812 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
^rnmratt ^grtalturlsi 
New-Yorlr, Wednesday, July 26, 1854, 
Expiring Subscriptions. —As we have before 
announced, the Agriculturist is sent no longer 
than ordered and paid for; so that any one re¬ 
ceiving the paper need not expect to receive a 
bill for it afterwards. With the last number of 
any subscription we send a notice that the time 
is up, or what is equivalent, we generally send a 
bill for another year. The bill is made out at 
the full price $2 a year. Those belonging to 
clubs will of course remit only the club price. 
— — »-»-»- 
THE WHEAT CROP. 
It strikes me you over-estimate the crop of 
wheat this year in your “ Remarks upon the 
Markets,” which, brief as they are, I always pe¬ 
ruse with great interest. Instead of being “ a 
full average,” as you estimate it, I should think 
it was something below an average. 
The above is an extract of a letter from a res¬ 
pected correspondent, and as we frequently 
receive those of similar import, some think¬ 
ing we fall below the mark in our estimates, 
others that we get above it, we propose mak¬ 
ing a few observations in reply, by way of 
showing our correspondents that we are, per¬ 
haps, in a better position tojudgo of these mat¬ 
ters than they usually are. 
In the first place we are residents of the great 
emporium of America, to which information on 
all sorts of subjects is constantly tending—often 
with lightning speed—from every part of the 
country. Travelers are also constantly com¬ 
ing in from different sections of the States, who 
from day to day, give reports of the condition 
of the crops in various localities. With more or 
less of these travelers, and the business men 
of the city who see them, we daily converse, 
and gather the substance of their observations. 
Second, we have a very large exchange list of 
papers, published all over the Union, and these 
we carefully peruse, and collate all they have to 
say on the crops. Third, we have an extensive 
private correspondence. Now we think that 
after putting all this information together, and 
setting down the adverse reports on one side, 
and the favorably ones on the other, and then 
estimating the difference between the two, we are 
much more likely to draw accurate conclusions 
than those who are deprived of similar advan¬ 
tages for procuring information. 
If we were inclined to give a dogmatic opin¬ 
ion upon the wheat crop, we should say it was 
more than an average this season. Our reasons 
for this are, that a greater breadth of land in 
proportion to the inhabitants of North America, 
was sown the past fall, than during any preced¬ 
ing season since the country was settled. This 
is particularly the case in the Canadas, in the 
extreme Western States of Northern Illinois, 
Wisconsin, and Iowa, in North Carolina, and 
farther south, and above all, in California. In 
the latter State, the people have hitherto been 
large importers, now it is supposed they may 
become exporters to a small extent, or at least 
have enough grain raised the present season to 
supply their own wants. Then, as to Canada, 
it is estimated that from one-fourth to one-third 
more land was sown there in wheat last fall 
than ever before; and it is calculated that this 
will yield from 11 to 13,000,000 bushels of 
wheat against about 7,000,000 the past year. 
In addition to the above, there was at least fifty 
per cent, more spring wheat sown this year 
than last, and although this is not floured much 
for exportation, it is consumed in families at 
home, which will make the quantity of winter 
wheat that can be exported, considerably larger 
than otherwise. 
THE AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
ITS ENGLISH “PROCLIVITIES. 
American Agriculturist. — This excellent 
weekly is published by Allen & Co., 189 Water 
street, New-York. It is well posted up in all 
matters relating to the farming interest of the 
country, and is doing excellent service in the 
department of agriculture. The paper is under 
the editorial management of Mr. Orange Judd, 
a thorough farmer and a practical chemist. 
The only fault we have to find with it is that it 
carries its English prejudices quite too far in 
crediting extracts from our journal to English 
papers. If “ the Cambridge (England) Chron¬ 
icle" has a report of Dr. Bacon’s recent Dudle- 
ian lecture, the closing sentence of which the 
Agriculturist quotes, the similarity of its words 
to our own, is, to say the least, very close. 
Despite, however, these English proclivities, the 
Agriculturist is a good paper, and ought to be 
in the hands of every farmer. 
The above we cut from the Cambridge C ron- 
icle, a very respectable weekly paper published 
at Cambridgeport, Massachusetts, and edited by 
Mr. John Ford. We thank the editor for his 
appreciative commendation, but we are sorry to 
find he has so far mistaken the aim and scope 
of the American Agriculturist as to charge it 
with “ English proclivities,” for of all agricultu¬ 
ral papers published in this country we claim 
that the Agriculturist is essentially the most 
American. Its editors are “ natives,” born and 
reared on American farms. They have traveled 
over almost every part of this country to study 
the characters of its diverse soils, and to ob¬ 
serve the various methods of cultivation. The 
paper is located at the metropolis of the coun¬ 
try, and has direct communication with almost 
every section. It circulates in every State in 
the Union, from Maine to California; and its 
weekly issue of a large sheet furnishes room for 
discussing an extended range of subjects. In 
this particular it differs widely from some local 
papers, which give their sole attention to a few 
local acres, and having acquired a set of ideas 
in regard to these, their pages perpetually ring 
out the same changes upon one string, so that 
whoever has read one volume has got nearly all 
he ever will get that is new. 
But perhaps the Chronicle is led into the 
above statement by seeing in the Agriculturist, 
occasional selections from English and other for¬ 
eign journals. We acknowledge to these, and 
hold them up as one of the peculiar excellences 
of this paper. We suspect no other office in 
the country is so well supplied with agricultural 
papers from abroad as our own. It is well 
known that the English, French, Germans, and 
Belgians, are in advance of us in experimental 
agriculture, and in capability of getting larger 
products from small areas of ground. To such 
a height have many of them carried improve¬ 
ments in agriculture, that with a soil very like 
our own, they can pay $20 to $35 per acre an¬ 
nual rent for a farm, and yet make money at 
the business of farming; and this, too, when the 
price of produce is little if any higher than in 
this country. Now, as editors of the Agricul¬ 
turist, we are seeking every possible means of 
communication with those farmers who are in 
advance of us, and when we can gather any 
thing that will benefit those in this country 
having a similarity of soil, products, and cli¬ 
mate, we hasten to place it before our readers. 
One of our number has traveled among the 
farmers on the other side of the Atlantic, and is 
prepared to judge what allowances should be 
made for difference in circumstances when pre¬ 
senting their practices to our farmers for con¬ 
sideration; and we repeat that our foreign arti¬ 
cles are among the most valuable which we can 
gather, however much some cotemporaries (not 
the Chronicle ) may cry out against them, be¬ 
cause they themselves do not chance to possess 
the requisite energy or facilities for drawing from 
so valuable resources of agricultural knowledge. 
The article alluded to, as misquoted, we do 
not find in any recent number of our paper, and 
think that the Chronicle must have made a mis¬ 
take in scissoring. 
The Chronicle also errs in ascribing the en¬ 
tire editorial management to one gentlemen, for 
while Mr. Judd devotes his whole time and en¬ 
ergy to this paper, there are several others, as 
will be seen by reference to the “ Editorial De¬ 
partment” in the Prospectus, who are united in 
the responsible duties of editing the Agricultu¬ 
rist, and it might naturally be inferred from the 
variety and fullness of the editorials, the broad 
ground they cover, and the practical informa¬ 
tion they impart, that it would require rather 
more than one person to write them! 
LTHE JOINT-WORM CONVENTION. 
There was a very interesting meeting a few 
days since, in Warrenton, Va., of farmers, who 
met together to discuss the best means of avoid¬ 
ing the effects of the Joint-Worm, which has 
recently produced such extensive ravages upon 
the wheat crop. The convention collated many 
facts, discussed appearances and compared the 
experiments of practical men. There prevailed 
considerable unanimity of views as to the 
preventive measures to be adopted. After 
embodying their recommendations in the form 
of resolutions, they appointed District Commit¬ 
tees to visit and persuade farmers to join them 
in carrying out the views of the Convention. 
The following comprise the substance of the re¬ 
commendations adopted: 
“ To prepare well the land intended for wheat, 
and to sow it early, in the earliest and most 
thrifty and hardy varieties, and do nothing cal¬ 
culated to retard the ripening of the crop by 
grazing or otherwise; to use guano, or some 
other fertilizer, liberally; and to use it always 
when seeding corn land or stubble. To burn 
the stubble on every field of wheat, rye, or oats, 
and all thickets or other harbor of vegetable 
growth contiguous to the crop. To sow the 
crops in as large bodies and in as compact forms 
as possible; neighbors should arrange amongst 
themselves to sow adjoining fields in wheat the 
same year. To feed all the wheat straw that 
may be infested, in racks or pens, or on confined 
spots, and in April to burn all the remains. 
Also, on or before the 1st of May, to burn care¬ 
fully all the straw that has not been fed.” 
