*40 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[Febkuart, 
Class vi. Subsoil Attachment to ordinary plow.— Award 
•withheld. 
Class vii. Ditching Ploiv for opening drain?.— Gold 
medal to N. Hawkes, Appleton, Maine, for Hawkes' 
Ditching Plow and Cultivator. 
Class viii. Ditching Machine for Underdraining.—GiAd 
medal to E. Heath, Fowlervillu, N. Y. 
Class ix. 8Ud Plow for alluvial and unctuous lands. — 
Gold Medal to Collins & Co., New York, for k ' C No. 8." 
(No competition). 
Class x. Swing or Side-hill Plows.— No award made, as 
the Committee were divided between F. F. Holbrookes 
plow and that, of Lyman D, Buroh, of Shelburn, N. Y. 
Harrows.— Gold medal to J. E. Morgan, Deerficld, N. Y. 
Special gold medal to F. Nishwitz, (no address given) 
for scarifier and clod-crasher. 
Cultivators. Class i, Sec. 1.— (One-horse). Aldcu & Co., 
Auburn, N. Y. Gold medal. Class i. Sec. 2. A. L. Brear- 
ley, Trenton, N. J., for Pfifer'sSMiorsc Cultivator and Cot- 
ton Plow. Gold Medal. (No competition). 
Cultivators. Class ii. Sec. 1.— (Two-horse). Ford & Howe, 
Oneonta, N. Y. Gold medal. Class ii, Sec. 2. W. II. 
Burtis & Co., MaltavTlle, N. Y. McQncston's Improved 
Cultivator. Gold medal. 
This report has evidently been prepared with the care- 
ful diligence characteristic of the Chairman of the Com- 
mittee, but for the lack of that editing it should have had, 
hours of labor are Imposed upon any one who wishes to 
learn anything from it. Careful reading of the. entire re- 
port, which is necessary in order to make out the list of 
awards, brings to light many points which render the 
work fairly liable to rather severe criticism, and not less 
the book than the whole work of the Committee The 
above was prepared for the previous number of the Agri- 
culturist, but was crowded out. Fuller comments upon 
the work, which is really a valuable addition to our agri- 
cultural literature, are rendered unnecessary by the no- 
tice it receives from the writer of " Walks and Talks." 
Forwarding Cabbage, Cauliflower, and 
Lettuce. 
CT PETER HENDERSON, BERGEN CITY, N. J. 
During the past month, I have had scores of applica- 
tions from beginners in Market Gardening, enquiring 
whether there is any way in which the above-named 
vegetables may be forwarded by hot-bed or otherwise, so 
as in be in the condition that our cold-frame plants are 
for planting out in spring. It being impossible fur me to 
make suitable replies to such queries separately, I avail 
myself of the medium of the Agriculturist^ to briefly detail 
a method we now practice, by which as early a crop can 
be obtained as by wintering over in cold-frames, and, 
where the necessary forcing-pits are in use, at less ex- 
pense than by the cold-frame process. In all dis- 
tricts having a latitude nearly that of New York, the 
seed for Cabbage, Cauliflowcr,or Lettuce, should be sown 
from the 1st to the loth of February in forcing-pits, or in 
hot-beds, such as we describe in " Gardening for Profit.' 1 
But instead of sowing the seed on the benches of the 
forcing-pits or in the bed of the hot-bed, as there de- 
scribed, we advise it to be sown in shallow boxes. We 
use the ordinary soap box, cut in three parts, giving a 
depth of two or three inches of soil, and a surface of 
about two square feet. Care must be taken that the bot- 
tom boards are not matched too close, so that the sur- 
plus moisture may pass off freely. The best soil is sandy 
loam and leaf mould, in about equal parts, or if leaf 
mould cannot be got, stable manure, decomposed to the 
condition of leaf mould, will answer equally well. The 
seed should be sown somewhat thickly— say an ounce to 
every ten square feet. If scrvvn on the 1st of February, and 
kept at an average temperature of sirty degrees, the plants 
will be two or three inches high in three or four weeks, 
when they should be planted out in the same kind of 
boxes and soil, at such a distance apart as will give about 
two hundred plants to each box. If the weather is warm 
and sunny at the time the seedling plants are put into 
the boxes, it will be necessary to shade them for two or 
three days, until they begin to form new roots, giving a 
moderate watering whenever the surface of the soil ap- 
pears dry. For the first week the same temperature may 
be maintained as for the seed boxes, but gradually more 
air must be admitted, so as to harden the plants, and fit 
them to lie placed under the protection of sashes only, 
without further artificial heat— simply cold-frames. This 
treatment, by exposing them to the air, (by removing the 
sashes entirely) whenever the weather will admit, will 
harden the plants sufficiently to be planted out in the 
open field by the first of April. During the latter part 
of March, the sashes would rarely require to be kept on 
during the day, but it will strengthen t lie plants to be pro- 
tected from the cold at night until the end of the month. 
One of the advantages of growing these plants iu shal- 
low boxes is that, being thus portable, they arc rcYdily 
changed from one hot-bed or forcing-pit to another, and 
they grow quite as well for the short time necessary in 
two or three inches of soil as in a greater depth. Another 
advantage is. that the transplanting process has the effect 
of making the plants form the necessary fibrous roots, be- 
sides giving them greater strength, from standing more 
thinly in the transplanting box than in the seed-bed. 
Last season I tested a few thousand in this way by the 
side of those wintered over in cold-frames, and found that 
there was no perceptible difference, those sown in our 
forcing-pits in February being marketable quite as soon 
as those sown iu September and kept through the winter. 
This method may be practiced even by such as have 
not the conveniences of either forcing house or hot-bed 
sashes of any kind, for seeds sown in boxes and placed 
in the window of any dwelling room in which a comfort- 
able heat is maintained can be treated just as we do 
those in our hot-houses or hot-beds, only that by the time 
the plants have been transplanted, it will be necessary to 
harden them off, which, in the absence of sashes, may be 
done simply by taking the boxes out of doors during 
warm March days, and placing them in the house at night. 
Forwarding Tomatoes, Pepper, or Egg Plants, we do 
exactly in the same manner, except that as they are plants 
requiring at all times a high temperature, instead of sow- 
ing the seed in February, as we do Cabbage and Lettuce, 
we sow in April, and the transplanting in the boxes is 
not done until May. 
Curing Bacon for the English Market. - 
Letter from Moscow, Russia. 
"E. H." writes from Moscow, Nov. 2, 1SG8: " I want 
to raise a thousand or more pigs, and go into the lard 
business, as well as ham and bacon, here in Russia. The 
average price of corn-fed pigs of 350 lbs. is, with us, 
5@£% cents per ft., currency, live weight. Just now, it 
is 7 cents. Salt is worth $2 per cwt. Do these prices 
promise a paying export business to England and Ger- 
many ? The freight from here to either London or Ham- 
burg is about $1.50 per cwt. The quality of the corn-fed 
meat is good. But, so far, the few experiments which 
have been made in ham and bacon curing for exportation 
have failed. I account for it because ham and bacon are 
cured here during very cold weather, out of frozen meat, 
which is unfrozen in the most sudden way. They put 
the carcass in a Russian bath-room, where the tempera- 
ture is exceedingly high, and after leaving it for only six 
or eight hours, they cut it up, and salt the hams in tubs 
and the bacon dry. Ham and bacon are badly cut; that 
is, in a way that is not known or liked in England. And 
all is done in the most slovenly way imaginable. 
In regard to pig raising, I know a place on the banks of 
the Volga, where about twenty starch-mills are at work. 
The refuse from them is sold thereon the spot at 10 cents 
per cwt. ; and as the mills are worked in the most primi- 
tive way, I reckon that the refuse must contain more nu- 
tritions matter than the refuse of your mills. The starch 
is made out of wheat. Some geese, but no pigs, are raised 
there. The price of rye there is about 70 cents per 
bushel; barley, CO cents; oats, 40 cents just now, but 
these are uncommonly high prices. At how much per ft. 
could I raise bacon pigs at these prices? And what kind 
of breed would best answer my purpose ? I want, I be- 
lieve, pigs attaining great weight; more so than those 
which produce delicate meat, especially as I want to pro- 
duce lard and bacon principally. The animals ought to 
be hardy ami able to stand our severe winter. Lard has 
gone up here iu the course of a year from lie. to 14c. 
per ft. The rise is owing principally to the demand 
from Germany and England. The exports this year were 
about 1,000 tons. Though a very small quantity for so 
large a country, it has not failed to produce a marked 
effect, inasmuch as, in former years, none was exported." 
Remarks.— It gives us great pleasure to attempt to reply 
to these questions, but we fear we can throw very little 
liu'ht on the matter. On a farm, pigs can seldom be raised 
with much profit, except in connection with other stock. 
Their true office is to eat food that would otherwise be 
wasted. Without knowing how much water it contains, 
we can make no accurate estimate of the value of the ref- 
use from the starch mills. A good deal depends on the 
demand for, and value of. manure in the neighborhood. 
Pigs fed on this refuse would afford rich manure, but for 
fattening hogs it would he well to give, in connection 
with it, some grain containing more starch, such as barley 
or rye, or Indian corn. With ordinary pigs, shut up to 
fatten, it would take about eight bushels of rye or bar- 
ley to make 100 lbs. live weight of pig. If kept in large 
numbers, and in pens not well littered and otherwise 
comfortable, it would take considerable more. At 7 
cents per ft., live weight, after deducting expenses, there 
is not much margin for profit. A good deal would de- 
pcrjd on the price paid for thepigs when shut up to fatten. 
If they could be bought for 5 cents pc'r lb. and sold 
when fat for 7 cents per ft., the account would stand thus: 
1 pig, 250 lbs., at 5 cents, ,$12.50 
1G bushels rye and barley, at 05 cents, 10. 10 
$22i00 
1 fat pig, 450 lbs., at 7 cents, $31.60 
Profit, | jTg5 
The manure, if carefully saved, ought to more than 
pay for attendance, interest, etc. Iu this country, we can 
usually buy lean hogs two or three cents per pound less 
than fat ones. If this is the case in Russia, hogs might 
be fattened at considerable profit. 
In regard to raising a thousand pigs, we doubt if it can 
be done profitably, except in connection with other 
kinds of farming. The sows should have a good range 
of clover or grass in summer; otherwise they can seldom 
be kept economically. With good pasture, and a feed 
twice a day of the refuse from the starch factory, the 
sows and store pigs might be cheaply kept through the 
summer and autumn. Those intended for fattening in 
the autumn and early winter might be kept in the same 
way, except that they should have a more liberal allow- 
ance of the starch refuse. Success will depend very much 
upon keeping them growing rapidly while at grass, so that 
when shut up to fatten, little grain will be required to 
finish them off. The quality of the bacon and also the 
quantity of lard depends a good deal on keeping the 
growing pigs rapidly advancing. The nearer fat tfieycan 
be kept at all times, the better will be the bacon, and the 
more and better lard will they yield. 
For the English market, the quality of the bacon is of 
prime importance. The dealers and consumers are excel- 
lent judges of the article. They will pay full prices for 
good' bacon, while that which is inferior or badly cured 
is difficult to dispose of, even at a low figure. The breed 
or kind of hog has something to do with the superiority 
of English bacon, and the fattening not less so. Get a 
good kind of hog, and never let it be starved at any time. 
This is the great secret of success. "We are not suffi- 
ciently acquainted with the breeds of pigs in Russia to 
say which is the best. We have seen "Russia hogs 
imported to this country that had many good qualities. 
They were strong, hardy, pretty well formed, of good 
size, but decidedly coarse, and the quality of the meat 
was not satisfactory. But a cross with some of the Eng- 
lish breeds, such as the Yorkshire or Essex, would 
greatly improve their quality and fattening properties, 
And such a cross, if well fed, would come to maturity 
earlier and afford a great deal more lard. For bacon, it 
is not only important to have hogs of good size, but they 
must be fat. This is more important for bacon than for 
pork, because in drying, any lean that is left on the 
flitches or sides withers up and becomes rusty, imparting 
a disagreeable flavor to the meat. 
Bacon is scut from Canada and from the United States 
to England, and when proper care is exercised, it gives 
good satisfaction. We often experience as low a tem- 
perature here as in Moscow, and much of our pork is made 
from carcasses frozen solid, and in this condition trans- 
ported hundreds and even thousands of miles. But it is 
essential to thaw them out before salting. And it is, 
doubtless, very important that this should be done gradu- 
ally—say in a room not over 40° Far. So far as climate is 
concerned, we think there is no reason why bacon and 
hams cannot be cured in Russia as well as in Canada and 
the United States. Before embarking largely in this busi- 
ness, however, it would be well to visit the pork packing 
establishments in this country. Our impression is. that 
it would be found that pigs can be raised and fattened 
and cured in the Western States cheaper than in Russia. 
Certain it is. that in past years, our Western farmers often 
sold corn-fed hogs for less than 5 cents per ft., live weight. 
But here, as in Russia, and in fact throughout the world, 
pork is much higher than the average of former years be- 
fore the war. We should be pleased to hear from our cor- 
respondent again. 
Bee Items.— By AT. QuinJnj. 
Artificial Queens. — In the improved 
management of bees, a resort to artificial queens will be 
necessary. But before bee-keepers will have full confi- 
dence in such queens, they must be satisfied that they 
are, in every respect, equal to others. By artificial 
queens is meant such as are reared from eggs or lame 
that are deposited in worker cells, and would have pro- 
duced workers but for the changes made by the bees. 
Much has been said about the imperfect development 
of such queens, and especially that they are cramped for 
room in worker cells in the early stages of their exist- 
ence. Being satisfied myself that this objection is not 
well founded, I shall try to satisfy others. All admit 
that eggs laid in worker cells and queen cells are pre- 
cisely alike. That in the worker cell produces a worker, 
the other, a queen. It is contended that the quee" reared 
in a worker cell must be dwarfed in size, as a larger bee 
