1853 . 
THE CULTIVATOR, 
209 
termination exists, the annals of the agriculture 
of the state of New-York will shortly show. 
We have thus hastily sketched our impressions 
of Albany county, with the hope that they may 
correct the somewhat prevalent notion that it is 
inferior in soil to its sister counties, and also en¬ 
courage the farmers to greater activity in making 
the agriculture of the eounty what it should be. 
Couch Grass. 
This weed, known also as the quack, quitch, 
and twitch grass, {Triticum repens,) is well un¬ 
derstood to be one of our worst weeds, on account 
of the extreme difficulty of its eradication, as usu¬ 
ally treated. It often happens, when the ground is 
occupied with hoed crops, and the season is wet, 
that hoeing and cultivating instead of destroying, 
cuts and tears the roots into thousands of pieces, 
every one of which forms a new plant, and in this 
particular it is more troublesome even than the 
Canada Thistle. One of the best modes of eradi¬ 
cation is to plow the ground during the dryesfc 
part of the season, and then rake out the roots 
with a spring-tooth horse rake; they are deposited 
in piles, and when decayed, form a good manure. 
A writer in a late number of the London Mark 
Lane Express, states that the couth grass draws 
largely on the fertility of the soil, and that there¬ 
fore no good crop can ever be grown where it 
flourishes,—and for this same reason it constitutes, 
when decayed, an excellent, manure- adding, 
“ we do not know a better manure for turneps 
than decomposed couch, if Saturated with a little 
tank liquor; and we have seen very fair turneps 
grown with decomposed couch alone. In the 
state first mentioned, we have tried it with success 
against town dung, and have no doubt, if it were 
collected and carefully put by, it would be a valu¬ 
able auxiliary to the waste manures of the farm; 
hut it would be the second year before it would 
be safe to apply a plant whose vital powers are so 
extensive and tenacious.” No analysis has been 
yet made of this plant, but the subject, we are in¬ 
formed , is about to be thoroughly investigated by 
Prof. Way. 
In a former volume of the Cultivator., E. Marks, 
of Onondaga count}’-, describes a very successful 
experiment, by which several acres occupied with 
a “ perfect mat ” of this grass was completely de¬ 
stroyed in a season by successive plowing—that is, 
on the smothering system, known to be so effect¬ 
ual with the Canada Thistle. In the spring, he 
plowed with a shallow furrow, and a few days af¬ 
terwards gave the ground a thorough harrowing. 
As soon as the plant began to appear above the 
surface, he plowed and harrowed again. The 
operation was repeated several times, each succes¬ 
sive plowing being deeper than the preceding, un¬ 
til a depth of ten inches was attained. Not a ves¬ 
tige of the weed was afterwards seen. The whole 
field where this experiment was performed, con¬ 
tained 48 acres ; it was sown to wheat and yielded 
an average rate of 32 bushels per aere; but the 
heaviest portion was that where the couch grass 
grew, and which had been subjected to seven suc¬ 
cessive plowings. —— 
The mor <2 we satisfy the demands of conscience, 
the stronger they become. Love and religion are 
here like the sun. By mere daylight and torch¬ 
light, the air of the apartment is pure and undis¬ 
turbed by a single particle; but let in a sunbeam, 
and how much dust and motes are hovering about. 
Sheep Shearing Festival. 
The statistical report of the Sheep Shearing of 
A. L. Bingham, of Cornwall, Vt., which is given ir. 
another page of this paper, though in itself very 
important, is not the whole, or the most generally 
attractive part of a farmer’s festival. We are well 
aware that very many are ready to say that pri¬ 
vate enterprise and l r ankee shrewdness lie at the 
bottom of all such gatherings; and we admit the 
fact; but after all, results farther reaching than 
individual profit, grow ultimately out of them. 
The public are reliably informed of the exact yield 
of wool from a flock of pure bred sheep, and thus 
have the means of knowing the real profit to be 
derived from them. The tendency of all accurate 
experiments is to promote care in the management 
of business, and to stimulate exertion. And no 
occupation is so much in need of an impulse in 
this direction as farming, and nothing will be so ef¬ 
fectual in this respect as actual example. Private 
success always prepares the way for more extend¬ 
ed trial, and the efforts of a single individual to 
promote his own interest, have very frequently 
resulted in the general adoption of measures cal¬ 
culated to benefit the entire public. 
Another reason why these occasions are pro¬ 
ductive of good, is that farmers are brought to¬ 
gether by them, and made to feel that they are a 
body of men having common interests and aims, 
common experience and trials, and also common 
pleasures and rewards. The lords of the soil are 
disposed to foster a kind of isolated spirit, and to 
feel that every man lives for himself, instead of 
claiming to be, as they might be, a body confede¬ 
rate, acting for the greatest good of the greatest 
number. It should be the maxim of every agri¬ 
culturist to make farming the most profitable and 
honorable employment, and his farm the best one 
in the land. This spirit is fostered by the meeting of 
farmers from distant parts of the country, the ex¬ 
change of views, and a comparison of success. 
This more remote effect is not to be lost sight of, 
and everything which tends to unite conflicting in¬ 
terests, to strengthen bonds of union and create 
new ones, should receive the countenance of our 
farmers. Those who attend such festivities from 
mere curiosity, often carry away an impression 
which will be lasting as time. We therefore fully 
agree with the sentiment that the Sheep Shearing 
Festival is founded in correct notions, and may be 
made useful in promoting the wool growing inte¬ 
rests. 
Hyde’s Hotel, the place of holding this Festi¬ 
val, has no farther attraction in point of location, 
than that it is situated in one of the lovely valleys 
which abound in Vermont, where green pastures 
and still waters, in pleasing combination with cul¬ 
tivated fields, peaceful residences, and church 
spires, make up all the landscape. It affords the 
comforts of a quiet, secluded, country home, with 
the luxury of an excellent table, and the greater 
one of pure air. Mr. Hyde was born a hotel 
keeper, and without seeming to have any will of 
his own, has a peculiarly happy manner of pleas¬ 
ing every one in his own way. 
The shearing took place in a building near the 
hotel, and the monotonous click of the shears was 
often relieved by a band of music in attendance, 
and also by the singing of the ‘ 1 Ampbions,”—a 
quartette company who have some celebrity as 
vocalists. The mechanical part of the shearing 
was completed about two o’clock in the afternoon 
