AND GARDENER'S .TOTtrN\t,. 



139 



a or cii'tii, « IkcIi is Ihcro baulicJ nnj eiibsiaM on 

 yarn or wuul and forms iiscll' n cyll o|' tbp 8anie 

 stial, and then cbangea inln tlie cljryoalis slate, 

 r which it comes out n perfepl r.iiller. 



How to ilig Potatoes for Sxnnmer Vst. 

 lOok rqnnd your potato hills and where you seo 

 groiind is cracked there you will find n potato; 

 ! it out carefully with your fingers without dis 

 ing the roots, and place bai k th2 dirt carefully, 

 so on until ynu have enough for a mesa. If this 

 roperly done, there will be no lees potatoes to dig 

 lie fall. It operatesjust like picking cucumbers ; 

 ' will set more if they have not got their growth, 

 the t'ps y,ill not die until they have brought 

 n to maturity. 



Murrain in Cattle. 

 his dreadful disease in cattle is sometimes caused 

 leeches or bloodsuckers. The cattle swallow 

 n when small in-irinking from brooks and niarehes. 

 y eat their way through the etomach into the liver, 

 sh causes it to ulcerate. They sometimes eat 

 r way into some large blood vessels in the liver, 

 ch causes the animal to bleed to death immediate- 

 Some may feel disposed to dispiite the above 

 rlion, but I can bring living witnesses that have 

 n them ont of the livers of cattle and put them in 

 il of water, and they would crawl just as they do 

 le brooks. Cattle kept in swanjpy pastures are 

 e apt to die with the murrain than those kept in 

 pastures. I understand that cattle from Ohio do 

 sell so well in the eastern markets as those from 

 r states, on account of their health. Perhaps 

 e are othijr causes of the murrain not known to 

 I think I have let dor,n one bar at the end oi 

 ane v;hich leads to the field of discussion, and I 

 ; you or some of your able correspondents will 

 r in and give the matter a fair examination. 

 Wheat turns to Chess, 

 has been staled by seme that oets that live 

 jgh the winter turn to chess, and chess, if son-n, 

 produce chess ; so here we have three ways to 

 uce chess and but a part of one way to produce 

 U 1 It is no more absurd than to think that the 

 a affects the weaiher or the growth of vegetables. 



Horn Ail in Cattle; Inquiry. 

 oes cutting olT the end of the tail prevent this 

 plaint, or is nature imperfect ? Tell who can. 

 Yours, respectfully, 



GAIUS KING. 



ampden, Geaug a Co., P., 1842. 



Conditions at Ph.iijhiug Matches, 

 'e have delayed the publication of the subjoined 

 r until now, bslieying it wouli} be more aeasona- 

 md attract more attention as the Fairs and Plough- 

 Matches approached, than if given earlier. Its 

 estions are all well founded. It is folly to insti- 

 any such ejhibitions and competitions without 

 :ribing exact rules, and without making those 

 I absolute and inflexible. 



D premium in ploughing matches should ever he 

 n upon hurrying the work faster than at a rate at 

 ;h the team could work comfortably through the 

 A ploughing match is not a race, nor a match 

 asttime. The depth of ploughing, the width of 

 urrow slice, and the angle at which it is laid, or 

 ;her to be laid flat or completely shut in or lapped. 

 Id all be matters particularly prescribed. So 

 vise the lime of entering, the time fur calling the 

 and the time ot starting, should be named and 

 tly and absolutely observed. There is no end to 

 vils which come in all such cases, from a relaxa- 

 of the rules, or from any extraordinary indul- 

 :e. 



is said you cannot make farmers come up and ad- 

 to such rules. Then we would give up the com- 



petition. But ilicrc would be no difliculiy in miy suili 

 case, provided il is understood that all the condition^ 

 arc absolute, and that the committee will do their duly 

 without fear or favor. In accommodation coaclief, 

 how few persons will be found ready ot any preciei 

 moment for starting ; in rail-road and stcnm-boat con- 

 voyancee, where the precioe luiuulo for starling is 

 fixed and where no grape if ever allowed, not one 

 person in thousands is ever out of reason. There is 

 no difficulty in such cases in compelling people to be 

 exact and punctual, and the advantages of such ex- 

 actness in every department of life ore infinite. — Ed. 



Mr. Editor — I feel desirous, at the approach ol 

 spring, to offer a few remarks on o subject, which I 

 was glad to observe brought under your notice by 

 yourseientific and practical correspondent, Mr. Adams 

 of Bloomfield, in your January number. I allude to 

 the subject of ploughing,- — a work of all others of par- 

 amount importance to the farmer. Considering the 

 acknowledged importance of this primary department 

 of agriculture, it seems surprising that so little pro- 

 gress has been made in it. I can only account for 

 this on the principle that Agricultural Societies in 

 America, without prescribing fi.\ed dimensions, or at- 

 taching sufficient importance to the excellence of the 

 ploughing, have awarded the premium for good 

 ploughing to the competitor who skims over the 

 ground in the shortest space ol time, of which we had 

 lately a notable instance in the neighboring county of 

 Wayne. 



While this country, in the arts and sciences gener- 

 ally, is keeping pace with the nations of the world, 

 and in many instances going a- head of other countries, 

 it is to be regretted that our farmers, laying aside the 

 prejudices of the past, will not venture upon a style 

 of ploughing more conducive to their real interests 

 than the hurried, puperScial mode now so much 

 in vogue. We still hope, hovfcver, to see in future 

 Ploughing Matches Mr. Adams' suggestion adopted. 

 — that the dimensions of 8 inclies in width, ajid 5 in 

 depth, be prescribed, and that the time of performance 

 shall be specified — soy an hour und a half to the quar- 

 ter of on acre. The judges ought then to award 

 prizes to those who shall most strictly attend to the 

 directions given, paying due regard at the same time 

 to the furrows being straight, and laid at the proper 

 angle, somewhere about 45 degrees. 



The ezcelleiice of the ploughing, and not the speed 

 at which it is performe,d, being thus made the subjoct 

 of emulation, we might then hope for a general im- 

 provement in the art of plougjiiiig. 



Care should also be token, os Mr. Adorns suggests, 

 that a piece of ground suitable for the trial of skill be 

 selected ; but until a proper met' od of ploughing be 

 encouraged by agricultural associations, (os suggested 

 in the hints I have given obove,) no farmer would be 

 willing to hove his ground mangled and scrotchedin 

 the manner we hove witnessed at some recent cxhi 

 bitions. 



Yours, respectfully, 



A Canandaiooa Farmer. 



Canandiiigua , Fehuary, 1842. 



Western Prospects.'pirllliuGis. 



Mb.Colman — Though wholly unused to writing 

 public communications, yet I send you this hoping 

 thot o true, unpolished account of the prospects ond 

 doings ol those living i(i what cos once termed the 

 " For West," may be of interest \q (some of your 

 numerous readers. 



We are now in the midst of an abundont harvest. 

 The wheat crop is very heovy, of the finest berry I 

 ever saw. Oats, borley, and indeed oil smoll grains, 

 promise a rich reward to the Western Pioneer. 



The corn crop is somewhat retarded in consequence 

 of cold, wet \veather in the months of Mny and June, 



vet should the fall eooson be lavorobk', there will be an 

 ivcnige crop. 



There are greot inducements here for the eniigront. 

 Improved formo con be hod at about their first cost. 

 Many noble situations are yet " unclaimed," with 

 lilenly of timber and excellent prairie adjoining, — the 

 expense of the first ploughing or " breaking" is from 

 two to three dollars per acre. 



But although the soil is exceedingly well adapted 

 lo all kinds of groin, I think the Western farmer will 

 eventually find it to bis advantage to pay his greaiest 

 attention to raising stock, particularly sheep. When 

 we lake into eonsiderotion the low price of loud, the 

 short, mild winters, ond ihe smoll expense of irans- 

 porling wool, I think thot the western farmer con 

 roise it for one third or one half less than the New 

 Englonder. Common sheep ore reodily purchased at 

 from two to three dollors ; they grow lorge and thrive 

 well on our prairies. 



We ore much in wont of good breeds of stock of 

 all kinds. Farmers ore waking up in regard to the 

 necessity of improved stock. They are purchasing 

 some good Durham caiile, and we have a few fine 

 Berkshire hogs. 



We have some good nurseries, and some fine young 

 orchards just commencing to bear fruit. Here I 

 would inquire whether the wheat crop is injurious to 

 young opple trees t I plonted an orchard two ycois 

 ago, and sowed the ground with wheat the some fall. 

 Mony of my trees died, the remainder look unhealthy, 

 while my neighbor's orchard looks fine and healthy ; 

 his trees having' been obtained from the same nursery 

 ond plonted the some time, and on the same kind of 

 soil. I have a few peach trees from the seed, planted 

 two yeais last April, that now have peaches on them. 



Building materials are cheap on the Mississippi 

 River. Good pine lumber can ha had at almost any 

 la;>ding at from ten to twelve dollars per thousand feet. 

 Shingles from two and a half to three dollais per 

 thousand. 



Should you think this or any part of it worthy a 

 place in your valuable paper, you may hear from me 

 again. J. A. S. 



Albany , Whiteside Co., III., July 19. 



From the Maine Fanner. 

 Prevention of Smut. 



J have for the sixteen years last past, with com- 

 plete success practised the folIoA'ing method, viz: 

 Washed the seed wheat and drained off the imbibed 

 water through a common basket. In this moist con- 

 dition put it into a tight tub, long box, or trough ; and 

 for eveiy bushel so prepared, disoolve two ounces of 

 the blue vitriol in warm water, turned it into the 

 wlient, ond with a shovel stirred it snihuiibe liquid 

 should penetrate the whole mass. Tiiis may be ati.-er- 

 tained by the color. The wlicat will assiinie a gret ii- 

 ish cast, H-here the liquor has come in contact with it. 



Tuis method of preparing our seed has become 

 almost universal in this neighborhood, and we hear 

 nothing ot smut except from a dislnnce, 



OLIVER CR OSBY. 



Postage and Fines. 



Some remarks have been made in a former number 

 of the Farmei in relation to writing on the margin of 

 newspapers, and in defence of the course of the post- 

 master general in fining individuals fur merely writ- 

 ing their names or compliments. The object of the 

 post-office department is the occommodation and not 

 the annoyance of the piuiple ; and when its officers 

 go further than this in restrictive power, they become 

 tyrants. Writing on newspapers to evade the pay- 

 mentof letter postage, is defrauding the government, 

 ond should not be allowed ; but no man would ever 

 write a letter meiely to say " A. B.'s compliments to 

 C. D.," consequently fining o man for writing it on 

 a paper, must be regorded as a wanton exercise of ar- 

 bitrary power. How much more so then, to make 

 him poy five dollars for merely putting his initials on 

 the paper, which cannot in any pos^'ilc way defraud 

 the dof artment. JUSTICE. 



