AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
105 
The Dominica hen, well selected and com¬ 
pletely bred, is a fine, useful bird. They are of 
no particular breed, only distinguished as Do- 
minicas by their color, which usually indicates 
hardiness and fecundity. We have seldom 
known bad hens of this variety. 
The Creole, or Bolton Grey, is a nice, plump, 
hardy bird, an excellent layer, and of fine plu¬ 
mage. They can hardly fail to be a satisfactory 
and desirable “every day” fowl. 
Such are our views, drawn from a prolonged 
observation, as to the best kinds of barn-door 
fowls for every day use. If the object be to 
keep some sort of fancy fowl, without regard to 
profit or household convenience, we can only 
advise our friends to look about among the 
breeding-yards for those which best please their 
taste, and go at once into such variety as then- 
preference may dictate. 
-IK- 
SETTING OUT CABBAGE, TOMATO, AND OTHER 
PLANTS. 
Last spring we saw a farmer setting out a 
hundred cabbage plants in the following man¬ 
ner. The plants were pulled up from the seed 
bed without loosening the ground around them, 
and as this was pretty compact, three-fourths of 
the fibrous roots were broken off. He then 
made a round hole with a stick about half an 
inch in diameter, thrust in the plant, dropped in 
earth to fill up the hole, packed it down, poured 
on a considerable quantity of water, and then 
covered up the plants with a burdock leaf to 
keep off the sun’s rays, and left them to grow 
as best they could. We requested the privilege 
of setting out twenty plants for him, and pro¬ 
ceeded thus : 
First, we went to the seed bed, and with a 
flat stick loosened and lifted up a quantity of 
dirt around the roots, taking care to break very 
few of the most delicate fibres. We next went 
to the cabbage ground, and with a hoe prepared 
a place for each plant by mellowing and pulve¬ 
rising the earth several inches in diameter. We 
scooped out a large hole with the hand, deep 
enough for a plant, and set it in carefully, with 
considerable loose earth still clinging to it. The 
roots were left spread out just as they had 
grown, and finely pulverised soil was then 
sprinkled in to fill up the hole, and carefully 
pressed down around the plant. We then 
added about half a pint of filthy water from the 
swill-pail, and requested that the plants should 
be left without any protecting covering. Our 
farmer friend said he could never spend so much 
time with a few plants. But mark the result. 
During the latter part of summer we visited 
the “cabbage patch,” and found that of the 20 
plants, one had been cut off by a grub, one had 
been injured by a careless blow from the hoe, 
and one had grown feebly, while seventeen of 
them bore large, solid heads of cabbage. Of 
the eighty other plants set out at the same time 
in the same soil, fifteen only had large heads, 
twenty-nine bore heads of medium size, fourteen 
had barely lived and were not worth harvesting, 
while twenty-two had not survived the trans¬ 
planting. 
The next best preferable method we know of 
to set out cabbages is, to first grout them. 
It is an error to plant seeds from States fur¬ 
ther South. In a cold season, only the seed of 
a colder climate will ripen well. 
PLANTING SMALL POTATOES. 
We have given no little attention to this sub¬ 
ject for many years, and have settled the matter 
conclusively in our own minds, that it does not 
pay to plant small seed. For fifteen years we 
planted the same nameless variety, on the same 
soil, and at the end of that time, found no dete¬ 
rioration in the quality or yield, but rather an 
improvement. We have invariably thrown out 
from our seed all potatoes less in size than a 
hen’s egg, and also rejected those overgrown, 
pithy, or irregular shaped. 
In some favorable seasons, and on particular 
soils, those purchasing and planting the small 
potatoes which we have rejected, have raised 
crops equal to or more prolific than our own ; 
but one year with another, we have averaged 
thirty to fifty per cent, better crops of good po¬ 
tatoes, than our small potato neighbors. 
What we have found true in regard to pota¬ 
toes, we have also, by long practice, proved true 
in regard to other kinds of seed. Our plumpest 
and carlest grains have always been reserved for 
propagation, and our neighbors can testify that 
our practice has been attended with good re¬ 
sults. 
HOW TO APPLY SUPER-PHOSPHATE. 
Almost every mail brings inquiries from our 
subscribers in regard to the method of applying 
super-phosphate of lime. Although we have 
given such directions in several articles upon 
this fertilizer, it may be useful to sum them up 
here. 
With this , as xoith every other manure , it is 
very desirable to have it mixed as thoroughly as 
may be with that portion of the soil which is to 
be reached by the roots of the growing crop. 
For crops growing in hills, it is probably more 
economical to make the application in, or around 
the hill. It is not good economy, however, to 
simply drop in a handful and leave it nearly all 
in one place. It should be sprinkled over a 
square foot or more of the surface, and be dug 
into the soil before or during planting. 
For crops not in hills, it should be sown 
evenly over the surface, and incorporated with 
the soil by harrowing well. 
It is desirable that all application should be 
experimental, and on this account some unma¬ 
nured strips should in every case be left running 
through central portions, and in such a position 
that they will not be affected by washings or 
soakings from those parts where the application 
is made. 
On grass and on winter wheat, the application 
of the super-phosphate can only be made as a 
top-dressing. It is preferable to apply it during 
or just before a gen.le shower. We advise to 
try the effect of dividing the top-dressing into 
two or three portions, and apply them at inter¬ 
vals of two or three weeks. 
In applying commercial super-phosphate, 
which is in a finely-divided state, we do not 
think it necessary to mix it with any other sub¬ 
stance, unless it is to come directly in contact 
with the seed. In the latter case, it should be 
well mixed previously, with a considerable 
quantity of muck, or rich earth, or even with 
loam. 
It is hardly worth while to apply less than 
200 lbs. to an acre; on poor soils, or those of 
ordinary quality, 400 or 500 pounds per acre 
would not be too much. We prefer the latter 
quantity for experimental trials, though we 
would advise using different quantities on adja¬ 
cent plots, in order to better mark the effects. 
200 lbs. per acre would only allow about one 
pound to 218 square feet, which is a plot a little 
less than 15 feet square. This is only two- 
thirds of an ounce to a square yard. Double this 
quantity would be little enough from which to 
judge any thing of its effects. 
On hoed crops it is desirable to apply upon 
portions of the field, a top-dressing sown broad¬ 
cast just previous to one or more of the hoeings. 
In all applications of special manures, let 
there be a constant comparison of the manured 
portions with those unmanured, for two or three 
seasons, so that each one may decide for himself 
whether these applications PAY. 
-.— - 
AGRICULTURE IN VENEZUELA. 
[We have received from a highly intelligent 
friend and correspondent, himself a native and 
citizen of Venezuela, the subjoined article on the 
agriculture, commerce, and prospects of that 
promising country, which we doubt not will be 
perused with great interest by all our intelligent 
readers.] 
This branch of industry is the great source 
of national prosperity in Venezuela, and the 
cause of the active commercial intercourse she 
maintains with Europe and North America. It 
has greatly increased during the last few years, 
on account of the protection and encouragement 
it has received from the present Government. 
The Government and Executive Power have 
resolved to free all national productions from 
all export duties. They aid and protect all 
enterprises for navigating the lakes and rivers, 
such as the Orinoco in the Province of Guayana, 
the Yaracuy in Barquicimeto, and the Zulia in 
Maracaibo, besides many others in different pro¬ 
vinces. They have contracted for the construc¬ 
tion of a railroad from Puerto Cabello to San 
Felipe, and assisted the undertaking with funds 
from the public treasury. Puerto Cabello is the 
second port of the Republic, as regards its en¬ 
tries, and the first in a topographical view. San 
Felipe is fertile in the most valuable produc¬ 
tions, enjoys a healthy climate, and many other 
advantages which render it worthy the attention 
both of natives and foreigners. The govern¬ 
ment has also entered into a contract for the con¬ 
struction of a carriage road, to connect the navi¬ 
gation of the Lake of Tacarigua with the city of 
Valencia; and finally, the government of Vene¬ 
zuela is engaged in the consideration of a privilege 
to be granted for 90 years, for the construction 
of a railroad from La Guaira through the fertile 
valleys of Aragua and Carabobo, to terminate at 
the wharves of Puerto Cabello. 
We entertain well grounded hopes of seeing 
all these works completed in a short time, and 
from that dajq Venezuela will take her place 
amongst the first agricultural countries. Now, 
whilst she enjoys no facilities for transporting 
the products of her vast and fertile territories, 
she yet exports 40,000,000 lbs. of coffee, double 
the amount of former years. When the roads 
just mentioned are open, and the steam naviga¬ 
tion of the rivers and lakes in operation, the 
production of coffee, which is the staple of the 
country, and also of sugar and cotton, will be 
immense. The railroad from La Guaira to 
