THE CULTIVATOR. 
203 
thing particularly interesting was noticed. They are 
decidedly inferior to all horses in New-York, of any 
pretensions to blood. 5. A stable for work horses. 
This anil the last are paved, in common with the yard, 
with round small stone. All the horses were in fine 
condition, clean, well shod, with their tails tied up in 
what I suppose is fancied to be a pretty knot, to guard 
them from the mud of the roads at this season. Two 
workmen sleep here also. A little incident occurred 
here that diverted attention for a while from stalls and 
fodder. A “whiffet” that came to greet us at the en¬ 
trance to the stable, had been entrusted, in the course of 
nature, with a beautiful second edition of herself, and the 
econom, to gratify us, took the little creature from the 
kennel, and held it awhile to look upon. The mother 
was no terrier, she could not growl; she was not of St. 
Bernard or Newfoundland stock—she could not trust; she 
was a cur—she could not be indifferent; she was a gentle 
little whiffet, blindly devoted to her offspring. Climbing 
to the top of a box near, she presented her petition with 
such eloquence as nature gave. She bowed, and crouched, 
and licked the coat of her master, and when he lowered 
the little charge so that she could assure herself of its 
safety, her eyes took on an expression, of which those 
who have only known curs and hounds in their rough 
sports can believe nothing. It is, perhaps, a trifling 
thing to notice, but what student of nature would deny 
himself such a volume of entertainment. Another was 
in store for me. On leaving the stable, the econom 
whistled as for a dog. In a moment the air above was 
filled with doves, and the fowls came trooping from all 
parts of the yard. Not receiving any grain, the doves 
returned. I thought they must have numbered some two 
hundred. I whistled a second time, and all flew down 
again. Opening one of the doors in the range 7. 7, out 
bounded a large dog, resembling a hyena more than an 
ordinary bull dog. He seemed to be overjoyed to see 
his master, but treated me as if I belonged somewhere 
else. He and two or three others are given the range 
of the yard and grounds at night. 6.6, and portions of 
7.7, are swineries. I remember once seeing a picture 
in the Cultivator of what was called the “ landshark ” 
Here are the originals. I inquired if they were not bred 
from the wild swine which are still in some of the pre¬ 
serves in this vicinity. He assured me they were not. 
But, in truth, they are as widely contrasted with the 
Berkshire, the China, and what were once denominated 
the “ grass breed pigs” of the Genesee Valley, almost as 
widely as the wild boar himself. 8. One of three sheep 
folds. It is a room with high ceiling, having straw on 
the bottom, and supplied with racks. The econom pur¬ 
chases wethers to fatten, and does not breed them. They 
are pastured when the ground is bare, and accompanied 
always by a shepherd and dog. The flock, of about two 
hundred, was all of young sheep, a year and a little more. 
Both lambs and calves generally are dropped a little be¬ 
fore this date. Upon inquiry whether he thought it so 
well, he presumed the mortality among the ewes and 
lambs might be greater, though there were some advan¬ 
tages that I did not precisely comprehend. Their wool 
is coarse and long, though the bodies are finely formed, 
and still in the possession each of a long tail. I could 
not see any thing much above the common breed among 
us. 9. A carriage and wagon house. 10. A bee house. 
Little “cottages of straw” mounted upon other box 
hives of small dimensions, are the substitutes for the 
patent, most convenient hives, coming into use in New- 
Yorlc and Vermont. He says they are never annoyed by 
millers and worms. 11. The residence, with all its 
quaint antiquities, and its magazine of pipes and tobacco. 
12. The distillery. Here alcohol is made from potatoes. 
First, the potatoes are fitted for mashing in a steam tub, 
then passed through a crushing apparatus into large tubs. 
Then comes the series of fermentations, gummy, sugar, 
and alcoholic. The alcohol condensed in a still yields a 
profit of about a dollar and a half, above the duties to 
the Prussian government. These are positively enor¬ 
mous, amounting to nearly sixty-three dollars a month. 
Naturally enough the closest surveillance is necessary 
in order to the collection of this revenue, and a gens 
d’arme visits the distillery at regular intervals, night 
and day, and requires a record of each hour's work. 
13. The manure depot, so arranged as to receive the en¬ 
tire drainage of the stables. 14. A pump for elevating 
the urine to a hogshead, arranged something like our 
street watering carts, for the distribution of the fluid upon 
the fields. 15. A depot of straw. Heaped upon 13, is 
the litter of the stables, and all the sources of manure. 
It is interesting to observe the connections which link 
the different parts of this econom's establishment toge¬ 
ther, and the profits which he compels all parts to yield. 
The cows he keeps for their manure principally, and 
therefore stables them. The potatoes he grows to feed 
his cows. Cheese, butter, milk and alcohol, are inciden¬ 
tals. The manure enriches the soils for the growth of 
wheat, rye, barley, beets, peas and beans, as well as po¬ 
tatoes. A portion of these support the stock, fatten the 
beeves and swine, and the remainder, after deducting the 
expenditures for the farm and the household, goes to 
swell the little store laid by for advanced age, for younger 
sons, or for luxuries. The econom attempted to explain 
his system of rotation, but so many of the terms em¬ 
ployed were unintelligible to me that I have forgotten 
much of what he said. I think this is the plan he tries 
to carry out: First, potatoes; second, spring wheat; 
third, barley, or rye and clover; fourth, summer fallow 
and fall wheat; fifth, peas and lentils; then a year of re¬ 
pose, and then potatoes and the series again. 
I hope to walk there again in the summer, and learn 
more definitely about the treatment of the crops. 
Liebig's winter course of lectures is closed. The 
semi-annual dinner has been given, and the laboratory is 
shut for a month; at the termination of which the lectures 
will be resumed. More than half the students leave, 
and among them the first of the class. Spring seems 
close at hand, though we have several inches of snow on 
the ground, and the air is still cold. 
E. N. Horsford. 
MR. NORTON’S LETTERS—No. XIII. 
Prof. Johnston's Lectures—Scotch Farming—Great Crops 
of Wheat, Oats and Turneys—Suhphuric Acid, Bones, 
4-e. 
Laboratory of Ag. Chem- Association,) 
Edinburgh, April 25th, 1845. J 
L. Tucker, Esq. —As I promised in my last a report 
of the second monthly meeting of the Association, I was 
happy to find that the subjects touched upon were such as 
are likely to be profitable to farmers in our own coun¬ 
try. The meeting took place on the 9th of April, and 
was attended by a large number of gentlemen from vari¬ 
ous parts of the country. 
After the usual preliminary business, Prof. Johnstoi 
made some remarks, suggested by a visit he had lately 
made to the farm of Mr. Aitchison, of Drummore, near 
Musselburgh, about ten miles south of this city. The 
farm consists of at least 800 acres, and lies upon the coal 
measures, the soil produced by the decomposition o t 
which is generally considered very poor. In this instance 
however, art has overc6me nature. Nearly the whole 
farm is now drained, and sub-soiled to the depth of 14 
to 15 inches. Manure is added judiciously but most libe¬ 
rally, and the crops are remarkable. The cultivation of 
this farm has been so admirable in the hands of Mr. Ait- 
chison’s predecessors that it has alway yielded large 
crops. The records of these are shown in a book like 
a merchant’s ledger, which has been kept with the great¬ 
est minuteness for more than 30 years. In it may be 
seen the produce of each field, the time of sowing, of 
harvesting, and finally the market at which each sample 
of grain was sold, with its price, and the average price 
of each year. 
One six acre field produced an average of 42i tons of 
white globe turneps, per Scotch acre, every load being 
actually weighed. In 1844, 13 acres averaged 31 tons of 
yellow Swedes. The Scotch acre is one-fifth more than 
the English imperial acre. But this same land produced 
equally good crops twenty years ago. The wheat crop 
of 1820 averaged, over 150 acres, 54 bushels. In 1832, 
140 acres of oafs averaged 85^ bushels per acre. 
On land cultivated as this has long been, said Prof 
