1846. 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
157 
who is not provided with such tools. In the one case, 
he says—“the rotten rail fence will gradually be re¬ 
placed by a neat board fence. His horses, cattle, and 
sheep, will be protected from the storm by neat and 
economical buildings; his farming tools will all have a 
proper place when not in use; even the old wagon will 
have a place under a protecting roof.” 
MACHINES. 
C. Easton, of North East, Pa., suggests that a 
machine for planting wheat in rows would be very use¬ 
ful—the drill mode of cultivating wheat being, he 
thinks, preferable to the broad-cast. We have seen 
several machines used for this purpose, some of which 
work very well. In our last number, (page 127,) men¬ 
tion is made of one used by Mr. Noble of Ohio, which 
sows six rows at once, and which we have no doubt is 
a good machine. 
Mr. Easton also suggests that “every farmer should 
have a machine with which he could thresh his own 
wheat, cut his straw, and with the same power and a 
burr saw, cut his wood, when he had nothing else to 
do.” He also thinks, “ if a farmer would cut his wheat 
straw, return it to the ground, and plow it under, he 
could raise wheat year after year, by adding a little 
more, and have his ground grow better.” 
FLAX AND BARLEY SOWN TOGETHER. 
F. L. E. writes—“In a conversation with a gentle¬ 
man from Montgomery county yesterday, he informed 
me that a number of farmers in the town of Florida, had 
made the experiment in sowing flax-seed and barley 
together, and in every instance succeeded admirably— 
that he sowed himself (on a certain piece of land, not 
specifying the amount,) ten bushels of flax-seed and 
eight bushels of barley, which produced one hundred 
and thirteen bushels of seed and eighty bushels of bar¬ 
ley. He also informed me that his cattle eat the flax 
and barley with a good relish.” 
FRUITS OF INDUSTRY. 
A correspondent with the signature of “ Moun¬ 
taineer,” whose residence is at Washington, D. C., 
details the course he has pursued in bringing into culti¬ 
vation twenty acres of sterile land which he has pur¬ 
chased in that vicinity. His improvements have all 
been made by his own hands; and as he is in the employ 
of the government, and is obliged to devote ten hours 
in each day to his offlcial duties, the work has been 
wholly performed, as he states, “ between the hours of 
live and seven, morning and evening.” Yet by constant 
application he has managed to make a fine garden, well 
set with fruit trees, grape-vines, and shrubbery, and is 
almost daily extending his improvements. In view of 
udiat he has accomplished he remarks—“It is surpri¬ 
sing how much one may do by diligently improving 
every moment. To make the most of time we must 
systematize it, and never cease to remember that a 
minute idly spent is money dropped, which, grasp after 
it eagerly as we may, we never can pick up again.” 
SETTING POSTS. 
Mr. Wm. Ansley, of Potter, Yates county, N. Y., 
gives us the mode he practices in setting posts. After 
the hole is dug and the post set in, he puts in just earth 
euough to stay the bottom, and no more, filling the 
hole with small stones, pounded down. He claims | 
the following advantages of this mode: First, that the 
fence, whether of boards or rails, is less likely to be af¬ 
fected by winds and frost; second, greater durability of 
the posts than when they are set in earth. 
YIELD OF BUTTER. 
J. P. Fairbanks Esq., informs us that at a late meet¬ 
ing of the Caledonia (Vt.) Ag. Society, Feancis E. Ful¬ 
ler, President of that society, stated that during the 
past year, he had made from ten cows 2118 lbs. of but¬ 
ter* (211|to each cow.) Besides the butter, he made 
100 lbs. of cheese, and raised five calves. One of the 
cows had been farrowed for two years. It is added that 
the butter brought the highest market price for the ta¬ 
ble. If any body has beat this with the same number of 
cows, constituting, as in this case, the whole dairy, we 
should like to hear from them. 
USEFULNESS OF TOADS. 
Geo. Hussey, Terrahaute, la., in reference to an 
article under the above head, says — (l Not only the toad, 
but the whole family of lizards are useful in our gar¬ 
dens, and more so in our orchards, as they climb the 
trees after their prey, which are insects of all kinds, of 
which they devour great numbers; they are so quick 
and shy that it is not easy to observe their manner of 
feeding, but while they lie perfectly quiet in appear¬ 
ance, they are busily filling their stomachs with insects 
that we can scarcely discern.” 
BUCKWHEAT WITHOUT GRIT. 
B. M., of Grand Isle, Vt., manages buckwheat as fol¬ 
lows:—Cuts it with a cradle; a hand ^follows the cra¬ 
dle with the rake, gathering into bunches, setting them 
up on the butts, and twisting the tops together with the 
hands. If it is wet at the time it is cut, he thinks it all 
the better, as it will not shell as much, and the wind 
will soon dry the bunches. When carried to be ground, 
it is passed through a smut mill. 
THE RIGHT SPIRIT. 
A young man in Vermont who has got us several 
subscribers, writes:—“ Though I am a boy of only 18, 
the interest I take in agricultural improvement is great. 
I should be glad to be one of the best farmers in the 
United States, and I mean to be if Providence smiles on 
my efforts and grants me the blessings of health and 
strength, although I am without capital, and am situa¬ 
ted in the midst of the Green mountains.” 
J. W. Paddock, of Wyoming, N. Y., writes—“I 
have taken your paper for three years, and I would not 
do without for three times its cost. In 1844, I raised 
229 bushels of ears of corn on an acre of land, and I do 
not think I should have done it, if I had not taken the 
Cultivator.” . 
CULTURE OF THE ENGLISH WALNUT. 
Mr. Wm. Jenison, of Cambridge, Mass., thinks the 
culture of the English Walnut would be a lucrative bu¬ 
siness for the farmers of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and 
Virginia. He states that he has known a single tree to 
produce 24 bushels in a season. 
PEAS AND BEANS. 
From the prices which these articles usually bring in 
Boston, I should think their cultivation might be attend¬ 
ed with profit. Dried beans bring six to eight cents 
per quart, whole peas eight to ten cents, and split peas 
twelve and a half cents. [We presume these must be 
retail prices.— Ed.] The Russian green peas, so called, 
bring fifty cents per pound, or $25 per bushel. These 
peas are brought here in a fresh state. Have any at¬ 
tempts been made to produce this article in the Uni¬ 
ted States? (Extract from a letter from Wm. Jenison, 
to the Cult.) . 
ALLOWING MALE ANIMALS TO RUN AT LARGE. 
Great inconvenience, as well as positive injury is often 
experienced by bulls, rams, &c., being permitted to run 
at large on the highways, or from the want of being 
properly secured by their owners. In some states we be¬ 
lieve special provision has been made by statute, in rela¬ 
tion to the matter, and we think protection against the 
practice should in all cases be provided. 
Our attention has just been called to this subject by a 
letter from a correspondent, giving an account of the 
damage which had been done to a valuable flock of Me¬ 
rino sheep by a “ coarse native or mongrel buck,” 
which in August last got into the pasture, and before he 
was discovered, had, as the sequel proves, done much 
