396 THE CULTIVATOR. Nov. 
Westchester County Ag. Society. 
The annual exhibition of this society took place 
at Tarrytown on the 9th, 10th, and 11th of October. 
The general display was less extensive than had 
been anticipated; owing, probably, to the location 
being on one side of the county, not conveniently 
reached from the other portions. The number of 
animals was small, and with a few exceptions they 
were only of ordinary quality. Of cattle, most of 
the breeding stock was of common or mixed blood, 
whose appearance did not indicate extraordinary 
value for any purpose. We noticed a very good fat 
ox, four years old, a cross of the short horn breed, 
owned by Motte Underhill, Westchester. There 
was, also, three yoke of good working oxen. There 
were a few good sheep—long wools and South 
Downs. Among the former we noticed specimens 
offered by Dyck man Odell and Sami. Acker, Green- 
burgh, and Daniel Jepson, Yorktown. Of swine, 
there was a very large and well shaped sow, resem¬ 
bling the large Lincolnshire breed,owned by Ira Mil¬ 
ler, and a Berkshire boar, showing the peculiar points 
of that breed, owned by P. R. Paulding, Tarrytown. 
There was a respectable show of fruits, consist¬ 
ing of apples of the popular kinds for late keeping, 
a few choice pears, and a very handsome show of 
grapes. The latter were chiefly from the extensive 
vineyard of the President of the Society, Dr. R. T. 
Underhill, at Croton Point. He informed us that 
he has twenty-five acres in grape vines—twenty of 
which are devoted to the Isabella variety, and five 
to the Catawba. The Isabella has ripened a good 
crop the present season, though in many instances 
there is complaint of a failure in this respect. The 
Catawba is always more uncertain than the Isabella, 
throughout our section of the country, but Dr. U. 
thought his would ripen quite well, if the mild 
weather continued till the 16th. These two kinds 
constitute his main crop, though he cultivates others 
on a small scale, by way of experiment, and to test 
their adaptedness to his purposes. His grapes are 
sold in New-York, at eight to ten cents per pound. 
The American Institute held its trial of plows, 
plowing match, and spading match at Tarrytown, 
in connexion with the show of the Westchester 
county Society. The competition, both in the trial 
of plows and plowing match was quite small—-only 
five plows owned by three men, having been entered 
for trial, and only three plows for the plowing match. 
In the trial of plows, the specifications for the size 
of furrow, were given as follows: 1st, sixteen in¬ 
ches wide, eight inches deep; 2d, twelve inches 
wide, six inches deep. In regard to the propriety 
of plowing sixteen inches wide, we may have a word 
to say another time. What were the rules in refer¬ 
ence to the awards on the plowing match, except 
that the furrows were to be six inches deep we are 
not informed. 
A sub-soil plow was exhibited, (not for premium.) 
by Mr. Samuel Allen, of New-York, who, though 
passed the age of three-score and ten, showed the 
operation of this valuable implement, under the 
guidance of his own hands. 
There were four competitors in the spading 
match. The ground was divided into lots twenty 
feet long and ten feet wide, and one hour was al¬ 
lowed for the completion of the work. All the lots 
were finished within the time, and the quality of 
the work on two of them, was of the best charac¬ 
ter—the soil being thoroughly pulverized to the 
depth of from ten to twelve inches. 
Addresses were delivered on the show-ground, be¬ 
fore large and highly respectable audiences, on the 
10th and 11th, by Dr. Gardner, and by Gen. Dix. 
Both addresses were able, and creditable to the 
distinguished speakers, but as they are expected to 
be published, we will not attempt a particular no¬ 
tice of them here. 
From what we saw of Westchester county, in 
our excursion through a portion of it, we should 
conclude that the agriculture of several neighbor¬ 
hoods was considerably improving, and it is pre¬ 
sumed that these examples will be a strong stimu¬ 
lus to further progress. The proximity to New- 
York, and the means of reaching a market where 
all productions find a ready sale at good prices, 
offer great inducements to high cultivation, and we 
cannot doubt that a judicious course of farming 
would be here followed with the most satisfactory 
returns. 
Drainage of Soils. 
Fancy a soil full of water, so that any rain which 
falls on it, just rolls over the surface into the next 
ditch, without getting into the land. The water in 
such a case, by excluding the air, will sour the land; 
it will convert what would have been good food for 
plants, into poison for them; but even supposing it 
did not do this, the plants would soon starve. For 
you must remember that a plant in the soil is just as 
a man would be who was chained, by the leg, to one 
place in the larder. The larder may be full of food, 
but as soon as the man had eaten all that was 
within his reach, he would starve, though in the 
midst of plenty; that is he would do so if there were 
not some contrivance in operation for carrying the 
different dishes by him as he stood, so that he might 
take a bit here and there as they passed, just as he 
chose. Now, in a well drained soil, the rain water 
is just such a contrivance as this. It dissolves out 
the mineral part of the soil, and carries it by the 
roots of plants, so that they may take a bit here 
and a bit there, as they choose, and thus they are 
fed; but if the land be not drained, the water soon 
fills it, and then no more rain will sink in, and the 
water is stagnant in the land—there is no current 
through it—the dishes in this larder are lying still 
on their shelves, and as soon as the poor plant has 
eaten up all the food around it, (even supposing it 
to be food and not poison,) it must starve, for it 
cannot go about after its food like an animal; it is 
like an animal chained by the leg; it is stationary, 
and must die if food is not brought to it. The use 
of draining is to keep the soil so that rain shall 
sink through it and feed plants. Abundance of 
water is a good thing. What is more fertile than a 
water meadow? But then it must not be stagnant 
water, which keeps the food of plants away from 
them, or converts it into poison. It must be water 
in motion continually carrying food to the roots of 
plants, as in a water meadow or that on a well 
drained field it does. Ag. Gaz. 
Method of Skinning Calves. 
As most dairymen are in the habit of killing their 
calves as soon as the milk is good, and as buyers 
of skins have frequent occasion to complain of cuts 
and hacks, I give the following method of skinning. 
First rip the skin as usual, and start it from the 
fore legs and neck, sufficient to fasten a small chain 
around the neck of the skin, and with another, 
chain the neck of the calf to something permanent, 
and with a small windlass attached to the side of 
the barn or something where you wish to do your 
work, draw off the skin by means of small levers or 
arms of your windlass. G. A. Hanchet. 
