ROUGH NOTES BY THE WAY. NO. 5. 
11 
ROUGH NOTES BY THE WAY.— Wo. 5. 
Farm of Mr. Maillard. — On my return to Phila- 
delphia, I accidentally met my excellent young 
friend, Mr. Adolphus Maillard, who was so polite 
as to insist upon my accompanying him home to 
his hospitable residence at Bordentown, 
His farm consists of about 600 acres, and was 
formerly part of the estate of the late Joseph Bona- 
parte. The mansion, gardens, and park, having 
oeen offered and since sold for $30,000 separately, 
Mr. M. -wisely declined these, thinking that an ex- 
cellent and venerable old house, nearer the centre 
of the domain, more convenient for him, near to 
which is a farm house and outbuildings, quite suffi- 
cient for all his present wants. 
The soil of this farm is mostly a sandy loam, and 
when Mr. Maillard came into possession, he found 
it greatly exhausted by previous years of constant 
cropping, without a suitable return of manure. He 
has now made an additional purchase of 40 acres of 
muck meadow, lying on the margin of the Dela- 
ware River. From this he is hauling large quanti- 
ties of muck to make into compost, and is also li- 
beral in the application of lime, ashes, bone dust. 
but more especially guano, which has done won- 
ders for his soil thus far. He has also discovered 
marl on his farm, which he is using liberally. But 
I must warn my readers not to entertain too ex- 
travagant notions, and expect too much at once. 
Improvements of the soil are necessarily slow; 
nature will not be forced beyond a certain pitch, 
and we must leave it for time to put its seal upon 
them. Considering, however, the short time Mr. 
Maillard has been at work here, his crops looked 
remarkably well, and were very abundant, He 
had thirty-four different kinds of grass and grain 
growing, several of which were for experiment. 
Among these I was particularly struck with a su- 
perior kind of wheat which he had brought home 
with him from Italy. After harvesting it, he em- 
ployed women and children to select the largest and 
most perfect grown heads, and to shell them by 
hand ; and from the seed of these throw out all the 
inferior grains. What is left, he intends to sow on 
clean, well prepared ground, and so follow up the 
result. His exertions cannot but be crowned with 
success ; for improvement in seed is just as sure to 
follow such a course, as improvement in stock 
when breeding from well-selected animals. 
Mr. M. has laid the foundation for an excellent 
stock. He has several very fine pure shorthorns, 
also Ayrshires of approved milking families. The 
bulls he is breeding to a choice selection of native 
dairy cows. This is the true way to make us in- 
dependent of foreign importations. I am a great 
advocate for improving the natives — home manu- 
factures is my motto. 
I noticed here an excellent roadster stallion ; a 
descendant from the famous Long-Island trotter, 
Andrew Jackson. I will defy the world to beat the 
United States for good roadsters ; and we ought to 
be exporting them largely for the improvement of 
European stock ; and might do it if we would go 
to work right, to bring it about. 
The pigs here are very fine, being mostly the 
beautiful Suffolk and their crosses. Query. Can 
a pig be called a beauty '? I suppose so for a pig, 
the same as a Hotentot for a Kotentot. 
Since my visit to Mr. Maillard, I notice in c 
New-Jersey paper, that he was quite successful a1 
the Burlington County Agricultural Show, in Oc- 
tober last, where he received several first premiums 
for the best display of different kinds of animals, 
grain, &c. ; all of which he generously handed 
over to the society, to be offered again at their 
next annual show. 
In implements, I found Mr. M. equally liberal ; 
for he supplies himself with such as have proved 
to be the best. As an example of these, he has got 
up a circular horse power for one or four horses, as 
desired. With this, he moves a threshing machine, 
fan mill, circular saw, small grist mill, grindstone, 
comsheller, and strawcutter, which greatly saves 
in the labor of men. 
Mr. M. has some other things in progress, of 
which I should like to speak, were it not for fear 
of proving tedious to the matter-of-fact readers of 
the Agriculturist. I will therefore finish my ob- 
servations here for the present, by giving a brief 
detail of a potato experiment which he made in 
1847. When his crop was dug, he found the rot 
very prevalent. He immediately gathered all that 
seemed in the slightest degree affected by it, and 
put them into his steam vat, and thoroughly cooked 
them. They were then packed clown hard in com- 
mon hogsheads. These he fed to his stock during 
the winter ; and what remained in the spring proved 
as sweet and good as when first put down. I ate 
some myself to be convinced of the fact Had he 
not resorted to this cheap and simple method of 
saving them, he is positive all would have been 
lost. He purchased of his neighbors large quanti- 
ties in the same diseased state, and saved them with 
the same success. Samuel Allen. 
New York, December, 6th, 1848. 
AMERICAN INDESTRUCTIBLE MINERAL PAINT. 
Mr. William Blake, of Akron, Ohio, discover- 
ed a singular metallic substance, about four years 
since, in a strata of rock, in the township of Sha- 
ron, not far from his residence, which, when taken 
from the mine, had all the appearance of the finest 
indigo, and no harder than cold tallow, but upon a 
few days exposure, it became a hard stone or slate. 
After a course of experiments, engrossing his ar- 
tention for two years, he ascertained that, by reduc- 
ing it to a fine powder, and mixing with linseed oil 
to the consistency of thick paint, and applying with 
a brush to wood, iron, tin, zinc, or brick, it became, 
after a few months' exposure, perfectly hard, and 
it is said, indestructible. 
The utility of the article since its discovery, Is 
represented to have been tested in various ways. 
As a protection against fire it is invaluable ; being 
impervious to air or water it prevents conbustion, 
the fire actually charring the wood, instead of ig- 
niting it. At the west it is in large demand for 
covering roofs of buildings, for decks of steamboats 
and railroad cars, for bridges and fences, carriage 
work, fire-proof safes, cement for air-tight stoves, 
&c, &c. It can be applied to shingled roofs, 
matched boards, or any of the metals with equal 
success. 
Bearing a very high polish when applied to 
wooden mantel fronts, centre and pier tables, its ap- 
pearance is not inferior to the finest marble. 
