1858 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
161 
the product to average not less than one hundred bush¬ 
els to the acre l When that thousand bushels or more 
are harvested, our readers shall have the particulars. 
Meantime a little energetic effort on the part of every 
farmer in the State, if he can’t quite come up to the 
above, still to do the best he can, and come as near it 
as possible, would add a sum to the productive wealth 
of every town from the Hudson to Lake Erie, com¬ 
pared with which all the prizes the Society offers would 
be small. Farmers, show what you can do! 
An Editorial Experimenter. —Among the trans¬ 
actions of the Executive Committee of the State Ag. 
Society at their meeting in this city last week, was the 
award of the $75 premium for Experiments on Indian 
Corn to Mr. Joseph Harris of the Genesee Farmer. 
No man understands better how such trials should be 
conducted to be of practical use, and we may add that 
none can do the requisite field work more carefully and 
note the results more clearly. His experiments in the 
present instance are of peculiar interest, and the re¬ 
sults, if established by their further repetition, will be 
of great value. The Journal of the Society, to be is¬ 
sued in a few days, will contain them, and those who 
are interested in the subject or who propose to compete 
for the premiums offered for the prosent season, should 
obtain a copy. We will endeavor to refer to the mat¬ 
ter more at length at an early opportunity. 
Potato Planting. —We would call attention to Mr. 
How t att’s article on potato culture in this number, and 
particularly to the manner in which he prepares his 
seed for planting. It will be seen tha-t he cuts his po¬ 
tatoes, leaving but one eye to each piece, three or four 
weeks before planting, and immediately mixes them 
with lime. The pieces are then left to dry until they 
are wanted for planting, when they, although dry and 
shrivelled, will be found to have started strong buds, 
ready for a vigorous growth when placed into well pre¬ 
pared soil. Hon. A. B. Dickinson of Steuben, who 
raises large quantities of potatoes, practices a somewhat 
similar method, only that ho covers the cut potatoes 
with tar diluted with warm water, instead of lime. 
Leghorn Fowls. —We are indebted to Mr. John 
A. Casterline of Dover, N. J., for a pair “of choice 
Leghorn fowls of pure blood.” They are a very pretty 
pair of birds, and are well described in the 9th vol. Co. 
Gent., p. 237, and in the Cult, for 1857, p. 150. Mr. 
C informs us that he keeps a large number of this 
variety. 
Fanning and Assorting Machine. —Mr. R. Nut¬ 
ting of Randolph, Vt. has exhibited to us a model of 
his Fanning and Assorting Machine, which, it appears 
us, must eventually take the place of all our common 
fanning mills. While occupying no more space and 
requiring no more power than the ordinary mills, it not 
only separates the chaff from the grain, but will sepa¬ 
rate oats, chess, grass and all foul seeds from wheat, 
and even assort the wheat, placing the large and plump 
and the shrivelled kernels in separate apartments. It 
was thoroughly tested at the Vermont and New Hamp¬ 
shire State Fairs last autumn, but we regret to say that 
as yet Mr. N. has made no arrangement for the manu¬ 
facture and sale of this valuable machine. 
Great Fair at St. Louis —The St. Louis Agri¬ 
cultural and Mechanical Association, which has held 
two or more very successful Fairs in that city, is now 
making preparation for its next autumn Fair, which, 
from the spirit manifested by the Managers of the So¬ 
ciety, and the citizens of the city, promises to be a more 
important industrial exhibition than has ever been held 
in this country. The Association having made out its 
Premium List, amounting to $16,000—a larger sum 
than ever before offered in this country—they have 
called upon the citizens to render their aid, by adding 
such special prizes as any individual or individuals 
might deem beneficial to themselves or to the public. 
This call has been heartily responded to, and the pros¬ 
pect is that the total amount of premiums to be offered 
will be at least $30,000. Among these voluntary pre¬ 
miums, we notice that the butchers offer $500 for fat 
cattle—the brewers $500 for the best crops of barley, 
and the livery stable keepers $500 on horses, carriages, 
and hay and oats—$200 are offered for the best labor- 
saving machine—$500 for the best hemp breaking 
machine—$200 for the best plan of a country house— 
$25 for the best pair of capons, and the same for the 
six best sugar cured hams—a reaping and mowing 
macine for the best wheat—$100 for the best hemp— 
$100 for the best swine—$100 for the best contrivance 
for esoaping from a burning house—$100 for the best 
specimen of work made by an anprentice under 21 
years of age, &c. 
Obituary. —Notices of two sudden and recent deaths 
among agricultural writers have been crowded out of 
our columns for several weeks. Edward P. Roberts, 
Esq., long a contributor, and at one time, we think the 
editor and publisher of the American Farmer, Balti¬ 
more, suffered a stroke of apoplexy which he only sur¬ 
vived a few days. Prof. T. B. Hudson, of Oberlin, O., 
whose pen was familiar to the readers of the Ohio Far¬ 
mer, was run over and instantly killed by a train of 
cars on the railroad between that place and Cleveland. 
In both these sad events, the cause of Agriculture suf¬ 
fers a severe bereavement, and in the former of them, 
one of its oldest supporters in this country is taken 
away. 
Convention of Agricultural Editors. —We have 
received from the office of the American Agricultu¬ 
rist, a circular proposing a convention of the editors of 
Agricultural and other journals giving more or l6ss at¬ 
tention to rural affairs, to be held, it suggests, some 
time in June, at such place as may be agreed upon. 
The Country Gentleman has no doubt a very pleasant 
time might be had, and would endeavor to be repre¬ 
sented. 
Domestic Wines. —We are indebted to James 
M’ Greedy 2d, Plattsburgh, for two bottles of wine— 
one made from the strawberry, and the other from na¬ 
tive grapes, for which he will accept our thanks. 
Cabbages. —The value of cabbages for dairy stock, 
and also for breeding stock, and cattle that are being 
fattened, is not sufficiently appreciated. So says the 
North British Agriculturist. Of course it recommends 
the culture of this crop on a more extensive scale, as 
also the selection of the larger varieties, and the ma¬ 
king the land manurially rich. Weight for weight, 
cabbage is equal to turnips, and the quantity which 
can be grown on an acre greatly exceeds that of tur¬ 
nips. 
The Davidson Co. (Tenn.) Ag. Society hold a 
spring fair at Nashville, on the 4th to 9th of May. 
Premiums for stock, &c., are offered, the same as at 
the usual autumn fairs. 
