354 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
trap door lets the worthless matters past the 
stables, and directly into the manure on the 
lowest floor, while others pass the feed di 
rectly into the stable. A substantial slate 
roof, with vane and lightning rods, complex 
this substantial structure. 
This barn, with its massive walls and but¬ 
tresses, like that of Mr. Weld’s, spoken of 
in our last, and many others in this State, 
give one an idea of strength, capacity, dura¬ 
bility, not to say nice calculation and liberal¬ 
ity on the part of their owners, which is 
quite refreshing in this age of scant farming. 
The extent, the perfection and costliness oi 
these structures, must not be taken as mod¬ 
els for those farmers whose means or wants 
do not admit of their imitation ; but we 
prefer seeing superfluities occasionally con¬ 
nected with useful objects, rather than an 
equal or larger amount expended on an ex¬ 
travagant house, furniture, or expensive 
modes of living, from which no possible 
good, but much probable injury will result. 
The more moderate farmer may find many 
ideas in the details of these capacious barns, 
which may be adopted with great advantage 
and with but a moderate outlay of means. 
We observe Mr. French keeps an accurate 
cacount of all disbursements, so as to be 
able readily to ascertain the cost of every 
thing connected with his farming operations; 
and by this means he was enabled to detect 
the economy of his feeding operations, when 
his intelligent farmer suggested a change 
which he was confident would insure a sav¬ 
ing in food with an increase of milk. The 
result showed just the reverse. It is by 
such careful and accurate calculations that 
every operation of the farmer should be 
weighed. 
For the American Agriculturist. 
DEVIL'S FLAX-HORSE-TAIL, &C- 
There is a weed growing along the flats of 
the Delaware River, in this County, known 
by the name of foxtail or devil's guts. It is 
a kind of rush, with a running root or un¬ 
derground stem. When it first makes its 
appearance above the ground it looks like the 
buds of asparagus, but it soon turns green 
and divides into distinct, long, wiry leaves, 
that spring from a common stem a little 
above the surface of the ground. From this 
peculiarity, I suppose it is, that it is some¬ 
times called horse-tail; and I apprehend it 
is the same plant that goes in Dutchess 
County by the name of devil's flax. 
Whoever owns it, or wherever it came 
from, it is a vexatious weed, and I would be 
glad to know of any efficient plan for its ex¬ 
termination. Clean cultivation seems only 
to multiply it, as it grows thriftily at any 
season of the year from the broken under¬ 
ground stems. In cornfields, after the last 
hoeing, it goes on and forms a thick green 
coating-like sod, and even as close a crop as 
buckwheat, fails to smother it out. I believe 
it does not interfere as much with the crop 
as some weeds do, still it is very desirable to 
get red of it. Can you or any of your cor¬ 
respondents inform me of any efficient means 
for its extermination 1 
I have got the idea from some where, that 
we owe this weed and the bull's-eye daisy to 
Dutchess County. Perhaps some of the 
farmers in that county can tell us something 
>f their experience with it. Farmer. 
Deleware Co., N. Y. 
For the American Agriculturist. 
CROPS IN THE VALLEY OF THE MOHAWK. 
Never was there such teeming abundance 
in the land ; in spite of rain and chill weather 
and all other obstructions, the harvest of 
1855 must be unrivaled in quantity and in 
excellence. Hay is late, up this valley, and 
very little has been lost by rain*. A few 
days of settled weather and all will be safe. 
Then 2 or 3 weeks of hot suns, and the corn 
will be as fine a crop as ever blessed the 
husdbandman. Grass for pasture, on lands 
where hay has been cut, is as green as in 
June, and in a great cheese and butter mak¬ 
ing section, like this, an important addition 
must accrue to the average production. 
They make superior cheese out here ; some 
I have tasted quite equals the best English— 
and why not 7 It only requires attention 
and an intelligent supervision to excel in 
this or any other production of the farm. 
The wide flat lands (river bottoms) on 
either side of Schenectady, present a beauti¬ 
ful sight at present, covered by the waving 
tops of the broom-corn, some of it already in 
head. The leaf is finer, as is the stalk, than 
Indian corn ; it grows better here, and does 
not have a tasselled ear like it, but produces 
the oat-like head familiarly seen in our com¬ 
mon house brooms. It may be interesting 
to some of your readers to know that it is cut 
with knives, about 18 inches from the top, 
before it is quite ripe, and then undergoes a 
drying and splitting process, before it is 
handed over to the broom-maker. Schenec¬ 
tady has become a noted district for this 
manufacture, and many thousands of dozens 
ofbrooms are annually shipped to all parts 
of the Union. Farmers consider broom- 
corn, at present, as a profitable crop. After 
cutting time, cattle are turned in to nip oflf the 
leaves, and the stalks are plowed in. 
Wheat is little grown here ; they dread the 
weevil. I have seen some very fine, heavy, 
black oats, 40 lbs. to the bushel, which it is 
a treat to look at. 
Being a dairy country, there is a consider¬ 
able breadth cultivated in carrots and man¬ 
gel wurzel, which is excellent winter-feed for 
stock of all kinds. 
Hops have been grown around here to a 
considerable extent, but the “ Prohibitary 
Law ” looms up, to put an end to this crop, 
as well as much of the barley now grown. 
Hop poles are at a discount, andean be pur¬ 
chased cheap. 
It has been a bad year for honey—too wet 
and cold—and I am told by an extensive 
apiarist, that his bees keep swarming all the 
season, instead of laying up honey, which is 
quite unusual. White clover abounds in this 
valley, which produces the best flavored 
* When speaking of hay, I may express my gratification 
in observing how general now the use of the mowing ma¬ 
chine has become. In fact farmers find it a necessary irn 
plemerit, and hereafter would just as lieve be without a 
plow as a mower, if they have meadows to the extent of 
0 acres or more to cut. 
honey ; that from buckwheat flowers is quite 
inferior. G. M. 
Fort Plain, N. Y., August 13, 1855. 
For the American Agriculturist. 
ENGLISH LARKS ON LONG ISLAND. 
In your paper the 2nd of August, on page 
324, I read an article under the above head¬ 
ing, which ascribes the introduction of the 
sliy-lark to a “ wealthy Englishman, living at 
East New-York, L. I.,” who let a pair go 
about ten years since, for the purpose of in¬ 
troducing them into this country. The in¬ 
troduction of this celebrated songster may 
be dated much further back than ten years. 
In the year 1824, Mr. H—, then of New- 
York, and myself, were traveling in England 
with our families, all admiring this aerial 
songster, and when leaving Liverpool, on 
out return, we purchased one dozen of these 
birds, brought them to New-York, and set 
them at liberty, east of the city. A fewyears 
after that, I read an article in a Long Island 
paper, but which one I now disremember, 
cautioning sportsmen against shooting any 
sky-larks , as a few of them had been seen on 
Long Island. 
As I had never heard of any of them in 
this country before that time, and seeing 
that notice a fewyears afterwards,I always 
supposed that their introduction might be 
dated back to 1824. N. Goodsell. 
New-Haven, August 4, 1855. 
ART OF MILKING. 
The art of milking well is not taught in a 
hurry. It requires long practice to milk prop¬ 
erly, and therefore all the young people on a 
farm ought to be shown how the labor should 
be done. It is quite important that this 
branch of the dairy should be particularly 
attended to, for a good milker obtains at 
leas t a quart Jmore from the same cow 
than a poor milker. 
The first lesson to be taught to young 
people is gentleness and kindness to the 
cows. They never need be treated harshly, 
in case the business is properly commenced. 
Cows that have been caressed and uniformly 
well treated, are fond of having the milk 
drawn from the udder at the regular time of 
milking, for it gives them relief from the 
distension of the milk ducts. 
Let young people be put to milking the far¬ 
row cows first, or such as are to be soon 
dried, and then the loss from bad milking will 
be less injurious. The hand should extend 
to the extremity of the teats, for the milk is 
then drawn easier. 
Young people should be taught to milk as 
fast as possible. More milk is always ob¬ 
tained by a rapid milker than by a slow one. 
They should therefore be taught to think of 
nothing else while milking, and no conversa¬ 
tion must be permitted in the milk yard. 
They should sit up close to the cow and rest 
the left arm gently against her shank. Then 
if she raises her foot, as she sometimes will, 
merely to change position, she will not be 
likely to put it into the milk pail. 
In case of a disposition to kick, or rather 
to raise her foot on account of pain occa¬ 
sioned by soreness of the teats, the nearer 
the milker sits to her, and the harder he 
presses his left arm against her leg ihe less 
risk will he run of being injured. 
Cows may be taught to give down their 
milk at once—and they may be taught to 
hold it a long while and to be stripped in¬ 
definitely. The best way is to milk quick and 
