RURAL 
well convinced of the superior advanta¬ 
ges of this region, that I have not the least 
doubt, that those who live a few years will 
see it one of the most densely peopled sec¬ 
tions of the country, and that the lands 
which can now be purchased at from §5 to 
|20 per acre, will be worth $75 to $150, 
and eagerly sought after at these prices. 
Last month, here, is considered by the 
“oldest inhabitants” to have been the hot¬ 
test in their recollection. The mean heat 
for the month, at sunrise, was 72^-^ mean 
at 3 P. M., 884-*^. The mean for the whole 
month was 80^°. The hottest day was the 
6 th, the mean of which was 90®. The 
coolest day the 12th, with a mean of 67®. 
The highest range of the Thermometer was 
98®, and the lowest 53®. Rain fell on 12 
days. Corn for the table, and tomatoes, 
were in market on the last of June. Water 
melons and peaches on the 15th ult. Sweet 
potatoes have just commenced coming to 
market. Our market is now well supplied 
with new flour, and our millers are sending 
it to the North. Wheat is coming in 
and brings, for red, $1,10 to $1,12—white, 
$1,15 to $1,20. Sam. S. Griscom. 
Petersburg, Va., 8 mo., lOt/t, 1850. 
A 'new wheat drill . 
Samuel Davison, Esq., of Greece, in this 
county, has constructed and successfully 
used a plow with an attachment that dis¬ 
tributes the seed in the furrow, at the heel 
of the plow, in a very even and satisfactory 
manner. By tliis process the wheat is sown 
at the last plowing of the summer falloiv, 
and may be left in the furrow without drag¬ 
ging, which many persons who plow in their 
grain greatly prefer, as it stands the winter 
better and insures the germination of all 
the seed sown. There is no objection to 
harrowing dowm if intended for mowing, 
and may be used to great advantage in once 
plowing, on clean clover lays, by turning a 
light furrow with a well constructed plow. 
This contrivance can be attached to any 
plow, and the motive power for distributing 
the seed is the guide roller on the beam. 
Mr. D. is now getting up one, with all the 
improvements that have suggested them¬ 
selves to him after one year’s use, for ex¬ 
hibition at the State Fair. Land in the 
same field, sown by this machine and by 
the broad-cast process, shewed a very deci¬ 
ded gain in favor of the furrow sowing- 
standing more even, better stools, and 
stronger straw and better yield, as we are 
advised by those who have examined the 
crops. 
The drill does not appear cumbersome 
to the plow, and can be removed in two 
minutes. 
THE STATE FAIR. 
NEW RAILROAD HORSE-POWER AND FEED MILL. 
The above cut represents a new Horse- 
Power, recently brought into notice by 
Messrs. Emery & Co., of the Albany Ag¬ 
ricultural Works. It is on the general plan 
of the approved endless chain powers sold 
by them for several years past The prin¬ 
cipal difference is in the manner of obtain¬ 
ing and applying the power and motion from 
the revolving platform to the shaft of the 
driving pulley. 
This Power, as will be readily seen in the 
cut has the revolving plank platform, tra¬ 
versing upon its own friction wheels and 
iron Railroad Track. At the forward end, 
this platform is supported by its small shafts 
upon an iron reel, about sixteen inches in 
diameter—the shaft of this reel extending 
beyond the sides of the frame work suffi¬ 
ciently to receive a strong converge or in¬ 
ternal gear, about twenty-four inches in di¬ 
ameter, as seen in the cut 
The shaft of the driving pulley, (which 
pulley is three feet in diameter,) is hung in 
like manner, with the small gear upon one 
end, operating inside the converge gear be¬ 
fore described, and consequently receives 
an increased motion in the same direction, 
and carries the driving pully on the opposite 
side of the power for driving the Overshot 
Thresher, without crossing of bands or in¬ 
termediate gearing. The converge wheel is 
so arranged as to work on either side of the 
power, as may be desirable. 
This arrangement entirely removes all 
liability of breakage and wear of links and 
pinions (heretofore unavoidable,) as the di¬ 
rect stress upon the links working over small 
pinions is wholly avoided; and they are ac¬ 
knowledged by those using them to run with 
lighter friction, which it is said enables the 
power to be operated at a less elevation than 
by the former mode. The arrangement for 
tightening the endless platform by means 
of a joint bolt connecting with the bearings 
of the reel shaft, is new, and is a very sim¬ 
ple and effectual mode of effecting this ob¬ 
ject, as it may be instantly done by a com¬ 
mon wrench without stopping the machine. 
The platform is considerably longer than 
usual, avoiding the liability of large or un¬ 
steady horses stepping over or off at either end. 
The above cut also represents a valuable 
mill, capable of being driven with this pow¬ 
er to good atvantage, for grinding food for 
stock. A considerable number have been 
sold for several years past, and answer a 
good purpose. They are cheap, costing but 
$35, with one extra sett of grinding plates, 
(new plates costing $2 per sett,) and are ca¬ 
pable of grinding 600 to 800 bushels per 
sett, according to the fineness to which it is 
ground. These are also made and sold by 
Emery & Co.— Cultivator. 
LETTER FROM EASTERN PENNSYLVANIA. 
The preparations for the State Fair at 
Albany this year, are on a most magnificent 
scale, and the prospect now looks te its be- 
ing a greater show than has heretofore been 
witnessed in this country. 
The attendance, and numbers of animals 
and articles exhibited, have increased at an 
accellerated ratio at every exhibition since 
the first organization of the Society, and 
will probably so continue, until it will be 
found imperiously necessary to divide the 
State and hold a Fair in each district, un¬ 
der the control of the parent Society. 
We cannot but think that the period of 
holding the Fair this year will be found 
quite too early. In the first place, it hap¬ 
pens at the most hurrying and critical pe¬ 
riod of finishing the summer fallow and sow¬ 
ing wheat—which, in nine-tenths of cases, 
is performed from the last week in August 
to the 10th of September; and from the 
lateness of the season, neither peaches, 
nor grapes grown in the open air, can be 
thought of—and apples, except early varie¬ 
ties, will not be sufficiently matured to en¬ 
able judges to distinguish varieties. The 
Baldwin and Spitzenburgh hardly yet show 
color, and the Swaar and Greenings are as 
yet quite alike. The autumnal flowers will 
be far from perfection. We can see no mo¬ 
tive for fixing the period so early, except to 
avoid the rains which sometimes prevail 
from the middle to the end of the month; 
but, under as accomplished a clerk of the 
weather as the Secretary, even they might 
be dodged. 
The Deleware State Agricultural Society 
has passed resolutions, prrotesting against 
the Canadian reciprocity bill, and advoca¬ 
ting an Agricultural Bureau at Washing¬ 
ton. 
Agriculture — The Crops — Effects of the great 
storm—Prospect of Fruit, ^c. 
Mr. Editor: —A few days ago I acci¬ 
dentally came across the Rural New-York¬ 
er and was much pleased with its smiling 
countenance. I know very well that any 
rouge furnished by me will not add much 
to its roseate hue; yet some of your agri¬ 
cultural readers may be interested by an 
account of the condition of the crops in the 
old Keystone State: therefore, I will endea¬ 
vor to give an inkling of the same. 
The pursuit of agriculture is the main¬ 
spring of all business, the great prop of life; 
hence this “ useful and ennobling occupa¬ 
tion of man,” should be encouraged by ev¬ 
ery possible means. Every one must re¬ 
joice to see how rapid has been the advance 
of agricultural science, in the United States, 
within the last few years. The time when 
it was the subject of derision and neglect is 
buried in the depth of the past.— [Not 
quite, in all sections, we regret to say.— Ed.] 
In its rapid strides on this side of the wa¬ 
ter, it is fast gaining on the great triumphs 
of the old world, where it has been so suc¬ 
cessful—and wffiere, especially in England, 
it has made one vast garden plot. It has 
achieved great victories all around and in 
our midst, for the great importance of agri¬ 
cultural pursuits has dawned upon this wor¬ 
thy class of men, and every day they are 
paying more attention to its developments; 
and I am pleased to see its friends so ac¬ 
tive in getting up Country and State Ag¬ 
ricultural Societies, for they must tend 
greatly to its advancement. New York 
long since set the example by forming a 
State Society, and Maryland, Ohio, &c., have 
nobly followed in her wake. Pennsylvania 
has been tardy, but some efforts are now be¬ 
ing made to form a State Society, and I 
trust that she will not be long about “ follow¬ 
ing in the footsteps of her predecessors.” 
A word in regard to the crops in this re¬ 
gion. Hay, has never turned out better— 
as you might judge were you to see the 
number of stacks located about the barns. 
The farmers had fine weather for getting it 
in, and it was almost without an exception 
cured in admirable order. In regard to 
grain, — the wheat crops are generally good, 
with the exception of the white and un¬ 
bearded kinds which were not worth gath¬ 
ering—having been totally devastated by 
the weevil, which has been a great pest in 
this section, the present season. The Med- 
itterranean, especially, turned out fine.— 
Rye is good but there is very little sown in 
these parts. Oats are also good, though the 
amount sown this season is comparatively 
small. Notwithstanding the backwardness 
of the spring and the fears entertained by 
our farmers that the corn crop would be 
sparse, it has so far advanced rapidly and 
there will undoubtedly be time enough yet 
for it to grow—for we are promised “ seed 
time and harvest.” Early potatoes turn 
out strong, and so far there is no appear¬ 
ance of that scourge, the rot. 
The great storm whjch visited us on the 
night of the l7th of last month, had a very 
serious effect on our crops, &c. The wheat 
generally had been garnered—that, howev¬ 
er, which remained exposed, was blown 
hither and yon. The oats were blown and 
twisted in every direction, and had to be 
cut with the scythe instead of the cradle. 
The corn was blown flat, but has again 
erected itself. All kinds of fruit were hurl¬ 
ed from the trees in vast quantities, and 
limbs, trees, <fec., thrown to the ground. 
In relation to fruit. We shall not be 
blessed with a very abundant crop of apples. 
The great storm blew a great many off, and 
what remain are scrubby and generally 
have not their natural taste. I noticed in 
the spring, on the generality of apple trees, 
that the leaves were covered with thousands 
of small lice; and after they disappeared 
the leaves curled up and the trees looked 
very unhealthy. This is something new in 
my vocabulary, and whether it had any ef 
feet on the fruit I know not. Pear trees 
are loaded. Peaches will be plenty; the 
trees are breaking down with their loads.— 
Other kinds of fruit will be tolerably plen¬ 
tiful. Yours, die., Leonade. 
Germantown, Phil. Co., Pa., Augiist 10, 1850. 
Man being by nature a social being, it is 
a matter of considerable importance to know 
how to turn this sociablity to the most 
agreeable and useful account In every 
thing which we do, system is better than 
confusion, because it is more effective in at¬ 
taining any desired, not to say desirable re¬ 
sult The pleasure of a social dance is in¬ 
creased by observing certain rules which 
art and decorum have prescribed. So, too, 
the pleasure of a social meeting among far¬ 
mers wdll be enhanced by the aid of a sys¬ 
tem, which happily combines the useful 
with the agreeable, in the intercourse be¬ 
tween neighbors pursuing a common pro¬ 
fession. A club or society has for its ob¬ 
ject an organized effort to promote an inter¬ 
est common among all its members. In 
this way, by small contributions, each mem¬ 
ber of the club has the benefit of a good 
agricultural library purchased by its funds. 
Its wealth becomes the property of all; for 
each member of the society, is ready to 
communicate to his associates all new facts 
which his reading, or his experience has 
brought to light. Information is vastly ex¬ 
tended in all directions, and the communi¬ 
ty becomes at once distinguished for its gen¬ 
eral intelligence, and its skillful and profita¬ 
ble agriculture. 
Nothing great and valuable has been a- 
cheived in tlie w^orld without an association 
of effort. Farmers very generally neglect 
this'element of strength: and hence their 
advancement is comparatively slow. Mili¬ 
tary men, lawyers and physicians have their 
professional libraries and study them close¬ 
ly, if they would understand the true prin¬ 
ciples of their respective pursuits. This 
mental training is invaluble in developing 
human intellect, no matter what the calling. 
Lawyers fill three-fourths of all the import¬ 
ant officesdn the United States, from that 
of President downward—not because they 
are the most numerous class, but because 
farmers and mechanics omit to qualify them¬ 
selves to command the suffrages of their 
brother farmers and mechanics, whose votes 
rule every State in the Union. If Congress 
were filled with honest farmers from our 
thirty States, they would settle all sectional 
disputes in a week; and we trust that be¬ 
fore the close of the present century, the 
cultivators and owners of American soil will 
have a majority in their National Legisla¬ 
ture. The elevation of farmers in their own 
estimation, and in reality, by wise intellect¬ 
ual culture, can be effected by the aid of 
clubs, whose members meet often for the 
purpose of mutual instruction. The Secre¬ 
tary or President of such a club should be 
directed to subscribe for eight or ten of the 
best agricultural journals in the country, 
and to purchase books relating to rural af¬ 
fairs, to the extent of the means of the so¬ 
ciety, whether small or great. There is no 
power equal to that of knowledge; and it 
is time for the farmers of the Union, to un 
derstand this fact, and act accordingly.— 
Most of the natural sciences have a direct 
bearing on the rewards of farm labor; and 
those agriculturists who acquire a compe¬ 
tent knowledge of these will have the ad¬ 
vantage, other things being equal, in every 
community. 
All colleges and academies should be en¬ 
couraged to teach chemistry, geology, phys¬ 
iology, physical geography and meteorolo 
gy, in their connection with agriculture.— 
This will soon create a higher standard of 
popular intelligence on these important sub 
jects. Farmers’ Clubs and Societies can 
then be maintained in a flourishing condi 
tion, without the least difficulty. Horticul¬ 
tural societies wdll also be equally popular; 
for all will rejoice in the culture of choice 
fruits, beautiful shrubbery and flowers. A 
refined taste and discriminating judgment 
will follow all w'ell directed labors to im¬ 
prove the invaluable advantages which 
Providence has conferred on the American 
people. Without labor nothing useful is 
attainable. Savages never cease to be such 
till they make an effort to improve their 
condition. Isolated efforts made by indi¬ 
viduals can do something, but infinitely less 
than well concerted, associated action.— 
Wise and efficient action is what is needed 
All County Agricultural Societies should 
be cheerfully sustained, and new ones es¬ 
tablished where none exist. The gentle 
stimulus of numbers does a world of good 
in the way of keeping up a general interest 
in the cause of improvement. Without 
this genial excitement, little or nothing is 
done for the advancement of this most hon¬ 
orable and ancient of all human arts.— 
Professional enthusiasm may be indulged to 
a limited extent to decided advantage. — 
Southern Cultivator. 
The Earth is the great nursing moth 
er of all plants; they in their turn minister, 
directly or indirectly, to the nutrition and 
sustenance of animal life; the lamb and the 
kid feed upon herbage, the direct growth 
of the soil; the wolf and other of the car¬ 
nivora feed upon the lamb and the kid— 
thus they derive their food indirectly from 
the soil. 
Mr. Editor: —I recognize, as the first 
and most important principle in farming, the 
provision of a sufficient quantity of good and 
valuable manure. Without this, we can ao 
complish but little; and yet there are but 
few farms where a deficiency in this depart¬ 
ment is not always encountered, although 
facilities for its accumulation so abundantly 
exists wherever there is vegetable life or 
mineral waters of the commonest kinds.— 
No farmer, I contend, ever need be in want 
of the Avhere withal to feed his crops or en¬ 
rich his fields. They who complain most 
loudly in this particular, do not rightly ap¬ 
preciate the advantages they have; nor are 
they prepared to avail themselves of one 
half the wealth and resources they in real¬ 
ity possess. 
It is rarely the case that we find any ef¬ 
forts whatever, on the part of the farmer, 
to make his domestic animals subservient to 
the increase and augmentation of his ma¬ 
nure heap. His hogs do not work; his cat¬ 
tle and sheep sheds are not replenished 
with materials for compost, and the princi¬ 
pal resource in fact, upon which he relies 
for renovating his soils when exhausted by 
the production of an emasculating success¬ 
ion of crops, is supplied by the droppings 
deposited in his enclosures by cattle that, in 
consequence of the imperfect and singularly 
injudicious system he has adopted, cost him, 
annually, twice the amount they should or 
would, were they compelled to work in the 
production of manure. There are many 
substances which may be accumulated at 
leisure seasons, all of which by proper man¬ 
agement, may be easily and economically 
resolved into the food of plants. Every 
farm-yard is replete with the principles of 
vegetable life and aliment So are the for¬ 
ests, the fields, the roadsides, the swamps 
and bogs, yet how few think of these sour¬ 
ces of fertility ? Not one in five probably. 
When,manure is mentioned, the idea is at once 
suggested of raking heaps of animal excre¬ 
ment or of compost heaps of which the in¬ 
gredients are composed mostly of vegetable 
matter whice has been passed through the 
stomach of some animal, and which will re¬ 
store to the soil less in the form of manure 
than it took away. By purveying more 
systematically we may carry much of real 
wealth to our fields, without abstracting in 
any degree from their vegetative powers.— 
We may crop so as to retain aU the fertili¬ 
ty, and make annual and even increasing 
deposites beside. It ought, indeed, ever to 
be a standing rule with the agriculturist to 
leave his fields, in the fall, richer and more 
affluent than he found them in the spring. 
If he cultivates an exhausting crop, let him 
estimate, accurately, the degree of exhaus¬ 
tion it produces—the amount of pabulum it 
requires, and graduate his applications ac- 
c irdingly. More should be returned than 
is abstracted, in all cases, for it is bad poli¬ 
cy, in every sense, to impoverish the poor. 
I trust, that farmers, generally, are awake 
to the importance of this subject, and that 
they will soon see it in its true light, as it is. 
A Montgomery Co. Farmer. 
Germantown Telegraph. 
Constant Supply of Eggs.— The South 
Carolinian says:—“A neighbor states that 
hog’s lard is the best thing that he can find 
to mix with the dough he gives to his hens. 
He says that one cut of this fat as large sis a 
Avalnut will set a hen to laying immediately 
after she has been broken up from setting, 
and that by feeding them with the fat occa¬ 
sionally, his hens continue laying through 
the whole winter.” 
The tongue of a fool is the key of his 
counsel, which in a wise man, wisdom hath 
in keeping. 
GREEN VEGETABLE MANURE. 
This has been used for upwards of two 
thousand years, and in countries where the 
art of culture has been most attended to. 
Various crops have been sown with no oth¬ 
er view than to be buried in, when fully 
grown, to render the soil fit for crops of 
more importance. Every species of vege¬ 
table, in a green state, acts more or less as ; 
fertilizers, some probably more than others, | 
according to their power of draining organ¬ 
ic matter from the air, and inorganic mat¬ 
ter from the subsoil. It is, therefore, no 
detriment to the soil to be covered with 
weeds, providing they are not allowed to 
seed, and that they be dug into the ground 
instead of being hoed down and raked off, 
which latter process is a direct robbery of 
the soil. Green vegetable manure is most 
effective on light sandy soils, and least so 
on peaty lands. It is surprising how much 
valuable manure is wasted in gardens, by 
carrying it to the compost heap, instead of 
at once burying it in the soil; and how 
much is lost or neglected in woods and 
waste places, from mere indolence, or from 
want of knowing that rampant nettles and 
rank-growing plants constitute a great 
amount of the food of plants. Tree leaves 
and the mowing of lawns are valuable ma¬ 
nures, and far too seldom turned to useful 
account. For using green vegetable ma- 
nuse, it should be applied as soon as possible 
after it is cut. — North British Agriculturist. 
Agriculture in New Hampshire. —A 
State Agricultural Fair is to be held at Con¬ 
cord, N. H., on the second and third days 
of October next A lar^-e number of pre¬ 
miums will be awarded m all departments 
of agriculture and mechanics. The pre¬ 
miums are large for the first effort, varying 
from one to twenty dollars, and the commit¬ 
tees are large and well chosen. The fair is 
got up under the auspices of the N. H. 
State Agricultural Society, recently formed. 
The reason why the world is not reform¬ 
ed is, because every man would have others 
make a beginning, and never thmks of him¬ 
self. 
