^\)t Iamxcv5 i\lo\\t\)[\) bisitor. 



117 



rxriniininsr ii bed of seedlinir Alpine Slrawhcrries 

 ill thf fiitrdcM of Col. J. S. Swdilard of tl);it place. 

 Col. S5todd;ird lias directed uiiidi of his attention 

 fill- .several yeuri patsl to tlie cultivation of the 

 slrawlieny. " Some years ago, he raised alioiii 

 aOOO new seedliniis from the Alpine variety ; one 

 of which, a red variety, he selected and lias .since 

 increased, which he re;;arded as the finest of the 

 whole. The {.'romid now occupied liy tliisseed- 

 . liiijr i.s ahont tiO feet s(piarc, the plants standing 

 in hills fonrteeii inches apart. We never wit- 

 nested so fine a display of frnit. The .Alpine 

 .■;.niulierries iisn.illy hear their fruit ahove the 

 leaves; and in this case the masses of red her- 

 ries presented so lirilliant a glow as to he con- 

 spicuous at several rods distance. We tiieafnred 

 some of the fruit of ti.is variety which was one 

 inch and a fifth long, and mme than three quar- 

 ters of an inch thick. Many specimens were 

 alioiit this size. 'l"he ground on which they 

 grow is good garden soil, not rendered iinustially 

 •ich liy inannre. 

 Col" Siodd.ird estirn.nles that he will be able to 

 ick from this plantation of sixty feet square, 

 hirty-five linsliels before the strawberry season 

 s over. From this and aiiolher smaller bed, he 

 as taken two bushels of ilie liiiest fruit daily, 

 lid he thinks he will continue to gather that 

 iinionnt daily till the first of Aueust, when he 

 Moposes to remove his plants tor the purpose of 

 iicreasiiig them. He sells them at $4 per bush- 

 lid, or twelve and a half cents a quart, about one 

 lalf the usual price of frnit of that quality in 

 mr cities. He suffers the fruit to remain on the 

 talk longer thaiiusual, or until of a dark inahfig- 

 iiiy color. One person, with diligence, i.s able to 

 ick two bushels in half a day. 

 This planlatioii was set out in the early part of 

 ast August, and now the plants completely co>'- 

 r the surfnre of the ground, which is kept clean 

 nd well cultivated. 



,»Col. Stoddard showed us some young seed- 

 ngs, oljtaiued from seed planted last summer, 

 nd transplanted this spring. They were very 

 mall, the leaves being scarcely more ilian the 

 narter of an inch in diameter; anil young ex- 

 1 limenlers would probably be discouraged at 

 he nmsel, were they not to know the small size 

 L) be expected in young seedling-^. 



Crops in the Wester.n part of the State. 

 » "'he wheat crop, although seriously affei'ted iiy 

 1! lie cold weather of early spring, and the siibse- 

 leiit severe drought, lias laiely improved to a 

 niarkable degree, and a good crop is now pro- 

 ll lised. Ill the comities of Monroe, Wayne and 

 ^ )iitario, the product will undoubtedly equal the 

 verage ; and in other adjoining counties there i.s 

 very ftiir prospect. It not unfreipiently liap- 

 (||ens that unfavorable weather in spring is fol- 

 iwed by the reverse in early sumnier ; and ear- 

 Nil' predictions of the result have consequently 

 I'teii proved erroneous. A small portion of the 

 resent crop appears to be injnreil by the lles- 

 ati fly ; and the worm in the grain has been 

 iscovered, hut it is believed its ravages will not 

 tt expensive. No appearance of rust has yet 

 resented. 



The corn crop was kept back by the unusually 

 lid weather laie in spring and early in sumnier, 

 J Hd some early plantings were destroyed by the 

 osr. iMost fields, however, are now assuming a 

 lie appearance, and with the usual warm weatli- 

 ■ which is to succeed, little fear need he enter- 

 ineil tor a good return. 



The exceptions to success in these two impor- 

 <]} crops are, as a matter of coinse, on such 

 lids as have been hard run with tillage without 

 I'lianiire. In such cases the corn presents a 

 iiall and sickly appearance; and wheat is small 

 ul thin, and chess, crass and other weeds, have 

 us been permitted to have free growth and to 

 iiiijj'.tain the ascendancy. 



» The hay crop is light ; probably not more than 

 I) vo-thirds of the usual product will be afilirded. 

 tlose farmers who have made provision for 

 •ops of corn-stalk fodder by thick sowing, and 

 <r a full supply of roots, will probably escape 

 e inconvenience, and in some cases the evident 

 SBster which will result from a deficiency of 

 ' nn tor cattle. 



The Fruit Crop. — This year there is an ex- 

 aordinary failure of fruit. The severe frosts of 

 e latter part of spring, have cut off most of the 

 op in the central and western portions of the 



State. There will be a small crop of apples, 

 perhaps not half the average, west of the Cayu- 

 ga ; and troiii that county eastward, tlit crop ap- 

 pears to ho nearly or entirely lost. The peach 

 crop has been much thinned in the western 

 counties; near the south shore oC Lake Ontario, 

 and in other fivorable jiositions, there is, howev- 

 er a tiiir promise. Cherries, strawberries, and 

 even currants, have been also seriously injured, 

 and the ainonnt lessened. With the exception 

 of a strip of land a few miles wide, bordering 

 the south shore of Lake Erie, there appears to 

 be a total loss throughout Ohio. 



Peat a>d I'o.M) Mud. In many localities, it 

 is not practicable to obtain these enriching sub- 

 stances except at the driist season of the year, 

 when the water is evaporated which usually cov- 

 ers them. The vast quantities of them which n- 

 hoiind in many parts of the country, especially of 

 peat and swamp muck, while the scant crops of 

 the adjoining fields show how much their pres- 

 ence is needed, ought to stimulate a greater mim- 

 ber of our farmers to seize the present opportu- 

 nity to cart them upon their fields. 



Many have been disappointed liom the use of 

 swamp muck or peat. Its results are nincli less 

 striking than those of liirm yaid manure, not on- 

 ly because it possesses less inherent richness, but 

 because it contains far less of soluble parts, and 

 consequently imparts its strength more slowly to 

 growing pl.iiiis. This quality, however, only 

 makes it more enduring. Chemists have found 

 that by decoction in water, vegetable mould loses 

 a small portion of its weight by solution ; but if 

 the remaining insoluble portion is exposed to air 

 and moisture a few months, another part may be 

 atfaiii dissolved. Tims, peat, muck, and all de- 

 cayed vegetable fibre, becomes a slow, but last- 

 ing source of nonrishinent to plants. 



Disajipointment also results tioni the want of 

 thorough intermixture with the soil. If peat or 

 muck is merely spread in masses upon the sur- 

 tiice of the .soil, and then ploughed in, it rarely 

 proves of much lienefit, until, by several years till- 

 age, it becomes thoroughly iiiterinixed. To pre- 

 vent such failure, it should be very thorongbly 

 and repeatedly harrowed, so as to promote a 

 thorough admixlme with the siirlacesoil, before 

 it is turned under by the plough. 



By such treatment as this, heavy soils may of- 

 ten be greatly improved,anil rendered lighter and 

 more free, as well as more fertile. 



But it i.s when shovelled out and dried, to be 

 mixed with tiirm-yaid iiinnme, as a ifcipieiit for 

 its volatile or liquid jiarts, that peat or muck be- 

 comes pre-eminently valuable. We say c/n'frf,be- 

 caiise if it is already saturated with water, of 

 which it will often take in Jive-sirlhs of Us own 

 ioeig''l, it cannot absorb the liquid portions of 

 the manure. But if well dried beforehand, that 

 is, if these five sixths of water are expelled, it will 

 then absorb five-sixths of its weight in liquid 

 mamire, and it then becomes eminently fertiliz- 

 ing. The chief reason that the application of peal 

 to barii-yards has not proved of greater value, is, 

 that farmers li'ive applied it when it was already 

 filled with water, and eonseijuenlly it could take 

 ill little of any thing else. 



When peat or muck is to be drawn to a dis- 

 tance, it is obvious that a great saving would be 

 made Iiy shovelling it out under large coarse 

 sheds, some months before drawing, that the 

 water may he well eva|iorated, and so obviate the 

 necessity of drawing several tons of water to eve- 

 ry ton of peat. 



From tlie Louisville Journal. 

 Large Dairy Establishments ot London- 

 Having read of late with much interest in the 

 Eastern Agricultural [lapers, an account of vari- 

 ous well cultivated farms, I am induced to think 

 an abridged rlescription of some of the great 

 "lactaries," as they are fashionably called, of the 

 old country, from notes taken several years since 

 on a torn- with the late Dr. RatclifT, the excellent 

 and efficient secretary to the ■' Farming Society 

 of Ireland," will be received with some interest 

 by your readers, and it possibly may be also in- 

 structive. My observation convinces me there is 

 much in their management that could be well 

 and profitably adopted by our dairymen in this 

 country. 



The two largest daries in the world, contain- 

 ing the greatest number of cows giving milk at 

 the satne time in the sameestablishtnent, are in 



London, situated near and within sight of each 

 other at Islington, formerly a part of the 

 Hiihiirbs, but now a well built and densely popu- 

 lated portion of that great city ; the one estab- 

 lished more than half a century ago liy the late 

 Air. Rhodes, and still conducted by his sons; the 

 other established about the same time by the late 

 Mr. Laycock, and now in the possession of his 

 sons also. 



Rhode's w liich I shall first describe, is the 

 most complete of the two. The number of cows 

 now kept there, varies (ioiii seven hundred npto 

 nine hundred. Mrs. Rhodes, who, after her hus- 

 band's death, took the whole managenienl of the 

 concern for some years upon herself, told me 

 that she several times attempted to have one 

 thou.sand cows milked, but that the numlier was 

 never completed in the morning ; that before 

 night death or some other accident occurred a- 

 moiigst them, to prevent her accomplishing that 

 desire. The ground on which the buildings are 

 placed is a slope of some three or four acres 

 fronting the east. The sheds run with the slojie 

 for the drainage and more easily wheeling off 

 the manure, as well as for supplying water for 

 the cows, throiigh small cast iron troughs, which 

 are fixed in the walls at the heads of the cows, in 

 such a manner that one trough may be supplied 

 from the other the whole length of the house. 



The sheds are twenty-four feet wide and ten 

 feet high ; tiled roof, with rising shutters for ven 

 tilation ; and panes of glass glazed into cast iron 

 skeleton tiles for light. The floor has a slight fall 

 to a gutter along the centre; a range of stalls,each 

 seven and a half feet wide for two cows to stand 

 in, runs along the sides, to which they are fiist- 

 ened by chains aiirl rings running on upright iron 

 rods in each corner, A trough, formed of Welch 

 slate bedded in cement, its upper edge eighteen 

 inches tiom the ground, is fixed at the head of 

 each aniiiial to hold its food. The sheds are 

 placed adjoining and parallel to each other, with 

 openings in the walls ojiposite each cow, one foot 

 wide and four feet high, in which is placed the 

 iron trough to contain the drinking water, calcu- 

 lated to serve two cows in ditierent sheds, but 

 op[iosite to each other, which water is supplied 

 from one large cistern by pipes ; each iron trough 

 has a wooden cover, wliicli is shut down during 

 feeding time, to prevent the water being dirtied. 

 At the upper end of the sheds is the dairy, con- 

 sisting of tluee rooms ; the one a measuring 

 room, where all the milk that is sold and goes 

 out is first measured ; the other a scalding room, 

 with boiler and fire place ; and the third a room 

 where all the surplus milk is strained up and set 

 away for cream and butter. At the lower end of 

 the sheds are two yards surrounded by sheds also, 

 the one for fattening the cows off when they be- 

 come dry, and the other for store and breeding 

 pigs. The pigs coiisu.'ue the skim milk remain- 

 ing on band, which is kept in a well made of 

 brick laid in cement, twelve feet deep and six 

 and a half in diameter, in which it soon becomes 

 sour, and then fed to the pigs as it is well known 

 to be more nourishing when giveti in that state, 

 than when sweet. The principal slock of pigs 

 are breeding sows, as the sucking pigs sold for 

 roasting are found to be much the most profita- 

 ble. The dung is all emptied into a pit for that 

 purpose, ofi'a platform at the bottom of the yards. 

 Within the last ten years there have been con- 

 structed in the rear of the sheds several pits 10 

 feet wide, 12 feet deep, and 20 feet long, made of 

 brick, beihled in cement, into which are packed 

 several months' supply of brewers and distillers' 

 grains, which form the chief food for the cows, 

 and which can only be bad during the winter 

 months. The grains are firm\y tramped into those 

 pits, and each layer of about a foot in thickness 

 is well salted ; when filled, the top is covered 

 over with boards, and on those is put a thickness 

 of earth, compactly beaten down, sufficient to 

 perfectly exclude the air as well as the frost. — 

 Grains packed in this way have been opened in 

 tour or five years,and Ibimd to be fresh and good 

 food, and as eagerly eaten by the cows as those 

 that had just been carted in from the brewery. — 

 There are also on the premises a large stock 

 yard, sheds, and pits for roots and straw, a large 

 room for cutting hay and clover into chafl^, cart- 

 sheds, stables, a neat and ca|)acious counting- 

 house, with a large well ventilated room over 

 head, containing several iron bedsteads, with 

 hair mattress and pillow to each where tliereg- 



