AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
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AGRICULTURE IS THE MOST HEALTHY, THE MOST USEFUL, AND THE MOST NOBLE EMPLOYMENT OF MAN. _WASHINGTON. 
ORANGE JUDD, A. M., ) 
CONDUCTING EDITOR. j 
Published Weekly by Allen &Co., No. 189 Water-st. 
UNDER THE JOINT EDITORIAL SUPERVISION OF 
A. B. ALLEN & ORANGE JUDD. 
VOL. XIII.—NO. 21.] 
NEW-YORK, WEDNESDAY, JAN. 31, 1855. 
[NEW SERIES.— NO. 73. 
Jar prospectus, (Hernis, $zt., 
EsF SEE LAST PAGE.-g=l 
S@“ Every one writing to the Editors or 
Publishers of this journal will please read 
“ Special Notices ,” on last page. 
NEW-JERSEY STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
On Thursday of last week a large num¬ 
ber of persons from different parts of New- 
Jersey assembled at Trenton, to organize a 
State Agricultural Society. Every County 
but two was represented. The meeting was 
an enthusiastic one, and the proceedings, 
with few exceptions, quite harmonious. 
A constitution was presented, which was 
adopted after reference to a committe of one 
from each county represented and a discus¬ 
sion and amendments in the general meet¬ 
ing. 
The following officers were chosen under 
the Constitution: 
President—Chas. S. Olden, of Mercer. 
Vice Presidents—1st Congressional Dis¬ 
trict, John R. Sickler, of Gloucester ; lid, 
Lewis Peryne, of Mercer ; Hid, Jas. Camp¬ 
bell, of Somerset; IVth, Aaron Robinson, of 
Morris; Vth, Chas. M. Saxton, of Essex. 
Corresponding Secretary—J. Hatfield Fra¬ 
zer, of Somerset. 
Recording Secretary—F. P. Autin, of Mer¬ 
cer. 
Treasurer—John S. Chambers. 
GENERAL COMMITTEE. 
Joseph Thompson, of Atlantic ; Wm. Par¬ 
ry, Geo. B. Deacon, Sam’l A. Dawdy, Thos. 
Hancock, and Barqjay White, of Burlington ; 
B. W. Cooper, Edward Bettle, Chalkey Al¬ 
bertson, of Camden; Richard C. Holmes, of 
Cape May; Thomas Flannagan, John T. 
Nixon, of Cumberland ; C. S. Haines, Geo. 
Hartshorne, J. W. Hays, J. C. Blake, F. B. 
Chetwood, Joseph Cross, Henry Meeker, J. 
Hane, Wm. Reed, of Essex ; Chas. Reeve, 
Thomas H. Whitney, of Gloucester; Abijah 
Hendrickson, Isaac Pullen, James Vande- 
venter, of Mercer; Samuel E. Stelle, James 
Buckalew, John B. Edgar, John A. Poole, 
of Middlesex; David Forman, James S. Law¬ 
rence, Wm. H. Hendrickson, Joel Parker, of 
Monmouth; Nathaniel Bonnell, Henry Hill¬ 
iard, J. J. Schofield, Jonathan Valentine, 
of Morris; Edward Woodward, of Ocean; 
Thomas Shourds, David Petit, of Salem; 
Peter Staats, Eugene Doughty, of Somerset; 
George Ryerson, Azariah Davis, Samuel Da¬ 
vis, of Sussex; Wm. P. Robeson, Jas. Stew¬ 
art, George Titman, of Warren, 
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. 
An Executive Committee, of one gentle¬ 
man from each County, was chosen to act 
in conjunction with the officers. Their 
names are as follows : 
Edward Taylor, of Atlantic ; John Huyler, 
of Bergen; Joseph F. Bird, of Burlington; 
J. M. Froth, of Camden; J. H. Diverty, of 
Cape May ; Ephraim Buck, of Cumberland ; 
Charles Knight, of Gloucester; Benjamin 
Haines, of Essex ; Garret Vreeland, of Hud¬ 
son ; Peter K. Hoffman, of Hunterdon ; W. 
K. Mcllvaine, of Mercer; James Buckalew, 
of Middlesex ; J. C. Taylor, of Monmouth ; 
Wm. Kitchell, of Morris ; Wm. Torrey, of 
Ocean; J. B. Bean, of Passaic ; Wm. B. Otis, 
of Salem ; I. B. Cornell, of Somerset; L. F- 
Dunn, of Sussex; and Wm. P. Robeson, of 
Warren. 
On motion of J. H. Frazer, of Somerset, 
the following resolutions were unanimously 
adopted : 
Resolved, That as Jerseymen, we heartily 
endorse and urge the recommendation con¬ 
tained in the late message of his Excellency 
Governor Price, for an additional appropria¬ 
tion by the present Legislature, of $20,000, 
for the Geological Survey of New-Jersey. 
Resolved, That we believe the thorough 
survey of the State, in the manner proposed 
in the reports of Messrs. Kitchell, Cook, and 
Viele, will be of an advantage to its citizens, 
in developing mineral wealth, and in afford¬ 
ing facilities for the more successful prose¬ 
cution of agricultural pursuits ; far exceed¬ 
ing the expenditure necessary for its com¬ 
pletion. 
Resolved, That from the-result of the past 
year’s operations, we have full confidence in 
the ability of the gentlemen now engaged in 
prosecuting the Geological Survey of New- 
Jersey. 
On motion, 
Resolved, That when this Convention ad¬ 
journ, it adjourn to meet in this city, at 12 
o’clock, noon, on Wednesday, 14th of Feb¬ 
ruary next, for the purpose of completing 
the organization, to determine whether it 
shall be expedient or not to hold an annual 
Fair, &c. 
Resolved, That the Executive Committee 
be requested to procure the attendance of 
some suitable persons to deliver addresses 
on the subject of agriculture. 
Scratches. —A correspondent of the Prai¬ 
rie Farmer gives the following recipe for 
the cure of scratches : Soak and wash clean 
with hot strong soap suds, then with a hot 
shovel bath in an ointment made by simmer¬ 
ing one quarter-pound of sulphur in a pint of 
racoon’s, goose, or pig’s foot oil, or some 
other soft grease. I have known many 
other and more costly remedies applied, but 
none of them with such infallible success. 
BED-MAKING- 
We could wish some of our lady corres¬ 
pondents had taken hold of this subject and 
given it a thorough “ shaking out;” but as 
they have seen fit to let it lie among the 
rubbish of themes unsung, we propose to 
turn it over in a quiet way, rather byway o 
introduction than exhaustion. 
With the technicalities of bed-making we 
are not very familiar, though we have made 
use of what is called a bed from extreme 
childhood. Our earliest years, we have 
reason to believe, were chiefly spent in a 
cradle, being founded, however, rather on 
tradition than recollection. Since that time 
we have had considerable experience, hav¬ 
ing reposed on couches of all degrees of 
susceptibility, from the most fascinating 
feather beds down to the most irresistible 
white oak boards. 
We have lain on wood-piles pillowed on 
an eight-foot stick, on sand-heaps, “ wrapped 
in the blankets of the dark,” on hay-mows, 
overhung with the most delicate cob-webs, 
on mattresses, finely calculated to impart 
vigor to the body, on husk beds most admir¬ 
able for those who admire them, on straw 
beds with the heads sticking up through the 
ticking in a most ticklish way, and on glori¬ 
ous old feather beds, where one sinks into 
the feathers like a baker’s fist into a pile of 
dough. Now it is this last class, which, be¬ 
ing most subject to use and abuse, we pro¬ 
pose to speak of ; and as people sometimes 
convey their meaning in a negative way, so 
we beg leave to do the same thing. 
And in the first place, it may be needless to 
say, that a feather bed, in all cases, should 
be turned over and shaken up at least once 
a month. We have lain on beds which, 
from continued pressure, appeared to have 
been reduced to the consistency of a 
pile of chips ; or, if stirred at all, the feath¬ 
ers had associated together in little heaps, 
by which one could scarcely resist the im¬ 
pression that he was lying on a pile of pump¬ 
kins. Such beds are rather disagreeable, in¬ 
asmuch as the body is only supported at 
intervals, whereas, it ought to rest on con- 
tinious feathers. A second case is where 
the feathers, by some unaccountable process, 
have been piled up in the middle, roach-back 
fashion. In this case there is always a ten¬ 
dency in different directions, like the 
streams which rise on the top of the Rocky 
Mountains. This continued exertion to 
keep from rolling both ways is not likely to 
add to the slumbers of the recumbent, and, 
therefore, subverts the entire scheme of a 
