402 
AMERICA AGRICULTURIST 
tage that would inevitably follow from using 
them. 
We were highly gratified by the generally 
prosperous appearance of the country, about the 
village of Cranberry and its vicinity. Though 
strictly an agricultural region, things look neat, 
tasteful and thriving ; almost the whole region is 
reduced to profitable cultivation, although 3.0 
years since, a large portion of it was unfenced 
and lying out to waste. Then, but little rye and 
oats, and no wheat were raised. Now, large 
crops of the Mediterranean variety are grown at 
the rate of 20 to 35 bushels per acre. Fine 
crops of clover and grass are raised on the light 
soils. Corn is, every where that we noticed, 
large and promising, even during this extra dry 
season. 
Peaches were formerly grown here in great 
abundance, but disease, years ago, infested the 
orchards. Their owners fought against it till 
discretion became the better part of valor, when 
they yielded the point, and for the present, have 
abandoned their cultivation. Perhaps after a 
period of suspension, as in the cultivation of 
wheat hitherto, in various parts of the country, 
they may again find the peach a profitable fruit. 
We suggest the propriety of going to the foun¬ 
tain head—the original stock—if this can be 
found, any where in Asia Minor or elsewhere, 
and introduce a new species, or at least some¬ 
thing nearer the pristine stock of vigor and 
hardihood. 
-* •«—— 
IMPORTED STOCK. 
The ship Antarctic arrived here the past week, 
with 15 head of Short-horn cattle for Mr. Alex¬ 
ander, of Woodford county, Ky., and 20 head 
of the same kind for the Fayette, Scott and 
Bourbon Counties Company; also one large 
Cleveland Bay horse, 54 Cotswold sheep, 18 
swine, a Welsh pony, and 10 ferrets. We never 
saw so large a number of animals arrive in so 
fine condition. They were shipped with much 
care, and well attended on the voyage, which, 
with the smooth passage, accounts for their 
good condition. 
Some of the cattle are very tine, but we 
could not see them well enough on board ship, 
to particularize. The horse, though rather leggy, 
is large and showy, but as to his action and en¬ 
durance we could give no opinion. Some of the 
sheep are of great size—and what is of more 
consequence—quite fine, and appear to have 
first-rate constitution. We think them a supe¬ 
rior lot. The swine are magnificent, if we may 
be permitted to use such language in speaking 
of a race of grunters. We measured the grown 
boar as well as we could standing up. From the 
snout to the end of the rump he was about 6 
feet 5 inches long; height over the back 3 feet 
7 inches; girth round the heart (and in rather 
poor condition) 5 feet 3 inches. He could un¬ 
questionably be fattened to girth full seven feet, 
and weigh 1,000, perhaps 1,200 lbs. alive. His 
hair is soft and fine, almost as much so as the 
best Suffolk’s ; head and ears a trifle too long; 
legs and tail small in proportion to his size. 
His mate, the sow, is nearly as large, but 
broader, deeper and finer. Her head and ears 
are as fine, in proportion to her size, as an ave¬ 
rage Suffolk. 
These swine are similar to the Kenilworths 
we imported from England thirteen years ago. 
They will attract a greater crowd in Kentucky 
than all the other imported stock put together. 
It would be a rich treat to stand by their pens 
at a cattle show there, and hear the comments 
passed upon them by an admiring public—espe¬ 
cially the darkies. The remarks of the latter, if 
written down verbatim, would make a good ag¬ 
ricultural comedy. 
The gentlemen interested in this shipment of 
stock, were so much pleased with its manage¬ 
ment on board, that they presented the captain, 
on his arrival here, with an elegant silver speak¬ 
ing trumpet, with the following inscription en¬ 
graved on it: 
“ Present to Oapt. G. O. Stouffer, of the ship 
Antarctic, by Messrs. R. A. Alexander and 
James Bagg, of Kentucky, importers of Durham 
Cattle, August. 30, 1854.” 
By the clipper ship Highflyer , Captain Gur- 
don Waterman, arrived last week from Liver¬ 
pool, came 9 Short-horn cows and heifers, one 
Alderny cow, and one model South-down ewe, 
for Mr. Jonathan Thorne, of Washington, 
Dutchess county, N. Y.; 6 South-down ewes 
for Messrs. Morris & Becar, of New-York; 10 
South-down ewes for Mr. R. H. Dulaney, of 
Virginia; one Devon bull and 2 heifers, one 
Alderny bull and 4 heifers, for Mr. J. Howard 
McHenry, of Baltimore, Md.; and one large 
stallion for Upper Canada. 
All the sheep are from Mr. Webb’s celebrated 
flock, and were sent out upon orders from the 
purchasers. All the cattle were selected by Mr. 
John A. Taintor, of Hartford, Ct., for the above 
gentlemen. 
We may say, in brief, that every animal of 
the above, is a choice one of its hind. Mr. 
Taintor is not the man to select any other. The 
Short-horns are from noted families and breed¬ 
ers, and have won various prizes. One of the 
Devon heifers, from Mr. Turner, won the first 
prize at the Royal Agricultural Society Show this 
year at Lincoln; the other heifer won the second 
prize, and the bull the first prize. The two 
latter are from Mr. Quartly. The Alderny cow 
for Mr. Thorne has made a little over 17 lbs. of 
butter per week for two weeks in succession; 
and is the largest, and one of the finest of her 
breed we have yet seen. The other Alderneys 
took first prizes at the Royal Jersey Agricultu¬ 
ral Society Show. They are of medium size, 
with all the choice characteristics of that cele¬ 
brated breed of cattle. 
All the above stock arrived here in the best 
condition we have yet seen—no death on board 
or injury—but looking just as clean and fine as 
if turned out of the neatest stable. This is 
greatly due to the superior manner of shipping 
them, the superb, swift ship that brought them, 
and Captain Waterman’s excellent management 
on board. Some of them were model animals, 
and we beg leave to set him down as a model 
captain. 
By the ship Southampton , several Alderny 
cattle came for Mr. Taintor himself; but they 
were sent on to Hartford before we had an op¬ 
portunity of seeing them. Mr. Stetson, of the 
Astor House, had a beautiful pair of Suffolk 
pigs on board, from Prince Albert’s celebrated 
stock, selected by Mr. Taintor. The Prince is 
now among the first breeders in England. He 
recently sold a young boar for £63 sterling, 
equal to about $300! We hope the farmers of 
United States will make haste to imitate so il¬ 
lustrious an example in stock breeding. 
LOGAN COUNTY, OHIO. 
Pleasant Valley, August 24, 1854 
From the perusal of the Agriculturist, I see 
you are desirous of information on agriculture 
from different sections of the country; and I 
therefore drop you a few lines on general sub¬ 
jects. I am located in the “ Miami Valley,” 
though the region around is called the Mad 
River Valley—Mad River being a branch of the 
Miami. Our county is called one of the central 
counties of the State—being, in fact, the center 
from Lake Erie to Cincinnati. Bellefontaine, 
the county seat, is beautifully located on rising 
ground, and takes its name from its great foun¬ 
tain of water. It contains about 3500 inhabi¬ 
tants. The soil around is rich and fertile, 
adapted to both wheat and corn, and to various 
other kinds of grains, as well as to grasses. It 
is healthy beyond most other places in the 
State, owing in some measure to the water, 
which is unsurpassed in the country. There is 
an abundance of water power—more than we 
find it for our advantage to improve. 
Wheat-growing is our most profitable busi¬ 
ness, as we are convenient to market. The 
Bellefontaine and Indiana railroad running east 
to Cleveland, connects us directly with your city. 
It extends westward to Indianopolis. Another 
railroad connects us with Sandusky city on the 
north, and Cincinnati on the south. The 
Newark, Bellefontaine, and Fort Wayne road is 
graded east to Newark. This road, it is thought, 
will be finished during the next year. 
I see you desire some information upon the 
nature or habits of the yellow weevil—(which 
has destroyed our entire crops of wheat this 
year.) It has visited this section of country for 
about five years past. Its time of appearance 
in the wheat has never been earlier than the 
18th of June, and lasts till about the 10th ol 
July; and has not, until this year, been very 
destructive, only to very late varieties. This 
year our wheat was badly winter-killed — which 
made it very late in its ripening—therefore, al¬ 
most without exception , our crops were des¬ 
troyed. We have not got the fourth part of the 
seed we sowed, in a territory of thirteen coun¬ 
ties, and what we have got, will not make 
bread—and of course is not fit for seed. Our 
corn crop has appeared fair, but the drouth is 
setting hard with it just now. Our grass and 
oats were good. Potatoes are not likely to yield 
any thing. Our flax (and a large crop) is yield¬ 
ing abundantly. As to the origin of the yellow 
weevil, my opinion is, the egg is deposited !>y a 
small grey fiy—about half the size of a house 
fly—being longer in proportion to its size than 
the house fly. I have seen (apparently) mil¬ 
lions of them in swarms over the wheat-fields, 
and I have witnessed their descent on the wheat, 
and seen it almost covered on the heads, with 
this species of fly. These are my own views 
from observation. 
I am of the opinion that when our wheat 
crop meets with no other backset, this specie 
of depredators will not hurt our crops—as our 
wheat is too far advanced for their injury. 
We harvest, frequently, as early as the 24th of 
June, and the wheat has got so hard about the 
time of their appearance—being out of milk— 
that the egg, though deposited, dies for want of 
nourishment. 
I will here state that we have a county agri¬ 
cultural society in a flourishing condition. 
We do not, in this section, use much artificial 
manure. The most of our farming is done in a 
rather slovenly state, and of course not much is 
expended on the improvement of our soil. Gu¬ 
ano is not known in this county as a fertilizer- 
nothing is used except barn-yard manure and 
clover. I shall make an experiment this year 
on ten acres of wheat with lime, and keep ac¬ 
count of my expenses with the field, and see 
what it will do. J- S. Goff. 
-o © * - - 
New Work on the Strawberry, Black¬ 
berry, Raspberry, &c. —We learn that Mr. 
Saxton has in press a new work on the above 
fruits, by Mr. R. G. Pardee. 
