SCRAPS. 



477 



for the finest worsted stuffs. In this, we take it, there is some play of the ima- 

 gination which demands some allowance for " variation." 



But the Major and his sons, animated by that determination never to be satis- 

 fied while anything remains to be done, and which alone can insure progressive 

 improvement, sent out his son Clayton (a good name) to England to inspect all 

 the crack flocks of the kingdom. Of that enterprise we shall give an account 

 hereafter, as we mean to pay the Major a visit in " peach time." Enough now 

 to say, that he brought home an Oxfordshire ram, represented to be an improve- 

 ment on the Colswold, which the old gentleman — and he looks at such things 

 with a practiced eye — thinks would now, if fatted, weigh GO pounds to the 

 quarter! We shall have more to say of this Grand Sultan, and of the Sultanas 

 that are on their way for his harem from England. 



SCRAPS : 



AMUSING, INSTRUCTIVE, OR CURIOUS. 



GoANo. — McHknry Boyd, Esq., of Hartford 

 County, Md., where f^uano has been most freely 

 used, says he finds the best system decidedly is 

 to spread and plow it in. He would sooner use 

 guano at 250 or 300 pounds to the acre, than 

 have stable manure for nothing, if to be hauled 

 two miles. 500 lbs. of guano have brought his land 

 from "2 barrels of corn up to 8 or 10 barrels — 

 that is, 40 or 50 bushels. 



Ayrshire Cattle. — Mr. Boyd, of Maryland, 

 has quite a considerable herd of cows with 

 more or less of this blood — some thorough, some 

 mixed — and esteems tliem for the dairy in pro- 

 portion to their degree of Ayrshire blood. Mr. 

 Colt holds his Alderney cows at $150. 



Butter. — To remove the milk with or with- 

 out the use of water ? That is the question. 

 Premium specimens have been obtained, after 

 both processes. The nicest polled table butter 

 we have seen this winter was from Mrs.— (we 

 like to give the houseuife credit where we can) 

 — was from Mrs. Hammond's dair^-, near EUi- 

 cott's Mills, Md. The milk was expressed alto- 

 gether without the use of water. 



Planting Fruit Trees — A writer in the 

 Cultivator very aptly compares the practice of 

 planting trees from a rich nurserj- into poorer 

 land, to taking a horse from being well fed on 

 •oats and giving him straw rations. Twenty 

 years' experience convinces him that fresh ho^ 

 mannre is best, particularly for /wars, to be 

 mixed well with the soil, as far as the roots ex- 

 tend. Every year or two a top-dressing should 

 be plowed or spaded in. 

 (957, 



Hot-Beds.— In the same paper it is stated 

 that hot-beds should be sunk in the ground t© 

 the depth of eighteen inches or two feet. They 

 require a large supply of moisture, and if made 

 wholly on the surface, they dry up so rapidly 

 that they must be watered a great deal. 



Housekeeping and House Management. — 

 About the most perfect for system, unexcep- 

 tionable neatness and cleanliness, from garret to 

 cellar, exactness marked by the greatest kind- 

 ness in the treatment of the servants, the 7ie.plus 

 ultra in the cookery displayed vpon the board, 

 and invariable cheerfulness around it, is to be 

 found at BcUcfnid, in Maryland, where, as on 

 board ship, there is a place for everything and 

 cverj'thing in place. True, some would jeal- 

 ously intimate that ihefiiger of the master was 

 to be seen here and there ; but, for ourselves, 

 we rather put our faith in the eye of the mis- 

 tress ; and, at all events, the lady who can get 

 so much help from the gentleman must, it will 

 be admitted, have very winning ways with her. 



Smoked Mutton.— The Editor of the Ten- 

 nessee Farmer, not having the fear of the ewLn- 

 ish multitude before his eyes, declares his pref- 

 erence for the ovine, over the bovine or the swine- 

 ish race. He says, on his knowledge of phyei ■ 

 ology, which none will dispute, that a pound of 

 lean, tender mutton can be procured for half the 

 cost of the same quantity of fat pork ; and that 

 it is infinitely Aec///;/<>/-, in summer especially; 

 and that those who feed on it become more miti- 

 cular, and can do more work on it. with more 

 ease to themselves. He knows of nothing more 

 delicious than smoked niultoji hams. We caa 



