editors' table. 
133 
€Mtors' Sable. 
A Word to Correspondents. — If you have any com- 
miseration for an editor's eyes, and wish your arti- 
cles printed correctly, please to observe the follow- 
ing rules : — 
1st. Furnish yourselves with good pen, ink, and paper, 
and then write in an open round hand. Take particu- 
lar pains with proper names, technical, scientific, and 
foreign words. These ought to be written as plain as 
print ; for then- meaning cannot be guessed from the 
sense of the contest, like words in the body of a sen- 
tence. 
2d. Only write on one side of the paper ; and choose 
puch as is firm, but so thin that three or four sheets with 
wafer and envelope, will not weigh quite a half ounce. 
Then they are charged single postage only. 
3d. As to the subject, report some particular experi- 
ment or improved method of cultivation, the proper- 
ties of fertilising matter, and the best method of apply- 
ing it to crops, the diseases and remedies of domestic 
animals, new implements and improvements in them. 
4th. Avoid writing on agricultural subjects in a gen- 
eral point of view, as this is too much like the thousand- 
and-one set speeches annually delivered before the 
agricultural societies ; besides it smacks of sermonising ; 
and however good the matter, the manner is generally 
distasteful to readers ; and if we publish such articles, 
they are sure to be skipped by the great mass as a 
regular bore. 
5th. Leave all pointing except periods, to be made 
by the printer, as he understands doing this better than 
most writers. He will also correct all faults of orthog- 
raphy and grammar, and when necessary, mend and 
correct the phraseology. So write away now without 
fear ; if rejected, it can do no harm, if printed, it may 
do much good. 
Mr. Solon Robinson was in the valley of the Rap- 
pahannock the last we heard of him. From there, he 
wa3 going to the Eastern Shore of Virginia, and then to 
Delaware and New Jersey, in which states he will 
spend the principal part of April. 
Mr. A. Sherman did not go south as was anticipated 
in our last. Bis torn - , during April, will be in the coun- 
try, within a circle of about fifty miles around the city 
of New York. It will be recollected that both of these 
gentlemen are our travelling agents. 
Agriculture in Indiana. — According to an estimate 
made by Mi - . Merrill, late President of the State Bank 
of Indiana, the agricultural products of the state dur- 
ing last year were 45,000,000 bushels corn ; 8,000,000 
bushels wheat; 18,000,000 oats, rye, barley, etc. 
The Quadrupeds of North America, by John J. 
Aidubon, F. R. S., &c, &c, and Rev. John Bachman, 
D. D. <fec. &c. V. G. Audubon, 34 Liberty st, New York. 
Number iii., contains five spirited life-like engravings, 
with a strictly scientific and popular description of the 
animals delineated. We trust the reading farmers of 
the United States are not doing themselves and their 
children the injustice of witholding this valuable work 
from then libraries. 
American Live-Stock Insurance Company. — This is> 
the title of an association, recently incorporated in In- 
diana, with a capital stock of $50,000. Its object is to 
effect insurance on five stock, as horses, cattle, sheep, 
&c., from death by accident or disease. This is a nov- 
elty in this country, though common in England and 
other^ European countries. We have no time just now, 
to investigate the subject, but will speak of it again in 
a short time. John G. Bowman is President of the 
company, and B. S. Whitney, Secretary — Vincennes, 
Indiana. — Ohio Cultivator. 
The Value of Oil in Indian Corn. — According to 
Professor Johnston, the popping properties of corn de- 
pend upon the expansion of the oil, on the application 
of heat. A barrel of pop corn would give six barrels 
of popped corn; while the rice corn, which contains 
a still larger proportion of oil, would give thirty-six 
barrels of popped corn from one unpopped ; while there 
are some kinds, which, from the absence of oil, would 
not pop at all The structure of grains is a most im- 
portant study. It is particularly important in its bear- 
ing upon the feeding of stock. The same explanation 
he applied also to wheat, which he said contains a 
smaller proportion of oil than corn. 
Curious Fact. — The house and barn of Mr. Abijah 
Chamberlain, near Hightstown, N. J., stands on a divid- 
ing ridge. The rain which falls on the west roof runs 
off into a rivulet, which, after coursing 30 miles, empties 
into the Raritan ; while that which falls on the east 
roof, after a winding course of 13 miles, finds its way 
to the Delaware. 
Selection of Seed Corn. — The following extract 
from a letter received from one of the best farmers in 
Massachusetts shows with what care, intelligent ' peo- 
ple select their seed corn, and what are the results and 
inducements for the practice : — 
" I have plenty of corn in crib — good yellow flint, 
which does well on our light sandy land, but we never 
like to trust to our cribs for seed corn, as it may not 
come up well, from the sweating it gets more or less, 
by being put up in a large body. I should not like to 
use it, and could not recommend it to others. I sup- 
pose my practice, is that generally pursued by farmers 
in this vicinity. We select at harvest time, and dry with 
care, as much corn as we think will be required for 
seed the next year, never using corn from the crib for 
seed, except with reluctance and in case of emergency. 
I experienced a loss of some two hundred dollars in 
one season, from using sweated seed corn, purchased 
from the crib, and recommended safe by a good farmer 
who should have known better." 
Profits of Poultry Raising. — At the Poultry Con- 
vention recently held in Boston, Col. Minot Thayer, of 
Braiutree, said he had been much engaged in fowl 
raising for fifty years. Flis farm consisted of about 200 
acres, and was acknowledged to be a good one; yet 
with an outlay of §25, in connection with its fowl de- 
partment, he had derived more profit than from all the 
rest of his farm. It was his opinion that good policy 
required the keeping of but few fowls ; he usually had 
not more than 100 ; with two acres of land and a run- 
ning brook, that number would be very productive. 
His practice was to have two or three houses in which 
to shelter them in winter ; these houses were made of 
stone on three sides. It was necessary, he said, to give 
the hens meat or fish in the winter, when they would 
lay eggs as freely as in the summer. 
Mr. Giles, of Providence, said he agreed with CoL T., 
that a few fowls would be more profitable than a large 
number, unless proportionably great pains were taken 
J in their management — 200 or 300 might be kept on 
! two or three acres of land. He believed that the rais- 
i ing of fowls, in connection with a tract of four or six 
acres of land, having a stream of water running through 
j it, might be made to yield more profit than any farm hi 
Massachusetts or PJiode Island, of 200 acres. His 
' practice was to keep them warm, and not allow them 
: to go out in the coldest days in winter. Their houses 
] should be cleaned as often as once a week, and a little 
slacked lime strewed in them. In summer they should 
j roost out upon the trees. If the raising of eggs is the 
j object with the farmer, he was of the opinion that the 
| Dorking and the white Shanghae are the most profit- 
! able fowls. 
