2 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
a great measure, extended itself on isother¬ 
mal lines, not following precisely the same 
latitude, but preserving nearly the same 
climate as before accustomed to, in their 
emigrations westward. This law brings to 
the fertile lands and the healthful, invigor¬ 
ating climate of Wisconsin, the hardy sons 
and daughters of Maine, Vermont,, New- 
Hampshire, and northern New-York ; and 
from Europe, numerous representatives from 
the northern hives of Denmark, Norway, 
Scotland, and northern Germany. With 
such a population, success can not be un¬ 
certain. 
The soil and climate of Wisconsin are ad¬ 
mirably adapted to wheat, which is a much 
more certain crop, and generally of finer 
quality, than in Illinois. It is here less sub¬ 
ject to winter kill, and therefore this State 
is susceptible of raising the choicest varie¬ 
ties. Oats and all the cereal grains grow in 
the greatest profusion, as well as grass, 
every kind of esculent roots, and the north¬ 
ern fruits. The potatoes are equal to the 
best Irish or Nova Scotia, and are very pro¬ 
ductive ; and we have seldom seen finer 
crops of ruta bagas, beets, carrots, cabbage, 
&c., in October, than we noticed in and 
about Manitouwoc the first of September. 
One man, who has his farm only partially 
cleared, told us he had already cut two hun¬ 
dred tuns of hay from less than one hundred 
acres of land, and many of his meadows 
seemed at that time to have another tun of 
aftermath fit for the scythe. This crop is 
worth at least $15 per tun, owing to the 
rapid emigration into the country, and the 
large demand from the numerous lumbering 
teams which are employed in the rich pineries 
that line the Manitouwoc river. 
We have often wondered at the induce¬ 
ments influencing those who migrate far be¬ 
yond the western shores of Lake Michigan. 
Every foot beyond that shore demands ex¬ 
pensive tiansportation eastward ; and it is 
only when reached, that every product des¬ 
tined for exportation, has a fixed value but a 
few cents per bushel below the highest mar¬ 
ket price in Buffalo. Looking to the net 
profits of a farm whose products must be 
shipped eastward for a market, one on the 
shores of the Lake may be worth $50 or 
even $100 per acre, when 100 to 200 miles 
in the interior, the most productive may not 
be worth the Government price of $1 25. 
In conversation with a plain but thinking 
Vermonter, who had planted himself on the 
Wisconsin river, he acknowledged that po¬ 
sition had as much to do with agricultural 
prosperity as soil; and that he had commit¬ 
ted a great error in placing himself so far off 
from the great arteries through which flow 
the internal commerce of the United States. 
The Poultry Chronicle. —We are sorry 
to part company with this interesting and 
instructive weekly sheet, edited by Miss 
Elizabeth Watts—and the only publication 
of its kind in the world. It will hereafter 
be merged into the Cottage Gardener, which 
paper we hope to receive in exchange, espe¬ 
cially so as Miss W'atts is to be one of the 
contributors if not editors of the latter 
journal. 
EDITORIAL NOTES, 
FARMING IN BERKSHIRE, MASS.—WHEAT 
GROWING—MOWING MACHINES, &c. 
We left town August 3d, for a trip to the 
hills of old Berkshire. We had our first ex¬ 
perience with the new patent car ventilators, 
upon the Housatonic railroad, and the ride 
from Bridgeport to Pittsfield will be a mem¬ 
orable day in our calender for its comfort¬ 
able traveling. The ventilator fully equals 
the advertisement, which sets forth its ad¬ 
vantages, and railroad corporations now have 
it in their power to remove the last great an¬ 
noyance in summer journeying. The dust 
and cinders are absolutely kept out of the 
cars, and a brisk circulation of fresh air is 
kept up while they are in motion. The 
traveler has a fine breeze in the hottest day, 
pure air for his lungs, a clear unsoiled page 
for his reading, and little use for a clothes 
brush at the end of his journey. The dam¬ 
age done to apparel by dust and cinders 
amounts to millions every year, to say noth¬ 
ing of their influence upon the delicate mem¬ 
branes of the lungs, which are almost suffo¬ 
cated for hours in succession in the com¬ 
mon cars. The expense of fitting up one of 
these ventilators is about a thousand dollars 
for a train of cars, depending somewhat of 
course upon the number of the cars to be 
fitted. Though this invention has been be¬ 
fore the world for some time and its success 
fully demonstrated, we are surprised to find 
so few railroads adopting it. The fourth 
estate should take hold of this matter and 
assert the rights of the traveling public to 
pure air in their journeyings. 
On the upper part of this road we began 
to meet with wheat fields, and along through 
Great Barrington and West Stockbridge we 
saw fields that, would have done great credit 
to the wheat growing districts. The spring 
varieties are principally cultivated. Ten 
years ago as we passed over this route we 
do not remember to have seen a single field 
of wheat. Now they are so numerous as to 
attract attention. They are for the most 
part in small patches of one acre or two, as 
if the farmers were feeling their way cau¬ 
tiously toward wheat growing, as one of 
their main crops. In Williamstown, where 
we stopped for a few days, this crop is al¬ 
ready grown every year by a few of the 
farmers. On Mason’s hill we saw as fine 
wheat as ever waved over a prairie. D. A. 
Buckley, of the Stone Hill farm, cultivates 
several varieties, and this crop is a part of 
his routine. 
We see it suggested by a writer in the 
Country Gentleman, that the Hessian fly pro¬ 
bably led to the discontinuance of this crop 
among New-England Farmer’s, rather than 
the exhaustion of the soil. The fly no doubt 
was among the hinderances, but we think the 
mode of cultivation had much more to do 
with it than the fly. As a rule, wheat was 
sown by our grandfather’s without manure, 
or the turning in of any crop. The soil was 
over-tasked, it yielded after a time very little 
grain, and farmers became disheartened. 
Potatoes would grow, and yield abundantly 
where wheat would not, and this crop par¬ 
tially took the place of wheat. If the pota- 
toe rot, shall drive us back again to wheat 
culture, we shall have reason to bless a kind 
Providence for the visitation. Cultivators 
are now trying experiments all through New- 
England, to see if wheat can not be grown 
again on well prepared soil. Those near 
the market towns are using Peruvian guano, 
and so far as we have heard, with encour¬ 
aging success. With this manure, we grew 
this season a beautiful field of Black Sea 
wheat, in a neighborhood where none had 
been raised for twenty years. In Rhode Isl¬ 
and. where less than a hundred bushels was 
reported as the product of the whole State 
in the census of 1850, we see home-growm 
wheat quoted in the price current. 
One thing very noticeable through this 
county is, the increased breadth of land un¬ 
dercultivation thisseason. Suchfields of oats 
we never remember to have seen. The slopes 
of whole hills were sometimes covered with 
this crop. While on the south sides they 
are now cradling the yellow grain, on the 
north sides they are still perfectly green, 
and two weeks will hardly bring them to 
maturity. It is agreed on all hands, that 
this crop is very heavy. 
Another crop very extensively grown here 
is buckwheat. Almost every farm has its 
field. It is now in full blossom and forms 
one of the beautiful features of the enchant¬ 
ing summer scenery of this region. Its white 
blossoms may be seen far up the sides of 
the mountains, contrasting pleasantly with 
the deep verdure of the forest, and the light¬ 
er green and yellow of the oat fields. 
The potatoes that grow upon these hills, 
off of the heavy clay soils, are unrivaled. As 
yet there is no appearance of disease among 
them, and the acres that are now r variegated 
with the blossoms of this esculent can hardly 
be counted. “ The one more acre,” on w hich 
the newspapers insisted in the spring, wms 
planted up here on almost every farm. We 
found several of them far up the sides of 
Grey Lock, just on the verge of the Hopper, 
several miles from any habitation. They 
were peach blows, and from the health and 
vigor of the vines, they were manifestly 
quite at home, though so far abroad. 
THE MOWING MACHINE 
has invaded this secluded region, and now the 
meadows of the Hoosic are annually cut by 
horse power. Finer grass land can not be 
found in the State than these bottoms. It 
was a beautiful sight to see thismow r ersw'eep 
along the smooth sward, leaving the dewy 
grass handsomely spread, and glistening in 
the morning sun. 
The premium farm of the State, owmed by 
Mr. Harrison, lies in this valley, and em¬ 
braces within its limits the site of old Fort 
Massachusetts. It is a charming spot, and 
bears marks of thorough cultivation. Could 
Ephraim Williams and the stalwart band of 
pioneers, that first laid open this region and 
occupied that fort, revisit the scenes of their 
struggles, they would hardly recognize their 
wilderness home in these smiling fields. How 
would they wonder to see cultivation creep¬ 
ing so far up the sides of the mountains, and 
the smoke of fresh clearings in many cases 
