f>0 



On 



Office, fifty plants. Koepinc: tliem in pots nntil February, 18G1, wlien 

 tliey were i)lanted ont five feet each way, in a loose sandy soil, they 

 grew finely, and in April, 1802, a small quantity of tea was made. Siiico 

 then, the fifty plantshave increase*!, until he has fifteen thousand, raised 

 from seed. They stood uninjured the severe cold of December, 1870. 

 They do not grow as rapidly in the rolling clay soil as in the sandy land 

 near the coast. Tlie tea made in Georgia took premiums in T871 at the 

 State Fair, and the fairs at Augusta and Atlanta, and an honorable no- 

 tice at Savannah. 



Beet-sugar. — The estimates of the beet-sugar product of Europe for 

 the ])resent manufacturing season somewhat exceed 1,000,00{) tons, a 

 small increase upon the product of last year. France will make about 

 o5(),(K)0 tons. The business is yearly extending. 



Almonds jn Texas. — A correspondent in Williamson County has 

 four almond trees one year old, which look very well, and seem to be 

 as hardy as the fig. He thinks they can be grown in tliat State. . 



Irrigation. — A correspondent in El Paso County, Colorado, sug- 

 gest, in view of the fact that the water in the valley through which the 

 Foutaine-que-Bouille flows is inadequate to the amount of irrigation re- 

 quired, or to the lands susceptible of being brought into cultivation 

 that there are large natural reservoirs near the creek in many, 

 places, which could be filled, and thus economize the water. He asks 

 Congress to grant these basins to any parties who will go to the expense 

 of filling them with water for the purposes of irrigation. 



The Agricultural Society of Linn County, Oregon was organ- 

 ized in 1859, and in 18G5 it became a joint stock association. The fair- 

 grounds consists of 150 acres, with improvements worth $G,000. The 

 -gross receipts for 1870, $2,300; for 1871, $4,000. Premiums paid in 

 1871, $2,675. 



Milton Agricultural and Horticultural Society of Ohio 

 has lately been organized at Milton, Mahoning County, Ohio. The mem- 

 bers withdrew from the Mahoning County Agricultural Society on ac- 

 count of its horse-racing and gambling, which absorbed most of the time 

 and attention of the people, leading them to lose siglitof the true claims 

 of agriculture and horticulture. Five acres of the best land belong to 

 the society, and active efibrts are being made to render it an eliective 

 agent for doing good in the cause of agriculture. 



Steam-plowing. — The employment of steam in farm cultivation is 

 extending gradually, if not rapidly, in England, At a recent meeting 

 of tiie Coggeshall Agricultural Society, the case of a gentleman in Berk- 

 shire was mentioned, who uses four steam-engines of 30 horse-power, 

 and in 1870 succeeded in stirring the soil to a depth of 30 in(;hes, and 

 last year went to the depth of three feet. He grew 1,000 acres of beet- 

 root last season for the manufacture of brandy. Another suggestive 

 exam^de was reported at the same meeting. Three years ago the Duke 

 of il^orthumberland made an arrangement with his tenants, by which 

 he furnished a 12 horse-])Ower engine, those using it being charged their 

 pro rata share for the original outlay, for the wear and tear, with a 

 slight reserve for a new one. The first year the land was plowed at 10 shil- 

 lings per acre, and deeply cultivated at 5 shillings per acre. If cultivated 

 the second time, the charge was, for plowing, 2s. Od. per acre, and har- 

 rowing. Is. 6d., not mere harrowing of three-inch teeth, but with ma- 

 chines cultivating 12 to 15 inches. As priority in the use of the plow- 

 was in)i)ortant, it was decided that the man whose 30-acre field was first 

 ready should have it, and so on, and when it became an even question, 

 lots were dra^\n. The result, after three years' trial, has been extremely 



