THE CULTIVATOR. 
195 
tribufed in various parts of this country. Some were gi¬ 
ven away, others sold.” 
Improvement of worn out lands. —Extract of a let¬ 
ter from E. Stabler, Esq. of Maryland—“Ihave labor¬ 
ed hard for some 20 years to improve a farm which was 
worn out by the ‘ old Maryland plan’ of raising corn and 
tobacco. By the liberal use of lime, it is now prodvctive 
and profitable; having within the last 12 or 14 years co¬ 
vered the whole waste part (except 5 acres,) with from 
60 to 100 bushels of lime to the acre. Twelve to fifteen 
years since, there were only 2 kilns within six miles of 
me; and only used to burn lime for building purposes: 
now there are within the same distance, not less than 35 
to 40 lime kilns, and used almost exclusively for farming 
purposes.” 
Subsoil Plowing. —Extract of a letter from H. L. R. 
Sanford, of Volney, N. Y. The benefits of subsoiling 
should not be expected to be very great on loose gravel¬ 
ly land. “ Last spring we procured one of Ruggles, 
Nourse & Mason’s subsoil plows, and made some trials, 
but not with very good success. We plowed two acres 
for corn, in strips—a gravel ridge—one corner clay loam; 
could see no difference on the gravel, but think the sub¬ 
soiled part on the clay, somewhat better. We tried al¬ 
so, another piece, clay loam, sowed to oats and planted 
with corn ; could see no difference in the crop whatever; 
but notwithstanding this failure I mean to try it again.” 
Potatoe Rot.— J. R. Blair, Kent, Ct., is inclined to 
think the rot in potatoes last year, was caused by several 
weeks of wet weather in the summer, succeeded by ex¬ 
cessive heat and drouth. He seconds the recommenda¬ 
tions in the April number of the Cultivator to plant har¬ 
dy varieties; says he “noticed white potatoes decayed 
more than the red ones.” In regard to the suggestion 
about the use of lime, we will just remark that we have 
heard of several cases where it was put on the potatoes 
at planting time, without any apparent effect having 
been produced. 
Charcoal Bust. —Extract of a letter from Mr. S. 
Camp, Plainville, Ct.—“I will mention an experiment 
made by myself about eighteen years ago. Having a 
piece of hill land, of about three acres ready plowed, I 
seeded it down to timothy. It produced about one ton to 
the acre. It has been mowed once, every year since, 
has had no manure, and has not been pastured at all. It 
has gained one-third . and remains the same kind of grass. 
About five years after sowing, I burnt coal near the 
place; I took from the bed, dry dust and fine coal in my 
cart, and with a shovel sowed twice through the piece 
which has increased the quantity of grass on those streaks 
ever since, nearly one-half.” 
Old Westchester awake— Extract of a letter from 
T. Fountain, Esq. dated Peekskill, April 25.—“ On the 
17th inst. although a rainy day, about one hundred farm¬ 
ers met at the court house at White Plains, agreeable to 
previous notice, and formed a Society for the promotion 
of agriculture and horticulture in this county. The pros¬ 
pects now are encouraging, and we have the most cheer¬ 
ing indications that old Westchester will do something 
worthy of herself, in the way of agriculture, horticul¬ 
ture, floriculture, &c.” 
Extraordinary Pig—Harvey Ford, of Winches¬ 
ter Centre, Ct., informs us that Samuel Cook of Goshen, 
in that State, killed in November last, a pig, at the age 
of eight months and twenty-four days, which weighed, 
dressed, 472 pounds! « Being a gain,” he says, “of 
more than a pound and twelve ounces per day, during the 
life of the pig, and a fraction less than two pounds a day 
from the time Mr. Cook bought it, April 12th, 1844. 
when it weighed twenty-five pounds. It was fed on corn- 
meal, uncooked, with the slops of the kitchen. It was 
worth at six cents per pound, (the price offered, but re¬ 
fused,) $28,32) from which deduct $16, the worth of the 
corn it consumed, and $2,50 the first cost of the pig, 
leaves $9,8^, profit.” Mr. Ford says he assisted in slaugh¬ 
tering the pig, and weighed it himself, and knows the 
weight above given to be correct. We believe the 
weight to be the most extraordinary for the age, that we 
ever heard of. Is there a variety or breed of swine in 
that neighborhood that can be brought to any thing like 
such a weight at eight or nine months old ? How were 
the other pigs that belonged to the same litter with Mr. 
Cook’s ? Can any such account be given of them ? 
To destroy Alders.— A. H. Halleck, Esq. of West¬ 
moreland, Oneida county, says—“Having apiece of low 
ground on my farm, with too many large bunches of al¬ 
ders upon it, I was induced to try an experiment to era¬ 
dicate them. On the 23d and 24th days of August, 1843, 
I caused them to be cut off'about twenty inches above the 
surface of the ground; the result was, that scarcely one 
sprouted the next year, (1844.) This season the old 
stubs are so tender and rotten, that they are easily knock¬ 
ed off level with the ground. I had a particular reason 
in causing them to be cut on those days. I am now so 
well satisfied that by taking a certain time in the month 
of August to cut Alders to exterminate them entirely, that 
if I had any more on my farm, I should cut them this 
summer, either on the 2d or 30th days of August next; I 
should however, prefer the last mentioned day.” 
Relief of choking in cattle. —Mr. Bunphey, of 
Fishkill Landing, N. Y., recommends the use of a piece 
of cable, four feet long and five inches in circumference, 
with one end made into a soft ball, to be pushed down 
the animal’s gullet. We have generally known tarred 
rope used for this purpose. The size of the rope about 
three inches in circumference. A ball of tow, bound 
with soft leather, attached to one end, so that the end 
might be as large as an ordinary hen’s egg. We have 
often seen cattle relieved from choking, by the piece of 
potatoe or turnep which occasioned the difficulty, being 
with this rope pushed into the stomach. From its flex¬ 
ibility, and the yielding of the ball of tow at the end, 
there is no danger of rupturing the gullet, as is often done 
in the barbarous practice of running down stic!:^ ®uch as 
hoe handles, &c. 
Remedy for “ hoven,” or “blown” cattle.— Mr. 
Bunphey informs us that he uses in this case, for “ tap¬ 
ping” the animal, a knife which he describes as having a 
handle four inches long, a blade four inches long, and an 
inch and a quarter wide, ami a hilt three inches long, and 
an inch wide. He says—“ previous to using the above 
knife, an incision may be made with a small knife, one 
inch in length, downwards, on the left side of the ani¬ 
mal, at five inches from the hip bone. Then the large 
knife may be plunged into the incision to the hilt, with 
safety, which allows the foul air to pass out, and gives 
immediate relief. Should the ivound close so as to pre¬ 
vent the escape of the air, it may be kept open by insert¬ 
ing a small tube, and keeping the animal gently mo¬ 
ving.” 
Use of Agricultural Papers. —Extract from the 
Corresponding Secretary of one of the County Agricultu¬ 
ral Societies of this State:—“I have just returned from 
the meeting of our Executive Committee, and wish to 
repeat some of the conversation I heard. 
“When on the subject of the plowing match, T. H. 
said, ‘ that plowing match, two years ago on Carpenter’s 
place, did at least a hundred dollars worth of good to the 
neighborhood, by showing our farmers what some men 
could do. B-- w'ould not believe theie was a 
plow in the world equal to his; but he saw his mistake 
after receiving the fifth prize.’ 
“ Speaking of cheese-making, it was remarked that A. 
L. had nearly always carried off the first prize; 1 but do 
you know',’ said B. ‘ how he managed to do that ? He 
never was much of a dairyman, and his wife knowing 
nothing of cheese-making, learned how from reading the 
Cultivator—the directions in which she followed, anil 
you see the result.’ 
‘I don’t question that at all,’ said J. II., ‘for I save 
every year at least four times the cost of subscription, by 
reading that paper.’ ” 
Change of Seed.—I would like to ask the readers of 
the Cultivator if they are aw r are of the advantage to ba 
derived from obtaining theirseed, particularly wheat and 
oats from higher latitudes. Oats are much heavier here 
than in the south part of the State. Spring Wheat is also 
much improved by changing the seed. Willets Keesc, 
Clinton Co. N. Y. 
