THE CULTIVATOR. 
145 
and Ashes. Or some additional interest may he given to the place, by introducing - a 
few Horse Chestnuts or European Lindens, around the house, and along the approach. 
The trees we would plant in natural groups, as indicated on the plan, as this would 
not only evince a more cultivated taste in a farmer, than straight lines, but it would 
also add to the apparent extent of the whole area, devoted to ornamental trees by giv¬ 
ing it an irregular and varied boundary of foliage. 
This acre and a quarter devoted to ornament, may be rendered profitable also : 1st, 
by mowing the grass over the whole surface; or 2d, by keeping it short, by pasturing 
it with favorite animals. In the case of mowing, when no animals are admitted, a few 
flowering shrubs and plants may be cultivated directly around the house. But if it is 
preferred to pasture the area, it would be necessary to confine them to a certain por¬ 
tion of the kitchen garden devoted to this purpose. 
There are some farmers who would be willing to devote an acre around their house 
to some kind of lawn, or purpose, superior to a common field, who are yet not suffi¬ 
ciently alive to the beauty and dignity of fine forest trees, to be willing to plant the 
latter. Such may substitute fruit for forest trees, and even arrange them in the same 
manner; planting those most symmetrica] and pleasing in their forms, as the cherry 
and pear, near the house and the approach, and those which are unsightly in growth, 
nearest the boundary. 
The beauty of a ferme ornce will be greatly enhanced by introducing verdant hedges, 
in the place of stone or wooden fences, at least in all situations near the house. The 
best plant to be had in the nurseries, for this purpose, is the Newcastle thorn, a native 
sort, much hardier and better than the English, for our climate. But almost any of 
our native thorns in the woods, make admirable hedges, and the farmer may gather 
the seeds, and raise them himself. Good hedges may also be made of the crab, or the 
buckthorn, or even the mulberry, though the latter will not turn cattle, from its want 
of thorns. 
If the ground is previously well prepared by repeated plowings and manuring, and 
proper care is taken to head back the young plants the first year or two, to make a 
thick bottom, and to trim them twice a year afterwards, an excellent hedge may be 
obtained in five years. No person, we hope, who has once seen a handsome deep 
green hedge, forming a dense close surface, enlivened with blossoms in the spring, and 
berries in the autumn, will grudge the little annual care necessary to substitute this 
for at least a small part of his unsightly wall, or “ post and rail.” 
Wooden and stone fences near the house, may be rendered ornamental, by planting 
the Virginia creeper, (Ampelopsis,) or five-leaved ivy, at short distances along the 
fence. This vine is common over a large portion of the Union, and will quickly form 
a beautiful mantle of verdure, concealing the wall in summer, with its rich and luxu¬ 
riant green, and in autumn, with its bright scarlet foliage. 
When the eye commands from the house a view beyond the ornamental lawn, the 
latter may be pleasingly connected by planting or preserving, here and there, in the 
adjoining fields, a few of the same forest trees that are growing on the lawn, thus 
avoiding too strongly marked a contrast between the latter area and the farm lands, 
and showing something of a unity of design or purpose. 
The orchard near the house is an apple orchard, and we give a selection of one 
hundred trees, for the purpose of planting it with the most valuable sorts, including a 
number of sweet apples, for feeding stock. 
Ripens in 
2 Early Bough,... August. 
2 Yellow Harvest,. July. 
6 Esopus Spitzenberg, . Nov. Feb. 
4 Roxbury Russet,. May. 
6 Fall Pippin,. Sept. Dee. 
8 Jersey Sweet,. Aug. Nov. 
6 Jonathan, . Dee. Feb. 
6 Baldwin, . Nov. May. 
2 Lady Apple,. Nov-March. 
4 Large Golden Pippin,.Nov. March. 
Ripens in 
6 Ladies’ Sweeting,. Nov. March. 
8 Newtown Pippin,. Dec. May. 
5 Wells’ Sweet,. Sep,. Dec. 
8 Rhode Island Greening,.Nov. March 
2 Summer Paradise,.- Aug. Sept 
4 Swaar,. Dec. March 
8 Yellow Bellflower,. Oct. Dee. 
4 Pear-main,. Nov. March 
4 Michael Henry Pippin,. Nov. March 
4 Dominie. .. Nov. March. 
sou asasng a—B M— B ——— y? -Mwaeum ' 
Original f3aim's frum. CmiUilnitors. 
AGRICULTURAL PREMIUMS. 
Rem arks on the general subject—with friendly commentaries on the list offered by the Prince 
George's ( Md.) Agricultural Society.* By J. S. Skinner. 
In framing a list of premiums, more care should be taken, and more study should be 
bestowed on the subject, than is usually done—I do not say than was done in this case. 
We may better judge of that in the sequel, for as yet the list lias not been strictly ex¬ 
amined. There will be much more pleasure in approving, than in finding fault; at 
any rate, the writer has no fear that his motives will be misinterpreted, by those whom 
he supposes to have had the principal agency in arranging the list. 
In adjusting a scale of premiums, a comprehensive view should betaken of the con¬ 
dition and circumstances of those whose welfare is to be promoted, by this union of 
means and of energies, pecuniary and intellectual, to improve the agricultural practi¬ 
ces and to advance the interests of the region within which the society is to operate. 
Regard should be had to the amount of resources at the command of the Society, and 
the question in every case should be put, as to the character and usefulness of the emu¬ 
lation to be excited, and the sort and degree of merit, which will be elicited by the 
stimulus offered, and proved by the prize, when gained. To these general proposi¬ 
tions, no one, it is presumed, will object. They are even so plain as that it may be 
thought superfluous to lay them down! Very well! let us by this standard test the list 
in question. We begin with 
Horses.— There appears to have been at the command of the Society, (my figuring 
is apt to be a little inaccurate,) the sum of $335—and of this sum, except for cattle, 
the largest amount is offered to promote, wffiat is supposed to constitute excellence, in 
the most expensive animal power to which man can have recourse for Agricultural pur¬ 
poses! But suppose it o be wise to stimulate the natural fondness of our countrymen, 
for this favorite, but short lived and expensive machine; requiring as it does, so much 
oiling and greasing, and constant attention! then the question is, as to the kind of horse 
we should encourage the farmers to adopt and rear. 
For the best thorough-bred Stallion, $10. There ought to be a condition attached, 
and perhaps there may be in the by-laws of the Society, to wit: that the stallion tak¬ 
ing the premium, should be one of uncommon merit in himself, and that he should re¬ 
main at least twelve months in the county, for the propagation of his stock. The second 
premium is but $5—only half the first, and yet it is for a horse, which, according to 
the description, must combine all that can be desired in a stallion to get horses for 
general use, to wit: capacity to get the best saddle and harness horses. These two 
should be put on an equality, and except with a redundant treasury, I would give no¬ 
thing but certificates of merit for any other sort of horse on the list. Why offer a pre¬ 
mium for a horse of slow draft —all horses are slow enough. What is wanting for the 
wagon or the plow, is strength and bottom—or lastingness combined with action—and 
these have much less relation to size than to conformation and blood. Blood should ev¬ 
er be kept in view, and when the day arrives that no attention is paid to pedigree, 
there will follow a general and lamentable deterioration in the stock of our horses. 
It is the only guarantee for keeping them up to the mark of excellence. Let the so¬ 
ciety secure the use of the best stallions, and the improvement they wish to promote and 
keep up, is sure to follow. What merit, warranting- the bestowment of the slender 
funds of the society, in a gentleman’s happening to own the best mare, that he may 
sell away out of the county the next day? Besides, how is the merit of a brood mare 
to be decided, except by her being a sure breeder, and that of a succession of the best 
coFs, and being a good stickler besides? As for the best brood mare, adapted to slow 
draught ,” it is not easy to divine what class of people would be benefited by the es¬ 
tablishment of slow draught breed of horses, unless it be sleepy drivers; and as for 
giving premiums for colts, its expediency may be doubted; for besides that these pre¬ 
miums are too apt to be awarded to the biggest and the fattest, it is not a subject to 
which public attention can be attracted with a hope of augmenting the Agricultural 
wealth of the county, although it would be very well as a means of swelling the show, 
in the estimation of boys and people who can be tickled with straws. Would it not be 
attended with more useful results, were a portion of the money offered for mares and 
colts, to be given in the shape of a piece of plate, for a prize memorial to the Legisla¬ 
ture, to be circulated in every county in the State, on the policy of licensing stallions, 
and forbidding the public use of any, which a committee of the best judges in each 
county, to be appointed by the Levy Court, should say were mere garrans, or over¬ 
grown beasts, unworthy to propagate the race, and therefore to be condemned by the 
loss of their commissions? And then as to the best saddle horse or mare—what merit 
does it evince, that a gentlemen should happen to own the best saddle horse in the 
county, unless you require that he should have bred and raised him? In this latter 
case, the premium may be supposed to have generated a spirit of emulation among 
farmers generally, which would be followed by a general Improvement of their stock 
of horses for the saddle. That would be a very desirable thing, and would be best 
secured by securing the best stallions, and by compelling those who own worthless 
beasts to pay a premium for using them, so heavy as to lead to prohibition. 
The mere ownership of the best saddle horse or mare, implies no other merit and 
requires no other skill, than that of placing the longest purse in the hands of the 
smartest jockey, to pick you up the best saddle horse to be had in the Baltimore or 
Philadelphia market. 
Out of this sum of $76, appropriated to premiums for slow stallions and slow mares, 
and best colts, would it not conduce to economy and the increase of Agricultural 
wealth, had a premium been offered to him whose capital invested in horses should 
* The following premiums will be offered by 
the Prince George’s County Agricultural Soci- 
ty, at. its Second Annual Fair, to be held in Up¬ 
per Marlboro’, on Wednesday, and Thursday, 
the 2d and 3d of November, 1842: 
For the best thorough bred Stud Horse, • • • • $10 
“ Next best do. (certificate of merit,) 
“ Best Stud Horse adapted to the road 
and quick draught,. r> 
“ Do. do. do. slow draught,. 5 
“ Best thorough bred Brood Mare,-•• 10 
“ Next best, do. (certificate,) •• • ■ •• - - 
“ Best brood Mare adapted to quick 
draught and the road,. 5 
“ Do. do. do. slow draught,. 5 
“ Best thorough bred Horse Colt, be¬ 
tween 2 and 3 years,. 5 
“ Next best, (certificate,). 
For the Best thorough bred Horse Colt, be¬ 
tween 1 and 2 years, . 
“ Next best, (certificate,). 
“ Best thorough bred Filly, between 2 
and 3 years,. 
“ Second best, (certificate,). 
• 1 Best do. do. 1 and 2 years,. 
“ Second best, (certificate,). 
“ Best Colt or Filly of any other breed 
between 2 and 3 years,. 
“ Best brood Mare with Colt or Filly 
at foot,.. 
“ Best Gelding or Mare for quick 
draught or saddle,. 
“ Best Saddle Horse or Mare,. 
“ Rest Jack, . 
“ Best Jinny, .*. 
Best pair of Mules, . 
5 
5 
5 
3 
5 
3 
5 
6 
5 
5 
