12 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
MANUFACTORY OF SPECIAL MANURES. 
MONDAY. 
Foreman —Well, boss, what’s on hand to-day? 
Director —Make up another batch of Superphosphate. Be careful to get black muck enough in 
to give it a darker shade than that made on Saturday. Use three barrow loads of muck, only two of 
the red bank, one small barrow load of burned bones, as much of the sugar-house scum, a small 
measure of guano, and a mug of oil vitriol. If it don’t have a good smell, add a little lime. 
Foreman —All right. How shall we mark the bags ? 
Director —Superphosphate A No. 1, of course. 
THURSDAY. 
Foreman —We are out of that chee-chee—guano, what d’ye call it ? 
Director —Put all hands on then. Remember now, six men on the red earth bank, three at the muck 
heap on the lightest colored part; mix well together, and put in lime and guano enough to give it 
a good smell. Mind now, do’nt get in too much of the guano. That is expensive. We must make 
enough on this lot to pay a good per centage to agents, and have something left for profit. Be careful 
f o damp the bags and roll them in good Peruvian guano before filling them. They are all marked right. 
A MACHINE MILKING TRIAL, 
To the Editor of the American Agriculturist. 
Having read your notes and queries in the 
December Agriculturist upon Milking by Ma¬ 
chinery, I send you an account of a trial of Need¬ 
ham’s Machine, to which I suppose you refer in 
speaking of the “ New-Hampshire Yankee’s” 
patent. This consists of an air-tight pail with an 
air-pump upon the side, and a gutta percha tube 
fastened upon the top. This tube terminates in 
four receptacles for the teats, each division being 
supplied with a stop-cock. When the receptacles 
are placed upon the teats, the air is pumped from 
the pail, the stop-cocks opened, and in conse¬ 
quence of the vacuum formed, the milk rushes 
from the bag—provided everything works right. 
But there’s the rub. I witnessed a trial before a 
Committee of the American Institute, recently, 
and was both amused and edified. 
The first operation is to get the teats into the 
receptacles, and he who undertakes it has need to 
be “ well grounded in patience.” After a num¬ 
ber of ineffectual efforts, one teat was at last got 
in, and the operator proceeded to a second. I 
now thought everything would proceed regularly 
and satisfactorily, but when the second teat was 
almost in, the first slipped out, and the operator 
had to begin de novo; but his patience and perse¬ 
verance were admirable. After a number of 
repetitions of this mishap, two teats were finally, 
got in their places, but just as he began with the 
third, they both slipped out! It was too vexa¬ 
tious, but still the operator’s patience did not 
fail him; anil I confess a feeling of sympathy, 
laughable as was the scene. 
The operator began again, and after many 
fruitless efforts, finally concluded to try one teat. 
Having at length secured it in the receptacle, the 
valve was opened, the pump put in motion, and 
for a moment the milk flowed in a rapid stream; 
but suddenly it stopped, and no amount of pump¬ 
ing would bring forth another drop. During all 
this time the cow stood comparatively quiet, but 
she now became restive, kicked up her heels 
right and left, and the by-standers, hitherto as 
“ quiet as lambs,” now went “ skipping about 
like rams,” and thus ended the trial of the patent 
cow milker. The time consumed in the above 
trial was a little more than one hour. The chief 
defects of the milker were obvious : the connect¬ 
ing tube was too small, and the receptacles not 
at all adapted to receive or retain the teats. But 
even with these improvements, it may be doubted 
whether it can be made an article of general 
utility. I do not feel convinced that cows will 
generally submit to be milked in this way; be¬ 
sides, the time consumed in attaching the milker 
is more than enough to do the work by hand. If 
these difficulties can be overcome (and I hope 
they may), there can be no doubt that a milker 
of this kind would be a great boon to dairymen. 
I hope that Mr. Needham may hereafter achieve 
a success which his patience and perseverance 
deserve. M. B. P. 
New-York, December 10, 1856. 
THAT CHINESE POTATO. 
To the Editor of the American Agriculturist: 
I notice in the “ Country Gentleman,” an ad¬ 
vertisement of Messrs. W. R. Prince & Co. of 
Flushing, in which they represent themselves as 
having the “only Chinese potatoes of American 
growth." Is this so ? and of the quantity of seed 
sold by them, and disseminated by the Patent 
Office, by the Thorburns and others in countless 
thousands, has the yield been nothing, except 
in their isolated case ? Or has the crop of every 
one else, as represented in the engraving you 
gave in your last number, gone home to our anti¬ 
podes ? There is a hitch somewhere—where is 
it? Humbug. 
New-Jersey, December 18, 1856, 
Apples—Best Varieties for General Cul¬ 
tivation. —M. G. D. and other enquirers will find 
this subject fully discussed in the October num¬ 
ber of last volume. 
©artmt, ©rerjarb, Caron, &t. 
CHAPTERS ON STRAWBERRIES. 
CHAPTER I. 
We propose in a series of brief articles to 
take up the culture of the strawberry, giving 
from month to month practical directions for 
the work appropriate to the season, both ton 
garden and field culture, and interspersing; 
the whole with such remarks upon the na¬ 
ture, varieties and characteristics of this 
interesting and valuable plant, as we may 
have room for, and as may seem to be most 
pleasing and instructive to the general read¬ 
er as well as amateur. 
It being impossible, at this season of the 
year, to commence or carry on any actual 
process of cultivation, we will, in this num¬ 
ber, enumerate the principal kinds found 
growing wild, both in America and Europe? 
from which all our cultivated varieties have 
been obtained, together with a few brief re¬ 
marks upon their characters. 
In the United States, we find growing' in 
our fields the small sweet red strawberry,, 
called by botanists Fragaria Virgimana .• 
This is found in all the Middle and Northern’ 
States, and also in Canada and Newfound 
land. In the Southern states it grows only 
in the woods. This is the parent of many 
of our cultivated kinds. It is also the pa¬ 
rent of some varieties raised in England. 
The large early scarlet, so well known in 
the New-York market, was raised from the 
seed of this species. The Hudson Bay and 
the Crimson Cone are also varieties of the 
Yirginiana. Hovey’s Seedlings and Boston 
Pine evidently partake of its nature. 
There has also been found growing wild 
in the prairies of Iowa, a large beautiful 
strawberry, quite distinct from the Virgins- 
ana. Its only fault is that of being too acid, 
(sour.) Some vigorous and productive va¬ 
rieties have been produced from this kind? 
but they all partake too muchof its sourness. 
In South America, we find two species— 
the Grandiflora of Surinam, and the Chili of 
Chili. The first is remarkable for its large 
showy blossom, large and delicious light 
scarlet fruit. Some of the finest kinds now 
raised in Europe have been produced from 
the seed of the Grandiflora. The British 
Queen, and Myatt’s Seedlings, and the 
Swainstone Seedling, all delicious berries, 
have been raised from this species. These 
varieties succeed well in the moist and mild 
climate of England, but are almost sure to 
fail in the United States. They are injured 
both by our severe winters and scorching 
sun. 
The Chili is a very large and solid berry, 
of medium goodness, but is quite too 
tender for the Northern States. In the South¬ 
ern States it would burn up. Some seed¬ 
lings have been raised from it in England, 
but none, we believe, of much repute, ex¬ 
cept Turner’s Pine, which is valued princi- 
ly for its lateness. Some seedlings have 
been raised from this species by Mr. Prince, 
of Flushing, but they have not, we think, 
been sufficiently productive to recommend 
them to any but amateurs. 
Europe, we believe, claims three species 
