are makin<' an earnest effort to organize a national agricultural society. Should they, in its feeble 

 infancy ask for a little a&sistance from Congress, it is to be hoped that such small aid as State Legis- 

 latures grant to State societies will not be withheld. To say nothing of the large increase in her 

 productS-Wi TS'ew York, by giving some forty-five societies less than $8,000 a year, has increased the 

 ei(,hty-two7mllio7i p6unMW\ fifty per cent. The recent census shows the immense product of oyer 

 of these articles the gain from butt*ftA?J^23 pounds.) Cheese 49,785,905 pounds. In the production 



Unlike the farmers of New York and Ohio, those orv'!fgk.iH'?ki.na;_amount9^to mi^ions of dollars. 

 oi united efforts for the promotion of agriculture. In 1839 the corn crop of Virginia"wiJ^J'.*^.T^^ ^,f^ 

 bushels; in 1849 it was only 35,638,582. Gain in ten years but 960,991 bushels. 



AVitli a view to correct what I cannot but regard as an erroneous judgment in that noble Common- 

 wealth, I state the fact that from no other State in the Union has opposition been seen or felt to a 

 national agricultural society. Intelligent business men combine their efforts and means to advance 

 commercial, manufacturing, banking, railroad, and educational interests; and why should not farmera 

 unite their wisdom and labors to promote improvements in tillage and husbandry ? The science of 

 combinations is as applicable to agriculture as to any other business pursuit whatever. Isolated 

 cultivatoi-8 of the earth may increa.se their knowledge and improve their farming operations a very 

 little in the lifetime of a generation, but their progress will be so far exceeded by such as skilfully 

 combine their individual powera that the former will appear to retrogade, not advance. 



Agricultural improvement has taken deep root in the soil of Maryland, and her corn and wheat 

 crops have increased faster than her population in the last decade, including the large gain in the city 

 of Baltimore. There is reason to believe tliat these staples will be doubled, without any increase of 

 tilled land, by the year I860* if the Legislature of that State foster the plan of its State Society to 

 establish and maintain an agricultural college and expei'imental farm. DANIEL LEE. 



Sheep. — I send you an account of my sheep, not thinking to excel many of my brother 

 wool-growers, but vnth. a wish that it may stimulate some others to pay more attention to 

 more judicious breeding and keeping. I had 76 sheep sheared last June, which pro- 

 duced 406 pounds of wool, which sold for 44-^ cents per pound. From 44 ewes I raised 

 47 lambs, which sole for $1.50 per head. I commenced about the year 1816, with a 

 cross by a fidl blood merino buck with our native ewes. I have never sold off my flock, 

 but have tried to improve it by selecting good bucks and my best ewes to breed from. 

 Thomas Redway. — Amber, N. Y. 



To Relieve Choked Cattle. — J. Y. De Baum, of Spring "Valley, N. Y., gives the 

 following method of relieving choked cattle : " Tie the animal's head pretty high ; take 

 hold of the tongue with the left hand, and with the right take a leathern trace (the 

 forward end ahead) and run it down fearlessly. The remedy is easy and always at hand, 

 and will perhaps save your animal, while you might lose it in going after a doctor." 



Butter Making. — A subscriber, of Borodino, N. Y., informs us that he has 2 cows, 

 6 and 7 years old, a cross of Devon, Durham, and Native breeds, which have the last 

 summer given in 7 months 551 lbs. of butter; from May 21 to June 21, 146 lbs.; from 

 May 27 to June 4, 37 lbs. This, he says, is a specimen of the cows in that section. 



'AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS AT THE GREAT EXHIBITION. 



BY P. BARRY, FROM NOTES TAKEN AT THE WORLD's FAIR. 



The old system of broadcast sowing of seeds is fast giving way in Great Britain to what 

 is called drilling, which is a system of sowing in regtdar and equi-distant rows. This 

 system is said to have been introduced by the celebrated Jetiiro Tull in the early part 

 of the present century, not on account of its o\\ti merits, but in order to admit of hoe 

 tillage such as is now practised very extensively in England by horse hoes. For a long 

 time it met with great opposition, and in general, until more recently, met with very 

 little favor. As things advanced, its merits became better understood, and, with imple- 

 ments of certain and efficient execution, it is becoming almost universally adopted. In 



B 



