126 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



Aa^scY IN New York.— C. M. Sastox, Agricultural Bonk Pub- 

 lisher, Xo. 152 Fulton street, New York, is agent for the Oexksek 

 Farmer, and subscribers in that city who apply to him can have 

 their papers delivorcJ regulaily at their houses. 



Agexct in Cixcix.vati.— R. Post, Xo.lO 'SVpst Tliird street, Cin- 

 cinnati, is ajrent for the Gexksee Farmer, and subscribers in that 

 city who apply to him can have their papers delivered regularly at 

 their houses. 



Premiums for 1854. — At the earne-t request of many 

 friends, and competitors for the liberal premiums to be paid 

 by the proprietor for the largest list of subscribers to tlie 

 Genesee Farmer for ISoi, the time of closing the com- 

 petition is extended to the 15th of June next. "We desire 

 to give all an equnl chance, and are profoundly grateful for 

 the deep interest taken by our friends in the circulation of 

 this journal. 



The paper on which the Farmer is printed is manufac- 

 tured in Cleveland, Ohio, and we have had some unpileasant 

 delays at Erie in getting it by railway so early as we in- 

 tended to publish every number. Hereafter, we hope to 

 escape every impediment, and mail every copy some days 

 before the first of the month. 



April. — Now is the time to prepare ground well for all 

 kinds of seeds to be committed to its bosom. Several im- 

 portant crops wiU be highly remunerative to the cultiva- 

 tor, or otherwise, as he shall till the earth in the month 

 of April, and gather up for timely use, and save from 

 waste, every particle of manure about his barns, sheds and 

 stables. 



Whsu the good Imsbandman has carefully collected the 

 concentrated food of plants in heaps ready for use, he is 

 often at a loss to decide how much per acre he ought to 

 apply to ground where he intends sowing spring wheat, 

 barley or oats, and where he expects to plant corn and po- 

 tatoes. The best possilde distribution of manure, so as to 

 obtain the maximum benefit from it, is a matter not suf- 

 ficiently studied. It generally pays a little better on corn 

 than any other crop ; for corn plants are gross feeders, and 

 on a rich soil yield abundantly in grain and forage. • 



Great care should be taken in spreading manure, that it 

 be not left in large lumps. Give every squai-e foot of land 

 its equal share of the fertilizer, whatever it may be. In 

 plowing it in, cover manure on light sandy soils deeper than 

 on clay land, or clay loams, for in tlie former the roots of 

 all ]>lauts descend dee])er than in the latter. 



All seeds require to be planted deeper on porous soils 



than on anv other. The r< Her is of essential .service in 



t 



bringing cultivated earth to the right condition to absorb 

 and condense fertilizing gases. The smaller the pores in a 

 soil the better, jirovided they are sutticieutly numerous. A 

 compact mass of clay, or earth of any kind, yields little 

 or no food to growing crops. Hence the value of crushing 

 hard lumps, and the wisdom of not plowing ground in 

 too wet a condition, whereby such lumps are greatly mul- 

 tiplied. 

 Adajjt seed wheat, oats, barley and corn, as to quantity. 



to the strength of the land — poor land needs much h -.- 

 seed tlian rich. Millions of acres will be planted in vmii 

 this spring in the Southern States having only one i)lant in 

 a liill and the hills five feet apart each way. A peck ( f 

 wheat is seed enough for very poor land. 



iMouxT Vernon for an AcRicuLTriiAL Colleoe. — 

 An esteemed correspondent, Mr. E. A. Smith, of Whitley 

 C. H., Indiana, suggests the propriety ol petitioning Con- 

 gress, and making a general effort in that behalf, to pur- 

 chase the Mount Vernon Estate of the family of Wash- 

 ington, with the view to establish thereon an Agi'icultural 

 College and an Experimental Faim. First and last, some 

 half a dozen spirited gentlemen have attempted to carry 

 this idea into effect, but public opinion was not rijie for it, 

 nor is it likely to be for one or two generations to come. 

 Public opinion now appropriates a million dollars or more 

 for heajjing up a huge pile of stone in the federal metropo- 

 lis, in the name of AVasiiington, to illustrate its heathen 

 idolatry ; but it wiU not expend a single cent to carry into 

 effect the wisest and best recommendations of the " Father 

 of his Country," for tlie promotion of agriculture. 



Cau.se and Cure of the Potato Rot. — Mr. Andrew 

 Smith, of Clarksburg, Erie county, N. Y., has written us 

 a letter in which he says that the rotting of potatoes 2)lanted 

 for seed causes the crop growing therefrom to decay pre- 

 maturely. To cure or prevent the malady, he removes the 

 seed potatoes before the young tubers are formed ; by 

 which he supposes that no infection is permitted to pass 

 from the rotting old potato to the new one. Tliis plan 

 was first tried by Mr. S. in 1851 ; and if we understand 

 him aright, it has since been tried with equal success. 

 Where the parent tuber does not rot, Mr. S. says that its 

 offsjiring are sound. His theory is ingenious, and deser«ng 

 of the attention of Agricultural Societies. 



Importation of Cattee into England. — A friend in 

 Woodstock, Canada West, has called our attention to an 

 article in our last number, on page 87, "copied from the 

 St. Louis Evening News, where it is alleged that " Eng 

 lish stock-growers get cattle from abroad to cross with 

 their fine breeds, knowing that in this way alone the supe- 

 riority of stock may be preserved."' The article was copied 

 as a matter of agricultural news, to indicate the interest 

 taken in the State of Missouri for the improvement of neat 

 cattle, and not to endorse any statements it miglit contain. 

 Our own -views coincide with those of our correspondent 

 and his letter will appear in our next issue, v\ ith editorial 

 remarks. 



m ■«-^»- 



Wheat was introduced into the Valley of the Mississipp 

 by the "Western Company" in 1718, where, from th( 

 careless mode of cultivating it by the early settlere, an* 

 tlio sudden alterations of temperature, it would only yielc 

 from five to eight fold, running to straw and blade withou 

 the ear. In 17-lG, however, the cidture had so far ex 

 tended that six hundred barrels of flour were received a 

 Ne\v Orloans/rom the Wabash. So says the Patent Offici 

 Keport. 



