250 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
July 
We have no disposition to claim more for American im¬ 
plements, or concede less for British ones, than positive 
merit would justify; but the conclusion, drawn from this 
exhibition, that those of England are far superior to 
those of any other nation, we believe to be unwarranted. 
As to plows, we are not altogether strangers to some of 
the best of English and Scotch manufacture. We are 
free to admit, that until lately, they have possessed an 
advantage, in one respect, over our American plows— 
that is, they have been better adapted to stiff soils. In 
such soils, the former will cut a deeper furrow, in pro¬ 
portion to the width, than most of our own. The fault 
with the latter is not that they will not turn a deep fur¬ 
row—many of them will go seven or eight inches deep 
—they cut too wide, and leave the slice too heavy. But 
there is a great difference in our plows in this respect, 
and we do not admit that the superiority alluded to is 
entire and universal. Except in the particular men¬ 
tioned, we are not aware that the English and Scotch 
plows can in general claim any advantage over the Ameri¬ 
can. -— 
Toads in Gardens.-— Various remedies have been 
given for the prevention of the ravages of insects in gar¬ 
dens. Worms, or the larvae of certain moths and beetles, 
often make great destruction among many kinds of 
plants. Various kinds of bugs attack melons, cucum¬ 
bers, squashes, &c., and often destroy the crop soon after 
it appears above ground. Some kinds of worms sel¬ 
dom or never appear above the surface of the ground— 
attacking plants at their roots, or at such parts as are co¬ 
vered by earth. Others eat the leaves, and sometimes 
the stems of young plants. The latter are frequently 
called u cut worms,” from the manner in which they 
cut off plants at the surface of the earth. In this way 
they totally destroy some kinds of plants,—as beans, 
melons, cabbages, &c., which, when once cut off in this 
manner, can make no further growth. One of the best 
means of preventing the ravages of these insects, is to 
hunt them early every morning, while they are near the 
plants thev have eaten the previous night, and destroy 
them. Young chickens and ducks are sometimes kept 
in gardens, that they may devour the insects. This is 
hut a partial remedy. Chickens will only eat a few species 
of insects-—some of the most destructive they leave unno¬ 
ticed—and they will always do more or less injury by eat¬ 
ing various plants, and by scratching. Ducks feed more 
indiscriminately on insects, and do less damage to the 
plants. But toads will do much more good in propor¬ 
tion to the number, (if well grown.) than either chickens 
or ducks. They do no injury whatever; they feed alto¬ 
gether on insects, and devour almost every species that 
infests the garden. They have another advantage over 
chickens or ducks; they seek their food at times when 
insects are most abroad,—at dusk of evening, when fowls 
are at rest. Excepting the black “ pumpkin-bug,” toads 
will fill their stomachs with any bug, worm, or fly that 
belongs to the catalogue of enemies to the farmer or 
gardener. - 
fCT* At the sale of the live-stock of Wm. S. King, 
Esq., near Providence, R. I., on the-7th of May last, 
the following prices were obtained for cows: Brindle, 
sold to M. P. Wilder of Massachusetts, $100; Pink , sold 
to John Lane, $105; Jessica , sold to S. J. Capen, of 
Massachusetts, $170, and several others $50 to $70 each. 
They were mostly of mixed blood—Short-horn, Devon, 
and Holstein, with the common stock. 
Buckwheat. —This crop is one of considerable impor¬ 
tance in many parts of New-York. It is usually sown 
in July—-sometimes as late as August. A bushel of seed 
to the acre is the usual quantity; Sometimes it is sown 
on land from which a crop of hay has been taken the 
same season, and on a clover ley, if the soil is loamy and 
friable, it will frequently do well. This grain is also 
sometimes sown in connection with winter wheat, as a 
protection to the latter for winter. From personal ex¬ 
perience, we cannot speak of it for this purpose. The 
consumption of buckwheat flour in our cities, during 
during the winter months, is very great, and it com¬ 
mands a price but little inferior to that from wheat. The 
coarse parts of the grain, after the flour has been separa- 
ted, make good food for swine, milch cows, or other 
stock; and as a good yield—twenty-five to thirty bushels 
per acre—can frequently be obtained on land where wheat 
cannot usually be cultivated to profit, the crop has many 
advantages. —- 
Manufacture of Mustard. —We have made some in¬ 
quiries of Messrs. E. Murdock k Son, of this city, in 
regard to the manufacture of mustard. We have been 
not a little surprised at the extent to which this busi¬ 
ness is carried on by them, and by information they have 
given us in regard to the manufacture of the article in 
the country. Messrs. M. work up from 1,000 to 1,500 
lbs. of mustard seed per week, equal at least to 30 tons 
a year, and they think the quantity manufactured in the 
state is at least 100 tons a year. They state that but a 
small portion of this seed—-not more than a hundreth 
part, is raised in this country. The larger portion, and that 
of the best quality, is imported from Sicily and France. 
It is worth on the average seven cents per pound, or 
$3,50 per bushel. Messrs M. state that most of the 
American seed which they purchase, is as good as the 
best imported. They inform us, also, that the principal 
objection to the quality of the seed raised a few years 
since in Ohio, was that the crop was frequently cut 
when much of the seed was in an immature state, which 
occasioned much of it to shrink and sometimes to be¬ 
come mouldy. It should be cut at different times—the 
lowd$ branches first, and other portions as they ripen. 
Messrs. M. are now getting some good seed from Il¬ 
linois and Wisconsin. It averages in yield about four¬ 
teen bushels per acre, and gives a satisfactory return 
to those who pay proper attention to the cultivation 
and curing. Messrs. M. recommend the adoption of the 
Sicilian seed for sowing in this country, as being more 
productive and uniform in quality. 
Emigration to the United States. —The North 
British Agriculturist , in reviewing Professor Johnston’s 
14 Notes on North America,” says-— 4 'The extent to 
which emigration is now going on from Great Britain is, 
indeed, such as ought to excite serious alarm. In the 
year 1849, the numbers in the parliamentary returns 
were close upon 400,000. We have not seen the re¬ 
turns for 1850; but we believe that the increase during 
that year was at least 12 per cent., and this year it will 
be still more. We are quite prepared to hear that dur- 
