THE GENESEE FARMER. 



53 



various heights above the land; there is not that 

 crowding of them whicli there wovihl he if t:',ey stood 

 oil on one level. And thi.n one sort aci^ordin^ly ex- 

 hibits in itself a result which can he obtained in other 

 cases only by mixing two or 1 hree sorts togtitlier which 

 grow straw of various lengths. 



NOTES FOR THE KONTH BY S. W. 



Thh "Weathhr anh Fuel — December rras the 

 coldest and most snowy December we have had since 

 1825; the mercury fell one night to 6 degr«ea below 

 zero, which is very unusual in this lake warmed re- 

 region. Kight before last it again fell to zero, and 

 last night, 7th January, it was S"* above; which is 

 very cold winter weather for this regioii. The outle 

 J3 now dammed at the lake by anchor ice, and our 

 mills are short of a full supply of wat«r. But thanks 

 to the antediluvian age of cai-bonic acid gag, which 

 made both ferns and trees grow, like Jonah's gourd, 

 to form coal for subsequent man, we are now blessed 

 with Pennsylvania anthracite from Tthaca and Elmira, 

 at the cheap price of $4.50 to $5,25 the ton, to the 

 evident dismay of the wood.seller, who has heretofore 

 had it all his own way. Despite the severe cold 

 weather, our lemon tree is thus early in full bloom, 

 with sotne incipient fruit, as if to give a beautiful 

 aod fragrant acknowledgement to the all quickening 

 anthracite. 



Sorghum Saccharatom. — The Bulletitt cTAcclitna- 

 tation of Paris, has a notice in its September number 

 of the North China Sorgho a Sucre, or Sugar Mil- 

 let, from the pen of Dr. Tuxrsl, Secretary of the 

 Agricultural Committee of Toulon ; he sayg that in 

 the vine growing proprietaries in that region, ihe juice 

 of the Sorgho has been profitably mixed and fer- 

 mented w'iih the juice of the grape, and without im- 

 pairing the flavor of the wine prodiicecL He, also, 

 speaks of another species of Sorgho to which IjEO- 

 PGLD Wrat gives the name of Sorgho at 'Impky, or 

 Sorghum of the Caffres ; it is an earlier variety thia 

 the Chinese, and its cereal product is more abundant; 

 hence M. Nayot who growa it Buccesefully at Atarti- 

 nique, says that the grain is there grouad into flour 

 which is more nutritive than v'xoe, and is preferred by 

 the Coolies there to rice, as palatable food ; its leaves 

 also make an abundant and escellent forage, and the 

 juice of the canes, the best of rum, [tajia.) 



Frkxch Agricultuhai. Jour.vals. — The Agricul- 

 ture Pratique, of the 5th August, contains the fol- 

 lowing summary articles. The Absorption of Azot«, 

 (Ammonia.) by Plants, Fiditorial. Letter from the 

 Emperor on the late inundations. Cattle market of 

 London. Merino's at the great National Show of 

 1856. Secretion of Ozone by plants. Fjxperiments 

 on the comparative merit of Beets, for Sugar and 

 Alcohol Great Agricultural S^ow at Chelmsford, 

 Eng. Agricultural tour in France in 1854 among 

 the Pyrenees; The Maratime Pine. The bovine race 

 of Biittaay and its antecedents. Remarks in the 

 Galine broods at the World's Agricultural Show. — 

 Agricultural summary by the conducting Editor, J. 

 A. Barral, for the last two weeks of July. Ksgay on 

 the harvesting machines exhiViited at the Universal 

 S'aow of 1856 at Paris; Ergot in Wheat. Commer- 

 cial review, &c., with fine wood engravings of Pinus 

 Maritimus, cane and leaf; Prize Cov/ of Brittany, 



exhibited at Universal Show of 1855; Bull Breton, 

 ditto; Plan of a Park for Fowls, a birda ey« Ti«w 

 of the same completed, <fec., &c. 



Editor Barrai.'s remarks on the absorption of 

 Azote by plants from dew and rain, is only intended 

 M an endorsement of that theory, b8Lg«d as it ia on 

 the discoveries of Bkroman, pb Saussurk, Boumek^ 

 QACTLT, LiKBio, and others. The article on the absorp- 

 tion of OEone by plants is from the pen of M. Bcos- 

 TBTTKH, Chief Surgeon of th« Hospital at Mentt — 

 The Editor significantly remarks that many physioisn 

 chemiltfi have labored like M. Soontiittbn ; and al- 

 though he admits all the results claimed by the leare- 

 ed author, he still demurs to their conseqaeot import- 

 ance to vegetable physiology ; he also omits for the 

 present the physiological export which terminates 

 Scontetten's article, waiting for experiments to verify 

 his conclusions. The Editor ends his remarks by 

 saying that as the learned physician of the Military 

 Hospital of Mentz, does not dispute that plants plaoed 

 in Seltree water give off considerable oxygen dur- 

 ing day light, he should certainly pardon the reviewer 

 for adjourning his theory, if he accepted hia facta. 



Agricultural progress in France has, undoubtedly, 

 been stimulated by the Great Expositions at London 

 and Paris. The Imperial Government has taken hold 

 of the matter in earnest; regional fairs are establish- 

 ed in the departments, the number of these fairs for 

 1857, are eight; to be increased to ten in 1858. The 

 fairs, {Coiicours,) are to be held three days; and the 

 highest prize, (prime d' konneur.) at each fair, is to 

 be five thousand francs, wi h a silver cup to the value 

 of 3,000. S. W.— fFaterloo, January 10, 185G. 



Cheap Board Fence. — The following will be found 

 to be a cheap and lasting fence: Posts six feet long, 

 holes dug 15 or 18 inches deep; then have the post.? 

 set in and well rammed. Next, throw up an era- 

 banknient at least two feet high; this will make a 

 narrow ditch as deep as the foot of the poeta, thereby 

 preventing decay. It will also drain the land consid- 

 erably. Two boards — one a foot wide, the other 

 eight inches, with a cap-board four inches wide, on 

 top, will be high enough for a common fence. It can 

 be easily.seen that a fence made in this way will hst 

 longer than any other fence made of wood, and the 

 first cost is but little more than a common zig-iag 

 rail fence. R. W. S. — Canada West. 



A Chkap Fence. — Being short of rail timber, and 

 hedges require so much labor and paticnoe, I have 

 tried the following method of economizing, with per- 

 fect success. Plow and shovel up a ridge six feet 

 wide and two feet high; then lay stones or blocks for 

 the ends of the raih to set on, a foot thick or mor«; 

 this makes it 3 feet high to the rail. Four rails high 

 with poles along the middle well locked or staked, 

 make it as high as eight or nine in the ordinary way. 

 It should be well banked up to the bottom rail, and 

 seeded down to grass. Ilogs cannot get a foothold 

 to creep through, neither can cattle knock it down or 

 jump over, as the shoveling leaves a deep furrow on 

 each side. 



Condition Powders for Hoesss. — Take eq«i«l 

 parts pulverized gentian, elecampane, ging«r, aa/1 

 wild turnip. Horses troubled with cold or heaves 

 should have a tablespoonful each daj. 



