25S 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



Agricultural Items. 



PREPARED EXPRESSLY FOR THE GENESEE FARMER. 



An Oregon saw-mill recently turned out a 4-inch plank 



107 feet long. 



The wool crop of Ohio this season is estimated at 



13,000,000 pounds. 

 The London Agricultural Gazette says summer fallows 



are " not yet exploded in France. 1 ' 



s M. L. Sullivant, of Illinois, has or had to harvest [this 



season 4,000 acres of grass, 600 of wheat and 100 of rye. 



The cherry trees in Massachusetts have not fully recov- 

 ered from the effects of the severe winter of 1860-61. 



A patent has been obtained in Russia for making cot- 

 ton or silk from the common milk-weed of this country. 



The Peruvian Government has advanced the price of 

 guano in England, to $71 per ton, on all orders under 30 

 tons. 



Alonzo Simpson, of Belmont, Mass, raised this year 

 some Hovey strawberries measuring 5£ inches in circum- 

 ference. 



The imports of food into Great Britain last year, for 

 man and animals, reached the enormous sum of $380,- 

 000,000. 



The Illinois State Horticultural Society will hold its 

 5rst fair at Chicago, Sept. 8-15— the time of holding the 

 National Horse Fair. 



A sugar mill costing $30,000 is to be erected at Tus- 

 cola, 111. The farmers of the vicinity pledged themselves 

 to plant 800 acres of sorghum. 



The average wages paid to farm laborers who board 

 themselves, is in England and Wales, $2,76 per week; in 

 Scotland, $3,06 ; and in Ireland $1,70. 



Ten swallows were recently dissected, and in their 

 stomachs were found the remains of 5,4S2 insects, which 

 must have been the results of a few hours feeding. 



Walter A. Wood, of Hoosick Falls, N. Y., has manu- 

 factured and sold 30,000 of his well known reaping and 

 mowing machines. 2,500 have been sold in England, 



During the last 23 years, the rise in English wages has 

 been only 12 per cent. ; in Scotland, at an interval of 20 

 years, 42£ per cent. ; and in Ireland, over 57 per cent. 



The Mayor of Southampton, Eng., fined a French poul- 

 terer $2.50, or ten days imprisonment, for plucking a fowl 

 alive. In his defence, he said it was the custom in France. 



The Illinois Farmer well observes, "Farmers who sow 

 direct from the threshing machine can expect no other 

 result than to have a large share of their wheat turn to 

 ciiess ! 



An American bred Short-horn bull, belonging to Mr. 

 Alexander, of Kentucky, carried off the first prize, of 

 $75, at the late Fair of the Essex Agricultural Society, at 

 Halstead, England. 



The farmers of Iowa are turning their attention more 

 than ever to sheep, and the Iowa Homestead says, " The 

 way Iowa will turn out stock and wool in the course of a 

 few years will astonish somebody." 



The grain shovellers in New York are 'on a strike. 

 They refuse to work in places where "elevators" are 

 used. Foolish men ! There is work enough to do, and 

 every man, instead of opposing them, should hail with 

 joy every mechanical oontrivauce for lessening manual 

 abor. 



The United States Agricultural Society propose to hold 

 a great " Wine Fair " at their next annual meeting in 

 Washington, January, 1863. Letters on the subject maj 

 be addressed to N. T. Dennis, Washington, D. C. 



At a sheep shearing in California, at which there wew 

 eight competitors, Mr. Peck sheared ten sheep in 6 hours 

 20 minutes. The test was for quality rather than rapidit] 

 of work. He made the fastest time and the best work. 



Mechi says that in Essex, Eng., it takes the produce o 

 four or five acres of land to keep a horse in good condi 

 tion through the year. In the vale of Aylesbury, it take: 

 three acres of good land to keep a cow through the year 



For the year ending June 30, 1861, 26,728,103 lbs. o 

 cheese were sent from thiscouutryjto England last season 

 Large as this is, it might be doubled and trebled if wi 

 paid a little more attention to the quality best suited t< 

 English" taste. 



Mr. J. C. Taylor's twelfth annual sale of yearling Soutl 

 Down Rams will take place at Holmdel, N. J., Septembe 

 3d. Mr. T. has for six years purchased some of the bes 

 rams at Jonas Webb's annual sale, and has undoubted!; 

 one of the best South Down flocks in the United States 



A seedsman in England purchased some turnip seed o 

 a farmer that he warranted clean, which turned out to b 

 mixed with cole-seed. The seedsman sued the farmei 

 claiming that the sale of this seed had injured his repu 

 tation. The jury gave a verdict for the plaintiff, wit] 

 $100 damages. 



The closing sale of Jonas Webb's South Down shee 

 (yearlings that were not sold at his great sale last yeai 

 came off June 18. Buyers were there from all countries 

 and the prices realized must be considered satisfactorj 

 437 sheep brought $28,600. At the sale last year, 97 

 sheep brought $54,631. The whole flock, therefor* 

 brought $83^231 ! 



Fawkes, the inventor of an American steam plow, ha 

 come to the conclusion that the traction principle mus 

 be given up. Steam plowing can only be done by 

 windlass. We believe this is English experience als 

 Great hopes were entertained of the success of Fawkei 

 steam plow on the prairies of the West, but they hav 

 not been realized. 



The Rev. Dr. Robt. Breckinridge, of Kentucky, ha 

 accepted an invitation to deliver the Annual Address b< 

 fore the N. Y. State Agricultural Society at its Fair i 

 this city. A better selection could not have been mad< 

 We need not say that Dr. B. is one of the most eloquer 

 speakers our country can produce, and, what is not s 

 generally known, he is also a good farmer and successfi 

 breeder, and has always taken a deep interest in agr: 

 culture. 



The Agricultural College bill recently passed by Cor 

 gress appropriates to each State a quantity of public Ian 

 equal to 30,000 acres for each Senator and Representativ 

 in Congress. Iu this State, this will amount to 1,050,00 

 acres. The lands can be sold, and the money used fc 

 the support of agricultural colleges and model farms 

 Our public lands, hitherto, have been worth $1.25 pe 

 acre. But as every actual settler can now, since the pass 

 age of the Homestead bill, have a farm of 160 acres fo 

 nothing, the colleges may have difficulty iu disposing c 

 their land at this rate. It seems clear that few peopl 

 will buy a farm when they can get one for nothing ! 



