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soaked, it will soon overtake the first planting. If the hoe is to be used, (and we think it should never be entirely dispensed with, although we have seen good crops made without it,) now is the time to use it with most advantage. It greatly facilitates the operation of thinning, loosens the dirt close to the corn, and enables you to draw it neatly about it, which at this stage of its growth is all-important; for, from the weight of the stalk and weakness of its roots, much will be found to have fallen down.

Having got over the thinning and hoeing, start your cultivators again, and run them until the com is high enough to take the dirt from the plough.

Some of the most judicious farmers of our State, at this stage of the cultivation, use the single coulter with great advantage, run close to the corn ; it loosens the ground nine or ten inches deep, and gives free access to the roots, moisture and air. On stiff lands we are inclined to think the coulter should never be dispensed with.

The corn should now have one good deep ploughing, the dirt thrown to it, and the middles thoroughly broke up. This is the only ploughing which seems absolutely necessary; the after culture can be effected with the cultivator, which in experienced hands is fully competent to keep the earth loose and clean.

We have said nothing of the shovel plough, because we think the work can be equally well done, without as with it, and the multiplication of implements only tends to increase the expenses of the farmer.

Generally speaking the corn crop suffers more from neglect in harvest, than at any other time. It is the busy season of the year, and every hand on the farm, young and old, is summoned to the wheat-field. Wo to the farmer whose corn-field is grassy when harvest begins: if he leave the field now, he can never get the upper hand of the grass afterwards. His interest, then is, to keep his cultivators running and hire labor for his harvest, even at double price. When the corn begins to silk and tassel lay it by, even if it should be overrun with grass; or at most, send in your hoes to chop down the tall weeds; for the injury don«» to the roots, by any farther cultivation, culd not be repaid by the destruction of the grass: it is at this time that the strongest draft is made upon the fertility of the soil, to develop the shoot and push the ear to maturity, and any injury done to the spongioles, the sole absorbents of the food from the soil, would materially interfere with that important process.

The corn having been laid by, the field for, the first time, since the planting, enjoys a season of rest, and the holyday continues until the time to gather fodder arrives.

Much diversity of opinion exists on this point. Some contend that the fodder should not be gathered at all, as the injury sustained by the corn

is more than equivalent to the value of the fodder. However plausible this argument may be in grass countries, where fodder is of a secondary consideration, it has no application to us, even if it were true. Fodder is as indispensable to us as corn, and the fanner who would buy his fodder in preference to stripping his stalks would be justly considered as a fit subject for the lunatic asylum. But the fact is, as one of your Committee showed by an experiment last year, and which was reported to the Society in detail, that if the blades be stripped after the shuck has turned yellow, no perceptible injury is sustained by the corn. Corn thus stripped, was compared with other corn in the same field, which had been neither topped nor stripped, and there was no difference either in weight or measure. The conclusion, therefore, is, that it is a matter of perfect indifference, so far as the yield of corn is concerned, whether the stalk be first stripped or first topped, whether it be topped and stripped at the same time, or whether the tops and blades be left to dry upon the stalk.

An equal diversity of opinion exists, as to the best mode of gathering the corn crop ; but it is generally acknowledged, that when it can be done, that is, when the field is not to be sown in wheat, the best plan is to shuck it in the field, directly from the stalk, especially in neighborhoods where your corn is liable to be pillaged. With the assistance of the. corn-peg the operation is equally as rapid, as pulling the shuck from the stalk, and at night you have the satisfaction to know that your corn is safe under lock and key in yom crib. After your corn is gathered you may cut down and stack your stalks and shucks, to be fed out in the winter.

But when the field is to be sown in wheat, this mode is scarcely practicable, as it would delay the seeding too long. It then becomes necessary to cut down the corn, and either cart it off, which is the best plan, or shock it in the field.

All of which is respectfully submitted.

Although we are not in the habit of inserting detailed reportsof agricultural committees, which, excellent as they frequently are, contain generally, of necessity, a repetition of what has been published over and over again, yet so important is the subject of the above, so fitted to the season, so ably handled, and so peculiarly adapted for southern uses, that we have concluded to give it entire to our readers.

W T e do not mean to endorse all the particulars—only the general principles, of the report. We esteem it one of the fullest, clearest, and soundest expositions of the proper manner of cultivating corn, in Eastern Virginia, that we have ever seen.

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TREATMENT OF HORSES. We published, not long since, some excellent observations on this subject from the Albany Cultivator. The following are extracted from the Maine Cultivator, and refer principally to treatment on a journey:

" Much difference of opinion exists among drivers as to the best mode of feeding and of watering, and it was an old rule never to let a horse drink when he is warm; but this is now generally disregarded, and horses are invited to drink little and often while in the harness and when they are to stop but for a few moments. In regard to the kind of water proper for them, it has been supposed that puddle water, or such as has much earth and mud mixed with it, is better than any that comes pure from the brook ; but this is not a very philosophical rule, as pure water is known to be less injurious to a healthy animal than any which has foreign ingredients in it. Puddle water, therefore, can be no better than pure water unless it is because it is usually warmer; and horses generally know enough to prefer this on that account.

" Though horses are often injured or destroyed by being suffered to drink too much cold water when they are warm, a much greater number have been ruined by giving grain at improper seasons. It has very generally been supposed dangerous to feed with grain a horse which has just come into the stable very warm and sweaty; but what evidence have we that they have suffered from this cause ? Do men fear to eat immediately after quitting the scythe or the flail % Horses will not eat much immediately on stopping after a hard drive. What reason, then, for supposing they have ever suffered from this cause V 1

We believe we have known violent cases of illness, both in men and horses, occasioned by eating, as well as drinking, whilst heated. A horse, after violent exercise or laborious toil, should be permitted to cool gradually before he is either fed or watered. If possible, he should never be stopped in the midst of violent excitement; but permitted to cool gradually under exercise. Otherwise, he should be carefully guarded against too sudden cooling, especially, should he in this state be particularly guarded from draughts of cold air. But if the traveller will relax his speed for the last mile or two of his day's journey, he may safely indulge his tired steed with a half hour's roll and cooling in the stable lot, before watering or feeding. One thing is certain, that no harm can come from a little care in this respect, and it is always well to err on the safe side.

We agree, however, with the writer that as much injury accrues from heavy feeding immediately before, as after, exertion; he goes on to say:

"It is violent exercise immediately after eating that ruins horses and causes distress in all animals that are put to it. And though every man of reflection knows violent exercise, immediately after eating, causes pain in his own stomach ; yet many will give horses the most solid food just before commencing the labors of the day.

" Men who give their horses no grain, except on extraordinary occasions, will administer a dose of it just before starting for a day's ride. They would not give it on the night preceding, lest all its virtues should evaporate before daylight. Such practices ought to be ridiculed if we cannot reason people out of them.

" Stage owners in the vicinity of Boston formerly directed that meal and water should be given to the teams on stopping for a few moments to take breath ; and it was not till many of these animals dropped dead in the service that the practice was discontinued. On opening the stomachs of these horses the meal was found in hard cakes undigested. Violent exercise probably prevented the proper action of the gastric juice on the food. Such exercise might cause an absorption of these juices and rob the stomach of its great means of disposing of its load.

"In former years we have travelled through the country and tried various methods of feeding, and have come to the conclusion that the best and heartiest food should be given at night; and this should be very soon after the horse is put in the stable. He will then soon eat. enough to satisfy his appetite and will have time to lie down and rest—his food will serve during the whole of next day, and he will need but little baiting till he stops again at night.

" This will be found the best mode of feeding even when you can find the best of haj" at public houses; for your horse will be all ready to start in the morning—he has had his breakfast the night preceding, and if he has stood a whole hour in the morning without eating, he will be a better traveller for it through i>.e day."

MAKING CANDLES.

The season of the year has arrived for families in the country to make up their supply of candles for the year, and as much trouble and extra labor is occasioned by want of skill, I will, in order to enable people to obviate this, give some brief directions for dipping candles.

The tallow, when melted, should be ladled into a wooden vessel of convenient width and j depth, which has been previously heated by filling it with boiling water for an hour or more. Fill the vessel within an inch of the top with

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melted tallow, and keep it that height by adding hot tallow or hot water. By this means the candles will be kept of a full size at the top, and not taper off to a point, as is often seen with country candles.

The tallow, when used for dipping candles, should not be too hot. A temperature that will allow the finger to be dipped in without burning, is sufficiently hot, and at this temperature the candles will take on the tnllow very fast. The wicks should be lowered into the melted tallow gradually, and should be lifted out of the tallow so slowly that when the bottom of the candles are clear from the surface of the melted tallow, no tallow w 7 ill run off them. When the candles are raised quite out of the melted tallow, the tallow will run off the candles in a stream, whereas if the candles are raised out slowly, not a particle of tallow will fall from the candles. A few trials will satisfy any person in this matter. If the tallow is boiling hot, the wick will not take on the tallow to any considerable extent. When candles are raised out of the tallow rapidly, the candles will be large at the bottom, and the tallow will extend below the wick, so that when burnt in the candlestick a piece of the candle will have no wick in it; and, therefore, for burning, will be useless. Where persons have no suitable wooden vessel, an iron vessel will answer for a dipping vessel. When tallow has been thoroughly melted over the fire, should it be dirty or impure, throw into it, while hot, a small quantity of finely powdered alum, and in a short time a scum will be seen rising to the surface, in appearance like dirty froth. Skim this off as it rises. This scum will rise for half an hour or more. These directions are plain and easily complied with, and one trial will be satisfactory. Persons, by following these directions, will save more than one-half the usual labor of making candles, besides having better candles. I speak from abundant experience, and therefore with full confidence.

Journal of Commerce.

HORSE SHOEING. A writer upon the subject of "shoeing," adverting to the use of the frog and the diseases that proceed from its inaction, maintains, that it should be always, as in a state of nature, subjected to pressure. He gives the following directions for shoeing:

" The horse's foot being circular and not oval, the shoe should be made in that form ; or rather the hoof should be measured, and the shoe made exactly to correspond. An oval or elliptic foot is generally, nay, we may sa}' always, diseased. It has assumed that shape in consequence of the contraction of the bars, brought on solely by a diseased state of the frog for want of pressure;

and in no one instance of oval-formed feel will the frogs be found healthy. The moment the foot is lifted from the ground, the smell indicates the diseased frog, though perhaps cockney equestrians consider this the natural perfume of the organ when in health.

" The shoe should be as light as possible consistently with the labor the animal has to undergo. Before it is put on, the hoof should be pared away toward the heels, in such a manner that without the shoe ihe horse should stand with the frog close to the ground, as when in a state of nature; when the shoe is on, it should be filed away towards the heels, being left only sufficiently thick to enable the frog in the natural position of the animal without a rider or burthen, just to clear the ground ; so that when the horse bears its burthen or its rider, the frog of the shoed foot should receive the same pressure from the ground that it would do if the shoes were taken off and the animal turned loose. When a horse is shod according to the present system, besides the various diseases brought on by the want of the action of the frog, the animal walks upon its toes, (the expression cannot be misunderstood,) and the proper muscular action of the foot and leg is perverted. Hence many horses fall dead lame without the farrier being able to assign any cause for it, although he will talk dogmatically enough on the subject to confound those who know no better than himself/'

The following is to be considered, we think, rather curious and interesting than extensively useful. With proper care it might make a very pretty and singular fence.

LIVING AND ORNAMENTAL FENCES.

At a recent meeting of the Botanical Society of London, Mr. D. Cooper gave an account of a new living fence, formed by planting young trees in a slanting position, every tree leaning the opposite way, so that they will cross each other, and then at the parts which come into contact, take off from each a piece of bark, and tie close together, covering the part with clay. This grafts each tree into its neighbor, and forms in a iew years, a living fence, with diamond-shaped openings. The plan is an excellent one for ornamental fences.

POTATO.

At one of the agricultural meetings, which are held regularly in Boston by some of the farmers of Massachusetts, the cultivation of the Irish potato was the subject of discussion. Upon many points a great difference of sentiment prevailed, but the current of opinion seemed to run in favor of planting shallow, using large seed,

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whole, instead of cut, and taking off the blossoms. Mr. Plnnkett, to whom much deference seems to have been paid, expressed the opinion, that the round, and oblong round, varieties are adapted to light open lands, whilst the flat kidney, or egg shaped, should be appropriated to stiff clays; the warmer the climate, the greater the necessity of a damp, cool soil. He also thought, that the quality might be determined

by the shape. The

oblong

starch ; next the round ;

round yield least the flat kidney shaped, the most. Where the productiveness is great, the quality generally is not good; where the quality is good, the yield is not great.

To our surprise, Mr. Cole, the Editor of the Farmers' Journal, expressed the opinion, that it is always better to get seed from the South than the North.

BOILERS FOR COOKING FOOD FOR STOCK, &c.

The above arrangement, together with the peculiar construction of the fire-place, are believed to be original in invention and novel in practice. An experiment with a fire-place without draught-hole or grate was first made at the sugar-refinery of Joseph Lovering, Esq., in Philadelphia, in 1837, where it was found to succeed in the most perfect manner. The fire is lighted on the top of the fuel, and is operated upon by the air from above, on the principle of the blow-pipe; by it the smoke is forced downwards through the body of the fuel, becoming ignited in its passage through the flame, and adding much to the volume of heat while passing under and around the boiler on its way to the chimney. Thus the smoke is consumed, none issuing from the top of the chimney after the fuel has become perfectly ignited—a consideration of great importance to those in the vicinity of extensive manufactories. The fuel

clev-

is wood, cut into lengths to suit the size of the fire-pit, which pit may be constructed at the sides and bottom with common bricks, the archways, by which the fire passes to the bottom of the boilers, being turned with fire-bricks. This arrangement is adapted for boiling or evaporating generally, and particularly for the cooking of food for stock either on a large or small scale, none being more economical or convenient for heating water for dairy use, the scalding of hogs, &c. It was at first intended to confine the use of these boilers to the desiccation of beet-juice in the manufacture of sugar, but it was perceived that the principle of operation is applicable to many other purposes, especially to the evaporation of the juice of the maple and corn-stalk in the fabrication of sugar, the power of suddenly checking the fire—as instantaneous as the turning off steam—being peculiarly adapted to such nice operations; at the same time giving the

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means of applying a greater or less degree of heat, withdrawing it altogether, or transferring it to other purposes, by a movement the most simple. The boilers may be made of thin boiler-iron, the bottoms neady flat, and the sides perpendicular, with a flange turned on the top, the depth being in proportion to the circumference. In setting, they may be placed with the bottom within three inches of the bed of brick-work, the fire from the pit passing under the arch and spreading over the bottom, escaping by a passage at the opposite side, and making the circumference of the boiler before passing off by the chimney ; the boiler itself being surrounded by a jacket of sheet-iron, of size sufficient to leave a space of one and a half or two inches, for a flue between it and the boiler; and against this the brick-work is to be built. Put the ingredients to be boiled into one of the boilers, withdraw the iron stopper C, formed of a flat bar of wrought-iron three inches wide, and light the fire, regulating the draught by raising or lowering the iron cover A, which must be made to close tight when put quite down. While this is progressing, make ready the other boiler, and when the food in the first boiler is done enough, replace the stopper, and withdraw that belonging to the second boiler, by which the fire will be transferred from one to the other in full force without receiving the least check or loss of time. If at any time it should be found necessary to withdraw the fire at once from both boilers, it may be done by drawing up the slide B, and putting in both stoppers, when the fire will pass off by the chimney ; or the fire might be extinguished instantly by putting down the cover, a means of saving much fuel, by putting an end to all further combustion. Jas. Pedder.

Jan. 20, 1342.

In our last, we adverted to this apparatus for boiling food, and expressed our approbation in some respects, and hinted doubts in others. The arrangement, by which the heat may be applied to one or the other boiler, or altogether suspended, is excellent. The brick work for retaining the heat, we have no doubt, is also very advantageous. The great difficulty we had was, that it was contrary to our philosophy for heated air to descend; we have been so much accustomed to seeing smoke ascend, that we doubted whether it could be induced to go down through the fire for the purpose of being consumed. Yet we are told by Mr. Pedder that such is the fact, and practical men assure us, that when the opposing column of air is very high, as in the chimney to this furnace, that the heat will descend for the sake of ascending. We must confess we do not see the philosophy of the thing.

But that is immaterial, the fact is so. and of course there is an explanation of it somewhere. The other difficulty we had was with respect to the ashes: unless they, like the smoke, are consumed in this all-devouring furnace, we imagined

they would soon fill up the space below and choke the flues. If we understand the engraving, they can only be removed through the opening at top, after the fire is out. We feel so much interest in this contrivance, that we will be obliged to Mr. Pedder to inform us whether there is any validity in our objections, and also to furnish us with particular directions for building, as to thickness of brick work, height of chimney, and such other particulars as experience may have settled.

THE ORCHARD.

Mr. Randall, to whom w 7 as awarded the first premium for the best orchard, by the Massachusetts Agricultural Society, furnished an account of his management, of which the following is a synopsis:

" The extent of the orchard is three and a half acres; the number of trees, two hundred and twelve; their distance apart, twenty-five feet; and the number of varieties, fifty-seven. The soil is a sandy, gravelly loam, generally light. In planting the trees, Mr. Randall says the mutilated roots of each tree were carefully cut off smooth; even the small fibrous ones, and engrafting salve put over large cuts. The roots were immersed in water for above one-half hour before planting, thereby inducing the mould or loam to become attached to them. The hole was dug large, so that every root might extend without bending or being cramped. Nothing was put round the roots but surface earth, and that carefully worked in by hand, each root and fibre lying horizontally and naturally. No manure was used in setting. One bushel of fine stable manure was put round each tree the first of November, and repeated for two years. Mr. Randall preferred raising the earth around trees, when first planted, above the common level, to give them firmness, to planting deep. He prefers spring to autumn planting. Shallow planting he thinks succeeds best, and this, he thinks, may be accounted for philosophically. The roots are luxuriating in a good soil, and are more immediately under the influence of the sun.

"The orchard was planted in 1837, and the ground has been planted every year since, and including 1837, with potatoes, carrots, rata baga, sugar beets, and mangel wurtzel. The manures used have been common stable, compost of stable, loam and swamp mud, lime compost, spent

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ashes, plaster, and a small quantity of saltpetre. The trunks and lower limbs of the trees have been well washed with oil soap, sand and water, every spring and fall since they were planted out; after which a coat of oil soap has been put on with a painter's brush. The first pruning was done the first of May last, at which time the earth was removed from around every tree to examine for borers; not one w r as found, or any indication of one. In reply to the inquiries of the committee respecting the oil soap, Mr. Randall says, that from eight to ten pounds of oil soap are put into a common pail, with such a quantity of warm water as will render it about as thick as paint when mixed for use. With this pail of soap, thinned as described, a man having a small tin pail, or bag, or pocket, filled with fine sand, tied round his waist, with a coarse crash cloth and a paint brush, is ready for operating. He first wets his cloth with soap, then scatters on some dry sand, and gives the trunk and branches a good rubbing ; after which, with a paint brush, he puts on a coat of the soap, prepared as above, equal to a thick coat of paint. It is well, he says, to select for this work the termination of a storm of rain, when the moss or any roughness on the bark, will yield more readily to rubbing."

MUSQTJITE GRASS.

At a late meeting of the South Carolina Agricultural Society, the President read the following communication from Col. Wade Hampton, which was ordered to be entered on the minutes:

Columbia, Nov. 24, 1841. Dear Sir,—The meeting of the State Agricultural Society affording a favorable opportunity for its distribution, I beg leave to place at your disposal, for that purpose, about two bushels of Musquite grass seed. This grass is a native of Texas, and as far as I am capable of forming an opinion by an experiment of a single year, is admirably adapted to our country. It has, I understand, been successfully cultivated by Mr. Carter of Alabama, for some years past, and the high estimate he placed on it, induced him very kindly to send me a few quarts of seed in the summer of 1840. These seed were planted in September following, in drills, came up with great regularity, and continued to vegetate during the whole winter. A drought of unusual duration in the spring, and another in July, accompanied by intense heat, produced no visible effect on it, and it has continued to flourish through all the vicissitudes of a most disastrous season. The seed were sown on dry alluvial soil, which had been prepared for turnips; and from a piece of ground not exceeding the fourth of an acre, I gathered fourteen bushels of seed. It will, I think, make fine hay, growing from

two and a half to three feet high; and in its native prairies it forms the favorite pasture of the wild horses and buffalo.

Appreciating as I do, your uniting exertions in the great cause of agriculture, I offer no apology for the trouble I impose on you, in distributing the seed that accompanies this letter. Very respectfully,

Your obedient servant,

W. Hampton.

One of the strongest arguments we know, in favor of a system of high cultivation, is this, that experiments, which are always made with the greatest pains, are almost invariably successful, producing astonishing results, whilst the same thing, under a more slovenly mode of husbandry, proves utterly worthless.

AMERICAN FARMING.

A correspondent of the Farmers' Cabinet, whose knowledge of European agriculture we have had occasion to notice frequently, in the last number of that invaluable work, undertakes to draw a comparison between the profits of English and American agriculture, greatly to the advantage of the latter.

He opposes their cheaper labor and greater skill with our freedom from taxes, cheapness of ground, and the adaptation of our soil and climate to the cultivation of Indian corn. The use of the horse-rake and cradle-scythe, not yet known in England, he esteems a heavy item in the account.

Upon the whole, he comes to the conclusion that the cultivation of the earth, the great and favorite interest of mighty England, offers more inducements to the capitalist here than there. We have no doubt of the correctness of his opinion.

SILK.

We have expressed the opinion, that the silk culture would, eventually, become a good business. We think there is a great deal of labor in the South, both black and white, peculiarly adapted to this pursuit. Cotton itself, "the great staple," a few years ago, presented a less favorable prospect than silk now docs.

The following, amongst other reasons, are given by a writer in the Albany Cultivator, why the people of the United States should, at once, engage in the business of silk growing:

" 1. Because silk forms the heaviest item in the catalogue of our importations.

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"2. Because we possess the means of doing it to better advantage than any other nation.

11 3. Because the necessary skill is easily acquired, and no nation ever possessed better talents to acquire it.

"4. Because the nation is under heavy embarrassments on account of excessive importations, and no other means are so sure of success in providing the necessary relief.

" 5. Because it can be effectually engaged in by all classes of people, requiring little or no capital.

" 6. Because we have more spare land than any other nation, and much well suited to the growth of the mulberry, which is worn out for other purposes.

" 7. Because we are already well stocked with the mulberry trees, which will be lost to the nation if not used for that purpose.

" 8. Because a stock of silk worms may be obtained the first year, equal to what could be reared of any other live stock in a great portion of a lifetime.

" 9. Because raw silk or cocoons are always surer of a market than almost any other commodity.

11 10. Because it is a very certain crop.

"11. Because a pound of silk, worth six dollars, can be grown in less time than a pound of wool, worth fifty cents.

" 12. Because it will cost no more to transport a pound of silk to market, worth six dollars, than a pound of bread stuff or pork, worth six or eight cents.

" 13. Because the labor of growing a crop of silk requires only six or seven weeks, while that of almost any farming crop requires more than as many months.

" 14. Because most of the labor will be performed by women, children or invalids—who, though willing, are unable to perform other profitable labor.

" 15. Because there are hundreds if not thousands of skilful silk manufacturers in the country, who are unable to find regular employment for want of raw silk.

" 16. Because the growing and manufacture of silk has never failed to be a source of wealth to any nation which embarked in it,"

For the Southern Planter. HOGS.

Dear Sir, —As you desire it, I will state to you the conclusion to which my own limited experience has led me in regard to the best " Farm Hog" of the several breeds with which I am acquainted, not desiring however to be considered by any means as orthodox upon the subject. I have the Berkshires as you know, and good ones too ; and I have other breeds— one of which, I think, is equalled by very few Vol. 2-11

Berkshires, and which so far as I am capable of judging, is well worth the attention of Virginia Farmers. It is a large, handsome and thrifty white hog, reared by one of our Vice-Presidents, Mr. Thomas S. Dicken, from the Bedford, crossed with the Barnilz breed, so called, which last is a cross by that celebrated breeder, of the Chester county breed-with the white Chinese. Mr. Dicken is a careful breeder and has devoted more attention and for a longer time to the improvement of his stock than any one known to me— and to borrow a familiar saying " it is hard to beat." But from his retiring habits and unpretending character, this stock is less known than it deserves to be. Crossed with the best Berkshires his pigs are equal to any and superior to most of that stock I have seen—and the best of them may be had for $5 instead of $10. You can judge for yourself how far the following facts sustain my opinion:

I have a sow of Mr. Dicken's stock which produced on the 7th March, 1840. her first litter 7 pigs—5 of which were very fine and 2 decidedly inferior. Four of the best were disposed of to friends, a fifth selected by another friend and kept for him until the fall, when having purchased some Berkshires he declined taking him. This pig was then altered and put up to fatten with the two inferior ones on the first day of November—the three having had until that time, only the ordinary farm treatment. They were killed the 8th day of December following, being 7 months and 1 day old, and weighed 127, 1.29 and 134-lbs., having been in the fattening pen but 1 month and 8 days.

The sow was then put to a Berkshire Boar and produced again 7 pigs—four of them perfectly white like herself—the other three, "tawny or reddish color spotted with black," which appears to have been the universal and distinctive color of the Berkshires 35 years ago. For one of these last, our President, the Rev. J. H. Turner, paid me $20, at 8 weeks old. I sold the four white ones for $30 and kept the other two spotted ones. That purchased by Mr. Turner though a very fine, is not near so large a hog as the white ones have proved to be ; and both the spotted ones that I kept, turned out small hogs. The same sow has now a litter of 10 pigs by another Berkshire Boar—of which 7 are white like herself and 3 spotted, as before described. The white are decidedly the finest pigs, and superior in size and appearance to a litter of really fine full bred Berkshires by the same Boar, which are 20 days older.

Mr. Dicken has several brood sows of this stock superior to mine, as also one or more of the Skinner breed as it is called with us ; tho' it is in reality the u Essex half black pig" of England. This too is an excellent cross with the Berkshire or any other good stock ; though it is a smaller hog than the white, and has been

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so intermixed with the common hog-, that a genuine one is not often met with. It is remarkable, like the white stock of Mr. Dickon, for great thrift, aptitude to fatten, early maturity and great weight for its apparent size—all very important points with the Farmer. Mr. Dicken's white hogs, without the Berkshire cross and with the customary farm keep, well as I know, reach 231 lbs at somewhat less than 12 months old— and I have no doubt will, upon the same keep, at any age, weigh with the Berkshires. Its pork is peculiarly fine, "thin rind" and resembles precisely the beautiful white poik I have seen in the Philadelphia market. I do not say that this is a better hog than the best Berkshires—but I prefer it decidedly as a farm hog to a large majority of those 1 have seen; and crossed with fine males of that stock, Mr. Dicken's pigs will compare advantageously with any of them.— You remember no doubt, the white Boar exhibited by him at our first Fair last May, which was purchased by Dr. Lewis of Lawrenceville— If I am correctly informed, the Committtee on Swine had no little difficulty in deciding the premium between him and the Boar President.

I believe that this stock, pigged in February and March, and treated as every farmer should keep his hogs, will attain as high weights by the usual killing time, as farmers generally desire—and that no farmer should keep his pork hogs through a winter. There are doubtless other good breeds in the State, which if properly attended to, especially by avoiding 'breeding in and in' as it is termed, and always selecting the best pigs as breeders, might save our farmers many dollars which now go nonhward to purchase they don't know what. The Berkshire is undoubtedly one of the finest hogs of the day and a superior cross upon any good stock—but few of them are so fine as to be worth $10 a pig,— there are superior and inferior of ihis, as of all o:her breeds—and I think you will concur in advising our farmers never to purchase a Berkshire unless he can first see it himself, or can have it selected by some competent and disinterested judge.

Mr. Turner in one of his essays suggests an excellent plan for propagating the Berkshires— that of procuring one male for a neighborhood ; and it is but. just to say of his stock, that it cannot be surpassed by all New York and New England together.

If an account of the different breeds of hogs which have been recommended to us, be of any interest to yourself or your readers, I refer you to an article on that subject in the Farmers' Register for October, 1840, chiefly compiled from printed accounts of them, to which is added an economical and successful plan of feeding hogs. I ought to apologise for the leng h of this article, which is greater than I could have desired. Very resp'y, Wm. H. Richardson.

The following named gentlemen of the neighborhood have tried and prefer these hogs—Mr. Wm. Miller, Mr. Wm. Hill, Mr. W. W. Guy, Mr. Wm. D. Sims, Dr. Hopkins.

The above was written in consequence of a request on our part that the author would reduce to writing some opinions that he happened to express in our presence of the relative value of Berkshire and other hogs. W 7 e thought his opinions entitled to peculiar weight, because we knew that he had had a fair opportunity of judging, and because if he had been swayed by his interest his conclusions would have been opposite to the opinions he has expressed. Gen'l. Richardson has had opportunities of seeing the best stock in America, and we will venture to assert that no man in the Union is better informed on the history of the various breeds of hogs. He is himself a raiser and seller of Berkshire pigs—His stock was purchased at the highest price, and selected for him by Mr. Tucker, the Editor of the Cultivator—His sow is equal in point of form to any Berkshire w T e ever saw. It was then with such stock and under such circumstances,that he arrives at the conclusion,that for ordinaryfarm treatment,where no excessive pampering is resorted to on either side, that the white hog is equal to the Berkshire, and we have reason to believe that he as well as others greatly prefer the cross to either.

We know that we may expect, a rating from some deeply interested in Berkshire stock for seeking the publication of airy article to their disparagement; but we have no indiwdual interests to subserve, and in procuring this communication we only sought to give to the public the evidence of a highly informed, most respectable, and impartial witness upon a subject of universal interest. Whether Berkshires are the best or the worst hogs in the world, is a matter to us individually of the most perfect indifference, and our columns are as open to the advocacy as to the denial of their claims.

RICE CEMENT.

This useful and elegant cement, which is beautifully white, and dries almost transparent, is made by mixing rice flour intimately wiih cold water, and then gently boiling it. Papers pasted together with this cement will sooner separate in their own substance than at the joining. It. is, therefore,an excellent cement in the preparation of curious paper articles, as teatrays, Ladies' dressing and work boxes, and other ar-

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83

tides which require layers of pa per to be cemented tog-ether. In every respect it is preferable to common paste made with wheat flour. It answers well for pasting into books the copies of writing taken off by copying machines on un-size 1 silver paper. With this composition, made with a small quantity of water, that it may have a consistence similar to plastic clay, models, busts, scatues, basso relievos, and the like, may be formed. When dry, the articles made of it are susceptible of a high polish ; they are also very durable.

FIRE-PROOF WOOD.

Doctor Fuehs, member of the Academ} 7 of Science at Munich, has discovered a composition by which he renders wood incombustible; the composition is made of granulated earth and an alkali. To obtain it the inventor says, you must dissolve some moist gravelly earth, which has been previously well washed, and cleared from any heterogeneous matter, in a solution of caustic alkali. This mixture has the property of not becoming decomposed by fire or water. When spread upon wood, it forms a vitreous coa f , and is proof against the two elements.— The building committee of the roj^al theatre have twice publicly tried the composition on two small buildings of six or eight feet in lengih,and a propjrtiomtte height; the one was covered with the composition, and the other built in the usual manner. The fire was put equally in the two buildings ; the one which was not covered with the composition was consumed, while the other remained perfect and entire. The cost of this process is very insignificant compared to its great utility, being about two francs three centimes per 100 square feet. The royal theatre at Munich has undergone this process, having about 400,000 square feet; the expense of which was about 4 or 5000 francs.

LIME. Much as we have seen and heard about this substance, we were not aware that the properties claimed in the following article had been assigned to it. The communication is taken from the Farmers' Cabinet, and appears over a signature that we have often remarked accompanied some of the ablest productions in that excellent work. The author first alludes to the fatal disease that is now destroying so many of the cattle in England, which he thinks may be cured by the use of Lime. He quotes the first paragraph from an old No. of the American Farmer.

" Some years since I purchased a horse, but he had the appearance of laboring under dis-

| ease ; I commenced a course of treatment which I had before pursued in cases similar to appearance, but without effect; I was iherefore induced to try the use oUime, as I was confident ho was filled wilh botts, for he had discharged several; I therefore commenced by giving him a table-spoonful of slaked lime three times a week in bran mashes. Afier pursuing this course near two weeks, the botts began to pass away in quantities, varying from ten to twenty, which he would expel from his intestines during the night: in the meantime his appetite began to improve, and in six weeks he was one of the finest geldings I ever saw ; from that day to this I have kept up the use of lime amongst my horses with decided benefit; and as an evidence of its good effects, 1 have not lost a horse since I began to use it. And lime is a certain pre-

j ventive in keeping cattle from taking the murrain. As an evidence of this fact, I have used

.it among my catile three times a week, mixed with salt, for three or four years, and in that time I have not lost a single animal by this dis-

[ease; but in the meantime some of my neighbors have lost nearly all the cattle they owned. But I will give a stronger case than even the one above mentioned. One of my neighbors who lost all his cattle, had a friend living wi bin two hundred yards of him, who had several cattle

i which ran daily with ihose that, died, and his

1 cattle all escaped—he informed me that he made

: it an invariable rule to give his cattle salt and lime every morning. I have, therefore, no doubt

i but salt and lime are a sure and infallible remedy for botts in horses and murrain in cattle ."

And I am reminded of a circumstance by a friend, who has often before mentioned it; he

I had two fields of pasture near his house—on one of these he spread lime upon the turf to the amount of more than 200 bushels per acre, but

'as the other field lay immediately below his cattle-yard, from whence he had formed drains to carry the water over its surface in the most complete manner, he determined to let that suffice for a dressing ; and the effect of the highly impregnated water from the yard was a growth of grass truly astonishing. Both fields were kept in pasture, and when the stock had eaten one of them down, they were removed to the other, and so changed regularly about ; but the effect of the different crops on the appearance of the stock, horses and cattle, is not to be expressed, for while feeding on ihe limed land their coats were close, shining and healthy, and their spirits light and cheerful, even when they were compelled to labor hard to obtain a belly-full ; but when turned into the watered grass, six inches or more in height, a difference for the worse could he perceived in 24 hours, and every day after they lost condition amidst the greatest abundance, with coats rough and staring, lax in the bowels and flaccid, with distended paunches,

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dejected countenances, and sluggish in their movements: they soon exhibited a depreciation in value to the amount of about half their former worth. But the transition to health and vigor and good looks was quite as sudden and apparent on a return to the limed land, for again in 24 hours, or by the time the food had passed through the system, a change, particularly in their air and carriage, was very perceptible.— My friend adds, he never had an instance of the murrain or botts while his stock fed on these pastures, but is satisfied he should have had both, but for the change to the limed land ; for while feeding on the watered pasture, the stock had always the appearance of a predisposition to that state of derangement of the digestive system, by which he has no doubt these diseases are engendered.

In conclusion, I would ask, is it not quite fair to draw the following deduction from what has been said, namely, that all dairy pastures ought to be heavily limed, it being the most natural

thing in the world to suppose that a proper secretion of milk, the best and most wholesome, depends very much on the nature of the food with which the animals are fed ? and must not the butter from a cow that is in health and spirits be of better flavor, color and consistence, than that from one that is lax, washy and weak, from feeding on watery, acid and soft herbage? and will not this account for much of the disgustingly rancid, ill-flavored and ill-looking butter which we so often find in the market 1 My friend above quoted, and who is now at my elbow, answers " Yes ; for while my cows fed on the watered meadow, the butter was scarcely eatable—white, soft and ill flavored, but it was sweet, firm and fine flavored when they were confined to the limed land." Ergo, lime your pastures, and allow your stock as much salt as they will consume daily, for I am convinced that lime and salt are a remedy for " botts in horses," as well as the " murrain in cattle."

VlR.

For the Southern Planter.

GATE.

C. T. Botts :

Sir, —The reception of the January number of the Planter suggests to me that a new subscriber has something more to do in the way of patronage to your valuable paper than merely paying the subscription. Cash is no doubt indispensable to the support of the paper, but I am persuaded that other contributions of a plain, practical kind constituting, in the main, the value of an agricultural work, will be kindly greeted by the Editor.

I am a plain farmer, who thinks that fancy work, visionary speculations, and finely spun j theories upon agricultural impiovements, though

woven with a delicate taste and practised hand into such a work as the Planter, contribute but little to its body and the value of its staple. What we farmers want are facts, the results of experiments with all the accompanying circumstances fairly stated, such as climate, soil, season, cultivation, &c. For an agricultural experiment failing or succeeding may have been reversed under different circumstances. V\ e should not become converts to a successful experiment, promulgate it as a general truth, and urge our agricultural brethren to adopt it implicitly without giving them all the facts and truths connected with it. Nor should we discard an abortive ex-

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periment, and counsel others so to do, merely because we have failed, This remark is directed particularly to the cultivation of land. What will succeed or fail on one farm, will often have a different result on the next. The same remark holds good in relation to the same farm—one field differing from another b}' sudden transitions of soil—one field has gravel, the next is spungy-^ one is sandy, the next argillaceous. In fact, the soil of parts of the same field differs entirely in character,and requires totally different treatment, and often the application of different kinds of compost. No reliance, then, can be placed upon the result of an agricultural experiment, unless the experimenter will give, as remarked above, all the facts connected with the experiment. This is too much neglected in contributions to agricultural works, and its importance cannot be too forcibly impressed upon your contributors. When a lawyer is applied to for advice, he instantly demands the facts; the physician when consulted, must know the symptoms, and when farmers are to make up a judgment in relation to an agricultural experiment, their minds should be enlightened by every thing connected therewith.

When I took up my pen, Mr. Editor, it was for the purpose of giving you the plan of a gate I have in use upon my farm, and which has been adopted, I may say, universally through this section of the country.

The drawing represents the frame work of the gate. It is made of hard pine or poplar, ash, cedar or white oak.

The postern upright is 4 by 3 inches or 5 by 3-inches, according to fancy.

The brace is 4 by 3 inches.

The top railing is 4 by 3 inches until it passes the middle upright, then 3 by 3.

The middle upright is 4 by 3 inches, to keep the slats true and in place.

The front upright is 4 by 3 inches.

The bottom railing is 3 by 3 inches. This is sometimes a slat.

The top and bottom hinge. This is a clasp hinge, embracing the back upright and the top and bottom railing, securing the tenons from ever breaking, and having the shank of the bottom one longer than that of the top one, so as to give a fall to the gale. This is the hinge I prefer— others may differ from me, but this does not affect the gate, as it is adapted to any kind of hinge. If the maker thinks proper, he can extend the back upright and let it work in a socket at bottom and ring at top fastened to the post.

I think, Mr. Editor, you will perceive that all the requisites of a good gate are combined in this plan. When properly made, the timbers in front, are lighter than those back. The slats are all kept in place by the middle upright and brace, without the possibility of being warped by the sun. Thereare no nails, every part being pinned

together, and can be made by any one in the least accustomed to common plantation tools. But the most important of all, we have here a brace, which resting v/ith one end upon the back upright and the other supporting the top railing, which in its turn supports all other parts of the gate, prevents the possibility of swagging. The brace is the most important part of a gate, and its position most important of all. Some gates have no brace—many are braced by two slats pinned together which soon become racked and serve no good purpose. In others, again, (such as that of your correspondent J. B. so much lauded by you,) the brace is permitted to rest upon the bottom railing. This is worse than no brace, as it throws the whole weight of the gate, with that of the brace superadded, upon the tenons. Plant your brace upon the back upright, and the gate never swags.

I have thought every one who advises a particular construction of a gate or farming implement, should send a model of it, and if it meet with your views, I will send one of the plan above, and also a model of any implement I may recommend to my farming brethren, and hope that they will do the same, as a room in your establishment well filled with models of agricultural implements, such as have met the approbation of judicious farmers, might afford amusement and instruction to many of us visiting the city for various purposes.

Very respectfully, &c.

G. A. £.

We thought we had nearly exhausted the subject of gates in our first volume, nor do we see that this has any advantage over the corrected one of J. B. therein described. Nevertheless, as it is upon the same principle, in the main, and as many of the subscribers to the present volume have never seen the first, we have determined to insert it, accompanied with an engraving. If our correspondent will look again, he will find, that the gate "so much lauded," has the brace placed as his is, and as it should undoubtedly be. The defect in the original was specially noticed and corrected in a subsequent engraving. We prefer the dovetail joint to the mortice and tenon. There are great varieties of gates, and almost every man has a fancy of his own. The chief points to be observed are, as our correspondent hints, the proper position of the brace, the lightening in front, and security in hinging.

Mr. Smith (we despise initials) is, we understand, an able and experienced farmer. We entirely concur with him in the necessity of particularity in the detail of experiments, and the

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impropriety of deducing general conclusions from territorial limits of his District; so that our more

a single fact. distant friends, by early application, may come

With respect to the last suggestion of our in for a share, correspondent, we esteem it a very happy one.' A very few seeds of each variety are sent,

We have long thought that our office might be and a division amongst the numerous applicants

convened into a very interesting agricultural will frequently allow only one or two to each,

museum. We have already made some small One condition we shall take the liberty of im-

collections, and shall be much obliged to our posing in every instance, viz : that, if ihe variety

friends, who will forward us any thing, in the prove valuable, double the number of seed re-

agricultural line, either curious or useful.

STRAW.

ceived this year, shall be furnished to this office, for distribution, next spring.

PAINTING HOUSES.

How can I make my cattle eat straw ? I have often asked of some experienced farmers. "Give| It has ]ong been a sub j ect of j nqm > y as t0 them less hay,'' was ihe general reply. Not the best time to apply paint 10 the clapboards of liking this mode however, and knowing that houses for durab j| lly . Repeated experiments good farmers .n England and this country made have been mad8j wilhin twen iy-five years past, free use of straw as food for cattle, I resolved last which have resu ited in the convictions, that paint summer, when thrash.ng, to change my plan. app]ied between November and March, will I slacked it as usual, but in the progress of the sland more than lwice as long . as lhal which is work, sprinkled on from two to three bushels of spread |n |he warraest weather. The reason is salt. I used the " Pitts Thrasher," which gave obvious . for in co]d we ather the oil and the com-me the additional advantage of mixing the chaff m parts of the in1 form a hard subsIance

through the whole. Well, during the warm on lhe surface of lhe c i iipboard) 1]e arly as hard weather in the first part of this month, my cattle, as glass> nnd not easi]v erased or even cul wilh instead of wandering about with but little appe- a sharp knife and will not soon wear off; whereas

In 6 ! m !! ht . be , Seen ^! , 1 37 day .. eage '" 1 7. eD l P^u ,n P ainls a PP lied in ,he ,T,onths of Ju] y and August,

and more especially if in a severe drought, the

filling themselves with straw. At night, when the cows were tied up to receive their roots, their hay would be almost untouched. Their rotund appearance left me no apprehension of their starving, however. This was continued uniil nearly the present time, when I was obliged to reserve the remainder of the stack for the use of the stables. Nearly a month's feeding of hay was saved.— New Genesse Farmer.

SEEDS. We are indebted to the kindness of the Re-

oil immediately penetrates into the wood like water into a sponge, which leaves the lead nearly dry which will soon crumble off.

Whig fy Courier.

From Mr. Colman's Agricultural Rrport. WEST CAMBRIDGE PIGGERY.

"A very large hog establishment," &c. A very large hog establishment in this county is to be found in West Cambridge, on the farm

presentative from this Congressional District for °[ Abl l er ^ erc , e - 3 ^ e kee P* in his enclosure

, , c , c . ,-rt t , r-^rri about five hundred hogs. They are supported

another supply of seeds from the Patent Office. , ■ ,, Z c < T , l r ,

rf Y I upon the citv swill or refuse. INo bogs are aIj

These seeds, it will be remembered, are collected lowed t0 be kepl in Boston but by special and j

with great pains, through foreign and domestic extraordinary permission ; and among ihe ex-agents, by the indefatigable Commissioner of cellent municipal regulations, the refuse vegeta-Patents, and annually distributed through the, bies, meat, garbage, and offal of the houses are

required to be kept by each householder in a box or barrel which is emptied once a week or oftener by the city scavengers. This being taken into the covered city carls, is delivered at JVIr. the Dutton, ihe Baden, and Brown ; also several • Pierce's establishment, about five miles from the varieties of beans and turnips, introduced from city, daily—he paying therefor to the city four

members of Congress. Many of them are new varieties, and likely to prove exceedingly valuable. Amongst ihe varieties of corn, we notice

England by ihe Hon. Daniel Webster, intended chiefly for field culture.

We are requested by our Representative to distribute them amongst his and our constituents.

thousand dollars per year on a contract for five years.

His hogs, when I visited them, were in an enclosure of about fourteen acres, partly covered with trees and bordering on one of ihe beautiful

A liberal consiruction of this clause will, we, ponds in that vicinity—a picturesque situation apprehend, justify us in going a little beyond the | most certainly, for animals making such humble

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87

pretensions lo taste and sentiment. If nothing else, however, in the summer months they enjoy, as much as iheir betters, the luxury of a refreshing bath and quiet repose under ihe shade, both essentially conducive to their health and thrift. He has had no general disease among them, though occasionally a case of the " blind staggers." He considers this troublesome disease as proceeding wholly from indigestion ; and he finds no difficulty in its cure, by procuring an immediate evacuation. For this purpose he gives a dose consisting of half a pint of lamp oil, and half a pint of molasses, strongly charged with pounded brimstone. This remedy is important to be known, as the disease is not uncommon among swine, and often proves fatal. This disease can hardly be considered local, though the "blind staggers" in years gone by, has been known to prevail in some localities near at least one of these ponds among a class of animals, who assume to be of a higher rank, but who occasionally pollute these beautiful regions by a resort to them for purposes of dissipation ; but a simple and perfect preventive is at last found for this disease, (so much more humiliating and dreadful in its elfects on them) if they can be induced to take it, in "total abstinence."

Mr. Pierce's hogs are purchased; he raises none. He buys them at a weight uf ICO to 150 pounds. Their average weight when killed is from 250 to 300 pounds. He has a killing twice a year, though many of his hogs are kept a year. The supply of refuse from the city is sufficient, excepting at certain seasons of the year, when some meal and corn are given. They fatten in the yard without extra fee^\, excepting as above. At killing, the skins (that is, the small entrails) are sold at ten cents a set; the harslet at eight cents; which pay fully the expenses of dressing. The remainder is cooked for the swine, after saving and selling what can be used by the soap-maker. The manure made in their beds where they are littered is sold readily at four dollars per cord, and in quick demand. The average sales of manure are not less than one thousand dollars.

In the enclosure there are extensive plank platforms on which the garbage is spread when I brought from the city. The right of cleaning , the tables, after the hogs have filled themselves, | is purchased by several neighboring farmers at tw T o dollars and fifty cents per day. Much of i the refuse thus obtained is spread upon their grass lands, or ploughed in on their cultivated grounds, or placed round their apple trees, and in every case with the greatest advantage. If not used immediately it is put into a compost heap and covered with mould. Some far met s who obtain it use much of it for feeding their own swine. One farmer stated lo me that he had purchased the right of obtaining it two days in a week. He kept the last year fourteen

hogs entirely upon those gleanings. The gain upon these hogs in live weight from 1st October io 1st April, when he sold them on foot, was 2,800 pounds. Other farmers have been equally successful in this economical process*

The average gain of the hogs at this establishment is rated at a pound per day, live weight. A large amount of bones are brought out in the carts, and these find a ready sale at the bone-mill for manure.

CURE FOR TOOTHACHE.

Mix alum and common salt in equal quantities, finely pulverized. Then wet some cotton, large enough to fill the cavity, which cover w iih the salt and alum and apply it. We have the authority of those who have tested it, lo say it will prove a perfect remedy.

Union Agriculturist.

For the Southern Planter. HOMONY MORTAR.

Having occasion for a new homony mortar a short time past, wiih two of my men and a crosscut saw, we cut off a hollow gum log of suitable size, three feet four inches long ; took it home, trimmed out the inside with a long-handled chis-sel, then drove down into ihe hollow a piece of hard oak two feet long, which being forced to the bottom and secured by an inch pin driven into an auger-hole bored about, one foot from ihe lower end, left a mortar about one foot four inches deep. This was smoothed with a cooper's shave, and in two hours the mortar was ready for use, without ihe expense of hoop or bolts, which is worth our consideration these hard limes. S.

We make the following extracts from a most able report of a committee, appointed by the Agricultural Society of Pendleton, in fcfouth Carolina:

ON THE CAUSES OE THE DEPRECIATION OF LAND. AND THE REMEDY.

In every good system of culture, ihe earih must be allowed sufficient time to recruit her exhausted energy in producing a crop, by rest; or must be aided in re-invigorating herself by meliorating crops, or by means of stimulating manures. Rest will accomplish a great deal towards resuscitation, provided it is resorted to in time, before the land has become too much exhausted. It must be assisted, however, by turning in, at the proper season, the natural productions, for the purpose of converting them into manure, and of keeping the surface soil well pulverized for attracting and combining atmospheric manure. The proper time for performing this operation, is when the vegetable substance

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has arrived at full maturity, when it has reached nearest its woody state. The controversy so long- carried on, whether green or dry vegetable matter is the proper state to turn under, is now, we conceive, pretty well settled by the good sense and intelligence of agriculturists. Green substances are too evanescent in their quality to add to the permanent fertility of the soil. They are little better than a shower of rain—the benefit of which is soon evaporated. The value of manures depends upon their permanent and durable quality of enriching the soil, and therefore vegetable substances in a green and succulent state are little to be relied on, and will not repay the labor of converting them. We do not see plants while growing shedding their green leaves and returning them to the earth for the purpose of being converted into soil. Hence, Nature, who is wise in all her operations, furnishes a valuable guide and direction on this important subject. We should improve from her hints, and follow, instead of depart from her example.

It is a great mistake to turn land out to rest and surfer it to become close and compact. Land will not improve in that condition, because the pores (if we may so speak,) are closed, and the healthy action of the soil and its capacity for re-production is obstructed. The great secret in the formation of soil or its improvement, is the re-conversion of its products by decomposition into an increased capacity of the earth to produce. Plants feed upon each other—the parent stem dies and gives vigor and growth to its offspring. This vegetable cannibalism (if we may so term it,) clothes our fields with verdure and feeds us with the rich variety of earth's productions, and it is an important principle in the science of agriculture. Feed the earth liberally in order that she may feed us bountifully, and in proportion as proper aliment is given her, will she repay the bounty. She cannot yield us the milk of her bosom, or supply the cravings of our boundless appetites, unless she is liberally supplied with the means of doing it. " Muzzle not the ox that treadeth out the corn," is a divine command; and also the command of the great God of nature is, muzzle not the earth that gives us food and raiment.

The report alludes with great force to the expense of making and hauling out manures and compost, and considers the system, however applicable it may be to very small farms, as impracticable and insufficient to restore the vast tracts of worn out soil that are cultivated in the South. Circumstances compel us, at any rate, induce us, to cultivate more land than can be renovated by this laborious and expensive mode of improvement. Whilst, therefore, the Committee esteem very highly the manure that is

made incidentally, they think that the labor, that is required to manufacture and spread it, can be much more profitably employed in cultivating and ploughing in green crops.

We have heretofore expressed our conviction of the folly of hauling in vegetable matter for the purpose of hauling it out again. We do not believe that the cost of distant hauling has ever been fairly estimated. The current of opinion in favor of this compost system has been produced by the effect of northern example. The circumstances are totally different. Northern farms are, in size, more like gardens; the distance for hauling infinitely less, and the crop susceptible of higher and more expensive cultivation. The question may be raised whether we too had not better work less land and cultivate it more highly. That is another matter, but what we mean to maintain is, that although the system of improving by making composts may be the best for a small farm, cultivated like a garden, we think, with the South Carolina Committee, that we must look to some other source for extensive improvement. Do not let us be understood as underrating the value of stable manure or other fertilizing matter. On the contrary, we believe, and have said so be- i fore, that one of the greatest points of good husbandry, consists in gathering up and carefully saving all kinds of animal and vegetable offal, that can be collected about the yard, stables and farm pen.

But whether the labor of increasing this pile by artificial means, can be better bestowed inf assisting the earth to the production of vegetable matter, for her own consumption, is a subject ofi calculation. We entertain very little doubt of j the fact. We differ in this slight particular, however, with the Committee. When they would plough in the crop, we would cut it, andi suffer it to lie on the surface, as a "cover," during the summer months at least; ploughing in that and the sod it had nourished, for the next seeding.

A VALUABLE TABLE.

The following valuable table was calculated by James M. Garnett, Esq. of Essex County, Va., and first published in Mr. Rufhn's Farmer's Register:

Table.—A box 24 inches by 16 inches square and 28 inches deep, will contain a barrel, or 10,752 cubic inches.

A box 24 by 16 inches square and 14 inches

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deep, will contain a half barrel, or 5,376 cubic inches.

A box 16 inches by 16 8-10 inches square, and 8 inches deep, will contain a bushel, or 2,150 4-10 cubic inches.

A box 12 by 11 2-10 inches square and 8 inches deep, will contain half a bushel, or 1,075 2-10 cubic inches.

A box 8 inches by 8 4-10 inches square and 8 inches deep, will contain one peck, or 537 6-10 cubic inches.

A box 8 inches square and 4 2-10 inches deep, will contain one-half peck, or 263 8-10 cubic inches.

A box 8 inches square and 4 8-10 inches deep, will contain half a gallon, or 131 4-10 cubic inches.

A box 4 inches square and 4 2-10 inches deep, will contain one quart, or 67 2-10 cubic inches.

These measures come within a small fraction of a cubic inch of being perfectly accurate, as near indeed as any measures of capacity have ever yet been made for common use; the difficulty of making them with absolute exactness has never yet been overcome.

CURE FOR WARTS.

In our paper of January 8th we published a recipe for curing warts. Mr. H. M. Sanborn, of Brookline, called on us the other day to say that he had cured all the warts on the hands of his son, by the use of the means therein recommended. That is, he scraped a carrot and salted the scrapings for a poultice, which he bound on the boy's hands on his retiring to rest. This was several nights repeated.

Massachusetts Ploughman.

TOBACCO. Mr. Joshua Dodge, who was appointed by the Government special agent to attend to the interests of the United States in Europe, has addressed a circular to the Tobacco Planters of this country. The object of this circular is to urge upon our Planters continued and strenuous efforts to force a reduction of the high duties laid on Tobacco by the governments of Europe. This, Mr. Dodge says, can and should be effected by retaliating upon European goods that are imported into this country free of duty. Mr. Dodge says that the annual average exporta-tions of our Tobacco to Europe amounts to 97,-651 hogsheads—11,000 of which are smuggled. The balance pays a duty of about $35,000,000, six times as much as is received for it by the producer. Mr. Dodge now reckons that if the Vol. 2—12

duty was taken off, the consumption in Europe would be increased eight fold.

This is about the amount of the circular. To increase our Tobacco market is certainly a great desideratum to the Planter of the South and and West. We undoubtedly possess a capability of producing much more than we can sell; but whether the Planter, who is suffering for a market for his product, can better his condition by increasing the cost of the articles he consumes, is another question. But suppose the threat of an American tariff should produce a reduction of European duties, does not Mr. Dodge greatly overrate the increase of European consumption? His estimate is founded upon the supposition that two men in Europe will consume as much tobacco as one in the United States. Now is it possible that there are half as many, or a fourth as many, of the starving population of Europe, that, under any circumstances, could afford to purchase this luxury, as of the well paid independent, laborers of the U. States % We cannot but think that a man would buy wholesome food for his family, before he would incur the expense of acquiring a taste for tobacco.

Mr. Dodge's statistics are, we fear, imperfect, and his deductions much exaggerated. With respect to Tobacco Coventions and national interference, we know that many of our soundest and most experienced tobacco dealers think such measures more likely to result in harm than good. We ourselves are not sufficiently acquainted with the facts to form an opinion.

TRANSPLANTING PEAS AND EARLY VEGETABLES.

The method of rearing peas in pots or boxes in hot-beds or hot-houses, and afterwards transplanting them into the open ground, is a common practice, and often succeeds well; but I would recommend a method not so we 1 known but far preferable to that of pots and boxes, especially when the} 7 are to be raised on a hotbed. This consists in having a quantity of turf cut into strips, say ten inches long and three inches wide, placing them in a close and regular manner over the surface of the whole bed, grass-side downwards. A row of peas, &c. is sown on each row of turf and afterwards covered with rich earth. When they are fit for transplanting, nothing more is required than to lift up the turf piece by piece, with the peas, &c. growing upon it, and place them where they are to produce their crop. By this means, the roots receive no

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injury, nor do the plants sustain the least ch •(}•• in transplanting. This method may be adopted with similar success in the raising of potatoes, beans, &c—JV. Y. Farmer.

CORN HAY.

Th3 Hon. H. L. Ellsworth, Commissioner of Patents, who, in his official as well as private capacit}', omits no opportunity of advancing the interests of Agriculture, has reported to the American Farmer the result of an experiment made by sowing corn broadcast. It was cut y/hen tasselled, and produced at the rate of 108^ tons of green fodder to the acre. A second crop, two thirds as great, was easily obtained from the same land, during the same season. Mr. Ellsworth guards the experimenter against the error of curing the stalks with the large end resting on tne earth, through which moisture would be absorbed.

This is undoubtedly a prodigious yield in weight of even green hay, and we know that corn stalks contain a great deal of saccharine matter; but we imagine few things would lose more in curing than corn stalks, and we confess we see no data from which to conclude, that the actual nutriment from this crop was greater than would have been furnished by a growth of clover.

TRANSFORMATION OP WHEAT.

A grain of wheat when put into the ground at the depih of three inches, undergoes the following transformation: As soon as the farinaceous matter which involved the frame of the young plant contained within it is softened into a milky state, a germ is pushed out, and at the bottom of that germ small roots soon follow • the roots are gathering while the germ, by the aid of the milky fluid, is shooting upward; and when the milk is exhausted, the roots are in activity, and are collecting nourishment for the plant from the soil itself. This is analagous to the weaning of the young of animals, which are not. abandoned by the mother till they can provide for themselves. But the care of nature does not end here; when the germ has fairly got above the surface, and become a plant, a set of upper roots are thrown out, close to the surface of the ground, which search all the superficial parts of the soil with the same activity as the under roots search the lower parts; and that part of the germ which separates the two sets of roots is now become a channel, through which the lower roots supply the plant with the nourishment they have collected.

EXPERIMENTS.

In a late No. of the Farmers' Register, Mr. E. Ruffin, Jr. details a series of experiments, of which the following are the results.

His soil is described as a light loam on a sandy subsoil, originally very poor, but improved by means of marl and manure.

Plaster of Paris, sowed in March on clover of the second year's growth, produced no visible effect. A dressing of James River green sand (not calcareous) 40 bushels to the acre, attended with the same result.

The following important experiment going to shew the value of top-dressing and " covering" we give in the words of Mr. Ruffin.

Top-dressing with farm yard manure, and with unprepared leaves. Eighteen acres of light sandy loam in clover of second year, very thin and very unpromising, was top-dressed in April, 1840, with rough and unrotted manure from the farm-pen, at the rate of 800 to 1000 bushels per acre. This land was marled in 1821, and though greatly improved (for before its product was 8 to 10 bushels in corn, and perhaps 3 in wheat,) was still but of middling product, and before this manuring, would not have brought more than 18 or at most 20 bushels of corn per acre, or six bushels of wheat after corn. The last crop of wheat, cut in 1839, after corn, was known to be only 42 bushels of wheat or 2£ bushels to the acre. That crop however was very much damaged by chinch bug. The top-dressing was as coarse as any trodden litter could be, many corn stalks merely mashed, but unbroken, constituting an average of the manure of the farm-pen, which was made of the stalks and straw of the farm pen trampled by the cattle, and covered over with the manure of the stables and hog pens ever} 7 time they were cleaned out throughout the winter, which was about once a week. The hog-pens were principally littered with leaves from the woods. The effect of the top-dressing on the clover was almost immediately perceptible. In September the field was fallowed for wheat, and in June of this year 283 bushels of wheat, were cut from it, equal to 16 bushels per acre. The soil is decidedly a corn soil, and too light for wheat. But the most striking and gratifying proof of improvement is the frequent appearance of green-sward in many places, where it was not at all observed prior to this manuring. This valuable grass has generally made its appearance in spots of the different fields after marling, but this particular field was too poor for its growth (so as to be noticed) even after marling, until it received this top-dressing.

In January, 1840, about 15 acres of light loam, with sandy subsoil, in clover of second

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year's growth, top-dressed with 377 very large ox-cart loads of leaves, principally pine-beards raked together in adjoining woods. The covering was so thick that at one time it was thought that the clover was in great danger of being smothered. It however came through and was decidedly benefitted, except in spots where the leaves were left too thick. In the fall, the whole was fallowed for wheat. Crop 15 bushels per acre, and considered a good yield for the land. Its product after corn has usually been about 8. Part of this land was much infested with wire-grass. In getting in the wheat no means were adopted to get rid of the wire-grass, except to pick up and carry off the little that the harrows brought to the surface. And in fact this piece received one harrowing less than I usually gave to such wire-grass spots, on account of a rain which interrupted the operations. This fall, 1841, in ploughing for corn, noticed that very little wire-grass was left. Could the leaves have had any agency in killing the wire grass, by shading or otherwise? Or did the mere exposure of the roots to the sun, as some maintain, effect it? Some credit is no doubt due to the latter cause, but the former has a strong, and, may be, a stronger claim ; for, in similar spots, fallowed without any application of leaves, I have never known a similar decrease of wire-grass. It maj' be well to mention that the above 15 acres were 10 or 12 years ago well marled— the soil, originally and previously to marling, acid.

Leaves ploughed under. In January, 1841, covered a stiff, intractable soil, previously and some years ago well marled, with leaves, which were ploughed under, and oats sown early in March. No benefit to the oats whatever ; and when ploughing the land for wheat this fall, the leaves were turned up very littledeci.yed.

Old seed wheat, carefully preserved, compared with new, was found to be longer in generating, and the product presenting an inferior appearance.

MANURES. In answer to some inquiries of a correspondent, the Editor of the American Farmer gives the following advice.

1. As to the quantity of each kind of manure necessary to act benefically. On clays not exhausted, where lime may be necessary, a hundred bushels to the acre should be applied.

On clays, whose fertility may have been exhausted by over-cropping, or from any other cause—or which may never have been fertile— from 40 to 50 bushels to the acre will be found to be enough for the first application, a dose of the same quantity to be repeated, after such land

may have been carried through a course of rotation of crops.

2. On loams in good heart, a hundred bushels of lime may be applied not only in safety, but with decided advantage.

On exhausted loams, from 40 to 50 bushels to the acre is enough ; to be repeated as above directed for infertile clays.

3. On sands and gravels we think that 50 bushels is enough lime to the acre ; to be repeated under the same circumstances as above.

4. Of barn-yard or stable manure, or composts, whether to be applied to cla}^, loams, gravels cr sands, it is our opinion, that less than 20c'ouble horse cart loads, of the capacity of 40 bushels each, should not be applied. To be sure, from 10 to 14 would tell; but then, we question much, whether one acre with 20 loads, would not. produce as much as two manured with half that quantity to the acre. If so, economy would suggest the propriety of giving the larger dose, because, half the labor would be thus saved.

5. On all lands which naturally lay dry, or which have been made so, planted in corn, or set to clover, w T e would sow a bushel of plaster to the acre.

[Thirdly. Mode of applying the different kinds of manure.]

1. Lime and Plaster should be sown on the surface.

2. Barn-yard, stable and compost manures, should be spread broadcast, and ploughed in to the depth of three inches, in stiff lands, and say four inches in light soils.

This, however, is a disputable question, and the opinion seems to be gaining strength and friends, that all such manures will prove most beneficial when applied as a top-dressing. This opinion is entertained by gentlemen of great experience and judgment ; but we deem it due to candor to say, that we have not yet seen any thing in the way of experiments, to shake our belief in the opposite opinion. If the food of plants is, in part, received in a gaseous form, and we believe it is,much of this portion of their sustenance will escape, if the manure be left on the surface, subject to the drying of the sun and atmosphere, nor will a little of its virtues be washed away, and consequently lost by the rains. But as we are open to conviction we shall hold our-self prepared to profit by the lights of others.

While on the subject of manures we may sny a few words upon Marl. This manure may be used according to its quality and the character of the land upon which it may be placed, in quantities varying from 40 to 60 double horse cart loads to the acre. The heavier kinds,, clay or stone, we should presume to be best adapted to light soils: the shell marl, to tenacious soils. On these, besides the benefit arising from the lime which they contain, such soils would be greatly improved in texture. Where, however,

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the shell marl may not be procurable, the others should be used, no matter what the character of the land, as its condition would be immensely meliorated by the calcareous principle contained therein.

BUTTER.

At a recent exhibition of the New York Agricultural Society, the butter exhibited for premium amounted to 2600 lbs. The three premiums of $30, $20, and $10, were severally awarded to Messrs. Lansing-, Merrifield, and Lyon. These gentlemen each furnished statements of his mode of management.

Mr. Lansing's statement was as follows :

1. The number of cows kept is ten.

2. Keep them stabled through the inclement season ; feed them from three to four times per day with good hay or green stalks; when near corning in, add some oats, barley, or corn cracked. In summer, good pasture, with living water accessible at all times, and plenty of salt.

3. Treatment of milk and cream before churning. Strain the milk in tin pans; place them in a cool celiar for the cream to rise. When sufficiently risen, separate the cream from the milk ; put it in stone jars, well prepared, before churning.

4. The mode of churning in summer.—Rinse the churn with cold water; then turn in the cream, and add to each jar of cream put in churn full one-fourth of the same quantity of cold water. The churn used is a patent one, moved by hand with a crank, having paddles attached, and so constructed as to warm the milk, if too cold, with hot water, without mixing them together. The milk and cream receive the same treatment in winter as in summer-; and in churning, use hot instead of cold water, if necessary*

5. The method of freeing the butter from the milk, is to wash the butter with cold water till it shows no color of the milk, by the use of a ladle.

6. Salting of the butter.—Use the best kind of Liverpool sack salt; the quantity varies according to the state in which the butter is taken from the churn—if soft, more, if hard, less, always taking the taste for the surest guide. Add no saltpetre nor other substances.|

7. The best time for churning is the morning, in hot weather, and to keep the butter cool till put down.

.8. The best mode of preserving butter in and through the summer and winter, is as follows :

* In winter, Mr. Merrifield lets his milk stand twelve hours; it is then removed to the stove, and scalded over a slow fire to near boiling beat; the pans removed to the cellar to cool ; the cream only churned. The butter, placed in the coldest part of the house, will keep frood for any lcnerih of time.

t Mr. Merrifield also uses Liverpool sack suit, one ounce to the pound.

The vessel is a stone jar, clean and sweet* The mode of putting it down is to put in a churning of butter, and put on strong brine ; let it remain on till the next churning is ready to put down, and so on till the jar is filled ; then cover it over with fine salt, the same to remain on till used. Jacob T. Lansing. Watervliet, Jan. 1S42.

Mr. Lyon has a cellar under his milk house the entire size of the building, with wall of stone to the depth of six feet. In the centre of the floor, he has a hole about three feet square, over which he has a table, where, in summer, the milk is strained, the butter worked, &c. Mr. Lyon is very particular in salting his cows, regularly, once a week in winter, and twice a week in summer. It is not only conducive to health, but he says he has never known a case of great difficulty in obtaining butter, where the cows were regularly salted.

REBELLIOUS HENS.

A neighbor of our f s states that hog's lard is the best thing he can find to mix with the dough he gives to his hens. He says one cut of this fat, as large as a walnut, will set a hen to laying immediately after she has been broken up from her setting ; and thus his hens lay thro r the whole winter. Will some more experimenters try the virtue of hog's lard ?— Mass, Ploughman.

RAW POTATOES BETTER THAN COOKED.

Mr. Holmes :—A. E. a farmer, had four pigs of the same litter, of course of the same breed, very near of a size and flesh on the first day of December. He then placed two of them in a pen marked A. the other two in a similar one marked B. both of equal dimensions, warmth, &c. &c. To those in pen marked A. he gave a peck of raw potatoes per day—those in pen marked B. he gave precisely as many by measure well boiled. Those that eat the uncooked ones did pretty well, or kept in tolerable order for store swine, the object being not to fat either, but only to carry them to the first of March, three months in common order. But those that cat the cooked ones grew daily poor, and before March come, must have perished by starvation had not the quantity been increased. The reason is plain, those boiled passed out of the sj T s-tern soon, while the others continued longer. S.

Note.— The above is from a very respectable source, and we publish it because it comes well vouched. But we doubt the cause. There

* Messrs. Merrifield and Lyon both prefer wooden vessels for keeping- butter.

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must have been some other cause than the one alleged by our correspondent. We are decidedly in favor of cooking potatoes, when it can be conveniently done, and given warm to swine. Editor Maine Farmer.

AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF THE U. STATES.

On the 15ih day of December, 1841, a meeting was held in the Capitol, at Washington, for the purpose of organizing a grand National Society of Agriculture.

The Hon. James M. Garnett, of Virginia, was chosen President, and a Committee, appointed for the purpose, reported a Constitution, of which the following are the principal features:

"Article 1. This Society shall consist of such members as shall, at the formation of the same, sign the Constitution, and pay to the Treasurer two dollars, and one dollar annually thereafter as long as they shall continue members.

"Article 2. Any citizen of the United States may become a member of this Society by paying the fees required for membership.

"Article 3. Any agricultural society in the United States shall become an auxiliary society upon paying to the Treasurer the sum of ten dollars, upon application, and five dollars annually thereafier; and each auxiliary society shall receive no less than five printed copies of the annual proceedings of this Society, and shall also be represented by such delegate or delegates as they may appoint to the annua] meetings of this Society, and on all questions to be decided by the Society, such delegation shall be entitled to ten votes.

"Article 4. Any person paying to the Treasurer ten dollars, shall receive a diploma of membership for life.

"Article 5. The officers of this Society shall consist of one President, one Vice President from each State and Territory, and one from District of Columbia, a Recording Secretary, a Corresponding Secretary and Treasurer, and a Board of Control, consisting of five members, three of whom shall constitute a quorum.

"Article 10. The Board of Control shall consist of five members, living in, or at convenient distance from this city, who shall perform all the executive duties necessary to the purposes of the Society, not specifically assigned to other officers. They shall avail themselves of all the means in their power to become acquainted with the agriculture of foreign countries, and through such aid as they may be able to receive from our diplomatic agents abroad, as well as our consuls, shall, if consistent with the pecuniary means of the Society, introduce from abroad whatever they may think materially calculated to improve the agriculture of this country, whe-

ther it consists of information as to new and improved modes of culture, seeds, plants, additional articles of cultivation, agricultural implements, or domestic animals; the disposition of which shall be made at the first annual meeting of the Society.

"Article 11. The Board of Control shall also use the necessary means of having a large exhibition, at each annual meeting, of improved agricultural implements and machinery, wiih full and public trial of the same;—of impioved stocks of all kinds, and particularly of inviting the exhibition of such animals as have taken premiums at other agricultural shows, with a view of testing the superiority of prize animals themselves; also, of the different breeds of animals, for the purpose of comparing the advantages of each. They shall affix to such exhibitions such premiums as they shall adjudge suitable, appointing such judges as they may select to award the same, which judges shall not only assign iheir preferences, but shall draw up a detailed report of their several examinations, setting forth fully a description of the articles or animals adjudged, and the grounds upon which their preferences are awarded.

"Article 12. It shall further be ihe duty of the Board of Control, when they think it expedient, to procure a model of such implements, and machinery as may have received a premium, to be kept in some suitable and convenient place, selected as an agricultural repertory, for the inspection of the public, and particularly of members of the Society.

"Article 13. The said Board may also award premiums for prize essays, to be read before ihe Society, for well conducted and well reported experiments in agriculture, having reference in the same to the prevailing agricultural productions of the different sections of the Union.

"Article 14. The said Board shall give due notice by advertisement, of the time and place of such exhibitions, the premiums to be awarded, and the committee by whom they are to be awarded, and for the expense attending the discharge of the duties herein imposed, they shall draw requisitions on the President, setting forth, severalty, the items of expense, which requisitions shall be recorded by the Recording Secretary, and the President, if he approves the same, shall thereupon issue his draft on the Treasurer for the amount.

"Article 15. The said Board shall also be instructed to make efforts to obtain funds for the establishment of an Agricultural School, in the District of Columbia, and appurtenant thereto, a course of Public Lectures on Agriculture, Chemistry, Botany, Mineralogy, Geology, and Entomology, as appropriate sciences to the great business of Agriculture, which, with the buildings and improvements thereon, shall, in the language of Smithson, be set apart forever " as an

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establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men."

"Article 16. The Board of Control shall procure an appropriate seal for the Society, to be attached to diplomas or other documents or instruments which may be issued to honorary members or other persons, under the directions of the Society. They shall fill all vacancies that may occur by death, resignation or otherwise, either in their own body, or the list of the officers, to continue until the next general meeting.

"Article 17. In further aid of the purpose of this Society, the said Board shall invite some suitable person to establish an agricultural publication in this city, and shall also petition Congress for the incorporation of this Society.

"Article 18. The first general meeting of this Society shall be in the city of Washington, on the first Wednesday in May next, and thereafter at such times as the Society may direct.

" On motion of Mr. Torry, of Massachusetts, it was

'-Resolved, That the Board of Control of the Society be instructed to present a petition to the present Congress of the United States to set apart the Smithsonian bequest for the purpose of carrying out the Society."

The following officers were elected to serve until the regular election in May next:

President — James M. Garnett.

Corresponding Secretary —John S. Skinner.

Recording Secretary —John F. Callan.

Treasurer —Edward Dyer.

Board of Control —Levi Woodbury, Elisha Whittlesey, Alexander Hunter, John A. Smith, W. J. Stone.

One Vice-President was chosen from each State in the Union, and Mr. Edmund Ruffin was elected to represent the State of Virginia. The Vice-Presidents of Virginia, Maryland, District of Columbia, Pennsylvania, and Delaware, are, ex-officio, members of the Board of Control. The friends of this institution are very sanguine of its success, and of its beneficial effects upon American Agriculture. It is not, however, without its oponenls, whom late events have rendered suspicious of mammoth schemes of any kind. Some think that it is destined, in a short lived and brilliant existence, to swallow up those county and neighborhood societies, that are now exciting so much interest, and doing so much good throughout the country. It is objected, also, that the question of incorporation has a tendency to ingulf the subject of Agriculture in the foul pool of party politics, by bringing to bear upon it the most exciting political question of

the day, the power of the General Government to pass acts of incorporation.

On the other hand it is urged, that a great National Association, with large funds at their command, by the extensive exhibition which they will be able to concenrate at a central point, will give new eclat, and impart a new impulse, to Agriculture ; that the establishment of an experimental farm, will induce the test of new discoveries, too expensive for private trial, that the national collection of models, essays, &c. &c. will form a source of unbounded instruction and amusement to ihe scientific farmer, who may visit the repository. In short, as is generally the case, extravagant expectations are formed on the one hand, and unnecessary fears entertained on the other. Our own opinion is, that the whole matter will prove a very harmless affair. At any rate, we are satisfied to take the advice of an old and experienced friend, and "judge the tree by its fruit."

DICKENS (BOZ?) HOGS.' Since the publication of the article over his name, we have received a note from General Richardson, stating the following as the weight of another lot of hogs of Mr. Dicken's stock, which he thinks a much fairer average of their capabilities than the one he has furnished in the article alluded to. That lot indeed is expressly stated to have been an inferior one, selected under disadvantages. These attained the following weights at eleven months old, under the ordinary farm keep, viz: 175—180—198—218—234 lbs. Although these weights are not very great, compared with what some of the Bcrkshires have been made to attain, the General thinks they are fully large enough for the Virginia Farmer, and that no Berkshires would have exceeded them with similar treatment.

HOUSE PAINTING.

Roofs of houses that are covered with shin-gles,are most generally painted wiih the cheapest kinds of oil paint, such as American yellow ochre, and lamp-black mixed with cheap refuse oil, and immediately covered or sprinkled over with sand. Tarred sheets of coarse paper, laid over the shingles, has in some cases proved an economical mode of preservaiion. When the outside of an old house is to be painted, if the clapboards or sheathing, have become very rough by exposure to the weather, ihe surface may be coated with a cheap composition of glue sizing

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and whiting, or calcined plaster of paris, and if immediately painted over with oil paint, to protect it from the weather, this preparation will prove durable, and an immense saving of expense of oil, &c.— Jim. Meek.

It is with great reluctance that we intrude ourselves upon our readers; most especially, at this time of universal and unexampled pressure, do we dislike to tax the kindness of our friends. But as a matter of necessity, we are compelled to request their assistance in enlarging our list of subscribers. We know that many, actuated by the most partial feelings of personal regard, estimate our little work for above its merits. Many to whom we are personally unknown have afforded us the most flattering assurances, that they considered the Planter a great acquisition to the agriculture of the South.

We have labored zealously and unceasingly, as we believe the work will testify, to collect for our readers a condensed account of all the agricultural improvements of the day. To read the great flood of essays with which the agricultural world is deluged, to pore over an essay of pages to collect only a single idea, involves a degree of labor and consumes a quantity of time, of which the inexperienced reader will form a poor conception. In fact, if the task is well performed, it leaves no time for an}' other occupation. W 7 e have pursued no other, and are dependant upon the Planter alone for our livelihood. For sixteen months, we have been engaged, day and night, for this work, without putting a dollar in our pocket. We have lived upon the prospect of future reward ; we begin to long for more substantial fare, and think it is almost time we had received it.

Will not the " Old Dominion" sustain a paper devoted heart and soul to her interests?

All we ask, for the present, is a living; four thousand subscribers will afford it. Shall we not have them ? Are there not to be found four thousand men, in Virginia alone, who will rally to the support of such an undertaking. A friend,

to whom we privately said, a few weeks since, what we say publicly now, wrote us a little while afterwards—"I enclose you sixteen dollars which I have beat up in my neighborhood." If each of our friends, if each of the friends of agriculture, would only "beat up" in his neighborhood, how easily the thing could be effected. We flatter ourselves the work only wants to be known, to ensure us a subscription, commensurate with our moderate wants. Will you, reader, assist us in its dissemination? Will you mention the subject to your neighbor? Will you tell him, with a little stretch of conscience, that every number is worth the price of subscription ; that although the times are hard, that is only the greater reason he should be careful lo get the value of his money, and that he can make no better investment than in the purchase of an agricultural paper? An exchange paper was so kind lately as to estimate the value of each article in a number of the Planter at one dollar. At this rate, he would be making money fast enough to satisfy the most insatiate.

Over and above the pride of sustaining a State paper, we would suggest to our readers that their own interest is materially concerned in extending our subscription.

There is one department of our paper for which education has somewhat fitted us, and to which we design to pay particular attention, ihe improvements that are daily made in agricultural implements and machines. To exhibit these as they should be done, requires expensive engravings, and when our subscription justifies it, we think, by enlarging this department, we can greatly increase the interest of the paper.

Come, then, for our sake, for the sake of agriculture, and for your own sake, beat vp and see what you can do in } r our neighborhood.

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

Several communications are necessarily laid over to our next. W 7 e are much obliged to " Collonus" for his article upon the cultivation of corn, but were obliged to defer it for want of the engraving, which was not quite completed when we went to press. Time and tide, and the Planter hereafter, wait for no man.

The article from A. D. is well written, and withal incontrovertible, but it is of so general a character, that it must yield to information more specific and practical, with which we are crowded.