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1860.

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On the light land the work was performed, including stoppages, at the rate of 7 acres per day of ten hours. The actual rate of travelling, while the plows were in full swing, was 3.83 feet per second, which gives about 1.031 acres per hour, the soil moved (four plows) being 3 feet 4 inches wide by 6 deep.

3 roods, 12 poles were On the heavy land, 4 acres, plowed in nine hours, thirty-nine minutes, equal to five acres per day of ten hours; the same sized furrows being taken with Cotgreave's Trenching Plow, the rate of work was of course greatly diminished. The furrow was 12 to 14 inches deep, while the width (two plows used) was 20 inches. About the same quantity of soil was removed as by the other plows but a little more power was consumed. The work done was just 40 poles per hour, or 23 acres per day.

These results enable us to give the cost of plowing, by Fowler's machine:

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Our estimate of the quality and value of the work thus performed is that the light land could not have been done by horse-power for less than 8s. ($2) per acre; that the heavy land could not have been plowed by horse-power for less than 12s. 6d. ($3.62) per acre; and that the trenching could not have been done by horse-power at all. The Committee further express the opinion that these estimates of expense represent the extreme maximum, and elose with the award of the $2,500 prize, and the conclusion "that Mr. Fowler's Machine is able to turn over the soil in an efficient manner, at a saving, as compared with horse labor, of, on light land 24 to 25 per cent.; on heavy land, 25 to 30 per cent.; and in trenching, 80 to 85 per cent., while the soil in all cases is left in a far more desirable condition, and better adapted for all the purposes of husbandry." While we met with several gentlemen in England who seemed to think the hearty commendation of this Report sanctioned by the facts of the case, we were not convinced that the sober sentiment of “practical men" had yet been brought to look at the subject in quite so favorable a light.

GROWING CLOVER.

consequence of a large portion of the second crop, that is usually saved for seed, having been cut for hay.

Again-the raising of clover for hay and seed both, does not receive the attention its importance demands in the grain-growing sections of the country. Comparatively few farmers seem to understand that instead of all the tronble and expense of putting in and taking care of an exhausting grain crop, a crop of clover, which, if well managed, would often amount to more money, and not only improve the land during its growth, but furnish materials for five times the amount of manure usually made from a crop of grain, may be raised with very little labor and expense, except the trouble of gathering, and that this is mostly done when other work is not pressing. Nor is it as difficult to raise clover seed as it is supposed to be by many farmers. On good dry land, clover may be sown with wheat, rye or barley, and if the grain is well put in and a dressing of plaster given at the time the clover seed is is sown, it will generally take well, and give a good crop. Then all that is necessary to be done in order to get a good crop of seed, is to be sure and cut the first crop in good season; from the 25th June to 4th July is usually the time. The crop of seed is generally cut the latter part of September, when other work is not driving. Getting out the seed can be done at any leisure time in the winter. The straw and chaff will go far towards paying for the operation, being valuable for bedding and manure; and when all is done, the farmer will find that he has a crop that will bring him the cash, and one that he has probably raised easier and cheaper than any other product of his fields of equal value.

There are other advantages in raising elover which may be briefly mentioned, as in consequence of its early quick growth and the depth to which the long tap root descends, clover is less liable to be affected by summer droughts than any other kind of grass usually cultivated on dry land.— in the middle or latter part of the season, clover, which So, also, where a considerable amount of feed is wanted may be cut on or before the first of July, will start again and give a good bite, sooner, perhaps, than any other kind Also in seasons of excessive drouth, clover fields of grass. that were intended for seed, will be found a valuable resource for pasture, as they will generally give a good run dried up. F. Orleans Co., N. Y. of fresh feed when other meadows and pastures are badly

TOP-DRESSING MEADOW LANDS.

Messrs. EDITORS-The subject proposed for discussion at the Lecture room of the Agricultural Building, during the holding of your State Fair in October, viz., "The application of manures to the soil," will ever be a fruitful topic for farmers to think upon, both in the United States

and elsewhere.

MESSRS. EDITORS-As hay has been a short crop, and In all latitudes where winter prevails with as much sesells for high prices, and consequently is receiving considerable attention, it has occurred to me that a few thoughts verity as in some of the middle States, all the New England on the advantages of raising clover may not be out of States, and the British possessions of North America, it place, besides the general advantages of clover in a rota- becomes a great object with the agriculturist, to render his tion of crops and in improving the farm. The past season fields as productive as possible of nutritious hay for winter has shown that there is some things peculiar to clover consumption and good pasture for summer feed. Upon which should not be forgotten. One of these was that this subject, therefore, you will allow me to make some while the crop of grass was nearly ruined in old timothy remarks relative to New Brunswick practice. meadows by the June frost, clover was not injured, although it was not very heavy in consequence of May and June being very dry; but if the first crop of clover was Where less than an average, the second crop made it up. the first crop was cut in season, the second was the best, having in consequence of seasonable rains in July and August, made a taller and thicker growth, so that now those that depended on old timothy meadows for hay have a very short crop, while others that had good clover fields, and cut two crops for them, are buying up cattle at the present low prices, being in some instances able to winter more than their usual amount of stock-or where the second crop was saved for seed, will have a good crop of clover seed to sell, with good prices in prospect, in

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In the vicinity of the city of St. John, there is an exmarsh," which tensive tract of flat land, known as the was originally overflowed by the sea, but from which it is "aboideau." The marsh contains now kept out by an several thousand acres; and the farmers who occupy it devote principally to hay. Its proximity to the city enables them to purchase large quantities of manure which, with the exception of what is applied to the pro duction of turnips, carrots, &c., is all put upon the meadows as top-tressing. The land being of a spong nature and liable to run out quickly, it is all ridged up i lands, varying in width, according to the nature of the soil The material from the ditches is used, as far as it will go Some farmers haul manu to compost with the manure. daily from the city, placing it in large heaps alongsid fields which need it most. After the hay is taken offfrom the first of September till late in the fall, the to

20

dressing goes on-sometimes with the compost, at others
with the dung. Early in the spring, after the snow goes
off, and while the ground is still frozen, so that wheels
will not cut up the surface, dung is hauled in and spread
fresh from the wagon. The manure is principally made
from horses, and there is not a great deal of straw through
it, so that it spreads evenly and lies close among the roots
of the grass.
This land averages from two to three tons
per acre, and rents frequently for £3 an acre.

In connection with the production of hay is the production of milk. The marsh farmers are all, more or less, engaged in this business; and the high condition of the meadows furnishes a large amount of fall food for the cows. Many soil their cows a good deal, and for this purpose use oats sowed thick-upon this soil oats would lodge and be worthless; but by sowing early and cutting when a foot or so high, they get two crops from the same piece of land. In this way the winter accumulation of manure is added to very materially, and, as I before stated, it all, with a small exception, applied as top-dressing. The farmers, therefore, in this district, are firm adherents to the principal of surface application of manure; for it produces for them a great burthen of hay-an abundance of sweet pasture, and these, a well filled udder in the cow and a big manure heap at the barn.

pared at the mills or larger towns, and with absolute con-
ditions of lightness for transportation and economy in
construction, shows pretty conclusively the origin of the
so-called Balloon Frames-a frame that, throughout the
great West, is almost exclusively used in the construction
of every grade of wooden buildings, from a corn-crib to
the largest railroad freight depot--adapted to sustaining
heavy loads; entirely secure from lateral thrust; without
a mortice or tenon or brace; exposed to all the fury of
the prairie blasts, it stands, with more than 30,000 exam-
ples of every conceivable size and form, a perfect success.
So general is its use west of Lake Michigan and through-
out California, that a builder of the old style of timber
frame would be regarded with the same sympathy as a man
who prefers to travel by stage instead of by rail.
The decreased amount of timber to be used, the whole
labor of chopping, hewing and framing dispensed with;
the great economy in its construction, and the ease with
which any intelligent man who can lay out a right angle
and adjust a plumb line may do his own building, are
among its recommendations.

The moment the foundation is prepared and the bill of
lumber on the ground, the balloon frame is ready to raise,
and a man and boy can do all of it. The sills are gene-
rally 3 inches by 6 inches, halved at the ends or corners,
and nailed together with large nails. Having laid the
sills upon the foundation, the next thing in order is to put
up the studding. Take a 2 by 4 stud of any length, stand
it on the corner, set it plumb, and with a couple of stay
laths secure it in position. Nail the stud by four large
Continue to set up studs on end, 16
nails driven diagonally, two on each side, through bottom
of stud into the sill.
Pay no attention to the
inches between centers, around the entire building, and
secure each in the same manner.
length, for they can be readily spliced or cut off when the
time comes. Leave the necessary openings for doors and

And now, a word relative to my own practice. My farm contains a clayey subsoil, and is what may be denominated a grass farm. Some years ago I had a field which had become so run down that the hay was hardly worth cutting. In the fall I plowed about an acre in ridges and top-dressed it the following spring with barnyard manure, at the rate of 25 loads to the acre, harrowing it in well. I sowed oats and seeded down with timothy and clover seed. The crop was an excellent one, and the catch of grass seed first-rate. The next fall I plowed the remainder of the field, and treated it in the same way.The oats yielded at the rate of 40 bushels to the acre.windows. Some prefer to put 4 by 4 studs alongside the The next season the yield of grass was good; and after window frames and for door posts, and also at the corners, the spring work was over I drew to the head of the field but they are not necessary, unless the building be a large The best plan for corners, and one usually adopted, the manure from the sheep-yard and what I scraped up one. around the barns, and made a compost heap with the soil is to place two 2 by 4 studs close together, so they form a Next put in of the headland-turned it over once-aud applied it after right angle, that is, the edge of one stud placed against haying. Suffice it to say, that my worn-out field yielded, the side of the other, so as to form a corner, for several years, luxuriant crops of hay and a full bite in the floor joists for the first floor, the ends of the joists to the fall, without a particle of the fertilizing element, save come out flush with the outside face of the studding; nail Since then I have continued the joists, which are 2 by 11, one to each stud at both the sod being plowed under. to treat my meadows as the grass becomes light, in the ends and diagonally through the edge to the sill on which Next measure the height to ceiling, and with same manner and with equally satisfactory results. J. D. they rest. a chalk line mark it around the entire range of studding; M. KEATOR. Hammond River, New Brunswick. below the ceiling line notch each stud one inch deep and four inches wide, and into this, flush with the inside face of the studding, nail an inch strip four inches wide. This frame be lined on the inside, it will not be necessary to notch the strip into the studs, but simply to nail it to the studding; the object of notching the studding is to present a flush surface for lathing, as well as to form a shoulder or bearing necessary to sustain the second floor; both of these are accomplished by lining inside the studding(for small barns and out-buildings that do not require plastering, nail the strip 4 by 1, to the studding)—on this rests the joists of the second floor, the ends of which come Since Solon Robinson's description of the mode of build-flush to the outside face of the studding, and both ends of ing balloon frames, published a few years ago in the N. Y. Tribune, there appears to have been but little further information furnished on the subject.

BALLOON FRAMES.

[Written for the CULTIVATOR and Co. GENTLEMAN by GEO. E. WOOD-notch may be cut before putting up the studs. If the WARD, Architect and Civil Engineer, 335 Broadway, N. York.]

In these days of ballooning it is gratifying to know that there is one practically useful, well tested principle which has risen above the character of an experiment, and is destined to hold an elevated position in the opinions of That principle is the one applied in the construction of what are technically, as well as sarcastically, termed Balloon Frames, as applied to the construction of all classes of wooden buildings.

the masses.

Who the originator was is not known; the system is not patented. The first approach in that direction is a plan for a portable cottage or tent, or a combination of both, published in Loudon's Encyclopedia of Architecture, some It is more than probable, however, twenty years ago. that the ballon frame has been known since the early set tlement of the West, or after the demand for a class of buildings above the grade of a log cabin. the prairies, remote from timber, now find, as a matter of economy, that frame buildings are the most desirable, a comfortable log cabin really costing more money; and from the fact of portable buildings or frames being pre

The settlers on

each joist is securely nailed to each stud; the bearing of
the inch strip rests on a shoulder or lower side of the notch
the joist on the inch strip below it is close by the stud, and
cut to receive it. This bearing is so strong that the joists
will break in the center before the bearing gives way.
the weight.
No tenoned joist in the old style of frame will hold half

The joists being nailed securely to the side of each stud, the lateral thrust caused by heavy weight, as hay, merThe tensile strength of American White Pine is sufficient chandize, &c., is in the direction of the fibre of the wood. to sustain 11,800 pounds for each surface inch in its cross section. Medium bar iron will sustain 60,000 lbs. per square inch of its cross section surface, so that white pine

* Authority, C. H. Harwell

pulled or strained in the direction of its fibre is equal to nearly one-fifth of the strength of iron. If, in erecting a building, we can so use our materials that every strain will come in the direction of the fibre of some portion of the wood work, we can make inch boards answer a better purpose than foot square beams, and this application of materials is the reason of the strength of balloon frames.

When the building is designed for storage, it is customary to set an outside strip into the studding at the ends of the building on which to nail the ends of the flooring, so that the thrust of the building endways is in the direction of the fibre of the flooring, and sideways, as before

stated, in the direction of the fibre of the joists."

on both sides.

We have now reached the second floor. A third floor, if required, is put in in the same manner. Having reached the top of the building, each stud is sawed off to an equal height; if any are too short they are spliced by placing one on top of the other, and nailing a strip of inch board The wall plate, 1 by 4 inches, is laid flat on top the studding, and nailed to each stud; the rafters are then put on; they are notched, allowing the ends to project outside for cornice, &c. The bearing of each rafter comes directly over the top of each stud, and is nailed to it. Put in the partitions, and the balloon frame is complete, and in labor, strength and economy stands unequalled. If lined inside of the studding with common lumber, and clapboarded outside, it is beyond the reach of harm from any test within the bound of reason, and, I will venture to say, unapproachable in strength and durability by any form of the old fashioned style of frame.

THOUGHTS SUGGESTED BY "LIEBIG'S LETTERS."

The COUNTRY GENTLEMAN has lately contained a series of articles in review of the last publication from the pen of this distinguished chemist. We cannot make room for the whole of them in THE CULTIVATOR, but have selected the followidg extracts:

The Nutrition of Plants.

In the interior of the plant, chemical changes are perpetually going on, which convert potash, ammonia, phosphoric acid, &c., into parts of its solid tissues, thus removing them from its juices or sap. Even a portion of the water, which this movement excites as the chief ingredient of the juices of a growing plant, becomes shortly a part of the plant itself-is solidified in the shape of starch or sugar, or other substance.

Now, let a plant be situated in the soil with its roots in contact with soil water, (which is often mere moisture, but is, nevertheless, always water holding in solution, in all fertile soils, a sufficient though exceedingly minute portion of mineral matters,) and the way in which it is fed is as

follows:

various substances that now are contained in it, in the By the chemical changes that occur in the plant, the liquid form, viz., water, and the well known organic and mineral ingredients of the vegetable juices, are being constantly removed from solution, and deposited in the solid form. If, then, there exist externally to the plant, matters that can restore the original composition of the juices, these matters must diffuse through the root cells of the This style of frame can be used with confidence for plant inwardly, and restore the osmotic equilibrium.— barns of all sizes, for all manner of dwelling houses, out-Thus the plant behaves toward all the substances which it buildings, &c., and can be put up by anybody of the least requires for food, just as a piece of caustic potash towards mechanical genius. In Rural Architecture it is a good carbonic acid gas, and no matter how dilute the solution desideratum, and although ridiculed by eastern mechanics, of these bodies may be, they are still accessible to it.it will assume the same importance that it has and still Thus, in the water of the ocean grow the sea weed, which, occupies in the West. out an enormous surface to the water, and gathers from it having one slight point of attachment to the rocks, spread not only the common salt which is so large an ingredient of its native element; but also the much rarer potash, phosphoric acid, &c.; and in addition to those ingredients ordinarily met with in land plants, the interesting element, iodine, is found in them. The iodine of commerce (exis nearly all obtained from the ashes of sea weeds, yet this tensively used in photography, and misused in medicine,) body is doubtfully, or not at all detectable even in the concentrated mother liquors coming from large quantities of sea water, though the chemist possesses the most delicate tests for it, being able to recognize it with the greatest certainty when it forms but 1-100,000 of a liquid.

There are many different plans for building these frames. Some lay the first floor, and commence the frame on top of it-others, for small buildings, put in the studding 4, 6 or 8 feet apart, with horizontal strips between, which is a good plan where vertical siding is used-others tenon the studs and mortice the sills-not desirable, as it injures them, makes more work, and hastens the decay of the timber.

A first class balloon frame should be lined, if for vertical siding, outside the studding-if horizontal siding is used, line inside; it makes the frame stiffer and the building warmer. Some line diagonally, say from center next the first floor towards extreme upper corners both ways; others line one side diagonally in one direction, and the other in an opposite direction. This makes assurance of strength doubly sure. If lined inside, nail perpendicular lath to the lining 16 inches from centers, and on this lath horizontolly for plastering

The fact that sea-weed, or the plants that are reared in close green-houses, or in Ward's cases, where no evaporation of water from their leaves can take place, and where consequently much transpiration of water is out of the If the house be much exposed, fill in between the stud-question, demonstrates that there is no connection between ding with brick turned edgeways, and laid in mortar.- the amount of water exhaled and the quantity of matters Put up in this manner the balloon frame building is as absorbed by vegetation. warm as any other known style of wooden building. No Hook and Ladder Company could ever pull it down; they might roll it end over end, like a basket, and with as little success of destroying it.

It has been thoroughly tested in every position, and found fully adapted to every known want for which wooden buildings are required, mills and manufactories excepted. Buildings for storage should have timber adapted for their but the cutting of mortices and tenons, and boring auger holes, thus reducing a heavy stick of timber to the strength of one very much smaller, is a decided mistake. If the rural community want stronger buildings at a much less price, let them adopt the balloon frame.

uses;

Cow STABLES.-G. C. Warren of Medina Co., Ohio, writes to the Ohio Cultivator, that he has secured clean cows by raising the floor where they stand two inches above the remainder of the floor, and just long enough for them to stand upon-from four to five feet-according to the size of the cow. They lie on the raised floor, while the manure falls below.

Liebig versus Lawes,

Latterly we hear more abroad than in this country, of the "mineral theory" of Baron Liebig, and the "nitrogen theory" of Lawes, Stockhardt and others; and there has arisen in Germany and England, a long and bitter controversy between the representatives of these theories. Each of the opposing parties in this conflict would lead their readers to suppose that the other side of the question from theirs was utterly wrong, and could be maintained only by the hopeless victims of prejudice and ignorance.

regards ammonia, (nitrogen,) as of trifling importance as On the one hand the impression is conveyed that Liebig a inanure. On the other, it has been distinctly gathered by the lookers on, that Lawes is satisfied that agriculture has all its wants supplied, if only ammonia (and phosphoric acid) can be had in abundance. But if we look carefully into the matter, we find that the disagreement is, after all, more in expression than in idea. Both Liebig and Lawes believe that phosphoric acid and ammonia are indispensable; both believe that the alkalies, earths and other ingre dients of the ash of plants, are necessary to the growth of

vegetation. They differ in their estimate of the relative importance of these ingredients, and of the precise function which some of them perform.

Now, while it is perhaps true that Lawes has attached undue importance to the direct effects of ammonia, it is also true, as has been remarked, that Liebig by his ingenious advocacy of the opposite view, has left the impression in the minds of many of his readers, that he attaches no value to artificial supplies of ammonia. Many isolated paragraphs of his late writings, do indeed justify such an impression, but if we take the trouble to get at the true meaning, by comparing different chapters of this book, we find his ideas are tolerably correct.

The argument of Baron LIEBIG is essentially as follows: The atmosphere is an unfailing and sufficient source of nitrogen, as shown by its supplying all the wants of the most luxurious natural vegetation, and by the fact that this element accumulates in the soil of prairies and forests. Those cultivated crops, too, in which the most nitrogen is removed from the field, (peas, clover, and root crops,) are those which, in practice, are found to be least benefitted by nitrogenous manures; and, therefore, we must seek to explain the action of such manures on other crops, as the cereals, whose growth they favor so greatly, by some indirect effect. This view is further supported, according to Liebig, by the fact that all soils, even those which are infertile, contain a large amount of nitrogen, immensely greater than is yielded by the heaviest dressings of guano. Our author thus teaches us that,

"As our cultivated plants undoubtedly absorb through the leaves as much nitrogenized food, in the form of ammonia and nitric acid, from the air, as well as dissolved in rain and dew, as uncultivated plants which receive no nitrogenized manure from the hands of man; we can therefore conceive that the agriculturist will seldom have to seek the reason of his poor crops in a deficiency of ammonia or nitroge

nized food alone."

Effects of Nitrogenous Manures.

It has been abundantly proved by many experimenters, but especially by Lawes and Gilbert, that the use of ammonia alone, in many cases is sufficient to increase the wheat crop by one half or more, even when phosphates, alkalies, &c., are present in excess, while phosphates alone have made a crop of turnips, on soil that without them yielded no crop, no matter how much ammonia was added. These facts point to the difference in the nature of various plants, as the true explanation of the contrary effects of manures, and it is most undoubtedly true, that while the natural supplies of ammonia or nitrogenized food, are more than sufficient for the natural vegetation of a country, or for large leafed and slow-growing plants, they are insuffi cient for some of the cereals whose period of growth is short, and whose foliage is scanty.

This principle Liebig arrives at in his sixth letter, and there he unfolds its bearing and application in a highly instructive manner, and fully admits the value of nitrogenous fertilizers, although before he seemingly opposes any such admission, and in fact directly contradicts himself.

Liebig on Stable Manures and American Farming.

Green-manuring, or the use of stable manure made from the produce of the farm, adds nothing but organic matters to the soil, and Liebig, by a single stroke of incomplete, and therefore, in effect, false logic, is led to assert the dogma that "the presence of decaying organic matter in a soil, does not in the slightest degree retard or arrest its exhaustion by cultivation," it being "impossible that an increase of these substances can restore the lost capacity for production."

Liebig goes on to declare that all the modern devices of high farming, the use of guano and similar manures for the purpose of growing fodder with which to make more yard manure, are only a more systematic, elaborate, and speedy method of exhausting the soil and impoverishing

the nations.

He quotes the Roman agricultural authors, Cato, Virgil, Varro, Columella and Pliny, to show that in their time, high-farming was well understood in its essential points, and declares that "all these rules had, as history tells us, only a temporary effect; they hastened the decay of Roman Agriculture."

The farming of this country is employed as the gloomiest illustration of the "spoliation system." We are well aware that there is abundance of bad farming in this country; but we were not prepared to learn that the ruin of our agriculture is so impending. We know, indeed, that "the early colonists in Canada, in the State of NewYork, in Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland, &c., found tracts of land which, for many years, by simply plowing and sowing, yielded a succession of abundant wheat and tobacco harvests; no falling off in the weight or quality of the crops, reminded the farmer of the necessity of restoring to the land the constituents of the soil carried away in the produce,"--but it is hard to believe what our author further asserts. He says: "We all know what has become of these fields. In less than two generations, though originally so teeming with fertility, they were turned into deserts, and in many districts brought to a state of such absolute exhaustion that even now, after having lain fallow more than a hundred years, they will not yield a remunerative crop of a cereal plant."!

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Nature's Supplies of Mineral Food.

It is not needful to return as much mineral matters to the soil as are removed in the crops, in order to keep up the fertility of a country. If it were, then the mevitable result of certain natural causes would depopulate the globe. The rains, the rills, the rivers, all the sea-ward tending waters are perpetually carrying down detritus and solved matters to the ocean, in quantity a million-fold greater than man's best devices can return; but the soil does not for that reason grow poorer. The soil is given to man to use. The materials from which it is made exist certainly in inexhaustible quantity, and for the most part, the soil itself is inexhaustible. If we calculate how many crops are represented by the materials of the soil, we find that on the whole, there is an immense margin for removal, before exhaustion can occur. There are large tracts of country the soil of which is easily exhausted, and slowly replaces itself from the underlying rocks; but on the other hand, there are enormous stretches of territory the soil of which is perpetually and rapidly renewed from subjacent strata of crumbly shales, and others again occupied with a rich soil to a greath depth, capable of supplying the mineral materials for thousands of crops.

It is true, that by constantly removing and never restoring, the soil is exhausted. It is true that even the wheat fields of Southern Russia and our Western Prairies, suffer a reduction of fertility by constant cropping; but it must not be forgotten that these soils, which supply the chief exports of agriculture, restore themselves to such a degree that by the simplest art they maintain their fertility perfectly!

The census returns, notoriously imperfect in themselves, do not take at all into account the ravages of insects, the influence of adverse weather, and other causes which conspire to diminish the yield of wheat in the "Genesee country," and accordingly facile writers of the alarmist order, have made it believed abroad that the garden of New-York is almost a desert, while the fact is that the soil there is still extraordinarily fertile. True, their power of production has fallen considerably, but only to such a point that by plowing in clover one year, a perfect crop of wheat is obtained the next; and we are assured that under such treatment, farms in that region have not diminished a whit in their productiveness for 20 years.

Our Doctrine.

"The European system of cultivation called high-farm- Our doctrine is, that every soil admits of the removal ing, is not that open system of robbery of the American of a certain portion of its mineral matters, without imfarmer, followed by the utter exhaustion of the soil; but it is a more refined species of spoliation, which at a first glance does not look like robbery. It is spoliation accompanied by self-deception, veiled under a system of teaching, the very basis of which is erroneous."

poverishment or danger of exhaustion. The quantity that may thus be removed, is that which a field yields naturally by the simplest tillage, and without manure. It is what the weathering each year renders soluble and available.— The use of manures, or of more perfect tillage, is to supply

1860.

the excess of matters contained in a full crop over what is contained in the partial one which the unaided soil may yield. It is not necessary on a fair soil, to add as much mineral matters as are taken off, in order to maintain its usual productiveness, and if to any soil, other things being properly adjusted, we add as much as is taken off, we increase its fertility, because, then, the disintegrating process constantly increases its floating or available capital.

If, as Liebig's doctrines would demand, the only proper Agriculture the only plan of farming not ruinous and a system of robbery-consisted in restoring annually to the soil as much mineral matters as are removed in the crops, how impossible it would be to farm profitably in the long run-how impracticable to avoid leaving to our heirs an impoverished soil!

Facts, Opinions and Notes.

[Collated from Books and Papers for THE CULTIVATOR.]
WHEAT-EIGHTY BUSHELS PER ACRE.-S. P. Mason of
Walnut Creek, N. Y., tells the New York Tribune how he
"He in-
grew wheat at the rate of 80 bushels per acre.
closed with boards an exact rod of dry, gravelly soil, and
spaded it eighteen inches deep, mixing in well-rotted
clayey turf sifted, to the amount of a cart load, and a peck
of salt, half a bushel of ashes, and one pound of guano.
Then marked the bed into squares of three inches, and
planted, Sept. 10, one grain in a hole two inches deep in
the center of each square, using nine grains to each foot,
It came up in eight days,
which he thinks is too thick.
and by Dec. 1 it was a perfect mat, so that the ground was
hidden. On this he sifted three pecks of charcoal dust,
and when the snow melted off in March the wheat was

very green. It was watered a little in a dry time, and
harvested July 10, after the birds had taken a share, and
dried, and the grain weighed 294 pounds. He says if it
had been undisturbed by birds the yield would have been
full 30 pounds-that is half a bushel per rod square, or at
The seed was called
the rate of 80 bushels per acre.
"California wheat," but whether bald or bearded, white
Nor does he say whether it would
or red, he does not say.
pay to cultivate on a large scale for 80 bushels per acre."
SMUT IN WHEAT-AN EXPERIMENT.-An experiment is
related in the Rural New-Yorker, where three plots of
ground exactly alike were sown with wheat to test the
cause of smut The first was sown with smut wheat, and
The second was sown with
[of course] did not grow.
bruised wheat, broken in threshing, which some think the
A few kernels grew, but produced no
smut The third plot was sowed with good wheat rolled
The
in smut until the kernels were entirely black with it.
product was one-half smut wheat.

cause of smut.

OATS AND GRASS IN ROTATION.-A writer in the Boston Cultivator proposes the devotion of the farm principally to oats and grass-would plow up old meadows and pastures in summer, and sow the next spring to oatsseeding again to clover, timothy and red-top. After remaining in grass two years he would take another oat crop, and so on in a 3 years rotation. If the oat crop succeeded well on inverted sward land, it might pay-but we have never found it to do so. If one was sure of getting grass with oats it might pay, but there is great risk of a bare field. grass stubble instead of a well stocked

23

NEW-YORK STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE.
"The chief object of the institution is to provide a system of in-
struction essential and practically useful to the Agricultural interests
cipline to the mind, accumulation of knowledge, and habits of labor
the State; to combine theory with practice; to afford wholesome dis-
and industry."

We think we are only expressing the uniform sentiment
of the Agricultural community, when we say we have
watched the foundation of the institution,-at the head of
whose proposed course of instruction' stands the above
paragraph,-with not a little anxiety for the result of the
experiment. So much seems to us to depend upon its
success or failure-the future interests of Agricultural
education in the United States appear to be so intimately
connected with a project now matured at the expense of
much thought, money and time, and which from the posi-
tion of the State not less than from that of the gentlemen
who have been engaged in it, must ultimately lead to great
good or to great disappointment-that, in common with
every thinking observer, we could not but desire to give
all possible encouragement to its friends and managers.
And now that a new President has been chosen, and a pro-
gramme of operations laid before the public, this desire
becomes stronger than before. It has been intimated that
the President and Trustees propose during the winter to
lay the merits and prospects of the College before the
farmers of the State, and we bespeak, what we are already
sure they must receive, a candid hearing and attentive re-
gard of the facts and arguments they may present.

We condense as concisely as possible, the "outline" which follows the paragraph we have quoted above :

"Course, three years-two Terms annually. Requisites of Admis sion-the reading, writing and granimar of the English language, and Instruction, board, lodging, lights and fuel, $200 per annum-one-hal higher arithmetic; sixteen years of age, and good moral character seini-annually in advance.

"The studies of the first year are the English language, Arithmetic, Algebra, Chemistry, Mineralogy, Geology, Botany and Geometrical Drawing. Of the second-Trigonometry, Analytical Geometry, Surveying, Construction of Roads, &c., Agricultural Chemistry, Mineralogy, Geology and Botany continued, Outlines of Comparative Anatomy, Vegetable Physiology, and Drawing"-that is, in the Summer Term alone--the Winter Term is to include "Descriptive Geometry. Engineering. Carpentry, Bridges, &c., Natural and Experimen Botany reviewed, Human Physiology, Geology and Comparative tal Philosophy, Agricultural Chemistry, Mineralogy, Geology and Anatomy continued, Principles of Veterinary Practice, Book-Keepthird year-summer term-"History of Literature, General and Agriing. Drawing, Farm Implements, Machinery, Architecture, &c." Of the cultural, Physical Geography, &c., Intellectual and Moral Philosophy, of New York; Laws of New-York relating to Contracts, Highways, Rhetoric and Logic, Constitution of the United States and of the State Fences, &c.; Book Keeping applied to the Farm; Entomology, Or Electricity, Magnetism, Meteorology, Intellectual and Moral Philo. nithology, Accoustics and Optics." For the winter term-Astronomy, sophy, (including Evidences of Christianity and Natural and Revealed Religion,) Rhetoric and Logic continued, Veterinary Practice; Drawing of Animals, Landscape, Composite, &c."

This is certainly a comprehensive list. In the intervals of leisure enjoyed, the freshmen and juniors are to be instructed successively,

"In plowing, spading, care of hoed crops, gathering hay and grain care and feeding of store animals, root and stock grafting, taking crops, management of the dairy, &c., making and preserving manures, and preserving scions, &c., sowing grain, planting, gardening, setting trees and shrubs, making fences and walls, draining and irrigation, training, pruning, grafting and budding, handling teams, loading tening, breeding, and rearing stock, training steers, handling cattle, fences, posts, &c." training colts to saddle, harness or draught, preparing timber for

HEDGES.-A late number of the Rural New-Yorker has several communications from those who have tried hedges. One in Illinois, who had previously discovered that the Osage Orange was too tender, found that the objection was entirely obviated by shearing at the close of summer, which shortened the growth and made the whole hardier." He has experimented five years-three without shearing, and with failure; and two with shearing, and with entire suecess. Another correspondent, at Troy, N. Y., tried Hawthorn, but the borers are destroying it rapidly. He has also tried the Newcastle thorn, but although it escapes the borer, it makes a poor hedge. He finds the privet to grow admirably, but the handsome hedge it forms is rather

too weak for the farmer.

wagons and carts, collecting specimens of plants, minerals, &c., fat

An etc. marks the end of each term in this enumeration of the out-door branches of attainment which are promised in two years. The Seniors are to make Topographical Maps for various purposes, collect specimens, have practice in Essays and Lectures, experiment in the laboratory, take charge of all experiments in fattening and feeding stock, &c., &c."

In order to "apply the Theory to the Practice of Husbandry," both of which are supposed to be reflected, re spectively, in the in-door and out-door pursuits thus reca pitulated, the "students will be required to spend such time in the field as may be necessary."

We have not space for further particulars or remarks These general facts are submitted for the reflections an conclusions to which they may bring the reader.

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