editors’ table. 
293 
liters’ (liable. 
Time of Holding Annual Fairs. —The following 
shows the times and places the principal fairs are to be 
held in the United States :— 
New-York State Agricultural Society, at Albany, 
September 3, 4, 5, 6. 
Massachusetts Charitable and Mechanics' Association, 
at Boston, September 11. 
Ohio State Fair , at Cincinnati, September 11, 12, 
iS. 
American Pomological Congress, the same time and 
place as the last named above. 
Maryland State Fair, at Baltimore, October 23, 
24, 25. 
Michigan State Fair, at Ann Arbor, September 
25, 26, 27. 
Rhode-Island State Fair, at Providence, September 
18, 19, 20. 
New-Hampshire State Fair, at Concord, first week 
in October. 
Canada- West Annual Fair, at Niagara, September 
18, 19, 20. 
Fair of the American Institute, city of New York, 
commencing the 1st of October, and continues for three 
weeks. Plowing and Spading Matches, at Tarrytown, 
October 11. Cattle Show, corner of 5th Avenue and 
23d streets, October 16, 17, 18. 
An Imported Durham Bull. —When we visited the 
beatiful place of Lorillard Spencer Esq., at Westchester, 
last month, among other things we had the pleasure of 
examining there, we noted a fine Durham bull recently 
brought over from England by Captain Morgan, in the 
ship Southampton. This bull is a rich strawberry 
roan, past a year old, large of his age, and a hardy 
animal. We*have no doubt he will prove of great ben¬ 
efit to the stock of the country. We are very glad to 
see gentlemen of the good taste of Mr. Spencer, en¬ 
gaged in the importation and breeding of fine stock, 
and we trust that others in his neighborhood, who can 
so well afford the luxury, will make haste to copy his 
praiseworthy example. Westchester was the foremost 
county in this state to engage in the improvement of 
stock, its first importation having been made by Mr. 
Heaton as early as 1791. We trust the good old 
county will continue to keep up to its ancient renown. 
Importation of Alderney Cattle. —Nine cows and 
one bull arrived here on the 17th of August, in the ship 
Splendid, from Havre. They were selected from the 
best stock in the Isle of Jersey, by Mr. John A. Taintor, 
of Hartford, Ct., and are designed for himself, and Mr. 
Daniel Buck, Jr., of the same place. This breed of cat¬ 
tle is famous for their rich milk, it averaging, usually, 
from 20 to 25 per cent, of cream. We shall make a 
visit to Mr. Taintor soon, and will then give a full ac¬ 
count of this stock. Suffice it for the present to add, 
that they are genuine, thorough-bred Alderneys, and 
look something like, and are about as handsome as a 
jenny, or female ass. 
An Importation of Six Alpacas from Peru, has just 
been received at this port, by the steamer Cherokee. 
We understand they were intended as a present for the 
late General Taylor, but that two are now to be pre¬ 
sented to Mr. Webster. The remainder, (one of which 
has just died from confinement in his close city quar¬ 
ters,) have another destination. They will admirably 
suit the Honorable Senator’s Granite-Hill Farm in New 
Hampshire, but are ill adapted to his low, sea-girt 
acres, at Marshfield. 
Transactions of the New-York State Agricul¬ 
tural Society, for 1849.—This yearly document, so 
much sought after and read by so large a number of; 
our readers, is quite as voluminous, and as handsomely 
illustrated as in the years preceding. It is replete 
with useful matter interesting to the farmers of this, as 
well as of all the United States, particularly as it con¬ 
tains the entire lectures of Professor James F. W. Johns¬ 
ton, “ On the General Relations which Science bears to 
Practical Agriculture,” as delivered before said Society 
in January last. We are happy to announce that these 
lectures are about to be published by C. M. Saxton, of 
this city, with Notes, a work which doubtless may be 
read with profit and advantage by every farmer and 
planter in the Union. 
Great Hay Crop. —Mr. R. L. Colt, of Paterson, N. 
J., informs us that he cut 47,560 lbs. of hay in July 
from 6£ acres, and he thinks he could now cut about 
6,000 lbs. more, as a second crop. This is about equal 
to Mr. Clapp’s great crop, mentioned at page 242 of 
our last number; 7 acres and 100 rods there gave 29 
tons and 497 lbs. 
Cotton Grasshopper. —A planter in this neighbor¬ 
hood informed us, a day or two since, that immense 
quantities of variously-colored grasshoppers are depre¬ 
dating on the cotton fields south and east of this place. 
Such an irruption has never beeD known before. The 
ravages of the insect are represented as being seriously 
destructive.— Chambers' Tribune (Lafayette, Ala.) 
Value of the Banana as Human Food. —It is 
doubted by Baron Humboldt whether there is any other 
plant on the globe, which, in so small a space of ground 
can produce so great a mass of nutriment. Eight or 
nine months after the sucker has been inserted in the 
earth, the banana begins to form its clusters, and the 
fruit may be gathered in less than a year. A spot of 
1,076 square feet may contain at least from 30 to 40 
plants, which, in the space of a year, at a very moder¬ 
ate calculation, will yield more than 4,410 lbs. avoirdu¬ 
pois, of nutritive substance. The produce of the banana 
is to that of wheat as 133 to 1, and to that of potatoes 
as 44 to 1. 
New Process of Milking. —The India-rubber man 
has got hold of the cow’s udder at last. He seems to 
lay hold of everything with an almost universal grasp. 
We have seen Knapp's patent cow milker, which is 
to be clapped on each of the teats separately, and by 
drawing a young piston from the sack, enclosing the 
teat, Presto! down comes the milk incontinently, till 
the whole strippings are drawn. 
We opine this operation is akin to the straw milkers, 
so much in vogue among experimenters a few years 
since. The difference is, that the rubbers cost $4 each,. 
while the straw costs nothing but the cutting ; but the 
former does not injure the teat, while the latter pro¬ 
duces irritation and sores., The similarity will prob¬ 
ably be found in their mutual worthlessness. 
Singular Amalgamation.— A friend left at our office 
a few days since, what may be considered, so far as our 
knowledge extends, a production peculiar to Minesota, 
It was a grub worm, apparently of the ordinary species, 
from the head of which had sprouted a plant some three 
inches in length. Both animal and vegetable life had 
become extinct, when we first saw it, though vitality, 
clearly existed in each, when taken out of the ground. 
We understand that this species of production is not 
uncommon in the vicinity of Point Douglass, where this 
was found. The weeds springing from the head of the 
worm grow to the height of two or three feet, the legs 
of the insect meantime distending themselves into the 
earth in the shape of roots. Animal life remains appa¬ 
rent until the vegetable shoot, above ground, is killed 
by a change of season; but whether a crop of grubs is 
produced in the way of seeds, we are not advised. What 
can’t we grow in Minesota ?— St. Paul (Min.) Chron- 
; icle. [Who believes this ? We do net.— Eds.] 
