Hens often eat their eggs before they leave the nest. 

 We were much troubled with this in the spring, iind 

 tried various remedies. We took what we supposed 

 to be the guilty ones and shut them up by themselves; 

 but those left went on eating eggs, as botorc. We 

 then extracted the inside from several eggs, and filled 

 the shells with Cayenne pepjier, and placed them in 

 the nests and on the hf-n-house floor : but they eat 

 the shells with evident satisfaction, and only laughed 

 at us for our pains. W^e then procured several china 

 eggs ; and the hens, after pecking at them till they 

 were satisfied, gave up egg-eating as an uuprofilable 

 business. Since that time we have kept tliese china 

 eggB as nest eggs, and we have no reason to believe 

 that we have liad one eaten since. These china 

 eggs can be procured at most of the Agricultural 

 Warehouses : but any one could form them well 

 enough out of any hard substance. We have made 

 them of chalk ; and another mode is to fill an egg 

 shell with plaster of pans, which soon becomes hard. 

 The' plaster must be mixed with water, and be about 

 the consistence of cream when poured into the shell. 

 We think it a bad plan to give fowls egg shells, 

 unless they are broken very fine, a»d even then we 

 would rather supply them with lime in some other 

 form. 



aUANO AND LIME. 



Messrs. Editors ; — With your permission I should hke lo 

 propose a few queries for solution. Is it profitshle for farin- 

 ers in this vicinity to pay from forty to fifty dollars per Inn 

 for guano, to be used in preparing land to seed with wlieat ? 

 \Vtiat quantity ought to be put upon an acre / And what 

 is the best mode of applying it ? 1 have a piece of {ground 

 that is well seeded to June and blue grass, and some clover, 

 Ijut njt enough to do any harm, upon wliich I design lu sow 

 lime. Had I better sow lime before plowing, or afur u ards ? 

 Or would it be better to sow dome before plowing, to assist 

 in the fermentation of the sod , and some after it has been 

 plowed and cultivated -o as to mellow it and prepare it for 

 seed? Please auewtv tnese inquiries, as soon as convenient, 

 in the Gei;esee ^''ijmer, and you will much oblige A Sob- 

 .scRiFKi: ANii oo.NSTAKT IIeaheb. — Orleans Co., N. V., lo5U. 

 If o'.d was sure of getting a first rate article of 

 ! e-avian guano at $40 or !$.50 a ton, it v.->ll doubt- 

 .ess pay to apply 250 lbs. per acre in Western New 

 York in growing wheat. Its whole strength is not 

 e.xhausted in one year, but the second cron w ill be 

 considerably bencfi'tcii i'y ihls pnwerfu', '•..:,.. izer. 

 Large 'pi;naitie» are ur-eU in L'claware, New Jersey, 

 Vl.irjliiu.i, anil lv...'CUiu Virginia; and generally with 

 at^etu/> (ory results. Some cover it with the plow, 

 odiers with the harrow or drill. It matters little 

 what implement buries it in a mellow soil ; but it 

 «h )uld be covered a few inches to prevent the loss of 

 .lu.monia by solar influence. In England it is found 

 best to apply one half of the guano at or near the 

 tiniv of seeding, and the other half in the spring. In 

 the 1 ittcr case the manure is covered with a hand or 

 horse-hoe, harrow, or cultivator. In regard lo the 

 application of lime, if only a small dose is to be used, 

 spread it all on llie grass before plowing. If forty 

 or fifty bushels per acre are to be applied, put a moiety 

 on the grass, and the other half on the inverted sod, 

 which should be well harrowed soon after the lime 

 is spread. The object is to incorporate it well with 

 the soil. 



.Mnssits. I'.DiTORS : — Is there any remedy for pork after 

 the brine bis begun to sour, except boiling the briac. H. — 



Duwn B'lsl. Ml', 1850. 



There is none which is safe. 



HEVIEwr or THE TRANSAOTIOWS OF THE NEW 

 YORK STATE AGRICtTLTtJRAL SOCIETY. -No. I. 



Wk have been favored with a copy of the Transac- 

 tions of the State Agricultural Society. It is a large- 

 volume of 944 pages, got up with great care by tiie 

 Society's efficient Secretary, B. ¥. Johnso.^. The 

 printing of the volume hardy does justice to tiie 

 matter, and compares unfavorably with the Transac- 

 tions of some County Societies now before us. It 

 is, however, as well, perhaps better, done than public 

 printing generally. We have long thought the 

 annual volume of Transactions not only very credit- 

 able to the Society, the Htate and the Nation, but 

 superior to n:iy similar Knropean publication. This 

 opinion is c' roborated by Prof. Joh.nsto.n, who, in 

 his address at the last State Fair said, '• I have been 

 both intere.-^lod and instructed by the volumes of the 

 Transactiiius of your Society, ae.d 1 have heard them 

 in a public meeting in Scotland most highly spoken 

 of, and favorably contrasted with the published pro- 

 ceeduigs even of the Highland and Agricultural 

 Society of Scotland." The present volume we con- 

 sider superior to any of its predecessors; and as but 

 a very few of the many thousands that read the 

 Farmer will ever see this volume, we shall endeavor, 

 in the review we intend to make of the book, to give 

 some knowledge of its contents. 



The work commences with the Report of the Ex- 

 ecutive Committee for 1849. The Committee express 

 their gratification, not only at the successful opera- 

 tions of the State Society, but also of the County 

 Societies in all parts of the State, showing -'an in- 

 creased attention on the part of farmers to the im- 

 provement of their farms, and much more regard to 

 ec<momy in their management than heretofore; and 

 also, an adaptation of their crops to the soil so as to 

 secure the best returns which the land is capable of 

 yielding." Although the committed announced the 

 same improvement, in their report last year, and 

 almost in the same words; yet, it is not a stereotyped 

 unmeaning array of words, nor an opinion expressed 

 by them for effect, but it is the words of truth and 

 soberness, as all must be aware who have paid any 

 attention to the present and |)ast condition of agricul- 

 ture in the State of New York. Houses and lands, 

 sheep and oxen, give evidence of the fact — its truth 

 is proclaimed by abundant crops and well filled barns. 

 The work is progressing. The light of science is 

 scattering the darkness of ig^iorance — cotmnon sense 

 is gaining the mastery over prejudice. 



In speaking of the profits or farming, and its 

 ADVANTAGES, the Committee make the following 

 truthful remarks : 



Though it tniy not lead to sudden and enorni'iui w ealth, 

 (and it is fur from dcsimble that it sho'uld,) still is a retnu- 

 nerative business, and gives, in a pecuniary point of view, 

 a lil)iTal return for <-:ipitaI judiciou.sly invested. That it is 

 an employment best calculated for real enjoyment, he.st de- 

 signed for permanent prosperity and security, as well as for 

 the cultivation and enjoymeut oC all those moral and social 

 qualities that give zest to this world's inlerconp.se, is so ap- 

 parent, th It no argument is necessary to estibiish it. 



If farming brings not sudden wealth, it brings not 

 sudden poverty. There is not perhaps one year in a 

 life-time in which t+ie intelligent and industrious 

 farmer can not make his farm produce enough to 

 supply himself and family with all the necessaries 

 of life, and all the luxuries good for man. 



The engraving of Devon Bull on the following 

 page is copied from the Transactions. We shall 

 resume the subject in next number. 





?::3#>J 



