NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



255 



and, whon generously distributed on worn-out, or 

 exhausted soils, has made a liberal return for the 

 labor thus bestowed. Farmers have learned that 

 small farms well cultivated are more profitable than 

 large farms half cviltivated ; that it was more profit- 

 able to raise eighty bushels of corn on one acre, than 

 upon two acres ; that it paid far better to grow four 

 tons of timothy upon one acre than upon four acres. 

 These results begat a disposition to farm upon a 

 system ; to make neat and beautiful farms, and to 

 beautify the country with good farm-houses, oiit- 

 buildings, fences, gates, arid other improvements, 

 which make the business of farming pleasant, desir- 

 able and profitable. It is this state of things that 

 has induced men of capital, taste, and education to 

 become identified with the agricultural class. 



The same fact may be generally stated in regard to 

 some other distinct branches connected with agricul- 

 ture. Horticulture, as a branch of agriculture, is 

 now receiving great attention in many portions of 

 the Eastern States. The advances which this science 

 has made (it may properly be called a science) with- 

 in the last few years, has even astonished its most 

 ardent friends. Valuable varieties of firuits have been 

 produced, which were unknown in former years. 

 Apples, pears, peaches, plums, strawberries, grapes, 

 currants, gooseberries, &c. have been greatly im- 

 proved. It is now esteemed essential to the health 

 and comfort of farmers, that they should cultivate 

 the most valualde fruits. Common fruits may be 

 regarded as an advance from the savage or natural 

 state of such fruits, while the excellent varieties are 

 an evidence of the most refined civilization. It is 

 even now stated by intelligent pomologists that they 

 have only arrived at the starting-point of horticul- 

 tural improvements. If so, to what perfection fruits 

 must attain before they reach the goal of improve- 

 ment ! 



If objects like these can be promoted by agricul- 

 tural societies, there cannot be too many of them. In 

 this great agricultural state, they should be extensive- 

 ly patronized. In our own county, the agricultural 

 interest should not suffer the society to languish. 

 The chief interest of our citizens is agriculture. It 

 is here the basis of all other interests. We wish to 

 see it prosper. We would especially be glad to see 

 agriculture here carried on as a system, farms culti- 

 vated with taste, — residences neat, but not expensive, 

 — roads fine — bridges safe — and an air of real 

 prosperity be presented every where. Our farmers 

 have seen fortunate times within the last few years. 

 We mean those who have had crops and stock to sell. 

 There are some, as it is stated in the old proverb, 

 who " never have a dish when it rains porridge ; " — 

 some that complain of the times Avhen they take no 

 pains to make them better. We anticipate that 

 hereafter farming will yield a sure, if not a great 

 profit in our state. — Illinois Journal. 



Remarks by Editor N. E. Farmer. — We recom- 

 mend the foregoing article to the particular attention 

 of those who would do away with agricultural socie- 

 ties. Look at the important and numerous subjects 

 that are essentially promoted by these associations, 

 and then judge whether they should be dispensed 

 with. First let the advocates for their abolition 

 recommend a substitute. 



SYRIAN CATTLE. 



The two male and female Khaisi calves which 

 Lieutenant Lynch purchased at Damascus, and 

 brought home with him in the storcship Supply, on 

 his return from the Dead Sea expedition, were shown 

 to the president in Washington a few days ago. 

 They are now, one eighteen, the other sixteen months 



old, and belonging to Colonel James Castleman, a 

 great breeder, of Clarke county, Va. The bull is 

 four feet ten inches high, ten feet four inches in 

 length, and weighs nine hundred and fifty pounds ; 

 the heifer of a proportionate size, and weighs six 

 hundred and fifty pounds. Their limbs arc as deli- 

 cate as those of a gazelle, yet strong and well set as 

 those of a race-horse. They are of a deep shining 

 bay color, and their horns, which are just sprouting, 

 are black as those of a buffalo. When full grown, 

 they are said to stand seven feet high, and the cow 

 is said to yield forty-three quarts of milk a day. 

 Lieutenant Lynch is to have the first full-blooded 

 bull calf, and subsequent produce of the animals is 

 to be appropriated to the extension of the breed at 

 the colonel's discretion. He says he would not take 

 ten thousand dollars for the two. They were pre- 

 sented by Lieutenant Lynch to the state of Virginia, 

 and Governor Floyd gave them to the present owner, 

 as the best means of propagation. We don't know 

 why every one of Virginia's sisters is not entitled to 

 a heifer of this foreign breed. The Boston Post 

 thinks the farmer of Ashland and the farmer of 

 Marshfield should put in the claims of their respec- 

 tive states for a Khaisi calf. — Mass. Spy. 



THE WEALTH OF THE WEST. 



The value of maize or Indian corn as a crop is in- 

 calculable, or rather is of such magnitude, that no 

 adequate idea can be conveyed of its importance by 

 figures. I shall endeavor to furnish some notion of 

 its value by a few simple facts. 



In Illinois, which is extensively a corn raising state, 

 " the kind mostly cultivated is the gourd seed, with 

 long kernel and small cob, giving a bushel of shelled 

 corn to a bushel and a half of ears. It grows fre- 

 quently fourteen feet and higher, and in good seasons, 

 large fields often produce seventy-five bushels and 

 over to the acre. 



" Allowing a fair estimate for fencing, interest, &c., 

 and prairie farmers calculate their corn costs them, 

 when ripe, standing in the fields, five to six cents 

 per bushel. The labor of one hand is considered 

 adequate to the culture of forty acres ; but allow that 

 he is a little lazy, which is a prevalent complaint, 

 and works only thirty acres ; then, if he raises one 

 thousand five hundred bushels, it costs only four 

 cents. 



"The ears droop, so that the husk is a perfect pro- 

 tection, and it is harvested in the autumn or winter 

 at the farmer's convenience — or when the time comes 

 to fatten hogs, he fences off a few acres, and lets them 

 harvest for "themselves, and then gives them a few 

 acres more." 



At the rate here referred to, fattened hogs cost the 

 farmer sixtij-seven cents, and beef cattle fifty cents per 

 hundred pounds, both of the best quality. What its 

 profits actually are, may be inferred from the fact 

 that he ordinarily gets three times those 'rates for 

 these articles which he considers equal to twelve and 

 a half cents per bushel for corn. When railroads 

 shall take his pork and beef to market, they will be 

 worth three dollars, at the lowest figure, \^^^at a 

 mine of Avealth is here ! 



A correspondent of the Richmond Enquirer, writ- 

 ing from Chicago, says 



" In the summer of 1845 I was on one of the largest 

 farms of the west. It belongs to Jacob Strawn, of 

 Morgan county, in this state, and contains over 

 eight thousand acres, all fenced and improved. His 

 profits, the year before, had been over twenty thou- 

 sand dollars, made chiefly on fat cattle and pork ; yet 

 he says that all the profits he asks for, in his farming 

 operations, is to make the corn, which he raises him- 

 self, bring him twelve and a half cents per bushel on 

 his farm ; that is, he is willing to be at all the trouble 



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