12 



^l)e iTarmcr's itloutljlD Visitor. 



reel ipliitioii wlialever to exisiem tliins;?. Tlicie 

 is no 'disease,' no ' nun-rain,' |)rO|iei-ly so culled. 

 The potaloes are just rotten; and llialisllie lon^' 

 and the short of il. The discoloration, coni- 

 mencin^' in this spot and exlendin'/ to lliat, the 

 softness, the waxiness, the lelor, all these fliiiiijs 

 and many more such like, we have seen a score 

 of times in potatoes that have s|iontaneoiisly rot- 

 ted in a dairjp dark cellar. We can confirn] 

 what the iiiicrOPco|iists and chemists say ahont 

 appearances and reaciions, and lell them plenty 

 of untold truths hfsides : Ijnt not poiatoes indy 

 — any vefjclahle of similar conjposition, will give 

 like results when in a state of decay. These 

 acids, alkalies, atomic defrius, spornles, gra- 

 nnles, ruptured cells, dust, dirt, &c. are a conse- 

 (juence of the potato mischief, anil not a cause of 

 il. There is nuthin;; new in the circumstance: 

 we have heen liuiiiliar with it from chihliiood, 

 and so iiave many simple ohservers who are 

 older in tiie art of lakinjf notice than ourselves 

 are. It is no novelty in this connlry, any more 

 than elsewhere : it attracts .-ittenlion because of 

 the almost nnivei.<ality of its prevalence. And 

 has not the cause heen ntdversal.- Cold water 

 is theybH«/ain had! 'I'ake oin' word for it, there 

 is no mystery iji the aftjir: cloudy skies and 

 «lrencliiug rains have done it all." — Medical 

 TiiiU'S. 



Prosperity and Productions of the West. 



Until vve read the followiufj extract in tin; 

 New York llei'ald under dale of " JJeardstown, 

 Cass comity, Illinois, Jan. 10, 1846," we were not 

 aware that there was such a town in exi.stence : 



"This town is situated upon the hmdis of the 

 Illinois river, K!0 nules al>ove Si. Louis, and it is 

 the most enlerpi isin;X, liusiness-like little place I 

 have seen since J left New Vork. It is a yreat 

 market for pindnce, havii'g an extensive hack 

 4;anntry d.e|>eudeut upon il, and aliiiou;r|i it has 

 hilt ahont 15U0 iidjahilanis, lln-re is an immense 

 amount of husiness transacted. Tliere is in the 

 place some seven or eiulit stores, two flonrinjr 

 mills, ami sevei'al pork packiiij; esiahlishmenls. 

 To t;ive your readers some idea of the husiness 

 of tlie place, I woirhl say i yeslerday counted in 

 the sireets one hundred wainms loaded uilh 

 corn, pork, and wheat, and in one store (■ Hill- 

 injr.s' Lou^ Siore ') I counted over one hnndreil 

 eiistomers at one lime. This store, hy the way. 

 is the most extensive estahllshment for a conntrv 

 store that I h-ve ever seeti. It has one counler 

 130 feet in lenjjtli, and some filieeii clerks cnu- 

 stantly occnpieil; in taci, it woidd do credit to 

 Broaduay. 1 should aihl, the proprietor is a 

 Gothaiiiile." 



Thir same letter presents the fidlowinp; aston- 

 ishing' results as cominj;' frmn a country of so 

 much ferliliiy ; 



" .'X New En:;laud man v\ouli| hardly believe 

 trie, if I tell him that some firiners here produce 

 ten thousand liushels of corn and half as uiaijy 

 bushels of whe.-it in a year, to say iiolhinn: of cat- 

 tle ami ho;;s, id' which sonie lai.-e as many as 

 five hundred head. One farmer told me that he 

 raised the last year fiOOO liushels of corn, iiiid it 

 was all produced hy llie lahor <)\' two uien only. 

 Cattle and sheep (i'cd upon th(! [irairies all win- 

 ter, as lliey are seldom covered with snow." 



Hon, H. L. Kllsworlh, ihe lau^ Commissioner 

 of Patents at Washiicioii, has seilled himself 

 <lnwn as a farmer upon the alluvion lauds of the 

 Wabash in Indiana. He in'iirms us that he had 

 on sale when Ik; leli in November, le,» lhotif!(iii/l 

 hns'icl.t (if nirn, it \ti\n of lU{'. last yeiir'.< prodeci 

 ol' his farm. 



Polnto CiiUiirc. 



The I'aruiei-N' (^liili in the c-iiy rd' New York 

 have re;;id,-n- periodical mirelin;;s, in the discus- 

 sions of which, liy the best practical ,'i:;ricultur- 

 isls, much valuable inlininaiimi is <diciled. .Xt 

 a late mei^rmi.' we lind the following' slatement 

 jloilij; lo conlirm as lbr> best renieily airainst the 

 potiilo rot — nirlij pinntins; wwA the use u\' lime, — 

 wlii<-h ihe Hdilor id' the Visitm- in hi-- last niini- 

 ber adverted to as preservin;: bis o« n lalnable 

 <:rop (d' polaloi-s fd' the last season : 



Alirelin;; of .Ian. '20, 18-tG. " Air. Sands of Or- 

 ange county, furnished tl-oin his own prairtical 

 experience, the syslem ol his successful inanaue- 

 inent (d' the potato; which hrieliv consisted iii 

 the theory of early planliii'.', irrij;ating frequently 



on (!|-y ground, and employiiif; the ii;;eiicy of 

 lime in tiie early apparent stajjes of decay, and 

 seemed to attribute !o the absence of rain or ai- 

 tificial humidity, the early progress of the dis- 

 ease, and perhaps its origin. 



•' \ member here assigned an insect as the 

 child' cause of the disease, and promised lo 

 prove the fict in a written communication at the 

 next meeting of the Club. 



'• iMr. Sands, at this stage of the discussion, 

 again rose, and slated that in 1843 — aiiont the 

 period of the first appearance of the potato dis- 

 ease — he planted the diseased potato early in the 

 season, and his crop proved most piii-e and 

 ahnndanl ; while those he planted from sound 

 seed on the '.lTn\\ of May, were rotten and im- 

 .sound." 



Remarkably Productive Ccwg. 



A notice of some ol the most reinaiable cows 

 of which accounts have been made public, may 

 be read with inleresi, as it serves to show what 

 is attainable in this respect. 



The most exlraordiuary cow of which we liavi^ 

 any record, is one which vvas owned hy William 

 Craiiip, of Lewes, Sussex, England, concerning 

 which the Board of Agriculture collected the fol- 

 lowing liicis : 



She was of the Sussex breed, iind was calved 

 in 1799. From May I, 18115, lo April 2, J8UG, 

 forly-eighi weeks and one day, her milk pro- 

 duced .")-10 lbs. (>'' butter. The next year, or from 

 April 19, the day she calved, to Feb. 27, 1807, 

 forty-live weeks, she produced 450 lbs. of huller. 

 It is stated that she was si(-k this year, and under 

 the care of a farrier three weeks after iNilving. — 

 The tbiril year, from April (i, 1807, the time she 

 calved, lo April 4, 1808, li!iy-iuie weeks and four 

 days, she prodn(-ed (i75 His. of liullcr. The loiirlh 

 year from April S'J, 1808, ihe day she calved, to 

 Feb. 13, 1809, foiiy-iwo weeks and three days, 

 she produced 4(;(1 lbs. butler. The fil'lli year, 

 from April 3, 1809, to May 8, 1810, fifiy-.-eveii 

 weeks, she produc(;d 594 lbs. hiiller. 'I'be gre.-it- 

 est quantity of butter uienlicmed as having been 

 produced by ibis cow in mie week, was 18 lbs., 

 and the greatest fpiantiiy 'd' milk uieutioued .-is 

 having heen given in .-oi\ tme day. uas 20 quarts. 

 She wa.s well fefl at all limes. "In summer she 

 was fed on (dover, lucerne, rye-grass, and carrots, 

 three or four tinu-s a day, and at noon about four 

 gallons of giain and two of bran, mixed togelb- 

 er. In vvinler she was fed with hay, grain, and 

 bran, itiixed as before sl.-Ued, feeding oflen." 



Tin; iiexl most remarkable in the catalogue, is 

 the celebrated Oaks or '• Danvers pri-ze cow." — 

 Tbelirst notice we lind of her, is in a commnni- 

 catiou from E. Iler.-y Derby, Esq., lo the Massa- 

 chusetts .^g-icidlnral Repo>iiory and .Journal, 

 dated Dec. 25, 181(1. Fr(un this it appears thai 

 in 1813, Caleb OaK.-, of Daiivers, IVIass., bought 

 Ibis cow "of his brolher in-law," by whom she 

 htid been pnrcbused nnt of a drove. She was 

 then five years (dd. !VIr. Oak.s made from her 

 the lirst year, 180 lbs. of biiKer; the next year, 

 1814. she made 300 lbs., in 1815, over 400 lbs." and 

 in 1816, 484i lbs. In the latter yetn- she look ihe 

 lirr-i preiriinm at the Massachusells state show, 

 at Brighton. The greatest qiianiiiy of hnlier 

 made liy her in one week, was I9i lbs; the great- 

 est quantity of milk given per <lay, was KJ to 18 

 ipiaris. She uas fed, in addiiion to ordinary 

 paslure kt'{\, with one bushel of Indian meal per 

 we<d\, and allowcul lo diink :dl her skimmed milK. 

 Al'ler the ahoMi trials, she «as purchased by the 

 Hon. .losiah Qnincy; her yield in butler, Iio'mv- 

 er, never c:iriie up lo «hal il bad be'l.ie Im'im, 

 ihoiigh ^he souieliiiies iiiaili- Ili lbs. per week, 

 and her milk was of such richness that tivi; quarls 

 id' it Ireipienlly yielded a pound (d' butler. 



Mr. Cidninn slates that he fonnil in Iielaiid, a 

 dairy u\' tine <^ows of the Kerry breed, (a small 

 rare,) which averaged 'ii'lQ lbs. of butter to each 

 for tin; season. 



The milk iriven by one of Col..Ia(pie.s' " cream 

 )iot" cows in three days afforded nine pounds of 

 builei-' — or al ibe lale of tweiuy-oni' pounds per 

 week — and .'mother of the same liimily niadi- 

 uiheteen pounds per week. 



Six Diuliam cows helnnging to (leorce Vail, 

 Troy, madcMii .30 days, (June, 1844,) 2(12 lbs. 7 

 <r/,. huller — being an average of 43 lbs. 12 oz. lo 

 each cow. The average quantity of milk per 

 day for each cow, was22i quarts. The fied was 

 grass oidv. 



Mr. ('(dui.ui in his F^onrih Ileport on the Agri- 

 culture of Alassachiisett.s, gives a list of GO " na- 

 tive "cows and their pioduce, from which we 

 take the following : 



The Nourse row, owned in North Sidem, made 



20 lbs. of butler in one week, and averagi-d 14 

 lbs. of huller per week for four successive 

 monihs. 



A cow owned by Samuel D. Colt, of Pittsiield, 

 from 1st Deceudier to 2(!th .April, 148 days prii- 

 duced 193 lbs. of hntter. 



Four cows belon;;iii^ to Jesse Putnam. Dan- 

 vers, Mass., in 1830, averaged more Ihaii -^08 lbs. 

 of butter each in the season ; liiLdily li d. 



A cow owned by S. Henshaw, Springfield, pro- 

 duced I7!i Ihs.of buiter per w(x-k,an<l in one case 



21 lbs. of excellent butter. In 4i days, that is 4 

 days and one milking, she produced 14 lbs. 3 oz. 

 of butler — al the rate of 22i lbs. per week. 



t'mra ilie .Mbany Cultivator. 

 Wool- Growing on the Praries of Illinois. 



LuTiiEU TucKK.R, EsQ. — Biita few years since 

 we emigrated from Vermont into this State. — 

 We soon he(-ame satisfied that wool could be 

 grown much cheaper lieie than ill our own na- 

 tive slate. In 1843, we pmch.ised in Columbiana 

 county, Ohio, 2,300, and drove ihem through by 

 land into this region. In cros>ing sireams «itb- 

 ont bridges, we managed to take about 50 to the 

 water's edge at a time, and by the aid of two 

 shepherd's dogs, would cnnvd them into the riv- 

 er. Then the.-e two dogs wonUI go and aid the 

 one that vvas left to guard the main tiock, and 

 urge them all u|) and into ihe stream Ku'elber. — 

 They would all swim overwilhoul much difficul- 

 ty. They travelled generally about twelve miles 

 a ilay. 



On our arrival home we let and sohl all but 

 1200. Our rule for letting was for half the wool 

 and half the lamb.s, anil as many sheep returned 

 as let, at ihe end of the \ear. We wintered them 

 on prairie h.-iy,and a very lilile grain fed after the 

 mouth of February, not to exi-eed ItjO bushels of 

 corn. The lir,-t winter we lost about tiO, and 

 raised over 100 lamb.-'. 



The seccnul winter wi' fed part of ihe fl.ick 

 on timothy and (dovc^r ; ihe b.da'ice on uild pra- 

 irie hay. 



Those wintered on the prairie hay did equally 

 well as those fcil on ihe English grasses. We 

 met with considerable losses by dogs the second 

 winter, otherwi.se the sheep came tln-oui;h tiiiely 

 without grain, except to alio'il 30 sloi'k buck.-, 

 wintered by iheuiselves ; llie.se v\e fed uitli a lillle 

 grain daily llinmgh the winter. Our flock at this 

 lime auHMUiled to about 10.50. We also raised 

 this season over 400 lambs. 



The first year our flock yieldeil a Utile short of 

 three poiuids of wool to each sheep, and sold for 

 .'J'J cenis. 'Ibis seasmi we sidd for 27A i-ents pirr 

 lb., and iheyield increased a lilile over one-iiiiirtb 

 of a pound to the fleece. 



We procured good rams in Ohio at len dollars 

 each, saiil to he lull blood merinos. It is no 

 more than justice to acknow leilge the iin-rease 

 of our secmid cli|i from a ioi of t)4 land.s got by 

 a yearling buck which weoi-ihred from Vi-rinoni, 

 from the lloi-k of S. W. Jewell, said to lie a son 

 (d' his sloi-k biicU Foriune. Every fleece tVom 

 this crop id' (il, was weighed as f'ast as shorn, and 

 we did not find one that she.-n-ed less ibaii four 

 pounds. The loi averaged over five and a half 

 pounds. One lamb pot by this young buck, and 

 out (d' a ewe we pmcbascd of .Mr. Jewett, which 

 dropped in the month of .\pril, sheared this sea- 

 son, a tleice of ei-.lil lbs. fiilteli oniices of beau- 

 liliil wool. We therefore li.ive become sa'i>fied 

 of the dili'iueni-i- in breeds of sheep. We might 

 have added that ibi-se two Vermont sheep bore 

 the first prize at mir .state and coniitv shows in 

 1843 ami 1844. 



We think our sheep are heller washed iIkui we 

 used lo cle,-m them in Veruionl. Our iiiiide of 

 wasliini; is cheap ,-md <'xpcditii)ns. We run iw-n 

 fences ani;ling from the stream when- we wash, 

 to guide ihe >heep at the tcrniinus : we build a 

 pliitform over Ihe river; then by ibe aid of our 

 dogs run -hem over this platl'orm a.- iiist as pos- 

 sible to give motion lo ihe water. They are 

 obliged lo s«iin about lour rods lo sirike ibi-iqi- 

 posiw liaiik. Then i-etnrn them across a shallow 

 place In low, where they can wiide the stream. — 

 We jump them oil' ibis plank work into the riv- 

 er three or four limes, lill wc arc satisfied lliey 



