13i 
A M E K1C A JS 1 A Git IC U|L T U BIS Ti. 
(Scotch being li English) may be grown 
upon one acre of land ; it may also be easily 
tried by any one very desirous to know, by 
getting from me, Mr. Kennedy, or Mr. Tel¬ 
ler, as much seed as will answer his experi¬ 
mental purpose for one acre, 4 bushels being 
the quantity. 
Many other experiments have been made, 
too numerous to require you to insert, but 
one bearing particularly ought to be men¬ 
tioned—it was how much land could 4 horses 
dear in 24 hours, running loose in a yard, 
without any other food and fed to the full. 
They cleared 7 yards by 51; a piece of land 
just under 5 acres, kept from 70 to 100 
horses in rack-meat, during the spring and 
summer months, some of them eating four 
feeds of oats per day, and some no oats at 
all. 
I have now sat down 90 miles from all my 
advantages, upon the poor land of the New 
Forest, to use up the remnants of my mind 
and body in agricultural pursuits. I shall 
make many blunders, but shall relinquish 
and correct them when I find them—shall, 
with the Divine blessing, endeavor to show 
that my Italian rye-grass can be grown as 
successfully upon the light land here, as it 
was upon the stiff clay of the London basin. 
It will be a great pleasure to me to find, 
while a pilgrim in this world, that my plant 
is grown, and my system adopted over the 
whole of my country with satisfaction and 
profit. In order to assist it, I shall publish 
a pamphlet of instruction with as little delay 
as possible, with instructions to carry it out 
at the cost of as few pence as possible, and 
place it in the hands of a vender, the profit 
of which, if any, will be applied to the sol¬ 
diers’ and sailors’ orphan fund. 
WILLIAM DICKINSON. 
New Pahk, Lymington, Hants, Oct. la, 1854 
A CURIOUS STRUCTURE. 
The nest of a tarantula (spider) has been 
found in California, of most singular con¬ 
struction. It is about three inches In length, 
by two in diameter, the walls being nearly 
half an inch thick. Inside is a projection, 
which nearly divides it into two apartments 
about an inch in diameter. The inside is 
lined with a white downy substance, not 
unlike velvet, and presents one of the clean¬ 
est and most, tidy little households imagina¬ 
ble. But the most curious part of it is a door, 
which fits into an aperture and closes it her¬ 
metically. The door is secured by a hinge, 
formed of the same fibrous substance as the 
lining of the house, and upon which it swings 
with freedom. The nest is occupied by a 
dozen little tarantulas, which seem to subsist 
upon a yellow secreted substance that ap¬ 
pears upon the wall of the front apartment. 
The arrangement of the door for the prptec- 
tion of the little inmates indicates great in¬ 
stinctive architectural knowledge. It is the 
intention of the finder to forward thiscuriosi- 
t yto the Smithsonian Institute at Washing¬ 
ton. [Youths’ Penny Gazette. 
LARGE OR SMALL SEED POTATOES. 
By an experiment carefully conducted at 
the North-American Phalanx, in Monmouth 
County, N. J., the following interesting re¬ 
sults were obtained : 
1. Large whole seed, 29 lbs. 14 oz., pro¬ 
duced 174 lbs. 
2. Large potatoes cut in halves, 15 lbs. 15 
oz., produced 124 lbs. 
3. Large potatoes cut in quarters, 7 lbs., 
produced 98 lbs. 
4. Medium potatoes, whole, 19 lbs. 3 oz., 
produced 146 lbs. 
5. Medium potatoes cut in halves, 9 lbs. 6 
oz., produced 88| lbs. 
6. Medium potatoes cut in quarters, 4 lbs., 
produced 67 lbs. 
7. Small potatoes, whole, 9t lbs., pro¬ 
duced 117 lbs. 
8. Small potatoes cut in halves, 6 lbs., 
produced 84 lbs. 
The percentage of small potatoes to the 
seed used was greatest on the quartered large 
potatoes. 
The following figures indicate the value of 
marketable potatoes, at 50 cents per bushel, 
on an acre for each sort as above : 
1.$111 66 
2 . 78 33 
3 . 61 66 
4 . 94 66 
5 .i#>5b 33 
6 . 43 33 
7 . 73 00 
8 . 53 33 
Repetitions of the experiment have all 
been in favor of the large uncut potatoes for 
seed. [N. Y r . Tribune. 
GOVERNOR H0PPIN (OF R. I) AT THE CON 
NECTICUT SHOW. 
In our recent report of the Connecticut 
State Show, we alluded to the address of 
Governor Hoppin, and promise;! a synopsis 
of it, which we give below. It will be 
found interesting. Gov. Hoppin said : 
Mr. President and gentlemen of the Con¬ 
necticut State Agricultural Society : I have 
appeared before you to-day by invitation of 
your committee of arrangements, under cir¬ 
cumstances of much embarrasment. The 
invitation to speak here was given to me last 
evening, while laboring under serious indis¬ 
position. I felt unwilling at that time to 
commit myself by giving an affirmative an¬ 
swer. I came to see—I came to listen and 
to be instructed, but I did not come to speak. 
This is not the only time that men have suf¬ 
fered by being caught in good company. I 
think for one that it would be a good plan 
for every man who holds an official position, 
and who is intending to leave home, to go 
prepared for such occasions, and to arm 
himself with speeches appropriate to public 
gatherings of various kinds. 
Last evening I attended a Pomological 
Festival. It was the first I ever attended, 
and I was much pleased with it. While I 
was there I heard many hard names called 
over—some French names and some English 
names. There were New-Haven seedlings, 
and a great many others ; but there were no 
Rhode-Island seedlings among them. I felt 
a little uncomfortable that my own State 
was not represented. But when I am here, 
and looking over this audience, I find that 
here there is a Rhode Island seedling. I am 
glad to see my State represented in the per¬ 
son of Henry A. Dyer, a Rhode-Island man, 
whose efforts in behalf of your Society have 
contributed to the brilliant success of this 
exhibition. 
But not only on this ground do I claim a 
right to come before a Connecticut, audience. 
I had once a relative—now no more—a dear¬ 
ly loved relative, -who was a Connecticut 
farmer. He had a large farm and was an 
experienced farmer. Many here knew him 
personally and can testify to his worth. 
This makes me feel more at home. But be¬ 
side all this, I myself have lived for the 
greater portion of my life in Connecticut. 
As a boy I have played beneath these elms, 
I have studied at your schools, I have gradu¬ 
ated at your college. Here I commenced 
my professional career, and I may say, here 
I made the first and only good effort of my 
life at the bar. But I have still another 
right to appear before you. I married a 
Connecticut lady. [Laughter and applause.] 
That I may say was the crowning act of my 
life. [Renewed applause.] But I do not stop 
here. My good mother, whose ashes now 
rest in my own native State, and whose mem¬ 
ory is dearer to me than the sunlight, wao 
born upon Connecticut soil. These are my 
claims ; and I ask, have I not established my 
right to appear before a Connecticut audi¬ 
ence 1 
I have a deep interest in this Society from 
other causes. I attended recently an agri¬ 
cultural exhibition in Lawrence, Massachu¬ 
setts. It was a noble display. I went there 
to see the big men and the big cattle. I was 
not disappointed. 1 come here to draw a 
parallel—not an invidious one, I hope—be¬ 
tween that exhibition and this. Have you 
ever passed through Massachusetts I Have 
you ever visited her villages and noticed the 
state of agriculture I There is more done 
there in the way of agriculture than in any 
other State in the Union. The State shows 
it. The cattle show it—the men show it— 
the women show it. By nature their soli is 
poor, as poor as any other in the Union. It 
is far inferior to the soil of Connecticut 
Now, in Massachusetts, all the great men 
take an interest in the state of agriculture. 
By great men, I mean the influential men, 
the wealthy and distinguished men. Why, 
in Lawrence, the other day, the gentleman 
who gave the address is reported to be worth 
a million dollars. His address, though ex¬ 
cellent, was none the better for his wealth. 
I presume it was no better an address than 
will be given to-day by Gov. Dutton, who, I 
understand, is not worth half the money. 
[Laughter.] But I wish to say that when 
this cause is advocated by men of wealth, it 
must be good ; not that wealth can give dig¬ 
nity to so noble a pursuit, but because it can 
bring to it and purchase for it innumerable 
needed facilities—because agriculture can 
ennoble wealth—and because, when the two 
shake hands, much of the prejudice that has 
existed in former times, to the injury of hon¬ 
est labor, is forever broken down. 
In Rhode-Island, though we are a small 
State, we have done something according to 
our means. In every other department we 
are second to none. As was said the other 
day in an address, [by Rev. Wm. Clift of the 
American Agriculturist,} which I had the plea¬ 
sure of perusing, poor as portions of our sea¬ 
board soil are, there is a greater wealth in the 
State—in the soil and upon it—than in all 
the gold mines of California. I might say 
that there is, in truth, no such thing as poor 
land—that all land is good or bad as it is cul¬ 
tivated or neglected. But I prefer to say 
that, beside our valleys and hill sides and 
streams—beside many well cultivated farms 
and busy manufactories and work shops— 
we have, like Connecticut,men and women, 
of whom any State might be proud. A few 
years ago, Mr. President, it was the boast of 
Connecticut that she sent school-masters to 
Rhode-Island. Now, sir, we have school¬ 
masters among our exports. We send them 
to other and newer States, and could send 
them to Connecticut, if she needed them. 
We have lately furnished Massachusetts 
with a Governor, and Boston with a 
Superintendent of Public Schools. Our 
University boasts, also, of having educated 
the lately elected Senator from that State. 
Indeed, sir, as I remarked but a moment 
since, our wealth is in our people ; and this 
wealth we prize above the precious ores of 
the East or the West. 
But what, continued Gov. H., shall I say 
about Connecticut. We know what Con¬ 
necticut can do. Look at her, with such a 
soil, such a climate, such a people, such re¬ 
sources, such ingenuity. And you have 
money in your treasury—more than you 
ought to have. That belongs to the people, 
and should be appropriated for them. How 
can it be so well appropriated as to promote 
the cause of agriculture 1 
Gov. H. alluded at some length to the dig¬ 
nity of the farmer’s pursuit, and the import- 
