1848. 
287 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
Cost of collecting bones, per ton, $7, which will 
make, when crushed, about 35 bushels, or 20 cts. per 
bushel; cost of burning and crushing 5 cts. per bushel: 
25 cts. per bushel, or rather for what would have been 
a bushel of crushed without burning, for the bulk is re- 
ry much reduced in burning, but if the value remains, 
mere loss*of bulk is an advantage. 
I have a machine for pounding bones by hand, upon 
which two hands will pound to the usual fineness, eight 
bushels a day in dry weather, taking the bones just as 
collected, boiled and unboiled. This makes them cost 
about thirty-seven cents a bushel. The price will do, 
but it is very slow and troublesome compared with burn¬ 
ing. If the simple question, what amount of loss do 
bones sustain for agricultural purposes by burning 
them until they fall to powder? could be answered 
through the columns of the Cultivator , I doubt not 
many would be benefited, and myself among the num¬ 
ber. Edward Jessop. 
[We would refer our correspondent to the remarks 
of Prof. Johnston, in the article on the use of bones 
a^manure, in this number. Eds.] 
The State Fair at Buffalo. 
The Secretary of the Society will be in attendance 
at the rooms of the officers at the Mansion House, where 
all applications will be attended to up to the fourth of 
September. The officers will meet at the rooms men¬ 
tioned each evening during the fair, where they will be 
happy to see any of their agricultural friends. 
On Monday, the fourth of September, the business 
office at the show-grounds will be opened, where en¬ 
tries are to be made, and members will receive their 
badges. 
The executive committee will meet Tuesday morn¬ 
ing, September 5th, at ten o’clock, in the great tent, 
on the show-grounds, for the purpose of filling vacan¬ 
cies in adjudging committees. Members of committees 
are desired to be present on the morning of the 5th, 
and report themselves to the Secretary. 
The chamber of the Common Council, Buffalo, a 
large and spacious room, has been secured .for the Po- 
mological Convention, which will meet on Friday the 
first of September, and continue during the Fair. 
For the evening meetings during the Fair, the Lec¬ 
ture room of the Young Men’s Association, and the 
Court-house, have been engaged; and other places will 
be designated, if necessary. Professor J. P. Norton of 
Yale College, will deliver an address at one of the 
evening meetings; and on another evening, Prof. A. H. 
Stevens, M. D., of New-York, will speak on the sub. 
ject of the claims of Agriculture on the Treasury of 
the State. Dr. D. Lee of Rochester, and Rev. J. 0. 
Choules, of New-Bedlord, will also give addresses 
during the meeting of the Society. Several other gen¬ 
tlemen may be expected to speak. 
The Railroad Companies will issue tickets to go and 
return at half the usual fare. They can be obtained at 
the offices of all the companies, and may probably be 
had as early as Saturday preceding the Fair. Stock 
and articles will be carried free, and will be taken at 
any time , on notice to the several companies, so that 
cars may be ready. Application in relation to trans¬ 
portation by railroad may be made to the following per¬ 
sons :•—E. Foster, Jr., Albany; L. R. Sargeant, 
Troy; G. W. Young, Schenectady-. T. M. Francis, 
Utica; J. B. Burnet, Syracuse; J. M. Sherwood, 
Auburn; E. J. Burrall, Geneva; Jos. Alleyn, Ro¬ 
chester; E. C. Dibble, Batavia; T. C. Peters, Buf¬ 
falo. 
The various public and hoarding houses in Buffalo, 
have agreed to charge customers, during the Fair, the 
customary rates only. 
American Institute. 
The agricultural and horticultural departments of 
the exhibition of this association for the present year, 
will be opened on Tuesday, October 3d, at Castle Gar¬ 
den, New-York. Vegetables, fruits and flowers de¬ 
signed for exhibition, must be brought to the rooms 
and arranged the day previous—(Oct. 2.) 
Plowing and spading matches will take place on 
Thursday, the 5th of October, at White Plains, West¬ 
chester county. 
The central convention of Fruit-Growers, called by 
a notice from the committees of the Massachusetts and 
the Pennsylvania Horticultural Societies, and the com¬ 
mittee of Agriculture of the American Institute, will 
meet at Judson’s Hotel, No. 61 Broadway, New-York, 
on Tuesday the 10th of October, at 10 o’clock, A. M. 
The objects of the convention are to compare fruits 
from various localities; to determine synonymes by 
which the same fruit is known; to compare opinions 
respecting the value of varieties of fruit now in culti¬ 
vation; and to elicit and disseminate pomological in¬ 
formation. Persons are requested to bring with them 
to the meeting, different kinds of fruits, carefully pack¬ 
ed and labelled, accompanied with memoranda in regard 
to the soil in which they grew, and facts in regard to 
their culture. 
The cattle show will take place on Wednesday and 
Thursday, the 11th and 12th of October, at the Wash¬ 
ington Drove Yard, on Forty-fourth street, between 
Fourth and Fifth Avenue. All entries under this head 
must be made, and pedigrees delivered, on or before 
Monday Oct. 9th. They may be sent to T. B. Wake- 
man, Esq., Secretary of the Institute, New-York. 
Value of the Potato. 
Prof. C. U. Shepard, in his address before the agri¬ 
cultural societies of Hampden and Hampshire counties 
Mass., made the following excellent remarks in regard 
to the potato : 
“The potato is a vegetable which the rich man knows 
not how to forego; and one which places the poor man 
above want. With a shelter from the weather, and 
one or two acres of ground to plant with this tuber, 
man may subsist at almost any distance from the miller, 
the baker, the butcher, and, I may almost add, the doc¬ 
tor. It suits all tastes, flourishes in nearly all climates, 
and is eminently nutritious and healthful. Its cultiva¬ 
tion demands but little labor, and when the earth has 
ripened the tubers, they are harvested without trouble, 
and cooked without expense. A few faggots in sum¬ 
mer will boil them, and in winter the necessary heat is 
suppled without expense. There is no waste of time 
in the processes of milling, sifting, kneading, baking, 
seasoning, jointing or carving. There is nothing de¬ 
ficient nor superfluous in a well boiled potato. As soon 
as it is cooked, it opens by chinks, lets fall its thin pel¬ 
licle upon the platter, and with a little salt, butter or 
milk, is ready for the unfastidious appetite of the hun¬ 
gry man. Start not back with surprise at the idea of 
subsisting upon the potato alone, ye who think it ne¬ 
cessary to load your tables with all the dainty viands of 
the market, with fish, flesh and fowl, seasoned with oils 
and spices, and eaten perhaps wdth wines,—-start not 
back, I say, with feigned disgust, until you are able to 
display in your own pampered persons, a fimer muscle, 
a more beau ideal outline, and a healthier red than the 
potato-fed peasantry of Ireland and Scotland once 
showed you, as you passed their cabin doors ! No; the 
chemical physiologist will tell you, that the well-ripen¬ 
ed potato, when properly cooked, contains every ele¬ 
ment that man requires for nutrition; and in the best 
proportions in which they are found in any plant what¬ 
ever. There is the abounding supply of starch, for ena- 
