THE CULTIVATOR. 
13 
NOTICES FOR THE IVIONTH, 
0r tSje Spirit of tlje Agricultural JJrm. 
[As we finl it impossible to transfer to our columns 
many valuable papers, and many interesting facts, in 
the Foreign and Domestic Agricultural Press, we shall 
continue the system adopted last year of abridging and 
condensing such papers as we shall deem most import¬ 
ant, or gleaning such facts as will be most useful, and 
present them to our readers under the form of these 
Monthly Notices. The origin of the Notice, Ave shall 
always be careful to indicate, as far as ascertained.] 
Native Hogs in Kentucky. —It is well known that 
some of our native pigs are real racers, and where wild, 
are as difficult to be caught as wild buffaloes. A recent 
letter-writer from that State, thus describes one of the 
advantages resulting from this breed of pigs, and which 
is about to be lost by the introduction and rapid spread 
of an improved and less agile race. 
“ By the Statutes of this State, (Kentucky) the debt¬ 
or has the privilege of designating what articles of his 
property shall be sold under execution to satisfy a 
debt; and of late it has been a practice in the new 
counties, among these who seek every means to escape 
from the pressing demands of the sheriff and constable, 
to point out the herd of wild hogs in the woods ;—they 
being worth the amount of the execution, the limb of 
the law is obliged to accept them, ‘ but the thing is to 
catch them.’ If not taken, they return to the possession 
of the debtor. A friend of mine saw the same herd of 
swine offered as satisfaction for execution, five times in 
one week, and this herd had been borrowed of a neigh¬ 
bor for a few days, and was of the wildest sort, to evade 
the process of the law. The executions being returned 
nulla bona, the title of the pigs was transferred to their 
rightful owner.” 
Improvement of Imported Stock. —It has been too 
often the case that valuable animals hav r e deteriorated 
rapidly when imported from England ; but the fine cat¬ 
tle taken into Ohio and Kentucky have not been so in¬ 
fluenced ; on the contrary, in the best herds, there has 
been a marked advance on the original stock. A travel¬ 
er in that region says—“ I saw yesterday, heifers three 
years old, that would weigh 1,500 lbs., and which were 
the most perfect models of beauty; and their calves of 
this season, now four or five months old, would weigh 
down an ordinary cow of full growth, and these lusty 
fellows were bleating after their dams, and tugging 
away at the teats like young sucklings, for here cows 
are kept, not for milk, but to raise calves ; and no but¬ 
ter or cheese is made on these large stock farms for the 
market.” 
Premium Plows. —Several gentlemen have expressed 
a wish to learn the prices of the plows which compe¬ 
ted for the great prizes at the Worcester fair ; and what 
the probable price of the premium kinds would be, de¬ 
livered at Albany. We cannot say ; but as the plow is 
a very important article of agriculture, if Messrs. Prou- 
ty and Mears anl Howard will forward us their scale 
of prices, and for what they will furnish them at Alba¬ 
ny on orders, they would confer a favor on many farm¬ 
ers. In the mean time we extract from an able article 
by Mr. Colman, the prices as stated by him of some of 
them : 
Barnet Vermont plow,. $7 00 
Bergen New-York plow,. 7 00 
Superseder plow, 2mold-boards, Barnabyand 
Mooers, Ithaca, New-York,. 12 00 
Howard’s plow, without cutter or roller,. 12 00 
Prouty anl Mears, without cutter or roller,.. 11 50 
Farmers, remember the Humbugs, and don’t 
bite. —Most of the readers of our agricultural papers, 
are aware that a new wheat called the Santa Fe, or 
Osage wheat, has been introduced into South Carolina ; 
that it produces a cluster of ears on a stalk, and that it 
is selling rapidly at $5,00 a single head. Now there is 
every reason to believe that this wheat is nothing more 
than the Triticum. compositum of Loudon, or the Egyptian 
Wheat, figured in his Encyclopedia. It many times ap¬ 
peared in the U. S. under the different names of Egyp¬ 
tian, Wild Goose, Many spiked, Reed, Seven headed, &c. 
but has always failed of establishing a character for a 
valuable wheat. That veteran in Agriculture, G. B. 
Smith of Baltimore, says of it,—“ During the twenty 
years of my agricultural experience, this wheat has 
been presented to my notice at least twenty times.” 
Great yield of Corn. —George W. Williams of 
Bourbon County. Kentucky, has this year grown on one 
acre and one-eighth of land one hundred and seventy- 
eight bushels, or at the rate of one hundred and fifty- 
eight bushels to the acre. The corn was an early yel¬ 
low corn, and was planted in rows two feet apart; and 
one foot apart in the rows. The corn was drop¬ 
ped in a furrow, covered with hoes, the surface 
leveled, and rolled after planting. The surface be¬ 
tween the rows was scraped over with sharp hoes 
to cut the weeds, which was all the labor the crop 
received. The soil was good, plowed deep in the 
spring, and before planting, a thin coat of fresh sta¬ 
ble manure was spread over the surface, cross plowed, 
and harrowed. Mr. Williams attributes much of his 
success to not disturbing the roots of the corn during 
cultivation. 
Importance of the Silk Culture. —This will be 
best understood from the facts gathered from public doc¬ 
uments and stated below : 
Importation of Silks into the U. S. in 1839, $23,000,000 
“ manufactured cottons,. 14,692,000 
“ iron and iron manufactures, 12,051,000 
“ woollen goods,... 18,831,000 
“ sugar,. 9,823,000 
linen goods, 
6,731,000 
These are the most important articles we export from 
abroad, and a glance will show how much silk exceeds 
all others, as well as the necessity for introducing the 
culture at once in this country. 
Corn in Indiana. —Two brothers in La Fayette Co. 
Indiana, have raised on their farm the past year, 35,000 
bushels of corn. Those who have read Mr. Ellsworth’s 
valuable work on the Wabash Valley, will understand 
how pork is made from this corn. The hogs are first 
turned into one field, where they gather the corn for 
themselves ; when this field is exhausted, they are turn¬ 
ed into another, and so in succession until they are fat¬ 
tened on the corn eaten, when they are driven to Cin- 
cinnatti or some other pork market for slaughtering. 
350 hogs are allowed to 100 acres of corn where the lat¬ 
ter is of medium quality, or 60 bushels per acre. 
Thrashing Machines. —The best moving power for 
this important part of the grain farm implements, is 
water. If it should be considered too expensive for or¬ 
dinary farmers, where water could he had several neigh¬ 
bors might unite. A friend of ours has one moved by 
water, which executes the business in the best style. 
At the Oxford Royal Agricultural Show and Fair, a 
machine was exhibited, which thrashed sixty bushels 
in an hour. This greatly exceeds the amount of work 
ordinarily done by American machines, yet we do not 
deem it incredible, as vve have seen that amount ex¬ 
ceeded in a run of a few minutes. We have generally 
found, however, the greater the hurry in thrashing, the 
greater the waste of the grain, owing to the impossibi¬ 
lity of properly separating the grain from the straw by 
the rakers. 
Geological Survey of New Hampshire. —Dr. Jack¬ 
son’s Survey of this State, now in progress, promises to 
do much in developing the agricultural and mineral re¬ 
sources of the granite State. Iron, copper, and tin ores, 
have been discovered, in quantities to admit of being 
profitably worked. The last is comparatively a new me¬ 
tal in this country, only a few chrystals having hither¬ 
to been found. The ores found by Dr. Jackson are at 
the eastern base of the White mountains, axe abundant, 
and yield from 30 to 50 per cent of pure tin. Few me¬ 
tals of greater utility could have been discovered. 
Great Yield. —In the Ithaca Chronicle, we find the 
following statement of the amount and value of produc¬ 
tion from one-fourth acre of land in that village, culti¬ 
vated by Mr. Aaron Curtis, who furnished it for publi¬ 
cation. 
140 bushels of onions at 50 cents,.$70 
600 heads of cabbages,. 5 “ . 30 
50 bushels beets,. 50 ‘ . 25 
$125 
120 sugar beet seed, produced 1,125 lhs. of beets, or 
22 i bushels, occupying 1 1-2 rods of ground, yielding at 
the rate of 2,400 bushels per acre. Such crops as the 
above, and those produced by the Editor of the Maine 
Cultivator, Mr. Drew, on his acre of land, prove the 
profit of cultivating but a little land, and doing it well, 
in the most forcible manner. 
Cure for the bite of a Rattle-Snake. —The Edi¬ 
tor of the Cheraw, S. C. Gazette, says aqua ammonia 
(water of ammonia,) fresh and pure, in doses of a 
tea-spoonful at intervals of from 15 minutes to an hour, 
in water, is an infallible remedy for the bite of any 
snake. This is the dose for an adult, and the medicine 
is not to he relied upon if the bottle in which it is kept 
has been frequently opened.” 
In an early number of the American Journal of the 
Medical Sciences, is a paper containing a history of nu¬ 
merous cases successfully treated by Ammonia. 
Good Crops in Old Connecticut. —The N. H. Re¬ 
gister says that Mr. Wilmot of West Haven, the past 
season raised two hundred and seventy bushels of corn, 
and ten bushels of potatoes, on three acres of land; and 
the Bridgport Standard states that Mr. Ellsworth raised 
on a single acre of land two hundred and forty bushels 
of ears of Dutton Corn. 
Domestic Silk. —From a communication in the North¬ 
ern Journal, from Mr. J. H. Leonard, it appears that se¬ 
veral persons have fed silk worms in Carthage in this 
state, the past season, with great success. He says he fed 
5000 worms of the pea-nut kind—that not 30 died du¬ 
ring feeding, and that the cocoons were very productive 
and large. He also fed with complete success, about 
15,000 of the mammoth white and sulphur kind,—the 
cocoons being of unusual size, weighing about 133 to a 
pound—requiring from 1380 to 1400 cocoons to make one 
pound of reeled silk. “ One acre of land,” says Mr. Leo. 
nard, “ properly set to Multicaulis Mulberries, and well 
cultivated, and fed to the mammoth silk worm, will pro¬ 
duce from 120 to 130 pounds of reeled silk, worth $6 a 
pound which will amount (one acre,) to $700. The ex¬ 
pense of feeding, the three first months would not be more 
than the time of one woman to feed them, and a boy \0 
years old to pick the leaves the first two weeks, and. the 
help of a boy or girl the third week, would be all that w/guld 
be necessary.” 
AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES, 
Ag. and Hor. Society of Washtenaw Co., Mich. 
Michigan is a young State, hut she is rich in her ag¬ 
ricultural resources, and in the spirit of her active and 
industrious population. The flour and wheat poured 
down our canals from the far West, prove her agricul¬ 
tural capabilities ; the formation and spirit of her agri¬ 
cultural associations, show she is determined to go 
ahead, and that she will not linger behind the progress 
of the times. 
We have received from the Secretary of the associa¬ 
tion named above, W. S. Maynard, Esq. a Report of 
the proceedings of the Society at their annual meeting 
in October, 1840, at Ann Arbor ; and the reasons which 
have obliged us to condense the proceedings of such So¬ 
cieties in our previous notices, will oblige us still to 
pursue the same course. 
Premiums were awarded for the best stock, both do¬ 
mestic and imported ; and the show of both on the 
ground was good. Michigan may not equal Kentucky 
in facilities for raising cattle, hut the country will doubt¬ 
less improve in its adaptation to grass as the cultivation 
is extended, and we are glad to perceive that in the 
matter of cattle, she is determined to start right. Her 
enterprising farmers will also find that it is more profita¬ 
ble to feed the great crops of corn grown on the rich 
soils of that state to the easy fattening Berkshire, than 
to the Landpikes so extensively known in the west, as 
well as elsewhere. 
The show of vegetables was very fine. Valparaiso 
Squashes, Rohan Potatoes, Chinese Corn, Sugar Beet, 
Blood Beets, Mangel Wurtzel, and Cabbages of magni¬ 
ficent proportions were exhibited from the fields and 
gardens of the gentlemen present. 
The best feelings prevailed at the meeting, and the 
interest taken by the farmers of the County in the As¬ 
sociation, is the best pledge of its succes and extensive 
usefulness. — 
Agricultural Society of Barmvell District, S. C. 
The Anniversary Meeting of the Agricultural Society 
of BarnwellDistrict, was held at Barnwell Court House, 
in November, 1840. 
This Society have adopted the excellent practice of 
appointing a committee at each meeting to make Re¬ 
ports on some assigned topic connected with agriculture, 
the Reports to be made at the next anniversary. Papers 
of great practical value are thus furnished the public, 
and it is probable the same course might he adopted by 
other societies with much advantage. At this meeting, 
a Report on the cultivation of cotton, ivas made by Col. 
Hammond; on the cultivation of corn, by the Rev. D. 
Peeples; on the statistics of Barnwell District, by E. 
Bellinger, Jr., and on Silk, by James Clark. These 
Reports were ordered for publication in the Carolina 
Planter. 
Fine specimens of the African potato were presented 
by W. G. Simms; of grapes, by Mr. Prevost; and do¬ 
mestic silk by Mr. Clark. 
The Address was delivered by Mr. W. Gillmore 
Simms, so well known to the public as a beautiful wri¬ 
ter, and he did not on this occasion disappoint the high 
expectation that had been formed cf his effort. Of Mr. 
Simms’ oration, the Southern Planter says— 
“We shall not attempt to give an epitome of Mr. 
Simms’ Address ; to attempt it would he an injustice to 
that distinguished writer. A copy has been requested 
for publication, and we hope we may be permitted to 
present it to the public entire, clothed in its own beauty 
and excellence. Suffice it to say the address was wor¬ 
thy of the high character which Mr. Simms has acqui¬ 
red as a writer. It was well adapted to the subject and 
the occasion, and was received by his attentive and de¬ 
lighted audience with long and loud applause.” 
After the Address the large assemblage of ladies and 
gentlemen present partook of a fine barbecue prepared 
for the occasion. 
The exhibition of stock was very fine, and of the most 
encouraging character. The horses, cattle and swine, 
were much admired for the various excellent qualities 
that constitute the best animals of each kind. 
We take a pleasure in recording these triumphs of 
Agriculture at the South ; particularly at the present 
time when such an effort is making abroad to destroy 
the value of the great staple of the southern part of the 
United States. It shows that they are not confined to 
the production of a single article ; but that their capa¬ 
bilities include others which may by proper attention 
become as valuable as cotton. 
Wayne County Agricultural Society. 
At a meeting of this Society on the 15th Nov. in New¬ 
ark, the following officers were appointed for the cur¬ 
rent year Samuel Hecox, Pres’t.—Hamilton Rogers 
and Harvey Mallory, Vice Pres’ls. —i). M. Keeler, Sec¬ 
retary ; R. H. Foster, Cor-. Sec’y. ; Joseph A. Miller, 
Treasurer ; S. E. Hudson, A, L. Beaumont and Cullen 
Foster, Ex. Comnaittee. At the same time, Esbon 
Blackmar and John M. Holley, were appointed.Del.. 
egates to the State Ag. Society. 
Genesee County Agricultural Society.. 
Thi's Society held its first annual Exhibition and Fair 
at Alexander, October 14, 1840., It was very well at¬ 
tended, and went oft’with line spirit. There were near¬ 
ly 100 head of blooded animals on the ground, several 
of which were imported. The Society is permanently 
