VOLUME III. NO. 15. 1 
ROCHESTER, N. Y.—THURSDAY, APRIL 8, 1851 
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MR. AYRAULT ’ S PREMIUM HEREFORD BULL “TROMP.” 
Tiie above portrait represents the bull 
“ Tromp,” which took premium at tlio State 
Fair of 1851, as the “best Hereford Bull 
over three years old.” Mr. W. H. Sotham 
gives us his pedigree as follows: 
Tromp, owned by Hon. Allen Ayrault, 
Gcneseo, N. Y.—bred by Mr. Wm. II’y 
Sotham, Piffardinia, Livingston Co., N. Y. 
Tromp was calved Aug. 24, 1847. Got by 
Trojan 2d, by Major (in England.) Dam As¬ 
ton Beauty, by a son of old Sovereign; g.d. 
Bloomy by Old Trojan; g. g. d. Old Bloomy; 
SPRING VEGETATION. 
The means, by which the vegetation of 
each returning spring is brought forward 
are not only beautiful, but simple. So act 
all the great agencies of nature. It is won¬ 
derful that merely the increased tempera¬ 
ture of the air and earth should work such 
changes. Yet it is so, assisted by the natural 
tendency of tho plant to awake from its 
lethargic state—its winter somnolence.— 
Heat acts genially upon tho vital forces of 
the vegetable, and thus brings into renewed 
action its living principle. 
A general law of'heat is the expansion of 
bodies. Tho fibrous and cellular substances 
of which plants are mainly composed, are 
gradually subjected to this expansion by tho 
gradual accumulation of heat, as spring ad¬ 
vances. The phenomena of the sap’s rising- 
are not yet fully and satisfactorily account¬ 
ed for. Capillary attraction is believed to 
exert a great power upon it. Yet, how 
much may depend upon that mysterious 
property, the living principle, is difficult to 
say. There is no doubt however, that heat, 
by promoting tho sap’s ascent, is the great I 
external agent of vegetation. 
There is a design in creative wisdom that i 
heat should come gradually to its highest j 
intensity, whilst its excessivo accumulation ; 
is provided against by checks or changes in 
the atmosphere. Were a summer’s temper¬ 
ature to succeed that of the winter, without 
tho gradual one of spring intervening, most 
of our plants would be injured if not de¬ 
stroyed. So sudden an expansion in tho 
delicate vessels and sells would burst them 
asunder, whilst tho bud forced all at once 
into the glare and heat of dog days, would 
either wither and decay, or remain as an 
abortion. Thoro would bo none of tho beau¬ 
ties of unfolding leaf and flower, to charm 
the eye and feast tho sense. 
As the season advances, tho temperature 
increases, causing one plant after another to 
unfold its beauties. This process goes on 
till grove and field and garden are teeming 
with beauty and fragrance. 
When a plant is putting forth its foliage, 
and its vegetation has received some mo¬ 
mentum, it will bear a temperature consid¬ 
erably below its vegetating point, without 
being much injured or wholly checked in 
its growth, provided that temperature does 
not continue so long as to ovorcomo tho 
vegetating momentum. 
When vegetation is pent up beyond its 
usual time, it seems to acquire an accele¬ 
rated impulse, as though nature wero in 
g. g. g. d. Pretty Maid by Fit/. Favorite.— 
Dam of Tromp, Annie, by [Dangerous (in 
England; g. d. Matchless (prize cow at Ox¬ 
ford, 1839, Royal Ag’l Society,) by Young 
Sovereign ; g. g. d. Pretty Maid, descended 
from ths originalT ully blood of Huntington; 
g. g. g. d. Lovely, by Dewsall. The dam of 
Dewsall was a cow bred by Mr. Galliers of 
Frogden ; the sire of Dewsall, a bull of Mr. 
Parrys of Old Court,—both well known 
breeders of Herefords for upwards of fifty 
years. 
haste to regain lost time. All are familiar 
with the rapid strides that vegetation makes 
in a late spring. It is this law that governs 
tho plants of the Arctic zono, where the brief 
season is crowded into a few weeks, which 
compels the plant to go through its several 
stages to fruiting in—to us—an incredibly 
short time. Thus, a journal kept of Siberi¬ 
an vegetation, showed that July 1st, snow 
was gone; 9th, fields quito green; 17th, 
plants at full growth; 25th, plants in flow¬ 
er. Aug. 2d, fruit ripe; 18th, snow again 
and from that time till the next July. 
LONG MANURE FOR SPRING CROPS. 
Messrs. Editors :—In the Rural of 
March 25th, your correspondent, “ II. C.” 
makes inquiries as to tho uso of long and 
unfermented manures for corn, and also of 
the use of limo and plaster together with 
such manure. Much has appeared in agri¬ 
cultural papers on this subject, still it is not 
generally well understood by farmers. Hav¬ 
ing had some experience in the uso of such 
manures for corn, I volunteer to givo my 
opinion and practice. 
Thore is no philosophical reason given 
for rotting manures in the yard or heap— 
thoro can certainly be no gain in the pro¬ 
cess, but evidently a loss by the washing of 
rains, and evaporation of the gases, unless 
the heaps aro covered by some matter to 
retain them. Your correspondent is in er¬ 
ror, and it appears by your remarks that 
you labor under the same mistake when 
you say that little or no benefit will result 
to the corn crop by tho application of 
long manures, (a) In my opinion and 
from my experience, wo havo no better 
manures than long or unfermented ones, 
with a mixture of animal excrement as 
is found in a common barn yard. It can¬ 
not be expected that a load of straw will 
give as much nutriment to tho soil as 
a load of fine manure, but the same quan¬ 
tity of long manure plowed under the soil 
and there fermenting—its gasos retained by 
the soil,—will bo of twice tho bonefit it 
would be if allowed to decompose in tho 
yard, where perhaps a dozen loads would 
shrink into one. 
Thoro is an opinion entertained by many 
farmers that long manures tend to incroaso 
drouth in a dry season. A little observation 
will teach to the contrary. Look at your 
manure heap when undergoing fermenta¬ 
tion. You will find it a far better retainer 
of moisturo than tho soil. Again,—long 
manure plowed under keeps the soil loose, 
and a loose soil retains far more moisture 
than a compact one. ( b ) 
My practice in the use of yard manures is 
to cart upon the land designed for corn about 
the first of May, from twenty-five to forty 
ox-cart loads per acre, according to the sup¬ 
ply on hand. When spread it is plowed 
under immediately, before it is dried by sun 
and wind, to the depth of eight inches. If 
tho straw clogs tho plow, a man follows and 
rakes it into the furrow. A good harrow¬ 
ing then fits it for the seed. Land should 
not be rolled for corn ; the looser it is the 
better. The crop will be but little affectod 
by tho manure in the early part of the sea¬ 
son, but when tho soil becomes warm and 
tho manure ferments, tho etfect is great. I 
havo planted a field to corn, a part of which 
was manured in this way and a part not at 
all, and at harvest time found tho crop one- 
third better on the manured part, and that 
in an extraordinary dry season. 
Plaster and ashes in equal parts applied 
at the rate of three or four bushels per acre 
after tho first hoeing, will doubly pay tho 
cost. Lime and plaster applied with ma- 
nuro to promote fermentation would not . 
pay cost. They aro more beneficial on the 
surface, as tho tendency of mineral manures 
is to sink into tho soil, while vegetable or 
fermenting manures rise. F. P. Root. 
Sweden, N. Y., March 27,18.52. 
Remarks.— (a) Our esteemed correspond¬ 
ent, whom we thank for his seasonable and 
valuable article, does not give our meaning J 
precisely, in his version of our remarks. We j 
said—“It is truo little benefit can bo ex¬ 
pected to result to tho corn crop from long 
manure composed of straw but just com¬ 
mencing to decay, or at least its greater 
portion in that state.” His subsequent 
remarks are very true of long manures, as 
he defines them. 
(b) The question was not about manures 
whose decomposition would go on when 
plowed under in dry weather, but of those 
composed mostly of straw but just com¬ 
mencing to decay, which in a dry season 
would decompose but slowly unless buried | 
very deeply and perfectly by the plow.— 
Mix straw enough with the soil, and it will 
be too loose to retain moisture, though it may 
alone be too compact for this purpose. 
We renew our invitation to practical far¬ 
mers to givo their experience and opinions 
bearing on the solution of the questions re- 
' ferrod to. 
CORN FOR STOCK. -DEEP PLOWING. 
Editors Rural :—The importance of a 
good corn crop is so obvious, that it will ex¬ 
cuse a few remarks and inquiries on the sub¬ 
ject. It pays well—first, by cleansing tho 
soil from foul weeds, if cultivated as care¬ 
fully and cleanly as it should be; second, 
by tho fodder it furnishes for cattle, sheep, 
and even horses, which in my opinion is 
quite equal to good hay : and third, by the 
grain itself, so necessary and convenient for 
fattening and keeping hogs and cattle. I j 
think every bushel of corn judiciously fed in j 
tho month of April to cattlo that the farmer j 
intends to turn early for beef, pays or netts - 
him one dollar per bushel, in the taking on 
of flesh when turned to pasture. 
There is in this vicinity, (though there may 
not be in others,) a diversity of opinions as 
to deep or shallow plowing in preparing the 
ground for corn. Ours is generally high, ' 
arable, timbered land, or oak openings. Now 
if you or some ono or more of your numer¬ 
ous correspondents will givo their opinion 
and experience on this point, it will bo 
thankfully received, and cheerfully respond¬ 
ed to, so far as our humble views or limited 
experience relating to agricultural matters 
may prove of value to others. h. b. ii. 
Rush, N. Y., 1S51. 
The Bee Moth. —“A Practical Farmer’’ 
writing from West Rupert, Vt., says: “I 
havo never known any bees destroyed by 
the moth where the hives were raised in tho 
Spring two inches from tho bench or bot¬ 
tom board and kept up through the season 
of making honey.” 
SPRING WI-IEAT. - UNDERDRAINING. 
Eds. Rural :—Having raised spring wheat 
for the last eight years, perhaps tho results of 
my experience may be useful to a portion 
of your readers. In 1837, I bought a piece 
of land near tho village of West Bloomfield, 
which had been cleared about thirty-seven 
years, and cultivated so much on tho skin¬ 
ning system, that those who tilled it before 
wo considered twelve or fourteen bushels 
of wheat, a good crop after a summer fal¬ 
low. For eight years I have sown a part of 
this land to Italian spring wheat, and the 
averago yiold for that time has been over 
twenty-six bushels per acre. My object in 
this articlo, is to show how the crop has been 
doubled on this land. 
At the time of the purchase, I was a sub¬ 
scriber to the Albany Cultivator, then edited 
by tho late Judge Buhl. lie urged with 
much zeal, the following improvements in 
farming. First, rotation of crops ; second, 
the saving and judicious application of ma¬ 
nures ; and third, a more extensivo and 
thorough system of underdraining—saying 
that no grain crop could flourish where 
stagnant water remained within eighteen 
inches of the surface; and fourth, a dcop 
and well pulverized soil. I was led by his 
sensible remarks, to adopt a four years ro¬ 
tation, which gave every year one-fourth of 
my land in a two-years clover ley. This 
was to bo fitted for corn and roots, and re¬ 
ceived a dressing of between forty and fifty 
two-horse loads of manure per acre. As 
there was plenty in the village to be bought 
at ono shilling per load—and to many of the 
owners it was a nuisance they were glad to 
have removed I was thus liberal in the 
first dressings, for the quicker a piece of 
land is brought to a high state of cultiva¬ 
tion, tho greater the profit to the owner in 
the end. I always preferred manure in the 
long or unfermented state, choosing to have 
fermentation take place while tho corn was 
growing, as it forwarded the corn, if the sea¬ 
son was cold and backward. I seldom fail¬ 
ed of fifty, and sometimes seventy-five bush¬ 
els per acre. ’ 
To settle tho question, which would bo 
the most profitable crop after corn and roots 
winter or spring wheat, I sowed a piece of 
corn ground, in excellent condition, to win¬ 
ter wheat. Adjoining, I mowed a light crop 
of hay from a piece tho first of July, gave it 
a dressing of manure, plowed and harrowed 
it, and sowed to Swodish turnips. The next 
spring it was fitted and sown to Italian 
spring wheat. Tho winter wheat gave less 
than nineteen bushels per acre—the spring 
wheat over twenty-three bushels. This sat¬ 
isfied me, that from the lateness of the sea¬ 
son when winter wheat must be sown after 
corn and roots, spring wheat was the best 
and surest crop. This was tho lightest crop 
l ever had, excepting in 184G, when my 
wheat gave good promise until the 20th of 
May, when the Hesskn fly became so nu¬ 
merous, I thought they had destroyed it, 
though it yielded fourteen bushels per acre. 
The largest yield I have had, was thirty-two 
and one half bushels per acre, and the same 
piece gave thirty-two bushels per acre four 
years after. And some parts of these crops, 
I am confident, would yield forty bushels 
per acre, though there were two causes that 
operated against their averaging chat amount 
throughout. One was tho knolls and poor¬ 
est parts of tho field were not in as high 
state of cultivation as they ought to be, and 
the other was, that in the lowest part of tho 
field, where thoro wore no underdrains, tho 
wheat would be small and look yellow, and 
prove tho lightest yield, though tho land 
was evidently the richest in tho field. Sur¬ 
face water was tho cause of this failure. 
I am now adopting quito a thorough sys¬ 
tem of underdraining, and shall havo, when 
completed, between six and seven hundred 
rods of stone and tile drains on seventeen 
acres, and I am satisfied it will prove as ben¬ 
eficial for grain crops as manuring has. But 
few farmers aro sensible of tho loss thoy sus¬ 
tain to their grain crops by surface water.— 
If they would examino them in May and 
Juno, or what would bo hotter, build suffi¬ 
cient drains to givo thorn a fair trial, thoy 
I WHOLE NO. 119. 
would be convinced that their grain crops 
might be greatly increased on much of their 
land. 
I have always sowed my wheat broadcast, 
ono bushel tho first time, then cross sow 
with another bushel per acre, which gets tho 
seed evenly distributed over tho surface,— 
When the harrow has been freely used, sei d 
with four quarts of clover and four quarts 
of timothy per aero, pass over once with tho 
harrow, which seldom fails of leaving tho 
land well stocked with grass, in which it re¬ 
mains two years. Once in two or three 
years I wash my seed wheat to separate tho 
oats from it. Fill a wash tub about two- 
thirds full of water, add salt as long as it 
can bo made to dissolve, pour a quantity of 
wheat in slowly. Nearly all the oats will 
float—by stirring, but few will escape. Set 
a corn basket over another tub, and empty 
into it. It requires but a small amount of 
brine to 55-ash a considerable quantity of 
wheat. What brine is left can bo put on 
coarse fodder and turned to a good account. 
Every time the plow 5vas set to work deeper, 
until I havo a soil ton inches deep, and in¬ 
tend to havo it fourteen inches deep. 
I am no5v satisfied it is just as easy to keep 
land improving, as to keep exhausting the 
soil. But to do it, manure must be applied 
early every spring, and when that is not 
sufficient, turn under clover and green ma¬ 
nures, 5vhich I consider much better than 
tho refuse from the barn yards and stables. 
Alvin Wilcox. 
West Bloomfield, N. Y., March 12, 1852. 
CULTURE OF TOEACCO. 
Eds. Rural : —Agreeably to your request, 
5ve offer tho following suggestions, on tho 
cultivation of tobacco ; hoping it may save 
some from a partial, if not a total failure. 
Tho first thing that should engage the atten¬ 
tion of those who intend to gr05v this crop, 
is the preparation of tho bed. A sandy loam 
soil is tho best adapted for tho raising of 
plants. A level (not 5\-et) spot of ground, 
protected from tho North and North-west 
5vinds, should be selected. It should bo thor¬ 
oughly manured—hog yard manure is best 
and safest. A common wagon load to t5vo 
square rods of ground is sufficient. Then 
plow or spade to the depth of five or six inch¬ 
es—spading is to be preferred. The surfaco 
must bo finely pulverized and all stones to 
tho size of a robin’s egg removed. An ounco 
of seed evenly soived on t5vo square rods of 
ground is a safe estimate for planting two 
acres. 
Wo usually S 05 V tho first week in April. 
Different methods are adopted. Some mix 
5vith dry sand, others with corn meal. But 
5ve think there is a better way. Take a 
common tin pepper box, stop all tho holes 
but three—fill half full—hold the hand with¬ 
in eight inches of tho ground, moving it 
over the entire surface. The bed must then 
be rolled, not raked. A roller that one man 
can manage is sufficiently large. Tho seed 
germinates in about four weeks. Beds must 
bo kept free from 5veeds. The plants attain 
a proper size in six 5veeds for transplanting. 
Perhaps it may not bo amiss briofiy to de- 
scribo tho appearance of the plant. It stri¬ 
kingly resembles tho white elo5-er; but the 
leaf of tho tobacco plant is a shade lighter, 
more pointed, glossy, and of a finer texture. 
The next thing to bo dono is to select the 
ground on which tho crop is to bo grown.— 
Tobacco will not succeed 5vell on all soils. 
A soil having clay for its basis, or one in 
which slate abounds, aro objectionable, and 
should not bo extensively cultivated. Tho 
best soils are a sandy loam and lime stone 
bottom. Thoy aro more easily 5vorked, and 
a larger gro5vth and better quality are gen¬ 
erally obtained. Soils affect the quality of 
tobacco. From a clay soil you obtain a yel- 
lo5v shade; from slate rather too dark a col¬ 
or ; from the sandy and lime stone, you get 
a fine silky cinnamon colored leaf. It needs 
a little dryer soil than corn. Tho field 
should be lovol or only gently undulating; 
as tho rains by 5vashing cover up the plants 
and materially injure them. No man sho’d 
cultivate this crop unless he can manuro 
highly—thirty-fivo or forty loads of rotted 
