160 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
May. 
Itote for % 
The Progressive Farmer : A scientific treatise on 
Agricultural Chemistry, the Geology of Agriculture; on 
Plants, Animals, Manures, and Soils. Adapted to 
Practical Agriculture. By J. A. Nash. New-York, 
C. M. Saxton—price 50 cents. 
A work to embrace all these subjects, within about 
220 moderate 12 mo. pages, must of necessity take a 
somewhat summary view of them; but in the present 
instance we think the author has been quite successful 
in condensing a great deal of matter within the small 
compass he had prescribed for himself. All works on 
scientific agriculture, and more especially on chemistry 
and its relations, must partake largely of the nature of 
suggestions, until actual experiment has spoken more 
decisively. With this view, and for more common use, 
a plain, condensed treatise of moderate extent, may be 
more convenient and useful, than one of a larger size 
and more diffuse character. In some portions of this 
work, the brevity is too great for one who has no pre¬ 
vious knowledge of science; but generally the language 
and illustrations from practice are simple, plain and 
easily understood; and the frequent allusions to the far¬ 
mer’s every-day operations render it of more common 
application in practice than usual in elementary treatises 
on scientific agriculture. We commend it to young 
practical farmers,,who may wish to go into the reasons 
of their various operations, and to obtain the sugges¬ 
tions of science, as one of the best that has yet ap¬ 
peared, although we should have been glad had more 
space been devoted to draining, rotation of .crops, sub¬ 
soiling, and pulverization of soils. The analysis of soils, 
which a few years since was supposed to be the means 
of ushering in at once an agricultural millennium, the 
author seems to think a subject for farmers not to med¬ 
dle much with, and entertains the opinion that there! 7 
are not twenty men in the whole world who can ana-l 
lyze soil “ reliably.” - 
Another Important Discovery. —A writer in a 
late number of the National Era, announces a discove¬ 
ry, which promises to equal in importance that of Com¬ 
stock in “ Terra-culture,” for which he has been ask¬ 
ing Congress, as well as the Legislature of this state, to 
give him a few hundred thousand dollars, to enable him 
to reveal it to the public. The discoverer of this new 
law in vegetable physiology, seems to be as much trou¬ 
bled as poor Comstock was, to ascertain how he can dis¬ 
close the secret, and at the same time secure “ to the 
discloser, and those who labor to give it to the public, 
an ample reward.” But the proprietors of this secret— 
a discovery vastly more important than that of the use 
of “ the steam engine and the telegraph,” because it 
will cause the potato to grow in a healthy condition, 
“ on hill-tops and by the waysides, and over the graves 
of loved ones, to furnish food for the living, teeming, 
half-starving millions of earth!!”—have come to the 
conclusion to sell this great secret to “ practical farm¬ 
ers,” for the “ trifling sum of five dollars!” The edi¬ 
tor of the Era, vouches for the integrity of the writer, 
and in so doing proves only that his effort is to be attri¬ 
buted to ignorance of the investigations which have 
been made both in Europe and in this country, in relation 
to the potato rot. The same discovery, announced as hav¬ 
ing been made by “an obscure farmer of Michigan,” 
so far as we can judge from the tenor of the article, has 
been proclaimed time and again, and has been as often 
proved of no avail in preventing the rot. 
The Crystal Palace —The building and the ar¬ 
rangements for the World’s Fair at New-York, are ap¬ 
proaching completion, though it is now conceded that 
the Fair will not be opened on the first of May, as was 
anticipated. It is stated that Col. Johnson, Secretary 
of our State Ag. Society, is to have charge of the Agri¬ 
cultural Department, and Mr. J. E. Holmes of the 
Machinery. Two better appointments for these places 
ould not have been made. 
Large Yield op Carrots.—Mr. J. Winne, of 
Bethlehem, Albany county, secured a very large crop 
of carrots, by means of the following treatment. A 
piece of land measuring 333 feet in length, and 84 in 
width, about five-eighths of an acre, was plowed in the 
spring as early as the ground was dry enough, and a 
dressing of manure from the barn yard turned in. It 
was then suffered to remain till sometime in May, when 
it was thoroughly worked over with a cultivator har¬ 
row, marked into rows thirteen inches apart, and plant¬ 
ed immediately. As soon as the plants were in sight;, a 
little plaster was sprinkled along the rows, which, in 
addition to its fertilizing effect, was a great assistance in 
seeing the rows while weeding. They received two 
more hoeings and weedings, but no other extra care. 
The crop was dug quite late, and secured by plowing 
quite close to the rows, and then pulling the carrots by 
hand. They were put up in long narrow heaps with the 
tops outward, whieh not only keeps out the frost, but 
leaves the tops so that they can be cut in the heap very 
rapidly and fed green to cattle, horses or sheep, who 
are very fond of them. The product of the ground cul¬ 
tivated was 730 bushels. The variety was the Long 
Orange Carrot. The crop was entered for competition 
at the winter show, but owing to some informality in 
the statements did not come within the requirements of 
the Society. - 
Improved Cattle. —Those who wish to improve 
their breed of cattle, are referred to the advertisement 
of L. G. Morris, who, we are glad to perceive, is car¬ 
rying out the English practice of letting for the season 
high bred males. In this way a few farmers, by club¬ 
bing together, can avail themselves of their use, with¬ 
out the heavy outlay necessary for their purchase. 
Importation of Cattle. —Another of the famous 
Durham bulls, bred by the late Thos. Bates, of Kirk- 
leavington, England, has recently been brought to this 
country, by Lorilard Spencer, Esq., of Westchester 
county, N. Y., viz: Duke of Athol, 10.150—sired by 
2d Duke of Oxford—dam, Dutchess 54th. He was three 
years old in Sept. last. 
Sale of Poultry. —At a public sale of poultry at 
the auction room of S. M. Parke, in this city, on the 
30th ult., eight pairs of Spanish fowls sold at an ave¬ 
rage of $4.12 j per pair; and nineteen lots of China fowls, 
consisting of three each, a cock and two hens, averaged 
$7.25,—one lot selling as high as $26. 
Stone Hill Potatoes. —We are indebted to Mr. D. 
A. Bulkley, of Williamstown, Mass., for a barrel of 
these potatoes, which he recommends very highly for 
quality, productiveness, and freedom from rot. We 
tried them last year, very much to our satisfaction. 
They can be procured of Mr. B. by addressing him at 
Wiliiamstown, Mass. 
Chess among Wheat. —Linus Cone, of Troy, Mich., 
furnishes the Rural New-Yorker with an account of his 
experiments in eradicating chess from wheat. After 
many years trial, he has so far reduced the quantity 
produced from his old fields, that although not entirely 
clear, he confidently believes the chess would not amount 
to an ounce in 500 bushels. No chess now grows on low 
ground where it formerly grew in abundance, even if 
the wheat should be killed. He proposes as an experi¬ 
ment, that a piece of ground be selected where chess 
commonly grows, and sow a part with picked seed wheat, 
and leave a part unsowed, and observe the result. He 
does not state what this will be, but it is evident that 
if the wheat grows, there will be a much smaller crop of 
chess with the wheat, than where none has been sown. 
Rotation of Crops. —The Michigan Farmer gives a 
system of rotation practiced by a successful farmer:— 
He turns under a crop of clover, rolls the sod well to 
pack down the layer of clover and prevent injury from 
drouth, and plants with corn; plows in autumn, and 
leaves the whole to settle till spring; then uses the har- 
