AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
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AGRICULTURE 18 THE MOST HEALTHY, THE MOST USEFUL, AND THE MOST NOBLE EMPLOYMENT OF MAN. - Washington. 
PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY ALLEN & CO., 189 WATER ST. 
YOL. XII.—NO. 13.] NEW-YORK, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 7, 1854. [NEW SERIES.-NO. 39. 
m*FOR PROSPECTUS, TERMS, &c., 
SEE LAST PAGE. 
EDITOR’S FARM NOTES; 
OR GLEANINGS AMONG PRACTICAL MEN. 
On Thursday and Friday of last week, we 
visited Bound Brook, New-Jersey, and vicin¬ 
ity. This village is on a line between Somerset 
and Middlesex counties, and lies upon the Rari¬ 
tan River, partly in the three towns of Bridge- 
water, Franklin, and Piscataway. Of the gen¬ 
eral character of the soil in this section, we will 
defer our remarks till we have gone over it 
more thoroughly in connection with the neigh¬ 
boring towns. We visited several gentlemen in 
the vicinity, and gathered some notes from which 
we condense the following: 
Mr. Richard S. Conover, who resides about 
a mile south of Bound Brook, spoke very 
strongly of the advantages of a Reaper and 
Mower. He joined with a neighbor and pur¬ 
chased a combined reaper and mower, and he 
thought the machine fully paid for itself in a 
single season. It had cut 17 acres of grass in 
ten hours—more than a one-horse rake could 
gather. It greatly facilitated getting in hay 
and grain at the proper season, and neighbors 
gladly paid $10 a day to have it used on their 
farms. Mr. Conover has tried liming, and like 
others, finds that it soon destroys the organic 
matter in light sandy soils, and renders them 
less productive. On his clay lands lime is much 
more beneficial. We learned that much lime is 
used in this vicinity, as it is readily procured on 
the Raritan Canal at six to seven cents a bushel. 
Those who have light soils find them “ lime- 
sick,” from the reason stated above. We think 
a more moderate use of lime, with more organic 
manures, such as muck, and especially plowing 
in clover, would be better economy than the 
present free use of lime. 
Mr. Wm. Gaston has a pleasantly-located 
farm, two miles south-east of Bound Brook. 
Mr. G. is trying to carry out the principles of 
scientific, or “ Book-farming” as it is called. He 
has commenced a system of thorough tile drain¬ 
ing, and intends to drain his entire farm, even 
such parts as would usually be esteemed dry. 
Some ground which formerly produced nothing, 
last year produced fifty bushels of oats per acre, 
without manure after under-draining it. We 
saw it now covered with a prodigious growth of 
timothy and clover, where, before draining, 
nothing but a useless wild grass grew. Mr. G. 
has used large quantities of super-phosphate of 
lime, both home-made and purchased. He pre¬ 
fers his own make as better and cheaper. He 
says he is positively certain that his own pre¬ 
paration of artificial manure has been and can 
be used profitably. 
He purchased from New-York a large quan¬ 
tity of bone earth at $3 to $7 per ton. This 
has been treated in several ways. Some of it 
he mixed with one quarter its weight of sul¬ 
phuric acid, diluting the acid first with three 
times its bulk of water. This was shoveled 
over well together and allowed to lay several 
days, and then mixed with four or five times its 
bulk of unleached ashes. This mixture has 
produced prodigious cabbages, and also given 
a very large yield of corn, and of potatoes to 
which he applies it mixed with muck and char¬ 
coal. He has not suffered at all with potato 
rot since using this mixture, though those 
around him have suffered much. This is an 
important fact, as in fields side by side with the 
above, the potato crop has been almost entirely 
lost. 
Mr. G. now uses guano and salt quite freely 
with his mixture of bone black and acid, the 
acid being one-half the weight of the bones. 
The preparation thus made is afterwards mixed 
with large quantities of charcoal, (cinders from 
the locomotive.) 
The mode of applying these mixtures to corn 
is especially worthy of attention. When the 
corn has got well above ground, he runs a small 
plow on each side of the row, turning the fur¬ 
rows into a ridge between the rows. The fer¬ 
tilizer, of whatever kind, is then scattered along 
in this shallow furrow on each side of the rows, 
and the dirt again thrown back with the plow. 
There are several practical advantages in this 
method. The earth is loosened and admits air 
and warmth. The fertilizer is placed in reach 
of the roots of the plant, but not in contact. It 
is a rapid method of applying the fertilizer ef¬ 
fectually, since a man can sow it very fast when 
guided thus by a furrow. Mr. G. uses lime 
freely upon clay land, fifty to sixty bushels per 
acre. He prefers, and uses shell lime. 
Mr. Gaston has several very fine cows, of im¬ 
proved and native breeds. Five of these are 
now each giving ovey twenty-four quarts per 
day. As we saw these five noble animals to¬ 
gether in a yard, we really coveted them. 
It gives us great pleasure to speak of Mr. 
G.’s experiments in agriculture. Such experi¬ 
ments or trials made by one who can afford a 
failure, are of great advantage to a community, 
and we heard numbers of Mr. G.’s neighbors 
speak appreciatingly of what he is doing. 
Mr. R. G. Vanduyn has a very pretty farm 
west of the village. We inquired his experi¬ 
ence with guano, in answer to which he stated 
that in an experiment upon one field, guano 
produced no visible effect on wheat, while in 
another trial on late sowed wheat, the guano 
brought it forward so fast that it escaped the 
rust which nearly destroyed the wheat in other 
parts of the same field. He has wheat now 
growing, upon which super-phosphate was ap¬ 
plied last fall broad cast and plowed in. This 
wheat looks better than that not so treated, but 
he doubts whether it will pay. 
We were sorry to have but little time to ex¬ 
amine the farm of Mr. John S. Randolph, two 
and a half miles southwest of the village. Mr. 
R. is draining considerable, and like many 
others in this vicinity, is carrying on intelligent 
experiments. One of these, which especially 
interested us, is a trial on wheat of guano and 
super-phosphate of lime, alone, and combined. 
In the same field, one large plot was treated 
with 300 lbs. of guano per acre, another with 
300 lbs. of super-phosphate; a third with a 
mixture of 300 lbs. of guano and 250 lbs. of 
super-phosphate; and a fourth plot was left 
without any fertilizer. The guano and super¬ 
phosphate were both sown at the time of put¬ 
ting in the crop last fall. We went over this 
field, and found that the poorest in appearance 
is that without any fertilizer; the super-phos¬ 
phate portion is a little better than this, but 
that having guano alone is far superior in color 
and growth, and apparently is fully equal to 
that part having super-phosphate with the gu¬ 
ano. From present appearances, the money paid 
for the super-phosphate, was so much thrown 
away ; but the ultimate yield may be different, 
and we hope Mr. Randolph will give us the re¬ 
sult at harvest. 
SHORT-HORN CATTLE. 
the blind leading the blind. 
How are the farmers of the United States 
ever to arrive at correct information, or know¬ 
ledge in breeding cattle, when publications and 
books got up especially to enlighten them in 
their calling, in a set chapter on Short-horns, 
dispense such instruction to them as this ? 
“ The Short-horn breed is a cross between a 
Galloway heifer and a Teeswater bull; the pro¬ 
geny of these being at first bred in and in, till 
the character was established. Charles Col¬ 
lins [Colling — Eds. Ag.] was the originator, and 
from his herd all full-blood Durhams are des¬ 
cended. * * * * In Great Britain there 
has scarcely ever been a breeder equally success¬ 
ful as a breeder of males and a breeder of fe¬ 
males; and few breeders long maintain their 
position ; there being some causes, not well un¬ 
derstood, against a high state of excellence be¬ 
ing perpetuated; while the introduction of new 
blood into a herd has a marked influence on the 
conformation of the produce.” 
Now, here are several distinct assertions, in 
one short paragraph, all given without further 
