140 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
year-old, both good ones: the elder a little 
heavy about the throat, as is frequently the 
ease with iee/heifers before breeding. His 
other stock is chiefly descendants of the 
Whitaker importation, and the importation 
of '36. Of this sort, he had a large roan cow 
which looked more like a milker than most 
Ohio cows. She has a light head ; neck 
slim and a little long ; hind quarters long 
and relatively heavier than her fore end, 
with a well-developed udder. I he. most ol 
Mr. P.’s cattle were very low in flesh. Here 
I saw a good arrangement for watering his 
large stock—a pump worked by a windmill. 
I wonder there are not more of them in this 
level country. It is very simple in its con¬ 
struction. I did not inquire the cost—which 
certainly was but little in comparison with 
the convenience. Of asses I saw five or six, 
male and female ; good size, and without 
doubt handsome ; but not being familiar with 
their good points or pedigree, you must ex¬ 
cuse me from criticising. Mr. Pierce has on 
hand a hundred mules, which he was busy 
trimming up for the market; which is done 
by cutting off the hair of their tails square, 
and shaving the upper part close, looking 
much like a worn-out broom. 
I did not get time to call upon several 
other large breeders of Short Horns in this 
neighborhood. 
From South Charleston I went to Spring- 
field, and called upon C. M. Clark, who has 
lately commenced breeding. He owns, in 
partnership with several others, the very 
fine young bull New-Year’s-Day, bred in Ire¬ 
land by-. He is considered by most 
Ohio breeders as their “ crack ” bull. His 
color is roan, with a good head, neck and 
brisket; broad back, hips, rump, and the 
very best flank I ever saw. His owners 
have reason to value him highly. They 
paid $3,500 for him. Indeed he seems to be 
very popular even in the city ; for upon in¬ 
quiring the way to Mr. Clark’s, I was an¬ 
swered in Yankee style, “Are you going to 
see New-Year’s-Day V ’ Mr. C. also has the 
second-prize yearling heifer of the National 
Show held at Springfield last October. She 
has a look of much good breeding about the 
head, an excellent neck, and brisket wide, 
but a little slack in the loin—that is, a de¬ 
pression which detracts from her otherwise 
fine outline ; nevertheless, is a desirable an¬ 
imal- 
I next called upon Mr. A. I. Paige, who 
has, beside other good ones, two of the Ross 
Company importation—a fine red cow, name 
not remembered, and Aylesbury Lady, a 
light roan, a large, good cow ; very fat, but 
such a one as a breeder shows with com¬ 
mendable pride. 
I have heretofore written of the increase 
in the price of lands within the last few 
years, in this State ; to-day 1 saw a tract 
which had been recently sold fo; $100 per 
acre, without buildings of any kind. 
Near Dayton lives Wm. C. Davis, who 
has recently given up a business in the city 
of Cincinnati, and purchased one of the best 
farms in Montgomery County. This he is 
repairing and remodeling, straightening his 
fences, and substituting posts and boards for 
rails. He has built stables to accommo¬ 
date most of his stock. Mr. Davis has four 
good young heifers, bred by the Shakers of 
Union Village, and two imported bulls ; one 
of which was badly used lip on his voyage 
across the Atlantic, but with care will make 
a fine animal. The other bull had recently 
met with an accident to one of his fore legs, 
in consequence of which he could hardly 
stand, and of course could not show what 
he otherwise would have been. Mr. D. has 
a Spanish jack, said to be a good one; of 
good size, standing 15^ hands high. Of the 
power of his lungs I could not judge, as we 
were favored only with a few falsetto notes. 
Did you ever sleep, or rather try to sleep, 
with a couple of jacks running within a few 
rods of your room l If you have, you know 
all about it. I have heard and seen several 
locomotives in their agonies, but ’twas noth¬ 
ing to the braying of a jack in April. 
The land in this part of the State is rolling, 
or perhaps hilly—much of the soil a gravelly 
loam. The farm buildings and fences have 
that look of neatness and thrift which is a 
favorable indication of a rich soil and good 
cultivation. 
A GOOD AGRICULTURAL ADDRESS. 
The “ annual addresses ” before agricul¬ 
tural societies, given, as they usually are, 
by some “ titled” member of the other pro¬ 
fessions, generally abound in anything but 
practical instruction or hints to farmers. 
There are, however, exceptions to this gen- 
ral criticism, and among these we place the 
address of Mr. Venable before the Union 
Agricultural Society, of Virginia and North- 
Carolina, from which we make copious ex¬ 
tracts ;****** 
Before passing from the consideration of 
the accumulation and application of the ma¬ 
nures made strictly from the materials on the 
farm, allow me to sum up in conclusion the 
great objects to be kept in view. First, the 
dilligent collection of all the vegetable and 
other material on the farm for manures: 
Secondly, that this be the regular system on 
ti e farm—not a job to be done or neglected 
if anything should arise to make it incon¬ 
venient : And lastly, the early and prompt 
removal of the manure to the scene of cul¬ 
tivation, in order to its assimilation with the 
soil, and thus complying with the conditions 
of vegetation—remembering that the princi¬ 
pal means of improvement must be produced 
upon every farm, and that foreign and ex¬ 
pensive fertilizers are only justified inas¬ 
much as they combine increased production 
of crop with a greater accumulation of the 
means for making putrescent manures. 
The use of improved implements, espe¬ 
cially the plow, has already done much for 
our agriculture. Indeed, most of the pro¬ 
gress of the last twenty years is referable to 
this cause. With the exception of the 
coulter and the shovel plow, all of those 
kind formerly used have gone into disuse. 
We are occasionally reminded of them by 
the remains about old plantations, marking 
like fossils an age gone by. These, the 
coulter and shovel plow remain, because 
good tools themselves. They were the only 
implements which in former times prevented 
the entire destruction of all cultivated land. 
Much has been done by superior tools in all 
departments of agriculture. There is an 
ample assortment of the best plows and 
harrows, reapers and sowers, for selection, 
in which the fancy as well as the judgment 
of all may find employment. But in order to 
do all for our agriculture that should be done, 
these facilities must be used, and used judi¬ 
ciously. The kind of plow to be employed, 
and the manner of using it, must be deter¬ 
mined by the skill and judgment of him 
who directs the cultivation of the farm. A 
general dissertation with universal rules, as 
to the depth and manner of plowing, is only 
calculated to mislead, and create ultimate 
distrust in all treatises upon farming. It is 
thus that book farming has become a subject 
of ridicule with those who have seen in re¬ 
sults a falsification of theory. Generally 
land should be broken deeply ; but even to 
this some of the rich lands of Norfolk, Eng¬ 
land, are an exception—the united testimony 
in relation to them, being that the breaking 
of the pan or subsoil greatly impairs their 
value and productive qualities. This may be 
true of some lands in this region; but 
whether so or not, must be ascertained by 
experiments—I say by experiments, not a 
single trial; for sir, I concur fully with you, 
that experiments accurately and persever- 
ingly made are the great hope of the agri¬ 
cultural art. The general rule is that deep 
plowing as 'well as deep turning up, is best. 
But this deep turning is also a relative term. 
A very shallow soil would be lost in the clay 
that would be superincumbent after such an 
operation. A plain but intelligent farmer, 
misled by the annunciation of the general 
declaration that all lands ought to be broken 
and turned up deeply, practiced the rule upon 
some land with thin soil. He told me in his 
disgust at the failure to improve the land by 
this process, that the soil was so completely 
lost in the clay that a search warrant would 
not fihd it. Clay, by simple exposure to the 
air and other elements, does not become 
rich, or is not transformed into soil, or else 
the galled surfaces and sides of gullies so 
much and so long exposed to those agencies, 
would long since have been reclaimed. In¬ 
telligent observation must decide whether 
clay ought to be turned up to give consis¬ 
tency to soils naturally too light, or whether 
deep breaking without deep turning is the 
proper mode. Subsoiling would usually im¬ 
prove the production and increase the per¬ 
manent fertility of land; but sometimes the 
subsoil gives the chief value to the soil, be¬ 
cause beneath it is aporous formation, which 
would effectually dry up and render barren 
the soil. In such cases the tenacity of the 
subsoil prevents the drain beneath, and pre¬ 
serves the fertility of the surface. There 
are, however, some general rules usually 
applicable to the depth and manner of plow¬ 
ing—and a minute observation by intelligent 
planters and farmers, especially by those 
who do not form their conclusions from the 
result of a single experiment, must fix the 
practice in each individual case. The same 
system and the same rules would not suit 
any one farm, on acount of the varieties of 
soil, upon such extended surfaces as many of 
our farms present. 
To advance our agriculture, another error 
should be abandoned—I allude to the imper¬ 
fect provision of teams upon our farms. No 
mistake is productive of greater mischief, 
both as regards production and improvement. 
On the score of economy alone, it would 
seem to be a blunder to employ a laborer 
worth one thousand dollars, in doing work 
which a mule, horse, or yoke of oxen, worth 
one hundred dollars, would do much better 
and in much larger quantities. In passing, I 
would here remark, that oxen are much un¬ 
derrated as to their real value, both for haul¬ 
ing and for the plow. They are usually 
slow, because at first broken to slow gaits ; 
as well as from poor and insufficient feeding 
they are not capable of quick movements. 
The increase of the number of horses or 
