L.. Txii.NO. as. 



AND HORTICULTURAL REGISTER. 



191 



From tlie Albany Cultivator. 



PURCHASE OF FARM LANDS. 



to those who intend to buy land ivilh the view 



ofcnilicating il to gaiti a livelihood. 

 jsrs. Gnylord cf- Tucker — What 1 desire to 

 St en iliis subject docs not relate to the qiial- 



The richest lands constantly cultivated in plants 

 of the same species, or oven {jcnus, sooner or later 

 yield up all the food in the soil appropriate to such 

 plants. Good lands with a proper rotation of 

 crops, require much less foreign aid — the previous 

 crops Icavinir on the surface and in the soil, sup. 

 plies of food for the succeeding ones. This is so 



the land, which should be an important sub— especially true of the grasses and trefoil plants, 



fe.xnmination to every purchaser, nor of its 

 on in regard to health, nor to the facility of 

 g to a good market for the sale of the crops 



upon it, — considerations which every pru- 

 :ian should regard in making his purchase ; 



the quantiti/ of land, and the circumstances 



should regulate it. Most young men wlio 

 lot been engaged in farming, are desirous of 

 g " broad lunds," and are apt to invest all 

 unds in land, without reflecting that the land 

 I one of the materials necessary to the profita- 

 roductioii of crops. Agricultural tools and 

 nents, houses, stock and fertilizing subslan- 

 ;eed and labor, are as indispensable as the 

 self. Without a moderate surplus capital to 



these after the land is bought, too unich land 

 ;en bought whether il be fifty acres or five 

 ;d. In Kngland this is well understood, and 

 I be on this side of the Atlantic. Even ten- 

 lere do not take a lease without ascertaining 

 inch capital will be required to farm, with a 

 .able expectation of profit, on rented land, 

 jf the embarrassments and failures of young 

 ■s in this country, may bo traced to this radi- 

 ror ; they liuy more land than they have the 



or the knowledge to render profitable. Em- 

 s at the west often lay out their last dollar 

 (id ; go in debt for tools, buildings, stock and 

 provisions ; retain nothing to fall back on, de- 

 ng on their crops beneath the earth and in 

 ikies, and subject besides to storms, tempests, 

 IS and insects, to pay off all. A single crop 

 find what then .' Their land has to be sold for 

 lerhaps much less than it cost, the capital is 

 and the poor miscalculating farmer is ruined, 

 ler error is to depend too much Cn one kind 

 duction — making it the staple. When sev- 

 iiids of crops, such as grain, grass and roots 

 iltivaled, there is less danger of a total fail- 



rhe weather may suit one kind, and not 

 er so well. If the season should happen to 

 ry warm and rather dry, the Indian corn will 



n admirably ; if it should be wet and warm, 



rass will be abundant; if cool and dry, the 



will yield well ; if cool and moist, the pota- 



ill bring a good crop. But a reasonable va- 

 of staples has relation to the market as well 

 the weather — to the sale as well as to the 

 clion. Corn or wheat may sell higl), and 

 . hay and roots low, on the contrary. It might 

 n that the price of one staple may be rui- 

 Y low. But il will rarely happen that the 

 I of several at the same time and through the 

 n, will continue so. Those too low in price 

 ofiiable sale, may be, if of a perishable na- 

 used at home, or converted into fat stock if 

 bear a better price, and more of the higher 

 i articles sold which would have otherwise 



partly consumed on the farm, the lower 

 d supplying their place. Variety of crops 

 Iso an intimate connexion with the improve- 



of the soil, by introducing a rotation in the 

 'ation of the .land. Without rotation, enor- 



quantities of fertilizing matter must be given 

 ) fields, or they will inevitably become sterilo. 



among which red clover is perhaps the most valua- 

 ble, that to cover the fields not in summer cultiva- 

 tion, with Ihem, is equivalent to a dressing nf ma- 

 nure ; while they at the same time yield for gra- 

 zing, soiling or liay, a reasonably profitable crop. 

 While the collection, preservation and application 

 of fertilizing substances should by no means be 

 neglected, the grasses and trefoils afford the least 

 expensive means of fertilizing the soil. The 

 labor, time, and expense of hauling and scattering, 

 is all saved. The seed, the seasons, and the soil 

 do it all. To keep the fields then, not in summer 

 cultivated crops, covered with them, is at the basis 

 of good farming. Virgil has said nothing wiser in 

 his Georgics, and there is much wisdom there too, 

 than '' praise a large farm but cultivate a small 

 one," and more especially if the owner has not an 

 ample surplus capital after purchasing his farm, to 

 enclose, stock, manure and cultivate it well. We 

 incline to think that in nine cases out often, the 

 man who purchases one hundred and sixty acres of 

 arable land, would have succeeded better as a far- 

 mer, if he had bought only eighty, and applied the 

 surplus otherwise, as indicated above. It is more 

 economical and profitable to purchase and culti- 

 vate one acre»of land which we make produce 7.5 

 bushels of corn or 30 of wheat, than three acres 

 which we make produce only the same quantity. 

 There is less fencing, less expense of cultivation 

 and manuring, less expense in gathering and se- 

 curing the crop. Joh.n liEWis. 

 Frankfort, Ky. Oct. 17, 1843. 



THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER. 



At times, as we yield ourselves up to the magic 

 workings of the high wrought scenes of some Wa- 

 verly romance, and sup full of horrors, or drink the 

 dregs of human misery, we involuntarily sigh, shut 

 the leaf, toss away the book, exclaim " 'T is but 

 imagination," and find relief. Would that reality 

 did not exceed fiction ! But poor human nature 

 must bear the charge of nursing monsters in its 

 bosoai that will exceed in deformity all the Calibans 

 that the imagination can paint. We have not seen 

 a more vivid illustration of this truth, than that 

 which the quarrels of two humane societies have 

 lately furnished. 



In London there are two societies, instituted ei- 

 ther to trumpet forth to the world the names of 

 certain would-be-thought very humane souls, or to 

 prevent cruelty to animals. These two societies 

 have recently had a quarrel. One, the " Ani- 

 mals' Friend Society" affirmed that the law was 

 not sufficient to put a stop to certain brutal practi. 

 ces to be seen at any time in London ; the other, 

 entitled the " KoTAL Society for the Prevkn- 

 TioM OF Cnt'ELTV TO Animals," Contending that 

 these practices did not exiit. To prove its point, 

 the former instituted a commission, and its revela- 

 tions hove thus fur been horrible. 



It seems that in London there are certain estab- 

 lishments where horses are slaughtered, called 

 knackers' yards. The wretches who keep these 

 places buy horses expressly for slaughter — selliug 



their carcasses and hides. When tliere is no de- 

 mand for carcasses, they suffer horses to die by 

 starvation, and thus the living, dying, and dead 

 are crowded together side by side — " the starving' 

 gnawing the wood work of the stables, or trying to 

 eat each other, or feeding on the putrid carcasses 

 rolling around them!" The following is a portion 

 of the evidence furnished by the agent of the ''An- 

 imals' Friend Society" : — 



" We found eight horses in an enclosed place, 

 up to their fetlocks in decayed animal matter, 

 mire, and every description of corruption. They 

 had neither food nor water. The living animals 

 were standing ammigst the carcasses of the dead, 

 crushing thein nt every step. The stench was 

 overpowering. One of the slaughtermen admitted 

 that they had no trouble with the horses, as four 

 or five dropped off every night. At another yard 

 the son of the proprietor showed 30 horses lying 

 dead, some completely putrified ; and he admitted 

 that they never 'killed while they had so many 

 dead ones.' He offered to sell me a horse if I 

 wanted one." 



"Police-constable North, N 17, says — When 

 passing the yard, hearing a groaning, I scaled the 

 wall. There were about '.20 horses, some tied up 

 and others loose. Those at liberty were gnawing 

 the manes and tails of the others in their hunger, 

 which caused them to groan dreadfully. Il was a 

 horrid sight, and the stench was dreadful." 



" Police-serjeant Allen, N 21, says — We dis- 

 covered 14 or 15 horses, apparently dead, lying on 

 the stones in an open shed ; some of them were 

 tied up to rings in the walls, and had died during 

 the night. All the wood-work about the premises 

 was knawed away, even the bar across the gate 

 inside." 



Horrible! But we quote no more of such bru- 

 tality. How much do real monsters exceed ficti- 

 tious ones I 



But this is not the only reflection that suggests 

 itself. The London Herald castigates these socie- 

 ties most justly for permitting these things to be — 

 for not laying the matter at once before the police. 

 Ho>v c,q;(ied it, it asks, " that to be aware of such 

 enoruwties should not be the signal for their in- 

 stant suppression." 



The following analogy forces itself even upon 

 this lory organ : — 



" Alas, how happens it that human beings are 

 suffered to exist, and that by thousands, in this 

 city in a state to the full as miserable and revolt- 

 ing when human feelings are taken into the ac- 

 count — ^as that of these helpless animals !" 



Could the noble animal so brutally abused but 

 know and think, he might derive what comfort he 

 could from the reflection that countless thousands 

 of the home species fare but little better at the 

 hands of their riders !— that the/fic, for their own 

 gratification, use human flesh and blood until it 

 starves and dies, and thus make the very carcasses 

 of that " paragon of animals" the pedestal of their 

 lordly pride and splendor. What a commentary 

 on Shakspeare's eulogy on Man ! — Boston Post. 



Dr. Rush was once asked by a student, what per 

 cent he thought had been added to the period of 

 human life by the skill of practitioners of medi- 

 cine ; and he answered, "If by practitioners of 

 medicine, you mean to include old women and 

 nurses, I think the increase has been very consid- 

 erable, but if you exclude them, very little." 



