84 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
reference to the producing butter and milk, but is not de¬ 
signed to apply to cattle for draught or fatting. 
SCALE OF POINTS FOR BULLS. Points. 
Art. I. Purity of breed on male and female sides, 
reputed for having produced rich and yellow 
butter,.... 4 
II. Head fine and tapering, cheek small, muzzle fine, 
and encircled with white, nostril high and open, 
horns polished, crumpled, not too thick at the 
base, and tapering, tippled with black, ears 
small, of an orange colour within, eye full and 
lively,....... 8 
III. Neck fine, and lightly placed on the shoulders, 
chest broad, barrel hooped and deep, well rib¬ 
bed home to the hips,.. .. 3 
IY. Back straight from the wethers to the setting 
on of the tail, at right angles to the tail. Tail 
fine, hanging two inches below the hock,. 3 
V. Hide thin and moveable, mellow, well covered 
with a fine soft hair of a good colour,. 3 
YI. Fore arm large and powerful, legs short and 
straight, swelling and full above the knee, and 
fine below it,. 2 
VII. Hind quarters, 1'rom the huckle to the point of 
the rump, long and well filled up; the legs not 
to cross behind in walking,. 2 
VIII. Growth,..... 1 
IX. General appearance,. 2 
Perfection,..... 28 
No prize to be awarded to a bull having less than 20 
points. 
SCALE OF POINTS FOR COWS AND HEIFERS. 
Art. I. Breed, on male and female sides, reputed 
for producing rich and yellow butter,. 4 
II. Head small, fine and tapering, eye full and live¬ 
ly, muzzle fine and encircled with white, horns 
polished and a little crumpled, tippled with 
black, ears small, of an orange colour within,. 8 
III. Back straight from the wethers to the setting 
on of the tail, chest deep and nearly of a line 
with the belly,.. 2 
IV. Hide thin, moveable, but not too loose, well co¬ 
vered with fine and short hair of good colour, 2 
V. Barrel hooped and deep, well ribbed home, hav¬ 
ing but little space between the ribs and hips, 
tail fine, hanging two inches below the hock,.. 5 
VI. Fore legs straight and fine, thighs full and long, 
close together when viewed from behind; hind 
legs short, and bones rather fine; hoof small, 
hind legs not to cross in walking,. 2 
VII. Udder full, well up behind; teats square and 
largely placed, being wide apart; milk veins 
large and swelling,. 4 
VIII. Growth,...-. 1 
IX. General appearance,. 2 
Perfection for cows,. 30 
Two points shall be deducted for the number re¬ 
quired for the perfection of heifers, as their udders 
and milk veins cannot be fully disclosed. 
No prize shall be awarded to cows having less than 
21, or to heifers having less than 19 points. 
Portable Manures. 
This is a term given in England to what we call con¬ 
centrated manures, that is, bone dust, horn shavings, 
poudrette, urette, &c. They are probably there called 
portable, for the reason, that they may be transported a 
distance at one-tenth, or even one-twentieth of the ex¬ 
pense that their equivalent of stable manure could 
be transported. Hence they are in great demand, 
in Great-Britain; and the quantity used may be judg¬ 
ed of from the fact, that that country is now pay¬ 
ing annually, £200,000 to foreign countries, equal to 
$888,000, for bones to fertilize her lands; while the 
high'price of the article has led to the most careful 
collection of them in every part of the United Kingdom. 
In 1827, Mr. Huskinson gave it as his opinion, in the 
House of Commons, that the use of bone dust, in Bri¬ 
tish husbandry, occasioned an additional produce of 
500,000 quarters of corn, (four millions of bushels,) and 
the writer in the Irish Farmers’ Magazine, who states 
the facts we are narrating, adds, “ it is not too much to 
suppose, that the quantity has since been increased four 
fold;” that is, that the use of bone dust in British hus¬ 
bandry is now annually adding sixteen millions of bu¬ 
shels of grain to her agricultural products! What a 
lesson this for our farmers, wlio are exhausting the 
patrimony which Providence gave for coming genera¬ 
tions 1 
“ The most active ingredients in bone dust,” says the wri¬ 
ter to whom we refer, “are phosphoric acid and ammonia, 
combined with lime and carbon; audit is to the action of 
these upon each other, and the influences of the changes of 
the atmosphere, and of sun shine and rain, in producing and 
maintaining that action, both above and in the ground, that 
is to be attributed the extraordinary results attending the ap¬ 
plication of bone dust.” 
The writer then proceeds to say, that a portable ma¬ 
nure maybe prepared, very easily, and at little expense, 
in every farm yard, which shall contain the elements 
which enrich and stimulate the soil to the highest pitch 
of fertility. The ingredients he recommends, and the 
proportions of each, are as follows:—1 ton of turf or 
peat dust, (if ashes the better,) 1 cwt. soot, 1 cwt. com¬ 
mon salt, 1 cwt. quicklime reduced to powder, 14 lbs. 
East-India salt-petre, (nitrate of potash.) The ashes, 
soot and lime to be well mixed together. The salt and 
salt petre to be dissolved in urine, as it may be required 
to saturate and keep moist the heap. After the salts 
are expended, the urine to be continued—and new ash¬ 
es to be spread on the top to intercept the vapors. Such a 
composition, he says, can be formed for 20s. a ton, which 
would be more efficacious than 40 bushels bone dust, 
costing 60s. or fifteen cords of yard dung, and might be 
transported at a single load. The ingredients in the 
mass supply all the elements for which decayed vege¬ 
table and animal substances are used, such as alkali 
and carbon—as recommended by Arthur Young, and 
also by Sir John Sinclair. 
“ The turf-dust, or ashes, contain carbonaceous matter, in 
a fit state to combine and retain the active properties of the 
other ingredients; and serve as a receptacle for the per¬ 
formance of the chemical action of the conflicting substances, 
until the whole mass becomes impregnated with elastic 
juices of various kinds, in a highly concentrated state, which 
are given out gradually, when applied to the soil, according 
to the influence of the atmosphere, and of sun and rain.— 
The lime imparts the calcareous property essential to all soils 
in various combinations with acids. The salt and salt petre 
yield the mineral and vegetable alkalies, united to nitric and 
muriatic acid, both of which exert a most powerful influence 
when separated from their bases—which the contact of caus¬ 
tic lime slowly but certainly effects. The urine, of all sorts, 
furnishes animal matter and ammonia in abundance. The 
soot adds much strength to the carbonaceous matter, and in¬ 
creases the ammonia. I think this preparation may justly be 
termed Imperial Compost." 
We give the preceding facts, not so much in the ex¬ 
pectation that they are likely to result in great imme¬ 
diate benefit to American husbandry, but under the 
strong belief that they will ultimately prove highly be¬ 
neficial, by directing the attention of scientific men to 
that all important branch of national economy—the im¬ 
provement of the soil. Science and agriculture have 
hitherto been strangers, although capable of rendering 
the greatest mutual benefits. We wish to bring them 
together, and to associate their labors, for the benefit of 
our country, and the human family. If Dr. Olcott’s 
“ Patent Restorative ,” which is noticed in another co¬ 
lumn, possesses any thing like the properties ascribed 
to it, and of this we hope to be able to judge, and the 
cost is not too great, and in this matter we are not ad¬ 
vised, it will prove a concentrated or portable manure, 
of immense value; and will justly entitle the discoverer 
to the gratitude of his countrymen and of the world. 
The American Farmer, 
The pioneer agricultural journal of our country, has 
been resuscitated, by its original editor, John S. Skin¬ 
ner, Esq. who has just issued the first number of anew 
series at Baltimore. Mr. Skinner rendered his country 
an invaluable service, in the thirteen volumes of the first 
series which he published; and he has both the talent 
and disposition to enhance the obligation by a further 
devotion of his time to the great work of rural im¬ 
provement. May he receive, as he merits, a bountiful 
reward. 
Common Schools in Virginia. 
“ I will infuse good habits and principles into children ; for 
■“ in twenty short years these children will be the men, giv- 
“ ing the tone and manners of the nation.”-— M. Fellenburgh, 
of the Hoffwyl agricultural school. 
Virginia seems disposed to bend the twig as the 
tree should be inclined. She has created a literary 
fund, not to instruct in Greek and Latin, but to sup¬ 
ply Unglish books to her primary schools, and she 
has chosen a competent board to select proper books, 
and to contract for and supply the schools with the 
same. The adage teaches, that a man is judged by the 
company he keeps. It will hold no less true, that a 
boy may be judged by the books he reads. Books are 
among a youth’s earliest companions, and they have an 
influence in after life, for better or for worse, upon his 
habits and morals. The legislature of Virginia have 
therefore acted wisely, in providing the best companions 
for their youth, as the surest way of having them brought 
up in the way they should go. 
Had our legislature been equally wise, and had they 
possessed the moral courage to do a good act in despite 
of party discipline, they would have done as Massachu¬ 
setts and Virginia have done—they would have selected 
companions for our youth—the books of our common 
school libraries —which are to influence their modes of 
thinking and acting, and which will, in a great many 
cases, unquestionably, have a controlling influence over 
their future lives. 
The president and directors of the Virginia Literary 
Fund, have advertised for proposals for the compila¬ 
tion or selection, or either, of a series of books for the 
use of primary schools—“books adapted to the institu¬ 
tions and habits of the people of that state, which will 
lay a solid foundation for a sound English education, 
and at the same time inculcate the purest principles of 
morality and religion, a true love of country and indus¬ 
trious habits, and direct the attention to the useful arts 
and common occupations of life.” 
Virginia, like a prudent parent, lays out the money 
for her children. New-York, like the weak or prodigal 
parent, gives the money to her children, to expend as 
they list, in bread, or in pea-nuts and powder-crackers. 
Buckwheat Straw. 
The editor of the Yankee Farmer ascribes great va¬ 
lue to buckwheat straw, duly protected from the vicis¬ 
situdes of the weather, as a food for cattle, and espe¬ 
cially for milch cows; and adds, that if cut and boiled, 
it makes most excellent slop for them. We are apt in 
our zeal to subserve the interests of our agricultural 
readers to overrate the advantages of every thing new. 
The nutrient properties of the stems of all grains and 
grasses, are believed to be somewhat in proportion to 
the number of their joints, in which these nutrient pro¬ 
perties are principally secreted, and the care with which 
they have been preserved. Our buckwheat straw, after 
a frequent long exposure in the field, has been thrown 
into large piles, where it has been suffered to heat and 
spoil, as any other forage would heat and spoil under 
like treatment, and has consequently been considered 
worthless for cattle feed. More careful farmers have 
preserved it as they would their hay, and have found 
it, if not as nutritious, at least worth preserving as 
cattle forage. That buckwheat straw, properly cured, 
abounds in nutrient matter, is evidenced by the fact, 
that when ploughed in green, it affords an excellent 
pabulum for crops; yet buckwheat straw is not, under 
any management, as nutritious as corn stalks, and ma¬ 
ny of the grasses, for farm stock, if the latter afe pro¬ 
perly preserved. It has fewer joints, and less of nutri¬ 
ent matter, than the stems of most other grains or grass¬ 
es, gathered, like it, while the stems are green and. suc¬ 
culent. Corn stalks are probably twice as valuable, if 
cut up while they are full of saccharine juice, when the 
grain is well glazed, carefully and well housed, cut and 
judiciously fed to stock. But the practice too generally 
prevails in the east, of spoiling them, by long exposure 
to the weather, as we are wont to spoil our buckwheat 
straw. The florin, a short jointed grass, is found to be 
nearly as nutritious when gathered in November, as 
when gathered in August; but it is not to undergo a 
wasting fermentation in mass, like our buckwheat straw, 
nor severed from its roots, to be blanched in the field 
by the vicissitudes of weather, like the stalks of topped 
corn. And even that pest, the quack grass, first cousin 
to the florin, is probably one of the most nutritious grasses, 
roots as well as tops, that we have, if properly dried and 
preserved. Another article, which we consider of little 
value, and which really is worth very little in the com¬ 
mon mode of managing it, might be rendered of as much 
service for cattle food as buckwheat straw—and that is 
the stems of our clover, from which we save the seed. 
And even the first crop of clover, which we cut for fo¬ 
rage, is twice as valuable when cured in grass cocks, as 
it is when made in the old way of spreading to the sun, 
by which the foliage is wasted, and the stems blanched, 
before it is fit to be taken to the barn. Every vegetable 
production of the farm is, in# measure, rendered valu¬ 
able or worthless, according to the care and judgment 
we bestow in preparing it for use. 
Green Com Stalks for Fodder. 
Where soiling, that is, feeding with cut green food in 
summer, forms any part of farm economy, we doubt 
not that corn, sown broadcast for this purpose, may be 
made to form a very profitable crop, either as a main 
dependance, or as auxiliary to short or spare pasture. 
It gives the greatest burthen of green food, and of as 
nutrient a quality as clover, though it can hardly be made 
to yield a cutting before August. It might well come 
in after clover, as food for cows and pigs. 
Mr. Holt, of East Haddam, Ct. has made some expe¬ 
riments in raising corn in this way for soiling; and he 
has found that sixteen square rods of ground, sown with 
gourd seed corn, the 12th June, gave food and subsis¬ 
tence for a horse fifty days, and thirty-three days for a 
cow. An acre would in this way, he thinks, feed thirty 
cows for a month. A small patch could not fail to be 
serviceable on any dairy farm, to supply the deficiency 
of pasture in August and September. 
Herefordshire Cattle. 
In our account of the most valuable breeds of cat¬ 
tle, in our first volume, we spoke of the Herefords 
as a branch of the original North Devon stock. By the 
judicious efforts of some of the English breeders, the 
Hereford stock is coming into high repute, for their fat¬ 
tening and working properties. As working cattle, 
they unite the activity of the North Devons, with the 
size and strength of the Long-Horns. In fattening 
properties, they have become competitors with the im¬ 
proved Short-Horns. At the autumnal Smithfield show, 
the Herefords carried five out of seven of the principal 
prizes, the Short-Horns one and the Devons one. The 
Hereford cattle have generally white faces, throats and 
bellies, are of a dark red, and sometimes brown or 
brindled. 
The Herefordshire stock of one of the English breed¬ 
ers, J. D. Kidward, of Westhide, was lately sold at 
auction, at prices which sufficiently indicate the high 
estimation in which they were held. A cow sold for 
£80, ($355;) a heifer and calf for £81; a calf ten days 
old for £79; a yearling bull calf at £80, &c. and the 
cows averaged over £30, or $133. These prices, we be¬ 
lieve, are about as high as those for which the improved 
Short-Horns ordinarily sell; though individuals of the 
latter have often sold at prices much higher. 
Use of Sulphur in preserving Plants from Insects. 
The Domestic Encyclopaedia directs, to tie up some 
sulphur in a piece of muslin or fine linen, and with this 
dust the leaves of young shoots of plants ; or the sul¬ 
phur may be thrown upon them by means of a common 
swan’s-down puff, or even a dredging box. No insects 
or worms will prey upon vegetables which are thus pro¬ 
tected. Sulphur has also been found to promote the 
health of plants on which it is sprinkled. 
In support of the recommendation, we state two ca 
