32 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
NOTES FOR THE MONTH. 
The Neav-England Farmer. —Mr. Colman, who 
has been the principal contributor to the editorial de¬ 
partment of this paper for a year or two past, having 
found it inconvenient to continue his assistance, Mr. 
Breck, the publisher, has engaged the Rev. Allen 
Putnam, a well-known agriculturist and writer, to take 
the entire charge of the paper, and we doubt not that 
under his care the reputation and usefulness of this long 
established favorite with the agricultural public, will be 
well sustained. 
“The Agriculturist.” —We are gratified to learn 
that a union has been effected by the Tennessee Farm¬ 
er, Southern Cultivator and The Agriculturist, the three 
very valuable journals heretofore published in Tennes¬ 
see. All these papers were well conducted, and we be¬ 
lieve received a respectable patronage. We cannot 
doubt, however, but the value of the united work, which 
is to be issued at Nashville under the title of “ The 
Agriculturist/’ will be much enhanced to the subscri¬ 
bers, over either of the old ones. There will be a gain 
also in the matter of contributors. The man who" de¬ 
votes his occasional hour as a contributor to a public 
journal, wishes to do good and be read, and he feels 
more certain of this when the circulation is 10 or 20,000 
than where it is only one 1 or 2,000. 
The Union Agriculturist. —This is the title of a 
monthly journal, recently established at Chicago, Illi¬ 
nois. It is published by the “ Union Agricultural So¬ 
ciety,” an incorporated association embracing the coun¬ 
ties of Cook, Dupage, Kane, Lasalle, McHenry and 
Will, and is edited by J. S. Wright, Esq. the Corres¬ 
ponding Secretary. Its appearance is promising, and 
we doubt not it will prove worthy an extensive patronage, 
which we should hope the farmers of the Avest will be 
wise enough to extend to it. The object of the society 
is to bring into those counties improved breeds of stock— 
to purchase a farm for experimenting in agriculture—to 
effect the organization of County Agricultural Societies 
—to establish fairs and shows—to publish an agricul¬ 
tural paper, and generally to take such measures as 
may be deemed expedient to promote the interests of 
agriculture within their boundaries. 
The Southern Agriculturist. —The publication of 
this work, which last year gave place to the Southern 
Cabinet, is to be resumed by J. D. Legare, its former 
editor, who we trust will receive the encouragement and 
patronage so justly due to such a publication, which 
we cannot doubt will prove an honor to the Palmetto 
state. 
The Western Farmer is the title of a semi-month¬ 
ly, the first number of which was issued at Detroit, 
last month, by Josiah Snow, editor and publisher, at 
$1.00 a year. 
The Spirit of the Times. —This capital sporting 
journal is well sustained by its talented and indefatiga¬ 
ble editor, W. T. Porter, Esq. The number of the 
9th January is accompanied by a splendid portrait on 
steel, of Monarch, a famous high-bred horse, owned by 
Gen. Wade Hampton, of South Carolina, who purcha¬ 
sed hi in when a year old from the stud of William IV., 
for $1,300. He is now seven years old, and Gen. H. 
has several times been offered and refused $20,000 ! for 
him. He never lost a heat as a racer, but having re¬ 
ceived an injury in one of his feet, he has been with¬ 
drawn from the turf, and made his first season last year. 
He has been sent to Mr. Clay, and will be kept next 
year near Lexington, Ky. The “ Spirit” is published 
weekly at $10 a year. 
The Turf Register. —A new volume (the 12th,) 
of this work commences with the present year. Each 
number is embellished with a steel plate engraving— 
the one for January representing a “Winter Scene on 
the Kaaters-Kills.” It is edited by W. T. Porter, Esq. 
the editor of the Spirit of the Times, and published 
monthly at $5 per annum, at No. 1, Barclay-st., New- 
York. 
The Garden. —Our thanks are due to Alexander 
Walsh, Esq., that most indefatigable friend of Agri¬ 
culture and rural improvement, for his ready compli¬ 
ance with our request in furnishing us with the plan of 
a garden which we publish this month. It is, with some 
few additions, but a plan and description of the beauti¬ 
ful and tastefully arranged garden adjoining his resi¬ 
dence at Elm Place, Lansingburgh. Though few of 
our readers may wish to improve their gardens to the 
extent of the plan described by Mr. W., we think all 
who have any taste for rural decorations, will find in it 
more or less which they can appropriate to their use, 
as by having a suitable plan and arrangement, and 
every farmer should make one appropriate to his pre¬ 
mises, whatever labor is bestowed, be it more or less, 
may be done in accordance with the general design, so 
that every additional tree, or shrub, or flower, that is 
planted, may show to advantage, though it be but a 
part of a whole view, which it may take years to com¬ 
plete. 
Postage. —'Gentlemen who have occasion to write us 
on matters exclusively their own, are requested to 
“ take particular notice,” that hereafter no such letters 
will be attended to unless they come to us free of post¬ 
age. We always cheerfully answer, either by letter or 
through the paper as the case may require, all inqui¬ 
ries addressed to us ; but there seems to be no little in¬ 
justice in taxing us with postage on letters which it fre¬ 
quently requires hours of labor to enable us to anSAver. 
Several letters the past month, remain unanswered for 
this cause. 
A Cow worth Having. —The Syracuse Western 
State Journal says, “ Mr. Storrs Barrows, a little west 
of this village, on the railroad, is the owner of one of 
the most valuable cows in this county, if not the very 
best. She is a mixed breed—Durham and Leopard: 
and is now about eight years old. Last summer she 
produced over 21 lbs. of butter in one week, besides 
supplying the family with what milk was needed. Mr. 
B. brought us last week one of two rolls of nearly 
equal size, just made, which we found weighed 7 lbs. 
14 oz.—being nearly 16 lbs. per week this winter. He 
has been offered $150, and refused the handsome sum. 
She is undoubtedly worth, taking all things into consi¬ 
deration, half a dozen common cows.” As there is 
no such distinct breed as the “ Leopard” known, this 
cow undoubtedly owes her milking properties to a for¬ 
tunate cross of the Durham with some of the many va¬ 
rieties of our common stock. The celebrated Cream- 
pot breed of Col. Jacques had a similar origin. 
Disease of Swine. —In the West and South, says 
the Farmer’s Gazette, great losses have been sustained 
within a year or two by a disease which has not, so far 
as we have learned, yet appeared at the North. It is 
called “ the thumps ,” from a violent internal action or 
beating, which destroys the animal in a few hours or 
days. It has been hitherto found very difficult, if 
not impossible to cure, when fully developed, but some 
experiments made by Dr. Shelby, of Tennessee, would 
seem to hold out some hope that calomel may master 
the disease. The cases in which he had tried it proved 
successful. 
Good Doctrine. —Iji the following extract, which we 
make from Mr. Biddle’s Address before the Philadel¬ 
phia Agricultural Society, in October last, there is much 
truth and good sense. In these respects the great bank¬ 
er speaks like an experienced man :—“ A farmer who 
has made any money spends it not in his business, but 
in some other occupation. He buys more land when he 
ought to buy more manure ; or puts out his money in 
some joint stock company to convert sunshine into moon¬ 
shine ; or else he buys shares in some gold mine or lead 
mine. Rely upon it, our richest mine is the barnyard, 
and that whatever temptations stocks or shares may of¬ 
fer, the best investment for a farmer is live stock and 
plow-shares.” 
Fine Honey. —Mr. Curtis of Stratford, Conn, has 
been very successful in the management of bees, and in 
securing their honey without destroying them. In a 
communication to the Farmer’s Gazette, he mentions 
that he prefers placing boxes on the top of the hive for 
the bees to fill, when the hive is replenished ; and that 
last October, when the bees had descended forom the 
box to the hive, he took off one box containing 45 lbs. 
of virgin honey, and another swarm yielded 30 lbs. in 
the same way. This we think far preferable to the 
barbarous method of killing these laborers for the sake 
of the honey. 
Large Yield of Oats. —Mr. Kent Jarvis, of Jef¬ 
ferson Co. N. Y. states in the Northern Journal, that 
he sowed 2| bushels of horse-mane oats on the 25th 
of May last, on 154 rods of ground, which was the 
previous year in potatoes, from which he harvested on 
the 8th of September, 123 bushels, being at the rate of 
127 bushels to the acre. 
Sewing Silk. —Mrs. Spann of Sumpter District, S. C. 
the past season, made from silk of her own raising, 25 
lbs. of beautiful sewing silk ; and this without any oth¬ 
er instruction than what she derived from books and 
periodicals accessible to all. This amount was inde¬ 
pendent of floss, silk pierced cocoons, &.c., amounting to 
a considerable quantity. Well may the Editor of the 
Farmer’s Gazette remark, “ Of one such daughter has 
South Carolina more reason to be proud, than of ten 
thousand, whose chief pride is to thumb the piano, or 
or skip across a dancing room.” 
Protection to the Feet from Frost. —Capt. Par¬ 
ry, in his attempt to make a N. W. Passage, found great 
difficulty in keeping his men’s feet from freezing while 
wearing boots or shoes ; and he was obliged to substi¬ 
tute coverings made of the thick woolen blankets and 
cloths brought with them from Europe. With this 
covering of the feet his men would bear without injury 
an exposure, which with the best covering of leather 
would have frozen their extremities fatally. Those in 
our latitudes who are exposed to great cold may take a 
useful hint from these facts. 
Western Pork. —We find it stated in the western 
papers that up to the 10th of December, 150,000 hogs 
had been slaughtered at Cincinnati, and 40,000 at Louis¬ 
ville, making some 200,000 at these two places alone. 
Besides those killed at these markets, many hogs are 
packed at other places, so that it will not be extrava¬ 
gant to estimate the number killed for market this year 
at 300,000. At Cincinnati the increase in hogs killed 
over last year is more than one-half, and the western 
pork crop of 1840 has been very productive. 
Peas among Corn.— Col. J. W. Clay, contends 
that his pea crop is worth more this year, than his corn 
on the same land, and he informs us that his corn crop 
was this year very heavy. From our little experience in 
this matter, and what we have gleaned from others, we 
are satisfied that peas can be advantageously raised in 
every cornfield.— Agriculturist. It would unquestion¬ 
ably be better to raise a crop of peas among corn, 
than the enormous growth of weeds which many far¬ 
mers allow to mature in their corn fields every year, but 
we should question whether with our close planting 
at the north, the crop of peas would counterbalance 
the injury the corn must receive. We hope some of 
our friends will make an experiment in the matter the 
coming season and report the results. 
Good Stock.—A full blooded bull calf of the Durham 
breed, owned by the publisher of the Western State 
Journal, Syracuse, was weighed on the 16th of January, 
when one year old, and his weight was eight hundred, 
and ninety-six pounds! 
A Good Example. —The Macon Intelligencer states 
that at the late court term of Macon county, Georgia, 
one of the Judges, A, E. Earnest, Esq. appeared in a 
full suit of silk (including coat, vest, pantaloons, stock¬ 
ings, pocket handkerchief, and stock.) produced and 
manufactured wholly and entirely in his own family. 
Judge E. is of the opinion that domestic silk will, before 
many years, be found the most economical article for 
negro clothing, as well as for ladies and gentlemen. 
When such examples become common, we shall have 
hopes of our country. 
American Flour Machinery. —We have gathered 
the following facts from the New-York Herald. In 
1836—7, a quantity of wheat was sent from Trieste in 
Austria, to the United States, and when ground in. our 
flouring mills, the quantity and quality of flour was 
found to be greatly increased over home ground wheat. 
As the wheat could not be sent to this country to be 
ground, it was determined to convey the American 
mills to Austria, and an agent from Trieste has just 
shipped the entire machinery, burr millstones and all, 
for a first rate flouring mill of eight run of stones, and 
a first rate millwright and miller go out to superintend 
the putting up of the machinery. We have no doubt 
the mill when put in operation will do honor to Ameri¬ 
can mechanics. 
American Plows Abroad. —American plows are 
becoming celebrated abroad, and if the various trials 
made at home and abroad of the power required to 
move them may be relied upon, they are superior in 
ease of draft and perfection of work to any others. 
Our plows have found their way to Russia, are creating 
a new era of agriculture in Turkey, are to be seen at 
the Agricultural Schools in France, and at the late meet¬ 
ing of the English Royal Agricultural Society, an Ame¬ 
rican plow was exhibited which elicited the greatest ad¬ 
miration ; and though not allowed to enter into compe¬ 
tition with the English plows, was tried by many dis¬ 
tinguished and noble persons, and pronounced a most 
superior implement. 
Western Reserve (Ohio) Farmers. —It is estima¬ 
ted that the Western Reserve dairies sell annually, 
cheese to the amount of a million and a half of dollars, 
besides large quantities of butter, and a great amount of 
beef and pork. To this must be added a surplus of a 
million bushels of wheat annually, and it will be seen 
that the farmers of such a district can scarcely fail of 
becoming independent. It must be remembered that 
New-England peopled the Ohio Reserve. 
Keeping Bees. —A correspondent of the Farmer’s 
Gazette on the subject of keeping bees says— “ Dig a 
hole about ten feet under ground, then put a layer of 
straw on the bottom, and then put down your hives on 
that ; then bind straw round the hives, and throw in 
dirt even with the top ; then put in another layer of 
straw on top, and fill it up with dirt. The bees in this 
way will not eat any honey during the winter, but will 
lie perfectly torpid, and as soon as they are taken out, 
about the first of May, they will go immediately to 
Avork.” Such a method would only do in soils that are 
very porous and dry ; as the access of water in any po¬ 
sition would be fatal to bees. 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
The package about which “ L. B.” of Hartford, inquires, 
Avas duly received, and we should with pleasure have given 
place to the extracts from the Connecticut Courant of 1817, 
could we have done it without excluding the original contribu¬ 
tions Avith which we have been the year past so liberally sup- 
plied. 
The Meteorological Tables from Leonardsville, N. Y. would 
occupy more space than we can spare for that purpose. 
We will make room for “B. S.” on the study of Meteo¬ 
rology as soon as we can. 
The correspondent who Avas so kind as to furnish us with 
the article on “ Epidemic among Cattle ,” has our thanks. 
It is our intention to avoid as far as possible the things to 
Avhich objections are taken by H. N. of Putnam, O., and by 
G. R. of Monticello, Mo. 
“D. B.” unquestionably oives the loss of his plums to the 
Curculio, an insect he will find described at p. 70, vol. 7, of 
this paper, to which he is also referred for a description of the 
best means of avoiding their depredations._ We do not think 
the locust trees in his orchard could have injuriously affected 
his fruit. 
We have some ten or a dozen communications on the Ro¬ 
han potato, for the substance of which we shall try to find a 
place next month. 
The favor of “ L. A. M.” on Legislative Aid, was received 
too late for this month. It is difficult for us to make room for 
communications received after the 20th of the month, as we 
always have by that time, more than enough original contri¬ 
butions to fill our sheet. 
We have some dozen or more communications filed for 
next month—among them are those of D- T., A Western 
Farmer, R. Sinclair, Jr., S. W. Jewett, S. B. Siiaav, Wm. 
Penn Kinzer, L. A. M. and others. 
New-York State Agricultural Society. 
The annual meeting of the New-York State Agricultural 
icietv, for the choice of officers, &c. will he held in Albany, 
l Wednesday, the 10th of February, 1841. The members 
ill meet at the City Hotel at 11 o’clock, A. M. 
WM. COOPER, Rec. Sec’y 
