THE CULTIVATOR. 
229 
many deep. These are lined with wood, and puddled 
1 below and at the sides with clay. Into this the green 
crop of grass, clover, or vetches is put, just as it is cut. 
Four or five cwt are introduced at a time, sprinkled with 
salt, at the rate of one pound to each cwt., and if the 
weather and consequently the crop be dry, two or three 
quarts of water should be sprinkled on each successive 
layer of four or five cwt. is spread evenly over the bot¬ 
tom, is well trodden down by five or six men, and ram¬ 
med as close as possible at the sides with wooden ram¬ 
mers. When the pit is full the topmost layer is well 
salted, the whole then covered with boards, or a well 
fitting lid, which has a quantity of earth laid above it for 
the more perfect exclusion of the air. The grass speedi¬ 
ly heats and ferments, and afier the lapse of about six 
days, the whole has sunk about one-half of its original 
bulk, when the lid may be removed and the space filled 
with fresh grass. When thus fermented, the grass has 
the appearance of having been boiled, has a sharp acid 
taste, and greedily eaten by the cattle. The pits should 
be kept coverd for at least six weeks, after which they 
may be opened successively as required, and be kept open 
till their cantents are consumed, without suffering «v; 
injury from contact with the air. One experimenter say&, 
that by giving only 20 lbs. a day of this salted fodder, 
along with chopped straw, he kept his cows in condition 
during the whole of the winter; another states that, on 
a daily allowrnce of the same quantity, his cows gives a 
rich and well-tasted milk. 55 
We are not prepared to say how this plan might suc- 
succeed. It syems to be somewhat similar to that some¬ 
times practiced for keeping brewers grains. 
The Upas tree —The story of the “ Bohon Upas, in 
the Island of Java,” which constituted one of the read¬ 
ing lessons in a school book very generally used in New- 
England some thirty years ago, will be recollected by 
many. The poisonous qualities of this tree were repre¬ 
sented as so wonderful, that no animal could with safety 
approach it within the distance of half a mile, and birds, 
■when attempting to fly over it, were said to fall down 
dead. Criminals, when under sentence of death, were 
said to be allowed their choice, either to visit this tree, 
and collect some of the gum or sap, or suffer immediate 
execution—the manner of execution being shooting with 
arrows, dipped in the sap of the upas. In a late number 
of the London Gardener’s Chronicle, we find the follow¬ 
ing notice of this tree :—“ A living plant of this celebra¬ 
ted tree has been lately presented to the Horticultural So¬ 
ciety by the East India Company, and is now growing in 
the Chiswick Garden. It is in perfect health, and, not¬ 
withstanding the fables of Dutch travellers, perpetuated 
by Darwin, may be approached with safety. It is, how¬ 
ever, so virulent a poison that no prudent person would 
handle it without proper precaution.” 
Ixsects ix Wheat. —In a lecture on the <£ diseases of 
wheat” lately delivered in England by Rev. Mr. Sidney, 
mention was made of the “ wheat midge” and “ ear 
cockle,” magnified representations of which were exhi¬ 
bited. “ The former is a fly something resembling a 
gnat; the latter is a small eel, the larvse of which are 
deposited inside the grain in a cottony substance, and 
they are so minute that many thousands exist in a single 
grain of wheat. These animalcules are very destruct¬ 
ive, and the chrysalis of the insect is supposed to come 
to life in the farm yard where the refuse of the threshing 
floor is thrown, as it exists in the chaff As a means of 
preventing this evil it is recommended that the chatF 
should be sieved, and that the dust, in which the! 
chrysalis of the insect is always to be found in great 
numbers, should be taken away and burnt.” We believe 
this “ wheat midge” is the same insect which has been 
improperly called the “ weevil” in this country. 
American Produce. —The following extract from a 
letter just received from a farmer, who emigrated from 
the Cotswolds to the United States of America, has been 
sent us by a correspondent who is of opinion that the* 
facts communicated tend to show, that if agricultural pro¬ 
duce was allowed to be imported into this country, free 
of duty from such a boundless country as the United 
States, the British farmer and grazier would be entirely 
superseded in the home market. The writer of the com¬ 
munication, we may add, is located in the Ohio state, and 
his letter is dated December G. “ Cattle and sheep,” he 
says, “are as good as the average in England; of sheep, 
the Merino breed appears to have been early introduced, 
and followed by the Leicester and Southdown; the Meri¬ 
no is not a bad sort, but I think the introduction of our 
English breeds a great advantage. Oxen are worth from 
61. to 61. os. ; cows and calves, from 21. to 41. ; and other 
stock in proportion. Fat wether sheep, 181b. per qr., Gs.; 
a man may buy a good flock of store sheep for 4s. 2d. 
each. Fat pigs, those above ten score, 2s. 6d. per score; 
under that, 2s. 3d. The large hog is worth most money, 
as the fat parts can be turned into lard, and more made of 
it than the pork or bacon could fetch. There are thou¬ 
sands of sheep killed, the legs salted and dried, and the 
remainder boiled or fried to obtain the tallow. Butter 
sells at 3|. per lb.; cheese, at 2d, to 2^d. The average 
price of hay is 20s. per ton; good cider, 9s. the 100 gal¬ 
lons—so abundant was the crop that the apples will not 
all be used. I sold two loads of wheat at 3s. 10i|d. per 
bushel; oats fetch ll£d. I think you would be surprised 
to sr> > how things come forward in the spring. I had 
oats sown the 12th of May, and cut in July. I expect 
you will get some of the Ohio wheat, as a great deal of 
it goes to Canada, which is not more than 100 miles dis¬ 
tant by water.”— Glouc. Chr. 
Warbles in Cattle. —A few applications of strong 
brine will at once destroy warbles in cattle, in whatever 
stage they may be found to exist; after which the animal 
will thrive better, and when it comes to be slaughtered, 
both the hide and carcase will be more valuable. 
The Egg trade —To give an idea of the extentof this 
branch of trade, it may be stated that the Princess Alice, 
from Dublin to Fleetwood, on Sunday week, brought 38 
tons, or about 70,000 eggs. The whole were dispatched 
by railway to Manchester, Birmingham and London. 
White Crows. —We were shown to-day, at a house 
in the Kirkgate, a brace of crows, nearly as white as 
snow. They aue this year’s birds, and were taken out of 
the same nest in company with a brother or sister of the 
ordinary color. When anxious for food, they caw their 
vernacular in splendid style, run about the floor, and are 
as well-grown as birds can well be of the same age.— 
Dumfries Courier. 
Good Farming. —It may be laid down as a standing 
rule, and as a guide to direct our exertions, that all good 
farming, the whole of that process by which bad land is 
to be converted into good, or land naturally good and pro¬ 
ductive is to be continued in tha.L state, is comprised in 
the three following operations of husbandry. 1. To car¬ 
ry off all stagnant and superfluous water by means of ju¬ 
dicious draining. 2. To return through the medium of 
manure, the strength and fertility which has been ex¬ 
tracted from the land by cropping. 3. To eradicate all 
noxious weeds, that the strength of the manure may be 
thrown into the crops and not into the weeds.— Raw- 
storns s Remarks on Lancashire Farming. 
Deanston Farm. —We took the opportunity, while at 
Stirling, of vising the farm of the celebrated Mr. Smith, 
of Deanston. In the plantation adjoining the improved 
fields, the original state of the soil may be seen and com¬ 
pared with the same soil in its improved state. Tne con¬ 
trast is very great. There are no open drains or ditches 
on the farm, nor open furrows or gaws of any kind. 
The plow used here has a moveable mould-board, which 
the plowman turns over at the land end, then enters at 
the same place, the earth being always thrown to the 
same side. The fields are thus laid out quite level, no 
land lost with open furrows, and no time spent in going 
round ridges in turning. This sys'.em answers well with 
Mr. Smith, who reaps his crops with a reaping machine, 
and does not require ridges as a guide in harvest. At the 
entrance to each field the ground is paved about four feet 
within the gate, and to the road outside, to prevent the 
ground being poached with carts or cattle. Thedivision 
fences (thorn hedges) all run parallel. A pump-well is 
fixed at the corner of four fences, and supplies, by means 
of troughs in each adjoining corner, water to four fields at 
once. The drains, have never in a single ins'ance, re¬ 
quired to be opened and relaid. They are formed en 
