102 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
ITALIAN 1 RYE-GRASS. 
A report of the discussion on rye-grass 
cultivation, which took place before the Lon¬ 
don Farmers’ Club, will be found in to-day's 
publication. If Italian rye-grass is only to 
be cultivated by itself, and its growth stimu¬ 
lated by irrigation, or rather liquid manur¬ 
ing, as the resolution of the Club bears, there 
is litile probability of its being more gene¬ 
rally cultivated. The chief value of rye¬ 
grass, in our opinion, is to sow along with 
clover in the regular rotation of the farm, 
and to occupy the place of a part or the 
whole of the common rye-grass, now all but 
universally grown in Scotland. The expe¬ 
rience of some of the best farmers in East 
Lothian, however, is against the growing of 
Italian rye-grass, they having some years 
ago cultivated it in place of the common rye¬ 
grass, and as a mixture with it. The most 
of those have now abandoned it—we think, 
however, somewhat prematurely. Thinness 
of plant was generally complained of. Where 
grass is grown for soiling, it possesses the 
great advantage of coming again in the sec¬ 
ond crop of clover; whereas common rye¬ 
grass is only available in the first crop. 
Stock also prefer Italian rye-grass, whether 
in a green state or made into hay, to com¬ 
mon rye-grass. 
Besides, one of the great advantages of 
Italian rye-grass is, that it comes early in 
spring and grows late in autumn, thus afford¬ 
ing food for sheep stock at a season when 
its value can scarcely be estimated, particu¬ 
larly in backward springs. 
We feel confidence, therefore, in recom¬ 
mending farmers generally to substitute Ital¬ 
ian for fully one-half of the common rye¬ 
grass in the ordinary rotation; and where 
the land is very rich and the grass to be used 
for soiling, the Italian can be advantageously 
substituted in whole for the common rye¬ 
grass—of course the usual portion of clover 
being sown along with it. The objection of 
thinness of plant can only be partially over¬ 
come by thick seeding. Italian rye-grass 
produces a great bunch of roots, and thus 
the roots occupy more ground than the com¬ 
mon varieties. 
We have copied the above, from the North 
British Agriculturist, for the purpose of 
warning American farmers not to think of 
cultivating rye-grass in this country. It 
does very well in the open, rainy winters, 
and cool, moist summers of Great Britain ; 
but would not answer at all for our hot, dry 
climate. We have tried this grass effectu¬ 
ally here, and write this from our own expe¬ 
rience. It is little better for pasture than 
common rye. The ray grass is another 
thing entirely ; it is a perennial, and suc¬ 
ceeds well in this climate.— Ed. Am. Ac. 
Practical Benevolence. —Under the new 
law there were, up to to-day, ninety-seven 
unpaid letters remaining in the Albany Post- 
office—throe directed to places abroad, and 
ninety-four to places in the United States. 
A public spirited and benevolent neighbor 
happening in the Post-office, inquired the 
amount of postage due on the whole lot, 
and finding it to be $2 94, paid it and sent 
them on their destined way—a piece of kind¬ 
ness that will benefit many people without 
their knowing who they are indebted to. 
Albany now starts fair again. We hope 
there will be no more violations of the law. 
People who have not learned by this time to 
pay their postage, deserve to loose their let¬ 
ters .—Albany Journal , April 20. 
Sore mouth in sheep may be cured by 
smearing the diseased lips with tar. 
LARGE GAME FOWLS. 
Having recently received a letter from an 
experienced breeder of fowls and other stock 
in Pennsylvania, we take the liberty of giv¬ 
ing some extracts, which present somewhat 
novel results on the subject treated. The 
intelligence and truthfulness of the writer 
places the information and facts stated be¬ 
yond question: 
* * * The largest game cocks (red) I 
know of are in the possession of-. He, 
I think, has cocks as heavy as 8k lbs. Per¬ 
haps you could get a good one from-. 
He likes heavy cocks, and occasionally has 
them to run from 8 to 8k lbs. The one I 
had of 9£ lbs. was extraordinary, even for 
my large breed—81- lbs. being usual; the 
hens 71 lbs. 
These fowls were bred in-and-in for a long 
time, and instead of decreasing in size, as is 
generally supposed to be the case, they in¬ 
creased. The same thing occurred with 
swine. But in the cases both of swine and 
fowls, although the individuals were very 
fine, they became much less prolific, and in 
the swine many of the females were barren. 
I have always bred my game fowls veiy 
close, as my aim has been size and same¬ 
ness in feather—all my cocks being alike in 
plumage, and the hens also, with the excep¬ 
tion of now and then of what is called a 
“furnace-back,” but no mingling of the feath¬ 
ers. A large game cock bred with Shanghai 
hens one season, and then with his progeny 
the second season, makes very fine, plump 
fowls—giving the full breast, which all the 
Asiatic fowls are so deficient in, and also the 
propensity to fatten. 
The experiments on breeding swine and 
fowls in-and-in, were made by myself—not 
for me ; and there is no mistake on my part 
as to the result. 
For the American Agriculturist. 
VITALITY OF SPANISH MOSS ON DEAD TREES. 
I notice some inquiries in your 81st num¬ 
ber relative to the vitality of the Spanish 
moss, after the tree has died on which it 
grew. The gray Spanish moss is a parasite, 
and doubtless draws largely on the atmo¬ 
sphere for its subsistance ; but its vitality 
ceases with that of the parent tree. This 
would be evident to the most careless ob¬ 
server, did not. the moss retain its (gray coat 
long after it and the tree had ceased to vege¬ 
tate. After the tree dies the moss looses its 
attachment and is blown oft', when it is 
either gathered up and buried in a pit, or is 
covered by the drift in the swamp. In a 
few months the gray bark or cuticle rots and 
by manipulation is rubbed off, and thus makes 
the black moss of commerce. I have never 
seen the black moss hanging to any dead 
tree, except in a few rare instances to the 
sugar locust, which would not have been 
noticed but for its extraordinary occurrence. 
W. S. Brandon. 
Arcola, Miss., April 12. 1855. 
Cabbages. —For the purposes of the dairy 
one acre of cabbages is considered to be 
worth three of turnips. They require to be 
raised from seeds sown in beds in autumn or 
spring, and transplanted into the field to¬ 
wards the end of May, or in the beginning of 
June, and will be ready for use in October. 
One pound of seed will produce 24,000 
plants, and about 8,000 plants are required to 
an acre of ground. The beds must be well- 
sheltered, and have a free Exposure to the 
sun of the whole day. The nutritive matter 
of the cabbage is wholly soluble in water, 
that of the potato only partially so, as a 
great portion of the potato consists in starch. 
One pound (7000 grains) of drumhead cab¬ 
bages, York cabbages, and green curled kale 
gave in grains of 
Drumhead. York. Kale. 
Nutritive matter. 430 430 440 
Woody liber. 280 312 880 
Water.6,290 6,258 5,660 
Ijortixultural gtprtnmtf. 
Increasing the Size of Flowers. —From 
an exchange we learn that a horticulturist 
of the suburbs of Versailles, in studying the 
physiology of the vegetable kingdom, con 
ceived the idea that the smallness of certain 
plants—the violet, for example—was owing 
to an atmospheric pressure too great for 
their delicate organs. Having fixed this 
idea in his mind, the florist conceived the 
idea of putting his theory into practice. 
Providing himself with a small balloon, ren¬ 
dered sufficiently tight to prevent the escape 
of any gas, he launched it into the air, hav¬ 
ing attached to it a silken cord twelve hun¬ 
dred meters long. Instead of a car, the bal¬ 
loon sustained a flower-pot of Parma violets. 
This experiment has been going on about 
two months with the most wonderful results, 
in the shape of violets large as Bengal roses. 
It is expected that the above experiment may 
be turned to some account. 
VILLAGE CEMETERIES. 
BY WILLIAM H. SCOTT, ADRIAN, MICH. 
Away from the larger cities, improvement 
of the quiet abodes of the dead is not keeping 
pace with the progress of cultivation and 
improvement in the living. Why the large 
cities—who must usually of necessity bury 
their dead, on high-priced ground—should 
more liberally and more becomingly provide 
for the dear ones-whose affection remains 
only in the memory, than the village and the 
country, where land is more abundant and la- 
borcheaper, is’a question I need not attempt to 
answer. There are many good reasons why 
there should now exist a tastefully kept bu¬ 
rial-place contiguous to every village, and in 
every rural district. How many, think you, 
Mr. Editor, are there of this character 1 You 
may range the whole country through, and I 
will venture that it will not have shown 
you a dozen whose keeping is creditable 
to the wealth and supposed affection and 
kindred of the large portion of the commu¬ 
nity whose certain destiny it is to provide 
some kind of a place for the dead. Nearly 
every community has its church edifices— 
pretty much up to the means of that com¬ 
munity. too, in convenience and decoration; 
—but while we are taught in them that the 
spirit of the good shall have a beautiful home 
beyond the grave, the hearer must instinct¬ 
ively and gloomily turn to the destiny of the 
mortal casement left vacant by its departure. 
He can not help thinking of the desolate 
home that barbarous custom has thought 
good enough for such bodies as his when the 
spirit shall have left it. And perhaps he can 
not help thinking, too, how much better the 
accommodation within those decorated walls 
for his carnal portion—whose wants the re¬ 
ligious teacher tells him should be as noth¬ 
ing—than that same earthy tenement is 
likely to get when it can no longer sit upon 
the pleasant cushion. Reflections of this 
nature may quite naturally suggest the 
