1846. 



GENESEE FARMER. 



39 



At Milwau!(i !, a Iwrquo !iiiii brijj, of larj^e tonrape, 330 

 each. One of these vessels is nearly planked up already, 

 and will be down with a cargo of wlieat as soon as the 

 str.iils are navigable. 



At Dopere, W. T., a largo «ized schooner and a yatch of 

 70 tons. 



At «'hieaKO, a large brig orschoonrr, for Capt. Parker, 

 late of the liidiina. 



At St. Catharines, C. W., a brig, and at the month of the 

 (lennsee river, a propeller, for a Rochester company. 



Making, in all, ten steamers, twelve propellers, and twelve 

 aail vessels— thirty-four in all. 



As yet thei-e is not one acre in one hundred of 

 the tillable land in the new states and territories 

 which is under cultivation. In view of these 

 facts, can there he any doubt that we are to have 

 powerful competitors in growing grain, wool, 

 beef and pork ; and iience should study every 

 possible means of lessening the cost of produ- 

 cing crops in Western New York 1 Let those 

 that have sons, who wish to prosper in the world 

 by profits to accrue from rural labor, see to it, 

 that their knowledge of the science of agriculture 

 shall be such, as to make every day's work on 

 the farm, tell to the very best advantage. It is 

 the waste of labor, and the needless loss of its 

 fruits, which operate so disastrously on thousands 

 of honest men, as to keep them poor all their 

 days. It is a s id mistake for any laboring man 

 to neglect the science of keeping property. 



Common School Libraries. — These Libra* 

 ries do not, as a general thing, contain a fair 

 proportion of books on rural affairs. It is true, 

 the agricultural literature of this country can not 

 boast of having achieved mucli ; nevertheless, 

 there are a few very valuable works wliich ought 

 to be in every Common School Library in the 

 State. The "American Shepherd," by L. A. 

 MoREi.L ; and Mr. Downinc's "Fruits and 

 Fruit Trees of America," and Landscape Gar- 

 dening, have elicited high commendation, and 

 discuss, in a fitting manner, subjects that should 

 be studied by all. The authors are both New 

 Yorkers, and we know no better w.iy to enlist 

 the best talent in the State in the service of its 

 great agricultural interest, than to take a decent 

 notice of of those that really do confer on the 

 farming commuity a substantial benefit. "The 

 American Poulterer's Companion," byC. N. Be- 

 MENT, should not be overlooked in this connec- 

 tion. 



Keepsxg Pork. — A correspondent ot the Al- 

 bany Cultivator states that his modd of salting 

 pork is as follows. He cuts and packs the same 

 day it is killed, using Turk's Island or rock salt. 

 He scalds and skims the brine till perfectly pure ; 

 t'lcn boils and pours it upon the meat boiling hot. 

 This mode is affirmed to take avva}' the tough and 

 stringy q.ialities of the meat, to render it brittle, 

 and improve its flavor. 



The best fertilizer of anv soil is a spirit of in- 

 dustry, enterprize and intelligence — witliout this, 

 lime, bones, guano, or other manure, will be of 

 little use. 



For the tJonesoe Farmer. 



RTotes From S. W. 



Dr. Lee : — One of our best Pennsylvania 

 Gernvm farmers, who has bought some half a 

 dozen farms, witli the products of a single farm 

 (in wheat and clover seed,) complained to me 

 the other day, that in spite of the green crop of 

 clover, plowed into his wheat fallows, the wheat 

 heads grew shorter and more shrutd\en every 

 year, lie said that for a long time he had re- 

 sisted the vulgar notion that plaster, " wore out 

 the land," but th.at he now '■'began to believe it.'" 

 What, said 1, will you now give a bad name to 

 a substantive manure, which for the last twenty 

 years hiis enabled you to grow rich on wheat 

 and clover, because its services can no longer 

 make up for the indite riminate loaste of e\ery 

 other inorganic constituent of the soil ? 



When I hear a farmer say that plaster does 

 his land no good, I can readily conceive that the 

 previous crops of plastered clover, turned into 

 the soil, have already fixed as much sulphate of 

 lime therein as the crops need ; and that a fur- 

 ther application is money and labor lost. When 

 I learn that his wood aslies have been sold to tho' 

 pedlar, that he keeps but little farm stock, sells or 

 wastes his straw, and takes no pains to make or 

 save organic manures, so far from feeling a sym- 

 pathy with him in his condemnation of pla.ster, I 

 am only led to marvel that this simple mineral 

 has so long, by virtue of its two-fold operation, 

 rendered available both the inorganic treasures 

 of the earth and the organic constituents of the 

 air, for the benefit of vegetable structure. I 

 have often suspected that it .was almost solely to 

 the exhaustion of the phosphates in the soil, that 

 we should attribute the deterioration in our 

 wheat crops. The Pampas of South America 

 and the battle fields of Europe have been gleaned 

 of the bones of beasts and men, to furnish plios- 

 phate of lime to the wheat fields of England. — 

 Animal bones contain about half their weight in 

 this precious substance, v/ithout which no wheat 

 can be grown : yet, until the present season, I 

 believe, not a single bushel of crushed or calcined 

 bones, has ever been applied to the soil in wheat 

 growing Seneca. No attention has been paid to. 

 the saving of urine, pou'lrette, or other manures, 

 rich in phosphates. With us, plaster and a 

 g!-een crop of clover is ex).c-cteu to do all. — 

 When 'this faiks, t!ie great miasrnatic west la 

 looked to, as the Elysi:in Atlantis, where a reg- 

 ular system of borrowing every thing and re- 

 turning not even seven per cent., may be car- 

 ried oa, until lo:ig sul^^ring nature cries, hold ! I 



TH i: VALUI:: OF INDIAN CORN. 

 It is unibublcdiy in the path of agricultural 

 v.'!sdom, to follow England in the growth and 

 cultivation of wheat, fjut that same Providence 

 which h:us given England the cereals, turnips, 

 and grasses, to flourish in a cool, moist climate, 



