164 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
FARMERS SHOULD TRAVEL MORE. 
A VISIT TO WASHINGTON RECOMMENDED. 
Most farmers and farmer’s sons confine them¬ 
selves too closely upon their own farms, and to 
the boundaries of their own neighborhoods. 
Even in these days of cheap travelling, few 
think of going a hundred miles from home, 
though occasionally one will, by an extraordi¬ 
nary effort, venture far enough to visit a rela¬ 
tive in an adjoining State. This aversion to 
going abroad is generally the result of want of 
information in regard to the facilities for travel¬ 
ling, and the cheapness of making long excur¬ 
sions. That the expense need not be in the 
way we are quite sure, for we know many 
young farmers, who in a single winter spend 
enough in sleigh-rides, convivial parties, &c., 
to carry them on a trip through half a dozen 
States. 
The writer of this, when about 21 years of 
age, resolved with another young farmer simi¬ 
larly situated, to spend four weeks of the latter 
part of the winter in a visit to Washington and 
the large cities on the route. Wc had no 
office-seeking propensities in our visit to the 
Capital, but we desired to see the many objects 
of interest, and especially the distinguished 
men there congregated. We had read the 
speeches of Clay, Calhoun, Webster, and other 
eminent statesmen, and we desired to see their 
faces, and hear them speak. 
We each had on hand only $28, which we 
had saved by economy in apparel, and by 
avoiding the “ sprees,” &c., in which our com¬ 
panions had passed the winter. Our outfit 
consisted of our “ Sunday suit,” a good pair of 
walking boots, a pair of lighter shoes stowed 
with our change of linen in one small valise, 
which we took turns in carrying, or on long- 
foot journeys we carried it between us. Thus 
rigged, and each having a light umbrella which 
served for a shelter or walking stick as occasion 
required, we first made our way to New-York 
by railroad and steamboat. Here we put up 
at one of the European hotels, at an expense of 
fifty cents per day for a good room, and for 
meals we took a lunch wherever we might be 
when hungry. After seeing the principal ob¬ 
jects of interest is this city, we next visited 
Philadelphia and Baltimore in the same way 
and went on to Washington. There we secured 
cheap but good lodgings at a private house, 
and spent two weeks in listening to the 
speeches of different distinguished men in both 
houses of Congress, and when neither house 
was in session, in examining the different pub¬ 
lic Buildings, such as the Capitol, President’s 
house, Patent Office, Genei-al Post-office, Treas¬ 
ury Buildings, National Institute, National Ob 
servatory, Arsenal, &c. AVe also made jour¬ 
neys on foot to Mount Vernon, Alexandria, and 
to some other points of interest in the vicinity 
of AVashington. All public buildings are free 
to visitors, and as wc went on foot, our only ex¬ 
pense was for lodging and lunches. The mem¬ 
ber of Congress from our own district intro¬ 
duced us to several distinguished men, includ¬ 
ing the President and several members of the 
Cabinet, and no one asked us, or seemed to im¬ 
agine, how much or little our purses contained. 
AVe were well dressed, behaved ourselves as 
well as we knew how, and had no cause to 
complain of neglect because we had a farmer’s 
hard hands and sunburned countenance. We 
however, went to see, not to be seen, and while 
we kept our eyes open, wc avoided being no¬ 
ticed, where nothing was to be learned. With¬ 
out entering into details, we will only say, that 
after four weeks we returned home with 
scarcely a dollar in our pockets, but with a fund 
of knowledge gathered from observation, which 
we would at this hour be loth to part with for 
hundreds of dollars. Since that time, when we 
have read the speeches of many eminent states¬ 
men, several of whom are no more, we have 
had an intense satisfaction in knowing how 
those men appeared, what were their peculiar¬ 
ities of gesture, &c.; and to us this has been as 
valuable as would have been a personal ac¬ 
quaintance with each. AYhen we read of 
AVashington, Baltimore, and Philadelphia, we 
have some definite idea of how things appear 
there. Now who will say that our $28, and 
four weeks time, were not spent to better ad¬ 
vantage than if squandered in idleness and 
winter parties and pleasures at home. 
AVe think our farmers could do no better 
thing for their sons, than to furnish them with 
a little time and money for just such an excur¬ 
sion. The expense is trifling. AVe can go 
from New-York to Philadelphia for $3, or 
for $2, by taking the 10 A. M. first-class 
train on the Camden and Amboy Railroad. 
From Philadelphia to Baltimore the first-class 
fare is but $3, and from Baltimore to AVash- 
ington $1.25 ; making the cost of the entire 
trip from New-York to AVashington and back, 
but $12.50, or at most $14.50. Good board 
in private families in AVashington may be ob¬ 
tained for from $3 to $6 a week. There is no 
other necessary expense while in that city, for, 
as we have before remarked, all public build¬ 
ings are opened free to the proprietors, and 
every American citizen is a proprietor. If two 
or three young farmers in different towns can 
club together during the coming winter, and 
spend their pocket-money in such an excursion 
as we have indicated above, we doubt not they 
will find themselves well repaid for their jour¬ 
ney. As the Crystal Palace is to be opened 
through the winter, this can be taken in the 
route. There are many other objects worth 
visiting in New-York, such as the Latting Ob¬ 
servatory, Banvard’s Panorama of the Holy 
Land, Jones’ Pantoscopc of the Route to, and 
Scenes in California, &c., &c. J. 
Ne Plus Ultra BROCcoLi.-Preeminent among 
the few really superior new vegetables which 
from time to time come before the public, stands 
this new Bro coli, being by far the best variety 
of that esteemed vegetable that has yet come 
under my notice; and possessing as it does all 
the good qualities which its name implies, I feel 
I shall be doing the public a service by making 
its merits more generally known. For the last 
three years I have grown this sort, along with 
others of known excellence, with the. same un¬ 
varied result in favor of the Nc Plus Ultra, and 
during the last year, a season of unparalleled 
fatality to Broccolis, whilst others were killed 
this sort stood uninjured, producing its fine heads 
in May and June, equal if not superior to other 
sorts in favorable seasons. The chief merits of 
this Broccoli consists in its being very hardy, 
possessing a dwarf habit, with large and com¬ 
pact rich cream-colored heads, which are pro¬ 
tected by ample smooth glaucous foliage, and 
it has the richest flavor in the whole tribe. 
Need I say more than this, that it possesses all 
the finest qualities of (he far-famed Penzance 
Broccoli, in addition to a hardiness which has 
long been a desideratum in that otherwise ex¬ 
cellent sort. No garden, however small, should 
be without it.— Gardener's Chronicle. 
- 9 9 9 --- 
AVealtii is the sum which gives content, be 
it one dollar or thousands. 
HORSES FOR NEW-YORK MARKET. 
There arc now in this city between 22,000 
and 23,000 horses. If the average value of these 
be only $100, which is a very low estimate, there 
is in this city two and one half million dollars 
invested in horseflesh. These horses are pro¬ 
bably not in a working condition more than five 
years on an average, and as none are bred in 
the city, the present demand for horses from 
abroad probably exceeds $300,000 annually. II 
we take in Brooklyn, AVilliamsburgli, Jersey 
City, Newark, and other towns'near New-York, 
and allow for fancy horses, and the general value 
above $100 of those brought here, wc think 
$1,000,000 will annually go from this vicinity 
to other parts of the country for horses during 
the next ten years. 
There is an increasing demand for fancy 
horses. From $400 to $600 for a single horse, 
and $500 to $1200 for well matched pairs, are 
not uncommon prices. The construction of rail¬ 
roads by no means diminishes, but on the con¬ 
trary largely increases the demand for horses 
for city use. The high price of beef has led to 
a much greater substitution of horses for oxen 
on the farm, and prices have continued to rise 
from year to year. From the above facts and 
many others, we do not see why the prices of 
horses should not be very high for several years. 
AVe think farmers who give attention to breed¬ 
ing horses, good horses, for the market, will 
find it very profitable for a few years to come. 
But good horses should be reared. It costs 
little more to raise a $200 horse than one worth 
only $100. In place of further remarks of our 
own on this subject at this time, we insert a 
good article from the Mark Lane Express, on 
the choice of Brood-mares, which will well pay 
for perusal. 
on the choice of brood-mares. 
There can be no doubt but that the breeding 
of horses of a superior description would amply 
repay those farmers who arc possessed of the 
requisite knowledge ; and whose farms present 
a suitable combination of light, productive, 
arable land, with pasture of good quality. The 
price of first-rate horses has advanced in a re¬ 
markable degree of late years, and is not likely 
to decline so long as the country enjoys an or¬ 
dinary degree of prosperity. It is every where 
matter of complaint among buyers that good 
horses never were so scarce as at the present 
moment; and the man who is possessed of a 
weight-carrying hunter, or a fine carriage horse, 
will, if inclined to sell them, not find himself 
long without a customer. Still, notwithstanding 
these inducements, the breeding of horses on a 
large scale is confined to a few districts, of 
which the principal are the east and part of the 
North Riding of Yorkshire, Lancashire, and 
part of Northumberland. On the Yorkshire 
AVolds it is a pleasant sight to see, field after 
field, with its half-score of handsome colts; 
some of them adapted for the chase, while 
others are destined for London carriage-horses. 
Though not so plentiful as I remember them 
twenty years ago, especially the higher bred 
ones, they are still to be found in sufficient 
numbers to show that the farmer considers them 
a portion of his stock productive of profit, and 
consequently worthy of attention. Even there, 
however, breeders might with advantage pro¬ 
pose to themselves a higher standard, and aim 
at producing hunters of the first class, which 
would surely remunerate them better than the 
leggy and somewhat underbred coach-horses, 
which are every day less suited to the require¬ 
ments of customers. One reason why hunters 
are not bred there so extensively as in former 
years, is that farmers, either tempted by the 
high prices offered by foreigners, or under the 
pressure caused by agricultural distress, have, 
from time to time, parted with their best brood- 
