THE CULTIVATOR. 
182 
cial stock. The Ayrshire hull “ Dundee,” is now the pro¬ 
perty of the Dartmouth Agricultural Society, by whom 
he is highly appreciated. The young Ary shire bull calf 
a Major,” is the property of the Cornwallis Agricultural 
Society, also the Ayrshire cow “ Jenny 2d,” both doing 
well. The Ayrshire heifer “ Jenny Deans,” was pur¬ 
chased by John Brown, Esq., of Falmouth, whose care 
as a breeder renders him worthy of her promise. The 
Hereford heifer is owned by John Esson, Esq., of Hali¬ 
fax. She is kept on his farm at Dartmouth; she is much 
admired. The young Devon bull which I purchased 
from the editor of the “ Massachusetts Plowman,” is 
now the property of Messrs. Brown and Black, at Wind¬ 
sor; he is also doing well. The Hereford bull is owned 
by the Windsor Agricultural Society, who prize him 
highly. The Suffolk and Middlesex swine, which I 
purchased from the late Mr. Stickneyof Massachusetts, 
are widely distributed over Nova Scotia, and cannot 
fail, in the hands of careful breeders, to improve our 
stock. The Central Board of Agriculture, at Halifax, 
in disposing of these animals, obtained bonds from the 
purchasers, warranting a careful preservation of the 
stock and their progeny within the Province, for a certain 
period; but it is to be hoped that the farmers’ own in¬ 
terest will prove a sufficient guarantee in this instance. 
The past season has proved more propitious to our 
agricultural interests than the preceding one. With the 
exception of potatoes, which were generally blighted, 
all other crops have proved a fair average. With best 
wishes, 1 beg to remain, sir, your ob’dt and obliged 
servt., James Irons, Sec’y C. B. A., Halifax. 
-- 
Indian Cora. 
Eds. Cultivator —In the Cultivator of May last, 
“ A. S. F.,” of Granville, N. Y., has given us the 
method practiced by Mr. Clark of Castleton, Yt., in 
raising Indian corn. He says, “ The manure being 
spread,” See. I wish to ask how much manure to the 
acre he considers necessary. Supposing a man has little 
or no manure, does he consider his compost sufficient of 
itself to raise a good crop of Indian corn, on tolerably 
good land. For if manure enough is !l spread upon the 
furrows and thoroughly harrowed,” we may expect a 
good crop without his compost. I have about three 
acres of land, from which I would like to take a good 
crop of corn this year, and have no manure but what I 
buy at a cost not less than seven dollars per cord, de¬ 
livered on the land, which is two miles from the city. 
11 Mr. C. says he knows from actual experience, that the 
compost for one acre will produce more corn than fifty 
loads of manure.” A. S. F. says, u I shall try the ex¬ 
periment,” I am desirous to know the result of his 
11 experiment” ‘before planting time. 
Does A. S. F. hill up his corn, or does he not? I 
notice that u A Practical Farmer” on page 62 of the 
current volume, recommends to go through with “ the 
cultivator three times both ways”—I suppose six times 
in all — 11 and never haul dirt to the corn.” 
Is this compost alone better than 50 loads of manure 
to the acre? and is the cultivator six times through the 
rows, and a clean pulling of weeds, the best mode of 
culture after planting? If so, I think it must be a great 
improvement on the old methods of raising corn. My I 
M AY. 
land is rather high, and approaching to a gravelly loam. 
Geo. Mansfield. Lowell, March 3, 1851. 
Injury by Muskrats. 
Eds. Cultivator —I hope some of your readers will 
give the information which another correspondent de¬ 
sires, in relation to the muskrat. This animal is a per¬ 
fect pest in my grounds. He not only burrows in the 
banks of ditches, much to my annoyance, but he is very 
destructive to my corn. This last season, the muskrats 
ate off more than half an acre of my corn, after it had 
got to be two or three feet in height. My man checked 
their operations, partially, in the latter part of the sea¬ 
son, by snaring them with a brass wire set in their paths, 
but this costs too much time and attention. Unless I 
can find some easier mode of destroying them, I shall 
be obliged to forego the cultivation of corn on a piece 
of 15 acres, peculiarly adapted to its growth. 
I believe this animal subsists entirely upon vegetable 
food. Old trappers have sometimes baked them with 
a bit of parsnip, carrot or sweet apple, which they will 
sometimes nibble at and carry away. What we want to 
know is, whether they can be fed with any kind of pre¬ 
pared food. That ascertained, I have no doubt strych- 
nine would do the rest. Yours, &c., V. W. S. Syra¬ 
cuse, Feb. 1851. 
The Germantown Telegraph states, that these ani¬ 
mals may be readily caught in a steel-trap, set in the 
water where they have their paths, in going to the land 
for food. It is said not to be necessary to bait the trap, 
but it must set where they would be likely to put their 
feet in it. The writer states that nine were caught in 
this way in the course of a few weeks. It is necessary 
to fasten the trap by a chain or piece of wire, to pre¬ 
vent its being carried off by the muskrat. 
Strong Vitality of some Varieties of Weed-Seeds. 
Eds. Cultivator —The garden which I occupy had 
been neglected before it came under my care in the 
autumn of 1842. There was in it a small triangular 
plat, of less than two square rods, surrounded by goose¬ 
berries. This I found covered with the yellow dock. 
It has now been under cultivation for eight years, and 
has occasionally been deeply spaded. I think it fully 
within the limits of truth to say that I have destroyed 
upon it three crops of young plants each year; and the 
end is not yet. The fact obviously is, that each year of 
cultivation has thrown up seed that had previously lain 
too deep cast and removed from the air to germinate. 
All seeds have not this strong vitality. Corn and beans 
deeply planted will speedily rot, but potatoes and peas 
will grow from any depth at which they ever become 
buried by the deepest cultivation. 
Let farmers beware how they neglect a crop of weeds 
under the impression that a little extra cultivation, the 
next year, will make up the difference. It may be so 
with some varieties, but with many it will not, as they 
will discover, to their expense and sorrow, in long sub¬ 
sequent years. Query: Who has experimented on this 
subject, and will give the public a table exhibiting the 
different vitality of weed-seeds. C. E.G. Utica, Feb. 
7, 1851. 
