12 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
PREMIUM FOR THE BEST FIVE ACRES OF COTTON. 
Our friend Affleck, of Miss., makes, through the Con¬ 
cordia Intelligencer, the following proposition: 
“ Let all who are willing to put to the test of experi¬ 
ment, a rotation of crops, deep plowing, a sufficiency of 
manure, choice seed, and additional distance to the plant, 
give in their names, and pay over five dollars to the 
Treasurer of this Society, (Adams Co. Agricultural Socie¬ 
ty,) the whole sum thus paid, to be, by him, and the 
President, laid out in the purchase of a piece of silver 
plate, which they shall award to the planter, so subscri¬ 
bing, who shall during the next season, give the necessa¬ 
ry proof that he has picked and ginned the greatest quan¬ 
tity of good clean cotton, from five acres of land, 
planted and tended in such manner as he may have seen 
fit—tendering along with such proof, a clear statement of 
the entire process in writing, which each competitor 
binds himself to do when he enters for the sweepstakes.” 
We rejoice to see this proposition. It cannot fail to 
have a beneficial effect, by rousing a spirit of inquiry on 
the subject, which we doubt not, will eventuate in a ve¬ 
ry decided improvement in the culture of this important 
staple. 
In our next, we shall give an account of Mr. Affleck’s 
crop of the present year, together with a letter from 
him, received too late for this month. 
RAPID FATTENING OF A PIG. 
reach maturity; there would, of course, be something of 
it, though its value as manure might not be as much as if 
there were more of it. 
PROFITS OF POULTRY. 
From the report of a committee on Poultry, of the 
Wayne County (N. Y.) Agricultural Society, we gather 
the following items: 
Charles P. Smith, of Ontario, keeps 120 hens and two 
cocks. Attached to his hen-roost is a yard containing 
one-fourth of an acre, enclosed with a picket-fence six 
feet high. From the first of March to the tenth of Oc¬ 
tober, he had 6,000 eggs, and 115 chickens. 
John J. Thomas, of Macedon, states that carefully 
conducted experiments have led to the conclusion, that 
a “ bushel and a half of oats will be an adequate yearly 
supply for each adult” hen, and that by allowing the 
fowls “ an hour's run for exercise before retiring for the 
night, high health and productiveness will be secured.” 
David Cushing keeps 25 hens, and feeds them with 
oats, corn-meal, broom-corn seed, and refuse meat, and 
supplied with ashes, pounded shells, &c. They were 
confined to a warm but airy room during winter. His 
account current is as follow's: 
Poultry Establishment, Dr. 
To investment of stock and fixtures, . $50 00 
Interest,. 3 60 
Feed, a large estimate, 26 bush, oats, 20 ct. .. 6 00 
Attendance, ... 6 00 
It is sometimes asked, what is the greatest gain per 
day that can be given to a pig in feeding? but it is evi¬ 
dent no satisfactory answer can be given, as much must 
be depending on breeds, food, treatment, &c., and it is 
probable the best of all these, are rarely, if ever, united. 
The following statement made to us by Mr. Geddes, of 
Camillus, Onondaga Co., furnishes proof that a pig may, 
by good treatment, and good food, be made to take on 
fat far more rapidly than is generally supposed. 
Mr. Geddes purchased on the 29th of July a pig 
weighing 177 lbs. live weight. He was pastured until 
the 1st of September, 33 days, and allowing a gain of 
1 lb. per day (a liberal allowance) his weight at that time, 
when fattening commenced, was 210 lbs. On the 11th 
of December he was killed, and his weight, dressed, 
was 442 lbs. If we allow one-fourth as the loss of 
weight, he would have weighed, living, 552£ lbs. From 
this, deduct his weight on the first of September, and it 
leaves 342£ lbs., as his gain in 101 days. This gives a 
gain per day of 3 lb. 6 oz. and a fraction. His food was 
barley-meal, and his consumption about a peck per day. 
If any of our friends have succeeded in a greater per 
diem gain than this, we should be pleased to learn the 
particulars. 
BUCKWHEAT AS GREEN MANURE. 
Messrs. Editors :—I have a piece of land which, by 
the bad cultivation of the previous owner, is poor. I 
have no manure to spare for it next spring; my object is 
to get it seeded down with clover. I thought of sum¬ 
mer fallowing it, and sowing a crop or two of buckwheat, 
and plowing it under. Please direct me in the manner 
it ought to be done; the quantity of buckwheat to the 
acre; also if two crops of buckwheat can be got in so as 
to sow wheat by the 1st of September, as 1 prefer early 
sowing, as the clover does better to be sown early. 
Onondaga, Dec. 12, 1843. Salt Point. 
The object of “ Salt Point ” appears to be to enrich his 
land by plowing in a green crop of Buckwheat. For 
this purpose the seed may be sown as early in the spring 
as the frosty season is over. It should be plowed in 
when in full bloom, and this may be readily done by first 
passing a roller over it, making just such lands as it is 
intended to plow, and running the plow the same way 
the roller went. 
If the first sowing of buckwheat should be got in early, 
it might be turned under, and a second crop might be 
raised and also plowed under in time for wheat. The 
second crop might be plowed under at any time, if it 
Should appear that there was not sufficient time for it to 
Total,.$13 60 
Cr. 
By 76 doz. eggs, 12 c. sold early,.$ 9 38 
“ 200 chickens, 10 cts.,. 20 00 
$29 38 29 38 
; Leaving a nett balance of. $15 88 
On an investment of $60 00, or, an interest of more than. 
25 per cent on the capital employed. 
CLOVER HULLING MACHINES. 
In answer to an inquiry in our Nov. No., concerning 
machines for cleaning clover seed, we have received two 
letters, from which we extract the following information: 
Thomas D. Burrall, of Geneva, in this state, states that 
most of the seed raised in that neighborhood is cleaned 
by machines made by him, and that his machines are 
largely in use in most of the states. He builds three 
sizes, costing sixty, seventy, and eighty dollars each, and 
requiring from two to six hands to drive them. His ma¬ 
chines thoroughly clean the seeds at a single operation. 
H. Baldwin, of Washington, Conn., manufactures a 
machine which is very highly recommended by those 
who have used it, and which took the first premium of 
the American Institute of New-York, in 1840, and has 
taken several other premiums. It is said to do the work 
without any loss of seed, and is so constructed that it can 
be tended without inconvenience from dust or dirt. 
CAPONIZING. 
A correspondent of the Philadelphia Ledger gives the 
following very simple mode of castrating fowls: 
« The bird was kept from food for two days, in order 
that the distended entrails should not conceal the organs 
from the view of the operator. 
“ Strapping its wings to a table, through an auger hole, 
an inch incision was made in the side, between the hip 
and the last rib, and two inches from the spine; the 
feathers having been first plucked out at that spot. 
“ By a simple spring-grapple, the sides of the wound are 
kept apart. The organ to be removed is readily recog¬ 
nized—it is a small reddish-yellow cylinder, tied to the 
spine; and by means of a horse-hair, looped and passed 
through a little tube, it is removed in an instant. The 
bird was turned on the other side, another incision made, 
and the corresponding organ excised—the whole process 
occupying about two minutes. The loose feathers were 
pressed on the wounds as a styptic^ and the poor bird did 
not appear to suffier at all,” 
