AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
133 
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and lighter soils of the country—and the richest 
also—in all its variety of climate, no beast is bet¬ 
ter calculated to win its way to success and favor. 
From Maine to Georgia ; from tue Atlantic shore 
to far beyond the Mississippi, the Devon thrives, 
and is a favorite with its keepers. On hills, or in 
valley, with scanty herbage, or a luxuriant growth, 
with anything like Christian treatment it will 
thrive, and do its duty. 
^ -«- »gj -*- - 
“ Beware of Eastern Tennessee Lands.” 
To the Editor of the American Agriculturist. 
I notice with some regret an article in the 
April Agriculturist, referring to the wild lands of 
Tennessee, for although you only give the state¬ 
ments of a subscriber, which may all be very 
true in that case, yet they may be the means of 
inciting an interest which will surely be taken ad¬ 
vantage of by sets of speculators, who are atte mpt¬ 
ing to palm off large worthless tracts of land, not 
only in Tennessee but elsewhere. Let me give 
you an illustration. 
During the past year, a mao from Eastern Ten- 
nesee visited Brooklyn, and with the aid of a sur¬ 
veyor here, and certain specious statements, in¬ 
duced a number of us to believe that there was 
an opening for a pleasant and profitable invest¬ 
ment in homesteads for ourselves and friends. A 
letter, purporting to be from a resident, setting 
forth in glowing terms his success and prospects 
in that region, was printed in a circular form by 
the said surveyor. Some twenty of us (including 
“stool pigeons”) united together and contributed 
funds to send a man to investigate the matter. 
Our ‘‘surveyor” was of course selected. He 
came back with the report that he had visited the 
very land of Canaan, of which the “ half had not 
been told.” Well, arrangements were being en¬ 
tered into to purchase a single tract of over 
10,000 acres, at SI per acre, through him. 
But as good luck would have it, our “agent” 
rather overdid the business, and a suspicion was 
aroused that he was “feathering his own nest.” 
Before paying over the money to him, we finally 
concluded to “ investigate ” farther, and for this 
purpose secured the services of an experienced 
old Long Island farmer, and despatched him as a 
second agent to “ spy out the land.” Without en¬ 
tering into details, suffice it to say, our new agent 
brought back word that our ten thousand acre 
tract could be had for 50 cents per acre, and was 
not worth a sixpence—that the more of such land 
BIRTHDAY 
a man had for farming purposes the worse he 
would be off. 
Our experience has cost us some blasted hopes, 
and a little money, but we are glad to get off so 
cheaply as we have. We hope this bit of history 
of one transaction—and we learn that it is only 
one of many of like character—may be the means 
of putting others on their guard. 
One of the Humbugged. 
Brooklyn, L. I., April 15th, 1858. 
REMARKS. 
We are obliged for the above communication. 
We have no doubt but there are very many fine 
tracts of land, which need only to be known to be 
taken hold of, but we commend the example of 
the Brooklyn Company to every one looking after 
them. No one should invest his property, and fix 
a homestead, without first examining the locality 
with his own eyes. He is foolish if he does other¬ 
wise, and, we had almost said, deserves to be 
fleeced.— Ed. 
--0-4 —gjg^ an i ► -. 
Dear Land and Emigration. 
A correspondent of the Country Gentleman, in 
noticing our experiments with the Ashcroft and 
River’s Sweedish Stubble Turnips, wants to know 
w r hy we do not emigrate. It will be recollected 
that the writer took the edge of a marsh, drained 
it, and raised at the rate of nine hundred bushels 
to the acre without stable manure. The spot, we 
admit, was unpromising, and the turnips in better 
land would probably have yielded a larger crop. 
But we think nine hundred bushels to the acre is 
not so poor a remuneration for one’s labor that he 
has occasion to turn his back upon the home of 
bis fathers and seek a new one in the West. We 
believe that the advantages of the East and 
the West are so evenly balanced that no farmer 
has occasion to emigrate except from choice. 
For many it is decidedly better that they 
should remain where they are, clearing off rocky 
land, draining swamps and marshes, turning 
wastes into meadows, than to seek farms ready 
made upon the prairies. There are thousands of 
acres of these unimproved lands in almost every 
county of the Eastern States, in the immediate 
vicinity of good markets, that only want capital 
and labor to make them largely productive. They 
are in the midst of civilization, within sound of 
the church-going bell, and within sight of the 
school-house and the post-office. The country is 
made up, and the farmer has not to be taxed a 
fourth part of his earnings to make roads and 
bridges, to build court-houses and jails, and to 
furnish society with the necessary fixtures of 
civilized life. All these things havp been attended 
to by former generations, and the farmer has 
nothing to divert him from the luxury of cleaning 
up his farm and making the rough places smooth. 
The swamp and marsh lands especially can he 
easily made productive, and pay for their own 
improvement. We have a few' acres of this kind 
of property, that has lain waste from the founda¬ 
tion of the world, that we have determined to 
improve. We want to finish the job before we 
emigrate. * 
*-— —**-&■ ** —-- - . 
An Early Plot of Beans, Com, &e. 
The fine weather during the early part of April, 
and to the time of this writing, April 20, has in¬ 
duced many persons to nearly complete making 
their gardens, and put in many field crops much 
earlier than usual. Considerable anxiety has 
been felt, however, lest a late frost should cut 
down some of (.hose not hardy. There has been 
so little cold weather the past Winter, that the 
ground has not lost as much heat, as usual, and 
from theoretical considerations, we shall scareelv 
look for any severe frosts this Spring, though “all 
signs fail in dry weather.” and it is safer not to 
be in too great a hurry in planting corn, beans, 
and such like crops that may he ruined by a cold 
snati, or a single night’s frost. 
We commenced this item, however, to suggest 
a mode of securing a few early beans, a small 
plot of corn, cucumbers, melons, &e. W'here the’ 
plan recommended, page 100. has not been adopt¬ 
ed. Take Beans for example. We may plant 
them at once, in hills at the usual distance. Then 
a week or two later, extra hills maybe put in be¬ 
tween those first planted. If the weather continues 
mild, the first plantings will grow and give early re¬ 
turns, and the second planting may then he dug 
up like so many weeds. The only loss will he the 
small quantity of seed. But if on the other hand, 
a frost should chance to cut down the first planting, 
you then have the second as a reserve. Very 
often, owing to long rains and other causes, the 
later planted seed will shoot ahead of the earlier, 
in which ease the weaker plants may be removed 
and give place to the stronger. 
These remarks apply to corn, melons, and indeed 
to all of the tender vegetables. The extra seed 
required, is scarcely to be considered, in eompar 
ison with the value of having a chance for obtain 
ing an extra early crop, without risking a later one 
-— *-—a— ' v ■-- 
Humor in an Agricultural Society. —If we 
are to credit the Springfield Republican, the man¬ 
agers of the Amherst (Mass ) Agricultural S-ocie 
ty enjoyed a hit of fun in making lip the commit* 
tee on stc®k for their cattle show. If the several 
boards of judges do not perform their duties well 
it will certainly be no fault of the managers. 
The Republican gives the following examples: 
“ The Committee on Cattle, upon the principle 
that ‘ he who drives fat oxen should himself he 
fat,’ was composed of eight gentlemen w hose ag 
gregate weight is over two thousand pounds I 
Then the committee on calves (most impudent se¬ 
lection !) was wholly composed of members oi 
the last Legislature. The committee on fowls 
were gentlemen from several towns about here, 
all of them blessed with the name of Fowle. But 
the happiest thing, and one that really had a good 
grain of satire in it, was the committee upon ma¬ 
ple-sugar. This was made up of ‘sweethearts,’ 
three ladies and three gentlemen, who were 
known tp be engaged to be mqrried. being upon it ’ 
