350 
REVIEW OF THE OCTOBER NUMBER OF THE AGRICULTURIST. 
and him thou hast often bled till he fainted, 
(toiling to pay for thy clocks,) doth turn upon 
thee, and tickling thy fancy with a feather, doth 
despoil thee of thine idols — the gold thou hast 
long worshiped. Oh Jonathan! OhBosting! 
You'll give many a poor fellow the hen fever to 
pay for that. I advise everybody to keep clear 
now of Trt-mount. 
Sale of Mr. Sheaf eh Shorthorn Cattle. — My 
readers will recollect I stated in the August 
number, in giving an account of my first visit 
to High Cliff, that I should attend this sale, 
although I had no intention of buying, I had a 
desire to see if this first great sale of high-bred 
animals in this part of the country, would at all 
compare with some of a similar kind in Eng- 
land, which had fallen under my notice. To 
say I was delighted, is but a faint expression of 
my feelings. The arrangement was excellent, 
and should be a lesson to all managers of cat- 
tle shows, never to -put cattle in pens. The prices 
realised for these cattle, may sound high to 
some of our old-fashioned Connecticut farmers; 
but if they had been upon the ground, and seen 
them as they stood at their posts, proud of the 
admiration bestowed upon them by several hun- 
dred intelligent gentlemen present, I have no 
doubt they would have readily come to the con- 
clusion that they were worth every dollar bid 
for them. I am satisfied that all went away 
well pleased with their visit, notwithstanding 
they were not among the fortunate purchasers; 
for, as I suggested, they had had the advantage 
of hearing not only the address of Mr. Allen, 
but the remarks and criticisms of good breeders 
upon this herd, and comparisons of various 
herds, and different breeds in the United States. 
I was very sorry to learn after I left the ground, 
that several gentlemen present wished to see 
me. Nothing would have given me greater 
pleasure on that day, than to have made myself 
acquainted with those who felt an interest in 
knowing who Reviewer really is. I beg they 
will not be so diffident in introducing them- 
selves hereafter. The " Cap'n's offus " is always 
open, and no charge is made for " passige." 
Towards evening, I returned to Poughkeepsie, 
where I had left my horse and buggy and 
oldest daughter, who came that far on a visit to 
the daughters of my old friend P., who, after 
hearing my, perhaps, somewhat excited account 
of the show, while seated around the social cir- 
cle of an American tea table, all regretted ex- 
ceedingly that they had not gone down with 
me ; and it was then and there unanimously 
voted, after full discussion by a score of intelli- 
gent farmers' wives and daughters, that there 
could be no impropriety in ladies attending 
such a place, and freely canvassing the merits 
of the cattle exposed to sale, as it is well known 
the English ladies are in the constant habit of 
doing. I also regretted my daughter was not 
present, as she is a better judge of the milking 
quality of cows, than her father ; and it would 
have been such an excellent opportunity for 
her to contrast the Durhams with our favorite 
Devons, and also to discuss the matter, and 
gpread the knowledge she might have gained, 
among our quiet and somewhat behind-the-age 
neighbors of the "Valley." 
Trenching Old Orchards. — The caption to this 
little article, conveys an idea to my mind of a 
different operation from the one described ; that 
is a very good one, and so I believe " trenching" 
would be. If a ditch were dug between every 
two rows of trees, deep enough to cut off all 
the roots at the bottom, and filled with cobble 
stones, and then with sods, weeds, trash, chips, 
and soil, it would improve the old trees, and set 
them to bearing again, although they might 
have been nearly barren. To my certain 
knowledge, this treatment of a peach orchard 
is first rate. In setting out a new orchard, I 
have no doubt trenching would be the very best 
plan of preparing the ground. 
Value of Coal Ashes for Manure. — I have had 
some experience in this application, and have 
no doubt but such ashes are valuable. But 
careful experiments, rather than analyses, should 
be entered into to prove the relative value of 
coal ashes with those from wood, as well as 
with other fertilisers. This would be an appro- 
priate object for some agricultural society to 
offer premiums for. But unfortunately for the 
country, the list of premiums were stereotyped 
in the days of wooden harrows and Carey plows, 
and no innovator has yet been found bold enough 
to break up the old stereotype plates, and pre- 
pare a new set. 
Plowing and Planting for Orchards. — In addi- 
tion to all this, ditch and blind drain every wet 
spot in the ground you intend to plant in orch- 
ard, and then get the carts along side of that an- 
cient pile of rotten chips, and discharge the 
whole cargo upon the ground around the young 
trees. If this is not sufficient to give a good 
coating, gather up in the spring, any waste 
straw, trash, or leaves, and spread them so as to 
keep the ground moist ; and the way your trees 
will go ahead during the summer will sur- 
prise you, and your do-nothing neighbors still 
more. 
Plow for Sugar Planters. — And why not for 
corn planters? In many parts of the south, 
corn is planted in drills five feet apart, and it 
is considered necessary to throw the land into 
high ridges, on account of elevating it above 
the influence of flooding rains. Is this plow 
the very thing wanted for such work? Why 
not give an engraving with a minute description? 
What do you mean by " economy worthy the 
consideration of planters?" Do you suppose 
they ever read the signification of the word in 
Webster's Dictionary?" "A frugal and judi- 
cious use of money — that management which 
expends money to advantage, and incurs no 
waste — a prudent management of all the means 
by which property is saved or accumulated ; a 
judicious application of time, of labor, and the 
instruments of labor ?" Show me one who un- 
derstands and practises this, and I will show 
you a customer for your plow. 
Superior Native Apples. — It is surprising that 
so little attention is paid to growing native fruit. 
We see experiments every day in producing 
new varieties of potatoes, and why cannot new 
