176 THE CULTIVATOR. June 
You may take the poorest soil in New Jersey, and in 
three years, (by an interval of one year between two 
dressings of forty bushels to the acre,) can make it pro¬ 
duce good corn. The manner is, first apply one dress¬ 
ing, and plow it in well and deeply; then plant corn 
and till it thoroughly, and the crop will be from 30 to 
40 bushels of ears to the aere. The next April we sow 
oats, two bushels to the acre, and apply the other dres¬ 
sing of lime on the surface, harrowing in thoroughly 
with the oats, and “ seeding down ” with one harrowing, 
after sowing the clover. We think six quarts of clo¬ 
ver-seed sufficient to the acre. 
The oats, with this treatment, are generally a fair 
average crop, and the clover, soon after the oats are 
taken off completely fills the stubble, and the following 
summer should not be pastured', except by hogs after it 
is in bloom. Thus a great quantity of vegetable mat¬ 
ter will be upon the surface for the next years’ crop, 
which will be all you can wish. One important item 
I have omitted, which is 11 bushel gypsum, sown broad¬ 
cast to the acre, on the clover. This should be done 
in March. 
Morris is rich in iron ore, which in both quantity and 
quality is unsurpassed. One mine of great value, 
is 300 feet deep, which, in a comparatively new country, 
is a deep hole. There is no doubt, I think, that the 
mines of this county could supply all the furnaces and 
forges in the United States. James Haines. Ches¬ 
ter N. /., Feb. 18, 1847. 
Western Farming. —In fern r February number I 
noticed some extracts from Dr. Elliott’s letters in re¬ 
gard to i: Western Farming,” and observed that the large 
farm of Mr. Strawn. or “ Stron,” of Morgan Co., Ill., is 
alluded to. The owner of that farm, a Napoleon among 
farmers, deserves a more extended notice than a few 
lines stating the size of his farm. It is indeed true that 
he cultivates from seven to eight thousand acres, and 
often winters three thousand head of cattle. But he is 
more than this indicates; he is an original, fashioned 
by nature’s self. How, think you, is this vast herd of 
stock annually collected ? At some city market, by a 
gentleman on horseback, with gloves on Why, no, 
sirs ! This same Strawn, in person, by day and night, 
scours the whole country for an hundred miles in every 
direction, to secure them. He often rides all night, 
and so rarely does he lodge more than four hours in a 
night, during his buying season, it is said by those who 
know him best, that although he carries large sums 
about him, the robbers never know where to catch him. 
To-day, or this evening, he is here', while to-morrow’s 
first sun finds him fifty miles hence. He knows all the 
short cuts and by-paths of the country as well as your 
compositor knows his types. 
Numerous are the'tales that are told of his dispatch, 
hfs promptness, and his fairness in doing business. In 
the dead of night he has been known to rout a farmer 
from his bed, purchase his stock of twenty or thirty 
steers, and by daylight be purchasing forty miles from 
there. It is noted of him that his judgment is as accu¬ 
rate as it is rapid. As soon as his eye is fixed upon a 
drove of steers, his judgment is formed, his price is set, 
and the next minute it is offered. He never banters, 
makes no second proposal; but if the first is not accep¬ 
ted, goes furiher for his stock. 
They who know him find no difficulty in dealing with 
him, for it is notorious that his offers are always made 
fully up to the value of the drove; and the manner in 
which he met the butchers of St. Louis, some three 
years since, was a corner worthy a Wall-st. broker. 
The butchers had been buying beef at the low price 
of $2 per 100 lbs., on the hoof, when Strawn made his 
appearance with a drove of some size, and the market 
being now glutted, no one would offer him more than 
$1,50. He waited an entire day, but nothing higher 
was offered. The next morning, as usual, the butcher* 
came out to purchase, but Strawn’s cattle were still 
held at $2. They went to,the other droves; they were 
sold. Who had bought them ? Strawn, at $2. They 
sent into the country. Every drove they met was 
Strawn’s. His buyers had been out .all night, on every 
road from the city, and had bought all the cattle on 
their w T ay to market, at $2 per 300 lbs. Thus were 
the butchers finally compelled to buy of Strawn and pay 
his price, $2. 
Whether the blue grass suits our prairies, depends on 
what that word means. It is notorious that it en¬ 
croaches in a great degree upon all prairie farms as they 
become older, and all our bottoms and lands adjacent 
to towns are more or less covered by it, until the white 
clover taking its turn, uproots and drives it off. 
The prairie grass is good feed from the 15th April 
or first May to the 1st November. Then sheep need 
about a bushel of corn to the hundred per day, and will 
pick well enough at the roots of the grass until the 15th 
December to 1st January. Then they must be fed hay 
with grain, (I mean prairie Hiay.) as before, until the 
grass starts. During the winter, the prairie grass is so 
wiry as to be uneatable by any stock that I know of. 
I keep upwards of 2000 sheep, and have fed them in 
three different ways, viz., on prairie grass till the 1st 
November, then blue grass till 15th December; then a 
ton of hay and ten bushels corn per day to 1000, till 1st 
March; then blue grass and a bushel of corn per 100 
till the 20th March; then blue grass alone till the prai¬ 
rie grass springs. The second mode is described above, 
and the third consists of corn and corn-fodder cut up at 
the root while glazing, and well cured. This, fed at 
the rate of three bushels per day to the 100 head, from 
the failing to the springing of the prairie grass. 
This last I consider the most objectionable, as the 
first is the most advantageous method which I know of 
for this country. Winter lambs don’t do well with us 
A Sucker in Suckerdo#. Ottawa, III., 1847. 
Canada Thistles. —J. B., of Oneonta, N. Y., gives 
us his mode of destroying Canada thistles. He says— 
u Salt them—use salt freely, and your cattle and horses 
w'ill gnaw and stamp them to death. If some thistles 
appear the second year, repeat the process, knowing 
that the salt is not wasted if a little is c trodden under 
foot of men ’ or of beasts.” 
Action of Lime. —There is probably something not 
generally understood in regard to the operation of lime . 
Whether it promotes the fermentation of vegetable sub. 
stances, is a question whioh has been much discussed. 
We would venture to suggest that in this respect its 
effect may depend on the state in which it is used. 
For instance, if it is taken fresh from the kiln and 
immediately incorporated with a mass of vegetable 
materials, and there slaked, would not the heat gene¬ 
rated in slaking, bring on a fermentation, which, being 
once commenced, would pass through the heap ? 
In the (London) Farmer's Magazine, we find a» 
able article on the “ Theory and Practical Use of 
Lime,” by John Towers, a well-known writer on ag¬ 
ricultural subjects, and a chemist of distinction. The 
conclusion to which Mr. T. arrives in regard to the ef¬ 
fect of lime on vegetable matter, is thus given: 
“ If applied to green vegetables quite hot from the 
kiln, it will destroy the tissue and carbonize the sub¬ 
stance, itself being brought into a state of mild lime 
or chalk.” 
Some of Mr. Towers’ other conclusions in regard to 
lime are as follows: 
11 According to high chemical authority, it is capable 
to liberate potassa from clay and granite rocks, and to 
