AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
5 
For the American Agriculturist. 
ANIMAL INSTINCT. 
THE BEST RECIPE IN THE WORLD FOR RAISINS 
SHEEP. 
I am not prepared to say that farmer’s cats 
and dogs have any more intelligence than the 
wayward and wandering pussies and curs that 
grow up in town; but as I happen to know of 
one or two remarkable cases of cuteness, I pro¬ 
pose to relate them. 
I saw a cat that would and did open a door 
that was latched, by jumping up to the latch 
and holding fast with one paw, while with the 
other it opened the door; and it made no dif¬ 
ference on which side of the door she was, she 
would open it. 
I knew of a farmer’s dog that had a remark¬ 
able intelligent look in the face. The farmer 
had a son that lived about fifteen miles off. 
This son took the dog to his house to keep, but 
the next day it was back home. Some time 
after he thought he would try it again; and re¬ 
marked in the dog’s hearing, that he would take 
Juno again and one of her pups also. So when 
he was ready to start, the dog was no where to 
be found, and he was obliged to go without it. 
In the evening one of the neighbors called in to 
say that Juno brought her pups up there about 
noon, and snugly stowed them away in the barn. 
Sheep raising in New-Jersey is at a very low 
ebb, in consequence of the laws failing to pro¬ 
tect the sheep-growers from the depredations 
of the dog. One of the best jobs I ever heard 
of, was by a farmer who was building a stone 
wall. He was very much troubled with his 
neighbor’s dogs killing his sheep. So to avoid 
a quarrel, he quietly killed one after another, 
and buried them as he went along under his 
stone wall. Great was the inquiry what be¬ 
came of the dogs, but nothing was ever heard 
from them. And so would I recommend to 
every one so troubled. Use one part strychnine 
to two parts pounded glass, throw it where the 
dogs may find it, and yon will witness a marked 
improvement in the growing of sheep. 
Jerome Thorne. 
Salem , N . J ., Sept . 1, 1854. 
— — * * •- 
For the American Agriculturist. 
THE POTATO CROP. 
The farmers are beginning to dig their pota¬ 
toes, having learned in past years, the impor¬ 
tance of storing the crop early. From all quar¬ 
ters in Eastern Connecticut, I hear favorable 
accounts. The rot has not made its appearance, 
the yield is respectable as to quantity, and the 
quality is first-rate. This crop will probably 
make up any deficiency of the corn crop, which 
is far from being a failure. The oat crop is 
good, and the market price has started at fifty- 
five cents. Farmers in this region, will do 
about as well as last year. C. 
Stonington, Ct. 
The Game Breeder’s Ideas of the Sitter’s 
Influence. —A Fancier of game fowls, and one 
who has fought many mains, informs me that he 
considers it all important, in breeding for the pit, 
to set a hen on her own eggs, or that they 
should be hatched under hens of the same 
breed. The argument used is that, inasmuch as 
the egg is porous, and the chick could not be 
hatched if the pores were closed with grease or 
other material, it necessarily absorbs with the 
heat of the hen some portion of her moisture, 
or nature, as he terms it; and that he has fre¬ 
quently had game cocks hatched under hens of 
other breeds, and though they were plucky and 
fought well a game or two, yet they invariably 
in the long run, showed the white feather and 
bolted, which he rarely knew a thorough-bred 
bird to do. If my informant’s notions are cor¬ 
rect, it behoves those who wish to breed first- 
class birds of any breed to attend to this sug¬ 
gestion, as it is equally probable that the form 
or feather may be affected if the natural habits 
of the bird are changed. 
SHARP CATTLE TRADING. 
Island Ridge, S. C. 
There lived, a few years since, among the 
“Piney Woods,” not far from here, a fellow 
whom we will call C-, who thought he 
knew something about making a bargain, and 
other people had good reasons to think so, too. 
By his “ cuteness," C- had accumulated a 
considerable estate, and among other things 
owned a large stock of cattle. There being a 
sudden demand for cattle in a town not far off, 
a sharp fellow of a butcher, named A-, rode 
post from the city to buy some of C ’s cat¬ 
tle, and C-, ignorant of the rise in cattle, 
soon agreed to sell A--an hundred head at 
$9, round. The bargain had not been made a 
couple of hours, before another butcher rode 
up to buy C-’s cattle, also, and G-, dis¬ 
covering the rise, felt he was “ sold,” but at the 
same time, that he wasn't yet delivered. 
A-soon after learned that C-had a 
sister, who also had cattle for sale, and C-, 
bargaining for his sister, sold A-whatever 
cattle she might have, at $12, round. The next 
day, at daylight, off went the parties to drive 
up the cattle, but nearly every cow and steer 
they found belonged to C-’s sister. Over 
and over again C- would say, “ Ah! yonder 
is some. Them must be mine. My! sister’s 
agin." And strange to say, though the neighbors 
had thought before that C- had a great 
many cattle, and “ sister” very few, yet a hundred 
head were found belonging to C-’s sister, and 
the day’s search could produce only five or six 
that belonged to C-. And A- paid $12 
a head for sister's cattle, and $9 a head for 
0 -’s, and drove away to his slaughter-pen. 
But A-himself has a reputation at a 
trade, and five or six months after the “ sale” 
of cattle, rode up into C-’s neighborhood on 
a very showy horse, and met C- by accident. 
“ G-o-o-d m-o-r-n-i-n-g, S-i-r,” said C-. 
“ How are you ?” The butcher returned the 
compliments, and very soon C-, who had 
been eyeing the horse, even before his very 
hearty salutation of the rider, asked, carelessly, 
if the horse was gentle. “ As a lamb,” said 
A-. “Draws, eh ?” said C-. “Well, 
he does,” replied A-, “family horse. Want 
to buy ?” “ Don’t care if I do,” said C-, 
“ what will you take for him ?” “ Two seventy- 
five,” said A-, “ cheap at that.” After con¬ 
siderable bargaining, C- found that A- 
would not fall a dollar, and as the horse was a 
dead match for one he owned, and he wanted a 
horse immediately for steady work, C-told 
A-he would take him if A-would drive 
him in a buggy. A-is a bold man, and be¬ 
lieves in luck, so he put the horse in a buggy, 
and that time the horse did draw gently. The 
two seventy-five and the horse changed hands, 
and the first time C-put the horse to his 
steady work, the wagon went to pieces, the 
match horse got killed, and the late purchase 
went through the woods at the rate of-, 
with bits of harness on him. 
Shortly after this, C-and A - met at 
camp meeting. “ Mr. A-,” said C-, 
with virtuous indignation, “how could you sell 
me your infernal horse?” “ My infernal horse ?” 
said A-•. “’Twasn’t mine — ’twas my sis¬ 
ter's." — Spirit of the Times.. 
-- 
Dogs Among Sheep.—O n Saturday night the 
26th ult., three hounds belonging to Mr. Henry 
High, of Hampshire county, got into a flock of 
one hundred and ten sheep, of Mr. Frederick S. 
High’s, near Purgitsville, in that county, and 
killed and crippled forty of them, with no hope 
of any of the crippled ones recovering. Those 
injured were fine Merino ewes, worth from $2 
to $4 per head. 
A Curiosity. —We were yesterday shown a 
wild duck with four legs and double breasted. 
The bird is a hermaphrodite, and is exceedingly 
large and fat. It is in possession of Mr. Henry 
Dunn, at No, 4 Water street,— Boston Times. 
TOMATO FIGS. 
We have seen and tasted those delightful figs 
referred to in the following article from Hovey’s 
excellent Horticultural Magazine; and endorse 
all which he says in their favor. We hope that 
those who raise abundance of tomatoes will save 
this recipe, and try the experiment, if only on 
a small scale. 
Recipe for Tomato Figs. —Pour boiling water 
over the tomatoes, in order to remove the skin; 
then weigh them and place them in a stone jar, 
with as much sugar as you have tomatoes, and 
let them stand two days; then pour off the 
syrup, and boil and skin it until no scum rises. 
Then pour it over the tomatoes, and let them 
stand two days as before; then boil and skim 
again. After the third time they are fit to dry 
if the weather is good ; if not, let them stand 
in the syrup until ^drying weather. Then place 
on large earthen plates or dishes, and put them 
in the sun to dry, which will take about a week, 
after which pack them down in small wooden 
boxes, with fine white sugar between every 
layer. Tomatoes prepared in this manner will 
keep for years. 
A few apples cut up and boiled in the re¬ 
mainder of this syrup make a very nice sauce. — 
Mrs. Eliza Marsh. 
It is only necessary for us to add, that the 
Committee of the Massachusetts Horticultural 
Society awarded Mrs. Marsh the Society’s Silver 
Medal for excellent specimens exhibited Novem¬ 
ber 29. They were tested by the Committee, 
and pronounced to be superior to any they had 
ever seen. They were put up in small boxes, 
and to our taste were far better than two-thirds 
of what are sold in our market for the best 
Smyrna figs.— Horticultural Magazine. 
- • -— 
Green Corn Pudding.— This is one of the 
numerous rural luxuries which the farmer has 
always the power to obtain at small expense, 
The following is the recipe for making it: 
Take of green corn, full in the milk, twelve 
ears, and grate it. To this add one quart of 
sweet milk, one fourth of a pound of fresh but¬ 
ter, four eggs, well beaten, pepper and salt as 
much as may be deemed necessary; stir the in¬ 
gredients well together, and bake in a buttered 
dish. Some add to the .other ingredients a 
quarter pound of fine sugar, and eat with sauce. 
It is an excellent dish, cold or warm, with meat 
or sauce ; but eqicures of the most “ exquisite 
taste” declare for it, we believe, and with the 
first service. 
Batter Pudding without Eggs. —Mix six 
tea-spoonfuls of flour with a little milk, a tea¬ 
spoonful of salt, two tea-spoonfuls of beaten 
ginger, and two of the tincture of saffron. Mix 
it with nearly a quart of milk, and boil it an 
hour.— Hammond. 
Suet keeps good all the year round if chop- 
ged and packed in a stone jar and covered by 
molasses. 
Rice Jelly. —Put a tea-cupful of rice into 
half a pint of cold water. When the rice 
cracks, or begins to look white, add a pint of 
milk, and a quarter of a pound of sugar. Boil 
it until the rice is thoroughly dissolved, and 
flavor with lemon, cinnamon, &c., to suit the 
taste. Put it into a mould, or into tea-cups, and 
turn out when cold. Loaf sugar makes the 
most elegant and wholesome dish at any time. 
Oyster Corn Cakes. —A correspondent of 
the Germantown Telegraph, after several years’ 
experience, gives the following recipe : To one 
quart of green corn, rasped with a coarse grater, 
add two teacups full of new milk and one of 
flour—mix well together, and add two eggs 
well beat up; season with salt and pepper, and 
bake upon a griddle. 
Sweet-Apple Pudding. —Take one pint of 
scalded milk, half a pint of Indian meal, a tea¬ 
spoonful of salt, and six sweet apples cut into 
small pieces, and bake not less than three hours. 
The apples will afford an excellent, rich jelly. 
