1809 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
-45 
large, it was very fine. A silver medal was offered for the 
best practical exhibition coop, which was taken by Mr. 
J. Salisbury, Jr., of Nyack, New York. A very pleasant 
feature of the exhibition was that there were no money 
prizes,—silver cups, bronze medals, diplomas, and books 
being the prizes offered. We congratulate the Society on 
so satisfactory a show, taken all in all. 
Evergreens are the most charming of trees, 
for they are beautiful in winter as well as in summer. 
They generally do best if planted later than other trees. 
The number of the hardy ones is greater than is generally 
supposed. Hoopes’ Book of Evergreens is acknowledged, 
both in this country and in Europe, to be the best in the 
language. Beautifully illustrated. Price by mail, $3.00. 
Pears.—The Horticultural Annual contains 
a valuable article by P. Barry on new pears and his ex¬ 
perience with the old ones. 
Canaa-tHam B®eas.—An inquiry in the Janu¬ 
ary Agriculturist in regard to the kind of pea 
raised most in Canada brings a prompt response 
from the editor of the “ Parmer's Advocate,” of London, 
Ontario. He writes as follows : “ Wc have many varie¬ 
ties—some adapted to different soils and different pur¬ 
poses. We have the Golden Vine, the Crown Pea, and 
the Strawberry Vine, that are extensively raised for expor¬ 
tation or for milling purposes. Each has its advant¬ 
ages. The Crown Pea is the largest yielder, hut re¬ 
quires good soil and good cultivation, and can be cut 
with the mowing-machine. The Golden Vine is more 
productive in straw, and is extensively cultivated here. 
It will smother weeds much better than the former vari¬ 
ety, and may be more successfully raised by the careless 
or slovenly farmer. The third variety is a small and fine 
pea, but not so extensively raised as the others. We also 
cultivate the White Marrowfat, Black-eyed Marrowfat, 
and Imperial Blue Peas, for stock. The California Peas 
have also been cultivated here, but are longer in matur¬ 
ing and yield too much straw.” 
Otar rVtttive Birds.— It has been long in 
contemplation to publish a series of articles on our na¬ 
tive birds, which should be not only popular hut accurate. 
The illness of the gentleman who promised these articles 
prevented the execution of this plan. We have now 
made arrangements with others to carry out our original 
intention. 
Oyster Shells Aroamd Trees.—“T. 
E.” asks:—“Are oyster shells around fruit trees a pro¬ 
tection against borers ? What would be the effect if they 
were burned and the animal matter expelled? Would 
they then do the trees any harm? Would they do any 
good in any way ?”—Oyster shells around fruit trees would 
be just as valuable as stones or any other mechanical ob- 
Btacle^o the parent of the borer; they would prevent her 
from depositing her eggs. Shells when burned arc con¬ 
verted into an entirely different substance—shell lime— 
which differs somewhat from common lime. We should 
not advise to heap this around a tree, as caustic lime of 
any kind would injure it; but shell lime would generally 
bo a valuable manure spread around the tree. The cases 
of shell in its natural state and burned are widely different. 
Unsafe Advice.—There is a great deal of 
advice going about with respect to the medication of an¬ 
imals, which it is unsafe to follow. The following is sent 
to usFor a preventive of hog cholera, dissolve blue 
stone in swill, and give it to the hogs while in health. If 
the solution is strong, put shelled oats or meal on the 
top and they will drink it all up. I salt my hogs as regu¬ 
larly as my other stock.”—“ Blue stone” is Blue Vitriol 
(sulphate of copper). It is a violent emetic, and in doses 
of two drachms a fatal poison to man. Six grains have 
been known to kill a dog. That in moderate doses it 
mightact as a useful astringent in hog cholera we do not 
doubt, but the direction to make the solution “ strong,” 
without saying what is meant by “ strong,” is likely to 
lead to unpleasant results. 
Practical Floriculture.—We have in 
the announcements of this work already given an idea of 
its scope. The press of business at the beginning of the 
year prevented its issue earlier, though it has been some 
time in type. The hook is now ready, and we regard it 
as one of the most valuable among the many valuable 
works we have published. Price $1.50 by mail. 
Tlie American Ess.t<f»;ma®l©gist.—This 
Journal improves in value with each number, and its me¬ 
chanical appearance is excellent. We do not know either 
editors or publishers but by their works, and from these 
we wish their enterprise all success. Very cheap ; $1 a 
year. Published by R. P. Studley & Co., St. Louis, Mo. 
Mushrooms.—Mrs.E.Earl, Fountain Co.,In¬ 
diana.—Mushroom spawn is not the seed, as mushrooms 
have no seed, in the proper sense of the term. To express 
the matter popularly, the mushroom plant consists of nu¬ 
merous whitish threads, which, grow in manure, or in a 
highly manured soil. The part which we value may be 
regarded as the flowering portion of the plant, though it 
does not bear flowers, but produces in its “gills” a re¬ 
productive dust. The threads, of which the underground 
portion of the plant consists ( mycelium of the botanists), 
are capable of laying dormant for a long time, hut revive 
and grow when placed in proper material and supplied 
with the necessary heat and moisture. Spawn consists 
of blocks of earth and manure, through which these 
threads have spread themselves; the blocks are dried, 
and the thread-like plant remains in a state of suspended 
animation. Pieces of spawn are put into a bed, and, if the 
conditions are right, the plant will spread rapidly, or, as 
the gardeners say, “ the spawn will run.” When the un¬ 
derground portion acquires sufficient strength, it throws 
up its reproductive organs, which are the mushrooms. 
The raising of mushrooms is rarely successful, except 
under a shed or in a cellar, and even under the best cir¬ 
cumstances experienced gardeners often fail. Hender¬ 
son's “Gardening for Profit” gives an account of his 
process, but it is too long to transfer to our columns. 
Cherries.— F. R. Elliott, the authority on 
cherries, has an excellent article on their culture in the 
Horticultural Annual. 
Hem Mimurc.—A subscriber writes: “ I 
have about twenty barrels of pure hen manure; will it do 
to let it lay in hulk ? If not, what is best to mix with it, 
and in what proportion for general use ?”—If you have 
dry muck, mix it with that, and let it lie in a heap until 
it heats. Then work it over and mix with more, doing so 
three times, perhaps, and finally having the hen dung 
mixed with fully four times its weight of muck, and that 
will probably be eight times its bulk. Soil will do in¬ 
stead of muck, and common barn-yard mauure will an¬ 
swer very well, and the compost will be very rich. 
Currant Wonn.—“Inquirer.”—What is 
commonly called the currant worm attacks the leaves 
only. The one you found in the pith of the stem is the 
larva of another insect, a currant borer, of which wc have 
two kinds. The larvae, or rather the chrysalis, is still in 
the stem, and the perfect insect will eat out in May or 
June. As your “new wood is all killed,” cut it off and 
bum it, and so far prevent the increase of the insects. 
©trapes.— An account of the new varieties, and 
valuable notes on the old ones for 1860, will be found 
in the American Horticultural Annual. 
A Baisltel of Fiime orofCorit. —“ Cor¬ 
dova,” of Westfield, N. J., writes: “ I would like to know 
if, when you speak of a 1 bushel of lime ’ in the Agricultur¬ 
ist, you mean unslaked or slaked lime ? and speaking of 
corn, whether you mean shelled or not?”—The common 
agricultural lime of this part of the country is shell lime, 
and this is always, so far as we know, sold slaked. 
Other lime is slaked before it is applied; hence, we al¬ 
ways mean slaked lime when wc refer to an application 
to the land, or of lime as an ingredient of a compost, un¬ 
less the contrary is specified. “A bushel of com” 
always means a bushel of shelled com, or its equivalent, 
14 pounds being allowed for the weight of the cobs. 
Thus 56 pounds is the legal weight of a bushel of com, ex¬ 
cept in a few States, and 70 pounds that of corn in the ear. 
Cheese fflaldng vs. natter Mass¬ 
ing.—A correspondent in Eastern Pennsylvania asks 
the following questions, whjch doubtless will interest 
thousands of our readers: “ 1st. Does cheese making pay 
better than producing butter ? 2d. Is the eastern part of 
Pennsylvania as well adapted to the production of cheese 
as New York, Ohio, or other parts of the country where 
it is successfully carried on ?”—In cheese making, all the 
milk and all the cream may he used; or most of the 
cream may be removed, and the skimmed milk made into 
cheese, or only Half the milk may ho skimmed, and the 
rest made cheese of. In making butter, the greater part 
of the cream rises in two or three hours, and it is a com¬ 
mon custom to skim this off and send the skimmed milk 
to the city, where it will always bring a good price. 
Much of this half-skimmed milk is condensed in some 
parts of the State of New York, and thus a home market 
made for sweet skimmed milk at the factory, and proba¬ 
bly two-thirds as much butter made as if all the milk 
were set as usual. Where there is an extra good market 
for butter, and the herds of cows have long been bred as 
butter makers, we doubt if it will pay to make clieese. 
“Skimmed-milk cheese” (made from sweet milk, of 
course) is said to pay well. The condensed milk alluded 
to is sold in the cities at a little less price than the con¬ 
densed whole milk. Cheese making on the large scale, 
and where the aim is to produce the best possible article 
from the whole milk, will not pay usually within the 
range of the milk trains running into our large cities. 
The “eastern part of Pennsylvania” is well adapted to 
producing cheese, but still it may be a question if some 
other disposition of the milk will not bring in more money. 
Spotted Quinces. —“ N. C. T.,” Staten 
Island, is troubled with black spots on his quinces. His 
statement that the trees stand on rather poor soil prob¬ 
ably explains the matter. Prune the trees, if, as is usually 
the case, they arc a mass of suckers, and give a good 
dressing of manure. Salt is considered beneficial to the 
quince, but your trees arc too neftr the sea to he likely to 
need it, though a sprinkling would do no harm. 
Boiled lP©t»t©es for Milch Cows.— 
“J. K. H.”, of Norwood, N. J., writes; “Are boiled 
potatoes good for milch cows ? I was going to feed them 
to my cows, and several of my neighbors told me that 
they would dry them up.”—We have been often remon¬ 
strated with for recommending and feeding Indian meal 
to milch cows, for the same reason. People who feed 
nothing hut cornstalks and dry hay are apt to console 
themselves with some such notion, as the fox did who 
believed all the grapes were sour which he could not 
reach. We do not feed boiled potatoes—not for the rea¬ 
son that they will dry the cows up, but because corn 
fodder, and oil-meal and corn-meal mixed is a cheaper 
and better diet. If any of our readers can prove that 
boilod potatoes dry up cows, we are open to. conviction. 
Small Fruits.—Every year brings many 
new varieties, and Mr. A. S. Fuller gives his experience 
with them in the Horticultural Annual. 
‘ 4 ©sir Tomss; Folks.”—Fields, Osgood 
& Co., Boston, publish such a charming Juvenile Maga¬ 
zine for boys and girls, that one involuntarily wishes ho 
wore young again, that he might experience the pleasure 
that only children can feel over such a beautiful periodi¬ 
cal, prepared expressly for them. Beautiful stories are il¬ 
lustrated by beautiful pictures, and all In just as grand a 
style as if it were intended for Old Folks instead of 
Young Folks. 20 cents a number is very cheap for so 
good a thing. 
Death of Caleb UT. Bemciatf.— Few, if 
any, of our readers, who are fanciers of poultry, are not 
familiar with the name and writings of Mr. Bement, who 
was widely known, both as a poultry fancier, and as the 
author of the fullest and most elaborate American work 
on domestic poultry—“The American Poulterer’s Com¬ 
panion.” He learned the trade of a printer in a newspa¬ 
per oflice, and followed it in Poughkeepsie and Albany. 
At the latter place, he was for many years a popular hotel 
landlord, a contributor to the agricultural press, and we 
believe managed a farm in connection with his establish¬ 
ment. He subsequently had a farm on Staten Island, and 
for some fifteen years, until quite recently, had charge of 
the farm and gardens of the late Matthew Vassal - , of 
Poughkeepsie. He had much experience, wrote easily and 
acceptably on a variety of subjects, was a good observer, 
a man of discriminating judgment, and much respected. 
He died December 22d, at Poughkeepsie, aged 77. 
Meposrt ©m the Trial ©F Plows, 
held at Utica, by the New York State Agricultural So¬ 
ciety, etc. This is an octavo volume, of 288 pages, illus¬ 
trated with 8 plates and 129 wood engravings. The first 
six chapters (134 pages) are a History of the Plow, from 
the earliest time to the present. Then follow chapters on 
the “ Objects to be Accomplished by Plowing,” on 
“Practical Questions in Plows and Plowing,” on the 
“Line of Draught,” and on the “Mechanical Condi¬ 
tions of the Plow ;” then the report of the trial, and of 
the supplementary trial held at Brattlcboro, V t., in June, 
1S68. We did not publish the awards, as announced, 
preferring to wait for the report. They are as. follows: 
Class i. Sod Plows for Stiff Soil.— Gold medal to F. F. 
Holbrook,Boston, “Lap-furrowplow." (Nocompetition). 
Class ii. Stiff Soil Stubble Plows.— Gold medal to samo 
party for “Holbrook's GO.” 
Class iii. Sandy Soil Sod Plows— No fit soil; no awards. 
Class iv. Stubble Plena for 3 Horses, to turn a furrow at 
least 5 inches wide and 12 inches deep.—Gold medal to 
F. F. Holbrook, Boston, for “Holbrook’s 69.” ' 
Class v. Sod and Subsoil (Double or Michigan) Plows.— 
Gold medal to same party for “No. 09,” with stubble 
mouldboard and skim plow. (No competition.) 
