rsTui 
POT ATOMS IN Connecticut. —The Hartford Times 
line the following relative to the present condition, 
growth during the past season, and varieties of this 
esculent in Connecticut. It says:—“In spite of the 
prevalence of the ‘ rot' in some sections of the 
State, there are some species of the potato which 
have been scarcely affected in Connecticut this 
year. The Mercers, a favorite kind with us, have 
suffered perhaps the worst from the disease. They 
are now selling by the quantity at 80 cents. Tho 
Dover potato, a late introduction into this State, is 
fast becoming popular. It is an excellent potato 
for the table — dry and mealy — and is not subject 
to the rot Of a variety, new to us, known as the 
‘ Oregon White.’we have received a sample from 
Mr. Ttnlph Ttlsley, of East Hartford; it is a very 
good potato, and yields well. Mr. It is also much 
pleased with the ' English Flukes,’ a variety that, 
appears to do differently on different lands, hut 
which yields well in this vicinity. The ‘ California 
Potato,' which has been raised to a considerable 
extent hereabouts, the hist season, appears to differ 
from the Jenny lands, which it resembles externally, 
but it is better for the table. Some thut’we have 
tried, raised in Bloomfield, were excellent. They 
yield abundantly, and coining from a native slock, 
will probably do well in spite of the rot” 
too, the goodness of the Creator i3 placed before 
us, by the exhibit of the wonderful variety of de¬ 
licious fruits. And the ladies, whose influence 
always bears the sway wherever they unite, honors 
the exhibition with numerous productions of com¬ 
fort, elegance aud taste—the fruits of their indus¬ 
try and skill. The philanthropist stands and views 
the busy scene.—one great family, united by friend¬ 
ship and love, each arc contributing something to 
add to the comfort aud happiness of the. whole. 
But perfection is not to be expected in frail, 
erring man’s social performance. Constant vigi¬ 
lance to guard against the inroads of ignorance 
aud folly is the duty of the wise and prudent,—for 
errors, which often mar the social comfort, creep 
slowly in at first, but let them he fostered, or only 
tacitly indulged, and they progress with rapid 
strides. Thus the cultivator sees a weed; it has 
a beautiful blossom. There is hut one; it cannot do 
much harm; he lets it stand, until it increases in 
strength and vigor, aud bids defiance to his power 
to eradicate it. 
And I fear that the horse-trotting and ladies’- 
riding exhibits at the Agricultural Fairs, if cou- 
tinued, will dwindle down those valuable associa¬ 
tions to more jockey clubs; for fast trotting docs 
not increase the usefulness of the horse. The 
farmer does not value the extra speed for the plow, 
nor for taking tho products to market; nor does it 
increase his value as a roadster, for when dispatch 
is necessary wo take the iron horse. The trotter’s 
fleetness is valued purely for jockey purposes,— 
Could all he drilled to double their present speed, 
it would not increase their value, for it is only 
those that are the fleetest, and can outdo all others, 
that fills the jockey’s purse. Andjt is not realized 
how much those noble animals are made to suffer 
by being so often drove at their greatest speed.— 
The drill on the race ground, (for trotting is racing 
as well as running,) is but a small portion of the 
abuse that they receive. They must ho drilled for 
months previous to the exhibit, and during the 
training horse-trotting and jockey-trading are the 
principal themes, and too often the business of 
those who ought to he more usefully employed; 
and its effects are hut a slight remove from tlm 
baneful influence of horse-racing. 
Nor can I conceive any benefit that will result 
from the ladies exhibiting their equestrian skill at 
the Agricultural Pair; nor do I believe that any 
respectable female (on mature reflection) will desire 
to make a public exhibit on horseback, to be ad¬ 
mired or laughed at by the multitude,— no, not even 
hi hopes of a premium ,—nor will it add to their in¬ 
fluence in society for them to he able to compete 
for the Honors of the 7wf in a trotting match. 
Jan.. 1857. W. Gajuiott. 
Eds. Rural:—H ere is an item of farm experi¬ 
ence the past year—you can decide whether it is 
worthy of print or not. With no more of preface, 
1 would state that I sowed five acres of barley after 
corn—the latter well-manured and yielding fifty 
bushels per acre. It was plowed the 28th and 29th 
of April, and sown on the 30th, at the rate of two- 
and-oue-half bushels seed per acre. Harvested 
between the 15th and 18th of July, and marketed 
August 22d, at $1,25 per bushel. The account 
stands as follows: 
Dr, 3H’ days plowing... .$7 00 
“ harrowing (before sowing).... 100 
12>4 bushels of seed, 10s.......15 31 
34 day sowing....---- 44 
2 dayB harrowing ... -- .... 4 00 
2M « cradling, 12s ---8 76 
2M “ raking and drawing in.— 5 25 
ye <f threshing, machine, hands, etc. 7 00 
1 “ marketing...___ 2 00 
Interest on land, cost $50 per acre.17 50 
$03 25 
Cr. 110&bushels barley.....$126 88 
Straw equal to half expense threshing 3 50 
130 38 
Horse-Racing at Fairs. — Under the head of 
" Horse Racing at Cattle Shows,” brother Holmes, 
of the Maine Farmer, gives a pungent dissertation, 
including some good logic as to the wherefore of 
the practice. Regretting that we. have not space 
for the entire article, we will endeavor to give its 
gist. After speaking of the trials of speed of 
horses, and skill of ladies in riding—and approving 
the same under prudent management—brother H. 
refers to the objectionable features of the exhibi¬ 
tions, and says they ‘‘were introduced because of 
the selfish penuriousness of the great hulk of the 
farming community as it regards Agricultural 
Societies.” And he proceeds to sustain this severe 
accusation by citing the progress of socities in 
Maine. The State gives each Co. Society $300 pro¬ 
vided the people raise a like sum. lienee soceties 
are organized, and all goes on “ swimmingly ’’ for 
a year or two — good farmers being zealous and 
active. 
“ But soon tho novelty wears away, and tho excitement 
dies away, and the zeal becomes cool. Farmer A. says, I 
have worked so long to benefit the society for nothing ; and 
farmer B. says, I ought to have had a premium on my steers, 
and it was given to Joe Lummux’s, which were not half so 
good, and I’ll not have any more to do with them. And 
farmer C. says, I can’t be always paying a tax, when I can 
go to the show and see all inr nothing—and so he polls off. 
And farmer D. says, what's the use of my spending my time 
and labor? There's John Goahead. and Jim T’nblicsplrit, 
and Sam Kimltoall, they’ll take care and see that every¬ 
thing is done in season ;—and so he holds hack. Well, the 
result iB this:—The society begins to faint away; funds run 
short, and for the want of ' material aid' it become almost 
a failure. The trustees and other really public-spirited and 
useful members come together—a handful of them — and 
• talk the- thing over' And the first, question, after ascer¬ 
taining the true position is:—What shall we do for funds ? 
How shall wo raiso the money necessary to cany on tho 
operations of tho society? Yankee ingenuity very soon 
adopted tho plan of levying contributions upon all who 
wished to see the show, by enclosing tbe whole with a high 
fence, and charging an entrance fee at the gate. Nor was 
this all. Acting upon that weakness of human nature 
which induces too many of mankind to pay more freely 
and liberally lor witnessing sports than serious matters — 
for nonsense than manifestations ol good common sense, a 
display of Imrsem/inship by Indies, and contests of speed in 
horses were introduced. And what is the result? More 
money to the treasury, and more folly hi the community." 
"This,” continues our cotemporary, “is a true 
statement of facts;” and he proceeds to say that if 
farmers had discharged their duty to the societies, 
"there would not have been any resort to the prac¬ 
tices now complained of.” In our view this logic 
is to a great extent true, and not alone applicable 
to the meridian of Maine — for we know that the 
most potent argument used in favor of introducing 
female equestrianism at the Pair of at least one 
Society hereabouts, last season, was that it would 
be the means of replenishing the treasury. 
we may look in vatu tor any ueneut to result 
from plowing in fall or winter. We will show why. 
Frost expands water, and frost expands moist 
and wet soils. A soil, therefore, which is merely 
wet to the touch, will expand much more by freez¬ 
ing, than a soil that is thoroughly saturated with 
water; and the cohesion of every part is thorough¬ 
ly broken up; and when it thaws, there not being 
water enough to aid the particles in running to¬ 
gether, it remains light and friable—and each suc¬ 
cessive freezing breaks up this coarseness of parti¬ 
cles, and renders the soil light and mellow. 
In order to illustrate this subject fairly, let any 
one take a few quarts of unslaked lime, and wet it 
just enough to make it slake, well; and it will furn¬ 
ish a beautiful example of the effect of rain and 
frost on a moderately dry soil, that has been plowed 
late in the fall or winter. Now, take another quan¬ 
tity of lime, and continue to pour on water, much 
more than is necessary to slake it; and after it is 
slaked, stir it with a stick, and let it settle. Now, 
let the water evaporate, and let the lime freeze and 
thaw, and we are furnished with a very correct 
idea of the effect which fall and winter plowing has 
upon soils that are too wet. 
Here we are furnished with one very plausible 
reason, why so many farmers have been disappoint¬ 
ed in the qffeets of fall plowing. They did not 
dream that their soils were too wet; and when 
they turned np deep, heavy furrows, which would 
crumble no more than a huge lump of stiff putty, 
they congratulated themselves that the frost—faith¬ 
ful and powerful servant—would, by seed-time, 
render them very porous and friable. Let the 
water he drained off, and the frost will perform all 
that we can desire; but, it is the height of folly to 
think of making a mellow soil, by plowing in the 
fell or winter, where the water is suffered to stand 
for weeks in succession. Soils that are too wet for 
a crop of grain of any kind are often injured more 
than they arc benefited by plowing in fall or winter. 
Another very important consideration is, the 
manner hi which the plowing is performed. Every' 
good plowman knows that there are three kindB of 
plowing; viz :—round plowing, lap plowing, and flat 
plowing. It is not my design to speak of the differ- 
ent modes of turning the farrow in this place, hut 
simply to show the different effects of different 
kinds of plowing in fall and winter. Sward land, 
in undulating and hilly regions, whatever the soil 
maybe, should not lie plowed in late fell or winter, 
with a lap jarrow. On level land, it will do better: 
hut, even in such places, the lap furrow is wholly 
objectionable. By plowing with a lap furrow, 
where there is a very stiff sod, the soil is laid in a 
position to carry off, where the land is billy, all the 
elements of fertility, which find their way, by 
leaching, into the numerous suhterrauean drains 
formed by lapping one furrow on another; and, 
when the land is nearly level, should there he 
heavy rains, and the soil not frozen, much of the 
fertilizing snhstanc.es are apt to find their way into 
the subsoil, especially if the soil is of a leacliy na¬ 
ture. It is far better to turn flat than lap furrows 
in fall and winter; but, flat plowing is decidedly 
objectionable, because the soil is not sufficiently 
Goon Roads—Their Influence.— Where roads 
arc not, civilization cannot he; and civilization 
advances as roads are extended. By these, religion 
and knowledge arc diffused; intercourse of all 
kinds is promoted; the producer, the manufacturer, 
and the consumer, arc all brought nearer together; 
commerce is quickened; markets are opened; pro¬ 
perty, wherever touched by these lines, is changed, 
as by a magic rod, into new values; and the great 
current of travel, like the stream of classic fable, 
or one of the rivers of our own California, hurries 
in a channel of golden sand. Tho roads, together 
with the laws, of ancient Rome, are now better re- 
memhered than her victories. The Flaniinian and 
Appian Ways—once trod by returning proconsuls 
and tributary kings—still remain as beneficent 
representatives of her departed grandenr. Under 
God, the road and the schoolmaster are the two 
chief agents of human improvement. The educa¬ 
tion begun by the schoolmaster is expanded, liber¬ 
alized, and completed, by intercourse with the 
world; aud this intercourse finds new opportuni¬ 
ties and inducements in every road that Is built.— 
Charles Sumner. 
A WORD TO THE YOUTH 
CARELESSNESS AMONG AGRICULTURISTS. 
We have always endeavored to please and in¬ 
struct you. We have tried to teach you that Agri¬ 
culture is the noblest employment in which man 
can engage. We have told you that talent and 
learning can he as usefully and as honorably em¬ 
ployed in Agriculture as in any human pursuit. 
We have even pointed you to Agriculture as the 
sure road to true honor, wealth and happiness.— 
We are pleased to know from tho following flatter¬ 
ing communication, aud others of a similar charac¬ 
ter, that our labors in this respect have not been in 
vain: 
Mu. Editor : — I am much pleased with the 
Rural, and I will tell you why I am so much 
pleased with it. I prize it as a great educator of 
the yonth ol our land. It is doing the work of a 
thonsaud schoolmasters. Our little chillin' n, even, 
who cannot read, have impressions made upon 
their minds through the eye, in examining its 
pictures of houses, flowers, Ac. Our older children 
read, or listen while their parents read, and then 
they talk over these matters, and discuss questions 
of taste, and talk more sensibly of fruit and (low¬ 
ers and farming than their fathers did twenty years 
ago. They thus grow up with a taste for Rural 
Life, and an appreciation of its dignity and im¬ 
portance. Their minds also become stored with a 
fund of knowledge of incalculable value. I have 
several times noticed by their earnest manner and 
conversation that my boys had some little private 
matter on hand which they considered of great 
importance. Without seeming to observe them, I 
have kept my eyes open to discover the cause of 
the unusnal excitement, when I have found they 
were trying some experiments to which their at¬ 
tention had been directed by reading the Rural. 
Children thns educated, Mr. Editor, will grow up 
men. They will not 
On a former occasion I hinted 
Pins. Rural 
that, with your permission, I would at some future 
time pen a few thoughts on tho subject named for 
the Rural. In doing so, my remarks shall at least 
contain one virtue, viz., truth. 
I assert, if there is a profession which calls for 
intelligence and well-directed energy, it is agricul¬ 
ture—and, furthermore, no other vocation will re¬ 
munerate a person so well for industry, carefulness 
and strict attention to small matters. How few are 
there who do not belie-ve these statements to be 
true; and yet what a sample of neat, orderly farm¬ 
ing we exhibit in Illinois! The majority of our 
agriculturists came from tho blast, and were fanners 
of which any country might be proud; but from 
the astonishing and often exaggerated reports 
which they heard concerning the rich soil and 
fertile plains of this State, they were induced to 
think that here care and diligence were superflui¬ 
ties in their calling. It is my firm belief that no- 
where can such glaring negligence and pernicious 
carelessness he seen as in our beautiful Prairie 
State. Inspect our farms and seek for the verifi¬ 
cation. For example,look at that hog pen crowded 
with filthy quadrupeds of all sizes. And why 
filthy? Because they must walk in filth, eat among 
filtbj and breathe in stench. Exposed to the lick¬ 
ings of the storm and shorn of the power to pro¬ 
tect and provide for themselves, can you blame 
them for being dirty? What inhumanity to say 
nothing of pecuniary loss! Take a peep into the 
cow stables. Cow stables! Alas! the only thing 
to he found is an enclosure made by a rail fence 
which the cattle can cross and recross at pleasure. 
In one corner you see a few—they are called calves 
in this section—anatomical specimens of the bo¬ 
vine species whose days have been few in the. land. 
Scattered over the yard you perceive a number of 
lean, hungry, hollow-looking cows and steers. No 
rack, nor trough, nor place to feed hat the bare 
ground! Once or twice daily there is thrown io 
Advertising in the "Rural” Ruinous. —Mr. 
E. M. Bradley, of East Bloomfield, N. Y., (one or 
our most progressive farmers, by the way,) avers 
that advertising in the Rural New-Yorker is 
ruinous—for that whereas an advertisement of 
South Down sheep, given in said paper last fall, at 
a cost of only $4, brought him numerous letters 
from all parts of the country, and netted him full 
one thousand dollars! People who can cipher, may 
readily see how extremely ruinous his investment 
must have proved, lie expresses some surprise 
also at receiving letters from various sections of 
the South, West, Canada, Ac. Some of the sheep 
sold by said advertisement were exhibited by the 
purchaser, (Mr. E. G. Cook, of Jefferson Co.,) at the 
recent N. Y. State Fair and awarded the first 
premium —proving that the advertiser was not the 
only person benefited. 
—Mr. Bradi.et is only one of the numerous 
persons who have notified us of the great advant¬ 
age of advertising in the Rural. We could have 
given quite ms strong testimony, and plenty of 
it, long ago,—hut, having then as now more occa¬ 
sion to refuse than solicit advertising, we refrained 
from publishing. A nd we only mention the above 
item for the special benefit of occasional appli¬ 
cants who consider our rates exorbitant — be¬ 
cause, forsooth, we charge “ more than other pa¬ 
pers,” albeit our circulation is from ten to thirty 
times that of the journals they specify. 
State Agricultural College. — At a recent 
meetiug of the Trustees of this Institution, the 
grounds for which have been purchased near Ovid, 
it was resolved that the whole expense of each 
student in College shall not exceed $150 per year. 
The Executive Committee were directed to make 
application to the Legislature for an amendment 
of the Charter authorizing an increase ol the num¬ 
ber of Trustees, not, however, to exceed twenty-four. 
The President was directed to advertise for a plan, 
or plans of buildings for the College, including 
ventilation, warming, water, light and working 
plans, with an estimate of the expenses; the pro¬ 
poser ol the plans and specifications that shall he 
adopted to be paid $250, and the proposer of the 
second heBt, $100—the said plans and specifications 
to belong to the Trustees. 
to he intelligent, onterprisin 
think fanning a stupid drudgery, and long to he 
away to a city, to engage in some respectable busi¬ 
ness, as clerks, or law-students. You are doing, 
sir, a great work for the young, aud I think many 
a lather among your readers, feels, as sensibly as I 
do, the importance and value of this work. 
Ontario Co., N. Y. N. 
We are not insensible of the importance of the 
Rural to tho youth; and we shall not neglect this 
interesting class of our readers. Our present ar¬ 
rangements, smaller type, Ac., will enable us to 
give more matter of especial interest to the^young. 
To be of service in directing tlieir thoughts, and 
giving them just views of the great objects of life, 
is our aim. Appropriate to tHe subject we have 
an extract from Hunt's Merchants' Magazine, which 
gives the experience of one who has seen as much 
of commerce aud its delusions, as much of mer¬ 
chants and their cares and disappointments, as any 
man in the country: 
“The young man who leaves the farm-field ior 
the merchant’s desk or the lawyer’s or doctor’s 
office, thinking to dignify or ennoble his toil, 
makes a sad mistake. He passes, by that step, 
from independence to vassalage. He barters a 
snow may drill,, tne coiu may pierce, tueir oniy 
shelter is the fence, and yet the owner ot these cat¬ 
tle is one of the “big" agriculturists. IT you have 
finished examining the " cow stables” let us look 
into the bor.se barn. We find no difficulty in en¬ 
tering for there is nothing hut the roof of a shod, 
and through it the rain streams. Here stands the 
wreck ol as noble a horse as yon could wish to see. 
lie is compelled to stand two feet higher behind 
than in front, for the manure is seldom removed, 
and he never lies down, for there is danger that he 
cannot rise without, assistance. He is tied with a 
halter simply encircling his neck. No manger can 
be seen, and his trough is somewhat similar to 
those of the cattle. See him slii ver from exposure 
to all tho vicissitudes of an extremely variable 
climate. IIis knees have been sprung by his posi¬ 
tion in the “Btable” and by mis-driving. His 
rough coat and ragged exterior show too plainly 
the want of a curry comb and brush. His squalid 
appearance betokens hunger, neglect and misery 
in the extreme. But we will stop for the present, 
and will perhaps, resume the subject again. 
Peoria, 111., Dec., 1850. D, B. Walt. 
and the large one following, rolls up about six 
inches more, of super-soil and subsoil, and covers 
the small furrow-slice with dirt pulverized as thor¬ 
oughly as a plow can do it. Between the furrows 
turned by this plow, there are no open channels as 
there are between the furrows which lap one over 
the other. The sod is rolled together; and, instead 
of being deposited in the bottom of the furrow, the 
furrow is partly filled with pulverized soil by the 
large plow—and then the furrow-slice of the small 
plow is turned on, when the large plow covers it a 
few inches deep with mellow dirt When stubble 
ground is plowed and manure turned under, such 
substances are not turned into the bottom of the 
furrow, as is the case when a single plow is used; 
hut are left near the surface where the roots of 
young plants will soon reach the fertilizing matter 
contained in such substances. 
When sod ground is plowed in the Pall or winter, 
we do not expect to plow it again in the following 
spring; and, therefore, the later in the fall the plow¬ 
ing can lie done the better. By plowing very late in 
the fall,or in the winter, the winter retreat ofworme 
is broken np; and multitudes of them, which would 
otherwise injure the crops of grain, in the follow¬ 
ing season, will perish. Even when snow has been 
three or four inches in depth, if the ground was not 
frozen, if my plowing is not finished, I always 
"speed the plow.” S. Edwards Todd. 
Lake Ridge, Tompkins Co., N. Y., 1867. 
Good Short-horns.— A correspondent writing 
from Ixj Loy, N. Y., thus chronicles some of the 
doings of one of the best stock breeders and 
farmers in Western New York:—"I noticed our 
friend Ctias. K. Ward, of this place, was to-day 
shipping some of his line stock—among which was 
a bull calf, 'Red Rover,’ labelled to Lee Addison, 
Esq., Vt.; another, ‘Governor,’ to Mr. K. Smith, 
Tyrone, Sobnyler Co., N. Y., and to the same per¬ 
son, ' Rose,' a lour year old cow. The calves were 
from his hull ‘ Kirkleavington, Jr.,’ and arc splen¬ 
did animals. Mr. Ward has taken great pains to 
Mu. Moore: —The time to make arrangements 
for the Agricultural Fairs the coining season will 
soon arrive, and when the hustle of the busy days 
are over it is well to review the past, to enable us 
to improve in future,—“for the Wise Man looketli 
hack and correctcth the errors of his ways, hut tho 
fool persists in his folly.” 
It is highly gratifying to realize the improve¬ 
ments that have been made in the annual exhibits 
of industry, ingenuity and skill, which 1 will call 
the producer's jubilee, for there all can unite in 
harmonious friendship, undisturbed by party strife 
or sectarian discord. The influence of these social 
gatherings, when rightly conducted, cannot he too 
highly appreciated. There the farmer exhibits the 
best of his domestic animals, and by comparing 
them with those, of his neighbors, he can realize 
their value, or detect their defects. 
Tonawanda Valley Ad. Society. — The third 
Quarterly Meeting of this flourishing Society is to 
ho held at Waldo’s Hotel, in Alexander, Jan. 13th, 
at 6 P. M. After the transaction of business, the 
leading topic of discussion will be “ Fences aud 
Fencing Material.” 
' • 
"Some Pumpkins.” —A correspondent writes that 
Mr. W. E. Douglass, of Porter, Niagara Co., raised 
the last season, from one seed, six pumpkins which 
averaged 40 lbs. each in weight—making 240 lbs. 
from one seed. 
There, too, we truthful item, segregated from an able article by 
view the bountiful supply of earth’s various pro Mr. Howard, in tbe Boston Cultivator of last 
ductions given by the Creator, hut to he molded l»y week:—“To the practical farmer, the most impor- 
the hand of indnstriouB man. tant medium of improvement is the discussion and 
And the mechanic, the farmer's assistant, exhibits interchange of ideas through periodicals devoted 
the results of his industry and skill; hiB labor- to his interest.. They not only disseminate know- 
saving machinery has enabled the cnltivator to ledge, hut are indirectly the means ot originating 
double the productions of the soil. The artist or- it. They produce that agitation which, leading to 
naments the scene with his works of taste and study and experiment, ultimately develops truth, 
beauty, and the florist spreads out Nature’s beau- In this source of improvement all may participate 
ties by a brilliant display of flowers; and there j at trifling cost.” 
nummmmm.’MwmmmM.M.Mimmm.n.M.u.Dtei.n.iM’wo.n.mmmi’i.mn.Pii’i.n.u. 
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