HUDSON-RIVER FARMING. 
245 
tible source. Large dnves of young cattle are 
driven from the grand prairie of Illinois every year 
into the state of Ohio, and are there used as oxen 
or kept for milk, as long as profitable, and then 
move forward to the vicinity of Philadelphia, New 
York, and Boston; and after taking on a coat of 
fat, they make a final move to the butcher’s stall, 
or, perchance, some of them go down in the great 
ships that go over the Atlantic, and thus western- 
prairie beef is eaten in England. Truly the shrewd 
Yankee is always about, where there are a few cents 
to be made, because the schoolmaster that was 
about when he was a boy, taught him that 100 of 
these same cents are equal to an old Spanish-milled 
dollar, which, at any and all times, is fully equal to 
an old, greasy, ragged dollar bill of some unknown 
bank away down in Passammygunk. 
Recipes for the Ladies. —I am glad to see that 
Mr. Robinson is still mindful of his best friends; 
for such, I believe, he has always esteemed the fair 
portion of our good world. I have eaten a most 
delicious bread in the south, made of hommony, and, 
perhaps, a little flour and eggs. Can you give us 
the recipe for that, old friend % As to that chicken- 
fixen dish, I suppose it is French. Good, no 
doubt; but are you sure there are no frogs in it 1 
What Can be Bone by c Farmer's Wife. —Why 
such a one as this, can make her husband both 
rich and happy. 
The Way to Win a Husband .—Girls, did you 
read that”? Read again. I think I could be w r on 
by such a course ; for I love mutton chops, and I 
should delight to have her come and whisper softly 
in my ear, “ I dkl it.” Ah ! what should I not 
do while her lips were so near % Reviewer. 
APFLES, AS AN ARTICLE OF HUMAN FOOD. 
The importance of apples, as food, has not 
hitherto been sufficiently estimated in this country 
nor understood. Besides contributing a large pro¬ 
portion of sugar, mucilage, and other nutritive 
matter, in the form of food, they contain such a fine 
combination of vegetable acids, extractive substan¬ 
ces, and aromatic principles, with the nutritive mat¬ 
ter, as to act powerfully in the capacity of refri¬ 
gerants, tonics, and antiseptics; and when freely 
used at the season of ripeness, by rural laborers 
and others, they u prevent debility, strengthen di¬ 
gestion, correct the putrefactive tendencies of nitro¬ 
genous food, avert scurvy, and probably maintain 
and strengthen the powers of productive labor.” 
The operators of Cornwall, in England, consider 
ripe apples nearly as nourishing as bread, and 
more so than potatoes. In the year 1801, a year 
of scarcity, apples, instead of being converted in¬ 
to cider, were sold to the poor; and the laborers 
asserted that they could stand their work on baked 
apples, without meat; whereas, a potato diet re¬ 
quired either meat or fish. 
The French and Germans use apples extensively; 
indeed, it is rare that they sit down, in the rural 
districts, without them in some shape or other, even 
at the best tables. The laborers and mechanics 
depend on them, to a very great extent, as an article 
of food, and frequently dine on sliced apples and 
bread. Stewed with rice, red cabbage, carrots, or 
by themselves, with a little sugar and milk, they 
make both a pleasant and nutritious dish. 
HUDSON-E1VER FARMING. 
We have recently been highly gratified in wit¬ 
nessing the successful application of labor-saving 
machinery to farming operations ; and in no one 
preceding instance, have we seen more triumphant 
results. 
Judge Van Bergen, of Coxsackie, has, for the last 
43 years, been the owner and occupant of a large 
farm, lying two miles from the west bank of the 
Hudson. Till within a year or two, it contained 
700 acres and the old paternal mansion. The lattei 
occupies an elevated position, from the observatory 
of which, four states are visible. The Coxsackie 
Valley, a wide plain, of open, gently rolling, fertile 
soil, stretches northwardly for ten miles. For an 
equal or greater distance, it extends in a south¬ 
westerly direction, till it reaches the foot of the 
Kaatskill Mountain. Covered throughout their 
whole extent, with a luxuriant growth of grass, 
grain, and other crops, the expanded fields every¬ 
where are dotted by graceful shade trees, and the 
surrounding hills and mountains loaded with their 
richest summer foliage, the view combines all the 
beauties of a western prairie and an English park, 
with the magnificence of Alpine Scenery. Judge 
Van B. has recently sold about 100 acres of this 
land, including the mansion and principal farm 
buildings, to a young gentleman from Maryland, 
who has had the taste to appreciate, and the good 
sense to cultivate, these luxuriant acres, fn prefer¬ 
ence to continuing the more alluring, but too often 
delusive pursuits of a mercantile career. Of the 
600 acres, 250 are in wood, 250 in meadow, and 100 
in grain and roots. 
The plowing, subsoiling, harrowing, rolling, 
planting, and cultivating are accomplished by two 
men only, with the aid of their teams and imple¬ 
ments ; and such is the confidence of Judge Van B., 
in the success of his operations, that he asserts the 
entire'practicability of cultivating 70 acres of corn, 
in the best possible manner , with but these two 
laborers. 
The plowing is done either in the fall-or early 
spring, the former being preferred for the clay, 
which is the predominating soil. A furrow is 
thrown upon the unplowed ground at some distance 
from the edge of the field, with the most approved 
two-horse plow. The team then turns to the left, 
and returns, throwing another furrow parallel with 
the first and in the same manner. The plow is then 
brought back to the right of the first furrow, and 
enters upon the unbroken ground, that is but par¬ 
tially covered with the loose earth first thrown up, 
leaving about the width of one furrow unbroken by 
the plow and covered by the preceding furrow. 
This operation throws the whole field into high 
beds, of the width of a furrow, in which con¬ 
dition it is best fitted for the access of air, heat, and 
moisture, and with but half the labor of ordinary 
plowing. 
The subsoil plow then follows in the bottom of 
every furrow, as deep as it can be driven with one, 
and sometimes, two, good pairs of oxen or horses. 
After this operation, the ground is allowed to re¬ 
main exposed to the meliorating effects of the atmo¬ 
sphere, till the proper time for fitting it for the re¬ 
ception of the seed. 
The preparation for planting is usually made 
