302 



Wool Trade of the United States. — Fine Hogs. Vol. XII. 



It is hardly necessary to enlarge this list 

 of readily produced vegetables, fruits and 

 flowers, whose cultivation might, in so many 

 favourable districts, add to the farmer's pro- 

 fits. There is hardly a locality in which one 

 or other of the class of those to which I have 

 alluded may not be occasionally introduced 

 with advantage; and in the consideration of 

 such partial variations in the ordinary crops 

 of the farm, the young agriculturist will not 

 forget that such modes of cultivation, by 

 lengthening the usual rotation in any de- 

 gree, is accompanied with considerable indi- 

 rect advantages. The land becomes more 

 productive by such changes ; and in the case 

 of some of them, they certainly prevent the 

 increase, if they do not destroy some of the 

 destructive insects which prey upon the or- 

 dinary crops of the cultivator. Thus, white 

 mustard, woad, peas, beans, &c., are secure 

 from the attack of the wire-worm, perhaps 

 the most powerful and the most tenacious of 

 life of all the insect enemies which the ordi- 

 nary crops of the farmer have to encounter. 

 The Lincolnshire farmers find that a broken- 

 up pasture sown with woad, is quite free from 

 the wire-worm during the following crop of 

 wheat. And when speaking of a similar re- 

 sult atler a crop of white mustard, Mr. Tal- 

 lent remarks: "This fact I have demonstrated 

 perfectly to my own conviction. I first tried 

 the experiment on half an acre of fallow 

 field, of 50 acres, which was much subject 

 to wire-worm. The whole field was fallow- 

 ed and sown with wheat; the half acre, 

 which was previously cropped with mustard, 

 was wholly exempt from the wire-worm — 

 the remainder of the field was much injured. 

 Encouraged by these results, I sowed the 

 next year, a whole field of 42 acres, which 

 had never repaid me for nineteen years, in 

 consequence of nearly every crop being de- 

 stroyed by the wire-worm. I am warranted 

 in saying that not a single wire-worm could 

 be found the following year. I am therefore 

 (he concludes) under a strong persuasion 

 that the wire- worm may be successfully re- 

 pelled and eradicated, by carefully destroy- 

 ing all weeds and roots, and drilling white 

 mustard seed, and keeping the ground clear 

 fly hoeing." The mustard is not only ex- 

 cellent to plough in as a preparation for a 

 wheat crop, in the way alluded to by Mr. 

 Jesty, but as green food for sheep, as de- 

 scribed by Mr. T, C. Burroughes, of Gazely. 

 The increased number, or the extended ro- 

 tation of the farmer's remunerative crops, 

 then, even in but a minor and only locally 

 applicable degree, is an object too important 

 and too self-evidently so, to need any illus- 

 tration. For such enlarged rotations not 

 only add to the bulk of his corn, and im- 



proves both the quantity and the quality of 

 the flour which it produces, but it renders it 

 less liable to disease, or to the attacks of the 

 insect vermin, which are in too many in- 

 stances the agriculturist's greatest pest. — 

 British Farmers' Masazine. 



Wool Trade of the United States. 



This article promises, at no distant date, 

 to become of first-rate importance. The 

 present growth is much greater than we in 

 this country have, generally, an idea of, 

 being upwards of sixty millions of pounds 

 weight at the lowest estimate, far exceeding 

 their domestic requirements. It is import- 

 ant to notice the great weight of the fleece, 

 which is nearly double that of any other 

 country producing similar qualities; and 

 when we consider the facilities for extend- 

 ing the production, there cannot be a doubt 

 that, in a short time, the quantity available 

 for export will be very considerable. More- 

 over, it appears that of late much attention 

 has been directed to the subject in the West- 

 ern States, with this view, as offering, to 

 some extent, a more profitable return than 

 the cultivation of cotton; and when it is 

 stated that one pound of wool, nearly full 

 blood, can be grown at the same cost as two 

 pounds of cotton worth 6d., there is every 

 reason to expect that the trade will eventu- 

 ally prove remunerating. The receipts last 

 year were below the previous one, the con- 

 sequence of former shipments generally not 

 having been attended with advantage; but 

 this is accounted for, to some extent, by the 

 indirect channels through which many of 

 the lots came, and their inferior condition in 

 most cases. Until they are got up with 

 more care, better washed, and more evenly 

 graded, we see little prospect of a profitable 

 result. The greater part hitherto received 

 has been so deficient in these essential re- 

 quisites that purchases have been attended 

 with extreme hazard to the buyer, which has 

 operated much against their sale. — British 

 i'armer^s Magazine. 



Fixe Hogs. — Burlington county, in New 

 Jersey, has long been famous for its pork: 

 and the poor-house there has of late years, 

 been very successful in slaughtering large 

 hogs. The Enquirer of this city remarks: 

 "The Burlington county poor-house — said to 

 be altogether the best managed county es- 

 tablishment in the State — has produced this 

 season, amongst other things, 63 hogs, weigh- 

 ing 20,750 lbs. The heaviest weighed 556; 

 the smallest 327. Two yearling hogs weigh- 

 ed over 400 each. The average weight was 

 424| lbs." 



