228 



EDITOR'S TABLE. 



J5ifolr'3 I^bie. 



A Backward Season. — We have not known vegetation 

 8o backward as it has been for tlie last two or three months, 

 since 1S17, in this State. This paragraph is written the 

 0th of June, and the weather seems more like a little ex- 

 tra sunshine in winter, than like summer. Corn and other 

 tender plants cannot grow and prosper until the tempera- 

 ture of the soil and atmosphere is much higher than at 

 present. If wheat escapes the fly, mis-called weevil, tiiere 

 is a promise of a fair crop in Western New York. Some 

 fields have suffered badly from spring freezing and tliaw- 

 ing, and others have been badly injured by the Hessian fly ; 

 but the area sown last autumn was unusually, if not un- 

 precedentedly large, so partial failures will not reduce the 

 average. 



The weather has been uncommonly cold in western, cen- 

 tral, and southern Europe the past spring — so much so as 

 to aifect the crops at the approaching harvest. So late as 

 the 27th of April, the frost destroyed tomatoes and other 

 tender plants near Naples, in Italy. Not only the fruit 

 but the branches of olive trees were killed near Nismea. 



A low summer temperature in England, Scotland, and 

 all east of Great Britain, on the Continent, affects injuri- 

 ously the aggregate of cereals grown and matured under 

 such adverse circumstances, for there is no surplus of solar 

 beat in that latitude and climate. A reduction of heat 

 tells at once on the harvest and the bread of Europe. 



The State Agricultural Exhibttion. — The fif- 

 teenth annual exhibition of the New York State Agricul- 

 tural Society, which will be held at Elmira, Chemung Co., 

 next October, promises to be one of the best ever yet wit- 

 nessed. Spacious grounds have been selected, and will be 

 arranged in the most convenient manner for the satisfac- 

 tory exhibition of stock and articles. We have seen a list 

 of the premiums to be awarded, and remark that it has 

 been very much enlarged. Persons intending to compete, 

 must give notice to the Secretary without delay. 



Rhode Island Horticultural Society. — This So- 

 ciety will hold its June exhibition in Providence, on the 

 19th and 20th inst. The former exhibitions have been val- 

 uable and highly interesting. They invite those interested 

 in this subject elsewhere to unite with them. Any com- 

 munications or inquiries may be addressed to the Secreta- 

 ry, Mr. J. F. DiiiscoLL, at Providence. 



Chufas, or Earth Almonds. — We learn from the 

 Washington Union that there has been procured from the 

 south of Spain by the Agricultural division of the Patent 

 Office, a barrel of chufas for public distribution. This is 

 a new esculent in this country, known to botanists under 

 the name of Cyperius esculentus. It grows spontaneous- 

 ly in the light humid soils of Spain, and is cultivated in 

 Germany and the south of France. It grows to a height 

 of about three feet, on a triangular stalk or rush, with a 

 spreading liead, bearing yellow flowers, which are succee- 



ded by long ears. The roots are fibrous, of a reddish 

 or, bearing small tubes about the size of a common b 

 and are known by the Spaniards by the name of " chul 

 If planted in iNIay or June, they are ready to be harve 

 in October. They resemble in taste a delicious ches 

 or cocoa-nut, and lilte them, may be eaten raw or coo 

 They are chiefly employed in making an orgeat {ore. 

 de chufas,) a delightful, refreshing drink, much use< 

 Spain, Cuba, and other hot climates where it is knc 

 When mashed to a flour, which is white, sweet, and 

 agreeable to the taste, it imparts to water the color 

 richness of milk. At Almacero and Alborayo consid 

 ble attention is devoted to the cultivation of this p 

 eight acres of land yielding a profit of $3,500 in 

 months. 



Milk Sickness. — Dr. Hall, in his Journal of He 

 states that milk sickness is unknown in places where < 

 are well fed. Such cows, he asserts, never give mil/i: .■ 

 7iess. He has revelled in the ase of the most luscious 

 for weeks in perfect fearlessness of this sickness, while 

 eral died of it on the next farm. 



Some persons have attributed this disease to a vegel 

 wliich the cows eat, but he tells our western farmers 

 if they feed their cows well, they will never be trov 

 with the milk sickness. 



Dr. Hall might as well ascribe the cow pox or ■ 

 and fever to a want of food, as the malady called 

 sickness. M'e have seen it on the Wabash bottom 

 southern Indiana and Illinois, where the supply of j 

 and other forage was most abundant. 



Vienna Plaster. — The reader's attention is calh 

 the analyses of three different kinds of plaster, which 

 be found in our advertising columns, made by Dr. C 

 TON, of New York. It will be seen that Vienna p] 

 contains about ten per cent, more sulphate of lime 

 Onondaga plaster, and not far from forty more than ( 

 ga plaster. This fertilizer differs from cotnmon lime 

 mainly in the quantity of sulphuric acid, or oil of v lii 

 which it contains ; and we have no doubt tliat in 

 cases it is the soluble and available snlphur in gy; '' 

 which renders it so useful to clover, peas, and other f If 

 rich in sulphur. In all cases where lime answers 

 as plaster, there is a lack of lime in the soil and no la 

 available sulphur, or sulphuric acid. This acid is ^ 

 rally developed more or less by tillage alone, as it de 

 poses iron pvrites (sulphuret of iron) literally by bu 

 the sulphur in condensed oxygen, (condensed in the si 

 and porous soil,) forming an acid. If no lime nor 

 alkaline substance be present, this acid unites with 

 and alumina, forming the sulphate of iron and sulphi 

 alumina. In all such cases liming is better than plastf 

 Where one uses plaster at all it is wise to sow the be 

 the market. 



Notu«jEf of Nth) BookH, ^trtobitals, ^£. 



TiiK Progressive Farmer. EyFrof. Nash. CM. Saxtok 



Publishers. 



We have already commended this publication t(' 

 readers in a former number. It is a work of solid i 

 and deserves all the popularity which it enjoys. 



