hand,
without the possibility of a mistake. Besides this, the perfect safe-keeping of
the eggs is secured, as no rats or other depredators can obtain access to them,
and they will not be broken by shaking or handling. A machine to count 2,000
eggs at a time will cost $1 for stuff, and $2 for making, and will last till the
general conflagration. s jj jj

COMMERCE IN EGGS.

In the whole cycle of commercial statistics, we have not lately met witn any-
thing more remarkable than the account we find in the " Journal d'Agricul-
TURE Pratique et de Jardixage," on the E^g Trade of France. The Editor
says that it appears by official returns that in 1815 the number of eggs exported
was not more than to the amount of 1,000,700 francs. In 1816, 8,800,000 francs ;
in 1822, 55,000,000 ; in 1824, to 99,500,000 ! The trade was then arrested, and
experienced a retrograde movement. The exportation fell to 55,000,000 in 1830,
but in 1834 it rose again to 76,800,000, and in 1844 it mounted up to 88,200,000.
This mass of eggs weighed, at the rate of sixteen to a kilogramme, 5,213,000
kilogrammes ; upon which the Treasury realized 114,000 francs (about $25,000)
export duty on eggs ! England takes almost the whole of the eggs exported
from France. Of the 88,000,000 above mentioned, 82,500,000 have crossed the
Channel.

According to the official estimates, the consumption of eggs in Paris is 138 for
each individual, which is very nearly 120,000,000 a year. We may double this
estimate for the rest of France, without exaggeration ; for, in the country, eggs
and milk are aliments to be found on every table. We eat, instead of eggs and
milk, vast quantities of solid fat meat — Americans having, as was expressively
said by the Abbe Cornea, " bacon-stomachs''^ !

(933)

454 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

The consumption, then, of eggs, in all France, may be safely put down at nine
billion, three hundred million. If we add to this total that of the eggs exported,
and one-hundredth in addition of these two numbers for the eggs reserved for re-
production, one will find France has produced nine billion and a half ; and, valu-
ing each egg at the rate of the tenth of a cent, Ave liave the enormous sum of
465,000,000 of francs, or near $100,000,000. Though this estimate may overrun
the production in some of the Departments, it is nevertheless certain that the
value which represents the annual production of eggs is to be counted by millions
of francs, and to most people must be a matter of surprise.

Speculating as to the cause of this wonderful productiveness of poultry in
France, over any other country, one is led to attribute it to the same reason which
has so much diminished her produce in animals and animal food — namely, the
division of estates, carried to an extreme highly prejudicial to general Agricul-
ture. The land laws of that country compel an equal division of estates among
the children or relatives in a certain degree, without power in a proprietor to sell
more than one share. Under the operation of these laws, it appears that in 1830
the 120,000,000 of productive acres in France had been divided into 123,000,000
lots or parcelles. It is farther shown by official returns that there are 5,163,000
proprietors, whose average holdings are under five acres. These establishments
are altogether too small to allow of the proprietors' keeping horses, and cattle,
and hogs, and sheep ; and hence the great number of poultry and of eggs !

FATTENING POULTRY.

The same French periodical — Journal of Practical Agriculture and Gar-
dening— gives the following account, on the experience of those engaged in the
poultry business, as the means pursued where fowls are found most remarkable
for the delicacy of their flesh. The whole secret, say these people, consists in
giving oats at discretion to chickens, turkies and geese, and keeping them in
darkness. The rationale of the process is said to consist in this : No substance
will fatten fowls like oats — perhaps they have had no trial of Indian corn, which
frequently interposes to influence our estimate of European calculations as to the
aliments best adapted to feeding and fattening. Be that as it may, we proceed with
the rest of the statement, which is as applicable to corn as to oats. It is affirmed
that potatoes produce scarcely any fat. If, say they, we keep an animal in the dark
and in a narrow space — that is, the less exercise is allowed to a fowl — the more
it will take on fat. We observe the same thing with the negro's hog : Con-
lined in a small pen, where he has scarcely room to turn round, how fast he out-
"■rows his master's of the same litter. True, he may be often fed in the dark,
as well as in the day time. Thus shut up in a dark place, says the Frenchman,
the fowl concludes it one eternal night, and so keeps always sleeping ; what-
ever most paralyzes its movements promotes fatness ; it wakes only to eat, which
it does in the night as well as day. If it sees the light it becomes agitated ; but,
the light excluded, it remains quiet and without motion.

Doubtless this practice of taking measures to insure darkness, and immobility,
and perfect exemption from all agitation, might be well applied in the fattening
of all animals, with great economy both of time and provisions.

(93-1,

MORE OF THAT FAKMKR WHO MILKS HIS OWN COWS. 455

MORE OF THAT FARMER WHO MILKS HIS OWN COWS.

In the Jiuiuaiy immhcr of the .Tounial of Agriculture, we {jave a ninning sketch of a
" Breakfast-table Conversation " with a practical farmer, near Lebanon Springs, N. Y., who,
when we made him a visit last summer, prompted by the common report of his good man-
agement, was just about to take his station on the right flank of a " full-uildered " cow, that
stood patiently chewing the cud, waiting her turn to be relieved of her milky treasures.
The short notes of liis numagement made at the time having become almost illegible, wo
wrote for some explanation on particular points, and now, for certain coasiderations, we
have concluded that the publication of his letter, just as it was written, may not be without
its usefulness, and will best conduce to the end we have in view, wliich is, to make tha
South and the North, the East and the West, better acquainted with each other's habits,
character and products respectively. We give the answer of Mr. Hall then, precisely as it
was written, without alteration of word or letter. It will show that it by uo means follows
that those who every day follow the plow, cannot also use the pen well enough for the best
use that can be made of it — that is, to make one's self clearly and plainly understood. We
even venture to ask whether it would not be safer to take such men as he, who are bound
l)y an abiding sympathy to the landed interest, from draining aiid plowing their fields, to
frame our laws and take charge of our public affairs, than to be governed by all the petti-
foggers, and mere party demagogues, tliis side of I'assamaquoddy !

Mr. Skinner: New-Lebanon, Dec. 15, 1847.

Dear Sir: Yours of the 13th was duly received, as Avas also the December
number of The Farmers' Library, for which please accept my thanks.

Please allow me, Sir, to ask you to correct one mistake into Avhich one of us
has inadvertently fallen : that is, by the addition of one too many cyphers (0) to
the number of pigs I sold.

I hasten to answer your inquiries in a desultory manner, hoping they will be
intelligible and interesting, but would remark tliat I am altogether more accus-
tomed to plowing and feeding pigs than 1 am to writing.

My apparatus for cooking feed is simply a steamer made of plank 7 feet long
by 2| wide and 2 feet 4 inches deep, with a Russia sheet-iron bottom, (copper
would be better,) nailed on to the plank, with a false bottom of boards (filled
with small holes) 4 inches above the iron one. A cover completes the steamer.
The whole is placed upon a brick area so constructed that the plank or sides and
ends reach on to the brick work 4| or 5 inches, wiiich protects it from the fire.
The space between the two bottums is filled with water, and that above with
the vegetables. The vats to contain the food when i)repared for feeding run on
rails the length of the piggery, and pass near the steamer, for the convenience of
removing tiie food after it is cooked.

The method of making butter we practice is as follows: Room used, kept as
near a temperature of 60'^ as may be ; milk strained into a large can, placed in
the milking-yard, whicli adjoins the milk-room, inside of wiiich it is drawn by
means of a conductor and faucet into tin pans, usually about S quarts in each
pan ; it is drawn over and jjlaced in the can whenever the temperature requires
it ; consequently tlie cream rises in much less time than when cooled in the or-
dinary way ; it ought to stand 36 hours before being skimmed, but this time must
be varied according as the weather changes ; it should be skimmed when it is
slightly ciianged, and before it is coagulated. The cream is put into stone jars
and placed in a refrigerator in contact with ice until it is churned, which is done
every two or three days, in a circular churn with revolving arms or paddles
framed into a shaft of wood (cream should never come in contact with iron).
The motive power is a platform wheel turned by a pony. The butter is salted
with ground rock-salt passed through a fine sieve, that there may be no lumps
193:.)

456 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

or particles that will not dissolve. It is salted to suit the taste, which should be
adapted to the market lor which it is intended ; it is then placed in the refriger-
ator and kept cool until it is taken out, worked on an inclined table, packed in
new tubs containing 25 lbs. each, and sent to market, which is done every week,
always using ice in every situation required.

You will be best able to judge of the value of the offal, milk and buttermilk
for hoa: feed, when I state that I have sold pigs, pork and lard to the amount of
$1,063 09, at an expense of $1611 for purchase money of pigs and feed other than
milk ; and that my hogs have made, of the feed and materials given them,
near three hundred half-cord loads of manure, the value of iihich every farmer
ought to know. 1 make about 200 loads from my teams and cows, which I sup-
pose to be about one-third less in value than tlje manure made from hogs.

I hire two men through the year, say ^130 each, and one for eight months,
l$90 ; consume about 2,000 lbs. of meat per year in a family of 10 persons.

The calves I send to market (except those for my own cows) are bought in
the neighborhood, at 4 or 5 weeks of age, and usually sell at 44 to 5 cents per
lb. for carcass, and 9 cents for skin. Expenses on each one about $;1.

The eight pigs you allude to were killed very early in the season (first week
in November). They weighed 270 lbs. average. Killed 59 hogs, average weight
290 lbs. ; average price 5 4SI-100 cents per lb.

I have tried an experiment in the construction of blind ditches, or under-drains,
since I saw you, which resulted satisfactorily. In a field of 9 acres, very level,
and lying at the base of a hill, I have been very much troubled (whenever I have
plowed it) with surface v/ater, which has some seasons destroyed the crop. I
suppose the difl[iculty lay in a very tenacious subsoil, which retained the water
(that ran from the hill) near the surface. I slaked out a line for a ditch 30 rods
long, took one pair of horses, a common plow, (a subsoil-plow would be much
better after the first furrows,) and four men, and commenced ; turned up the
sward the first two furrows, and removed it a little one side ; then went down
with the plow, so guiding it as to produce the required slant or slope to the sides
of the ditch, and at every furrow throwing out the dirt. The moment that we
had penetrated far enough into the subsoil to drain the adjoining surface, the
quantity of water that rushed out was perfectly astonishing, and satisfied me
that my plan was a correct one. Give me 4 good horses, Avith proper tools and
men, and I can dig any quantity of drains 2^ feet deep for I25 cents per rod.

I think you will be weary after perusing a rambling epistle of such length.

Respectfully your liioud, B. F. HALL.

Great Destruction of Noxious Animals — Birds and Beasts. — Could any one sup-
pose that in an old country, as France, in the last six years, in tlie forests of the Crown
alone, there have been destroyed by guns and traps, noxious animals — birds and beasts — as
thus: wolves 53 ; she-wolves 22; young wolves 13; foxes 5,42 1 ; badgers 213; pole-cats
3,C59 ; American pole-cats 3,050 ; dogs 1,5.97 ; cats 7,784 ; weasels and hedge-hogs 34,452 ;
buzzards 4,478 ; hawks 7,451 ; cats-/(?<a«/'.'! 10,170 ; crows 18, 4GG ; magpies 21,450 ; jack-
daws 19,479; squirrels 6,030 ; rats and mice 10,822— total 154,517. So it is stated iu the
Journal of Agiiculture.

To Disinfect Dairy Vessels of all Noxious Odors — A valuable Recipe in a few
words. — Every dairy sliould have a vessel of lime-waler setting in it, say half-gallon of lime
to ten or twelve gallons of water, simply to rinse everything in. The vessel can be filled up
as often as you please. It will be sure to remove all acidity or bad odor. Let daiiywomeu
remember this.

Excrements. — In Flanders the collected excrements of a man for one year are valued at
£1 178. A pound of urine contains all the ingredients necessiu-y for the production of a
iKJund of wheat.
(936)

MAIZE, OR INDIAN CORN, 457

MAIZE, OR INDIAN CORN.

The demand for tliis valuable American ijrain, wliich has sprung up in Europe,
principally in consequence of the failure of the potato crop in Ireland and other
European countries, promises to be of more than temporary interest to the farm-
ers of the United States.*

Although the present high prices for this grain in our Atlantic ports cannot be
expected to be maintained in future years, yel we believe that the extended use
of it in various parts of Europe will cause it always hereafter to be regarded with
favor as a cheap food in quarters where it has been hitherto either unknown or
considered Avith prejudice, as fit only for the food of cattle and swine. Taking
all circumstances into view which are likely hereafter to influence prices, we are
induced to think that, in years of plenty, an extensive demand for export will
exist in our Atlantic ports — not at the present prices of 90 cts. to $1 per bushel,
but probably at remunerating prices to the farmer and those who transport the
grain from the. interior to the sea-board — say from 50 to 70 cts. per bushel.

We recollect a conversation which we once had with a southern planter on
the Alabama River, in which he remarked that he would prefer raising Indian
corn at 25 cts. per bushel (shelled), delivered on his plantation, to cotton (ginned
and cleaned) at 9 cts. per pound.

According to the estimates of Professor Tucker, of Virginia (now of Philadel-
phia), of the value of maize raised in each State of the Union, by the census of
1840, and the result of his own inquiries — which we published in a Table in The
Fabjuers' Library, vol. i., page 591 — it appears that the average value per
bushel for the United States at that time (when there was no extraordinary for-
eign demand) was about 35 cts. We have no doubt the average value of the
crop of last year would be found to be at least 60 cts. for the whole United Slates.
This price, supposing the crop to have been 400 millions of bushels, would pro-
duce an amount of tico hundred and forty millions of dollars. It must be recol-
lected, however, that the farmers require a large proportion of the corn raised by
them for their own use ; but, if we suppose that they dispose of one-quarter of
the crop to non-producers in the United Stales, and for export to foreign countries,
it would then appear that one hundred millions of bushels of last year's crop
have been or will be disposed of by our farmers at an average price of 60 cts. per
bushel, amounting to sixty millions of dollars, or twenty-five millions of dollars
more than the same quantity would have brought in market in the year 1840. —
This shows the immense advantages our farmers who have raised corn to sell
have derived from the scarcity in Europe, although probably not more than four-
teen or fifteen millions of bushels of last year's crop of maize have been or will
be shipped to foreign countries.

The proportion of the crop of maize raised in 1839, in different sections of the
United States, and the value thereof, according to Prof. Tucker's estimates, and
the Table published by us last year, are as follows :

Ptatcs. Bushels. Value.

New-Enqland States (),9!)2.909 $4,794,893

Middle States 39,946,213 23,3.56,515

Southern States 94.998,2.").5 44.994, .lOS

South- Western States 129,741,093 38,239,033

North-VVestern States 10."..8.")3,405 21,186,681

Total United Stales 377,531,875 $132,591,628

(937) Average about 35 cents per bushel.

458 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

It is a singular fact that the value of Indian corn raised in the CDtton-growing
States, according to the above estimates, is greater than the value of cotton
grown in the same States, as will be seen by the following:

States. Bushels. Indian Corn. Value. Cotton, Value

North Carolina 23,893,763 $9,477,50.0 $3,633,863

South Carolina 14,722,80.5 7,361,402 4,628,270

Georgia 20,905,122 10,462,.')61 11,437,467

Florida 898,974 404,243 726,632

Alabama 20,947,004 8,378,801 8,209,717

Loui.siana , 5,9.i2,912 2,976,451 10,678,87.")

Mississippi 13,i61,237 5,264,494 15.472,126

Tennessee 44,986,188 11,246,547 1,662,076

Arkan.sas 4,846,632 2,423,316 361,718

Total 150,314,637 $57,995,320 $56,810,744

The total quantity of cotton raised in the above States in 1839 was 785,965,080
pounds ; in Virginia and other States, 4,514,195 pounds. Total crop of the U. S.
790,479,275 pounds; valued at $57,130,302 — the average being a small fraction
over seven cents per pound.

It remains to notice the exports of Indian corn and meal from the U. States to
foreign countries. We will notice those of the last six years, viz.

Years. hidian Corn, Bushels. Indian Meal, Banela.

1841 535,727 232.284

1842 600,308 209, 1 99

1843 (9 mos.) 672,608 174,354

1844 825,282 247,882

1845 840,184 209.030

Total .3,474,109 1,132,749

Average 694,882 226,549

For the year ending June 30, 1846, we have not the quantities exported, but
the values are given as follows :

Indian com $1,186,663

Indian meal 945,081

Total .$2,131,744

At the average prices of last year, say between 50 and 60 cents per bushel, it
appears that about four millions of bushels of corn and meal were exported, prin-
cipally of the crop of 1845. This shows a great increase over the quantities ex-
ported in former years ; and the export for the current year will probably be triple
or quadruple that of the increased quantity of the year previous.

If the exports to foreign countries should amount to fourteen millions of bush-
els of Indian corn and meal, at an average price of 80 cents per bushel, the gain
to the United States over the export of the same grain last year will be about
nine millions of dollars.
Destiny of Indian Corn and Meal cocporled for the year ending June 30, 1845.

Indian Corn, Indian Meal,
KusIipIs. Harrels.

British West Indies 339,871 152,172

Swedish do 3.630 2,996

Danish do 15,143 46,020

Dutch do 5,810 4,969

French do 17,654 925

Cuba <i7,596 6,248

Other Spani.sh W.Indies.. 610 4,995

Hayti I.-ISS 402

\Ve8t Indies generally 15,961 335

British Guiana 17,418 4,026

French Guiana 100

Texas 5,217 6

Mexico 1.2'^>0 40

Venezuela 23,247 544

Indian Corn, Indian Meal,
Bushels. Barrels.

Brazil 870 107

Cisplatine Republic 490

British Amcr. Colonies 15.5,217 45,082

England 134,898 1

Ireland 790

(Jibraltar 1,788

Cape de Verde Islands 320 30

Madeira 30,499

Africa 30 41

China 50'

Sou. Seas iV Pacific Ocean. 41

Total 840,184 269,030

Value $411,741 $641,552

It will be seen that the exports of corn and meal for the above year were prin-
cipally to the British American Colonics and the West Indies.

(938)

ENCOURAGING SIGNS FOR AGRICULTURE. WEEVILS. 459

Consumption of Vegetable Food in the United States.

Professor Tucker, in his work entitled " Progress of the United States," says
that about firtecn-sixleenths of the grain and potatoes produced in the U. S. are
consumed at home, eitlier directly or in the form of animal food, and only ono-
sixteenth is sent abroad in either of these forms.

The quantity of vegetable food annually consumed in the United States by a
family of five persons, after deducting one-sixteentli of the grain for the amount
exported, and one-tenth for seed, is as follows :

Indian coril 85 bashels. I Wheat, rye, fee 25 bashela.

OatB 28 .. I Potatoes.". 25

To the articles annually consumed by a Aimily are to be added poultry to the
value of $2 25 ; pickled fish, one-third of a barrel ; rice, 12 lbs. ; sugar, 42 lbs. ;
besides garden vegetables, products of the orchard, and game.

IMPORTANT TO FARMERS.— A letter from a highly respectable hotise in New-York to
a commercial house in this city, says: " The preference is now altogether for yellow com, though
but a few months back white was preferred. Meal from white corn is now al.«o difKcult of sale."

Yellow corn, wo understand, can be readily sold for 4 or .3 cent.s per bushel more than white in
the New-York market. The farmers will perceive tlie importance, in planting their next crop,
of having reference to a fact likely so seriously to allect their interests; for, even if the next Eu-
ropean harvests sliould be abundant, it is not to be doubted that the demand for corn will continue
to be large for twelve or eighteen months to come. Having become familiarized, indeed, to its
use, we may anticipate that it will continue, even after the necessity in which its exportation orig-
inates shall have ceased to exist, to constitute no inconsiderable portion of the food of the people
of Great Britain. [Richmond Whig.

ENCOURAGING SIGNS FOR THE CAUSE OF AGRICULTURE.— There are no let>-
ters we peruse with moro pleasure than such as the followiugf. They show that the public
sentiment is taking the right direction, and that we are steadily, even thougli it be slowly,
approaching a great reform in our systems of education — one under which the youth of the
country will cease to be instructed in anything and everything but in those very branchea
of knowledge by which they may gam, with more ea.se and certainty, that condition of com-
petence and comfort wliich probity and diligence ouglit to insure to every citizen of the Re-
public. \Vhat we want — the great want for almost every State — as we have repeatedly
urged, is a Normal School, at its Seat of Government or elsewhere, in which teachers should
be taught and prepared for the great, the noble office of instructors of yo7tth.

We are truly gratified to see how wisely and feelingly this subject has been dwelt upon
by Gov. Briggs, in his Address to the Massachusetts Legislature; and will copy that part
of it in our next.

We shall never forget the delightful sensations experienced iu witnessing the exercises of
such a school at Albany, to which we were tiiken by an enlightened citizen who has since
done to Fairfax, Virginia, the favor to take up his abode there.

We will not so far reflect on the judgment of any reader as to suppose that he does not at
once see the connection between enlightenment of the mind of the masses, and security of
property, and the general prosperity and safety of the coimtiy.

John S. Skinner, Esq. Baltimore, January 12, 1847.

Dear Sir : I am desirous to find a situation in cvay respect suitable for a son of mine, 20 year* old, to
learn farming, horticulture, &c. Presuming you are able to inform me, I take the liberty of requesting you,
jf you know a situation of the above kind, that you will inform me. I would merely add that my son is a
very moral young man, and is desirous of learning the business of a farmer. An answer, at your earliest
convenience, will oblige Your obedient servant.

To Destroy Weevils. — Apply with a brush to the walls and floor of the granary, strong
lime-water, and in a few days aiierward wash the floor with soap and warm water.

(939)

460 SifEKP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH.

LETTER V.

PROFITS OF SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTHERN STATES.— I. DIRECT
PROFIT ON CAPITAL INVESTED.

Different points of view in which the question of the profitableness of Sheep Husbandry in the Pouthem
•States is to be regarded. ..Direct piolit on Capital invested tirst considered. ..Average prices of Wool in

New- York Average weight of tleece — Price of Sheep— Increase in Lambs — Amount of Manure. . .Price

of Land. ..Number of Sheep supported per acre. ..Estimate of the Expenses and Profits of 100 Sheep,
taking average prices of Wool for the last fourteen years. . .Present low prices of Sheep — Causes — Esti-
mDte of Profits of 100 Sheep, at present prices of Sheep and Wool. ..Profits far below what they mijht be
by breeding better Sh(-cp. ..Writer's Flock — Annual yield of Wool — Prices sold at for six years — Stalisiics
of Premium Flock. . .Show that Wool can be produced at a large profit in New- York at present prices. . .
Healthfulness and economy of substituting Mutton for a portion of the Bacon consumed in tlie Southern
States. ..Economical advantages which Sheep possess over other animals — No risk by Death — Manure
more valuable — Best clearers of Briery Lands — Improvers of Vegetation. ..The cost of producing Wool in
the South, compared with the cost in New-York. ..Number of Sheep which can be supported per acre
South— (ireatcr number than on land of the same quality North, by reason of the winter growth of graina
and grasses in the former. ..Col. AlUton's statement — R. L. .•Mien's — Col. Hampton's — Hon. R. F. Simp-
son's in relation to the Atlantic States south of Virginia. ..Price of Lands in those States. ..Winter Vege-
tation in Tennessee, Kentucky and Vir"inia. ..Mr. Coles's statement — John S. Skinner's. ..Recapitulation...
Estimate of Profits on lOU Sheep Soutti— Compared with New-York. ..Profits on tlie Southern Mountains
...Doct. Brockenboro's statements — Mr. Murdock's. ..Economy of Migratory Sheep Husbandry. ..Advan-
tages for it in the South comiiared with those of Spain. ..Drawbacks on Profits of Sheep Husbandry —
Dogs and Wolves. . .Their depredations compared with those in Australia and the Cape of Good Hope. ..
Remedy.

Dear Sir: In ascertaining the Profits of Sheep Husbandry in the
Southern States, several considerations present themselves, apart from the
mere question of direct annual profit or loss on a given investment in
Sheep and in land for their subsistence. The more immediate and obvious
profit is doubtless the first question ; but in regarding the general advan-
tages or disadvantages of this branch of husbandry — particularly in a re-
gion circumstanced in all particulars as the Southern States are — we are
farther to consider the practicability and comparative economy of making it
the basis of an effectual amelioration in soils naturally sterile, or those
which have been rendered so by excessive and injudicious cultivation ;
and its comparative efficacy in giving to Southern Agriculture a mixed
and convertible character, and thereby sustaining (or improving) all the
present good tillage lands, in the place of continuing the " new and old
field" system — (tilling land until it is worn out, then abandoning it and
opening new lands,) — once so general, and even now by far too prevalent.
And there is another point of no mean importance : whether, independent
of preceding considerations, and even if the staples furnished by sheep
husbandry proved no more profital)lc, in direct returns on capital invested,
than some' of the present staples, it W(nild iu)t be better economy, on the
whole, for the South to produce the raw material and manufacture domes-
tic woolens, particularly for tlit^ apparel and bedding of slaves, than to be
dependent for them on England or Massachusetts.

To ascertain the din^ct and immediate profit on investment in sheep hus-
bandry, let us appeal to well settled facts and statistics, instead of content-
ing ourselves with vague and general propositions. For tlie following
Table of the average prices of good wool* in the Stale of New- York, which
was published in my replies to Mr. Walker's " Treasury Circular " in

• Such wools as are nscd for the manufnctnro of broad and other cloths of pood quality— ran gins', say,
from Jth blood Merino to pure Sii.xon— excluding native, grade (below Uh Mcriuo), and all English woola.
(9)0)

SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 461

1845,* I was indebted to a most i"espcctable and extensive purcliaser of
wool, and its accui-acy is beyond question.

TABLE No. 7.

Year.

Average price per puiind.

Year.

Average price pir pound.

1832

1833

1834

1835

40 ceiita.

50 do.

4.'. do.

.48 do.

1839

1840

1841

33 do.

:)5 do

1842

1843

1844

1845

30 do.

o'l do.

40 do.

n9. An

1836

1837

18.38

54 do.

30 do.

36 do.

It will thus be seen that for a period of fourteen years preceding 1845,
the average price of good wools was 39- cents per jiound.t

The average weight of fleece in sheep yielding this wool has been about
3 lbs. ; the pure-blood Saxons less ; but those })caiing the coarsest wool
included, in the average, more.

The average price of sheep of the quality under consideration, has been
not less than §2 per head in the fall, and lambs half that price.| The an-
nual increase in lambs would be about 80 per cent., or if less by reason of
the number of wethers in the flock, the groirfh of the latter would give a
corresponding increase in profit. One hundred sheep, properly littered,
will make at least forty loads of manure during the one hundred and fifty
days during which they are confined to dry feed, in our Northern
winters.

The grazing lands of New-York, cut up as they are into small farms,||
and each being provided with dwelling and farm buildings, are worth
from $15 to -$30 per acre. Prime sheep lands will average about %20.\

In relation to the amount of land necessary to support a given number
of sheep, the experience of a good many years has satisfied me that the
rule commonly laid down on the grazing lands of New-York and New-
England, that, on the average, one acre of land will give subsistence to
three fine-wooled sheep throughout the year, is an accurate one.1] On
grain farms, it is considered good economy to keep one sheep for every
acre of cleared land which the farm contains ; on those where mixed
husbandry is practiced, two ; and, on those exclusively devoted to sheep,
three.

In the following, and all similar estimates, I shall reckon the profits on
the land and expenditures, instead of the laiid and the commovhj quoted,
vrices of grass, hay, &c., consumed. These prices, in the interior, are

* ?ee Report of the Secretary nf the TrnRSury. 184.'i, p. 461. I thouaht, and so stated to Mr. Walker, that
ihe Table placed wools about H cents per pound too hiph. Bui subsequent information has convinced me
that I was in error. In my statement of the arerage profits of sheep liusbandry, in those replies, I estima-
ted the average price of wool by the prices pnid by a local and much smaller purchaser, and for a com-
paratively limited term of years. I was not then aware of the utior defectiveness of the U. S Census re-
turns (pointed out in Letter II.) in relation to the annual product of wool, and therefore was misled in the
(iverage weight of fleeces ; and, speaking from impression lalher than experiment, I placed the value of
the manure altogether too low. Those queslions and replies have led me into experiments and inquiries,
which have resulted in more accurate information. I allude to this subject, because I think it every man's
duty to correct any errors or explain any discrepancies sul)sequently discovered by him, in his stalemenU
which have been thrown before the ]>viblic, and thus are jilaced in a position to mislead.

t During 1846 it was from 30 to 32 cents per pound, but as this estimate is not based on extensive pur-
chases, like the preceding, I have not placed it in the table.

J Including ^rarfc sheep, which form the greatest proportion of the whole number. There have been
very few pure-blood Merinos in the State, and many of the Saxon flocks have been so miserably deterio-
rated in enrcass and weight of tieece, that they have sold for low prices. But good, .'^axons sold much
above this until within three or four years: since then, the Merinos have been rapidly driving out the
Saxons, and those of good quality and undoubted pedigree have sold for fiom live to twenty-tive times as
much. The higher the price, the greitcr the riotits, by" reason of the value of the increase.

II It would be my impression that tlie faims in the grazing regions do not, on tlie average, exceed 130
acres each.

6 Id est, in the grazing region.

II I say " line-wooled sheep," because the larger and coarser Downs, Lcicestera, Cotswolds, &c. coDSume
much more, as will hereafter be shown.

(94U

462

SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH.

merely nominal, as they cannot be obtained for beyond a small portion of
the annual crop. They do not, therefore, form a proper basis for conect
general estimates.

The expenses and losses in keeping sheep, not already alluded to, are
all set down below, as high as they will average on well managed farms.

JJr.

$ els.

100 Kheep to interest on purchase money 14 00

To int. on 33} acres of land at $20 per acre 46 66

" curing and storing iLiyonllacresof above. 13 75

" expense of shearing 4 00

" salt, tar and summer care 4 00

" litlior of foddering', ifcc., during winter, say. 5 00
" loss by death 2 per cent, above the value of

pulled wool 4 00

Total ^li

•S ct*.

13y 300 lbs. of Wool, at :i'J 4-7 cts. per Ib.lln 71 3-7

■• 80 lambs at 61 per head 80 00

" 40 2horse loads of winter msmure at

50 cents per load 20 GO

" summer manure, calling it only equal

to shearing and summer care* 8 00

Total $226 713-7

Balance $ll35 30 3-7

Making the net profit of $4 05, or 201 per cent, per acre on lands
worth $20.

Since the passage of the Tariff of 1846, there has evidently been a panic
among the wool-gi'owers of New- York, and the lise in bread-stuffs, beef,
pork, and dairy products, occasioned by the change in the British Tariff,
and the famine which has prevailed in Europe by reason of the short crops
of 1846, has tended farther to depreciate sheep, by ofl'ering inducements
supposed to be very strong, to embark in branches of husljandry furnish-
intr the former staples.f Sheep are consequently cheaper than they ever
were before. Prime grade sheep, bearing wool of as good quality as the
average of that embraced in Table 7, have in some instances sold for ten
shillini^s per head, and coarse common sheep for one dollar — lambs half a
dollar — making, in the ordinary proportion between lambs and gi'own
sheep, about 75 cents per head, taking a flock through !

Wool of the quality embraced in Table 7 has fallen to an average of say
31 cents. Under the impression that sheep and wool have reached their
minimum prices, | it becomes an interesting subject of inquiry whether
they can yet be produced, at a profit, in New-York. The following figures,
I think, will fairly show :

Di\ $ i;<.s.

Sheep, to interest on purchase money, at

$1 25 per head 8 75

int. on 33i acres of land at $20 per acre. .46 66
cutting, curing and storing hay on 11 acres

of above 13 75

expense of shearing 4 00

tar, salt and summer care 4 00

labor of foddeiing, &c. during winter, say. 5 00
loss by death 2 per ct. above the value of

pulled wool 2 50

Total $84 66

CV. $ cts.

By 300 ll)s of Wool, at 31 cents per pound... 93 00

" 80 lambs, at 62} cents per head 50 00

" 40 2-horse loads of winter manure, at 50

cents per load 20 00

" Eummor manure, calling it only e<iual to

shearing and summer care 8 00

Total $171 00

l?alance > 86 34

Making $2 59, or nearly 13 per cent, net profit per acre on lands worth #20.

In the preceding estimates I have only regarded the j)rofit of sheep hus-
bandry, as it has averaged for a series of years, among those possessing
good ordinary fltjcks.

' I place the summer manure, undoubtedly, considerably below its actual value. No experienced farmer
will say that good solid shec?)) manure is worth less than 50 C(>nts per load, and as ihe summer manure '.s
at least equal in quantity, and is deposited immediately on tlie land, I see no reason why it is not equally
valuable.

t That the diminution of English duties on these staples will give them a better and steadier market, there
can be little doubt ; but not the very hi/fh one of the past season, occasioned by the severe famine which
has prevailed in many parts of (Ireat Brintin. Many, therefore, who have sacrificed their sheep, reckoning
on i>uch prices, will probably timl that they have "reckoned Without their hos^L"

f I say this under the decided impression that our wools, at this ^VKC, if properly washed and put np^
■Would triumphantly compete in the foreign markets with tho=e of the wool-growing nations of Europe ;
and vvr.a with those of Australia, Ihe Cape of Good Hope, and other Austro-oriental regions, for » more
lull examination of this point, ee« Appendi.x U.
(942)

SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 463

It falls far sluirt of that realized l)y breeders and Hock-masters, who
started their flocks with the hest pure-blood sheep then to be found in the
country ; and who have subsequently continued to improve them by great
care in breedini;, and by a rigorous course of selection.

I have bred Merino sheep for a number of years, and latterly in consid-
erable numbers ; and in no case have my s^rown sheep averai^ed less than
5 lbs. of well washed wool per annum. The quality of the wool may be
inferred from a comparison of the ])rices at which it has sold, with those in
Table 7. In 1846, I sold for 35 cents per pound ; bi 1845, for S.'j-J- cents ;
in 1844, for 48 cents ; in 1843, for 33] cents ; in 1842, for 35 cents, and
so on.

To give more precise data, I select the following statement of the pro-
ducts of a flock, on which I drew the first premium ofiered by the New-
York State Agricultural Society for " the best managed flock of sheep,"
in 1844:

[From the Triinsactions of the N. V. State Agi icultural Society, 1844, p. 254. J

" In the winter of 1813-4, I wintered in :i separate Hock fifty-one ewes over one year
old, two ewe latnbs, two rams, one of tlieni one and oiii; of tlicni two years old. Of llie ewee
over one year old, twenty-eight were fuU-ljlood Merinos ; Iwenty-tln-ee were h;ill-blood Me-
rinos and iiuU-hlood Soulli-Down.s ; the two ewe ianil).s were three-fourth-blood Merino and
one-fourlli-blood South-Down : and the two rams were full-blood Merino.?. The flock w^ere
kept as fbllow.s tln'ough the winter: They were fed hay morning and night, and were, as a
general rule, required to eat it up clean. At noon the flock were daily fed three bundles of
oats and barley (which iiad growni mi.xed, say three yiarts oats and one part barley.) until
the 2.5th of December — after which they received four bundles of oats. The grain was
light and shrunken. They received no hay at noon during the winter, and usually consumed
all the straw of the grain fed them. They had a good shelter, and access to pure water at
all times. From this flock I raised fifty-three lambs. The full-blood Mei-inos, including
two rams, and the two three-fourth-blood latnbs, (in all thirty-two.) sheare<l one hundred
and eighty-si.x ])ounds and four ounces of washed wool, which I sold at ibrty-eighl cents per
pound. Four of the full-bloods hail two years' fleeces on. The half-blood Merinos and
half-blood South-Downs (twenty -three) sheared eighty and one-half pounds of wiished wool,
seventj'-one pounds of which I sold at thirty-eight cents per pound. During the sununer of
1841, the flock were kept in good ordinary pasture, and salted once a week."

Thus, the Merino fleeces averaged 5 lbs. 13i oz. and sold for $2 79-| each ;
and the gi-ades between Merino and South-Down averaged 3 lbs. 8 oz. to
the fleece, and sold for $1 33 each.

It will be observed that four of the full-bloods (they were ewes) had
two years' fleeces on. A two years' fleece will not weigh as much as two
single years' fleeces from the same sheep. On the average, it will weigh
about three-quarters as much.* On the other hand, the lot included two
three-quarter-blood lamb fleeces, which would fall below the average
weight of the others, and a portion of the flock were yearlings and two-
year olds. The Merino never attains its maximum weight of fleece before
three years old, and ordinarily not until four, and therefore the aggregate
weight of wool of the 32 sheep, given above, does not, to say the least of
it, give too favorable a view of the product of sheeji of this quality. This
is proved by the fact that my entire flock of full-bloods sheared about
three-twentieths of an ounce over six pounds each, the succeeding year.

It would give me great pleasure to subjoin similar statistics of other
carefully bred flocks, were authorized statements of them in my posses-
sion, or published within my knowledge.

It is sufficiently apparent from the above facts and estimates, that wool
has not yet reached the lowest point at which it can be produced at an
ample profit, on lands of the value indicated, if the slicq) are of the f roper

* That is to say, if the single years' fleeces would equal fi lbs. e.nch. a two years' fleece, instead of weigh-
ing twice ^\» much, or 12 lbs., will not exceed three-quarters c-t' such ncrgrcgate weight, or 9 Iba. The wool
wastes when it becomes eo long, and perhaps does not grow so rapidly.
(943J

464

SHEEP HUSBANDRY FN THE SOUTH.

quality ; and these facts farther suggest the expetliency of relying on our
own efforts to " protect " this interest, rather than the fickle support of
National legislation.

For the production of a cheap, wholesome, and highly nutritious food,
no animal excels the sheep. Theoretical considerations, as well as exper-
iment, show the superiority of mutton to pork in the formation of vigor-
ous muscle ;* and its tendency is less, particularly in hot climates, to en-
gender inflammatory and putrid diseases. The consumption of consider-
able quantities of fat is indispensable, in cold climates, to supply the
necessary amount of carbon to support " combustion," as Liebig terms it,
in the lungs, or, in other words, to maintain the animal heat. Hence the
Laplander and the Esquimaux find a grateful diet in train-oil, or the adi-
pose parts of Arctic fish and mammalia. That fat pork should be the
favorite ineat, in the Northern States, is not perhaps so singular, but that
it (under the name of bacon) should constitute the principal one consumed
in our warm Southern latitudes, and especially that it should constitute so
large a proportion of all the food consumed,! is indeed a most anomalous
fact, and is utterly unparalleled among the practices of other nations occu-
pying the same latitudes. The tendency of this practice to produce dis-
ease, physical inertia, indisposition and incapacity to sustain continued
activity, will not, I think, be questioned by the pathologist or the close
observer.

Mutton and lamb are a favorite, if not the favorite food of the English
of all classes. Notwithstanding all that has been said and written of the
" roast beef" of" Old England," mutton is more eaten there by people of
every rank.| On the other hand, it is evidently not a favorite meat in the
United States, though its proportionable consumption is evidently increas-
ing. Whence the difference 1 Circumstances have led to habit, and habit,
in a great measui'e, regulates appetite. It needs no other proof than ia
to be found in the experience of every individual, to show that the appe
tite is readily trained to relish what was even positively disgusting, and to
become indifferent to what was once the most grateful.

That the preceding facts are well worthy of attention among those who
are favorable to the introduction of sheep husbandry, among planters wlio
supply not less than 3 lbs. per week of good bacon, or a full equivalent, to
each slave, on plantations where the number ranges fi'om ten to one hun-
dred, and sometimes many more, there can be little doubt. Twenty-five
slaves would thus consume 3,900 lbs. of bacon per animm ; and the more
common allowance of the opulent planter is about 200 lbs. per head, or
5,000 lbs. for twenty-five. If an equivalent for at least half of this was

* The theorcticnl considerntions will be found sufficiently discussed in Liebij's " Animal Chemistry." For
experimental evidence, I know of none tliut CHn be more depended on— which approaches any neaier
actual demonstration — than that which is furnished by the Ena;lish prizefijihters. To iittain the proper con-
dition to sustain the protracted and tremendous exertions of their brutal trade, their flesh must anain the
hardness and touiihness of whipcord, and they must, at the same time. maintRin that physical elasticity
(technically, " corkiness,") which adds agility to iron strensth. These men, while training, are suti'ered to
eat little or no adipose matter, and not evi:n the lean oi pork. Their animal food is excUisively beef or
mutton, or both. Some trainers prefer the former, some the latter. I have seen this matter very fully al-
luded to, but do not now remember any more explicit authority than that contained in the following note
to Carpenter's Principles of flumim Physiology, (p. 357.)

" The method of training (employed by Jackson, (a celebrated trainer of" prize-fighters in modem times.)
as deduced from his answers to questions put to him by John Bell, was to beuin on a clear foimdalion by
an emetic and two or three jjurgos. lieef and mutton, the lean of fat meat being pieferred, constituted the
principal food; veal, lamb and pork wore said to be less diaesiible ('the last purges some men'>. Fish
was eaid to be a ' watery kind ot diet ;' and is employed by jijckiys who wish to reduce weight by sweat-
ing."

T I mean this portion of the remark to apply more particularly to the non-laboring classes. The propor-
tion consumed by the slave, though ample, is uot excessive, when his laboring habits are taken into con-
sideration

\ 1 state tliis on the authority of various individuals who have been much in F.ngland, And who have
been placed in positions to form a pretty accurate opinion. Mr. Colman speaks of the ' exlxaordjjuuy
consumption of mutton iu Knglund, without, however, giving any comparauive data.

SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 465

made in mutton, it would be far cheaper, and, if I have not erred in previ-
ous statements, better for the slave.

There are two or three other highly favorable considerations to be taken
into account among the direct profits of rearing sheep.

The risk by death, by ordinary causes, is nothing. Two per cent, is al-
lowed in the preceding estimates, as the full product of wool and increase
is cairied out. But, in reality, the sheep never dies " insolvent." If the
colt or the bullock dies on our hands, after two or three years of trouble
and expense with it, the loss is nearly a total one. If the fine-wooled
sheep dies at any age, the wool then on it, or what it has alieady produced,
more than covers all the cost which it has ever made us.*

Not only is the winter manure of the sheep superior to that of any other
domestic animal, the hog and fowl excepted, but it pi'actically becomes
still more so in proportion, in summer, wlien scattered over the pastures,
by reason of the conditions in which it is deposited. The soft j)orous ex-
crements of the cowt or horse, exposed to the exsiccating action of sun and
wind, evolve most of their fertilizing properties into the atmosphere, and
this effect would increase in proportion to the warmth of the climate. The
excrements of the sheop, on the other hand, are deposited in small, hard,
rounded pellets, which fall down between the leaves of the grass, and are
thus in a great measure protected from the sun and wind, until they are
trodden into and incorporated with the soil.| Then, again, they need no
spreading,! I like the dung of the horse and cow. And finally, instinct, in
leading the sheep almost invariably to seek the summits of the elevations,
in warm weather, for its night quarters, loads it to deposit much more ma-
nure in proportion, where it is most needed, on the drier and more baiTen
hill-tops ; and where, being more remote from water-courses, less of its
juices are liable to be washed away by rains, into the streams, or on to the
lands of others.

Sheep are also far more efficient than any other animal (if we except
the worthless goat) in clearing up new lands, or neglected old ones, of
those briers and shrubs which it is often difficult to eradicate without plow-
ing ; and they often abound on lands which cannot be plowed with profit.
And, when plowed, the shrubs in the fence corners must be left (to the
utter shame of all good husbandry), or the fence must be removed — some-
times at a gTcat inconvenience. The sheep delights to browse on the buds,
and to strip the bark of most shrubs, § and they thus soon destroy them. It
would be good economy for the farmer to keep his neighbors' sheep, with-
out charge, on all veiy briery or coppiced unarable lands, if he could not
BO stock them himself.

Finally, it is generally believed by expeiienced flock-masters — and ob-
servation has led me to fully coincide in the opinion — that sheep not only
improve the lands they depasture more than any other animal, but that
they exert an almost specific influence in improving the character of th*
vegetation. All wild, poor grasses gradually disappear from their pastures

• I speak, of course, of the cost of rearing find feedinj;.

t Gazzeri found that IfO pans of recent cow-dun;; contain 2.'j per cent, of dry, solid matter, and that 5 pel
cent, of this is lost in 40 days by exposure to the air. I do not think this indicates the full loss which would
be sustained in a southern latitude.

\ These rounded pellets are covered, too, in the animal in good condition, with a coating of mucus, whicli
farther protects them from evaporation.

II Their urine, also, is voided in quantities which render it highly beneficial ; while that of the horee and
cow is voided in such large quantities in one place that it is not only in a great moasuie wa-sccd, but in a
dry time (so that it is not diluted by the moisture in the soil), its rich salts, so far from beneliting, actually
kill the verdure.

§ Tliis is particularly true of the blackberry or bramble (Ruhrus viUosiis), and the raspberry (RuhuM
idoeiLS), often ereat peste on new or neglected lands at the North. Sheep can even be made to attack the
elder (Sambui-us canadi-nsin var. pubescens), and various other troublesome intruders, by turning them upoa
them in thawing " spells," in the winter, after they have been for some time confined to dry feed.
(945) 30

466 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH.

and are succeeded by the best ones ; and the sward becomes remarkably
dense and even. This is probably due to the richness and better distribu-
tion of their dung and urine.

If upward of twenty per cent, profits, over and above all expenditures,
have been and still can be made, on lands worth $20 per acre, by wool-
growing — on lands, too, where the reign of aii iron winter confines sheep
to dry feed at least five months of the year — how are we to estimate those
profits on lands costing but a small part of this sum, which, though inferioi
to the former, will, by reason of the shortness and mildness of the winter,
support about an equal number of sheep per acre, and also save the ex-
pense of preparing dry feed, of foddering, and a large proportion of that
laid out in barns, shelters, &c. ?

It will be seen that, by assuming the data of the last of the two preced
ing estimates (wdth the exception of the loss by death), the gross cost ol
producing 300 lbs. of wool, on the grazing lands of New-York, is $82 16,
or 27|^| cts. per pound. This is undoubtedly as loiv as it can be produced
where the fleeces do not exceed the average weight of 3 lbs. Let us now
proceed to inquire what would be the gross expense per pound in the
Southern States. ^

You inform me that " one or two — not more — " sheep find subsistence
during the summer on the natural pastures of the tide-water zone in South
Carolina.* The broad-tailed, and other large breeds, now mainly fed
there, consume nearly double the amount of feed required by the fine-
wooled sheep. But, to make our estimate perfectly a safe one, we will
assume that two fine-wooled sheep only will consume the summer herbago
of an acre. Fields of rye sown in September or October, you farther in-
form me, will support " two sheep and their lambs" per acre, " from the
20lh of December to the 10th of March." Numerically, then, here you
have the same stocking that is borne by the lands of New- York, viz. three
sheep per acre. And, making the allowance already alluded to for the
different consumption of breeds, an acre would sustain three fuU-g^'owi?
Merino sheep. As the rye subsequently yields its crop, the wool is not
chargeable with the expense of its tillage.

Rye will continue to grow in the winter on all lands not too sterile, oi
too elevated, south of latitude 36°, and, in favorable situations, at least
two degi'ees farther north. Grass, and some other hardy esculents, also
maintain a winter vegetation in many portions of the whole of this re-
gion.!

R. L. Allen, Esq., after a recent visit to the jilantation of Col. Wade
Hampton, near Columbia, S. C, thus speaks of the winter verdure in that
region :

" Though everything like grass or weeds is rigidly excluded in the early stages of tli<»
crops, yet, as these approach maturity, the thick netting of crab and various other grasses
find plants, which are ever struggling tor existence iji tliis wann clime, are allowed to come
forward and mature; and their growth furnishes forage tor cattle and sheep during the win-
ter, ;uid an important addition to the vegetable manures for turning under and adding to the
fertility of the soil. . . . The sheep, together with the cattle, nudes and horses, which
are not at work, are turned into the natural piistures in summer, and, in addition to these,
they have the nui of the coni-fields in winter, and without seeing any other shelter a^.tinst
the severest storms than a thicket or hill-side, they thrive and fatten tliroughout the year.—
This condition is secured by the mildness of the climate, and the consequent growth of vege
tatiou during the entire winter."

• |Thcee stBtements, fttii] nil others croditril to Col. Allslon, mc, when not otherwise specified, contained
It lettcra from that gentleman to the writer.)

t Among there, " a plant called 'Wild Kye.' affording exct'Uent herbage during the winter months, epring*
lip epontaiicouely on tlie rice-tield baiike, aud between the cotton beds, on some plantations on the RiTcr
CoDgaree, S. C."
(»4CJ

SHEEP HUSBANDRY LN THE SOUTH. 467

John S. Skinner, Esq. thus Avrites me :*

" Col. Hampton's flock numbers 800, I believe. Ho kilJB the finest fiort of mutton throut^h
out the winter and spring — very fut anil excellent in all resiiects. He told me last summer,
at Saratoga, that they never get a mouthful except what they can find in the woods and
fields."

Hon. R. F. Simpson, Member of Cono;ress, of Pendleton, South Caro
hna, tlius describe.s the region in which he resides, and some of the contig^
uous ones :t

Henry S. Randall, Esq. Washington, .Ian. 22, 1847.

Dear Sir : I take much ple:isure in answering your intpiii-ies, and only regret that I have
not more time to do fiill justice to tlio subject. If my answers liiil to iiiibnii you with suffi
cient clearness on any point, I shall be most hapjiy to add to them, at your suggestion.

The Allegany Mountains, as you are awai-e, run fi-om N. E. to S. W. That part of them
north of the S. C. line lies spread out in diflercnt clinins or ridges to a distance of nearly 50
miles ; and the whole region is coinmouly called " on the mountains." The climate is healthy
iuid the grass fine. Many of the valleys in this region are very rich, particularly on the wa-
ter-courses. The gi'ound is covered with snow as unich as t(>ur weeks annually. The range
is good, but there may be too much humidity for sheep. t The land is cht^ap, say $1 per
acre — but nmch can be bought at .'iO cents. I have learned from good authority that sheep
can be farmed out during the winter at ten cerits a head, in any ordinaiy quantity. The
fanners who take them, too, will be liable for loss by death, in many instances.

There is a strip of couuti-y lying east of tlie Blue Ridge, and parallel to it, from 20 to 30
miles wide, extending through North and South Carolina and Georgia, which I think espe-
cially adapted to sheep husljandry. The land is poor for the pioductiouof our southern sta-
ples, and is sparsely settled, but the pa.sturage is good. There is a perennial grass, known
as " woods gi-tLss,'' which springs up in tlie woods after they are buined each winter, which
makes excellent pasture for all kinds of stock. It starts vigorously in the spring, and sheep
ialten on it by the middle of .Fuly. It la.sts all the sunnner, and provides sufficient Ibod for
sheep during the entire winter, except when snow is on the ground, which is not more than
two or three days at a time, and usually not more than ten days during a winter.

The few days during which the gi-ass is covered up with snow are tlie only ones, during
the entu'e year, when it is necessary to feed sheep. This is usually done with oats in the
sheaf. . . . Supposing ten sheep equal to one cow, I think one acre would afford sub
sistence to three sheep.

But few people mow here. In a few instances, herd.s-giass has been sown and mowed,
but the product not weighed, to my knowledge. Both herds-gi-ass and the natural ones, on
our bottom lands, look much richer, and to all appearance woidd turn off a heavier crop of
hay than any meadows to be seen on the line of travel tlu'oiigh Virginia.

As I have before remarked, the land is poor, except the small bottoms on creeks and
branches. The latter are rich, and will produce 30 bushels of corn and from 10 to 1.') bush-
els of wheat per acre. They also produce oats and lye, but I do not know how nnich by
measurement. I suppose from 10 to 20 bushels each. The land is valued low — from 50 cts.
to $1 50 per acre — and it is only necessaiy to buy $.")00 or $1,000 worlh of it, to embraci^
sufficient bottom to raise provisions, and oats to feed sheep when snow is on the ground. —
The rangell is very large, and everybody's stock has libeity to roam over it, without hin-
drance or compensation.

Our common method of managing sheep is as follows: The flock are kept in the planta-
tion during the winter by some ; others tuni out in the woods. In May they are slieiu-ed
the lumbs marked, &:c., and they are turned into ihe out pastures. When "they come up,
they are salted, and no other attention is paid to theni until fall, when most persons shear
again. They are larely brought up unless to get a lamb ff)r the table. This treatment ren-
ders them wild, and prone to jump into the owners' or neighbors' wheat fields, from which
they are driven out with rocks and sticks, and sometimes with dogs. They rue, in all re-

* J«n, 15, 1847.

t Tliis letter would have born more appropiiatcly included in my IVth Letter, but waa not received in
time, and it is by far too valuable and interesting to be omitted.

I The etiect of /u/mirf(«y on shuep is, I think, often misunderstood and greatly exaggerated. Wet, cold
soils are uncongenial to sheep, but they suffer no more from those ordinary fogs and vapors which prevail
in insular positions, or which are attracted by mountain ranges, than other domestic animals. As has been
before remarked, sheep thrive iti the peculiarly foggy atmo.sphere of England — also in Holland. Their
healthiness on mountains is proverbial, yet these elevations arc usually subject to fogs, and clouds rest on
the sides or summits of the loftier ones. As the sotUheni mountains are cleared of their trees, their atmo-
sphere will be less luimid, and that soft vegetable mould (which ticil^id the fears of Mr. Kucklry) will ac-
quire the consistency which it always doei on a dry foundation, when exposed to the sun and air ; and it
vrill be the means of supplying the sheep with rich vegetable nutriment, instead of poisoning ihem with
** hoof-ail."

H The provincial si<niiticalion of this word, South, is the unincloscd pasturage in the forest and " ont
fields,"— I. e., worn-outlands thrown out to commons.
(947)

468 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH.

Bpects, treated more like outlaws than domestic animabs. When out, all the flocks in the
neighborhood mingle together. From their disposition to ramble, and the incursions of dogs,
they get scattered, and scarcely any farmer can get up to the fall shearing more than one-
half of his count.

The region above described includes Pickens, Greuville and Sj)artan6b\n-g, so far as thia
State is concerned. Going eiist of this sti-ip, you at once get into good land, where the set-
tlements are frequent. Here snow is rare, and wlieat, rje and barley are used for winter
pastures for sheep, and they continue growing during the whiter. Wood gi"as8 does not
abound in diis region, as the woods are not kept burnt.*

Very respectfully, yours, &c. R. F. SIMPSON.

The preceding statements give a sufficient idea of the expense of feed-
ing sheep in the Carolinas, Georgia, and the Gulf States. In all of these,
there is a striking similarity in soils and natural products, and also in cli
mate — with, perhaps, the exception of North Carolina, which is a trifle
colder. In all of them, as well as in all the other Southern States, land
can be bought at the same low prices.t

The cost of the winter forage of sheep in Tennessee may be inferred
from the statements of Mr. Kramer, (in Letter IV.) On even the lofty
Cumberland Mountains, in that State, grass grows during the entire win-
ter, and snow rarely covers the ground to exceed forty-eight hours ! Judge
Beatty's statements in relation to Kentucky (in the same letter) show that
the luxuriant blue-grass pastures of that State will sustain sheep during
the entire winter ; and that they frequently obtain their Avhole subsistence
on the grasses, even on the mountains. Let us now turn to Virginia, the
most northern of the Southern States. In a recent letter to me, John S.
Skinner, Esq. says :

" Hon. Mr. Coles, a Member of Congress from Virginia+ — a sedate, attentive and practical
farmer — once informed me that his flock of 200 sheep, kept in good condition summer and

winter, did not cost him $10 a year You must know that they, in the general

way, as I believe, never feed their sheep, winter or summer, except where the ground is
covered with snow — which is rarely the case, and then the snow does not lie more than a
day, or at most two days. . . . No doubt winter pasture might be j>rovi(led by sowing
rye in the proper season (the usual system is to sow it the last thing, and .-is long as the
farmer can " catch a chance") and putting the ground in good condition; and in that way

adequate provision miglit be nrade for any deficiency of natural pasture ^Vhen

the snow does cover the ground in Virginia, they give the sheep corn-blades — an excellent
fodder. I think the rule was when I was a boy (in the rare exigency alluded to) to give
tJjem a bundle of l)lades each. A bundle of blades compacted would be about as large as
tlie upper jiart of your arm."

North- Western Virginia seems to be considerably colder than the corre-
epouding portion of the State east of the mountains; and the winter fod-
dering season is not greatly shorter — though the amount of fodder con-
sumed must be far less — than in Western Pennsylvania, or in many por-
tion.s of Ne;w-Yor]c.|| Yet, singularly enough, more sheep are bred here
in proportion, probably, than in any other portion of the Southern States!

* Some other paragraphs from this letter arc omitted for quctiilion under the heads of which they specif-
ically treat

t fl in S Pirons. n Member of Conj;rC8.i from this (N. Y.) State, writes me, after constiltnlion with von-
OU8 Soulhom Member", lliat " good lands may be purchitscd for SI 50 per acre, mid in great abiuidaiice. In
most of the Somhern St'ite-."

Mr. Garret \n(trc%/s, of NVIIkes Co., fieor^jia, in ii commnnientimi in the American .\!;nCMlluri3l (April,
1844), sayc : "ScNcn'l hundred acres (if die middle or hilly zone) are often sold for a dolUn or less per
acre. The usual rule ii to fell the woodland for what it may be lhi)\ialu to be worlli, and uive the pur-
chaser the old lands and the houses for tiolhiiij; For Sl.OOO or $1,.>00, a comfortable house and

out-hou-es, garden. <fec. may he hail, ■\ith »cvural hundred acres of land, . . wanlimj nothiuj; but a fair
chance to become as fertile US may be .leoired. . . . 'J'licrc is no end of llie materials for manure."

I ncCTuiy sn/ it stated by n per'leman in a communication which was p\iblished in the N. V. Farmer ard
M<!chanl ■, that he was authorized logiec away good land in the Cumbcilimd .Mouulains to sober aiid indus-
trious petdcis.

The prices in the N. C. Mountains will bo seen from Mr. Clineman's letter, (Letter IV.)

t Mr. Coles resided in Pltl-iylvania, a county adjoinini; North Caroliun, in the middle or hilly zone.

II .Icsse l",rin|n2to'i, of llollid.iy's Cove, llrooke Co , Va . writes me : " Our average time of fedderinp te
at least 4 months, and wc gcuerully provide provender equal to 5 lous of hay for each bimdrcd grown
«hecp, fur the winter."

(948/

SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH.

469

This region being essentially Northern in its characteristics no allusion
will be had to it in subsecjuent remarks.

It will be seen from the preceding statements that in many, if not most
situations, throughout the whole Southern States, sheep will obtain suffi-
cient food throughout the year from the pastures,* or from autumn-sown
grains, excepting on the higher or more northern mountains. As has been
before remarked, as the grain subsequently yields its crop, its tillage is not
properly chargeable among the expenses of producing wool. The prepa-
ration of hay, and labor of foddering, are also dispensed with. By the
rule of estimation followed in relation to New-York, the items on the debit
side. of the account would then be — interest on purchase money; interest
on land ; expense of shearing; salt, tar, and general supervision ; and loss
by death. The items on the credit side would be the same with those of
New-York.

Your own statements. Sir, as well as those of Mr. Simpson, show that,
in many situations, both in the tide-water and hilly zone, three sheep can
be supported on the herbage of an acre, without other fodder. His state-
ments show that such lands can be bought at " from 50 cents to Si 50 per
acre." The annual account then would stand thus :

Vr.

$ ctf

100 sheep — to interest on purchase money, at

$1 "25 per head $8 75

To interest on :)3J acres of land at $1 50 3 50

" expense of shearing 4 00

" salt, tar, and general supervision 8 00

" loss by death 2 per cent, over and above

value of pulled wool 2 50

Total .,f2t) 75

$ cts.

By 300 lbs. of wool at 31 cents per pound.. .$9;! CO

•' 80 lambs, at t>2i cents per head 50 00

" Manuret 28 00

Total $171 00

Balance $144 25

Making S4 32, or two hundred and eighty-eight per cent, clear profit per
acre, on lands Avorth $1 50 !

By the respective estimates it will be seen that the gioss cost of pro-
ducing a pound of wool (allowing 3 lbs. to the fleece) is, in the Southern
States, SjL cents ; in New-York 27|| cents| — or nearly three and a half
times greater in the latter ! I have put down the expense of shearing the
same in both cases, and the supervision, South, twice as high as the sum-
mer care, in the North. Shearing always costs $1 a day, per hand, in the
North, and the summer care devolves upon the paid laborer whose every
hour counts. The shearing would not be worth to exceed S2 a hundred
on a plantation where slaves are kept, and the supervision or care could
scarcely be considered an expense, when it could be borne mainly, if not
entirely, by superannuated or decrepit slaves, or even by children. The
real expense of growing wool on land of this quality and price would be
about 5-J2 cents per pound ;|| and calling the fleece 4 lbs. (which weight it
always ought to be made to attain) it would but little exceed 3i cents.§
This is above Mr. Coles's estimate of expense in southem central Vir-
ginia, and Mr. John S. Skinner has repeatedly expressed the opinion that
it could be grown in various parts of the Southern States at 3 cents per

* This supply could be rendered far more certain and available, where desirable, by leaving a portion of
the fields undepagtured in the latter part of summer and autumn. This "fog" or after-grass would not only
afford much food, of itself, but it also greatly favors the sprouting of the young grass underneath it, by the
protection it offers from frosts and cold winds.

t I have put this down the same as at the North, because I suppose it is just as valuable at the Pouth,
and quite as much needed. Few are disposed to appreciate the value of manure when it is not presenied
to their view in bulk, as in the barn-yard ; but it is worth quite as much, dropped in the first inttance
over the fields. I feel confident that 1 have not over-estimated its value either for the t'otilh or the North.

% To obtain these results, I divided the whole annual expcni^e, as set down in the refpeclive estimatea,
with the exception of the charge of 2 per cent, for loss by death, by the amount of wool produced. For
reasons already given, I do not consider the wool charjeable with such loss by death, except in an es.
timate where the full product of wool and lambs is carried out.

Sin this estimate I call shearing $2 per hundred, salt and tar $1, and eupervitlon nothicg.
Estimated as in the preceding note.
(949)

470 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH,

pound.* My own impression, however, is that the land, properly in-
closed, that will support 3 sheep per annum, will cost, ex''-ept in occa-
sional localities, not less than $4 or $5, let the amount be more or less ;
and this would bring the cost of production (wilh 3-lb. Heeces) to between
7 and 8 cents per pound. I shall hereafter assume it to be 8 cents.

On many of the moi-e northern mountains of the iSouthern States, and
on the high peaks farther south, neither the grasses nor grain grow suffi •
ciently to supptjrt sheep, unless the range is very large in ])roportion t<t
the number, during the winter.t Here, as in the Northern States, dry feed
must be prepared for the winter subsistence of sheep. This can be read-
ily done, as the best meadow grasses of the North and the clovers flowish
on the sides of the mountains.^ There is little doubt that sheep can be
wintered on dry feed on many of the mountains, and yet, on account of
the extreme cheapness of the lands, the cost of producing wool not exceed
eight cents per pound.

In the circumstances of many of the lowland plantations, it would be
a most economical arrangement to summer the sheep on the mountains,
and then drive them to these plantations to be wintered on pasture, fog,
or grain fields, according to convenience. After the lambs have reached
a sufficient age in the spring, and the sheep are shorn, marked, &c., a
flock might be sent thirty, fifty, or even a hundred miles to its summer
range on the mountains, at a trifling expense ; and Jarge numbers could
be kept there under the surveillance of a single shepherd and a brace or
two of dogs. By this system the lowland plantation would be saved from
maintaining pasture on more expensive lands ; many of its less marketa-
ble products could be convei'ted into wool, meat, and manure ; and it
would be etn-iched by the wintering of the sheep.

Such, you are aware, is the system of sheep husbandry in Spain. The
sheep are wintered on the plains of Estremadura, sometimes reaching the
north of Andalusia. Both of these provinces, though in a latitude cor-
responding with that of a portion of the United States, extending from
Albemarle Sound to a little north of Philadelphia, are parched, during the
summer, to a state of arid sterility, by the burning winds of Africa. || In

* See Monthly Journal of Agriculture.

t With sufficipnt rana;e. however, they not only obtain subsistenee. but get fat. John .'<. Skinner, Esq..
writes me : " In the mountKins of Virginia, viz , at the Warm Springs, Dr. Brockciiboro told me that a
flock of sheep which he hiid bought for' use during the watering season, strayed, and got otf beyond reach
during the summer ; that the winter after they were rarely seen : and that as chance oH'ered they were
shot ; and that liner and fatter mutton he never desired to see." The Warm Springs are in Hath county,
among the Wostern or Allegany Mountains, a few minutes north of latitude \if^o_

X See Mr. Goggin's statements in Letter IV. Since the above was written, I have received the following
statements from Mr. W. Murdock, of Asheville, Buncombe county, North Carolina :

" Kxcellent swards of grass arc grown in this district from Orchard grass or Cock's-foot. Timothy and
Italian Rye grass I have found to thrive remarkably well. I never saw them do better in any country. 1
received my seeds from England, and they succeeded admirably, and in ground by no means favorable to
a fair trial. Turnijis succeed remarkably well here, and even ITiO miles farther south, as I am informed by

Mr. Kdward Calhoun— the kinds 1 don't know — but here the (ilobe, .Aberdeen, Norfolk, &c., do well

If grounds were reserved as you suggest, for the winter feeding of sheep, the fall growth being imder-
pastured, and if some of the stubbli-s were plowed up and sown broadcast with tumips mixed wilh rape
or colza, very little fodder will be required, in fact only when snow is on the ground, which seldom ex-
ceeds fifteen or twenty days during tlie year." [This fully contirms the positions assumed by me near the
c'lose of Letter IV.)

•'I think that Cuiicd Kale would be excellent for the winter keep of sheej), or cattle of any kind. J got
some seed from England and sowed it like any cabbaee se^nl. I put out the plants two feel asunder in but
tolerable ground. It grew three feet high and two feet in diameter. Thai I planted in the open field the
sheep got at in October, and ate it, stock, branches and all. to the cround. That planted in the garden has,
like the rape, stood the severe frosts uninjured. It is a delighlful veiietable all the spring, and stands a

wiirir. or a cold climate This and rape are, I think, all the green food necessary to keep sheep

throUL'h the winter, wilh the addition of a little buy. Kapt- may be sown broadcast in moist weather in
May or June, and mown otl' for the sheep, when required, about six inches above ground. If the shoots
are not required for pHsture, let them go to seed, and the feed will pay belter than any other crop, for
making oil and rape cake."

II Here is a notable instance of the want of correspondence between isothermal and latitudinal lines be-
tween the west of Kurope and th<^ eastern portion of our own Continent. The two .^-^paiiish provinces the
Wtilude of whicli is ))bov<! given, havi» a climaKi more resembling the scorched llanos of Caraccaa than any
portion, even the most southerly, of the United Suilea.
(950)

SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 471

the winter, however, tlioy arc covered with verdure. About the first of
May the slieep start for tiie mountains.* Formerly many of them rested
on the lofty paramcras and mountain sides of Old and New Castile — ihe
latter bleak, sterile and cragu:y, compared with the sides of our own South-
ern mountains. IJut a friend recently from Spain informs me that those
once mao^niticent flocks (now, alas ! thinned by confiscation, t the whole-
sale plunder of invaders,| and for the subsistence of adverse armies, ||) do not
at present stop in any considerable numbers on the Castilian mountains,
but pass north to the Cantabrian, and that portion of the Iberiiin rano-o
north of Soria — or crossing the latter, spread over the Easteni Pyrenees,
and the mountains of Saragossa north of the Ebro.

Anything like an elaborate comparison between the facilities for sheep
husbandry furnished by the mountains of Spain and the Apalachians of
the United States, south of the Potomac, would, perhaps, be out of place
in this connection. ]>ut a glance at them may thiow useful light on the
question of comparative ])rofit. If the Spaniard can grow wool at a profit,
where the natural and physical features of the country gives him no ad-
vantage over us, we can certainly do so ; for in every other respect we
have the advantage.

The Eastern Pyrenees rise to a hight of 10,000 fect,§ more than double
that of the Peaks of Otter, or that of any other portion of the Apalachian
range, with the exception of a few summits in North Carolina. Mount
Perdu, one of the Pyrenees, is 11,283 feet in hight, ^ or 4,807 feet higher
than the Black, the highest mountain of the United States east of the Mis-
sissippi. Maladetta, Vignemale and others rise considerably above 10,000
feet.** Glaciers exist on different parts of the whole chain. " The acclivity
of the Pyrenees on the side of Spain, is often extremely steep,tt present
ing a succession of rugged chasms, abrupt precipices, and huge ma.sse3 of
naked rock."|J Minano, a Spanish writer of authority, in defending his
countiymen from the charge of indolence, speaks particularly of the ef
forts of the hardy peasantry on the " almost inaccessible mountains of the
Asturias, Galicia and Catalonia." The vegetation on these mountains is ex-
tremely vai-iable, in some places being as luxuriant as the best on our South-
ern Apalachians, but more frequently dwarfish and meager. On large
portions of them it is entirely wanting. The northern acclivities are fre-
quently swept by cold and piercing gales from the Ray of Biscay. On the
whole, it will be seen that they do not compare with our southern moun-
tains in the advantages which they offer for sheep husbandry.] | ||

* For sinerulnr and intprostiiii; particulars in relation to their march, &c., and the municipal reg;ulat;on3
pertaining thereto, see Livingston on Sheep, p. 36 et supra.

t Some of the choicest tlocks in Spain were confiscated hy the Government durinc; the crent antifiallic
strugsle. In the winter of lS(i!t, the Spanish Junto confi.ocated the great flocks of the infamously celebrated
Godoy and several other nobles, and they were bought by foreigners for exportation.

J The French Marshals, not finding nnythins in Spain to benefit the Jitie oris o[ tabelle France, as in Italy,
condescended, it is said, to benefit her Agriculture, by driving home some of the best flocks of Spain. The
Allied Armies compelled the restitution of the marble and canvas, but those priceless f oaks either could not
be re-collected, or they were not regarded as of sufficient importance to be returned.

II The Commissariat of the English, French and Spanish armies,

"The foe, the victim, and the fond ally,"

found the great Spanish flocks a very convenient resort, and availed themsclvea of it fully. The Cuerilla«,
contrabandists, and fugitive inhabitants, of course, did the same.

§ Malte Brun. H lb. ** Kncyclopaidia Americana; ail. Pyrenees.

ft Montserrat (in Catalonia), so famous for its monastic establishments, will occur to you in this cnnaoc-
tion — where the steepness is so great that the monks ascend from hermiince to hermitage by ladders or
stairs rut in the rocks ! }{ Kncyclotiaidia Americana ; an. Pyreitas.

II II How much the associntions of early life — early rvading — dispose us to exaggerate even the physical
extent of the reunon covered by these mountains, connected as they are with so many romantic and inter-
esting remembrances I The whole chain, extending from Cape Finisterre to Port Vendres. does not exceed
SIJO miles in length ; and the space covered by it is not, in VVestei-n parlance, a " circumstance '" to that oc-
cupied by our .■^oulhera Apalachians ! Yet. in the western half of this chain. I'elayo and bis successors
maintuned their VisiGothic kingdom, overthrew the descendants of the Abassidcs and Onimiades, and
finally wrested Spain from the Moorish yoke. Who remembers, without the map under his eye, that Ba»
(951)

472 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH.

The route pursued by the Spanish flocks fi'om, say, the middle of Es-
tremadura to the Cantabrian mountains (the western portion of the Py-
renees), cannot fall short of 300 miles. It equals 270 miles in a direct
line. In addition to the length of the journey, they are compelled to cross
the Castilian mountains, and if they come from the south of Estremadura,
also the mountains of Toledo. Their route to the eastern Pyrenees would
be farther and still more difficult. Every circumstance, then, excepting
■municipal regulations,* gives our Southern States, on both sides of the
Apalachians, a manifest advantage over Spain, for the purposes of migra-
tory sheep husbandry.

Before closing the investigation of the question of the direct profits of
wool-growing in the Southern States, it is proper to inquire if there are
any special local militating causes or disadvantages not yet adverted to
which should be taken into the account. Diligent investigation has satis-
fied me that there are no such causes — on the other hand, that there is a
remarkable exemption from them — with one exception. That exception
is the destruction caused by wolves and dogs.

Wolves are found in nearly all new, and particularly in mountainous
countries ; but they invariably rapidly give way before the extension of
population.t They have even now ceased to be very destructive in the
most sparsely settled regions of the South. Mr. Simpson, in the letter be-
fore quoted from, says :

" There are but few wolves in South Carolina, excepting on the mountains. Otherwise,
our sheep which roam at large unteudetl by shepherd, and uncared-for by any one, would
soon be exterminated. The wolves are not numerous even on tlie mountains. They are
not so destructive as dogs, which every now and then attack and destroy the sheep. A
trusty shepherd, with a dog or two and a infle, would prevent this."

These remarks would apply equally well to nearly all the Southern
States. Wolves do but little damage, and would soon cease to do any ;
btit the miserable, prowling curs are, in many places, a serious detriment.
There is something singular in the fact that while so much complaint is
made of them in the Southern and Western States, in New-York, where
there is certainly a great surplus of them, we hear little, comparatively
speaking, of their depredations. I am inclined to attribute it to the fact
that dogs are here constantly familiai'ized with the sight of sheep. The
first even playful movement of the adventurous puppy toward them is
severely chastised, and he is thus educated to recognize them as within
the category of " protected " animals. The dog which slays or even pur-
sues a sheep, finds a long -pedigree or a silver collar utterly unavailing to
save him from immediate death.J

But even in the South or West, the loss occasioned by the depredations

nockbxim was fought nnd Floddnn lost to dofond a Kingdom of lialf the dimensions of a pood-sizcd Ameri-
can Stale ! In comparing the agricultural capuhilities — and especially in estimating the ultimate result of
agricultural competition between our own country and the European ones, we rarely take sufficiently into
view the great disparity in territorial dimensions.

* For the monopoly of privileges conferred on the flock-masters of S|iaiii to the oppression nnd prostra-
tion of every other branch of husbandry, see Lasterie. and also Livingston on Sheep.

t A bounty of $10 ig paid for the destruction of every full-grown wolf, and $5 for a wolTs whelp in the
State of New-Yo k.

J In New-York it is provided by law that every bitch over three months old shall be taxed S2 ; every ad-
ditional one owned by the same man $.5 ; tvo dogs over 6 months old $1 ; every additional one 13. The
avails of these taxes constitute a fund, out of wliich .'Supervisors of Counties are to pay for any sheep slain
by doas whose owner.'? are unknown. Thii is notofien enforced.

Any person may kill any dog " which he shall see chasing, worrying, or wounding any sheep," unless by
direction of owner.

The owner or possessor of any dog on being notified " of any injui-y done by his dog to any sheep, or
his dog having chased or worried any sheep," must within 48 hours kill his dog. or forfeit $0 .W, and the
farther a\im of $1 2.1 for every 48 hours thereafter, unless " it shall satisfactorily appear to the Court that it
was not in the power of such owner or possessor to kill such dog." Revised Statutes of New-Yorki vol. i
chap. XX., title xvii.
(952)

SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 473

of other animals, or the expense of guarding against them, would be lio-ht
compared wilh that in some of the wool-growing regions of the Uld World.

In Australia, the sheep arc exposed to the attack of wolves, dogs, and
convicts, and are constantly attended by a shepherd, and nightly folded,
and guarded by a watchman with dogs and a fire.*

At the Cape of Good Hope, the shepherd and folding system is also fol-
lowed. In addition to wolves, and wild dogs which hunt in packs, and
from their superior sagacity are much more formidable than wolves, t the
Cape sheep are preyed upon by a variety of animals, and when they pass
the mountains to glean the herbage which springs on the banks of the
streams on the vast and lonely Karoos, they are exposed to the attack of
the lion, the panther, the leopard, and tlie whole Feline family, so abund-
ant and so particularly formidable in Southern Africa. | And they have
had, and probably yet have, an enemy more destructive than all of these,
in the Bushmen, more wild, irreclaimable, and predatory than their con-
geners, the Bedouins of the Arabian desert. ||

I have seen it proposed§ to teach young cattle to protect sheep from
dogs, in the following manner : Turn a few steers into the pasture with
the sheep, and with them a cow or two, having young calves at their sides.
Send a dog into the field, and immediately the cows, followed by the
steers, will commence a furious onset on the dog, and gore him or drive
him from the field. After this is repeated a few times, it is said the steers
will suffer no dog to enter the inclosurc.

This might do very well under some circumstances, but I should prefer
to rely on the remedy proposed by Mr. Simpson : the dog and the rijte.
There are no " shepherd dogs " large and powerful enough to encounter
and kill wolves and vagi'ant dogs, excepting the great sheep-dog of Spain ;
and he is so irreclaimably ferocious to all excepting his charge, that he
might frequently bring his owner into difficulty, and even endanger human
life. My impression is that a shepherd dog or two, to be on the alert,
and a brace of mastiffs to capture and, if need be, slay wolf or cur, would
be adequate protection for the sheep on a considerable range, and tlie
expense of maintaining them would be trifling.

* Cuiininf»ham'8 " Two Years in New South Wales," vol. i. p. 251.
t Missionary Labors and r^cenes in Southern Africa, by Uev. Roliert Moffat, pp. 2.3-4.
\ The following stanxa from the spirited lines of Freiligrath — " The Lion's Ride " — will occur to you :
"And the vulture scentino: a coininc carouse,
Sails, hoarsely screaming, down the sky ;
The bloody hyena, be sure, is mizh,
Fierce pillager he of the charnel-house !
The panther, too, who strangles the Cape-Tovm sheep
As they lie asleep,
.^thirst for his share in the slau^jhter, follows ;
While the gore ot their victim spreads like a pool in the sandy hollows ! "
II To these may be added the savage Kaffirs, who, in their recent straggle with the Colonial Government,
destroyed and drove off immense numbers of cattle and sheep. In 1834, '• the natives," says Youatt, " drove
off or destroyed 80,000 cattle and sheep almost innumerable."
§ By a writer in the American Agriculturist.

TURNIP CULTURE— ITS ADVANTAGES.

When we see to what a great extent the vast improvements in British hus-
bandry rest on the turnip crop, we become reconciled to the space given to the
subject in The Farmers' Library, from Stephens's Book of the Farm, and can-
not forbear the wish that we could persuade American farmers to enter more
heartily upon trials of turnip culture, as a part of their husbandry, eminently
conducive to the support of stock in the winter, and to the accumulation of
bam-vard manure — the great dependence, after all, for permanent and econom-

■j953)

474

MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

ical improvement ; depending, however, for its value, always on the natur* of
the food out of which it is produced.

We are well aware of the difficulties, especially in the South, owmg to se-
vere drouth, and to expense of labor, especially when cultivated with the hoe.
Still we are persuaded that the trials have not generally been conducted with
sufficient care and perseverance — else how is it that some farmers uniformly
succeed with this crop? We have seen again the past season a prodigious crop
of Swedes, on Mr. Coming's farm, near Albany, under the judicious manage-
ment of Mr. Sotham; and a gentleman who visited Marshfield, last autumn,
told us that Mr. Webster had every promise of his usual success in the turnip
department, and would probably have a crop of 5 or 6,000 bushels. One great
good to be obtained by the turnip culture, if it could be combined Avith sheep
feeding, would be that by that means light lands, from which it is now ban-
ished, might be appropriated to wheat, as has been done so successfully in Nor-
folk, England, in portions of the county as sandy as our Sussex in Delaware, or
Caroline, or even the locomotive district around Snow-Hill, in Maryland. So
true is this, that a late writer says: " Hence, good farmers in all parts of the
kingdom have come to the unanimous conclusion that no soil is too light to
grow thriving crops of wheat, if only it be properly tilled."

Mr. Colman, too, speaking from personal observation, with his usual discrim-
ination, says :

I believe our farmers would find a very
gi-eat advantage in gi-owing esculent vegeta-
Mes for sheep and catde, instead of keeping
them, as is now done, through our long and
severe winters, exclusively upon dry i'eed.
They would be most useful for sheep in the
lambing season, and for cows in milk ; and
though, in fattening properties, I know no ar-
ticle, all tilings considered, superior to our
Indian corn, yet they certainly would come
most beneficially in aid of that. * I do not as-
sert that turnips are the best crop for this
purpose which can be grown, but Swedish
turnips are certainly among the best. Man-
gel-wurzel, can-ots, cabbages, parsnips, and
potatoes, are all useful. I may recur to this
subject again ; but the conclusion to which I
ha\'e myself come, and in which I am daily
confii-med, and with which I wish the iiuTii-
ers of the United States could be more and
more impi-essed, is, that an abundant supply
of succulent food should be provided for their
stock during our long winters — first, as con-
ducive to tlie health of the slock ; and next,
as contributing essentially to the improve-
ment of faUening stock, and as cnahling the
iiirmer to keep more stock ; and lastly, as
furnishing him with the best means of enrich-
ing his farm, and extt>nding and improving
all his other crops. These have been the

striking and miiversally-acknowledged results
of such a system of husbandry here ; and I
have not a doubt that, in those parts of the
United States from which the markets in our
cities are to be supplied with beef and mut-
ton, though, from the severity of our climate,
it might with us be a more laborious process
than here, and we could not have the advan-
tage of feeding off our green crops on the
lands where they gi'ew, yet its great benefita
would be an ample compensation tor any ex-
tra expense or labor to which it might, in
many situations, subject us. The dithculty
and expense of procuring labor may present
itself as an objection ; but tliat will be con-
tinually diminishing. Improved machinerj'
and new implements of husbandry are yeai'ly
affording increased facilities in cultivation ;
and, for our husbandry to be successful, it
will ixMpiire the liberal application of capital,
added to enteriirise, experiment, effort, and
perseverance.

The following result of an experiment by
Mr. J. Bloomfield, of ^Varham, Norfolk Co.,
to determine the best distance at which plants
should stand, was given me by this excellent
farmer, and will be curious to my renders.
It was made upon Swede tiu'nips. The row
was twenty yards long.

Rowa.

(954)

Number of tur-
nips in each
row.

DifltBnce apart
in the row.

I Avorajjo weight
of each turnip
in the row.

Inches.
24

20

18

Lbs.
H

n

3

Weicht ofall
in the row.

Si07>rs.
11
10
10

JM.
12

Produce per acre

topped and

tailed.

Fractious are omitted.. The stone is 14 pounds.

Tons.
24
20

19
17

Ctrl.

4

1
l.T
15

INDIAN CORN. 475

INDIAN CORN.

(TROP OF MR. STEVENS AT UOBOKEN FIFTY YEARS AGO— THE PHILOSOPHY THAT SHOUI-D
GOVERN THE OFFER OF PREMIUMS.

Mr. EorxoR: About fifty years have elapsed since a wager of (ifty guineas was
laid between Mr. John Stevens, of Hoboken, (father of the Stevenses still so
noted for going ahead in what they do undertake, whether by wind, steam, or
horse power,) and Daniel Ludlow, Esq., of Westchester, who would make the
heaviest crop of Indian corn on three acres. To avoid all doubt as to measure-
ment, a precaution was taken which I recommend to all Agricultural Societies,
to be enforced against competitors. Mr. Stevens sent a man to measure Lud-
low's land and Ludlow sent one to measure Stevens's. Stevens won, making on
the three acres 354 bushels and 6 quarts, being one hundred and eighteen bushels
and tu-o (/uarts to the acre ! Mr. Ludlow 98 bushels and 14 quarts.

I send you the process for publication, if you will promise that no more pre-
miums will be ottered for heavy crops, except on condition that the crop shall ex-
ceed these, made fifty years ago, and that it be done by the instrumentality of
some new and economical and profitable implement or mode of culture, that shall
be pronounced a discovery in agricultural economy, and worthy of being followed
as a new and profitable application of labor and capital. For, after all, that 's
the philosophy of the case, and the only view or conditions on which such pre-
miums should be now awarded, after $10,000 have been bestowed for the same
old things ; and the same may be said of many others besides heavy crops on
small patches, if you overhaul the old standing lists. T.

We have no power over the case. We don't know what lingering old tastes and customs
may still demand ; but we will so far add to the stoiy of this Hoboken prize crop, as to say
that Mr. Ludlow planted his com in continuous rows, about 4 feet apart and eight inches in
the row, aud applied 200 horse-cart loads of street dirt — while Mr. Stevens (see how as the
old cock crows, so crows the young !) determined to go ahead " anyhow," plowed in seven
hundred loads of street manure ! and planted in donhle rows 5^ feet asunder, and was at the
pains of dibbling-in each grain over the three acres, " to do which with expedition and ac-
curacy, he bored two rows of holes in a piece of board of about four feet long, so as to form
equilateral triangles, the sides of which were seven inches, as thus :

Into these holes he drove pegs about 3^ inches long. As the com was dropped into these
holes, made with this machine, a man followed with a basket of rotten dung, with which ho
filled them up. Then came on the carts, out of which the rows were spiinkled with a coat
of street manure. During the season the crop was suckered three times. The intervals
were frequently plowed, aud the rows kept perfecdy clean of weeds, by hoeing and hand-
weeding.

" But extraordinary as this crop may appear, Mr. Stevens is confident that he should have
had considerably more com, had not his crop suffered very greatly by a thmider-storoi,
which laid the greater pint of it down at the time the ears were setting."

It would be curious to know what price for this crop would have realized a fair ag-
ricultural profit? Is not, our con-espondent correct in the Suggestion that the tnie de-
sideratum is, whose com has realized for the cultivator the most profit 7 It is very well to
stimulate vvealthy amateurs to trials, without regai'd to expense, to see what can be done;
but they don't need or want any of the little money that is to be had for agricultural pre-
miums. Societies should give their premiums for demonstrations that may be followed with
profit by farmers in ordinary circumstances, and above all for something new in principle,

or new in its way, in our country, so as to keep the public agricultural mind, if we may so
(905)

476 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

express ourselves, always on the qui vive. Tims only can progressive improvement be ae-
cured. Why offer bounties, again and again, for expenmeuts whi( h do not look to any re-
nults beyond what we already know can be accomplis-hcd, and have long since, and a ihou-
«aiul times, been recorded in our ainials as matters of agncultnral history, together with ac-
counts of the processes and materials employed in their accomphshment ?

MAJOR P. REYBOLD, OF DELAWARE,

WITH SOME OF HIS DOINGS.

Major R. is assuredly one of the tallest farmers in the United States. We
will not here anticipate the fuller memoir which may hereafter be given of his
" rise and progress ;" but speak only in very general terms, of himself, his sons,
his sheep, and his peaches. Suffice it to say that he has risen, from the cradle,
not to strangle a serpent, like Hercules, but to be " well on toward " seven feet
high in his stockings, and well formed in proportion ! In this, however, there is
no merit, as all is due to Nature and good nursing ; but it is to his especial honor
that he has risen from standing a respectable victualer, in the Philadelphia
market, to the higher honor of being one of the largest, wealthiest, and most
successful landholders in the State of Delaware — which, if she be little, con-
tains multum in parvo, were it only that she contained such men as Thompson,
and Jones, and Rcybold, and Canby, and Clarke and " sich like," all leading
farmers, and holding offices of the highest and most honorable kind, /. e. in as-
sociations/or the promotion of Education and Agriculture.

Major P. Reybold has, in some respects, done more to strengthen if not to ex-
tend the Union, than even the President of the United States himself. In truth,
few men in the Union have equaled him in the performance of the three cardi-
nal and particular duties of man. These are said to be : to build a house^
to become a. father, and to plant a tree. Now, Major R. has built a " palace of
a house," from the top of which (with all the modern improvements) one may
behold under his feet little Delaware spread out like a garden, surrounded by
New-Jersey, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. Next, he has begotten and has
around him not less than eleven children, all thriving and " well to do in the
world," with their several score of grand-children to amuse their grand-parents
in their ripe old age. As if confident of the vigor and prolificity of his stock,
in which he takes great delight, the Major built in his house a room about 60
feet long, for the young things to play in.

Then, as to the duty of planting a tree, which is more than some do, besides
many ornamental and other trees, he has pianted enough for himself and his
sons to send to market last year 80,000 (not 800, but) 80,000 baskets of peaches,
each holding about 3 pecks !

But we only meant to hold up to view a few of his sheep : He bred, and one
year fed and fattened, 21 sheep, that weighed alive 4,294 lbs. — averaging upward
of 200 lbs. weight. Net weight of the 21, 2,421 lbs. — or an average of rising 115
lbs. being more than 28 pounds to the quarter ! Where has it been beaten in all
ovine annals ? The Patent-Office Report, from which this statement is sup-
posed to be taken, (and which, being the story told by the scales, admits of no
doubt,) goes on to say that their wool was long, yine and silkt/ — such as is raised

(95C)

SCRAPS.

477

for the finest worsted stuffs. In this, we take it, there is some play of the ima-
gination which demands some allowance for " variation."

But the Major and his sons, animated by that determination never to be satis-
fied while anything remains to be done, and which alone can insure progressive
improvement, sent out his son Clayton (a good name) to England to inspect all
the crack flocks of the kingdom. Of that enterprise we shall give an account
hereafter, as we mean to pay the Major a visit in " peach time." Enough now
to say, that he brought home an Oxfordshire ram, represented to be an improve-
ment on the Colswold, which the old gentleman — and he looks at such things
with a practiced eye — thinks would now, if fatted, weigh GO pounds to the
quarter! We shall have more to say of this Grand Sultan, and of the Sultanas
that are on their way for his harem from England.

SCRAPS :

AMUSING, INSTRUCTIVE, OR CURIOUS.

GoANo. — McHknry Boyd, Esq., of Hartford
County, Md., where f^uano has been most freely
used, says he finds the best system decidedly is
to spread and plow it in. He would sooner use
guano at 250 or 300 pounds to the acre, than
have stable manure for nothing, if to be hauled
two miles. 500 lbs. of guano have brought his land
from "2 barrels of corn up to 8 or 10 barrels —
that is, 40 or 50 bushels.

Ayrshire Cattle. — Mr. Boyd, of Maryland,
has quite a considerable herd of cows with
more or less of this blood — some thorough, some
mixed — and esteems tliem for the dairy in pro-
portion to their degree of Ayrshire blood. Mr.
Colt holds his Alderney cows at $150.

Butter. — To remove the milk with or with-
out the use of water ? That is the question.
Premium specimens have been obtained, after
both processes. The nicest polled table butter
we have seen this winter was from Mrs.— (we
like to give the houseuife credit where we can)
— was from Mrs. Hammond's dair^-, near EUi-
cott's Mills, Md. The milk was expressed alto-
gether without the use of water.

Planting Fruit Trees — A writer in the
Cultivator very aptly compares the practice of
planting trees from a rich nurserj- into poorer
land, to taking a horse from being well fed on
•oats and giving him straw rations. Twenty
years' experience convinces him that fresh ho^
mannre is best, particularly for /wars, to be
mixed well with the soil, as far as the roots ex-
tend. Every year or two a top-dressing should
be plowed or spaded in.
(957,

Hot-Beds.— In the same paper it is stated
that hot-beds should be sunk in the ground t©
the depth of eighteen inches or two feet. They
require a large supply of moisture, and if made
wholly on the surface, they dry up so rapidly
that they must be watered a great deal.

Housekeeping and House Management. —
About the most perfect for system, unexcep-
tionable neatness and cleanliness, from garret to
cellar, exactness marked by the greatest kind-
ness in the treatment of the servants, the 7ie.plus
ultra in the cookery displayed vpon the board,
and invariable cheerfulness around it, is to be
found at BcUcfnid, in Maryland, where, as on
board ship, there is a place for everything and
cverj'thing in place. True, some would jeal-
ously intimate that ihefiiger of the master was
to be seen here and there ; but, for ourselves,
we rather put our faith in the eye of the mis-
tress ; and, at all events, the lady who can get
so much help from the gentleman must, it will
be admitted, have very winning ways with her.

Smoked Mutton.— The Editor of the Ten-
nessee Farmer, not having the fear of the ewLn-
ish multitude before his eyes, declares his pref-
erence for the ovine, over the bovine or the swine-
ish race. He says, on his knowledge of phyei ■
ology, which none will dispute, that a pound of
lean, tender mutton can be procured for half the
cost of the same quantity of fat pork ; and that
it is infinitely Aec///;/<>/-, in summer especially;
and that those who feed on it become more miti-
cular, and can do more work on it. with more
ease to themselves. He knows of nothing more
delicious than smoked niultoji hams. We caa

478

MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

readily believe it all ; still wc should prefer a
harn of Commodore Ballard's curing at Belle-
field, for our eating ! especially if eaten, as can-
vas backs only can be in real perfection, on the
spot where they arc killed.

SwKLLiNG OF GRAIN BY BoiLiNG. — The Ed-
inburgh Journal of Agriculture gives, in the fol-
lowing table, the increase of bulk in different
.kinds of grain boiled for domestic animals to
bursting :

4 measures of oats increased to 7 measures.

barley

10

buckwheat ..

14

Indian corn..

13

wheat

10

rye

15

beans

Hh

A good farmer of our acquaintance said that
from long experience he considered the value
of corn for hogs increased by boiling in the ratio
of 25 to 10. [Cu.ltivator.

Agricultural Repositories. — There is
one in the American Institute for placing mod-
els. There ought to be a Society expressly for
the importation of all newly-invented machines,
if the Institute has not the means or facilities of
doing it — not gimcracks, but machines whereof
the real usefulness appears to be well proved,
and within the means of American agricultur-
ists.

Pruning. — The Editor of the London Gar-
dener's Magazine, among the most accomplished
botanists of this or any other day, says:

" We know, indeed, of but one general fact
which may be — we would rather say, should be
— invariably attended to, and that is the univer-
sal necessity of keeping branches thin. Light
in abundance, and the freest circulation of air
among leaves, are of vital importance to all
plants; but these cannot be secured unless the
branches are left thin. A crowd of branches
implies a crowd of leaves, and in a crowd leaves
can neither breathe, nor perspire, nor feed ; in
fact, they arc smothered. But, when they stand
well apart, they breathe freely, perspire pro-
fusely, and f(!cd incessantly ; the result of which
consists in fine, strong, stiff shoots, and dark
green, fat leaves, instead of spindling twigs and
yellow weasened foliage."

The Ohio Bushel. — An act of the Ohio Leg-
islature, pa.ised the 8lh February, 1847, fi.xes the
following weights as the standard bushel of arti-
cles named, wlicn sales are made by the bushel,
witliont special agreement between the parties
as to the measurement — that is to say :

Wheat 60 Iba I Rye 56 lh«.

Indian Corn 56 .. | Klax-seed .56 ..

Barley 48 .. Clover-eeed 64 ..

OdlB 32 .. I

All right — everything susceptible of it sliould
be sold by wcipht. Chickens ready for the spit
are sold by the weight in New- York, as we
have seen at the watering places ; and they are
getting in the way of it ia the City. Who will
(958)

give us the usual weight of a bushel of potatoes
and other vegetables 7 l^" We don't mean
rotten potSoooooooo's.

Bins. — The following table will show the ca-
pacity of bins; also the capability of greatly in-
crea.'fing them by enlarging the area of each : —
A bin 6 feet square and '21 feet deep will con-
tain 2S cubic yards of manure ; do. 6 ft. 8 in. do.
21 do. 35 do. ; do. 7 ft. 4 in. do. 21 do. 42 do. ;
do. 7 ft. 11 in. do. 21 do. 49 do. ; do. 8 ft. 6 in. do.
21 do. 56 do.

Top-Dressing. — The great care now taken to
preserve liquid manure, which was formerly al-
lowed to run to waste, and the accounts of ita
fertilizing effects upon land, published almost
weekly in the Agricultural Gazette, are proofs
of the high value set on this form of manure ;
almost, indeed, a higher value than on the solid
manure of the farm-yard. Agriculturists see
the rapid ef!'ects of liquid manure on growing
crop.s, without reflecting that the advantages of
manure applied in a fluid state result not from
any peculiar richness which it possesses, but
from its being presented to the plant in a state
of solution or minute subdivision, and therefore
ready prepared for the food of vegetation.

Straw Manure. — Farmers must learn to dis-
tinguish more than they have done between the
qualities of manure, and think less comparative-
ly of quantity. Manure from cattle barely kept
alive on straw is not worth hauling half a mile.
Oil cake is much used in England as food for
cattle, but would not be were it not for the re-
turns it makes in the quality of the manure.

Let this be held the farmer's creed :
For stock seek out the choicest breed ;
In peace and plenty let them feed.
Your land sow with the best of seed ;
Let it not dung nor dressing need ;
Inclose, plow, reap, with care and speed.
And you will soon be rich indeed.

Much W.^intei). — A list of French weights,
measures and moneys, in ordinary use by French
writers on agricultural and political economy
and statistics.

If any one will have the kindness to supply
it, we will ask the additional favor of his accept-
ing a handsomely-bound copy of Gucnon's fa-
mous cow-book.

The Marvel of the Day is Guenon'sbook
on coirolopi/. At a meeting in the Legislative
Hall at Boston, several of the most respectable
farmers in Massachusetts pronounced the signs
laid down in that book for telling the milking
properties of Cows, published in The Farm-
ers' Library, to be infallible, after trial in
man// hundred caaes ! One gentleman said that
a cow-keeper had better give $100 fij- it llian be
without it.

SCRAPS.

479

The Society for the K.ntouragkmknt ok
National Industuy in Fuanck offers, up to
1850, large jircmiums annually for llie intro-
duction of new plants, iVc. from foreign coiin-
trioH, which may be useful in rural economy or
the arts ; and, after designating particular ob-
jects, they make a general offer of tnclrc thou-
fatid francs for the discovery which shall be
adjudged the most useful hi perfecting French
industiy in departments or branches in wliich
France has not yet attained superiority over for-
eign countries.

Von Thaer. — The Journal of Agriculture,
published in Paris, places the name of this great
agricultural writer (whose profound work on the
Principles of Agriculture was published entire
in the first volume of Thk Farmkrs' Liiirary)
at the head of the list of German writers ; to
whom it acknowledges France to owe great ob-
ligations for their contributions to agricultural
literature. Yes — that 's the word — " Uttcrature
agricole."

Offers of Premiums.— The Central Society
of Veterinary Medicine at Paris [we ought to
have one in New- York] has offered premiums
of 1,000 francs for the best Essay on the peri-
pneumonia, or disease of the lungs in cattle ; 500
for the best Essay on the periodical salivation or
slabbering- of horses ; and 300 for the best on
the trembles or convulsions in sheep. Now all
these, and other E.ssays for which very large
sums are paid in England and in France, are at
our command for the benefit of the friends of
The Far.meks' Library, very soon after they
have been published in Europe. ^Ve need hard-
ly say that we shall endeavor to make the most
of 'em.

GRAFTi.Nf.WAX. — I was surprised to see, in
the January number of The Farmers" Liuha-
RY, that clnjf was used in grafting, instead of the
wa.x the Yankees use. Ah ! they are at least a
hundred j-ears before us. An equal quantity of
beeswax, rosin and tallow, melted togetl;cr and
put on a strip of cotton, say an inch and a half
wide, wrapped once around the graft, can be
muchvasier and quicker done, and with greater
success. When done in cold weather the wax
can be made hot, and the strings dij)ped in.

Ml'.nificence Wet.i, Be.'jtowed. — We re-
joice to see it stated that the British Govern-
ment has granted a life pension of JJlOO to iho
widow of the late Mr. Loudo.v, vvho.Hc portrait
and memoir have been published in The Farm-
ers' LiiiRARY, in consideration of the utility of
his labors to promote and refine the arts of use-
ful cultivation. How can a nation's funds be
bestowed with more propriety than on the help-
less widows of those who have preeminently
aided to increase its means of subsistence, and
to promote civilization. Alas ! that it should be
only in the patronage lavi.shed b}- monarchs and
despots on the militarj' props of their power,
that our Republican Government imitates them,
with a fidelity as ill-judged as it is dangerous in
its tendency to public liberty. As to Loudon's
labors, his wife was a strong spoke in the wheel.

What rewards do we give to tho.se who save
us from war? The Emperor of China, being
once asked how much he paid his physician,
answered — "Liberally while I keep well, but
nothing when he lets me get sick."

"All, honor should pay to the conquerinc; spade !
That sword HDd spear Hre but darren things ;
While to kiria in his p3idc, and his subjects beside.
Its bounties the epude of the gardener biings !"

VANACK CABBAGE

Is a variety with which we are not acquainted. It is, as will be seen, very
highly commended in the following notice in a London paper, which we should
esteem worthy of a place were it only for the suggestion, which we hope will
not be lost on American Agricultural and Horticultural Societies, to wit — the im-
portance of ofl'ering premiums not so much for the fattest, and the largest, and
heaviest things, but for the most genuine of such varieties as are known to be
valuable and worthy of preservation. What is wanting is to preserve that which
is known to be excellent in quality, in its natural size and genuine characters ;
not to stimulate the growth of monsters in size or form, merely to amuse the
childish and to attract the notice of the ignorant.

Would it not, let us repeat, be highly useful if a Society could be formed espe-
cially to import, without loss of lime, new varieties of fruits and vegetables, and
machinery more efficient and labor-saving than the best we have in use ?

Vanack Cabbage. — Of all the uumerous soits that have been offered to the piibUc, thi»
(959J

480

MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

cabbase has no rival. By a little care, it may como to the table young almost the whole
year round. It is many years since I obt;iiued some seeds from the Garden of the Horticul-
tural Society, and I have never tasted any sort to bo compared with it. It is now diflicult
to obtain it pure. It is easily known by its tendency to burst when it attains a considerable
size. The long lists in nurserymen's catalogues might well be curtailed, mid the Vanack
placed at the head. Whatever single sort one may purchase by name is sure to turn out
mixed, so careless have seedsmen become. I got some seeds under the name Vanack in
Edinburgh, and, while almost every plant differed from another, there is not a true Vanack
among them. It is a pity that the London Society does not give prizes for specimens of pure
varieties of culinary vegetables, that the best may be kept up. It is right to place the dvJce
in the first rank, but the ulile should not be forgotten.

The Pig Trade. — The last Report from the Patent Office gives us the value of the cot-
ton crop, say 2,400,000 bales, at $28 per bale, $57,200,000. The pork crop in 1839 was
upward of 26,000,000. Now it is estimated this weighed on the average 180 lbs. each, and
that pork was worth $3 50 per cwt., or $160,000,000; aiid as but few hogs are kept over
twelve months, we may safely calculate the pork crop as worth three times the cotton crop.
We have often heard of the three crop system in Maryland, to wit : Negro makes coru ;
com makes pork ; pork makes Negro. Truly pork is of great value.

PRICES CURRENT.

[CorrecLed, March 24, for the Monthly Journal of Agrictdture.]

ASIIES— Pots, lat sort ^ 100 ». 4

Pearls, l9t sort, '46 6

BEEi^WAX— American Yellow —

CANDLES— Mould, Tallow.. •#■ IB... —

Sperm, Eastern and Citi" —

COTTON— From ^ lb. —

COTTON BAGGING— American... —

CORDAGE— American ^ m. —

DOMESTIC GOODS-Shinings, l^ y. —

Sheetings —

FEATHERS— American, live —

FLAX— American —

FLOUR Sl MEAL— Genesee, F bbl. 7

i>oy I

Michigan '

Ohio, Flat Hoop 7

Ohio, Round Hoop —

Ohio, via New-Orleans —

Pennsylvania 6

Bnmily wine 6

Georgetown 6

Baltimore Cit y Mills 6

Richmond City Mills 8

Richmond Country 6

Alexandria, Petersburg, &c 6

Rye Flour 4

Com Moal, Jersey and Brand 4

Corn Meal, Brandywine hhd. 22

tjRAIN— Wheat, White ^ bush. 1

W^heat, We-stern, Red —

Rye, Northern —

Corn, Jersey and North... (nieae.) —

Com, Southern (measure^ —

Com, Southern (weight) —

Oats, Northern —

Oats, Jersey —

HAY- North River in bales, ^lOOm —
HEMP — American, dew-rotted.. tonllS

" " water-rotted 150

HOPS- Istsort IS'ltl —

IRON— Americim Pig, No. 1 —

" Coin'iion 22

r_.lME— Thomnston ^ bbl. —

LUMBER— Boards, N.R., ^M. ft. clr 30

Boards, Eastern Pine —

Boards, Albany I'ine ^pce. —

'limber. Georgia Pino ^M. ft. 24

(900)

25i@

27 ®

9 ®— 11

30 ®— 38
]0J®— 14
12i@— 13
11 @— \-i
fi 'w— 11
7 -&- 15

28 @— 32
7 @— 8

Ofii® 7 12.1
06^ a) 7 12V
0(H'a> 7 12.5
06i® 7 12.i

— @

— 'Si

50 @

75 -S)

75 ®

50 @

— ® 8 50

75 ®

50 ®

75 ® 4 87i
87.V@ 5 —

50 ©

65 @ 1 75

— @

— -w— 90
90 @ 95
85 -ai— 93
85 ®— 93

— ®

41 ®— 43
53 •(?— .5t;i
— @i:!0 —
— ®200 —

85®— 10

— ®32 .50
50 ■J;25 —

— -n— 93

— •& 35 —

— @

10 ®— 18

— ®88-

Staves, 'White Oak, pipe. ^ M 50 — ®—

Staves, White Oak, hhd 40 — @—

Staves, White Oak, bbl 30 — @—

Staves, Red Oak. hhd 24 — ®28

Hoops 20 — ® 30

Scantling, Pine, Eastern ® —

Scantling, Oak @ —

Timber, Oak ^ cubic foot — 20 @—

Timber, White Pine — 13 ® —

Timber, Georgia Yellow Pine — 24 ® —

Shingles f^ bunch 1 75 ® 2

Shingles, Cedar, 3 feet, 1st quality. 26 — @ —
Shingles, Cedar, 3 feet, 2d quality. 22 — @24
Shingles, Cedar, 2 feet, let quality. 17 — ®18
Shingles, Cedar, 2 feet, 2d quality. 15 — ®16

Shingles, Cypress, 2 feet 13 — @14

Shindes, Company 28 — ®30

MUSTAK D— American _ 16 ®—

NAILS— Wrought, 6d to20d...^ Its. — 10 ®—

Cut 4dto40d — 4i@—

PLASTER PARIS— f>'ton @—

PROVISIONS— Beef, Mess, ^bbl... U .50 ©12

Beef. Prime 8 62i® 9

Pork. Mess. Ohio 14 25 ®—

Pork, Prime, Ohio 12 25 @—

Lard. Ohio ^ 16. — 91®—

Ham.s, Pickled — 8*®—

Shoulders, Pickled — 6 ® —

Sides, Pickled ® —

Beef, Smoked ^ 16. — 9 ®—

Butter. Orange County — 20 ® —

Butter, Western Dairy — 14 ® —

Butter, Grease ® —

Cheese, in casks and boxes — 7 ® —

SEEDS— Clover F 16. — 7t®—

Timothy %>■ tierce 17 — ®20

Flax, Rough @H

SOAP— N. York, Brown ^' 16. — 3.5®—

TALLOW — American Rendered .. . — 8i® —

TOBACCO— Virginia ® 16.-2 ®—

North Carolina ® —

Ken'ucky and Missouri — 3 ® —

WOO! Am. Saxony, Fleece,. ^f>' tti. — 35 ®—

American Full Blood Merino — .32 ® —

Atneiican * niui J Merino — 25 ® —

Ameiican Native and \ Merino... — 2:1 @ —
Supertine, Pulled —30 ®—

31

14
4i

lOi
9}
6t

1\

8

50
51
9
6

"e*

37i

34

27

25

3S

MONTHLY

JOURNAL OF AGIIICULTUIIE.

VOL. II. MAY, 1847. NO. H.

THE AGRICULTURE OF OHIO,

AND THE PRESS AS CONNECTED WITH IT. THE OHIO CULTIVATOR.

The effect which may be produced by a single press, controlled by an active-
minded, zealous man, and directed to the welfare of a particular branch of indus-
try, has been clearly evinced by the results which have ensued the establishment
of the " Ohio Cultivator," by Mr. Bateman, at the Seat of Government of the
"Buckeye" State.

A Board of Agriculture has been organized under legislative sanction ; Socie-
ties have been formed all over the State ; and by these has an impetus been given
to the mind of cultivators of the soil in that powerlul and flourishing Common-
wealth, (an empire in herself,) which promises for her sons more true glory and
more enviable distinction than are to be derived from the most fertile soil and
the most abundant natural advantages. Sincerely do we wish her success in the
career of intellectual investigation as connected with her greatest and most sub-
stantial industry. At what higher or nobler destiny can any people aim ? What
object, in comparison with it, is worthy to engage the attention of rulers or
citizens ?

With every disposition to befriend, and no motive to flatter the Editor of the
Cultivator, we do not say that the forward movement in the line of agricultural
improvement in Ohio is altogether the fruit of his zeal and ability. The mate-
rials were on the spot; the kindling may have been prepared, and even the
sparks may have been scattered here and there ; but it is obvious that since Mr.
Bateman planted himself in their midst, and put his hands to the bellows, the
blaze has been spreading far and wide, until the whole Commonwealth is getting
illuminated. But all this could not have been accomplished without a cheerful
spirit, and many willing hands on the spot to assist.

Older papers, too, such as the Albany Cultivator and the Genesee Farmer, of

extensive and deserved influence, had doubtless opened the way, and so prepared

the public mind that the virus, so skillfully applied by Doctor B., took at once.

Would that all communities were equally liable to similar inoculation. But if a

single press, in the midst of a great State, in the beginning like a still small

voice in the wilderness, can accomplish so much, what might not be expected

for the cause of agricultural education (which, after all, must underlie all great

and general improvement), were it possible to enlist even the occasional aid of

\he general press of the country in behalf of that greatest of all national concerns ?
(1001) ai

482

MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

The agricultural mind of the United States, if we may so express ourselves, is
getting into a state of general agitation and anxiety on the subject of education,
as connected more expressly with the tillage of the earth. In some of the States
great progress has already been made in that direction, so that agricultural in-
quiry may be considered in a transition state, as it were, proceeding from the ob-
servation of certified results to the investigation of causes — from the collection
of facts to the act of generalizing them — and thus, by establishing principles on
the basis of practical observation, rendering more certain and infallible those re-
sults which have heretofore been the elTect rather of chance than of science,
thereby robbing the pursuit of the agriculturist of the only characteristic that
can give dignity to success in any employment.

The next movement (and God grant it a speedy consummation !) will be a de-
mand, on the part of the landed interest of the country, for the establishment of
Normal Institutions at the public expense, adapted expressly to the preparation
of teachers, who shall take charge of all our country schools, well qualified to
give instruction in all the principles involved in practical Agriculture and in the
literature that naturally belongs to, and that may serve to enliven and adorn the
position and pursuits of the American farmer.

More than from ten thousand party effusions, was the gratification felt at find-
ing the following passages in two leading Baltimore journals of recent date :

Profits of Farming. — At an a<n-icultiival

meeting in Massachusetts recently, some re-
marks were made by Mr. Calhoun, of
Springfield, on the profits of forming as com-
pared with other pursuits. The conclusion
arrived at wais that farmers, on the average,
Hucceed better than merchants; that if, by
way of experiment, one hundred men should
go into a city and trade, and one hundred go
to farming, at the end of twenty years the
one hundred farmers would be worth tlio
most money. Mr. Calhoun re{i?rred to some
tacts, statistical and other, to show the risks
of mercantile business, and added, with re-
gard to Agiiculture :

" Here is a foundation that may be built on
with more certainty than any other. Yet young
men are rushing into cities to make their for-
tunes. It is all-importa-iit that the facts which
have here been stated, now and at former meet-
ings, should be deeply impressed on young
minds. Mr, Brooks says 15 per cent, may be
made on capital by any diligent and eysteinatic
farmer. Hon. John Lowell said 18 per cent. —
All this may be done by farming intelligently.
He had wondered that farmers generally could
get along so well as they actually do in their
careless mode of fanning. For himself lie had
regained his own health by farming. The fresh
He repeated his

pleasure on hearing the numerous statements
of the profits that may be made in this business.
One more consideration should have much
weight. It had been truly stated by his vener-
able friend from Framinpham (Maj. Wheeler)
that this business naturally leads the mind to
contemplation, and to gratitude to the Ruler of
the Universe, to whom farmers feci obliged to
look for a blessing on their labors. No occupa-
tion 80 directly leads the mind to reflection oa
the works of creation. All that we eat, drink
and wear, comes from the ground. In every
view this occupation is important."

If the profits of fanning in New-Englaud
can be made to rise to eighteen percent., the
advantages of our soil and climate ought to
enable the farmers of Mar}'l;md to realize a
still higher rate. The importance of bring-
ing Science to the aid of Agriciilliire is be-
coming more generally appreciated now than
formerly, and ice may hope that the results
already realized may have the effect of per'
fi'rting an alliance so pregnant with benefi-
cent conse({uences. It would be easy to make
the elements of agricultural chemistry a part
of the course of instruction in schools and
academies — so far, at least, as to teach koio
to analyze soils and leai-n their different na
iures. [Baltimore American.

open air had restored him

To the above we add, with much pleasure, the following sound doctrine on
the subject of Teachers — their pay and qualifications. By-the-by, what better
test could one desire of the character of a nation, and of the progress it is making
in useful knowledge and civilization, than the grade and qualification of the
persons employed to mould the mind and character of the rising generation? —
How infinitely more important for all truly glorious and Christian purposes, than
are the qualifications of those whose sole business is that of being in the best possi-
ble tnanner prepared for shedding human blood ! And, when comparatively as well
skilled for teaching, how well eiuilled are they to at least equal pay and respect f
(too;;)

THE AGRICULTURE OF OHIO. 483

Salaries of Teacheus. — We have re-
ceiveil a pamplilt't coiilaiiiing a iliscoursc de-
livered before the Boiutl of Public School
Commissioners, by Rev. J. N. Mc.Iilloii,
against tlu; reihiction of the salaries of Toach-
ere in the Piihlic Sc hools. It is an aihiiirable
discoiirtte. The point contended for is very
clearly Bustained. There can be no doubt
that the teacher who devotes his time, talents
and enerjjies to the instruction of youth, should
be liberally jiaid. None but those well (|ual-
ificd can discharge the highly important office
t)f ateaclier; and, to secure the services of
such, au adequate compensation must be
given. Teaching has lieretofore been looked

upon too much as a mere alternative or step-
ping-stone to something (~.lse, and hence many
undertake it totally unqualified. It should
be made one of the regular professions, and
no one be allowed to teach without having
j)ursucd a regular course of study to that end.
This would secure talent, education, and all
other necessary <pialific<ations. The profes-
sion of teaching would be looked to as per-
manent, and none but thos(! who could com-
mand good salaries would be in ryqnisition.
Tncoinpelent persons, who have been in the
habit of teaching, would be under the neces-
sity of seeking other pursuits more appropri-
ate to their capacities. [Baltimore Patriot.

Oh ! that Editors in other States, were it only occasionally, in their country pa-
pers, Avould exhort tlie farmers of the United States to reflect on the prodigious
average elevation and improvement of their pursuit, in all respects, which could
not fail to result from taking measures to have their sons more expressly and
thoroughly instructed in the art and principles of the great calling by which
they are to live, and by which all classes are supported ! See the advantages
enjoyed, as it respects the press and its all-powerful influence, by all other classes,
in comparison with what it does for the del'ence and enlightenment of the landed
interest! Look, in this particular, at the State of Ohio, for one, and, ex uno
disce omnes. Contrast her agricultural population and productions with those
of all other employments united, and then look at the number and cost of the
mercantile and party political papers, as compared with those (might we not
say, with the one ?) wliose province it is to watch over, to warn, to enlighten
and advance the agricultural community ! The force of the question we raise,
and to which we invite the attention of the cultivators of the soil in Ohio, and
in other States, to which it is equally applicable, may be better appreciated on
a view of the facts which rise up before us as we proceed — as, for example :
Look at the estimated value of the annual products of agricultural industry in
Ohio eight years ago, as compared with that of other sources of her wealth and
strength — assuming, as Prof. Tucker has done, one-fourth of their gross value as
the annual value of the domestic animals (horses, mules, neat-cattle, sheep,
hogs,) and the account stands thus:

LivCi^tock S8,447,r.26

Wheat bush. 16,:)71,661 *8,28.'),830

Oats 14,393.103 2,1.58,965

Maize 33,668,144 6.733,629

O tlier grain 1.659,884 669.179

Potatoes ,"),805,021 870,753

18,71?,356

Wool lbs. 3,68.5,31.'') $921,329

Tobacco .5,942,275 297,113

Siipar 6,363,386 381,303

Products of dairy 1,848,869

orchards 476,271

Hemp and flax tons 9,080^ 726,420

Hay 1,022,037 4,088.148

Other products 1 .896,666

10,636,119

Total annnal value of the products of as^riciiUural indiistri/ $37,802,001

Of Manufactures Si 4,588,091

Commerce 8,050,316

Mines 2.442.682

The Forest 1,013,063

Fisheries 10,525

26,104,677

(1003)

484 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

Thus it appears that the annual product of every source and of every class in
the whole State united is less than that of the plow and the fields by $11,697,-
324. Then, again, look at the distribution of the classes as employed in the va-
rious industrial occupations, as here represented according to the last census:

In Agriculture 272,579

Mining 704

Commerce 9,201

Manufactures 66,265

Navigating the ocean 212

Internal navigation 3.323

Learned professions 5,663

85,368

Agriculture over all others 187.211

or more than three persons employed in cultivation to one of all other classes
combined.

JSfow then look at the means at work for advancing the knowledge and the
welfare of the manufacturer, the merchant, and the political partisan, a class of
men who are ever riding but never willing to be ridden by the people. For the
use of these artificial classes which grow out of and and derive their employ-
ment from the products of Agriculture, there are in the State of Ohio

Daily papers 16

Weeklies 81

Tri-v,'eeklie8 5

Semi-weekly 1

Monthlies 2

Making 105

papers collecting and diffusing such knowledge and such doctrines through all
parts of the State as may be deemed most useful and acceptable, without any
pretence of particular devotion to the cultivators of the soil. Besides these, if not
against them, there is the Ohio Cultivator, (a host, truly, in itself,) published at
one dollar a year, standing, we believe, of its class, solitary and alone, and battling
the watch single-handed for the whole agricultural community — while they, in-
stead of making a point of duty and of honor, no less than of interest, to stand by it
to a man, hesitate to contribute even one dollar a year to support that one journal
exclusively dedicated to the very business of their lives, one which is to be
the mindless drudgery, or, as it may be, the intellectual (and only as it is intel-
lectual the worthy) occupation of their sons !

Is it possible to augur well of the destinies of a community, thus too mer-
cenary to provide the suitable aliment for strengthening and expanding the minds
of their children as relates to their profession, or too ignorant to perceive that in
farming as in all else, light is knowledge, and knowledge is power ? And yet we
do augur most auspiciously for the coming community of Ohio farmers, because
we see in the very Report before us of the " Ohio State Board of Agriculture,"
which we laid down to take our pen for the expression of the reflections to which
a view of it gave rise — we see in this Report itself the most gratifying evidence
of the existence and diffusion of that zeal and knowledge which promise not only
to arrest the State in that downward progress to exhaustion which has marked
the career of other and older States, but which will bear her upward and onward
to a point of much higher productiveness than she has ever yet attained.

In fact, the able Introduction to this first Annual Report ok the Ohio Stati:
Board of Agriculture, by the distinguished President, Allen Trimble, may
itself be hailed as an evidence that Agriculture is in a fair Avay to take, in that
State, the precedence to which it is everywhere entitled in the rank of indus-
trial pursuits. It clearly indicates that the time is approaching when there
will prevail throughout the State an abiding conviction that their system of edu-

(lOO'l)

THE AGRICULTURE OF OHIO.

48/

cation should be mainly, if not entirely, based on the great truth that with the
cultivation of the land must be connected the cultivation of the mind. Agricul-
ture will reach and maintain its attainable excellence and its rightful supremacy
only when the sentiment shall become general which was lately avowed with
equal modesty and good sense at one of the meetings held in the Legislativellall at
Boston, where, according to that excellent paper, the Massachusetts Plowbot :

Major Whf.elkr spoke at some length on
the propriety of bringing up more young
men to Irat-n the art. of farming. The rich
would find tlioir account in giving their sous a
chance to acquire agricultural information. He
repeated that lie Iiad long been engaged in

other kinds of business; he had been in
trade, and though he had never an opportu-
nity of goiufj' to school much, he had not felt
the want of education so sensibly in any
branch of business as in farming. Here he
found he, needed the aid of science.

In the same commendable and auspicious spirit Mr. Jenks, of Boston, remarks :

The importance of proper education can-
not bo too highly estimated. The difterence
between those mechanics who come here
from Europe with a proper education and
others i.s gieat. Those among them who are
called teachers earn and receive forty per
cent, more tliau other hands. Mr. Jenks

thought the great improvement which has
been made in j)low8 was the result of scien-
tific investigation. He had heard of a man
who made a profit by farming witii the aid
of books alone, without any practical educa-
tion. He was guided by science only.

We regret that we have not space at command to publish the whole of this
introduction from Mr. Trimble — but have we not occasion to experience that
feeling every day, with so many very able addresses delivered to Agricultural
Societies, which, could we follow our inclinations, would go far to fill every
number of this Journal ?

It appears by this Report that Societies had been formed, in the single year
previous, in more than twenty counties. Of the nature and value of the informa-
tion collected as respects the capability and products of the State, the reader
may judge by supposing what replies would be elicited by the following " Cir-
cular." It is only, as every one knows, the disinterested and public-spirited
who will take the trouble to answer such Circulars; therefore the information
they impart is generally the most reliable to be had. The most wealthy are
frequently content to guard their money-bags, and while they avail themselves
of other people's communications, are either too lazy or too selfish to impart any.
We the more incline to make room for the Circular, as we hope it will be adopt-
ed, with modifications to suit circumstances, and be addressed by other Societies
to prominent men in all parts of the country:

and what have been the prevailitig prices
paid to fai-mers for the same the present sea-
son ?

C1RCULA.R OF THE Board. — The following
inlerrosatories will show particuku-ly what
infoiTTiation is desired by the Board :

1. What is the prevailing character of the
soil of the country — is it mosdy rolling, or
level — sandy, or clayey — and what kinds of
timber predominate in the forests ?

2. What are the principal kinds of farm
crops or agricultural productions ?

3. What wivs the character of these crops
the past season as to yield and quality, and
what is supposed to have been the yield of
each, per acre, with ordinary cultivation ?

4. Have you any reliable information or
Rtiitistics of the aggregate amount of any sta-
ple products sold or produced in the county ?
if so, give the same, and the name of the
source whence obtained.

5. In what towns or cities are the surplus
productions of the count)- mostly marketed,

6. Have any considerable improvements,
within your knowledge, been inti-oduced in
your comity during the past two or three
years, in the modes of fai'ming or the kinds
of faitn crops, implements or stock ?

7. Is there any Agricultural Society, or
Fanners' Club, at present organized in the
county ? if so, give the names and Post-Office
address of the principal officers, and add any
other particulars respecting its history or
transactions that may be deemed interesting.
(Such Societies as have drawn money from
the County Treasuries, in accordance with
the law passed last winter, are required to
make a report in accordance with the instruc-
tions of the Board, published in the Ohio Cul-
tivator of April 1, 1846.)

f^° It will be proper for you to add any oilier facts or suggestions relating to the Agricnllnre
of tbe country, or tlie means of its advaiicemeut, that may occur to your mind. It is desirable,
11005) '

486

MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

however, that those reports from the diffbrciit counties should be as brief as perppicuity will allow.
Tile Board are already in possession of slatisiics showing the number and average value of tho
different kinds of furni-stock in the several counties — the value of the lauds, &e., as given iu ilie
returns of the Auditors.

After all, the average product of this comparativoly new and fertile region
will be found to fall below that of England, where science in the knowledge
and use of manures particularly, and in the principles of rotation and tillage,
have brought up the average product from 17 bushels, in 1821, to 26 bushels to
the acre. But what may not be expected of the improved Agriculture of a
country where a close observer tells us that on stepping unexpectedly into a
country school on the road-side in Scotland, he caught "a class of poor bare-
footed boys going honorably through a close examination in Agricultural
Chemistry."

Who can conceive what would be the blessings for Ohio, and for other States,
if now she would only take enough of the public money levied on the farmers,
directly or indirectly, and establish at Columbus or elsewhere an institution, with
a few able Professors, exclusively for the instruction oi teachers (for that is what
we want,) who would ultimately take the place of incompetent instructors, and
educate all the boys of the State as thoroughly in the science and practice of
Agriculture as the Cadets at West Point are now educated in the science and
practice of gunnery ?

It was with a view to address queries sitnilar to these (with others that we
will hereafter suggest) that we made the request some time since, that some
officer in every Agricultural Society in the country would only have the good-
ness to take five minutes' time and the smallest modicum of trouble to give the
name and locality of his Association ; but not more than half a dozen answered
the call. Had a like call been made on the heads of manufacturing establishments,
or Chambers of Commerce, or any other associated interests, they would have
come together like gallant soldiers at the sound of the bugle. Not one in (xie
hundred would have failed to respond. Such is the difference in sensitiveness to
all that particularly concerns them between the artificial classes and the great
substantial body of the people — the farmers — on and by whom every other class
lives.

To the question in the Circular as to the introduction and use of improved im-
plements in the several counties, Ave observe that Mr. Keene, of Champaign
county, savs as to reaping and threshing and drill machines:

6. Husscy''s reaping-machiup, worked by
horse-power, was uitroducod in this county
diirini; thi^ past harvest, and some two or
three hundrt-d acres of wheat cut with it. It
cuts the grain witliout waste, and leaves a
short, ev(!n stubble. It enijiloys nine men
and fonr horses to work it, and cuts, upon an
average, 12 to If) acres per day. Tho man
who sit* on the macliiue, to pass the grain ott'
the platfoi-ni, works very hard and to great
disadvantiige, from the position in which he
is obliged to sit. Machine.^ are now being
made ni Urbaua, our county town, to order,
by a machinist who promises to make them
so tliat they will pass off tho grain to the biiul-

For ourselves, we know of no one who has taken more interest in improved
machinery, for these purposes, or who is better prepared to illusirate their ad-
vantaires, than .Ioiin Jones, Esq., of Wheatland, Delaware. There only have we

(lOOG)

ers for any sized .sheaf that may be desired,
tints superseding the necessity of a man on
the machine for that purpose. Improve*!
threshing-machines, whereby the grain is
threshed and cleaned by one oiicration, at
the same cost per bushel as was formerly
paid for thresliing alone — are now in prettv
general use in this county. The wheat-drill
was used hy scvt:ral of our farmers last fall,
for the first time. The great advantage ot
this mode of seeding is said to be in the
yield, of which I cainiot speak. We have
no Agricultural Society in operation in oiir
county, nor any regular Farmers' Clubs.

THE AGRICULTURE OF OHIO.

487

seen even the stubble of a crop of drilled wheat. The following serves to ex-
hibit the results of the queries as to the average product of some of the chief
staples of Ohio ; it may gratify and in some respects surprise the reader, we
don't isay in what way — that will depend on liis own whereabouts and his previ-
ous impressions as to the agricultural capacity of this young giantess among the
sisterhood of American Republics. It would be easy, we should think, to add
various queries to such Circulars that would elicit highly interesting information
— as, for instance, the ordinary price of land ; the price and the hours of labor ;
and then as to orchards, dairies, the kind of animal power, ice.

Counties.

Adams

Allen

AahJaiuI . . .
Asluabula .

Belmont

Champaig'n ,

Clark ,

Clermont* . .
Columbia ..
Coshoctont
Crawford . . ,
Cuyahoga . .
Delaware . .
Fairfield . . .

Fayette

Franklin ...

Gallia

Geauga

Greene

Hamilton . . .
Hardin.. ..

Harrison

HighlandJ . .
H I] ron

AVERAGK PKR ACRE.

Corn.

Bushkls.

20 to 50
50
40

40 to fiO
45
40

35 to 70
40
35
40

45

3C to 50

40 to 45

40

25 to 30

40

35 to 40

50

35

40

Counties.

Knox

Lake

Lawrence

Licking

Logan

Lorain

Madison

Marion

Medina

Meigs

Morgan

Montgomery

Miami||

Muakirigum

Perry

Portage

Pickaway

Richland total

Ros^s

Stark

Summit

Wa.shington

Wayne

Wood

AVERAGE PER ACRE.

Baskels.
25

12 to 14
10
20
15
15

10 to 20
20
12
15
18
17
8
20
20
14
1,200,000
10
20
20
15
20

20 to 25

Bus/ich.
40 to 45
35 to 40

600,000

23i

40 to 50

45
33
40

Corn.

Biuikth.

35 to 40
30
30

40

30

35 to 40

35
40
50
40

40

50

300,000

48J

30 to 35

35

45

40

40 to 50

*4. I have no information derived from reliable sources. In the corn trade, we have seven dis-
tilleries (! ! !) in this age of temperance — making daily, in the aggregate, 150 to 175 barrels, of
40 gallons each, of whisky. Two distilleries in my vicinity have taken in about 100,000 — and
*■ still they come." From this data I compute that this year'.'j crop will furnish distillers alone
400,000 bushels of corn.

As a set-oft" to the above, we must give the following from the same respectable reporter, Mr.
James Ferguson : - -.>-

There is a gradual progression in the upward tendency of Agricnlture in the county ; better
bogs, sheep and cattle are being introduced — (horses neglected) — better varieties of wheat and
com are being sought for. Most of our farmers are nearly up with the times in agricultural ira
plements; I know of nothing, however, that calls for spcrinl notice; yet all axe far, very far.
ehort of what the soil, situation, the times, the calling, and the aire require.

The only association of airriculturiat.s in the county is known as the " Franklin Agricultural
and Horticultural Society. We have been organized one year — number but 56 members — levy
no tax, draw no money from the treasurj- — pay no premiums in money — make our certificates of
merit suffice — have had one Fair — the exhibition respectable, exciting no little interest, while
every one remarks tiiat •'the next will doubtless be a splendid affair." IT> have a fair prospect
for a rcxperffih'c farwerx' lihran/. Airriciilfiiral Chemistry is heins^ sfvlied by a few already,
as veil as (Jeolo^y and Miiieralosry, while few could tell you the name of the " latest novel " — so
far good : still we are most of us on that old " trenil wheel " — that interminable circle which our
ancestors have trod for the last thousand years — and too many plantins: and sowing by " the
siens," and " rig-hl time in the moon.'^ Farmers are getting rich here from Nature's bounties.
We have the same ideological formation, and nearly as good a climate as the famed Palestine
of the Old World. Shall ignorance, bad tillage, and bad sovemmont of a first luxurious, then vi-
cious, ignorant and degenerate race make this, as that, a desert waste !

Now is the time for the philanthropist and statesman to fi.x the standard of worth high in the
intellectual and moral temple of fame ; to fix the tat!te and elevate this first, greatest, and noblest
of all pursuits, and he has the proud satisfaction of starting his race onward and upward to that
high destiny in res(!rvation for yet purer and nobler intelligence.s. How shall ignorance be driven
out, superstition dethroned, listlessness aroused, lethargy thrown oif, and tlie man be aroused to
"what he is, a thinking, active, siiperior in/rllin-enrr, rather than a plodding drone.

t 6. No important improvements have, within my knosvledge, been introduced in this country.

Allow me, in addition, to suirgest that one of the most desirable and important improvements
(1007)

488 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

These reports are evidently based, in a great measure, on conjectural es-
timates, but are doubtless made with a wish to arrive at and present the truth.
If, then, where the estimate is, for example, from 10 to 20, and so in other
cases, we take the medium as the average, it will be found that if we take these
counties as the average of the State, the average product is in wheat about 17
bushels ; in corn 40 ; and in oats 33. Can any one inform us, or give a guess,
what was the average in Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia when they
had been opened not longer than Ohio ? Two friends of ours, one in Talbot county
and one in Dorset, made last year, the first, more than 70 bushels of corn on
upward of 40 acres, and the last more than 50 on 200 acres. They are, " av coorse,"
as the Irishman says, both subscribers to The Farmers' Library and Monthlt

would be the erection of manufactories, especially of wool and cotton, ou the immense water-
powers of our streams and canals. It is doubted if anj' section of the Union ofl'ers equal facilities
tor such establishments, in cheap and durable water-power, aud in the abundance and low price
of timber, stone, and all the materials for building, including the very small cost of lots and lands ;
and in all these respects no part of the State is more inviting to the manufacturing capitalist than
the valley of Muskingum. To name only a single point : at Roscoe the canals bring together the
whole -water-power of the Tuscarawas and Wallionding, the latter .standing in the canal at this
place 40 feet above the level of the Muskingum, and the canal being comparatively little used,
the whole power of the stream, capable of performing almost anything desired, could be used for
manufacturing purposes; and sites for a whole manufacturing village could be purchased com-
paratively for a trifle. What I have said of Roscoe is a feeble portrait of the advantages for
manufacturing purposes of hundreds of places in our State — to say nothing of the coal district on
our north-eastern border.

Your honorable Board cannot do a better service to the agricultural and other interests of the
State than by calling the attention of manufacturing capitalists to this subject. By establishing
manufactories in the West, they would avail themselves of the certain and unfluctuating tanjf'nf
distance; saving the carriage of goods from the East to the West, and the carriage of the raw
materials, wool and cotton, and provisions fiom the West to the East ; and these advantages, to-
gether with the cheapness of water-power, lands and building materials, would be unciianged by
political ups or downs, ins or outs. Will you not present this matter in a strong and clear light
to the great manufacturing capitalists of the Union ? — urge them to come aud see the immense ca-
pabilities and facilities with which we can present them.

Live- Stock.— B-orees dfi^Q ; cattle 12,50.3; sheep 47,001); hogs 17,728.

X There is no report ot average crops for this county, but in lieu of that we have something bet-
ter— the followicg reflections by Isaac Simms, President of the Agricultural Societj- of the county,
which sliows that one man, at least, is alive to the disgrace that attaches to all communities that
betray indilTerence to the education of their children. He not only knows the seat and nature of
the disease, but, like a skillful physician, he prescribes the appropriate remedy :

" In vain shall you address the man of gray hairs, who, having always plowed so, has yet har-
vested wheat, and who, having never manured, has yet gathered corn. But place his son and
daughter in the district school, under a teacher of ordinary intelligence, who, having studied,
shall teach, among other things, a siiitnhle course of rural economy and agricultural science — 19
them, thus trained, rational experiment and accumulations of knowledge in Agriculture will be-
come a necessity, and intercommunication of results and opinions a delight. To the popular edu-
cation, tlwn, lef'lhe energies of good, men he directed. The district school system of Ohio is per-
ishing by the most cruel neglect. It were capable of all that is elevating and excellent, were it
made to improve with tin; grovi'th of the people in numbers and wealth. But it stands, while all
else advances: and the youth crying for bread, receive a stone! Vast and ittimilahle are the
sources of national grcat'ncss lying ready to he evolved in the untried dc^iths of the juvenile mind.
To this level must t^tatesmen sink their shafts, before the clear waters oj general intelligence tvill
gush abundantly.

II One of the most gratifying things in all these Reports, in our view, is the following— by
whom it does not appear — from Miami county :

The number of members at present is seventy-five, with a reasonable prospect of a large ac-
cession bolbre the conimencenu'nt of the ensuing season. The Society having been organized at
so late a period, it was deemed inexpedient to have an exhibition for awarding premiums the
present year. Thi.s resolution was made in view of the chief benefits sought to be attained by
the organization of Agricultural Societies. These advantages are to be found, not so much in the
production of extraonlinary results as in the establi.>ihment or discovery of means and processes
by which a given result may be attained with the least amount of ex[iendiluit', whether it be of
labor or of capital. Skill and intkllioknce are to be encouraged, rather than a blind reliance
upon chance and the operations of Nature, without those aids which she requires at the hands of
man. if he would enjoy tiiose bounties \\ liicli she is capable of bestowing. In .short, we believe
that the premium should be awarded to the ma.n, rather than to tin; bullock or the porker brought
for exhibition. The Society have appropriated the sum of one hundred dollars for tJie purchase
of BOOKS to form the cotnrneHcement vf an Agricultural Society.
(1008')

GUANO. 489

Jouhnal of Agriculture — not by any means because they are our friends — for
we trust we have many who are not subscribers yeL — but, we infer, because they
make heavy crops I ! But, all jesting apart, we should be glad to have the state-
ments of the average of staple crops in other States, on the most reliable data,
together with the general price of land and labor. We confess we are per-
suaded that most of those who think of moving from the old States had better
let very well alone, and turn to improving their own land — planting orchards,
improving their stock, repairing their buildings, retrciiching expenses, and espe-
cially to the establishment of belter systems of education ; and let them mind first
to elect thinkin<r, capable men for their Legislatures, and then take care who are
put on the Committees on Education and Agricullure !

GUANO.

HOW, AND FOR WHAT, AND IN WHAT MANNER TO BE USED.

We are not advised of the general results of the use of this substance in the
United States during the last year. The truth is that our country is deficient in
the means of making general reports, such as are more easily prepared and pub-
lished with much usefulness to the public in other countries. In the first place,
our dominion is too extensive, and then we are deficient in the organized institu-
tions for the benefit of Agriculture thai exist and faithfully sympathize and coop-
erate with each other for common welfare in other countries.

The first difficulty is likely to be increased ; for we are expanding, ad infinilum.
Otherwise, and even as it is, there are reasons to hope that the last-named ob-
stacle is being diminished, and that the cultivators of the soil are gradually com-
ing to a better understanding with each other in all that relates to their charac-
ter and concerns, political and practical. But all depends on a reform, gradual
though it be, in our systems of education, adapting them expressly to the agricul-
turist's own pursuits.

We believe — (and, on this subject at least, we may be allowed, without being
considered an intruder, to entertain an opinion) — we believe that failures in the
use of guano have proceeded, in our country, principally from two causes :

1. Sufficient care has not been taken to prevent all actual contact between it
and the seed of the crop to which it has been applied.

2. It has not had the benefit of a certain degree of moisture, which seems to be
indispensable to the development of its fertilizing powers — and this has resulted
from the natural dryness of our climate compared with that of England, where
it continues to give satisfaction, aggravated by exposing the guano loo near the
surface, which is fatal to its operation unless it be a wet season.

Mr. McHenry, an enterprising (in a word, a thinking) farmer of Maryland, as
has been already stated, is a decided advocate of the use of guano, after many
trials, and he spreads and plows it in for corn : and we see it stated in the pro-
ceedings of that old, persevering, zealous and efficient Farmers' Club of iS'ewcas-
tle county, Del., that Mr. Jones, of Wheatland, intends to follow that practice;
and it may be added that his purchase of eighteen tons for use this year, is a
fact of no little significance in its favor.

It is scarcely necessary to repeat that, besides that it combines in a very pe-

(looy)

490

MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

culiar manner many of the most essential fertilizing properties and constituents
of the various crops, the value which it derives from its portability almost defies
calculation ! For in no country in the world does a labor-saving property of itself
confer so much value on anything as in this. While labor is everywhere dear,
food and everything else, and especially land, is everywhere metaphorically and
literally " as cheap as dirt.'"

Let us stop here again to say that Farmers' Clubs should be formed in every
election district in the Union, and that, through their instrumentality informa-
tion might and ought to be collected on all such subjects as this. Why, for ex-
ample, through a Farmers' Club at Upper Marlborough, or at Leonardtown, or at
Easton, or at Cambridge in Maryland, might not every reading farmer in the
county be made perfectly familiar, through the papers at those places, with
all that has been done and experienced with guano or lime throughout these
counties respectively up to this date ? But we must come back to our purpose,
which was merely to submit the following instructions for the use of guano on
turnips by a Scotch farmer of great experience.

If we are met with the standing interrogatories — Don't you know the turnip
culture is not the branch of husbandry in this country that it is in England ? we
answer Yes ; and what fool does not ? But the observant reader will see that
there is still ample room and verge enough to turn all such communications of
experience to useful account. If we may not apply guano to turnips on a large,
we may on a small scale ; and besides, the directions given may be useful in the
application of guano to any other drilled crop, and corn is getting to be one of
them.

From ' The (London) Plough.'
METHOD OF ArPLYING GUANO FOR TURNIPS.

Sir : I am desu-ous, through the medium
of your journal, to call the attention of agii-
eulturists to the proper mode of employing
this valuable manure. I have every reason
to believe that want of success, or disappoint-
ment, from the use of this article, in so many
instances, in England, has arisen altogether
from inattention to the proper way of apply-
ing it ; and I have no doubt that, were a fair
trial in every instance made, according to the
method adopted in my own practice, and so
generally alowed here, guano would soon he
in as universal repute in England as it is now
throughout Scotland. 1 fec^^l the more called
tin and enc'ouragcd to communicate my far-
ther experience, and to make the present
reconmiendalion to my hri^thren in the South,
as I believe I was among the hrst to ]ioint
the attention of agricultunsts, generally, lo
the practical value- of this first of nuiiiure.s in
the growth of tuniips, and have since very
successfully, and without one instance of
failure, extended its application to this crop,
to the extent of considerably upward of 100
acres, in each of the two seasons. I\ly method,
then, is simply this : After reducing the gua-
no, by means of l)ruising and sifting, to an
equal ami unifonn consistency, to ajiply it in
the drill, by tlio hand, without any admixture
of^other sulisfance. The drills heing formed
iu the usual way, as in Scotland generally,
for the reception of other manures, in prui>u- !
(K»10)

ration for turnips not quite so deep, perhaps,
as for faiTu-yard dung, the guano is applied
from the jiand, in the center of the original
rib, or drill, wliich hemg reformed by being
split, the manure is eftectually covered, so as
to pi'event injury to the seed ))y contact,
whicli, it is presumed has been the entire
cause of failure when a dift'erent method has
been pursued. The seed is then sown, by
the ordinary drill-machine, on the top of the
drill so made up. In no case ouglit it to he
attempted to pnt in the guano along with the
seed, or by means of any implement where a
full covering of earth does not intervene be-
tween the manure and the seed ; and, indeed,
from the nature ami consistency of the male-
rial, it is very doubtful if it is at all possilile.
by anv maciiine, to disti-ilnite it in that equal
manner neceisary ti»r the growlli of a imilbnn
crop. J may farther mention tiiat the guano
is here apjilied by women or boys, who, upon
the land being stepped oil', are supjilied fnmi
a car at either end of the drills, with no more
than is sullicient for each ; anil in this way,
after a lew turns, tiiey obtain an exactitude
in the opeiation, wiiich is abundantly evi-
denced from the precise e(puility of the croj>,
and which n)ay be said to be characteristic-
ally indicative of turnips manured with giuuio.
The usual (piantily 1 liave employed peraci"
is 3 cwts. ; ami, lliougli it does seem of small
bulk to distribute so far, and, indeed, wheu

GUANO.

491

scaUeroii along ttin drill, to appeiiranco almost
invisible, &till lliere will be iotiini no jinutical
difficulty ia the operation, anil, I liave no
doubt, i)crfect satisfaction in the rei^nlt. TIk;

auantity reqnii'ed for any ordinary length of
rill is thus easily canieil in an apron, and is
much more niaiiiigi'ablc than if any admixture
had taken place. Thus, upon a length of i!()l)
yards, the tlrills being 27 inches apart, not
more than 1 1 lbs. will bo necessary, at the
above rate, so that one woman can easily ac-
complish .3 acres a day. The expense of the
operation is thus almo.st notViing, while it af-
fords great facility to increased expedition, at
BO important and ]irecarious a season, seeing
the success of the turnip c7-o[> requires the
operation of sowing to be limited to a very
short period of time. It will be noticed that
guano, to be properly adapted for being used

in the maimer above recommonded, must l>o
of H consistency fitted for equal distriljution ;
and, in all c;ises, fannerw should particuhu'ly
observe, besides, that the analysis is favora-
ble, that the material ig. free fiom moisture,
and so coniposed, if containing lumps, that
these may be ca]>able of easy reduction by
pressure, or with the hammer. When guano
is so moist a.s to resist being again reduced to
powder, after having been conipressexl, or
the lumps already existing refuse to yield to
trituration, it is (juite unfitted for efficient
distribution, with a view to the growth of
tiniiips in tlie manner I have proposed ; and
by no jirocess of admixture; with other
bodies can it be rendered so suitable, but
could only hn applied, with any advantage,
as a top-dressing to green or other growing
crops.

lu reference to the price, which, when practicable, should litlp to illustrate
all such discussions, the last " American Farmer " says of guano :

We regi^et to learn that the dealers in this
article liave considerably increased the price
recently. J'eruvian had been selling at
$11 50 per ton, but is now $50. The cause
may have been j)roduced by the rise in the
price in England. From the Sheffield and
Rotherham Independent, of Feb. 27, received
by the Hibemia, we make the following
extract :

" Corn Exchanges. — A good stroke of ba
.sine.ss has been done in the guano trade sinc«
our last, and the stock of the country having
been considerably reduced, piices, as foretold
a fortnight ago, have advanced. All (jualities
have risen h-om 20 to 30 shillings per ton, ex-
cepting; Saldanha Bay, which is quoted only
10 shillings per ton higher."

By-the-by, we may notice that Mr. Naill, of the Senate of Maryland, vigilant
for the interests of his class, got a law passed at the last session for the inspec-
tion of guano. In England the farmer, in most cases, we believe, requires to be
furnished with a sample and a well-assured analysis from the merchant, and
comes down on him for damages if the mass is not found to correspond. We
have some doubts whether in all such things, even in the inspection of tobacco,
it would not be better for the producer if the article were left free to be regu-
lated by the conflicting interests of the two parties, untrammeled by legal fetters.

While on this subject, truth and propriety suggest a remark on the powerful
agency sometimes exercised by public-spirited individuals in matters of public
concern, where they have no private ends to be answered. In regard to this
second attempt to introduce a knowledge of the wonderful properties of this sub-
stance to the notice of American agriculturists, if it had not been for the untiring
perseverance of Mr. George Law, of Baltimore, in this matter as in whatever
else he undertakes, availing himself of a correspondence as extensive as it is
valued by those who enjoy it, the use of guano would have made its way but
slowly, in all probability — if, in fact, it had not failed again now as it did when
the substance was exhibited and its virtues proclaimed so many years ago in
Maryland.

Without any of the mere mercenary promptings of the monopolist or the
speculator, Mr. Law scattered much of it, far and wide, gratuitously, and insti-
gated most of the experiments that were made demonstrative of its qualities as
a manure at once the most condensed and, if not the most enduring, the quick-
est and the most convenient of application.

We mention it on the principle that justice is due even in fuller measure, to
those who seek no recompense for useful actions but the gratification of their
own kind nature in the performance of them. Whv is it that by the Press,

(1011)

492 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

whose ofiice it should he to inculcate the performance of actions the most useful
to society, it is denounced as ahject flattery to praise the most benevolent and
beneficent deeds in peaceful life, yet quite legitimate to extol to the seventh
heaven the deeds of living actors in scenes of " blood and carnage ? " All this
may be right and proper ; but be it our humble duty to honor, in our way, and
to hold up to emulation the example of those who best teach us to fructify the
earth.

Since penning the above, we find the following in an array of striking ''facts "
illustrative of the effect of guano, in that staunch old agricultural periodical,
the American Farmer, fed editorially, as it would appear, with that elixir vita
which with age imparts strength. This fact is so extraordinary that it were
almost to he wished the name of the farmer, his locality and soil, had been given,
although, for ourselves, the confidence of the Editor of that paper in the accuracy
of the statement makes " assurance doubly sure." And, after all, it does not ex-
cel the influence of plaster of Paris (gypsum) as shown in the case of the late
Governor Bowie, who gave $1,400 for 200 acres of land, and on turning in the
first crop of clover that followed the application of the gypsum, made 100 hogs-
heads of tobacco on 100 acres of it. The tobacco was sold for $10 a hundred,
or $10,000 for the crop. Governor B. was " every inch a man " on whose
word one might safely stake his life.

An acquaintance of our informant bought,
in liis neighborhood, a fann consisting; of up-
ward of 200 acres, for $1,200. This farm
had been worked without manuring mitil
everything partaking of tlie character of fer-
tility had been extracted f\-oni it, as may well
be imagined from the i)rice we have men-
tioned above. In the opinion of the owner
of the farm in question, without manure, it
would not have yielded 6 bushels of wheat
per acre ; and this opinion was corroborated
by that of our informant. In the fall of 1 845,

the present proprietor came into possession
of his fann, and having faith m the virtues
of guano, purchased a sufficient quantity to
enable him to spread on each of 100 acres
thereof, 3.50 lbs. of that manure, which he
caused to be ploircd in, and then sowing his
wheat, harrowed the latter in. The product
was 2.5 l)ushels of good wheat per ac-e, fi-om
the sale of which he was not only enabled to
pay the whole of the purchase money for the
entire fai'm, and the cost of the gtiano, but to
have a surplus left.

CONSUMPTION OF GRAIN IN GREAT BRITAIN.

Sir : Messrs. Sturge's Circular for this month has to-day been received here, and it will doubt-
less find a place in your columns, as being at all times a valuable and important document, and
never more so than at the present moment. The bearing of the writer's viovs-s is evidently of a
pacifying nature, but on studying its contents I cannot do otherwi.se tlian form quite an opposite
opinion. Admitting udoiil'tjul point, that the last year's crop of wlieatwas an average one, ho\v
can that and tiie stocks as there stat(;d — equal to 6,000,000 qrs. — suffice for twelve months' con-
sumption, barley, oats and potatoes being deficient, and seeing that the aiunial im[)ortation of all
descriptions of grain for years past averages ncarl_y ti. 000, 000 of quarters, which quantity is only
adequate to supply the loss of the jjolato crop, and thus requiring the whole quantity of wheat
tiiipposed to be on hand at the time of harvest?
Taking the average import of grain (including Ireland) into Great Uritnin, upon" years., .qrs. 0.000,000

The loss of the potato ci op " ti.OOO.tXX)

The doticiency of tlie oat and bean crops (l-5th) " 4,000.000

Ditto barley crop (l-4th) " !..'')( Kl.OOO

Total " 1T,.5' 0,000

Less Buppobed quantity on hand " r>,000,000

.Shall wc not require of foreign grain " 11,500,000

For at the time of harvest tho. stocks of oats, barley and beans, of home growth, were nearly ex-
hausted ; and this <piantity, ubonl double of our late large annual imports, would require an
amount of shipping of about 1,7'.^.'^^. 000 tons.

Should the next harvest be a late one, it must be borne in mind that our monthly consumption
is 1 ' ndllions of wheat. For barley, &c., we mitrht wait ; but of oats we should require a con-
siderable <]uantity, not less than one third of tlie quantity of wheat named.

I respectfully beg the attention of Messrs. Sturge & ('o. to the foregoing, and should feci obliged
if they can point out any inaccuracy in the statements given, my object not being controversy,
bat, as far as it can be a.sccrtainod, to give a correct statement of the real position of the country
on the momentous question of a supply of food. I um. sir, your ob't serv't. A Si^nscRiHKR.

Hull Feb. 5. [Lonaon Mark Lane Exprees.

'{1012)

CAPITAL AND ENTERPRISE. 493

CAPITAL AND ENTERPRISE.

THE INFLUENCES BY WHICH THEY ARE TRANSFERRED FROM PLACB TO PI.ACB.

In a late number, reflectiug on the tendoricy of enterprise and capi'.al to ttee fiom tho
country to cities, and thence inferring tliat facilities exist in the towns in the vvay of Ciii)itiil
and encounigemcnt in various ways, not to be enjoyed in the country, wo itivoked light on
the subject, and took the liberty of referring to particuliu" genllenK^n, publici.'^ts and autborH,
whose minds had been led, by their studios and professions, to such subjects.

From one of them we received tlie following, in a very few days after that number waa
published, but yet not in time for the April issue.

We shall give, as soon as possible, the form of the general laws und(!r which associations
of capitalists are so easily formed, believing, with our correspondent, that the use of money
should be left as free as possible, and that wherever the trade in it shall be least hampered
by legislative restrictions, there will it most abound, and there will it attract and rcvvai^d
labor and entcrpi'ise of every sort. We have not room for these laws in tiiis number. la
fact, thero will be in it too little vaiiety, perhaps, " any way w-e can fix it ;" but we rely on
the solid value and wholesomeness to make uj> for the want of variety in our bill of fare for
this month. The Letters on Sheep Husbandry necessarily exclude lighter articles, but havo
they not their inti-insic and amply remunerating value for all who have, or are likely ever
to have, any concern in that very important branch of husbandly ?

We shall look. too. mto the subject of Inspection Laws, about which our Mainland friends
are moving, as we apprehend, with not the longest-sighted views of the subject ; but wo
don't yet exactly see our own way clear. In fact, we want time for investigation. Here,
too, we hope for the aid of a gentleman who has the elegant leisure and the benevolent dis-
position to give us the assistance of his powerful pen, which illustrates whatever it touches.

Dear Sir : You appear to be at a loss to understand the causes of the apparent
deterioration of houses and farms in Western New- York ; of the transfer of cap-
ital from the country to the cities ; and of the absence of value in the lands of
Virginia and South Carolina: and somewhat disposed to think that all are con-
nected with the state of the laws regulating the rate of interest.

Ail the facts are, as I think, easily explained by aid of a very simple law, that
is universally true, as all laws must be, and which, nevertheless, is opposed to
the very prevalent doctrines of Ricardo and Malthus. Being so, I shall not now
insist upon it as regards Europe, but you can readily satisfy yourself by a com-
parison of Massachusetts, New- York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana, on one
hand, with Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and South Carolina on the otlier, that
it is universally true in these United States. It will be found equally true in
comparing one part of the same State with another part — as, for instance, Lowell
and its vicinity with the neighborhood of Cape Cod ; Schuylkill county, Pa., with
Bucks, or Delaware, or Adams, whose progress is comparatively slow ; or Ham-
ilton county, Ohio, with some of those not yet possessed of the facilities afford-
ed by railroads or canals ; and equally so in comparing the several parts of New-
York, Philadelphia or Baltimore with each other. It is as follows :

Wherever population tends to increase, there exists a tendency to a still more
rapid increase of wealth, which manifests itself in an increased demand for labor,
increased wages, increased tendency to the division of land into smaller farms
and into building lots, increase in the number of houses, and improvement in.
their character and appearance, as v/ell as in those of the people by whom they
are occupied. Whenever, on the contrary, in any country or place, population
becomes stationary, or tends to decrease, there arises a tendency to a diminution
of wealth more rapid than that of population, accompanied by a state of things
directlv the reverse of that above described. Such is the law, and I will now
(1013;

494 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

proceed to show iliat the facts to which you refer as existing in Western New
York, are in direct accord^iiice with it.

By reference to the Merchants' Majjazine for the present month (March), you
will see, at pa^e 205, a comparison between eight of the principal counties of
the Genesee Country with a similar number of counties in Michigan, showing
that while the population of the former diminished, between 1840 and 1845, from
321,538 to 317,613, the latter grew from 109,183 to 141,247 ; and that while the
product of wheat in the former remained almost stationary, its advance in the
latter Avas enormously great. From these facts, it is obvious that the emigration
from Western New- York exceeds the immigration, and that there must oe more
sellers of land than purchasers — a state of things that will account for the dete-
rioration of appearance to which you refer, always a certain sign of diminished
population and wealth.

Why do people leave New-York for Michigan ? To answer this question re-
quires local knowledge that I do not possess, and you must seek the information
elsewhere. When you can obtain that, you will understand the cause of the
state of things you have noticed.

Your friend attributes the state of things which you describe to the high legal
rate of interest, by means of which capital is attracted from the country to the
city ; but the rate is the same in both, and, if the existence of such a law tends
to produce that effect, why do not both country and city equally attract it from
other quarters where the legal rate is lower — as, for instance, Massachusetts,
Connecticut and New-Jersey, where it is only six percent.? Why is it that
those States retain their capital, applying it to the fertilization of their soil, the
extension of their manufactures, and the improvement of their communications,
under a six per cent, law, while Genesee is unable to retain hers under one that
allows the owner to demand seven per cent. ? Could this happen unless there
were local causes tending to produce it ? I think not. The question now arises.
Does any large amount of capital from Western New-York seek permanent in-
vestment in the city ? It appears to me much more probable that the tendency
is toward Michigan, where capital is Ics.'! abundant than in Genesee, rather than
toward Nev/-York, where it is 7nore abundant, and where it must always come
into competition with that of the adjoining States, in which six per cent, is the
usual rate. Population and wealth are, I think, both traveling from Western
New-York to a region farther west, in which labor and capital can be made
more productive. Such being the case, a reduction of the rate of interest would
only accelerate the progress of expulsion, and increase the downward tendency
of which you speak.

Every increase in the freedom with which capital may be applied tends to
cause it to flow inward, and to produce equality in the supply and steadiness in
the price. Every restriction tends to force it out, and to produce inequality and
unsteadiness. In New- York, contracts are legal up to seven per cent., and there
is, consequently, more freedom for the exercise of individual Avill, as regards its
application, than there is in New-Jersey, where six per cent, is the limit. There
is, therefore, a tendency to the transfer of capital to New-York from the latter
State; but, if the rate be reduced to the same standard, every Jcrseyman will
prefer invesimi^nts at home to those abroad, and the power of employing labor
in the first will be diminished, while it will be increased in the last. In Mis-
souri, freedom of action in regard to the rate of interest has existed, up to the
point of ten per cent. ; and that State has, in consequence, attracted large
amounts of capital from the East. It is now, hoAvever, about to reduce the rate,
the effect of which will be to cause llie holders of mortgages to convert them
into money to be drawn home, and thus the State will suffer from diminution of
the right of individuals to judge for themselves of the terms upon which they
will trade with each other. Every step in that direction is wrong, and tends to
the expulsion of labor and capital ; and every step in the opposite one — whether
by removal of restrictions on the rate of interest, or on the right of individuals to
associate together for banking or other jiurposes, and to determine for themselves
the terms upcn which they will trade with the public, whether of limited or
unlimited lialtilily — tends to promote the influx of wealth, the increase of popu-
lation, the rise of the value of labor, and the advance of improvement— physical,
moral, intellectual and political. There is more freedom of association in Rhode

CAPITAL AND ENTERPRISE. 496

Island and Massachusetts than in any oiht-r part of the TJnion, and therefore
more steadiness in the rate of interest and in the value of property, with less
necessity for usury laws, and consequently a more rapid advance in prosperity.
Those who would desire to he as prosperous should coninicnce by a determina-
tion to be as free, and not seek to ohtani tlie same object by means diametric-
ally the reverse of those which are there empkjycd, as is done in Pennsylvania,
where freedom of trade is held by those who call themselves Free-Traders, to
consist in not perniitiin<j men to determine for themselves the terms upon which
they will associate with each other, for the purpose of trading with the public,
even where that public is left eniircly at liberty to judge for itself of the terms,
and to determine whether it will trade with them or not.

A comparison of the systems of those two States with that of Pennsjlvania
will serve to exhibit the process by which capital is driven from the country
to the cities, even where its owners would prefer to retain it at home under
their own management, if permitted by legislators to determine for themselves
the mode in which it should be employed.

In no part of the world is the doctrine of equal rights so well understood as
in New-England, and in no part of JVew-England better than in Rhode Island
and Massachusetts. What A. and B. can do, all the rest of the alphabet can
do, and therelbre monopolies have no existence. Every set of men that desires
to associate for the purpose of tradinir, on the footing of a corporation, can have
themselves recorded as such by the Legislature, unless there exist good reason
to apprehend fraud. Such is the case, among others, with those who desire to
associate for the purpose of opening places for trading in money, to which those
who have a surplus can bring it to be exchanged for securities, and at which
those who have securities can apply l"ur the purpose of converting them into
money : money-shops, or banks — places quite as important for those who desire
to have securities and money fitted to each other, as shoe-shops to those who
desire to have shoes fitted to feet, and feet fitted to shoes — a)id <j7iitc as harm-
less. Such being deemed to be the case, it is not thought necessary to subject
the parties associating for the purpose to any liabilities, or penalties, that need
prevent prudent and cautious men from taking part in their formation and man-
agement. The consequence is that there are distributed throughout those two
States nearly 200 money-shops, constantly engaged in the collection and distri-
bution of capital, owned by the people of the neighborhood, who themselves
manage their own property, and are not compelled to transmit it to Boston,
to be managed by others of whom they know but little ; the general result of
which is, that the trade in money is attended by less loss to those who deal
with banks, and more uniform, steady and moderate proht to those who own
them, than in any other part of the world. Throughout both States, every man
is within reach of a money-shop ; and the industrious and prudent farmer, shop-
keeper or mechanic can at any time command small loans to aid him in his
business. In no part of the world does capital distribute itself so equally — fall-
ing almost like the dew, and fertilizing where it falls; in none is there a cur-
rency so inexpensive, and in none is the quantity of currency so little liable to
fluctuation. The system is almost perfect, because almost perfectly free ; and
it would be difficult to suggest an improvement, unless it were the passage of a
general law that should relieve the Legislature from all necessity for interference
in any way, while sweeping away the few remaining regulations, some of which
seem to indicate a personal lialjility that has no real existence, and thus to make
it as free in appearance as it is in reality.

Pennsylvania, on the contrary, is the land of monopolies. Equality of rights
is unknown. A. B. and C. are perpetually obtaining the;)rif/7ege of doing things
which to the rest of the alphabet are forbidden. Large associations obtain grants
of charters which to small ones are denied. On one day a bank of live or thirty-
five millions is organized in the city, and on the next the citizens of a large ag-
ricultural district, suffering for want of a little money-shop, are denied the exercise
of the right of making one, unless they will assume enormous liabilities. Of late
years, association, the great characteristic of the ase, and of civilization, has come
to be ce^sicI,lreJ^ anli-deraocralic, and the perfection of democracy is thought to bs
reahzed in the form of wealthy private bankers and manufacturers, deemed highly
preferable to unions of little capitalists, employers and workmen, such as are seca

(loi:.)

496 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

to exist at Lowell and elsewhere in Massachusetts.* To prevent association, pains
and penalties are devised, and thus, if a thousand people desire to create a shop
at which money may be exchanged for securities, or a factory at which cotton
may be converted into cloth, it is held to be necessary that each of the Ihouxand,
having an interest of ^100) and entitled to claim, at the most, a dividend of six
or eight dollars per annum, shall be responsible for all the debts of the concern,
because entitled to receive the thousayidth part of t lie profits, although the whole
capital, amounting to $100,000, must be sunk before any creditor can lose a dol-
lar. Prudent men know that a well-managed bank, or factory, cannot, on an
average, divide more than 7 or 8 per cent. ; they know that tiiey can obtain six
per cent, on mortgage, without responsibility of any kind ; and they likewise
know that mortgages on city property are more readily realized, and the interest
thereon more punctually paid than on country mortgages ; and thus everything
tends to the transfer of capital to the cities — whereas if legislators could but open
their eyes to the fact that men understand their own business, and are more com-
petent to determine for themselves the proper mode of trading Avith each other
than their representatives at Harrisburgare to do it for them, the farmer's capital
that now goes to Philadelphia for the purchase of bank stock or mortgages would
remain at home, benefiting those who desire to borrow ; and, in a much greater
degree than at present, those who are able to lend. A large portion of the State
is at this moment deprived of all the advantages that would result from the es-
tablishment of places for the exchange of money and securities for each other,
and the owner of capital is compelled to intrust it to the management of people
at a distance, when he would prefer to keep it at home, while his neighbor's farm
or work-shop is unproductive because unable to obtain occasional small loans to
enable him to purchase stock, lime, &c., or to make improvements that are
needed.

What is here said of Pennsylvania is equally true of most of the States south
and west, all of which seem disposed to vie with each other in imposing re-
straints on the trade in money, the most important of all trades, and equaling in
amount all others put together; as every exchange of commodities is made at a
money price, and involves the necessity of a contract for the delivery of its
equivalent in money.

You ask why land in Maryland, Virginia and South Carolina has so little
value when compared with that of England or of France. To obtain an answer
to this question we must first determine what is the cause of value in land. Of
itself it certainly has none, as can be seen in the fact that thousands and tens
of thousands of acres of the most fertile lands in Texas have been given to indi-
viduals on condition of settlement, and that when partially settled they could not
be exchanged for half as much as they had cost. Such was the case with those
granted to William Penn, and to all others of the early settlers of these United
States. The lands of Iowa and Wisconsin have, in part, attained a value of SI 25
per acre because of a great expenditure of capital in the formation of roads and ca-
nals leading from the lakes to market, but they are in many cases dearer, fertile
as they are, at that price, than lands in Pennsylvania or ]New-York at $.80 to $100
per acre. Clear and inclose them, and give them roads and canals, and they will
gradually acquire farther value, rising Avith the growth of wealth and population,
but never equal in amount to that of the labor that has been expended upon them

* " Lowell, F^h. ?4, 1847. — Hon. A. Stkwart : Dear Sir — Your fnvor ofllie ISlti inst. is received, and I
am happy to furnish you such facts and iiiforniution as 1 jiossess tonchins; the subject of your inquiiies. It
ifl R fact that hands who work in our mills are, many of them, stockholders. It is Ihe case to a greater or
less extent in all o>ir companies here. In the Middlesex (woolen) there is about $(iO,0(tO of its stock owned
by men who work in their mills. In the Merrimack yard there are thirty men who own slock, say about
860,000. 'J'here'are several who own in the concern under my charge. The stock of iherc companies, as
a general thing, is held in small sums, tay a few thousand dollars each. It is constantly in the market for
Bal(!. and any person can purchase who has the means. It is corr^idered n desirable investment for widows
and orphrms, and clergymen, because tluy receive the luMniit of the sagacity and skill of the best business
men of the country. 'I'hese corporations, with their liundreds of stockholders are much more democratic,
far easier of access to men of small means, than the association of individuals as co-partners. It is associated
wealth, accessible to any person who has the amount of one shaie, wliich may be SlOO or $1,000, as the
l,egislature that grants the act of incorporation may judge proper. Whit is there in k!I I'lia that lu; ka like
monopoly or tuvor to the rich cai)itidi8l ( With my hundred or thou.-^and i^ollnrs I can purchnte a shnre
which will give mc the Baine per cunt, on my one share, that my rich neighbor who has hft hundred shares
receives.

" There is nothing about it exclusive. The man of very small means is enabled to invest and realize a
benefit from wealth and skill which he could obtain in no other way. Yours, veiy truly, U. H.MITLETT."

(lOie)

CAPITAL AND ENTERPRISE. 497

— a fact universally true, and carrying with it abundant evidence that land owes
all its value to liie labor applied lo its improvements.*

Men who are willing to work seek Illinois, Wisconsin and Iowa, and each
takes a piece of land that he is lo render valuiiblo by means of his labor, and that
constitutes a sort of little savings box, in which he deposits all his wages over
and above what is absolutely necessary for the support of himself and his family,
as well as all the spare hours and half hours that would otherwise be unem-
ployed. Every additional deposit therein tends, as with children who have
penny-boxes, to increase his desire of accumulation, and to increase the habit of
industry and economy. With the growth of population, the number of tliese little
savings banks is steadily increasing, and by degrees a Avealthy community arises,
the members of which, by combining their means, are enabled to create money-
shops at which poor but honest and industrious men can obtain loans, while ap-
plying other portions of those means to the construction of turnpike roads, and
ultimately railroads or canals. Wealth attracts wealth ; and every new house,
or town, or city, or road, whether of stone or of iron, tends to bring new laborers
and to produce new divisions of land, new houses, and new savings boxes, and
to cause the construction of new roads and canals. In the South these little
savings boxes have no existence. The laborer has no properly, and has no in-
ducement to exertion, and his master has no economy. The land is exhausted,
and deteriorates in value until at length both laborer and employer are com-
pelled, if they would continue to live, to run away from it. In the Hrst case we
see the attractive power of wealth, while the second exhibits the repulsive
power of constantly increasing poverty. Population diminishes, and land loses
the little value it once possessed.

The people of the South burn the candle at both ends. They offer no induce-
ment to economy or exertion on the part of those who labor, and they despise
labor too much to acquire, themselves, the habit of employment, bv aid of which
they would become economical. In New-England, all work and all spend lib-
erally in proportion to their means ; but there is very little waste of either labor
or capital. The results of these different modes of action are widely different.
The southern planter is like the elephant, who leaves behind him scarcely any
record of his existence ; while the Yankee resembles the coral insect, whose la-
bors and habits of association are attested by the formation of extensive islands
destined, perhaps, at some future time to be combined, by the farther labors of
these industrious creatures, into a vast southern continent. Were the people,
white and black, of South Carolina swept away, what would remain to give value
to the lands? Almost nothing ! Compare, I pray you, the condition in which
their successors would stand, with that of an equal number coming at once into
possession of Massachusetts, with its towns and cities, its factories and ships, its
turnpikes and railroads, and then answer for yourself the question "Why it is
that land in the South is so nearly worthless? "

Mr. Calhoun holds that South Carolina exhibits to the world a model of so-
ciety the most perfect that exists. If other people thought so, there would be
an influx of population and of wealth. If his countrymen thought so them-
selves they icould not run away from it as thei/ do. If it were really so, there
would be a gradual diminution in the size of farms or plantations, and an in-
crease in the number and quality of houses, whereas the present tendency is di-
rectly the reverse. If they wish to continue their society in its present state of
perfection, they must resign themselves to constantly increasing depopulation
and poverty. If, on the contrary, they desire their lands to become valuable,
they must make it the interest of the laborer to work and to economize, by se-
curing to him the enjoyment of the results. They must teach the people to make
saving funds by aid of which, eventually, railroads and canals will be construct-
ed ; and nothing will be done to render property valuable until the whole people
shall have acquired an interest in exerting themselves for the accomplishment

* The United States are the largest landhoklers in the world, and they obtain theii' land on the lowest
terms. Neverthelees, they would be ruined by the ownership were it net for ihelr entire exemption
from coiitribuiious, in the form of taxes, toward the imprnveincnt of their own property. They sell the
be^'t l;inds, and the purchasers psiy the taxes thereon for making roads and buiHing court houses, while
making private contributions tor churches, &c. &c , and thus the second, and third, and fourth qualities
gradually acquire value equal to $1 '•io per acre, and are sold. But for this, the public lands would bank-
rupt the Treasury, although obtained origLually for almost nothing.
(1017; 3^

498

MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

of that object. When this shall come to be done, wealth and population will in-
crease and emigration will diminish ; but until it shall be done, the former will
diminish and the latter will increase, as will be proved by every day's farther ex-
perience. The sooner they satisfy themselves that slavery, although bad for the
slave, is worse for the master, and adopt measures for permitting* the gradual
extinction of the system, the sooner will land acquire value ; but until that time
shall come, the tendency will be rather downward than upward.

I have thus endeavored to furnish the answers you desired, and now remain

March 6. 1847. Yours, very truly. C.

CARCASS WEIGHT OF SHEEP.

From the nature of the covering of sheep,
it is only when these creatures are recently
shorn of their fleece, that dimensions for as-
certaining their carcass weight can be taken
with accuracy ; and, in so snitill an animal as
the sheep, any inaccuracy ui measurement
would lead to much too great a proportional
discrepancy to the true cai'cass weight to be
of practical utility. The following obsen'a-
tions will therefore be confined to the propor-
tion of carcass to the weight of the animal
alive.

The proportion of mutton to the live weight
of sheep is somewhat, but not gready, difler-
ent to that of the cai'cass weight to the live
weight of neat cattle. The specific gravity
of mutton is less than that of beef: so ftu- the
proportion of the caix'ass to the live weight
of sheep will be less than the proportion of
the carcass to the live weight of oxen ; but,
when sheep ai-e in a fat state, the thickness
of their flesh, in proportion to their size, is
greater than that of oxen, the difference being
fully equal to compensate the less density of
mutton. The ofial of sheep is fighter in pro-
portion to their live weight than that of oxen,
excepting when sheep are in wool, at which
time their skins proportionally exceed the
hides of beasts. So that, when the greater
thickness of flesh and small gener;d ofl'al is
Bet off against the less density of mutton and
the fleece, the analogy found to exist between
the proportion of mutton to the live weight
of sheep, and that of beef to the live weight
of oxen, is not surprising.

Live weight of Sheep in
etone, 14 lbs. avoird.

Above 20

19 to 20

17 to 1!)

16 to 17

14 to 16

12 to 14

U to 12

10 to 11

9 to 10

8 to 9

7 to 8

6 to 7

5 to 6

From the experiments 1 liave made, I do
not find that so much depends upon breed in
causing a variation in the proportion of mut-
ton to the five weight of slieep, as I have
found to be the case with respect of beef to
the live weight of cattle. In sheep, when
newly clipped, I have found a very close uni-
formity in the proportion of mutton to five
weight of different breeds in equal condition,
so much so that I have reason to beheve that
the only difference from breed aiises from tha
greater or less fleece of wool peculiar to any
particular kind of sheep ; at any rate, the dif-
ference fi'om breed, independent of the difier-
ence of the weight of fleece, is too insignificant
to requii-e classification as in the case of oxen.
The breeds of sheep on which I have had
most opportunities of makmg observations
are the Leicester, the Cheviot, the Black-faced
mountain sheep, and crosses of the Leicester
with both of the latter breeds. I have not
made any experiments myself on the propor-
tion of mutton to the five weight in South-
D(jwn sheep ; but I do not apprehend that
there will be any diflerence between them
and Leicester sheep in equal condition, ex-
cepting so far as the proportion may be
affected by the diflerence in the weight of
fleece.

The subjoined Table shows the proportion
of mutton to the live weight of Leicester
sheep — namely, when in the wool after
Christmas, and m sunnner when recently
clipped :

Per cent, of Mutton.
In wool. Newly shorn.

.71 to 72
.69 to 70
.67 to 68
66
.64 to 6.'-.
.62 to 63
.60 to 61

..■io to rs

.^3 to 54
.51 to

73 to 74
71 to 72
69 to 70

67 to 68

64 to 65

62 to 63

60 to 61

59

52 )
50 J

* ! e«y "pormittinp," bemuse I would desire only to see the nrnjority of the people of the Sovuh prnnting
to the minority the right to do wliut thrij likf jtiih thdr otpii, and cmiUK-ipnte ihcnj if eo disposed. I have no
desire to see any interference with the nghl of properly.
(1018)

EXPERIMENTS IN THE FIELD.

499

Examples. — The following vvrre five ex-
ti-aorilinary fat Uvo-y ear-old Leicester wether
sheep, fed by the Duke of Nortliiiniberlaiid,

and slinif^litered by Mr. March, of Greenside,
neiir Gateshead, in the county of Durham, in
January, 1846 :

1. Live weight, ■ii

lbs. 8

3 or 24-'

1140
•72

17-434224 or, by table, 17

Actual dead wt. 17

lbs.
6

22 U

or 22-8751
■72

lH-470072

22

0

or 22

•72

15-84

21

6

or 21 '4285
•71

15-21423.')

19

11

or 19-78.57
•70

16 6i

15 12

16 lOi

16

The quantities of tallow severally yielded
by these five sheep were as follows, viz. : —
Nos. 1 and 2, 1 st. 4 lbs. each ; No. 3, 1 st.
2i lbs. ; No. 4, I st. 8 lbs. ; and No. 5, 10i|
lbs. : showing 1, 2 and 3, very good provers;
4, au extraordinary prover; and 5, but an in-

Et lbs. 8t

Live weight. 9 3 or 92142
•57

15

13 12

78 llj

different prover.
were quite ripe.

78 lOJ
The fleeces of all of them

The following was a two-year-old Leicester
wether sheep, in fliir condition, killed by Mr.
Robert Story, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, May
21,1846:

Bt. lbs.
5-252094 or, by table, 5 3^

6t. lbs.
Actual dead weight, 5 2

The following was a ew
tween Leicester aud Cheviot

re, half-bred be- 1 William Hav.'ksby, of Newcastle-upon-Tyiie,
3t, killed by Mr. I in April, 1846 :

St. lbs. St.

Live weight, 6 9 or 6-G428
•51

3-377828 or, by table, 3 5^

St. lbs.
Actual dead weight, 3 6

The foregoing examples are not selected
particularly as a test of the accuracy of the
scale of proportions laid down, as many in-
stances can be given for such a purpose quite
as close to the actual dead weights as those
above ; but as the particulai's of the live aud
dead weights of the first five are recorded in
the public prints, probably furnished by Mr.
Patten, the Duke of Nortlivniiberlaiid's agent
(vide Newcastle Journal, May 16, 1846), they

may be referred to ; aud as both the live and
dead weights of the last are registered in the
book kej)t at the public weigh-house, in the
butchers' maiket at Newcastle, it is also an
instance on public record. The examples
given above will serve to show the applica-
tion of the scale of proportion to sheep of ex-
traordinary u-eiprkt, to those of a general
character, and also to sheep of a very shabby
description,. [Tlie (Loudon) Plough.

■'EXPERIMENTS IN THE FIELD.'— In the publislied procecdinps of an AgrieiiUnral As-
eociation in England, attention has been drawn to the refuse matters of bleach-works, as well
as to other waste materials : and experiments have been suggested for testing their value to the
practical farmer. A letter has been received from Mr. Pringle, at Ingram Farm, near Lisburn,
in Ireland, describing some interesting and successful experiments of this kind, in which the
waste leys of a bleach-work were found very advantageous, in conjunction with farm yard ma-
nure, in promoting the growth of turnips. The subjoined results are deduced from the statement
in the letter, as having been obtained from the experiments tried ;

Bulbs. Tops.

Dung alone 17 tons 5j cwts. 8 tons 14 cwts. per acre.

Dungand guano 26 " 18} " 8 " H " •'

DuDg and waste leys 33 " 1-2| " 7 " I'j.} " "

"The interesting difference in the weight of the tops, when the leys were used, appears to be
connected with the large quantity of alkaline matter contained in the ^aste liquor ; and. so far as
the experiment goes, the liquid seems to influence the? growth of the plant more in the bulb thaa
ia the leaf— a very importaut fact, if farther trials should confirm it."
(1019)

500 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

THE NEW- YORK STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY:

ITS NEXT EXHIBITION.

As WILL be perceived by the following communication from its zealous and estimable
President, that the next Annual Exhibition is to take place at Saratoga Springs, on the 14th,
15th and 16th of September, 1847. The premiums offered in money and other fonns exceed
$3,000 ; and it is not a little gratifying to see that the rules for the guidance of all competitors
for premiums have been drawn up evidently with much and suitable deliberation aud care.
One requisition only seems to us to be rej^ugnant to every idea of the character that we
would hope belongs to the very occupation of a free-boru American husbandman. We refer
to the requirement of an oath or affirmatio7i to the tinitli of statements made in all cases of
any consideration, where the award of the premium must depend more or less on the per-
sonal veracity of the competitor. It were to be hoped that in such a case the moral sense
of the community must be so tixed, so universal, so well understood, that the certainty of
universal scorn and detestation would be all-sufficient to deter any man, if any man (of
couj'se we do not say gentleman) could be found into whose contemplation the idea of wUl-
fiil deception or fraud could find its way on such an occasion. Any man who should be
found guilty of any attempt at deception would, we may presume, be at once stigmatized
as a black sheep, and so marked as to become " a fixed figure for the time, for Scorn to point
his slow, unmoving finger at," wherever he should show himself

It would not be easy to find a more convenient or suitable place for this great exhibition of
the industiy of the State ; and even without any express stipulation on the part of the pro-
prietors of the public houses there, the public would have had, we think, in their character,
a sufficient guaranty against the disposition, mean as it was mercenary, which has prompted
the proprietors of such establishments in some other places to practice the most infamous
extortion, to the disgust of all liberal minded strangers and the scandal of the towns that
support them. The hotel keepers, except one, havp pledged themselves to specific charges.

For ourselves, we here bespeak, in time, a room in old " Congress Hall," where for more
than a quarter of a centuiy we have fomid, " m the season of the year," excellent fare, kind
attention and genteel, intelligent, safe and quiet company.

For The Farmera' Library.

NEW-YORK STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.

Agbicultubal Rooms, Albany, April 8, 1847.

The Executive Committee have the satisfaction to announce to the Agriculturists of the
State, that our distinguished fellow-citizen, Hon. Silas Wright, has accepted an invitation
tendered to him to dehver the Annual Address on the Fair ground at Saratoga on the 16th
of September next.

It will doubtless have been perceived from the published proccedmgs of the Executive
Conunlttee, that they have, in accordance with the recommendation expressed by the
Society at the Animal Meeting in .Ianu;uy, located the CatUe-Show and Fair at Saintoga
Springs, to be held on the 14tl), I'ith and Kith of September, 1847.

A Delegation of the Coinmittee visited Saratoga, and selected a fine, elevated plat of
ground, within a quarter of a mile of Congress Spring, containing an area of tifteen acres or
more, which will be inclosed. Spacious buildings will l)e erected within the iuclosure, with
ample accommodations f()rall ailicles presented tijr exhibition.

Care will also be taken that arrangements on an extensive scale, appropriate to the occa-
sion, be made for th(! recei)tion and exhii)iti(>n of every description of stock, fann implements,
articles of domestic maniifucliu'e, fiuits, ilovvers, and articles of mechanic skill, Ac.

Arrangements will l)e made with the several railroad companies for the gi'atuitous trans-
portation of stock, as well as other articles designed for exhiVjition, so as to aiiive a day or
two pi-evious to the first day of cxhiintion.

The two railroads leading to Saiatoga will he in readiness to transport, without hindrance
or delay, the visitors who may desire to be present on the occasion.

B. P. Johnson, Secretary. GEO. VAIL, PresidenU

(1020)

FATTENING CATTLE.

501

FATTENING CATTLE.

A DISSERTATION ON THE PHILOSOPHY OF FATTENING CATTLE.. . .PART I.

.Next to understanding properly the chem-
ical analysis of soils, the application of proper
manures, and the crops which slioiild be
grown from tlie land by pro|)er tillage, there
are but f(nv subjects more deserving the at-
lention of the practical agriculturist than a
knowledge of the proj)er connection which
exists and should be duly preserved between
the members of the animal and vegetable
kingdoms. As I obsen-ed in my Lectures on
the " rhilosijphy of Agriculture," so may I
now repeat, man is an omnivorous animal —
he is destined by the Almighty, who has so
created his masticatory and digestive organs,
that he can live and flourish under a com-
pound diet of animal and vegetable food; we
are also told, by Divine authority, that " man
shall not live upon bread alone ;" consequent-
ly, as it is necessary that he should have re-
course to substances of a different nature to
use in combination, so is it equally of para-
mount importance that he should direct his
care, skill, knowledge and attention to the
management of cattle, so that they should be
able to afford him the greatest possible amount
of nutritious food, and at the least possible ex-
pense in money to himself, and waste or loss,
or both, in the preparation of the same.

It is my intention in the present Lecture to
make a few observations on this subject, to
show you the wisdom that experience has
taught us, and which 1 have drawn from many
sources, the results of the labors of practical
men. To some I may have the pleasure of
addressing, the theme I shall discuss may be
novel ; while I doubt not that many who are
here present will be able to confirm many of
the truths which I shall utter.

The existing link between animals and veg-
etables forms one of the most beautiful chains
in Nature, and one which cannot be dissolved ;
it is one of the greatest val ue to the practical
farmer, because it so materially affects his op-
erations in the breeding, rearing and feeding
his cattle.

In considering this subject philosophically,
we must first of all examine what are the sub-
stances which enter into the office of nutrition,
and ascertain by what means, as far as our
limited knowledge extends, nourishment is
afforded to the animal. The veget^ibles upon
which not only cattle but ourselves are fed
consist of two portions, viz. an organic and an
inorganic ; and, upon instituting a chemical
analysis, we find that the organic is chiefly
composed of a considerable cpiantity of water,
much carbonic acid in combination with the
salts of ammonia, and nitric acid ; the iuor-
(1021)

ganic portion is entirely derived from the soil
from which they gi'ow, and the science of
Chemistry informs us that it consists almost
entirely of the various saline constituents, and
earthy particles, which, upon incineration or
burning, constitute the ashes of tlie plants. I
reft;r you to what I stated in my Lectures on
the Philosophy of Aginculture, as to the man-
ner in which these particles are absorbed by
the plants, and which you will find published
in Nos. I. and II. of " The Plow," detailed
at length ; but I may here briefly remark that
these substances are taken into the texture
of the vegetable by means of the leaves and
roots, which, under the chemical action and
influence of the light from the sun, are decom-
posed— the oxygen becoming retimied to the
atmosphere which originally gave it ; while
the elements of water, with the carbon, unite
to fonn starch, sugar, gum, or woody fibre,
and with the elements of ammonia or nitric
acid, ccmstituting albumen, casein, or gluten.
Thus, the plant derives its food almost entirely
fnmi the inorganic kingdom, while the animal,
on the contrary, from its anatomical confonn-
ation, can only e.xist upon organic matter.

During the present contuiy, such great dis-
coveries have been made in the science of Or-
ganic Chemistiy, particularly by the discov-
eries of the late Sir Humphiy Davy, Dr. Ed
ward Turner, Professor Brando, Drs. F'araday
and Gregory, and last, though not the least,
that of Bai'on Justus Liebig, of Giessen — to
which may be added the labors of a rising
young chemist, Dr. Lyon Playfair — that much
valuable knowledge has been imparted to the
philosophical and agricultural world, up )n the
physiology of animal life, and the manner by
which the system is nourished and supported.

We now, therefore, can well comprehend
why one species of diet is fomid to possess a
greater quantity of nourishment than another
— why the inhabitant of the frozen regions
of the North, as I liave seen in the ])ersons of
the Esquimaux and Greenlander, should re-
quire great quantities of train-oil with his
daily food. And why ? His stomach will
digest the rancid flesh and blubber from their
whales and seals, while the same species
would not only be disgusting to us, but actu-
ally prove both physically and mentally inju-
rious to the inhabitantsof more congenial and
warmer climates. We also understand from
the same source how it is that we cannot feed
animals or exist ourselves upon a diet wholly
composed of sugar, starch, gum, or gelatine;
and yet, although we cannot live upon any
one of tiiese substances, yet when they are all

502

xMONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

properly combined, strange as it may appear
to some, it is of all these materinls, when
properly uuitefl, that our daily food is com-
posed. The great office of Chemistry, as ap-
plied to this department of human knowledge,
is to point out the peculiar wants of animal
bodies, and how these are duly supplied in
the food we and they daily consume. Anat-
omy informs us that, like the vegetal )le, an
animal bodji is composed of two portions : the
organic particles form a considerable portion
of the flesh or softer tissues of the body ; and
also an uiorganic portion, which Prolessor
Berzelius, of Stockholm, Guy Lussac, Vau-
qaelin, Thenard, and Fourcroy, with Dr. Ma-
gendie, of Paris, and other experimental chem-
ists, have demonstrated also to constitute a
small portion of the softer parts ; but it is in
the bones, which constitute the skeleton, that
they are principally found ; and these are di-
rectly derived in the hrrbivora (or vegetable-
feeding aninaals) from the vegetable diet upon
which they subsist, while the carnivora (or
flesh-eatmg tribes) obtain it indirectly fi-om
the blood and flesh of the herbivorous animals
upon which they prey.

These remarks naturally lead us to a proper
consideration of those substances which form
chiefly the food of those animals which are
bred, reared and supported by the formei-,
either for agricultural labor or as food for man,
and in many cases for both — strange to say,
they are principally herbivorous in their na-
ture. Examine chemically, therefore, any
article which they consume — no matter
whether it is wheat, beans, peas, cabbage,
caiTots or turnips — we shall soon find that,
besides water, it has gum, sugar, starch, and
a considerable quantity of woody fibre, in
union with a sm;ill portion of a fatty matter ;
all these coustiUients, as I observed m my
former Lectares, will be found to be com-
posed only of three elements, viz oxygen.
carbon and hydrogen, which exist combined
in nearly the same proptjrtions. But we hke-
wise find that there are many other substsuices
contained in vegetables whicli contain nitro-
gen, and this is in addition to those elements
which compose starch, gum, &c., and are
known to the chemist by the appellations of
gluten, vegetable albumen, and casein. Now
li we take a small quantity of fine wheaten
flour, and mix it with water into a paste, and
well wash it upon a sieve, by pouring a stream
of cold water over it while it is kneaded with
the hand, all the sugar, starch and gum will
pass away through the sieve with the water,
and the substance left behind will resemble
bird-lime, being of an equally tenacious na-
ture ; this is, therefore, the gluten which the
wheat contained; and when dried, the water
it possessed being evaporated, it n^embles
horn, being a hard, brittle mass, and if burnt
it emits a similar unpleasant eflluvia to burnt
horn, feathers, or other animal matter. The
gluten which is obt:iined from peas, beans, or
the fibrin and vegetable albumen i>rocured
from the expressed juices of the carrot, turmp

(1023)

or cabbage, all possess analogous properties
to those found in wheat, with this exception,
that they are all soluble in cold water, where-
as the gluten which is obtained from v/iieat is
not. If we submit these substances to the
test of chemical analysis, we speedily discover
them to be all composed of the same constitu-
ents, and also that they are likewise identi-
cally the same as those composing the flesh
and blootl of animals generally ; but you must
please to bear in mind that this remarkable
identity does not consist in their containing
azote or nitrogen in combination with oxygen,
carbon and hydrogen, in the same or nearly
the same proportions as in animal flesh and
blood, but it extends to the existence of a
small quantity of sulphur and phosphorus,
which is found to be associated with the mus-
cular flesh fonning one of the soft tissues of
the animal. Hence we may very properly
assert, as a physiological axiom, that the blood
and flesh are, by the Great Author of Nature,
found actually ready prepared and elaborated
in the vegetable. The plant it is which elab-
orates and duly prepares all the elements of
water, carbonic acid, and ammonia, which
constituent particles are found to be identi-
cally the same as the muscular animal flesh ;
consequently, the'animal has nothing more to
do than to apply them to his own use for the
purposes of nutrition, secretion, and die vivi-
fication of life.

The following Table, adopted by my tal-
ented friend, Professor Gyde, of Painswick,
will give the reader an idea of the actual
identity of composition existuig between these
substances:

TABLE I.

Elements.

Gluten
from Flour.

Casein
from Peas.

Ox

Blood.

Ox

Flesh.

Oxygen,
Hydrogen
Carbon,
Nitrogen,

22-4

7-5

54-2

15-9

230

7-2

54-1

15-9

22'2

7-5

54-3

15-8

22-3

7-5

541

15-7

Every animal body momently undergoes
some physiological change ; every motion,
thought and action is of course perfonned at
the expense of some, and many of almost ev-
ery part of the body ; these incessant altera-
tions and action cau.se the great demand for
fcjod. which Nature constantly requires to re-
]iair the waste that is continually taking place.
You may speedily ascertain the truth of this
fact, by noticing its illustration m those ani-
mals who have long been kept without food,
or had but a scanty supply, or where it did
not possess suflicient nutritious properties;
and also in those animals who have undergone
great exertion and bodily fatigue, when con-
trasted with those but little fatigued, and
whose food was good in quality and suflicient
in quantity. The fine horses formerly at-
tached to our well-apjiointed coaches, before
the constriiction of railroads and the employ-
ment of giant steam-power, and which vehi-
cles will ere U)ng only be remembered by bc-
uig reconled in the pages of history among

FATTENING CATTLE.

503

the phenomena that liave been and are passed
away — the fin;? horses I have named were
almost exchisively fed upon oats and beans,
which are two of the most nutritious kinds of
all species of vegetable food ; wliiie, on tlie
other hand, tlioso horses jierforminj^ but a
small amount of laborious work, will supply
the natural waste of their bodies from the
very small (•oniiiarative (|uaiitity of f];liiten
which is found to bo contained in hay or clo-
ver, or both.

I have alreaily informed you that the food
of classes of animals consists of two kinds of
distinct species of matter ; viz. the one which
possesses a great pro[)orti()n of azote, or nitro-
gen, as one of its principal constituents, and
whicli the Table I have referred to tells ns is
identical with the blood and muscular flesli
of the animal : the other ])ortion is destitute
of nitrogen, but consists of gum, starch, sugar
and woody fibre. Now, every one of these
different materials answers two quite distinct
but very important purjioscs in the economy
of every animal body. The first, or the nitro-
genous constituents, snpi)ly the waste which
has occurred in the fluids and tissues of the
body, and, as Dr. Magendie very properly
states, may justly be termed the elements of
nutrition ; the last, which are the non-nitro-
genous portion, act, if I may apply the ex-
pression, as fuel for combustion in the lungs,
in order to keep up the due supj)ly of animal
heat, and under some peculiar circumstances
also will contribute to the formation of fat. —
These elements may likewise be arranged
under two great heads, viz. those which are
necessary to the function of nutrition, and
those affecting that of respiration.

I respectfully call your attention to the fol-
lowing Table, wherein they are exemplified :

TABLE II.
1. Elements of Nutrition. 2. Elements of Respiration.

Glnten. Gum.

Albumen. Starch.

Casein. Sugar.

Flesh, or Mnscular Fibre. Oil or Fat.

Blood. Alcohol.

The elements of nutrition (No. 1) must of
necessity exist in combination with every sub-
stance which experience has taught us to be
capable of supplying food to the animal; but,
ere it can impart the nutritious properties,
numerous im])ortant mechanical and chi'mical
changes must undergo, ere it can take place.
The grand process of digestion must be per-
formed— by which I mean, the manner by
which the nutritient particles may be ren-
dered soluble, and not only capable of enter-
ing, but even of fonr^ig new blood. A brief
detail of the manner hi which this is performed
may not be uninteresting to some of my pre.s-
ent auditor}'. It is accomjilished in the fol-
lowing mamier: The food, when received
into the mouth, is broken down by the teeth,
where it becomes mixed with the saliva,
which is secreted by the glands that are situ-
ated near the angle of the jaw, and beneafe
(1023)

the tongue ; when the process of mastication
is completed, the morsel is collected into a
ball at the base of the tongue, and by the act
of deglutition or swallowing it is carried past
the phai-ynx into the oesophagus or gullet,
down which it passes into the stomach, where
it enters at the cardiac orifice ; it remains
there for a short time, according to the nature
both of the animal and the food it has j)artHkeu
of, (in man it is su|)posed to be about two
hours.) Tlio chemical and mechanical action
that now takes place is technically called, in
I'hysiological language, the process of chymi
Jicnlion ; when this is ])erfected, the orifice
at the ojiposite extremity (denominated the
pylorus) becomes dilated, and the chyme
passes into the first of the small intestines, an
atoinically named i\\e. duodenum, where it be
comes mixed with the bile from the liver, and
the fluid from the panrrcos or sweat-bread
This being accomplishetl, the process ol' ckyl
ification now commences — a series of small,
minute vessels, named lactcals, whose mouths
open on the mucous (or villous) coat of the
bowel or intestine, which absorbs the nutri
tious portion of the food, (which resembles
milk in appearance, hence it is named chyle.)
This fluid, being conducted by numerou.s
branches, passes into one great reservoir,
called the thoracic duct, which ends 'in a
large vein near the heart (the left subclavian),
and there it is mixed witli the blood ; but be-
ing loaded with carbon, which is inimical to
the due preservation of animal life, the blood
passes from the heart to the lungs, where it
becomes oxygenized, and fit for all the pur-
poses of the animal economy. The non-nutri-
tious portion, from which the chyle has been
extracted, passes through the last of the small
intestines (the jejunum) into the whole course
of the larger part of the alimentaiy canal —
viz. the ccBcum, colon and rectum, and from
the last they are finally ejected fi'om the body
— ultimately again to reenter it in another
form, in consequence of its fonning manure,
and therefore afi'ordlng food for plants m the
maimer detailed in my former Lectures.

But independent of the simple fact that the
salivary fluid, when commixed with the food,
renders the digestion of the aliment far more
easy, yet Baron Liebig imagines that it pos-
sesses the peculiar oflices of inclosing and
conibiiiing air, in the fonn of froth ; the oxy-
gen which it contains enters into union with
the constituents of the food, while the nitrogen
is again evolved through the medium of the
lungs and skin; this philosopher is likewise
of opinion that, in many of the herbivorous
quadrupeds, their taimination (as the oxen and
shf'ep, iiir example) lias for one of its princi-
[)al objects a com])lete renewal with the re-
pe ited introduction of pure oxygen into the
animal's stomach; and that, unless this takes
place, the fimction of nunination cannot be
did/ perfected in the stomach. I have given
you a brief outline of the manner in which
digestion is accomplished, but in doing so I
omitted to observe that attached to the mu-

504

MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

cons or villous coat of the stomach are a series
of minute glands, which secrete what is de-
nomiuated the gastric jnice or fluid, and
•which, among other matters, contains a qnaii-
tiiy of pure in'(cnf;, in combination with a
small quantity of free hydrochloric or mnri-
a/.ic acid (called in common language spirits
of salts), with a i)eculiai' principle known to
chemists under the ap{)ellation of pepsin, and
which has been affinned by Dr. Sylvester, of
Clapharn, to be in itself a most active and
virulent poison, but whose noxious properties
are chemically neutralized in the stomach and
intestines during the function of digestion.

I have stated that hydrochloric acid is al-
ways present in the stomach, and particularly
so during the digestive process : for the dis-
covery of this curious but important chemical
fact, we are indebted ec(UHlly to AL Tiedmann
Gmelin (of Germany) and Dr. Prout, of Lon-
don. This acid may be artifici;illy obtained
by the decomposition of chloride of sodium,
or common tabic salt (which is only a combi-
nation of pure muriatic acid and soda) ; the
acid is of great sei-vice in promotmg the func-
tion of digestion in the stomach, while the
soda, as an alkali, copiously enters into the
Ibrmation of bile. Thus it is that a certain
proportion of salt is necessaiy to digestion in
every species of animals, at least as far as our
knowledge extends in tlie classes of quadiii-
peds and birds ; and, although Chemistry tells
us that it is an essential ingredient hi the burnt
ashes of all vegetables, yet we very rarely find
it existing in a sufficient quantity to foim a
regular supply of either the acid or soda
which is required for the due performance of
the function of healthy digestion ; and, there-
fore, not only should we ourselves partake of
a certain quantity daily with our own food,
but should place some within the reach of
both birds and cattle under our management
in the farms we are connected with. Nature
is the philosopher's best monitor, and the sci-
entific farmer cannot do better than obey her
axioms. We find that all classes of animals
have, if I may use the expression, an instinct-
ive love for salt, and seek for it as for a por-
tion of their diurnal food. It is well known
that the j)igcon tribe of birds, if they cannot
obtain it elsewhere, will even have recourse
to the mortar which cements the bricks of
houses together ; they have been frequently
known to Hy to the sea-coast in order to pio-
cure it ; and jiigeon-fanciers who are not so
honest as to mind horrouivg their neighbors'
birds, will allure them by moans of what is
known as a salt cake, ])laced in or near the
dove-cote, wherein nnniate of soda forms an
essential ingredient; this nelin-ious practice is
now forbidden, vi^ry properly, by an act of
Parliament, which awards a punishment of
Beven years' transportation u]ion conviction;
it however confirms the important physiolog-
ical fact I have just noticed.

In tlie ruminating tribe of tlie class Mnm-
malia, as the ox and the sheep, the import-
ant process of digestion ditters but little from

(10241

that which I have stated, and whose stom-
achs are of the simplest constmction, being
little else than a mere membraneous bag ; but
in the Ruminanfia, we find their stomachs
considerably more complicated, in order that
they may be enabled to extract the due pro-
portion of Jiourislmient which they require
from the food which they eat ; as in the case
of grass, by way of example, which we find
by cliemical investigation contains but veiy
little nourishment in proportion to the bulk.
Let us now philosophize for a moment, and
see the manner in which the ox and those of
his class perform the functions of mastication
and digestion. In these creatures, the grass
is cropped from the surface of the earth by
means of the fore-teeth, and after being but
very slightly masticated, is swallowed : this
process continues until the first stomach is
filled,* when the animal lies down apparently
well and perfectly contented ; but it is now
that the curious process of '•umiuation com-
mences. In the first stomach, the food is
mixed with a secreted fluid not dissimilar to
the saliva, and in a kind of semi-pulpv mass
it is returned into the mouth, in small de-
tached portions, where perfect mastication
takes place, and during this process the an-
imal is in a recumbent position ; after the
second and perfect mastication is completed,
the food passes into the second stomach, de-
nominated by comparative anatomists oma-
sum; from this it passes into the third stom-
ach, the abomasum ; in these last tw-o, it un-
dergoes very important changes, and whence
it passes into the fourth or really ti'ue stom-
ach. It is in this last portion of" the cu-
rious but complicated species of apparatus,
that the function of digestion is ultimately and
perfectly perfonned ; and the last pi-ocesscs
of extracting the luitriment from tlie food
are exactly similar to that which I have de-
scribed as occurring in man and those an-
imals having simple membraneous stomachs.
'I'he vital fluid of all animals is commonly de-
nominated the blood, in which, as Holy AViit
tnily observes, " is life;" this fluid is either
foinied from vegetables, as in the Herbivora,
or from flesh, as in the Carnivora : yet in
both tribes of animals the composition and
essential constituents are the same, both in
their physical etfects upon the system, and as
portrayed by chemical analysis. We find
it circulating throughout not only the princi-
pal organs in the living animal, but by means
of vessels as fine as the human hair : so ex-
tremely delicate are they that they will not
admit the thicker coloring particles of the
blood itself; yet the properties which the
blood possesses are most surpiising ; it re-
plenishes the fluids and solids which are di-
minished by the waste, wear and tear of the
body ; it places osseous or bony matter m
the skeleton for its gi-owth and su2>port ;

* Wc fliould licrp otjserve thnt the Lecturer ex-
liil^fd drawings of the stomach, as found in both
lnl>eB uf uiiiuiuls.

FATTENING CATTLE.

505

forms fleshy filiies for soft muscular tissue,
by which t'.io motions of the body arc per-
formed ; and from tlie blood are all the dit-
fcrciit bodily secretions which are necessary
for the healthy existence of the animal se-
creted and i)erfonr.ed ; the blond supplies
carbon to the Inngs for kee[)inj; up the animal
heat, with fat and oily fluids deiiosited in the
softer tissues as well as in the very substances
of the bones themselves, as a store from
which Nature can extract a due supply when
necessity compels her ; lastly, the blood is
the true moving power l)y which die whole
aiiimal machine is put into nujlion, just as
steam is to the Bteam-eiigine, and coals as
fuel to the fire.

As far as I have proceeded I have only
spoken of that part of the food fiom which
animal flesh is natmally formed ; i. e., the
gluten extracted from the vegetable, the al-
bumen, and the casein: my sell'-imiiosed
task, however, is not yet complete. 1 have
now to take into consideiation the oHices
which are fidfilied by the sugar, starch, ginn,
oil or fat, which we find, by exuminalion, con-
stitute so laige a proportion of the fiiod of
man, and the principal of the lower orders of
animals. Now, we find from observation,
that every animal has a temperature above
that of the surrounding atmosphere ; and
physiologists have denominated it the animal
heat, which, in those animals domesticated
by man, are found to be, on an average, about
100° of Fahrenheit's thermometer — in man
it is about 97°, and we find that it continues
much the same under every kind of circum-
stance, whether we live beneath a tropical
sun, a more temperate region, or the frozen
climes of the North.

The animal heat onginates in the body ; it
is created by the chemical combination, or, if
I may employ the tenn, the combustion of
the elements which enter into the fomiation
of starch, with the other non-nitrogenous con-
stituent j)articlcs of the food, united with the
oxygen of the air, which is received into the
lungs during the function of inspiration; and
likewise by a portion that is absorbed through
the skin.

Upon examining the atmospheric air which
we breathe, we find, upon submitting it to a
chemical analysis, that it is comi)osed of
twenty-one parts of oxygen and seventy-nine
parts of nitrogen, with so small a quantity of
carbonic acid gas that its amount cannot be
calculated in a given quantity of air ; yet of
course an immense proportion must exist, for
it is supposed that the atmosphere extends
forty-five miles at least in hight, and presses
at the ratio of 1.^ lbs. upon every square
inch : this was di.scovered by Torricelli and
Galileo hi the I7th century. However, when
the air we have inspired has been expelled
from the body, we find that it has undergone
but little if any change ; the oxygen, how-
ever, has disappeared, and been replaced by
an equable quantity of carbonic acid gas,
with a small quantity of aqueous vapor : the 1

(1025)

|ir(i[)ortion of animal heat which attends this
chemical cliaiige, is consequent upon the
aincjuiit of carbon and hydrogen which is con-
sumed. The heat which is thus produced is
occasioned by exactly the same ciiemical ac-
tion as that which cau.ses the combustion of
wood in a stove, or the fat of a lamp or can-
dle, and the pioducts of which are exactly
the same : the carbon and the hydrogen of
the f(Kid combine with the oxygen that is sup-
plied by the atmosphere, and heat is gen-
erated in the; body in proj)ortion to the quan-
tity which is consumed. In the stove or
lainp the same changes take place, the fuel
being composed of similar elements entering
into the composition of the food ; and the re-
sults of the combustion are precisely the same,
the combination being less energetic in the
body than in the stove or lamp.

Now, how is it in man ? In a full-grown
adult, if we take the weight of the carbon
which is disengaged in the excretions, from
the weight of the carbon contained in the
food that is consumed during the twenty-four
hours, we shall soon find that the remainder
will amount to somewhere about foiirteen
ounces, and this is assimilated with the com-
ponent parts of the body ; die weight of which,
however, does not increase, for it is a well
known philosophical axiom, that fourteen
ounces of carbon will require tliirty-.seven
ounces of oxygen* for its traiisfoirnation into
carbonic acid, which passes off fiom the lungs
and skin. Thus, in this simple manner, we
can easily comprehend how it is that the
enonnous quantity of oxygen which is intro-
duced hito the animal body by the progress
of inspiration, and the great pioportion of
carbon which is derived from the f()od con-
sumed, are removed from the body ; and like
wise, how it is that the fViod requiicd fiirsup
porting the animal in its noiTnal condition is
in exact proportion to the quantity of oxygen
that is absorbed. Now, we find that a horse
consumes daily, in his food, upon an average,
eighty-nine ounces of pure carbon, and a cow
seventy ounces; the f(:)riner requires 212!|.
ounces, the latter 18fi^ ounces of oxygen, in
order to transform the consumed carbon into
carbonic acid. I have already stated that,
in addition to the constituents which I have
named, the vegetable is found upon chem-
ical analysis to contain a small quantity of
fatty matter in addition to the eaithy and
saline substances of which it is composed.
The question is now to be answered, What
are the purposes which they answer in the
animal economy ? Every animal that is in a
state of sound health has a layer of tiit. which
is situated between the skin and the muscles,
and likewise between the muscles themselves,
by which means they have great freedom of
motion. Fat is also deposited in the body of
the animal, particularly in the neighborhood
of the bowels, also attached to a jKirtion of
them, and enveloping the kidneys, (where it

* One ounce of oxygen equale 1416'5 cubic inches.

506

MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

is vulgarly called by butchers the suet). In
the Carnivora or flesh-eating animals, the fat
which is contiiined in the food they eat, is
consumed in the lungs for the purpose of pre-
sei-ving the proper quantity of animal heat,
and consequently, in these creatures, we but
very rarely find the body of the carnivorous
animal to contain much fat. M. Darwin, in
his Journal of Researches into the Natural
History of the Countries visited dwing the
voyage of the Beagle, infoiins us that the
Gauchos, or simple counti-ymen in the Pam-
pas, South America, lived for months to-
gether upon flesh, but he obsen-ed that they
ate large quantities of fat; and Dr. Richai'd-
son, in speaking of these peojile, has also re-
marked " that, when they have fed tor a long
time solely upon lean animal food, the desire
for fat becomes so insatiable that they can
consume a large quantity of unmixed and
even oily fat, without nausea." This instinct-
ive desire for fat in man and animals living on
flesh arises from the imperative demands
which are daily made upon the body for car-
bon to keep up the proper amount of animal

heat, and which is contained in the fat that is
consumed as an article of diet.

Thus far in the omnivorous and carnivorous
animals ; \ml in the herbivorous creatures it
is widely different. The supply to the lungs
is derived from the starch, sugar and gum va.
the vegetable, while the fat which exists in
the food is in a great measure laid up as fat
in the animal body ; therefore it is that we
find the bodies of the herbivorous quadru-
peds generally much fatter than the Carniv-
ora. But if the supply of the starch in the
food is inadequate to the demands of respira-
tion, then the elements of the fat become con-
sumed in the lungs, exactly as it is in the
carnivorous animal ; the sugar, gum, and
starch become speedily transformed into aque-
ous vapor and carbonic acid in the animal
system : these are the first consumed ; and.
if this supply proves to be inadequate for the
purpose required, then the fat, next the fat
of the animal body, and finally the tissues
themselves, are placed imder contribution,
the animal becoming thin, feeble, and ema-
ciated, and ultimately dying fi-om starvation.
['The (London) Plow.'

CARROTS versus OATS. — We have had twenty communications from various sources,
all of which concur in saying that a peck of carrots will, with the same quantity of hay,
keep working-horses m as good condition, and many say better, than a peck of oats and a
like quantity of hay ; or that a peck of carrots and a peck of oats are equal to half a bushel
of oats. 60 bushels of oats and 900 of carrots per acre are large crops.

Say to raise carrots you plow your land once oftener than for oats, at a high allowance for

man and team $2 50

Say it takes 12 days' labor to hoe the acre three times, and 4 days' labor to dry the crop —

16 days at 75 cents per day 12 00

Say additional manure for carrots, which, however, leaves the land the richer 10 50

Total $25 00

Say, then, you raise only 500 bushels of carrots per acre, at 35 cents per bushel $175

Deduct extra cost of cuitivation 25

Produce of one acre of can'ots $150 00

Say you raise 40 bushels of oats per acre, place the seed of the two as equal, and that the

straw of the oats pays for reaping and threshing, and you have 35 cents per bushel.. 14 00

$136 00
clear gain, if you feed your carrots to your horses or cow.«.

Then strike off half again, and reduce your crop of carrots to 250 bushels, and still you have
$68 against $14.

But what's the use of demonshation to men who never go beyond having " a great mind
to try it ? "

But another view : Can a greater disparity be thought of than the difference in the labor
emjiloyed between getting a crop of oats and a crop of carrots ? — the one the least, the other
the most laborious, almost, in the whole circle of agiicultiual operations. So there are
always " two sides to a story ! "

To Fatten Pout.try. — Set rim over the fire, with skiiimiod milk ; lot it boil till the rice
Ls quite swelled out, and then add a spoonfid of sugar. Feed the ])i)n]try thrice a day in
common pans, which nuK«t b(^ kcjit clean to piovent sourness. Give them the milk ot rice
to drink. The rice gives a very (lelicate vvliitoness to the flesh. Animal iood pounded veiy
ismall is a usefid mixture; and charcoal broken in small pieces increases the appetite and
promotes digestion.
(1026)

ROAD MAKING.

507

ROAD MAKING.

We have been permitted to make some extracts, in advance of publication,
from " A Mamial of Road Making," by Professor Gillespie of Union College,
wJiich is to be published early in May by A. S. Barnes k, Co. of tliis City.

From the " Introduction" we take some exemplilications of the great differ-
ences in economy, Sec, between a good road and a bad one, as affecting the
profits of Agriculture, and the gain to farmers in their improvement.

One important difference lies in the s^radea
or longitudinal slopes of a road. Suppose that
a road rises a hundred feel in the distance of
two thousand feet. Its a.'iccnding slope is then
one in twenty, and (as will be hereafter proven)
one-twentieth of the whole load drawn over it
in one direction, mu.it be actually lifted up this
entire hight of one hundred feet. But upon
such a slope a hor.se can draw only one-half as
much as he can upon a level road, and t\vo
horses will be needed upon such a road to do
the asual work of one. If the road be intrusted
to the care of a skillful engineer, and be made
level by going round hills instead of over them,
or in any other way, there will be a saving of
one-half of the former expense of can-iage
on it.

Another great difference in roads lies in the
nature of their xurfaces ; one being hard and
smooth, and another soft and uneven. On a
well-made road of broken stone, a horse can
draw llnTe (i7nrs as much as he can upon a
gravel road. By making, then, such a road as
the former (according to the instructions in
Chapter IV.) in the place of the latter, the ex-
penses of transportation will be reduced to one-
third of their former amount, so that two-thirds
will be completely saved, and two out of three
of all the horses formerly employed can then
be dispen-sed with.* If such an improvement
can be made for a sum of money the interest
of which will be less than the total amount of
the annual saving of labor, it will be true econ-
omy to make it, however greijt the original out-
lay ; for the decision of all such questions de-
pends on considerations of comparative profit.
This part of the subject will be more minutely
examined at the end of Chapter I., in consider-
ing " What roads oiicrht to he ag to their coxt."

The profits of such improvements are not con-
fined to the proprietors of a road, (whether
towns or companies remunerated for these ex-
penditures by tolls,) but are shared by all who
avail themselves of the increased facilities;
consumers and producers, as well as road-own-
ers. If wheat be worth in a city a dollar per
bushel, and if it cost 25 cents to tran.sport it

thither from a certain farming district, it will
there neces.iarily command only T.^ cents. If,
now, by improved roads, the cost of carriage is
reduced to 10 cents, the surplus l.l cents on
each bushel is so much absolute gain to the com-
munity, balanced only by the cost of improving
the road. Supposing that a toll of 5 cents will
pay a fair dividend on this, there remain 10
cents per bushel to be divided between the pro-
ducer and the consumer, enabling the former to
sell his wheat at a higher price than before,
while at the same time the latter obtains it at
a less cost.

Among the most remarkable con.sequences of
the im[)rovement of roads, is the rapidly in
creasing proportion in which their benefits ex-
tend an<i radiate in every direction, as impar-
tially and benignantly as the similarly-diverging
rays of the sun. Around every town or mar-
ket place we may conceive a number of con-
centric circles to be drawn, enclosing areas from
any part of which certain kinds of produce
may be profitably taken to the town, while
from any point beyond each circumference, the
expense of the carriage of the particular article
would exceed its value. Thus the inner circle,
at the center of which is the town, may show
the limit in every direction from beyond which
perishable vegetables, or articles very bulky or
heavy in proportion to their value, cannot be
profitably brought to market ; the next larger
circle may show the limit of fruits ; and so on.
If, now, the roads are improved in any way. so
as in any degree to lessen the expense of car-
riage, the radius of each circle is correspond-
ingly increa.sed, and the area of each is enlarged
as the square of this ratio of increase. Thus,
if the improvement enables a horse to draw
twice as much or to travel twice as fast as he
did before, each of the limiting circles is ex-
panded outward to twice its former radius, and
embraces four times its former area. If the
rate of imjjrovement be threefold, the increase
of area is mnefold. ; and so on. All the pro-
duce, industry and wealth, which by these im-
provements finds, for the first time, a market, is,
as it were, a new creation.

The greater importance to farmers of common roads — the people's high-
ways— than the most perfect railroads, is shown in our next extract.

The distinguishing characteristic of a modern is the projecting flanges of the wheels of its
railroad, as compared with a " tram-road," and carriages, by which they are retained upon the
that to which its peculiar power is chiefly due, raihs. But this peculiarity, in an equal degree,

* In the abscDce of such an improvement, when the Spanish Oovernmnnt required a supply of grain to
be transferred from Old Castile tn Miulrid, rin.OOO hoiscs and mules were necessary for the iransportation
of 480 tons of wheat. Upon a broken stone road of the best sort, one-hundredth of that number could
eaaily have done the work.
(1027)

508

MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

lessens its advantajres to the agricultural popu-
lation ; since the vehicles which are adapted to
travel on a railroad cannot be used on the com-
mon roads leading to them, nor in the ordinary
labors of the farm ; while on all other improved
roads the same w^agons, horses and men em-
ployed at one season in cultivating the g-round,
can also be profitably employed, in their other-
wise idle moments, in conveying the produce
to a market. For these reasons, even if a rail-
road came to every man's door, he could more
economically use a good common road ; but

The great fault in laying out our common roads, according to Prof. Gillespie,

is our passion for straightness, to the forgetfulness of every other requisite. He

maintains that

since, on the contrary, the expense of the con-
struction of railroads must always restrict them
to important lines of communication (where, in-
deed, their value can scarcely be estimated too
highly) in every other situation, the greatest
good of the •greatest number, and the most uni-
versal benefits with the fewest accompanying
evils will be most effectually secured, by im-
proving (in accordance with the principles to
be presently set forth) the people's highways —
the common roads of the country.

escape a hill a hundred feet high, it would be
proper for the road to make such a circuit as
would increase its length two thou.«and feett
The mathematical axiom that " a straight line
is the shortest distance between two points," is
thus seen to be practically untrue in road mak-
ing, and less appropriate than the paradoxical
proverb that " The longest way round is the
shortest way home."

The gently-curving road, besides its substan-
tial advantages, is also much more pleasant to
the traveler upon it ; for he is not fatigued by
the tedious prospect of a long straight stretch
of road to be traversed, and is met at each
curve by a conslantlj' varied view.

It cannot be too strongly impressed upon a
road-maker, that straightness is not the highest
characteristic of a good road. As says Cole-
ridge :

" Straight forward goes
The lightning's flash, and straight the fearful path
Of the cannon-ball."
But in striking contrast he adds:

" The ROAD the human being travels.
That on which blessing comes and goes, doth CoUow
The river's course, the valley's playful ■winding's,
Curves round the cornfield and the hills of vine8."J
The passion for straightness is the great fault
in the location of most roads in tliis countrj',
which too often remind us how
" The King of France, with forty thousand men.

Marched «^) a /ti'/?, and then — marched dvtrn again,"
so generally do they clamber over hills which
they could so much more easily have gone
around ; as if their makers, like Marshal Wade,
had " formed the heroic determination of jiursu-
ing straight lines, and of defyine; nature and
wheel-carriages both, at one valiant cflbrt of
courage and of science."

One reason of this is that the houses of the
first settlers were usually placed on hill tops, (to
escape the poi.«onous miasmata of the undrained
swamps, and to detect the approach of the hos-
tile savages,) and that the first roa<i8 necessarily
ran fmi.i house to house. Our error consists in
continuing to follow these primitive roads with
our great thoroughfares. These original paths
were also traversed oidy by men, and therefore
very properly followed the shortest though
steepest route. Tracks for pack-horses came
next, and a considerable degree of steepness is
admissible in them also. Wheeled carriages
were llnally introduced and brought into use
upon the same tracks, though too steep for true
economy of labor with them — the standard of
I slojie being very ditlercnt for foot, horse, and

* Sganzin, p. 89.

t This proportion depends on the degice of friction assumed, a subject to be investigated in a following
section. J The riccolomini, i. 4

(10-8)

Straightness sliould always he sacrificed to
obtain a level, or to make the road less steep.
This is one of the most important principles of
road making, and it is the one most often vio-
lated.

A straight road over an uneven and hilly
country may, at first view, when merely seen
on the map, be pronounced to be a bad road ;
for the straightness must have been obtained
either by submitting to steep slopes in as-
cending the hills and descending into the val-
leys, or these natural obstacles must have been
overcome by incurring a great and unnecessary
expense in making deep cuttings and fillings.

A good road should wind around these hills,
instead of running over them, and this it may
often do without at all increasing its length.
For if a hemisphere (such as half a bullet) be
placed so as to rest upon its plain base, the
halves of great circles which join two opposite
points of this base are all equal, whether they
pass horizontally or vertically. Or let an egg
be laid upon a table, and it will be seen that if
a level line be traced upon it from one end to
the other, it will be no longer than the line
traced between the same point.s, but passing
over the top. Precisely so may the curving
road around a hill be often no longer than the
straight one over it ; for the latter road is straight
only with reference to the vertical plane which
passes through it, and is curved with reference
to a horizontal plane ; while the foi-mcr level
road, though curved as to the vertical plane, is
straight as to a horizontal one. Both lines thus
curve, and we call the latter oi^g straight in
preference, only because its vertical curvature
is less apparent to our eyes.

The difference in length between a straight
road and one which is slightly curved is very
small. If a road between two places ten miles
apart were made to curve so that the eye could
nowhere see farther than a quarter of a mile of
it at once, its length wotild exceed that of a per-
fectly straight road between the same ])oints by
only about one hundred and fifty yards.*

But even if the level and curved road were
very much longer than the straight and steep
one, it would almost always be better to adopt
it; for on it a horse could safely and rapidly
draw his full load, while on the other he could
carry oidy part of his load up the hill, and must
diminish his speed in d('.'<ccnding it. As a gen-
eral rule, the horizontal length of a road may
be advantageously increased, to avoid an ascent,
by at least twenty times the perpendicular
hight which is to be thus saved : that is, to

ROAD MAKING.

509

carriage "oads. Before sufficient attention was
paid to the subjecl. the lands on eitlicr side of
the road had been fenced off and appropriated
by individuals, and thus the random tracks be-
came the legal high\va>s.

The evil is now i)er[)etuated l)y the unwilling-
ness of farmers to allow a road to run through

their farms in a winding line. They attach
more importance to the squareness of their fields
than to the improvement of the lines of their
roads — not being aware how much more labor
is wasted by tliem in traveling over their steep
roads than tliere would be in cultivating an awk-
ward corner of a field."

The evils of ascents and descents having been explained, the question of the
advantages of undulating roads is thus disposed of:

Dr. John Barclay of Edinburgh, ("no less emi-
nent for his knowledge than successful as a
teacher of the .science of Comparative Anato-
my,") and he made the following reply : " My ac-
quaintance with the muscles by no means ena-
bles me to explain how a horse siiould be more
fatigued by traveling on a road uniformly level,
than by traveling over a like space upon one
that cros.ses bights and hollows ; but it is dem-
onstrably a f'lihe iJcii that muscles can altera-
ately rest and com.e into motion in cases of this
kind. . . . Much is to be a.scribed to preju-
dice originating with the man continually in
quest of variety, rather than with the horse,
who, consulting onlj' his own case, seems quite
unconscious of Hogarth's Line of ]3eauty."

Undulating Roads. — There is a popular
theory that a gently undulating road is less fa-
tiguing to horses than one which is perfectly
level. It is said that the alternations of ascent,
descent and levels call into pliiy different mus-
cles, allowing .some to rest while the others are
exerted, and thus relieving each in turn.

Plausible as tiiis speculation ajipears at first
glance, it will be found on examination to be
untrue, both mechanically and physiologically ;
for, considering it in the former point of view, it
is apparent tiiat new iuscents are formed which
offer resistances not com[)ensated by the de-
scents; and in the latter, we find that it is con-
tradicted by the structure of the horse. The
question was submitted by Mr. Stevenson to

The best width and shape of the road-bed are next examined ; the resistance
of different surfaces established, and the profits of various improvements investi-
gated. In the directions for " Laying out Roads," are explained methods of per-
forming all the necessary measurements of distances, directions and hights, with-
out the use of any instruments but such as any mechanic can make and any
farmer use. The details of construction are very fully given, and copious instruc-
tions are laid down for making Macadam roads on their true principles, the favor-
ite Plank roads, &c. &c. A popular exposition of Railroads follows. The con-
cluding Chapter is devoted to the " Management of Town Roads." It points out
the great practical evils of the present system of " Road-tax," and suggests an
improved system, to which we will return after the publication of the book.

ESTIMATED CROP OF THE UNITED STATES.... [From Reports of Commissioners of Pafents.J

WHE.IT.

CORN.

RYE.

BARLEY.

0.\TS.

Years
1842.
1843.
1844.
1845.

Bushels.
..102,317,340
..100,310,856
.. 95,607,000
..106,548,000
..117,202,800

Years.
1842.
1843.
1844.
1845.
1846.

Bushels.
.441,829.246
.494.618,305
.424,9.53,000
.417,899,000
.459,666,900

Years.

1842.

1843..

1844..

1845..

1846..

Bushels.
..22,762,952
..24,289.281
..26.4.50,000
..27,175,000
..59,892,500

Years
1842.
1843.
1844.
1845.
1846.

Bushels.
....3,874,622

3,230,721

....3,627.000
5,160.600

Years.

1842.
1843.
1844.
1845.
1846.

Bushels.
.150,883,617
.145,929,666
.172,247,000
.163,208,000
. 172,-528,800

1846

5,676,600

EXPORT OF BRE.4D STUFFS from the United States to Great Britain and Ireland, from September 1,
1846, to March 27, 1847

PORTS.

FLOUR

Bbls.
67.5,146
104.937
161.771

4,581

257,890

53,551

1,000

CORN MEAL.

WHEAT.

CORN.

RYE.

OATS.

BARLEY.

Fr

om New- York

. Philadelphia

Bbls.

149.861

62,581

23.095

5,149

8,196

Bushels.

997,718

19.5.439

33,770

46,555

500

Bushels.

2.939,416

397,914

818.445

564,500

1,687,4.59

463,906

60,000

6,931,640

Bushels
2,685

Bushels.
124,069

20,000

Bushels.
130,071

. N. Orleans (to 20th)

. Other ports

Total

1.258,876

248.852

1,273,882

2,685

144,069

130,071

The latter Table, though not at all obtained from ofiBcial sources, is believed to be very nearly

correct.

(1029)

510 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH.

LETTER VI.

PROFITS OF SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTHERN STATES— 2. AS THE
BASIS OF AMELIORATION IN NATURALLY STERILE AND WORN-OUT

SOILS.

Feasibility of rendering the naturally sterile and worn-out Soils of the South productive.. .Means must be
ample and cheap... Ordinary Animal Manures from Stables, &,c., not attainable in suiiicient quantity — too
expensive if transported far by land carriage. . .Animal Manures of Commerce still more out of the ques-
tion.. .Gypsum — not sufficient of itself. . .Wood Ashes — Leached Ashes — their great value, but limited
quantity.. .Lime (marl)... Swamp Mud— inexhaustible quantity of each.. .Valuable Etfects of Lime on
Soils.. .Otherwise when there is n deticiency of Organic Matter.. .Opinion of Johnston, Brown, Lord
Kaimes, Anderson, Morton, Thaer, Petzholdt, Chaptal.. .Southern Tertiary and Granitic Soils destitute of
Organic Matter.. .Expensiveness of Marl— not very permanent in itscft'ecls.. .The best Swamp Mud worth
more per load.. .This, too, an expensive manure. ..Koth too costly for extensive ameliorations.. .Is there,
then, any resort V— There is — it is to be found in a Mixed System of Green and Animal Manuring, the lat-
ter made attainable by .Sheep Husbandry.. .Experience and Testimony of various English Fanners under
analogous circumstances... Reasons why Sheep are preferred to Horned Cattle for this pui-pose. ..Con-
sidered more profitable in England, and by some in the United States, independent of Fleece.. .Singular
Hallucination of Col Taylor an this subject.. -Sheep preferred as Improvers of Poor Lands in the North-
ern and Eastern States, but the end sought by different means from those employed in England.. -The
English System — Reasons wliy it is inapplicable in the United States ... System in the Northern and East-
ern American States. . . Proper System in the .Southern States, on Lands now partly Grassed, and on Naked
Soils.. .Green Manuring — how accomplished — Proper Plants for the purpose — Practical Rules — Expensive-
ness.. .Should the Pasture Lands of the South be exclusively devoted to Sheep Grazing ( — Should not.. -
Home Demand should be supplied by Home Production, in the Staples furnished by all the Domestic
Animals — Reasons therefor. -.As a surplus or exporting Animal Staple, Sheep furnish the one in which
the South can best compete with other Producers.

Dear Sir : Let us now pa.ss to the second point in reference to which
we are to consider the profits of sheep husbandry in the Southern States,
viz. : the pi'acticability and comparative economy of making it the basis
of an effectual amelioration in soils naturally sterile, or those which have
been rendered so by excessive and injudicious cultivation.

The first of these classes of soils is confined, mainly, to the tide-water
zone. The second is found both in this and the hilly zone, and, I need
not say, in immense quantities.

How can these soils be profitably ameliorated ] It is certain that this
can only be done by the introduction into them of substances fitted to be-
come the food of plants — or which, by chemical combinations or changes,
prepare other substances to become such food. On soils naturally too
sterile to sustain useful vegetation, the quantity of fertilizing matter intro-
duced must be comparatively large. Hence it must be cheap, or its cost
will more tlian overbalance its advantages. There are various manures
Avhich separately, or in conjunction, would convert the worst acre of bar-
ren sand between Richmond and llaleigh, or, if you please, on the Desert
of Sahara, into a fertile garden, provided it could have timely rains and
be protected from the burying sands. But it is utterly useless to argue
the feasib'dittj of this means or tliat, without at the same time examining
its economy.

The direct and profuse application of animal manures, for example,
■would probably effectually ameliorate any of these suils. But where are
these manures to be obtained, in a region where the first necessary condi-
tion for their production, ?'. c. the vegc^tation necessary to support domes-
tic animals, is wanting \ The quantity accumulating in the cities and vil-
lages of a comparatively sparsely populated region — in a climate where
the preservation of putrefying substances would be incompatible with

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SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH.

511

health, wouUl be inconsiderable. And wliether more or less, it would not
pay the cost of transportation to any considerable distance by land car-
riage. Guano, poudrette, bone-dust, and all the expensive manures of
commerce, are still more out of the question. Gypsum, on account of the
smallness of the quantity recpiisite, is a cheap manure, and, reasoning from
analogy, should be a valuable one, under pi-oper circumstances, at least on
the granitic soils of the South.* Mi-. Kufllu states that it jn-oduccs little ef-
fect in the Tertiary sands.t "It is considered by practical men to be, at
the best, rather an aider of organic manure than a substitute for it, and
when repeatedly applied without any other fertilizing substance, it ceases
to produce any visible effect. On an exhausted soil, the chemical consti-
tution of gypsum shows that it could not replace all the substances ab-
stracted by the plants ; and on one naturally sterile, there is small proba-
bility that it would happen to supply the (nily deficiency necessary to the
production of vegetation. Wood ashes constitute a most valuable manure
on probably every class of soils, and. unlike lime, gypsum, soda, etc., which
afibrd only a limited number of those substances which constitute the
necessary food of plants, they afford in a gi-eater proportion than any
other manure the inorganic substances which are taken up and assimilated
by plants.f They are used with the most beneficial effect on the granitic
soils of New-England, the calcareous and aluminous ones of Middle New
York, the siliceous ones of the southern or grazing region, and on the Ter-
tiary sands of Long Island. On the latter, of the same geological forma-
tion with your tide-water zone — in fact but a continuation of it — even the
leached or washed ashes bring a shilling per bushel (the same that is paid
for the unwashed ashes by the soaper and manufacturer of pearl or pot
ashes) for agricultural purposes. || But the supply cannot be made suffi-
ciently large for extensive agricultural ameliorations, without a destruc-
tion of the forests, which would inflict a grievous and utterly inexcusable
wi'ong on posterity.

The Southern Atlantic and Gulf States possess two natural and inex-
haustible deposits of fertilizing matter, which, it is supposed by many,
would be fully adequate to the general " reclamation "§ of their barren and
exhausted evils. The first of these is the marl, which underlies large por-
tions of the low country of Virginia and South Carolina, and probably the

* I refer here to tlic successful example of its use on the granitic soils of New-EngUnd. I have particu-
larly specified this class of soils because your barren ones are limited to them and to the Tertiary. Gypsum
is used at the North on nearly every class of soils with advrintaf»o — calcareous, aluminous, silicious and all
intennediate varieties. It will he found very valuable, 1 have no doubt, on your mountam lands, particu-
larly in localities where the clovers llouri>h.

t Ruffin's Atrricultural .Sur\-cy of South Carolina, 184.3.

I To show the value of ashes as the food of plants, and at the same time the ditference i)etwecn those
made from different woods, I append the following analyses of those of two well-known southern trees.
That of oak ashes is by Sprengel, that of pitch-^ine ashes by Berlhier :

Constituents.

Oak.

PUch-Pine.

ConstitiieJtts.

Oak.

Pitch-Pine.

14-10
20-75
3-45
0-90

17 -.50

29-95

f 8 14

17-38
1-44

7-50

1110
2-75

13-60
4-35

16-20
6-73
3-36
1-92
2-41

15-47

Poda

Oxide of Lion

O.Kide of Manganese

Sulj)huric Acid

Phosphoric Acid

Magnesia

Carbonic Acid

II This fact I consider an important hint to the planters of the tide-water zone, and it is to be hoped that
it is one which will not bo thrown away. Leached ashes arc valuable also on every other class of lands.
The southern portion of my farm flying on Chemung rocks) is silicious. The northern part is covered
with " northern drift," and is therefore calcareous. I use from 3,500 to 4,C0O bushels of leached ashes per
annum, without any discrimination as regards the soil, and on almost every varii'ty of crops, and invariably
with marked advantage. Doct. Emmons, our State CJeoloaist, havinu' in charge the volumes on Agriculture,
stated to me that he considered these leached ashes far more valuable by bulktlian a rich marl (accessible
to me) containing 90 per cent of carbonate of lime.

§ This word ("reclaim") has a provincial signification throughout the North, when applied to land. It
means " to vender productive." Unlike the words •' fertilize," '• enrich," etc., it implies decree, as well as
manner. To "reclaim " huid, therefore, is to finilize or enrich it to such a degree that it will yield fair
crops. I shall use the word both as a verb and a noun, to avoid the circumlocution otherwise necessary
to express this idea.
(1031)

512 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH.

whole Tertiary formation, or at least tliat portion of it extending throufrh
the Atlantic States. The second is the swamp mud, which, rich with the
alluvial deposition of ages, fills nearly every depression of the surface ca
pable of retaining water, in the whole tide-water zone.

Mr. Ruffin recommends the former as the best and most attainable fer-
tilizer on both of the classes of soils under examination. He seems to
think it adequate, of itself, to their full and permanent amelioration. I do
not desire a word which I shall say to bear, or even seem to bear, a con-
troversial tone toward the views of this ardent and enlightened friend of
Southern Agriculture. In expressing my dissent from them, my limits
and the occasion only permit me to allude to a few well-settled principles
and facts on which I have based my opinions. Lime acts mechanically
and chemically on soils. It stiffens loose and opens clayey ones. It is,
to a certain extent, one of the necessary constituents of plants ; it neutral-
izes acid substances in the soil ; it forms compounds, and promotes the
dissolution of existing ones, to prepare suitable food for plants ; and some-
times produces certain other minor beneficial effects. But its gieat, its
chief object, is to produce the food of plants by its chemical action on the
organic matter in the soil. Hence, says Johnston :

" Lime has little or no eflfect upon soils in which organic matter is deficient;" and he far-
ther says : " Under the influence of lime the orgauic matter disappears more rapidly than it
otherwise would do, and that after it has thus disappeared, fresh additions of lime produce
no farther good effect ; . . . it causes the organic matter itself ultimately to disappear."

" It is scarcely practicable," says Brown, ' to restore fertility to laud even of the best
natural quality, which has been thus abused ; and thm moorish soils, after being exhausted
by lime, are not to be restored."

" An overdose of shell marl," says Lord Kaimes, " laid perhaps an inch thick, produces
for a time large crops, but at last renders the soil capable of bearing neither corn (grain) nor
grass, of which there are many examples in Scotland." " The same," continues Johnston,
" is true of hme in any fonn. The increased fertility continues as long as there remains an
adequate supply .of organic (animal and vegetable) matter in the soil ; but as that disappeai's,
the crops every year diminish both in quantity and in quality."

" On poor araljle lands, which are not naturally so, but which are worn out or exhausted
by repeated liming and cropping, lime produces no good whatever." (Anderson, Brown,
Morton.)*

Let us now turn to the opinions of some of the most eminent European
Continental writers. The celebrated Thaer in his " Principles of Agricul-
ture " (Section IV. Part I.) says :

" On no soils are the effects of lime so beneficial as on those which contain a great quan-
tity of sour humus prejudicial to vegetation, or on those which have been supplied more or
less abundantly with animal manure tor a considerable period,, without receiving an appli-
cation of lime, or some other substance of a similar nature. In the latter case it is frequently
much more efHcacious than an amelioration of stable manm-e would be ; but it soon impov-
erishes the soil so much that in a few years it becomes indispensably necessary' to manure it
abundantly with rich animal or vegetable matters. As some portion of the humus, aJ-
thoush in all probability of an insoluble nature, always remains in arable hmd even when it
appears to be much exhausted, it of course follows that an application of lime will always
be productive of very marked efft-cts even on the poorest soils, because it \v\\\ call into ac-
tion all the nutritive particles which they contain. A second amendtnent of a similar natm-e
bestowed shortly after the first, will be productive of some, although in geneial of much less
benefit ; and the effect of each subsequent amelioration of ihis nature will be progiessively
diminished unless the soil receives an additional supply of humus. . . . The effect pro-
duced by lime on land of this nature (reclaimed bogs and marshes) is much more benefici;J
and durable than that of any other manure. On the other hand, repeated ameliorations of
lime will soon totally exhaust and impoverish poor and sandy soils, and reduce tliem to ab-
solute sterility, even though each separate application seems to be productive of some good
effect. . . ■ MiUiy persons who liave not riglilly comprehended the cause of the effects
produced by lime, prefer it to manure, and havi- believed in the jiossihility of doing entirely
without the latter ; but the total exhaustion of the soil which such a cotu'se of proceeding
must sooner or later produce, caused them to fly to the ojiposite exti-euie. ... An en-

* See Johnston's Agricultural Chemistry, vol. ii. p. 139-142.
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SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 513

lightened and scientific ajnculturist will soon perceive that the use of lime can never super
sede that of dung, but that it rendtTS thi»kind of manure more energetic in it8a<;tion. . . .

In many i>laces where its aniclioralinLr t'tVects weie known and appreciated, many agricul-
turists have calculated that marl would jirove a cheaper manure than stahle dung; and
have, consequently, determined to do without the latter altogether ; and, therefore, have
diminished their stock of cattle, and sold their hay and straw. It may easily be imagined
that as soon as the chemical effects of the marl ceased to operate, as must be the case wjjen
the land no longer contained undecomposed or insoluble substances, the soil became sterile,
and a second marling was incapable of producing any beneficial effects, there being no hu-
mus for it to act upon."

Petzholclt, in his " Lectures to Farmers on Agricultural Chemistry,"
(Lecture XVIL) says:

" Quick-lime greatly accelerates the decomposition of humus, whether of animal or vege
table origin, inducing a more speedy liberation of its salts than would otherwise take place.
This is the reason quick-lime has proved so advantageous in the cultivation of bogs ; the
lime not only accelerates the decomposition of the humus, but it may be said altogether to
be the cause of the decay of humus, which, as it exists in peat, is scarcely by itself under-
going the process at all. . . . Where there is neither humus in the soil, nor undecom-
posed silicates, the application of lime as manure will be useless. ... So much, how-
ever, is deducible from all experience, that the mere aj)plication of marl to an exhausted soil
is of no use whatever, unless it is earned on the field in such quantities as to constitute a
new soil, covering the whole suriace to the depth of a foot. ... In a chemical point of
vie\v, marl is not of any value excej)t where the soil requires a supply of lime. . . The
other mineral constituents of marl are far too inconsiderable in amount to be reckoned upon."

Chaptal, in his " Chemistry applied to Agriculture," (Chap, iii., Art. 2,)
thus expresses himself:

'*■ It is acknowledged that lime is principally useful upon fallow lauds which are broken
up; upon grass lands, whether natural or artificial, which are prepared for cultivation: and
ujion muddy lands, which are to be put into a fit state for culture. It is well known that in
all these cases there exists in the land a greater or less quantity of roots, which, by the ap-
jilication of lime, may be made to sei-se more immediately for manure, by the solubility it
will give to the new products formed by them. . . . Independently of this effect, which,
in my opinion, is the most important, lime exercises other powers, which make it a very
valuable agent in Agiiculture."

These authoxities might be multiplied ad wfinitum.

On the alternately too loose or too hard soils of the dry and barren lands
of the tide-water zone, lime would doubtless have two salutary effects —
the mechanical one already noticed, and it would furnish one necessary
food of plants. But of its power to render these soils, or the exhausted
ones of the middle zone, anything more than transiently fertile, there is no
probability, if they are, as I suppose them to be, generally rather, and
sometimes very, destitute of organic matter. This destitution I infer from
ocular examination ;* also from the fact that they are covered with little
vegetation, with the exception of the long-leaf pine, to produce by its an-
nual decay a store of organic matter; and, finally, if this organic matter
existed in these soils in any considerable (juantity, they wonhl not he ster-
ile. They probably possess the ordinary inorganic constituents of dry
Tertiary and granitic soils, and no properties directly deleterious to veo^e-
tation. Organic matter, then, in my judgment, is what they principally
stand in need of to render them fertile. Now, by applying lime to them,
it would undoubtedly do good in two ways, as before admitted ; but the
considerable temporary apparent amelioration, as evinced in some instances
by the increased growth of vegetation, is factitious, for the lime is only act-
ing with and exhausting the little organic matter in the soil, to leave it to
greater eventual sterility. Hence the saying that " lime enriches the father
but impoveri.shes the son," is a true one when the lime is applied to soils
possessing but a small proportion of organic matter. On such, lime soon

* I have (seen no annlyses of these soils, and mean therefore aa I 6&y, simply, examination by the eye.
(1033) 33

514 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH.

leatls to exhaustion, unless organic matter is added to the soil in proportion
to the waste. The theoretical and practical considei-ations which should
govern in the application of this fertilizer to soils are discussed more fully
and, in my judgment, more ably by Johnston, in his Agricultural Chem-
istry, than by any other writer. To him I take the liberty to refer you.

Marl raised from pits, as it must necessarily be (except when denuded,
or cut through, on the beds of streams, &c.) where it occurs only as an
under-stratum in a flat country — where the pits, too, often require ma-
chinery, or much manual labor, to keep them free fiom water while work-
ing— must be an expensive manui'e. From its tendency to sink in the soil
it is not so permanent a one as would naturally be expected. On reclaimed
swamp lands — as, for example, on the rice lands — abounding in vegetable
matter, it will be found a most efficacious manui'e, and, lohen needed, will
repay the necessary outlay ; but I fear it will be found otherwise ultimate-
ly, if not immediately, on the barren sands and exhausted granite soils of
the South. Applied icitli swamp mud, it would constitute a fertilizer
scarcely, perhaps, admitting of a superior, even on the latter soils. In
their single effects, however, 1 cannot but believe that the best swamp mud
— that which is black and fetid by the long continued accumulation of or-
ganic substances (and especially if charged with shells, and the shields of
Infusoria) — would be worth more per load than the richest marl. The
mud, too, should be considerably cheaper than the marl, no deep excava-
tions being required to obtain it.* Digging and draught, and, in the case
of the mud, draught alone, would render both decidedly expensive ma-
nures, relatively to the value of the land after being ameliorated by them,
even assuming that amelioration to be complete and permanent. On lands
immediately contiguous to conveniently reached depositions of mud or
marl, on a scale so limited that it could be carried on at spare intervals
without encroaching on the regular routine of plantation labor, it might
be good economy to haul out mud and marl, and thus gradually reclaim
small pieces of land.t It certainly would be better economy than to waste
those intervals in idleness. But in anything like an extended and speedy
system of reclamation — the feitilization of thirty, forty or fifty acres per
annum, instead of one, two or three — the means above adverted to are, in
my humble judgment, utterly out of the question. The labor would ab-
sorb all the labor of man and beast on the plantation ; and it is exceedingly
questionable, in my mind, whether the land, when feitilized, would sell for
the cost of the manure.

Hard would it be for many a South Carolinian or Virginian to tura his
back on the Lares and Penates of his race — forgetting many a proud local
and ancestral association — but as a question of dollars and cents, some-
times a necessary one, and, at all events, usually the paramount one, I
think it past a reasonable doubt that it would be better economy to de-
sert the worn-out or naturally barren soils of our South-eastern coast, and
purchase the virgin and fertile lands of the South-west (even including
the extra expense of building and fencing), than to attempt to reclaim the
former by means so expensive as those above indicated.

What, then, is the resort 1 Are there any means by which those lands
can be projitahhj reclaimed 1 I answer, Yes ; and the resort is a mixed
system of green and animal manuring — the latter made attainable by sheep
husbandry. Experience is the best test of all theories. And we have had

* I am incliued to think, however, that this nnid, if spread directly on the surface, wotild cont.iminato
the atmosphere with unhenltliy miasinn, generating agues and bilious diseases. If so, it would require in-
corporntion with the soil, by plowinir.

t It soerns to me, however, that these expen-^ivc manures would be more profitably applied in keeping
Up the fertility of the best luiids, o"- us assistaiUs to otlier and cheaper means o* recUiimiiig the poor onus.
(1034)

SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 515

80 little experience in the premises, in our own country, let us turn to that
of the first atriicultural nation of the Old World. There is no foreign na-
tion whcie so high a degree of intclligonco is brought to bear on farming
operations — where cause and elTect are so carcl'ully studied and accurately
noted — as in England. This care and accuracy are indispensably neces-
sary in a country where high rent and heavy taxation render good farming
or bankruptcy unavoidable counter-alternations to the agriculturist. Pre-
vailing conclusions ann)ng such a class of agriculturists — uruh.sjivicd con-
clusions, too — are assuredly entitled to great respect, and may almost be
regarded as settled facts. Now the farmers of England are perfectly fa-
miliar with every kind of manure accessible to our Southern farmers, un-
less it be swamp mud and cotton seed. Lime, for example, is plentiful
and cheap, and is much used in Agriculture all over the kingdom. If
either this, or any of the manures of commerce, were considered, of them-
selves, economical fertilizers of the poor, sandy or light ujjland soils of
England, there is no country in the world where they are more plentiful,
and, when the use of the soil and the price of products are taken into con-
sideration, more cheap.

What the settled conclusions of the English farmers are, in relation to
the profitable amelioration of those soils, will be seen from the following
undisputed testimony of some of the most eminent and respectable of them,
taken before the Committee of the House of Lords, charged with the in-
quiry into the state of the wool trade, &c. in Great Britain, in 1828, from
which I have so freely quoted in preceding Letters,

Mr. William Pinkney, Salishunj Plain: Land such as I occupy could not be main
tained without the aid of sheep. . . . The sheep are our principal dependence lor sup-
porting our crops ; indeed, I could not occupy my limii without my Hock.

Mr. .loHN Ellman, Jr., i!?««se.r ; I do not consider it possible for the light Iruiils upon
the Downs to be kept in cultivation without flocks. I could not keep the lann I now hold
without sheep. . . On the South Downs the wool must be grown, let the piice bo

what it will.

Mr. Fkancis Hale, AJringham, Suffolk: The description of land I occupy could not be
kept in cultivation without the aid of sheep.

Mr. Henry King, Chilmark, Wiltshire : The size of my farm is about 4,000 acres. I
clip annually aliout 6,.')00 South-Down sheep. . . . Such lands as I occupy cannot be
kept in cultivation without the aid of sheep.

Mr. John WooLLEnoE, near Burt/ Sf. Edmunds, Suffolk: An estate near the above
place contains 8,890 acres, let to tenants, and consists principally of poor sandy and giavelly
liuid, the i)rodnce of which in grain is very precarious, amounting in dry suninjers to little
or nothing. The occupiers, therefore, dejiend almost entirely on their flocks of sheep for the
payment of their rents and the employment and support of the population. ... I am
of opinion that two-thirds of the comities of Sufl!()lk and Norfolk may be comprehended in
the sheep districts, and that they produce two pounds and a half of wool, and thi-ee-iburths
of a limib, to the acre, upon an average. . . . Tlie produce of the land depends materi-
ally upon the iblding system ; there is not sufficient straw for manure without the assistance
of sheep.

Mr. William Ilott, Abbey Milton, Dorsetshire : I calculate the anmial giowth of wool
in Dorsetshire at 10.000 packs of 246 lbs. each. It is estimated . . . that 800.000 sheep, or
one sheep and one-seventh per acre, . . . are kept in this county. A considerable part of
the county of Dorset is composed of light lands, and can only be kept in tillage by the aid
of sheep.

C. C. Western, Esq. : It is utterly impossible that the Down Distiicts can be cultivated
to advimtage without sheep. We never fold our Merino or other sheep ; the land is too wet.

Lord Napier : If we had not sheep upon our lands (the highlands of Scotland), it would
become the habitation of foxes and snipes, and return to waste ; it would produce nothing
but grouse and wild game of diflerent sorts.

Is it asked, Why are sheep preferred to homed cattle ? Many of the
reasons are given in my preceding Letter. Then, again, the scanty and
short pa;sturage of light lands, on which sheep will thrive, will not afford
sufficient " bite" (as it is provincially termed in the Northern States) to

(1035)

516 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH.

profital)ly carry large stock. And, finally, there seems to be a settled con-
viction among the English farmers that sheep give a better retui-n for the
food consumed, and therefore better repay the extraordinary expenditure
necessary to bring poor lands in a fit state for the plow, than any other
animal. In an able essay in the London " Plough" (June, 1846), the fol-
lowing remarks occur, which may be probably regarded as an expression
of the prevailing opinion in England :

'' It is justly admitted that, of all the domestic animals reared and fed for profit in Great
Britain, sheep are of the greatest consctpience, both individually and in a national point of
view, and afford a better return than can be obtained either iVoni the rearing or feeding of
cattle ; the very fleece shorn annually from their backs is worthy of consideration. . . .
Sheep husbandr)' deserves to be esteemed in all its different branches, and claims the prior-
ity- of consideration among agriculturists."*

The manner in which the " very fleece" is here spoken of, shows that
wool occupies but a mere subsidiary place in making up the profits of
English sheep husbandry. I know many intelligent and experienced farm-
ers in f7iis country who think sheep feeding more profitable, or equally
profitable, with cattle feeding, leaving the wool out of the account.t

The experience of the English farmers accords with that of those of our
own Northern and Eastern States, in relation to the superior advantages
of sheep husbandry on poor and light soils. Observation has shown both
that such soils do not profitably carry bullocks or other large animals, and
that such animals are poorer manurers than sheep. But their methods of
availing themselves of the advantages of this husbandry are entirely dis-
similar. The English farmer finds mutton and grain the marketable pro-
ducts which J) ay best. The first returns a profit on the crop (turnips)
which produces it, and at the same time fits the land for the latter. The
high price and ready sale of mutton allows the English farmer to force the
grovvth of turnips on poor soils, by the application of highly condensed
maiuires.| In the fall the sheep are turned upon small patches of them,
surrounded by an inclosure of hurdles. The turnips are drawn, sliced, and
laid in troughs for the sheep. When one patch is consumed, the hurdles
are removed, and thus the field is gradually passed over — the sheep con-
verting the whole crop into animal products and manure. The land is
then plowed for grain, and a succession of crops are taken from it. By
this means the land is soon reduced to its former level, and the same sys-
tem is again entered upon.

"* After residinj; this and the preceding testimony, one cannot look back without a smile on the unac-
countable monomania of that excellent man and public benefactor, Col. John Taylor, in relation to sheep.
In one of the essays of " Arator," he says :

" My conclusion.^ are that they require and consume far more food, in proportion to their size, than any
other stock ; that lliey are more liable to disease and death ; and that they cannot be made a profitable ob-
ject throughout the whole extent of the warm, dry climate and sandy soii of the I.'nited States, but by ban-
ishing tillage from vast tracts of country." . . . '• It is probable that the hot con.^titution of sheep pro-
duces a rapid <U!;estion, and that insatiable appetite, by which the fact is accounted for of their flourishing
only, to any e.xtent, in fine meadows or extensive wildernesses. If this voraciou.*ness is not gratified, the
animal perishes or dwindles ; if it is. he depopulates the country he inhabit.?. The sheep of f'pain have
kept out of existence, or sent out of it, more people than the wild beasts of the earth have destroyed from
the creation ; and those of England may have caused a greater depojiulation than all her extravagant wars.
It may be owing to this animal, the independence of one country is almost overthrown, and of the other
tottering." (! ! !) He farther expresses \\\v opinion that Kngland, "by the help of her moisture and verdure,
can raise wool cheaper than the United States." (!) ,

It would appear that Col. Taylor formed all his conclusions on a small flock kept by himself Thpy may
have been a bad and unthrifty flock. But it is strongly probable that he was influenced by deep-rooted
prejudices, imbibed before his judgment was ripened, or his experience formed ; and that these, unknown
to himself, warped all his views. I can account in no other way for the evident and palpable hallucination
under which he made nearly every statement in his Chajjlcr on Sheep.

t A gentleman who has been one of the most successful feeders of enttle and sheep in t'ns State (P. N.
Rust, ksq. of Syracuse) recently leiuHrkod lu me in conversation that he had invariably foiuid that sheep
paid better for feeding than cattle.

% Bone-dust, and frequently guano or some other manure with it, is driltcd in with the turnip seed, so
ihat much cost is obviated by making a litile go a great ways ; and there is a remarkable coDijcniulity in
the climate and atmosphere of Knglund to the grovvth of this root,
(103b^

SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 517

In the United States, much of this system would be inapplicable and
unprofitable. Here wool, instead of mutton, is the principal object. Even
in the Southern States, where the climate would render the English sys-
tem practicable, the expense of producing either of these articles, by win-
ter turnip feeding and folding, would add so much to its cost that it could
not profitably compete with that grown in the ordinary manner. The
same remark applies to the relative expense of the two systems of manur-
ing. A constant repletion of rich succulent fdod, like turnips, would sen-
sibly increase the amount of manure, and, by folding, it would be more
evenly distributed. But neither of these considerations would begin to
offset against the increased expense, in a country where good lands are so
cheap and bread-stuffs so low. Besides, no good, but, on the other hand,
positive injury, would result from thus annually y^^^f^m^ "store"* sheep,
kept for the production of wool and for breeding.!

The system of improving poor lands in the Northern and Eastern States
by sheep husbandry, is maiidy by summer pasturage. The droppings of
the sheep gradually enrich them,;}: and consequently increase their herb-
age. Thus, in a few years, poor and scanty pastures are converted into
rich, productive ones. This might be far more rapicily done by giving
these pastures also the winter manure of the sheep, made in the feeding
yards. But it is generally thought more profitable to give the winter ma-
nure to the j-icher tillage lands, which are made to suj^ply the grain and
hay of the farm. The light pasture lands are thus kept permanently in
pasture, or are only plowed, by the provident, at very long intei-\-als. This
system is rendered necessary, or, at all events, convenient, by the topo-
graphical features of our farms. Here the poorer and lighter are generally
the higher and more broken lands, which are less convenient of aration,
and for the hauling on of manure, or the hauling off of crops.

In the Southern States, on lands which now yield even a smallish sup-
ply of esculent grasses, the northern system is all that is necessarily re-
quired. Those grasses will every year increase, and the land will be grad-
ually fertilized, by the droppings of the sheep, without a cent's expendi-
ture on it of any kind ; and every particle of herbage will be turned to its
most profitable account, by being converted into wool, mutton and ma-
nure.

But where there is not sufficient existing verdure to form the germ, so
to speak, of a future good pasture — or", in other words, to support a suffi-
cient nixmber of sheep to convert it, within a reasonable time, into good
pasturage — some other course must be adopted. Proper plowing and
seeding, simply, will, I have not a doubt, be found adequate in a great
many instances where it would hardly be suspected. It is very natural to
take it for granted that a soil, not spontaneously producing the grasses, is
not fertile enough to produce them, even if properly sown upon it. But
experience has amply demonstrated the contrary in several of the North-
western States. There are various causes, besides a want of fertility,
which may produce such nudity ; but this is not the place to enter upon
speculations on this topic. Two very common and obvious causes are too
great looseness or compactness of the surface, which prevents seeds from
taking root, especially in a dry, hot climate. Plowing would always loosen

* This convenient word 13 provincially applied, in the Northern and Kastem States, to sheep and swino
which are to he kept over the year, to breed from (and the former to produce wool), a£ contradistinguished
from those which are fattening for slaughter.

t This point will aeain be adverted to. It is sufficient now to ssy that breeding-ewes, if brought to a high
state of fatness, raise fewer lambs. The lambs are bom weak, and are very apt to perish. There are also
other objections.

X Aided by an ocvasional top-dressing with gvpsum.
(1037)

.018 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH.

hard, and frequently stiffen loose surfaces.* The grass seed han'owed into
a propeily prepared soil, at the suitable season of the year, might so root
itself as to witlistand the subsequent heats, while those dropped on a hard
or a loose surface by birds, or borne there by winds, would be exposed
directly to the rays of the sun, which, if it did not entirely prevent germ-
ination, would dry up and kill the tender roots before they could strike
deep enough to resist its influence. Much will depend, in this experi-
ment, upon a proper selection of the variety of grass sown. That vaiiety
should be sown which is found to flourish best on similar soils, in the same
climate, even though relatively it may be an inferior grass.t

By means as cheap and attainable as these, I have not a doubt that no
inconsiderable portions of the nearly naked soils of the lide-wLter zone
might be brought into pasture sufficiently good to make their ultimate con-
version into prime pastures, by means of sheep husoandry, certain.

On the worn-out granite soils of the middle region, the once fertile red
clay lands — now occupied only by dwarf pines, worthless broom-grass, etc.
— deep plowing and thorough sowing (with the aid of steeps and the cheap
top-dressing, before adverted to) would generally, I believe, bring these
lands into pretty good pasture. These soils, having been subjected only
to the one-horse plow, and hand tillage, are tcorn out only on the surface.
This is proved, in innumerable instances, in Fairfax, and other northern
counties of Virginia. Lands considered entirely worn out, and sold for a
mere tiifle, are subjected to the northern two-horse plow, and from one to
three inches of earth, never before disturhed, is brought to the surface,
which readily supports grass, and even grain crops — the latter tempora-
rily. Thus, most fortunately, the means are still left, with the aid of pas-
turage, to make many of these lands profitably productive, and to restore
them to much of their former fertility.

^. We come now to another class of lands which may, in many cases, be
worth reclaiming, but which will not, by merely being plowed and sown,
produce suflicient gi-ass to make their fertilization by sheep husbandry at-
tainable— or attainable within a moderate period of time. These are the
inferior (but not the worst) sands of the tide-water zone. Here green
manuring must be resorted to, by means of ])lants which will better with-
stand the climatic and other difficulties in the way of their getting well-
rooted, and which will flourish in poorer soils than the grasses. Both of
these conditions are answered by various plants. Spurry ( Spcrgnla arvcn-
sisj and white Lupins (Lnpinus aJhus) will flourish on dry, baiTcn, and
even shifting sands, and are extensively used as green manuring crops on
such soils, on the Continent of Europe. From their rapid growth and ex-
traordinary productiveness, they are admirably adapted to this end. The
introduction of these plants would probsibly su])]-)ly an important desidera-
tum in Southern Agriculture, unless, as I have already expressed the opin-
ion,| the pea leaves little to wish for, as a green manuring crop on every
class of southern soils. Soaked in a solution of nitre — rolled in lime — top-
dressed, after sprouting, with a slight sprinkling of ashes and gypsum|| —

* The sands of the tidc-watpr zonp are overyvvhon?, nt grrator or less depths, underlaid hj- clay. These
might in some cases be reached by the plow, and portions of them incorjiorated with the superincumbent
6oil.

t See Letter III. J In Letter III.

II Sprcngel's analysis, in Letter III., pIiow.s the laice amount of potash required for Ihe seed, and of lime
for tlic straw of the pea. The favoralile otfect of )>lai;ler on this, as on most other leiiuminosie, is well
known. Ashes, plaster and lime can he purchasid lion' at an average of less than ten cents n bushel. A
bushel of gypsum, mixed with say two biislieU of a^lu•.•i, makes a top-drossinjr which will pay for itself a
number of limes over, on any land to which I have ever ^een it applied. In nddilion to rolling the seed in
lime, a few bushels of it, or of nuul, would make a good, and, where accessible and cheap, an economical
top-dressine;. When I speak of ibe price of lime lure, 1 do not refer to marl. The latter, in its natural
State, could he purchased at the beds fur probably a shilling a load.
(1038)

SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 519

the pea would probably take root and flourish in any soil which the price
of land in this country would justify an ofi'ort to render productive, now,
or for a lono^ term of years to come. Indeed, the capacity to produce this
plant mnij aHord the best practical test of the economy and expediency of
attempting it in any given case. If a good green manuring crop can be
made to grow on the soil without any more expensive aids than those
above suggested, the Jvvcr of improvement — cheap, Init effectual — is placed
in the hands of the planter, and, if he possesses the least degree of energy,
he has no occasion to seek a new soil and home by emigration.

Mr. Kuflln states, if I remember aright, that a few qvarfs per acre, of
peas, are sown by the Southern planters. In the North, three bi/s^t-Ls, at
least, are sown ; and this quantity would belittle enough to pioduce the
largest amount of green manure.

Theory would indicate that the crop should be turned under before it
comes into full flower,* but experience and convenience both deserve con-
sulting in the premises.

An active span of horses, with a Northern two-horse plow, and an ex-
pert plowman, would readily plow two acres per diem, on sandy soils, and
plow it well.f The expense of getting in a crop of peas can then be read-
ily estimated.

If one crop can be made to take root and gi'ow, and is plowed under
wJicn grceji, the great point is attained, and there will be neither difficulty
nor uncertainty subsequently. The organic matter thus deposited in the
soil is the basis on which future improvements can be effected ad lihltvm.
As far south as South Carolina, at least two, and probalily three crops
could be plowed in during a single season. This might be done in time
for winter grain, and a crop of the latter sown as a covering crop with
grass seeds. The grain would refund much of the previous expense.

Plowing in two or three crops in succession may, at first view, seem an
expensive process ; but, with the exception of the extra seeding, it is no
more labor than is bestowed on every wheat crop by a large proportion of
the farmers of Western New-York ! When the ground is summer fal-
lowed, the ordinary practice on our wheat lands is to have it three times
thoroughly plowed and haiTOwed, and the first time a crop of clover is
plowed in. All this is a light outlay compared with thorough marling, or
manuring with swamp mud. And, after either of the latter processes, the
land has yet to be plowed and seeded.|

It would not be necessary to plow in as many as three crops of peas, to
lay the foundation of ordinary pasture. Two, and possibly one, would
suffice. The comparative utility of forcing forward the fertilization of
land, rapidly or gradually, depends much upon the amount of capital which
the landholder has to devote to this object. The amount of labor subtract-
ed from the ordinary operations of the plantation would be very small, in
any case, in proportion to the object to be attained. A single expert
plowman, with a good team, could give even the three plowings to a large
fleld.ll

* " Because flower-leaves," says Johnston, " give ofl'' nitroeen into the air ; and, as this element is sup
posed eppecially to promote the growth of plants, it is desirable to retain as much of it in the plant and soil
■a possible." — Ac. Chem., vol. ii , p. IM.

t Perhaps more. That amount is frequently exceeded here, on stubble lands.

{ So that the expense to be otfsetted against one of those processes (in estimatinc; their comparative
economy as a moans of reclamation with green manuring) is plowing, harrowing, and f^rcdinc twice.

II I have attempted to fix no definite data on thi..; point, because you. who are acquainted with plowing
Southern lands, are better competent to do so. 1 woulil remark, in this connection, that my convictions
are very strong that the introduction of the two-hor.^e plow of the North would lead to a decided improve,
ment in your Agriculture, from the superior manner in which it does its work, end by leading to deeper
plowing. The wheel will cause It to run as shallow as a one-horse plow, however, where the character of
the soil renders it desirable.
(1039)

520 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH.

Even in the case of either of the two classes of soils before treated of
(those now producing thinnish pasturage, or which can be converted into
pastures simply by plowing and seeding), one or more green manuring
crops would form a most excellent and accelerating initiatory step, and,
where sufficient capital is possessed, I have no doubt, a inost economical
one, towaid their fertilization.

In view of all my preceding statements, do you ask me if I advocate
sheep husbandry exclusively, on all the lands at the South which already
are, or should be devoted to grazing 1 Most assuredly not. I have al-
ready laid it down as a maxim that " agricultural production should be
controlled by the demand or want, and the adaptation of the country to
such piYjduction." By this rule, the South should, at least, never import a
horse,* a mule, a pound of beef, pork, butter, cheese or wool. She icants
them all, and she can j^roduce them all mere economically than she can
import them. That declared impossibility in politics, an imperium in im-
perio, should be in Agriculture, so far as it may be consistently with the
above maxim, the attitude of every farm and plantation. Each should Ije
independent to the greatest economical extent, so far as the production of
the necessaries, comforts and luxuries of life are concerned, of every other
farm or plantation in the world ! This mixed and multifarious farming is
objected to by theorists, inasmuch as it trenches on the division of labor
principle. But it favors rotation, and thereby prevents the exhaustion of
soils — leads to a more bountiful use of the every-day comforts of lifet —
and, finally, it is less hazardous. The one-crop farmer, if crop and market
are both in their most favorable state, realises great profits. But if the
market is poor, or the crop small, the loss is proportionately large. The
farmer pursuing mixed husbandry will not generally fall greatly behind
the hest profits of the other, and his losses are rarely considerable. It is
better to play for a hit than a gammon, where, as in the case of the small
capitalist, affluence or penury "stand the hazard of the die !"

If the above positions are true, the South is called upon to increase the
breeding of other domestic animals as well as^heep. To an extent suffi-
cient to supply her own wants, I consider her imperiously called upon so
to do. I advocate the breeding of sheep specially — on a vastly more ex-
tended scale — because, as has been already shown, they are the best (if
not the only) reclaimers of your unproductive lands ; and because in that
surplus of the products of grazing, which these extensive reclamations will
bring about, they furnish you the export i)/^^ article ficoolj for icluch you
can find the largest extra-limital market, and in growing ichich you can best
compete loith other producers.

Let us suppose, for the sake of the argument, that these newly reclaimed
pasture lands would carry heavy beasts as well as sheep, and with equal
benefit to the land. After supplying the home demand, what would be
done with the surplus horses, mules and beeves % To what markets in the
world could you export horses and mules, with the exception of some of
the West India islands — the markets of which a few thousand head of
these animals would annually glut ] Do you ask me what would prevent
your sending your surplus beef to England ? Nothing. But neither the
South, nor the North, nor the East, can compete with the great North-west

* Unless for the improvement of breeds.

t I menn by this that the planter who raises all the necessaries of life will be more liberal of them than
the one who purcltanca them.

J 1 do not use the word here in its technical sense. I mean carried beyond mere local limits for sale —
whether that sale be effected in the same Slate, in some other [lart of the U. fl., or abroad.

If 1 have not alluded to the rearing of swine any more fully, as they are but partially a prazina animal. —
But if the pnsiiion assumed in the text is correct, it i.s another argument in favor of devoting your landfi to
the production ol' surpltis wool, instead of s«rp/«scorn.
(\OiOj

SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 521

in producing beef (or pork||) for exportation to foreign countries. Its im-
mense natural pastures — the profusion and cheapness with which Indian
corn can be produced on its virgin soils — give it an advantage which in-
creased transportation by no means counterbalances. The question then
arises — Why, lor the same i-easons, cannot the vast North-western plains
produce wool more cheaply than the South, and undersell her in our own
and the foreign markets ? In the first place, the western pastures — that
is to say, the wild or natural ones — which produce beef so cheaply, are,
by reason of the coarseness and rankness of their verdure, not adapted to
tlic growing of sheep. Secondly, the shortness and mildness of the south-
ern winter give a decided advantage in wool growing, by affording green
winter feed — an advantage not profitably available ])robably, on an extend-
ed scale, with large grass-feeding animals. Agaiii, in the North-west,
though there is less snow, the winter is about as long, for all the practical
purposes of husbandry, as in New-York.* Killing frosts come as early in
autumn ; the naked ground is frozen as solidly, and far more deeply ; and
verdure puts forth but little if any earlier in the spring. The South then
possesses the same great advantage with the North-west in the production
of wool — cheap lands ; and, superadded to this, she has the short, mild
winters, which give her a decided advantage over both the North and
North-west. She has a marked advantage over the Northern and Eastern
States in botJi particulars, and, instead of importing inanufactured wools
from them, she ought to supply them, by export, with at least the raw ma-
terial. And she will do this at no distant day, unless her sons ai-e content,
in the great struggle and battle of industrial interests, to sacrifice their
own by apathy or inesolution.

* The winter feeding of sheep in New-York has already been stated to average about one hundred and
fifty days.

NEW-ENGLAND ECONOMY OF MANURES.

It is well known that in all Now-England, to have a supply of peat at hand is considered
a very valualjlc appendage to a fiirm. There they say one-third stable manure and two-
thirds peat well combined, is equal to the same quantity of stable manure. Why is it that
the same material is, in the Middle and Southern States, so little valued, comparatively ? Is
it from an essential difference in the qualitj' of what is called peat in the two localities ? or
in the no less essential difference in the habits of the people ? — the one poking their noses
here and there and everywhere in seaixh of everything that can be converted to manure,
just as they would look for money, if they were as sure of finding il, while the others over-
look a thousand things that are just as much worthy of being gathered up and saved, as
would be the money that only represents their value ? We would ask any one who reads thra
following paper, (whether he concur m all, or differ with the writer as to some of his posi-
tions,) if anything short of absolute mental blindness can justify farmers in not rising up in a
body and demanding the cstal)lishment of institutions for preparing men to give instruction,
all over the country, i?i the principles of Agricntture, and in seeing that such instructors,
being well qualified, be also well paid and duly honored, and placed at least on an equal
footing with professors of the military or any other art ? For, after all, is not Agriculture a
complicated maiuifacture, requiring great art in the combination and use of the materials to
be employed ? What will a bushel of wheat do, itself, toward reproduction ? Or were it in
the hands of a man, were it possible to suppose a man, who knew absolutely nothing about

cultivation ? Clear it is that not only could he make nothing of the wheat itself, but neither
(1041)

622 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

could he with it, and any one of the elements or means employed for reproduction. He
would soon find that it would be of no avail to combine it with earth without moisture — nor
with earth and moisture without heat — nor with these without air — nor with all these with
out light ! Nay, even with the aid of earth, air, and moisture, and light, he would find other
elements indispensable : he must have in all these certain kinds of food, adapted to its par-
ticular nature, to be consumed and digested by that particular crop. And then, again, to
till, to I'eap, to gatlier, to thresh, with a profitable economy, and not to have its produce cost,
like the Indian's gun, more than it comes to, he must have implements of various kinds, and
these, again, must be constnictcd on certain principles of mechanical philosoj)hy, to make
them most efficient and available, and is any man bold enough or blind enough to contend
that it does not require education, thought, acquirement, to ascertain whether and in what
proportion these elements of subsistence be present, and in what quantity ? Whether these
implements are constnicted on trae jninciples and the animals employed of tme form and
constitution ? Why, then, will not the Press of the country give its aid in bringing about this
great consummation ? Let us not be told that the public mind is not prepared lor it. It is
exactly in the right condition to receive the jjroper impulse : it has begun to feel it. There
must be a beginning to all great moral movements. The time was when our British ances-
tors went naked, or wore deer-skin breech-cloths. From that age to the present the world
has been meliorating, with occasional Providential or barbarous checks, such as pestilence
and war ; but the average movement has been gloiious for the cause of humanity, civiliza-
tion and the arts. The next great step is to be suitable education for the agricultural class ;
and we tmst there is no hann in saying, may God speed it !
p. S- Let the reader note the locale of the following:

For The Fanners' Library.

MANURING PEAT LANDS.

Dutchess Co. (N. Y.) Agricultural Institute, Feb. 22, 1847.

The question otten arises in the minds of the agriculturist, Whi/ do Peat Soils
require an application of 7nanure ? Experiment has almost invariably proved that
if yard or mineral manures are copiously incorporated with peat soils, the favor
is as promptly reciprocated as when they have been employed upon a diluvium
or alluvial soil.

Individuals of practical information only reason upon the subject something
after this wise: that the substance composing peat beds once possessed vitality,
and that all the essential elements for maintaining life and growth were present ;
consequently these essentials must still abound in the semi-decayed body, and
why should these soils require additional organized matter in the form of yard
manure to induce a good degree of productiveness ? We conceive that there may
be three reasons why productiveness is vastly augmented upon those lands by
applying manures : firstly, an excess of deleterious acids ; secondly, want of ap-
propriate inorganic nutriment; tliirdly, want of one essential organic element.

First, that there is excess of deleterious acids which retard the growth of cul-
tivated crops.

This proposition will be readily conceded, when we inquire from what class
or classes of plants peat has originated. The first impulse given to a peat pro-
duction is the transportation of organic fragments by water to horizontal or
slightly inclined grounds, Avhich produce a marsh.

Mosses, lichens and reeds take root upon tiiis marsh, flourish through the
summer, but are stricken down by aulunmal frosts, and are succeeded by a more
luxuriant grov/lh the following season. Thus the destruction and reproduction
of these annuals are perpetuated, each season's product becoming nutriment for
their successors.

In a few years there is such an immense accunmlation of organized matter,
from perishing cryptogamous plants, and from the accessions made by water, that
plants containing more woody tissue begin to thrive, such as the brake and fern.
These disappear after a time, and are succeeded by marsh grasses {Carexcs) and
stinted lowland shrubs ; these, again, are followed by larger shrubs and trees.

Lastly, wlien l.ie bed lias become deep, some drier and more perfectly decom-

MANURING PEAT LANDS, 523

posed, Ihcre emanate the sturdy oak, the saccharine maple and the majestic
elm, the richest and most immense spontaneous vegetable productions of the
earth.

By a cursory <?lancc at the chemical nature of those plants which at different
periods have liourishod upon peat beds, we discover in those first thrivinij, a su-
perabundance of oxalic, tartaric and citric acids, all of which allbrd not the
slightest nutriment to cultivated plants; on the contrary, their presence is ex-
ceedingly pernicious to plants abounding in animal nutriment. Again, in the
carexcs or stinted forest-trees acidiferous compounds predominate, which in con-
stitution are diametrically opposed to those occurring in cultivated plants.

If any considerable portion of these noxious compounds shall remain in peat,
by adding a substance that neutralizes their acidity, a mighty barrier to the pros-
perity of cultivated vegetation is removed.

Hence, when yard-manure abundant in Alkaline compound is added to soils
abounding in acids, non-injurious compounds re?ult ; the same phenomenon oc-
curs Avhen gypsum or lime is incorporated v\-iih acidiferous soils.

The second defect is a want of appropriate inorganic nutriment. Although it
contains an abundance of silex, which is an important constituent in vegetable
development, it may not and, as we shall contend, does not contain a sulhciency
of other elements no less essential than silica in vegetable economy. We may
here introduce a physiological axiom, which will enable us to comi)rehend the
phenomenon attending the application of mineral manures, and to better appre-
ciate the value and certain indisj)ensability of inorganic fertilizers.

The truth is this: all plants require inorganic nutriments; each species will
select those elements peculiar to itself; perfect development of any plant is not
insured unless there is a sufficiency of every requisite element, be it ever so di-
minutive in quantity. The second and third clauses of this truth have a mate-
rial bearing upon the condition and improvement of peat lands. Each plant
electively gathers from the soil those elements most congenial to its own pros-
perity ; else how should the ash of wheat yield eight times the amount of mag-
nesia that potato-tops do ? or oats contain 53 per cent, of silica, and beans only 1
per cent. ? And why should there be 6 per cent, of soda in mangel-wurzel and
no traces of this alkali in oats, all grown upon the same soil. Those organized
bodies that now lie mouldering in peat beds were hardy shrubs and forest-trees,
requiring only those elements that would impart strength and inflexibility to
their tissue, such as lime and silica ; they predominate in the ash of forest-trees
to the almost entire exclusion of magnesia, alumina and phosphates, all of which
are indispensable to a luxuriant growth of crops furnishing animal nutriment.

That a deficiency of an essential element produces an abortive crop is striking-
ly illustrated in the culture of cereals : those sown upon soils containing an
abundance of organic matter, lime, and soluble silica, produce gigantic stalks
destitute of grain; by adding magnesia, an exuberant growth of stalk is induced
bearing a withered grain, covered Avith an exceedingly tenacious epidermis ; again,
add a compound yieldinff phosphoric acid to the soil, when a perfect plant is de-
veloped, bearing a due share of nutritious aliment — evidencing that the weal or
woe of the crop was dependent upon the presence or absence of the last adminis-
tered compound.

Practical experience has long since established the fact that cereals do not
flourish well as a first crop upon reclaimed peat lands, but that they are more
successful after the land has received a dressing of yard or mineral manures, and
has been ameliorated by tillage with other crops. Can any other cause be as-
signed for the increment given to the cereals than that a deficient element has
been supplied by the yard or mineral manure ? From this view of the inorganic
ingredients in peat soils we deduce two conclusions showing the necessity of ap-
plying inorganic manures.

First, that the organized substance constituting peat, in its primeval or vital
state, contained only traces of several inorganic constituents that are found
abundant in cultivated plants ; second, that a portion of these diminutive con-
stituents have, during the process of decomposition, combined with pernicious
acids, and are consequently unavailable nutriment. Now to the third defect in
peat soils for the production of cultivated crops, viz., the want of one essential
organic element.

. (1043)

524

MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

Admitting that tiie four elements, carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen, are
essential, and did once exist in the substance tliat composes the soil, we have
now to inciuirc whether these elements exist in the present state of the organic
matter, and wiiother the peat in itself is adequate to supply all the elements ne-
cessary for the growth of cultivated crops.

The organic portions of plants are mainly made up of the three elements, car-
bon, oxygen and hydrogen, the per centages of nitrogen being exceedingly mi-
nute in all, but more especially in spontaneous ones. Chemical research has
thoroughly established the fact that but a diminutive quantity of nitrogen exists
in spontaneous plants, which fact will be at once conceded when we consider
that upon the presence or absence of tlie azotized principle depends the relative
Talue of all fruits, grains, roots and grasses cultivated for animal subsistence.
The major parts of all peat beds consisting of semi-decayed spontaneous plants,
can contain only those elements peculiar to. that class which, when compared
with the cultivated one, is found to be much inferior in the azotized principle.

Allowing all the nitrogen contained in the growing forest yet to remain in the
decomposing mass, this vital principle will not be found to that extent that it is
in animal excrement or decomposing cultivated plants. But to allow the reten-
tion of all the elements comprising an organic body during the process of decom-
position, would be an absolute violation of the immutable laws that govern the
eremacausis [putrefaction] of bodies. During the transmutation of an organized
body from an active to an inert state, a slow combustion is carried on, and there
are incessantly gaseous products evolved ; among the most abundant of these is
nitrosen in the ibrni of ammonia. This compound is evolved most freely in the
early'stages of putrefaction from the slight ailinity it possesses for the substance
with which it is associated. Consequently a decaying body exposed to atmo-
spheric agencies, is soon deprived of the all-essential principle, azote. Now, in
the process of decomposition, which results in the formation of our peat beds,
azote is the most important element eliminated, the decaying mass being defi-
cient in ammoniacal attractives which escape with aqueous vapor into the at-
mosphere. This continuous process of elimination readily deprives the soil of
its original diminutive quantity of azote.

If, then, the organized soil has relinquished, in the putrefactive process, a
greater portion of one of its preeminent constituents, it is evident, by supplying
This deficiency in the form of animal excretions, the luxuriance of those crops re-
quiring a large per centage of azotic nutriment is greatly enhanced.

Hence, in the application of yard-manures abounding in alicalies and azotized
compounds to peat lands, twofold results are attained : the alkalies neutralizing
deleterious acids and the azotized matters, by decomposition, supply the de(i-
ciency of azote. By the use of mineral manures the same primary object is se-
cured as by the inorganic elements in yard-manure ; and, as a secondary eflect,
the unavailable nutr tive compounds in the peat soil are gradually transformed
into appropriate vegetable nutriment.

EXPORT OF FLAX SEED.
The season for sliipmcntsof flax seed havini,' passed away vi'ithout any exports, (except 15 tee.)
we annex the following Table of exports for the previous twenty two years— thus :

In 1846.

184.'j

1844

1843

1842

In 1826

tcs. 14,rifi-.JIln 1841

9,184
2,477
4,2.')9
2,9 r) 4

18tO

18:!9....

1838 "

1837 "

tC8. 15,272

. .tcs. 4,644
. . " 10,884
.. " 9,8.->0
.. " 5,187
.. " 5,088 1

In 1836.
183.->.
1834.
1833.
1832.

.tcs. 18,0.54 1 In 1831.

29,821

17,362

1.1,093

8,120

1830.
1829.
1828.
1827.

Query ? — Why is it that oil-cake is so little
used as food for beasts in tlii.s country, ••om-
pared to England? It is highly valued there,
not only for it.s nutritive qualities, but esi)ccially
for the valucit imparls lo manure— hi regard
to whicii the discrimination of the Engli.sh fanner
\» much nicer than ours, W ill some friend who
(1U44)

In 1825 tcs.

.tcs, 16.053
. •' 15,604
. " 9.459
. " 14.428
. " 16,.i66
,713

has time please lool< into this matter and give
us a iiupcr about it ? — Where to be had ; the
price; in what way and to what uses applied;
what arc the impediments to its employment in
our country ; might not the consuniplion of it
be extended profitably ?

IMPROVEMENT IN HEMP-BRAKES. 525

LMPROVEMENT IN HEMP-BRAKES.

A GREAT DESIDERATUM.

John S. Skinner, Esq. Devondale Farm, near Newcastle, Del., March 29, 1847.

Dear Sir : I was pleased with your suggestion to allow The Farmers' Li-
brary to become the vehicle of introduciiiir to public notice the new inventions
of aijricullural implements and machinery — a matter in which your readers are
especially interested — and I trust you may be remunerated for the expense you
generously offer to incur for the engravings, in the increased popularity and still
farther extended circulation of your valuable standard work,

I send you the description and drawings of a llemi)-Gin, invented and recently
patented by my brother, Franklin P. Holcomb, under the following circumstances:
My brother, who is a civil engineer by profession, but possessing line mechanical
talents, was stopping with me at my farm, when I happened one day to be read-
ing, from the Farmers' Encyclopedia, what Mr. Clay says in an article he fur-
nished to that work on the subject of Hemp-Machines, which is to the effect that
no machine had ever been invented, and he feared none ever would be, to answer
as a substitute for the hand-brake. I told my brother that he oAved it to the fact
of his having been a farmcr''s boy to supply, if jjossiblc, this great desideratum
to the hei^ip-growing interest; and also expressed the opinion that we might
probably grow hemp here to advantage, if the breaking and scutching could be
done by machinery.

He finally went to work at it, and I sowed a small crop of hemp, which we
water-rotted. This we got out with the machine. Still lie did not think it per-
fect or right, and went on improving, and altering, and experimenting, for almost
another twelvemonth ; and meantime I grew a second crop of hemp for him. —
This we also got out with the machine, and had a portion of it manufactured
into rope. And, finally, the great difficulty that had troubled him so much — the
waste in the scutchin'g — was overcome, and we had the satisfaction of seeing
this simple little machine break and scutch, with the least possible waste, at the
rate of about 1,000 lbs. of clean, raercliantable hemp per day — doing the work
of some twelve or fourteen men.

But meantime Mr. Billings's machine had made its appearance ; and our friend
Gen. Tallmadge had commended it so highly in his Address before the American
Institute, that my brother, supposing the final object had been attained, and never
having entertained any pecuniary views in connection with it, proposed doing no-
thing farther with his machine. But he sut)sequently learned that Mr. Billings's
machine, though no doubt an excellent one, was large, somewhat complicated,
and costing four or five times the price of his, and probably intended rather for a
stationary power to work in a manufactory, than for the general use of hemp-
growers, to be worked by their hands, on the plantation, or in the fields. Under
the circumstances, he applied for a patent, which was granted, and Mr. Obed
Hussey, of Baltimore, machinist, tlie ingenious inventor of the Reaping Machine,
has become interested in it, and will take means to introduce it to the attention
of the hemp-growers of the West.

ISothing can be more simple in its construction. The rudest and roughest
hands can work it, and with little danger of its getting out of order. The cost
of it will be only from $75 to $100, exclusive of the horse-power. It requires
about a two-horse power to work it. From my own experience in the use of it,
1 can confidently say, and assure my brother farmers of the West, that the larg-
est crop of hemp they grow would hold out no terror, so far as the breaking and
scutching of it was concerned, with the use of this machine. My clear convic-
tion is that it will go into very general use in the hemp districts, and prove au
important acquisition to this branch of Agriculture ; and if it does, though not
having the slightest pecuniary interest in it, I shall feel myself highly rewarded
for the interest I have taken in the enterprise.

Truly jours, CHAUN'CEV P. HOLCOMB.

(1045)

526

MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

SPECIFICATION OF HOLCOMB'S HEMP-BRAKE.

To all tn whom these presents shall come : I chine for brealiing and cleaning hemp at one

Be it known, that I, F. P. Hoi.comb, of the I and the Fame operation; and that the following

town and county of Newcastle, and State of is a full, clear and exact description of the prin-

Delaware, have invented a new and useful ma- | oiple or character which distinguishes it from

PERSPECTIVE VIEW OF F. P. HOLCOMB'S HEMP AND FLAX GIN.

all Other things before known, and of the man- | figure 1 is a perspective view, and figure 2 a
ner of making, constructing and using the same, | vertical section of the machine. The same let-
reference being had to the accompanying draw- I ters indicate like parts in all the figures.
in"B making part of this specification, in which ] In machinery heretofore employed for break-

.SECTIONAL VIEW OF F. P. HOLCOMB'S HEMP AND FLA.X GIN.

ing and cleaning hemp, &c. at one operation, by
revolving breaks, the hemp has been acted on
during a'large portion of the circle of revolution,
the henip being broken by passing it between
(1046)

a pair of rollers or revolving breaks and scutch-
ers, that mesh into each other, and break the
I hemp by bonding it short between them. This
I method is highly objectionable, iu co»sequence

OLD MARYLAND.

527

of the pp-eat lenclh of tlio film! over wliid) it i
scraping, which in found to wear the hLinf) in
practice so as to render it unnierciiantiible ; it
has also been attempted to break ami clean ilie
hemp between a revolving break and a station-
ary concave, but this nielliod is liable to the
Hame objections. In fact, the licinp never can
be broken and cleaned by the same roller that
breaks it, without subjecting it to injurious wear.
Consequently, the niacliin<;s have been aban-
doned as useless; for if the hemp is broken by
a stationary break, against which the revolving
break acts, and thence passes to another wheel,
placed ii* contact with said revolving break, to
be scutched, the break scrapes over the hemp
the whole distance from the bed-break to the
point where the scutcher acts, aud wears the
surface into tow.

My invention is for the purpose of obviating
these difficulties, and is of the following nature :
I employ a large revolving break, with the
swords set at a tangent (this is necessary to the
well-working of the machine, as a small one
would present the swords at too great an angle),
which acts auainst a stationary bed-plate, and
there breaks the hemp as it is presented by the
hand. The ends of the hemp, as soon as they
pass down below the edge where they are
broken, arc thrown of!" by the centrifugal action
of the revolving blades, and they do not come in
aontact with it any more, but, as the hemp is fed
in the ends aforesaid, pass down and are caught
between the scutchers at the angle of their junc-
tion, without laying against either so as to be
rubbed, and is thus cleaned. The scutchers are
very small cylinders, with blades projecting
from them radially, that only mesh slightly (if at
all) past their pitch-lines; the.se only act on that
part of the hemp immediately between them, or
at the junction of their curves, to clean it, and it
passes through them without injury — which is
not the case where the breaking and cleaning
are done by the same wheel or roller on the dif-
ferent parts of its circumference.

The construction of my apparatus is as fol-
lows : On the cap-pieces of a suitable frame (wi)
1 suspend a .shaft («) in suitable bearings, on
whicli I afK.v tuo cylinder heads (/j), to which I
attach any suitable number of slats or beaters (c);
these are placed diagonally, aud are made to act
on a straight, horizontal, stationary bed-piece (d),
which is armed with iron and attached k> the
frame! iiu); back of this bed-piece, and a little
below its surface, there is a feed-board (o), over
which the hemp is fed into the machine ; just
below the bedpie<'e, two small scutcher cylin-
ders (/) arc so placed as to receive the hemp
between them without wrap|)ing on either, the
blades (i') of which may work into each other
more or less, according to the material to be act-
ed on. The hemp is held in the hand of the
workman to be ideancd, and is presented over
tiie bed-piece (il), (as clearly sliown in figure 2,)
where it is gradually broken as it is pushed in,
and the ends are thrown down in between the
scutchers, where the shieves or hurds are thrown
out. The hemp in this way is fed in, cleaned
half its length, and then turned and the other
half finished, and the hemp comes from the
machine in a [lerfect and merchantable state.

Having thus fully described my machine,
what I claim as my invention, and desire to se-
cure by letters patent, is the combination of the
stationary bod break and the rotary break, and
small .scutchers arranged in the manner de-
scribed, .so that the hemp can be fed in bj- hand,
broken and cleaned with but one handling and
at one operation — the breaking and cleaning
being done on separate cylinders, but the parts
so arranged <is that they are brought close to-
gether, and so adjusted as to only allow the ma-
chine to touch that part of the fibre that is to be
acted on, thereby preventing its wear in the-
machine.

F. P. HOLCOMB.

Witnesses *> ■'^- ^- ^^^wyK,
witnesses. ^ j j_ gkeenough.

OLD MARYLAND— HARD TO BEAT, AFTER ALL.

We miich doubt if any portion of the United States has been so much misrep-
resented, not to say abused, or if any is so much undervalued, as Maryland south
and east of the great Mail road. Nothing but the most unfounded and incorrigi-
ble prejudice, together with its location, withdrawn as it is from public view,
could have prevented it from realizing the prodigious advantages prepared for
it by the hand of Nature, and making it at this day the most populous, instead
of being one among the most thinly settled parts of the United States.

If we held the political power of the State, we would do for Maryland what
every State, and, if not every State, every County, should do for itself. We
would cause an actual survey to be made, and all its features and sources of in-
dustry and fruitfulness to be mapped and otherwise portrayed, so that all its ca-
pabilities, whether agricultural, mineral, commercial, geographical and hygeian,
should be fully and honestly displayed to the view of every impartial inquirer.

Communities rarely reflect how mucli they may bo prejudiced, collectively and
individually, by the ignorance, sometimes by the malicious perversions, of statis-

(1047)

528 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

tical writers and historians ; and, for ourselves, we do not know of any region
of our country Avhicii in this way has suffered so much in general repute as the
Eastern Shore of Maryland. We have not now here either leisure or space to
illustrate this impression of ours, as we might do ; but let any man at all ac-
quainted with the natural fertility of the soil over a vast proportion of that dis-
trict, and with its uncqualed advantages in its cheap transportation to, and its
choice of markets, read the following, which is the description with which a
stranger or foreigner would be most likely to be met, in any extensive range of
inquiry for a country to settle in :

" The part of the State east of the Bay is called the Eastern Shore ; the part west, the
Western Shore. The countiy on the eastern side of the Chesajic;ike Bay, with the excep-
tiou of a small part of the noithem extremity, is an extensive plain, Ion- and sandy, much
intersected by rivers and creeks — having few springs, and abounding with stagtiant vater.
In this part [tliat is, all except a " S7nall part "] the air in summer is moist, sultry and disa-
greeable, and the inhal)iUuits are subject to agues and intermittent fevers, and many of them
have a sickly appearance."

In tkis flattering portrait, to be found in a popular Cyclopaedia, behold I ye
farmers of the Eastern Shore, one of the influences under which, with unrivaled
capabilities, your population has been stationary for the last thirty years, and that
almost wi*hin sound of the fire-bells of Baltimore and Philadelphia, and within a
few hours' steamboat communication with New-York, and other town popula-
tions, amounting to a million of consumers of all your produce !

We remember, many years since — indignant at the injustice done to you by
that common liar, Madame Rumor — to have published in the American Farmer,
m reference to the charge of unhealthiness, a list of a greater number of very
aged people, male and female, then residing within a given distance of the
^' Royal Oak," in Talbot county, than were to be found within the same area,
probably, in any part of our countrJ^ As to the " sickly appearance," said to be
characteristic of the people of the Eastern Shore, we doubt if the writer had ever
attended a gathering at church, or at a cattle-show, or a fish feast, or a " public
day " in Kent, or Queen Anne's, or Talbot, or Dorset, or Somerset, or Worcester
counties. They are not people of "sickly appearance" who hunt, and shoot, and
ride, and spread such tables, and play at kniie and fork, as they do. There is, it
maybe admitted, some locomotion in the surface soil around Snow-Hill ; but, as
every swallow does not make a summer, that should not give to nine counties
the character of being " low and sandy." And, as for their social and moral hab-
its, we think we know "some;" and when we speak of their hospitality, we
speak of what is universally admitted. The same may be said of their integrity
and pride of character, as a community.

In all large flocks, there are apt to be a few black sheep, and even their wool
has its uses. Besides, it takes a good many kinds of people to make a world and
give it the charm of variety ; but we hope there are, or soon will be, none to deny
the intellectuality of the farmer's pursuit. Any folly or outrage hut that ! As to
their pride — whether from a consciousness that their country is underrated
abroad, or what, we know not, but they must allow us in candor to add that,
when from home, the Eastern Shoreman is a Icctlc stifl'-necked ! Like the Indian,
he stands up so straight that he leans backward. Thus it is that, when abroad,
they never, or very rarely, make the first advance toward sociability ; but when
they see that you are ready to do them justice, and give them their due, then will
you begin to know what a hospitable and true-hearted man is.

As to the soil, we may mention — though not, by any means, as fair specimens

(1048)

AGRICULTURAL SCHOOLS. 529

of general average produce or management — that among (we don't say because)
subscribers to this journal in Talbot and in Dorchester counties, two of them the
past season grew, one upward of 70 bushels of Indian corn to the acre, on more
than forty acres, and tlie other 2,000 barrels on two hundred acres ; and this com
might be shelled from the fields where it grew, into the holds of vessels, at the
rate of 1,000 bushels a day, by machines invented by one of these farmers, and
be transported to a cash market for 4 or 5 cents a bushel. Why he forever
dreaming of change ? Is it not better to let very well alone — except in trying
to improve it ?

AGRICULTURAL SCHOOLS.

GROWING EXCITEMENT ON THE SUBJECT— COURSE OF INSTRUCTION PROPER TO BE

PURSUED IN THEM.

Rarely, within our observation, has the public mind evinced more numerous
and unequivocal signs of increasing and general interest on any subject than is
now manifested, more and more, every day, in reference to Agricultural Educa-
tion. Three long columns of a late Albany paper are filled with a highly edify-
ing and important discussion on Agricultural Colleges, in which Members of the
Legislature and of the State Agricultural Society participated. We should re-
joice to see this debate copied into every paper in the Union ; and how much
more useful for general reading and consideration would it be than the incidents
of party struggles, and the details of bloody battles !

It was well done, on the part of Mr. S. Howard, " of the Cultivator," to warn
the public not to be too impatient for carrying out and realizing the public wishes
in this matter. " He thought the necessity of having a plan fully matured and
understood as obvious. It was the wise remark of Franklin to his nephew that
in whatever he did there should be a flan. The causes of failure had been in
the intrinsic defects in organization." " The qualifications necessary lor the
management of such a school are rarer than are at first imagined. They em-
brace the whole variety of agricultural knowledge."

Many gentlemen took part in the discussion, with a degree of earnestness
that evinced much anxious reflection and that gives assurance that the people
are beginning to be persuaded that they have a right to use their own means for
the instruction of their own children in the art and principles of their own busi-
ness. We venture to express the opinion that these schools should not be left,
any more than naval or military schools, to depend on individual contribution.
They are, of all schools, the most proper objects for, and the most entitled to
public patronage. In every State, its proportion of the proceeds of the public
lands should be appropriated exclusively to the support of Normal Schools, in
which young men should be gratuitously prepared to act as agricultural profes-
sors in subordinate county and district establishments. In the mean time, might
not a direction be given to the patronage now bestowed on the district schools in
the State of New- York that Avould throw into the course of education pursued
in them a deeper infusion of agricultural knowledge and literature ?

But v/e have no space or time now to discuss details. We beg again for the
sympathy and aid of the Press in pressing this subject home to the minds of the
people — the farmers throughout the country. Let us go on begetting the wilU

(1049) 34

530 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

assured that in this, as in all other cases, where there is a icill there is, or soon
will be found, a way to do everything. Time and public anxiety will soon work
out the plan. But as Mr. Howard wisely remarks, to prevent miscarriage we
should be careful on that point.

In regard, then, to the plan and course of instruction, it may be of some use to
give from the English "Agricultural Magazine" an outline of a course of in-
struction adopted in a distinguished agricultural training school, at which it is
said are sons of gentlemen from most of the countries in England, as well as from
Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. The officers are, a Resident Head Master, three
Resident Assistant Head Masters, a distinguished Pro/essor of Agriculture 9Xidi
Botany, Mr. J. Donalson, author of " British Grasses," " Treatises on Manures,"
&c. ; together with Professors of Breeds — Maiiagement and Diseases of Cattle —
Chemistry — Geology and Mineralogy — Natural and Experimental Philosophy —
Practical Surveying and Leveling.

In the departments of Agriculture and Botany the instructions embrace the
practice and the principles of Agriculture in the various counties. The history
of all the operations are dwelt on with minuteness, and the effect of each point-
ed out on the farm attached to the school. The process of drainage, application
of manures, erection of farm buildings, and formation of roads, and these sub-
jects are not only examined and explained in the class-room^ but practically car-
ried out in the field.

On Botany, the lectures are not sitnply confined to the distinguishing of one
class of plants from another, but embrace their uses, growth, habit, properties,
the laws which regulate their distribution, as well as their existence and the
laws of vegetation, whereby Agriculture, Horticulture and Floriculture, whether
in the garden, the field, or the forest, are rendered most productive. It is the
endeavor to render practical, as well as theoretical, the instruction to the pupils ;
especial attention is devoted to a thorough knowledge of the distinguishing
characters of the grasses, cereal, natural, and artificial ; their growth and pro-
ductiveness, as Avell as the soils and manures suited to them. The Professor, in
furtherance of these views, and with the object of rendering his instruction en-
tertaining as well as useful, accompanies the pupils occasionally in their botanical
excursions. For this department Mr. Gowen, for his Mount Airy College, need
go but a little way, if Doctor Darlington, of his State, could be had.

Breeds, Management and Diseases of Cattle. — In this course of lectures, the
external conformation of the ox, sheep, and other domesticated animals, with the
internal structure of each, both in reference to the changes caused by disease,
constituting Pathology, and the uses to which the various parts of the frame are
applied, constituting Physiology, are explained. The treatment and causes of dis-
ease, and general management of cattle are particularly dwelt upon. The lectures
are illustrated by anatomical drawings and specimens, both morbid and healthy.

Chemistry. — These lectures comprehend the properties of the most familiar
bodies, their bearing upon the economy of Nature, and their useful application ;
comprising the elementary substances, oxygen, nitrogen, &c. ; the metals ; the
earths ; the properties of heat ; light ; the laws of chemical affinity ; of compo-
sition and decomposition; the elements and proximate principles of vegetable
and animal substances ; germination ; assimilation ; secretion, Sec. ; fermenta-
tion, vinous, acetous, putrefaciive ; soils; fallows; manures, vegetable, animal
and mineral. The subjects of the lectures are illustrated by experiments, and
instruction in chemical analysis is also given in the Professor's Laboratory.

(1050)

ll

AGRICULTURAL SCHOOLS. PREMIUMS. 531

Geology and Mineralogy. — The objects of the Professor in this course are to
convey, in the most familiar and instructive manner, the fundamental principles
of these sciences ; their connection with Clicmistry, Botany, Zoology, Astronomy,
and Physics ; and their practical application to several of the most important
wants and utjlities of life.

Natural and Experimental Philosophy. — This department embraces instruc-
tion in the elements of Mechanics, the maihematical principles of Statics, or the
art of weighing solid bodies ; Hydrostatics, or the art of weighing fluids ; Dynam-
ics, or the science of the motion of bodies that mutually act on each other ; and
Hydraulics, with their various practical applications ; the theory of the stren'^th
of materials, of the stability of structures, the principles of mechanism, the dy-
namical theory of machines, and of the steam-engine in particular, are fully ex-
plained, and the lectures are amply illustrated by models, diagrams, ice.

Practical Survf.yinc; and Leveling. — This course is at once theoretical and
practical ; in the school it embraces the various in-door details of a land survey-
or's oflice ; and in the field, the uses and applications of the several surveying
instruments. It also includes the measurement of timber and artificer's work,
the theory and practice of leveling and draining, the making of sections, and
mapping from the field-book, and all the requisite and practical detail of geodesy,
or the art of surveying the earth on whatever scale.

Analysis of Soils, etc. — The analysis of soils, manurcb', the various chem-
icals used in the arts, as well as all the varieties of minerals, are undertaken, for
the purpose of determining their value ; estates surveyed and mapped ; timber
measured and valued.

It is not that Professors well qualified are not to be found in our country, if
suitable rewards and distinction were offered. We doubt not our military school
graduates every year a number who would make very distinguished instructors
in several departments, but they are for the most part either the sons of men of
independent fortune, who return to their estates, or who choose to follow more
attractive professions, or who remain in the army, where their pay, besides being
equal, or nearly so, in the beginning, to our best-paid professors, carries with it
the inestimable advantage of a life commission and sure increase of rank and
emoluments.

For a single institution it would be easy at once to name highly accomplished
Professors, were it not invidious, but it would be to the dishonor of the country
to suppose that such men are not already better provided for. But truth and
justice, after all, demand the acknowledgment that in no department of social
life and useful labors is such gross and short-sighted injustice perpetrated by so-
ciety as in its mean estimate of the pay and respect due to rnstruclors of youth.
The money expended for military purposes, even in time of profound peace,
would secure to the 7nass of young persons throughout the United States such
an education as is described above. Is it possible that an enlightened, self-
governing people will much longer forbear to demand this more noble and salu-
tary appropriation of their contributions for the support of Government ?

1^ The List of Premiums offered by the New- York State Agricultural Society
has been received from tlie obliging and accomplished Secretary, and extracts have been pre-
pared, with such observations as they seemed to su!,'gest; but want of room comptls their post-
ponement to our next number, in June. The approbation expressed will not, we hope, be the
less acceptable for not being altogether wholesale and indiscriminate.
(1051)

532 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE AT MOUNT AIRY.
Iq recognition of the popular feeling referred to in the preceding article, and
from his own clear perception of what is demanded for the dignity and benefit of
American Agriculture, proposals have been issued by Mr. James Gowen, (well
and favorably known for his zeal and energy, and the liberal scale of his expen-
ditures in the field of practical Agriculture,) for the establishment of an Agricul-
tural College at Mount Airy, near Germantown, Pa., in a healthy region of in-
dustrious practical Farmers.

"The terms will be two hundred dollars per annum, for board and tuition, payable half-
yearly iu advance — no extras, except for modern languages, for which it may be necessary
to make some additional charge."

Were it our custom to insert, as it is not, either advertisements or proposals at
length, which, like this, are in the nature of advertisements, it would be alto-
gether unnecessary in this case, for the information of the public, it being all
sufficient, if not more respectful toward him and his design, merely to state that
Mr. GoAVEN has undertaken to supply what he justly considers " the great desid-
eratum— a training in rural economy, pending the progress of the student in
literature so that when he shall graduate, he may not only have achieved the
usual attainments acquired in literary institutions, but exhibit a thorough and well
o-rounded knowledge of practical and theoretical Agriculture and Horticulture,
and possess, in a superior degree, the presumable addition of good health and
habits ; being thereby the better fitted to enter upon the general duties of life, or
into any profession as that of Agriculture."

Than this enterprise of Mr. G., few can be imagined of a more responsible
character, when its true nature is properly understood and appreciated ; and none
can excel him in the spirit to go ahead, in whatever he undertakes as proved
by the best of all tests — his actual success in the branches of industry to which
ke kas devoted his time and talents. For the conduct of such an establishment,
he is among the last who need be told that Professors of the highest attainments,
of the purest character, and of the most elevated ambition, will be required.
Happily, and doubtless with a view to insure such men, the terms prescribed
will command the services of the first Professors to be found, whether at home
or abroad. Under the management of such men, all cultivators who can afford it
will rejoice on behalf of their sons, to avail themselves of an institution where
they may be taught not to follow in the footsteps of their predecessors, but to
advance, by a more elevated path, to a higher platform of intelligence and effi-
ciency. An institution in which they may be inspired with a fondness for their
pursuit, by the charms of its proper literature ; and where they may learn by
experiments on the spot to comprehend and illustrate all its principles.

The chief difficulty as we apprehend, will be to engage professors of the various
and proper qualifications. It is to rear and provide an ample stock of such, (we
may here repeat), that we need in the first instance, normal establishments in
each State in the Union, to be maintained and conducted on a plan similar to that
of the West Point Academy. Scf, after waiting happily for thirty years, for an
opportunity to gather the crimsoiied fruits of warlike achievements, Avhat irre-
sistible prowess and efliciency the elcvcs of that institution communicated to the

(lOM)

FENCES. 533

American army in every baltle-field ! Glorious for the national arms as have
been the results of every encounter, where the science of the school has directed
the valor of the soldier ; how yet much more beneficial for the great interests
of society would it be to have schools in every State, that would insure scientific
direction, every day, and every year, to the whole agricultural industry of the
country !

In alluding, however, to the diflRculty of procuring highly qualified professors,
in the various departments as described in the preceding article, we ought to add,
that if we rightly appreciate Mr. Gowen's temper, it is just of that sort, which
difficulties only stimulate until they are overcome. We need hardly add, far-
ther, that we hope and wish for his enterprise all the success to which its great
usefulness entitles it — amply provided for, and well conducted, as we cannot
doubt it will be.

FENCES,-

A BURDEN ON THE AMERICAN FARMER.
To the Editor of The Farmers' Library : Maryland, April, 1847.

Sir : As the friend of Agricultural Reform, I have taken the liberty of address-
ing you on a subject of vital importance to the farmer of every State in the
Union, and more particularly important is it to those of the old States, where
every year the scarcity of timber is becoming more apparent. I allude to the
presentisystem of inclosing land, or, in other words, it may be called the " fence
oppression." Did the intelligent farmer reflect a moment and estimate the annu-
al tax which his fences impose upon him, he would not rest till the system was
abolished, or else the live hedge took the place of the present expensive fence
of timber.

The system of compelling every landholder to inclose his property is peculiar
to the United States, with only the exception of England, where the fence nui-
sance appears again under the form of the hedge ; and although these hawthorn
hedges, when they are well tended — and not more than half of them are so —
are beautiful objects, and answer all the purposes of protection against the
inroads of cattle, still the public voice is beginning to cry out against them,
because of the enormous amount of land required to support them. Each hedge
is 5 or 6 feet wide at its base, and taking into account the amount of land they
exhaust on either side, the whole space cannot be less than 12 or 14 feet wide.
When it is recollected that the divisions and subdivisions of land in England are
very numerous, the amount of arable land abstracted from the purposes of Agri-
culture is very great. It has been estimated at several million bushels of grain.

Now turn a moment and look at the situation of things on the Continent, par-
ticularly in France, Germany and Italy. In these countries a fence of any kind
is a rare sight ; cattle are never seen unattended (unless tethered) on the fields.
If the farmer has a piece of land he wishes to graze, the cattle or sheep are put
under charge of the shepherd's dog, and with his sagacity and the docility of the
animals, but little difiiculty is experienced in confining them to a limited spot.
Sometimes fi little boy or girl may be observed holding the cords attaciied to the
horns of 3 or 4 cows, while they graze quietly around.* In connection with this sub-
ject, it may be proper to remark, that neither in Great Britain or on the Continent
are cattle allowed to go at large upon the public highways. In journeying through
France — now one of the best cultivated countries in Europe, 100 square miles
producing, probably, at least as much as the same amount in England — it seems

* In Turkey they consider an annual gras.fin,^ of three weeks as necessary to the health and condition
of their horBes. About the 1ft May th(;y are sent into the country and placed in fields of grass or grain
which has just arrived at a mowing stale. Each horac is tethered to a stake by a rope al.out eight feet
long ; this gives them a circle of sixteen feet diameter to feed from, fiom which, when they have eaten
close, the stake is drawn and moved to a fresh spot, a very economical plan of consuming the product of
a field. All the horses wore heavy woolen covers.
(1053)

534 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

as though you were riding through one vast farm, no perceptible divisions of
property being visil)le. Lucern, clover, Sec, are grown in large quantities, and
fed to the cattle in the yard adjoining the barn or stable.

Wo doubt the chief cause of the depressed stale of Agriculture in the United
States, is owing to the extensive system of fencing, which, amounting to a
heavy annual tax, consumes the best proportion of tlie farmers' profits. Mr.
Biddle, a few years since, in an address before the Philadelphia Agricultural So-
ciety, stated that the cost of the fences ni Pennsylvania amounted to §100,000,000,
and their annual expense he estimated at $10,000,000. A distinguished writer
on National AVealth says: "Strange as it may seem, the greatest investment in
this country, the most costly production of human industry, is the common fences
which inclose and divide the fields. No man dreams that when comjiared to
the outlay of these unpretending monuments of human art, our cities and our
towns, with all their wealth, are left far behind. In many places the fences
have cost more than the fences and farms are worth. It is this enormous bur-
den which keeps down the agricultural interest of this country, causing an
untold expenditure, besides the loss of the land the fences occupy."

Estimating a chestnut post-and-rail fence to last 18 years, and including inside
fencing and repairs, the annnal tax to the farmer holding 150 acres will be S130
to $140, and judging from present appearances, this tax is eternal, and there
seems but little hope of escape from it. Now, if we must have hedges, why
not adopt the live hedge ; for at last a plant has been found which possesses none
of the objections to which all other plants hitherto tried in this country have
been found liable. The plant in question is the Osage Orange, now extensively
used in the neighborhood of Philadelphia, where it has proved eminently fitted
for the purpose. It is perfectly hardy south of New- York, growing rapidly and
forming a beautiful, impregnable hedge, in five years ; it is also free from the
attacks of all insects as well as animals. Double rows form the best hedge,
though many of those about Pbiladelphia are planted in single rows. At $12 50
per 1,000 plants, it would cost somewhere about $375 to fence the exterior of a
farm of 150 acres ; and this, you will recollect, never has to be renewed. The two
annual trimmings it requires will, of course, take some time, but nothing in
comparison to the time and expense required in repairing a fence of timber.
But it is unnecessary to go to the expense of purchasing all ihc plants required :
by procuring 1,000, or a quart or two of seed, and planting them in a rich
nursery, cultivating them for a year, they then may be laken up, (to set where
the hedge is to be formed,) and the trimmings afl'orded by the roots, by proper
planting, will afford another lot of plants, and these, when large enough to set
out, will afford more cuttings from the roots ; and thus, by beginning with a few
plants, one may fence any number of acres he desires.

These remarks have been hastily written, not so much with a view to pub-
lication, but rather to call your attention to a subject which, whether resolving
itself into the question of doing away with all fences or adojuing the live hedge in
place of the rail fence, is of great importance to the agricultural interest.

A SUBSCUIBER.

GOVERNOR WRIGHT:

HIS ADDRESS TO BK DELIVF.RED BEFORE THE NEW-YORK STATE AGRICLT.TLRAL SOCIET?.

We rejoice to see that Govemor Wright has consented to deliver the next Annual
Address, not knowing nn whom we could more safely roly lor a strenuous maintenance of
the preference to which Agricultui'e is entitled, as far as legislation is brought to bear for
the promotion of any of our industrial pursuits.

We doubt not we shall hear him dwell on its claims to be considered an intellectual em-
ployment, to be rendered, like other j)rol"essions, more dignified and profitable in proportion
as it is conducted with an understanding of llie principles which, in ils very nature, belong
to it, and that lie will insist and enlarge oti the right of the agricultuial connnunity to have
a just proportion of their contributions to the supi)ort of Govennnent and other educational
institutions so appropriated as to promote, especially, a better knowledge of the arts of cuiti

vation an<l the lights of the landed interest.
(105J)

SCRAPS.

535

SCRAPS.

Sf.kdling Plants and Vf-getablks. — Ag-
ricultural Societies, if guided by reflection, in-
stead of precedent, would offer to those who by
persevering experiment establish new and
valuable varieties of fruits and vegetables, ten
times as much as they now offer for sleek
Btallions and pampered geldings, and heavy
crops from patches of corn.

A new variety of the potato, for example, is
generally considered to continue in perfection
not more than 14 years. Fresh varieties must
ihcrefjre be raised — and how few will take
the trouble to do it ? He who docs, and suc-
ceeds in supplying the place of a declining
peach, or apple, or potato, is a real benefactor
of his country, and deserves higlier reward than
the inventor of a new shell for dealing death
and destruction to the human race, which, by-
the-by, rarely falls upon the real authors of the
mischief that plunges nations into war.

Manuuks ought to be exempt from Tolls.
In England, the statute of 52 George III. works
a general exemption from toll for the benefit of
Agriculture, in favor of wagon.s, carts, &c.,
loaded with manure, as well as those going
empty. So our Legislatures, in granting char-
ters for these highways, should exempt from
toll, or greatly diminish the charges on loads of
lime, guano, plaster, and all other substances
when going to be used bona fide and exten-
sively «.s' manure. Nor would these incorpo-
rated monopolies lose anything in the end, inas-
much as the produce and population of the
country to be enriched by the application of
these manures would be increased in propor-
tion, and the roads and canals be thus fully in-
demnified and the State strengthened in num-
bers and wealth.

Doctor Jos. E. Muse, well known to the
friends of American Agriculture as a distin-
guished and scientific investigator and practical
experimentalist, speaking of Indian corn says :
"The Baden has been my favorite for many-
years, as the most productive and mo.st heavy
of any kind I have ever tried. I mean the pure
white-flint Baden. There are several varieties
passing under that name, very inferior to that I
allude to." But the Doctor adds that last year.
on two measured acres, one \vith Oregon and
one with Baden, planted under precisely simi-
lar circumstances in all respects, he got ten bar-
rels of the Oregon, and only eight of the Baden.

l-#~ We regret that the communication of
" Reuben Roadside " was received too late for
inaertioii in this number.
(1065)

Guano — Sometimes injurious, and when.—
Mr. llcndle and other persons record, as the re-
sult of dearly purchased experience, that wliere
guano has failed to be beneficial, or has been
injurious, it has been applied in quantities too
powerful for the plants to bear. In a liquid
state half an ounce -per gallon of water, and
given to growing plants once a week, it never
fails to be productive of vigor. Five hundred
weight to the acre has been known to double
the crop of onions.

Wheat Crop. — There is reason to believe
that the crop of wheat now on the ground has
been considerably injured by an open, freezing
and thawing winter, the last snows of which
arc fast disappearing. We have taken consid-
erable pains to collect the earliest and most re-
liable information on the subject, in order that
we might keep our readers duly advised in a
matter of so much commercial as well as agri-
cultural importance. The extent of the damage
done to wheat cannot as yet be definitely known.
It will be found, if we mistake not, far more se-
rious than usually occurs in Western New-
York. [Rochester American.

We apprehend the above remarks are appli-
cable to a very large portion of the country.
One of the most reliable men in all respects,
writing us from Maryland, says : " What a wet
winter we have had ! and how adverse to all
farming operations " ! ! !

I^^ It's a tall feather in the cap of the old
American Farmer, the pioneer in the field of
American agricultural literature, to have a judge
.ao eminent as Doctor Muse say of it : " It is in
my opinion one of the best agricultural journals
in our wide country, whether we regard its se-
lections or its editorials."

" Lau3 est laudari a laudato viro."

Preservation of Flowers. — Among sci-
entific di.scoveries. we may state that Dr. Fas-
calc, a chemist at ^Vesteras, in Sweden, has
announced to the Academy of Sciences at Stock-
holm his discovery of a process for preserving
flowers in their natural condition. He sent, it
is stated, some roses which he assures the
Academy were prepared by him in 1844 — and
which have still all the appearance of being
freshly gathered.

Prevention of the Foot-rot in Sheep. —
Mr. Karkeck states "that the footrot is easily
j)rev('nted by carting a quantity of earth in the
form of a mound, in the center of the yard at-
ta(;hed to the shed, upon wliich are occasionally
strewed small quantities of slaked lime."

Grafting Clay is best made of two paits
cow-dung, three parts common clay, and one
part awns or beards of barley or other grain,
kneaded together thoroughly.

536

MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

NIGHTSOIL, OR POUDRETTE.

We were much disappointed lately in missing an opportunity to see the establishment
gotten up in Philadelphia by Mr. Minor, the talented and persevering Editor of the Rail-
road Journal, for the preparation of Poudrelle. It was our wish to have seen it and to-
have obtained some particulars as to the scale and particular region of its operations.

We understand, generally, that his sales have been extensive and constantly increasing.
Besides its being undoubtedly among the most powerful of all fertilizers, its materials being
of the richest, it has, like guano, the great advantages of condensation, portability, and of
not propagating noxious weeds. The excrement of birds is said to derive its value, in a
great measure, from the fact that it combines the urine with it. While we throw away the
offerings to that delicate Goddess, Gloaciiia, they " order things differently in France." There,
as in Rome of old, the city government appoints their curatores cloacarum urbis ; and thus
the City of Paris derives a revenue of about $200,000 for the privilege of pennitting certain
persons to coUect and use the nightsoil of the city.

EXPORT OF GRAIN from the U. States to G. Britain and Ireland, from Sept. 1. 1846, to March 27, 1847.

Wheat bushels 1,273,882 I Rye bushels 2,685

Indian Com " 6,931,640 | Oats " 144.069

Barley bushels 130,071

PRICES CURRENT.

[Corrected, April 24, for the Monthly Journal of Agriculture.]

ASHES— Pots, iBt sort !>' 100 K. 5 — ® 5

Pearls, let sort, '46 '& 6

BEKriWAX — Ainenc-an Yellow — 26 'a> —

CANDLES— Mould, Tallow.. #■ IB... — 11 'w—

Spenii, Eaiitern and City — 31 'a>—

COTTON— From ^ Iti. — 10^®-

COTTON BAGGING— American... — 12J@—

CORDAGE— American ^ tb. — 11 @ —

DOMESTIC GOODS-Shu-tings, ^ y. — .5 ®—

Sheetings — 7 ®—

FEATHERS— American, live — 28 @—

FLAX— American — 7 ® —

FLOUR &. MEAL— Genesee, f bbl. 8 — ®—

Troy 7 87igi —

Michigan 7 87A ©—

Ohio, Flat Hoop 7 b7Ja —

Ohio, Round Hoop ® —

Ohio, via New-Orleans ® —

Pennsylvania 7 37i® 7

Brandywine 7 37i@ 7

Georgetown 7 5U ® —

Baltimore City Mills 7 37^ @ 7

Richmond City Mills 8 50 ®—

Richmond Country 7 37.|® 7

Alexandria, Petersburg, &c 7 371® 7

Rye Flour ; 5 121® 5

Com Meal, .Tcrsey and Brand 4 50 ® 4

Com Meal, iirandywine hhd. ® —

GRAIN— Wheat, White ^ bush. 1 70 ® 1

Wlieat, Red 1 45 ® 1

Rye, Northern — 95 ® —

Com, Jersey and Noith.. .(meas.) — 93 ®

Com, So\ithi'm (measured — 92 ® —

Com, Southern (weight) a> —

Oats, Northern — 49 ®—

OaV, .lersey • ® —

HAY— North River in bales, fvlOOm — 60 ®—
HEMP— American, dew-rotted. . tonl40 — ®l(iO

water-rotted 160 — ®220

HOPS— Istsort 1846 — 84®—

IRON— American Pig, No 1 ®32

Common 22 .50 ®25

LIME- Thomaston !>■ bbl. — 85 @—

1 UMBER— Boards, N.R., ^M. ft. clr. 30 — ®35

Bouide, Eastern Pino ® —

Boards, Albany Pine ^pcc. — 10 ®—

Timber, Georgia Pine ^M.A. 27 50 a—

(1056)

Staves, White Oak, pipe. ^ M 50 — ®

Staves, White Oak, hhd 40 — ®

Staves, White Oak, bbl 30 — ®

Staves, Red Oak, hhd 24 — ® 28 —

Hoops 20 — ®30 —

Scantling, Eastern.. 15 — ®16 25

Scantling, Oak — 30 @— 35

Timber, Oak f cubic foot — 20 ®— 30

Timber, White Pine — 13 ®— 20

Timber, Georgia Yellow Pine — 24 ■g — 28

Shingles ^ bunch 1 75 ® 2 —

Shingles, Cedar, 3 feet, 1st quality. 26 — ®

Shingles, Cedar, 3 feet, 2d quality. 22 — S24 —
Shingles, Cedar, 2 feet, 1st quahty. 17 — ®18 —
Shingles, Cedar, 2 feet, 2d quality. 15 — ®16 —

Shingles, Cypress, 2 feet 13 — ®14 —

Shinirles, Company 28 — ®30 —

MUSTARD— Ameiican ®

NAILS—Wrought, 6d to 20d...^ Its. — 10 ®— 14

Cui4dto40d — 41®— 4{

PLASTER PARIS— <Fton 2 87i® 3 —

PROVISION.S— Beef, Mess, |»bbl... 11 75 @12 50

Beef, Prime, 8 50® 9 25

Pork. Mess, Ohio, old 14 87^ gi 15 —

Pork, Prime, Ohio, old 13 — ®13 12}

Lard. Ohio ^ lb. — 9.®— lOi-

Hams. Pickled — 8*®— 9i

Shoulders. Pickled — 6^®— 7

Sid.'s, Pickled ®

licci; ^^nioUrd ^ ft. ®— 11

BiUler. Oraiiye County — 25 ®— 28

liulter. Western Dairy — 18 ®— 20

Butter, Grease ®

Cheese, in casks and boxes — 7 ® — 8

SEKI)!-^— Clover #■ ft. — 6.i ®— 7

Timothy ^tierce 17 — ®21 —

Flax, Rough ®H 5C

SOAP— N. York, Brown ^ ft. — 3}@— 5i

TALLOW— American Rendered ... — 8i®— 9

TOHACCO— Virginia @ ft. — 2 @— 6

North Carolina ®

Kentucky and Missouri — 3 ® — 7

WOOL— .\m..'^axony. Fleece,.^ ft. — 35 @— 37i

American Full Blood Merino — 32 ® — 34

Aniericiin t ami i Merino — 27 ® — 30-

Ameiican Native and J Merino — 2.5 2) — 27

Supertine, PuUcd —30 ®— 39'

MONTHLY

JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

VOL. II. JUNE, 1847. NO. 12..

INDIAlg CORN :

WHAT IS KNOWN .\ND WHAT IS WANTED TO BE KNOWN ABOUT IT.

" Fell Famine sickens at the o'erilowing good,
And, hissing, flies the native land of food."

If any should ask what is our warrant for encouraging inquiries like the follow-
ing from a correspondent, we answer : 1. The duties that belong to our very po-
sition. 2. That volume on volume may be produced to show that for the last
thirty years we have been instigating inquiries on every branch of agricultural
industry ; and, 3. As to this particular subject, as far back as March, 1822 —
twenty-five years ago — a friend in Massachusetts made a call upon us, saying : " I
' beg leave to inquire in behalf of myself and others, of you and your correspond-
' ents, what is the relative value of barley, buckwheat, Indian corn, oats and rye,
' as food for hogs, horses and neat stock. Satisfactory answers would enable us
' to ascertain what particular part of our surplus produce might be offered for

* sale consistently with good husbandry."

In publishing the above inquiry in the American Farmer, we remarked :
" The object at which our correspondent aims is, we think, entitled to the notice
' of Agricultural Societies. They might call for and reward the most judicious

* sets of experiments connected with the subject ; and we persuade ourselves to

* believe that it is within the power of any one of these Associations to com-

* mand satisfactory and useful answers to these questions; but meanwhile we
' would very gladly receive such information in the case as any of our readers
' may be disposed to furnish."

Such were our published sentiments in 1822 — such are they in 1847. The
references and extracts which we shall now make are not intended to show that
anything new can be said on the mere practical part — the cultivation — but they
will show what progress has since then been made in the application of sci-
ences to these subjects. We have no longer to inquire in vain for the relative
value and nutritive properties of wheat, corn, rye, barley, &c. Thanks to the
votaries of science and the " book knowledge" they give us.

Extract of a Letter to the Editor of The Farmers' Library.

" The calculation is that we shall raise this year five hiiiulred millions of bushels of com,
and if so, then there will be four huiidreil and ninety-nine millions of bnsliels of ears
thrown away. Now the question of whether cobs are of any value or not ouf;lit to be set-
tled. Yon know that corn-blades are considered of more value than hay at the South for
their race-horses ; and our fanners here feed blades and stalks to theii- catde, and soinu few
(1107)

538 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE,

also grind the cob and say it has a vahie — that it is worth five or six cents a bushel; others
Bay it is of no vahie. It is a shame that neither the cob, husks, blades or stalk have been
analyzed ; all should be tested to see if there is any nutritive matter in either, and what
per cent. The ashes, also, should be analyzed to sec the kind of salts taken from the earth
in raising corn, so that the proper manure can be supplied to raise the largest quantity per
acre. 1 wish you could ]>ersuade Mr. Tescheniacher to undertake this investigation.* I
know of none connected with Agriculture of more interest. lSu])pose that the cob, ibr nu-
tritive value, is worth but two cents per bushel, we can save ten millions of doUai's per year."

When it is considered that Indian corn constitutes one of our most important
staples, that it is produced in a single State to the value of more than
$11,000,000, and that it is cultivated more or less over the whole extent of the
United States, it will be admitted that every new question that can be raised about
it ought to command attention. Hence we heartily agree with our respected cor-
respondent, that the interests of American Agriculture demand that every part
of this noble plant, which should emblazon our national arms rather than the
bird of prey I should be thoroughly analyzed in all its parts, aad the results
presented in every aspect that may serve to illustrate its value. We will ven-
ture to say that any plant occupying in Europe, as maize does in America, the
front rank in the catalogue of vegetable diet for man and beast would have been
long since subjected to all the tests that vegetable chemistry could apply. Thus
we should have learned, with as much exactness as science could determine, the
sort of manures most congenial to its growth ; how much, for example, of pot-
ash, lime, magnesia, phosphates, silica, &c., a crop of any given number of
bushels carries off from an acre of land, and how much of these are appropriated
respectively to the different parts of the plant — its leaves, grain, husk, cob, &c. — •
and, finally, how much there is of nutriment for man or beast ia a given quantity
of all these parts. The question now raised is as to the value of the cob ; a
question of palpable importance when we consider that they will amount this
year, probably, as stated by our correspondent, to 500,000,000 of bushels, unless
it be that the crop may be greatly diminished, as in the year 1816, by the very
cold weather of the spring so far — for it is knoAvn to be a plant that, of all others,
delights in heat and moisture.

But there are other points in the physiology and value of this grain, besides
the virtue of the cob, that require to be elucidated ; and here Ave may be allowed
once again to remark on the slow progress of Agriculture as compared with other
manufactures, for it is in reality a manufacture of food out of raw materials,
worked and manipulated by hand and animal and other powers. See in the
meantime what improvements have been made in glass, iron, paper, in printing,
and, in short, in all other arts and manufactures ! In studying the causes of
this difference, the history of Agriculture as well as of these other arts and man-
ufactures, points to our neglect, in all our schools, of chemistry and of mechan-
ical philosophy in their obvious relations to Agriculture. May we hope that a
" better time is coming ?" But to return.

AVhat we want in reference to Indian corn, over and above an exact knowledge
of the constituents and nutritive value o{ the cob, is to have, as before said, all its
parts analyzed — and the blades, both in their green and in their cured state. It
is too much to be desired that we should know the weight that each part of the
plant will yield on an acre, in proportion to any given measure or weight of grain.
How else can the farmer tell the quantity of nutritive matter, and hence the val-
ue of the product of his labor and capital when applied to corn, in comparison
Avith other crops ? By the analysis made by Societies and other Institutes, and
by scientific and public spirited men in Europe, especially by order of the Duke

(1108,

INDIAN CORN. 539

of Bedford, all these questions have been solved in respect of all their staple
crops — grains, grasses and vegetables ; so that not only their weight and constitu-
ent elements in a dry and green state are known, but it has been ascertained,
as we can show, how all these different sorts of food contribute — some to the
secretion of millc, some to the formation of bone, others to the production of fat,
muscle, &:c.

All this has science lately developed for Agriculture in Europe, recording
the results in books within our reach, forming the " book knowledge" so much
derided by some very wise people — in their own conceit. Even our own great
staple, Indian corn, which dire calamity has forced on tlie people of Europe,
we shall see, in the sequel of these remarks, has been there somewhat more
thoroughly analyzed already than in our own country. Why is it that with
all our Institutes, Societies and Associations, we are thus left to trans-Atlantic
lights for information ? flow much more honorable would it be to kindle the
lamps on our own altars, instead of wasting our means to have it shown once and
again that certain things in the way of large crops and fat beasts can be effected
which have been done ten thousand times before ? Rather, say we, let the new
lights which Agriculture, yet more than other arts, requires, be anxiously sought
for ; and to that end let a scale of liberal rewards be framed with due study and
circumspection, for those who will find and exhibit these new lights for its far-
ther improvement. In this case of Indian corn, however, it is not so much that
we need experiments to be made in its cultivation as that certain other facts
be ascertained.

The plan should be to take any single acre of good fair yield — say 60 bush-
els, more or less ; and then, what it is desirable to know is — first. How much
the land which produced that given quantity of grain yields, also, in bulk and
in weight of cobs,* and in weight of shucks, tops, blades and stalks, suppose
the " tops" to be cut off above the top ear, as usual. We will presently show
why these facts, as respects the tops, blades and shucks of corn, are of great im-
portance as sources of national wealth — ay, as furnishing, in themselves, a claim
to influence in our national councils far beyond the whole stake of certain other
classes who catise themselves to be respected and cared for.

To come to the point, then. We would respectfully suggest that the American
Institute, or the Agricultural Association, or the State Agricukural Society,
should nominate some two, or at most three, well known and respectable farm-
ers in States wide apart, to whom should be offered a prize of $100, or its equiv-
alent in plate on which this king of plants should be engraved — giving them in-
structions to take a fair average acre of corn land, and very accurately weigh
and measure the grain, and weigh the blades, tops, shucks and stalks. Though
we are aware that in many States the whole is cut off at the root, and the blades
not separated from the stalks and tops, yet it is desirable that for this experi-
ment it should be done, especially in the southern States, where the system is
different, and where the blades are cured and fed separately from the other parts
of the plant. The practice is, when the blades are ripe and before they get too
dry, to pull them from the stalk up to the topmost ear, cutting off the " tops"
just above the topmost ear, and saving and feeding them separately. Some
experiments of Mr. Ruffin showed some diminution in the weight of the grain
from cutting the tops before the grain was fully ripe, and the philosophy of the

* This, 83 relates to the proportion between the grain and the cob, has since been done by Mr. Colt, as
the reader will presently see.
(1109)

540 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

case would warrant such a result. We have not his invaluable " Farmers' Re-
gister" to refer to ; but, perhaps from the prejudice of early associations, we
confess to a partiality for the old and still very much the southern practice of
pulling and careiully curing the blades and cutting the tops, without undertaking,
however, to decide upon and recommend the practice on the score of actual
economy. It is only by thus offering adequate inducement that we can prevail
on some reliable farmers to establish all these facts by careful experiment, mak-
ing the quantity of grain the standard of reference and comparison ; and that
we can get to know with sufiicient accuracy how much there is of food and ma-
nure to be had in the whole •plant, from a given measure of land, and be thus pre-
pared to measure the aggregate value of all that our capital and labor produce
when bestowed on this crop.

As before intimated, this is not one of the cases that admits of a premium to
excite competition. The object is simply to come at certain facts of plain and
obvious importance, the ascertainment of which requires care and zeal, and, at
the same time, involves a degree of pains and expense that could not fairly be
expected without adequate inducement. There is no need, however, of setting
one hundred to doing what one can do as well, and when only one can be com-
pensated for the trouble.

Does any one believe that a merchant or manufacturer, interested in a matter
coimected with his business to the amount of the value to the farmer of any one
of these items, would rest until he had ascertained precisely how it bears on his
halance sheet ? Why, we will venture to assert that the millionaires, proprietors
of the great Middlesex manufactory at Lowell, can tell how much a gallon
more or less of oil on the gudgeons of their machinery, or one mill in the price
of wool, adds to or diminishes the cost of a yard of their cloth ! — And here we
take leave to protest against the temper evinced by a member of the New- York
Farmers' Club, when this question of the value of the cobs of Indian corn was
raised there not long since, whereupon he, according to the uncontradicted re-
ports of the papers, remarked, with more flippancy than discretion, that the best
way to determine their value was to throw, at once, the grain and the cobs to the
hogs for their decision ! For one we feel indebted to the author of the problem
for urging it on the attention of those whose province it is to illustrate all such
questions. But as there is a vast difference in the relative proportions of grain
and offal, or fodder, incidental to a given measure of corn in different latitudes^
these measurements would require to be made in the South or West, as well as
in the North or East. Two, or, at most, three points, however, Avould answer
for the establishment of data to rectify and guide practice throughout the coun-
try. It is quite probable, for example, that no stalk of the corn of Mr. Lathrop
of Springfield, Massachusetts, which yielded one hundred bushels to the acre,
in the list given in the next chapter, was higher than Hon. John Wentwokth in
his stockings ; whereas that which, in Kentucky, gave Mr. Williams one hun-
dred and fifty-eight bushels could probably not be reached liy old Rougli and
Ready, with the point of his sword, seated on his war horse.

We were informed by a correspondent in Dorset County, Maryland, in 1S2S —
(see American Farmer) — that he grew several acres of corn eleven feet high ;
and in the same journal, in 1830, there is a statement of a stalk of corn then
growing on the farm of Andrew Clark, of Columbus County, Pennsylvania,
measured by Col. Jos. Paxton in the presence of Joshua Loyd, of Ohio, and
David Clark, of Columbus, Pennsylvania : " Right of stalk, from the surface of

(1110)

INDIAN CORN. 541

' the ground to the top, without erecting the top blade, 14 feet 6 inches ; circum-
' ferenco of the stalk between the joints, the blade stripped off, 7? inches ;
' length of blade, put out S feet from the ground, 4 feet 1 inch ; breadth of ditto,
' 71 inches." Col. Paxton had no doubt it would reach the length of 17 or 18
feet, as no tassel had then made its appearance.

All these facts go to show the propriety of having several measurements, and
that the same system of gathering and curing the corn and fodder may not suit
all latitudes alike.

We would therefore suggest, with all deference, to the American Institute
to offer two or three premiums of $50 or $100 each, to be placed in the hands
of gentlemen of known character and zeal in the cause, living in latitudes
wide asunder — say with Presidents of Agricultural Societies in Massachusetts
and Virginia, Tennessee, or Kentucky, or Ohio— to be by them offered to
some practical farmer of their acquaintance, who might be relied upon to take
this matter in hand con amore, and let us have the exact quantities, as here set
forth, of all parts and substances pertaining to an acre of Indian corn of average
product of grain ; for once knowing that a given amount of these different sub-
stances was incidental to a given amount of grain, a man would only have, ever
after, to ascertain how much grain he made to know, with sufficient exactness,
how much and what was the value of all the rest of the crop.

There are rules laid down for determining how much grain a given space filled
with the ears will yield. The first we remember to have seen was by Bordley,
(in his "Husbandry,") one of your book farmers again, who, though himself not
successful, did more good to agriculturists, by causing them to think, than fifty of
your " practical men" who come along in the wake of mechanical and scientific
discoveries, and grow rich on the practice of theories they once denounced. A
correspondent, referring to Bordley, says: Multiply the length, depth and width
together ; the solid measure multiply by 8 ; the quotient will be about one per
cent short. Take any box, therefore — say 3 feet square and 2 feet deep — 3X3=
9X2=18X8=14-4 bu^els and a fraction. The following is given in the Ameri-
can Agriculturist as from the Western Cultivator :

To Measure Corn in the Ear. — In a bulk of com in the ear, measuring 12 feet long-,
11 feet broad and 6 feet deep there will be 316 bushels and 8-tenths of a bushel of shelled
com, or 633 bushels and C-tcntbs of a bushel of eai- com, as :
12Xll=132X6=792X4=316-8
12X11=132X6=?92X8=633'6

The decimal 4 is used when the object is to find the quantity in shelled com, because
that decimal is half of the decimal 8, and it requires two bushels of ear com to make one
of shelled corn. In using these rales a halt' bushel should be used to every hundred, that
amount of enor residtiug from the substitution of the decimals.

There is a considerable difference, however, between different species of com.
The Editor of The Farmers' Library well remembers that his father, who was
always a corn-seller, in old Calvert County, Maryland, and cultivated the yellow
gourd-seed, taking pains to select for seed perfect ears having the greatest num-
ber of rows, always demanded pay for six bushels for every ten bushels of ears
measured into an ox-cart, as was the fashion, and if the gentleman hesitated he
had it shelled to satisfy him.

Just as we had written thus far, we received a letter from R. L. Colt, Esq.,
of Paterson, who states — " As you requested, I took one bushel of best kind of
Jersey corn in ears, carefully shelled it, and had half a bushel and six quarts of
shelled corn and a heaped half bushel of cobs ; so, for all practical purposes, you
can say that a struck bushel of shelled corn v/ill furnish a heaped bushel of cobs.
(1111)

542 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

I know a clever man who tells nie that 100 pounds of corn cohs will give as
much whisky as 100 pounds of potatoes. The half bushel of cobs weighed 7
pounds ; a bushel of cobs, of course, 14 pounds ; and, of course, the 500,000,000
bushels that will be made this year will be equal to about 35,000 tons."

Now, simple, and yet important, as these facts are, and easy of ascertainment,
we do not remember to have seen them stated before, though they may have
been. We now know, nearly enough for all useful purposes, the measure and
the weight of cobs from an acre of corn that gives a certain quantity of grain.
A crop of 100 bushels of shelled corn gives 100 bushels, and 1,400 pounds weight
of cobs. Very well, then, as the sailor says, " belay that," and let us proceed. We
still want (except as we shall hereafter show the information to have been par-
tially supplied) the weight and the analysis of the shuck perhaps even more than
of any other part, for the reason that this particular part of the plant seems to have
been altogether overlooked, as far as we are aware of, while we know tliat most
farmers in Maryland and Virginia, and farther south, depend very much on it as
winter provender for their cattle, esteeming it to be more nutritious and valuable
than wheat straw. Why should it not be as carefully analyzed as straw, or
any of the grasses, and its weight per acre be ascertained ?

Mr. Leake, of the Pedee Agricultural Society, South Carolina, soine years
a^o reported that " an acre of corn, when first cut for fodder, weighed 156,816
pounds — over 70 tons — and that when thoroughly cured for forage, the same
wei°^hed 27,297 pounds — over 10 tons. It was thought the dried forage would
have been something more had not the corn been cut too early." From his
usino- the term cut, we suppose he included the top blade, stalk and shuck.
Mr. Tucker, in his "Progress of the United States," reckons 20 pounds oi blades
to a bushel of corn. 25,000,000 acres, which it would take to yield 500,000,000
bushels, at 20 bushels to the acre, would then give 250,000,000 tons ; but sup-
pose the average yield of corn fodder, including the cob and shuck, to be but 3
tons to the acre, instead of 10 tons, and the value to be but 20 cents a hundred,
or $4 a ton, and we have $300,000,000 as the value of our corn fodder alone —
is it too much to assume that it is worth that, if we add, for deficiency, the crop
of beans, peas, feathers, sumac, broom-corn, honey and flax-seed, omitted in the
Census ? What intelligent farmer would be at a loss to get the value of 20 cents
out of every 100 weight of corn fodder? Judge Bucl tells us of a Vermont farm-
er who pronounced the corn fodder of any acre of land to be equal in value to the
hay that the same land would produce ; and he himself says he carried his cat-
tle through the winter on corn fodder in as good condition as on hay. In an ad-
dress to the Maryland Agricultural Society, we remember it to have been stated
by its then President, Hon. Robert Smith, a polished scholar and gentleman
of the good old school, and the most popular Secretary of the Navy we have
ever had, that corn-stalks, instead of " wasting their sweetness on the desert air,"
might, if well cured, be cut up and steamed, and made nourishing food for cat-
tle through the whole winter.

Surely it were superfluous to insist that the facts which these measurements
and analyses of corn fodder and corn cobs would bring to light would be of great
value, not merely for the practical guidance of the farmer, but for the use of sta-
tistical writers in their expositions of our national industry. To him who con-
fessedly stands among these in the front rank, Professor Tuckkr, we are indebted
for an observation in his *' Progress of the United States," sufficient of itself to
demonstrate at once the great value of the blades alone of the corn plant, and

(1U2)

INDIAN CORN. 543

the f^lariiis' oversight and neglect to make any mention in the Census of such an
important item of agricultural contribution to the natural resources — an oversight
that will continue, in a thousand forms, to characterize the proceedings of the
Government and to degrade the landed interest until farmers shall manifest more
self-respect, and cease to have their eyes blinded by tlie filth or dazzled by the
glittering spoils of party.

" It is proper to remark," says Professor Tucker, " that the Census omits several
[agricultural] products whose aggregate value would make no insignificant addi-
tion to the total amount. Among these are : 1. Blades of Indian corn, an excel-
lent fodder for horses and cattle, and which, estimating twenty pounds for
every bushel of grain, amounts to 3,775,000 tons, worth $37,750,000. 2. Peas
and beans. 3. Flax-seed. 4. Broom-corn. 5. Sumac. (J. Honey. 7. Feath-
ers."

Supposing, then, the estimate of 500,000,000 bushels for 1847 to be correct,
and our crop of corn blades alone would be live millions of tons weight, which
at 50 cents a hundred, or $10 a ton, would amount to .$50,000,000.

Here, then, we have in a single item of agricultural produce not even alluded
to in our national exhibit of the sources of our wealth, an amount about equal to
the whole product of mining and fishing industry in 1840. The annual product
of our agricultural industry, by the last census, including the items which, as we
have seen, are altogether omitted, was not short of $700,000,000, taking the Cen-
sus to be correct ; that of the mining interest, including iron and coal, $42,358,761
— the farmer contributing more by 16 to 1 than the iron-master and the coal mon-
ger ; and yet we will venture to say that the voice of the latter classes is heard
sixteen times as far and as quickly, and has sixteen times as much weight as the
iarmer's with our Representatives of the landed interest in Congress ! And is it
to be wondered at, since not a single Society can be persuaded to move, or a paper
be prevailed on to assert their political rights, as a class? But let us return to
the point from which we started, to wit, the necessity there is for a more thor-
ough examination into the value of the cob of Indian corn, to ascertain and com-
pare its nutritive and its fertilizing properties.

In referring to the American Institute we reckon with confidence on the public
spirit, the enlightened views, and the great pecuniary and intellectual resources
of that national and popular Institution to take up all such questions with avidity,
and referring them, with ample remuneration, to men of known competence and
appliances for their examination, they will not only retain their popularity, but
acquire what yet more they covet, solid and enviable renown for having added
essentially to the knowledge and capabilities of the agricultural community. It
is in this confidence that though urged again and again to refer this and other
kindred subjects, if necessary, to particular persons, of undisputable excellence
as men of science, with sometimes liberal individual offers of pay for the analy-
sis, we have not felt that we could send abroad for information, without implied
insensibility to the adequacy of institutions on the spot, which pride themselves
on their adaptation to the performance of such service to American Husbandry,
and their readiness to render it. We should not fear to be reproached for over-
rating their means or their disposition, even were we to proclaim that either of
these Institutions to which we have referred will undertake to have analyzed
any substance that may be sent to them for that purpose, sanctioned by an Agri-
cultvral Society as to its important bearing on the general interests of Agricul-
ture ; for if (as ought not to happen) such substance should have been previ-

(1113)

544

MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

ouply analVi^cd, without the fact hcing known to such Society, the answer would
be but a reference to the result of such analysis already made.

Were it possible to give to the problem in this case, or any other agricultural
question, a warlike attraction, to connect it in any way with the shedding of
human blood and the shouts that follow as it flows ; could we, as in the case
of the " gun cotton,'''' raise the question whether corn cobs could not be rendered
as combustible and destructive as cold steel or gunpowder, tlien should we bring
it, forsooth, within the pale of the Constitution, and every head of every depart-
ment of the Government might easily be put in requisition, as in that case, with
the Chief Magistrate in front, to lend the sanction of his name and scholarship
to the results of analytical investigation in every form that the science of the
military schools could suggest. In sober earnestness, and for the benefit of Agri-
culture, we really wish that some speculative genius would get out a patent for
turning corn cobs and corn shucks into munitions of war ; for then before the 4th
of July we should learn more of their real substance and proportions than for the
vulgar uses of Agriculture will be found out in the next forty years.

In the mean time we must endeavor to hold up some of the lights which have
already been elicited by scientific and public spirited individuals at home and
abroad. Exactly twenty-eight years ago we published the very interesting paper
which follows, on the distillation of the meal of Indian corn and cob, as com-
pared with that of the grain alone, and on the advantages of grinding both to-
gether as food for horses. It was from the pen of Peter Minor, of Albemarle,
Virginia, a man of rare acquirements and usefulness, whose modesty was equaled
only by his merit, and was addressed to that eminent agriculturist and philan-
thropic citizen, General John H. Cocke, Vice President of the Society.

made in the month of March.) The distiller
mentioned an important fact that occurred
ill the process. He found tliat the fennenta-

Ten bushels of the com and cob ground to-
gether were taken, wliich weighed 367 lbs.,
and ten bushels of pure com meal were taken,
which weighed 400 lbs. They were both
brewed or mashed on the same day, and dis-
tilled separately, with gi-eat care and accu-
racy. The product of the pure com was 18
gallons, and the product of the mixture, or
corn and cobs, was 13 gallons of spirit, each
of the same degi-ee of proof Now, it is gen-
erally agreed that the cob constitutes about
one-half of the bulk of com ; in other words,
■we give two measures in the ears for one
shelled, and the cobs are either used as fuel
or thrf>wn away as of no value. If this were
tnie, the product of the mixture then should
have been only 9 gallons, which is the lialf
of what the pm-e com produced. But 13
were obtained, 4 of which must have been,
of course, extracted from the cobs ; or if wo
estimate its nutiitive power by the quantity
of spirit, it is clear tliat wlicnever we shell
ten bushels of com, and thi-ow away the cobs,
■we throw away a portion of food equal to the
difference between!) and 13, or neailyone-lialf

As it relates to the respective weight of
each, the difference in favor of the mixture is
Btill greater, the pure meal l)eiiig more than
three pounds lieavier in the bushel, and I am
inclijied to tliink that llic product of the mix-
ture would have been gi'oater if th(! experi-
ment had been made earlier in the year, be-
fore the cobs had lost nnich of their sub-
Btance by evaporation, (my experunent was
(1114)

tion of tlie mixture took place much sooner
and was perfected a day or two earlier than
the other. His exjiression was that it maslied
much easier aud better than anything he had
tried before, and which he accounted for by
supposing that the particles of the cob being
lighter aud coarser than those of the grain,
but mixed together, prevented too close and
heavy a deposition of the mass at the bottom
of his bre^wing-tub.

These facts are particularly worthy tlie at-
tention of dif.tillers, and 1 think ai-e perfectly
satisfactory as to the v;Jue of com cobs in
the pniduction of spirits. Whether tliey aj-e
equally so m relation to their value, as a food.
Is left to the chemists to detennine. We -axe
aware that the siicchariue particles, or those
yielding spirits, are not tlie only constituents
of nounslnnent. We know that oily and mu-
cilaginous particles are the conijunient and
necessary pai'ts of food, liut wliich prepon-
derates, or in \\\\:\\ propoi-rion to each otlier
they are requii'ed to exist, in order to consti-
tute a healtliy food, I do not pretend to
know. It is cert;un, liowever, tliat the lat-
ter two do exist, in some degi'oe, in the cobs
of com ; and since tlie expcn 'iice of all who
liave tried it, coiK-iu' in reporting it to be the
most healthy mode of feeding corn, perhaps
it will not be unfair to infer that they main-
tain a due aud proper propoilion to tho

INDIAN CORN. 545

epirit. If so, llie experiment must, be satis- [ straw of any kind, this necessary distension is
fiictony-, and tiie conclusiou 1 have drawn ' produced, without any danger of disorders
from it undeniable. | arising from eating too much. It is now

But besides the actual economy, there is ciglit years since I liave been in the habit of

anotiior advantage in this way of feeding corn,
■wiiich ought to engage ihe attention ot every
fanner. It is notoriously true that the un-
ground grain of corn is healing to the stom-
ach of all animals, and of dillicult digestion,
producing colic and other inHanitnatory dis-
orders, particularly in horses, which tend
greatly to shorten their lives. They are de-

f)rived of tiie benelits derived from the stimu-
us of distension, (so necessary to the proper
health of all animals,) by being unable to eat
a sutTuient bulk to j)roduce it before they
become gorged. But when gi'ound into meal
along with the cobs, and mixed with cut hay or

feeding corn in this way, and out of six to
ten horses which I have annually kept in
that time, there has been but one case of
sickness among them, which was a slight
colic. Indeed, since I have lived ui this
country, which is now eleven years, there
has been but one death among that descrip-
tion of stock on my planUition, and that oc-
curred to a mare with a young foal, in a dis-
tant clover-field without having been fed for
many weeks, and which took two or lb"ee
days before it was known. This uncommon
health of my horses I attribute in a great de-
gree to the use of ground food.

Judge Buel, referring to and quoting this statement of Mr. Minor, remarked :
" The cobs of corn undoubtedly contain much nutriment." " We have," said he,
"besides [this proof from Mr. Minor], abundant testimony in the practice of
eminent farmers, of the utility of feeding cob meal to animals, always mixed,
we believe, with the meal of corn or oats;" and he published a note from Mr.
Robert White, of Shrewsbury, N. J., who says, " A pretty extensive feeder in the
Philadelphia market once told me that a bushel of meal made of corn and cobs
was quite equal to a bushel of meal made of corn and oats ; that his cattle throve
as fast on the former, and that they were stalled (cloyed) on it."

Does the reader require again to be reminded of tite pertinency of these ques-
tions in their relation to \\i?, substantial interests as a cultivator ? We should
trust not. Does he not see at once that on the ground of right to voice and in-
fluence in the public councils in proportion to his contributions to the common
stock of national wealth, the very offal of his corn crop gives him a title to
Weight in Congress equal to any other classes ? We all know that while the re-
sults of mercantile and manufacturing and mining industry can be ascertained
to a fraction, because those who follow it have the good sense to keep exact ac-
counts, (and are always prepared and prompt to expose any attempt by men in
authority to do them injustice ;) in agricultural affairs, on the contrary, all is
carelessness and guess work. Alas ! farmers seem born to be chiseled on every
score. And now, without farther digression, we proceed to

The Analysis of Indian Corn— And, first, as to the ash of the cob, we find in
our old American Farmer, 17th December, 1819, a writer under the signature J.
M., and whom we cannot now identify, who says : " It may not be amiss to add,
respecting the corn cob, that when burnt it will be found to yield a product of
almost pure potash."*

Another correspondent of the same period says :

"Corn Cobs Compared with Pumpkins. — I have acquired a little smattering of chemis-
try and have analyzed the cobs of com, and the small yellow pumpkin; the results are that
com cobs contain one-twentieth of their nutritive matter, and pumpkins one twenty-fifth of
their weight of matter, nutritive to animals. If my analysis be accurate, it will then appear
that farmers generally are in the liabit of throwing away an article (cobs) preferable as food
for stock to common turnips, and nearly equal to Swedish turnips," [meaning, doubtless,
weight for weight.]

500,000,000 bushels of Indian corn will furnish, according to the exact proof
supplied by Mr. Colt, 7,000,000,000 pounds, the one-twentieth of which gives

* 100 parts of the ashes of the foUowiug aubstancea contain— wheat ttraw 92, oat straw 24-5, clover
straw ifi 6, of potash.
(1115;

546

MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

35,000,000 pounds of nutritive matter now thrown away, which at 2 cents a
pound is $7,000,000.

Neither having at hand or being aware of any other analysis of the cob, as to
its ashes or nutritive matter, we now submit for future convenient reference as
well as present use, protracted as this dissertation has become, the following :

Analysis of the Grain of Indian Corn. — The only authentic American
analysis that we aware of is the following by Dr. Dana, published some years
since in the New-England Farmer.

100 Ws. of Corn.

Contain of flesh forming principles— gluten, albumen, &c. 1-26

Fat forming principles— gum, starch, sugar, woody fibre, oil, &c., 88-43

Water ^'

Salts 131

"We give also the following from the American Agriculturist.

There are also two Tables in Thomson's Chemistry of Organic Bodies, published in Lon-
don iu 1838. That of Bizio was made as early as 1823— Professor Gorham's, we beUeve,
Bomewhat earlier.

RutaBaga.

PotMocs

fresh dug.

fresh dug

1-

2-27

13-

24-34

8.5-

72-

1-

1-39

Analysis of 100 parts of Maize, by Gorkam.
Fresh. Dried.

Water 9

Starch 77

Zein (gluten) 3

Albumen 2-5

Gam 1-7.5

Sugar 1-45

94-70

Analysis of 100 parts of Maize, by Bizio.

Starch 80920

Zein (gluten) 5-758

Extractive 1-092

Zimome 0-945

Gum 2 283

Sugar 0-895

Fat oil 0-323

Hordein, (nearly like starch) 7-710

Salts, acetic acid and loss 0074

100,000

Lastly we give, from Johnston's Agricultural Chemistry, Tables, one of which
embraces the "straw" or blade of this plant, grown on different soils.

Composition of the ash of the grain and
straw of Indian corn (Zea Mats.)
The grain of maize leaves about 1^ per
cent, of ash— the straw from 2^ to 6^ per

cent.

The Grain. — Few analyses have hitherto
been made of the ash of the several parts of
this plant. The only two analyses we yet
possess of the grain are the followmg :

Fromberg. I.etellier.
U. S. Bechelbronn.

Potash 26-63 i

Soda 7.54!

Lime 159

Magnesia 15-44

Oxide of iron OGO

Phosphoric acid ...39-65

Sulphuric acid 5-54

Chlorine 0-36

Silica 2-09

99-44

1-3
17-0

50-1

0-8
100

Hruschauer. — No. 1.

Potash 14-46

Soda 39-92

Lime 4-93

Magnesia 1-84

Oxide of iron 0-90

Phosphoric acid 11 76

Sulphate of lime ... 101
Chloride of sodium . 6-29
Silica 18-89

100

No. 2.

Mean.

4-78

962

1269

26-30

11-00

7-97

11-44

6-64

0-73

0-81

22-39

17-08

1-37

1-19

0.55

3-42

35-05

26-97

100

100

Strav). — Of the straw or stem of the maize,
we have two analyses from plants grov-n on
different soils. Tlie ash of the several parts
of this plant, however, and at different ages,
must differ BO much in composition that little
can be inferred from llio following differ-
ences as to the effect of diversity of soil.

Composition of the ash of maize straw,
grown on two different soils in the neidibor-
hood of Griitz. No. 1 on a soil formed from
the debris of primary rocks, No. 2 on a moun-
tain hmesloue soil.
(1116)

Per centage of ash 2-30 6-50 4-40

Between these results we observe great
differences both in the total per centage of
a.sh left, and in the proportions of every one
of the constituents which the a.sh contains.
This is by no means unexpected, but it illus-
trates a fact to which I shall presently draw
your attention more particularly, that our
knowledge of the inorganic constituents of
plants — of the functions perfcirnied by tliem
in the several pai-ts of plants — imd of the pro-
portions required most perfectly to perform
these sevenU functions — is yet iu its infancy.
The crop of Indian corn varies, I believe,
more than that of any other grain. Crops of
nearly 200 bushels, an acre are recorded in
some of the journals of the United States, but
GO bushels, each GO lbs. is consiilered a good
average return even in favorable districts.
\V(> have no accurate returns of the propo.-tion
which the weight of the straw and leaves
bears to' tliat of the corn of the same })laut.
Sixty bushels of com at 1 i per cent, of ash

INDIAN CORN. 547

would cany off the laud i>4 lbs. of inorganic
matter, consiBiiug of

Potash and soda-.THC

Lime 0 7

Magnesia 9-2

Phoephoric acid ... 27- 1

Silica ■ 04

Total lbs. 54

According to this analysis of Letellier, the
ash of the maize corn consists almost entirely
of the pho8phate8 of potash, soda, mid mag-
ncBia.

We will take an early opportunity of presenting some otlicr views of the value
of the Indian corn and other crops, not so much that anything we may say will
be new or important in itself, as to impress on the cultivators of the soil the im-
pregnable ground on which they stand, and the claim it gives them, we will not
say to sue for, but to demand, a corresponding provision, in the laws of the
land, for enlightening and benefiting their pursuit, as far and in full proportion
as the Government undertakes to act at all for the protection and benefit of
other interests, by surveys. Tariffs and Schools. If Congress can lay out 8 or
80,000 dollars, or one dollar, for maintaining military scfiools in which are
taught all the sciences and foreign living languages, it can do the same for the
art and business of Agriculture. If it can appropriate $3,000 for collecting and
disseminating agricultural knowledge in the shape of essays and statistics, it can
do the same for having information diffused in schools and by lectures. Let our
military schools be maintained and the country filled, as now, with officers qual-
ified to take command and drill the volunteers in case of war. This will alto-
gether, as experience shows, supersede the necessity of keeping up large armies.
Our military, since the war with England, has cost us about $500,000,000 ! Let
four millions a year, or the proceeds of the public lands, be taken from or added
to our military appropriations, and with that, in ten years, Ave might have pro-
\*ided for every country school in the United Slates teachers as well qualified to
give instruction in agricultural chemistry, botany, geology, natural history,
road making, bridge building, rural architecture and surveying and mechanics,
as the Cadets at West Point are now prepared to give instruction in the art of
war. What military operations derive in the field from scientific direction,
Agriculture is deriving now from scientific direction in England and Scotland ;
and so it ought and so it u'ill do in this couniry. The cultivators of the soil,
who contribute four-fifths of the national wealth, have a right to demand this
more useful appropriation of their funds ; and what is more, they are gonior to
do it ; and the day is coming when no man will be considered a worthy member
of an Agricultural Society, or of a legislative body, who does not heartily assist
in this glorious work. There is not another class on earth who would not, be-
fore now, have been represented in Congress by men who would not dare "ive
one dollar for military surveys and maps and drawings and schools, without ex-
acting as much for surveys and instruction in Agriculture ! But, thank God !
who times all things for the best, the time is coming when justice and honor
will be done to the plow as well as the sword. Will not the general press of
the couniry give its aid and comfort to the good cause ?

C^ From every part of Ulster tlie middling and small class of farmers ai-t> leaving in
hundreds for the purpose of seeking a future home on the other side of the Atlantic. The
English and Scotch steamers carry out with them, weekly, immense numbers for Liverpool
and Glasgow, the impatience to quit Ireland Ijeing so gieat that should a vessel not be
re;uly to sail inmiediately fi-om Derry for America, lliey set out wath all possible speed for
the above ports. We have l)een informed that within the last three weeks fully fifteen
hundred persons liave embarked at Portrush, the steamers on ai-riving there being srarcdy
able to take all the passengers ofieriiig. [Loudonderiy (Ireland) Sentinel.

548 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

THE GREEN TWIG PEACH.

ROOT AND OTHER GRAFTING.

Clabksville, Va., March 1, 1847.

Dear Sir : The Green Twig Peach tree is put in care of my worthy friend, J. H.
who will deliver it as you have directed. It is my humble opinion a fortune can
be made in propagating it, more especially if inoculated like this, permitting the
common Red to grow along with the Green Twig. 1 hope you will take occasion
to open the box and see it, for i assure you it is something rare and beautiful. I
found the fruit so delicious that it induced me to rear three hundred trees of this
kind (now beginning to bear fruit.)

1 fear your northern^climate may not suit it as well as this, as it appears rather
more tender than the fed-limb peach. In the same box with the tree, I will put
limbs for grafting, if Mr. Colt desires it. Let me tell him how : Dig up the
roots of any young peach tree ; cut them in lengths of 6 or 7 inches ; split the
proper end oiie inch as you cut them off. Take the limbs 1 send, cut them in
shape of a wedge and insert them in these roots, bark to bark ; mop around the
insertion with a mop dipped in melted beeswax and rosin, not hot enough to in-
jure ; plant them I5 inches below the junction of root and graft, and 19 out of
20 will live. If you have young peach trees, it may be safer to graft to them.

The twigs I send are long enough to cut into several lengths for grafts, and all
the ends are dipped in beeswax and rosin, to prevent the escape of sap, and
thereby they will be much more certain to live.

1 have for a long time been aiming to procure the best selection of fruit in the
State for my own use, and take great pleasure in propagating the choicest kinds.
My plan is this: When the grafts grow ten or fifteen inches long, I cut off a
part and take from it buds and inoculate vines or trees of two or three years'
growth. Nothing would please me better than to get a few twigs of the Black
Tartarian Cherry ; I have seen some notice of it in Browne's work on Trees, and
have become anxious to have it. 1 find that cherries do best when grafted or
inoculated on our common wild cherry. Yours, sincerely, J. L.

John S. Skinnee, Esq.

AManval of the Principles and Practice of Road-Making, comprising the Location, Construction
and Improvement of Roads (Common. McAdam, Paved, Plank and Rail Roads) ; by W. M. Gillespie,
A. M., C. E., Professor of Civil Engineering in Union College.

The work of which we have here given the title, has made its appearance very oppor-
itunely, as it was much needed for the very reasons given in the Preface :

" The common roach of the Unitrd Slates are inferior to those of any other civilized country.
Their faults are tliosc of direction, of slopes, of shape, of surface, and generally of deficiency in all
the attributes of good roads. Some of these defects are indeed the unavoidable results of the
Bcantiness of capital and of labor in a new country, but ino.st of them arisi.' from an ignorance either
of the true principles of road-making, or of the advantages of putting these principles into prac-
tice. They may therefore be removed by a more general difl'usion of scientilic instruction upon
this subject, and to assist in bringing about this consummation is the object of the present volume.
In it the author has endeavored to combine, in a systematic and symmetrical form, the results of
an engineering experience in all parts of the United States, and of au examination of the great
roads of Europe, with a careful digestion of nil accessible authorities, an important portion of the
matter having never before appeared in English."

We "ave an extract from it iu our last number, and have only now to reiterate what we

have 8(1 often urged, that those are the subjects which ought to be taught in our common

schools as practical cxemplificatioiis of the ninthematics which in some of them are taught,

or pretended to be. How obviotisly does a thorough rcfonn iu the course of Common School

education Ho at the bottom of ;ill rational ideas of the improvement and prosperity of the

agricultural class !
(1118)

"list of premiums for 1847."

549

" LIST OF TREMIUMS FOR 1S47,"

OFFERED BY THE NEW-YORK STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY— ORSERVATIONS THEREON.

We should be well pleased if we could give this list entire ; but as it would
occupy many pages, it would hardly be A\ir toward subscribers in otlier States,
in which this journal circulates as much as in this, seeing that they can have no
interest in the mere details — as, for instance, thirty or more premiums for " Fc«
gclahles," and yet more for "Fic/d Crops." Besides, these particulars are dis-
seminated far and wide by the Society, through the agency of public journals
and otherwise. But, for the information and, as far as found suitable, the gov-
ernment of other Societies, and for the satisfaction of general readers, we shall
extract from the bill before us, with which we have been kindly furnished by
the able Secretary, Mr. Johnson, such parts as may appear to be of most gen-
eral interest, and as may serve an useful general purpose, in the way we have
abovementioned — and, first, as to

Management of Farms. — It will be seen that the questions propounded, con-
nected with these premiums, presuppose, and require, that the farmer who com-
petes for them must be something more than a tnere man of routine ! To
answer these interrogatories he must possess habits of thought and investiga-
tion. He must keep a register of farm operations, and an account of farm ex-
penses. When farmers are generally prepared to answer such interrogatories.
Agriculture may be considered already well advanced on the high road to suc-
cessful practice as an intellectual calling. So mote it be !

We may not, in one number, spare the space which would be required for all
the extracts we propose to make, nor will the object in view be in any measure
impaired by deferring a portion, if that should be found unavoidable.

The exhibition, it will have been observed, is to be held at Saratoga Sprino-s
on the 14th, 15th and 16th September, and it would be well if one could be held
there every year, in the midst of the season, when visitors from a distance would
buy largely of choice things.

MANAGEMENT OF FARMS.
For the best cultivated farm of not less than
50 acres, exclusive of wood-laud 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 pre-
miums must submit written answers to the fol-
lowing questions To all who furnish full an-
swers to these questions, premiums will be
given consisting of single volumes of the Trans-
actions of the State Society, or sets of those vol-
umes, according to tlie value of such reports:

SOILS, ScC.

1. Of how much land does your farm consist?
and of how much wood, waste and improved land
respectively ?

2. VVbai is the nature of your soil and subsoil ? Is
there limestone in it ? What rocks are found in it?

3. What do you consider the best mode of im-

(1119)

proving the different kinds of soil on your farm ? Of
clay soil if you have it— of sandy soil— and of grav-
ally soil ? Answer separately.

4. What depth do you plow? What effect has
deep plowing bad on various soils 1

5. Have you made any experiments to test the dif-
ference in a succeeding crop, between shallow, com-
mon, or deep plowing ?

6. Have you used the subsoil-plow ( and what
have been its effects on different soils and crops ?

MANUKES.

7. How many loads of manure (30 bushels per
load) do you usually apply per acre 1 How do you
manage your manure ? Is it kept tmdcr cover ? or
are there cellars under your baras or stables, for re-
ceiving it ?

8. What are your means, and what your manner
of making and collecting manure ?

9. How many loads of manure do you manufac-
ture annually ? How many do you apply ?

10. How is your manure applied — whether in its
long or green state, or in compost ? For what crops,
or under what circumstances, do you prefer using
it, either in a fresh or rotten state ?

11. Could you not cheaply essentially increase
your supply of manure by a little extra labor?

550

MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

12. Have you used limo, plaster, guano, salt, or
any subttHnce not in common use as manure ? In
what manner were they used, and with what results !

TILLAGE CROPS.

1.3. How many acres of land do you till? and with
what crops arc they occupied, and how much for
each crop ?

14. Whiit is the ainount of seed planted or sown
for each crop — the time of sowing— the mode of cul-
tivating, and of harvesting— and the product per
acre ?

15. What kind and quantity of manure do you
prefer for each, and at what times, and in what man-
ner do you apply it ?

16. How deep do you have manure covered in
the earth, for dilferent crop.s and different soils ';

17. Have your potatoes been afi'ected with any
peculiar defect or disease, and have you been able
to discover any clearly proved cause for it, or found
any remedy 1

GRASS LANDS, &C.

18. What kind of grasses do you use ? How much
seed of clover, or the various kinds of grass, do you
sow to the acre ? At what season of the year do you
sow — and what is the manner of seediui;?

19. 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 i

20. Is any of your mowing land unsuitable for the
plow, and what is your mode of managing such land ?

21. Have you practiced irrigating or watering
meadows or other lands, and with what cfl'ect ?
What is your particular mode of irrigation, and how
is it performed 1

22. Have you reclaimed any low, bog or peat
lands 1 What was the mode pursued, the crops
raised, and what the success ?

DOMESTIC ANIMALS.

23. How many oxen, cows, young cattle, and
horses do you keep, and of what breeds are they ?

24. Have you made any experiments to show the
relative value of ditl'erent breeds of cattle or other
animals for particular purposes, and with what re-
sults?

25. What do you consider the best and cheapest
manner of wintering your cattle — as to feed, water-
ing and shelter?

26. How much butter and cheese do you make
annually— from what number of cows, and what is
your mode of manufacture ?

27. How many sheep do you keep? Ofwhatbreed
or breeds are they? 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 ? How
much will your sheep or lambs sell for per head to
the butcher ?

28. What do you consider the best and cheapest
manner of wintering your sheep as to food, water-
ing and shelter? How many in proportion to your
flock (if any) do you lose durintr the winter?

29. How many swine do you keep? Ofwhatbreed
are they ? Howdo you feed them ? At what age do
you kill them, and what do they weigh when
dressed ?

30. What experiments have you made to show
the relative value of potatoes, turnips, and other
root crops, compared with Indian corn, or other
grain, for feeding animals, either for fattening or for
milk?

FRUIT.

31. What is the number of your apple trees? Are
they of natural or grafted fruit ? and chietly of what
varieties ?

32. What number and kind of fruit trees, exclu-
sive of apples, have you ? and what are among the
best of each kind?

33. What insects have attacked your trees, and
what method do you tise to prevent their attacks ?

34. What is your general management of fruit
trees ?

35. What other experiments or farm operations
have produced iulerestins or valuable results ?

(1120)

FENXEg, BUILDING?. iC.

36. What is the number, size and general mode
of construction of your farm buildings, and their
uses?

37 What kinds offences do you construct ? What
is the amount and length of each kind ? And their
cost and condition ?

38. To what extent are your various farming op-
eration? guided by accurate weichini; and measur-
ing? And to what decree of minuteness are they
reaistered by daily accounts ?

39. Do you keep reaular ftirin accounts ? Can you
state the annual expense in improvini; your farm,
and the income from it, with such precision that
you can at the end of the year strike an accurate
balance of the debt and credit? Would not this
practice conduce vei-\' much to close observation,
careful farminir, and in the end, much improve our
system, as well as better our fortune ?*

It is expected that these questions will be an-
swered with preci.sion and minuteness, the ap-
plicant submittin;^ the information according to
bis best knowledge and bcliei'. of the correct-
ness of which an affidavit .shall be made.

The statements must be sent, free of post-
asre, to B. P. Johnso.v, Secretary, A.^ricultural
Rooms, Albany, on or before the Jirst of De-
cember, 1847.

EXPERIMENTS AND ESSAYS.

Stall Feeding Cattle — Best experiment in
stall feeding cattle or sheep. A full and detailed
statement will be required, lat. Weight and age of
animal when feeding commences. The weight
weekly durins the process. 2d. The kind and ex-
act quantity of feed and its value. 3d. The weight
when slaughtered, and »he price at which sold, and
the account of profit or loss. 4th. Any other par-
ticulars that may be iinportant to a tiiU and com-
plete account of the whole process $20

Draining. — Best experiment in draining. 1st.
Statement of the situation of the land previous to
the commencement of process— the kind and condi-
tion of soil. 2d. The method pursued, with a par-
ticular account of the expense. 3d. The result
and increased value of the land, if any $10

Top Dressing Grass Land. — Best experiment.
1st. Situation of land and of soil. 2d. The kind,
quantity and value of manure used. The manner
of its application. 3d. The results— giving the in-
creased product, &c. To be answered in 1848.. $20

Hoot Crops. — Best experiment on not less than
half an acre. 1st. State of land previous to crop,
and how manured. 2(1. The kind, quality and value
of manure applied, and in what manner. 3d. The
kind of soil, and the manner of cultivation, with a
detail of the expense. 4lh. The result $10

Experiments in Fattening Animals on Indian
Corn, to lest its value for that jrurpose.

1. Lot of 10 pi23 of about 100 lbs. weicht each, in
lots of 5 ; to be shut up between 20'h November and
20th December, and weiched separately when put
in — the weight to be registered, as well as the sex,
breed and aeneral characteristics of the pigs, and
arransie them in the pen by sex, age and size ; to be
ted on Indian corn alone.

2. Weigh a quantity of Indian meal, and feed it at
regular hours — to be cooked and fed two weeks,
and the corn dry two weeks, alternating the feed
even,' two weeks.

3. Have the pigs kept clean.

4. At the end of two weeks weigh each pig, and
enter its weisjht, and make an account, to be entered,
of how much all have gained, imd upon how much
feed.

* This question will be a poser to some who arc
esteemed among the best fanners in this State.

[Ed. Farm. Lib.

"list of premiums for 1847.'

551

5. At the end of each succeedinji two weeks per-
form ihc Bsnie process, hikI coniiiiue to do so for at
least 12 W( eks, iiiul sum up ibe entire gain, quantity
and value of the leed, the niaikel value of the pork,
and where marketed, at the time each uf the pigs is
8l«u!:htered and disposed of.

A premium of Sa.")

For experiments in fattening the like number of
pigs, under the same regulations as above, on any
other kind of grain or vegetables $'J5

The statements required, and everj'tliing con-
nected with the experiment iu each case, to be
verified by the attidavit of the owner and at least
one otlier person.

FAIIM DWELLINGS, SiC.

For the best design, accompanied with plans, ele-
vation and cost of construction, combining con-
renience, economy and good taste §20

For the best design, accompanied with plans and
cost of construction, of a piggery $10

For the best design of a farm barn with plans and
cost of construction, and outbuildings $15

Competitor.^ for the above premiums must
forward their manu.script.s to the Secretary pre-
vious to lat of December, 1847. Free of postage.

The above premiums for experiments and
essays will bo open to citizens of other States,
as well as rcsidenis of this State.

PREMIT.MS ON CHKESE DAIKIES FOR 1847.

The number of cows not less than 20. B. P.
Johnson, Chairman of Committee.

Special l-'iO I Second premium.. $:!0

First premium .')0 | Third premium ... 20

The persons making application for premi-
ums, must submit written answers to the fol-
lowing questions :

1. What is the locality of your farm, its elevation,
and latitude ?

2. How much land under cultivation ? How much
in pasture and in mt;adow ?

3. What is the nature of your 8('il and subsoil ?

4. What plants or grasses do you use for pastures ?
What for bay, and how are your meadow lands
treated, and how much hay do they yield per acre?

5. How nwny pounds of milk from each cow %
How many from the whole herd »

6. How many pounds of cheese to 100 lbs. of
milk? The quantity of milk and cheese during the
season ? The quantity of milk and cheese to each
cow ?

7. At what time do you commence and close
making cheese ?

8. Do you rear the calves? Do you keep swine ?

9. Is any food used besides grass and hay ?

10. A particular acronvl of the method of making
cheese. The quantity of the cheese, and its price in
market, and place where sold ?

11. The number of cows milked 1 The breed of
the cows and their age i

12. What ditlerence is there in the quantity of
cheese yielded by the same quantity of milk given
by different cows ?

lU. Has any particular kind of herbage been no-
ticed to have an influence in increasing the [iropor.
lion o( ckiesy matter in a given quantity of milk? And
what kind of herbage produces the most and best
milk ?

14. If any butter made during the season? State
how much.

l.i. What are the principal causes which produce
bad cheese ?

Ifi. State such other particulars as from experi-
ence and observation are deemed imponant, so that
correct results may be obtained as to the best man-
ner of managing a dairy.

It is expected tiiat the questions will be an-
swered with precision, and that all the opera-
tions of the dairy to be carefully noted during
the sca.son. Tlie object of the Society is. to
.ascertain as far as practicable all that relates to
(U21J

the manufacture of cheese, the quantity of milk
and cheese per cow, and the quantity of cliceso
from each 100 lbs. of milk, and the kinds of
plants and gra.^ses best adapted to producing
milk for cheese ; the best breed of cows, and
the location of farms best adapted to the manu-
facture of cheese.

The statements presented must be verified by
the affidavits of the competitors, and also by one
or more persons who a.ssisted in the dairy and
is acquainted with the operations.

ON BUTTER DAIRIES.

Hon.

The number of cows not Ic.is than 20.
li. Dkn.niston, Chairman of Committee.

First premium $.'10

.Second premium 20

Third premium 10

Persons making applications for preniiuniHon
btiflcr dairies, must in all respects comply with
the regulations required for cheese dairies,
adapting their answers to butter instead of
cheese.

IJ^" Statements as to cheese and butter must
be forwarded to 1{. I*. .Toh.vsdn, Secretary, Agri-
cultural Room!?, Albany, on or before the 1st of
December, 1847.

BUTTER.

For the best lot (quality aa well as quantity con-
sidered) made from 5 cows in :t0 .successive days —

2.') lbs. of the butter to be exhibited Sa.'J

Second best .$15 | Third best $10

{^Jompliance with the following rules will be
strictly retjuired of those who compete for these
premiums, viz. : The cows to be fed on pasture,
green cornstalk fodder, or grass cut for the pur-
pose, only. No grain, roots, or slops of any de-
scription, to be fed during the trial. The cows
to be owned by the competitors, previous to the
1st day of February', 1847. The milk drawn
from the cows on some one day during the trial
to be accurately weighed and measured, and
the result stated. A .sample of at least 25 lbs.
of the butter so made to be exhibited at the Fair
at Saratoga, for the inspection of the Examining
Committee. The particular breed of iIk; cows
to be stated, if known, and the method of mak-
ing and preserving the butter. A certificate
signed by the owners of the cows, and at least
one other person who assisted in milking and
making the butter, detailing the above particu-
lars, will be required.

The Executive Committee believe that few
if any premiums offered on neat cattle will re-
sult in greater benefit to the farming interest
than those on the proifucts of the dairy, pro-
viding fixed rules requiring uniformity of feed,
be faithfully enforce<l. Let the regulations be
observed, and an opinion approximating to ac-
curacy may be f(n-med by the public which of
the several breeds of cows are the best for dairy
purposes , and from tho.se that prove the best
farther improvements may be made.

Best 23 lbs. made in June $10

.St!c(>nd best Col. Tour

Third best . Vol. Trans.

Best .50 lbs. made at any time $1-5

Second best 10

Third best Col. Tour.

Fourth best Silver Medal.

Fifth best Vol. Trans.

The claimants for premiums must state in
writing the lime when it was made : the num-
ber of cows ke|>l on the farm ; the mode of
keeping; the treatment of the cream ami milk
before clmniing, winter and summer: llio
method of r.-{-eing the butter from the milk; iho

552

MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

the cheese was made from one, two or more
milkings ; wlicllier any addition is made of
cream ; the fiuantity of rennet used, and the
mode of preparing: it ; the mode of pressare,
and the treatment of cheese afterward.

quantity and kind of salt used ; whether saltpe-
tre or any other Rubstances liave been employed.
The butter nllered for premiums must be pre-
sented in butter tubs, jars or firkins.

CHEESE.

One year old and over.

Best 100 Ihs •$ 1-5 I Tliiid beet... Silv. Medal

Second best 10 | Fourth best.. Wash. Let.

Fifth best Vol. Transactions.

Less than one year old.

Beet 100 lbs $15 I Third best.. .Silv. Medal

iiecond best lu | Fourth best .. W ash. Let.

Fifth best Vol. Transactions.

Those who present cheese for the premiums
offered, must state in writing the time when it
was made ; the number of cows kept ; whether

It must be gratifying to every one who perceives the advantages of diversified
pursuits and products, to find this Society persevering in its oflTers of premi-
ums for American silk. This should undoubtedly be one of our domestic pro-
ducts, and would have been before now, if it had interested any other class of
people half as much as it does the agricultural class. Of all people they have
the least influence in halls of Legislation, not being qualified to compete where
success too often depends on intrigue and log-rolling.

awarded by the Committee, in their discretion,
for choice fruits not enumerated.

SILK.

Beet specimen manufac-
lui-ed (woven into cloth

or libbons) $15

Second best 10

Third best Col. Tour

Fourth best.. Vol. Trans.
Best specimen not less
than 1 lb reeled silk, $5
Second best... Col. Tour
Third best. . . Vol. Trans.

Best specimen of sewing
Bilk, not less than 1 lb. of
domestic growth . . .$10

Second best 5

Third best Col. Tour

Fourth best. .Vol. Trans.

Best one-half bushel co-
coon?, 1847 $8

Second best ..Col. Tour.

Third best . . . Vol Trans.

WINTER MEETING.

For the best new seedling variety of winter ap-
ples, of decidedly superior quality and valuable for
exportation — one dozen specimens to be exhibited —
together with a history of its origin ; a description of
the growth, character and habits of the tree, and the
growing of the fruit — such fruit to be adjudged by
the Committee as of the first character for orchard

purposes Downing's book, colored plates.

For the second best do.. $5, and Downing, com. ed.

The above new seedling variety to be sent to
B. P. JoHN'.soN, Secretary, Agricultural Rooms,
Albany, before the 15th January, 1848, for ex-
amination.

For the best new fall seedling apple for all pur-
poses, conditions and descriptions as above, $5, and
Downing, common edition.

Second best do. $2, and Downing.

These last named to he exhibited at the An-
nual Fair and show of the Society in 184S.

POTATOES.

For the best and greatest variety of seedling pota-
toes of approved varieties $10

QUINCES.

Best 12 quinces of any variety. $3, and Down. cm. ed.

Second best $1, and Thomas's Fr. Cult.

Third best Thomas's Fr. Cult.

CBANBEBKIES.

Beet peck of domestic culture $5

Second best 2

To be accompanied with a full description of
the manner of cultivation, nature of soil, &c.

Any premiums may be withheld in the discre-
tion of the Committee, if the samples exhibited
are not worthy of a premium.

The fruit e.xhibited and for which premiums
are awarded to be at the disposal of the Com-
inittee.

Six volumes of Downing, common edition,
and twelve of Thomas's Fruit Cult, will be

To indicate respectfully, and, he hopes, not presumptuously, his individual
opinion of the particular utility of offering premiums for seedlings, the Editor of
The Farmers' Library will ask to have added on his own account — for the best
seeding potatoes as above, the last previous volume of the Cultivator ; for a
copy of the communication accompanying the premium which may be awarded
for cranberries, the last volume of the Quarterly Journal of Agriculture ; for
best new seedling winter apple, the American Agriculturist ; best seedling
peaches, the Farmers' and Mechanics' Magazine ; and for the best new fall seed-
ling apple, the Genesee Farmer — all to be well bound, and to follow the award
of the Society in each case. We select these as journals published in this State,
devoted to the same cause that we are, and to show, as far as we know how,
our good will toward all ; for we are but so many bees working in harmonious
zeal for the same hive. Such, at least, is our feeling.

DiscRKTioNAHY Prkmiums — Will be awarded for articles of merit exhibited by Mechanics,
in all the various branches, and it is hoped that a penoral exhibition will be made.

Plate will be substituted for money premiums in all cases, at tlie option of competitor.

And why not offer agricultural and horticultural journals as premiums also ?
Does not the interest of this great pursuit of the State and of the Union demand
that such works, conducted willi great labor and expense, should have, on every

(1122)

LIST OF PREMIUMS FOR 1847." 555

occasioa that it can be given, the countenance instead of the ban of associations,
gotten up under the influence, be it said, of those very journals, and patronized
by the State, expressly for the promotion of the very industry to which they are
devoted? For all that is done by the Society of the State, the public would
not know that there are men and journals within its limits that have been giv-
ing all their time and influence for the cause of Agriculture bciore these Soci-
eties came (under their influence) into existence. It is seen that there are some
works distributed by the Society, and we doubt not selected with the best intea-
tions ; but would not the periodicals we have named above, as premiums, be also
quite as useful in the whole cyclopedia of agricultural knowledge which they
embrace, as any single work confined to a particular branch or subject — merito-
rious and valuable as these works doubtless are ? What have Agricultural Soci-
eties in other States a right to infer, when they see the great State Society of
New- York carefully excepting to and excluding all agricultural journals from
their patronage ? Everybody knows the vast influence of the press, and the incal-
culable advantages to all human pursuits, of having cast upon them, by the Press,
all the lights that science and experience are constantly bringing forth ; and who
can wonder at the comparative advance and prosperity of all other pursuits, oa
which so many papers are shedding their light and knowledge, while so few are
dedicated to the cause of Agriculture .' Is it not, then, inexplicable that where
a State Society, organized for the express purpose of concentrating and difl'usino-
a knowledge of all useful facts and discoveries in Agriculture, and while it is,
in fact, in other ways and forms, exerting itself to that end — using its funds in
the distribution of books published on speculation — should yet^nterdict all pat-
ronage to journals got up and conducted at great cost, expressly to collect and
publish periodically, exactly and exclusively, the very matter which is supposed
to be most precisely adapted to the very ends for which the Society itself was
instituted ? — interdicted at least so far as that may be implied by passing them by
and refusing them its countenance ? Let it not be supposed that we are seekino-
to propitiate support for this journal. If, having liberal publishers at our back,
and unrestricted command of whatever can throw light on American husbandry,
and thirty years of constant devotion of time and pen, we cannot put forth a work
that shall deserve the patronage of the friends of Agriculture, and particularly
of Associations with funds to promote it, we shall never complain of its beino-
withheld. What we have a right to ask is, that we may escape all hostility,
as we sincerely and honestly endeavor not to give cause for it, in any quarter.
We take pride in the consciousness that we aim at something higher than the
little money that might be made by success at the expense of our colleagues in
the good cause.

In this great " Empire State" the produce of Agriculture is valued at $108,000,-
000, while that of her manufactures, commerce, mining, forests and fisheries,
united, do not equal that sum. For the benefit of the landed interest, with an
aggregate population in the State of near three millions, there are not more
than some half dozen agricultural journals published at the cheapest rate, while
for other pursuits, all combined less numerous and productive, there are not less
than two hundred papers published ; and yet the State Agricultural Society deems
it inexpedient to give one dollar of the funds at its command for the distribution
of any agricultural knowledge which may happen to take the form of a peri-
odical the especial province of which is to watch for and proclaim all valuable
discoveries in agricultural philosophy, machinery and practice I

554 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

Let any man for a moment run his eye over the Index of one of these journals
(which we offer as premiums) for a single year, and say which is likely to con-
duce most to the true welfare and dignity — ay, and if it must be so, to the
strong box — of any family — one of these volumes or a one or a two dollar note !
Contrast for a moment the character and promise of the young farmer who
would prefer and exert himself to get the book with the motives and impulses
of him who would give preference to the tnoney. In regard to which of these
two would one augur the best ? Which would a young Franklin go for — the
knowledge or the dross ?

True, it may be said that he who gets the money may buy the book if he
chooses. But would it not have a good eflect for a great State Society to pre-
sume a preference for knowledge over all things, and even to push it in the way
of those who need it, as the wisest of us do ?

After all, we are far from meaning to undervalue the labors and the patriotic
aims of this Society. On the contrary, we sincerely and disinterestedly honor
its zeal, its industry, and, if we may without presumption add, its enlightened
views. Profound care to do the best is obvious, as is also decided improvement
in their regulations. We hope they will go on from year to year aiming rather
at the public good than at popular applause ; that they will endeavor more and
more to encourage and reward the pursuit and the display of knowledge, rather
than success in things that have become " stale as a tale thrice told," and that
derive their excellence from the corn-house or the swill-tub, rather than the
skill and intellectual ambition of the successful candidate. We trust that their
care to secure impartial decisions may be consummated by just awards, and to
that end that they may effectually stigmatize and put down all juggling and
management, and all indecent importunity of the judges— all collusions and com-
binations in the distribution of the offices of the Society, the bounty of the State,
and the contributions of individuals. For it is only by such a high-minded
course of management that any such association can escape from falling finally
into contempt, disfavor and dissolution.

CREAM-CHEESE— HOW TO MAKE IT.

We have often incjuired how it is that only in the Philadelphia market do we meet with
this agreeable variety of Cheese. Even there, formerly, in good old times, when there was
but one place — " Jo Head's" — where the traveler was sure to meet none but gendemen —
Cream-Cheese manufacture was the monopoly of one old lady, who sold it low down the
market on Wednesday mornings. Now it is there getting to be quite common in more
senses than one.

The foUowuig recipe for making it is to be found m Delgaim's Practice of Cookery, p.
467. We do not know whether the proportion of cream may not be too small ; but that
may be increased at discretion :

"One pint of cream bein:; mixed ^^■ilh twelve pints of noonday milk, warm from the cow, a
little rennet is added ; and when the curd is come the whey is poured out pcnlly, so ns to break the
curd as little as possible. It is then laid on a floth and put into a small sieve ; the cloth is
changed every hour during the day, and in twenty-four hours it will be fit for use. It may be
served on a breakfast-plate, with vine-leaves under it, and will keep perfectly good only a few
days."

The price in Philadelphia for these Cheeses is 25 cents each ; the size about that of dio
bottom of a duiner-plato, and about an inch or a litUe more thick.

Urine. One Inindred parts of the urine of a healthy man are equal to 1,300 parts of the

fresh dung of a horse, aud to (JOO parts of die frei*h dung of a cow.
(n-24)

THE GENUINE ARABIAN HORSE.

555

THE GENUINE ARABIAN HORSE.

" Oh, give me bBck my Arab steed "

There are romantic associations with the very mention of the Arabian horse,
in the mind of every lover of that noble animal. No animal has been described
by writers with a freer play of the imagination. We recollect to have heard the
celebrated Captain Riley portraying the figure and powers of one he saw in
Arabia. In passing, he said, through a thicket, where the road was winding,
the noble animal disdained to pursue its tedious serpentine course, but instead of
instead of that, took a straight direction and trotted over bushes four feet high
without touching them.

An interesting article might be made by a recital of the remarkable accounts
of their action and endurance, some of them doubtless true as well as extra-
ordinary.

One of the most particular and authoritative descriptions is probably the fol-
lowing from the Memoirs of fSir James Campbell:

The route of the caravan lay at first through | Venitian sequins, equal to about £400 sterl-
the Great Desert of Syria, and tlieu through j ing ; and I am inclined to think it was not far
thecounti-y of Hamah, the most celebrated j out of proiiortion, according to their ideas, to
in the world for its breed of horses ; and this the price of the other.

was a circumstance peculiarly agreeable to While I was yet in the district where these
me, as I was desirous of all things to cany horses are bred, an agent arrived from the
home with me ahorse of that unetiualed race. King of Prussia, commissioned to make pur-

cliases for His Majesty. He agreed with me
in admiring the mare, and declared she wan
the handsomest animal he had ever seen. He
was even willing to give the 10,000 piastres
for her, but the tribe had come to the resolu-
tion of preserving her as a brood mare, and
refused that sura when oftered. It is to be
observed, however, that there are two dis-
tinct races in the country, the noble and the
common. Among the latter, many beautiful
horses are often to be fomid, but they never
possess those qiudities in perfection for which
the noble race of Arabia is so peculiarly dis-
tinguished— fleetuess, wind, and bottom.

Here, too, I must observe that the horses
brought from Barbary are not to be compared
in any good quality with the noble breed of
Flamali. Many of the Barbs have radical
faults, and some of them are very ugly, goose-
mmped, cat-hammed, and narrow-chested.
Tlie difference of the breeds was long un-
known in this country, but now it is better
understood, and a Bai'b I believe is seldom
bred from.

I shall here mention a circumstance on the
authority of persons in that country whose
good faith and respectability I had no reason
to doubt, as illustrating in rather a striking
point of view th'i m:irked distinction between
the different races of this noble animal, whick
are reared in the same district.

An Arab who had pitched his tent in a
sohtary spot of the desert, had occasion to

The purity of the breed is ascertained and
preserved in this countiy with greater preci-
sion and facility, in consequence of the horses
and mares, to the number of one hundred and
upward, being uniformly held in common
property, by a particular family or tribe. The
line of succession is preserved with all the
care and and all the accuracy perhaps of a
Welsh i)edigree ; and in the genealogical tree
of the horse which I ultimately purchased,
its descent was professedly traced to the fa-
mous black mare of Mahomed, and I had a
certificate of the fact, subscribed by five or
six sheiks, who have an obvious interest in
keeping up the value of their breed of horses
by this exactness in their pedigree.

It is on the mares, however, that the chief
value is placed, and through them it is that
purity of blood is most depended on. The
sister of the horse which I brought home
with me, was for sale at the time I made the
purchase. I examined her with the gi-eatest
care, and could not detect a semblance of a
fault ui any one of her points. Like all the
others of the race, she was under fifteen
hands high ; and the price put upon her by
the ti'ibe to which she belonged was 10.000
piasters, equal to £2,.'j00 of our money. The
value of the mare is always much greater
than that of a horse of equal symmetry, from
the idea of her greater influence in preserving
the purity of the race. The price I paid for
the horse, own brother to this mare, was 800
(1125)

556

MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

leave his family, with his stock oi'the common
breed of horses and mares, for a single niglit.
On his rcUira to tlio place in the morning, he
found that his family and his whole property
had been carried off in the night. He was
mounted on a horse of the noble breed, and
of the highest quahties, and having a rifle
with him, he set out alone in pursuit of the
robbers. On coming up with them he found
that their numbers were considerable, but he
had reason to believe that they were not pos-
sessed of fire-arms, wliich proved to be the
fact.

Approaching near enough to bring them
within range of his gun, he fired and wound-
ed one or more of them, and waving his hand
he dared them to follow him. This they at-
tempted, but found it fruitless. He then re-
turned to the attack, and again succeeded in
singling out one or two of them with his rifle.
Once more they pursued him witli the fleet-
est of their horses, but to overtake him was
impossible. Thus he hung upon their rear,
wounding and killing several of tliem, until
he at length compelled them to restore the
booty.

The accoutrements of the Arab horsemen
are simple in their construction, and well
suited to his wants. The saddle is generally
large, and always easy to ride on. The straps
are made of untanned leather, and are fasten-
ed without buckles. A ring is attached to
the end of the girth, and another to a corres-
ponding part of tlie saddle. Through these
rings a strap is repeatedly passed, and drawn
together with such force as to bring them
near to each other, after which, the strap is
iiistened by twisting the ends round the part
thus tightened. The saddle thus fixed is nev-
er displaced, and, indeed, seldom taken off,
except for the temporary purpose of groom-
ing, when it is again immediately replaced,
although there be no intention of riding.
Cruppers are seldom used, because they are
not necessary to keep the saddle in its place,
and because they never carry anything be-
hind it. The shoes are a thin flat piece of
iron, with a hole in the middle to keep the foot
cool, someiliing in tlie fonn of our common
bar shoe, but extremely light, and even flex-
ible, so as to yield willi the foot when jjressed
upon a stone. Tht; nntntn-ous diseases to
■which our horses are liable are scarcely
known in these countries.

Sometimes, indeed, I have seen a lame
horse, but u[)on inquiry, the cau.se was gen-
erally to be traced to some accident, either
in a skinnisli. or from riding violently, which
they do without hesitation over the roughest
ground. Although nincr a very timorons ri-
acr, I have frequently felt somewhat uneasy
at tlio style in which they carried me over a
country which the boldest rider in Enghnid
■would hesitate to f()ll()W. In going down a
declivity not less, perhaps, than forty-five de-
grees, wliere stones as large as a table were
scattered about iu all directions, I was pro-
ceeding with some caution to guide my horse
(1126;

over the difFicultics of the ground, when an
Aral) called out to me, and I was induced
ever afterward to follow the advice, " Give
him his head, he sees the stones as well as
you do."

Everybody has seen the Turkish bridle ;
they never use a curb, but the ring which is
put into the mouth serves the same purjwse ;
tlie bit, which is very light, acting so power-
fully, by means of the lever attached to it, as
to force the mouth open and keep it so ; nei-
ther do they ever use the snaffe, or bridoon ; I
tried it in the hope of its easing the mouth, but
to horse and rider it proved equally inconve-
nient. Although they u.se such powerful bri-
dles, the Arabs ride with a heavy hand, so as
to sustain the horse iu advancing, and to curb
him in action. This they are able to do very
effectually, and in throwing the jereed it is
absolutely necessary. Perliaps the most re-
markable point about the Arabian horse is
the extraordinary smallness of the head and
mouth — so small, indeed is the latter that you
would think they might use a common tum-
bler for a water-bucket.

The stirrup used by the Arab is singularly
short, but the seat of the rider is not on that
account the less secure, and it enables him, in
I'ising on his stin-up to throw the jereed, or to
strike a blow, to do it v^'ith an infinitely in-
creased effect. The sudden jerk which is
often given iu these exercises to the stirrup-
leather, makes it necessary to secure it much
more finnly than we do. This is done by
ten or twelve straps or thongs, and the stir-
rup, in place of being a narrow bar, is so
constnicted as to allow the whole foot to rest
on a plate of iron reaching from the toe to
some distance behind the heel, where it is
sharpened so as to serve the purposes of a
spur.

The Arab feels that his safety depends on
the quality of his accoutrements, and this is a
point to which his attention is constantly di-
rected. In action they never dismount, so
that when you see a horse during an engage-
ment without a rider, you may conclude that
he is killed or badly wounded. In the hands
of a European unaccustomed to the habits of
the Arab horse, unacciuainted with the man-
her of treating him, the animal appears to be
extremely vicious, but let the same horse be
mounted by a native horseman, and he will
be finiiid to be gentle, docile, and obedient.

I need say nothing of the sabre, vvliich is
their favorite weapon, and is always light
and handy, of a curved f()nn, and of consider-
able strength, the best being made at Damas-
cus. But tlie use of the jereed is not so much
known : its length is about tiiur fi'et, with a
steel head, well-Iempeied and well sharpen-
ed. It is used as a missile, and four oftliem
are generally carried in a small case under
the thigh of the horseman, so as to enable
him to seize one t)f them very quickly, and
the case is fiistened to the saddle by loops be-
hind and before.

AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION IN VIRGINIA. 557

AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION IN VIRGINIA

The following correspondence is published to show the feeling which is begin-
ning to pervade the whole country on the subject of a better and more appropriate
education for all who are to follow the cultivation of the soil for a livelihood : and
assuredly when we refer to the numbers employed in it, and the value of the
products of agricultural industry, so much exceeding all other occupations com-
bined, there can be no hesitation in admitting the right of the landed interest to
its proportionate share of the public means for giving knowledge and eflicacy to
that most important pursuit.

John S. Skinner. Esq. : Winchester, May 5, 1847.

Sir : The umlersigned have heiinl with pleasure that you have some idea of traveling
through the V^alley of Virginia during the approaching summer. Under this expectation
they have been appointed by the Winchester Lyceum a Committee respectfully to solicit,
while you arc performing this tour, that you will spend a few days in Winchoslor, and deliver
Buch lectures as you may deem best calculated to advance the great agricultural objects to
which you liave devoted so much of your time and mind.

The undersigned are of the opinion that no portion of Virginia, at least, presents a finer
field fm- testing the useftdness of agricultural schools, eidier for the Nonnal or general pur-

{)oses of education, than this neighborhood ; and they feel satisfied that you are disposed to
end the weight of your name and gi-eat experience in giving an imj)ulse to sudi under-
takings, as well as to any mea-sures calculated to develop the great fiu-ming resources of our
Valley.

The undersigned take pleasure in advising you that tlie Winchester and Potomac Railroad.
Company tenders to you, on the occasion referred to, the privilege of traveling over their
roiul wdthout charge ; and we assure you that no expense need be incun-ed by you during
your visit here, nor your journey up the Valley, from which all our citizens must anticipate
profit as well as pleasure.

It is likely that toward the end of June or the first week of July might suit your arrange-
ments as the best time to be with us, as it certiiuly would be the most convenient to our
formers, whose harvests, at a later period, might forbid tliem ihe pleasure of making your
acquaintance and listening to your views of the dignity and importance of a pursuit which
mainly engages the capital and entei-prise of the Valley.
We are, respectfully, yoms, &c.

JOHN BRUCK, D. W. BARTON,
W. Y. HOOKER, ROBT. Y. CONRAD,
E. T. SMITH.

Gentlemen : I have duly received your flattering invitation on behalf of the Lyceum, to
spend a few days in Winchester en route through the vaUey of Virginia. Without feeling
that I can yet positively engage to do so, I must beg you to make my grateful acknowledg-
ments to those whom you represent. Twenty-eight years ago, then in infimi health, I
traveled through that region on horseback, noting for publication in the American Farmer,
what seemed most worthy of regard, in conection with ils Agriculture ; and now, after tha
lapse of BO many years, it could not fail to be both interesting and instructive to survey
it in the same connection •, compai-ing its condition at that and at this time, and making
such reflections on its advancement or decline as incpaiiy and observation might suggest.

I sluiU never forget the agreeable impression then made by the view of the beautiful farm-
ing countiy between Harpei-'s Feriy and Winchester, including a detour through Charleston.
Bearing in mind what has been done in other countries, I have no hesitation in saying that by a
reasonably abundant and skillful application of capital and labor, the whole valley of Shen-
andoah ought, at this day, to be averaging forty bushels of wheat to the acre ; for if we

have m our country a distiict of laud peculiai'ly adapted to the growth of the two great sta-
ll 127)

658 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

pies of the Union, Wheat and Indian corn, assuredly youra is that district. The same may
be said of Frederick and Washington Counties in Maryland.

Pennit me gentlemen, to quote you a single passage from the last number of " Personal
Obeervatious " by Rev. Mr. Colmaii, on European Agriculture.

" On the estate of the late Mr. Coke, afterward Lord Leicester — where, when he came to reside
on hie property, il was thought, on account of the thinness, and poverti/ of the soil, nkeat icould
not grow — the average yield is from forty to forty-eight bushels per acre; and I have already re-
fen-cd to a large farm wliere the crop ou the whole farm, iu 1844-0 — a most favorable season —
averaged fifiysix bushels per acre. These are most encouraging results ; bat since, beyond all
question, in an instance referred to, eighty bushels have been yiroduced, who will say that the limits
of improvement have generally been approached ? Ah tins too has been, without doubt, the etfect
of improved cultivation."

And let me refer you also to the progress of agiicultural improvement in Mid-Lothian, Scot-
land, as you will find it described in the next (July) Number of the Fanners' Library.
When I add that all writers agree that these gi-eat improvements, and average increase of
fertility have resulted in these old countries and are still progi-essing from the apphcation to
practical Agricvdture of the sciences with which God and Nature have allied and dignified it,
I shall have adduced enough to justify your honorable solicitude for the establishment in our
country, of institutions which shall secure for it here the same results.

Were it practicable, as I hope it is, to prevail with the general Press to urge the rights of
the landed interest m tliis respect, it would not be long before its Representatives would be
made to recognize its claim to paramount udluence in the legislation of the country. Com-
pare, for one moment, the agricultural concerns of Virginia with all other branches of iudua-
try combmed :

Employed in her Agriculture 318,771

In ail other pursuits in the State — commerce, manufactures, mining, navigation,
internal and external, and the learned professions 74,903

Excess of agriculturists 243,768

or more than four to one.

Then look at the produce of her agricultural industry, put down at only $59,685,821

All other branches of industry united 17,085,821

Since the last war with England there has been paid in like propoi-tions, by the agricul-
turists of the country, little if anything short of .500,000,000 doUai-s for military operations,
surveys, schools and machineiy ! But what has been done for insti-uction in Agincultiu'e 1
Yet is it not as improvable as the art of war, or any other art or manufactm-e, if we could
have secured to it, too, out of its own contxibutions to the common treasure, the means of
diffusing a better knowledge of the sciences that belong to it, such as the principles of Me-
chanics, as involved in the stincture of agricultural machinery ; of Mathematics, as employed
in surveying and mapping land ; of Civil Engineering, as it teaches the art of road-making
and bridge-building and rural architecture ; of Geology, to ascertain the nature of soils ; of
Animal and Vegetable Chemistry, Botany, &c. ?

Suppose the other particular classes, (all useful in their way, and to Agriculture itself,)
which on all occasions so easily and promptly combine for their own especial welfai'e, were
represented in Congress iu the proportion to agiiculturists that they are now in proportion
to these other classes, as respects both numbers and productiveness ; would they yield every-
thing and demand nothing, as farmers do ? Why, gentlemen, the very corn-blades of Vir-
ginia, regarded as the mere otlid of her agi'lcultural industry, and not even idluded to in the
census of national wealth, allowing 20 pounds to the bushel of corn and 20 cents to the hun-
dred wei^t, would amount to neaily $3,000,000, and actually entitle her to more influence,
comparatively, in the appropriation of the public funds than she has ever claimed or exer-
cised ui the rivalries to which the various classes have given rise in Congress.

What is needed, let me repeat, is to get the general Press of the country to entertain and
evince the sympathy that is justly due to this great, paramount concern of the country.
What lever so poweriid as it in controlhiig the public sentiment and policy of the nation ?
Yet see in Virginia more than fifty papers iievote<l to i):irty politics and other objects, and one
only appropriated to the cause of Agriculture', and that one left to linger along belweeu lilo
(1128J

GREAT CROPS OF INDIAN CORN. 55i^

and death, though conductod with gi-cat earnestness and abihty. What can be oxpec ted by
men who are not tnie to themselves?

I would with great dctercnce suggest, too, that Associations should be formed in every elec-
tion district in the Stjite, to demand from Congress the patronage that is due to Agincultur©
in view of the number that pursue it, and the value of its products. Among the first official
acts of Presidents ^V;^shington and Jefierson were empliatic recommendations to Congress
to " encourage Agriculture." Virginia's share of the proceeds of the public lands wciTxd in
a few years diffuse over the whole State a knowledge of the principles on which the pro-
ductiveness of Agi-iculture depends, that would soon result there, as it has done in England
and Scotland, according to the most accurate and competent obsen'ers, in nearly doubling
the amount of her produce.

Should it be in my power to accept your invitation, you Fhall have timely notice fix)m,
gentlemen, your obliged and grateful friend, J. S. SKINNER.

To MeBBfB. John Bruce, W. V. Kookhk, D. W. Babton, Robt. Y. Conead, and E. T. Smith.

GREAT CROPS OF INDIAN CORN FOR THE LAST FORTY YEARS,

WHY OFFER MORE PREMIUMS »

The interest of Agriculture in no way that it can be viewed any longer re-
quires that premiums should be offered merely for largest crops of corn ! for, in
the results, there is not likely to be anything new or useful. As to mere quan-
tity to the acre, why should Societies throw away their means on an object after
the desideratum sought has been obtained ? Is there to be no end to the col-
lection of mere facts ? Why pile these mountain high ? of what use are facts
but for the establishment of principles? It was very well, twenty-five years
ago, to ascertain, as was done, what could be produced by a reasonable and prof-
itable application of labor and manure ; but when nothing more that is new or
valuable is to be expected, surely reason would suggest the application to some-
thing else of the funds applied to this object and all other similar purposes. To
show how futile, to say the least, is all farther offer of premiums for particular
crops, (since we have long since reached the maximum to be had by all prudent
and economical means and processes,) we will give here, once for all, and for the
special Qse of all Premium Committees hereafter, a list of crops of Indian corn
that have been made, and that, of course, can be made again ; and we would re-
spectfully recommend that no premium be given for a crop less than the largest
of these ; for let us even suppose that by fifty bushels more of manure and one
more genial shower, some lucky fellow should eke out a peck more to the acre,
what proof would there be in that of superior skill or merit? What valuable
principle would it bring to light whereby the same result might be achieved with
more certainty and economy for the future? In reference to this list of crops,
which we derive from ttfe Cultivator, vol. x., page 123, it is worthy of remark,
that while every Agricultural Society in the Union has since been offering pre-
miums for the heaviest crops on patches of corn, the largest here recorded was
produced in this Slate (New- York) as far back as twenty-three years ago ! and
that the first crop recorded was 132 bushels, in 1819, and the last recorded,
1842, was precisely the same ; and, farthermore, it is demonstrated that in the
interval there has been Jio average increase. Is not this exhibit enough to sat-
isfy all reasonable curiosity as to what can be done, and all hope of farther use-
in 2^)

560

MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

ful experinienls on that everlasting point ? If ever we get leisure we will make
out a similar list for other stereotype premiums.

No. of acres.

136

5
5

1

1

1

1

5

1

1

1
40

1-12
22

1

1
40

1

1

1

1

1

a
1

1
1
1

7
1
2
1
1
1

Pidduct pr acre.

Whole product.

136

136

118

118

1701

1721

170

680

132

132

112

896

129

645

136

680

174

174

116

116

115

115

142

142

108

540

140

140

202

103

103

140

5600

100

130

2216

108

108

110

110

3800

150

150

131

131

116

116

130

130

144

144

121

121

112

112

120

120

158

158

120

120

1352

154

154

116

232

122

122

113

113

132

132

Names and places of cultivators.

R. H. Rose. Silver Lake, Pa...
John Stevens, Hoboken, N. .T.
J. & M. Prait, Madison, N. Y. .

Samuel Chidsey, Cayuga, N. Y

Earl Stimson, Saratoga, N. Y

Wm. M'Clure, Allegany County, Pa

Jo.seph Evans, Washington County. Pa. ..
B. Bartlett, Eaton, Madison County, N. Y.
T. & H. Little, Newburyport, Mass

Mr. Wilmarlh, Taunton, Mass

Charles Bugbee. Palmer, Mass

Benj. Butler, Chenango, N. Y

Henry Sprague, Worcester, Mass

Old" Farmer," Rhode Island

Asahcl Renick, Pickaway County, Ohio .

S. Lathrop, W. Springfield, Mass

P. Reybold, Newcastle, Delaware

R. H. "Sheldon, Cayuga County. N. Y

E. Humphreys, Caledonia, N. Y

Clark County, Ky

Montreal, Canada

R. Lamprev, Moultonborough, N. H. ...

Mr. Brown," Strafford, N. H

P. P. Pillsbury. Tuttonborough, N. H

J. F. Osborn, Cayuga County, N. Y

J. Sherman, . . . .

Mr. Ellsworth, Conn

G. W. Williams, Bourbon County, Ky.

W. Ingalls, Oswego County, N. Y

J. Myers. Canton, Ohio

W. Ingalls, Oswego County, N. Y

B. Bradley. Bloonffield, N. Y

Samuel Phelps, Cayuga. N. Y

Wm. Ingell, Oswego, N. Y

W. W ilcox, Saratoga, N. Y

Vrs.

1820

1820

1822

1824

1819

1823

1823

1823

1823

1822

1823

1825

1831

1831

1831

1833

1835

1835

1835

1838

1837

1837

1838

1839

1839

1839

1841

1841

1841

1840

1840

1839

1840

1840

1841

1842

1842

1842

The number of such crops, where the product exceeded 100 bushels per acre, might be ex-
tended to a great length from the list in our possession, but the above is sufficient.

Instead, then, of wasting $20 of funds not too easily procured, even on him
who should happen to make one bushel more by the blessing of Providence and
the strength of a long purse, we would give it, and more, for a knowledge of
any discoverable but yet unknown facts in reference to the same plant.

SEWAGE COMPOUNDS. — You must not limit your ideas of the compounds which enter
into the composition of town sewage to mere excretions, although it is admitted that the fcBces
and urine of the human subject — containing, as they do, the ashes of all the food that lias beeu
consumed — form, perhaps, the most fertilizing manure that it is possible to apply to the land. In
addition to these excretions, sewer water contains large portions of the alkalies potash and soda,
derived from house-drainage, viz., from the pearlash, soaji, and common salt, wiiich are so liber-
ally used for domestic purposes. These alkalies form important element.s of the food and struc-
ture of plants ; from the slaughterhouses, markets, and factories, large contributions are also made.
There are also the excretions from animals employed in towns, yvhicli directly or indirectly find
their way into the eewers. Soot, too, which is rich in ammonia and sulphuric acid, is brought
down by every shower of rain in large quantities, and poured direct into the sewers. Then there
are the debris of the roads, pulverized by con.stant traffic, and whidi furnish an abundant supply
of alumina, silica, and iron, (necessary ingredients in the food lor plants.) which, along with the
Boot, is washed direct into the sewers. The sewage compounds are abundantly supplied with
the elements of the food for plants.

^^ The keeper of the serpents and other reptiles nt the Garden of Plants, Paris, baa just
brought to perfection an apparatus of great simplicity, for the artificial hatching of eggs. All
that is re(iuired for the purpose is to keep a lamp constantly lighted.
(1130)

VALUE OF LAND IN LA PLATA. HEATING ROOMS, &C. 561

VALUE OF LAND IN LA PLATA.

iNSTrscT OF Cattt-e. — Mr. Darvviu, who accompanied til e Boaglo as Naturalist in lier voy-
age rniiiid the world, P[)o:ikiiig of a piopei'ty to tlie iiordi of Alontevidco, says ; "In the
evening we took a ride round the estate ; it contained 2.^ scjiiare leagues ; one side was fronted
by die river Plata, and the two others guarded Ijy inipassahle brooks. There was an e.xcel-
lent port |ipi- little vessels, and abnnd;nice of small wood, which is valnable as supplying fnel
to Buenos Ayi-es. 1 was cnriims to know tli(! valne r)f so complete an I'.sfniicia. Of cattlo
there were ."3.01)0. and it would well suppoit three or lour times that number; of mares, 800 ;
together with l.')0 broken-in horses, and (lilO sheep. There was plenty of water and lime-
stone, a rough house, cvcellent corrals (inclosures fi)r cattle), and a peach orchard. For all
this he had been olVereJ £2.000, and lie only wanted £500 additional, and probably would
sell it for less. The chief trouble with an r/,tancia is driving the cattle twice a week to a
central spot, in order to make them tame and to count them. This latter operation wouUl be
thought dillicult where there are J 0,000 or 1.3.000 head together. It is managed on the
principle that the cattle invariably diviile themselves into little troops of from 40 to 100.
Each troop is recognized by a few peculiarly marked animals, and its number is known; so
that one being lost out of 10.000, it is perceived by its absence from one of the tropillas.
During a stormy night the cattle all mingle together ; but the next morning the tro^jiUas
separate as before, so that each animal must know its fellow out of 10,000 others.

[Darwin's Journal.

We have ourselves observed this remarkable propensity in cattle. There are probably
more cows in WasliJngton, D. C, than in any town in the Union in proportion to population.
In summer season, we have had the curiosty to count the ditferent herds feeding on the com-
mons, and have unifonnly found them to consist of about from fin-ty to seventy-five, brows-
ing together ; and what is fiu-ther remarkable, the same cows always rise together, as they
call it m the country, and feed, each herd, on its own range through the season.

ECONOMY IN HEATING ROOMS.

My hall is sufficiently heated bj- the diuhig-room fire, which fireplace, at the sides and back,
consists of fire-bricks or slabs :t inches thick, which, when red-hot, contain a great heat, and at
the back of which, in the wall (next the hall), is a kind of hot-air clo.set about a j'ard square, and
5 or fi inches deep, as the wall will admit ; at the bottom of this closet is an air-brick to let in the
cold air, and at the top is another, to allow the hot air to escai)e into the hall. My library is also
similarly heated by the kitchen fire: and I am satisfied this plan would admirably suit a green
house, where it could be applied. I had mine so constructed when I built my house. J. H.

How easy would it be to have a ponllryhoasc thus heated, if built at the end of the kitchen,
in which a fire is constantly maintained, in the country V Widi the warmth produced by hot air,
generated under the hearth, and at the back of the kitchen fire-place, and with a constant sup-
ply of food and lime, together with animal food of some sort occasionally, it would be an easy
matter to have a constant, avpplyofesirn. at least for family use ; ant^yct. to the scandal, we were
going to say, of all good husOandry, it is not uncommon for a family on a fami of one hundred or
five hundred acres of land, to go for weeks in winter time without an egg for the good house-
wife to clear her husband's coffee, much more to treat him, as she would like to do, now and
again, to a nice custard or pancake or omelette. But if the " lord and master" won't provide the
indispensable prerequisites, let him at lea.st have the good sense not to grumble or look sour when
tie takes his seat at the table, M-here so much depends on him to have all smiles and cheerfulness.
If, in fact, there be in this life any scene of true rational happiness and enjoyment, where are we
to look for itifnotaithe board of an industrious, hitelliirent farmer, where all are gathered
around from their various occupations— ;7Wi;irf/;(Z the head of the family feels a consciousness
that by his works and his example he is doing all in his power for the comfort, happiness, and
the moi-al and intellectual improvement of all who look up to and depend upon him ?

1^ It is the intention of the Directors of the Great Western Railway to set apart one divisioa
of a first class carriage in every train for ihe exclusive accommodation of ladies who travel with-
out a male companion.
(1131) J6

562 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH.

LETTER VII.

PROFITS OF SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTHERN STATES.— 3. BY GIV-
ING TO SOUTHERN AGRICULTURE A MIXED AND CONVERTIBLE CHAR-
ACTER.—4. BY FURNISHING THE RAW MATERIAL FOR THE MANUFAC-
TURE OP DOMESTIC WOOLENS.

Expediency of Rotation in Crops. ..Consequences of omitting it on Wheat Lands of New-York... Mr. Gay-
iord's ^^ews...Conseq^^ences in the Southern States. . .Mr. Roper's Report in the Legislature of South
Carolina — [Cotton Statittics of that State — Comparison with other States — General Agricultural Resources
— necessity of new staples]. ..Judge Seabrook's Report to the State Agiicultural Society of South Caro-
lina— [Agricultural Statistics— Remedies proposed for present " distress"] . ..Singular omission of Wool as
one of the proposed new Staples. ..Southern prejudice on this subject — Causes. ..Impropriety of the one-
crop system — Diminishes crcjps — Deteriorates land — Multiplies insects. . -Fertility sustained by Rotation —
Causes. . ." Restin";" — Its inexpediency. ..Some of the Crops of every Rotation must be converted mainly
into Manure — Superior economy of converting tliem into Animal Manure — Sheep the most profitable ani-
mals for this purpose. ..Leading principles of a profitable Southern Rotation — Six-shift Course proposed —
Five.shift Course — Six-shift Course for poor soils- . -Col. Taylor's Four-shift Course — Objections- ..Com-
parative profit of growing Wool, Cotton and Rice, incidentally alluded to Economy of producing the raw

material for the Manufacture of Domestic Woolens- ..Cost of Slave Cloths per head per year...Pnces now
paid for these Cloths — Cost of manufacturing them — Data for estimating such cost. . .Great profits of Man-
ufacturers in the Northern States— Their Dividends — Their method of exchanging Cloth for Wool — Work-
ing Wool at the halves. . .Cost of Cloths obtained by these methods. . .The South may obtain the same ad-
vantages— Natural Facilities — Cost of Machinery — On what terms worked — Operations. . .Cloths spun and
wove by hand cheaper than the imported ones — Cost of the several processes of manufacturing them —

Estimate of Cost per yard at the North Cost of establishing Carding and Cloth-Dressing Machinery

Home.made Fabrics diminishing at the North — Causes. . .Same Causes will not operate to so great an ex-
tent at the South — Reasons.. .Probable Cost of Home-made Cloths, South.

Dear Sir : The third gi-eat benefit claimed by me among the profits of
sheep husbandry in the Southern States was, "its comparative efliicacy in
giving to Southern Agriculture a mixed and convertible character, and
thereby sustaining (or improving) all the present good tillage lands, in the
place of continuing the " new and old field" system (tilling land until it is
worn out, then abandoning it and opening new lands), once so general,
and even now by far too prevalent."

The first olyect of mixed husbandry has been ah-eady staled — the home
supply of the various necessaries of life. Its second, and still more impor-
tant one, is the preservation of existing fertility in all st)ils fit for tillage. —
It certainly requires no proof or argument to demonstrate the superior ex-
pediency of maintainiyg the fertility of soils, if it can be done, by a rota-
tion of crops, even though each of these crops is not, separately considered,
the one which would yield the greatest immediate profit, [n the language
of the hackneyed aphorism, it is never expedient to " kill the goose which
lays golden eggs."

This constant cro]iping with one plant was once extensively practiced
on the wheat lands of New-York, as many of their present owners can
bitterly attest. Even now there can be no doubt that, on nearly all of
them, wheat returns too often in the rotation. Tlicse lands were once
rapidly, and are still, I fear, slowly declining in value ; while the grazing
lands of Southern New-York, where men have been compelled to be more
discreet, have been constantly improving and approximating to the former
in market value.*

* This calls to mind a letter which I received from an old and valued correspondent, the late Willis Gay-
lord, hut a short time prior to his death. J had spoken of the advantages of his own, the wheat region,
over the grazing region in which I reside. Mr. G. combated this idea. He thought capital invested ner«
(11321

SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 563

The same system has prevailed on the rice, tobacco, and cotton lands of
the South, and has, for a variety of reasons not necessary liere to be dis-
cussed, been, in tlie case of the two latter at least, more fatally persisted
in. I have already alluded to the exhaustion of your soils consequent on
this course of culture, but to show the wide extent of the evil — its pecu-
niary consequences individually, and on whole States — the now admitted
necessity of a rotation of crops — the equally conceded necessity of intro-
ducing some netv staple, or staples, to lender the other crojis in the rota-
lion, besides cotton, rice, and tobacco, remunerative — and various other con-
siderations having a strong bearing on this whole (juestion — I cjuote the
following statements from Sovtliern, as well as highly authoritative sources.

The Committee on Agriculture of the House of Representatives of South
Carolina, through their Chairman, Hon. R. AV. Roper, made a Report to
that body, Dec. 14, 1842, from which the following are extracts :

" Let us now turn our consideration to one otlier gi-eat staple, cotton, of which the statis-
tics are so exact that we can :iscertaiu by caknlafion what our prospects are as regards com-
petition in that article. The United States pi-o<hice at present 573,012,473 lbs. — more than
one-iiah'the cni[) of the whole world. South Carolina gi-ows of this 43,9i27,171 lbs., or 1-1.3
part of the quantity ; but from this source of ])rofit her palmy days are ])a8t. Eveiy year
opens new lands in the West, where congeniality of soil and cliinale to this commodity in-
creiii^es the product j)er acre far beyond what can bi; reaied at home, and consequenllv re-
duces the value infinitely below the costly prices which fonnerly eniiched Carolina. These
new lands produce, on an average, 2,.'500 lbs. of cotton per hand, while the lands in Cai'olina
yield but 1,200 lbs., atul the expenses of a laborer being about equal in either jjlace, reduces
the Carolina cotton to half its intrinsic value. We have also the dechu-alion of Mr. Dixon H.
Lewis, in a recent speech in Congress, that cotton, divested of Govenmicnt embarrassments,
might be gi-own in Alaliama for three cents a pound.

"Your Committee will avail itself of the lucid calculations of a distinguished and talented
individual,* to ])resent another view of the subject, startling in its details, and bearing strong-
ly on the propriet)' of sunnning up all our resources. The crop of the world amounts to
1,000,000.000 lbs., which would recpiire, at the rate of 2.50 lbs. per acre, 4,000,000 of acres
to grow this quantity. Now, the i()ur States bordering on the coast of the Gulf of Alexico—
viz., Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida — contain 130,000,000 of acres; provin"
that, if only one acre in .32 were found capable of producing 2.30 liis. to the acre, these four
States could, alone, supply the demand of all the markets in the world. In this calculation,
the produce of (Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia, with portions of other
States, besides 1.30,000.000 acres in Texas, are entirely excluded. The lands of the Gulf
States, therefore, and Texas, are sufficient to supply the demands of the world in all time to
come. Where, then, is the hope or prospect of South Carolina in the competition ? . . .

" South Carolina comprises within her borders 16,000,000 acres of land, of which only
1,300,000 are cultivated. Of this, coiton occupies 175,700 acres ; rice, 80,000 ; Indian com,
500,000; potatoes, 22.G12; wheat, 24,079 — making an aggregate of about 300,000 acres ; the
balance of 500,000 are taken up in oats, lye, barley, hay, tobacco, and a limited portion of
other ai'ticles necessary to the supplies of life. To what use, then, is the balance of our ter-

rrtumcd quite as good or better profits, than on the wheat lands. He thought, taken as a whole, the craz-
ing fanners were doing better than the wheat fiinneis. The latter, thuui;li ostensibly ftiakintr an equaf and
frequenily better per centage, wore wn.itiii^ thiir capital. The grazing lands and the wheat lands were rap-
idly approarhinir each other in market value, by the rise of the fornn^r and the deterioration of the latter.
May this not atford a parallel to what will one day be witnessed in the .Southern States ?

It is difficult for me to pass by the name of this accomplished wiiter— this pure, upright and philanthropic
man — without throwing one stone on the cairn of his well-merited fame. He felt himself from his infancy,
cut oti" from the companionship of his kind, by disease and deformity ; but. notwith.'ianding the body was
"ugly," he "earned a precious jewel in his head." Triumphing over constant physical suiieriniis which
would have prostrated most men, he made attainments in general knowledge possessed by few of his con-
temporaries. His range of reading and study was remarkable. In his beautiful and sparkling letters to
me, every subject and almost every science is touched upon by him in a manner that shows that he at least
had mastered their general principles ; and, in the abandon of private intercourse, they seem to have been
to him as the flowerets of a g.vden, among which Ins spirit could roam with that playful and joyous activ-
ity which was denied to his poor, frail body, among the objects of the outer and physical world.

Freely, unassumingly, and without an aspiration but for the good of his fellow men, his mind poured ont
ita stores on a variety of topics in the publications of the day. Fortunately, he gave his principal attentiriii
to the subject of Agiiculture, and, if not a discoverer (which he never claimed to be), he investigated ami
Collated with ,in inclustriousness of research, discrimination and perspicacity, which brought the truth from
all ihe ditt'orent sources where discovery or experience had lelt its disjecta Vimihra, into essays, so well com-
pacted, 80 clearly arranged, that men of the most ordinary parts could not only understand his sipaiale sen-
tences and positions, but their connection and aggregate bearing, and thus master the whole subject. Peace
to his ashes I

* Gov. Hammond.
(1133)

564 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH.

ritory, of 14,000,000 of acres, to be appropriated ? Are we forever to be supplied with stock
from the West, bread-stuffs from the Middle States, and manufactures from the North ? Is
all that we can reahze from our labor to be expended abroad ? Nothing to be left for our
own improvements or our luxury ? As one means of correcting this evil, your Committee
propose an Agricultural Survey of the State, to determine our natural advantages, develop
our facilities of improvement, exhibit our profits and expenditures, and awaken our citizens
to the hnportance of vying with the rest of the human family in all the improvements of
which our location is susceptible

" The exposition which your Committee has given, showing the great competition of for-
eign rice with our own, and that South Carolina cannot compete with the West in the cheap
production of cotton, and that she must, ere long, be driven from the market, demonstrates
the necessity of looking abroad and around us for other sources of advancement and profits
than those we possess.

" We cannot expect that accident is continually to supply new staples suited to our soil
and climate, and place us beyond the reach of contmgent circumstances. We must resort
to science to improve our Agriculture, and to machinery to enlarge and prepare present arti-
cles of culture, or trajisplant and acclimate new products, which will again, Uke those we
have lost and will lose, lead off for a period hi the employment of capital, amassing of wealth
and diffusion of human happiness."

The House and Senate agfeed with the Report, the same day, and its
principal recommendation, an Agriciiktiral Survey of the State, was
adopted.

The Committee appointed by the South Carolina State Agricultural So-
ciety to consider the scheme of Col. Davie to reduce the quantity of cotton
grown, made a Report, through their Chairman, Judge Seabrook, at the
winter meeting of the Society, 1845-6, from which the following are ex-
tracts :*

'• Another cause of our distress is that, in a large portion of the southern country, cotton is
cultivated, when its production does not now, and never can, at all compensate the planter
for the labor bestowed. There it is desirable for every one that other branches of iiidusfry
Bhould be pursued. . . . We do not intend to encourage the cultivation of cotton to the
neglect of the other products necessaiy to support or comfort. Eveiy planter should prompt-
ly render himself independent in reference to those articles ichich could be produced on his
plantation. In this way he would profitably curtail the quantity of land devoted to the cot-
ton crop. An abandonment of the present extremely defective mode of culture, and the sub-
stitution of a better, would insure a larger quantity of cotton than would be lost by diversify-
ing the products of industry. In other words, his cotton crop would be larger ; his corn,
wheat, rice, oats, barley, horses, mules, hogs, cattle, sheep, butter and vegetables, would be
tlie produce of his farm.

" If, however, the cotton crop is to be given up one-half, after all the reductions of it which
we have sanctioned, to what else can the planter of the South so profitably turn his attention ?
To grain ? He already, in ordinary years, produces twice as much as the Middle States, and
about one-eighth more than the West. In Indian corn alone, the produce of the South, by
her last census, was 300 million bushels. If the planter of cotton is engaged in an unprofit-
able business, much more is the grain raised. . . . Millions of acres in So7dh Carolina,
■including the lower country, arc admirably adapted to the raising of rich grasses. Tiiis
might be added as another branch of industry, from wliich reasonable jirofits might be real-
ized, and might very well be added to the cotton planter's income. The business of tanning
and the mannfictures of leather might be and ought to be enlarged. In this State, all the
means of a successful pursuit of this branch of industry are at hand and within the reach of
■every one. Hides, lime, bark and mechanics (slaves) are abundant."

The remarks in both of the above extracts, though made exclusively in
reference to South ('arolina, will apply equally well, in many obvious par-
ticulars, to all the old cotton and tobacco growing States.

To a Northern man, accustomed from his cliildhood to see sheep hus-
bandry blended, to a greater or less extent, in the operations of nearly
ever}/ farm, and to live among farmers who regard it just as indispensable,
and as much a matter of course, as the production of bread-stufts, it seems
singular enough that neither of the above able Committees, in looking for

* Ab has been before stated, the other members of the Commiitee were Juilgc 0"Ncall and W. J. Allslon,
Esq. Mr. A. did not concur with his colleairues in the proposition tliat there was not ah-eady an absolute
overproduction of cotton. He believed there was. In all other particulars, and consequently in all em-
traced in the extracts jjiven, be concurred in the Report.

SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 665

"other sources of advancement" — "new products" — "other branches of
industry" — both to bring into use millions of acres of unproductive terri-
tory " admirably adapted to the raising of rich grasses," and to render
profitable and preserve the fertility of the tillage lands of the State, should,
not have thought of wool growing — or only thought of it, as it were, inci-
dentally— at the very heel of a catalogue of farm products, and in refer-
ence solely to supplying the home want !

Indeed, the estimate which has been set upon sheep husbandly gener-
ally, and by all classes of agriculturists, South, is a source of unmixed sur-
prise to one acquainted with this pursuit, and with the resources of that
region for sustaining it. There appears among many, if I may credit your
own writers,* to be even a j^rejudice against shcej} and sheep husbandry,
per se ! Is this because these animals bear a staple, and give employment
to manufactories, which have claimed the "protection" of Government, to
the prejudice, in the opinion of Southern politicians, of Southern interests (f
Is any portion of it due to the scornful denunciations of the brilliant, but
eccentric and cynical, statesman of Roanoke, who " would at any time go
out of his way to kick a sheep" 1 Or is it owing to the, in most respects,
justly popular wiitings of Col. Taylor, of Virginia ■? Hon. Andrew Ste-
venson, of the same State, in a letter to John S. Skinner, Esq., says :|

■' The prejudice which the late Col. .John Taylor, of Caroline (who, by-the-by, did moro
for Agiiculture than any man in America), had against sheep, has been the means of render-
ing this description of stock unpopular in many parts of the southern country. ... If
this distinguished patriot and statesman h;ul lived at this day, he woidd have changed liis
opinion."

The impropriety and inexpediency of giving all the labor and prime land
of the country to the exclu.sive cultivation of one or two crops, even leav-
ing the deterioration of the lands, consequent on such a course, out of the
question, is forcibly set forth in the Reports above quoted from. But that
deterioration is an infinitely more fatal evil, both to individuals and States.
An injudicious course of cropping can be easily changed; but, if the land
is entirely impoverished, the change comes too late, until labor and capital
have been employed on its restoration. The tendency, nay, the absolute
connection as cause and effect, between the one-crop system and such dete-
rioration, has been proved by too sad an experience at the South — is too
universally recognized and conceded — to find a single questioner who pos-
sesses ordinaiy intelligence. AVhether the consequent phenomena are
solved by the excretionary theory of De Candolle, or the more ordinary
one of the exhaustion of some of those substances which constitute the ne-
cessary food of plants, the facts presented are the same.|| The soil yields
constantly diininishing crops, until it becomes incapable of producing more
than scattering and feeble plants ; and the insect enemies of the latter,
which would perish if deprived of their aliment by the substitution of some
other plants, multiply in a constantly ascending ratio.§

* Hon. Andrew Stevenson, John S. .Skinner, a al .m Monthly Journal of Aerriculture, &c.

t If such protection has prejudiced the South, what stronger rciison why she should remunerate herself
by appropriating a share of it !

X Monthly Journal of Agriculture, July, 184.5.

II The theory of M. De Candolle, apparently so strongly supported by the experiinents of M. Macaire, has
found many believers. But the stattments of the latter have been contradicted by M. Braconnet, M. Mir-
bel. and finally are totally overthrown, in my jud:;mcnt, by the experiments and investigations of Mr. Alfred
Gyde, of Scotland. Mr. Gyde shows that the minute e.xcretions of plants have the same composition with
their sap; and he also watered plants with a solution of their excretions, not only without injurj", but to
their manifest benetit ! For Mr Gyde's able Prize Essay on this subject, see the Transactions of the High-
land and .Agricultural Society of .Scotland (March, 184(i). 1 am not aware that this essay has been repub-
lished in our country. It ceiiainly should be.

§ Of ihe latter evil, the past year funiished a pregnant example. I saw it stated last winter, in the South
Carolinian (published at Columbia, S. C), on the authority of an United States Senator, that the falling off
in the cotton crop would be enormous, by reason of the rleprcdation of icorms. This evil is constantly in-
creasing, and must continue to, while the planter continues to provide aliment for each succeeding hords
of destrovers. by continuing on the soil the plants on which they prey.
(1135)

566 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH.

Experience lias shown that if vegetables of different classes are made to
follow each other, the soil will much longer retain its productiveness. —
Even when " exhausted" of some one or more of those ingredients neces-
sary for the healthy production of a particular plant, it is found to produce
others luxuriantly which do not rerpiire the lacking ingredients, or but very
minute portions of them. And, by a most beautiful arrangement of phys-
ical causes and effects, when a plant is removed from the soil, and notwith-
standing its place is occupied by others, a process of restoration at once
commences to replace all that the absent plant has appropriated, and to
prepare the kindly bosom of the earth again for its reception. Nature
herself, in ministering to this beneficent end, becomes a great laboratory ;
and in her most ordinary, as well as her most unusual operations, she is
constantly producing those chemical changes, and furnishing those chem-
ical ingredients, which restore what has been abstracted by man's cupid-
ity, or lost by his impi'ovidence. The gentle rain brings down ammonia
and carbon to plants. The frost rives the solid rocks, to disengage their
fertilizing constituents. The sun, in his flaming path, looks down not only
to warm and give us light, but to perform functions in the vegetable econ-
omy without which all herbage, except a few miserable fungi, would per-
ish ; and to all he imparts their varied and beautiful coloring. The thun-
der which shakes the walls of cities, and strikes man with awe, brings to
our aid one of the most efficient promoters of vegetation. Even the burst-
ing volcano converts its fiery crater into a crucible and retort, and gives
off that gas which forms so large a portion of all the vegetable and animal
productions of the globe : and the wild winds, which strand navies in their
course, equally diffuse it over the earth.

It follows from the above positions that naturally good lands* which are
more or less exhausted, will be gradually resuscitated by " rest," or an en-
tire exemption from tillage ; and hence the absurd idea that lands require
physical " rest," in the same sense in which the tired animal muscle re-
quires it, after continuous exertion. But, apart from the theory, the prac-
tice of "resting" lands is inexpedient, for the following reasons: If a
plant is riot continued on a soil until it consyincs any of those inorganic
constituents necessary to its production — if, on the other hand, it is suc-
ceeded by a plant which makes its heaviest drafts on those inorganic sub-
stances which its predecessor required the least of, and vice versa — the
natural recuperative process above adverted to, aided hy means ivhich lose
to us none of the value of the crops, w\\\ repair the waste made by each
plant, before it again occupies the soil, in a judicious rotation. Hence, by
a rotation of crops, fertility can be indefinitely sustained, and the earth
each year return its increase. Thus the ends of "rest" are attained, with-
out its great and unprofitable sacrifices.

To sustain the fertility of the soil, some portion of the crops of every
rotation must be converted into manure. These are the " aiding means"
above alluded to. They may be converted into gieen or animal manure.
If the former, the whole crop is plowed under. If the latter, the crop is
first partly converted into animal manure, by animals depastured on it, and
then this animal manure, with the I'einaining vegetation, is plowed under.
The last is always the most economical method, on good lands, t because
the crop is worth almost as much for manure, after jtassing through the

* I gay "nnturally pond Inndg," for those entirely deficient in several of the neeesfary conslirnentB of a
lertilo soil might reqiiiro ages of rest to obtain these constituents — if, indeed, they ever would, by merely
uaturiil CMUses.

t I have limited the assertion to " pood lands," becaunie a crop of preen manure, turned under at the
proper "lape of its prowth, will uiuloubti dly make rather more manuie than in any other way : and it may
be expedif lit many times to give poor lands all. This is" especially true in the rcclaniutiou of barren lands.
(11:36)

SHEEP HUSIUNDRY IN THE SOUTH. 567

bodies of anhnals, as it would be turned under green ; and then we have
all the profit made on or by the animals — meat, wool, &c. — without any
additional cost. Sheep, being the best mmurers, and otherwise the most
profitable animals, will (with enough other animals to suj)ply all the home
demand for the necessaries furnished by them) best sustain a profitable ro-
tation.

Here, perhaps, the discussion of this topic in connection with the sub-
ject matter of these letters should terminate ; but I am unwilling to aban-
don it, without making a few practical suggestions as to the rotation wliich
would be found most i^rofitable at the South — more particularly on the
valuable cotton lands, which are sufiering most for the want of it. It is
manifestly impossible to lay down any rule or rules on this subject, which
can or should be rigidly acted upon, in all instances. Leading principles
can only be declared, and, if correct, the intelligent man can always vary
their application so as to meet the exigencies of his particular case.

First, I should consider it indispensable on all cotton (or tobacco) lands,*
under all circumstances, to keep at least one-third of them in pa.sturage, to
insure the proper amount of manure, over and above cotton seed, and
such occasional supplies of swamp mud and marl as might be obtained at
spare intervals — and all other incidental manures. Another third, 1 be-
lieve, should be generally devoted to grain for bread stuffs, for fattening
the necessary amount of bacon, and for the winter forage of horses, mules,
swine, &c. Unless the horses and mules, and, perhaps I should add, the
cows, were wintered entirely, or in great part, on grain and the offal of
the grain crops, one-third of the cultivated land in grass, would not support
animals enough to produce the manure requisite for two-thirds in cotton
and grain. But in making the above division, I spoke only of the arable
lands fit for the gi-ovvth of cotton. Most plantations have poor, or swampy,
or rough lands, which would most profitalily be kept permanently in grass,
and these would supply the deficit. The remaining third of the arable
lands might be devoted to cotton, or, in the tobacco region, to tobacco.

By the course above proposed, the cotton (or tobacco) and wool would
be made the salable products. The grain, gi'ass, dairy products, bacon,
&c., would be consumed on the plantation. This is as it should be. Eu-
ropean famine has given a stir to the latter products this year, (audit may
for a year more,) in the Southern markets ; but with the ordinary Euro-
pean demand, the old Southern Atlantic States cannot, as we have seen,
compete at a profit with these commodities, which debouch through the
Mississippi, the St. Lawrence, and the northern canals. With the two
wools, as they are sometimes called, the " vegetable and animal," these
States can undoubtedly sustain themselves against the pressure of any out-
ward competition.

Such a division of crops as the one above proposed, could be effected
by a six-course system of rotation. Let us suppose the land of the planta-
tion fit to grow corn and cotton, divided into six equal fields. I then pro-
pose the following rotation :

1st year,

Grass depastured.

1st year

Grass depastured.

1st year

Cotton.

2d ..

do. do.

2d ..

Cotton.

2d ..

Cotton with yard ma-

3d ..

Cotton.

3d ..

Cotton with vard ma-

nure, &c.

4ih ..

Cotton with vard ma-

nure, &c.

3d ..

Corn with peas.

nure, &c.

•1th ..

Corn with peas.

4th ..

Small grains with grass

.Mh ..

Corn with peas.

5th . .

Small grains with grass

seed.

6ih .-

Small fn-ains with srass

seed.

5th ..

Grass depastured.

seed.

6th ..

Grass depaistured.

6th ..

do. do.

* I have not included the rice lands, because bcins; deep beds of alluvial deposits, composed in a great
■measure of organic matter, and being susceptible of irrigation, they will not wear out like ordinary soils,
and stand le?s in need of rotation in their crops.
(1137)

568

SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH.

let year, Cotton with yard ma|lst year, Corn with peas

nure, &c
2d .. Corn with peas.
3d .. Small grains with grass

seed
4th .. Grass depastured.
5th .. do. do.

6th .. Cotton.

2d .. Small grains with grass
seeds.

:id .. Grass depastured.

4 th .. do. do.

5th .. Cotton.

6lh .. Cotton with yard ma-
nure, &c.

1st year. Small grains with grass
seed.

2d .. Gra.ss depastured.

3d .. do. do.

4 th .. Cotton.

5th .. Cotton with yard ma-
nure. &c.

6th ,. Com with pea.?.

Supposing each of these fiehis to contain -50 acre.-^, tlii.s would give 100
acres of grass, 100 of cotton, and 100 of grain (-50 of corn and .50 of small
grains) annually.

By this course all the hauled* manure, each year, would be given to
one-sixth of the land, and consequently the same field would not receive
it but once in six years — yet cilery crop would be adequatehj manured.
The first cotton crop would receive an ample amount fi-om the grass roots
and the droppings of animals for two years ; the second, from the hauled
manure ; the corn, from the manure left by the previous crop, and, if
needed, by a small amount of cotton seed, ashes, (or some other mineral
fertilizer,) in the hill ; the small grain crop would be amply manured by
the peas sown with the preceding corn ; and the land would go back into
grass in excellent " heart," and, if the previous tillage was what it should
be, entii'ely free from weeds. The corn might intervene between the two
cotton crops, and thus remove the objection which exists against taking
two crops of the same kind in succession. But I placed cotton 4th, be-
cause there should come a manured crop at this period of the rotation, and
I thought it better to give the manure to the more valuable crop, and be-
cause cotton, as the 5th crop, would not admit of the cultivation of the pea,
to provide manure for the small grain succeeding. The rotation might be
thus varied, however, if circumstances should seem to render it desirable.

I have put down no meadow in the rotation on the arahJc lands. But
I believe the growth of hay to a certain extent, not only to supply any or-
dinary deficiency in 'winter feed beyond the quantity furnished by the
usual sources — but to guard against contingencies, would be good econo-
my in all cases. All farm animals must be well wintered, to give a prof-
itable return in summer ; and those occasional scarcities of fodder always
liable to overtake the farmer, should be providently guarded against. It
is never considered poor economy, in the North, to have a few tons of hay
even to summer over. The necessary meadows for the plantation might
be made on some of the less arable lands before referred to — and, when
the tillage lands are in an uncommonly fertile state and pasturage plenty,
it xoould do to mow one of the grass crops (the second one) of the above
rotation, though, if avoidable, I should think the other course entirely pref-
erable.

On poorer lands — the poorest class which can be profitably devoted to

cotton growing — I would propose a five-shift course, as follows :

1st year, Grass depastured. 3<1 year, Cotton.

2d -• do. do. 4th .. Com witli peas.

5tli year, Small grains with grass seed.

The manure to be given to the third or fourth crop, according to circum-
stances, or divided between them.

On lands of a still inferior grade, but which it may be expedient to^
plow at intervals, I would propose the following :

1st year, Grass depastured. 4th year. Grass depastured (or mown.)

Sd .. do. do. 5th .. Corn wiili jieas.

3d .. do. do. 6th .. Small grains witli grass seed.

* I mean by this, the manure from cxiery source which is carted upon the land in qunntity, as contradis-
tinguished from that which is dropped there by animujp, miidc by plowing under vegeuiblos, or carried oa^
Id small qunntilics to drop in the hill, &c.
(1138)

SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 569

The nurnlicr of years depastured to depend upon fertility — the poorer the
land, the longer it should be kept in pasture.

The following is the rotation which was introduced by Col. Taylor,
north of the cotton-growing region :

iBt year, Com. 3d year, Clover (and weeds) not mown nor

2d .. Wheat and clover sown — if too grazed,

poor for wheat, left at rest and not grazed. 4th . . Clover not movra nor grazed.

Of this, Mr. John J. Thomas, one of the Editors of the Albany Culti-
vator, very justly remarks :

" It was materially opposed t»i the principles of gooil hiisbandrs- in several respects. It
furnished vegetable ni^mure only to th«? Ijuid. A large portion of the value of this vegetable
growth was Io.-<t, by dissipation into the air, during its decay. The returns from the land
were necessarily small, as only two years out of four produced crojjs for harvesting. And it
greatly increased the labors of tillage, by the increase of noxious weeds."

Had this clover been fed ofl' by sheep, a portion of the above objections
would be inapplicable, and there would be no danger of the corn
leaving the soil too impoverished for wheat, particularly if peas were
sown with the former, to be plowed under. A crop of tvccd'i is, of all
others, the most to be avoided, as the seeds deposited by it will continue
to sprout for years with the subsequent tillage crops, rendering them foul
and difficult of cultivation.

I may be in a profound eiTor, but I cannot but believe, after carefully
studying Southern Agriculture, and the circumstances which invest it,
that by adopting the six-shift system of I'otation above recommended, or
something analogous to it, on the cotton lands, the desideratum expressed
in Judge Seabrook's Report will be attained. More cotton will ulti-
mately, if not even now, be produced from less land : the other necessa-
ries of life will become mainly the product of the jilantation ; a new staple
will be introduced to employ the surplus capital, as profitable at least in
its acreable products as cotton, and tending to the constant reparation, as
cotton tends to the constant waste of the fertility of the land.

I will not tire you. Sir, with a comparison between the relative profits
of wool and cotton growing. On looking over the answers of Southern
gentlemen to Mr. Walker's Treasury Circular, (1815,) I find that the
stated profits on cotton in the Atlantic and Gulf States, west of Louisiana,
range from 1 to 8 per cent, on capital invested — the average of all the
statements being about 4^ per cent. !

I may remark incidentally that in your own able replies to that Circular,
you set downi the profits office growing between 1842 and 1845, at 7^ per
cent. ; for the ten preceding years, at " about 8 per cent."

A reference to Letter V. will show you how these profits compare with
those of wool-growing. Admitting the accuracy of the data therein given,
there is no vcri/ great difference in the cost of growing a pound of wool
and a potmd of cotton !

We come now to the fonrtJi. point of view in which we are to regard the
profits of sheep husbandry in the Southern States — "whether independent
of preceding considerations, and even if the staples furnished by sheep hus-
bandry proved no more profitable, in direct returns on capital invested,
than some of the present staples, it would not be better economy, on the
whole, for the South to produce the raw material and manufacture do-
mestic woolens, particularly for the apparel and bedding of slaves, than to
be dependetit for them on England and Massachusetts ? "

The woolen apparel and bedding of slaves, when no part of it is manu-
factured on the plantation, costs about S6 per head per aimum. The
blankets imported from England weigh about 4^ lbs. and cost a little over
(1139)

570 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH.

$3. The Welsh plains, imported from England, weigh usually not far from
13 ounces per yard, and cost from 65 to 70 cents ; and the Chelmsfords,
a heavy, coarse article, from Massachusetts, from 50 to 58 cents.

Now whtit is the cost of manufacturing (including wool and every other
expense,) cloth of the same amount of stock, and better quality, than Welsh
plains 1 To the present weight of the cloth per yard add one-third, and
you have the weight of the wool in the fleece — as bought of the farmer.* If,
then, the Welsh plains weigh 13 ounces per yard, they required 171 ounces
of fleece-wool as stock. Wool of the quality worked into " plain cloth"
or " sheep's gray," in this State, (New-York,) many shades better in qual-
ity than the stock of Welsh plains, has averaged from June to December,
1846, from, say, 20 to 22 cents a pouudt — or, if pulled from the pelts of
slaughtered sheep, as is the case with large quantities of it worked into
these cloths, it did not, during the same period, stand the purchaser-in to
exceed 18 cents per pound. Assume the average to be 21 cents per pound,
and the stock of a yard of these cloths (17^ ounces) would cost 22 j cents.

You are familiar with the character of the " sheep's gi'ays " of New-
York. They are worn almost universally by our farmers. Of the twenty-
five thousand men you saw at the State Fair at Rochester, at least three-
fourths of them ordinarily wear this quality of cloth for pantaloons, and
say one-half of them for coats. Its ordinary weight is from that of the
Welsh plain to 16 ounces per yard, and its style and expense of manufac-
ture are superior to those of the former. It can be manufactured, in-
cluding use of machinery, &c., and every process after the wool is received
in the fleece, to fitting it for market, for eJcren cents 2>er yard ! A mer-
chant of this State owns a manufactory, employing say $25,000 or $30,000
of capital, which turns ofl" from 500 to 600 yards of cloth per diem — the
fleece-wool being converted into finished cloth in eight days. His whole
expenses, including use of manufactory, averages, according to his oivn
statements, not to exceed the above named price per yard. Add this sum
to the cost of wool, and cloths containing an equal quantity and quality of
stock with Welsh plains would cost 33-1 cents per yard ; and you there-
fore pay for this class of cloths about one /iundred 2>er cent, heyond the first
cost, for transportation, duties, and manufacturer's profits. The latter, of
course, absorbs most of the immense sum thus paid, or rather thrown away,
annually by the Southern States. The Chelmsfords, and various other
woolen goods imported by you, are probably manufactured at nearly equal
profits.

Is it singular, then, that " acres of woolen manufactories " are now in
the process of erection in the North ? or that existing establishments
are declaring dividends of from ten to fifteen per cent. 11^

But I have not done with the data of manufacturing. The manufac-
turer above alluded to has, to my certain knowledge, exchanged "sheep's
grays " r6(iuiring a })ound of stock per yard, for wool of the same (|uality
as the stock, giving a yard of cloth for Ij IV.s. of wool. Calling this wool

* After being washed in the ordinary manner on the back of the sheep.

t Wool baa rifen einfc December.

J 1 did contempliiK! an enumeration of the new woolen manufaotories now biiildin;;, or in contempla-
tion, within my knowledfre, in this Sinte and New-Eniiland ; but will mention but a fi'w of the most im-
portant ones. The Hay State Mill-", now in jirocoss of erection in the new city of Lawrence, Mass., will
■work up ':3,(K)0,1H)!) lbs. of wool prr annum. One of the mills, 'JOO feet loii^ and si.x stories hiah, will so into
operation thin simimer. The machine-sho]), wool-bouse, etc., (the mere oftice.s,) will be, includinj; wince,
thirtein hundred fret in length, and three stories hiL'h. Their very .svirrr will cost S-">."i'0 ! A splendid
steam mill lins just (.'onc; into 0)ieralion in Utica, in this I'tate, which will work up l.OOO.OOt) lbs. of wool per
nnnum. Another of the same size is in contemplation, in Utica ; another in Syracuse ; another in Auburn,
&c. ! There never was a time when Ameiican muniifai-tures stood on a firmer basis, or were making bel-
ter profits tcUh. a prnsprrt of having tliem iimtinuuiis. This is cunccdi.d by the ablest of the manufadurcrs
thtmsdoi !<■ as 1 shall, in the proper place, show.
(1140)

SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 571

21 cents pei' pound, the clotli would tlius cost the purchaser 36| cents per
yard.

Any of the manufactories doing custom-\v(Mk will manufacture these
goods " at the halves," so that a yard re(|uiring a pound of stock would
cost two pounds of wool, or 42 cents. That as heavy as Welsh plains
would thus cost 45i cents, it being from 191 to 24-1^ cents per yard less than
you now imij. Yet liere the manufacturer o{ custom-work admits the suffi-
ciency of the profit, by asking no more.

Blankets are of still coarser wool, having the appearance of Smyrna, or
inferior South American. They are not " sheared,"* which diminishes
the waste. Neither do they need dyeing matter. But independent of
these considerations, calling cost of stock per pound, and the waste from
all causes the same, 6 lbs. of fleece-wool would make; a blanket. To the
wool costing 21 cents a pound add 11 cents per pound (of the stock) for
manufacturing, and the actual cost of the blanket is $1 92. Have them
manufactured by the halves, and they would cost you 12 lbs. of wool each,
or $2 52.

I have in the previous estimates, based my calculations on the market
price of the lower quality of medium wools.! But there is another and a
most important view of the subject. It has already been shown that the
South can produce wool, to any desirable extent, at a sum not exceedinrr
8 cents per pound — and, in favored localities, at a much lower rate. By
the exchanging system (wool for cloth) you would get a yard of cloth
equaling the Welsh plain in stock, and superior in quality, for 2 lbs. 2^ oz.
of wool, costing the producer just 171 cents ! A blanket weighing 4^^ lbs.
would be obtained for 12 lbs. of wool, cf)sting 96 cents !

Does this sound a little like dreaming. Sir ] I ask you to carefully
examine the premises, and see if there is any escaping from these con-
clusions ]

Will the South continue to slumber on, thus throwing away the fruits
of her industry ? Do you tell me that her people know notliing about
manufacturing, and have no taste for it ] The necessary knowledge is as
readily ac(]uired by a Southern as a Northern man ; and when that is olx
tained, and there is a prospect of profit ahead, the taste will not long be
wanting! You have the capital: you have natural facilities to an un-
bounded extent both to propel the machinery and produce the staple.
What more do you want % AV'hat more can you ask ? A joint stock asso-
ciation of planters, at any suitable point, might cause a manufactory to be
erected worth say $25,000, under the direction of a skillful and ex])ei-i-
enced machinist. This would turn off, say, 500 yards of cloth per diem.
If the machinery was in all res])ects good, and the water-powei sufficient
and unfailing, a competent and responsible Northern manufacturer could
be obtained (if desired), to take the establishment, furnishing hands, tVc.,
and work the wool furnished him into cloth of the kind before described —
containing about the same stock with Welsh plains, and fitting it for^mar

i" * After a sufficient number of fibres have been torn up from the thrende by the teazles or cards of the
" g:!-;™!!! " to furm a sufficiently thick nap on the surface, these fibres are cropped or " sheared " by a ma-
chine for that purpose ; and in supei-fino cloths the process is several times repeated, each time cuttini; off
an additional portion of tihre, which is called "flocks." A dishonest custom now prevails among some
manufacturers of working these flocks again into the body of the cloth to give them weight, denseiicss, and
apparent firmness. By this means the gigging and shearing process can be continued on thinnish cloths un-
til a heautit"iil surface is obtained, without the additional thinness and lightness consequent thereon being
Rpparent to any but an experienced eye. Sheep's grays and other coarse cloths are gigged and sheared but
slightly. In some manufactories the former process is altogether omitted, and the cloth is simply
" brushed " prior to shearing. Such cloths are stronger, but do not look as well.

t Say of the quality of common South-Down and Native and Long wools, with a sufficient dash of Me-
rino biood in the last tu make them carding-wools, and to bring them to about the saaic fineness with
the first named.
(1141;

572

SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH.

ket. for eight or nine cents a yard.* I know of a manufacturer, at no great
distance from me, who tluis takes a manufactory worth perhaps $8,000 or
$10,000, and furnishes the chjth (of the above stamp,) fitted for market, for
nine cents a yard, the owner furnishing the wool, the use of the manufac-
tory, and the dyeing matter.t The supply of water at this establishment
fails during two or three months each year ; and one competent to judge
informs me that seven cents would be better pay per yard, if the machine-
ry could be kept in motion the year round. It is probable that it would
cost rather more at the South to provide the necessary fixtures, obtain
machinery, etc. ; and it would also cost more, for a period, to carry on
manufacturing, from the greater difficulty of obtaining operatives in case
of losinf any of those attached to the establishment. All these disadvan-
tages, however, not of much importance at the first, will soon disappear.
Slaves should, as rapidly as the nature of the case admits of, be converted
into operatives, and when the number becomes once adequate to the end, it
mifirht be indefinitely multiplied, without those embarrassments which so
commonly attend the attempt to mingle white and black labor.

It is cheaper to manufacture by hand,| (with the exception of carding,
fuUiu"-, and dressing,) than to purchase your slave cloths at present prices,
'if slave costs no more than free labor.

On the average, 15 knots of warp, and 15 of filling, make one yard of
flannel about 5 quarters wide. The ordinary shrinkage of this, in fulling
it into cloth, is one quarter in length and width. It would theref 're re-
quire 40 knots to make a yard of fulled cloth. The carding here in small
parcels costs 3 cents per pound, and 18j cents per pound for fulling, dye-
ino' and dressing. In considerable quantities, the carding can be hired done
for 2 cents per pound, and the other processes for one shilling per yard.
Spinning (by considerable quantities and for " cash-pay, "||) can be hired
done for 7 cents a run (20 knots) for warp, and 5 cents for filling — averag-
ing 6 cents for both. Weaving can be hired done for 6 cents per yard (of
flannel), which brings it, in the dressed cloth, to 8 cents per yard. The ac-
count would then stand thus :

1 lb. of wool

Carding same

Spinning

Weaving

Dyeing, fulling and dressing

Total

HmaXl parcels.

Large parcels.

21 cents.

3 •'
14 "
10 "
181 "

21 cents.
2 '■
12 '•

8 "
121 ..

66j cents.

5^1 cents.

Making 55\ cents the price of a yard of domestic cloth, estimating the
wool at market price : estimating the latter at cost of production (S cents),
the price of the finished cloth would be 42^ cents per yard, and it is a
better article for wear than either the Welsh plains or Clielmsfords.§

* I have no doubt it could be done at a fair profit in the North for 7 cents per yard. I am understood, of
course, to mean that the manufacturer pays no rent, insurance, nor for repairs. The stockholders furnish
the wool, which is worked up by the former, at the stipulated price. '

f Modem ingenuity has reduced the e.vpense of this to a mere tritle. Most of the " sheep's crays," you
have observed, are of ferrucinous hue. Those of this color are dyed principally by tan bark—Xhe bark of
the hemlock (Abies canadensis), which is sold here at $1 T.') to $2 a cord !

I I am aware that to "manufacture" is to make bi/ hand, but I u.se the word in its popular and more gen-
eral ei<;nification. It would have liocn lictter to have compounded a word from tlie Latin machina and
facio fmachinfactun; ?) to signify made by viachincrij, and thus expressed the two ideas by properly de-
rived and dt;finitive words.

II This word " cash-pay " is one of mighty import in the regulation of prices in the interior, where a very
general (but now decreasing) system of barter prevails, and under which Wealth too often dictates to
Want what it shall receive for its labor, and also prescribes the priceji of the commodities in which it pays.

5 Home-made fabrics are usually stroncer and wear better than those made by machinery, (or, in other
words, maniifai-tiirrd cloths outwear macldiifactiind ones !) but this is not necessarily so. The several

Eroces'ses can be done undoubtedly, and probably, generally are more perfectly by machinery than by
and. But in machiniMiiadi; cloths the yarn is commonly spun liner, so there is less slock in a yard. And
they are submitted to processes, described in a previous Note, whicli further impair iheir strength.
(1142)

SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. . 573

$1,500 will set lip a carding and clolli-dressing factory, whioli, with
three good hands, will turn off 50 yards of cloth per diem. By Table I.
it appears that in 1839 there were but 114 of these factories south of the
Potomac and west of the Mississippi, doing an ammal biisiness of S320,-
938, while in the single State of New- York there were 323 factories, doing
an annual business of 83,537,337 ! Of the 114 Southern factories 66 were
in the States of Kentucky and Tennessee; 41 in Virginia; 3 in each of
the Carolinas; 1 in Georgia, and in the remaining four, vone !

The number is decreasing in New-York, as manufactories of the com-
mon fabrics, worn by farmers and other laboring men, are increasing in
every direction — many of them doing custom-work cither at the halves,
or at a fixed sum per yard — and all of them exchanging cloth for wool.
By cither of these methods, the cloth can be obtained as cheaply, perhaps
cheaper, than to manufacture it in families. But circumstanced as you
are at the South, you can, as before asserted, manufacture more cheaply
by hand (excepting carding, fulling and dressing), than to import your
slave cloths at present prices, if provided with factories to perform the ex-
cepted processes. Where the institution of slavery exists, and where
spinning, weaving, etc., can be done in those intervals of bad weather
when the time of laborers would otherwise be entirely thrown away, it is
doubtful whether any extension of even the coarse cloth manufactories
Avould, or ought to, in an economical point of view, banish the home-made
article. If we count the slave labor thus saved one-half the value office
labor, and dispense with the fulling and dressing* (which we usually dis-
pensed with in manufacturing domestic slave cloths, in the interior of the
Carolinas, Georgia, etc.), the cloth would cost but 20 cents a yard, and the
dyeing might carry it to 22 cents. Let one-half the fabric be made of cot-
ton, and the cost would be still farther reduced.!

Since the above was written, I have received the samples of Welsh
plains, Chelmsford plains, and slave blankets forwarded by you. None of
these goods exceed in quantity the estimate I have put upon them in my
preceding remarks. ^

The Welsh plain which you state cost 65 cents per yard by the piece,
(32 inches wide,) is about the thickness of rather heavy — but not the
heaviest — sheep's gray. It is not, however, by many shades, so close and.
firm a cloth, for the want of equal fiilling ; and perhaps even this would
not give it equal firmness, by reason of the loose ticist of the yarn. The
yarn is considerably coarser, (larger in diameter,) than that ordinarily em-
ployed in sheep's gray — but it derives no inconsiderable portion of its
bulk (which gives the cloth its thickness) from the loose and inijierfect man-
ner in which it was twisted in spinning. This is particularly the case
with the filling, which you can scarcely detach from even so open a web,
without its breaking in pieces. Accordingly, the cloth tears very easily
lengthicise, for that presenting such an apparent amount of stock.

With a sufficient amount of fulling, dyeing, (it is white,) and a little
gigging and shearing — or simply brushing — it would become identical itt

* But still you want cardine-raachines, to card the wool ; for, by hand, it is a slow and expensive process.

t I was shown a new article of satinets a day or two since. It was double or broadcloth width, black,
and the cotton warp dyed black, and could only be distinguished from a very fair piece of black broad-
cloth by examining the cut edge. The manu'Victurer stated that the cotton wai-p weighed but 3 oz. per
yard ; but I do not credit the as.sertion. One is stronjly inclined to suspect that a clolh of this character
could not have been "got up" for any very legitimate purpose, but that it belongs in the wooden-nutmeg
and hom-tlint category !

The ordinary satinet, when well made, is a profitable, cheap cloth.
(1143)

574 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH.

appearance with licavy sheep's gi'ay, excepting in the quality of the
wool. That is inferior to any I ever saw in a single piece of the former.
It appears to be of two qualities, the finest about like the Asia Minor or
African ("Smyrna" or " Mogadore ") wools; and this intermixed with
occasional still coarser sharp pointed hairs, which could come only fiom
an animal not many removes from the wild Argali.* In both, there is a
peculiarly dry, harsh, wiry feeling, not found in North American wools,
and which is more indicative of an inferior staple — of brittleness, and want
of felting properties — than even their coarseness. The staple is not appa-
rently a very long one. I conjecture that it is Iceland wool — or that,
mixed with Orkney, or some of the coarsest short or medium staple wools
of Scotland.

The Chelmsfords, (31 inches wide,) twilled, undyed,t cost, you inform
me, 58 cents per yard. The plain article, [i. e. vintwilled,) 28 inches wide,
costs 50 cents per yard. The sample of the twilled, forwarded by you, is
a thicker, decidedly stronger cloth, with larger and far more tightly
twisted yarn, than the sample of Welsh plains. The wool is of about the
same quality, though at first view it strikes you as decidedly coarser, as
the longer nap shows more of the coarse fibres on the surface, and these
are rendered more conspicuous still by their variety of color. But on re-
solving portions of each cloth back into unmanufactured wool, I can detect
little or no difference in its fineness, unless it be that the stock of the
Chelmsford plains possesses none of those pecidiarly coarse fibres or hairs
which characterize the other. The wool used in the Chelmsfords is ap-
parently of a longer staple. It is probably South American, though it
may be Smyrna or Mogadore, as it bears a strong resemblance to the wool
of the broad-tailed sheep of Asia and Africa. You state that the Welsh
is generally thought to outwear the Chelmsfoi'd plain. This may be time
of the ordinary articles, but I think it cannot be of the samples forwarded.
Of these, the latter possesses nearly double the strength of the former,
and is much the heaviest cloth.

The slave blanket, 6 feet 11 inches long, by 6 feet 5 inches wide, weigh-
ing 41 lbs., you state cost about '$2 12i by the piece (a piece containing
16 blankets costs $50). It is manufactured of a very coarse and a long
stapled wool — not much fulled — wit^ a long nap raised on both surfaces.
The wool in quality resembles that used in the Chelmsfords.

On the receipt of these samples, I forwarded a specimen of the Welsh
plains to two manuficturers of experience and perfect pecuniary respon-
sibility, asking them at what price per yard they would contract to furnish
me 100,000 yards of cloth of the same style and equal quality with the
sample. The question was put to both of these gentlemen and received
by them, as purely a commercial one — the opening of a commercial nego-
tiation. Each stood ready to enter immediately on the fulfillment of a
contract, based on his offer.

The following is the answer of (me of the above named gentlemen :

Henry S. Randall, Esq. . Morbisville, N. Y., April 20, 1847.

Dear Sir : Yours of the 13tli is at hand and duly noticed. T have no wool of the quality of the
sample sent, and do not wish to work foreign wool. I would like to make for you 100,000 yards
like the sample, out of our American or domestic wool. I would make it as thick and lij^Iit as the
8am|)lc sent, '.ii! inches wide, at 40 cents per yard. I could not say how much less it would cost
to g(;I up the article from the same kind of wool with that used in the sample. 1 do not know
what that kind of wool is now worth in market. I have not worked any of it for two vears pasL

Vour9,Uuly, C. TILLINGHAST.

* Many of tho unimproved breeds have, as is common with wild imimals, a coaling of hair over a finer pe-
lage beneath, and it is difficult to perfectly separate them.

t A small portion of the wool empli<yed in the tilling is black, giving the cloth a dirty drab or ash color.
But ibia I take to be the natural color of the wool.
(1144)

SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 575

The first answer of the other rnaiiufiU'tuier, S. Newton Dexter, Esq. of
Whitestown, Oneiila Co., N, Y., (head of the Oriskany Manufacturing
Company,) it is not necessary to traiiscrihe entire. Mr. Dexter informed
me that his machinery is calcuhited for tlie manufactui'e of fine cloth ; that
the cartliiig of coarse wool would injure his cards; that its manufacture
would throw him out of his regular course of business ; that he had no
wool of the quality used in the sample on hand ; tliat he should be com-
pelled to use domestic wool ; and that for these reasons and some others
named by him, he could not undertake to fill the contract at less than 42
cents per yard — which he knew would be considered a high price.

Mr. Dexter being a gentleman etpially distinguished for his coiTect and
able bnsiness character, and for that capacity and range of information
which give value to his opinions on all the topics coiniected with this in-
vestigation, I addressed him a second communication, asking him what he
could manufacture the cloth for, giving him time to procure stock of the
same quality used in the sample. I also inclosed him proof-sheets of the
preceding part of this letter, asking him his opinion of the correctness of
my statements, in relation to the g('neral cost of maimfacturing, &c. The
following extracts from his reply will be read with interest :

Col. Hknrv S. Randall : Wjiitestown, April 24, 1847.

Dear Sir: Yours reached me on Wednesday. There is no doubt at all but what if I felt cer-
tain that wool could bo procured of the quality of which your Kaniple was made, at a price pro-
portionably low, 1 could have aflbrded to have manufactured the cloth at 37 cents per yard, as

well as at 42, and use our coarse native wool, at a proi)able cost of 25 cents There has been

an advance of more than 70 per cent, in the price of lard oil. Th<! price a short time since was
.•JS cents. The last I bought cost 95 cents in New-York. Five quarts of this oil are wanted to

every 80 yards of these cloths I cannot imagine where the wool was from out of which the

sample was made, probably from Iceland — for I recollect some twenty years ago the Oriskany
Manufacturing Company obtained ju.st such wool somewhere, when American wool was deemed
too high, and manufactured it into miserable satinets, by which they lost a great deal of niouej'.
The wool was said to have been imported from Iceland. I was one of the Directors of the mill

then, but had nothing to do with " operating "it

You request my oi)inion as to the correctness of your statements of the probable cost of Wel.'^b
plains, &c., and generally of the statements put forth by you on the subject of woollen manufac-
tories. I am not reri/ "-ood authority as to the cost of manufacturing coarse woolens, never hav-
ing done much in that way. I am free to say, liowever, that your estimates may generally be
relied on. Certainly you have allowed liberally for what would have been the cost of such wool
by the pound last year ; but I think your estimate of 17 J oz. of wool in the fleece, out of which to
manufacture one yard of cloth 32 inches wide, similar to the sample inclo.sed in your letter, too
low. I should think it would certainly take 20 oz., or I5 pounds. The allowance of 11 cents for
manufacturing will, I am inclined to think, pay charges, but it will not aflbrd any profit, nor in-
terest on capital, nor leave anything for keeping machinery in repair. It is a very close calcula-
tion, when fuller's soaji, lard oil, ifcc., are so high.

The sheep's gray cloths that you speak of, you will obseiT^e, are generally not quite J wide —
say 20 inches — while the sample you sent me was 32 inches. One pound of well wa.shed fleece
wool win make a yard of sheep's giay of medium quality ; but unless the goods a.vo Jiocked, the
calculation is a very clo.sc one indeed.

I am inclined to think that you overestimate the profit of manufacturing woolen goods, although
I admit that in well managed institutions, that have the most imjiroved machinery, with an abun-
dant capital, the profits have, at times, been very large indeed, and our friend Samuel Law-
rence, of whom you speak, is the most prominent example of such a manufacturer within my

knowledge Every new manufactory erected, if built with judgment, has one advantage

over those already in operation, and that is, they have availed themselves of all the improvements
of those in operation. And as machinery is constantly being produced at cheaper rates, a factory

of increased capacity will probably have cost less money

The Oriskany Manufacturing Company is the oldest company now^ manufacturing woolen
goods in the United States. They have made satinets which have sold readily atS.'? 50 per yard,
and have made cloths which have as readily sold for $12 per j-ard. Satinets full as good can
now be bought at 75 cents, and hand.somer, if not better cloth.s, for $3. What a change is here !
And yet the Oriskany Manufacturing Company was perhaps never doing better than now. This
Company availed itself of the opportunities oH'cred last year to obtain \a()o1 very low, to purchase
a supply for nearly two years. This year the business will be good, that is, pay a profit of 10 per
cent, on investments, even where wool is purchased at current rates ; but I do not believe it will
pay more. I will furnish you with a brief estimate :

(1145)

57G SHEEP IIUSHANDRY IN THE SOUTH.

A mill Willi fl cnpilal ofSlon.OOO will innnufactiivfi. say OO.OOC yards of 6-4 cloth, which

will bring in iiiiuUrl iiii iivcriii^d of $1 M per yard, or $i3j,000

To act these cloilis into ciish {for they iire sold at 8 iiioiiths, and are charged
with coniiiiission of") per cent., and otlicr charges equal, in all, including in-
terest, boxins and trnnsportHiion, to l",' per cent. $16,200

Cost of 2-J.'),0l)iril..s. of wool at ;iO cents 67,500

:f,:iOO gallons sperm and lard oil at SI 3,:M0

. . Soap, soft and hard .3,.500

. . 800.000 teazles : 1,000

.. Dyeina materials of all kinds 11,.^00

.. Fuel, r 1,000

.. I'aper, tape, twine, nails, lumber, cards. cnndlRS, &c 3,000

. . Labor, S."),000 per quarter, or 20,000

.. Insurance 2,000

Total $122,000

If I were under oatli, I do not believe I sliould alter any ofthe.se items — or, at least, I should
add as often as I diuiiiii.shed, I liave no doubt. You may think Si .50 a low average for cloths,
but it must be a very fair clotii to bring that sum, I as.sure you. You may al.«o think 12 per cent,
a high charge for gelling these cloths into rash. ucc. but it is scarcely what we pay. And the
records of our wool book will show that :iO cents is tiie co.st of such wool as we work. And our
books will prove that it has taken, for many ycar.s past. 2^ lbs. of wool to make a yard of broad-
cloth. There is 13 per cent, left for prolits here, because I have not allowed one cent for repairs
or taxes, or for the agents' .salaries, which will swell the expenses fully up to S124,.500 — within a

fraction of swallowing up all over 10 per cent Well, I admit that 10 per cent, is a great

business ; but you speak of l,i, and that is going too far

Very respectfully your friend and obedient servant, S. NEWTON DEXTER.

It will be seen from the foregoing letters :

1st. That where their machinery is ailaptetl to it, manufacturers are will-
jnof to make and sell gootJs of the same amount of stock and style of
manui^acture, with Welsh plains, out of domestic tvool for 40 cents per
yard ; and that manufacturers of perfect pecuniary responsibility are ready
to contract so to furnish it. This (apart from tlie small item of transporta-
tion) is Iwcntij-fivt cents per yard, or about thirty-nine per cent, cheaper
thati you now obtain these cloths : and an article manufactured from do-
mestic wool would, by reason of the far supei'ior strength wad. felting j^rop-
crty of the stock, be much stronger and more durable than the foreign
goods.

2d. It will be farther seen that a skillful and responsible manufacturer
would furnish cloth, coiTesponding with Welsh plains, at '61 cents per yard,
could he procure the same quality of wool now employed in the manufac-
ture of those cloths at a price proportionably low with domestic wools,
calling the latter 25 cents per pound.

Blankets are manufactured at equally exorbitant profits ; and the
Chelmsfords, paying less transportation and no duties, approach the same
standard of profit — though, judging from your samples, I consider them
the cheapest goods.

I have given Mr. Dexter's undoubtedly fair and candid statements in
the premises — my object in these letters being, as I once before have
stated, to arrive at truth, and not to support a favorite hypothesis, or to
maintain, at all hazards, preconceived views.

My own estimates and those of Mr. Dexter, of the actual cost of manu-
facturing Welsh plains, it will be seen, differ — but not so materially as
would as first appear, when the advance of wool, soap, oil, &:c., are taken
into consideration. I have no doubt that, in making his estimates, he had
his eye more on the better and more elaborate machinery of his own mills
— the more expensive and perfect performance of the various njanufactur-
ing processes common in that class of establishments, than on the cheaper
machinery and processes necessary in the manufacture of coarse goodt'.
My estimates, or rather statements <^)f cost of manufacturing sheep's gray,
you will recollect, were given on supposed avtunJ hnotrleJge of what a
maimfacturer of these goods had made them at. To these Mr. D. seems
to take no exceptions.

In relation to the .shrinkage of wool, Mr. Dexter undoubtedly bases his

llliC]

SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH.

577

opinion mainly on his own experience in manufacturing broad and other
cloths of fine quality. In these, the shrinkage of the wool from the fleece
is concededly at least half. And the firm, well finished and honestly made
Oriskany cloths, I have no doubt require the highest rate of shrinkage in
the stock. But Mr. D. concedes that a " pound of fleece wool will make a
yard of sheep's gray of medium quality." Now the Welsh plain, of the
quality of the sample, weighs 13 oz. per yard. As I have already stated,
"the ordinary weight of the sheep's gray is from the weight of the Welsh
plain to 16 oz. per yard." Tlius a yard of " medium " sheep's gray out-
weighs a yard t>f the Welsh plain. If this is so, the former, of course, re-
quires the greatest amount of stock, the mere w'ulth making no difference
•whatever. Mr. Dexter wr.s led into this error, evidently, by overesti-
mating the weight of the Welsh plains — and this arose from the smallness
of the sample submitted for his inspection.

His statement of the cost of manufacturing broadcloths by the Oriskany
Company is entitled, I have no doidit, to the fullest reliance. In conse-
quence of his remarks on this topic I have changed a statement in the
preceding part of this letter alluded to by him, for fear it might convey an
erroneous idea. Where I spoke of " existing establishments declaring
dividends o^ Jiftcen per cent.," I have changed it, so that it now reads
" from ten to fifteen per cent.," these being the dividends, respectively, of
the Oriskany and Middlesex* Companies last year, and exhibiting about
the range, probably, ^f well-managed companies.

* Mr. La\vrence'8 gi-eat establishment at Lowell, which works up 1,700,000 lbs. of wool per annum.

BAY-SIDE FARMING IN MARYLAND.

The region referred to in the following, lies, as will be seen, in Talbot County,
Maryland, and perhaps no district of equal extent contains a larger proportion of
cultivated cultivators.

For years past they have been known to display an exemplary solicitude on
the subject of accumulating manures. Their practice may be said to be distin-
guished for perseverance and success in this branch of rural economy, and
especially as it relates to the management of their cattle in the summer season.
It gives us pleasure to be enabled to present here the results of their diligence
and good mana£:einent in these respects. An estimate of tlie average crops of
the district would have made the Report yet more satisfactory.

Hon. John S. Skinnek : Talbot Coumr, 20th April, 1847.

Dear Sir : At the last meeting of the Board of Trustees of the American Agricultural Society for the
Eastern Shore, the following Report having been read, it was

Resolved, unanimously, That it be published in the Maryland Fanner and in The Farmers' Library.

Respectfully, M. TILGHMAN GOLDSBOROUGH, Secretary

The Commhtee on " BxY-sinE Farmikg,"
appointed by the Trastees oi" the Agricultur-
al Society for the Eusteni Shore of M;u-y-
land, beg leave to report, in part :

That they have had the intcrestin?; subject
refeiTcd to them uiuler cons'denitiou for sev-
eral tuoiilhs past, and have found pome diffi-
culty in tlieir investigations, in consequence
of the want of facts on which they can rely.
They have, at last, been obliged to depend upon
tradition and their own lunited observations.
(1147J 37

That great improvements have been mada
in the Agriculture of this beautiful region is
manifest to all who have any acquaiulanco
with it, and your Connnittee will endeavor
to .'ihov^' how they have been brought about.

The waters of the Chosai)eake Bay. Miles
River and ClT)ptank, nearly embracing this pe-
ninsula, arlord large annual supplies of sea-
ware, or sea-ores — and their bau\s contained
large quantities of decom[)o.'*ed oyster-shells,
novv nearly exhausted. It is believed that tha

578

MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

first man in the district who used sea-ores to
any cousidenible extent, as manure, was the
late Lloyd Tilghnian, Es(|., as I'ar back as sixty
years ; but he docs not appear to have had
many immediate folK)vvers. Al)OUt thirt)^
years ago inuch att(Uition was drawn to crops
of com and wheat grown by Mr. William
Hambleton, on land proverbially poor ; j)rin-
cipally by the use of these materials, aid(>d
by a well-littered f irm-yai-d. This example
had a powerful effect. It showed, clearly,
that increased products were within the
reach of all ; and the use of these valuable
articles, so long neglected, extended rapidly.
AVherever they were within reach they were
used, and invariably with success. Many
w^ho had no bank-shells resorted to lime
from oyster-shells collected iVom (creeks and
rivers washing their shores, and this practice
still continues with good eft'ect.

The confining of cattle dining the whole
of the whiter season on large accumulations
of rich earth, phie rushes, .straw, &c., in
yards "with permanent or temporary shelters,
about the same time became more general,
and appeai-ed to suggest the penning of them
on similiir heajis daring the sunmier — now
almost universal.

Your Committee consider this a great im-
provement on the " ambulatory" cow-pen of
the last generation.

The pen is generally from tliirty to forty
yai'ds square — half-wonn fence staked and
capped, with bars or a rough gate ; a good
foundation of marsh or rich soil is covered
over with pine rushes ready to receive the
cattle in May. In this pen they continue to
be confined every night until late hi October,
the p(.'n receiving fresh stuff about once a
fortnight. In this way die bank, under fa-
vorable circumstances, becomes more than
two feet deej), and is hauled out before win-
ter, when the fields are firm, ready for
spreading in the spring. Such a heap, with
the winter crop of manure, is frequently suf-
ficient to dr(!ss over the field intended for
corn. The pen is generally made in that
field, and supplies of earth are obtained from
the woods and from turning rows, or low
places plowed up as drains, wherever re-
quired. In lands so l(!vel as those in the
Bay-side, the removal of the rich soil on a
head-land is im])ortant; it acts as a broad
though shallow ditch, and discharges much
water after heavy falls of rain, while the
leads serve to conduct it off without obstruct-
ing cultivation. They are generally about
three feet wide and the usual depth of plow-
ing.

A little more than twenty years ago tlie
rich dep(jsit8 of earth founil at the heads of
creeks began to be hauled out as manure.
Jt appears wonderlid that these natural com-
post beds should so long have been ovi>r-
lotikcd. 'Ihi'y have been u.sed to great ex-
tent and with unt'iiliiig advantage.

No marl has been found in tlie district, ex-
cept in the niugliboihuod of the Royal Oak,
un the lands of Major Dawson, Captain Mcis-
(11 -18)

I ter and Mr. Townsend, who use it with
I much success.

I Our waters afford an annual supply of fish-
manure in the Skate. They arrive, unfor-
tiuiat(^Iy, at a busy season. Some are taken
by fiirincrs who have seines, while others buy
of those who make a business of catching
them for sale.

Ashes and guano in a few cases have been
imported from Baltimore and ap[)lied with
satisfactory results. Ashes can be laid do\^^^
on our shores at a c<jst of TJ^ or 13.;| cents.
An enterprising practical farmer, Mr. Ed-
ward Covey, last year purcliased and ai)plied
no less than .5,.500 bushels, and this after
ascertaining their value from several years'
experience. Your Committee consider this a
fact of great value. It is difficult to intro-
duce manui'es which require a direct outlay
of money; yet it is obviously proper, by all
i^easonable means, to enrich oiu' lands that
our labor be not wasted.

The manner of using sea-ores is various.
Some put them in Uu-ge heaps to be distrib-
uted at leisure; others dress their cow-pens
with them, or drop them in tlie field to be
spread at some distant day. The best way
is to double-list* them in at once on corn
land to be crossed and planted next spiing ;
thus evaporation is avcjided and labor saved.

Your Committee think it unnecessary to
describe the mode of cultivation farther than
to remark that it is much more thorough
than fijnnerly, and altogether in ndges. Few
omit to sow clover-seed; but little clover is
cut ibr hay. It is either grazed oflf or
turned in. Plaster of Paris is not used, no
benefit having been found from repeated ex-
periments.

The four-field system, without fallow, is
tliough I to be the best for the improvement
of jantl, a field of clover lay to be added
when in sufficient heart to bear the change —
making one in corn, two in wheat and one in
pasture. This is believed to be the most
profitable course of husbandry, and is fol-
lowed by the best and most successful fann-
ers in the district. The old modes of se-
curing the com crop and fodder still continue.
The seeding of wheat commences the first
week in October and ends early the next
month. Some of those who have no fallow
are enabled to house their corn before they
begin to s(;eil wheat.

In conclusion, your Committee, in the sx\h
sence of records of crops, are under the ne-
cessity of resortuig to conjecture ; and they
hope that they will not be drenied extrava-
gant when tli(>y express tiie opiiiion that the
products of the Bay-side district have been,
within the last tv\-enty or thirty years, quad-
rupled.

All which is resix-ctfuUv submitted.

:^. lUMIU.KTON,
W. H. HARRISON.
TaUwt Co.. Md., K«:b. 15, 1847.
' in this U-vel ooiiiilty the ciiltivmioti ia uiiiforiiily
in iip.iiow ridgi e, mid ilit; ImcUiiii: ol fuui' lurrow-
Blices to^'ctlier in ilio fairow ln'uvcuu iwo ot' the
ridges io callcJ " UouLilo-Lieliui;."

FATTENING CATTLE.

579

FATTENING CATTLE.

A DISSKIIT.VTION ON THE PHILOSOPHY OP FATTENING CATTLE.. .PART IL

Much discussion has arisen between Mons.
Dumas and Bai-on Liebig resjiecting the
fonnatiou of i'lit ; the French ))hilosopher
maintains that the vogetabk^ which is par-
taken as food by the animal, j)ossesses, al-
ready Ibrmed ia its stniclure, all the fat
wliicli is absolutely essential for the animal;
and tiiat, like the gluten which is necessary
tiir the Ibrmation of muscular or fleshy iibre,
the {ihosphate of lime for the bones, and the
starch or gum for the formation of animal
heat, the fat which is contained in the vegeta-
ble is destined to supply the fat in the animal
body.

Oil the contrary, Baron Liebig contends
that if the animal is properly supplied with a
greater quantity of the non-uitrogenons con-
stituents of the food — viz. the sugar, starch,
and gum, than are necessary ibr the ]>ro|)er
supply of the demands in the animal ln'at,
they become converted into fat in the animal
economy. I am inclined to support the hy-
pothesis of Mens. Dumas; ibr, in my humble
opinion, I think it both simple and beautiful;
and, if we take into our consideration the

animal in its primitive and original state, I
conceive the accuracy of the theory cannot
for a moment be questioned. But we must
remember that the great quantity of fat wo
.see accumulating in those oxen, sheep, and
other animals, which we keep confined in
our stalls, originates from an aiuiormal con-
dition of the system, and is produced by the
circumstances under which the animal is
placed ; and as snch, in addition to the fat
already formed in the viigetabie, the animal
possesses the power of secreting an addi-
tional portion of fat from the food which it
consumes. The eaithy and saline substances
which are contained in the crops themselves
have vei-y important duties to [lerform in the
animal body ; thus, for example, they atlbrd
a supply of ])liosphate of lime tljr tlie due
formatinu of bones, as well as the saline par-
ticles which are constantly present in the
blood, tlesli, softer tissues, and secreted fluids
of animals. How far the ordinary cultivated
crops are capable of ja-operly answering the
functions thus re()uired of them, you will see
on referring to the t()llowing TaVde :

ON THE

TABLE in.

AVKllAGE COMI'OSITIO.V

OF CROPS.

100 Pajts.

Water.

Woody
Filire.

.Starch,
(Jum, or
Sugar.

Gluten

and

Albumen.

Fatty
Matter.

l^aline
Matter.

Wluat contain of

16
15
16
16
13
75
85
85
14
14
12
12
14
14
18
13
14
10
15 to 20

15
15
20
10

8

5

3

3
30
25
25
45
50
50
18
16
(77)

15 to 24

55

CO
50
40
50
12
10
10
40
40
45
35
30
30
45
51

30 to 50

10 to 15
12
14
28
24
2
1

7
<)

12
1-3
1-3
1-3

10

10
o

22
12 to 22

2 to 4
2-5

5-6
2

3

0-3
■!

0-4
2 to 5

3

1-8

0-8

0-5

0-8

2-6

.56

5-2
36
5 to 14

20
20
3-5
3

2-8
1
1
1
5 to 10
9
5
6
5
5

2-3
2-5

4
5 to 10

Oats

Potatoes

Turnips

Carrot.s

Meadow Hay

Clover Hay

Pea Straw

Oat Straw

Wlieat Straw

Barley Straw

Buckwheat

Maize

Rice Dust

Linseed (good)

OilCake

Yon will easily perceive from this useful
Table, that 100 parts of the various species of
crops grown by the fanner contain very va-
riable proportions of dry solid fooil ; tlius, in
order tlial the aniinnl may o})taiu the same
e(piivalent of dry food as 100 lbs. of hay
wotdd produce him, he must consume not
less, but probably moi-e, than GOO lbs. of
Swede turnips or carrots, or 300 lbs. of po-
ll 149)

tatoes ; but of this diy matter, you will please
to bear in your recollection, the cumpt)sition
exerts a very material inHueiice over its value
as food. I have described the manner in
which the gluten, casein, and albumen of the
vesetable are converted into the blood, flesh,
sfifter tissues and fluids of the animal : hence
young animals which are supi)lied with food
containing much of these muscle-formiug

680

MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

principles nre found to grow rapidly, and
their nmsculur iVaines will be duly devel-
oped: but, unless they are liberally suj.plied
with such substances as liit, ginn, and starch,
by whic-ii the animal heat is i'onned and "kept
lip, the aiiiuials will be niuscidar, but utterly
unfit i'or the butcher's ])ur[M)se. It is a veiy
common practice to feed young growing pigs
upon the refuse of the slaughter-iiouse, in
some places, such as the blood and intestines
of the slaughtered animals ; and in Krance,
many hundreds of jngs are ainiually fed ujion
borse-tlesh ; these pigs grow rapidly, and
their muscular frames are finc-ly developed,
but they do not become fat, unless they are
pro[)erly supplied with a liberal portion of
non-nitrogenous food, such as potatoes or meal
would yield.

As it is only from (he nitrogenous constitu-
ents that muscle is formed, it has been sup-
posed that the quantities of these substances
contained in any given article of food would
be a fair estimate of its feeding value ; and,
under this supposition, Mous. Hoiissin^ault
has constructed some Tables of the jnoportion
of nitrogen contained in different vegetable
substances. The late Rev. W. Rham has j)ub-
lished in The Journal of the Rot/al Agricnl-
tural Society of Ens;Innd, some Tables of the
relative value of dirterent kinds of food as
arrived at by practice; but all such Ta])les
liuist, to a certain extent, lie arbitrary, inas-
much as the quantity of these animal sub-
stances consumed by the animal must be in-
fluenced by circumstances ; the animal taking
active exercise requiring a much larger quan-
tity, in order to 8upi)ly the natural waste
which would occur under these circum-
stances, than if the animal was at rest.

We have also seen that the starch, gum,
and sugar of the vegetable supplies the con-
stituents by which the heat of the animal is
maintained; and as this heat never varies
during health, whatever variation may occur
in the tempc^rature of the ut>nos])hi>re or
apartment in vvhich they are placed, it follows
lliat the lower the temperature, the larger
•will be the tpiautity of carbon consumed in
the animal body ; this increased consinnption
arising from a larger jiortioii of oxygen being
inlrotluced into the body during cold weather,
than when the temperature of the atmosphere
approaches nearer that of the animal : henci'.
animals will consume a larger ainoiuit of tiujd
during tlu^ winter mouths than in thesutnmer
season, and those which are exposed to the
chilling; blasts of winter, more than those ['vd
in sheltered situations, warmtii being e(piiva-
leat to a certain supply of food, \\ith this
remarkable fact before ns, we cease to be
surprised at the (-noiinous ipiautity of train-
oil and fat which is consumed by the Green-
lander, whih^ the inliai)ilanls of the tropica
exist upon fruits and light, farinaceous diet.
In the formi'r, th(> sin'ronndini; atniosphcic is
constaiUly robbing the hod} ot ils heat ; while
in the lalt(>r the tenqienilure of llu^ air ap-
proaches .so jiear to that of the body tliat a
(1150)

little additional heat is sufficient to maintain
the requisite temperature. Exercise, also,
by increasing the number of inspirations, in-
troduces into the body a larger amount of
oxygen than would otherwise bo inspired ;
and as this never leaves the V)ody without un-
dergoing a change, it follows, as a matter of
comae, that the greater the uumVjer of inspi-
rations taken within a given time, the larger
wilf be the demand for tbod to suj)j)ly the
consunq^tion in the body. Hence we find
that an increase in tenqierature, with dimin-
ished exercise, tends to lessen the (]uaHtity
of food consumed, and also to increase the
weight of the animal. This fact was clearly
proved by Mr. Childers in feeding sheep. In
this ex|)erimcnt he selected from ids flock
forty sheep, and divided them into two lots
of twenty each ; one lot was left in the field,
which had a dry and sandy soil ; the other lot
was placed in a shed, u[)on a floor made of
pine-j)lanks, in order that they might be kept
dry, the floor being swept once a day. The
experiment commenced on the tirst of Janu-
ary, when the twentj' sheep in the field
weighed together 184 stones 4 lbs., while the
weight of those placed in the shed wiis 183
stones 3 lbs. ; each lot had as many turnips
as they could eat, which averaged 27 stones
per day ; each sheep was also allowed in ad-
dition, half a pound of linsped-cake, and half
a ]>int of barley per day, v.^ith a little hay.
and unlimited supj)ly of salt. For the first
three weeks each lot consumed equal por-
tions of food ; but in the fourth week, the
sheep conflned in the shed ate a lessquantitj^
of turnips, by three stones per day, than those
in the held ; and ou the first of Februar>-
they had gained in weii;lit 21 stones 1 1 lbs.,
while those in the field had only gained 15
stones 14 lbs. By the ninth week of the ex-
periment the sheep in the shed had dimin-
ished their cousunq)tion of tuniips two stones
more, and also three jiounds of linseed-cake
per day ; and on the first of March the .shed-
fed sheep liMil rjained 10 stones 10 His. more
in weight, while the sheep in the field had
only gained 8 stones 8 lbs. ; and at the end
of the experiment, on April the 1st, the shed-
fed .sheep had gained in the last month 23
stones 1.') 11*., or in the three months .'jlj stones
() lbs., while the sheep in tlie field had only
gained 12 stones 10 Ihs. in the month, or in
the three months :>»! stones 8 lbs., making a
diflerence in favor of the shed-fed sheep of
nearly twenty sttnies ; the sheep in the field
consumitig the same quantity of food during
the whole lime of the experiment. In this
experiment we have c(.nvinclng proof that
the (lu.nitity of food required by an animal
will be less in pro]iortion to the increase of
tenqierature; and that when a liberal diet is
allowed, but without shelter, nnich of the
constituents of the food will be consumed to
kee;> np the heat i rthe auiiital, wliicli would
l)(! (iliierwise s'oreil iij) in the body as till, if
no such cause of wasti^ existed ; and iience
to the influence uf told is tu be attributed the

FATTENING CATTLE.

581

difTiciilty of fiilt«Miiiig aiiimnls in cokl weather,
or ill ble;ik, uiisl loitered situations.

I iij:iy hero state to you some experiments
which were made bv that truly j)hiloso[)liical
agriculturist, Mr. Morton, at Earl Dmie's
fann, at Whitfield, a.s illustrative of the ett'ects
of an increase of temperature and diminished
exercise upon the feeding of sheep. In the
first experiment five sheep were ftnl in the
open air, between the Slst of November and
the 1st of December ; they consumed 90 lbs.
of food per day, the mean temperature of the
atmosphere being 41^ of Fahrenheit's ther-
mometer ; at the end of this time they
weighed 2 lbs. less than they did on the 2 1st
of November. In the second expi^rinifut,
live sheep were placed under a shed and al-
lowed free motion, the mean leniperature be-
ing 49^ ; they consumed at first 82 lbs. of
Ibod per day, then 70 lbs. ; at the end of the
experiment they had gained in weight 23
lbs. In the third experiment, five t;heep
were placed in the same shed, but were not
;ilIowed to take exercise ; they ate at first
t)4 lbs. of food a day, then 53 lbs., and in-
creased in weight .30 lbs.

Dai'kiiess, in combination with rest and
wannth, tends mutually to facilitate the fat-
tening process, Ijy removing those cau.ses of
excitement which might otherwise exist, and
which would tend to mi increased consump-
tion of carbon or fat-forming principle in the
lungs. It is well known to the practical
farmer, that restless animals consume a larger
quantity of foc>d, an<l fatten much slower,
than those of a cpiiet disposition ; and as it is
the object of the feeder to produce the largest
weight of flesh with the smallest quantity of
tbod, all those collateral circumstances should
be attended to which will facilitate the attain-
ment of the desired object.

Another important jiointto be properly at-
tended to in the management of cattle is the
regularity of their feeding ; inasmuch as the
gastric juice is secreted by the glands of the
stomach at the accustomed time of feeding ;
and therefore, if there is no food for it to act
u()on, it irriUites the coats of the stomach
itself, producing a degree of incpiictude and
restlessness which is highly injurious, and
tends to check that steady progress of the
animal which it is so desirable to maintain.
M. Von Thaer, in his work on " The Phi-
losophy of Agi-iculture," informs us that, in
fattening, care should be taken to maintain a
uniform and, particularly in winter, a some-
what high temperature Light must be in-
tercepted ; for just in proportion as it keeps
up the due health of cattle, so does dark-
ness accelerate the attainment of the required
degree of fatness. The repose and content-
ment— the happy freedom from anxiety,
arising from the certainty of receiving tlu-ir
foinl in proper time and measure — contributes
so mucli to the fattening of cattle that a much
more plentiful supply, given irregularly, can-
not make up for the want of order. The
hour for feeding, aud the quHutity of food.

(1151)

maybe variously regulated, but a system when
once adopted should be strictly adliered to.

The saline luid earthy matter contained ia
the food is by no means an unimportant fea-
ture. The animal, it must be borne in mind,
requires that the food or plants upon which
it lives shonld sujiply [ihosphate of lime for
the due formation of its bones, and saline
matter for ihe blood ; and it is a truly beau-
tiful provision of Nature, th.it pliints will not
grow in soils which are destitute of those con-
stituents required in the economv of animals •
hence the advantages which are derived from
the employment of such manures as bones,
guano, Croggon's and other saline manures,
or the urine of cattle, X-c, in the growing of
our commonly cultivated crops.

The due proportions of which these differ-
ent constituents of the food are required by
the animal, vary at different periods of its
growth, and also at different stages of its ap-
proach to that degree of fatness wliich fits it
for the shambles.

In the young and growing animal, there
will be a much larger demand on tlie food
than there would be in after-life. The mus-
cles re(juire to be enlarged by the addition
of more gluten or muscle-flirming principle
than would be necessary to compensate for
the natural waste which is continually going
on in the body, and the food must supply au
iucrciused quantity of phosphates for the
growth of bone ; the lungs are more active,
and a greater inimljer of inspirations are made
in a given time, by which more carbon is
consumed : hence the necessity of supplying
the growing animal with a richer and far more
nutritious diet than would be required by' the
adult, and of feeding at shorter intervals.

Nature has prepared in the milk of the ma-
ternal qnadrnjicd a species of food suitable to
the wants of ilie young animal ; and a glance
at its conqiositioii, which is pointed out by
chemical analysis, will soon convince us how
admirably it is adapted to fulfill the purposes
in the animal economy :

TABLE IV.

COMPOSITION OF MII.K.

Butter 27 to 3.5

Casein or Clieese 4.t to 90

Miiksusrar 37 to .50

Phosphate of lime 3 to 10

Salts 7 to 10

Water 8gl to 805

The sugar of milk, with the butter, sup-
plies the materials which are consumed in
the lungs of the young animal, by which the
animal heat is properly kept up. The casein,
or cheesy matter, yields the materials for the
growing muscles, and the gelatine of the
bones ; while the phosphate of lime, dissolved
in the water, supplies the earthy matter for
the bones. The cjuantity of milk, and the
proportions of the ingi'edients which it con-
tains, vary with circumstances, such as the
breed of the cow, the food with which she ia
supplied, the time of her calving, her age,

582

MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

and state of liealtli. It is also materially in-
fluenced by the temperature of the atmo-
sphere ; warmth jirodiicins similar eftects on
the composition of tlie milk as on the fatten-
ing of the animal ; the colder the air, the less
butter will the animal yield iu her milk.
This fact is well known to tarniers, the
cause being the larger consumprion in the
hmgs of the animal (to retain its heat against
the cooling influences of the external air) of
those principles in the food from whicli the
butter is fomied. As an illusti-ation, I may
quote an accoiuit of an experiment made un-
der the directions of that practical agricul-
tural chemist, Mr. Gyde, and whicli is well
worth your notice.

" Six cows, during the warmest part of
the summer of 1844, when in the field, yield-
ed, on an average, 14 quarts of milk each ;
as the season advanced and the weather be-
came colder, the quantity of milk steadily di-
minished, and of course with it the butter.
In the early portion of November, four of the
six cows were placed in a house, the floor of
which was boarded in order to keep them
dry. Light was nearly excluded, and the
mean temperature of the house was kept at
about 55°, the animals having bai'ely enough
roojn to lie down in their stalls; their diet
was composed of cut turnips, hay, chaff", and
a little ground lentil mixed with the chaff.
For the first few days the animals were evi-
dently uncomfortable in their new liabitation,
and their yield of milk diminished. At the
expiration of three weeks the milk had again
increa.sed, and the quantity given was equal
to that of the best yield of the summer. By
the middle of December — the cold being
then intense in the open — ihe cows gave 18
quarts each of rich milk, from which a proper
(juantity of butter was made. Animals when
yielding milk require a richer food than when
they are dry, since it is from the food taken
that they are enabled to secrete their milk ;
and if their food does not contain a sufficiency
t)f the elements required, the milk is less nu-
tritious : hence the growth of young and
suckli'ig animals is less rapid, and its fuliu'e
liealih and strength of constitution suffer by
the t;eatment which it receives when young.
When sheep are fed upon turnips, and in
winter, during the time they are giving suck,
it is an excellent plan to allow a portion of
oil-cake, or linseed, or pea or beim meal, as
]iart of their daily food ; such addition greatly
improves the secretion of milk, the lambs
grow rapidly, and fatten miuh eailier than
when no such adilitiou is made, and the sheep
are found to be in nnich better condiiiou in
the spring. In the rearing of calves, like-
wise, it is desirable that they should have the
whole milk, and not be 8U))i)lied after the
first two or three days with milk that has
been skimmed, as is the custom in some
l)arts of England. The practice of the late
Earl Spencer, in feeding calves, was to allow
them the unskimmed milk for the first three
rnuuths, and afterward to give them skimmed

milk for the first tlnee months, and afterward
to give them .skimnied milk mixed with bar-
ley or oatmeal ; this practice was found to
succeed remarkably well ; but I am inclined
to believe that ]iea or bean meal mixed with
linseed would have probably Ix-en better
than oat or barley meal, since the bean and
pea contain vegetable casein, which is iden-
tical in com{)osition with the casein of milk,
and forms an admirable substitute for it ;
while the soluble gum and mucilage of the
linseed would he the more easily acted on
by the stomach of the you)ig animal than
the insoluble starch of the oat or barley.

In fattening calves for veal, attention should
be devoted to the production of fat animals
of moderate size, veal of this description be-
ing most sought after by the epicure. The
animal should be kept perfectly quiet, and
])laced in as warm a situation as convenient,
that there may be as little loss of the fat-
fonning priucijde as possible ; and a gloomy
siuialion, not amounting to actual darkness,
is found, by experience, greatly to assist the
above means, by inducing tranquillity and a
disjiosition ibr sleep. The food should be
rich, and regularly supplied, and the stiictest
attention to cleanlineM should be observed.
Bleeding is occasionally resorted to by some
feeders, and its effect is to check the too
rapid development of muscle, while it does
not interfere with the regular accumulation
of fat in the body. Animals intended for
stock should be allowed free exercise, that
their muscular frames may be well developed;
and their food .should be of a nutririous char-
acter, containing suificient gluten to supply
the full demand of theii- growth. They should
have shells to go into at night and during rain,
with a dry bed to lie upon ; animals which
nre so ti-eated will grow rapidly, fatten much
fiister when required, anil be of a stronger
constitution than those fed upon coarse, infe-
rior, and unv\holes(mie food, which is unfit
to su]i[)ly the demands of the .system, pro-
ducing an im})erfect development of the an-
imal frame, and not unfrequently engender-
ing diseases of a troulilesome and frequently
a fatal character.

Time, gentlemen, warns me to conclude
I have endeavored to detail in a few words,
what is known on the subjects by our best
animal physiologists, who have applied their
theories to the rearing and feeding of cattle.
If, by the knowledge I have inijiarted to you
in this Lecture, you are enabled to jiromote
your own interests, and that of the ])ublic,
by better regidating the treatment of your
live-stock, 1 siiall not have addre.s.sed you in
vain. I am the theorist, you are the prac-
tical men ; your practice and my theoiy (or
rather the theories of sound plulo.sophers) com-
bined, cainiot, whim pro]H'ily managed, but
conduce to yoiu- own pecuniary benefit, and
that of mankind in geneial. Accept my
thanks for your kind attention, and, for the
ju'esent, I respectfully say, farewell, h. w. d
" [■ The (.London) Plough.']

IMPROVED REAPER. 583

IMPROVED REAPER.

MCCORMICK'S PATENT VIROINIA REAPER, IMPROVED.
•' Whatfivcr n man shall sow, that shall he reap."

The vast disproportion between land and labor, and the dcarncss of the latter,
lead to a constant stretch of ingenuity to contrive, in every department, labor-
saving implements. Our limits, too, seem to be extending yet faster than the
increase of laborer?, great as that is, by immigration and natural increase.

While this state of things continues, as it must do yet for half a century at
least, we shall go on skinning district after district, and State after State, of their
virgin fertility, just as the dairy woman passes along, skimming olT the cream
from pan after pan. Of most crops it is easy to, and too many do make more
than they can harvest and take care of. It was, we may suppose, in view of
this greedy and improvident disposition, that it was ordained, "Whatever a man
sow, that shall he reap."

Some labor-saving implement has long been a desideratum for harvesting
wheat and grass crops, particularly on the western prairies, where laud is at
once so cheap and so fertile. To meet this demand, Mr. Obed Hussey, of Balti-
more, and Mr. McCormick, of Virginia, have been, we believe, most successful.
In what consists the difference between their Reapers we are not exactly advised,
and therefore not prepared to pronounce upon their comparative merits. We
happen to know on good authority that Mr. Hussey's is in high repute among
the working, and what is better, if better need be, the thinking farmers of brave
*' Little Delaware," and we shall be ready to make known its particular excel-
lence, in any authentic way that he or his friends may enable us to do.

In the mean time, we have had placed within our reach the illustrations which
follow, in proof of the availability and efficiency of McCormick's machine, which
appear to commend it very strongly to all — of whom there are not a few — who
find it much easier to sow than to reap. What is here given is taken at random
from a variety of testiiDonials, equally particular and conclusive, contained in
Mr. McCormick's hand-bill ; and to these, thus selected from many, we append
the statement of Mr. IBatemax, of the Ohio Cultivator:

Frankfort, Clinton Co., la., Aug. 3, 1846.

Dear Sir : I have u.seil your Reaper ahout oiio-lialf the last harvest. I cut about 90 acres. The
machine did not arrive until we were halt' done. My wheat was lodu-ed, the s^rouiid roush and
uneven. I have never before seen as much straw on the same quantity of ground. 1 can hardlv
conceive of more unfavorable circumstances than the " Reaper" was placed under, tur a trial,
yet the machine sustained its previous hiijh rejiutalion as a grain cutter. It performs well ia
standing grain, or in grain that is loilged. Two haud.s, one to drive and one to rake, will perform
with the " Reaper ' as mueli as eiirlu hands could do with cradles, besides saving from a bushel
to a bushel and a half \>ev acre, that any cradler wouhl leave on tlie ground. Tlie machine is
simple in its construction, and not liable, when pro])erly made, to get out of order. If it should
hap[)en. any part except the sickle, to get out of order, there is no more difficult}- in repairing it
than a cradle or mowing-scythe. Yours, L. D. GRIGGcj.

Cyrus H. Mct'ou.MicK, Ksq.

Dupage, Will Co., .July 02, 1846.
Dear Sir : T take pleasure in communicating to you the result of my operations with your
Reaper to the present time, which, I am proud to say, has been of the most satisfactory charac-
ter. I cut, in nine days, with the Reaper, l.'iO acres of heavy wheat, since which I have cut 50
acres, and can say that the work was done perfectly, saving, 1 am satisfied, not less than a bushel
(1153J

584

MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

per acre ; and this has been without any repairs or trouble with the machine. It would have re-
qaired eight good cradlers to have cut my wheat in the time cut by the Reaper ; and in addi-

tion to the cutting, the wheat was completely
raked from the Reaper into gavels ready for
bindinsr.

In addition to the saving of grain and labor
liy your Reaper, it is worthy of remark that a
very important consideration with the farmer
is the cutting of liis wheat rapidly and con-
veniently, when in a proper state for cutting,
without being dependent upon hired labor, and
thereby avoiding a very heavy loss from cut-
ting either too early or too late. From these
statements every farmer can make his own
calculation as to the value of your Reaper.
For my own part I consider it, to the West-
ern countr3', the most important invention of
the age, and that it will greatly increase the
product of the country, not being able without
it to reap so much as can be sowed.

Very respectfully, H. E. TOWNER.

P.S. The foregoing 200 acre completes my
harvest of winter wheat, and I am now cutting
my spring crop. H. E. T.

We take pleasure in announcing to our
readers that Mr. McCormick has made such
improvements in his Reaper as are found
to greatly facilitate its operation, especially in
the work of raking the cut grain from the plat-
form, and that he is now engaged in manufac-
turing a large number of the machines at Cin-
cinnati, for the supply of the South-western
country. He assures us also that the inmost
attention will be paid to the character of the
workmanship in constructing the machines,
so that no fault shall hereafter exist on that
score.

From what we have seen of the operation
of this machine, and the high testimonials
from those who have used it extensively,
we are confident that it will do first-rate
work in good hands; and it will be seen from
the advertisement in this paper that the terms
i sale oHTer the fullest possible guaranty t&
iiii-chasers. The need of machines for reap-
ing grain was greatly felt by the farmers of
Ohio last year, and we doubt not that a large
number will be used at the coming harvest.
Handbills giving fuller information, and testi-
monials of the character of the machine, can
be obtained of Mr. McCormick, Cincinnati, or

at the office of this pajier. We will also, if desired, order the machine, for any of our readers
who may wish to obtain them. [Ohio Cultivator.

AGRICULTURAL EXHIBITIONS— IN WHAT WAY ARE THEY USEFUL?

Their value is to be measured not by the number of people in attendance, nor yet by
the number of things exhibited ; but by the new facta and valuable addition they bring to
the stock of agricidiural knowledge.

If mere numbers, and admiration, and excitement, be the object, let a militia mustering
be advertised at any old field X roads, tiike care to have a drum and fife with a sprinkling
of red coats, and 8wt)rd8, and things that smell of violence and blood. Add to these a
dozen prancing stallions, a live bear and a ring-tail tame monkey — not forgetting to have
booths for sale of mead and gingerbread, with a barrel of still-bunit whisky in the crotch of
a cart-tongue, and the purpose will be fully answered. The throng will be as large as any
one can desire, but how many will go away either better or wiser ? The whole aim of Ag-
ricvdtural Associations should be to increase and dift'use knowledge, and spectacles should

be encouraged only as ihey contribute to that end.

(iir.4)

THE PROFITS OF FARMLN'G IN MASSACHUSETTS. 585-

THE PROFITS OF FARMING IN MASSACHUSETTS.

At Albany and Bos'on, during the sessions of the Legislature, agricultural
meetings are held (at Boston, we believe, in the chamber of the House of Repre-
sentatives) for the interchange of knoAvledge and the discussion of questions
bearing on the landed interest.

A journal which should contain nothing but these discussions would l.e worth
more to the country than the proper journals of legislation, such as they are in
some States, and far more edil'ying than all those papers whicii are given up to
a blind support of this party or that, and to wholesale and indiscriminate abuse
of those who differ from them. How much better for members of Legislatures
to be thus communing with each other, on matters of the deepest interest to
themselves and their constituents, than to be lounging about from tavern to
tavern and from morn to noon, drinking and gaming, or engaged in idle, insig-
nificant jesting and ribaldry and frivolous conversation. In that excellent paper,
the " Massachusetts Ploughman," we find the following. Although it would
be impossible to find room for these discussions as they occur, in the numerous
clubs which we rejoice to see are being formed throughout the country, we give
the discussion in this case, as it relates to the great question into which all
others resolve themselves after all, to-wit : The Profits of Farming. In ex-
tending these profits and losses, we have often thought that many small items
are omitted which ought to be brought into the account on the credit side of the
farm.

Many of these items of rural enjoyment arc, in fact, not to be had in the towns
for love or money. There you can't enjoy the ripe juicy fruit fresh as you pluck
it from the trees, and the fragrant strawberry as it grows upon the vine of your
own planting; nor with them the rich cream of the Alderney, the pure secre-
tion of the sweet-scented vernal grass — anthoxanthum odoratum. Money won't
buy you the fresh e^g not yet cold from the nest, that in the country you may
eat while the hen is yet cackling in triumph at her great achievement ; neither
can you be sure, in town, that even your milk has not been in fraudulent prox-
imity to the pump. In winter you are not warmed into good humor with all the
world by a large, bountiful, blazing loood fire ; nor can even Astor's countless
millions buy for him, in town, the pleasure of being woke by the matin soncs of
joyous birds from the dreamless and refreshing slumbers that wait on rural ex-
ercises. For what amount of " base lucre" would the man of sensibility ex-
change the feelings that gladden his heart while he admires tf e flowers that
ornament his breakfast table, and relishes and praises the well-made bread and
the nice butter and the rich cream cheeses, that are the pride of his wife's or
his daughters' management, and for which no such opportunity or reward is
offered to the ambition of city wives and daughters ?

True, it may be said we can exist without these small itcn?s of refreshment
that go, too insensibly, to make up the sum of rural felicity ; but if life itself is
valued as it should be, for the opportunity it affords to be useful to our fellow
men, and for the rational pleasures it brings, surely all these items should go to
make up the account in favor of the country.

(1155)

586

MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE-

NINTH AORICULTUKAL MEETINCi. j to farming, and at tlie end of 20 yearn the

The I'rdfits of Farming was still the or- j 100 fanners will be worth the nK>st money,
der of hist Tuesday evening, and animated It is ascertained that of 100 merchants who
gtatements were made by many of the speak- I had done business on Long Wharf more than
ers. Hon. Mr. Starkvveatheb, one of the j 00 became insolvent. So by a record ke[)t
Vice-Presidents, presided. at certain banking estaVdishments, it was fonnd

Mr. Brooks of Princeton went into very that but very few who liad done business
minute particulars of outlay and income. He I died worth any property. So at the probate
was speaking when we entered the Hall, and office it was found that 90 per cent, of the

we lost s(jme of his remarks, which we hope
he will communicate lor the first page of our
next number.

Mr. Brooks estimated that 10 quarts of
inilk will make a pound of butler; that 10
quarts of skim-milk will make a ])ouiid of
pork. The cost of keeping a cow well, a
little over 50 dollars per year ; and the value
of her butter one or two dollars more than
the keeping. He lets no cattle on to his
mowing grounds. Then there was the calf
and the manure in addition to the skim-milk.
He counts his hay at G dollars a ton. Mr. B.
said he could make 15 per cent, on all his

estates of traders prove insolvent. The records
of the courts, too, will show that those who
have taken advantage of the bankrupt act
have not. on an average, made a dividend to
the creditors of more than two or tliree per
cent. Here are facts that we can re-sort to
and rely upon. In my own observation I
have found that systematic, prudent and dil-
igent farmers always succeed.

Here is a foundation that may be built on
with more certainty than any other. Yet
young men are nishing into cities to make
their fortunes. It is all important that the
facts which have here been stated, now and

capital engaged in farming, and he thought , at former meetings, should be deeply im
any fanner could do the same if he would [ pressed on young minds. Mr. Brooks says

15 per cent, may be made on capital by any
diligent and systematic fanner. Hon. John
Lowell said 18 per cent. All this may be
done by fanning intelligently. He had won-
dered that lanners generally could get along
so well as they actually do in their careless
mode of fanning. For himself, he had re-
gained his own health by fanning. The

manage well

Hon. Mr. Clark of Walpole said he had
in later years been engaged in farming.
Some of his land had cost him GO and some
100 dollars per acre to get it into good grass.
Some of his mowing is peat land ;md some is
not. He sows his grass seed in September,
and mows his fields three years without ma-

nuring; then i)lows and seeds down again on | fresh open air had restored him. He repeat-
the furrow ; puts no manure but ashes on his ! ed his pleasure on hearing the numerous
upland ; prefers dry ashes. A man in Rhode statements of the profits that may be made

Island ])urchases leached ashes at 17 cents
per bushel, but he would not give it. Dry
^shes kill his witch-grass and bring in clover.
He thuiks as much can be Tnade in fanning
as in any other business. In his county one
can make more than 25 per cent, by growing
fruit. The porter apple and the winter pip-
pin always bear a good pi'ice, and he had
with these scions succeeded well in grafting
trees that were 35 years old. One of his
neighbors had done so well with fniit as to
clear 100 per cent. He had cleare<l more
than 200 dollars on one acre of peach trees.

Mr. Brooks said, in answer to an inquiry
as to selliiig hay, that he was obliged to use
all his on his farm, for he could not buy ma-
nure if he would. He had reclaimed some
of his rocky pasture land at a cost of 100
dollars per acre, arid he was paid for do-
ing it.

Hon. Mr. Calhoun said he was nuuli
pleased to hear so much testimony in I'avor

in this business. One more consideration
shoidd have much weight. It had been truly
stated by his venerable friend from Framing-
ham, Major Wheeler, that this business nat-
urally leads the mind to contemplation and
to gratitude to the Ruler of the Universe, to
whom fanners feel obliged to look for a
blessing on their labors. No occupation so
directly leads the mind to reflection on the
works of creation. All that we cat, drink
and wear comes from the ground. In every
view this occupation is important.

But we have not yet devised a suitjible
system of agricultiu-al education. "We might
easily funiish the means, in our common
schools, of showing young men how to an-
alyze soils and learn their different natures.
Science should be brought down .so as to be
clearly understood in order to be useful.
There is a bill now in the Legislature to fur-
nish sc1k)oIs iiir adults. Let us have them for
all clas.ses. Minds run to waste. We quit

the profits of farming i)oth now and at school ,and are then permitted to think of
fonner meetings. He hoped .something l nothini; but hard work.

would go ibrlh from this place that woidd
encourage young men to ct)nsider well their
true and {)ermanent interest. Too many men
seem to think that farming is the last bnsine.'^s
to be thought of for profit. Butcomjiare the
whole [)rofit of farming with the jirofit de-
rived from other pursuits, and you find that
firmers, on the whole, succeed best. Li.'t
J 00 men uo into a city and tiade; b-t ]()0 go
^llOti)

Major Bks.iamin \V heeler .stated that out
of 18 cases of bankruptcy, and 18 of insolv-
ency, only one of the debtors was a farmer.

Hon. George Dennv of Westborough said :
As to the statement of i)0 an<l uj)ward in the
100 failing in trade, he was aware that it w;ls
not generally believed, but it is true. He
had had occasion to examine the lecords,
which prove that out of 1112 persons whoso

INSTINCT OF lUnnS. DUNG-HKAPS, &,C.

587

estates proved insolvent, only 14 wore farm-
ers; one of these was a lazy niun. and anoth-
er had been enj^aged in sliige-driviiig and
ondorsod paper lor his brother. A list from
the olliue of tlie Secretary of the State would
prove llie small proixution of firmiM's who
had become bankrupt. Every fourtliman in
the stores here could be dispensed with; yet
numbers are contiuually rushing here to make
their fortuaes. No real larmer in this State
has failed.

Cajit. Hks.iamis I'oiiTKU of Danvers said:
Not a liinnei- m Esse-x (Jounty h.is failed. I
have been in trade, and I have been engaged
iu farming. I have been in dei)t, and have
lain awake many a night to contrive how to
tiike up my notes given in trade. I lost my
health, but 1 have recovered it on my farm.
1 bought a farm tliat had been neglected,
worn out. for .Jl.^jOl). It had numerous fruit
trees, but it bore no fruit. I commeuce<l by
plowing and cross-plowing amaig the trees.
I bought yearly 101) dollars' worth of manure,
and on the third year I had T'Xi dollars' worth
of apples. I had a sow that biought nine
pigs. When these were sold they brought
me 253 iloUars. My trees very soon com-
menced bearing in consequence of breaking
the sward. Farming is better than any kind
of mechanic employment in Essex County.

Tiiere is the Howe Farm, on the Beverly
town lino, which has been leased out to half
a dozen men ; all have made money on it by
having half the proceeds. Several of these
men now own good farms. They purchased
them by the prolits of farming.

Mr. LiNcoLV, a member of the House
from \V'i)rcester, did not think money the
sole object ; he would not have a man
" gain tiie whole world and lose his own
soul." He had made fanning profitable in
one sense, but in no other : it atVords a living
for a man and liis family, but he cannot be-
come ricli. The sUitement of the gentleman
from Princeton, Mr. Brooks, is not satisfac-
tory. Farms are generally incumbered with
mortgages. Why is it that farmers are so

Ejenerally in debt? Some individuals in
arge towns make a little money by teaming
and othei- business otf from the farm ; Ijut
this is not farming. The same miy be said
of a few who have a chiuce to sell milk.
But all farmers cannot sell milk. Let n fann-
er lay out $3,000 in a fnin. He will be
obliged to economize. His clothing is less
expensive than that of mechanics. By living
very prudently he can hold his own, but he
cannot lay up money. Mr. Lincoln would
not have young men led astray by reports of
these meetings. His object in speakhig was
to put j)eople on their guard.

Air. Dknny .said there are two sides to ev-
ery question. He was glad to hear the gen-
tleman from Worcester. He Inped to ln.'ar
in this place all the objections that cim be
stated to the profitableness of farming. All
of them are readily answered. Twenty
years will show clearly who lays up the most
(1157)

money — farmers or those engaged in other
pursuits.

Major Wheklkr here offered some resolu-
tions which were filed for action at the next
meetuig.

Mr. ItussKT.T., a member, as we learned,
from Worcester County, answered some que-
ries [jroposed by .Mr. Lincoln. I leased a
farm worth )j3,000 at Hve percent. The le.s-
see told me he ki;pt five cijws on it and sold
the butter; lie did not sell milk. He sup-
))nrted his fauiilv on the firm and he laid up
$100 a year. He had seven daughters, and
he brought them all up well educated. He
left the tarm in a lood slate.

Tiie Gill Farm in 15oylston, GOO acres, was
rented i()r a number of years. The lessee
retired witli a handsome property. I have
been in trade ;md I have been on a fann. I
prefer farming.

Lieut. Governor Reed expressed his high
gratification in learning that farming is con-
nected with so many good things. He
tliought we had an assembly liere of the very
b(\st of farmers, and he wished to come again
and hear more on the same subject.

Ca[)t. E. Whickler of Fiamingham isaid
he had served as a Deputy Sheiitl' for thir-
teen years, and though some of the traders
there had failed in tliat time, not an individ-
ual whose occupation was farmuig had be-
come insolvent.

Capt. I'oKTKR named two fanners who
went to Vermont several years ago; each
bought a farm of 100 acres. In a tew years
one .sold out for $1.^,000, and the other had
acquired a handsome property.

Instinct of Birds. — When the lapwing
wants to procure f^iod it seeks for a woi-m's
nest, and stamps the ground by tli(! side of
it with its feet, after the manner of boys iu
order to procure worms for lishing. After
doing diis for a short time the bird waits for
the i.ssue of the worm from the liule, which,
alanned at the shaking of the ground, en-
deavors to make its escape, when it is imims-
diately seized and become the prey of this
ingenious bird.

Dung-Hkaps. — The temperature of a dung-
heap is a pretty correct criterion of the state
of fermentation. If a thermometer plunged
into it does not ri.se above 100 degrees there
is litde danger of too much gaseous matter
being lost ; if the temperature is higher,
means should be taken to check the fer-
mentiition.

Good Bay. — In Aberdeen the streets are
swept every day, at an annual cost of £ 1,400,
and the refuse brings in £2,000 a year. In
Perth the scavenging costs £1,300 per an-
num, and the manure sells for £1,730. Here,
then, is a gain of sterling gold — a premium
for sa\"ing immort;d life.

588

MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

PRODUCTION OF SUGAR IN THE EAST INDIES.

The April number of Hunt'' s Merchants'' Magazine contains an interesting let-
ter from J. Balestier, Esq., the United States Consul at Singapore, in the East
Indies. The letter was not intended for publication, but was addressed to a
planter in Porto Rico, and was forwarded, via New-York, to J. IN. Balestier, a
brother of the American Consul, who took the liberty of transcribing the mate-
rial parts of it for publication in the Merchants' Magazine. Mr. Balestier has
resided in Singapore since the year 1833, and is largely engaged in the business
of suc^ar growing. His intelligence, as well as intimate acquaintance with the
commercial and agricultural statistics of the East, entitle his statements to the
utmost respect. The present communication relates to the prospective produc-
tion of sugar, and embraces a sketch of the condition of sugar planting in Java,.
Cochin China, Siam, &:c. It will be read with interest by our numerous sub-
scribers in the sugar-growing region of the United States:

Extracts from the Letter of J. Balestier, Esq.

What vvith the reduction in the duties in
England and Amei-ica, and the prevailing
spirit in the remainder of Europe for cheap
sugars, the consumption must greatly in-
crease ; and as growers of the article are not
prepared to supply this unexpected call, it
would seem to follow that, for some years to
come, prices will rather advance than de-
cline. No part of America, except the Uni-
ted States, is in a condition to add much to
the stock now raised.

There is abundance of first-rate soil, but a
great scarcity of laborers ; and without them
the land has but little value. To this quar-
ter— the eastern hemisphere, abounding in
suitable soil and ellicient hands— expectation
is naturally turned to furnish the uicreased de-
mand.

But there will be found gi'cat obstacles in
the realization of this expectation, causing
great disappointment. This eastern world,
though possessed of unbounded soil and poj)-
ulation, is wanting in capital and in enter-
prising Europeans, without wliich there can
be no considerable adilititju to sugar produc-
tion. The natives, left to themselves, are too
much wanting in industrious habits, or in am-
bition of riches, ever to make good a defi-
ciency in so costly and complicated a manu-
facture as that of sugar. .lava, under its sys-
tem of forced labor, is strained beyond pru-
dence, as is proved by two successive years
of famine brought on by turning the industry
of that island from rice cultivation— the bread
of that co'intry— into other channels, such as
indigo, tea, coti'ec and sugar. The i'li'lip-
pines, vast and rich in soil, are in the bauds
of pirates and Indians, and by law or habit
are rendered unapproachable to foreigners
beyond the limits of Manilla, the Capital;
(n.^.8)

and although thei-e is a yearly development
of their productiveness, still they are fai*
i'rom being productive to the extent they
would be wej-e Europeans pennitted to estab-
lish themselves in the interior, and turn the
population to industrious habits by giving
them adequate wages for then- labor. Cliina
produces much sugar ; but as their own con-
sumption is great, and as they even import
considerable coarse sugar from Cochin China
and Siam, it would seem that no considerable
surplus could be looked for from that quarter.
Cochin Cliina is m the hands of a despot, who
I'eaps what his people are made to plant,
they receiving, either in articles of food,
clothing or money, what His Majesty is
pleased to give them. Everj'thing comes
into his granaries for future disposal, and he
alone exports, in his own ships, to this port
and to Batavia, whatever is marketable — say
about 'JO, 000 j)iculs of ordinary sugar and
some cotlee. Siam is another of those vast
countries vs'here largo (quantities of sugar
might be grown were it not for the ctq)idity
of its sovereign. He of Cochin China, as 1
have said, obliges his people to sow. to en-
rich himself with the reaping, while his
brother of Siam encouraged the innnigration
of colonies of Chinese into his States, to ob-
tain a revenue from the rich alluvial wastes
which his own subjects had not energy and
industry to cultivate. The Cliinese paid a
regular lixed rent for their allotments, and
their j'l'odnction of sugar greatly increased.
But an unlooked-for jiurcbaser made his ap-
])eaiance. Hiilierto the Chinese had been
iiee to sell their crops to the highest bidder;
but now the King's emissiu'ies demanded the
delivery »)f the sugar at a price fixed by hini-
selC, and which, being less than the market
value, leaves to his merchant majesty a hand-

POKTRV. FOSSIL CHERRY TREE.

189

some profit on the sales to forei'jners. Tliat
procoediiijjs so arbitrary shnuUl check tlie
maiiutkcliii-e is iho natural consequence; and
Siam, thm'efore, will not, For the present,
lend a helping hand in replcnishuig the ware-
houses oi' the West with sugar.

I Jiave gls-cn yon a rapid and, I believe, a
coiTcct survey of the caiJabilities of the prin-
cipal sugar lands in the East, to meet the new
wants expected to arise irom a less biu-deu-
some Uix upon the consumer.

The time, however, will come — must como
— when the world will be am[)ly sui)plicd
with this article. IJritish India, ajid the Brit-
ish possessions in the Straits of Malacca, are
in a better condition to become jnoducers on
a larger scale than any other region. I have
already said, in the first part of this letter,
that there is abundance of soil and of labor-
ers, but that ca])ital and adventurers were
w^aiiting. This is true at present ; but will
it be so long, after the stability of this branch
of industry shall be well esUiblished ? For
many years past, vacillating policies and Tar-
itfs have given anything but security to those
eugaged m the business of growing sugar;
and the consecjuence has been that capitalists
have been unwilling to lend money to carry
on or estiiblish an industry universally con-
sidered hazardous, except on such onerous
conditions as made the unfortunate borrower
a bonded slave for life.

The new policy of Governments, which, by
the imposition of moderate duties, encour-
ages consumption, gives that stability and se-
curity so much wanted, and will lead capital
to flow in that channel. Tliat great ob.stacle
removed. ;idventurers from the West will not
be wanting in the plains of over-jiopulated
India. Money, oljtiiined at a moderate rate
of interest, will enable them to fomi planta-
tions, and raise and export sugar cheaper
than from any other quarter of the globe, un^
less these shores (the Straits of Alalacca),
jutting out from India and China, whose pop-
ulation is the densest in the world, should
prove an exception.

The shores of the Malaya Peninsula, along
the Straits of Malacca, have far greater ad-
vantages for the growth of sugar-catie than
any portion of Biitish India. The whole ex-
tent of country is perfectly healthful to Eu-
ropean, Chinese, Indians or aboriginal Ma-
lays. In its whole e.xtont it is exempt from
any of those teiritic and destructive atmo-
spheric convulsions, such at hurricanes, ty-
phoons, or even gales ; squalls, only, are oc-
casionally experienced. Its surface is diversi-
fied by higli mountains aud rich valleys, and
]>lains almost intenniunble, all indicating, by
the luxuriant fruit which overspreads them,
the fertility of the soil. Lar^e navigable liv-
ers and other water-courses nident the coast,
by whicli die gieatest facility would be had
in communicating with the interior. Its min-
eral wealth, in gold, iron, lead, and piu-ticu-
larly in tin, is great. |

This peninsula, with upward of 500 miles ;
(1159)

of sea-coast, with the exception of the three
small settlements, viz : Singapore, Malacca
and Penang, or Prince of ^Vales Island, is a
wjiste.

Possessing such eminent advantages, what
is not that waatc capable of becoming, with
capital at counnand and cheap labor from In-
dia and China close at hand ? Nothing i.s
wanting but confidence in the business of
raising sugar, to give such an impulse to it
within the posssessions of the East India
Comj)any, as shall fully meet the probable
increased wants of the European and Amer-
ican populations.

Receive, then, my frie)idly congratidations
on what ap[)ear to me just-founded prospects
of good prices for some years to come ; but
at the saine time make the most of that warn-
ing which the untold millions of vacant cane
lands, and the untold millions of the free and
etlicient hands of India — at an average of two
Spmiish dollars per month, endiuing every-
thing— give you. Will yon be ready to com-
pete wiUi good sugar, the cost of which, to
the manufkctm-ers, shall not exceed one pen-
ny sterling, or two cents per pound ? There
are not tliose wandng — experienced men in
the business — who are ready to prove that,
with the i)low and steam for helpmates — that
is, with improved implements and skill — su-
gar, ue;u-ly white, can be turned out at two
cents per pound.

GOD SAVE THE PLOW,

See, how the shining' share
Maketh Earth's bosom fair.

Crowning her brow.
Bread in its fun-ow springs,
Health and repose it brings.
Treasures unknown to kings —

God save the plow !

Look to the warrior's blade,
While o'er die tented glade
Hate brcatlios his vow ;
Strife its un.shcathiug wakes,
Love at its lightning (juake.s,
Weeping and woe it makes-
God save the plow !

Ships o'er the deep may ride,
Storms wreck dieir bannered pride.

Waves whelm tiieir prow ;
But the well-loaded wain
Garnereth the golden grain,
Gladdening the household train —
, God save the plow !

Who are the truly great ?
Minions of pomp and state.

Where the crowd bow f
Give us hard hands and free,
Cnlturers of field and tree.
Best friends of Liberty —

God save the plow !

^-^W A fossil cherrv' tree was lately discov-
ered in a bed of .sandstone, in the Isle of Wight,
200 feet below die level of the earth.

590

MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

SCRAPS.

Information Wasted by the Editor of
The Farmers' Library. — The names of the
Chairman and members of the two branches of
the Legislatures of the several States, who
composed, at their last meeting, the Committees
on Agriculture and on Education ; and particu-
larly copies of their Itcpn-ts on these subjects.
Also printed copies, if to be had, of the Gov-
ernor's Messages, to see in what terms these
tv/o great objects of public interest were re-
ferred to.

This request is particularly addressed to the
Clerks of the two Houses of the Legislature.
The object is the advancement of the public
welfare, as far as it depends, as assuredly it
does, on improved Education and improved
Agriculture, more than on all other earthly con-
cerns.

Where no answer is received it will be re-
luctantly inferred, though .scarcely to be be-
lieved, that no Report was made. In such case
it is yet more proper that the people should
know who of their Representatives were
charged with tbe.se subjects.

At.berney Cattle. — Mr. Colt of Paterson,
who has already the largest herd of pure Alder-
neys that we know of. has written to ask Mr.
Colman to procure for him, from the Island of
Jersey, a choice Alderney cow and bull of the
purest stock.

They have paid more attention to this breed
of cattle there, it is said, than anywhere else —
so much so thai the importation of a bull that
might stain it witli impure blood is strictly pro-
hibited. From this small district it is said that
■4,000 cows are annuallj' exported to England
to supply the lovers of pure and rich mil!?^ and
cream with a luxury such as none but Alder-
ney s can yield in such perfection.

fW The Irish in AMi'.iurA. it is ascertained,
Jicnd to their poor relatives in l^^land more
that! a million of dollars a year.

p^ " La Democratie Pacifiquo" contains an
account of an orang-outang on board the Hull,
bound from Sumatra to Rotterdam. The ani-
mal had attained so high a degree of civiliza-
tion that he would never sleep without his night-
cap !

" Noro fidiUinl whili^ Rome wns burning."
It is sairl that never since the establishment
of liorseracing in England have there been so
many horses in training as there are at j)resoiit.
(1100)

Soap as a Manure. — T. Dalton, a silk dyer,
says, in the London Agricultural Gazette, that
he u.sos 15 cwt. of soap v\ eekly to discharge
I the oily matter from the milk, and forming of
itself a kind of soap, the whole of which yields
I from four to six thousand gallons of strong soap-
I suds per week. This he has lately applied to
his farm, and '• its effects are most extraordina-
ry." It has been used only one sea.son, and its
results cannot be accurately given ; but he con-
siders it more powerful than any other manure.
[Southern Planter.
Many barrels of strong soap suds are annually
thrown into the gutter and run to waste from
every farmer's laundry. Could not these be
poured on the manure heap, or otherwise saved
to increa.se his •' bank,'' and thus help to obviate
the neces.sity of purchasing foreign manures ?
[Farmers' Cabinet.

t^ In the Ohio Cultivator we find a com-
munication signed by Richard Haines, of
^Montgomery Co. Ohio, bearing date March 10,
1847, in which are furnished the following de-
tails :

A Lot of Large Hoes. — Mr. H. has raised
and fatted, the past seas-on. on his farm {by Ne-
hemiah Gaskill). a lot of 22 hogs, the weight of
which is somewhat extraordinary. They were
a cross of the Berksliire and Kussia breeds;
were slaughtered, when only 1!) months old, by
Mr. Bimm, of Dayton, and the following is the
record of the weight of each : 528, 521, 514,
50G, 505, 504, 486, 478, 420, 44G, 455, 430, 457,
415, 408, 480, 457, 430, 430, 447, 432, 408, 435:
Total, 10,222 lbs.

If any can beat this, Mr, Haines would like
to hear from them.

l^^ At a meeting of the Executive Com-
mittee of the New-York Slate Agricultural So-
ciety, on the 4th of April, the Secretary report-
ed that in ID Counties of this State the yield of
Indian corn exceeded 80 bushels per acre ; in
11 counties, crops were stated to exceed 100
bushels. The largest yield in Cortland County
was 154 bushels; in Oswego, 14(i; in Orange,
139; in Tioga, 125; and in Oneida, 123 bush-
els. The largest yield of wheat reported was
in Ontario, a fraction short of (iO bushels to the
acre on U])ward of two acres. In eight Conn-
tics the yield of oats exceeded 70 bushels per
acre ; the largest crop was 102 bushels, in
Oneida.

[This, of course, refers to premium crops.
We should like to know whether the whole acre
was shelled and measured, and I'.ow, and at
what season, &,c,]

[L©^ Plants, like living animals, require cer-
tain descriptions of food to bring ihem to a nat-
Ui'al stat'^ of perfection, and llu. iiHiividual who
studies Nature'.'i laws in the niana^enu'nl of hia
crops, and attends rigidly to their re(iuironieiit><,
can scarcely fail in being a successful cultivator

SCRAPS.

591

Sex of Floweus.- Temperature has a
great influence over the sex of iiowers produced
by a given plant. A very liigh loniperature
caused a walerniclun to bear male blossoms on-
ly ; and a very low temperauire made cucum-
ber plants produ<!C feuialo Howors alone.

Mr. Knight had little doubt that the same fruit
stalks might be made in the plants first noticed,
to support flowers of either sex, in obedience to
external causes.

Constitution.-! of AGUicur.TUii.\r, Ci.uns
AND SociETiF.s. — It is highly gratifying to see
that these as-socialions are multiplying fast, all
over the country. We are sometimes infjuired
of, for sketches of constitutions. The simpler
the form of these the better. Only let five or
six zealous farmers get together. " any way they
can li.x it," and the as.sociation will model itself
There is truth in the French proverb,
" Dieu donnefil a toile ourdie."
In the mean time we will thank any of the sec-
retaries who have printed forms at hand, and to
spare, to send us copies, for the information of
those wishing to get up such societies. From
various forms, one may be arranged to suit the
diflering circumstances of various localities.

More Good Signs. — We have pleasure to
learn by our correspondence, that gentlemen of
intelligence and influence in and about Win-
chester, Virginia, are an.xious for the establish-
ment there of a good agricullur.al triiinlngschool.
There could not be found in the Union a more
inviting and eligible locality. It will be an in-
delible rejjroach to that and all other States that
may neglect to establish Normal Schools as
nurseries for rearing instructors to supply the
establishments •which the public sentiment
will soon be calling for in all parts of the United
States.

^^^ Mr. Youatt, the eminent veterinarian,
author of the " Treatise on the Hor.se. ' and other
works of a like nature, committed suicide by
taking poison. [Loudon Farm. Mag.

I^^ Mr. .lames Gardiner, the inventor and
maker of the celebrated turnip-cutter, died on
the 26th of December, at Banbury.

Why should not honorable obituary notice be
taken of all useful invcntm-sand writers, as well
as of politicians and waiTiors of high and of low
degree ?

Irish Pot.\tof.s. — In an early number v,e
shall tell how to rai.se varieties from the seed ;
and, what many wiil think of more immediate
importance, how to cook them ; for many a
wise man %\ould bo at a loss hoir Lo boil a ■po-
tato ! The French calculate about sixty difler-
ent modes of dressing them, and of dressing
egga. We shall give a few of the simplest
(1101)

The Westchestkk Socif.ty's Constitution
very wisely provides that there shall bo a
" Farmers' Club " cstablishe<l in each town of
the county, composed of the Vice-President,
Board of Town Managers, and the members of
the (county) Society of each town respectively.

These Farmers' Clubs, where they have the
zeal to meet frequently and give in their expe-
rience, are of more real utility than County So-
cieties with their once-a-ycar meeting and exhi-
bition for a day — all hurry and bustle, and oflT
again.

Cattle Imported by the Massachusetts
Ar.uicui.TUiiAi. Society. — The clear and in-
teresting account of this recent importation of
Ayrshire and North Devon cattle, prepared by
Mr. Phinney on behalf of that exemplary So-
ciety, has been copied from The Farmers' Li-
bkaky into anew, well managed and improving
English agricultural journal, "The Plow," to
which we are indebted for the article on the
Philosophy of Fattening Cattle, and for other
items and essays of nmch value.

Wheat. — The best is said to contain about
three-fifths of starch and two-fifths of gluten, and
on the duo proportion of these two substances
in flour the goodness of the brand depends
Hence it is said that to insure the best bread it
is expedient to mix the flour of different wheats
together.

Relative Value of Food for Cattle. —
100 lbs. of good meadow hay are about equal to
."JOO of Swedes, .'jOO of mangel-wurzel, 4.50 of car-
rots, 700 to 800 of common turnips, or perhaps
400 of parsnips.

Keeping Eggs. — The Editor of the Boston
Cultivator recommends, from trial, the follow-
ing : Put into the ca.sk a layer of plaster of Paris,
first covering the bottom of the cask with [)las-
ter, and then alternate layers of each in such a
manner that one shell shall not touch another.
He states that he has kept them in this manner
a year perfectly good.

The following mode of keeping has been pat-
ented in England, and extensively used in this
country: 1 bushel quicklime; 2 lbs. salt; \ lb.
cream of tartar. Mix the same together with
as much water as will reduce the composition
to a consistency that an egg when put into it will
swim. It is said that eggs have bceu kept in
this way sound for two years.

The Scat, on Sheep. — Lowe, in his work
"On Practical .\Lrriculture," gives the follow-
ing ilireitions tor the cure of scab : " A decoc-
tion of tobacco and spirit of turpentine, with the
addition of a little soft soap and sulphur vivum.
The decoction of tobacco may be obtained by
boiling the tobacco in brine or salt water. The
litjuid. when prepp.reii. is applic(l from a voosel
like a tea-pot with a spout, or from a bottle with-
a quill passed through the cork. Lay the wool
back in lines, .so as to expose the .skin, and pour
out ibe liquid along the lines upon the skin.''

.592

MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

MfLK-rANS — Gr.Ass vs. Zinc. — ll may not be uiiiiitrresting to many of your readers to
have llic result of some experitxieiits I have made testing the quMlity of glass versun zinc
niiik-pans. I have i)iit it in a tahnlar form, wliich yon will 8nl)join to this letter if you
deem llie matter vvoilhy of a place in your columns. By this it will l)i> seen tliat about from
'Mi to .50 l>oi' cent, more cream can be raised IVom milk set in glass than milk set in zinc.
AMiv sliould this lie '. I can only account lor it by the fact of the ghiss being [leileclly puro
and free from any chemical action u[)on tlie milk. The glass pans are the manulactiue of
Messrs. .lames Hartley vt Co., 43 U[>i)er Thames-street. Geokgk \V. Kirkiiy.

Honifurd Dairy, Old-stroel Road.

r. S. — I think a greater proportionate quantity of cream can be raised from small than
from large glass pans.

Date.

(ilassorzinc.

Quantity of
milk.

Number snd size
of pans.

Time it stood.

Cream produced.

Romaiks.

Jan. 12
.. 12
.. 13

Zinc.
Glass.
Glass.

tl (juarts.
r> quarts.
12 quarts.

1 20 inches.
1 20 ..
6 16 ..

23 hour.s.
23 ..
23 ..

1 J gills.

Being J more.

Being at the
rate of 5 of a
gill more on
every 6 qts.

[English paper.
AVe hope the above may catch the eye of our friend, ^h-. Dummer, of Jersey City, or
.Boine other glass manufacturer who may be disposed to bring this article into use. A pub-
lic-spirited friend, an amateur farmer, authorizes us to bespeak two dozen *' anyhow."

PRICES CURRENT.

[Cori-ccled, May 22, for the Monlhly Journal of AgricuUure.\

ASIIKS— Pots. 1st sort f^ 100 m. 5 — ®

Pearls. 1 st sort, Md 6 ,")0 'a

BKK.SWAX— American Yellow — 2.jja)— 26

CAN DI.KS— Mould, TiilU.vv..^' 15... — lOi w— 12

Sperm - 31 «

COTTON— iMom ^ ItJ. — 11 'W— 14

COTTON liACKilNti— American... — 13 'a)

COIU)A(ii:— American 3^ IB. — 11 ®— 12

l)OMKSTlC(iOO0S-f?hirtings.f>y. — .5 @— II

Slicelinss — 6.1® — 15

FHATIIF.KS— American, live — Sci @— 33

FLAX— American — 7*®— 8.}

F1,(JUU & MKAL— (ienesee, ^ bbl. 8 uli}® 8 62*

Troy ®

Miehiaan 8 56J'w 8 62i

Ohio, Flat Hoop 8 561 ai 8 62A

Ohio, Round Hoop .*

Ohio, via New-Orleans

Pennsylvania

Brandywine

Oe.oriielown

Baltimore City Mills.

Richmond (;ity Mills

Richmond Country

Alexandria, Petersburj;, &c

Rye Flour

Corn Meal, .Jersey and Brand
Corn Meal. Brandywine...

<;KAIN— Wheat, While ^

Wheat, Red "«'

Rye. Northern 1 :«.< w 1 43iJ

Corn. Jersey and North... (mens.) 1 07 w 1 OM

Com. Soullicni (measuiel 1 06 a) 1 08

Corn, Soulhem (.weight) a)

Oats. NoHhern — 65 «

Oats, Jersey ®

JIAV— North River in bales, ^lOOttJ — 62|V®— 70
IIKMP— American, dew-rotted.. tonl40 — ■5>155 —

•• •• water-rolted 140 — ■&200 —

■HOPS— 1st sort 1846 — 8A-g.— 10

IRON— American Pip, No 1 •a-'i2 .OO

Common 22 50 '5 25 —

I.l.MK— Tbomaslon !>• bbl. — 80 -li— 85

LUMBKR—lioards, N.R., ^>M. ft. clr. 30 — li.X^ —

Boards. K.astern Pino 'S)

Bonrd-s, Albany Pine i^jice. — 10 fH— 18

TirabiT. Ceorgia Pine f M. ft. 27 50 '«>

(1162)

®-

6 50 a)

5 — ?iJ 5 25

.hbd. a)

bush. 2 — w 2 03

Staves, White Oak, pipe,f^'M ,50 — ©—

Staves. White Oak. hhd 40 — -gi—

Staves, White Oak. bbl 30— ®—

Staves, Red Oak, hhd 24 — 'S''23

Hoops 20 — '»-30

Scantling. Kastem ■© —

Scantling. Oak — — S —

Timber. Oak ^ cubic foot — 20 'w —

Timber, White Pine _ 13 ®—

Timber. Georyia Yellow I'ine — 24 ■a —

Shingles ^ f>' bunch 1 62] «)—

Shingles. Cedar,3feet, Ist quality. 26 — & —
Shingles. Cedar. 3 feet, 2d quality. 22 — ff'24
Shingles, Cedar, 2 feet, 1st quality. 17 — ■S'J8
Shingles, Cedar, 2 feet, 2d quality. 15 — ®16

Shingles, Cyjiress, 2 feet 13— ®14

Shingles. Company 28 — SSO

Ml'.'^TAlvD— Ameiicnn — — a; —

NAILS— Wrouaht, 6d to20d...|>' Jb. — 10 @—

C;ui4dto40d — 4i3—

PI.ASTKR P.AKIS— |>'ton 2 25 ®—

PROVISION.-"— Bief. Mess, |>bbl... 11 50 ®12

Beei: Prime 8 50 S- !"

Pork, Mess. Ohio, old — — v7'15

Pork. Prime. Ohio, old 13 — ® —

I.ard. Ohio !>■ m. — 9 Si—

Hams, Pickled — FJ®—

Shoulders, Pickled — 63 ®—

Sides, Pickled 'a—

B(<ef. Smok.'d |^ 16, — 12 'a>—

BiUler, Orange County.. .^ — 25 ® —

BiiUer, Westiun Dairy — 20 ® —

Butler, Crenso l ®—

Cheese, in casks and boxes — 7A^ —

SF.KDS— Clover W ». — ei®—

Timothy !>■ tierce 13— ®18

Flax. Rouuh -SIO

.'^OAC— N. York, Browii ^ lb. — 3i®—

TAM.OW— American Rendered ... — P-f®—

T01".A<.'<"0— Virginia ® Its. — 2 «—

Nonh Carolina ® —

Kentuckv an.t .Missouri — 3 'w —

WO(Ji.— Ain..-=H.\,in\, ll.ece,.^' Iti. — 40 S*—

American I-u'! B.i.)il Merino — •"'S '3' —

Anit:rican '.am; 3 Merino — 28 It —

An-.t'iican Niitive ami J Merino... — 25 ® —
Superfine. I'uJIed Country — 30 '3) —

14
4*

10;

]2i

5i

INDEX

TO THE MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE FOR 184G-7.

Aberdeen Street-Sweeping,587
Accountfi, Farm. 1'24.
Address. Agricultural, by John
S. Skinner, 209.

of Mr. Stevens, notice of 226

Agriculture, American, Effect
of Ens;. Corn-Laws on, 49.

in Lower Virginia, 57.

and Science — Observa-
tions on Stephens's " Book
of the Farm," 16.3.
Professor of, for Yale Col-
lege. 174.
in Massachusetts, Legis-
lative provision for, 193. —
The Efforts of a distin-
guished Society, 3S6. — In
Essex Co., 441.

Curious Fact in, 266.

Legislative Aid for, 260.

Discussion on the Rights

of, recommended, 33.).

Chemistry as applied to,

303. 337.

1 of Ohio, and the Press, 481

Agriculturists, American — 'pas-
sive submission,' 2.58.
Agriculturist (paper) and kin-
dred publications, 276,484.
Agricultural Colleges near Phil-
adelphia, 141, ,532.

Fair of the Worcester Co.

(Mass.) Ag. Soc, 198.

Address before tlie same

Society, 209.

Fair at Northampton,

Mass, 227.

Society in Del.. 331.

of S. Carolina, 381.

the N. Y. State, 500.

the Franklin, O., 487.

Education : Progi-ess of

Public Opinion, 393.

Almanac, Southern, 276.

Advantages of the U. S.,

Washington's Account of,
433.

Repositories, 478.

Industry in Ohio, Value

of, 483.

Papers, 276, 484.

Schools : Course of In-
struction, 529.

Exhibitions, 584.

Alabama, its Cane-Brake Re-
gion, 56.
Alderney Cattle, 590.
Almonds, Nutrition in, 94.
Alpacca Sheep— Answers to
Inquiries, 449.

Recent Importation of, 451

Amelioration or Exhaustion of

the Soil, 346.
American Agriculture and E ng-
IJBh Corn-Laws, 49.

American Agriculturists, 258.
Institute, 19ih Fairof, 142,

223.

Irish, 547. 590.

Animals, Noxious, 456.

Digestion in, 503.

Rumination of, 504.

Constituents of their Food,

580.

Maintenance of theirHeat,

580.

Analysis of Sugar-Cane Ashes,
178.

of Indian Com, 546.

Ancients. Pastoral Life and

Manufactures of, 25.
Apple-Grafts in Ohio, 137.
Apples, Nutritive Matter in, 94.

the Borer in, 173.

Long Preservation of, 412.

Apricots, Nutrition in, 94.
Arabia and the Arabs, 556.
Arabian Horse, 555.
Arracacha, 94.

Ashes of the Sugar-Cane, 178.
Atmosphere and the Human

body, 580.
Atmospheric Chum. 106.
Ayrshire Cows, 75, 122, 156, 477

B
Bacon, whether to raise or buy?
Best Kind of Hog for, 36.
Barley, Nutrition of, 94.
its cultivation, uses, pro-
duct, value, &c., 171, 233.

cause of the Diflerence in

Price, and tlie Mailing
properties of different
kinds, 301.
Barns, Plan of the best sort, 411.
Bay-Side Farming. 577.
Beds, Hot, 477.
Beef, Nutrition of, 94.

at Marshfield. 334.

Beet Root, Nutritive Value

of. 94.
Bin.s, 478.

Birds, Instinct of. 587.
Blackberries, 128.
Blood, Nutrition of, 94.
Bones, Nutrition of, 94.
Borer, the, in Apple-Trees, 173.
Botany, Lecture on, 371.
Brain, Nutritive Qualities of, 94.
Brake, Hemp, Improvement

in, 525.
Bread Stuffs exported from the

United States, 509.
Breakfast-Table Conversation,

305. 455.
Breeds of Cattle and their Prop-
erties, 75, ii-\, 07, 122, 156,
251, 254, 336, .''8.5, 400, 442,
4.55, 477, 488. 501.

of Sheep, 47, 58, 125, 156,

250, 449.

Bricks, Improvement in, 392.

British Oxen, 97.

Brooks. Hon..John, on Guenon'«

Work on Milch Cows, 204.
Budding, 71.
Buel and Ruflin. 440.
Bushel, the Ohio, 478.
Butter, 7, 477.

in 10 minutes, 105.

Making, and Premituns

for, 442.

Cabbage, nutritive matterin, 94.

Vanack, 479.

Campbell, Sir James, in Ara-
bia. .555.
Canada, Industrial Resources

of, 135.
Cane-Brake Region of Ala., .56.

Sugar — Ashes analyzed.

178.
Capital and Enterprise, 493.
Carcass Weight of Sheep, 498.
Card-Spinner, 9.
Can-ots, Nutrition of, 94.

rcrsns Oats, 506.

Cart, Li<iuid-Manure. 284.
Caterpillar among Sea Island
Cotton, 143.

its Ravages on Cotton. 232.

Cattle, Ayrshire. 75. 122, 385 487

Aldernej', 590.

British Breeds, 97.

Devon, 123, 385.

Hereford, 336.

Foreign, 84.

Number of in Ohio, 488.

Fattening, .501, 579.

Imported, 591.

Food for, 591.

Cattle-Show. N. Y. State. .5, 187.
'Champion,' Prize Colt, 336.
Chee.se, Premiums for, 7.

Dairies in Va. 399.

Chemistry as applied to Agri-
culture, 337.
Chemists, to analyze soils, 303.
Cherokee Country, Description

of, 59.
Cherries, Nutrition in. 94.
Cherrj'Tree, Fossil, 589.
Cheviot Sheep at Marshfield,

1.56.
Chickens, nutritive value of, 94.
Chum, Atmospheric, 106.
Cincinnati, Egg Trade of, 106.
Cisterns. 404.
Clubs, Famiers' — Rules, 241.

the N. Y.— SubjecU

di.scussed, 250.

in Fairfax Co. 445.

Constitution.s, 591.

Westchester, 591,

Coal Mines of Pa„ 42.
Cobs, Corn, 539, 544.
and Pumpkins, 545.

11

INDEX.

Codfish, Nutrition in, 94.
Color of Fowls, 177.
Colleges, Agricultural, 141, 532.
Commercial Review, tlie, 276.
Corn and Cotton Cultivation
compared, 32.

Laws. English, Effect of

their Repeal, 49.

Indian, in Ireland, 126.

— — in England, 240.

Its Varieties, 383.

Amount of Exportation,

240.

Large Crops, 311, 475.

■ Barley and Oats — relative

value, 312.

Oregon, 405.

Crop raised in U. S., 4.57.

Value greater than Cot-
ton, 458.

Exportsfor6j'rs past, 458.

Destiny of, 459.

Crop at Hoboken 50 years

ago, 475.

Analysis of 546.

What is and .what is need-
ed to be known, 537.

Process for measuring

Ears, 541.

Great crops for 40 yrs, 559.

Corn-Meal, its various Uses, 10.

Avhether it or Corn

should beexport'd,40
— • Experimeutsin Man-
ufacturing for Ex-
portation, 41.

Kiln-dried, 331.

Distillation of, 544.

Correspondence, Editorial, 92.
Correspondents, Notice to, 335,

409.
Cotton, Cultivation of, 33.

Cost of Cultivation, 32.

■ the Caterpillar among, 143,

232.

Region, the True, 237, 424.

Quantity and Value of in

Southem State.s, 458.
Cotton-Gin, Inventor of, 289.

ESect of on Cotton

Husbandry, 300.

Cows, Ayrshire, 7.5, 122,156,477.

Milch, M. Guenon's Trea-
tise on. 251, 254, 400,
443, 478.

and Heifers, in Mas-
sachusetts, 442.

Hereford, 336.

Devon, 123, 385.

Management of, 455.

Cream-Cheese, 554.

Crops, Li<iuid-Manuro for, 284.

Rotations of, 340.

Hoed, 308.

Estimated, of the U. S. for

Five Years, 509.
Average Composition of,

579.
Yield of in 19 Counties of

N. Y., rm.
Cuba Tobacco, 407.
Cucumbers, Nutrition of, 94.
Cdltiv.i'.ci, Ihc Ohio, 48 1.
Cultures, DiH'erent, 346.

of Barley, 171,233.

of Corn, compared with

Cotton, 32.

Culture of Com in the U.S.,457.

of Corn at Hoboken 50

years ago, 475.
of Cotton, 33.— Tlio Cater-
pillar in, 143, 232.

of Cotton in the Southern

States in 1839, and its
value, 458.

of the English Walnut, 126

of Filbertsin Orchards, 127

of Flax, 67.

Amount of Food pro-
duced by various Systems
of, 346.

of the Grape, 110, 112, 354,

413, 429.

of Green Twig Peach, 412.

of Hemp, in the West, 140

of the Hop in the U. S. 91.

of Madder, 327, 379.

of the Orange, 271, 332.

of Peaches, 55.

the. of Pennsylvania re-
commended for Md., 408.

Premiums awarded for, by

European and American
Societies, 5, 7, 335, 401,
440, 442, 475, 479, .532.

of New Staples for U.S. 107

of Silk, 2.5, 162.

of Tobacco for Va., 407.

of Turnips, 473.

of the White French

Grape in Pa., 112.

Curbs, Apparatus for remedy-
ing, 222.

D

Dairies, 7, 399.

Dairy Establishments in Great
Britain, 122.

Delaware, Industrial Resources
of, 53.

Crop of Drilled Wheat, 187

Destruction of Noxious An-
imals, 456.

Denominations, Miscellaneous,
47.

Devon Cattle, 123, 385.

Dibbling Wheat, 405.

Digestion, Process of, 503.

Discovery — Mode of knowing
the dualities of Milch
Cows by external signs,
251, 254, 400, 443. 478.

Discussion on the Rights of
Agriculture recommend-
ed, 335.

Distilleries consuming the Corn
in Ohio, 487.

Dogs, Shepherds' — How train-
ed, 413.

Drains, Constructing, 456.

Draining, Thorough, 207.

Dressing, Top, Liquid-Manure
as, 478.

E

East Indies, Production of Su-
gar, 588.

Economy in Heating Rooms,
.'■.01.

New- England, 521.

Education, Agricultural,393,557

Eggs, nutritive matter in, 94.

how to prcsi-i ve, lOo. .j91.

Tra<le of Cincinnati, 100.

CountingMacliinc, 453.

Commerce in, 453.

England, Corn in, 240.

Wool Trade of. 1846, 449.

Im portions of Grain into,

240, 536.
Enterprise and Capital, 493.
Entomology — the Spider: its

Habits and Varieties, 86.
the Injury iiitlicted by

small Insects, 93.
Essay, Prize — on the Horse, 349

on Irrigation, 165.

on Superphosphate

of Lime and its use
as a Manure, 277.

Essex Conntj-, Mass., Agricul-
ture in, 441.

Exhaustion or Amelioration of
the Soil, 346.

Excrements, Value of, 456.

Exhibition.?, Agricultural, 584.

"Experimeutsin the Field,"
with Manures, 499.

Exports of Grain, 240, 536.

of Flax-Seed, 524.

F

Fact, Curious, 266.

Fair and Cattle-Show, N. Y.
State, 5, 187.

19th, of the American In-
stitute, 142, 223.

Worcester Co. (Mass.) 198.

at Northampton, Ma.ss.,227

Fairfax County, Va. — Settle-
ment of Northern Farm-
ers in, 445.
Farm Implements, 6.

Accounts, 124.

right waj- to Manage, 182.

Farmer, the — His Wants, 288.

an Eminent — PleasantVis-

it to, 179, 228.

the New-England, 119.

a ready Rule for. 197.

Intelligence and Spirit of,

207.

Chemists to analyze Sub-
stances for, 303.

Settlement of, in Fairfax

Co., Va., 445.

Matters relative to,305,455.

Important to, 459.

Creed, the, 478.

American, 258, 533, 535.

Farming, Good, 305, 445.

Pennsylvania, 408.

Mas.sachusetts, 585.

Maryland, 577.

Profits of — Farmers suc-
ceed best, 482, 585.

Farmers' Clubs — Rules, 241.

the New- York, 250.

in Fairfax, Va., 445.

Constitutions, 591.

Westchester, .591.

Fattening Poultrv, 454, 506.

CattV 501, 579.

Field Crops, Liquid-Manure
for, 284.

Experiments in, with Ma-

nure.s, 494.

Fences, a Burden on Ameri-
can Farmers, 533.

Filberts, Cultiv.ition of in Or-
chards, 127.

Fisli-Ponds, 309.

Flanders', Value of Excrements
in, 45C.

INDEX.

Ill

Flax, Cultivation of, 67.

Fleece, lartre, from Lincoln-
shires, 111.

Flowers, Preservation of, 535.

Sex of, 591.

Food produced by Systems of
Culture, 346.

Veiietable, 410.

Consumption of in

the U. S., 450.

Plants require, 590.

for Cattle. 591.

Foot-Rot in .Sheep, 535.

Foreign Cattle, 75, 84, 97, 122,
123, 385, 4H7.

Fossil Cherry-Trec, 589.

FowltJ. Color of, 177.

Franklin A;;', ami Hort. Soci-
ety, Ohio, 4S7.

France— Commerce in Eggs,
4.53.

the ' Society for E ncour-

agement of National In-
dustry ' : its Premiums, 479

French Weights, a List of
much wanted, 478.

Fruit, Table, 117.

Trees, Planting, 477.

Gaines, Gen. Edmund P. on the
Growth of the West, 20.

Gardens, Li(iuid-Manuro for,
284.

Geology. Randall's, 85.

Georgia, Cherokee Countiy, 59.

and S. C, the True " Cot-
ton Region, 237, 424.

German Plows and Plowing, 112

Goats destroying Trees, 220.

Governments, Obligation of to
promote Husbandry, 337.

Grafting-Wax, 479.

Clay, 535.

Grain, Saving in getting out by
Machinery, 134.

Average Prices for 14

years, 235.

importations of, into Liv-
erpool. 240.

Export of to Great Brit-
ain and Ireland, 536.

and Green Crops, Rela-
tion of, 346.

Swelling of by Boiling,478

Consumption of in Great

Britain, 492.

Gooseberries. Nutrition in, 94.

Grape, Nutrition of, 94.

Culture, 110, 354, 413, 429.

White French variety ac-
climated in Pa., 112.

not maturing, 164.

Vino, Potatoes vegetating

on, 266.

Native of Texas. 412.

Oregon and California, 413

Great Britain, her Importations
of Grain, 240, .536.

Consumption of Grain

in. 4LI2.

Grinnell, Mr. — his Prize Colt,
336.

Growth of the West, 20.

Gaano, best Sy.stems of using it,
477, 489,"53.5.

Applying to Turnips, 490.

Experiments with, 499.

Guenon's Work on Milch Cows
— Recommendations, &c.,
251, 254, 400, 443, 478.
II

Haddock, nutritive matter in. 94

Heat, Animal, maintenance of,
.580.

Hemp Culture in the West, 140.

Inquiry, 401.

Brakes, Improvement in,

528.

Hereford Cow, Mr. Coming's,
336.

Hickory Nuts, 128.

Hoboken, Great Crop, 475.

Hoed Crops. 308.

Hogs, kind best for Bacon, 36.

Trees destroyed by, 220.

the Parkin.son Breed, 286.

Feed, 36, 4.56. 580.

Manure furnished by, 456.

Trade : its Value, 480.

Number of in Ohio, 488.

fattened on Horse-Flesh,

580.

large lot of, in Ohio, 590.

Hop Culture in U. S.. 91.

Horses, Swimming Power of,
133.

Longevity in, 178.

Prize Colt, 336.

Prize Essay on, 349.

How to Choose well, 353.

in Ohio, number of, 488.

the genuine Arabian, 555.

Shoes, 556.

Flesh, fattening Pigs on,

580.

Racing in England, 590.

Horticultural Societies, 207, 487.

Hot-Beds, 477.

Housekeeping and House Man-
agement, 477.

Hou.sewife's Department— with
u.seful Recipes, 45.

Husbandry, Sheep, best part
of U. S. for, 64.

in the South : a Se-
ries of Letters by H. S.
Randall-ritfe ' Sheep Hus-
bandry.'

Hussey's Reaping Machine,486,
I

Imported Stock, 120, 591.

Importations into Great Britain,
240.

Improvement in making Bricks,
392.

Indian Corn and Corn-Meal —
their Uses, 10.

Cost of it and Cotton,

32.

Experiments in man-
ufacturing for Exportation,
40, 331.

in Ireland, 126.

and its Varieties, 383.

Crop of, in the U. S.

in 1839, 457.

Indies, East, Sugar in, .588.

Industrial Resources of the
South and South West, 11.

of J)claware, 53.

of Canada, 13.5.

of the West, 140.

Information wanted, 91, 327,
478, 590.

Instinct of Birds, 587.
Incubation, Artiticiiil, 423, 560.
Institute, American, 19th Fair

of, 142, 223.
Ireland, Corn in. 126.
Irish, the, in Amer., 547, 590.

Potatoes, 591.

Irrigation — Prize Essay, 165.

K
Kiln-dried Corn-Meal, 40, 331.

I^
Land, Virginia, 287.

Sale of great tract, 380.

Value of, in La Plata, 561.

Laws, English Corn, 49.
Legislative Provision for Agri-
culture, 193.

Petitions for, 260.

Hallof Bo.ston, agricultur'l

meetings in, 485.
Leicester Sheep, Importation

of, 250.
Proportion of Mut-
ton, 498.
the Tallow of 5 Fat

Wethers, 499.
Lewis, Upn. D. H. — Chase's

Card-Spinner, 9.
Lime, Superphosphate of, and

its Use as a Manure —

Prize Essay, 277.
Lincolnshire Sheep,
Liverpool. Importations of Gr'n

into, 240.
Liquid-Manure Carts, 284.
as a Top-Dressing,

478.
Loudon, J. C. — Life Pension

bestowed on his Widow,

479.
Long-Leaf Pine of Southern

States, 12.

It.sDisappearance,92.

of N. C, 220.

Longevity in Horses, 178.
of Peach-Trees, 270.

ra

Machinery in getting out Grain,
134.

Madder — Inform'n wanted. 327.

im[>orted into Gt. Br., 378.

Culture, (See, 379.

Maize, or Indian Corn, 10, 32,
40, 311, 331, 383, 405, 475.

Malts, London and Amer., 302.

Malting Properties of Barleys,
301.

Management, Good, 93.

House, and Housekeep-
ing, 477.

Manufactures and Pastoral Life
of the Ancients — The Silk
Culture, 25.

Manures. Application of, 269.

for Grapes, 271.

for Oranges, 272.

Liquid, Cart for distrib-
uting. 284.

as a Top-Dressiijg,

478.

Trap-Rock as, 304.

Comparative Value of 30

kinds, 368.

Straw, 478.

Guano : Best Modes of

Using, 477, 489, 490, 499,
535.

IV

INDEX.

Manures, New-EDgland Econ-
omy of, 5-21.

• Prt'iniunis for, .'il.';.

• ought to be exempt from

Toil, 535.

Heaps, ascertaining tem-

porature of, 587.

Soap and Soap-Suds, .590.

Manuring Peat Lands, 522.
Maple Sugar, New Element in,

22.
Marshfield Farm Management,

156, 255.
Maryland and Pa. Farming. 408.
■ hard to beat, after all, 527.

Bay-Side Farming, 577.

Massacliusetts. Agnculture in,

and Legislative Provision
for it, 193.

• ' Society for Promoting

Agriculture,' 385.

■ Essex Co. Ag., 441.

Butter-Making and Pre-
miums, 442.

Profits of Farming, 585.

McClintock's Reaper, 583.
Measuring Corn in the Ear, 541.
Meat in Uueboc, 312.
Melons, Nutritive Value of, 94.
Memorial from U. S. Agricul-
tudsts to iheir State Legis-
latures, 260, 304.
Mice. 173.

Milch Cows and Heifers, Pre-
miums for, 443.
Milk, Nutrition of, 94.

• Composition of, 581.

■ Pans : Glass vs. Zinc, 592.

Mines, Coal, of Pa., 42.
Miscellaneous Denominations,

a useful Table, 47.
Migration from N. Y. to Va.,406.
Mount Airy. Pa. Ag. Coll., .532.
Morels, Nutritive Value of, 94.
Munificencewell bestowed, 479.
Muse, Dr. Jos. E., on Indian

Corn, 535.
Mutton, Nutritive value of, 94.

Hams, 477.

of Leicester Sheep, 498.

IV
Newcastle Co. (Del.) Ag. So-
ciety, 331.
New-England Farmer, the, 119.

• Econ.ofManures,521.

New- York- State Cattle-Show
and Fair lor 1846, 5.

Farmers' Club, 250.

State Ag. Soc, 500.—

Its Premiums, 531. — No-
tice of Gov. Wright's Ad-
dress before, 534.
Nightsoil, or Poudrette, 536.
Nitrogenous Constituents of

Food, 580.
Normal Institutions, 482.
Northampton Ag. Fair, 227.
Noxious Animals, destruction
of 456.

• Odors inDairyVe8sels,45C.

Nutrition in various substances,
94.

■ Elements of, 503.

Nuts, Hickory, 128.

' 4»
Oats, Nutritive Value of, 94.
' 1M. Carrots for Horses, 506.

Ohio, Apple-Grafts in, 137.

Bushel, the, 478.

Agriculture and Press,481.

Cultivator, the. 484.

Value of its Agricultural

Industry, 483.

Prod, of Chief Staples,487.

— ;— Live-Stock, No. of, 488.
Oil-Cake, why so little used,527.
Orang-Outang, 590.
Orange, Cultivation of. 271.

Propagation of, 332.

Oregon Corn, 405.

Oxen, British Breeds of, 97.

Working, in Mass 442.

Oxfordshire Sheep — Shearing

and the Fleeces, 47.

r

Papers in Ohio, 484.

Pay, Good, 587.

Peaches. Cultivation of, 55.

Nutritive value of, 94.

the Green Twig, 412, 548.

Extraordinary (iuautity,

476.
Peach Trees, Longevity of 270.

Renovation of, 275.

Peach Trade of Del., 53.
Pears, Nutritive value of, 94.
Peat Lands, Manuring, 522.
Pennsylvania Coal-Mines, 42.

Farming, 408.

Peruvian Wool, 449.
Petitions of Agriculturists, 260.
Philadelphia, Ag. Coll., 141.
Phosphates as Food, 410.
Pine, Long-Leaf^ 12.

Land of N. C, 92.

Disajjpearance of;

Causes, 92, 220.
Plants, Best Water for, 357.

and Vegetables, 535.

require Food, 590.

Planting in S. C, Miss, and La.,
138, 328.

Fruit-Trees, 477.

Planters, Southern, 11.

Plates in this Vol., P^xplanations

of, 193. 241, 385.
Pleasant Visit to an Eminent

Farmer, 179, 228.
Plow, the, 401.

and Plowing, Gerniau,112.

, Work, Table to meas.,176.

Plowing Double-Team, 441.

with Single Teams, 442.

Subsoil, 442.

Plum.s, Nutritive matter in, 94.
Pneumonia,Tyi)hoid, Treatment

of, 113.
Poetry: On the Silk-Worm,
by Cowper. 30.

The Silk-Worm's Will,

by H. F. Gould, 45.

Agricultural Hynni, 208.

The Farmer's Oced, 478.

God Save the Plow, 489.

Pork, Nutritive value of, 94.
Potatoes, Nutritive value of, 94.

Proportion of Water in, 95.

the Disease in — Investiga-
tions and Rei)ort.'i, Reme-
dies suggested. &c., 105,
130. 239'^ 262. 266.

when planted from i^erd

are they exempt from the
Disease, 272.

Potatoes, Salt a Manure for, 266.

a Preventive of tlie

Disease. 266.

on a Grape-Vine, 266.

Williamson, 382.

^^'^ater, Remedy for In-
sects, 285.

Irish, 591.

Poudrette, or Nightsoil, 536.
Poultry, Fattening, 454.
Premiums at N. Y. State Fair
of '46. 5.— For '47, 549.

for Cheese, Butter, &c., 7.

Judicious, 335.

Money, Objections to, 401.

a Buel and Ilufiin, sug-
gested. 440.
lor Milch Cows and Heif-
ers, 442.

the Philosophy that should

govern, 475.
offered by the French Na-
tional Society, 479.

of the French Society of

Veterinary Medicine, 479.

of the N Y. State Agricul.

Society, 531, 549.

W by offer more for Corn,

559.
Preservation, Long, of Apples,
412.

of Flowers, 535.

Prevention of Foot-Rot in

Sheep, 535.
Prices Current in New-York in
different Months, 48, 96,
144, 192, 240, 288,336,384,
432, 480, 536, 592.

of Grain for 14 years, 235.

Different, of Barley, 301.

Professor, Agri., for Yale Col-
lege, 174.
PiTining, 478.

Publications, Agri., 276, 484.
Pumpkins and Corn-Cobs, 545.

Q
Quebec, Marking Meat in its
Markets. 312.
K
Rabbits, 404.
Racing, Honse, 590.
Railroad Carriages, 561.
Randall. H. S.. on the Culture
of Barley, 233.

on Sheep Husband-

rj- — a Series of Letters,

[ride "Sheep Husbandry.']

Randall, S. S., on Migration

from N. Y. to Va., 406.
Reading R. B., and the Bear
Mountain Coal Fields, 42.
Reaping-Machines, 486, 583.
iJenovation of Peach-Trees.275
Repositories. Agricultural, 478.
Resources, Industrial, of the S.
and S. W'., II.

of Delaware, 53.

of Canada, 135.

of the West, 1 40.

Review, the Commercial, 276.
Roybold. Major P., of Del., 476.
Rice, Nutriment in, 94.

Its (jualities as Food, 95.

Roads, (iood, 507.
Hiiad-Muking, Manual of, 548.
Roswell Hou.se, Residence of
R. L. Colt, Esq. 183.

INDEX.

Rotations of f'rops, a 46.
Rullin and Buel Premiums

suggested, 440.
Rale, Ready, tor Farmers, 197.

for Farmers' Club.s. 241.

Rumination, Process of, 504.
Rye, Nutritive value of, 94.

Salt, Common, not for Cane-
Fields, 29.

a New Element in Maple

Sugar, 22.

a Manure for Potatoes,266.

as a Preventive of the Po-
tato Disease, 266.

Science and Agriculture, ICJ.

Schools, Country, 342.

Agricultural, 529.

Scraps, amusing, instructive, or
curious, 477, 53.5, 590.

Sea-Island Cotton. 143.

Seedling Plants, 535.

Sewage Compounds, 560.

Sheep, Oxfordshire, 47.

Saxon, 58.

Cheviot, atMarshficld,156.

■ Leicester, imported into

the U. S., 250.

Alpacca : Answers to in-
quiries, 449.

Importation of, 451.

Sort of, lor our Mountains,

125.

and Wool in the U. S.,452

Number of, in Ohio, 488.

Carcass Weight of, 498.

the Scab on, 591.

Sheep Husbandry, Regions of
U. S. best suited
for, 64.

in the South — the

first Seven of a Se-
ries of Twelve
Letters, by H. S.
Randall, Esq.. de-
tailing the Man-
agement and Rear-
ing of Sheep, and
the Experience of
die best Breeders
— the E fleet of
Climate, &c. <Scc.,
313, 321, 358, 414,
460, 510, 562.

Shepard, Prof. C. U., Letter
from, 178.

Shepherds' Dogs, 413.

Signs, Encouraging, for Agri-
culture, 459.

Silk-Worm, the, 26.

Silk, Culture of, 25, 162.

Silliman's .lournal, 232.

Sinclair, Sir John, Correspond-
ence between him and
Gen. Washington, 433.

Skinner, J. S. — Agri. Address
delivered at Worcester,
Mass., 209.

Soap as a Manure, 590.

Societies,Ag. and Hor., 207,2.50,
331, 381,386,441,487, 500,
.591.

Soil, its Nature and Offices,345

Sole, nutritive matter in, 94.

S. Carolina, Miss., and La. Re-
sults of Planlinq; in. 138.

St. Ag.Society of, 361, 328.

Spider, the, 86.

Spinner, Card, 9.

Staples. New. for U. S., 107.

Steam Power, K fleet of, 20.

Steeps for Wheat, 160.

Stephens's "Book of the Farm,"
103.

Stevens. Mr., Notice of his Ad-
dr.-ss. 226.

Stock. Imported, 58, 120, 250,
451.

Live, numberof in 0.,488.

Straiglitness the Defect in all
our Roads, 508.

Straw Manure, 478.

Strawberries, nutritive matter
in, 94.

in Great Britain, 448.

Streets, Sweeping, 587.

Subsoil- Plowing, 4-^.2.

of the Long- Leaf Pine

Land of N. C., 92.

Sugar, Manufacture of — Differ-
ent Procciscs, 425.

in the East Indies, 588.

Cane, Analysis of its Ash-
es, 178.

Suggestions as to the C&tcrpil-
"lar, 113.

of a RulEn and Bucl Pre-
mium, 440.

for a Reform in Country

Schools, 342.

Superphosphate of Lime. 277.

Swimming Power of Horses,
133.

T

Table Fruit, 127.

Tallow of Leicesfers, 499.

Tamarinds, Nutrition in, 94.

Tar-Making described, 16.

Turpentine Making, 13.

Teachers. Agricultural, 482.

Teams, Double, 441.

Single, 442.

Tescheniacher, J. E., of Bost.,
on Vegetable Food, 410.

Texas, Products of. 270.

Native Grapes of, 412.

Thaer, Von, at the head of
German writers, 479.

Thi.stles, 377.

Thorough Draining, 267.

Tide-Water Farms on Chesa-
peake Bay, 53, .528.

Tobacco, Cuba, for Va., 407.

Tolls on Manures, 535.

Trap-Rock as a Manure. 303

Trees, Destruction of, 220.

Fruit, Planting of, 477.

True Cotton Region, 237, 424.

Turnips, nutritive value of, 94.

Culture, 473.

applying Guano to, 490.

Turnip Cutter, Inventor of, 591.

Typhoid Pneumonia, 113.
V

United States, Ag. Advantages
of several, 50 years ago —
by Washington, 433.

at the present time,

437.

Estiiriated Crop of,

from '42 to '46, 509.

Urine, 554.

V

Vanack Cabbage, 479.

Vegetable Food. 410.

Seedling Plants and, 535.

Vine, Cullnre of in U. S., 107

in all Varieties, 354, 429.

Virginia, Lower, Agr. in, 57.

Lands, 287.

Agr. Education in, 557.

W

Wadsworth. .las.. Memoir of,
(with a Portrait), 145-1.56.

Walnut, Eng. Culture of^ 126.

Washington— The U. S. in 1796
433.

Water, best, for Plants, 357.

W'ax, Grafting, 479.

Wanted — Infonnation on Cul-
ture of Hop in U. S. 91.

Informa. of Madder, 327.

a list of Fr. Weights, 478.

Inform. on Agr. Education

in Legislatures, 590.

Weather, Means of Prognosti-
cating, 137.

Webster, D., Letter from, 2.57.

Weights, French, needed, 478.

Carcas.s, of Sheep, 498.

West, Growth of, 20.

IndustrialResources of, 140

Wheat, Culture of, 76.

Nutritive Value of, 94.

its Disea.ses, &c. 1.57.

Steeps for, 160.

Crop, its Uncertainty, 174.

Dibbling, 405.

Crop, 535.

Whitney, Eli, Memoir of,(with
a Portrait,) 289.

Williamson Potatoes, 382.

Wool Trade of England, 449.

and Sheep in U. S.. 452.

Worcester County, Ag.Society,
Fair of, 198.

Ag. Address, by

J. S. Skinner, 20!)

Wright, Gov., notice of his Ad-
dres.s, 536.
Y

Yale College, Prof, of Agricul-
ture ibr, 174.

Youatt, Mr., 591.

RECIPES.
Apple-Trces, the Borer in, 173
Beef, Pickle for 100 lbs., 334.
Bread, Corn, 46.

Pone, 46.

Borer, to remedy its ravages,

105, 173.
Cheese, Welsh Rarebit, 400.
Curbs, for remedying, 222.
Dairy Vessels, to disinfect, 456.
Hares, 404.
Hove in Cattle, 349.
.Tohnny-Cake — two kinds, 46.
Mice.pVotecting Trees from, 173
Peach Trees. 275.
Pickle for Beef, 334.
Plants. Insects on, 285, 357.
Pone Bread, 46.
Potato Water for Plants, 285.
Rabbit-s, 404.
Rarebit, Welsh, 400.
Rice-Milk, to cook, 4.5.
Thistles, to destroy, 377.
Trees, Hares and Rabbits, 404.
Weevils, to destroy, 459.
Yeast Cake.s, 409.

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