AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
168 
acquiesce and follow the example of the boys, 
or, as our returned Mexicans would say, I 
“Vamosed the Ranch” instanter. I merely re¬ 
late this circumstance as it occurred, and make 
no comments, but leave my readers themselves 
to judge whether the “Yankee apple” ought, or 
ought not to be put on the list of approved fruit, 
at the next meeting of the Pomological Congress, 
as an apple “ worthy of general cultivation.” 
Byrnesville. G. 
AGRICULTURAL TOUR IN GERMANY,—NO. 11. 
BY COUNT DE GOCRCY. 
Translated for the American Agriculturist from the Journal 
d’Agriculture Pratique. 
I started from Floriau at four o’clock in the 
morning, so as to arrive in time at a small town 
where I was to take the steamboat from Lintz 
to Vienna. This portion of the valley of the 
Danube is on the whole attractive; not so beau¬ 
tiful, however, as that of the Rhine, between 
Mayence and Bonn. I spent four days in visit¬ 
ing Vienna and its suburbs. The fields around 
the city were browned by drying and cold winds, 
which had prevailed here for a considerable 
time. I extended my journeyings as far as 
Baden, and a few miles farther, into that part of 
the suburbs which is esteemed the most agree¬ 
able. There are here, it is true, banks covered 
with vineyards and shrubbery, many pretty 
country residences and pleasant villages, but I 
was much surprised to find the country in a 
condition much below the reputation it has en¬ 
joyed. Instead of clear streams 1 found nothing 
but trenches filled with the drainings from the 
city and adjacent districts; the banks hidden by 
stunted underwood; the hard and parched soil 
bearing poor crops ; and nothing in the market 
gardens to indicate that this branch of horticul¬ 
ture was in an advanced state. Maize is cul¬ 
tivated in the immediate vicinity of the city, 
perhaps for fodder, or it may be for the grain. 
The common red wine of the neighborhood of 
Vienna is very good, and the raisins excellent 
and very plentiful. There is scarely a fruiterer 
in the suburbs who does not sell them. 
The Secretary of the Agricultural Society of 
Vienna, to whom I applied for information re¬ 
specting some farms conducted by able agricul¬ 
turists, which I desired to visit, could not men¬ 
tion one, at least in the immediate vicinity of 
the capital. He showed mo, in a very fine room, 
a collection of well-executed models of machines 
and implements for agricultural purposes. I 
did not observe many novelties among them; 
there was not a single machine for making 
drain tiles. 
The Agricultural Society of Vienna has a fine 
library of agricultural works, which are lent out, 
and for which the person borrowing gives a 
receipt. My former tour which I dedicated to 
this society was in course of reading. 
I next visited a manufacturer of implements 
of husbandry, who has the reputation of being 
more ingenious than the majority of his craft. 
I found him engaged in exhibiting to several 
young Polish noblemen areaping machine, much 
used in the United States for the last twelve 
years. The inventor's name is McCormick. One 
of the gentlemen, Count Samoylof, told me 
that McCormick’s reaper had been tried in the 
vicinity of Brunn, in Moravia. They ordered 
one, but it was not to be made unless the maker 
received ten similar orders at about 892 francs 
each. He showed us a small collection of models, 
richer in English machines of recent date, than 
the society’s museum already referred to, but 
the models were not of full size. A plow, called 
Zugmayer is commonly used in lower Austria, 
which seems to me but a bad imitation -of the 
Schwerz plow. It does very good work, and 
may be used without the front wheel, but the 
farmers generally retain this. This mechanic 
praised the rohadlo highly, as a plow adapted 
to light soils. 
The steamboat from Vienna to Pesth brought 
me only to Presburg. The landscape was pic¬ 
turesque for a small portion of the distance. 
The valley is enclosed by rising grounds, on one 
of which I observed the ruins of a fortress, 
which, I was assured, dates from the time of the 
Romans. 
We arrive soon after at Presburg. The ap¬ 
pearance of this town, though imposing when 
viewed at a distance, ceases to be so, when ex¬ 
amined more closely. As it was market-day, I 
took occasion to observe the crowd of country 
people, congregated here, from a distance of 
many miles around; the majority of them 
belonged to the nation called Slovacks. 
A kind of rampart, very long and wide, was 
filled, as well as the neighboring streets, with 
small light wagons, drawn by very small horses, 
the most of which were skin and bone; others 
were drawn by small oxen of a light grey color, 
with long horns and excessively poor. These 
poor beasts, when I saw them, were unyoked, 
eating some piles of hay. The drivers of these 
vehicles were almost all covered with rags, be¬ 
neath which we could imagine a sufficiently 
strong heat, during the middle of the day. They 
wore a grey cloak of felt cloth, and often a cape 
of sheepskin; hats with large rims, shining with 
grease; wide pantaloons of thick cloth, with 
heavy and clumsy boots, completed the dress. 
All these people seemed to come very far, to sell 
very little. Such were my observations at this 
short distance, from the capital of the empire of 
Austria in the second city of Hungary. 
My next journey was from Presburg to Un- 
garisch-Altenburg; the main road was so bad 
that we were obliged to leave it frequently and 
take by-roads. The country is very level, and 
the soil sandy, but this does not prevent it from 
being naturally fertile. The fields are so badly 
cultivated, and so lightly manured, that one is 
quite surprised to see such fine crops. On some 
ground which belongs to an estate of the Arch¬ 
duke Albert, 1 observed very fine fields of maize, 
potatoes, and clover. 
The large divisions of the farm were sur¬ 
rounded by thick hedges of locust, which served 
to break the violence of the winds that so often 
sweep these plains, entirely destitute of trees 
and plantations. Ungarisch-Altenburgisalarge 
borough, where resides the director of the entire 
estate, amounting to upwards of twenty-five 
thousand acres. An agricultural school was in 
operation here, supported by the archduke till 
the commencement of the Hungarian war. M. 
Pabst, with the young men selected to study 
improved husbandry, had arrived from Ilohen- 
heim. The school will be arranged with about 
seventy-five acres for experimental purposes; 
the pupils will find another source of practical 
instruction in witnessing the various operations 
on the farms of the estate, where there has 
been a mill recently constructed on the best 
method, also a brewery, distillery, and an agri¬ 
cultural implement factory. 
M. Bxscnop, the director, being detained by 
business at the time of my visit, sent one of his 
men with me, who hitched up a vehicle in which 
w r e went to see a farm at some distance. The 
stables of this farm contained 68 milk cows, 
and 2 bulls, all of the Schwitz breed, but in¬ 
troduced a long time ago; only one cow directly 
from the Swiss breed now 7 remains. They were 
all in good condition. The Swiss cow is much 
larger than the others. The heifers, to the num¬ 
ber of thirty are not inferior to the cows. The 
calves suck till four months old, after which, 
till nine months old, they are allowed a mixture 
of meal and water boiled, with a portion of dry 
fodder; these young animals are confined to 
the stable with their mothers, who never go out 
to pasture. From fifty to sixty cattle are fat¬ 
tened every winter with the refuse of the dis¬ 
tillery, where brandy is made from potatoes. 
The allowance for cattle is 60 quarts each, daily, 
and only 30 quarts for milk cows and young 
cattle of moderate size. Indian meal and barley 
are added to the feed for fat cattle. We next 
took a glance at the crops. Very fine potatoes 
were badly affected with the rot, and beets, 
sown in rows at about twenty inches apart, not 
being thinned sufficiently, have remained small. 
The maize fields look well ; those of last year 
yielded about 60 bushels per acre, and it is ex¬ 
pected that this will be exceeded by the present 
crop. In good seasons wheat yields about 43 
bushels per acre; rye a little less; and barley 
and oats still less. From what I have been told, 
it appears that lucerne and clover do not suc¬ 
ceed here; this may be attributed to the absence 
of calcareous matter in the soil, as they have 
never tried to improve it by the application of 
lime. They consider about 30 tuns of manure 
per acre a good application. Rape is sown in 
rows at 20 inches apart; it is strong, and has 
come up well. To a remark that it was very 
thick, it was replied, that the winter would 
serve to thin it. Before the commencement of 
severe frosts they roll it to make it withstand 
the cold better. The produce varies from year 
to year. The improvements introduced in this 
estate are principally due to a farmer called 
Witman. He drained considerable marshes in 
the vicinity of Lake Neusiedel ; he designed to 
drain this lake entirely, not only for the sake of 
reclaiming a large space of land at present under 
water, and marshy meadows quite unproductive, 
but also for the purpose of draining the country 
and putting an end to the fevers which lay it 
waste ; but unfortunately there was not sufficient 
fall to ensure the success of this great and use¬ 
ful undertaking, which would have been pro¬ 
ductive of immense benefit to the country. M. 
Witkan has made several extensive plantations 
of forest trees on this ground, which are in a 
flourishing condition. 
The person who accompanied me having 
spoken of the scarcity of hands to conduct the 
harvest and other labors which required to be 
finished within a limited time, I suggested the 
use of McCormick’s reaper which I had seen at 
Vienna, and also the farming machine and horse¬ 
power, as very useful machines for practical 
pux-poses. 
Novel Idea. —During the progress of the fair 
at Augusta, Ga, the chairman of the executive 
committee authorized the auctioneer to offer a 
silver cup as a premium for the best looking 
baby, of native growth, fourteen months old, 
which should be exhibited. A little daughter of 
Robert- Glover was the only competitor, and, 
of course, took the prize. 
