28 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
he trundles the machine out into his field, 
and pushing it forward at a chosen speedj 
and opening the gate at the lower end of the 
barrel, the guano, in proper quantities and 
equally, is placed upon the ground and 
becomes mixed with the soil. 
3£gT A full supply of extra copies of the 
first and second numbers of this volume have 
been provided, so that we are able to 
furnish the volume complete to new sub¬ 
scribers coming in during this month. 
Errata.— The Printer would apologise for 
the appearance of an “ 0 ” instead of a “ G,” 
in the name of Prince George of Cambridge, 
so beautifully illustrated on page 33. 
The advertisement of Messrs. Parsons & 
Co., is worty of attention. Our residence 
near these nurseries gives us daily oppor¬ 
tunity for observing the great care exercised 
in selecting, labeling, taking up and packing 
for shipment, trees, vines and other plants, 
all of which are matter of great importance 
to purchasers. 
The office of the Agriculturist (on the sec¬ 
ond floor of 189 Water-street—entrance 
through No. 191) is open for the transaction 
of business from 8 A. M. to 5 P. M. Those 
wishing to see Mr. Judd especially, will do 
well to call between the hours of 10 A. M. 
and 3 P. M. on Thursdays, and Saturdays , as 
he generally spends Mondays and Fridays, 
at his residence in Flushing, or elsewhere in 
the country, and Tuesdays and Wednesdays 
at the Times office, and at the various mark¬ 
ets in the city. 
Canada Thistles. —Few of our farmers 
are perhaps aware that there is a law stand¬ 
ing on our statute books since 1844, impos¬ 
ing a penalty of $10 on any persons allowing 
this noxious weed to grow on their land or 
on any road adjoining the same. If the seed 
should mix with any other seed, and that 
seed is offered for sale, the penalty is $20.— 
So says the Ohio Capital Fact. 
A Hint on Packing Pork. —One of our 
workmen says that his “ boss,” in Ireland, 
was noted for putting up excellent pork; 
and that he always cut every part of the 
hog into small pieces, of from one to four 
pounds. In this way the meat was cured 
through better with a w r eaker brine than is 
generally used, and it was more convenient 
for use afterwards, as a piece of any size 
required could be easily obtained. 
Pickle for Hams. —Partaking of some ex¬ 
cellent ham a few days since, which was 
put up last fall—eleven months previous— we 
inquired as to the kind of pickle used, and 
learned that they were put into a brine made 
by boiling together 18 lbs. of the best coarse 
salt, half a pound of saleratus, and nearly 
one-fourth pound of saltpetre, with water 
enough to fill up the barrel after packing in 
the hams. The boiling is continued but a 
short time, or till most of the scum has 
risen, which is skimmed off. The brine is 
allowed to become perfectly cold before 
using. 
AGRICULTU RAL EX HIBITIONS. 
We have received a large number of let¬ 
ters of invitation, complimentary tickets, 
&c., from the officers of State and County 
agricultural societies—enough to have occu¬ 
pied us for a year had we attended all seri¬ 
atim. A number of societies have also hon¬ 
ored us with a request to deliver their an¬ 
nual addresses. Where practicable we have 
replied to these letters and requests privately, 
but not having been able to do this promptly 
in all cases, w e take this general methed of 
tendering our grateful acknowledgements 
for the kindness and consideration thus 
shown. We can but hope that another ex¬ 
hibition season will find us less confined by 
office and editorial duties, so that we may 
personally respond to a greater number of 
such calls, and greet our friends face to face 
at there interesting annual festivals. 
As stated in our last issue, we do not deem 
it advisable to occupy much space in the 
monthly issue with reports of exhibitions, 
which necessarily possess in each case only 
a local interest. Some twenty or more cor¬ 
respondents will please accept this as an ex¬ 
planation for the non-appearance of their 
full reports so kindly forwarded. Those who 
have the Weekly Times, will there find ex¬ 
tended accounts of some of the more impor¬ 
tant of these exhibitions. 
For the American Agriculturist. 
GOVERNMENT AND AGRICULTURE. 
I claim no right to dictate to you, but if 
all the agricultural journals of the country 
would demand of Congress the establish¬ 
ment of an Agricultural Bureau, with an 
experimental farm in each State, and appeal 
to their subscribers to exact such a pledge 
from their members to Congress, might we 
not hope for something from that quarter at 
no distant day. More of the substantials 
and less of politics, or political maneuver- 
ings, would be better for the country. Farm¬ 
ers who plant nothing but flowers and thorns 
are apt to sleep hungry, and a government 
that talks and fights only must get bread from 
some other country. L. S. G. 
Our correspondent is quite right in think¬ 
ing that agriculture should claim that degree 
of attention from a government, which the 
magnitude of its interests as compared with 
those of any other occupation would imply, 
and we have not been backward in holding 
up this subject for many years past. But 
we are less hopeful of immediate results 
than formerly. The fault is with farmers 
themselves. They have the power in their 
own hands, but how few of them make any 
use of that power. When a candidate for 
their suffrages appears, how few will make 
the least inquiry as to his fitness and capa¬ 
bility to represent the real interests of his 
constituents. It is deemed more important 
to know what party he claims to belong to. 
In several European countries—in France 
especially—the Department of Agriculture 
is one of the most important branches of the 
government. Witness the action of the 
French government at the present season. 
No sooner is there found to be a deficiency in 
agricultural products than the whole govern¬ 
ment is alive to the subject, and notwithstand¬ 
ing the magnitude of the war now being car¬ 
ried on, the first attention is bestowed upon 
providing for the agricultural condition of the 
country. How great a surplus or deficiency 
of crops would be required to awaken the 
least at-tention on the part of the powers 
that be at Washington. 
In the recent great trial of agricultural 
implements at Paris, the highest officers of 
state assisted in the preparations for the ex¬ 
hibition, and were present, taking the most 
active part in the proceedings of the occa¬ 
sion. What attention would such an exhi¬ 
bition in this country receive from our civil 
authorities? Let the political harangues at 
the State Agricultural Exhibitions the present 
season be the answer. 
It is high time that a strong concerted 
movement be made by all the farmers in the 
country to demand an Agricultural Bureau— 
a board of capable officers, who should be 
especially devoted to developing the agricul¬ 
tural resources of our widely extended and 
varied soil and climate. We want men who 
shall be to agriculture what Lieut. Maury is 
to the navigation of the country. It is a 
deep shame, a disgrace to our government— 
to the farmers who choose the officers form¬ 
ing that government—that the whole subject 
of agriculture remains lacked upon the 
Patent Office, as an insignificant matter, to be 
disposed of in the easiest manner possible. 
Our October Issue. —We were so occu¬ 
pied with other duties, and so hurried for 
time, in getting out the first number of this 
volume, that we were really afraid our future 
credit would be injured by what we consid¬ 
ered its inferior character; but a very large 
number of our subscrbers in writing on other 
matters have been pleased to speak of it in 
very flattertng terms. Our Waterloo corre¬ 
spondent, upon whose opinion we always 
place a high value, says : 
* * * “ Your October number is one 
of the best of the series; ‘ Improving old 
Meadows ’ is to the life, as the Quakers say; 
‘Farming in Berkshire’ shows that the farm¬ 
ers there, as in our poor pastural Otsego, are 
alive to the importance of a little patch of 
wheat for their own support. The ‘ Route 
through Canada to Lake Huron and Wiscon¬ 
sin ’ is truly interesting; methinks that the 
‘ red cedar ’ noticed was only the sparsely 
distributed specimens along the cliffs by the 
lake ; while the white cedar of the swamps 
{Thuya occidentalis) was very common.” * * 
A Curiosity. —The Homestead states that 
there is, on the farm of C. E. Alsop, in Mid¬ 
dletown, Conn., a curious freak of nature in 
the shape of a tree, ft stands among a num¬ 
ber of sugar maples, has a trunk some three 
feet in diameter, and to a casual observer 
presents nothing worthy of special notice. 
But on closer inspection it is discovered that 
one side of the tree is sugar maple and the 
other white oak. The body of the tree is 
round and smooth, and the junction of the 
two varieties is marked by a slight ridge in 
the bark, which would hardly be noticed 
