increase in proportion to the general increase, 
large drafts being constantly- made upon it for 
other employments. Farm laborers are scarce.— 
Machinery is very largely employed in almost all 
farm operations. These statements are almost en¬ 
tirely in the language of the report. n. 
Hudson, Ohio, 1S59. 
-- 
A LARGE OX-FEEDING OUT GRAIN. 
Mr. Morgan Tracy, of Pulteney, Steuben Co., 
N. Y., has a single steer, of his own raising, 6 years 
old past, C feet 8 inches height of rump, 8 feet 9 
inches girth, and which, though thin in flesh, he 
thinks will weigh 3,500 pounds. An experienced 
tanner estimates his hide alone at 300 pounds. As 
an outlandish specimen of the genus ox, and sam¬ 
ple of coarse and elephantine character, I doubt if 
it is anywhere excelled! It is due to Mr. Tracy 
to say that not till quite recently has he given it 
other than ordinary fare, and that lie now proposes 
to settle the question whether the animal can be 
fattened. If he succeeds, it will become, as it 
indeed is now, a monstrous monstrosity. The 
profits, it is presumed, he will enjoy when they are 
realized. 
The gloomy reports during the last season of crops 
at the West, and the low price of beef and mutton 
in the New York and other markets, conspired to 
create a somewhat general impression that it would 
not pay so well to feed corn this winter as to sell 
the same in market. It is not mid-winter yet, and 
the evidence accumulates that more than one farmer 
has made a mistake. The present look is that corn 
fed into beef and mutton is going to pay better than 
it has any winter in some time. Thrifty steers in 
good condition were slow sale two months ago at 
3 per hundred, but are now rapidly going up to §5. 
Those whose motto in farming is to not go with 
the multitude, arc in luck. Would it not be well 
for farmers more generally to feed their own grain? 
Many find feeding to be unprofitable because they 
feed too much. The animal “eats itself up” when 
it becomes necessary to hold on some time for an 
improved market. An intelligent and experienced 
farmer and feeder of this county, says he can fatten 
an ox faster with three quarts of Indian meal a day 
and good hay, than with eight. Such feeding is 
always safe, for you have increased weights and 
improved quality, and markets from which to 
realize pay for the grain fed, which will scarcely 
exceed ten dollars’ worth in a whole winter. 
Prattsburgh, N. Y., Jan. 18,1859. \Y. F. B. 
THE CULTURE OF ROOTS. 
Eds. Rural: —In your issue of the 22d ult., you 
gave the experience of Daniel Needham, of Vt., 
in root culture. His testimony coincides with that 
of ours in all points respecting this all important , 
but long neglected branch of agriculture. We 
have pursued, with varied success, the raising of 
roots for the last ten or fifteen years. And altho’ 
neighbors around have croaked and talked of small 
returns for the amount of labor expended, and 
made up wry faces at the V spine distorting" pro¬ 
cess, yet we can safely assert that no part of our 
farming, for the amount of ground cultivated, has 
paid so high a per centage. 
We have mostly cultivated the ruta baga and 
Swede turnip, in connection with the mangold 
wurtzel and carrots. We have raised, of the tur¬ 
nips, in good seasons, from six to eight hundred 
bushels per acre, at a cost not to exceed sixpence 
a bushel, and for stock, feeding purposes we con¬ 
sider them well worth twenty-live cents per bushel. 
We have, of late years, practiced Mr. Needham’s 
plan of feeding roots in connection with straw, and 
think stock will do better on this feed than hay 
alone. For fattening purposes they are excellent 
—we have fatted our beef for years on roots alone. 
The altitude of our Allegany hills seems pecu¬ 
liarly adapted to tfee cultivation of this esculent, 
and it may be adopted with safety by all progress¬ 
ive farmers, not only in this latitude, but through¬ 
out the length and breadth of the arable land of 
the country. Although some years we may par¬ 
tially fail from drouth or depredations of insects, 
and can never expect to equal the humid climate 
of “ Old England” in the production of roots, yet 
we may approximate somewhere near their stand¬ 
ard, if we will direst ourselves of that prejudice 
which has thrown such a distaste and heaped so 
much obloquy on this branch of terra-culture.— 
Perhaps I may conclude, in some future communi¬ 
cation, to write an article describing our system of 
management in the cultivation of this earthly 
vegetable. Nelson Blanchard. 
Centerville, Allegany Co., N. Y., 1859. 
THE SEED BUSINESS AND LEGISLATION. 
Messrs. Eds. :—I was quite amused at the men¬ 
tion of the Fish bill, the length and bearings of 
which you so fully described in your issue of the 
6th inst., and which seems to be designed to pick 
from the poor seedsmen their already hard-earned 
laurels. After several years experience and deal¬ 
ing with this class of men, I have concluded that 
there is as much honesty practiced in their busi¬ 
ness, as in that of the other professions, and that 
the obstacles they have to surmount are ten to one 
of that of the other trades. Mr. Fisii must be quite 
ignorant of the difficulties of the seedsman, or of 
the laws of Nature, on every page of which is writ¬ 
ten, in characters never to he defaced, change, 
change, ever change! 
Lotus suppose Mr. F.’s bill passed, and the law in 
force, and see how it will work. Mr. F. goes out 
one morning, and his wife (perhaps he has none) 
requests him to bring home some Aster seeds, as 
she saw some fine double ones in M.’s garden last 
fall. He calls on a seedsman of good reputation, 
and procures a package marked Pare Aster Seeds; 
the seeds are planted, and behold the produce are 
single petaled flowers, about the size of a dime. 
F. waxes warm, and has the seedsman arraigned 
to answer; whereon said seedsman’s plea is that 
the seeds were true to name—that in consequence 
of the passage of the late law, he was compelled to 
be as careful and circumspect as possible. Prof. 
Gray, the best botanical authority, is called to the 
stand, and testifies that the true type of the Asters 
were small and insignificant flowers, and that the 
double, both the quill and the pceony flowered, 
which are so much admired, are not pure sorts, but 
hybrids. Consequently F. has his trouble for his 
pains. 
Again, a large quantity of rare and new seeds are 
just received from China, put up by the great Mr. 
Fortune ; these are warranted pure, but the price 
is very high, as the seedsman has been compelled 
to add fifty per cent, to his usual profits, to guard 
himself against the law, in the form of fees, costs, 
Ac. Mr. F. bites at the bait, and as matters turn 
out, some ofthe things are nottrue to name. Seeds¬ 
man quietly forks over the fifty per cent, already 
procured of Mr. F., and hopes for better luck next 
time, while Mr. F. has again his pains for his trouble. 
The price of seeds would be greatly enhanced by 
this law, and much of the business would be trans¬ 
ferred to persons of no responsibility—persons who 
cared nothing for law or its consequences—while 
it would not in the least remedy the evil for which 
it was made. A seedsman receives four kinds of 
corn, white, red , blue, yelloic, and in his endeavor 
to furnish his customers pure seed, plants 100 hills 
in each corner of his eighty acre lot. The seed is 
sold and planted, and his customers complain that 
their corn contained grains of all colors, and Mr. 
Seedsman is set down as a cheat, for not trammeling 
the winds of heaven, and that active co-operator in 
the field of nature, the “ busy little bee," who car¬ 
ries the pollen from flower to flower. 
There is positively no way to raise seed entirely 
pure but to plant a single seed under glass, and 
then exclude all insects. Even then it will take 
several years to effect this purpose, as all produc¬ 
tions are at times disposed to make a retrograde 
move towards their original type. This the breeder 
of stock well knows, for in spite of his vigilance, 
here comes a calf pure white, with black or red 
ears, the exact type of the original British stock 
several centuries ago. w. k. h. 
Mt. Victory, Ohio, 1S59. 
MAPLE SUGAR.-TIN SAP BUCKETS. 
Messrs. Eds. :—As the season of the year is near 
at hand when many of the readers of the Rural 
iAgricultuml illisccllnnji. 
N. Y. State Ag. Society — Winter Premiums.— 
The following premiums were awarded at the re¬ 
cent Annual Meeting of our State Ag. Society: 
ai nana wnen many oi the readers ot the Rural a Falsr Charge—' “Strike, but Hear! ”—Popu- farms. 
will be engaged in making maple sugar, they will i ar and successful journals, like prominent and in- Grazing Farm-L. D. Clift, Carmel, Put. County, $50 
thank you for permitting me to call their attention fl nPr ,tinl indivirlmls nr P Dm mnstnnt nf Grain Farms—U nder 60 acres, S. Walrath, St. Law- 
.. , . Iluenual individuals, are tiie constant targets ol rence Co., $50; 2d, over 50 acres, L. Sherrill, Greene Co., 
to the subject of sap buckets, as t eiy much of then th e envious, jealous and ambitious. Malice, like $80. 
success in sugar-making, both as to quality and Death, loves a shining mark, and wo to him who 0IIEESB DAIR1ES - 
quantity, depends upon the provision made to re- has excelled in any department, for so long as poor 
ceive the sap as it comes from the tree. human nature exists in its present state, his heels Silver Medal; Clemence Whitaker, Martinsburg, special- 
I suppose there is no question about the fact that, wiU be snapped at, and his good name traduced commended. DAIKIE3 . 
on every account, tin sap buckets are the best that << without a why or a wherefore.” These remarks j. c. Collins, Lewis Co., $50. 
have ) ct been found. They possess many advanta- are SU gg es ted by a. very singular, and, so far as this Butter—B est 8 firkins, Wm. II. Pew, Lewis Co., $15; 
ges over any others, the most obvious of which j ourna i is concei . ncdj absurdand unjust article in a * A \ ™ ra, . n Low vilie, |10; 3d, L. L. French, Eich- 
are-lst. They can be hung on a nail close under late number 0 f the Michigan Farmer. Under the buttTS’adh Tjune Aug., and Nov.-Best 3 fir- 
the spile, preventing an) ot the sap being blown {j^le of “ Wool Circulars and Eastern Reports,” kins, B. S. Carpenter, Elmira, Chemung Co., $15. One 
away while passing from the spile to the bucket. that journal has a long , and appar ently labored BUDerior^necfal'^rem" 8 ’ L ° WTill<5 ’ 14 J ' CarS ° ld ’ ^ 
2d - " Being elevated from the ground, the sap is and studied leader, with the evident design of de- Winter Made Butter.— Best, Ela Merriam, Leyden, 
kept free from lea's es, which alwavs discolors it, molishing some special enemies, and, as a dessert, Lewis Co., $5; 2d, Norman Gowdy, $3; 3d, Miss Wal- 
and of course affects the sugar. 3d. They are the Eastern Agricultural, Commercial and Literary Pheir^Ont.’co/TraM 0- ^™ 118 ' 5 4th ’ Mi8a YanAuken > 
light and pleasant to handle. 4th. Iheycan be paper s—and as the Rural New-Yorker comes Creese.—B est'Norman Gowdy, $15; 2d,Theron Van 
scalded as Oiten as may be necessary to keep them un der that head, and is prominently noticed, it Auken, $10. 
perfectly sweet and clean, and that with very little would be unjust not to recognize the attack. After Kobcrt T Pe]1 the edible fishes of New 
trouble, enabling those using them to make as good paying its respects to a firm in Cleveland, Ohio— York, plate, $100. ’ 
sugar from the last run of the sap as from the first, w * ool Dea l e rs and publishers of a Wool Reporter— draining. 
which all accustomed to making sugar, know can- tb e p arrn . r Di-oreeds in this trenehnnl wise with William Johnson, Geneva, $20; 2d, Jonathan Talcott 
. . .... . , “ 6 . ’ - ine farmer proceeds in tms trenenant wise, witn EomG) $io.s . Walrath, Canton, special prem.,Sil. Med.’ 
which all accustomed to making sugar, know can¬ 
not be done with any other bucket. And last, but Die apparent intention of devouring several “ east- 
by no means least, when they are no longer needed crn paper s ” at one fell swoop : 
they can be easily cleaned, and, as one fits inside of “The eastern papers were then [last spring] busy 
another, be put away in a very small space, with inform in r the wool growers that prices must settle low, 
. , 5 ’ that manufacturers would close their mills, and dismiss 
the certainty ol being found in good order, and all their operators, that the market was overloaded with 
ready for use when they are wanted for the next foreign goods, and that the clip would be much larger 
PREPARED GRASSES. 
Mrs. J. T. Van Namee, Pittstown, $15. 
COLLECTION OF GRAINS IN STRAW. 
Mrs. J. T. Van Namee, $10. 
foreign goods, and that the clip would be much larger Apples— Best 20 varieties, J. W. Bailey, Plattsburg, 
than it was the year before, and therefore it was useless Dip. and $4; best 10 do., W. P. Ottley, Phelps, Ont. Co., 
» , . ■. . . . II »» «0 HIV, 1 UUU 111 UUU1U l v » 110^1X03 IJ IB, UUU UC3V A17 UU., »T . A . V/IUUJ, X lll-IJ/3, VIII. V/U., 
season s sugar-making, and with proper care, that to look for higher rates ; prices must be at least 10 cents Dip. and $3; 2d, W. Ives, Watertown, Barry and $1; 
is to say, if they are properly cleaned and put in a P er pound less than they were the year before. These 3d, J. M. Mattison, Tompkins Co., Trans. Best plate 
, i Y T • . , opinions were prevalent at the east, and were spread (Baldwin) W. P. Ottley, Sil. Med.; 2d, J. M. Mattison, 
dry place, I see no reason why they will not last a over the westby the Rural New-Yorker, the New (King,) Thomas. 
life-time, without one cent expense after the first York Tribune, by the Journal of Commerce, and by Grape 
nearly every paper that came from the east. Many c:. Afo ,i 
investment. farmers in this State who took no paper hut one of these 
The above reasons are given, and confirmed by eastern journals, sold first their wool under the impres- 
G rapes— Best sample (Isabella) It. P. Wiles, Albany, 
PATENT OFFICE AG’L OPERATIONS. 
Eds. Rural: —If the strictures of the public 
press are any criterion, I conclude that the Filli- 
bustering, Patent-Lever, Agricultural Convention, 
lately assembled under the auspices of the Agri¬ 
cultural Bureau, at Washington, meets with no 
favor or mercy. In fact, the whole establishment 
is a parasite on the Patent Office and its acts — 
besides the distribution of such seeds and plants 
as come into the possession of the United States 
through the Navy and Army, in their visits to for¬ 
ty gn parts, is a useless, expensive, and illegitimate 
branch of the government. 
The Transactions of the Massachusetts Horticul¬ 
tural Society contain a very sensible and modest 
article on this subject, in which the author, Mr. 
James Lewis Russel, Professor of Botany, shows 
up the acts of this branch of the Office in a very 
just and pertinent manner; censuring the indis¬ 
criminate course in which seeds arc distributed — 
many totally useless, and others mere “ worthless 
weeds.” 
That two or more hundred thousand dollars 
should be expended in importing from England 
and other countries, common —often worse than 
common — seeds, and sending them through the 
mail to every part of our extended country—with¬ 
out the remotest consideration of climate, habits 
of production, or wants of the people — is sending 
“coals to Newcastle,” and “curling tongs to 
Guinea,” and is most preposterous and absurd.— 
“Uncle Sam’s” mail bags are sufficiently over- 
burtliened with Congressmen’s shirts to wash and 
wive’s dresses — while the finances of the concern 
are verging on bankruptcy—without carrying 100 
bushels of “King Philip Corn,” or “Cat Mountain 
Wheat,”—which are not worth the powder to shoot 
or the fire to burn them — not to mention the 
millions of bags and papers of all conceivable com¬ 
modities, in the way of Garden, Flower and Field 
seeds, not one in fifty of which, after trial, has 
ever been adopted as a standard article, and never 
will be. There is hardly an exception to this fact. 
The Chinese Sugar Cane (Sorghum) and a variety 
of Cabbage, are the only instances where these 
seeds, in this region, have generally been esteemed 
as new and valuable, as far as my experience goes, 
and I have had the run of some bushels every 
year, for a long period. Nine-tenths of the whole 
catalogue are the merest humbug in the world.— 
Five or six varieties of Early Peas, for instance, 
cannot compare with those now in use, and in eve¬ 
rybody’s hand, and have been for twenty years, and 
in this category may be classed the “Improved” 
Onions, Carrots, Parsnips, Kuta Bagas, &c. In 
short, there is nothing in the whole routine better 
— often not half as good— as can be procured from 
any reputable seedsman who understands his busi¬ 
ness. K - T - 
Empire State, 1859. 
“WILL KEEPING SHEEP PAY?” 
In a late number of the Burai. the above question 
is asked, then follows a statement of the avails of 
six sheep owned by Mr. II. A. Whittkmork, who 
says he has averaged $4,62)4 P er ^ eac * f° r the l ast 
year, and wishes to hear from others on the same 
subject. I have twenty-four ewes that have aver¬ 
aged six pounds and one ounce of wool per head 
for the past three years. The average price per 
pound for the same time is 43 cents, amounting to 
$187,69, and I have sold two years’ crop of lambs 
for $216,50, making $404,19, which, added to one 
crop of lambs now on hand, twenty-five in number, 
that I call worth to me $100, the whole makes 
$504,19—an average of seven dollars per head for 
my twenty-four sheep. If he thinks four dollars 
too high for my lambs, call them three, and I have 
an average of $6,65. Said sheep have been kept 
on good hay and pasture only—no grain or roots of 
any kind. In winter I keep them in a good warul 
place.—S. D. Taber, Castile, N. Y., 1859. 
Mr. Editor: —Mr. Whittemore gives us the pro¬ 
ceeds of his sheep, and wishes to hear from others, 
to which, with your permission, I will reply. I 
wintered five ewes last winter, on hay alone, which 
sheared, on an average, 4% pounds. The wool was 
used to make cloth for family use, and estimating 
it at forty cents per pound, we find a total of $9,50. 
The ewes raised eight lambs, which I sold for $2 
per head, or $16—making a total value, of wool 
and lambs, of $25,50—averaging $5,10 per head.— 
Abner Graves, Waterloo, N. Y. 
the experience of one who Im, made maple sugar, £ ’JtS? ^ 
and all of whose observations on the subject-lead them in condition for the drover or the butcher.” 
him to advocate, most persistently, the universal 
adoption of Tin Sap Buckets. 
Rural Spirit of tl)c |3rcoo. 
Dropsical Land.”— TJncierd.raining 
wool would not pay for years to come, and Spring AV heat Solomon AV alrath, the quantity land 
out their sheep as soon as the grass feed put sufficient—crop at rate of 40 bu. per acre; barley, 
ondition for the drover or the butcher.” Norman Gowdy, oO bu., $15; rye, C. L. Keirsted, ^4 bu., 
w , .. , „ .. . $15; oats, same, 115 bu., $15; corn, same, 99# bu., $15; 
Now, knowing as .they do, that so far as this 2d, B. S. Carpenter, SO bu., $10; peas, Ira B. Peck, bast 
journal is concerned, the above statement is entirely Bloomfield $8; beans, S. Walrath, Medal; potatoes, 
~ 7 7 it a ,. , 7 , 7 , J7 Levi Hanford & Hiram Olmstead, Walton, Delaware 
unfounded that no article can be quoted from the <o., 1 6-1G0 acre, 233 bu., $8; ruta baga, Levi Hanford 
Rural to sustain such an unjust and injurious & Hiratn Olmstead, Vol. Trans.; mangold wurtzel, Thos. 
charge —what can our readers think of the veracity ^ CbS( I, & cr > ^ ast ^ eck > 
and reliability of the paper which gives it utterance ? "Winter Wheat.-W hite, Wm. P. Ottley, $3; 2d, red, 
In our long experience as a journalist, we remember O. Howland, Auburn, Cayuga Co., $2; 8d, Wm. P. Ott- 
liothing more flagrant and insidious — nothing so 
r ? * *i i , . Spring Wheat. —Tea wheat, II. Blodget, Denmark, 
far from the truth, or so unbecoming the character Lewis Co>( * :j . - 2< y W m. I>. Coonradt, Brunswick, liens. 
John Johnston i ites the Loston Cultivator f a r from the truth, or so unbecoming the character 
that - the advocates of drainage expect farmers to of honor able and manly rivalry; for that jealousy Co., $2; 3d, O.’ Howland, $1. 
be possessed of common sense enough to discrimi- f tl Kural > s i arge circulation in Michigan is the PvE.-Wm. P. Coonradt, $ 
.. 1.-1_ .. 1.1 .V. <■ _Ml_ e... J- • , *» ° 0,1 C> T Ol 
nate between land that will pay for draining and 
that which will not. If there are those that cannot 
so discriminate, the draining of a few acres will show 
cause of the attack, is as apparent as that the sun 
Rye. —Wm. P. Coonradt, $3; 2d, II. S. Carpenter, $2; 
3d, C. L. Keirsted $1. 
Barley —Two Rowed.—N orman Gowdy, $3; 2d, O. 
is above the horizon at noon-day. And this is Ilowland, $2; Wm. R. Ottley, $1 
even confessed in another part of the article, for, 
Barley—Four Rowed.—B. S. Carpenter, $3. 
plainly whether it will or not, so that even if one a ftgr lauding itself, and again pitching into its Corn.-—Y ellow, C. W. Kells, Westmoreland, Oneida 
has very little judgment in the case, he need not Cleveland neighbor, the Oracle-like the minister C °” |3; 2d ’ 8oL u '; llrath ’*' 2; 3d ; ltlod g“ t > 
essentially err. Everyman may have observed w ho preacheth to a few patient listeners about the 2d, B.'s? Carpenter,^'Ifsdj'N. Y. S.Ag!’College, $1.' ’ 
that one part of a field will in general produce fine sins of absentees—in language more emphatic than Sweet Corn.—W m. P. Coonradt, Yol. Trans.; Wm. 
bright straw, (it may be wheat or other grain,) litc or truthful, thus reveals the secret of its ire : Newcomb, Jolmsonville, Rons. Ccx, Vol. Trans. 
with plump heavy ears, giving a satisfactory re- « Two-thirds of the Farmers at the west expend all *- 2 ® 3d K Wm A p'coonra < dt r $i nter ’ $3; M ’ L ‘ L ' French ’ 
turn for seed and labor expended, while immediate- the money they can afford for reading matter to sustain ’ ‘ ‘ ’ * ‘ 0 , „ ... , 
, .... , , * ,, 2 . eastern papers. Every post-master’s clerk is a hired Beans—Wiiitb.—W m. F. Coonradt $3; 2d, S. Walrath, 
ly adjoining such part of the field another portion agent to thrust upon them at low rates the lucubrations 3d, Wm. Newcomb, $1. 
produces dark colored straw, (even if not rusted,) or editors who know no more about western farming Oats. —D. A. Mackay, Rensselacrville, Albany Co., 
i; __. and care no more for western interests, than so many $3; 2d, Henry Wier, $2; 3d, Wm. P. Coonradt, $1. Sam- 
and lean ears, with light, unremunerating gram. bull frogs „ p ,’ of ’ oats , ‘‘Potato oils,” E. Merriam, seed from Bar 
No)r, du^vpvcr occur to the farmer to ask himself p ar t 0 f this may be true, and it’s a good thing Chaleurs, Canada East, a fine sample, Vol. Tr^- 
the reason «hr-ooe part of the field brought good that our Western friends have a monitor so coura- Peas.—N orman Gowdy, $3; 2d, O. irowm.ui. $2. 
grain and the other bad?—for surely he must see ge0 us, faithful and wise—a veritable Solomon to ] a ud'’$2;"3d?II^likidgeq $L’ AU>any ’ ’ 
there was a local cause. I will tell how it is: the teach and guide their erring footsteps. As the Clover Seed.—W. P. Ottley, $8; 2d, S. Carey, $2. 
part giving good grain is sound, healthy land; the Rural is mentioned first in the list of Eastern jour- Flax Seed.—H enry Wier, two samples, one red and 
part giving bad grain, is dropsical and diseased, nals—thanks for according it the post of honor, and one white, Vol. Trans. 
Whatever manure may have been applied to it, did pr0 per rank, for once !— of course, we must take a Millet.—H enry Cvymiuz 
little or no good, and whatever vegetation it pro- l arge share of the sweet compliment about Western Suear Cane Syrup W. P. Ottley $2. Maple Sugar II. 
of editors who know no more about western farming Oats.— D. A. Mackay, Rensselacrville, Albany Co., 
and care no more for western interests, than so many $3; 2d, Henry Wier, $2; 3d, Wm. P. Coonradt, $1. Sam- 
bull frogs.” pie of oats, “ Potato Oats,” E. Merriam, seed from Bay 
Clover Seed. —W. P. Ottley, $3; 2d, S. Carey, $2. 
Flax Seed. —Henry Wier, two samples, ono red and 
° ....... a t. Reaper and Mower, Dip. Mrs. W. Ires, Watertown, 
into the ditch from the surface. 1 hen let another Eastern sunshine, we started and successfully estab- Currant Wine, Trans. P. Bauer & Co., Buffalo, 3 sam- 
ditch be dug througli the diseased land, two and a lished the Michigan Farmer ! And, if our memory pies Farina, Trans. M. Hallcnbeck, Model Mowing 
. , - - , , , . , c ., , — itt a . . , Machine, Trans. E. C. Rowland, Phelps, Sell-Opening 
half feet deep, and in ninety-nine cases out of a serves us, we aided the cause of Western Agricul- (j a te, Dip. Emery Brothers, Albany, Churn, with Dog 
hundred there will be a free run of water, and that ture in some other respects—had something to do Power attached; Emery Bros. Horse Power speed and 
coming at or near the bottom of the ditch. And if wl th the inception of the first law ever passed by shot Separator and Thresher, Dip. Emery Bros. San- 
the dropsical portion is thoroughly tapped, it will the Michigan Legislature to promote Rural Im- ford’s Improved Farm Mill, Sil. Med. Volney Burgess, 
, . j. , „ , , , ... o , Isabella Grape Wine, 6 years old, very fine, Dip. Hon. 
bring for a number of years much better crops provement by the organization of Agricultural A jj Dickinson, Hornby, exhibited a new Draining 
than the land that was healthy from the beginning. Societies, and earnestly labored to have the People I’iow which attracted much attention, and was fully ex- 
In many cases such land will pay the cost of drain- and the State benefited by its provisions. We then stl^clay^^to red'uce^ery'materiatty thecost 
iag by the excess of the first crop, where it can be thought we knew something more about Western of drainage, and is within the means of every farmer. 
drained for $15 to $22 per acre.” farming and Western interests than did the bull Officers of State Ag. Society.—T he following 
Management of Manures. frogs—yet it may have been a myth—and are confi- ig a comp i ete list of Officers for 1859 : 
Tns Country Gentleman, in an article on this dent we have not forgotten what little knowledge President—A. B. Conger, of Rockland, 
subject given in its issue of the 17th inst., remarks : we possessed, nor have the numerous friends of our Vice-Presidents— E. G. Fade, of New York ; 0.3. 
“We have often had occasion to urge the impor- comparatively early days, and hard struggles, yet Wainwriglit, of Dutchess; nerman Wendell, of Albany; 
tance of the thorough intermixture of manure with ignored our humble but earnest efforts. The aid H. W. Beckwith, of W ashington; B. N. Huntington, of 
the soil. One of the chief reasons why fermented they then rendered us—at a time when Agricultu- Oneida; S. A. Law, of Delaware; James O. Sheldon,of 
manure so often proves superior to unfermented, ral Improvement was not as popular and easy as Ontario, T. O. Peters, of Genesee. 
i3 the facility wSh which it „,»y he priced how. „d when labor in behalf of the cause 
while working in by plowing and harrowing. Re- labor —and how they seconded our efforts until im- Treasurer _L. H. Tucker, of Albany. 
peated experiments with fresh manure, made by paired health compelled us to retire from the field, Executive Committee .—'Thomas B. Carroll, n. W. 
plowing it under in the usual way, in one instance, "’ill ever be held in grateful remembrance. And, jy wiglit, E. A. Lawrence, C. Boughton, Alrick HubbelL 
and by thoroughly grinding it into the soil by though now located a little nearer sunrise, we trust * 
means of what is termed a drag roller, in another; the thousands of Western friends with whom we Maine Rural .—Drew s Pural Intelligencer of tht 
have shown the beneficial effects of the latter treat- communicate weekly, do not consider us quite so 12 th inst., contains the valedictory of Rev. Wm. A. 
ment on the crop to be more than double the for- great an ignoramus concerning their position and Drew, its originator, and announces its transfer to 
mer In corroboration of these views, we condense interests as the new-fledged editor of our first agri- Messrs. Brock & Chaney. The paper of the 19th 
into'a brief form the statement of an experiment cultural journal would fain make them believe. On comes to us under the title of Maine Rural, and in 
reported by H. C. White, of Barre, Vt., in the New the contrary, we have the best assurance that they neat quarto form. We trust this “ Rural” will do 
England Farmer. He cuts all kind of fodder, ex- consider the Rural New-Yorker independent, goo d service in the cause, and wish it success—yet 
cept hay before feeding, which causes all his progessive and reliable (even in its Market Rc- dont ’t think its prosperity will be enhanced by pub- 
manure to be short, and easily spread and inter- ports,) with decidedly Western proclivities. Ushing (even in a supplement) the opening chapters 
mixed with the soil. He breaks up his green sward —In conclusion we challenge our cotemporary of a love-and-murder-story, for the benefit of a 
eight or ten inches deep, late in autumn; in the to prove his assertions. If what he charges is true, Metropolitan hebdomadal. 
spring the sod is rolled, and the fresh short manure it can be sustained by quoting from our pages — 0RRECTI0> - _The first prizTplan of Farm House, 
is drawn out and spread upon it at the rate of fifteen and if false, as we pronounce it, where is the justi- in Nq 1 of thig volumC; was designed by 
to eighteen cords per acre. It is thoroughly mixed fication for the injurious attack? Strike, if you L } d VNI) 'instead of Geo. R. as erroneously 
with the soil by the harrow or cultivator, and just please, but let your readers and the public hear or . the ’ ort of awards . Mr. R. is now a 
before planting it is plowed three to five inches see the testimony. Meantime we shall endeavor to J . f Worcester Mass., and one of the editors 
deep and harrowed again. This treatment has find room, in a week or two, to repeat the substance ^\q Transcri t we'believe 
given, for the last three years, 60 to 70 bushels of of what we did say and quote last spring on the sub- 0 ^ ^ Circular Barn noticed favorably 
corn per acre. The success is attributed, no doubt ject of Wool, its price, &c„ in order to show the F Qrt of Commi ttee (in Rural of Feb. 5th) 
justly, to the thorough mixture of manure and soil, unfounded nature of the charge. The reputation £ j Rathbuk Springfield, Mass., was dc- 
the product of corn, oats, potatoes and hay being of a journal like the New-Yorker stands upon its by c ' T RaT hbun, of Pittsfield, Mass. 
about double the amount that obtained ‘ under the character for truth and statistical accuracy, and b J ■ ■ ^ _J_ 
old system.’” while we would hail with pleasure a competition The Lekqx (Mad Co .) Farmers’ and Mechanics’ 
Tlio Horses of Norway. which is fair and honorable, this stabbing in^tue Asg0C j a D O n, organized last autumn, had a fine Fair 
Laing, in his travels in Norway, says that the dark, with a poisoned arrow, we despise. The g ep t eiri ber, and is in a prosperous condition, 
horses in that country have a very sensible way of Market Reports ofthe Rural have been questioned, 0 ff icers are ;_ President —R. H. Avery; Re¬ 
taking their food. Instead of swilling themselves and upon this point (general accuracy and relia- Presidents _F. M. Whitman, John W. Allen; Sec- 
with a pailful of water at a draught, no doubt bility,) we challenge not only the Michigan Farmer, re ^ ar y _j jc Messenger; Treasurer — Theo. F. 
from the fear of not getting any again, and then but any weekly (not mainly devoted to commcr- „ , . Executive Committee —D. P. Lamb, E. E. 
Management of Manures. 
Officers of State Ag. Society. —The following 
is a complete list of Officers for 1859: 
President—A. B. Conger, of Rockland. 
Vice-Presidents —E. G. Failc, of New York ; O.S. 
from the fear of not getting 
Hand; Executive 
overdoing themselves for the same reason, they cial matters) in the country! Will our Michigan Lewis' E C. Saunders, C. P. Tobey, Nelson Cobb 
have a bucket of water put down beside their al- cotemporary “come to the center?” The Farmer, A p Lampman. 
lowance of hay. It is amusing to see with what since it began to deck itself in clean clothes every --»— p 
relish they take a sip of the one and a mouthful of seventh day, is evidently “bound to blaze,” and Honolulu Squash. We are requested y ^ 
of the other, alternately, sometimes only moist- while our remarks are more particularly intended Briggs, of Macedon, to say that he has no sect 
ening their mouths, as a rational being would do, for its special attention, any who feel aggrieved are this squash to sell at any price not half as n ^ 
while eating a dinner of such dry food. A broken- requested to take up the glove, as we “ bar neither as he would like to plant. A\ e ought, pci ap > 
winded horse is scarcely ever seen in Norway. age, weight, nor color.” And here we rest. have stated this fact in ourfonner notice. 
