1847. 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
363 
of such hills as we have described, these strata crop 
out and form the surface soil. In all such situations, 
the effects of plaster are almost wonderful. Messrs. 
L. state that when they purchased their farm, the grass 
on nearly the whole of it was thin and of poor quality. 
The hilly portion of it was pastured, but the stock ob¬ 
tained only a scanty supply of “ mouse-ear and poverty- 
grass.” The application of about two bushels, or a 
hundred and twenty pounds of plaster per acre, soon 
changed the character of the herbage, and the barren 
hills became the finest grazing lands. Since the first 
application of plaster, an annual dressing of about 
sixty pounds per acre has been given; and this is all 
the land has received, in the shape of manure except 
what has been dropped by animals while being kept on 
it. The production of feed has been remarkable, and 
there is still no diminution, but rather an increase in 
its quantity. It is chiefly spire-grass, or “ Kentucky 
blue-grass,” (Poa pratensis,) and white clover, and is 
very sweet and nutritive. We have seldom seen pas¬ 
tures that would carry mQre stock per acre. The best 
part of them will support a cow per acre. 
We were told of other instances, equally striking, of 
the effects of plaster on similar soil. Mr. Josiah 
Bardwell, of South-Hadley, for several seasons sum¬ 
mered a horse, a yoke of oxen, two cows, and a heifer, 
on four acres and, three-quarters. He had nine acres 
and a half of meadow, from which he cut one year, at 
two cuttings, thirty-seven tons of hay. The pasture 
had a dressing of plaster, and nothing else, every 
year—the meadow had some additional manure.* 
Messrs. Lathrop were able at once, by the use of 
plaster, to stock their farm heavily. Of course they 
were soon provided with a large amount of manure, 
which being applied to the portion of the-farm on. which 
a rotation of crops was followed, in a short time raised 
it to a high state of fertility and productiveness. 
We leave to others—for the present, at least, the 
consideration of particular causes which have produced 
the remarkable effects of plaster in the cases above 
cited. 
Live Stock. —Messrs. L. have had for several years 
a herd of Improved Short-Horns. They have a less 
number at this time than they have formerly kept. 
Some of their animals are of the first quality—es¬ 
pecially two cows, Butter-cup and Young Lilac .— 
They have fine constitutions, excellent symmetry, and 
good fattening tendency, with fair indications of dairy 
qualities. Their dam, Louisa, now owmed by Mr. 
Porter, of Berlin, Ct., was an extraordinary butter 
cow. She and Lucilla, now owned by J. F. Sheafe, 
Esq., Dutchess County, were tried in June, 1843, and 
they made each fourteen pounds eight ounces of butter 
per week. They were tried again in October follow¬ 
ing, and averaged nine pounds ten ounces per week . 
Messrs. L. are rearing a flock of South Down sheep, 
—have now about forty head. They are in general 
well-shaped, and appear healthy and thrifty. 
Messrs. L.’s swfine are of the Mackay breed. They 
have had the stock for several years, but have neces¬ 
sarily been restricted to the progeny of but few ani¬ 
mals in their selection of breeders, and have been 
obliged to breed from nearer affinities' of blood than 
would have been desirable. From this, as it is thought, 
the stock is not as prolific as formerly, and not on the 
average as good. The breed has been of great advan¬ 
tage to the neighborhood. We saw a. number of half 
and three-fourths bloods, from Messrs. L.’s boar, which 
were first rate hogs. Messrs. L. now propose to make 
one cross wuth a Suffolk bdar, and breed back the pro¬ 
geny to the Mackay boar. 
Mr. Alonzo Lamb has a farm adjoining that of 
* See an account in the Cultivator, p. 30, for 1846. of the effects of 
plaster on Mr. Chapin’s farm, in Springfield. 
Messrs. Lathrop, on the south. He has 150 acres 
here and 150 in out-lands. Most of the land is of su¬ 
perior quality. He has some superior stock. In 1837, 
he, in connexion with Messrs. Lathrop, bought cat¬ 
tle of Hon. John Welles, of Boston. They were of 
mixed blood, but chiefly Durham, crossed more or less 
with Hereford. Mr. Lamb has two or three fine cows 
that were bred by Mr. Welles, and he has several 
large and well-formed steers. We had but little op¬ 
portunity to examine his farm. 
We shall continue our sketches next month. 
High Cultivation. —In the Hudson river, just be¬ 
low Albany, is Van Rensselaer’s island, containing 
about 160 acres, which for 150 years has been cultiva¬ 
ted mostly as a kitchen garden. It is at present oc¬ 
cupied by eight tenants, most of w T hom reside here in 
summer, but generally remove in the fall or fore part 
of winter, in order to avoid the freshets which in spring 
lay the island under water to the depth of from four to 
ten feet. In consequence of the liability to inunda¬ 
tion, no buildings are erected here but those of a cheap 
and temporary character. It is frequently late in the 
season before the waters subside sufficiently to admit 
cultivation, but from the fertility of the soil and its fa¬ 
vorable exposure, the growth of vegetation is very 
rapid, and most articles are obtained here earlier than 
anywhere else in the vicinity, if grown without artifi¬ 
cial heat. 
This island rents for ten to eighteen dollars per acre, 
some parts being considered more valuable than others. 
Its products are probably worth from twelve to fifteen 
thousand dollars annually. Some instances of cultiva¬ 
tion show a product, w T hich if equalled on the whole 
island, would give a much greater aggregate. 
Mr. C. Bates has occupied eighteen acres for four¬ 
teen years, and his products have amounted to $2,500 
to $3,000 per year. Some of his crops are very heavy. 
Cabbages,v for instance, are set about 2\ by 2 feet 
apart, which permits 8,712 plants per acre. An ave¬ 
rage price of the article may be considered three cents 
per head, which, if the ground was fully occupied,would 
give $261.36 per acre. Mr. B. once sold a half acre 
of cabbage on the ground, for $145. He has this sea¬ 
son about four acres in cabbage. It is difficult to tell 
w T hat is the average yield per acre of different articles, 
as many of them are taken up while they are growing, 
and at first while quite small. Mr. B. however, is 
confident that beets will average from 800 to 1000 
bushels per acre, and carrots, he thinks will average 
1,200 bushels. He measured one season, the product 
of several rods which yielded at the rate of 1,600 bu¬ 
shels per acre. He raises carrots, not only for mar¬ 
ket, but for feeding his horses. His testimony in re¬ 
gard to their value for this purpose agrees with that 
of most others who have tried them. A peck to a half 
bushel per day, for each horse, produces an excellent 
effect, especially towards the latter part of winter, 
when it is wished to start the coat of the animal. 
Book Farming. —The Ohio Cultivator, speaking of 
the importation of fine cheese into Northern Ohio, 
from Hamburgh, in western New-York, says, “ During 
our connexion with the Genesee Farmer, there were 
more subscribers for that paper in the single town of 
“ Hamburgh,” than there are for the Ohio Cultivator 
in one or two whole counties in the dairy region of the 
Reserve.” 
Tomato. —It appears by a communication of E. 
Whittlesey, published two years since in the Western 
Reserve Magazine, that the tomato has been used in 
some parts of Illinois, and in the neighborhood of Yin 
cennes, for more than fifty years. 
