1858 . 
THE CULTIVATOR 
97 
Royal mint. It contains on one side a figure of Flora, 
surrounded with her attendant nymphs, and on the re¬ 
verse the following inscription : “ The Horticultural 
Society of London, to Messrs. Hovey & Co., for a col¬ 
lection of pears, Oct, 4, 1857,” surrounded with a 
wreath of roses and grapes.” 
fffgT' At the annual meeting of the New-Jersey State 
Ag. Society, held at Trenton on the 20th Jan., a special 
Diploma was awarded to our correspondent, Gerald 
How att, for the best acre of Prince Albert Potatoes, 
an account of which was published in the first no. of 
our present vol. Mr. H. also received the first prize 
for the best acre of Ruta Bagas, and the second on his 
crop of Potato Oats. 
The Llamas. —Mr. Lohman writes us that the re¬ 
cently imported Llamas are the kind that produce the 
Alpaca wool—that they are shorn twice a year, pro¬ 
ducing 16 to 20 lbs. at each shearing—that they breed 
every nine months, and attain the age of 18 years. 
Root Cutter. —Mr. Campbell informs us that while 
at Red Hook, he saw Willard’s root cutter, figured and 
described in our last vol., p. 333, in operation, and that 
it sliced two bushels in one and a quarter minutes, with 
one hand to feed the roots and another to turn the 
crank. 
Drying Wood. —It has been found that the most 
thoroughly seasoned wood, at common temperatures, 
still contains about one-tenth water. 
Franklin County, Vt. —This is one of the best 
Dairy counties in the United States. Its territory in¬ 
cludes only 420 square miles, and yet it exported from 
the railroad station at St. Albans in the year 1857, 
2,413,328 lbs. butter, and 878,050 lbs. cheese—amount¬ 
ing, estimating the butter at 20 cents, and the cheese 
at 10 cents per lb., to $570,450.60. The St. Albans 
Messenger, from which we learn the amount of ship¬ 
ments, says: “But for the low price paid for butter 
and cheese in the latter part of the season, a much 
larger amount of produce would have been sent off. 
Very many of our farmers have not sold the cheese 
made during the summer, nor the butter made in the 
fall. Some of them have tons of it stowed away, hop¬ 
ing to realize better prices.” 
Expensive Fencing. —The Mendota Press states 
that the Illinois Central Railroad have been setting a 
snow fence from Galena to La Salle. The portion of 
the road from Dunleith to the former point does not 
require that protection, owing to the nature of the sur¬ 
face. The fence has been set for seventy eight miles, 
on an average about ten boards high, and will cost 
when completed in the coming summer, about one 
hundred and thirty thousand dollars. The posts are of 
oak, very heavy, set three feet in the ground, and the 
boards are put on with regard to permanency. It is 
believed that the fence will stand for forty years. 
Good Rye Crop. —Mr. A. Stevens, Pittsfield, Mass., 
informs us that he raised the past season, 62 bushels 
rye on two acres. 
Horse Exhibitions. —The County Ag. Societies of 
Cayuga and Onondaga, have resolved to separate their 
Horse Exhibitions from the regular County Fairs, and 
to have shows in June, when the horsemen can have it 
“ all their own way.” 
Col John L. White of Pittsylvania C. II., Ya., lately 
purchased in England, the celebrated race-horse “Fly¬ 
by-Night,” (by Flying Dutchman,) which arrived at 
New-York Jan. 17th. 
The Winter in England. —A correspondent of the 
Cottage Gardener speaks of having dined “ on Christ¬ 
mas day with a friend whose house is situated close on 
the confines of Dartmoor, (Devonshire,) a bouquet con¬ 
sisting of the following flowers, all of which were gath¬ 
ered from the open garden, standing on the table : Fuch¬ 
sias, fine ; Tom Thumbs , Ageratum, Nasturtium, fine, 
Mignonette, Salvias, Periwinkle, Polyanthus, Verbe¬ 
nas, &c.” 
The next Ohio State Fair is to be held at San¬ 
dusky. 
Barberry' for Hedges. —We mentioned this shrub 
a few weeks since with the hope that a trial might be 
made with it for hedges. In a recent letter from E. 
Ordway, of Freeport, Illinois, he says: “We sowed 
the Barberry and Buckthorn seed for a hedge in the 
spring of 1847, and both will now turn stock. We think 
the Barberry superior to the Buckthorn for a hedge.” 
The Value of Turnips—A subscriber in New- 
llampshire writes us as follows :—“ You may tell your 
correspondent, J. W. Clarke, in Co. Gent., Dec. 17, 
that we do not think much of his article on the ‘ Eco¬ 
nomy of Feeding Roots.’ I have raised from five to 
eight hundred bushels of turnips in a year with my 
corn, for years past, and I find that my stock looks as 
well in the spring as my neighbors’, who raise no roots; 
I find them good also for hogs, and I think they do as 
well on turnips boiled as they do on potatoes.” 
Hereford Cattle. —Extract of a letter from Al¬ 
len Ayrault, Esq., of Geneseo, dated Feb. 2— “ I 
like the Herefords as well as ever. They mature ear¬ 
lier, cheaper and better than any other kind I have 
raised. Those I sent to market last fall, were a mix¬ 
ture. The Herefords were the best in quality, although 
in one or two instances perhaps not quite as valuable.” 
A Premium Farm. —Those who have had the oppor¬ 
tunity of witnessing the skill and neatness which mark 
all the operations, the buildings and fields of Mr R. J. 
Swan, near Geneva, will be pleased to notice by the list 
published in another column, that the N. Y. State Ag. 
Society has just awarded him a Silver Cup for the best 
farm in the state. Mr. S. is the son of B. L. Swan, 
Esq., a wealthy merchant of New-York, and his name 
might be added to the already considerable list of 
young men, whom the position now occupied by Agri¬ 
culture as a pursuit, has attracted from city life to the 
labors and enjoyments of tilling the soil, and who have 
in this pursuit achieved a success rarely if ever sur- 
pased by those brought up to it from boyhood. 
Protection of Western Nursery' Trees. —C M. 
Colman of Bloomington, Ill., says,—“ The two past 
winters have been hard on western nurseries—still in 
both we did not lose 500 trees. We regard hilling up 
quite important for trees like ours.” Wm. Laer, nur¬ 
seryman, of Iowa, remarks,—“In the winter of 1856 
-7, I had not banked up my one year old trees, so by 
heaving of the ground, over 12,000 fine grafted trees 
were root killed, the tops remaining sound and green.” 
New Evergreens in Michigan. — Wm. Adair of 
Detroit, writes—“I have abandoned the cultivation of 
many evergreens that were reputed hardy, but which 
with me have proved disastrous failures, and among 
