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AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
American ^grintlturist. 
New-York, Wednesday, September 6, 1854, 
SPECIAL BUSINESS NOTICES. 
Closing Subscriptions. —With this number 
several subscriptions expire, especially some of 
those who were subscribers to the Farm and 
Garden. We shall send the first number of our 
new volume to all such, and then stop the paper 
if they do not renew. 
The Index.— We devote a part of this paper 
to a full index. This is so arranged that it can 
be bound or stitched with the numbers at the 
beginning or end of the volume. We generally 
bind the index at the beginning, after the title 
page. We can supply any missing numbers of 
this volume except the first, that is No. 27 of 
the new series. 
Stitching the Numbers Together. —Those 
who have kept their files complete, and cannot 
get them bound conveniently, will find it a good 
plan to place the numbers together in regular 
order, then make several holes through the 
backs with an awl, and sew several times 
through with a strong thread or small twine. 
We have a large number of periodicals and 
pamphlets thus preserved, which serve every 
purpose of bound volumes. 
Prepared Covers. —We have prepared for 
Vol. XI. and XII., a lot of uniform muslin 
covers, with gilt backs, &c., similar to the first 
ten volumes. These will be sent to subscribers 
for 25 cents each. The binding can easily be 
completed by any book-binder for 25 cents. 
Those sending their files to the office can have 
them bound for 50 cents per volume. 
Volume XII. Complete. —We can supply sets 
of Vol. XII. complete. Bound or unbound. 
Price bound, $1 50; unbound, $1 per volume. 
Clubs. —Now is a good time to get up clubs. 
For terms see the last page of former numbers. 
Three, Five, Ten or Twenty persons by joining 
together can save considerable in the cost. 
A complete volume—six months—will be sent 
to each of six persons for five dollars. They 
may be at different post-offices. 
Cannot a large number of single subscribers 
get several of their neighbors to subscribe at the 
regular prices, and secure their own paper free of 
cost, and perhaps save something more to pay 
for his trouble. 
Specimen Copies. —We will send a free speci¬ 
men copy to any person whose name and ad¬ 
dress is forwarded to us. Our present readers 
will confer a favor by sending us the address of 
their agricultural friends and acquaintances in 
different parts of the country. 
HaiF” In forwarding names or subscriptions, 
please give the Post-office, County, and State. 
Let each be written out plainly. 
Show Grounds for the New-York State Ag¬ 
ricultural Society. —The Executive Commit¬ 
tee has given out the contract for erecting the 
fence around the show-ground, also the halls, 
tents, stables, stalls, and pens for the exhibition. 
We have seen the plan of the grounds, and we 
think it far better than any ever before got up 
for the Society, especially in respect to the cat¬ 
tle stalls which are so arranged that visitors—in 
crowds if they please—can pass before and be¬ 
hind the animals, and have a good look all over 
them. There is an eliptical or oblong driving 
ring for horses, 180 by 300 feet, and two lead¬ 
ing rings reach 110 by 180 feet; a cattle space 
of 160 feet square for judges to examine them 
in ; and ample rooms and tents for farm imple¬ 
ments, mechanics, domestics, dairy, grain, ve¬ 
getables, fruits, flowers, refreshments, speakers, 
committees, &c., &c. 
- • » • - 
On account of several weeks of severe sick¬ 
ness, and the death of his wife on the 2d. inst., 
Mr. Judd has been unable to make a number of 
promised Farm Visits. Several letters relating 
to the Agriculturist and to private matters, will 
remain unanswered for a few days. He will 
probably return to the city early next week. 
— - o e • - 
HOW MILLIONS MAY BE SAVED. 
On the 17th of May, see page 146 of this 
volume, we forewarned the farmers of a drouth 
this season, and advised sowing corn for green 
food for their stock in case it came. Many 
heeded this advice, and are reaping the advan¬ 
tages, but how many are suffering from their 
neglect ? Thousands of cattle must on this ac¬ 
count be sacrificed, and the country loose mil¬ 
lions of dollars on its live stock. 
We think farmers err greatly in planting their 
whole crop of one kind of corn. We had one 
kind in our garden this season which gave us 
good roasting ears on the 10th of July, another 
kind that gave them two weeks later, and so on 
through the season. 
Suppose the farmers of the United States 
should plant one-fourth of their crop with this 
early variety, and one-fourth with the next 
earliest variety, and the balance with the best 
producing variety of their district, their loss 
then in case of early drouth and early posts, 
would not be near so great. In good seasons, 
with this system, they would not get quite so 
large a crop, as the early varieties do not yield 
as well as the later; but it would be much bet¬ 
ter to suffer a little in this way, than as much 
as we now do from drouth and early frosts, with 
only one variety. 
The quantity of green food which can be 
raised per acre by sowing the corn in drills 18 
to 24 inches apart, is astonishing. The best 
and most profitable time to commence feeding 
is just as the corn forms its roasting ears. 
What an abundance of feed each farmer might 
have easily provided for himself, from early in 
July till the beginning of winter. He need 
have no fear of drouth and his pastures drying 
up with such provision. 
Sometimes we think it would be the best 
thing which could possibly happen, if the coun¬ 
try were to suffer from drought for a succession 
of seasons. The farmers would then get into 
the habit of providing for them by sowing corn, 
and when this had been followed a few years, 
it would thenceforward become a part of the 
settled system of American farming. 
New-Rochelle Blackberries. — We are over¬ 
run with all sorts of inquiries in regard to these 
berries, such as where can they be got, how 
many can be obtained, and especially at what 
price ? We can only answer these questions by 
reference to our advertising columns. 
TO THE HOP-GROWERS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 
To all interested in growing and dealing in 
hops it is well known, that during the last seven 
years, in point of reputation and character, 
Massachusetts hops have suffered very materi¬ 
ally in comparison with New-York hops, have 
been in less demand, and sold at a lower price; 
this fact is attributable to a combination of 
causes, the most prominent of which are the 
following, viz: 
Permitting too many male hops per acre, and 
too early picking, before the hop was ripe; 
from bad picking ; from picking the hops in un-j 
suitable bagging. There has been a universa 
complaint from the brewers. 
During the last two years the first two er¬ 
rors, viz. too many male hops in the hills, and 
picking too early, have in many instances been 
remedied, so that it is now generally acceded 
that the best Massachusetts hops, grown during 
the last two years, have been as good as any 
others. 
In consideration of the interest and impor¬ 
tance of this subject to the farmers of this 
Commonwealth, I trust that they will justify 
me in advising them at this time; I think the 
present time favorably for raising the character 
and reputation of Massachusetts hops to their 
original point of celebrity, so high that they 
will compare favorable with the highest stand¬ 
ard of other States. And I think it can be 
done if the growers generally will unite their 
endeavors with mine, and carefully attend to the 
management of their hops—see that they are 
clean-picked, bagged in suitable cloth, in good 
order for shipping, and all this done at the pro¬ 
per times. 
In my official capacity I shall aid the promo¬ 
tion of this object, according to my best judg¬ 
ment, by performing my duty with impartial 
justice, and by fixing my standard of inspection 
at that point which l deem best for the interest 
and good of the whole. 
I trust that the growers, one and all, will 
duly consider the importance of this subject, 
and give me their approbation and support 
in the performance of my official duty in such 
a manner as shall exclude all imposition—that 
no hops that are not properly picked and bagged, 
shall be branded First Sorts, and that all bag¬ 
ging of unreasonable weight shall be cut down 
to reasonable weight. 
The most fatal error of Massachusetts hop 
growers, has been picking too early, before the 
hops were ripe, and hurrying them into the 
bags too soon. 
Under this system of management hops can¬ 
not be procured for the brewers in a state of 
perfection.— John Blanchard, Inspector , Bos¬ 
ton Cultivator. 
- • »* - 
LUCERNE. 
Messrs. Editors : You asked last year for facts 
from any one who had cultivated lucerne. 
I tried it as follows: I was obliged (in order 
to rid it of the roots of a nursery of trees) to 
dig with the spade a piece of ground. It was 
dug thoroughly two spades deep. It was ma¬ 
nured with thirty loads per acre of barn-yard 
manure, rotted. The first year I planted the 
ground with carrots and sugar-beets. The 
yield was, by accurate measurement under my 
own eye, 820 bushels per acre of beets, and 
780 bushels per acre of carrots. The second 
year I sowed oats, which yielded over sixty 
bushels per acre. These show the condition of 
the ground. 
Lucerne requiring a deep soil, I chose half an 
an acre of this ground for the experiment. I 
sowed the lucerne with the oats. The oats kept 
the weeds down. The lucerne grew finely after 
the oats were cut. That year I did not cut the 
lucerne. The next season (this year) I cut the 
lucerne from the 28th May to the 10th of June. 
