AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
329 
upon earth than another, it is a well-regulated 
school for children, where they arc taught as 
our Saviour would have taught them. They 
are the nurseries of the church, or would be if 
rightly conducted; and if there be one greater 
sin of omission than another in our clergy, it is 
the little regard they pay to schools. I intend 
this remark for all denominations, and it is ap¬ 
plicable to laymen as well as to clergymen. I 
don’t mean that the dogmas of religion should 
be brought into the schools, but that they 
should see every thing is conducted in accord¬ 
ance with all the improved modes of education 
at the present day. 
Nearly an Octogenarian. 
-•• *-- 
Montgomery County (Ohio) Agricultural Society. 
ADVANTAGES OF EARLY PREMIUM LISTS. 
Through the kindness of Mr. 0. Ivittredge, 
Secretary of the above Society, we have been 
furnished with a pamphlet containing the pre¬ 
miums and regulations of the show, to be held 
at Dayton, Oct. 3d and 4th, 1854. We are 
pleased with the course pursued by this Society, 
of announcing the premiums a year beforehand, 
This plan has the advantage of giving competi¬ 
tors an opportunity to prepare for the exhibition, 
not only in the care of their stock, but also in 
putting in their spring crops. More accurate 
accounts of treatment, measurements, &c., will 
be kept. Besides, there is usually more interest 
in such matters just after a show than at a later 
period, and it is well to take advantage of this, 
and to stimulate future exertions, by bringing a 
definite plan before the mind before the excite¬ 
ment of the past exhibition has died away. We 
think it would be well for other County, as wel 
as State societies, to imitate the example of the 
Montgomery Society. Another thing we notice 
is their premium list, which is worthy of con¬ 
sideration ; viz., they have offered a pretty large 
list of the different agricultural papers. These, 
we think, form a better class of living premiums, 
and are much preferable to a lot of old, musty, 
antiquated Reports. We saw several of these 
last given the past autumn, which the receivers 
actually refused to carry home with them, not 
esteeming them of sufficient value to pay for 
the carriage and store-room. 
-- 
For the American Agriculturist. 
EXPERIMENTS WITH SPECIAL MANURES. 
Being located on a small farm of thin soil, 
needing more manure than I can conveniently 
make, I have been trying various kinds of special 
manures for several years past, with a view of 
endeavoring to ascertain from my own experi¬ 
ence whether any were profitable, or which 
were the most so. 
In the spring of 1851 I sowed a small piece 
of thin, rocky soil with oats, and on a portion 
put from 300 to 400 pounds Kentish’s prepared 
guano, and left a small piece without any thing, 
and on the residue put about the same quantity 
of poudrette, harrowed in with the oats, and 
seeded with clover. The season was dry, and 
the oats poor alike on all parts. The clover 
took well on the guano, rather poorly on the 
poudrette, and scarce at all where was no ma¬ 
nure. The next season was favorable, and the 
clover fine on the guano, middling on the pou¬ 
drette, and nothing where nothing was put. 
In 1852 I sowed a small field—light, gravelly 
soil — with oats, after a corn crop of the preced¬ 
ing year. On about one-half I sowed 200 pounds 
Peruvian guano per acre. I left one land through 
the middle of the field without any thing, and 
on the balance put 400 pounds Kentish’s pre¬ 
pared guano per acre. The season was favor¬ 
able ; oats very good on Peruvian guano, but 
diminished in height about six inches at the 
line to which the guano was spread. No dif¬ 
ference perceptible between the strip without 
manure, and the prepared guano; all very short 
straw, but pretty full heads. I seeded with 
clover, which took well, and the next season 
produced a fair crop, but rather the best where 
the prepared guano was put. 
In 1853 I sowed Peruvian guano with oats, 
leaving small strips without, with similar re¬ 
sults—oats good with guano and poor without. 
In the fall of 1851 I sowed two pieces similar 
soil with rye. On one piece I put African gua¬ 
no, but not having enough to go over it, I spread 
a few loads of barn-yard manure on the furrow 
on one end—the poorest part—and harrowed all 
in together, and seeded with timothy and clover 
in the spring. On the other piece I put Ken¬ 
tish’s prepared guano, and seeded the same as 
the first. The fall was very dry and the rye 
grew poorly, and the grass seed failed. The 
clover took well were the yard manure was put, 
rather thinly on the prepared guano, and scarcely 
at all on the African guano. The rye was pretty 
good on the yard manure, and poor elsewhere. 
In the spring of 1852 I sowed Peruvian guano 
across a piece of wheat a few feet in width, 
which had been well manured with yard and 
stable manure. The wheat was all good, but 
the strip where the guano was put was very 
heavy, the rankness of the stubble showing 
plainly to the line; but there was no apparent 
difference in the grass the next season, all being 
good. 
In the spring of 1850 I put a small handful 
of poudrette to the hill at planting on part of a 
field of corn, on the balance nothing; soil, a 
fine, sandy loam, and a stiff sod turned under 
pretty deep. The corn where the poudrette was 
put greatly outgrew the other during the fore 
part of the season, but the soil being in a fine 
condition for corn, there was but little difference 
in the yield, all being good. I have since used 
Peruvian guano and super-phosphate of lime 
with very similar results, all giving corn an 
early and vigorous start, which has resulted in 
fair crops in some cases on poor land. 
Last spring I used ashes, Peruvian guano, 
prepared guano, and super-phosphate of lime 
on potatoes covered with the seed. The part 
where the phosphate was put soon outgrew' all 
the rest, kept, ahead, and produced the largest 
potatoes and the largest crop. No perceptible 
difference in the other parts of the field, all pro¬ 
ducing a fair crop. 
I will leave the reader to draw his own con¬ 
clusions from my experiments as above detailed, 
with only remarking that I have found nothing 
to supercede good stable and barn-yard manure, 
and would recommend the improving of that 
resource as far as circumstances will allow. 
Bedford. 
JVestchestcr county , JV*. Y. 
-« « •- 
Fluctuations in Flour. — The Baltimore 
American contains an interesting table on the 
fluctuations in the wholesale price of Flour in 
the first three months of the year from 1706 to 
the present time. In March, 1706, the price 
was $15 per barrel; in January, 1800, $11 per 
ban’el; in March, 1805, $13 ; during the war, 
1812-15, the highest price was $11; in 1817, 
$14.25 waS paid ; in March, 1821, it was as low 
as $3.75 ; from that time to 1828, it did not go 
above $7; in 1829, it was as high as $8.50; the 
next year as low as $4.50; in 1837, $11, (the 
time of the Flour riots in New-York city;) in 
1838-9, $8; in 1841, it was down to $4.50; in 
1843, to $3.87; in 1844, $4.25; in 1845, $4; 
and from that time to the present it did not go 
above- $G in the months named. In the early 
part of 1853, Flour was low as $5.25 per bbl.; 
now it is much higher. 
A Serious Charge. —The St. Louis Democrat 
has a long article, going to show that*Captain 
Gunnison and his party were not killed by In¬ 
dians, but by Mormons. “ It is no part of the 
policy of these people,” the Democrat says, “ to 
permit an exploration of their country for the 
purpose of finding a route for a railroad, which 
is to be the highway of nations, and, if made, 
would bring them again under the observation 
of the civilized world.” 
-• « • - 
SOMERSET COUNTY, N. J. 
DRAINING, STOCK-RAISING, AC. 
We see the farmers of this county are mov¬ 
ing in the matter of agricultural improvement. 
A goodly number of them met at the Court¬ 
house in Somerville, on the 12th instant, elected 
officers for the year, and made arrangements for 
a fair next autumn. During the meeting J. R. 
Cornell, Esq., the President of the Societj'-, gave 
a very practical address. We give a few ex¬ 
tracts, taken from the Somerset Whig: 
The importance of under-draining, I am happy 
to say is now securing the attention it ought 
long since to have done—to this I beg leave to 
call your particular attention, and ascertain how r 
it can be most economically done. Having paid 
some considerable attention to this subject, I 
now understand the rationale to be that air and 
heat are essential in preparing the food of the 
plants which is in the ground—a soil saturated 
with water from beneath the surface seldom ex¬ 
ceeds CO degrees of heat, hence grain or grass 
which requires 80 to 90 per cent, cannot grow on 
such land—draining obviates the difficulty. I 
commenced draining to get rid of a more unsight¬ 
ly, and as I feared unhealthy bog, and was not only 
successful in my object, but the first crop with¬ 
out manure, paid the expense. Of course I do 
not expect it will always do so, for it would be 
as unreasonable to expect a large pail of milk 
from an unfed cow, as a succession of large 
crops from unmanured ground. 
The breeding, rearing, and fattening the stock 
of our farms has been much neglected, whilst 
other States and countries have been far ahead 
of us. I fear our horses and cattle have deteri¬ 
orated. No climate is better calculated for suc¬ 
cessfully breeding horses than that of New-Jer- 
sey—we have neither the excessive cold of the 
north, nor heat of the south to contend with. 
Our horses were once considered the best in the 
country, and even now I consider a Jersey 
raised horse worth double a YVestern, or even a 
Pennsylvanian horse. The mule may be raised 
with profit, and for working animals they are 
strong, hardy, and easily kept, less liable to dis¬ 
ease than the horse, and much longer lived, and 
if kindly treated when first used, they are docile 
and free from tricks. I have now a pair which 
I have had in constant use on my farm for the 
last eight years, and they have never been lame, 
sick, or sorry, but always ready to do a hard 
day’s work. I paid $210 for them 8 or 9 years 
since, and was a year ago offered $400 for them. 
My neighbor, Mr. James Campbell, has ex¬ 
perimented on fattening cattle, and found great 
economy in cooking their food. The business 
of buying lean Western cattle, and fattening 
them here may I believe be followed with profit 
to the farmer, who understands this branch of a 
farmer’s business. Of one thing we are certain, 
that the manure of these animals must be of 
vast importance in improving the farm, for I 
suppose you all know that grain fed cattle give 
far richer manure than corn-stalk or hay fed 
cattle. 
Hogs when of good stock are profitable. I 
have made from ten hogs 50 loads of manure a 
year. I have found them the most profitable 
stock on the farm. 
The cultivation of hops I believe can be made 
very profitable in this State. In some parts of 
the State of New-York it is the great crop. 
The grape is very successfully cultivated in 
Ohio and made into wine, and not only of fine 
quality but in large quantities, and this with 
them is a new article of culture. 
You all remember that the wheat crop in this 
