This should be done early— as soon as it is discovered 
that the lambs are iB affected; and the lambs should be 
watched closely, else they quickly die. 
JEWELS FOH SWINE. 
At one of the best managed farrnB I have visited 
anywhere, I found a new style (to me) jewel for the 
snouts of swine. Here is a rough sketch of it. It is 
an English mode of ornamenting this worthy family 
of animals, and iB thought very highly of by- "the 
best way I ever tried” was the assertion of — H. B. 
Patkick, the owner of the thoroughly cultivated 
thousand-acre farm 1 speak of. These jewels wore 
made — by an English blacksmith — and put on by 
:lp 
vmM: J 
v i 
contract, at five cents each. (1) is a light iron ring 
or roller, a half inch in diameter and an inch and a 
quarter long, through which passes an iron staple 
(2, 2,) made of light nhil rod. Ihe length of this 
rod is about Cj inches when complete. That portion 
of it which passes through the ring (1) is hammered 
round; also the shoulders, (3, 3,) which are each a 
half inch in length, and made at nearly right angles 
to the sections (2, 2,) of the rod. These sections are 
each about, u fourth of au inch wide, 2) inches long, 
measuring from the shoulders, (3, 3,) and beaten 
down thin and to a point, and of a shape similar to 
that of a horse-shoe nail. The snout of the animal 
is punctured just beneath the rooting ring, the sharp 
flat ends of the rod quickly pushed through up to 
the shouiderB, (3, 3,) and with a split rod, made for 
the purpose, the ends of the rod are rolled, twisted 
or kinked on the top of the snout, in a way which 
renders it utterly impracticable for Mr. RootBh to 
get rid of his jewels. The effect is, that when it is 
desired by said Mr. R. to thrust his nose under the 
clover or blue grass 80 d in search of grubs or worms, 
the effort, with the aid of the permanent roller on his 
nose, propels said organ along on the surface a 
harmless delusion! He soon learns that, as a rooter, 
his occupation is gone! 
JOTTINGS FROM THE WEST. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER AND OUR FARMERS, 
Friend Moore: -You doubtless think it. “passing 
strange” that, while the uumes of new subscribers 
to the Rural keep pouring in upon yon from all 
other sections of the still loyal States, there should 
he a belt of country extending many miles botli 
above and below Quincy, and lying immediately 
east of the “ Father of Watew,” from which you 
have as yet received but a sadly discouraging account. 
Now, the “belt” of country alluded to in this 
connection comprises the counties of Tike, Adams 
and Handcock. The farmers of these three counties 
have heretofore depended exclusively upon the 
Mississippi River as au outlet for their surplus 
products. The present unhappy civil conflict has 
effectnally closed that avenue of trade to our farm¬ 
ers, millers, etc., while the distance from these 
counties toThicago, or some Eastern market, is so 
great, that, after paying the present shamefully exor- 
bitaut railroad charges, the proceeds of sale come a 
long way below cost prices. Thus, while the crops 
for the present year have been nnnsnally large, and 
while a steadily-growing demand for American 
breadstuff*, from abroad, is enabling other farmers 
to realize remunerative prices, the farmers of these 
three counties—owing to their present isolated con¬ 
dition, as regards all market facilities—find no sale 
for their summer products that approximates cost. 
This fact lias compelled our farmers to refrain from 
selling their wheat, corn, oats, etc,, except in small 
lots, designed to supply their familics with groceries, 
drygoods, etc. 
Owing to these at present insurmountable draw¬ 
backs, the farmers of Pike, Adams and Handcock 
are without money, a fact which so disheartens and 
discourages them—and more especially while seeing 
their granaries are full and ’overflowing—that they 
do not feel in the humor of subscribing for even as 
good a paper as the Rural is everywhere acknowl¬ 
edged to be. But hundreds have'assured me that 
their subscribing to your paper is with them a fixed 
fact the moment an outlet is opened up for the sale 
of their present abundant crops. Therefore, and in 
consequence of the peculiar disadvantages now sur¬ 
rounding them, yon must not, Mr. Editor, infer that 
the farmers alluded to here are an ignorant, shiftless, 
behind-the-age and won't-improve or anti-agricultu¬ 
ral-progress sort of people, simply because they 
have thus far failed in doing their duty in connection 
with your invaluable paper. I think I may safely 
assure you that this too great remissness of duty 
will soon change in the right direction, and that 
ere the close of the ensning spring your list of sub¬ 
scribers from this section of our truly loyal State 
will compare as favorably with any other similarly 
populated section as could ho desired. Therefore, 
do not despair of your Western friends yet. 
Quincy, Ill., Nov. 27, 1861. Occidental. 
II it Qtt-'gitytv. 
Hunting Wild Been. 
Ens. Rural Nkw-Yorkkr:—W ill you or any of your 
numerous readers inform me of the best method to find “Bee 
Trees.”—W. 11-, Onondaga, Brant Co.. C. IF. 
In answer to the above and previous inquiries on 
the same subject, we give the following from a cor¬ 
respondent in Perth county, Canada, to whom we 
have before been indebted for valuable information: 
Eds. Rural New-Yorker: — In answer to the 
inquiry, “Tracking Wild Bees,” I give y*ur “sub¬ 
scriber” my “modus operands,” and though it may 
not he precisely the plan adopted by “old Michigan 
bee hunters,” it very well answers my purpose in 
Canada. 
Provide yourself with matches, some dry splinters 
or shavings, a small tin dish, a shingle smeared with 
honey, and some honey comb. Being thus accoutred, 
and choosing a busy day for bees, march into the 
forest, or amidst the frowning rocks, not as the hears 
did, “forth issue from a neighboring wood,” but 
enter in where you suppose “the industrious bee in 
artful cells baa stored its luscious board.” Proceed to 
make a blaze, put some comb in the dish and hold it 
over the fire, imbuing the forest around you with the 
sweet incense which the operation affordB. No doubt 
yon will in a short time be visited by an inquiring 
apis, endeavoring to find what you are seeking; 
permit him to snr.ceed in bis investigations,—no 
doubt he will return the compliment,— by presenting 
him with the shingle; he will not need a second 
hint, but proceed to till his sacks at once. You may 
quench your fire, watch your visitor intently, and 
when he flies mark his course with precision; walk 
in that direction a "bee line ” for half a mile, more 
or less. Repeat the operation. Bee No. 2 pprhaps 
may fly in the same direction onward, follow him and 
operate again. Bee No. 3 may take a backward 
course, follow him, likewise, one half the distance 
from the place where the last operation was per¬ 
formed; then operate again, and by such continued 
maneuver, yon will in due time, no doubt, find your¬ 
self surrounded by bees, and the bee tree over your 
very head. In all these operations you may be visited 
by numbers of bees, and if there is more than one 
bee tree in the forest, or if bees are kept in the neigh¬ 
borhood, you may have to make many attempts before 
you succeed.— 1.K0N M. Clench, St. Mary's, County 
Perth, C. \V. 
The following, on the same subject, we judge to be 
the production of an old “Bee-Hunter” : 
Editors Rural New Yorker: — I noticed an 
inquiry in the Rural of Nov. 23d, asking for infor¬ 
mation how to track wild bees, so as to obtain their 
honey. I will give my method of finding them, but 
perhaps some have a bctU-r way. To begin with, F 
make me a bee box, 8 incheB in length by 6 inches in 
width, and 6 inches in height, with two slides passing 
in ut the end of box, in grooves in the side of box, 
the first slide passing in so as to divtde the box in the 
center, the top slide to pass in within one hulf inch 
of top. Top slide to have a glass set into it 3 by 6 
inches, so as to admit light into the upper section of 
the box. Then procure some old comb, partly filled 
with honey and partly filled with bee bread. This I 
use for smudging, as wo old bee hunters call it. I 
then take strained honey and thin it with water, and 
take old comb and fill it with this thinned honey, 
fteent your box well with the Oil of Anise, place 
your smudge comb ih Die lower section of your box, 
aud the comb filled with houey in the upper section. 
Take some surplus honey With you, to replenish your 
comb if necessary. Now you are ready to start for 
the woods. Select some place where you will be 
most likely to find bees, build up a fire and heat two 
small flat stones. When hot, place one on a stump 
or log, place a piece of your smudge comb on the 
hot stone, then place the other stone on top of the 
comb, and you will have what bee hunters call a 
smudge. This smudge the bees will smell a great 
way. Place your honey comb beside your smudge, 
so that when the bees come it will be handy for them 
to light on. 
When the bees fill themselves they will, after whirl¬ 
ing, start direct for their home, or the tree that they 
live in; but after they work awhile on the honey, they 
most always start direct to the tree without whirling. 
As soon as you ascertain the direction they go, you 
have a “bee-line.” You can take a look for them; 
if you do not find them readily, then you will have to 
get a “ cross-linc.” To do this you will have to place 
your comb back into the box, and when the comb 
gets covered with bees, shove in your upper slide 
and start with a double quick in a direction so that 
the line yon are about to get will cross the one yon 
have got already. You will Boon get another line, 
and wherever those two lines intersect each other, 
there your bee tree will be, whether you find it or 
not. My object in thinning the honey, is so that the 
bees will fill themselves quicker, load heavier, and 
fly slower; and it won’t daub the bees, so but 
they can fly. The objeot of having a glass in the top 
of the box, is so that in moving the bees to get a 
cross line, the bees will remain on the comb, when if 
it was dark they would leave the comb. Keep your 
box clean. I think the above directions, with a 
little experience, will enable any one to find wild 
bees. E. Kellogg. 
South Avon, Nov. 27, 1861. 
Ron ring Italian Boos. 
In answer to numerous inquirers, I will give, 
through the medium of the Rural, the result of an 
experiment I last year instituted for the purpose of 
rearing Italian bees in purity, since that result, 
beyond being, in the main, successful, gave rise to 
several very curious questions, as the sequel will 
Bhow. It is well known to intelligent bee-keepers, 
that the progeny of an unimpregnated queen, like that 
of a fertile worker, consists of drones only. The 
result of the experiment about to be related, goes far 
to prove that there is really no difference between the 
two except in appearance, and that the hers treat both 
in precisely the same manner. 
Late in October of last year, I reared an Italian 
queen, confining her to the hive until settled cold 
winter weather, so that she should not, by any possi¬ 
bility, become fertile by drones of any kind, that I 
might be able, early in the spring —before other drones 
appeared—to rear queens, which, meeting in their 
excursions the drones of iny drone-laying Italian 
queen, their progeny should be undoubtedly pure. 
I was able to keep a very brilliant queen, and suc¬ 
ceeded perfectly in keeping np the stock of worker 
bees, and tbe consequent prosperity of tbe colony by 
the occasional transfer to them of worker broods 
from other hives. 
Poring the latter part of Feb’y, I discovered that the 
drones, many of them, seemed to be deformed, and 
attributing this to the fact of their being bred in 
worker combs, I transferred to the center of their 
hive a card of empty new drone comb, with which, 
for this purpose, 1 had previously provided myself. 
Opening the hive, some two weeks later, to my aston¬ 
ishment I found the brood nous confined to the card o f 
drone comb exclusively 1 — tbe worker cells having 
been evidently in part demolished to enable the bees 
to destroy the young brood therein; since it could be 
hardly possible tbat the brood I saw two weeks pre¬ 
vious had yet all matured. 1 noticed, also, that the 
brood in the drone comb wus very regularly laid, 
while that previously deposited in the worker comb 
was more or less scattered about in knots of six Or 
eight cells each, many being entirely destitute of 
either eggs orJlbrood, as I had often Defore noticed 
was the case with drone-laying workers. Now, it is 
maintained by many that the queen has no volition in 
the work of laying eggs; but I have frequently kept 
watch of her while laying in worker, hut close to 
drone cells; and it seems to me that she did, evi¬ 
dently before and after swarming time, skip the drone 
cells l Perhaps I have imagined this; but then again. 
during the swarming season, I have certainly hundreds 
of times observed her continue her work, depositing 
eggs in both drone and worker cells promiscuously. 
But here we have a case entirely different. A queen 
capable of laying only drone eggs, chooses the drone 
comb and lays her eggs evenly and perfecUy, and lays 
her eggs in no other, although but a few dayB before, 
when there was no drone comb in which t <* deposits 
her eggs, we found them in worker cells, but scattered 
about like those of other drone lajfcrs! If tbe qneen 
can have no volition, or power to determine the sex¬ 
uality of the egg, (and I am striving to maintain 
neither side of the controversy,) how can it be sup¬ 
posed that this one had the sagacity to choose the 
proper kind of cell in which to deposits. her eggs. And 
how did she know that they were not in the proper 
place in either? But I have related the facts as I 
found them, and leave the discussion of the matter to 
the curious, 
I will merely add, that the drone-laying queen was 
afterwards transferred to other hives for the purposes 
of experiment; and it was found that bees would nut 
molest her anywhere!— another singular circumstance. 
Bat she finally disappeared,— whether destroyed by 
a queen, or bees, or neither, I never knew. The 
Italian queens reared early, and fecundated by her 
drones—Hi least when I could find no other—were in 
no respect superior to those reared later in the sea- 
Bon; in fact I think my best colored querns, and those 
whose progeny are finest, were reared during the 
midst of the swarming season, say from the middle 
of May to the first of August, Martin Mktcai.p. 
Grand Rapids, Mich., Nov. 18, 1861. 
Artificial Operations. 
Bomb persons object to “ special operations ” and 
“artificial processes” in bee culture, because they 
regard them as “ unnatural ” and aa “interfering with 
the in6tincla of the bee.” But is not hiving a natural 
swarm an “artificial process?” Yet no one except 
tbe timid objects to engage in that “special opera¬ 
tion,’’“though it is obviously a most violent “inter¬ 
ference ” with the instincts of tbe bee! Bees are not 
kept for the purpose of indulging them in the enjoy¬ 
ment of the “ largest liberty” or gratifying their own 
wildest whims. The object and intention is rather to 
render them and their labors subservient to man’s 
wants aud desires; and be who can most completely 
control them, within their own proper sphere, is 
likely to derive the most benefit from them.— Amer¬ 
ican Bee Journal. 
Brest. Busch says lie once saw thousands of bees 
gathering honey from the heads of common red 
clover, recently mown and partially wilted. They 
tore open Dio calyx at its base, and thus obtained 
access to tbe nectar which they are unable to reach 
when the blossom is full blown and fresh. 
gural Jtyitft ot tUc %vm. 
To Prevent Horses Kicking. 
A subscriber of the Country Gentleman being 
possessed of a horse Dial would kick everything to 
pieces in the stable that he could reach, and having 
found a remedy for it, (after trying many things, 
snob as fettering, whipping, hanging chains behind 
him for him to kick against, <lc.,) sends the same to 
that journal. It is simply fastening a short trace- 
chain, about two feet long, by a strap, to each hind 
foot, and let him do his own whipping. 
II«w Long Should Lows go l>ry. 
In answer UM ids Question, a oorrospondent of 
the Ohio Farmer furnishes the following sensible 
suggestions. After saying that no rule could apply 
to all cows alike, he adds:—“I have found that cows 
inclined to take on fat could be milked up to within 
two weeks of calving, and have both cow and calf 
healthy and plump: and cows that could not be fat¬ 
tened while milking, required from four to six weeks 
of rest from milk-giving previons to calving, other¬ 
wise Die calf was small and not well formed, and the 
following year’s supply of milk much lessened.” 
Top-Dressing Grass Lands In Autninu. 
The editor of the New-Eng land Farmer writes: 
“ Our attention was recently called to a piece of grass 
land, upon which some interesting experiments had 
been made in top-dresBing. The piece consisted of 
two or three acres, had been under-drained, plowed, 
seeded to grass, and the whole of it, in every respect, 
treated alike, with the exception of the time of top¬ 
dressing it. The same quantity and quality of 
manure was applied to one part as well as another, 
and yet tbe difference in the time of applying the 
manure made a difference of a hundred per cent, in 
the crop! On one portion of the field, the dressing 
was applied last fall—but we did not le&rn whether it 
was before the ground was frozen or not. The 
manure was made very fine by frequent overhauling— 
aud spread directly from the cart—not deposited in 
heaps, Ou the remaining portion, the dressing was 
applied in the spring, as early as it was sale for the 
team to pass over the sward without catting it up 
much, and where the dressing was applied iu the fall, 
there was double the amount of grass that there was 
on the spring-dressed portion. We hope many careful 
experiments of this kind will be made this fall. 
Keep tlie Farm Slock Thriving. 
The change from a diet of roast beef and mutton 
chops, with plenty of vegetables, to salt pork and 
crackers, such as was experienced and complained 
of by many volunteers for the wars, is hardly less 
great than that to which animals in northern latitudes 
are annually subjected. In a few weeks the fresh, 
juicy herbage, so grateful to bovine palates, will have 
felt the frost’s sharp breath, and become withered and 
tasteless. Long before the cattle and shec p will cease 
to graze, if kept confined to the pasture, their food 
will be diminished in nutritive value. Just at this 
point in the year, without proper care, stock will 
receive a severe check in their growth. There .is 
danger in the first place, that commencing to feed 
with an allowance from the winter stores may he 
delayed too long. Tbe object in feeding should he 
not merely to keep animals alive, but to keep Diem 
gaining in weight; and to do this, as the quality of 
food gathered in the pasture decreases iu value, 
amends must be made from other sources. The value 
of root crops will now be appreciated. First, there 
will be a large quantity of the tops, which are highly 
relished by stock, ready ta feed just when most 
needed. When these are exhausted, the roots them¬ 
selves will be taken greedily along with the forkful 
of hay, which the provident farmer will allow the 
cattle every night and morning, as the grass begins 
to fail. If there be no roots raised, then supply the 
deficiency hv a little corn or oats. The grain iu this 
case will not be wasted: it will be found in beef, 
mutton or wool, and thus will only be taking a little 
longer route to market, while it will pay the farmer 
heavy toll by increasing the value of the manure 
made. In. this way, the change from summer to win¬ 
ter feeding may be made so gradual that the animals, 
with their appetites stimulated by tbe increasing 
sharpness of tbe weather, will scarcely feel it; and 
by keeping up a variety of food, alternately with hay, 
cut straw, stalks, roots and grain, they may be kept 
in fnll vigor and growing during the whole winter, 
and start off vigorously in spring. 
How to Wash a Wagon. 
A correspondent of the N. Y. Observer says 
there is a way to do everything. Among other things, 
there is a way to wash a wagon. There are at least 
two things desirable in washing a wagon. One is to 
avoid injuring the paint by scratching or scouring it; 
the other is to do the work expeditiously. To suc¬ 
ceed in these two points, it is neoessBry that the mud 
on it bo thoroughly Boaked. Mud, if dried, will not 
wash off readily, while it will, if it be thoroughly 
saturated with water, and will be less likely to injure 
the paint in the operation. There is a way to do this. 
If we use a rag for the purpose, it will take some 
time to apply water to the whole surface of a wagon, 
while a broom is a barbarous thing to use about a 
fine wagon. With a suitable vessel, syringe, or 
sponge, apply the water, and in some places dash it 
on lightly. Four it on the top of a wheel, and you 
can soon apply it to Die whole of it, until the mud is 
thoroughly softened. Then with a sponge or rag, 
wash the mud off. In washing the wheel, stand first 
behind it, and wash toe right side, turning tbe wheel 
aa you wash, drawing up and washing the upper side 
of the spokes. Wash in this way till the whole right 
side is washed; then stand in front and wash in the 
same way the right side and upper part of the spokes, 
and the whole wheel will be washed. Wagons can 
be washed in this way expeditiously. 
Graining Sheep for Spring Market. 
A correspondent of the Ohio Farmer has been 
experimenting in this direction, and contrasts the 
usual mode of performing the duty with one he has 
adopted. We give IDs remarks a* follows : 
Titk Usual Mode —1 have long contended that 
there is much lost every winter, among farmers, by 
feeding corn to sheep iu the manner generally adopted 
in tl is section. Their sheep are allowed to rnn in 
flocks of from one to six hundred, without shelter; 
corn is dragged out by the shock, and strewed upon 
the ground or snow, as the case may be; and the 
sheep are allowed to eat all that they can consume. 
My reasons for objecting to this mode of graining 
sheep, are as follows:—First, a portion of tbe corn ia 
shelled while the sheep are biting it from the cob, 
which is trodden under foot and lost Second, the 
heaviest sheep monopolize the field, and keep the 
poorer ones hack. Third, a portion of the stalks are 
trodden into the snow or mud, and lost, which is the 
best of fodder, and much better for milk cows than 
for sheep. Fourth, not half the profit is derived from 
feeding sheep all the grain they can hold, that there 
is from a less and regular quantity. 
A Bkttf.r Mode. —I do not know that. I am compe¬ 
tent to give the best method of graining, and taking 
care of sheep during winter; hut I will give a mode 
which, if practiced, will be much more profitable 
than the above. Divide your sheep into flocks of 
three grades—the heaviest in one flock, the middle 
in the second, and the poorest in the third; and lot 
them not exceed one hundred to the flock; prepare 
comfortable sheds, which may lie made of slabs, put 
upon pole-frames, inclosing three sides, and the east 
side down to within two aud a half feet of the ground. 
If the sheds are not built upon high and rolling 
ground, naw-dliat or tan-baik should he put tu 
Prepare movable troughs, ten or twelve feet long, 
elevated one foot above the ground, to grain the 
sheep in. Begin to feed shelled corn as soon aa the 
fall feed begins to fail, but with small quantities, and 
gradually increase to half a bushel twice a day, to 
eacli hundred sheep. Feed line bright bay in racks, 
and in such quantities as they will eat up clean. See 
that your sheep are in their sheds during cold, wet 
storms, and that they have a plenty of good water to 
drink every day. 
With this mode of treatment, I can assure yon that 
your sheep will come through iu much better condi¬ 
tion than by tne other mode, and that tbe grain and 
fodder saved will more than pay the extra expense. 
The sheds will stand many years, and answer as store¬ 
houses for the racks and troughs during summer. 
Rural 3fote& anir Jtnna. 
Winter Wkather — A Snow Storm — Winter was properly 
inaugurated on Sunday, (Dec. 1st,) the weather agreeing 
with the almanac. The first genuine snow storm of the 
season occurred on that day and evening. On Monday the 
snow was throe or four Inches deep, and though the sleigh¬ 
ing was only passable, the belle jingled merrily through the 
day, many enjoying the “firBt sleigh ride of the season.” 
The mercury stood at 23‘ this morning (Monday,) hut the 
temperature soon moderated and was mild through the 
middle of the day The ground is not frozen to any extent. 
The canal is unobstructed bv ice, and boats are plying as 
usual; the snow hss 60 chilled the water, however, that 
canal navigation is liable to be suddenly closed. 
Take the Treasury Notes.— The Demand Treasury Notes 
are as good as gold, and ought to be preferred to any other 
currency all over the country. They are taken for postage 
stamps, the same as specie, and farmers will be entirely safe 
iu taking them for produce. Those who wish to invest from 
fifty to a thousand or more dollars, either temporarily or 
permanently, will find the Interest Treasury Notes very con¬ 
venient, and obtain good and sure dividends—the interest 
(7 3 10 per cent.) being payable seini-aunually. Those who 
purchase this stock not only benefit themselves but also aid 
in sustaining the Government and restoring the Union. 
Rural Almanacs,— Premiums to Subscribers.—hi answer 
to a recent inquiry, and for the information of readers inter¬ 
ested, we would again state that we do not publish a Rural 
Almanac, or Annual, nor have we any such article for sale or 
to give subscribers. Almanac-making is a very honorable 
business, but we prefer devoting our exclusive attention to 
the Rural. Nor do we think it advisable or necessary to 
offer a bribe in the shape of an almanac or seeds to every 
subscriber. Though we do give liberal premiums to those 
formine clubs—iu return for their time aud efforts — we 
could never see the propriety of offering people a bonus for 
taking a paper from which they might alone derive more 
than an equivalent for the amount invested. Hence we base 
the claims of the Rural upon its merits alone. In truth, 
aside from doing this on principle, it is also the best policy — 
for no publisher can furnish so costly a paper as this, at its 
low club price, and afford to give each subscriber a premium 
of any value. Any one trying the experiment would be 
likely to find a necessity for giving, In return for “poor pay,” 
not only “poor preaching,” but poor paper, illustrations and 
printing also. It may do for monthlies (it costs a trifle less to 
publish Twelve papers in a year than it does Fifty-Two,) or 
high-priced weeklies, and the Rural Nkw-Yorkkr will in the 
future, as in the past, cheerfully leave the field to such, 
without competition. 
Consolations ok Brkadstcffs ts. Cotton.—T he N. Y. 
Evening Post closes arecent article on the profit arising from 
the exportation of Grain, with this sage and consolatory 
reflection: — “ Causes beyond our control may close the mar¬ 
kets of the world against our grain, as against the Southern 
cotton; but as the last resort we could eat 1 our great staple,’ 
and grow fat ou the most vigorous blockade, while if the 
insurgents could eat their cotton their prospects and chances 
would be brighter than they are at present.' 
The Great “Terra-cultural" Gulliver at his old 
Tricks !— His Special “ Forte. ." — As we have said aforetime, 
there’s little use in killing some humbugs, for, after being 
effectnally buried in one locality, they will “turnup" and 
temporarily flourish and fleece community a thousand miles 
distant. Though hydra headed and cloven footed, and only 
sustained by the most persistent lying and deception, they 
have an many lives as a cat, and are more cunning in pursuit 
of their prey than any specimen of the feliDe race extant. 
This ia true of the egregious canard to which we now allude— 
that ridiculously Muncbatisenish humbug yclept Terra-Cul¬ 
ture- Aa many of our readers are aware, this superlatively 
foolish yet adroitly.baited swindle waa exposed and exploded 
years ago in the Rural and other independent agricultural 
and horticultural journals, and pronounced worthless by able 
committees of our Slat- and National Legislatures — of whom 
tbn “great discoverer” modestly asked a million of dollars 
nr less for revealing bis pretended marvellous Incubation to 
an ignorant and benighted world. And yet, though the 
"system ” has, after thorough trial, been discarded aa value¬ 
less by the best cultivators iu tbe country —while ita self- 
styled “Professor" baa, in vulgar parlance, “ ployed out" in 
(or been scouted out of) this State, New England, Virginia, 
Pennsylvania. Ohio, Wisconsin, and several elsewherea — we 
still occasionally hear of terra-culture in connection with the 
gyrating “performances” of the often astiuguisbed body that 
proclaims the great secret of the “ seat of life ’’ to " all the 
world and the rest of mankind ” who are wise enough to pay 
two dollars per capita for the pleasure of seeing a wonder as 
marvellous a* the horse whose head wag where his tail ought 
tube! The fellow is eo plocky and brazenly impudent that 
we begin to admire him. True, the Rural being the firBt 
paper that exposed his theory, (since which we have had a 
"heap" of fun about him and it) he haa “pitched in” and 
told more lies abont us than he ever ottered truths in his 
life. In fact bis special "forte ” is in falsifying the truth, a 
business in which we are confident he can distance the 
master he so faithfully serves. But we are not alarmed — not 
a bit of it I Every fib he has told about the Rural and its 
Editor has really redounded to our interest I How, you ask. 
Listen. The lies were generally so outrageous that they were 
not believed by reading, thinking people, yet the attention 
of those people was drawn to the paper and they became our 
subscribers ! And beside, tbe Rural has in several instances 
followed the “ Professor *' with a very sharp stick, pointed 
with truth, and soon temporarily »pik«d his swindlingswivek 
Since he commenced advertising for ns Tree, vie. have, gained 
over forty thousand subscribers, and if he only keeps on we 
shall feel constrained to offer him a salary I One gentleman 
who was at the recent Jackson Co. (Mich.) Fair, and thanked 
us for our expope of terra-culture, has since remitted for over 
fifty subseribent, and expects to double the number soon I — 
And this brings us to a matter which we will briefly notice. 
The “Professor” is now engaged in “disclosing the dis¬ 
closures” fn Central and 'Western Michigan, and has issued a 
characteristic production — a printed slip, which is valiant in 
lying about that wicked Rural New-Yorker, which has been 
Biich a trouble to him for the past nine years. Friends have 
mailed ns several copies, fearing it might injure the Rural, 
and need attention. If these kind friends had seen us during 
its perusal, their fears would have been allayed. We had a 
hearty'laugh over it, and hav'nt become serious yet When 
wo came to the part (couched in most excruciating English,) 
in which tho “Profe.wor" save the Rural Nkw-Yorkkr is 
the “powerful enemy” against which he haa “had to con¬ 
tend since the year 1852,'' wo could not restrain our riaibles. 
For once hv had told the truth, and it was a rich admission. 
Bat his stuff about the Rural being hired by Rochester 
Nuri -ry men to abuse terra-cnltnre ia about ns goad, though 
stale, for he told the same Munchausen Just before he left 
Western Pennsylvania two or three years ago — aa he also did 
tho equally fa!s« story that said nurserymen gave ua “a cir¬ 
culation of 8000 to start with.' Such shallow liea are 
beneath even C., and we are amazed, though aroused, at their 
repetition. He must be nearly as insane as ho was when — 
but that was before ho became n charlatan. It’s patent to a 
groat many people that the Rural never had any such 
"boost" — that it was over a year before it obtained 8000 
subscribers — and that no Rochester or other nurserymen 
ever had any thing whatever to do with its starting or man- 
agemonr i\,*r *•«? #»„ *„ ...p-.n bere or else¬ 
where for special favors or patrousge — for from ita start, tne 
Rural has been independent nod untrammeled, uttering 
honest sentiments and calling every swindle by ita right 
name; and that's how terra-culture came to be gibbeted in its 
pages, As to C’a bosh about our nurserymen being injured 
by his revelations, that is equally absurd —all " gammon ”— 
for we don’t believe they care a fig Tor hia insane gibberings. 
But there Is another item in the slip worthy of note. It 
says, "ou beingcrosa-examiood " by Mr Holcomb, “onSept. 
26,1861,” we said we had never heard C. lecture on terra- 
culture— aud that “during more than one hour on that 
day ” we pretended to explain it and to prevent II. hearing the 
“ disclosure,” &c. Now, it la tkpk that we never heard C. iu 
public, (Providence kindly frustrated our intention and saved 
us that infliction.) We conversed with several persons on the 
subject on the day aforesaid, but were not “cross-examined ” 
nor did we talk fifteen consecutive minutes on It, or seek to 
“explain” or “persuade” as alleged. But the next day, 
while delivering au address before the Jackson Co. Ag So¬ 
ciety, we did talk somewhat plainly about both Comstock aDd 
his pretended By-stem, and we will briefly allude to the points. 
After speaking of the deceptions to which farmers were 
subjected, we stated that we had a duty to perform, iu justice 
to the public and ourselves—that we had just been credibly 
informed that, in a recent lecture, "Prof." C., on being 
asked why the Rural Nxw Yorker opposed his system, said 
it was because it would injure nurserymen, and that Moorh 
had offered him $100 for the secret for publication. [When 
in Virginia he said the offer was $50— koto the lie grows!) 
We then stated that instead of our offering him anything, we 
had refused the gold he tendered us to speak well of his humbug 
—which we considered 11 a white horse of quite another 
color.” [By the way, when C. waa in Rochester he paid one 
dalty paper $40 in gold for notices — more money than he 
received for Ills lestureg. Advertising don’t always pay!) 
We also stated that Illness precluded ua from hearing “the 
great discoverer” disclose the disclosures, but sent one of our 
as-iatauts. with instructions to hear and report the facta—for 
if the ’• system" waa valuable we wished to commend it, and 
if worthless, to pronounce it so publicly. Be and others did 
hear and report, and we published the facta. We then 
stated that, although we had never commended terra culture 
(except by merely signing a paper to hear C. lecture,) the 
“ Prof.” published our name, as Editor of K. N Y, at the 
head of a list of some sixty editors, endorsing terra-cultnre; 
but the compliment did not atone for the base and cowardly 
fraud, and we exposed the forgery. We then referred to 
reports c.f committees, and the opinions of many prominent 
newspapers and individuals (naming personB, places and 
papers.) for statements exposing and condemning terra-cul¬ 
ture We related several facta aud anecdotes on the subject 
— averred that terra culture embraced nothing new which 
was valuable, and that it had been entirely “played out" in 
the State of New York, &c,,—and from the manner in which 
our remarks were received by the large audience, we are 
satisfied that Truth and Right must prevail. 
— Now, pray why does not C. take our public address, and 
deal in facts. Simply because he dare not —for the evidence 
is all against him. He knows that, though thousands have 
heard him in this State, scarcely an intelligent cultivator can 
be found who either practices or believes in his “system” — 
and moreover that he can only succeed in dupiug people by 
fmud and deception So far as possible he ia suborning the 
press Many of the very commendations he quotes are 
, extracts from what he has written and paid editors for publish¬ 
ing — aud they are about equally murderous to Truth and 
the English language! But the end will soon come. The 
farmers of Michigan are generally too intelligent aDd dis¬ 
criminating to he thus bamboozled. Some will hear the 
lectures “for the fun of the thing” — as a Jackson friend 
told us he did—but the “Professor’s" classes will mostly 
consist of people who believe in boring augur holes with 
gimlet*, that Gulliver's Travels are true, and that the millen- 
ium has come. Well may such exclaim, Vive la Humbug. 
— One thing more. C. says the Rural has “ annually or 
quarterly contained columns of printed matter and engra¬ 
vings to oppose and ridicule terra-culture, without ever 
giving one idea of it.” He don't take the paper, evidently. 
He also pretends that Horace Grkklky favors terra-culture. 
Now, just to gratify our friend, and entertain the public, we 
will next week republish a few articles on the subject, and 
also quote from Greklky, and leave the reader to judge 
whether we ever gave one idea of the miserable deception. 
