277 



under tbe new plan being gathered exclusively at the honrs corresponding to the ebb 

 tide, resulted most decidedly in favor of the latter. 



Though thoroughly incompetent to judge the merits of the theory thus added to the 

 many -which have contended for the solution of the mystery attending vegetable life, 

 I have still not hesitated in calling your attention to it, impressed by the proclama- 

 tion of facts, which can easily be tested, encouraged by the hope that some benefit 

 may accrue to the agricultural interests even from the mere experimental and scien- 

 tific investigation which it may induce or foster. 



Live stock in Dekjiark. — The demands of British markets have 

 stimulated the raising of live stock as a regular branch of Banish agri- 

 cultural industry. The annual export is rapidly increasing, while efforts 

 are being made to conduct the business upon scientific and economic 

 principles. In 1873 the Da.nish Agricultural Society held two national 

 expositions of fattened animals, one for the islands three days, com- 

 mencing May 12, and another for the Peninsula of Jutland, May 20 

 and 27 ; the former at Copenhagen and the latter at Aarhuus, the lead- 

 ing points of live-stock exportation. The success of the exposition of 

 1873 has emboldened the society to make still greater efforts. 



Grass m Mississippi. — Mr. n. O. Dixon, of Jackson, Miss., contrib- 

 utes his experience with grasses : 



My experiments with clover and grass have thus far been so successful as to induce 

 me to extend the area, the past fall and winter, to thirty acres. All of this appears to be 

 doing well, although necessarily much retarded by the excessive and continuous rains. 

 My old clover is now (May 9) knee-high and blooming, having been pastured during 

 the winter, until the 10th of March, by my breeding-ewes. I also have a piece of clover 

 now in its fourth year, which has been closely i)astured the two past winters, to the mid- 

 dle of March, by cattle and mules. That is apparently as far from giving out as at first. 

 It is now over a foot high. The orchard grass, on good high land, is very fine, and is 

 now throwing up seed-heads. The red-top or herd's-grass (not timothy) does well on 

 both high and low lands. It is now about a foot high. AH these grasses have been 

 severely tested by drought, as intense as ever visits this region, without the least ap- 

 pearance of failure ; so that I can truthfully and knowingly assert that this part of 

 Mississippi is well Adapted to the grasses named above. 



Mr. Dixon calls attention to the fact that by herd's-grass he 

 means red-top, (^^ros^is vulgaris,) and not timothy, {Phleum pratense,) 

 which is the more reputable synonym for herd's-grass in the North. 

 While he has been very successful with red-top, he has found timothy 

 wholly unsuited to that climate. 



Flax-culture in Minnesota. — The growth of this textile' plant is 

 rapidly increasing in Minnesota. In Watonwan County 8,000 acres 

 have been sown and the crop looks finely. In Stearns County an ex- 

 perimental crop realized large results, and, in consequence, the acreage 

 has been increased five-fold. It is a third more profitable than wheat. 



