Lois Weedon System of Wheat Culture. The May no. of the London Farmers's Magazine has an article on the "Principles of Manuring," introductory to which the writer gives the following concise view of the system of growing wheat without manure, practiced for years by Mr. Smith at Lois Weedon : island. more-what other than this, is the still existing policy in the cereal countries of continental Europe, which now so largely provide England with breadstuffs. As for the interculture of the Lois Weedon method, admirable and efficient as the expedient is, it can be regarded simply as an adaptation to corn tillage of that method of drill husbandry hitherto confined in general practice to the fallow crops only; while finally, the deep working, if not so generally prevalent as it ought to be, As a means of illustrating both the principles and practical has long existed in many of the best-farmed districts of the bearings of this celecrated controversy, it is impossible to seNow, the moral we wish to point out, in the foregoing state lect a more apposite, instructive, or important instance than ment, is this-that, from the case where, under sunny skies, that presented by the well-known agricultural triumph in suc- and on a rich soil, the lazy husbandman has only to scratch a cessive and un-manured wheat-growing achieved by the Rev. little covering of earth over his corn seed to produce an abunSamuel Smith, at Lois Weedon. The manner of his yearly dant crop, up to the elaborate processes of Lois Weedon excultivation is as follows: At the usual time in autumn, the seed is drilled in strips, which (consisting, as each set does, of perience, there is every variety and degree of evidence to show that wheat or any other kind of grain can profitably be three rows ten inches apart) occupy thirty inches in width, raised by the power of tillage alone, and that the use of maand between strip and strip there is left an unseeded space of similar dimensions. During the growth of the plants in the Bures, whether obtained from the cattle crops of modern rotaensuing senson, the rows receive sedulous attention in hand-tion husbandry, or from external resources, is not indispensahoeing; while, at the same time, the interspace between strip from the practice of all nations it is deducible, that in probly necessary to profitable cereal husbandry. Nay, moreand strip undergoes a constant succession of horse-hoeing and other fallow operations. Next year these fallowed spaces bear portion (within certain bounds) to the greater depth to which the strips, and the stubble of the preceding year's crop is a soil is stirred, and to the perfect annual tillage it receives, plowed up and summer-fallowed in like manner. the produce of that soil will be more abundant. point of view, there is a perfect analogy between this expedient and a practice not uncommon on the heavy land of Essex, in which is pursued field by field the simple alternation of corn one year and bare fallow the next, to be again succeeded by corn, and so on for ever; but in various circumstances of detail, into which we shall not here enter, the Lois Weedon method possesses a superiority very favorable to both healthy and prolific cereal productiveness. Mr. Smith's experience in this inode of management dates back to the year 1846. The area of his operations is comparatively small, being only five acres. The soil is above average quality, and consists of a staple of good wheat land, resting on wholesome clay, and naturally dry. The implement used for inverting the soil is the spade, or fork, in place of the plow. The average yearly produce for twelve years, ending with crop 1859, has been upwards of thirty-six bushels per acre of prime marketable wheat; and the expenses of tillage, rent, &c., are as follows: Reaping, &c., thrashing, and marketing, Rent £2, rates and taxes 4s. 3d.... Total yearly expenses, Value of thirty-six bushels of wheat at an average price of 6s. 6d. per bushel, Deduct expenses as above,......... In one £ s. d. 060 040 050 030 026 05.0 040 030 1 13 0 £7 3 9 £11 14 0 CHEDDAR CHEESE. Morton's "Hand Book of Dairy Husbandry," gives the following account of the manner in which this celebrated cheese is made: "Cheddar Cheese-making differs from that already described, chiefly in the scalding of the curd; which is done by heating a portion of the whey, and letting the curd remain in it for a considerable time, at a temperature even above the natural heat of the milk. The following description of the dairy management of Mr. Harding, at Compton Dando, Somersetshire, is given by the deputation from the Ayrshire Agricultural Society, who visited the farm in 1854. The milk is poured from the pails through a sieve into a receiver outside, from which a pipe conveys it through the wall to the cheese-tub or to the coolers. A canvas bag is also placed over the inside end of the pipe, so that a double precaution is used against impurities entering with the milk. "The rennet is prepared much in the way that it is done in many Ayrshire dairies. Mrs. Harding steeps five vells at once, and this usually suffices for two weeks, in which time about 21 cwt. of cheese may be made. The vells appear to have been carefully cleaned and preserved. "Immediately after the morning milking, the evening and morning milk are put together into the tub. The temperature of the whole is brought to 80 degrees by heating a small quantity of the evening milk. In spring and towards winter a small quantity of annatto is used to improve the color of the cheese. It is put into the milk along with the rennet at Angual profit per acre besides the value of the straw, seven o'clock. After the rennet is added, an hour is requisite One other element of Mr. Smith's practice still remains to for congulation. At eight o'clock the curd is partially broken be stated, (and on account of its paramount importance it has and allowed to subside a few minutes, in order that a small been reserved for special notice,) namely this, that in each quantity of whey may be drawn off to be heated. This whey summer fallowing of the interspaces a method of deep culti- is put into a tin vessel and placed in a boiler in an adjoining vation is pursued, by which the upper and under strata of the apartment, to be heated in hot water. The curd is then most staple are stirred, and inverted to the depth of ten or eleven carefully and minutely broken, and then as much of the inches; and if it be asked upon what grounds was this trench-heated whey is mixed with it as suffices to raise it to 80 deant and very thorough tillage resorted to, the reply is, because grees-the temperature at which the rennet is added. Noththeory and practice alike assured the experimentalist-1st, ing more is done to it for another hour. that usually in the soil, and ever in the air, there is abundance of nutriment for cereal crops, in proportion as the mineral and atmospheric elements are brought into mutual reaction within the pores of the soil, by perfect cultivation; and hence, 2dly, that by means of perfect tillage, the aid of adventitious fertilizing substances is not indispensable to the profitable growth of corn. In point of agricultural importance, no industrial circumstance belonging to the present century is more entitled to deep consideration, than this brilliant, yet sound instance of tentative husbandry; nevertheless, in order to appreciate its true practical value, it is necessary to bear in mind, that as respects the happy combination of operative details of which it is made up, it consists of no principle or expedient in cultivation which had not been known and practiced before. As an example of cereal productiveness, procured without the intervention of cattle crops, what other unalternate system than this prevailed in England, when, prior to the introduction of roots and clover in rotation, she not only fed her own population with corn, but exported it largely to foreign parts? Nay, A little after nine o'clock a few pailfuls of whey are drawn off and heated to a higher temperature than at eight o'clock. The curd is then broken as minutely as before, and after this is carefully done, an assistant pours several pailfuls of the heated whey into the mass. During the pouring in of the whey the stirring with the breakers is actively continued in order to mix the whole regularly, and not to allow any portion of the curd to become overheated. The temperature at this time is raised to 100 deg., as ascertained by the thermometer, and the stirring is continued a considerable time, until the minutely broken pieces of curd acquire a certain degree of consistency. The curd is then left half an hour to subside. "At the expiry of the half hour the curd has settled to the bottom of the tub. Drawing off the whey is the next operation. The greater proportion is lifted in a large tin bowl, and poured through a hair sieve into the adjoining coolers. As it runs into the leads it appears to be very pure. When the whey above the mass of curd is thus removed, a. spigot is turned at the bottom of the tub, and the remainder is allowed to drain off, which it does very rapidly without any pressure being required. To facilitate this part of the work the tub is made with a convex bottom, and the curd is cut from the sides of the tub and placed on the elevated center. It is carefully heaped up, and then left for an hour with no other pressure than its own weight. After this interval it is cut across in large slices, turned over once on the center of the tub, and left in a heap as before for half an hour. The whey drips away towards the side of the tub, and runs off at the spigot; and no pressure being applied, it continues to come away comparatively pure. After undergoing these easy manipulations, and lying untouched during the intervals that have been mentioned, the curd is ripe for the application of pressure. But great care is taken not to put it into the vat to be pressed at too high a temperature. If the heat be above 60 deg., and it usually is higher at this time, the curd is broken a little by the hand and thrown upon a lead cooler, until it is brought down to the desired temperature. About six weeks after receiving these calves, one of them was taken sick, refused its feed, and showed all the symptoms of the disease as it exists in Massachusetts. After lingering about two weeks, it died. Two weeks after, a cow was taken in the same way; she also lived for about two weeks. About three weeks after, three others took it, and new cases have been frequent up to this time. Mr. Johnson has lost four animals, has had five cases which he thinks have entirely recovered, has now five sick, and one was killed to-day for examination, making fifteen cases in all on his place. Early in May of this year Mr. Johnson sent forty-two head of his cattle, including the five remaining calves from Browning's yard, to Newfoundland, Morris Co., to pasture for the summer. At that place there were large tracts of uninclosed lands, on which large numbers of cattle were pastured during the sum mer, and these cattle, it is feared, may, by coming in contact with hundreds of others, spread the disease over a wide extent of country. Mr. Johnson, at the time of sending these cattle to pasture, was not aware of the nature of the disease, and has not since heard from them. I was present to-day at an examination of two animals on his place-one a bull that died yesterday, the other a cow killed to-day, for the purpose of examination. The autopsy was conducted by Dr. C. C. Gryce, V. S., of New-York, in presence of Drs. George A Quimby and Woodruff of Morristown, and Drs. Ward and Peck of Newark. Gov. Olden of our State, Mr. Halstead, President of the State Agricultural Society, A. M. Tredwell, Esq., of Madison, Benjamin Haines, Esq., of Elizabeth, and some twenty other gentleman, principally interested in stock raising, were also present. The bull that died yesterday was the first animal examined, and after him a cow that had been sick one week. Both cases presented. every indication of the disease existing in Massachusetts, and were pronounced by Dr. Gryce, as well as the medical gentlemen present, unmistakable cases of pleuro-pneumonia. The cases examined at Chatham presented the same convincing proof, and we are too well satisfied that we have the dreadful "The after-management of the cheese resembles that of Cheshire. A little salt, 14 lbs. per cwt., or thereabouts, is added to the crumbled curd, and it is mingled and broken by the curd mill. The cheese vats are placed under the machine, and are piled one above the other as the curd falls down. A cloth is put over each vat when the breaking is over, the curd is reversed in the cloth, put back into the vat, covered up, and placed in the press for about three-quarters of an hour. After this, the cheese is taken out, and a cloth wrung out of warm water is put on it. It is again changed at two and at six o'clock, after which dry cloths are put on it. Care is taken that the cheese fills the vat properly. To accomplish this, the vats, at making up, are filled rather full, and the edges of the cheese are pared in the afternoon. Next morning the cheese is rubbed on both sides with salt, and the same cloth is put on again. On the third morning it is treated in a similar manner. The cheese is put into the vat without a cloth on the fourth morning, and a little salt is rubbed over it to keep it from adhering to the wood. After the fourth morning it is reversed in the vat, without a cloth, each morn-plague already in our midst. ing until the process is complete, about the sixth or seventh morning. "We may mention here that Messrs. Cokey of Frome, make an apparatus by which a jacketed cheese tub of tin may be surrounded by a stream of hot water, and so the milk and whey retained at any temperature that is required, without the necessity of removing large quantities of milk or whey to a boiler every time of cheese-making for the purpose of being heated." THE PLEURO IN NEW-JERSEY. Mr. D. B. LOGAN writes to the Tribune as follows, under date of Morristown, N. J., May 31: I was present to-day at an examination of two animals that 'died of pleuro-pneumonia. The disease is at Chatham, about eight miles from this place, and at Newark, on the farm of Abram Johnson. The history of the disease at these pleces, as near as we ean learn, is this. During the summer of 1858, Mr. H. L. Jacobus bought some twenty young cattle in New-York, which he brought home, and turned into pasture, come three miles from Chatham. It was about three weeks after when Mr. J. again saw them, when, to his surprise, he found two dead, and two or three others sick. They were at once placed in separate pasture, and none of these have since had the disDuring the same fall, Dr. Munn of Chathain, bought three heifers from this lot of healthy cattle, yarding them with his other stock. Soon after which the disease made its appearance among some of his older animals-four dying very soon after, and others taking the disease, but recovering. ease. From Dr. Munn's yard it was communicated to that of Mr. Lum, by driving a cow there, where she remained but a short time. Mr. Lum has since lost six cattle; four others which had the disease, he thinks have recovered, and one is now suffering from it, but with a prospect of recovery. From these yards it spread to six others--each of them losing from one to five animals-making twenty-four deaths in all in this place. There are now but two cases in the place; and it is hoped that, with proper care, it may be con fined to them. The cases at Newark are also traced directly to cattle brought from New-York. Mr. Abm. Johnson, a farmer and dairyman, living about one mile from Newark, on the road leading to Elizabeth, bought in Browning's yards in NewYork, about the 20th of December last, six spring calves, and took them to his farm, where he then had some sixty head. [For the Country Gentleman and Cultivator.] PROTECTION FROM RED ANTS. MESSRS. EDITORS-" A Distressed Housekeeper," in Co. GENT. of May 10th, inquires for a mode of exterminating red ants. I have found the following remedies very efficacious: Either throw some twigs of tomato vines around your closets, or obtain a small quantity of corrosive sublimate, which dissolve in alcohol, and apply with a feather in the crevices and corners of the shelves. The former remedy is simple and free from danger, particularly where there are children. If the latter be tried, pray caution them to label the bottle "poison." The suggestion may appear unnecessary, but a case in point occurred a day or so ago with one of our neighbors of carelessness with strychnine. Meadow Bluff, Va. A LADY READER. black walnut shelves into the closet in which she keeps her MESSRS. EDITORS--If "A Distressed Housekeeper" will put sugar, cake, &e she will have rest. Some ten years ago I went to my closet to get a sponge cake, and found it covered with those little pests, the red ant. Not knowing what to do with it, I laid it down on an old black walnut table close by, and in less time than it has taken me to write this, the ants left the cake and table. I immediately took the hint, and put walnut shelves into my closets, since which time there has not been an insect seen. T. R. P. Easton, Pa. (For the Country Gentleman and Cultivator.] LAYING TILE. Last fall I laid over four hundred rods of tile. I used a ditching plow. The cost per rod for opening the ditch, averaging 24 feet in depth, did not exceed nine cents, including the cost of the plow. A portion of the subsoil was a stiff clay-the rest a kind of hard-pan, which would require to be picked if dug by hand. The best way I could find to lay the tile-in fact the only way when the ditcher is used, was to dig and lay and fill in the main drains first, for reasons that are self-evident at the very outset to one using this implement. To fill the ditches I used one horse before a common plow set for three horse plowing, going six times around the ditch when on sod ground, and three when on stubble. Tanglewood, N. Ý E. J. P. sion. "Northumberland," (4596 E. H. B.,) bred by E. P. PRENTICE, Esq., of this city; Mr. Childs, of Deerfield, had a descendents from this source as unexcelled, either in milkbull sired by him, and all accounts agree in rating the other strain of which crosses have been made. It is a not unimportant corroboration of what some are inclined to disregard or laugh at—the value of pedigree—that is, of long inherited and well established excellence, even in pro period of time, the offspring of one particular animal, upon the common stock of a neighborhood, still attracting attention by their superiority, and thus vindicating those great truths that lie at the basis of successful breeding for all Notes from the Connecticut Valley. FRANKLIN COUNTY, Massachusetts, has a population of 32,000, and the number of its Farms is stated at 2,500. The region along the Connecticut-together with the townships of Northfield and Sunderland on the east side-in-ing properties or in tendency to take on flesh, by any cludes the best farming districts it contains, and the naturally irrigated Deerfield meadows are often referred to when the subject of “inexhaustible soils" comes up for discusIt is to the part of the county that lies more immediate-ducing grades—to find, after a lapse of so considerable a ly in the vicinity of Greenfield, that the following remarks will especially apply. In the last number of this paper we acknowledged in advance our indebtedness to J. S. GRENNELL, Esq., with whom we had then just had the pleasure of passing two or three days, for the opportunity of driving about among the farms in that neighborhood, and for much of the information which it is the object of these notes to place before the readers of the Co. GENT. We can only venture, however, upon a very general outline in connection with some of the chief points of interest involved, prefacing the attempt by remarking that we shall be glad to have our correspondents take up any part of the picture thus imperfectly sketched, either to supply missing details, or to correct what may be inapplicable in any particular locality. purposes. The great body of the stock of the county, as has been intimated, are Short-Horn grades; there are perhaps halfa-dozen herds, smaller or larger, of pure-breds—such for example as that of Messrs. J. S. and GEO. TAYLOR, at Shelburne, and, among Shelburne farmers, who appear to be generally noted for their cattle, one finds every where the plain impression of Short-Horn blood. Beside the gentlemen named, there are the Messrs. WELLS, STEBBINS, and others whose stock was referred to in high terms. The Short-Horn is better known here as the Durham, and, according to locality, the character of the animals with which it GREENFIELD, then, to start with the capital of the coun- has been crossed, &c., has frequently acquired other appellaty, is a village of about 2,500 people, beautifully shaded, tions for different grades, such as the "Red Durhams," the like so many others of the early settled localities in this "Connable breed," &c., while the designation of "Hoosic part of New-England, by fine trees that have grown old in Valley" stock is given to Short-Horns and grades descendthe public service. It is the center of considerable busi-ed from bulls that came from that locality at about the neas-one or more cutlery establishments, for example, employing numerous hands, while some of the best cassimeres and doeskins of American make, come from the Greenfield Manufacturing Company's extensive Mills. The manufacture of infant's carriages has become also quite an important item; turned out at a cost varying with their style, of from $8 to $25 a piece, they bring considerable money into the place, from which they find sales all over the country. AGRICULTURE here depends mostly for its pecuniary returns upon the dairy and the meat it produces. Greenfield sends more stock to Brighton than any other one station in the State. Almost every farmer markets more or less butter. All the farm work is done by oxen. Hence the cattle constitute a leading feature, and as such we shall refer first to same time, I believe, that the "Northumberland" blood was first introduced. More recently the county of Franklin has derived much benefit from the herd of PAOLI LATHROP, Esq., at South Hadley, from which, and other sources, its Short-Horn stock has been replenished from time to time, and the character of its grades been constantly growing higher and higher. It is of Durham grade not only that we find marks in most of the cattle that are marketed, but from it also that there frequently springs a remarkable instance of size and fattening capacity. Witness a six year old ox, now belonging to Mr. J. S. SANDERSON of Bernardston, whom we should have visited but for the rain, which weighs 3,300 lbs. and was described to us by a gentleman who had just seen it, as still feeding with a good appetite and likely rather to The Live Stock of Franklin County. increase than to retrograde. Mr. Grennell said he had THE SHORT-HORNS.-It cannot fail to be a question of never seen an animal "so fat and so symmetrical, the flesh general interest—in view of the three requisites which this so evenly laid on and the fine points so well developed region demands in its cattle-as to which breed answers and preserved." Other instances worthy of note, are three most nearly the common want. Many of our readers will yoke of cattle fatted last winter by JNo. ASHLEY of Deeralready have anticipated the response. And it is just to field, five and six years old, live weight respectively 5,200, add that, so far as we are aware, there have been nc 5,000 and 4,975 lbs.-the lightest pair having been workpeculiar circumstances in the case to explain the presented all the preceding autumn. The Messrs. ANDERSON, of popularity of the Short-Horn, beyond its being the "right animal in the right place." Moreover, other breeds seem to have had, or to be now in the progress of having, a fair trial side by side with their more successful competitor. Perhaps the first bull of this breed introduced in the HEREFORDS.--This breed is by no means without its patrons, vicinity was one presented to Hon. Geo. Grennell, more whose number, indeed, we inferred to be slightly on the than twenty years ago, we believe, called “Governor," and increase, although with respect either to milk or to early which, although possibly not wholly of pure blood, exert-maturity, it did not seem to claim a full equality with the ed a favorable influence upon the size and character of his Short-Horn. Messrs. A. & J. A. CLARK of Greenfield, T. progeny. But the most good done by any one animal J. FIELD of Northfield, T. J. M. SMITH of Montague, whose stock was ever brought into the county, is ascribed to (whose absence from home at the time of our call, we re the same town if we are not mistaken, had about the 1st of Feb. a pair of steers past three years old, which had then had meal for only about a fortnight, and would turn the scale at 3,400 lbs. gretted,) are among those who have devoted most atten- of the community. A large quantity of the best hay is tion to the breed in question, and among the North Ber-cut, but none marketed beyond the village demand, as it nardston farmers it is said that there is considerable Here- is otherwise consumed upon the farm. ford blood intermingled with various other crosses. DEVONS AND JERSEYS.-Most of the Devon blood in the county probably exists in combination with that from other sources, as it is not thought to answer well alone with regard to size, although like the Hereford, working oxen of this breed may be quicker and better matched. It is not an object generally, however, to train steers with that degree of care which is exercised where they are used for labor all their lives; the more usual practice being not to work them over two seasons, when they are converted into becf. Steers, never worked, they want to make as large as possible by three years old, so that they may then be marketed; hence, as above remarked, Short-Horns have the preference. The Jersey or Alderney cows are in good repute for the dairy, and there seems to be more of the blood in the county than we were quite prepared to anticipate, but their ugliness as beef "critters" operates much to their prejudice. In illustration of these statements, Mr. GRENNELL was good enough to give me the following facts with regard to the practice of one or two farmers, of whose operations he had recently communicated an outline to the Gazette and Courier, published at Greenfield. The Messrs. STEBBINS have a farm of 135 acres in Conway, “of which perhaps 45 are mowing and tillage, and the remainder pasturing. They cut over 50 tons of the best of hay, taking especial pains to cut it early; timothy just as it begins to blossom, and clover before any heads turn; the hay is sweeter and more nutritious, produces more milk and more fat. They raise four acres of corn, averaging 75 bushels to the acre, all of which is fed on the place. From two acres of oats they had 80 bushels; four acres of rye yielding 92 bushels, and they annually market about 50 barrels of apples. Maple sugar is a great crop with them, going as high as 1,500 to 2,000 pounds a year." They keep through the winter about twenty-five head SHEEP.-Mr. Grennell has made considerable effort to of stock, and had in April “one pair of splendid dark promote an extension of interest in this direction. We red cattle which would weigh about 4,500 pounds, ready understood that sheep feeding had recently paid rather for market, and two yoke of handsome steers, then better than that of cattle. The tide seems to have turned coming three years old;" also one yoke of heavy workin favor of the larger and middle or coarse wooled breeds.ing oxen, and eight milch cows, one of them the mother South-Downs are considered to stand rather at the head, and another a half-sister of a big steer sold by Mr. S. a but a number of Cotswolds have also been introduced and year before, which weighed alive something over 3,200 apparently suit the climate-proving thrifty, and bringing pounds and dressed 2,462 pounds, when weighed two a good sized lamb at three or four months, which will days after butchering. sell for $5 or $6 at that age, and pay better than to keep them longer. It is an object, of course, with such lambs to have them come in as early as possible in the Mr. G. is trying the Oxford Downs, and thinks they will serve an excellent purpose, in crossing upon the ordinary sheep known as the "Irish Smut "-which has probably been in the county 70 or 80 years, of untraceable origin it appears, but a good sized, prolific, hardy sort of sheep, making good milkers and mothers. The wool will fetch from 30 to 38 cents, according to circumstances, but meat is a more important consideration. season. Here "all the straw and stalks used for litter are cut before using, so that their long manure in the spring is short manure, and is easier handled, and saves forks enough to pay the entire trouble. They cut their oats when barely half turned in the field; the oats are heavier, and the straw as eagerly eaten by stock as the best hay." Another farm to which we may briefly refer, is that of Mr. ISAAC BARTON of Greenfield, who is also an advocate, like Mr. STEBBINS, for the early cutting of grass. He thinks "there is no fault so general among farmers as allowing their grass to stand too long before cutting; by mowing earlier it is true they don't get so much bulk, but SWINE.-There are a good many Suffolks in the county; the hay will contain more nutriment, will produce more Mr. Grennell within a year or so has procured some of the flesh and more milk, and the rowen or second crop will Chester County breed through Paschal Morris of Philadel-be enough larger to pay the difference." Mr. Grennell phia, which promise, he thinks, to give still better satis- also notices the mixture of meal which he feeds to his growing stock as "especially commendable:-to a half bushel of rye, a peck of corn, and a peck of oats, he adds three quarts of flax seed, and grinds them together; this makes a rich, nourishing provender, free from some of the objections to feeding clear corn meal. Flax seed can be bought at from $1.65 to $2 per bushel, and a small quantity will yield as much nutriment as a larger amount of such oil meal as we get at the present day." faction. HORSES. A good deal of attention has been devoted to this subject through this region, and it has produced some admirable Black-Hawk and Morgan stock. General System of Farming. Perhaps it is a fair estimate of the farms of Franklin county to rate them in size at an average of something like 140 acres two-thirds of which area would probably be found in continual pasture. As a farm grows larger, however, the proportion of pasture land increases, and while it might not be more than half of one of 80 acres, it would occupy upwards of two-thirds the area of a farm of more than the average extent. Of the fields not in pasture, from one-half to two-thirds again-probably fully the latter proportion-is in meadow or hay land. Some of the Deerfield meadows are tilled year after year; it is a common thing, too, to take corn two years, and then grass one year, and so on. Since potatoes have failed, there are fewer of them planted. Spring wheat, rye, a few oats, &c., are grown, about to meet the home wants IMPROVEMENTS.-One of the chief improvements in the Farming of the county is thought to be in the better plows and plowing that have been introduced of late years. They now turn over seldom or never less than seven or eight inches instead of three or four. Other implements, too, particularly harrows, horse-hoes, and cultivators, have been improved, and the use of mowing machines and horserakes has become almost universal. Mr. Grennell thought that the "Tedding Machine," or Hay maker and spreader, would be an important implement here, and that it would undoubtedly soon come into use. FRUIT. The growth of Fruit has much increased, and 10,000 trees, mostly apples, have been set out the present the proposed substitution for it of flax seed itself, as deseason in the vicinity of Greenfield. Upon Mr. Grennell's farm there is a thrifty orchard of a thousand trees from five to fifteen years old-apples, with the exception of about 75 pears and 100 cherries. Peaches here were formerly fine, and as an illustration of the fact that the soil once seemed to possess some virtue for them it has not at present, it was mentioned in conversation, that a chance seedling on Mr. G.'s place once produced fruit 113 inches in circumference, which was shown at one of the Worcester Horticultural Society's Exhibitions. Among the village residents in Greenfield and elsewhere, the pear is more and more becoming a garden favorite, and dwarfs and grape-vines are finding a place about a large proportion of the homes of the professional and business men, mechanics and others, who have a plot of ground that can be made to admit them. There is some difficulty in explaining why the peach has become so tender and rarely productive, but the dwarf pear seems to be uniformly successful when taken care of. scribed in the practice of Mr. Barton, above alluded to, is In closing here, we are passing by several Calls of interest, either proposed or accomplished. Drives, in sun or showers, over the hills that look down upon the flats, or winding between fields already promising of remunerative yield. Walks under the elms and horse-chestnuts ed by the distant heights in which New-England scenery and maples; and views over the rolling landscape, bound POTATOES. It is preferred now to choose for the potato the lighter soils and to seed thin. Mr. Grennell tried Howatt's "Oue-Eye System" with great success, and had modified his practice to some extent accordingly, although without having altogether carried it out since the first exis never wanting of its share, or-in singular contrast with periment. The Carter-formerly standing at the head as a potato for the table, there, as elsewhere, has lost its many of its forms,-those two vistas-upper and lowerof alluvial verdure, between which Deerfield nestles in the size, and will produce with difficulty fifty bushels an acre. shade of its grand old avenue. A fishing excursion to At the present time the Davis Seedling appears to rank as Turner's Falls, and the picnic-ing in which we there surfirst in yield, quality and soundness-rather improving than otherwise as the season advances. The Prince Al-prised one of our most esteemed Deerfield subscribers— bert and State of Maine are also first class varieties, but a phase of Massachusetts farming which on the spot we do not produce so well as that last named, and the Mexi- threatened to expose. The dace and other finny stragcan is thought to be unrivaled as a baking potato. The glers which we did not beguile; the relics of the old massort known in New-England as the Peach Blow, is evident-ters of the soil we brought away; the tales of that border ly quite a different thing from that now so popular in New-York, and in no respect worthy of the reputation acquired by the latter. warfare that once reddened the wild rapids, now dammed and straight-jacketed and put to good practical purposes, as all the forces of earth at this age certainly should be. Of this and more, even these allusions are unnecessary and may be out of place. But a word for the Trees is never mistimed. Owing to the impulse of prizes offered under the auspices of the Franklin County Agricultural Society, 1,255 sugar maples have been set out by the road-sides during the past year— Daniel Ballard of Wendell, Cyrus Holton of Northfield, and Alfred Belden of Whately, heading the list in these legacies for the enjoyment of another generation. Let the sons of New-England begin to appreciate the advantages of their position as it strikes the eye of a stranger, and we shall hear from fewer fathers the troubled question, Why do our Young Men leave the Farm?" OTHER NOTES.-There are some other Notes which we had intended to present more at length, but which the limit already reached warns us to condense into as little space as possible. Among the measures of improvement which the Agriculture of the County has seen progressing by degrees, there are several which should not be overlooked. More attention is now given to manures. The application of artificial fertilizers has received a practical test at the hands of many, and they now occupy an established position as they should-not as the mainspring but as an adjunct of good farming. Draining has here and there been tried, and there is a manufactory of Tile in Whately. Root crops, particularly the mangold, are coming more and more into notice, and carrots and turnips are grown to a considerable extent. The capacious barns, well adapted for the purposes of their agriculture, Much of our space will still be found occupied by afford us another opportunity of adding a credit mark to the PLEURO-PNEUMONIA. We think, however, that the the account of Franklin County farmers-including often, time has arrived when we may venture to indicate conas they do, facilities for the feeding of stock, the manage- clusions with a fair degree of certainty, and a tolerable ment of manure, the cooking of feed and the protection probability of their being received as impartially as they of roots, and sometimes also a warm corner for the poul-will be given. We hope, and believe that we may safely try, a work-shop for repairs, and apartments for the storing of harness, or implements, or vehicles. The proper care and feeding of young stock as well as old, both small and large, has been discussed with intelligence and spirit, The use of oil cake finds its only obstacle in the adulterations to which dishonest dealers subject their patrons, and THE CATTLE DISEASE. expect, to hear less of the disease in future. It has never been our opinion that there was anything to call for general alarm, and the tendency appears to be toward a more calm and dispassionate view of the affair in those districts which have hitherto been the sufferers. 1. As to the character of the Pleuro-Pneumonia, it is very |