seed from the North every year, "cause it runs out." He plants in November, and they ripen in May, but he lets them remain through the summer in the hills.

One fact in regard to his management of negroes might be pursued by parents toward children, as well as masters towards servants. He keeps them at home; and he very rarely has occasion to punish.

left at the first clearing; straightening the crooked channels of branches, and filling up and cultivating the old channels; draining little ponds, &c. But what is of vast importance and necessity for every Mississippi farmer to learn and practice, he has the whole plantation under a complete system of hill-side ditches, by which he wholly prevents the light soil from washing away, and adds greatly to the value of the land, and the annual amount of the crops.

Having learned that the name of the post-office here was "Okachickama,” I found by reference to a memorandum, that I was in the neighborhood of another old acquaintance, JOHN T. LEIGH, Esq., and in the after-ditches?" I have to say, that the whole of all the numernoon we rode over to his house, and found him reading the S. W. Farmer, where he had just discovered that I was on my way to Mississippi, and expressing his regret to his family that he should not probably meet with me, as he lived off of any leading road. His astonishment and pleasure may be "guessed" at, when Mr. Hardiman introduced the very individual whose name was then upon his lips.

Now if any body should ask "what are hill-side ous hill-sides are ditched with one or more ditches, as may be necessary to take up and carry off all the falling water, almost on a level, and winding round till an outlet can be found to discharge it without injury to the land. These ditches are laid off by a level, and are in tended to remain permanent fixtures; and all the plowing has to conform to their shape, and as a matter of course, utterly annihilating "straight rows." This great I had only come for a short call. I stayed two nights. and indispensable improvement upon Mr. Leigh's farm, Who ever escaped Virginia hospitality in less time. was done by his very intelligent son, Randolph, who How these meetings and joyous welcomes, and show of until the present year has had the sole charge of overrespect from every member of a family, do sink into the seeing the plantation; thereby proving, that one rich heart and search out every kind feeling, and strengthen planter's son could make himself a useful member of soevery emotion that prompts in the labor of doing good, ciety. I wish I could say all sons were like this estimaand promoting the happiness of our fellow creatures. ble young man-particularly my own. In this connecWhat other recompense can be so dear to one devoting tion, I must not forget to mention Mr. Leigh's son-intime and talents to increase the knowledge, and conse-law, Dr. Town, whose plantation is adjoining, and culquently add joy to the mind of his universal brethren, as tivated under the same system, and which he wholly such interviews as the one I have just described and am oversees himself. now describing. Have patience with me, my northern friends, if I appear tedious, but I am anxious to paint you a picture of a Mississippi planter, in which you may see all the little minutiæ of his household; so different, so wonderfully different from your own.

Mr. Leigh works about 35 field hands, including blacksmiths, carpenters, spinners, and weavers; the latter only working in the field in "picking time"-that is, when the cotton is ripe and ready to gather, which in the way of hurry, answers to the time of your harvest. He owns about ninety negroes, old and young, all of whom live in families by themselves, in very comfortable log cabins, some of which are neatly furnished and provided with household matters and things, and others that are exactly the reverse, and look just like some white folks' houses. These families have a weekly ration of three and a half pounds of bacon, clear of bone, for each member, except small children, who are furnished with food in proportion to size and numbers. About a peck and a half of meal is also given, and more, if they can use it without waste, and sweet potatoes, turneps, squashes, onions, green corn, and various other vegetables, as well as melons and peaches, by untold quantities; and all show by their looks that they are full

fed and well clothed.

"The quarters," that is the place where the negro cabins stand, are away from the dwelling house, and are so arranged as to be in sight of the overseer's house, so that he can always have an eye to anything going wrong. For negroes, like children, want a deal of careful watching at all times.

When the hands go to their work in the morning, all the children are taken to the nursery, where they are taken care of and fed by a woman who does nothing else. Women never go to the field until the child is a month old, and from then till weaning time, return to nurse them at stated times. Hands either take their breakfast and dinner to the field with them, or have it sent out in little tin buckets, kept for the purpose.

Mr. Leigh has 640 acres of land in cultivation, including about 80 acres taken up in yards, gardens, orchard, &c. Of the balance, he puts 200 acres in corn, 60 or 70 acres in oats, and the remainder in cotton, upon which he made for the last three years, from 125 to 135 bales a year. [A bale of cotton is always 400 lbs.] He put up last year, 16,000 lbs. of bacon, for the use of the plantation, and intends in future, to keep up a supply. This being the first year of the ten since the commencement of the plantation that it has provided its own meat. He still continues to clear some land every year, and particularly to clear up all the "hard spots" that were

Mr. Leigh works 17 mules and horses, and three yoke of oxen; has about 200 hogs, 50 head of cattle, 70 sheep, which are sheared twice a year, and from which he makes all the light negro clothing,—he also makes all the cotton clothing used.

He hauls his cotton about seven miles, where it is shipped on steamboats in high water, upon the Yallabusha river, which empties into the Yazoo, and thence into the Mississippi, above Vicksburgh. All his supplies come through the same source, even a year's stock of flour, which he gets from Richmond, that being the only kind that will keep good through the summer. Who can tell why? It is important to Ohio millers, whose flour can always be had considerably cheaper.

Mr. Leigh has what but few others in this region have, an abundance of stone. It is a mixture of iron and sand. very hard, and is found in layers, with natural smooth fractures, that fit it for building purposes. It stands fire when the edge is exposed to the heat, but if reversed from the position that it is found in, it scales off and flies all over the house like grape shot.

Mr. Leigh is very successful in keeping his sweet potatoes packed in cotton seed, in a well ventilated room; and as a very strong evidence that his negroes do not suffer much want for food, I observed that this potatoe house had no fastening to prevent them from helping themselves if badly pinched with hunger.

Now I think I hear some of my eastern fair readers exclaim, "Well now, I do wish he would tell us what sort of a house this Mississippi nabob lives in?—very splendid, I dare say. Oh, I wish I could see it." Well, madam, it is a common double log cabin, with a hall between. "Why, you don't mean to say, that a man with such a farm, and so many negroes, lives in such a house as that?"

Oh yes I do, and very comfortably and nicely he does live too, for he has a wife-ah, a wife, madam; not a mere piece of household furniture, such as your boarding school bred farmer's daughter will make-totally unfit for a farmer's wife. "Well now, do tell me where they all stay in such a house as that?" Why, madam, there is another cabin back in the yard that is the kitchen-no matter that it is so far off the eating room-it is Missis sippi fashion; and there are plenty of negroes to run back and forth; and here is another building—that is the smoke house; and there is another, that is the store room; and there are two or three more, those are lodging rooms. No matter that they are ten rods from the house-it is the fashion-and as for that, convenience and comfort is ten times worse sacrificed every day, than it is in these household arrangements. True, such arrange.

ments would not suit us at the north, but here use and negro labor make the difference. I have seen in more than one instance, the wood pile more than 40 rods from the house, and "the spring" twice that distance-two inconveniences that a yankee could never put up with. He would sooner have "the well," as well as the wood pile, both in the road, right in front of the door of the house, that almost stands in the road too, to say nothing of all the carts, plows, and sleds, also in the road, between the house and barn," it is so convenient.

But we have much more yet to see of Mississippi life; and circumstances compel me to take a hasty leave of this fine family-this "fine old Virginia gentleman," and now for a little season I again bid you a kind adieu. SOLON ROBINSON.

TRANSACTIONS OF THE N. Y. S. AG. SOCIETY. "We will not be understood as condemning the volumes before us. On the contrary, we give great credit to the State Society for the work. At the same time we unhesitatingly say, that they contain much that had better been left out, for it has no connection with agriculture; and some which had better never been written, for it is full of error, and as such renders the authors and the Society liable to censure. The latter appears under the sanction of science, whilst true science will reject it.

"We think the Society have erred in the choice of men to deliver the addresses at the annual Fair. Not but they are men amply sufficient to do justice to the high claims of agriculture; but it is a subject which needs not eulogium nor praise. These it receives from all men, and its highest honor is the prosperity and happiness it confers upon a nation. The farmer needs instruction, not praise; and we submit it as our humble opinion that an address filled with good practical information-examining briefly the principles and the practice of agriculture, and setting forth inducements to advancement in knowledge of the art, would be vastly more useful to the thousands of hearers, than poetic rhapsodies. And in saying this we are conscious that we do not speak unadvisedly. We know it to be the opinion of a large-we might perhaps say-the largest portion of the farming community who attend these Fairs. They are common sense men and want to hear common sense.'

MR. EDITOR-The above are extracts from a review in the last number of the "American Quarterly Journal of Agriculture and Science," of the "Transactions of the New-York State Agricultural Society, for 1844." I would refer the reader to the entire article, which he will find in the number for July, August and September, page 109, and at page 114 he will see the portions of the article alluded to.

tion as an editor of a Quarterly Journal of Agriculture may entitle him-who, upon entering his school, thinks he had better begin with a flourish of the whip, and at the same time condemn and praise just sufficiently to put the boys in proper awe of their teacher. I have no objection to assign this place to the Journal, if its editors wish to assume it; but I insist upon it, that they are bound as critics, as well as men of science, to point out defects in communications they comment upon, and thus give the authors of them an opportunity to sustain their opinions if tenable, if not, to become at least wiser from the instruction that ought thus to be imparted. Until, therefore, the errors in these communications are pointed out and controverted beyond a doubt, I shall have to remain of the same opinion in regard to the Transactions as a whole, that I had formed previous to having seen the remarks of the reviewer.

As to the opinion he expresses, that the Society have erred in the choice of men to deliver the Addresses at the annual Fair," I must say that I think he, not the Society, have erred. I was surprised at the whole tenor of his remarks on this subject, and least of all did I expect it from a man who has placed himself on an elevation, and must admire talent wherever it is exhibited. The address of Mr. Bancroft, to which the reviewer seems to have particularly alluded, at the last Fair at Poughkeepsie, seems to him to have been highly exceptionable, because it was not sufficiently practical to suit his taste. And upon this subject he is "conscious he does not speak unadvisedly." Now I assert, just as confidently, that the address was highly acceptable-was exactly suited to the occasion, and was received with much more than common gratification. Surely he could not have been present at its delivery, nor witnessed nor heard the enthusiasm with which it was received. I, fortunately, was present, and have often since reverted to the scene and the occasion, with unmingled pleasure-nay, more, I have read the address at least twice since its delivery, and have come to the conclusion that no man who attempts an address at a coming state Fair will make it until he has carefully read over Mr. Bancroft's. It was, in my opinion, just what it ought to be, both in matter and form of expression, and it is saying not too much of it, that as a piece of composition, it is a model of beauty, force and elegance. That address will be read wherever the English language is admired.

If I have the right to review a reviewer, as a disinterested person standing between the reviewer and the work he But the reviewer thinks it was not sufficiently practical comments upon, I must say that I have not discovered, as to matter. Now, permit me to ask, if upon an occato the extent he has, the defects alluded to; but that sion of a State Fair, any remarks but general ones would as a whole, I have read the last volume of "Transactions be acceptable to the thousands assembled? and what part of the New-York State Agricultural Society," with both of that address would he have omitted without marring pleasure and profit; and being a practical man, I have the whole? The subjects touched upon were highly no fears but the farmers of New-York will receive it proper in their kind, and there was enough of illustrawith an interest equal to mine. It is true that every arti- tion to make it highly acceptable to the audience. If cle in it is not unexceptionable, and I would like the the reviewer objects to the whole matter and manner reviewer to point out a book as a whole, that is so; of the address, conceding it high merit simply as a perstill, although I will not say that it could not have been formance, then I take issue with him, and say he is mismade better, yet I do say that after having began the taken, and upon his own grounds as a practical man. volume, I could not lay it down until I had read it care- What is the object of these Fairs? In the first place, to fully through, and many of the articles I satisfactorily draw an audience. Then the object is to obtain a man to re-perused. The reviewer admits that as a whole, it deliver the address whom the people generally would may be well enough, although he does not use these like to hear, and whose name will aid in attracting an words; but this is rather the conclusion to which he ar audience. With that view, Dr.. Nott, an accomplished rives; but if he bases his judgment upon the opinion he and well known rhetorician, was called upon to deliver has formed, of which the above extracts are the expo- the address at Syracuse. Gov. Seward that of the sucnents, then I have something to say in reply. In the first ceeding year at Albany. Daniel Webster and John place he says "that they," (meaning some of the arti- Quincy Adams were requested to speak the year after at cles,) had better never been written, for they are full Rochester, and acting under the same impulse, Mr. Banof error, and as such render the authors and the society croft consented to deliver the address at Poughkeepsie. liable to censure. The latter appears under the sanction Now, although we were disappointed in not hearing of science, while true science will reject it." Now I either Webster or Adams in Rochester, still there is no object, totally object, to these wholesale remarks, as con- doubt the reputation of all these gentlemen aided very demnatory of a single article in the book, and in my much to give eclat to these fairs. And it must not be obopinion, they are much more liable to "censure" than jected that because they were not practical farmers, that any thing in it. To which particular article or arti-therefore they were not the proper persons to officiate cles, he alludes, you are left to conjecture. If there is on these occasions. Their reception by the multitudes any one which true science rejects, it was his duty, stand-assembled, and the results, show that they were the very ing in the position he does, to have pointed out, not only men of all others that should have been selected, and as the article, but the error, and thus made us at least the long as the Society consults its real interests at the State wiser for his labor; but he assumes too much the atti-fairs, its officers will select the most prominent men they tude of the schoolmaster-to which, possibly, his situa-lcan find, whether they are farmers or not, to deliver the

addresses.

But I totally object to the delivery of a prac-ters of the Little Pigeon river, which forms a fertile and tical address at such a time and on such an occasion. picturesque valley among the mountains, and unites itself When I attend State Fairs and see collected around me with the Big Pigeon river at Sevierville. We crossed the best of every thing the earth or man can produce, the stream some 25 or 30 times, along whose banks the I want an orator who is competent to describe the scene, large shrub Stuartia pentagynia grew abundantly, with and who can wake up my enthusiasm to a proper con- the last year's fruit still attached to its limbs. The ception of the dignity of my employment, and show Hamiltonia oleifera, (oil nut,) in flower, occurred frehow much I owe to the talent and ingenuity of others. quently, and on small islands in the stream we first obAt a time like this, when the choicest productions of served Diervilla sessilifolia (nobis.) Specimens of this nature and art are around you, with all the embellish-shrub in flower had previously been sent to Torrey & ments that taste or genius can add, who would think of Gray, by the Rev. M. A. Curtis, of N. C., and by them listening to a man who was lecturing upon the number of it was considered a variety of D. trifida. An examinapotatoes you should put into a hill, the size of a barn tion of the capsules convinced Dr. Gray that it is a difdoor, or the qualities of a pig, in preference to one who, ferent species, and at his suggestion, I published it. We with better judgment and with greater intellect, spoke arrived at Stephen Hoskin's Log cabin, 18 miles from in glowing terms of what man had done to renovate Sevierville, about noon, when the thermometer stood at the soil and improve his condition. At the meeting of 81 degrees in the shade. Here we left our horses and Farmer's Clubs, in social converse, or County Fairs, proceeded on foot by a path along the wild, foaming, give more practical and useful lessons; but at State Fairs, noisy Little Pigeon, whose rocky bed was often forded. I would join the dulce with the utile, and engraft pleasure on Six miles from where we left our horses we struck a path profit. If we at all times and on all occasions are to have to the left, quitting the river when two miles farther; by nothing but the useful, three-fourths of the interest of ascending a good deal and descending some, we reached our State Fairs is gone. By this rule we must exclude a small cove where epsom salts were made the preceall the beautiful productions of our Maker and his agent, ding summer. On the route we found the true Phacelia man, and confine ourselves to the exhibitions of vegeta-fimbriata of Michaux, which had not been found by Botbles, or of animals only. I cannot believe the editor of the Journal such a cynic, nor that he, when he reflects and looks around him, can be disposed to find fault with the beautiful productions of our Creator. Surely he meant these for the enjoyment of man, and on proper occasions, and when we have around us these beautiful displays of his goodness and munificence, it is proper and rignt that the beauty and force of oratory shall swell our hearts and warm our feelings to a just comprehension of our manifold and rapturous blessings. SENEX.

NOTES OF A BOTANICAL TOUR-NO. III. MR. TUCKER-On the 24th April, 1842, we started on horseback for the Smoky mountains, at whose distant tops over which the clouds were almost continually rolling, I had often gazed during the past few days with longing eyes. I was anxious to be on those tops, to have the glorious mountain prospect--to become acquainted with their structure and vegetation-and above all, I hoped to discover something new. None but the botanist knows, none but the botanist can feel the joy which the sight of a new plant gives, especially if he be its discoverer. At such times he sees beauties unseen by others-tastes pleasures unfelt and unknown to others. What wonder then, that those who have a taste for natural history, rarely, if ever, are addicted to idle or dissipated habits, and for that very reason above all others, parents should cherish a love of nature in their children, resting assured that such love will make them happier and

better.

anists since Michaux collected it on the mountains of North Carolina. In several places it grew in great profusion, having delicate white fimbriate flowers. Pursh supposed a very common but different species (P. Purshii nobis) with blue flowers, to be Michaux's plant, and subsequent botanists were led into the same error. Along the small mountain streams grew the Diphyllcia cymosa, (Mich.,) in flower. This is very common in similar situations through the mountains of North Carolina. The same is true of the Saxifraga erosa, which we first met here. Along the mountain sides were several trees, two to three feet in diameter, of Halesia tetraptera, in flower, attaining a much larger size than H. diptera, (snow drop) which is common in the vicinity of streams, through the south-western states. It was sunset when we reached the small hut which had been used by the workmen while experimenting on the manufacture of epsom salts. We soon had a blazing fire, and with mountain appetites partook of an excellent supper. The thermometer had fallen to 32 degrees. The open cracks of our dwelling and two blankets afforded but a poor protection from the cold. However, I managed to get in the middle, and slept well, on a stone floor, with one blanket above and one beneath.

26th. A cold, misty, rainy day. We were greatly disappointed on account of the weather. The cove was surrounded by high, rugged mountains, whose rocky summits were often destitute of vegetation, over which the stormy clouds were continually rolling. It was only through occasional openings in the clouds that we had a glimpse of the rugged peaks. During a short cessation of the storm we ascended about two-thirds of the way up the mountain, to the place where the sulphate of magnesia was obtained for the manufacture of salts. Here beneath a high ledge of mica slate we obtained beautiful specimens of sulphate of alumina in botryoidal masses and capillary crystals. This beautiful mineral was very abundant, and the sight of this alone was a sufficient compensation for the toil of ascending the mountain, through the cold, misty rain. We were up among the clouds, which came tumbling over the mountains, down whose sides they descended until the air was sufficiently dense, when they floated, to be dissolved in rain or driven by the wind against the adjacent mountains. We returned to the encampment cold, wet, and hungry. In the afternoon, Dr. Hammer and I attempted to ascend a long, narrow, rocky ridge, leading up to one of the main summits. After much toil in crawling over and under dense thickets of Rhododendron marimum and Kalmia latifolia, with which the lower portion of the mountain was covered, we emerged into an open space consisting of Early next morning we continued on in company with loose mica slate rocks, partly covered by a low branched Drs. Hill and Hammer, who had kindly volunteered shrub, (Zeiophyllum serphyllifolium, D. C.) It grew their services, and laid in a good store of bacon, corn from one to two feet high, and was covered with white and bread, biscuit, flour, and coffee, with blankets for en-pale red flowers, a distant view of which had caused us camping at night. Our route was along the clear wa- to ascend the mountain. Here my companion looking

We were provided with pack-saddlebags filled with paper for containing the plants; also port-folios and tin boxes. Dr. Rugel had a large, square tin box strapped to his shoulders and a straw hat tied beneath his chin. Rugel's horse was named Fox. I mounted first and rode on, but soon heard the clattering of hoofs, and Fox dashed by, with Rugel crying "whoa, Fox! whoa, Fox!" his hair streaming in the wind, with tin box and hat dashing up and down at every jump the horse made. I was reminded of John Gilpin's famous race, yet fearful of the result, refrained from laughing, until about a mile farther I overtook Rugel, who had stopped Fox in ascending a steep hill. Equipped as we were, the people along the route probably supposed we were pedlers, who often travel on horseback through the south-western states. The agriculture of this state was in a low state-the people seeming to care for little else than to raise enough bread stuff for their own consumption, depending mostly on raising domestic animals to obtain money. We spent the night at Sevierville.

round and seeing large gulfs on both sides, said he was afraid to proceed farther, and descended. The ridge was so narrow that at a point some 15 or 20 rods farther, there was a large hole through it, which we had seen during our forenoon's excursion. To reach this point I proceeded, collecting mosses, lichens, and specimens of Leiophyllum, until finally I found myself on a narrow ledge of loose rocks with precipices several hundred feet deep on both sides. It was a fearful place. With a palpitating heart I crept back, and hastened down the mountain.

27th. The day was cool and pleasant. Drs. Hill and Hammer returned home, and Rugel and I determined if possible, to reach the top of some of the highest peaks. After much toil over many dangerous places where a mis-step would have thrown us down precipices on the rocks beneath, we reached a long narrow ridge above the rock which overhangs the sulphate of magnesia locality. Here we met with a few straggling small trees, Betula lenta, (sweet birch,) Pinus fraseri, (balsam fir,) which answers well to the description of Pursh, and is certainly very distinct from the Pinus balsama of New-England. Such deep gulfs were between the ridges that it was almost impossible to proceed from one to another; besides it was too early in the season to obtain specimens in flower in that elevated region. Growing in the rich vegetable mold of the cove, was the Erythronium Americanum, (Dog's tooth violet,) Dielytra cucalaria, and Dentaria heterophylla. We retraced our steps to where we left our horses, and next day returned to Sevierville, loaded with specimens, and well pleased with the result Yours truly, S. B. BUCKLEY. of our excursion.

West Dresden, Yates Co., N. Y.

TRANSMUTATION.

sowed clean seed now for four years. I have not seen
cockle on the farm since, and although my wheat has
been winter-killed more or less every year, it has not
"turned to chess" at the rate of more than from one to four
I have
stalks to the acre, and I think I might possibly have sown
that much with my wheat without observing it.
now a pile of wheat for seed on my barn floor, in which
I think there cannot be one grain of chess found to the
S. WIDNEY.
bushel, cleaned through a mill without a screen.
Piqua, Miami Co., O.

P. S. As you might wish to know, I will state that spring crops here look very fine, with the exception of hay, which is but middling. Wheat above an average yield, and remarkably heavy to the bushel, generally weighing 65 lbs. and upwards.

THE CULTIVATOR-A FARMER'S LIBRARY.

MR. TUCKER-I had been a rather irregular reader of the Cultivator for several years, failing to subscribe some years, and not receiving all the numbers other years, until last October, when I resolved to have the whole. I procured all the back volumes, neatly stitched, from your office, had them well bound, and have been occupying my leisure time this winter in reading the work in course. I began with Judge Buel's little experiment sheet, printed in March, 1834, and have examined somewhat carefully every paper down to your excellent number for January, 1845, which I finished last evening. The result is a most thorough conviction that the Cultivator eminently deserves to be labelled the FARMERS' LIBRARY, and purchased by every tiller of the soil, for the very first of his agricultural reading. I say this after having read many agricultural books, and several of the current agricultural papers, most of which are certainly valuable, and merit a high place in the farmer's reading. It is in the hope of inducing others to procure the entire work, and read it attentively, that I trouble you with this note.

None can

MR. EDITOR-I have been somewhat amused, if not edified, by the arguments advanced in your paper from time to time by the advocates of the doctrine of the transmutaAs a case in point, and some- The Cultivator, though not the pioneer, is certainly tion of wheat into chess. And this will thing new to me, I will state a fact from my own observa- the standard agricultural paper of the land. tion. In the spring of 1839, I laid off a new garden, and as be cheerfully admitted by most readers, and by every I had no manure of my own as rotten as I wished, I pur- conductor, (except perhaps one, almost the last one that chased six wagon loads from a neighbor, out of a manure should not admit it,) of agricultural papers. bank, upon which, the season before, I observed a quan- tell its value without a careful and somewhat continuous tity of Jimson, or Jamestown weed growing. I detest reading. It is as a book, or series of books, its real this weed above almost any other, and had never seen worth will be known. I had heard it said, (e. g.,) that it growing on my farm; but thinking that it would only the first vols. were worth little to any persons except the Well, tillers of very sandy soils, such as constituted Judge trouble me for one year, I concluded to venture it. the manure was scattered over the garden, pretty well Buel's farm-that later vols, were taken up with the worked in, and a good deal of Jimson was pulled up that chess controversy-with the controversy between the Since that, the garden has been in constant culti-advocates of native and imported breeds of cattle, &c.. year. The vols. conducted by vation; no Jimson weed to my certain knowledge has &c. Nothing is more untrue. ever been suffered to go to seed, and but one or two to Judge Buel, are full of pure wheat; no chaff-no foul get in blossom. I have never found but about two seed. His care for young farmers is excellent, and this stalks on any other part of the farm, and yet, every sea- department of his paper is alone worth more than the son since the manure was first put on the garden, it has price of the whole, especially to every young man, who come up more or less, and this season, which makes the (like myself) has commenced farming since Judge B.'s The vols. since then are much like the last, seventh, it came up in greater quantity than it ever death. has since the first year. Now, if I had scattered this ma- which I take it the reader has seen, except that I thought nure on my field, and then put in a crop among which each succeeding one better than its predecessor, and the Jimson would not grow, and so kept it until last fall, then present bids fair, (even saying nothing about the excelsowed it in wheat, and the wheat had been destroyed by lent cuts,) to be the best of all. I have been astonished frost or otherwise, and I had found Jimson coming up to find in the whole work so little valueless matter-so thick in its place, where it had been never known to little repetition-so little controversy. The correspongrow, would not I have been as much justified in con-dents have given a vast amount of scientific and practical cluding my wheat had turned to J`mson, as the advocates information, while the labors (both scientific and practiof transmutation are in concluding theirs has turned to chess?

My wheat used to "turn to chess" a good deal, though I sowed some little in my seed; yet, I always thought it About came up five for one in proportion to the wheat. six years ago I picked a half bushel of wheat, head by head, in order to get it pure from mixture of every kind. I sowed it on a clean piece of ground, and the next season had not a grain of chess or cockle in it. I have

cal, if they can be separated,) of the editors, especially
Messrs. Buel, Gaylord, and Tucker, can hardly be ap-
preciated above their worth. I am sure, I would not
part with the information and the satisfaction I have ob-
And I
tained from the Caltivator for ten times its cost.
sincerely hope every farmer who has not yet taken the
paper will do so soon, and every one who has not the
back vols. will send $10 to Mr. Tucker at once and pro-
cure the whole. And if he does not find, on a careful
perusal, that each volume is worth more, (counting worth,
both pecuniarily and intellectually, or in the better tillage
of his land, and the better culture of his mind,) I will
agree to refund the sum, and take the library at once.
Ohio, Feb., 1, 1845.

H.

Mr. TUCKER-I wish to occupy a brief space in the Cultivator to invite the attention of agriculturists to Mr I. T. Grant's "Patent Fan-Mill," which in my opinion, excels any other mill now in use, in mechanism, durabili ty, and utility. The "Patent Fan-Mill," is similar to the Fan-Mills heretofore manufactured by Mr. Grant, which mills have taken the 1st premium at two State and five County Fairs, except his late improvement, which consists in adding to the screen and other parts in general use in Fan-Mills, an additional screen, and what is denominated a chess board, which are arranged in such manner as to cause a much stronger blast of wind to act upon the grain at the lower part of the shaking sieves or screens than at the upper, and thereby to aid the action of said sieves in effecting the screening, by which means the chaffing and screening are performed simultaneously. All other Fan-Mills require that wheat should be run through twice, to clean it thoroughly, while the Patent Fan Mill will chaff and screen wheat more effectually in one operation than other mills will in two operations, thereby saving half the time and labor required by old mills. The "Patent Fan Mill" will also clean all kinds of grain, such as rye, buckwheat, oats, corn, peas, beans, clover, timothy, and flax-seed, in one single operation. Oats and peas are aeparated by being run through the mill once.

Notwithstanding the labor and expense in bringing the Fan Mill to its present state of perfection, Mr. Grant is enabled to furnish the "Patent Fan Mill" at the same price that he has received for mills heretofore manufactured by him. Directions how to rig the mill for cleaning different kinds of grain, accompanying each inill. Lansingburgh, August, 1845.

W. BROOKENS.

slips of boards 14 inches wide to be nailed to the poles
on the inside.
A SUBSCRIBER.

Albany, July, 1845.

IMPROVEMENT OF HORSES.

There never was, in this county, so many fine foals in any one season, as there are now; and the cause, I think, may be attributed to the fact of a tax having been imposed on stallions-hence all the scrubs had to leave the turf, and farmers have had the advantage of breeding from the best sires. If this advantage is only pursued, and dams of good temper and qualities are alone allowed to breed, the improvement may become still more important.

LUTHER TUCKER, ESQ.-I herewith send you a rude draft of a gate, which I should like to see in your Culti- FISTULA AND POLL EVIL.-The simplest, as well as vator. It would add much to embellish the premises readiest cure for these two diseases, that ever came to near a dwelling, but would be rather expensive to place my knowledge, is common table salt. My neighbor, here and there on a farm. The posts on which the gate Mr. Ramsburg, took a horse a few years ago, that had a hangs should be constructed of stones, as they are much fistula, and after every other effort had been made to cure more durable, and the gate is less liable to sag than him, without the least effect, he threw into the ulcer a when hung on wooden posts. The gate may be made of handful of salt, and the good effect was soon perceptible. oak or ash, or almost any wood that will bend without The salt was repeated every day or two, and in a short breaking. The two end posts should be about 5 feet time a cure was perfected.

high and larger in diameter than the rest. The others Last summer, I had a mare that had the poll evil, and I should be about three inches in diameter and 8 feet high. cured her also with salt applied in the same way. I put The long poles are split about 5 feet from the base, and however, a small bit of red precipitate in the wound, are tied with strong wire, to prevent them from splitting twice. Both animals are at this time well and servicefarther; then spread them 18 inches or more apart, as able. GEORGE BLESSING. fancy directs. The lattice work may be made of smooth

Frederick county, Md., July, 1845.