CONSOLIDATION OF BUEL’S CULTIVATOR AND THE GENESEE FARMER. 
Cult. Vol, ML—No. 4. ALBANY, N, Y. APRIL, 1841. 
PUBLISHED MONTHLY. 
GAYLORD &. TUCKER, EDITORS. 
JESSE BUEL & CO. PROPRIETORS. 
One Dollar per annum—Sis Copies for $5. 
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“ TO IMPROVE THE SOIL AND THE MIND.” 
. - ■—■ ' — - 
To oar Patrons. 
We would tender our acknowledgments to our friends 
and subscribers generally, for the prompt manner in 
i which their subscriptions have been renewed, giving us 
a gratifying increase in the number of names over those 
I of the same period last year. We are also much in¬ 
debted for the number and value of the communications 
we have received ; and to which we shall give a place 
as fast as possible. The generous support we are re¬ 
ceiving, and the interesting papers with which we are 
i favored from various quarters, must be considered a 
i gratifying proof that attention to the theory and prac- 
> tice of Agriculture, is not likely to suffer a decline. 
The State Agricultural Society. 
At the last meeting of the Executive Committee of 
i the State Agricultural Society, it was determined, in or¬ 
der to give more unity and concert of action to the 
1 friends of agriculture, and more efficiency to the opera¬ 
tions of the State Society, to appoint, in accordance 
1 with the 4th section of the Constitution, a General Com- 
i mittee for the several Counties, to aid in carrying into 
1 effect the objects contemplated in the organization of 
» the Society. It has been the intention of the Executive 
a Committee to select gentlemen of known zeal and fidel- 
1 ity in the great cause of Agriculture, who, if they are 
§ not so already, will not only become members them- 
l selves, hut use their influence in inducing others among 
> their friends and acquaintances to become members al¬ 
so. To give efficiency to the institution, to raise the 
| funds necessary for distribution as premiums at the an- 
i nual or semi-annual meetings of the Society—in short, 
t to make it an honor to the State, has been the intention 
Q of these appointments ; and it is hoped each of the gen¬ 
ii tlemen named, as well as the other officers of the Soci- 
ety, will exert himself to accomplish-the object aimed 
- at. The terms of membership, (one dollar only, annu- 
rj ally,) may be seen in the March number of the Cultiva- 
" tor ; and it is confidently believed, that with proper ef- 
lj fort in adding to the list of members, with the appro- 
si priation which the bill now before the legislature allows, 
L and which we think will scarcely he withheld, the Soci- 
1 ety will be placed on a permanent base, and in a posi¬ 
ts * 1 * * * * * * 8 tion worthy of the agricultural resources and capabili- 
| ties cf the Empire Slate. 
—--—- - — i 
The' Ilcro-c-rd r’xfl.so Cow. 
We have a letter from our friend, Joseph Cope of 
East-Bradford, Pa. in relation to the statement made by 
.■Mr. Sotham, (p. 176, vol. 7,) that a “ Hereford cow 
JJ won tlie first prize, as the best cow for dairy purposes 
r of any breed, at the great show of the Royal Agricultu¬ 
ral Society at Oxford in 1839.” Mr. Cope doubts this 
I fact, and to show that such was not the case, he gives a 
detailed list of all the awards of prizes to cattle at that 
r show, quoting from a newspaper and pamphlet account 
d in his possession. We have compared Mr. C.’s account 
tl with that published in the Farmer's Magazine, the or¬ 
gan of the society, and find it all correct, with the excep¬ 
tion of so much as relates to the 5th class, in which 
T there is no notice of the animal which took the first 
s prize. The First Prize of 15 sovereigns, “for the 
fibest cow in milk, which shall in the opinion of the 
8 judges be best calculated for dairy purposes,” was 
awarded “ to the Rev. J. R. Smythie of Lynch Court, 
|; Hereford, for his Hereford cow, aged 9 years and 6 
n months.” The second prize was awarded “ to Joseph 
I Badeoek of Pyrton, for his Durham cow, aged 14 vears 
land 2 months.” " J 
4 
Acknowledgments, 
Reports of the Agricultural Meetings held by the 
Legislature of Massachusetts, prepared by Mr. Colman, 
Agricultural Commissioner.—These reports, prepared 
for the Boston Courier, by the Agricultural Commis¬ 
sioner of the state, furnish a valuable mass of facts, 
on most of the important topics of agriculture, commu¬ 
nicated by the members of the legislature at their weekly 
meetings, and preserved by these notes of Mr. Colman. 
Such meetings we perceive have been adopted by the 
Maine Legislature, and we think may be advantageous¬ 
ly imitated elsewhere. Of the facts so reported by Mr. 
Colman, we shall gladly avail ourselves ; and for their 
presentation he has our thanks. 
Patent Office, Washington. —The Commission¬ 
er of Patents at Washington, Mr. Ellsworth, has 
kindly forwarded us a lithograph view of the new build¬ 
ing recently erected at that city for the use of the Pa¬ 
tent office ; and as a Repository or Gallery of Models 
and Manufactures. The immense apartment devoted 
to this purpose, 273 feet by 63, will soon present one of 
the most interesting places of resort for the farmer, the 
mechanic, or the manufacturer, to be found in this or 
perhaps any other country. It is to he hoped that every 
American wil take an interest and pride in contributing 
to the gallery whatever maybe new in agriculture, sci¬ 
ence, or the arts. 
“ Liebig"’ s Organic Chemistry applied to Agri¬ 
culture.” —We have the pleasure of acknowledging 
the receipt of a copy of the London edition of this 
work from our friend W. A. Seely, Esq., Staten Is¬ 
land, one of the first practical, as well as theoretical 
farmers in the country. A valuable communication on 
the subject of Vegetable Nutrition, has also been re- 
ceceived, and the notes which accompanied the volume 
have been read with pleasure. We have merely had 
time to glance over the pages of the volume ; hut what 
we have read, convinces us that Prof. Liebig, if not 
correct in all points, is far ahead of any other writer on 
the subjects he discusses, and that the work, when re- 
pulished in this country, will, as we intimated in our 
last, prove one of the most acceptable presents yet 
made to the agricultural public. 
Since our notice in the last number, we have received 
a note from Prof. Silliman, stating that he had learned 
from Boston, that Prof. Webster of Harvard, had an 
edition of the Organic Chemistry already in press ; and 
consequently he should not at present issue an edition, 
as announced in his Journal. Mr. Seely will accept our 
thanks. 
British Farmer’s Magazine. —G. C. Thorburn, 
Esq. of New-York, has forwarded us the January num¬ 
ber of this quarterly. It is published in London, at 
about 75 cents per number of 150 pages each. This 
Journal is well conducted, but owing to its lacking the 
splendid engravings of the “ London Farmer’s Maga¬ 
zine,” is not as generally known in this country as that 
Journal. The leading article is a valuable one on the 
chemical Physiology of Plants, based on Prof. Liebig’s 
new work. The writer, Prof. Graham, concedes great 
merit, as well as novelty to the work, and thinks it will 
have a decided influence in the advancement of agri¬ 
culture. 
Bone Manure. 
Ground bones are already used to some extent in this 
country as a manure, and as their value becomes better 
understood, this use will increase. As we have had 
several inquiries as to the mode of grinding and using 
them, and as we have heard of attempts to grind them 
in common millstones, which would give out an intole¬ 
rable effluvia, we have thought some account of the 
English mode of grinding and using might be useful, 
and have for this purpose condensed a paper on the sub¬ 
ject of bone dust in the 50th number of the Q,. J. of Ag. 
by James Halkett of Perthshire, a gentleman long enga¬ 
ged in the bone trade, and familiar with its preparation 
and use. 
Mr. Halkett says, “ Bones are always crashed for 
manure by toothed cylinders, made of iron, of which 
some mills have three pairs, others two, and some only 
one. In Yorkshire, where hones are used extensively, 
they are ground into three sizes ; the first is made to 
pass through a sieve of little more than a quarter of an 
inch calibre, the second is called half inch, hut I have 
always found it too large to pass through a half inch 
sieve, and the third is an inch size, which is considered 
too large for turneps.” 
The first kind is usually called bone dust; but its ef¬ 
fect is the least valuable of any of the three, as it coit- 
Ciilt, & Far, Yol. II.—No, 4, 
sists mostly of earth and sand that have accidentally got 
into the bones that are broken or hollow, the rotten ca¬ 
rious parts of them, and the old ones which go to pow¬ 
der on the least pressure. The second kind is mostly 
free from the impurities of the first, is longer in decom¬ 
posing, and of course carries a crop of turneps or other 
roots through the season better than the first. The 
third kind is rarely used on roots, it being too coarse to 
produce the quick effect essential to their growth. Mr. 
Halkett thinks the mixture of the first and second qual¬ 
ities in equal parts before sowing, or rather grinding 
the whole to that degree of fineness, makes the best 
preparation of hones, as the fine partis felt by the crops 
at once and hastens them forward while young, a very 
important point, and when this fails as it sometimes 
will do before the season closes, the coarser parts have 
begun to decompose and produce their proper nutritive 
effect on the plant. 
The earliest mode of using hones was 1o sow the dust 
broadcast at the rate of from fifteen to twenty-five bush¬ 
els per acre, hut it has been found that by drilling in the 
dust with the seeds, at least two thirds of the quantity 
of bones formerly used is saved. In short, one of the 
greatest improvements of modern husbandry, is the 
drilling with the seeds such manures as bone dust and 
poudrette. 
From what we have known of the action of bones, 
and of putrescent animal matter, we have been inclined 
to the opinion that bones owe much of their value as a 
manure to the gelatinous and fatty matter they retain, 
and Chaptal asserts that the extraction of the fat and 
gelatine from bones, as is done for making soups, soap, 
&c., deprives them of a great part of their fertilizing 
qualities. Such however, is not Mr. Halkett’s belief. 
He says, “I find that numbers of agriculturists, and 
even scientific men, who have analyzed bones, are of 
the opinion that the marrow and fatty matter in them are 
of great use in their operation as a manure ; and I must 
confess that at one time I was led to believe, from its 
plausibility, and what I thought a common sense view 
of it, that such was the case. But now after the test 
of experience, by numerous trials between what we call 
green bones with all the marrow and fat in them, and 
dry ones free from it, I have always found that the lat¬ 
ter raised by far the best crops. Therefore I have arri¬ 
ved at the conclusion, that the less animal fat in them 
the better, and that the 1 oiling of them before, crashing 
instead of injuring them, is a benefit.” 
In England the adulteration of hone dust, since it has 
become an article of prime necessity to the farmer, is 
carried on to a great extent. Lime from the tanner’s 
vats, old plaster lime, soap boilers’ waste, saw dust, sla¬ 
ked lime, rotten wood, and many other ingredients are 
incorporated and sold Avith the finer part of the dust, 
where of course it cannot be so easily detected as xvhen 
the hones are more coarsely crashed. There might be 
bone dust, and poudrette, manufactured in the vicinity 
of all our large cities, in sufficient quantities to convert 
the Avliole region around them into a garden, as has al¬ 
ready been done to some of those in Europe ; and Ave 
are glad to see that efforts are making in this country 
to prevent the enormous waste of these fertilizing mate¬ 
rials, and convert them extensively to their proper use. 
There is not a city, or even villase of note in England, 
that has notits hone mill; and the quantity of bones 
collected since the saving of them has become an object, 
exceeds all previous conception. It would soon be so 
here, were their x r alue as well understood, and their use 
as general. 
es American Society of Agriculture.” 
We publish this month tivo more communications on 
this subject—that of Mr. Robinson, written, it will he 
seen, before he saiv Mr. Garnett’s letter, published in 
the March number. Could such an institution be estab¬ 
lished with any tolerable prospect of success, no one 
Avould hail it Avith more pleasure than ourselves, hut Ave 
must, notAAuthstanding the renewed request of our re¬ 
spected friend “ Near Boston,” decline to act as “ lead¬ 
ers” in the formation of the proposed National Institu¬ 
tion, while there are so many older and abler men enlisted 
in the cause to Avhich Ave are de\-oted. We are glad to 
see the subject agitated, and highly approve the propo¬ 
sition of Mr. Garnett, published in our last number, 
as Ave shall thereby probably learn hoAV many of our 
agricultural friends are Avilling to attend the proposed 
Convention. We hope to hear the vieAvs of the Agri¬ 
cultural press generally on the subject. The donation 
of “ Near Boston,” Avill be returned to him or disposed 
of as he may direct. 
B 
