478 



MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE. 



readily believe it all ; still wc should prefer a 

 harn of Commodore Ballard's curing at Belle- 

 field, for our eating ! especially if eaten, as can- 

 vas backs only can be in real perfection, on the 

 spot where they arc killed. 



SwKLLiNG OF GRAIN BY BoiLiNG. — The Ed- 

 inburgh Journal of Agriculture gives, in the fol- 

 lowing table, the increase of bulk in different 

 .kinds of grain boiled for domestic animals to 

 bursting : 



4 measures of oats increased to 7 measures. 



A good farmer of our acquaintance said that 

 from long experience he considered the value 

 of corn for hogs increased by boiling in the ratio 

 of 25 to 10. [Cu.ltivator. 



Agricultural Repositories. — There is 

 one in the American Institute for placing mod- 

 els. There ought to be a Society expressly for 

 the importation of all newly-invented machines, 

 if the Institute has not the means or facilities of 

 doing it — not gimcracks, but machines whereof 

 the real usefulness appears to be well proved, 

 and within the means of American agricultur- 

 ists. 



Pruning. — The Editor of the London Gar- 

 dener's Magazine, among the most accomplished 

 botanists of this or any other day, says: 



" We know, indeed, of but one general fact 

 which may be — we would rather say, should be 

 — invariably attended to, and that is the univer- 

 sal necessity of keeping branches thin. Light 

 in abundance, and the freest circulation of air 

 among leaves, are of vital importance to all 

 plants; but these cannot be secured unless the 

 branches are left thin. A crowd of branches 

 implies a crowd of leaves, and in a crowd leaves 

 can neither breathe, nor perspire, nor feed ; in 

 fact, they arc smothered. But, when they stand 

 well apart, they breathe freely, perspire pro- 

 fusely, and f(!cd incessantly ; the result of which 

 consists in fine, strong, stiff shoots, and dark 

 green, fat leaves, instead of spindling twigs and 

 yellow weasened foliage." 



The Ohio Bushel. — An act of the Ohio Leg- 

 islature, pa.ised the 8lh February, 1847, fi.xes the 

 following weights as the standard bushel of arti- 

 cles named, wlicn sales are made by the bushel, 

 witliont special agreement between the parties 

 as to the measurement — that is to say : 



Wheat 60 Iba I Rye 56 lh«. 



Indian Corn 56 .. | Klax-seed .56 .. 



Barley 48 .. Clover-eeed 64 .. 



OdlB 32 .. I 



All right — everything susceptible of it sliould 

 be sold by wcipht. Chickens ready for the spit 

 are sold by the weight in New- York, as we 

 have seen at the watering places ; and they are 

 getting in the way of it ia the City. Who will 

 (958) 



give us the usual weight of a bushel of potatoes 

 and other vegetables 7 l^" We don't mean 

 rotten potSoooooooo's. 



Bins. — The following table will show the ca- 

 pacity of bins; also the capability of greatly in- 

 crea.'fing them by enlarging the area of each : — 

 A bin 6 feet square and '21 feet deep will con- 

 tain 2S cubic yards of manure ; do. 6 ft. 8 in. do. 

 21 do. 35 do. ; do. 7 ft. 4 in. do. 21 do. 42 do. ; 

 do. 7 ft. 11 in. do. 21 do. 49 do. ; do. 8 ft. 6 in. do. 

 21 do. 56 do. 



Top-Dressing. — The great care now taken to 

 preserve liquid manure, which was formerly al- 

 lowed to run to waste, and the accounts of ita 

 fertilizing effects upon land, published almost 

 weekly in the Agricultural Gazette, are proofs 

 of the high value set on this form of manure ; 

 almost, indeed, a higher value than on the solid 

 manure of the farm-yard. Agriculturists see 

 the rapid ef!'ects of liquid manure on growing 

 crop.s, without reflecting that the advantages of 

 manure applied in a fluid state result not from 

 any peculiar richness which it possesses, but 

 from its being presented to the plant in a state 

 of solution or minute subdivision, and therefore 

 ready prepared for the food of vegetation. 



Straw Manure. — Farmers must learn to dis- 

 tinguish more than they have done between the 

 qualities of manure, and think less comparative- 

 ly of quantity. Manure from cattle barely kept 

 alive on straw is not worth hauling half a mile. 

 Oil cake is much used in England as food for 

 cattle, but would not be were it not for the re- 

 turns it makes in the quality of the manure. 



Let this be held the farmer's creed : 

 For stock seek out the choicest breed ; 

 In peace and plenty let them feed. 

 Your land sow with the best of seed ; 

 Let it not dung nor dressing need ; 

 Inclose, plow, reap, with care and speed. 

 And you will soon be rich indeed. 



Much W.^intei). — A list of French weights, 

 measures and moneys, in ordinary use by French 

 writers on agricultural and political economy 

 and statistics. 



If any one will have the kindness to supply 

 it, we will ask the additional favor of his accept- 

 ing a handsomely-bound copy of Gucnon's fa- 

 mous cow-book. 



The Marvel of the Day is Guenon'sbook 

 on coirolopi/. At a meeting in the Legislative 

 Hall at Boston, several of the most respectable 

 farmers in Massachusetts pronounced the signs 

 laid down in that book for telling the milking 

 properties of Cows, published in The Farm- 

 ers' Library, to be infallible, after trial in 

 man// hundred caaes ! One gentleman said that 

 a cow-keeper had better give $100 fij- it llian be 

 without it. 



