1846. 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
355 
WILMINGTON (DEL.) CATTLE-SHOW. 
The annual exhibition of the Newcastle County Ag¬ 
ricultural Society, was held on the farm ofCol.Andrews, 
near Wilmington, and in rear of his elegant mansion. 
The weather was most propitious, and the concourse of 
spectators immense, beyond precedent; it being com¬ 
puted that more than 4000 persons were on the ground. 
A great portion of these were ladies accompanied 
by their husbands and families in their carriages,—a 
goodly show, and evincing a growing preference for 
this, the most exciting of all our rural enjoyments. 
The show of stock was not numerous, but the plow¬ 
ing match eclipsed all that had gone before it, and was 
most nobly contested by twenty plows, divided into two 
classes; the first for men, the second for lads under 14 
years of age. The ground chosen was uneven, with a 
growth of first and second crop of clover, and weeds 
three feet in height, and strong in proportion—a new 
feature in plowing for premium—through which the 
plows had to find their way, without first harrowing 
down or being mown, as is customary; and well did 
they perform the task, going across the old furrows in 
search of obstacles to contend with, and overcoming 
them with ease. 
The result speaks volumes in favor of the Prouty & 
Mears’, or Centre-Draught Plows, which under such 
trying circumstances, were found to pursue c< the even 
tenor of their way,” through the thickest of them, 
without the intervention of the plowman, furrow after 
furrow, at the preparatory trial, before starting for pre¬ 
miums, and performing such work as is indeed but little 
inferior to ff< spade labor.” At the conclusion of the 
match, the following premiums were awarded to the 
Centre-Draught ploughs of Prouty & Mears, viz: The 
first, second, and fourth premiums in the 1st class, and 
the first, second, and third premiums in the 2d class— 
six premiums out of eight, the number offered. 
The winner of the first premium in the second class, 
was the son of Mr. Bryan Jackson, aged eleven years, 
who, the last year, at the age of ten, took the second 
premium at Wilmington, and a gratuitous premium of 
$3 at the Philadelphia Ag. Society’s plowing match, 
and it is his intention again to contend for the men’s 
prize, the coming season, at the same place. Success 
attend such “ sons of the plow!” The emulation thus 
fostered and encouraged, will “ grow with their growth, 
and strengthen with their strength,” and train to the 
service a race of plowmen that shall be able to cope 
with those of whom Colman speaks, “ whose furrows 
lie like the plaits of a shirt-bosom ”—as did those at 
the recent match of the Newcastle County Society, under 
most untoward circumstances; showing most conclu¬ 
sively, that with the Proaty plows with wheels, it is 
no longer necessary to assign such labor to the best 
hand upon a farm, lads of a dozen years of age being 
quite competent to the task. B. 
Wilmington, Del ., 19 th Sept., 1846. 
TO THE OFFICERS OF AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES. 
The writer considers it desirable that there should 
be more of an interchange of views and prospects of the 
different Agricultural Societies, and especially he de¬ 
sires it between the county ones of New-York.* In this 
way very many important improvements in the manage¬ 
ment of such bodies may be enjoyed by all. 
It is proposed that upon the election of officers for 
each society, the name of the person who does the busi¬ 
ness of the society—either President or Secretary—with 
his post-office address, be sent to the Cultivator, (post 
age paid,) for publication. 
That the Secretary of each Society shall keep a 
rec.ord of the names thus published, and upon the pub¬ 
lication of the annual premium list, addresses, or any 
proceeding of the Society, enough be furnished to sup¬ 
ply each of the other county societies with a copy. 
Some of the premium lists are very badly arranged, and 
are made out without much care. Let us look over the 
transactions of each other, and copy the good. C. 
ALBANY, NOVEMBER, 1846 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
Communications have been received, the past month, 
from James R. Yerdier, B. C., Clark Rich, N. Long* 
worth, E. D. Andrews, L. A. Morrell, A Subscribe*, 
Z. C. Robbins, G. P. Lewis, T. H. Collins, D. C. C. 
Wright, X. Y. Z., Rusticus, J. Davis, R. H. Levering, 
Charles, S. W. G. 
Books, Pamphlets, &c., have been received as fol* 
lows:— 
Descriptive Catalogue of Fruits and Ornamental Trees, 
&c., cultivated and for sale at the Mount Hope Nurse¬ 
ries of Elwanger & Barry, Rochester. 
Advertisement of the Seneca Lake Highland Nursery 
of E. C. Frost, Catharine, Chemung Co., N. Y. 
The New-England Ag. Almanac for 1847. F. Trow¬ 
bridge, publisher, New-Haven, Conn. 
Also a great number of newspapers containing A^. 
Prize Lists and accounts of annual exhibitions of A^. 
Societies. 
A Brief Compendium of American Agriculture. By 
R. L. Allen, Esq., of Buffalo. New-York, Saxton & 
Miles—438 pp., 12 mo. 
MONTHLY NOTICES. 
Guano.—A correspondent atMamaroneck, Westches¬ 
ter county, N. Y., whose signature is wholly illegible, 
writes that he used guano the past season on wheat, rye, 
oats, barley, potatoes, Indian corn, ruta-baga, common 
turnep and sugar beet, on all of which he states that it 
operated well, except corn and rye. He also used gu¬ 
ano on his meadows. He used 200 lbs. guano and 300 
lbs. gypsum per acre, and it increased the quantity of 
hay from 1800 lbs. per acre, (where there was no guano 
or gypsum,) to 4160. Recommends 300 lbs. guano and 
300 lbs. gypsum as a top-dressing for meadows, to be 
applied immediately previous to a rain, just as the frost 
leaves the ground. For oats and barley, he considers 
224 lbs. per acre a good dressing. 
Stock at Auction. —Wm. Cushman, of New'-Brain- 
tree, Mass., offers at auction on the 10th inst., Durham 
cattle, South-Down sheep, and Mackay pigs. 
Cheviot Sheep and Ayrshire Cows.—We see by 
a communication in the October No. of the Farmers’ Li¬ 
brary, that Hon. Daniel Webster has, on his farm at 
Marshfield, Mass., a flock of twenty Cheviot sheep, late¬ 
ly imported from Scotland. We understand that Mr. 
W. has also lately imported some fine Ayrshire cow®* 
which have been added to the superior herd before 
kept on his larm. 
Morgan Horses. —We are informed that Messrs. Geo. 
A. Mason, of Jordan, and- Munro, of Camillus, 
purchased the fine Morgan horse u General Gifford,” at 
the late State Fair at Auburn. We have no doubt that 
he will prove highly useful in breeding to the good-siz¬ 
ed strong mares of that section. We publish in this 
number the report of the committee on i( Foreign 
Stock” exhibited at the Fair, and we would call atten¬ 
tion to the remarks therein relative to this horse and thn 
Gifford Morgan” which was exhibited with him. 
Fruits. —Since our last, we have received from 
Apollos Rollo, of Stephentown, specimens of the 
“Gloria Mundi” apple, weighing 17 ounces each; from 
Professor Hall, of this city, specimens of a greenish- 
red, striped apple, known in the eastern part of Massa¬ 
chusetts as Seeknofurther. The samples sent w r ere from 
Hingham, Mass. We do not find this apple described 
in Downing’s (C Fruit and Fruit trees,” or any work at 
hand. It is well known in the section named, and is an ex- 
