156 
REVIEW OF THE NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER NOS. OF THE AGRICULTURIST. 
this one man has caused the wild and nigged hill 
sides to bring forth an abundance of this rich fruit. 
So long as wine must and will be made use of, I 
would prefer to see that raised from our own soil 
only used. As an article of medicine it is un¬ 
doubtedly highly beneficial. 
The Potaioe Disease.. —Enough said. “ All signs 
fail in a dry time.” Chronicle facts, but no more 
crude and useless speculations and recipes. 
Entomology, No. 1 . —Lest some of your little 
readers won’t look in the dictionary to learn the 
meaning of that kind of ology, allow me to tell them 
that it is the history of insects, and I have no doubt 
but Mr. Talbot will make a most interesting series 
of chapters .well worthy the perusal of old and 
young. The United States seem to be the home of 
bugs and all manner of creeping things, that are an 
exceeding great pest to American farmers; and 
they are rather on the increase, and give evidence 
every season of the correctness of the theory of the 
author of Vestiges of Creation, that new kinds are 
constantly occurring. I beg friend Talbot to con¬ 
dense as much as possible—not in the length of his 
articles, but in individual descriptions, for I am 
anxious for him to give a slight description of a 
very numerous family, without tiring his readers. 
He can do it. 
The Old Lady’s Diary .—I have heretofore given 
my commendation to these excellent and quaintly 
written articles. “ May they live a thousand years.” 
The two recipes in this article are worth more than 
a year’s subscription to this paper, to say nothing 
of the directions how to get rid of the fleas—to 
which add some of my diet for dogs, and it will 
help the matter, for then there will be less fleas. 
To the old lady’s recipe for making “ cream 
cheese,” let me add my old Pennsylvania wife’s 
recipe for making soft cheese—in Dutch, Smear 
Case. —Take a pan of lobbered milk and heat 
it gently, about blood warm, and the whey and 
curd will separate ; pour it in a strainer and hang it 
up until well drained ; then break up the lump and 
rub it between the hands quite fine and add half a 
pint of cream to a soup-plate full, and it is cream 
cheese in our every day form. Try it; I guess you 
will like it; it is cheap. 
Allen’s American Agriculture. —If this is not a 
better American book than “Johnson’s American 
Farmer’s Encyclopedia,” I never shall thank my 
friend Richard for my copy which I have not yet 
read. But I think I know the author from his boy¬ 
hood up, and can vouch for the work in advance, 
as being one that will interest every reader who 
undertakes its perusal, and if it don’t make him a 
wise, good, and intelligent American agriculturist, 
he will not be what this author is. 
Premiums Awarded. —Those of the State Society 
it will be seen are mostly in dollars, or books. I 
doubt the good policy of all premiums, at these 
shows, as well as the manner in which they are 
awarded. And I hold it to be entirely bad policy 
to give them in dollars. Cups and medals, such as 
those the American Institute give, are in much 
better taste. They will be preserved long after the 
dollars are melted away \and gone. If all these 
sums expended in premiums could be funded, how 
long would it take to accumulate a sufficient sum to 
endow an agricultural school that would be an honor 
in all coming time to our Empire State. I only 
throw out the hint here by way of text. Who will 
take up the subject and finish the sermon ? It is 
worthy of consideration. 
I now come to the December No. The first arti¬ 
cle I shall notice, is that upon 
Preparing Corn {Maize) for Shipping to Eu¬ 
rope. —It strikes me that I am Yankee and old sailor 
enough to invent a portable steam-engine, that can 
be taken into the warehouse or on deck of the re¬ 
ceiving ship, which shall thoroughly dry the corn 
in the act of passing it on board and into the hold. 
By passing the corn through a tube of only a few 
feet in length, made so that a volume of hot steam 
surrounds the corn and keeps the tube as hot as 
steam can make it, would effectually free the corn 
of moisture, so that it would go into the hold so dry 
as almost to insure it against mustiness. Who will 
try it ? I charge nothing for the patent. 
Letters from the South. —“ Richard is himself 
again ” whenever he takes hold of the pen. But 
at present he is travelling by railroad entirely too 
fast to give that interest to his letters that a slower 
rate of locomotion would enable him to do. So 
general a description as becomes necessary to crowd 
all the country between Baltimore and Charleston 
into one letter, lacks that detail which gives zest to 
a traveller’s notes. W e want you to stop by the 
wayside and “ talk over the matter ” with the old 
man and woman, girls and boys, besides the 
negroes. Give us “ ten thousand a year ” of little 
details of Southern farming, together with descrip¬ 
tions of lands, farms, ferries, stock, tools, and all the 
fixings. You must do it. The editor has long 
promised us something of the kind. [We have 
some of his letters in hand, which will soon appear, 
particular enough to suit Reviewer.] 
Present Corn - Crop. —“ Five hundred millions ” 
is “ all in my eye,” and plenty of room for iflore. 
Your own estimate is nearer the truth, but that of 
5 f bushels to each soul in the United States, 
based upon the census of New York State the past 
summer, is far nearer the truth. I don’t believe the 
average of the Union is greater than that of the 
State of New York. 
Pigstyes. —Very good—much like mine—nothing 
new. My plan better. Excuse an old sea-captain 
who is in the habit of speaking positive. My floor 
falls each way from the centre, two inches in ten 
feet, so that the wet cannot run into the beds. My 
troughs run the whole length of the front, and have 
horizontal doors so hung, that when swung back, 
the latch falls on the inside edge of the trpugh, 
which leaves it for cleaning or filling on the out* 
side of the pen. When the food is in, raise the 
latch and the hogs push the door forward until the 
latch falls on the outside of the trough, and holds it 
there until you want to feed again. The advantage 
besides the convenience, is, that all the hogs come 
at once to the feed and share it more equally. And 
you know r , in spite of all education, hogs will be 
hoggish, as well as folks, about their eating. 
Show of the Berkshire Agricultural Society. —This 
comes from a ready pen, the traces of which I 
should like to see oftener in your pages. It also 
reminds me of home, though I w r ould not from this 
