AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
325 
Highly Important 
AGRICULTURAL 
Intelligeno© 
By Magnetic Telegraph. 
SPECIAL DISPATCH 
TO THE 
American Agriculturist. 
INTERESTING (?) TO 
ALL FARMERS AND AGRICULTURISTS. 
Boston, Mass., Friday Evening, Oct. 24, 1856. 
The Agricultural (?) Exhibition is going on finely. The 
best races in the country on hand. Side scenes specially 
interesting. 
At 3 o’clock a grand trial between Ethan Allen and 
Hiram Drew, to wagons, took place, best three in five. 
Ethan Allen won the premium of $1,000, making the first 
heat in 2:40 and the second in 2:321. Hiram Drew be¬ 
haved badly in both heats, breaking frequently, and was 
withdrawn after the second heat. Ethan Allen was then 
put round the course on time, and came in in 2:35. 
A TRIAL 0E THE SORGHUM. 
To the Editor of the American Agriculturist. 
I have just read the hints to the farmers 
about sending their experience to the Agri¬ 
culturist, and suiting the action to the word, 
I proceed to give my experience in the cul¬ 
tivation of Chinese Sugar cane. I sowed 
half an ounce of seed last spring, and gave it 
a good chance to grow and do its best. My 
object in trying the experiment was to raise 
it for green fodder for cows, but they invaria¬ 
bly refuse to eat more than the leaves, al¬ 
though I have tried them at different stages 
of its growth for months past. 
About a week ago we pressed out 50 canes 
and obtained about a pailful of juice. From 
this we obtained more than half a gallon 
of thick syrup of a sweet but not very pleas¬ 
ant taste. While boiling it emitted a very 
offensive odor, not unlike the rancid oily 
smell we sometimes observe in woolen 
manufactures. The outside covering of the 
stalk is too much like the cane or bamboo, for 
cattle to relish it much. It grows about 
twelve feet in hight, and when cut early it 
sprouts again like the cane of the south. I 
would like to hear the experience of others. 
My opinion is that there is not sugar enough 
contained in the juice to pay for the labor 
and fuel in boiling it. I. H. 
North Hempstead, L. I., October 5, 1856. 
WINTERING SHEEP. 
With proper management, sheep are quite 
profitable stock to keep on a farm. In the 
summer season they feed where other stock 
would hardly live. On a summer fallow, 
they are decidedly an advantage to the farm¬ 
er, by keeping the weeds and grass down, 
and thus putting to use what would other¬ 
wise be worthless. Sheep, however, should 
not be kept poor, for it is a fact known to 
every one that a small flock, well kept, is 
more profitable than a large flock poorly 
kept. 
Wheat straw is excellent feed for sheep 
if it is cut early and properly cured. It 
should be foddered out regularly and enough, 
so that they can pick out the heads and such 
parts as they like, without being forced to 
eat the coarse straw. It is a good plan to 
sprinkle strong brine on the straw once or 
more each week ; the sheep will eat it more 
readily. Bean straw, pea straw and buck¬ 
wheat straw are first rate ; if not threshed 
quite clean, all the better. They will eat 
most kinds of weeds, when cured with hay, 
and will be picked out in preference. With¬ 
out much labor farmers could gather a good 
deal of feed for sheep in the course of the 
summer season, by cutting weeds and cur¬ 
ing them for hay. Good clover is without 
doubt the best feed for sheep, it comes near¬ 
est to grass of any kind of fodder, and sheep 
should be fed with it, in the spring when 
they need the best, especially ewes with 
lambs; and it is also necessary to shelter 
them from cold storms. 
EDITOR'S EARM NOTES. 
OR GLEANINGS AMONG PRACTICAL MEN. 
Hon. Jas. A. Bill's Farm at Lyme , Ct .— 
Farm Buildings—Ice Houses — Fences — Un¬ 
der- draining,—Planting Corn late, c]c. 
Everyone who has sailed up the Connec¬ 
ticut River, has noticed the high rocky banks 
near the mouth along the east shore, and the 
picturesque country that lies beyond. Tt 
was among these rounded hills, strown with 
boulders, or bare in spots with the outcrop¬ 
ping granite ledge, that our business as 
chairman of a committee to examine farms 
in New-London County, Ct., led us. North 
Lyme, is a good sample of a Conecticut agri¬ 
cultural parish. Its soil is of that rugged 
granitic character which requires frequent 
stirring, deep plowing, and draining to make 
it highly productive ; methods which the 
fathers did not believe in, and which the 
sons are only beginning to learn. Of course 
such farms under the old regime did not 
yield a very bountiful support to those who 
wrought them, and the sons were forced into 
other callings as fast as they grew up. The 
parish has probably added nothing to its 
population for forty years, and perhaps has 
decreased in population, wealth, and influ¬ 
ence. While the young men of the south 
parish have taken to the sea, and become 
celebrated in the commerce of the country 
as merchants, and captains, the young men 
of the north part of the town have taken to 
book agencies, and become well known as 
publishers. This has been a profitable bus¬ 
iness as they have followed it, and some 
have gained a competence in its pursuit. Mr. 
Bill, has been engaged in this business for 
some twenty years ; and, yet a young man, 
has returned to the hill on which he was 
born, to cultivate its soil, to make its rough 
places smooth, its wet places dry, to drain 
its marshes, and to illustrate in his practice 
the economy of a generous outlay of capital 
upon farm improvements. 
The farm upon which he has established 
himself is upon “Bill Hill,” and lies adjacent 
to the old homestead, on which his father 
still lives. It consists of about 150 acres, 
which he purchased some seven years ago. 
This farm previous to its purchase had been 
rented for some thirty years, and of course 
was badly run down. The fences were in 
a dilapidated condition and fringed with 
briars and brush. The pastures were grown 
over with bushes, and the swamps filled with 
alders, and coarse weeds. The buildings 
were decayed, and every thing was in about 
as bad condition as it could be. So miser¬ 
able were the returns from this farm while 
in this condition, that it rented for but fifty 
dollars, which shows that the capital brought 
but a trifle over three per cent under the 
old system of skinning the soil.* 
FARM BUILDINGS. 
New buildings were to be put up imme¬ 
diately as the basis of other improvements. 
The soil is naturally moist and springy, and 
in digging the cellar of the house it was ne¬ 
cessary to cement the sides and bottom, in 
order to keep the water out. The cementing 
was done in the most thorough manner, and 
repeated several times, but without stop¬ 
ping the water. There was no remedy for 
this evil, until a drain was dug through the 
rock, to lead off the surplus water. Mr. 
Bill has come to the conclusion, that how¬ 
ever valuable cement may be to keep water 
within a stone wall, it is not available to 
keep water out of such a wall. This exper¬ 
iment is worthy of notice by those who are 
building a cellar in springy soil. A dry cel¬ 
lar can only be had by drainage. The build¬ 
ings lie upon the four sides of a square, the 
house in front, the ell and ice-house upon 
the right, the horse barn and carriage house 
upon the rear, the crib, stye, and barn upon 
the left. These, with two or three field barns 
for sheep and young cattle, constitute the 
buildings, and are kept insured for six thou¬ 
sand dollars. They cost much more. They 
are convenient, substantial, and are built 
much more for use than for show. The 
corn crib and swill-making apparatus, are 
over the piggery, and arranged so as to 
give the feed immediately from the swill 
room. This saves a great deal of time and 
labor in the course of a year. It would be 
interesting for those who have their pig- 
styes forty rods from the swill room, to es¬ 
timate the amount of travel it takes to feed 
swine three times each day, for a year. In 
the old style of husbandry time and labor 
were the last articles a farmer thought of 
saving. They were always on hand and 
cheap. The barn of course has a cellar, 
the whole size of the building, and only 
needs sheds upon the walls of the yard to 
make it complete for saving the manure. 
As it is, there must be some loss of ammo¬ 
nia from the sun and rains. We were glad 
to find 
,* The Geology of tins region may lie interesting- to 
some. The farm is nearly a mile from the river, and lies near 
the dividing line of two varieties of rock. The rock of the 
whole town belongs to the Eastern Primary formation. It is 
classified as granitic gneiss by Percival, and has several subdi¬ 
visions. The rock of the South-east part of this Hill which we 
more particular examined is characterised by a predominance o A * 
reddish felspar. It includes not unfrequently, paralell beds of 
a fine grained, uniform red felspatic rock, with little appear¬ 
ance of paralellism in its structure, and also beds or veins of a 
coarse red felspar granite. Immediately west of this range and 
extending to the river is another in which the rock is dark mica 
seamed. Sub-granitic gneiss, occasionally sub-hornblendic. 
Beds of coarse white granite are frequently found and sometimes 
these have a distinctly porphyritic structure. The qualitifyof 
the rock in both divisions indicates a good supply of potash in 
the soil. The whole region is deficient in lime ; and this, in the 
shape of burnt oyster shells from Fair Haven, is probably one 
of the cheapest mineral amendments this farm admits of. The 
soil is of that character which will be immediately benefitted 
by.deep and thorough tillage. 
