226 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 4 



ter and clover have not yet been tried. Improve- 

 ments are in proirress, and a spirit of enterprise 

 awal<ened, united with intelligence, irom which 

 the best effects will result; and which nnisf soon 

 put a different aspect on the whole (iice of this 

 splendid country; lor which in respect to pictu- 

 resque scenery, nature has lavished her gifts in 

 prodigal and almost unrivalled profusion. 



Opposite Tonawanda, and lying alonix in the 

 river ibr a distance of about nine miles, is Grand 

 Island, a magnificent tract of land of an averase 

 width of lour miles, and containing about eigh- 

 teen thousand acres. The northern extremity is 

 insight of the rapids of the great falls, though 

 steam vessels and others cross tar below it from 

 the American side to Chippewa on the Canada 

 shore. A small portion of the island is at j>resent 

 cleared; and the remainder is covered with a no- 

 ble growth of the most valuble white oak tinsber, 

 black walnut, and other wood. The surfice of 

 the island presents few inequalities, and the hiffh- 

 est point is but a few feet above the river, in the 

 middle of which it is situated, and which furnishes 

 deep and excellent ship channels on either side. 

 The soil is excellent, where it has been brought 

 into cultivation; some of it beinff alluvial, and the 

 rest a rich loam with an intermixture in greater or 

 less measure of clay; suitable for wheat, oats, 

 grass, and succulent veiietables; and if the beet 

 cultivation for sugar, should be pursued to any ex- 

 lent, eminently adapted to that product. It is, 

 likewise, extremely well suited fjr dairying and 

 grazing. The land hitherto being held in com- 

 mon, and the objects of the company being main- 

 ly the getting of ship timber to market, sniall at- 

 tention has been given to agricultural operations 

 and improvements. I was much graiiiied here in 

 looking at the barn above 100 feet in lengih erect- 

 ed by Lewis F. Allen, Esq., near the^village of 

 Whitehaven, for the keeping of the numerous 

 ox-teams employed in the saw mill at that estab- 

 lishment. The barn is entered lengthwise, and 

 the great floor extends through the whole. The 

 mows for hay are on each side of the floor; and 

 lean-tos or close sheds are projected from each 

 side of the barn for the whole lengih, which fur- 

 nish stables Ibr the cattle. The w hole is well con- 

 trived, considering the flat situation in which it 

 stands; and the teams, and every thing connected 

 with the establishment, in excellent and farmer- 

 like condition. I shall forbear a more particular 

 account of it, as I hope at a future time to receive 

 it from Mr. Allen's own pen. 



H. C. 



From tlie Cultivator. 



It is a practice in Germany, worthy of our imi- 

 tation to keep open a communication between the 

 cellars and principal chimney of the house, to en- 

 able the noxious air, more or or less generated 

 there, to escape. It also promotes the draft of the 

 chimney. The air in cellars oflen becomes 

 highly deleterious to health, and the sickness of 

 families may frequently be traced to the stagnant 

 and noisome air in these underground apartments. 

 Where there are different apartments in a cellar, 

 ventilation should be provided for, by leaving a 

 passage open over the doors of communication. 



HABITS OF THE SALMON. 



A very singular and inexplicable instinct has 

 been ascribed to the salmon, but which has been 

 doubled and disputed by many, even of those who 

 have turned their attention to the subject. The 

 fact to which we allude is, the propensity of sal- 

 mon to return from the sea to tlie identical rivers 

 wherein tliey were spawned. This has now been 

 established beyond the possibility of doubt. In 

 the report of our townsman, Mr. Robert Buisf, 

 superiiiiendent of the river Tay, under the act for 

 the protection of the breed of salmon, given in to 

 the rjneeting of heritors in October last, he noticed' 

 a curious experiment made last breeding season in 

 certain small fishing rivers in Sutherlandshire, 

 These rivers disembogue themselves into Loch 

 Shin, and no salmon were ever known to have 

 existed in their waters before ; but as they seemed 

 to be well adapted for breeding this species offish, 

 the Duke of Sutherland, the proprietor of these 

 rivers, resolved to have them planted with salmon. 

 Accordingly several pair were carried from other 

 rivers to which they were indigenous, and placed 

 in these during the breeding season, and there 

 they deposited their spawn. The result was 

 awaited for with considerable interest as calculated 

 to set at rest the disputed question. It appears by 

 a letter, Mr. Buist has just received from his cor- 

 respondent there, that the experiment has been 

 successful. The subject is. no doubt, of great in- 

 terest to those concerned wiih the fisheries, and 

 those who are curious in this department of natu- 

 ral his'tory. The letter states : " Our last year's 

 planting oC sn\mon has returned to the same rivers 

 this }'ear. In the commencement of close time 

 we carried salmon to one of the rivers where we 

 put them last year, and left two of these rivers 

 without putting any into them to ascertain whe- 

 ther these salmon did or did not return to the ri- 

 vers where they were spawned ; and, at the usual 

 time of spawning, we found a few pair in each of 

 these rivers, where never a salmon was seen be- 

 fiire the fish we put into them last year; so that 

 we can have no doubt of every river having its 

 own breed of salmon, and that they will return to 

 their own rivers unless interrupted on the passage, 

 or encouraged into other rivers by an unusual 

 quantity of water. I never believed in this doc- 

 trine until I had the experience of it from the dif- 

 ferent sizes we have of the many rivers in the 

 north. I have studied all this with great care, and 

 I may say now, I am a complete disciple to these 

 habits of the salmon." — Perth Constitutional. 



From the Genesee Farmer. 

 THE WIRE WORM. 



Of all the insects that prey on the labors of the 

 husbandman, there are i'ew that make more seri- 

 ous inroads on his prosperity, or contribute more 

 effectually to lessen his profits, than the one whose 

 name is placed at the head of this article. The 

 wire worm is the larvag of a species of the senus 

 elater, of linnanis; a class of' insects known by 

 the familiar name of snapping bugs, so called from 

 the power they possess of throwing themselves 

 into the air when placed on their backs, and thus 

 regaining their feet, which on a smooth surface 

 they would otherwise be unable to do. 



