THE CULTIVATOR. 
375 
FACTS AND OPINIONS, 
Condensed from various Exchange Payers. 
Snow-plow. —The European correspondent of the Bos¬ 
ton Courier, gives an account of a machine to remove 
snow from highways and railroads, used in Dresden, 
which ingenious yankees will soon have an opportunity 
of employing and impi’oving upon, if they wish. It lite¬ 
rally puts “ the cart before the horse.” It is represented 
by the following diagram:— 
The outside lines, forming an acute angle, represent 
the form of the shovel or snow-plow, the long straight 
line in the middle, is the pole; the oxen are placed at 
the points X X, and two men at the points O O, to steady 
it; it is pushed, not drawn, by the harness, ropes, or 
chains attached to the oxen and fastened to the hinder 
extremity of the pole, near O O. It will be perceived 
that a road is made for the team and men, and that they 
are not annoyed by travelling in the snow drift. Who 
will make one forthwith and try it this winter? Any 
force, by way of ox-team, may be attached to it, and the 
heaviest snow drifts riven asunder. 
Wheat—heavy crop. —S. M. Brown, of Elbridge, 
Onondaga Co., N. Y., harvested over 400 bushels of fine 
white flint wheat, from eight acres, the present season. 
He ascribes a part of his success to a dressing of three 
bushels of salt per acre. Single experiments, however, 
are as a matter of course, insufficient to determine points 
of this nature. 
Successful experiment with grass seeding_A 
New-Jersey correspondent of the New-York Far. and 
Mechanic, states the following experiment:—He first 
procured, from different sources, sixty loads of muck, 
and rotted leaves from the woods; it was exposed to the 
frosts of winter, and the rain and sun of summer, till 
after midsummer, when three hogsheads of unslaked 
lime were mixed with it. When properly heated, it 
was put on three acres of turf ground, which had been 
newly turned over, and rolled down. The manure was 
well harrowed in, rye and grass seed were sown, and the 
land again well harrowed and rolled. The subsequent 
product was two tons of hay to the acre, where previ¬ 
ously not half a ton was cut. This affords another proof 
of the great advantage of the thorough intermixture of 
the manure with the soil. Thorough and repeated har¬ 
rowing should always be given immediately after spread¬ 
ing manure, even where it is intended to turn it under 
with the plow. 
Grinding horse food.— The London Ag. Gazette 
states that two horses, every way equal, were allowed 
each five lbs. of oats daily, and enough hay, amounting 
to about 17 lbs. per day. For one horse the oats were 
crushed, for the other, not. 100 parts of the dung of 
each horse were examined chemically on the fourth day; 
that from the horse fed on crushed oats contained no nu 
tritive matter, but merely woody fibre, mixed with se¬ 
cretions and salts. In that from the other horse, one 
quarter per cent of nutritive matter, consisting of starch 
and gluten was found—arising from the inability of the 
horse to perform perfect mastication, and which must 
vary with age and rapidity of feeding. No difference 
was found in the dung from chopped and unchopped hay, 
though the ease of eating the latter and consequently 
greater rest obtained, was a decided advantage. 
Fatting Swine.— There is sound sense in the follow¬ 
ing, taken from an old work, called “ Countrie Farm.” 
The more quiet and comfortable hogs are kept, the 
more rapidly will they take on fat:—“ The hogs 
which you intend to keep in and to fat, shall not cime 
forth at their stye, being alone and free from others, 
either shall they have any light but at the door, which 
is made to go in at, for to dress them. The care about 
these is not so great as other cattle, excepted only the 
keeping of them clean, and knowing how to make them 
good meat, so long as until they are fat, for after that 
they will lose every day some of their meat, for they are 
sometimes seen to heap such quantities of fat upon their 
live flesh, as that there are some hogs found a foot and a 
half thick of lard.” 
Golden Russet. —The Indiana Farmer and Gardener, 
speaking of the popularity of the Golden Russet, (de¬ 
scribed by Downing as the American Golden Russet, and 
known also by the name of Bullock’s Pippin,) says, “ A 
gentlemen near Belfre, Ohio, being applied to for a list of 
apples to furnish an orchard of a thousand trees for mar¬ 
keting purposes, replied, “take 999 Golden Russets, and 
the rest you can choose to suit yourself.” [For an ac¬ 
count of this apple see Downing's work on Fruit.) 
Preserving Cut Flowers.— By changing the water 
once a day, and putting in a few grains of nitrate of 
soda, at each change, the beauty and brilliancy of cut 
flowers may be preserved a long time. Nitrate of 
potash (nitre or saltpetre) is nearly as good as nitrate of 
soda. A very weak solution of carbonate of ammonia 
would doubtless have a fine effect. 
Draining. —A very thorough aud successful experi¬ 
ment is described by E. Stabler, in the Rockville (Md.) 
Reporter. A piece of ground was completely worn out 
when purchased; a part was like mortar in spring, and 
baked like brick in summer. An unsuccessful attempt was 
made at draining. “Meeting” says he, “ an able essay 
on draining in the Cultivator or Farmer’s Cabinet, I con¬ 
cluded to make another effort. A heavy coating of lime 
was put on, but the crop of corn was not over 15 bushels 
per acre. From 500 to 600 yards of surface and under¬ 
drains were then made, and oats sown. (l The increased 
crops of oats nearly paid for both the lime and the 
drains. Four years since, in the then state of the land, it 
would not have produced more than five oushels of wheat 
to the acre; now it is light and mellow, and will mostlike- 
ly produce an increase in grass of four or five to one. It 
is not a very difficult problem to solve, whether there 
has been a loss or gain in the transaction; when a single 
dollar for a year’s subscription to an agricultural journal, 
should suggest the idea for improvement, by which land 
that did not formerly produce over five or ten bushels, 
will now yield thirty or forty bushels to the acre.” 
Produce from a single acre. —Henry Colman, in his 
his account of the market gardens about London, gives the 
following as the amount actually produced in one year 
from a single acre by a market gardener, the success be¬ 
ing mainly attributed to trenching, heavy manuring, and 
rotation, besides the usual course of good cultivation:— 
Radishes,. jE 10 
Cauliflower,. 60 
Cabbages,. 30 
Celery, 1st crop,. 50 
“ 2d “ 40 
Endive,. 30 
£ 220 —$ 1 , 100 . 
Pickling Eggs—as done in Hampshire, England. 
—When the eggs are plenty, take from four to six doz¬ 
en, newly laid, and boil them hard. Then remove the 
shells, and placing them in a large mouthed earthen jar, 
pour upon them scalded vinegar, well seasoned with 
whole pepper, alspice, ginger, and a few cloves of gar¬ 
lic. When cold, the jars are closed, and in a month or 
more afterwards the pickles are fit for use. 
Working Oxen. —At the late Northampton (Mass.) 
Cattle Show there were three trains of Oxen entered for 
the premiums. The train from Hadley was the largest, 
and comprised fifty pairs. The train from Goshen num¬ 
bered 22 pairs; that from Southampton numbered 20 
pairs. There were ten other yoke of fine oxen from 
different towns. These in all make 102 pairs, or 204 ox ?n. 
Consumption of Guano in Great Britain.— 
In 1841,. 500 tons. 
“ 1842.. 2,000 « 
“ 1843,. 5,000 “ 
“ 1844,. 26,000 “ 
and from 1st July, 1844 to 1st July, 1845, the enormous 
amount of 257,000 tons 
