FARMERS' REGISTER 



Si 



An hundred acres of such pasture supplied wiih 

 water will liiKen /inni l\l\y to sixty steers from 

 early in the spring until the harvest fields and 

 young clover sown with the grain are ready lor 

 their use; and will be Ibund in fine condition i'or 

 fall anil vvintiT grazing alter the other pastures are 

 exhausteii. So decidedly does my own experience 

 prove the value of" woods pasture, that 1 cannot 

 Ibrhear earnestly recommending to every person 

 who has hill land near their low grounds, to lose 

 no time and spare no eflbrt in reducing such land 

 to well enclosed and well seeded pastures. 



I may justly congratulate you, gentlemen, on 

 the spirited efibrts made, and making, to introduce 

 among us the best breeds of domestic animals. 

 The contribution from Cabell of one oC (he finest 

 bulla imported from England, by the Scioto Im- 

 porting Company, with beaulilul specimens of jiis 

 progeny, do great credit to their owner. From 

 Mason, also, we have some fine specimens of 

 Durham stock, pure, as well as mixed with the 

 Devonshire, and common stock of the countrj'; 

 while Kanawha contributes her share of public 

 spirit in the cattle brought togetiier by her citizens, 

 composed of fine Durham with various mixtures, 

 speaking well for the enterprise and judicious 

 management of their owners. The Berkshire 

 hogs are also among us, procured from Albany, 

 and various crosses with the best Irish and Ameri- 

 can stock, from other quarters. 



The Saxony, South Down and Berkshire sheep, 

 are also sprinkled through this and the adjoining 

 counties, all evincing the laudable efforts of our 

 farming community to keep pace with the im- 

 provements of the ase. 



I must however remind you that Durham cat- 

 tle and Berkshire hogs require Durham and 

 Berkshire pastures ; their early maturity, and en- 

 larged size, are the revvards of good grazing, and 

 suitable care ; neither are adapted to the scant 

 herbage of the Ibrest or the acorns of the woods. 



The root crops, so highly valued in Europe and 

 in the northern part of our own country, have 

 been the subject of useful experiments among us ; 

 so fiir as tried they bid fair to become an impor- 

 tant auxiliary in winter feeding; the specimens 

 and reports on this branch of our husbandry will 

 best illustrate the advantages of enlarging their 

 culture, and- will I hope secure further and niore 

 extensive experiments. 



Observing that we are honored with the pre- 

 sence of many ladies, I trust to their indulgence 

 in remarking, that the wives and daughters of an 

 agricultural community have it much in their 

 power to aid in the pleasures and profits of a well 

 conducted farm ; the various, valuable and beau- 

 tiful fruits which we have seen to-day, fi-om the 

 looms, tlie dairies and the gardens, fully attest the 

 importance of female co-operation, and the value 

 of female efforts in domestic productions ; and 

 gives the cheering assurance that at our future 

 exhibitions the ladies' department will obtain pre- 

 eminent interest. 



I fear that I have trespassed on your patience ; 

 but in a field so broad, and with such a variety of 

 interesting topics pre.'^sing upon the mind, I have 

 found it difficult to restrain myself within nar- 

 rower limits. 



Aq a first effort in this quarter of the state to ad- 

 dress brother husbandmen on leading subjects of 

 great interest to us all, 1 must bespeak yonr libe- 



ral indulgence, which I do with the confident hope 

 that our fijture meetings will bring out more in- 

 teresting and valuable addresses liom those that 

 will follow me. 



SOURCES OF ERROR IN EXPERIMENTS OF 

 THE PRODUCT OF DIFFERENT KINDS OF 

 CORN. 



There have been published so many and such 

 contradictory accounts of the products of twin-corn, 

 and of other varieties, that general readers are 

 unable to arrive at any conclusion ; and of those 

 who rely on some one experiment or report, some 

 are convinced that some particular kind of corn is 

 the most productive liy a third or more, and others 

 as well convinced that it is as much inferior to the 

 ordinary kinds. Yet, if rejecting all loose opi- 

 nions, and imperfect testimony and uncertain facta, 

 we have the results of actual experiment and 

 measurements, made by gentlemen of undoubted 

 veracity, and competency for observation, which' 

 sustain both the extremes of the opposite opinions. 

 Whence arises such striking contradiction 1 



The cause of these and all such contradictory 

 reports of comparative products, is this: it is a 

 fact well known to ev6ry practical cultivator, that 

 the product of corn, more especially, is greatly af- 

 fected by diff'erences of season at particular junc-' 

 tures, and this diflierence is made the greater by 

 differences of times or manner of tillage, in con- 

 nexion with the seasons. Thus, if of two distant 

 lots of corn, in all respects equal, and alike culti- 

 vated, one receive a sufficient rain soon after its 

 last ploughing, and just before the ehoeting time, 

 and the other lot remain without rain but t\N^o 

 weeks longer, the result would probably be that 

 the first would produce 25 per cent, more than the 

 second. Now suppose two parts of the same 

 field of corn, in all respects equal and alilie, except 

 that of being planted in different varieties of corn, 

 and one, two weeks more forward in ripening than 

 the other. Suppose further, the seasons to visit 

 both parts alike, and the tillage to be the same in 

 time as well as in kind. Still, is it not manifest 

 that if a particular tillage, or a rain, occurs at the 

 best lime for the one variety of corn, that it will 

 not be so for the other'? If either suits the one 

 kind precisely, it must l>e two weeks too soon, or 

 as much too late, for the other. And this differ- 

 ence alone would be enough to cause a very con- 

 siderable difference of product in that crop, al- 

 though the two kinds oi" corn might be bcfth good, 

 and equal in productiveness, on a general average 

 of years and of seasons. 



But besides the above-mentioned and very cbtti-' 

 mon sources of erroneous judgment, there arV' 

 olhers affecting every comparative trial of diflfer-' 



