more. I admit that ci-ossing the Blood Horse on 

 the French mares, will improve the French, but 

 detracts and deteriorates in the same ratio from 

 pure blood ; such at least, has been my experi- 

 ence : And he who attempts to breed trotters by 

 crossing their marcs with French or half French 

 studs, even if from long training, they have been 

 made to trot their mile in three minutes, as all 

 their band-bills will attest, will find in "nineteen 

 cases out of twenty," it will prove a total fail- 

 ure, for this clear reason — they ai'e of no dis- 

 tinctive breed. 2d. That a trotting horse, to ex- 

 cel, must do nothmg but trot ; and his size, as 

 appears from your statement, from 15 to 16 

 hands high, have excelled; and last, and not 

 least, it is superior skill, and long continued 

 training and driving for years, that makes the 

 trotting horse, when crossed with high strains 

 of blood, altogether superior in the United States. 

 Would not breeders, therefore, do well to ex- 

 amine carefully into this important subject, dis- 

 card long established prejudices, and adopt that 

 course of breeding, which shall not only prove 

 the most useful and profitable, but also, as we 

 journey along through Ufe, have the satisfaction 

 of endeavoring to do some little good for our 

 common country. 



Yours, most respectfully, L. 



THE PENNIMAN GRASS. 



From Ihenorth side of Cuba — good for soiling, 



for pasturage, and for hay. 



We have not now to suggest for the first time. 

 but now earnestly repeat the intimation, that the 

 name of the person bringing to or importing for 

 his country, a new grass, gi'ain, animal, vegeta- 

 ble, tree — either fruit or ornamental — ought to 

 be given to the thing thus added to the list of 

 things calculated to enrich or embellish the land. 

 Hence we baptize the Grass, the seed of which 

 was received with the following letter, the Peii- 

 7iiinan Grass. The quantity was small, and has 

 all been distributed. 



New-York, Oct. 25, 1845. 



Dear Sir .• — I hand you with this, a small 

 parcel of grass seed, sown on the north side of 

 the Island of Cuba. My brother, who resided 

 for some time on the Island, noticed the great 

 length to which the grass grew ; (of which the 

 seed herewith is the product,) being upwards 

 of six feet in length ; upon inquiry, respecting 

 it, he found it afforded an excellent feed as 

 grass to the cattle, and made the best of hay 

 when cured — growing thick, and heading out 

 like tlie best of English grass with us. Think- 

 ing it might do ■well in our climate and soil, he 

 was induced to gather a quantity of the seed, 

 which he has disposed of in the New-England 

 States, save the small parcel I now hand you. 

 I have seen some of this grass, which my 



brother brought home with him, measuring in 

 length upwards of seven feet ; every joint quite 

 as tender, cured, as our best English hay. You 

 will be struck with the length of this seed, bear- 

 ing as it does, a proportion to the length of grass 

 it produces. Be pleased to present the package 

 to some of your farming friends. Perhaps it 

 may be the means of adding a joint or two more 

 to the fine grasses of America ; if so, I shall be 

 truly glad, for " behold how large a stalk this 

 little seed bringeth forth." 



Yours, respectfully, 



BENJ. F. PENNI.MAN. 

 No. 89 Broad-street. 

 To Mr. Skinner, Editor of the Farmers' Library. 



REFLECTIONS ON AGRICULTURAL PRO- 

 GRESS. 



Oswego, Nov. 1, 1845. 



Dear Sir : Having been among the first to 

 have the "Farmers' Library" introduced here, 

 I applied to one of our best agents, by whom I 

 have been supplied with all of the numbers, and 

 am thoroughly convinced of its merits and utiUty. 



It is but a fe\v short years since I saw, not 

 maisy miles from your City, farmers allowing 

 nearly all of their manure to go to waste : what 

 little was gathered not being of much profit, for 

 it had been reduced by the action of the air for 

 a year or so before using ; together with the ad- 

 vantage of descending ground in many places 

 so as to have a dry yard, 6cc. ; but not only ma- 

 nuring but the idea of deep plo'wing was whol- 

 ly objected to. Some argued that it injured the 

 soil and that nothing would gro-w upon it for a 

 length of time afterwards. Others thought the 

 orchard must not he trimmed and a reason for 

 that was given thus : Some seasons there were 

 blighting winds, and if the trees were deprived 

 of many branches the winds would destroy all 

 the frait and so a thick, branchy tree would 

 be better protected against the elements, and 

 produce fruit from the middle and protected 

 parts. But after all few of those trees are to be 

 seen and little or none of the fruit is found in. 

 our markets. 



It is gratifying to see now, on the same farms, 

 the fine grafted trees with splendid fruit taking 

 the place of the natural and uncultivated, while 

 the plow is doing wonders, not spoiling the 

 land, as was once thought, by going too deep, 

 but actually renovating worn-out lands. What 

 a contrast in opinion, producing changes in al- 

 most every thing ! 



Now in many of those same farms that the 

 occupants worked in the old and more than 

 slovenly way, you may see the manure taken 

 care of the tillage altogether different, and I 

 will venture to say that more is produced, of a 

 better quality and on less land, with less labor, 



