THE GENESEE FARMER. 



388 



fed in winter upon the stalks and fodder of corn 

 wliich has heeii cut up iu the fall, and the ears taken 

 off. This food would he wasted if thure was no stock 

 to consume it " Fodder, with the corn off, is sold at 

 from five to ten cents a shock, and one shock will 

 fustain ten head of cattle a daj', thoug^h they would 

 do better upon more." The editor of this paper has 

 just sold hid corn fodder, standia,^ iu the field, at fifty 

 cents a shock. By comparin<ir the price of this arti- 

 cle in the District of Columbia, where the writer's 

 farm is situated, with its value in Kentucky as stated 

 by Mr. Martin, the reader will see how luuch better 

 rt is to grow corn near a good market than else- 

 where. Mr. M. says that " cattle in that county are 

 usually fed upon the sod of open pasture during win- 

 ter." He adds : " Most of our beef cattle are sold 

 by weight ; if they are large and fat, 40 fos. per hun- 

 dred are deducted from the gross weight; and if 

 small, 45 lbs. are deducted. I have just sold my Dur- 

 ham three year old steers at $60 each; and I have a 

 lot of * scrubs' (unimproved cattle), which are worth 

 ^2.5 each, of the same age. The word ' scrub' is 

 used to designate our unimproved cattle ; and the 

 first cross with the Durham adds $20 to the value of 

 a ' scrub' at three years old." 



"The cost of transporting cattle to the Atlantic 

 markets varies much at different seasons of the year. 

 It is also influenced by the price of grain. With 

 these variations, the following prices may be consider- 

 ed as approaching very near the truth: Driven on 

 foot to Cincinnati, and thence by raih'oad to New 

 York, takes 13 days, and costs about $13 each ani- 

 mal. Fed on grain, on the way, and driven on foot, 

 seventy days to New York, early in the spring, costs 

 about $13 each. Fed on early grass, and driven on 

 foot sixty days to Philadelphia, or seventy to New 

 York, costs from $8 to $9 each. Pastured on late 

 grass, ou foot, sixty to seventy days to Philadelphia 

 or New Yoi^k, costs from $5 to $6 each. The cost 

 to Charleston or Savannah is about the same as to 

 Philadelphia. The cost to New Orleans by steam^ 

 boat is about $10 each. The cost of transportation 

 is also influenced by the stage of the river and other 

 circumstances." 



Mr. MioAjAH BuKNETT, of the United Society of 

 Shakers, Pleasant Hill, Mercer county, Ky., states 

 that " the society sold a lot of yearlmg steers this 

 year at $30 a head, while those of same age of the 

 common stock might have been purchas-ed at from 

 $10 to $15. Yearlings of the improved breeds, well 

 kept, will weigh 1000 pounds. Tliirty-one were sold 

 a few weeks since iu an adjoining county which aver- 

 aged 947 lbs. each. At fi om three to four years old, 

 they will weigh, if well kept, from 2000 to 3000 ibs., 

 live weight." The Society has been 35 years engag- 

 nd in the improvement of neat stock. Thorough- 

 bred animals always command comparatively high 

 prices. 



The volume abounds in the pertinent remarks ol 

 intelligent, practical farmers, who reside in every 

 state and teri'itory in the Union ; and it de-erves a 

 place in the library of all who appreciate the litera- 

 ture of American agriculture. While cominending 

 the document for the useful information wh'ch it con- 

 tains, we cannot in justice to the great inteiest to 

 which it is devoted, omit to call attention to the wis- 



dom of trying a series of accurate experiments m 

 the several branches of stock husbandry, as well as 

 in agriculture proper, umlcrtho direction of the Com- 

 missioner of Patents, that his aimual Reports, now 

 certain to be printed by the hundred thousand copies, 

 may furnish leliable statistics in all agricultural 

 processes. These books on rural topics cost a very 

 considerable sum, paid to a political printer ; while 

 not a dollar is given to either practical of scientific 

 farmers to cover the expense of developing new 

 truths in either tillage or husbandrj'. In voting 

 $35 000 a year for agricultural purposes, besides the 

 printing of the Report, Congress uniformly tails to 

 give the Commissioner that discretionary power which 

 is necessary to enable him to pay for such valuable 

 matter as may be offered for publication. In a word, 

 valuable and costly experiments iu agriculture cannot 

 be tried and reported for the press without adequate 

 compensation; and as the national treasury is literal- 

 ly overflowing with monej', and Congress appropri- 

 ates it liberally, and too often extravagantly, why 

 should not enough be given to render this Annual 

 Volume, illustrative of the agricultural science and 

 learning of a Nation of Farmers, a creditable docu- 

 ment ? The honor of our profession is concerned in 

 this matter; and our public servants ought to be made 

 to respect it when it is the subject of legislatioa 



THE INTERNAL COMMERCE OP THE 

 WEST. 



The following interesting expose of the magnitude 

 and importance of the internal trade of the Northern 

 Mississippi Valley is worthy of a careful perusal by 

 the cultivators of the soil. They need not be told 

 that in every article enumerated below, the element* 

 of the soil which conduce to the growth of the crops 

 are annually removed to the amount of hundreds of 

 thousands of tons. We have a soil whose fertility 

 cannot be excelled; but the experience of thousands 

 of years warns us to cherish our resources for ma- 

 nures, and apply them to the soil before tiie period 

 of exhaustion shall have been reached — for it is far 

 easier to preserve the fertility of any soil than to 

 restore it when lost. How many of the farmers 

 whose individual harvests have gone to swell the 

 amount of produce conveyed on the Western rivers 

 and Eastern canals to the seaboard market, anticipate 

 the time when this productiveness shall cease, and 

 nre wise in time? Too many — far too many — of 

 them, intent upon present gain, leave the future to 

 itself, and bequeath to their children an impoverished 

 soil. On the worn-out tobacco lands of the Middle 

 and Southern States, great progress in the ri^lit di- 

 rection has been made in the use of guano, lime. &c.; 

 liut better fur if they had only carefnlly preserved all 

 the manure made by the stock on their plantation^ 

 and converted the contents of their privies into pour 

 drette, pariicularly preserving the urine. 



An illnstrnfion of the value of night-soil, or pou>- 

 drette, offi'rs itself dailv to our view as we pass an 

 Osnge Orange hedge which we set out last spring, 

 A short time since we noticed by the side of a Mar 

 pie tree set out at the same time in the line of the 

 hedge, a short of an uncommonlv vigorous and thrifty 

 growth. At first sight v,c thou'j;ht that some diRcrenl 



