372 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
Dec. 
®l)c .farmer*0 Notebook. 
Cast-Iron Railiygs, &c. 
Among the improvements of the day, the adapta- 
92— Stoop-railing —$25. 
tion of iron to various purposes, is quite Conspicu¬ 
ous. Not only has the use of this metal been great- 
93— Balcony-raihng —$2.50 per foot. 
ly extended, by being applied to a greater variety 
of objects, but it has been made to assume forms 
much more tasteful and ornamental than formerly. 
94— Cemetery-railing —$2.50 per foot. iroj 
A good example of this is afforded in the use of 
cast-iron for stoops and stoop-railing, for balconies, 
ornamental fences, &c., as illustrated by the ac¬ 
companying cuts. The various articles represent¬ 
ed are manufactured by Messrs. Starks & Pruyn, 
corner of Pruyn and Liberty streets, Albany, who 
also manufacture a great variety of similar articles, 
some of which are sold at prices much lower than 
those here described. Persons wishing to obtain 
any thing in this line, would do well to call at their 
establishment. 
Characteristics of the Season 1849. 
The season just gone by. will probably be chief¬ 
ly remembered, in this country, on account of the 
visitation of the cholera, that mysterious pestilence, 
which, with more or less mortality, passed over our 
principal cities and towns, and the melancholy re¬ 
cords of whose ravages have been made public 
through the appropriate channels. 
In a meteorological view, the summer of 1849 
was particularly distinguished for the prevalence of 
a severe drouth, and the remarkable absence cf 
thunder and lightning, throughout thefnorthern and 
eastern states. Over a large portion of New-York 
and New England, there was no rain to benefit ve¬ 
getation from the 15th of June to the 6th of August; 
and in the central and western parts of New-York, 
the ground did not become fairly soaked till the Lst 
of October, though there were previously light rains 
which afforded some benefit to corn and other crops. 
Hay, was generally good, as to quantity, except 
in the northern sections of the country, where it 
was cut off by the drouth. 
Wheat, as to yield, was very variable, taking the 
country together. So far as we hear, the sections 
devoted to this grain to the eastward of the Alle 
gany mountains, have turned out their usual quan 
tity, and the same may be said of New-York, the 
northern parts of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and the 
groater portion of Michigan and Wisconsin.— 
Throughout a great extent of country to the south¬ 
west, the crop was injured by rust. In some dis¬ 
tricts it was also injured by the wheat-midge. 
Bye yielded well. This grain is now’ raised in the 
eastern part of New-York, and to a considerable 
extent in Vermont, Massachusetts and Connecticut, 
on lands which formerly produced good wheat—the 
cultivation of the latter having been discontinued, 
principally on account of the attacks of the wheat- 
midge, from which insect rye is not materially in¬ 
jured. 
Barley was injured by drouth, and the yield out 
off; but to what per cent., we have no means of es¬ 
timating. 
Oats, in the eastern and south-eastern parts of 
New-York, were much injured by drouth, and in 
some instances nearly destroyed. The grain is al¬ 
so of much less than average weight. In the north¬ 
ern part of the state, and in the Canadas, where 
the crop is always sown later in the season, we 
learn that it so far recovered, after the rains, as to 
give a fair yield, in some instances. 
Indian Corn has been greatly reduced in 
yield, in the sections above mentioned as having 
been visited by drouth. Tn the great corn region 
of the south-west, embracing the southern parts of 
Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, western Virginia, Kentucky, 
Tennessee, and Missouri, we are informed that the 
yield is very heavy. In New-York and New-Eng- 
land, the yield will fall below an average. We hear 
of but few large crops, and they are in locations 
particularly favored in respect to moisture. In 
most instances, the yield is represented to have been 
lessened by drouth from twenty to forty per cent. 
Potatoes have generally given but a light yield 
