162 
REVIEW OF THE MARCH NUMBER OF THE AGRICULTURIST. 
accompanied by hot coffee, with cream and sugar, 
always as a matter of course. And this is diet for 
farm laborers in America. Truly it is Jn strong 
contrast with that of many of the European labor¬ 
ers. Mr. Colman says we are distinguished for 
our reckless waste of human food. True again. 
But how few think of the amount of this waste. I 
was in Cincinnati once, some 20 years ago, at pork¬ 
killing time, and I there saw hogs’ feet, heads, back 
bones, and ribs, hauled to the river and thrown in 
by the six-horse wagon load. They have since 
found out that such was not economy. But on 
many, if not most American farms, the heads, feet, 
tails, and tripes of beeves, and frequently the livers, 
are thrown away; and upon many large farms, not 
more than half of the feet, ears, tails, and livers of 
hogs are eaten, and the upper part of the heads but 
rarely, or the cracklins, (scraps, or graves,) of 
lard, and much of the substance of the bones is 
thrown away. How common, too, it is in the 
country to see sheep and calves’ head and feet 
thrown to the hogs. Then the waste of vegetable 
food and grain, is beyond the belief of a European 
farmer, who has been brought up in the school of 
economy. Mr. Colman well says that “ the re¬ 
fuse of many a family, in the United States would 
comfortably support a poor family in Europe.” 
There is an equal extravagance in dress and in 
household furniture, as in living. But who can say 
—presto—change ? Not I. 
Cultivation of Lowland Rice. —This grain seems 
to be considered exclusively a southern crop. Is it 
necessarily so ? I have seen the upland rice grown 
as high up as lat. 402°, and am told that lowland 
rice can be grown as far or farther north. The ar¬ 
ticle under notice gives very full directions about 
the growth of rice, and is worth remembering by 
any one desirous of commencing the cultivation of 
it. 
Professor Norton’s Remarks on the Establishment 
of an Agricultural School by the State of New 
York. —What a pity we had not a few more Pro¬ 
fessor Nortons in our country. Then the union 
of the scientific and the practical would be com¬ 
plete. Then the most decisive results would be 
obtained. When will that blessed time arrive when 
every state in this Union will have such a school 
for the education of those who are to devote their 
lives to the cultivation of the soil ? 
Rat Catching. —“A Philadelphia subscriber” is 
answered directly to the point, and he may, now 
that he has the “ secret,” set up rat-catching as a 
business, if he likes. If this recipe will answer 
the purpose as well as it is recommended, I dori’t 
see why these terrible pests of a great portion of the 
United States could not be exterminated if a simul¬ 
taneous effort were made. I don’t know of but one 
redeeming quality in these pests; and that is, that 
they will eat up their small cousins, the mice; pro¬ 
vided they are not too well fed otherwise. 
Fact in Farming .—“ In ordinary land, without 
manure, high tillage, &c., farming will give but 
poor returns.” Well, now, I say it will give him 
the greatest return imaginable. For it will give 
a most complete return of his farm to the most na¬ 
tural state of poverty, that any soil is capable of 
returning to. A great many people in this coun- j 
try have tried it. [ 
How to Render Cloth Water Proof.— Is that a 
fact ? Can our garments be rendered water proof 
by so simple a process ? [Yes.] And does it not 
injure the fabric 1 ? I shall try it, that is certain. 
Look to it again, reader. 
Sundry Inquiries by a Virginia Farmer .— 
“ Jauffret’s manure.” Beg your pardon, Mr. Edi¬ 
tor, but it does not 11 remain to be proved” whether 
some other method of making manure is not the 
most profitable. In fact, in all the south, I have 
no doubt but the most economical mode of manur¬ 
ing land, would be with the “cow pea-vine,” 
plowed in green. I have no doubt that covering 
the land with pine straw, in the south, will always 
prove beneficial. Independent of its quality as a 
manure, the mere shading of the land is highly 
beneficial. As to grafting the peach upon the 
stock of the mountain plum, what is the advantage, 
in a country where peaches grow spontaneously as 
they do in all the south? Make it a rule to have 
young trees all the time coming on, and then let 
the old ones die, if they like. What’s the odds ? 
If land and trees were both dear and scarce, it 
would be a different thing altogether. 
Facts in Farming , No. 3.—These are just the 
kind of articles that give value to an agricultural 
paper, and are just such as every farmer ought 
to give his attention to and communicate. Proba¬ 
bly it will not pay to feed cows Indian corn for 
milk, in Orange county, N. Y., while on the Wa¬ 
bash or Miami, it would be thought the cheapest 
kind of feed. It is, or used to be, fed there as 
though it was not only cheap, but of no value. I 
wish some of the fodder-pulling farmers, would try 
the experiment carefully, whether pulling off leaves 
injures the product of the corn. [It must. Eds.] 
and also whether it would not be good economy 
for them to sow corn as detailed by this correspond¬ 
ent, instead of pulling fodder for winter food. 
Potato Starch. —How plain is this direction for 
making this article of necessity in almost every 
American family, and yet scores will read it, and 
still run to the store for a little starch. This is an¬ 
other item where we practice so little economy. In 
all the southern states, the arrowroot itself can be 
grown as easy as potatoes, but its cultivation seems 
but little known. 
Fattening Poultry. —I am well pleased to find 
that so sensible a person as E. S. agrees with me 
upon this subject. A fowl that has grown suffi¬ 
ciently fat for eating, upon a plan where they have 
free access to the woods and fields, is as much su¬ 
perior to a coop-fattened one, as a beautiful, neat, 
sweet, wholesome farmer’s daughter is superior to 
one of those hot-bed excrescences of fashionable 
society. When shall I have the pleasure of that 
dinner with E. S. ? 
The Proper Soil for Roses. —Add to all this a 
liberal supply of soap suds, then “ go ahead,” for 
you are “all right.” 
Defence of Romps. —I have always been surprised 
to see the folly of mothers complaining that their 
daughters were “ such romps,” and trying to check 
them. It always does my heart good to see the hap¬ 
py, robust countenance of a romp. And fifty years 
ago, it used to do a certain then-young man good to 
: take a hand at the game with them. I hope my 
I “ daughter’s daughter will rise up and go and see 
