AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
57 
and energy as great, and honor as perfect, as 
that of the late Earl of Duoie, may, as now, 
hereafter characterize the profession, and no one 
can pay it a higher compliment than that—but 
it is exceedingly unlikely that the other causes 
which, with these, have brought about the re¬ 
sults of the Tortworth sale, will long continue 
to exert an equal influence on the money value 
of the breed. American competition, for in¬ 
stance, cannot be expected to remain for ever 
at its present extraordinary intensity. 
"We may mention as another feature of the 
sale, the prices obtained by the Oxford, another 
remarkable family jo short-horns. Oxford 6th, 
a cow nearly 7 years old, fetohed 250 guineas; 
Oxford, 11th, 4 years old, 230 guineas; Oxford 
15th, 14 months old, 200 guineas; Oxford 16th, 
3 months old, 180 guineas; and the 5th Duke 
of Oxford, a bull calf, 5 months old, fetched 300 
guineas. So these five animals fetched 1,135 
guineas, or 227 guineas apiece. 
The gross amount of the sale jvas £9,361 16s., 
the number sold was 62, thus averaging about 
£150 19s. At Charles Colling’s sale, 17 cows, 
7 heifers, 5 heifer calves, 11 bulls, and 7 bull 
calves, in all 47 animals, (a smaller number, and 
at a time of greater agricultural excitement,) 
were sold for £7,115 17s., averaging about £151 
8s. At Robert Colling’s sale, 34 cows, 17 
heifers, 6 bulls, and 4 bull calves, in all 61 ani¬ 
mals, sold for £7,858 4s., or £128 16s. apiece. 
Coming down to 1846, there were sold of the 
late Earl Spencer’s herd at Wiseton, 104 cows, 
heifers, and calves, and 19 bulls, in all 123; 
they fetched £8,468 5s., averaging £68 17s. 
apiece. And Mr. Bates’s sale at Kirkleaving- 
ton, of 48 cows, heifers, and calves, and 20 bulls, 
fetched £67 apiece. The highest prices of 
which the short-horn breed can boast, are those 
of Comet, at Charles Colling’s sale, 40 years 
ago, 1,000 guineas; and the cows Countess and 
Lily at the same sale, 400 and 410 guineas re¬ 
spectively : at Wiseton, Exquisite, 370 guineas, 
and a bull calf, 225 guineas : at Kirkleavington, 
Duchess 59, 210 guineas, resold last Wednesday 
for 350 guineas: and at Tortworth, the astonish¬ 
ing list of prices given above. 
One more comparison of the earliest and latest 
sales of short-horns may be allowed. Mr. 
Charles Colling sold 29 females, averaging 
£140 4s. each. The Tortworth sale contained 
49 females, averaging £140 2s.; but of these 29 
could be selected which would average upwards 
of £200 apiece. The 18 bulls at Mr. Colling’s 
sale averaged £171 14s.; the 13 bulls at Tort¬ 
worth averaged £191 18s. The totals, as we 
have said, represent an average price of £151 
8 s. over 47 head of cattle, and £150 19s. over 
62 head of cattle. That the latter is really a 
higher price than the former may be concluded 
from the larger number over which it extends— 
the fact being that 47 of Lord Ducie’s cattle 
could be named which averaged upwards of 
£184. 
Wc need not add that, notwithstanding the 
excitement of the scene, arising from the keen 
competition and the many thousand spectators 
of it who were present, the prevailing feeling in 
the minds of many was the melancholy one 
that here at length all that remained to repre¬ 
sent the energy and skill which the late Earl of 
Ddcie had brought to bear upon his agricultural 
pursuits, was being scattered far and wide; the 
results of all that intelligence and enterprise 
which some of us had known were being sent 
in many cases literally to the ends of the earth; 
and, excepting in the memory of spectators, and 
in such records as the present, would no more, 
collectively, be connected with the name which 
through them has attained so high a place in 
tqe history of the breed. 
“ Papa,” said a little boy to his parent, “ are 
not sailors very small men?” “No, my dear,” 
answered the father ; “ pray, what leads you to 
suppose they are small?” “ Because,” replied 
the young idea smartly, 11 1 read, the other day, 
of a sailor going to sleep in his watch.” 
Death of General James Tallmadge. —It is 
with regret we announce the death of this ex¬ 
cellent man. He had retired to his rooms at 
the Metropolitan Hotel, after a visit to the Crys¬ 
tal Palace, apparently in good health, and in ten 
minutes ceased to breathe. General Tallmadge 
was one of the most active and efficient sup¬ 
porters of the American Institute from its in¬ 
fancy, and for more than twenty years, if we 
recollect right, its able and indefatigable Presi¬ 
dent. He was a zealous and enlightened friend 
of agriculture, manufactures, and the mechanic 
arts. Hia cloath inilP.ll lamontoel ‘ v luil 6 c 
circle of friends. General T. was a native of 
Duchess county, this State, and was about 75 
years old. 
A report of Windham County Cattle Show 
reached us too late for insertion this week. It 
will appear in our next number. We are re¬ 
ceiving reports from numerous fairs, and will 
insert notices of them as fast as our space will 
admit. 
- f 6 • - 
Wills, Won’ts, and Can’ts. — Some body, 
more wise than his fellows, says there are three 
kinds of men in this world—the “wills,” the 
“ won’ts,” and the “ can’ts.” The former effect 
every thing, the other oppose every thing, and 
the latter fail in every thing. “ I will” builds 
our railroads and steamboats; “I won’t” don’t 
believe in experiments and nonsense ; while “ I 
can’t” grows weeds for wheat, and commonly 
ends his days in the slow digestion of a court 
of bankruptcy. There is a profundity of philo¬ 
sophy in his words which should profit the 
rising generation of workers. 
CULTURE OF PYRAMIDAL CHINA ASTERS. 
M. Truffaut, well known as a good practi¬ 
cal horticulturist at Versailles, has published 
in the Revue Horticole, for July, 1853, a full 
account of his mode of cultivating the China 
Aster. 
He sows the seeds in the open ground, and 
in pots or pans under cloches, (bell-glasses,) or 
in frames. The sowing in the open ground is 
made in good, rich, well-worked soil, in the last 
fortnight of March. The seeds are very thinly 
covered with fine decayed light mould, and 
slightly watered, then covered with bell-glasses 
or frames. These are covered with straw mats 
when the nights are cold, and slightly shaded 
from the sun’s rays when the days are bright. 
If the weather prove favorable, the plants will 
appear in about ten days. Air is then gradual¬ 
ly admitted, and more fully as the plants acquire 
strength, in order that they may become robust. 
It is necessary to guard against the attacks of 
insects; those most to be dreaded are the 
wood-lice and black spiders. 
The plants from this sowing will commence 
flowering in the beginning of August, and will 
continue till September; so that in order to 
prolong the flowering, it will be necessary to 
make several successive sowings, at intervals of 
ten or twelve days; but those sown in the end 
of March produce the most vigorous plants and 
the finest flowers. 
Sown in pots or earthenware pans. — These, 
when the seeds are sown, are covered with a 
pane of glass, whitened on the upper side with 
chalk and water. This glass has the effect of 
breaking the rays of the sun, and of preserving 
the seeds from mice and other animals or in¬ 
sects, and it prevents the soil from becoming 
too dry. The pots are then placed in a house 
with a temperature between 60° and 70°, and 
as near the glass as possible, or, better, in a 
warm frame. A little air is admitted when the 
plants come up, by tilting the square of glass, 
from which the chalk should be previously 
washed off, in order that the young plants may 
have as much light as possibly can be given 
them. The pane of glass is removed when the 
young stems grow up to it. 
Priclcing out in the open air. —The plants 
from the sowing made under bell-glasses, or in 
frames, between the 15th of March and the 1st 
of April, ought to be pricked out between the 
20th of April and the 1st of May, at eight inches 
apart each way, in good light soil, covered with 
half an inch of fine leaf-mould. The plants 
should be carefully watered, but not at night, 
for the nights at this season of the year are fre¬ 
quently cold. 
Priclcing out under Ml-glasses or frames . — 
The plants from sowings made in pots or pans 
being more susceptible of drawing up than 
those raised in the open ground, ouabt to he 
j,„:_i_-a ^ jw.il g *us pussioie, or as soon as 
they have developed one or two leaves. Fifteen 
to eighteen are pricked out under one hand-glass, 
and from eighty to a hundred under a frame 4 
feet 4 inches square. The plants are slightly 
shaded from strong sun for a few days ; air is 
gradually admitted, and when they have taken 
fresh hold, the glass is taken off at all times 
when the weather permits, for it is to be re¬ 
marked that it is not employed for forcing the 
plants, but merely to protect them from at¬ 
mospheric vicissitudes. 
Final planting. —Between the 1st and 15th 
of June, taking advantage of cloudy weather, 
the plants pricked out are taken up with balls, 
and planted from fifteen to eighteen inches 
every way apart, in soil well worked and ma¬ 
nured with rotten dung. Basins are formed 
round each plant, and water is supplied several 
times a day when the weather is hot and dry. 
Twelve or fifteen days after planting, the ground 
is hoed, or otherwise stirred between the plants; 
yellow leaves are picked off; the basins are 
again formed, and the surface of the soil is 
slightly mulched. Thus treated, the plants will 
become perfectly fresh-rooted by the first week 
in July. A stick is then put to each, without 
which it is impossible that the stems could sup¬ 
port fifty or a hundred large, well-expanded 
flowers, which will be produced on every plant. 
As the proper arrangement of flowers in a 
garden is very important, and as a mixture of 
tall and dwarf varieties of different colors has a 
confused appearance, the seeds of the varieties 
of pyramidal China Asters should be gathered 
separately; and by marking, and sowing in 
regular order accordingly, the planting can be 
performed early, as above directed, without 
waiting too late to see the colors. To preserve 
the beauty of the flowers, it is advisable to shade 
them during the hot weather in August, the 
shading being removed at night; but in Sep¬ 
tember and October the plants are fully exposed 
to the light during the day, and the thin can¬ 
vas is then employed for protection from the 
cold at night.— Gardener's Chronicle. 
iJarluk 
Remarks. — Our advices, per steamer Baltic, from Europe, 
arc to the 21st September. These confirm the previous 
reports of a deficiency in the crops, in different parts of 
Europe. The result is a rise in our markets, to-day, of 25 
cents per barrel on Flour above our quotations in the Price 
Current, 2 to 4 cents per bushel on wheat, and about the 
same on corn. Provisions, also, have improved somewhat. 
We think it a highly favorable time for the farmer now to 
sell; and we doubt, even if he should obtain an extra price 
hereafter, whether it will pay the risk, loss, and expense of 
holding on upon his crop. 
From the Mark Lane Express, Sept. 12th. 
REVIEW OF THE BRITISH CORN TRADE. 
Though the weather has been very far from fa¬ 
vorable, having had but one really fine day during 
the week, still fair progress has been made with the 
carrying of grain in the more forward parts of the 
kingdom. On Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, 
there was no rain ; since then, we have had frequent 
shower?, and the carting of corn has consequently 
been suspended. There is still so large a proportion 
of the crops abroad, that the character of the weather 
for some weeks to come will have great influence on 
the trade. That the quality of the grain exposed in 
fields has already suffered from the late rains, can¬ 
not be questioned ; and a continuance of wet might 
be productive of an immense amount of mischief. 
The prospects for the future have certainly not im¬ 
proved since our last, and the ultimate result of the 
