THE CULTIVATOR. 
107 
CONDENSED CORRESPONDENCE. 
Rotation of Crops. —Mr. Benj. H. Hart of Dutchess 
county, informs us that he practices the following course 
with success: first year, corn and roots—the second, oats 
with clover seed, and to remain two years in clover; the 
first crop cut for hay, the second, the seed stripped off, 
leaving the grass to be partly eaten off by wethers, which 
are procured in October, fattened on clover hay and tur- 
neps, anti sent to market by the first of March, leaving a 
moderate stock on hand through the summer. 
Remarkable Heifer.— Mr. W. R. Gilkey, of Wind¬ 
sor, Vt., has sent us a statement of the quantity of butter 
made from a young cow of his. She produced her 
second calf May 6th, 1843—being three years old on the 
4th of March previous. As Mr. G. had but one cow, his 
family were supplied with milk from this one—they 
using one and a half quarts per day. On the 26th of 
May, he churned the cream from eight days milk, which 
produced twelve pounds and eleven ounces of butter. The 
heifer was fed during this time with nothing but grass. 
She is one-fourth Durham blood, her other blood un¬ 
known. 
Large crop of Hay.— Mr. M. Y. Tilden, of New 
Lebanon, N. Y., writes us that he cut the past year, from 
132 acres, 285 tons of well cured hay. Mr. T. says, 
“our sheep ranges being all on the mountain, we are 
•compelled to bring them home early in the fall to pasture 
on the meadows, and the same cause operates in the 
spring; so that our mowing grounds are fed both spring 
and fall.” He states that not more than ten acres of the 
land where the hay grew, was manured at all, excepting 
from the sheep as they grazed over it. This statement 
furnishes a fine comment on the notion that has worked 
into the heads of some men, that ee sheep poison meadow 
grounds. 3 ’ 
A Curiosity.—A correspondent at Philadelphia, says: 
(( Among the agricultural curiosities about here, an ox 
has just passed my house, which is eleven feet long from 
the shoulder to the tail, and over eighteen hands high! 
He is of the droop-horn breed from Kentucky, but has 
for several years been fed at the farm of Isaac W. Rob¬ 
erts, near this city.” The ox is probably of the variety 
of long-horns, known in Kentucky as the Patton breed. 
They sometimes grow to an immense size. 
Machine for cutting corn-stalks. —We have re¬ 
ceived from Mr. A. L. Fish, of Cedarville, N. Y., a de¬ 
scription and drawing of a machine for cutting corn¬ 
stalks. We have no doubt the machine is a useful one, 
but our engagements prohibit an insertion of the drawing 
in the Cuitivator at present. He states that the whole cost 
of the machine would not be more than two or three dol¬ 
lars. The cutting part is a knife, which he says may be 
made of an old scythe, fastened to a wheel, which is kept 
in motion by the foot, in the same manner as turning 
lathes are sometimes worked. 
Remarkable Pig.— Mr. G. B. Green, of Windsor, 
Vt., killed a pig Jan. 1, 1844, nine months and one week 
old, that weighed three hundred and sixty pounds. Blood, 
one-quarter Berkshire, three-quarters Grass breed. This 
pig had been fed on slops and rye meal, till during the 
last three months—then with Indian meal and two tea 
cups full of molasses per day. From experiments, Mr. 
Green believes that a gallon of molasses, given in due 
proportions with other food, will put on more beef or 
pork, than two bushels of corn. 
Common Schools— Mr. Geo. L. Beckwith, of West 
Henrietta, Monroe co., N. Y., informs us that much good 
has been done in his neighborhood, by weekly meeting's, 
which have been called in the several school districts, at 
which lectures on various subjects, have been delivered 
by school teachers and others. The practice is a good 
one, and might be advantageously adopted by others. 
Mr. B. also asks—“ Why cannot a part of that rich store 
of minerals which the State has at so much expense col¬ 
lected, be distributed to the different counties, if they will 
provide a suitable place for them?” 
Blind Teeth in Man _Mr. J. M. Johnson of Mis¬ 
souri, writing to us on the subject of blind teeth in 
horses, relates the following case of similar teeth having 
made their appearance in a human subject. Mr. J. says,| 
“ last winter I had a young man at work for me, whose 
eyes became weak; so much so, that during cold weather 
he was sometimes nearly blind. Not suspecting the 
cause, I used various remedies without success, until it 
occurred to me that it might be blind teeth. Upon exa¬ 
mination, it was found that one had protruded about a 
fourth of an inch nearly in the roof of the mouth, and 
another scarcely developed through the skin. They 
were easily extracted, and the eyes soon became per¬ 
fectly well.” 
Clover Hulling Machines —Mr. Benj. H. Hart in¬ 
forms us that he has two kinds of clover hulling ma¬ 
chines. One is on the plan of Mr. L’Hommedieu, de¬ 
scribed in a former number of the Cultivator, the other 
is merely a concave and cylinder attached to a one-horse 
power. Both perform well. The former can be made 
by any mechanic, and the latter can be had of A. Wheel¬ 
er & Brothers, Chatham 4 Corners, Columbia co., N. Y. 
Price, $20. The Messrs. W. have also for sale, ‘hresh- 
ing and other machines, made in the most approved man¬ 
ner. 
Soaking Seed Corn. —A correspondent who signs 
himself K., of Queens County, N. Y., writes us that seed, 
corn is sometimes injured by being soaked too much. 
He soaked some corn about 36 hours in a solution of salt¬ 
petre, and then gave it a coating of tar; the consequence 
was, that only one or two grains sprouted in a hill,, where 
five were planted. He supposes the corn had too much 
swelled before the tar was applied. This may have been 
tiie case, but we have known the germ killed by remain¬ 
ing too long in the saltpetre. If the sprout protrudes 
while the grain remains in the solution, it is very likely 
to be injured, especially if the liquid be strong. Solu¬ 
tions of potash, lime, &c., will operate in the same way. 
Mr. Pell’s Orchard— Mr. Meigs, Secretary of the 
N. Y. Farmes's Club, makes the following corrections of 
the report of his remarks on this subject, a brief abstract 
of which was given in our Feb. number, p. 46. Instead 
of “ 20,000 apple trees in full bearing,” it should have 
been “in bearing, being 18 years old.” “'Mr. Pell’s 
trees are planted 19, 20 and 25 feet apart-—19 feet apart 
would allow 121 trees per acre. The object in thus plant¬ 
ing, was to obtain fruit 10 or 12 years after they came in¬ 
to bearing—as fruit from young trees is usually found to 
be of superior quality. When they interfere with each 
other, the centre tree will be cut out, and they will then 
be 33, 40 and 50 feet apart.” Instead of reading e< that 
he employed a man to graft 10,000 apple trees,” &e., it 
should have been “'400 apple trees, being 18 years old* 
in which trees 10,000 grafts were set, and that not more 
than 10 per cent failed.” 
Reaping Machines. —-Mr. Obed Hussey of Baltimore, 
requests us to publish a correspondence between him and 
lion. Wm. II. Roane, relative to the comparative merits 
of Mr. Hussey's and Mr. McCormick’s reaping machines. 
The great press of contributions from our correspondents 
utterly prevents complying at present, with the request. 
We will state however, that Mr. Roane had been one of 
a committee to report on a trial made by the two ma¬ 
chines mentioned, and that the committeee delared in 
favor of McCormick’s machine; but that at a more tho¬ 
rough trial afterwards made on Mr. Roane’s farm, Mr. 
R. changed his opinion, and ordered one of Mr, Hussey’-s 
machines. 
The Weather in Florida. —A letter from G. F 
Baltzell, Esq. of Apalachicola, (lat. 29 deg. 51m., long. 
85 deg. 06m.,) informs us that the peach was in bloom 
there, Feb. 20—the Native Plum, Feb. 17—the Yellow 
Jessamine of the forest, about the 10th Feb.—the Quince* 
Feb. 22. Ther. Fall. March 3, 72 deg.; March 4, 65 
deg. 
Indian Corn. —We have read the letter of our frientf 
J. L. Foreman ofN. C., with much pleasure. In an ar 
tide on the culture of Indian Corn, in our last number, p. 
79, he will find a detail of the method pursued by seve¬ 
ral persons who have raised over 100 bushels per acre. 
It should be remembered, however, that to raise such 
crops of corn, favorable seasons are as necessary as pro¬ 
per culture. The inquiries about cattle, shall be answer* 
ed by letter. 
