editors’ table. 
357 
have more leisure than the single hour or two that we 
are taking for this brief article. 
Now comes Mr. Delafield’s survey of Seneca county. 
This is the gem of the work, and is nearer our idea of 
what an agricultural survey should be, than anything 
American which has met our eye. Perhaps we should 
have skipped over the historical part, and condensed 
the geological, and thus jumped at once into the more 
practical. But what would you call practical , we hear 
asked. Aye, indeed, what is it ? Yet such long articles 
we are afraid will not be read by the common farmer. 
The ready response to this, doubtless is, then educate him 
to take an absorbing interest in doing so. Agreed; for that 
we will contend with all our hearts; and in the meanwhile 
tender Mr. Delafield our grateful thanks for the pleasure 
the perusal of his admirable article has given us. 
Of some of the extracts from addresses and essays, 
read before the county societies, we think highly; of 
others, we must be excused for saying, that they are 
better fitted for the pages of a Ladies’ Magazine, than 
those of the Transactions of the New York State Agri¬ 
cultural Society. It is time we had done with such 
fiddle faddle generalities, and namby pamby sentimen¬ 
talities, and oratorical fourth of July-ers. Let these be 
contrasted with Prof. Norton’s excellent address before 
the Seneca-County Society. See page 585. 
In the name of common sense, what has that long 
winded prize essay of one hundred pages on Agricultu¬ 
ral Dynamics, to do in the Transactions ? It may be 
very able for aught we know—(as we shall never at¬ 
tempt to read it)—but an Encyclopedia is the proper 
place for such articles. Such abstract essays are not 
transactions of the society, according to our under¬ 
standing of the term. Then why lumber up the vol¬ 
ume with them ? If people desire to read such things, 
let them consult the works published on such subjects. 
We say all this witli a perfectly kindly feeling towards 
the author of the essay before us; we beg him to 
believe that he is not personally included in our observa¬ 
tions, we are only condemning the principle of the thing. 
Regeneration of the potato, and the rot, have become 
a regular bore to the farming public. We believe the 
potato rot miasmatic. Lime, charcoal, and fresh wood 
ashes applied to the seed at the time of planting, as 
often recommended in our periodical, are the best 
restorers of the potato. 
And now for a cut at a cut Did the artist intend 
to guillotine Ruby, with a sharp triangle, plane her 
body down as smooth as a board, and turn her legs into 
knitting needles for the use of some good farmer’s wife ? 
We thought that this stiff pare-away artistic style, had 
been exhausted in the earlier volumes of the Transac¬ 
tions. Ruby is a superb cow, in living flesh and blood, 
and we consequently the more regret to see her cari¬ 
catured in this way. Compare this cut—for a portrait 
we will not call it—with that of the fat cow Grace, the 
Hungarian, and Jersey cattle, and see how much more 
natural these are. 
There, gentle reader, we have done with this portly 
volume of Transactions, for which, no doubt, you are 
very glad—and so are we; hoping that the next will 
appear in better time, on more uniform paper, and 
shorn of all that is superfluous and irrelavent. We 
will then do our best to commend it in toto, and send 
it home to the bosom of every farmer’s family in the state. 
The American Muck Book :—Treating of the nature, 
properties, sources, history, and operations of all the 
principal fertilizers and manures in common use I with 
directions for the preparation, preservation, and appli¬ 
cation to the soil and to crops; as combined with the 
leading principles of practical and scientific agriculture. 
By D. J. Browne. Published by C. M. Saxton, 152 
Fulton street, New York. Pages 429—price one dollar. 
We do not hesitate to say that this is the most com¬ 
plete and comprehensive work yet published in Amer¬ 
ica on the subject of manures, nor do we know of its 
equal in Europe. Mr. Browne has been several years 
collecting and arranging the materials for his Muck 
Book, during which time he has ransacked every possi¬ 
ble source for information on the subject of which it 
treats. He has quoted for his motto, the old saying, 
that “ muck is the mother of the meal chest;” he might, 
with equal truth, have added another, namely—“ muck 
is the mother of money.” Muck, or in other words, 
any kind of fertilizer, is a farmer’s mine of wealth; 
and he cannot be too industrious in digging up, collect¬ 
ing, saving, and properly applying such to his land. 
The more muck or manure, the better the crops; and 
the consumption of these, makes the muck heap again, 
of an increased size. 
The arrangement of this Muck Book strikes us highly 
favorably. First, we have gaseous and imponderable 
manures ; second, fossil, saline, and mineral manures; 
third, vegetable manures; fourth, animal manures; 
fifth, liquid manures; sixth, compost and homestead 
manures; seventh, special manures. All these are 
treated in a plain, practical, comprehensive manner, and 
in a style at once clear and brief. We do not know 
what more the farmers can desire; and if this work 
does not have a large sale now, we shall think they care 
very little for the improvement of their land, growing 
good crops, and filling their purse with money. 
Scientific Agriculture. —We are glad to learn that 
the Trustees of the ITuiversity of Albany announce a 
series of lectures the coming winter, upon scientific 
agriculture. Prof. Norton, of Yale College, will com¬ 
mence his course in the first week of January, and con¬ 
tinue it three months. He will lecture on soils, plants, 
and animals. Prof. Hall will lecture on geology and 
mineralogy. Dr. Goodby will lecture on entomology. 
Some gentlemen eminently qualified, though not yet 
named, will teach engineering and surveying. Prof. 
Cook will lecture on elemental chemistry. 
It is designed that all these lectures shall be emi¬ 
nently practical, and that the language used shall be as 
plain and familiar as it is possible to make it. A 
pamphlet is published explaining the whole series in 
full. For this, or further information, address Prof. John 
P. Norton, New Haven, Connecticut, Prof. James Hall, 
or B. P. Johnson, Esq., Albany, N. Y. 
