VOIi. XI. NO. 35. 



AND HORTICULTURAL JOURNAL, 



277 



juipplied from his own funii witli this most vahia- 

 ble of roots, of as good quality and in as greai 

 perfection as any the Emerald Isle can produce, 

 Mrithout materially increasing the expenses of pro- 

 ■dnction. I might make a similar remark respect- 

 ing fi-uit trees and the various vines and vegetables 

 of hort-icninife. The improvement, liovvever, nios 

 needed, and one, which, if supplied would do much 

 to secure all others is a i)lace or places, where 

 agriculture will be thoroughly taught as a 

 science and an art ; where some at least from every 

 town may obtain a thorovgh agricultural educa- 

 iion, and become not only ch.innels through which 

 information shall flow, but who shall have all the 

 power of example over their fellow townsmen. 



The impression that rests on my own mind is, 

 that we have entered but the outer court of Na- 

 ture's Temple ; that apartments of surprising splen- 

 dor remain to reward our researi-h — that science 

 is the only guide that can lead us through and lay 

 open to our view all its sacred recesses. I wouhi 

 say to this society and all siuiilar institutions, go 

 on and abound in your patriotic lal)ors — raise, il 

 possible, to the highest elevation, the agricultiiri' 

 of your country. Clothe her hills with richest ver- 

 dure, and make her vallies rejoice; and let the 

 bleating of the flocks mingle in harmony with the 

 murmuring of the rills, and the roaring of the wa- 

 ter falls, and the busy hmn that comes floating on 

 the breeze frojn the crowded streets of our cities 

 and villages. It is the true 'American System' — 

 the found ition of our prosperity, our liberties, aud 

 our goverameut. I pretend not to a prophet's ken, 

 but if I mistake not, the demon of discord and 

 misrule must first subvert the agricultural arrange- 

 ments of our country, degrade and vitiate its agri- 

 culturists, before it can lay the glory of America 

 in the dust. To them, under God, is committed 

 the salvation or destruction of our Republic. With 

 their good swords they won it, and by thein, when 

 all other means fail, it must be defended, or go 

 down to mingle its dust with the relics of ancient 

 republics. Let us all remember that the day of 

 harvest is coming, when we shall all reap for 

 good or ill, what in this seed time of our being, 

 we have sown— and let us sow only the good seed 

 of honesty, truth, integrity, uprightness and pro- 

 priety, towards Him wlio alone can bless our labors, 

 gave eur country, and prepare our spirits to return 

 to, and mingle again with the bright eft'ulgeuce 

 of his love, whence they flowed. 



From the New York Farmer. 

 Importance of Selecting the best Breeds of Live 

 Stock, parlicularlij Suiine. 

 Mr. Editor, — I have noticed frequently and 

 with pleasure, your renjarksiii regard to the impor- 

 tance of a careful selection of the various sorts of 

 live stock in our country. If farmers were more 

 particular to select the best breeil of all the animals 

 they raise, mnloubtedly they would find it much to 

 their advantage. There is perhaps in our country 

 no animal in which there is a greater neglect than 

 in swine ; and it becomes every man who fattens 

 a single hog, to look to it, that he gets one of the 

 right sort. And if this is the case i.i regard to 

 the man that has but one, how important is it for 

 farmers throughout our country that they raise 

 only from the best aud most approved breeds. 1 1 

 has been tiioroughly proved by several persons in 

 this region during the last three years, that the 

 advantages in the improved heed is greater than 

 was before imagined. Trials have been made be- 



tween the hogs of the common sort called good 

 and a breed introduced into this neighborhood by 

 W. K. Towusend. They were iuqiorted from 

 Kngland three years ago, and are called by him 

 ihe Norfolk thin rind breed. They are small 

 bone, thin rind, the meat very fine grained, re- 

 ujarkably thrifty, and inclined to fiittcn early, or 

 will continue to thrive until 18 months old. It is 

 not uncommon for fall pigs kept over the season 

 to the next fall, to weigh from 435 to 460 lbs., 

 aud for spring pigs butchered in the fall to go over 

 300 lbs., and this without extraoniinary feed. 



One of my neighbors who, three years since, 

 tried hard to get two pigs of the old breed to 

 weigh in the fall 290 lbs. each, has the last season, 

 with, he says, no more care or no better feed, 

 ujade two of this breed weigh 660 lbs. He con- 

 siders that he has gained at least 100 lbs. of pork 

 on each hog, by the change of breed. These ])igs 

 weighed the 1st of April 24 lbs. each. A fanner, 

 a few miles in the country, butchered two at 13^ 

 months old that weighed rising 440 lbs. each, and 

 he says lie has given them the same care as he 

 always had given his hogs; he asserts that he has 

 gained fully 200 lbs. of better pork than he gener- 

 ally had, which he says he credits to the breed. 

 An old Revolutionary Pensioner purchased one of 

 this breed from Mr. Townsend's farm in the fall 

 of 1831, then a sucking pig, weighing about 35 lbs. 

 and as he had made one from the same pen, just 

 liutchered, weigh rising of 400 lbs. he declared 

 ihat he meant, by next fall, to make this weigh 

 oOO lbs. The hog was butchered, say the last De- 

 cember, and the old soldier has gained one poimd 

 over his mark. These facts are stated to induce 

 others to try the experiment of selecting their pigs 

 from the best breeds. I am convinced myself ol 

 the importance of it, and wish others, and especial- 

 ly Farmers, to practice on this principle. D. 



Mew-Haven, Jan. 20, 1833. 



From tile Genesee Farmer. 

 ClTLTtJREOP RITA BAGA. 



A wish to have others profit by my experience, 

 induces me to send you, Mr. Editor, half a sheet of 

 remarks on the culture of the Ruta IJaga, as a food 

 for domestic animals. 1 have cultivated from halt 

 an acre to three acres of this root every year for 

 thirteen years in succession, and feel competent to 

 give rules for its culture, and confidence in recom- 

 mending it as a valuable and profitable crop. 



The soil must be rich and dry ; and the more 

 it inclines to a sand loam the better. Clay is the 

 worst, and wet soils will not answer at all. 



Preparations. My general practice has been, to 

 manure well a piece of pasture, or clover ley, from 

 which the hay has first been cut, plough it hand- 

 somely over, and harrow it well. 



Sowing, Sec. I sow in rows, at two and a hall 

 or three feet, with a drill-harrow. The sooner the 

 preceding op ■rations succeed each other the belter. 

 I have sown broadcast, but the expense of thinning 

 and cidture is increased. A man will drill iu 

 three or four acres a day. We allow a pound ol 

 eed to the acre, though half this, properly dis- 

 tributed, is enough. Sow from the 26th of June, 

 to the 10th of Jidy. 



Culture. I use a cultivator, that may be gradu- 

 ated to the si)ace between the rows, drawn by a 

 horse, as soon as the plants can be welltlistinguish- 

 ed. This is repeated in a few days, back and for- 

 ward, and the impienieut curried so cloia to the 



drills as to leave only strips of from four to ten in- 

 ches, which are then thoroughly cleaned with 

 a skim hoe, and the plants thinned to eight and 

 ten inches, distance. The cidtivator soon follows 

 for a third time, and if necessary, the skim-hoe 



when the crop is generally left till harvest the 



great aim is to extirpate the weeds, and to do this 

 while they are small. 



Harvesting is postponed as long as the season 

 will permit. The roots me then pulled up, and laid 

 on the ground, the tops of the two rows towards 

 each other. The pullers are followed by a man 

 or boy with a bill-hook, who with a light blow cuts 

 the tops as fast as three or four can pull. Three 

 men will in this way harvest, of a good crop, 300 

 bushels in a day. The tops are gathered into heaps 

 and taken to the yard in carts, daily, for the stock 

 until they are consumed. An acre will give from 

 live to ten cart loads of tops. The roots are piled 

 in the field if dry, — the pits two or two and a 

 half feet broad covered with straw and earth, 

 and as cold weather a[)proaches, with manure, to 

 prevent frost. N. B. With a crowbar make one 

 or more holes on the crown of the pit, which must 

 be left open, to let off the rarefied air and prevent 

 the roots from heating. 



Use. — The tops serve for autumn. As soon as the 

 mild weather of spring will justify, I break through 

 the frost, and take the contents of a pit to my barn, 

 and cover the roots with straw or hay. From thence 

 they are fed to my stock, being first chopped up 

 with a snik (Dutch meat chopper,) or spade. They 

 are excellent fur sheep, especially for ewes that 

 have young, — and hogs and horses eat them free- 

 ly. Steamed, they are used in the north of England, 

 for horses as a substitute for grain. I have fattened 

 sheep and bullocks upon them with profit. They 

 constitute, particularly from February to June, an 

 excellent culinary vegetable for the table. A bul- 

 lock will thriie fast upon two bushels a day, and 

 will consume hardly any hay, and requires no 

 drink. 



Product and cost. My average crop has been 

 600 bushels per acre, though others have rais- 

 ed much heavier products. The cost, in manure 

 and labor, when they are secured for winter, has 

 been from two to three cents per bui-hel. 



N. B. Cattle or sheep, fattened upon this root, 

 should be kept from eating them for eight or ten 

 days before they are slaughtered, otherwise the meat 

 will have an unpleasant savor. J. B. 



Albany, Dec. 26. 



TO PRKVENT BOTTS. 



Soon after the bott-fly commences depositing ita 

 egg on the horse, take water a little more than 

 blood warm, and with a linen or cotton cloth wash 

 those parts of the horse where the eggs are depos- 

 ited, moving the hand gently over them, and re- 

 peat the washing as often as once a week, till the 

 fly disappears, aud your horse will not be troubled 

 with botts. This gentleman further says, that by 

 (he above experiment any man may be convinced 

 that this recipe is a preventative of bolts in horses; 

 and we see no reason why it may not be effectual, 

 as by this means the grub is hatched out, and im- 

 mediately perishes for want of that warmth and 

 nourishment provided for it by nature iu the 

 stomach of the horse. — Jimerican Farmer. 



A SOCIETY called the Anti-Tobtcco Society haa 

 lately been formed at New Faltz, in the county of 

 Ulster, New York, 



