352 WESTERN CALENDAR FOR NOVEMBER.-TRANSACTIONS OF THE STATE AG. SOCIETY. 
although in others it has failed, from want of expe¬ 
rience, perhaps in watering and grassing it. The 
treatment in this way has made the flax, in some 
cases, worth two or three shillings per stone more, 
than part of the same crop steeped green. It is re¬ 
commended that trials of this system should be made, 
in the first instance, on a small scale. 
To avoid exhausting the Land by growing Flax .— 
[t has always been urged against flax culture that it 
exhausted the soil; but this is not necessarily the 
case. If the seed be saved, and cattle fed upon the 
bolls, a valuable addition will be made to the manure 
heap, as, perhaps, the richest manure is produced by 
this kind of food. The putrescent water from the 
flax pools should be carefully preserved, and either 
used as a top-dressing for grass, or mixed with the 
weeds, and other refuse of the crop, in a heap to fer¬ 
ment. By these means almost all the matter abstract¬ 
ed from the soil by the flax crop, would be returned in 
the shape of manure—the fibre being supplied by the 
atmosphere alone. 
Flax Society’s Office, Belfast , 1st January, 1845. 
WESTERN CALENDAR FOR NOVEMBER.' 
About the beginning of-this month corn is gene¬ 
rally dry enough to crib, and all hands should be en¬ 
gaged in securing the crop before it is time to spread 
hemp for winter rotting. There are two methods of 
saving that which has not been cut up, and put in 
shock. The most expeditious method is to shuck the 
corn on the stalk, and pitch it directly into a wagon, 
and haul it to the crib. But this plan is subject to the 
inconvenience of putting all the corn—small and 
large, good and bad—together. The other plan is to 
gather the corn, without shucking, haul it to a place 
near which it is to be cribbed, and there shuck it; and 
assort the com while loading the wagon, and put the 
different kinds in separate cribs. If there is a suitable 
shelter for throwing the corn under, as it is hauled, 
and for saving the shucks, the latter plan is the pre¬ 
ferable one. 
Much corn is cut and put in shock, which is not 
intended to be fed to stock. This is cut up only for 
the purpose of saving the fodder. This should be 
shucked out, when the fodder is damp, so that it may 
again be put in shock, and saved for winter feeding to 
cows, young cattle, sheep, &c. 
At leisure times, during this month, and when the 
weather is not suitable for gathering corn, the prudent 
farmer should be cutting and laying in a stock of fire 
wood. 
The first of November in latitude 39° and 40°, is 
the proper time to put the rams (which should have 
been separated at shearing time) to the ewes. This 
will make the lambs begin to come early in April— 
the time of gestation being five months. At this pe¬ 
riod the ewes will have a good bite of grass, which 
will occasion a flow of milk, and but very few lambs 
will be lost. Farther north it would be prudent to 
keep the bucks from the ewes till a somewhat later 
period. In this month preparation should be made 
for feeding stock during the winter, especially in the 
more northern latitudes. In Kentucky blue-grass pas¬ 
tures, which have been kept in reserve for winter use, 
are still very fine, and will afford abundance of food 
for all kinds of stock. A. Beatty. 
Prospect Hill, Ky. 
TRANSACTIONS OF THE STATE AGRI¬ 
CULTURAL SOCIETY. 
I observe in the October No. of the Cultivator, a 
reply to my remarks in your September No., on 
the Transactions. The tone of the reply indicates 
more than 1 had thought there could be in this matter. 
My remarks pointed to the Society and its interests, 
and to the proper preparation of its Transactions for 
publication. The editor of the Cultivator makes them 
personal to himself. Not intending to attack any per¬ 
son, it seems I have unwittingly hit the editor of the 
Cultivator. The wounded bird flutters, and thus 
betrays itself. My object was alone to call atten¬ 
tion to the volume of Transactions of last year, ana 
secure proper ones for the future. But I am deemed 
as attacking in an “ ungentlemanly” manner “ one ot 
the best agricultural writers and most estimable men 
in the State.” As to ‘‘ungentlemanly attack.” every¬ 
thing seems to be ungentlemanly in the eyes of the 
Cultivator which criticizes itself or friends, however 
fairly or justly. It would probably have the world 
believe if it could, that they monopolized all the good 
breeding of the land, as well as the patronage of the 
agricultural community. I believe, Mr. Editor, that 
in pure mockery, you denominated the Cultivator the 
“agricultural Chesterfield of the age.” It probably 
took this in serious part, and its vanity really made it 
believe itself so in earnest. But we will let this very 
potent and stereotyped argument pass for what it is 
worth. I had heard it said, and frequently, that 
the State Society had the appearance of being 
managed to promote the private interests of certain 
persons. I wished that the Society should no longer 
be subject to this censure. 
The committee of publication consisted of Dr. 
Beekman, and the editors of the Cultivator and 
Genesee Farmer. The gentleman who was employ¬ 
ed by that committee is an assistant editor of the Cul¬ 
tivator. The Cultivator is printed by Mr. Van Ben- 
thuysen, the actual printer to the Senate. (The 
nominal printer to the Senate is Mr. Mack, of the 
Senate, who sells his'contract to Mr. Van Benthuysen 
at a profit of 15 per cent.) The profit of printing the 
last volume of Transactions has been stated to me by 
a printer at $2,000. About $7,000 were received for 
it by the printer to the Senate. Cook and Carrol, the 
printers to the assembly, offered to print it for $4,000. 
If $4,000 be the expense of printing it, then Mr. Mack 
could receive his 15 per cent., and leave to Mr. Van 
Benthuysen $2,000 profit out of the $7,000. Prior to 
the session of the legislature of 1844, the Executive 
Committee of the Society, by law, had to report to the 
Secretary of State, and he sent the report to either the 
Senate or the assembly as he chose. In 1S44, it 
was sent to the House, and printed of course, not by 
Mr. Van Benthuysen. In 1S44, alittle clause was added 
to a law, which purported to be passed for another 
purpose, by which the Executive Committee were 
allowed to send the Transactions to the Legislature. 
The Executive Committee, among others, included all 
of the publishing Committee. When the Transac¬ 
tions were completed, they went directly to the 
Senate, and were printed by Mr. Van Benthuysen, 
the printer of the Cultivator. 
It was a matter of public notoriety at Albany last 
winter that an attempt was made by a part of the Ex¬ 
ecutive Committee to have the Transactions sent to 
the House ; and that others, not of the Committee, 
desired they should take that direction. With this 
view some action was attempted in the House, but 
was defeated mainly by Mr. Comstock, a member from 
Oneida County. The Central New York Farmer had 
been (priorto this) merged in the Cultivator; and one 
of its editors, Mr. Comstock (brother of the Mr. Com¬ 
stock above, in the legislature), is now connected 
