AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
249 
making experiments will make them systemati¬ 
cally, and communicate the results to others. 
We invite those who have made recent experi¬ 
ments, as well as those who may hereafter make 
them, to send us minute details of their pro¬ 
cesses, and the results, whether favorable or 
otherwise. An unfavorable result is just as im¬ 
portant and useful to the public, as a favorable 
one. 
- « - 
POTATOES IN FROZEN GROUND. 
A subscriber renewing his subscription, closes 
his letter with the following remarks : 
Your correspondent, P. S. Brokaw, on “ the 
potato rot,” has advanced a new idea. He says, 
“ Some, not practically acquainted with raising 
potatoes, may think they will freeze in the 
ground, but we know the ground will draw the 
frost out without injuring the potato, etc.” This, 
I believe, is contrary to the opinion of practical 
farmers generally. That potatoes will keep in 
the ground through the winter, and be even 
better, both for cooking, and for seed in the 
spring, than those kept in the cellar or in pits, 
I have proved to my entire satisfaction, but 
that the frost had penetrated them and been ex¬ 
tracted by the soil, I never could believe. Did 
we all know the ground would draw out the 
frost without injury to the potato , we should 
dig only what was wanted for fall and winter 
use, leaving the rest of the crop to be taken out 
in the spring. 
I supposed such tubers as withstood the win¬ 
ter had escaped entirely, and that only in pro¬ 
tected spots they could survive, where the snow 
covers the ground during the severest cold 
weather. This is a subject worthy to be in¬ 
vestigated, and as you have asked for the ex¬ 
perience of others, we shall look for more facts 
on this subject. Yours truly, 
J. W. Briggs. 
West Macedon, JV. Y. Dec., 9,1853. 
The name '■'■Springfield" is in a fair way to 
become synonymous with a Grand National 
Show. The success of the National Horse Ex- 
hibiton at Springfield, Mass., has aroused the 
citizens of the western Springfield to look to 
their laurels, as the following, which we clip 
from an exchange, will show : 
Grand National Cattle Show, for 1854, 
at Springfield, Ohio. —A large meeting of the 
citizens of the county was held on the 25th of 
of November, and it was resolved to hold a “Cat¬ 
tle Fair” at this place on the first Tuesday, Wed¬ 
nesday, and Thursday of September, 1854. The 
premiums will amount to about $5,000, and will 
be open to all the world. Ample and beautiful 
grounds will be prepared, and arrangements will 
be made to accommodate all who come, without 
extra charges. This matter is to be carried out 
on a grand and liberal scale, so as to induce the 
the bringing of the finest stock in the world to¬ 
gether. 
An address is being prepared, to the citizens 
of the United States, showing the reasons and 
advantages of holding the “Fair” here. The 
excitement about the matter is high here ; an¬ 
other meeting is to be held on the third day of 
December, to complete the arrangements. Huz¬ 
za for the Cattle Fair of 1854. 
Coloring Butter. —A correspondent of the 
Dollar Newspaper , after referring to the prac¬ 
tice of coloring butter with “ foreign drugs,” &c., 
gives her own practice, which, although not 
quite agreeing wfith our theoretical notions on 
the subject, are so strongly vouched for, that 
we give her own process, which is as follows: 
For every ten pounds of butter take at least 
five middling-sized orange carrots, (and let them 
be orange, which may be known by their deep 
yellow pith,) wash and grate them, adding half¬ 
pint of water or milk, and let it soak over night. 
When you commence churning, strain it 
through a thick cloth, and pour it in with your 
cream, and you will have new yellow butter with 
an agreeable flavor, equal to October butter, to 
say the least, provided your cream is in good 
condition. 
It is needless to say that I, together with 
many of our best dairy women, invariably make 
use of the orange carrot during the winter, and 
our butter finds a quick sale in all our Eastern 
markets; even our great butter buyers, who are 
picking up every pound of butter as soon as it 
comes from the churn, request us to do it, stat¬ 
ing, as a reason, that their customers like it 
better. 
As for the “ yolk of eggs,” I think if Mr. “Ex¬ 
change Paper ” would conclude to exchange the 
yolk of eggs for the orange carrot, he would like 
the change. 
The Same “ Old House Keeper.” 
North Cambridge , Vt., 1853. 
Two of the Boys.— Two boys residing in the 
vicinity of this town, named William Ross and 
John Castor, both of whom are less than eight¬ 
een years of age, a few days since, husked and 
cribbed 169 bushels of corn, tied and shocked the 
fodder of the same, in one day, between day¬ 
light and dark. This is an extrordinary day’s 
work, and it will take pretty old boys to beat 
it.— Holmes County Whig. 
PROVINCIAL LIBERALITY TO AGRICULTURE. 
The English Provincial Parliaments have 
passed some very liberal acts for the encourage¬ 
ment of agricultural pursuits within their re¬ 
spective provinces. The parliament of New- 
Brunswick voted two hudred pounds, we think 
it was, ($800,) to each county in the province, 
which was to be expended in introducing a 
good stock horse of such breed as the Agricul¬ 
tural Society should deem most suitable to im¬ 
prove the breed of horses in said county. 
This was a noble appropriation, and the re¬ 
sult will be that New-Brunswick will in a few 
years be w r ell filled with the best breeds of this 
noble animal. 
We do not know in what manner all the 
counties have expended this money ; — some of 
them united together and sent an agent to Eng¬ 
land ; others sent agents into the States and into 
Canada, to select from horses in those sections. 
We have seen it stated in some of our ex¬ 
changes, that Mr. Cumming, Veterinary Surgeon 
of St. John, was sent out to Great Britain for the 
purpose of selecting horses for some of the 
counties. He purchased eight stallions, three 
of which died during severe weather on their 
passage out. The five which have arrived, are 
as follows: — two Clydesdales—one four years 
old, sixteen hands high, -weight 1436 lbs; the 
other sixteen and a half hands high, weight 
1600 lbs; a Hunter, four years old, fifteen and 
a half hands high; a Cleveland Bay, four years 
old, sixteen and a half hands high; a Suffolk 
Punch, four years old, sixteen hands high, 
weight 1700 lbs.— Maine Farmer. 
- • $ « - 
Butter.—Its Price and Waste. —Those who 
are compelled to pay the existing high price for 
this necessary article, may have the satisfaction 
of knowing that although it is scarce and dear 
in this part of the Union, it may be found piled 
up in mountain loads at San Francisco, where it 
sells for about half the cost and charges in¬ 
curred in shipping it from our markets! A 
San Francisco paper for November 15, in an arti¬ 
cle exposing the stupendous folly of our Eastern 
merchants in flooding California with commodi¬ 
ties that will not sell, informs us that the stock 
of butter now in market has already reached the 
enormous amount of five and a half millions of 
pounds ! Yet the Eastern traders continue to 
send to that place from 8000 to 15,000 firkins 
per month — the consumption for that time 
being only 9000, and we may expect next spring 
to eat reimported California New-England but¬ 
ter.— Courier. 
- • «-♦ - 
THE SMITHFIELD CLUB CATTLE SHOW. 
Saturday was the last day for the reception 
of the cattle and other stock to be exhibited at 
the ensuing annual show of the Smithfield Club, 
and during the day all the avenues leading to 
the King-street Bazaar was literally blocked up 
by the continous arrival of vans and other vehi¬ 
cles from the termini of the the various railways, 
containing specimens from all parts of the 
United Kingdom. 
There can be no doubt whatever that, whether 
regarding in point of numbers, or the beauty and 
symmetry of the animals, the ensuing show will 
by far outrival all its prdecessors. In the cattle 
classes especially the improvement is manifest, 
and it is believed that as a whole the show will 
be one of the finest exibitions of cattle which 
ever took place in this country 
Amongst the contributors are his Grace, the 
Duke of Richmond, (the president of the club,) 
the Duke of Rutland, the Duke of Bedford, the 
Marquis of Exeter, the Earl of Essex, the Earl 
of Leicester, Lord Portman, Earl Ducie, Lord 
Walsingham, Earl Spencer, the Earl of Hard- 
wiclie, the Earl of Yarborough, Sir J. V. 
Shelfey, Bart, Mr. Harvey Conroe, Sir Harry 
Verney, Mr. J. H. Gurney, Mr. Jonas Webb, the 
celebrated sheep-breeder, &c. 
The show on this occasion is divided into 31 
classes, of which 19 are appropriated to cattle, 
9 to various specimens of sheep, and 3 classes to 
P'gs- „ , , 
The implement galleries of the bazaar are 
literally crowded with machinery, and not the 
least interesting objects in this department are 
the spacious and handsomely-arranged stands 
of Messrs. Thomas Gibbs and Co., the seedsman 
of the Royal Society, which boasts of the pa¬ 
tronage of the Queen and his Excellency the 
Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, and which appear 
to exhibit a sort of peaceful rivalry, in the ex¬ 
hibition of the produce of the soil of each, be¬ 
tween England and the sister country. Some 
splendid specimens of corn, barley, and other 
grasses have been added to Messrs. Gibbs’ stand, 
encased in neatly gilt frames, and have a very 
pleasing effect. 
The Royal Dublin Society occupies a very 
prominent position, comprising stands No. 96, 
97, and 98 ; and it is gratifying to find this time- 
honored society of the sister country coming 
forward in competition with the Royal Agricul¬ 
tural Society of England, to show to the British 
public the capabilities of produce by Ireland.— 
Mark Lane Express of Dec. 5 th. 
- • « • - 
THE SHIP GREAT REPUBLIC. 
As our readers may be curious to know how 
their flour and grain are carried to a distant 
market, we have thought it might gratify them 
to learn something of the largest vessel afloat 
used for the purpose. We make up the follow¬ 
ing account of the Great Republic from a notice 
of her in the Journal of Commerce, and having 
just spent some time on board in a thorough 
examination, we can attest to the general cor¬ 
rectness of the Journal's description. 
Her length is the sixteenth of a mile. As she 
is seen from the wharf, the beauty of her pro¬ 
portions is such, that her extreme length can 
scarcely be truly estimated. It is only by com¬ 
paring her with the largest ships within her 
neighborhood, that her size becomes apparent. 
The Constellation, one of our largest packet 
ships, lies near her; she carries seventeen thou¬ 
sand barrels, but appears quite small in compari¬ 
son with the Great Republic. The Great Re¬ 
public is of five thousand tons’ burthen, and 
can carry forty thousand barrels of flour, which 
at the present rate of freight to Liverpool, would 
give an aggregate of $35,000 gross for a single 
voyage out. Twenty-three thousand barrels of 
