editor’s table. 
229 
<2Mtor0 ®abk 
* Annual Report of the Commissioner of Pa¬ 
tents, for the year 1847.—We have received from 
Hon. Edmund Burke, Commissioner of Patents, at 
Washington, a very elaborate Congressional Document 
bearing the above-named title, of some 600 pages, il¬ 
lustrated by several wood cuts, and steel engravings. 
This report, we are happy to state, in our humble 
judgment, has been got up with more care, more abi¬ 
lity, and has more intrinsic merit, than any other do¬ 
cument of the kind that has preceded it. In addition 
to the sub-reports of the examiners of patents, which 
relate to matters appertaining only to the Patent Of- 
"fice proper, the volume contains a vast amount of 
agricultural knowledge, both practical and theoreti¬ 
cal, as well as statistical, that reflects much credit 
upon the industrious and talented gentleman at the 
head of this department, and upon those who have so 
ably contributed to his aid. One article in particular, 
by Charles L. Fleischmann, Esq., we think specially 
claims the attention of American flock masters, stock 
breeders, and farmers in general, not that it is strictly 
applicable to this country, but more with the view of 
showing with what care and attention, what industry, 
patience, and perseverance, every operation of the 
farm is conducted at Breslau, in Prussian Silesia, 
and of stimulating our people to follow, as far as prac¬ 
ticable, the same laudable example. 
For several interesting articles condensed from this 
able report, the attention of our readers is invited to 
the columns of the present and succeeding numbers 
of the Agriculturist. 
State of Vegetation in New York. —May 23d, 
strawberries plenty in market, and the common lo¬ 
cust tree in flower ; 25th, cherries in market, and the 
the catalpa and paper mulberry in leaf. June 1st, the 
Isabella grape in flower ; 15th, the ailantus in flower, 
and Catawba grapes as large as peas. 
Address delivered before the N. Y. State 
Agricultural Society, on the Food of Plants. 
By A. H. Stevens, M. D.—This is a neatly-printed 
pamphlet of twenty-two pages, and is evidently the 
result of much thought and observation. It contains 
many hints, both practical and theoretical, which are 
well worth the attention of the physiologist, as well as 
the farmer and the gardener. 
Horticultural Show at Flushing, Long 
Island. —This came off on the 14th and 15th of June, 
and is said to have been a superior show. A greater 
and choicer variety of the beautiful and useful of the 
season were exhibited than usual, showing that the 
Long-Islanders are in the broad road of improvement. 
We wish some friend who was present could have 
given himself the trouble to have made us a report, as it 
is quite impossible for an editor always to be present 
on such occasions. 
„ Albany and Rensselaer Horticultural So¬ 
ciety. —We are politely favored, by some unknown 
friend, with a full report in the Albany Argus, of the 
first exhibition of this society for the season, held at 
the Geological Buildings, in Albany on the 14th of 
June. The flowers, fruits, and vegetables Were nu¬ 
merous and fine ; and the show, upon the whole, was 
highly creditable to the counties from which the so¬ 
ciety takes its name. We notice that Dr. Herman 
Wendell, of xAlbany, has already introduced the cel¬ 
ebrated Aberdeen bee-hive strawberry, and a new 
vegetable from CBW, called the “ Heosung”. He 
says of it, “after being shipped of its leaves, it 
should be cooked and eaten in iLo same manner as 
asparagus, which the stems, in some Ieseffi . 
ble.” Dr. W., also exhibited four new varieties of 
lettuce, viz : the artichoke-leaved, the Malta, the 
Swedish, or sugar, and the imperial Victoria rhu¬ 
barb. The Malta is a remarkably bitter variety, 
but one which the committee believe, when eaten as 
a salad, prepared with the proper condiments, will 
be greatly relished by bon vivants. The artichoke - 
leaved variety is a curious but very agreeable one. 
So also is the sugar and imperial. 
We are glad to notice that Dr. Wendell was re¬ 
warded by a discretionary premiun for his zeal and 
enterprise in introducing these new fruits and veg- 
tables. Few gentlemen in the country are doing 
more than he for the advancement of the science of 
horticulture, and the introduction of new varieties 
of flowers, plants, and vegetables. 
The Largest Corn Grower in the United 
States.— -It is said that the largest corn grower in 
America is William Polk, Esq., of Arkansas, a brother 
of the President. His crop last year was estimated at 
100,000 bushels. The following is the result of his 
plantation:—Corn $70,000; cotton $16,000; pork 
$4,000 ; total produce of the year $90,000. 
Hovey’s Fruits of America. —The fifth number 
of this splendid publication has been received, con¬ 
taining colored figures and descriptions of the Late 
Duke Cherry ; the Louise Bonne de Jersey, and Belle 
Lucrative Pears; and the Porter Apple. The original 
design of the work, has thus far been fully sustained, 
and certainly deserves the encouragement of all who 
are engaged in the cultivation of fruits. Price, in 
Royal Octavo, $1 per number—in Imperial Quarto, $2. 
C. M. Saxton, Agent, 205 Broadway, New York. 
Large Rhubarb. —We have received from Mr. J. 
Brill, of Harsimus, N. J., an unusually large stalk off 
rhubarb (pie plant), weighing two and a half pounds, 
without the leaf. The soil in which it grew is a rich 
sandy loam, situated about one hundred yards from a 
salt meadow, with which it lies nearly level. The 
plant had no extra treatment with the exception of 
one or two waterings with liquid manure. 
A Good Hit.—The following extract from the re¬ 
port of a committee on hogs, read before an eastern 
agricultural society, contains some capital hits at a 
class of bipeds, which are found, perhaps, in every 
populous town throughout the world :—“ Some folks 
accuse pigs of being filthy in their habits and negli¬ 
gent in their personal appearance. But whether food 
is better eaten off the ground or from china plates, is, 
it seems to us, merely a matter of taste and conve¬ 
nience, about which pigs and men may honestly differ. 
They ought, then, to be judged charitably. At any 
rate, pigs are not filthy enough to chew tobacco, nor 
to poison their breath by drinking whiskey. And as 
to their personal appearance, you don’t catch a pig 
playing the dandy, nor the females among them pick¬ 
ing their way up this muddy village, after a rain, in 
kid slippers ! 
“Notwithstanding their heterodox notions, hogs 
have some excellent traits of character. If one 
chances to wallow a little deeper in some mire hole 
than his fellows, and so carries off and comes in pos¬ 
session of more of this earth than his brethren, he nev¬ 
er assumes an extra importance on that account; 
neither are his brethren stupid enough to worship 
him for it. The only question seems to be, is he still 
a hog ? If he is, they treat him as such. And when 
a hog has no merit of his own, he never puts on aris¬ 
tocratic airs nor claims any particular respect on ac¬ 
count of family connexions ; and yet some Hogs have 
descended from very ancient families. They under¬ 
stand full well, the common maxim, e Every tub must 
stand upon its own bottom.’ ” 
