THE CULTIVATOR 
197 
ment, when more fully consummated. I will further re¬ 
mark that Mr. Pumpelly was among' the very first in this 
state to act in the Short Horn enterprise, not only with a 
view to improve his own stock, but that of the farm¬ 
ers in his vicinity; and like all who were earliest in the 
cause, he is deserving of much commendation, for the 
reason that it demanded then a much larger pecuniary 
outlay than at present, and far more prejudice was en¬ 
countered from that numerous class of farmers known as 
anti-innovation and anti-improvement. His bull from 
which most of his cross stock have originated, is an im¬ 
ported animal, formidable as to size, of great length, ve¬ 
ry hardy, and with the exception of some coarseness 
about the neck and head, is good; and his stock gettings 
manifest the excellence of his blood. 
The exhibition of vegetables was very good, not only 
indicating good culture, but demonstrating the capacity 
of the rich soil of the valley where they were mostly 
grown. Indeed, further proof of its fertility was to be 
found in the report presented to the Society of a wheat 
crop of five acres, averaging 40 bushels to the acre, 
grown on the farm of the Hon. Nehemiah Platt, in the 
town of Nicholas, adjoining Owego, It was sown after 
corn; variety, Hutchinson, which by the way is very 
hardy, and much less liable to be affected with rust than 
some other kinds. 
In consequence of holding the Fair but one day, the 
address was delivered at the Court House in the evening, 
by the President of the Society, Mr. Charles Frederick 
Johnson, who is well known to as all his friends as a 
gentleman distinguished for his literary and scientific at¬ 
tainments. As a composition it was classically chaste, 
and in the treatment of the several topics embi'aced it 
partook of the rich and useful stores of the author’s mind; 
and although I have listened to a number of excellent 
addresses of this character, this, I must be permitted to 
say, surpassed them alt. Hence it should not be laid 
under a bushel, but published, to which I hope Mr. 
Johnson will eventually consent. This judgment was 
unanimously awarded by the numerous and intelligent 
audience. 
The “ day after the Fair,” I had the pleasure of see¬ 
ing the operation of one of Ruggles, Nourse & Co.’s sub¬ 
soil plows, on the farm of Mr. Pumpelly, which was ad¬ 
mirable. But there were no stones for it to encounter, 
and how it would work when they abounded to any ex¬ 
tent, is with me a question, for I had never seen one be¬ 
fore in employ. The field of ruta bagas which we were 
shown, bid fair to equal the extraordinary crop grown 
on Mr. P.’s farm last year, the account of v/hich was re¬ 
cently published in the Cultivator. 
The farm of Mr. Johnson, at least that portion I saw 
of it, appeared in fine order, and refiected the good ma¬ 
nagement of the intelligent Scotch tenant who tills it. 
Few comparatively of your readers are perhaps aware 
of the charming locality of the village of Owego in the 
the vallies of the beautiful Susquehanna, and another 
stream called the Owego creek, which, from its fulness 
and width, were it in the old world, would be dignified 
with the name of river. The scenery which environs 
the place is varied, and truly picturesque; this, howev¬ 
er, is not the place to enter into particulars concerning 
it. But another charm of a more exalted character is to 
be found in the superior intelligence and moral worth of 
a large portion of its society; and with many others be¬ 
fore me, shall cherish grateful recollections as a recipi¬ 
ent of its cordial and truly refined hospitality. 
Your friend, L. A. Moehell. 
Lake Ridge, Tompkins co. N. Y., 1843. 
EXPERIMENT WITH CHARCOAL. 
Messrs. Editors —I mentioned to you last spring, 
that I had sown fifty-two bushels of charcoal dust to the 
acre, on wheat, and would give you the result of the ex- 
pei'iment. In order that my promise might be fulfilled, 
1 selected a corner of a twenty-five acre field of wheat, 
containing by survey two rods; the grain was harvested 
while in the milk, on the 17th of July; threshed, cleaned 
and measured on the 21st, yielding 31 quarts and 1 pint, 
or 78 bushels and 24 quarts to the acre. As the above 
fact may appear incredible to many wheat growers, I 
enclose the survey, and certificates of two of my men 
who measured it. 
I have grown cuttings of the Camelia japonica, soft 
wooded geraniums, cactus, wax plants, &c. in pure char¬ 
coal dust, without any admixture of earth; likewise corn, 
beet, carrot, and other seeds, and believe it to be the 
most valuable substance now known as manure, being 
pure, incorruptible and la.sting. 
Yours respectfully, Robert L. Pell. 
Pelham, Ulster co., Nov. 20, 1843. 
I, M. W. Powell, surveyor, hereby certify that I have 
measured the ground herein described, beginning at an 
apple tree, and running a northwest course ninety-five 
links, thence a southwest course fifty links, thence east 
thirty links to a line to the north angle, thence east sev¬ 
enty links to the place of beginning; the line from the 
base to the north angle being twenty-six links, contain¬ 
ing two rods, which is a portion of R. L. Pell’s wheat 
lot No. 2. M. W. Powell. 
Affirmed before me on the 15th day of July, 1843. 
M. M. Keeler, Justice of the Peace. 
_ We, Patrick Farrell and Leonard Latten, hereby cer¬ 
tify that we gathered, threshed, cleaned and measured the 
teheat grown on the above described two rods of ground, 
belonging to Robert L. Pell, Esq,, of Pelham, Ulster co. 
and the yield was 31 quarts and 1 pint, dry measure; we 
believe if the gleanings had been threshed, there would 
have been OTie bwsAeL Patrick Farrell, 
Leonard Latten. 
SHEEP ON THE PRAIRIES & OTHER MATTERS. 
Editors or the Cultivator— Your complimentary 
note in the October number, upon the subject of my re¬ 
moval from the office of Postmaster, (which I had held 
for many years with but a mere trifle of compensation 
for a large amount of service, except the advantage of 
the franking privilege,) has given me great satisfaction, 
and induces me still to go on trying to contribute my 
mite toward promoting the happiness of my brethren 
in a good cause. Permit me here to say to a number of 
my correspondents who will probably read this, for their 
acquaintance with me seems to be formed through your 
columns, that the principal reason why I have not an¬ 
swered their letters of late is because I felt unwilling to 
burthen them with a heavy postage tax for a letter that 
I could not believe would be worth the money. For the 
same reason, my communications to the numerous agri¬ 
cultural papers will be less frequent than formerly. By 
this, however, I must believe that the public will lose 
less profit than I shall pleasure. It is in the power of 
the agricultural class, and I think it is their duty to en¬ 
deavor to bring about such a state of public feeling as to 
eradicate the monstrous false doctrine from this republic 
that leads our rulers to such wanton acts of ‘‘ proscrip¬ 
tion for opinion’s sake.” 
If we cannot effect the adult population, let us rear up 
our children in the nurture and admonition of better 
principles. Why cannot we feel and act in all the con¬ 
cerns of life as some of the great men of antagonist po¬ 
litical principles did at your glorious great Fair at Ro¬ 
chester, where they met as brothers and friends of the 
good and great cause of agricultural improvement? How 
much I regretted, while reading the proceedings, that I 
could not have been there to enjoy the pleasant scene. 
How much do such meetings tend to soften the asperi¬ 
ties of human nature, and to create a neutral ground 
where those of every political and religious faith can 
meet and know each other only as brother farmers—fil¬ 
ters of the soil themselves or disposed to lend their 
countenance and talents toward the promotion of an ob¬ 
ject that has the bettering of the condition of such a vast 
portion of the human family in view. 
But I am wandering from my objects, one of which is 
to say a few words to my friend Jewett upon the sub¬ 
ject of his article in the September no., headed ‘‘ Sheep 
on the Prairies.” 
Your article bears internal evidence that you have 
never visited the prairie region. Whether the western 
country at large is or is not as favorable as Vermont for 
sheep raising, remains yet to be proved. But as you do 
not know of any large tract of country where sheep suc¬ 
ceed well on level lands, or at least on lands free from 
mountains, such as are all of the northwestern states and 
territories, I will inform you that the great state of Ohio 
is that very countiy. Again, you are mistaken in your 
notion that the western prairies are a level, wet tract of 
country. They are often hilly—always undulating, ex¬ 
cept what we call marsh, which bears about the same 
proportion to the other parts that swamps do to other 
lands in the eastern states. 
Although sheep may be fond of hills, yet they are 
also fond of good pasturage, such as the wild prairie 
grass affords in abundance sufficient to feed all the sheep 
in the Union. As to the sweeping winds and storms, I 
know that they are not so severe or frequent as in the 
eastern states. True, we have more steady windy 
weather, but not severe, as is proved by the fact that 
that unstaked rail fence very seldom blows down in the 
most exposed situations. As to free and pure air for 
sheep to breathe, I pray, friend Jewett, come and try it 
yourself. Spend a month or two with your friend So¬ 
lon, and be convinced that he speaks truth. 
Those stagnant pools that have so staggered your faith 
in favor of western sheep breeding, are so few and far 
between, that the sheep, having a wide, open country, 
well suited for a race, are able to outrun those awful car- 
niverous insects that abound only in thy imagination in 
great numbers. 
The objection against the unevenness of our winters 
is certainly not calculated for this latitude. For nine 
years the winters have been dry and cold, with but a 
small quantity of snow at a time—never so deep as to 
hinder sheep from getting about; and about five months in 
ffength, instead of five months longer than usual. Heaven 
protect us from that! Ten months of winter! Think of that 
in latitude 41J! True, last winter was the most severe 
one known since the first settlement here. It commenced 
November 16, by a snow storm more severe than any 
other during the winter, but the ground was not frozen 
for six weeks, and sheep could live well on rye or tim¬ 
othy pasture. I have known good feed in March, but 
it is not generally looked for until the middle of April. 
If calculation is made to feed sheep five months, it will 
not prove so poor a calculation as you calculate, and I 
calculate that there never will be any danger of millions 
of sheep perishing in the winter, particularly after be¬ 
ing stung to death in the summer, besides dying of the 
rot occasioned by the malaria of those stagnant pools; 
and if we cannot raise fine wool, why vve will try a 
coarser quality, until we get a breed that will stand and 
turn like a weathercock,” and if we derive no other 
advantage, we shall be able to tell which way the wind 
is whenever we can see the sheep’s tails. 
And if prairie grass will answer for small flocks,why 
not for large ones? For certainly one of the great ad¬ 
vantages that we possess is in not being under any neces¬ 
sity of stocking so close as you do in Vermont. We 
have no occasion to confine them to a tenth, while the 
whole is free; and I assert it as an indisputable fact that 
your white clover pastures cannot furnish better mutton 
or healthier sheep than the wild prairie grass ever has 
done throughout the whole prairie region. 
“ Some say”—well I say, “ that government lands can 
be occupied rent free,” longer than you or I will ever 
need pasture for our flocks in this world, prudent though 
I hope we both are in our dependance upon the future. 
Wolves, too, which you hold up in terror, have no 
terror for the western shepherd, because none but the 
little insignificant timorous prairie wolf abounds, and 
they abound not in sufficient abundance to make sad ha¬ 
voc in a flock. 
Although distempers “ may prevail,” yet again they 
may not; because as yet they never have, and sheep have 
been bred in the west some 30 years, and until “ scab 
and foot rot and sore toes and ragged coats,” (no perso¬ 
nal allusion I hope, in that last complaint,) come among 
us, we cannot tell what we shall do; but certainly we 
shall have the best chance in the world to change our 
pasture till frost comes. But after all this great array of 
diseases and dangers, here comes a reason therefor. It 
is in truth, because you are not alarmed about western 
competition in the wool market, that you have so kindly 
been trying to pull the wool (from) over our eyes, be¬ 
fore we quite ruined ourselves with some of these “ for¬ 
midable objections” to the success of raising sheep on 
the great western prairies, that really seem to me as bet¬ 
ter adapted to that use than any other in the world that I 
know of. 
“ But time will test the question”—and in the mean¬ 
time I shall try to grow wool in the west, and humbly 
advise some ten thousand more of my fellow laborers to 
go and do likewise. 
I had some other subjects that I intended to speak of, 
but you see m}’ space is full, and I cannot think of taxing 
you with double postage upon such a wooly subject, not¬ 
withstanding your very liberal request, for which accept 
my warmest thanks. 
I hope to be able to hav’e a word with your readers 
more frequently during the winter evenings; though I 
find that my eyes are getting rather too wooly, and I 
dread to acknowledge that I am obliged to call for spec¬ 
tacles, an article which I have not yet used. 
I remain yours, and your reader’s old friend. 
Lake C. H., la., Nov. 1, 1843. Solon Robinson. 
DISEASE OF POTATOES. 
Messrs. Gaylord & Tucker —Many of the farmers 
in these parts have lost their crop of potatoes entirely, 
and others have suffered considerable damage, in con¬ 
sequence of a singular destruction of the crop. The 
potatoes, when dug, were remarkably fine in. appear¬ 
ance, but when put in heaps in the field and covered as 
usual, they became a rotten mass. In a dry cellar, they 
held their appearance tolerably well, except somewhat 
darkened and a little shrivelled, but on breaking them 
open, it was found their surface, about a quarter of an 
inch in thickness, was of a dark brown, and some of 
them entirely through were of the same color. I usu¬ 
ally raise between 2,000 and 3,000 bushels a year; this 
year my crop was a fair one. I fed my hogs, as I al¬ 
ways do, with those that were not fit for market nor seed. 
I heard it rumored that they were poisonous to hogs, but 
I could not believe it, as my hogs had not been fed on 
any thing else except a small quantity of corn once a 
day. I have them boiled, mashed while hot, and as 
they are fed out, mixed with a little milk, &c. I watch¬ 
ed \)hem with a little anxiety, and about two weeks ago, 
I heard an unnatural coughing amongst them, but i 
could not yet believe the potatoes caused it. Two of 
them soon began to pant, as if worried in a hot day; in 
about a week after they were taken, they refused to eat. 
'They continued panting and struggling for breath four 
or five days after refusing to eat, and then died, with 
froth running out of their nostrils. I have a sow, with 
a litter of pigs about three months old; I observed the 
pigs began to cough and pant, so I have concluded to 
stop feeding potatoes to my hogs. I cannot say that the 
potatoes caused the disease, but certainly it seems so. 
Most of the potatoes raised in these parts are Mercers; 
other kinds, I am told, arc effected in the same way, 
but not so extensively. Yours, &c. 
Peekskill, Nov. 16, 1843. Tyler Fountain. 
FATALI'TY OF THE POTATOE. 
Messrs. Editors— We in this section of country have 
this year been retarded in our prospects of the potatoe 
crop^ in a very remarkable manner, by a very strange 
fatality which the oldest inhabitants have never before 
witnessed. The potatoes have been attacked by a dis¬ 
order somewhat resembling the plague, generally called 
the rot. This disease spreads with amazing rapidify 
from one potatoe to another through the entire crop 
without the greatest care. When once saturated with 
the disease, the stench that emanates from them is al¬ 
most insupportable to the olfactory or nasal nerves; I 
cannot conceive a scent more foetid or disagreeable. 
Many have left them to decay and remain where they 
grew; others raised them and placed them on dry, cool 
floors, spread out to dry; but the plague spread among 
them, and few have been saved, I suppose not above 20 
per cent, and they of course not of so good a qualitty as 
in good seasons. The doctors say none should be eaten. 
