1848. 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
99 
that is dross, compared to the blessings of health of 
body, and peace of mind, which gold and silver could 
never purchase. I eat, drink, and sleep, with an ap¬ 
petite; yawn at bed time, and never in the morning; 
am up before the sun, and yet the day is never too 
long; and more than all, I have no acceptances to take 
up. Money ! why what use have I for it? I raise my 
own food in the richest profusion, and my own clothing 
■—my estate is annually increasing in value—then what 
is the use of money ? I can’t eat it or drink it, even 
if it were cut into mince meat. 5 * 
Good Roads.— Lord Bacon regarded successful gar¬ 
dening as the last touch of civilization—“ when nations 
grow to civility and elegancy, men come to build stately 
sooner than to garden finely”—but we slightly differ 
from him —good roads , it strikes us, are about the ulti¬ 
matum. The rich, fertile, very narrow valleys in 
Hamilton county in this state, can never be valuable, 
because there is not land enough to warrant the working 
of good roads. Nearness to market—to say nothing 
of nearness to meeting—is worth a great deal to a far¬ 
mer. Ten miles, through deep mud, in five hours with 
half a load, is quite a different thing from ten miles in 
two hours, over a fine smooth road, with full weight. 
What is the reason that farmers give so little attention 
to the improvement of their roads? The same deep 
mud-hole is plowed into by one hundred different teams 
for months together, when a few loads of gravel would 
make it fine. Or the same steep hill is ascended and 
descended fifty to five hundred times a year each, by 
a hundred different farmers, which a new road passing 
round the hill would wholly avoid. Farmers seem to 
be waiting for plank-roads to grovj —and a friend has 
even suggested the plan of trying to procure some of 
the seed to sow along the rich bed of mud which con¬ 
nects all our towns and villages. We think, however, 
that even the laborious industry of the ancient Peruvi¬ 
ans would be preferable—where, according to Pres¬ 
cott, roads of more than a thousand miles in length 
were made of huge flag-stones, connected by bitumi¬ 
nous cement, the remains of which still exist. 
Fecundity of Bees. —The number of bees in one 
hive, of strong stock, produced from spring to mid¬ 
summer, is estimated at 20,000 to 30-,000. 
Long Tunnel. —A tunnel is now in construction 2$ 
miles long, directly under the city of Liverpool, to con¬ 
nect the great railroad back of the town with the ship¬ 
ping in front of it. Many of the finest buildings will 
be only 50 feet above the roll of the locomotives. 
Sewage Manure.— The report of the sanitary con¬ 
dition of the city of Sheffield, England, shows that the 
fertilizing substances carried oft' in the sewers of that 
town, which contains 110,000 inhabitants, is equal, 
annually, to the enriching power of 3,140 tons of guano, 
in value £30,000, or $140,000. 
Merry’s Museum.- —This well known and popular 
journal for youth, is now published by G. W. & S. O. 
Post, New-York, at $1 a year. It is edited by S. G. 
Goodrich, author of Peter Parley’s Tales. 
Keeping Dried Fruits.— A correspondent wishes 
information in regard to preserving apples and other 
dried fruits through the summer season so that they will 
not become “ wormy.” Will some one tell us? 
A good rule in awarding premiums. —In award¬ 
ing premiums on cows and heifers, for the Essex coun¬ 
ty (Mass.) Agricultural Society, the committee say 
they have made it their aim to “reward the care and 
skill of the owners of cows and heifers, in training and 
keeping them in the best and most economical manner, 
rather than to reward good fortune in finding and pur¬ 
chasing those already trained and expensively fed by 
others. For this reason, where there were two ani¬ 
mals equally balanced as to merit, the one purchased 
and the other raised and trained by the claimant him* 
self, they thought it their duty to give the preference 
to the latter.” 
De Ruyter Farmers’ and Mechanics’ Associa¬ 
tion.— We learn that an association with the above 
title, has been formed at De Ruyter, Madison county, N. 
Y. Its object is the advancement of knowledge rela¬ 
ting to agriculture, manufactures and arts. The officers 
are a president, three vice-presidents, librarian and 
treasurer. The. association meets for four months in 
the year, (during the winter,) once in two weeks, and 
once a month for the remainder of the time. At those 
meetings, discussions are held on various subjeets, and 
each person gives his own views and practice. We 
learn from the president, Hon. Benj. Enos, that a Li¬ 
brary, consisting of the most approved works on agri¬ 
culture and the arts, has already been commenced, and 
that it is intended to increase it by annual additions. 
Provision has also been made for the delivery of Sci¬ 
entific lectures before the association. 
Another great benefit which will accrue from this 
combination of intellect and effort, will be the produc¬ 
tion of essays and articles on subjects connected with 
the business in which the members are engaged. Thus 
one person may take up a particular branch of agri¬ 
culture—the cultivation of fruit or Indian corn or wheat, 
or the management of any kind of live stopk-—another 
person some department of manufactures or arts and 
show the whole philosophy, and the practical bearings 
and operations which are involved. Such papers would 
be highly interesting, and coming mostly from practical 
men, would receive attention. 
We would suggest the adoption of the same system 
by Farmers’ clubs, and similar associations. 
The last Smithfield Cattle-Show. —As a mat¬ 
ter of interest to many persons in this country, it may 
be well to preserve a record of the decisions made at 
the last show of the celebrated Smithfield Club, which 
took place in London from the 8th to the 12th of De¬ 
cember last. There were one hundred and twelve fat 
cattle exhibited. This is a less number than has been 
brought out at some former shows, but the general qual¬ 
ity of those presented on this occasion, was acknowledg¬ 
ed to be superior to those of any previous exhibition. 
The prizes were more scattered among the various 
breeds, than they have generally been heretofore. In 
the six first classes, embracing oxen and steers, and 
containing twelve prizes, the Devons carried six, the 
Short Horns three, the Herefords two, and West-High¬ 
land one. In cows and heifers there were three clas¬ 
ses, embracing seven prizes, of which the Short Horns' 
carried three, mixed Hereford and Long-Horn one, 
Hereford one, mixed Hereford and Short-Horn one, and 
Long-Horn one. The Gold medal for the best ox or 
steer, was awarded to a Short Horn, and the Gold Me¬ 
dal for the best cow or heifer to a mixed Hereford 
and Long-Horn. The great contest among the oxen 
and steers appeared, to be between the Short-Horn ox 
of Mr. Manning, and the Hereford of Mr. Taylor. 
Both animals were four years old, and of a quality 
which it is said, “were never exceeded.” The gold me« 
dal was finally awarded to the Short-Horn; though the 
decision of the judges has been somewhat controverted. 
Apples in Alabama. —The Alabama Planter states 
that during the past summer the Mobile market was 
well supplied with apples, the growth of the immedi¬ 
ate vicinity. Among them were “ large greening 
pippins, [Newton] and russets of the Northern States. 
The first grew remarkably large.” Trees brought from 
the north attain a large size in five or six years; and 
the standard winter apples of Massachusetts ripen by 
the end of the summer months. This early maturity 
and their large size, so alter the character of these 
fruits, that they would scarcely be identified with 
those of northern growth. 
