A WEEKLY JOURNAL, DEVOTED TO 
Agriculture, Horticulture, Mechanic Arts and Sci¬ 
ence, Education, Rural and Domestic Economy, 
General Intelligence, the Markets, &c,, &c. 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORE, 
ASS1STKD BY 
J. II. BIXBY, L. WETI1ERELL, and H. C. WHITE. 
t Dr. M. M. RODGERS, Foreign Correspondent. 
Contributors and Correspondents: 
L. B. IiANGWORTHY, 
William Garbutt, 
S. P. Chapman, 
David Ely, 
Myron Adams, 
FI. P. Norton, 
T. C. Peters, 
F. W. Lay, 
T. E. Wbtmore, 
R. B. Warren, 
Archibald Stone, 
Chester DiJwey, ll. d. 
.T. Clement, 
D. W. Ballou, Jr., 
R. G. Pardee, 
I. Hildreth, 
Jas. II. Watts, 
W. K. Wycicofe, 
W. II. Bristol. 
Wm. Perry Food, 
S. I.utiier, 
L. D. Whitino. 
And numerous others—practical, scientific, and literary 
writers—whose names are necessarily omitted. 
PROIIRESS AND IJIPHOVE.HFNT. 
LETTERS 0 N 
EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE, ETC. 
BY M. M. RODGERS, M. D. 
ENGLAND. 
THE WORLD'S INDUSTRIAL EXHIBITION. 
London, May 5, 1851. 
D. D. T. Moore, Esq. — Dear Sir: The 
most brilliant pageant that has been seen 
in England, since the coronation of the 
Queen, has j ust taken place, and the great 
Exhibition is now open. At 12 o’clock on 
the 1st of May, the Royal retinue passed 
from Buckingham Palace, through Hyde 
Park to the Crystal Palace: the Royal fam¬ 
ily entered the south transept and passed 
to the centre, where a magnificent stage 
and canopy were prepared for the cere¬ 
mony. This consisted of singing “ God 
save the Queen,” by the choir,—reading 
a report relating to the exhibition by Prince 
Albert,— an address to the Queen, by the 
Doyen of the corps Diplomatique, on be¬ 
half of foreign contributors, which was an¬ 
swered by her Majesty, —prayer by the 
Archbishop of Canterbury,—benediction 
and singing,—the Royal procession then 
promenade through the palace, and on their 
return to the platform the Queen declares 
the exhibition opened. During the prom¬ 
enade of the procession several large organs 
successively take up the song and play du¬ 
ring the march: at the close of the cere¬ 
mony, several guns announce the intelli¬ 
gence to the populace from the “ Serpen¬ 
tine River.” After this the procession 
returned through Hyde Park, the Queen to 
her Palace, and the numerous train which 
accompanied her to their respective places. 
This procession consisted of the Royal car¬ 
riages, escorted by military, the Queen’s 
household, and ministers, the foreign am¬ 
bassadors, and the other official corps, and 
a long train of the nobility of England, as 
well as several foreign princes, princesses 
and nobility. To a plain American, unac¬ 
customed to see such pageantry, this was a 
scene of indiscribable brilliancy. 
From the vast extent of the collection, 
and the miscellaneous character of the 
goods, a detailed description, or systematic 
classification, would be impossible within 
the limits of a journal: an idea of the gen¬ 
eral arrangement of the goods and the mag¬ 
nitude of the building can only be furnished 
by the official plans and catalogues, which 
will appear after the whole is completed.— 
It is necessary therefore, in order to give 
a concensed account, and at the same 
time to convey the most useful information, 
to select for notice, only those articles most 
worthy of remark, while we pass over a 
large part of those which are more common. 
The central aisle is mainly occupied by 
statuary, in marble, plaster, bronze, lead and 
zinc. Among these pieces, we find the 
two American pieces, the “ Dying Indian” 
and the “ Greek Slave,”—the last of which 
gives Powers the ascendency over all the 
sculptors, of whatever country, who appear 
in the exhibition. As we advance towards 
the west end of the palace, we pass the 
Amazon group, the Marley horses, the Ba¬ 
varian lion, the crusader, two immense mir¬ 
rors of English manufacture, —two beautiful 
fountains—two large organs, a large iron 
summer house, beautifully wrought in trac¬ 
ery and gilded: a little farther on we find 
the enormous and beautiful glass fountain, 
composed of large bars and other pieces of 
crystal flint glass, which altogether weigh 
over four tons. At the north end of the 
transeptare the equestrian statues of the 
Qileen and Prince Albert, surrounded by 
the groups of the argonauts, Zephyr and 
Aurora, Alfred and his mother, Titania, 
Ariel, the horse and dragon, <fcc. 
Near this place is the Canada collection, 
comprizing many specimens of raw products, 
useful and ornamental woods, furs and a 
few manufactured articles. Near this is the 
splendid console table and glass, which is 
said to be the largest piece of ornamental 
furniture ever made. In the centre of the 
broad aisle at this point, are some cylinders 
of crystalized alum, sulphate of copper and 
spermaceti, several feet in height, beautifully 
displaying Nature’s geometry, in the ar¬ 
rangement of their crystals: here also, is a 
splendid altar screen, carved elaborately in 
oak, by steam machinery: beyond this are 
two very large light-house lamps, with 
prisms of glass arranged in accordance with 
the laws of reflection and refraction of light: 
here are also some English bronze work and 
patent water filters. Farther in is the great 
Equatorial telescope, with a speculum 20 
feet long and an object glass one foot in di¬ 
ameter: a large fountain of artificial stone, 
and a model of Liverpool and its docks, 
bring us to the west end of the building. 
[Continued on page 182, this number.'] 
CANADA THISTLE—ITS ERADICATION. 
Mr. Editor;— In a late number I saw 
an article relative to the Canada Thistle, 
and as I have seen them eradicated in the 
most effectual manner by a neighbor, per¬ 
haps the method of killing this noxious 
weed will not be uninteresting to your nu¬ 
merous agricultural readers. 
I believe of all weeds, when this species 
of the thistle gets a footing, it is about as 
hard to get rid of as any other—indeed, 
some have considered it impossible to ex¬ 
terminate them—but such is not the case, 
for by the exercise of a little trouble they 
may be entirely destroyed. 
The circumstance of which I before spoke 
took place about eight years ago at my 
neighbor H’s. It seems he obtained his 
supply of seed from a store in the neigh¬ 
borhood, which had been brought from 
some other part of the world. In time he 
found out to his discomfiture that he had 
planted the seed of the Canada thistle on 
his place, and yet, although there was then 
but one stalk he did not try to destroy it, 
and the consequence was, the next year he 
had a whole patch of them. But how to 
get rid of them he did not know; he tried 
several methods, among them the recom¬ 
mended system of plowing them, all to no 
purpose. Plowing may answer, but they 
must be plowed several times during the 
summer.* The next summer Mr. H. con¬ 
cluded he must either do something or let 
his farm get filled with this pest. So he 
cut them off beneath the surface of the 
ground, and then filled the hole with salt 
This was found to be an effectual remedy, 
wholly eradicating them. Leonadk. 
Philadelphia Co., Pa., May, 1851. 
*Of course,—they must be plowed under as often 
as they appear.—E ds. 
MR. VAIL’S SALE OF THOROUGH BRED 
SHORT-HORNS. 
This extensive sale of thorough bred 
Short-horns, is to come off on Thursday, the 
26th inst, at Mr. Vail’s farm, situated 2 \ 
miles from Troy, on the Troy and Lansing- 
burg road. 
Mr. Vail has been an active breeder of 
Short-horns, for nearly 14 years. His first 
purchases were from the herds of Messrs. 
Bulleck of Albany, Hall of New York, 
and the late Patroon Van. Rensselaer.— 
In 1839, Mr. Vail sent an order to Eng¬ 
land, without limitation as to price, for the 
best thorough bred Short-horn bull, and 
for the best Short-born heifer for dairy pur¬ 
poses, that could be procured. Under this 
order, a selection was made from the cele¬ 
brated herd of the late Thomas Bates, of 
Kirklevington, Yorkslrire, England, of a bull 
calf, Duke of Wellington, and a two-year 
heifer. Duchess. The dam of this young 
bull was awarded (the same year"of the 
purchase) the first prize, by the Royal Eng¬ 
lish Agricultural Society, as the best Short¬ 
horn cow, competition open to all England. 
Mr. Bates refused an offer of $2,000, for 
this cow. The sire of Duchess was the 
same year, awarded the first prize, by the 
same Society; and Mr. Bates could have 
sold him for a much larger sum even, than 
the cow. These two young animals cost 
Mr. Vail $1,400. 
Since this purchase, Mr. Vail has, from 
time to time, added to his herd other Short¬ 
horns, the best he could procure in this 
country, among which were the choicest 
animals in Mr. Prentice’s herd, at Albany, 
and Mr. Hilliiouse’s of Watervliet In 
the mean time Mr. Vail has received from 
England, three cows, viz., Lady Barrington 
III, Hlipa, and Arabella. These fine cows 
of the Bates stock, are so well known that 
little need be said of them. Mr. Vail has 
readily sold all of their produce that he 
could spare, for $300 each, when quite 
young. I would here,, however, remark 
that Mr. Vail retains his Bates stock, with 
the exception of the bulls Duke of Well¬ 
ington, (3,654,) and Meteor, (104.) Me¬ 
teor was the first calf from Duchess (before 
mentioned;) his sire, Duke of Wellington. 
This superb animal is now at my farm (he 
will be at the sale,) and a finer specimen of 
what a Short-horn should he, I have never 
seen. His magnificent size, united with 
great perfection in every point of excellence, 
make him the admiration of all who see 
him. Most of the animals in the sale, are 
either by Duke of Wellington, or Meteor, 
and some have even two crosses, from these 
celebrated animals. 
I have been somewhat particular in sta¬ 
ting, in part, the history of this famous herd 
of Short-horns; yet I feel it is due the pub¬ 
lic, as it is rarely a chance offers of procu¬ 
ring such choice and well bred animals. 
Uniting as they do, fine symmetry of form, 
with good (and in several instances extra¬ 
ordinary) milking qualities, they cannot fail 
to be admired, and appreciated by all good 
judges of cattle. Some of his cows have 
given over 30 quarts of milk per day, and 
made over 19 pounds of butter in one week. 
I can see no good reason, why such cattle 
are not the cattle every farmer should keep. 
It has been urged by some as an objec¬ 
tion to the purchase of Short-horns, that 
the prices will soon decline, as they will be¬ 
come “ quite common” in the course of a 
few years. That they will become “ quite 
common,” (i. e. generally bred,) is what 
their breeders expect, and very much de¬ 
sire; for who ever knew prices to decline 
when an article was in great demand ? In 
order that they may be dispersed exten¬ 
sively throughout our country they must be 
had from somewheYe, and that somewhere, 
as a matter of course, must be from those 
who have them. But suppose in time in 
consequence of numbers their price should 
decline; will not a good animal, always out¬ 
sell a poorer one, and give better returns 
for the expense of rearing? I contend that 
at present prices, aside f rom all "blood con¬ 
siderations, it would be profitable in the end 
for almost every farmer, to procure at least 
a pair of Short-horns. This would be at¬ 
tended with but little expense, no more than 
$200 or $300 being required. In a few 
years he could dispose of his now inferior 
and almost worthless animals, and supply 
their places with those of superior merit.— 
But I am aware that I am extending this 
article to too great length. I would merely 
say to all who wish to procure Short-horns 
and good ones, do not fail to attend this 
great sale the 26th inst. About 30 head 
will be offered by auction. Breeders from 
all parts of our country, as well as from 
Canada, will probably be in attendance, and 
a fund of information, in cattle breeding, 
may be derived from their conversation and 
criticisms. It will well pay the attendance 
of any person who admires fine cattle, even 
should he not wish to purchase; as it is 
rarely so many choice animals can be found 
in any one herd. S. P. Chapman. 
Mt. Pleasant, Clockville, N. V., June 2, 1851. 
DEEP PLOWING WITH A LIGHT TEAM- 
Messrs. Editors:— I am an interested 
and benefited reader of your paper, and as 
I am most benefited by those articles which 
relate the actual experience of the writers, 
I will endeavor to give a small moiety of 
mine. I am one of the few who are satis¬ 
fied to 
“ Hold fast the golden mean. 
And live contentedly between 
The little and the great: ” 
And believing that a farmer’s enjoyment is 
not enhanced by the possession of more 
acres than he can till to good advantage, 
and not wishing to encumber myself with 
a hired man and thus of necessity my wife 
with a hired “help,” in the house, I con¬ 
cluded to purchase no more land than I 
could pay for and properly till with my own 
hands, and thus save not only the expenses 
of hired help, which generally devours all the 
profits, and in most cases makes a large ad¬ 
dition to the cares and perplexities of the 
employer. 
I purchased 30 acres in the healthy and 
fertile town of Barre—a farm large enough 
as many well know to furnish a small fami¬ 
ly with all the luxuries that any consistent 
man can desire. But on a farm of this size 
a man cannot well afford and in fact does 
not need a team that costs $250, and I pur¬ 
chased a small team worth $150, which 
are fully competent to perform the requi¬ 
site labor of the farm. 
The small farmer cannot of course have 
that abundance of tools which the man of 
hundreds of acres must have to carry on 
his business. But he may notwithstanding 
get along well by a little head work when 
occasion requires it. I had 2 acres of sward 
land that had not been plowed in four years 
that I wished to plant to corn this spring 
but I had some doubts about the capabili¬ 
ties of my ponies to plow it the proper 
depth necessary. I set my wheel so as to 
plow six inches and found they could “ go 
it,” by driving ahead and resting once in 
eight or ten rods. But this manner of do¬ 
ing business did not suit me, for I recollect¬ 
ed that Poor Richard said—“Plow deep 
while sluggards sleep, and you shall have 
corn to sell and keep ”—and so I thought 
I would try an experiment. I guaged my 
wheel so as to plow only four inches and 
went easily around my two acres without 
<! WHOLE NO. 75. 
resting. I then turned my clevis to the 
right side of the beam and put the nigh 
horse in the furrow and plowed around in 
the same furrow four inches deeper which 
made a furrow eight inches deep. By this 
practice I gained a three-fold advantage— 
1st, my team could plow easily and as much 
in a day as they would by plowing six 
inches. 2nd, I obtained a proper depth 
which answered every purpose of sub-soil¬ 
ing; and, 3d, the second furrow lifted the 
dirt on to the sod and filled the crevices 
between the furrows which will make it 
much easier for tilling the corn. 
My team have finished their provender 
and I will close this too lengthy and im¬ 
perfect scribble and attend to the after¬ 
noon’s business. There may be nothing in 
this worth printing but if you think 
there is an idea which will interest or bene¬ 
fit any among your 10,000 readers, it is at 
your disposal. IL Di B 
Barre, May 13, 1851. 
DOMESTIC GUANO. 
In an Agricultural discussion at the»Cap- 
ital last winter, Mr. C. Moses, of Skaneate- 
les, in connection with some remarks on poul¬ 
try keeping (of which he has some 800) 
gave his experience in the use of their ma¬ 
nure, which he considers an important pro¬ 
duct. His method of procedure is report¬ 
ed in the Cultivator as follows:—“Under 
the building in which the fowls roost, is a 
cellar, into which all the manure is put._ 
In spring, a few weeks before planting time, 
the manure is worked over and mixed with 
plaster—sometimes with plaster and ashA 
in equal proportions—using enough of these 
articles to make the manure so dry as to 
pulverize thoroughly.” 
This is a kind of domestic guano, and 
Mr. M. has sometimes 300 bushels in a 
season, using it with much effect in the 
production of Indian corn. He states that 
his mode of applying it is to “ drop a hand¬ 
ful in each hill, which is then covered half 
an inch or more with earth, in order to pre¬ 
vent the seed from coming in immediate 
contact with the manure, which experience 
has shown would prevent its germination. 
He tried this compost in comparison with 
good hog manure, by applying each to corn 
in the same field and on similar soil. On 
one part, half a shovel full of hog manure 
was put in a hill, and on the other part* a 
handful of the hen manure compost. The 
crop was best where the latter was used, 
and the succeeding crop (which was.oats,) 
showed the same result in favor of the hen 
manure.” 
THE “NE PLUS ULTRA GATE” . 
I have read the description of this gate 
in No. 18, present volufne of the Rural; 
and not being able to point out any defect, 
I cannot, of course, suggest any improve¬ 
ment. My object in this communication, is, 
to suggest to a “ Subscriber,” (see page 66, 
this volume,) that possibly this gate may 
be altered without material injury, so as to 
accommodate his “ cows, sheep and pigs,” 
without allowing the escape of tho horses. 
As there is no brace, or diagonal, in the 
forepart of this gate, if the bottom board is 
low enough for the cows, &c., to step over, 
and the fifth one high enough for them to 
pass under, a small, light gate might be 
made in this part of the large one, that 
would afford every convenience—especially 
as the small one would require no brace, 
being kept in place by the frame-work of 
the large one. A movable boared in the 
lower part of the small gate would accom¬ 
modate the “ 6heep and pigs,” and thus the 
whole matter would bo arranged. h. 
Down East, May, 1851. 
