AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
3 
descending from their very summits; to 
hear by the still waters of Hoosic, instead of 
the whoop of the savage, the sharp clatter of 
the mower sweeping over fields then stud¬ 
ded with the first growth of the forest—in¬ 
stead of the growl of the bear, the shrill 
whistle of the locomotive bringing Boston 
within twelve hours of their mountain for¬ 
tress, instead of the sounds of forest life, the 
busy hum of industry, upon the farm and in 
the work-shop! 
In the college established here by the 
munificence of Col. Williams, we found 
what is rare to find in our colleges—an asso¬ 
ciation for rural cultivation, and evidence, in 
the laying out of the grounds, in the flower 
beds cultivated by the students and in the 
private gardens of the professors, that the 
society was a reality, and was doing a good 
work. Of these pleasure grounds, these 
pleasant rural homes, these fruit yards, lus¬ 
cious with the gifts of Pomona, we hope to 
speak on another occasion. 
Williamstown, August, 1855. 
Not Endorsed. —Two of our subscribers— 
we wonder there have not been more—have 
written us in quite an ungracious mood, or¬ 
dering the Times stopped, and wondering 
that we could endorse the views of that pa¬ 
per. Stay, good friends—onr chief connec¬ 
tion with the Times is with its agricultural 
matter, and as an agricultural and news pa¬ 
per we have offered it to our old friends. If 
they want these departments (which are 
alone worth far more than the paper costs), 
and do not like the rest, it is an easy matter 
to pass over such portions as are not liked. 
As an agricultural and news paper we can 
recommend the Times. With its politics or 
other views, aside from agriculture, we re¬ 
peat we have no connection. But we force 
that paper upon no one. Those not wishing 
it can simply say so, and they will receive 
the Agriculturist for double the time they 
have paid for. But the great mass of our 
readers have elected to receive both papers, 
and very many have already expressed them¬ 
selves as highly pleased with our new ar¬ 
rangement. 
SST’ Our aim in editing this journal is to 
make it a kind of monthly budget, into which 
we can put all such valuable articles and ex¬ 
tracts as we can gather from a careful read¬ 
ing of the great mass of current agricultural 
literature. We can not therefore spare much 
room for lengthy reports of local agricultural 
exhibition, or other matters not of general 
interest 
A much larger space in this number than 
we intended is occupied with advertisements. 
We expect that this space will be materially 
diminished hereafter. 
Ohio Agricultural College. —This Insti¬ 
tution is permanently located at Cleveland. 
The winter session of twelve weeks will 
open the first week in December. For cir¬ 
cular, and any particulars, address Thomas 
Brown, Secretary of the Board of Trustees, 
at Cleveland, Ohio. 
By the same mail we find among our ex¬ 
changes two agricultural journals, Volume 
1, Number 1. The one, The Homestead, 
published at Hartford, Conn., by Andrew 
Stark, and edited by Rev. Wm. Clift and 
Messrs. T. S. Gold and Henry A. Dyer ; and 
the other, the W’estern Agriculturist, pub¬ 
lished at Pittsburg, Pa., by David Ramaley; 
the editor’s name is not given. 
Both of these papers are weekly, and in 
the same form, style and number of pages 
as the weekly American Agriculturist, the 
pages being somewhat shorter. The price 
of each is put at $2 a year, with no reduc¬ 
tion to clubs, which will give a greater 
chance for profit on what numbers are issued, 
though not likely to add to their circulation, 
for a slight reduction in price to clubs is a 
considerable stimulus to subscribers to act 
as agents in pushing a paper up to a given 
figure. Cheap papers are all the rage now¬ 
adays. With an eye to the public good, we 
prefer to send to ten thousand subscribers 
instead of to ten for the same amount of 
profit. It is now our pleasure to speak to 
more than sixty-two thousand subscribers 
through the columns of the Times and Amer¬ 
ican Agriculturist. But this by the way. 
We know all the editors of The Home¬ 
stead personally, and can vouch for the ster¬ 
ling value and the reliability of their paper. 
We have had an eye to adapting our own 
journal in part to the special wants of Con¬ 
necticut—but there is room enough for us 
both, and we hope The Homestead will grow 
to far outstrip our past efforts. We’ll en¬ 
deavor to lead on. Here’s our of 
friendship, and our best wishes for great 
success. 
Of the managers of the Western Agricul¬ 
turist we can not speak from personal ac¬ 
quaintance, but we bid them God speed. 
The farmers of western Pennsylvania need 
such a journal as this promises to be. We 
are sorry some other name was not chosen, 
as few will take the trouble to add “Ameri¬ 
can ” or “ Western," when speaking of the 
American Agriculturist or Western Agricul¬ 
turist, and some confusion will be the result; 
but, no matter, we have, we trust, some 
credit to spare as capital for our young co¬ 
temporary. Our Pittsburg friend may take 
a hint from a remark of Professor Clark, in 
a College not far from its own location. 
Said he, “ I have no ambition to labor, for, 
should I by chance accomplish any great 
thing, the credit would all go to Dr. Adam 
Clark, or to some other one of the great 
Clark’s who have been so long before the 
world.” 
“Our Crow.’’— A correspondent, whose 
crow is evidently not a brother of our crow, 
thus pleasantly alludes to our recent article 
under the above heading: 
“ I do not know what your crow will do in 
the way of stealing eggs ; but, bless your 
life, there are some two to six that stay 
about this place, and I have seen them fly 
off with geese and turkey eggs. Our crow 
will take ten eggs a day—perhaps for its 
young. They are “some” on a careless 
“ cullud pusson’s ” breakfast, if left'jcome- 
atable, and steal meat and bread equal to a 
starving thief.” 
3©“ We are not disposed to complain of 
small matters, but recently we have received 
a large number of letters making inquiries 
which we could only answer by letter, and 
in very many instances we have not only 
been left to write out replies, but also to pay 
postage. In such cases, no one, we think, 
can justly complain if we take our own time 
to answer them. We always think, howev¬ 
er, that a thing of this kind must have been 
the result of thoughtlessness, and generally 
stretch our charitable excuses to the amount 
of time, paper, envelops, and a postage 
stamp from our own pocket. 
Connecticut State Exhibition. —The 
second Annual Exhibition of the State Soci¬ 
ety will open at Hartford, on the 9th of Oc¬ 
tober, and continue four days. Some $7,000 
are offered in Premiums, and from several 
sources we learn that there is every prospect 
of a display of the first order. They have 
the right class of men engaged in the enter¬ 
prise, and with favorable weather there will 
be one of the largest gathering of visitors, 
and of agricultural and manufactured pro¬ 
ducts, ever witnessed in the State. We shall 
look especially for an interesting and varied 
exhibitionjof domestic manufactures, in which 
this preeminently “ Yankee State ” so great¬ 
ly abounds. 
Testing Eggs. —There is no difficulty what¬ 
ever in testing eggs. Take them into a 
room moderately dark, and hold them be¬ 
tween the eye and a candle or lamp. If the 
egg is good—that is, if the albumen is still 
unaffected—the light will shine through with 
a reddish glow, while if the egg is affected 
it will be opaque or dark. A very few trials 
will show any one the ease and simplicity 
of this method. I 11 Fulton and Washington 
markets a man may be seen testing eggs, at 
almost any time in the year. He has a tal¬ 
low candle placed under a counter or desk, 
and taking up the eggs, three in each hand, 
passes them rapidly before the candle, and 
deposits them in another box. His practiced 
eye quickly perceives the least want of clear¬ 
ness in the eggs, and suspicious ones are 
reexamined, and thrown away or passed to 
a “ doubtful ” box. The process is so rapid, 
that we have seen eggs inspected perfectly 
at the rate of one to two hundred per minute, 
or as fast as they could be shifted from one 
box to another, six at a time. 
Cattle from Texas. —On a recent visit to 
Lasalle, says the Chicago Press, we were 
informed that a gentleman resident there, 
named McCoy, formerly of Kenosha, with 
three or four other persons in that neighbor¬ 
hood, is concerned in driving cattle from 
Texas and Mexico, and that they now have 
20,000 on the way, which will probably ar¬ 
rive there within a few weeks. 
A bale of hay is 300 pounds ; 100 cubic 
feet in a solid mow of hay will weigh a tun. 
