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LETTER FROM JOHN JOHNSTON.

NEAR GENEVA, July 5, 1860.

MESSRS. EDITORS-Part of my wheat is about ready for the reaper, but the weather is bad, our hay suffering badly. Winter barley was harvested in this neighborhood 25th of June. I have little doubt but some wheat may be cut already on sandy soils. Midge does considerable damage in some fields, mine is comparatively free of that pest; all we want is good weather to insure a good crop of wheat, and of fine quality.

Tell A. Moss that I use no other preventive for ticks (keds, I notice, is the name for them in some parts of Europe) than good feeding, dry yards, and well littered, and not turn out in spring until they have pasture enough to feed them fully; in that way my sheep are never infested with ticks. I seldom shear any, or only a few now, as I sell them fat generally before shearing, but I superintended the shearing of 185 belonging to my son-inlaw, who is in Europe, and neither the shearers or I could find a single tick, and they sheared over 5 pounds of wool cach. Now those are kept on the same plan as I do mine. I had an idea that feeding oil meal was a preventive, but this last winter my son-in-law fed no oil cake meal, and he had 109 yearlings that were fed on clover hay and thirty bushels of buckwheat during the winter. If there was a tick on the lot we did not notice it. If other farmers would keep their sheep in the same manner, they would surely have no ticks. When I first commenced keeping sleep here I kept, at least fed them, like other farmers, only I made winter shelter; then they bred plenty of ticks. This I saw was unprofitable to me, and I commenced feeding better and littering the sheds and yards thoroughly, and I soon found I could raise sheep and not let them raise ticks, and I know every farmer can do the same if he keeps his sheep in a thriving condition all the year.

JOHN JOHNSTON.

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[For the Country Gentleman and Cultivator.] THE WHEAT MIDGE.

EDS. Co. GENT.-In your issue of June 21, I see the following note from J. JOHNSTON, under date of June 11: "The wheat midge is very numerous, and prepared to deposit the nits. They are all of seven days earlier than last year." In the same number, on page 394, Olcott's Yale Lecture Report on the cultivation of the cereals, by JOSEPH HARRIS, we read: "If we could get wheat into bloom ten days earlier, we could escape that terrible insect pest, the midge."

The latter seems to have been the prevailing sentiment relative to the means of saving the wheat crop from insect depredations. But I have doubted its correctness. Insects which destroy our fruits or grains have a wonderful instinct as to the time their work is to be done. I have in my orchard several different kinds of apple trees; among them is the Northern Spy, a tree which is some eight or ten days later in putting forth its leaves than any other in my collection. Now I have observed that the apple tree worm hatches just about as many days later on this tree as it is later than the others in putting forth its leaves. Nature thus provides against starvation, by withholding from life until food is provided to sustain that life.

So with the striped bugs which infest our vines. Their appearance is earlier or later, as an early or later season has prepared their appropriate food.

A similar law governs in the production of all our insect tribes. They have their appointed commissions to fulfil, and they will be sure to come at the right time to do their work. If we cheat them once or twice by stealing the march upon them, they will be sure to wake up early enough for us next time, and perchance they will come down upon us with double fury for their previous loss.

[For the Country Gentleman and Cultivator.] DRAINING AND THE MOLE PLOWS. EDs. Co. GENT.-During the past few months much has appeared in your paper and elsewhere upon the use of the mole plow, in draining. Several patents have been issued for new machines, and considerable interest has been awakened upon the subject, especially among the farmers of the west, the experience of the past two years having very forcibly impressed upon their minds the necessity of drainage. Hence anything bearing upon this subject has been examined with unusual care. The manufacture of tiles is confined to very few places in the west, and their expense is a great obstacle in the way of their introduction. Now we have here the finest scope for the use of the mole plow in the known world, for we have no stones or other Is it not so with the midge? For several years Mr. obstructions in the way, and if the drain is only durable, Johnston, and some others, perhaps, about Geneva, have we have no further excuse for not commencing the work been trying to cheat the midge, by producing earlier kinds in good earnest immediately. But here lies the difficulty. of wheat. And what is the result. Why, this year "the I have been satisfied from the first agitation of this subject midge appears full seven days earlier than last year." And that there were inseparable objections in the way, origin- if they can get a grain ten days earlier than any which ating in the character of the soil and subsoil, but not un- they now raise, they will find this insect wake to life early til reading the article from "A. P." Galesburg, Ill., on enough to do his work in its appointed time. I am conpage 347, Co. GENT., have I felt at liberty to indulge in fident, Messrs. Editors, that some other plan must be adoptanything farther than private doubts. A. P.'s experience ed to save the wheat crop from the midge than that prois just what might have been expected from the nature of posed by Mr. Harris in his New-Haven lecture. the soil. Any one familiar with the country, or the pass-that plan is, it is not the object of this paper to suggest. ing traveller cannot but perceive that its earthy formation is very peculiar-very unlike what we meet with at the

east.

We have no hills, but plenty of gullies or "gulches "the general appearance is that of a vast plain, the channels of whose streams have either dropped, melted, or washed

out.

Clinton, N. Y., June 29.

What

S. W. RAYMOND.

[For the Country Gentleman and Cultivator.] QUESTION FOR BEE-KEEPERS. MESSRS. EDITORS-Can any experienced apiarist explain the reason why bees do not store honey from buckwheat? Formerly they stored large quantities from it, though of a dark color and inferior quality. But for two or three years past they have not made a pound of honey from it

The underlaying "joint clay," which is very tough and hard to penetrate when first brought to light, under the influence of air and frost, its moisture seems to melt and pass away like sugar-it crumbles very easily, and in a year or two makes the finest of soil particularly for wheat in this neighborhood. There is no smell of buckwheat -such declivities as are cultivated to their very summit in the vicinity of Cincinnati, can never be cultivated here. In the easy friability of these clayey subsoils lies the

around the hives-whereas there is always a very strong smell when bees are storing honey from buckwheat blos soms. When in blossom the buckwheat fields are covered

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and fill the cask to the bung with water; roll it over until the ugar is all dissolved. This will be told by its ceasing to settles in the barrel. Next day roll it again, and place it in a cellar where the temperature will be sure to be even, leaving the bung loose for the free admission of air. In the course of one or two or three days, fermentation will commence. In placing the ear to the bung hole, a slight noise will be heard, such as may be observed when carbonic acid is escaping from champagne or soda water. Fermentation will continue for a few weeks, converting the sugar into alcohol. As soon as this ceases, drive the bung in tightly, and leave the cask for six months, at the end of which time the wine may be drawn off perfectly clear, without any excess of sweetness.-Mass. Ploughman.

RAISING RED CEDAR FROM SEED.

The southeastern portion of Perquimans county is well adapted to wheat; very considerable quantities are annually shipped, via Dismal Swamp Canal, to New-York and Baltimore. The reaping is mostly done by cradling. The surface is so level as to require it to be plowed in narrow lands, and then a great many water furrows running crosswise are necessary to conduct the surface water to the main drains. Reapers therefore do not act well, owing to the inequalities of the surface. The soil is composed large- mode of raising the Red Cedar from the berries. We find A correspondent lately made an inquiry as to the best ly of clay, although the Geographies all tell us that North Carolina is a barren pine waste for 60 miles adjacent to the the following mode described in the Report of the Wisconocean. There is undoubtedly much poor, sandy land in this sin Fruit Growers' Association, by Samuel Edwards, an exsection of the state; but, with all due respect for the Geogra-perienced nurseryman. Bruise the berries early in March, phy men, I think that my native county (Perquimans) has and mix with an equal or greater bulk of wet wood ashes. some land whose fertility I have never seen surpassed by that In three weeks the alcali will have cut the resinous gum, of any other, except possibly some parts of the Mississippi when the seeds may be washed clean from the pulp. Sow Valley. In short, I can say, with confidence, that the por- in rows a foot apart, (to admit clean cultivation,) in a tion of our State which lies north of Albemarle Sound and rich soil, well dressed with a mixture of leaf mold and east of Roanoke river contains a large share of good land. sharp sand. Shade the bed during summer, and cover Its greatest defect is its flatness, requiring expensive ditch with two inches of leaves for winter. ing operations.

The hog cholera (so called) has destroyed a great many animals here within a few years past, and has rendered pork raising unprofitable for the present.

Great quantities of strawberries and raspberries are annnally sent to Norfolk, Va., from this and adjoining counties, and no doubt some of them find their way to NewYork city.

The Scuppernong grape grows finely on our sandy soils. It is a native, and of excellent qualities. It requires very little care, beyond being provided with a scaffolding to keep it from the ground. One vine will cover a very large surface. My scaffolding, which is completely covered by a single vine, is 25 feet by 30 feet, and I am very sure that many can be found, each of which shall cover twice as much surface as mine does. Good wine has been made from it, but in this point I am not interested, except by way of regret, for I never use nor encourage others to use any intoxicating drinks as a beverage. There are certain conditions of disease in which alcoholic liquors are serviceable. They should only be used internally as medicines; and the same skill is necessary to direct their prescription as is required by other articles of the materia medica.

Sweet potatoes are an important crop with us, both for table use and for fattening our pork. The cornfield pea (of which there are many varieties) is extensively sown among corn, at the last working. The hogs are required to dig the potatoes and to gather the peas for themselves. After frost, however, it is not safe to leave the potatoes in the field, as they are easily damaged by cold weather. Perquimans Co., N. C. WM. NICHOLSON.

HOW TO MAKE CURRANT WINE. This article, as usually manufactured, is rather a cordial than a wine, and is entirely inferior to the common wine; but when properly made, it will be a very superior, healthful beverage, particularly for summer drink, when fully diluted with water.

We have experimented carefully on the making of currant wine, and the following will be found to give a result which we have found no difficulty in selling in large quantities at $1 per gallon.

Before pressing the juice from the currants pass them between a pair of rollers to crush them, after which they may be placed in a strong bag, and they will part with the juice readily by light pressure, such as a common screw, weights, &c. To each quart of juice add three pounds of treble refined loaf sugar-single refined is not sufficiently pure-then add as much water as will make one gallon. Or in other words, suppose the cask intended to be used be 30 gallons. In this put 30 quarts of currant juice, 90 lbs. of double refined sugar.

[For the Country Gentleman and Cultivator.] CORN COBS.

We should judge that some farmers conclude that it would be as profitable to discuss the propriety of feeding saw-dust to stock as to grind up corn cobs for that purpose. Because they are of not much value themselves, it does not prove that they may not be ground with other grain to some advantage. I am acquainted with a farmer who was in the habit of feeding from twenty to thirty large oxen every winter, and he always bought his corn in the ear and had it ground in that shape-for the reason that his oxen never failed of doing well when fed with cob meal-while on the other hand, when fed with clear meal they were very likely to become cloyed. For the last five years farmers in this vicinity grind nearly all of their corn in the car for all kinds of stock except fat hogs, showing a change in that respect, for twenty years ago, little if any was ground in that shape.

That there is a little virtue in them may be proved from the following fact: A poor man who had one cow was unable to supply her with hay on account of scarcity, managed to keep her alive by grinding cobs for her, which he obtained from his neighbor, who raised a large crop of corn, and after shelling it threw the cobs out by the side of the road. We don't know how much the miller made by tolling the cobs. J. B. B. New Braintree, Mass.

[For the Country Gentleman and Cultivator.] Cocoa Nut Drops--No. I. Take one cocoa nut, grate and dry it a little-then mix with the beaten whites of ten eggs and 16 teaspoonfuls of powdered sugar-make them up in little round balls, and bake them quickly, and you will have the best kind of drops that you ever tasted.

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MARY.

MARY.

Bathe the parts affected with water in which potatoes have been boiled, as hot as can be borne just before going to bed; by the next morning the pain will be much relieved, if not removed. One application of this simple remedy has cured the most obstinate rheumatic pains.-Family Herald.

Inquiries and Answers.

RAISING THE LOCUST FROM SEED.-I have a prairie farm and am anxious to raise a locust grove. Many in this vicinity have tried to raise locust trees, but owing to mistreatment in the raising or misjudgment in the selection of seed, none have succeeded very well. I have on hand about a pound of seed which was sent me from northern New-York, and as we are about a degree further south than where the seed were raised, I do not fear winter killing if properly attended to. Can you or some of the many readers of THE CULTIVATOR, advise me as to the manner of sowing, time, culture, &c., &c ? My object is to ornament a building-place, but as timber is rather scarce in this part of the State, if locust was once fairly introduced, a few years would supply many neighborhoods where now there is a deficiency. R. P. MOORE. Otranto, Iowa, June 16, 1860. [To induce locust seed to grow, pour boiling water on them, in quantities of a quart or so in a small vessel, so that the water will not remain hot long, and let them stand several hours. A number of them will be found swollen to double size. Select and plant these, and they will grow-the unswollen will not. Repeat the process on the remainder, successively, until all are prepared, planting the swollen seed at each repetition of the work. They should be planted in drills where they may be cultivated and kept clean, and they will grow much faster than if neglected and allowed to become enveloped with weeds and grass. If the seed are good, this will insure success.]

THE "IRON WEED."-We are much annoyed in this region with the Iron weed; it is exceedingly unsightly, and spreads all over our best pasture lands. Can you, or any of your readers, give me directions for its extermination without continued cultivation, which is not entirely practicable in all of our pasture ground, owing to some of it being in timber. It is said that certain seasons of the year are favorable for its extirpation. Can you give us any such information as would serve us? P. D. Bullitt Co., Ky. [We hope some of our readers will be able to reply.

BINDING THE Co. GENT-I have several vols. of your paper unbound-do you get up covers to bind the paper, and thus have uniformity in all the volumes? [No.] Could you fur: nish all of the volumes of the GENTLEMAN, and if so, what would be the price? P. D. Kentucky. [Not at present. The price for bound volumes is $1.75 each--we have several orders registered for complete sets, and supply whenever we have the opportunity to purchase missing Numbers, so as to complete volumes that are defective.]

ROOT CROPS.-In your issue of July 5 I notice an interesting and timely article on the cultivation of roots. Having some two acres planted with roots, and having had but little experience in this department of agriculture, the author would confer a favor by giving his experience in harvesting, curing, cleaning, and the best method of keeping them through the winter, ny intention being to feed them to the cattle. New-York.

A. J. M.

GRASS. Please give me the botanical name of the enclosed specimen of grass, and where I can procure the seed, and at what price per pound. I find it growing in small patches on my lawn, and sown in rich soil it will not grow to exceed four inches in height. It makes a beautiful compact turf, the very thing for lawns, as it would need but very little cutting. J. R. GARDNER. Montgomery Co., Va. [The specimen forwarded is somewhat injured, but appears to be a half grown plant of Poa annua, a small annual grass, common in dooryards, of very light green color. As it is reproduced annualLy from seed, it is doubtful if it would form a strong permanent turf. The Poa annua often grows 6 or 7 inches long, which is more than our correspondent states; if the sort sent us is never over 4 inches, and has not the peculiar yellowish green color of the annual Poa, we should be glad to receive further and more matured specimens, dried previously between the leaves of a book under pressure, (20 lbs. or more.) The subject of selecting the best species of grass for lawns should not be lost sight of; we shall not probably find one that will answer well that does not need mowing; but if one could be obtained with fine, hair-like, dense foliage, so as to form a softer and more velvet like surface than red top and white clover, it would be an acquisition. Among the several native species, possibly there may be one.]

PUMPS.-It seems to me the subscribers to the Co. GENT. appeal to you for all sorts of information from the building of Hornet's nests" to the Atlantic cable. Allow me, therefore, to ask if there is anything new in the pump line for lifting water from wells ? For four or five years I have been using the rotary pump, made up of links six inches long, with Indian rubber balls every five or six feet apart. This pump worked very easy, a child 4 years old could turn it, but it has worn out and I cannot replace it in Richmond. It was very liable to get out of order. My wells are 24 feet deep. D. 8. D. Henrico Co., Va. [We are not aware of anything decidedly new and valuable in the construetion and manufacture of pumps-but would invite our correspondents to give us their best and latest information derived from experiments. We have known some modifications of the forcing pump to work admirably in rather deep wells.]

FOUNDERED STOCK.-I shall feel obliged if through your valuable paper the Co. GENT, you would give me a remedy for any kind of stock which may get into a cornfield and eat too much; it is a common occurrence here-I lost a yearling steer last fall, and would like to be prepared with a sure remedy as the danger approaches. w. A. Iowa City. [Will some of our correspondents reply to the above.]

WILLARD'S ROOT SLICER.-Please inform me through the COUNTRY GENT., where the Willard Root Slicer can be procured, and at what price. If such things were advertised in our agricultural papers I think a great many would find their H. A. T. Marshal, Mich. [It can be proway to the west. cured we believe, of Geo. Campbell, West-Westminster, Vt.] PUMPKINS.-Will any of the contributors of the COUNTRY GENTLEMAN furnish me with the information, how to keep pumpkins from decaying during the winter? I am very anxious to know, as I expect to raise a considerable quantity this year. I should also like to know the best method of Warsaw, Va. preserving sweet potatoes. R. B. P.

WHITEWASHING TREES-IS whitewash beneficial to fruit trees? C. B. GRIFFIS. [If made from good fresh lime, and put on quite thin, so as to penetrate crevices in the bark, and not to form a scaly coat, whitewashing is beneficial to the bark of trees, and tends to destroy the eggs of insects; but the unSEEDING TO GRASS AND CLOVER.-How would it do to seed natural whiteness spoils their appearance. We prefer a mod-down with timothy in the fall and clover the next springerate solution of potash, soap suds, or ashes and water.}

rolling or harrowing in the clover. New-York. [This is a course often practiced, and succeeds well with rolling when the soil is dry enough to allow it. A common harrow would be too coarse and rough.]

J. R. GARDNER.

BOOKS ON ORCHARDING.-Please inform me where to proeure the best work on the culture of fruit trees, the apple and peach especially-combining, if possible, the general horticultural information required by an amateur. THOS. J. MAT DISEASE OF THE PEACH.-Can you or any of your readers TINGLY. Plattsburgh, Mo. [The standard fruit books pub- tell me anything of a new disease upon the peach tree? The lished by C. M. Saxton, Barker & Co., and sold at this office. bark upon the roots commences dying, and extends up and or sent by us by mail, will give the desired information-around the trunk of the tree until it kills it. I find this upon Thomas' American Fruit Culturist or Barry's Fruit Garden trees that have no worms in them. at $1.25 each, or Downing's Fruit and Fruit Trees for $1.50.] DESTROYING WILLOWS-One of your subscribers has a piece of marshy land covered with yellow willow bushes. Will mowing them in August kill the roots? 8. B. D. Milwaukee, Wis. [A single cutting will not destroy them, but if the sprouts or suckers are kept rubbed off for some time, the roots will die for want of food through the leaves. We are unable to say precisely what amount of labor of this kind will be required]

RHUBARB WINE.-What is the best recipe for Rhubarb Wine? I have seen several, but none that appeared to be O. K.-You would, by publishing one, no doubt oblige many of your readers, including AN OLD SUBSCRIBER. Pittsburgh, Pa. [Can some of our readers answer the above?]

Montgomery Co., Va.

ELDERBERRY WINE.-Will not some of your subscribers send me through the columns of the Co. GENT, a recipe for making "Elderberry Wine." It will much oblige A. B. B.

HEAVES IN Cows.-We have a cow that acts and breathes very much like a horse with heaves, Can you or your correspondents suggest anything in the case, and oblige A. Moss. Belvidere, Ill.

BOOKS ON HUSBANDRY, &c.-Please inform me what is the most reliable work that I could purchase, comprising a treatise on the general management of farm, and stock of all descrip tions, and the price. Also a separate treatise on the Diseases and management of sheep and cattle. J. E. J. [Allen's Farm

Book is a good treatise of its size, price $1, and Allen's Domestic Animals contains much in relation to their diseases and management, price 75 cents. Dadd's two treatises on the Herse and on Cattle are more recent and more complete works, price each $100. The two published volumes of "Rural Affairs," contain more on the subject of general farm management, and the various details, than any other work of the size, price $1 per vol.]

or rather small size, as these succeed best. Plant them in a good rich soil, good enough for corn or cabbages, about four by six feet. Cultivate them well,-if the plantation is extensive, by horse power, -and in summer, as soon as the shoots are three or four feet high, pinch off the top to induce a thicker growth and to send out side-shoots. These will bear another year.]

WHEN DOES THE MILK SOUR?—In the COUNTRY GENTLE

BINDER ATTACHED TO REAPING MACHINES.-There was SCRATCHING IN HORSES-I have a horse that is continu-something said in a former no. of the Co. GENT., about a ally rubbing, scratching, and biting himself whenever he is binder to be attached to reaping machines. I want to hea in the stable or pasture. If you or some of your subscribers something more about them. Let those that have used thein would prescribe a remedy, you will confer a favor. A REA- speak for or against them as their merits deserve. Such & DER OF THE CULTIVATOR. [It is important to ascertain the machine will be a valuable one here, as hands are scarce. cause before selecting a remedy. If it comes from lice, as is Let those who have used these binders, state what kind of not unfrequently the case, which usually proceed from poul- reapers they were attached to, and their cost ready for work. try, remove the poultry, wash well the stable with hot water, Richland Co., Ohio, July 16. LEVI HAWK. and then whitewash it. To kill the lice and cure the skin, Dr. Dadd recommends a mixture of equal parts of linseed oil and spirits of turpentine, with twice as much more as both, of pyroligneous acid, to be applied three times a day, after wards washing with soap and water. Or, the vermin may be killed by sponging with an infusion of lobelia. Sometimes the skin is affected by a bad state of the stomach; a change of diet is the remedy, to which treatment may be added giving a little sulphur with the food. If the mange or itch is the difficulty, sponge with lime water, give sulphur, and sponge again with the first mentioned liquor above, with a little sulphur added.]

QUERY FOR WHEAT GROWERS.-I have a side hill of about seven acres, sloping towards the west. The soil is a heavy sand loam on the upper part of the hill; further down is a clayish loam; still further down, towards the bottom, is a stiff clay, but fall plowing renders it quite mellow. It has been pastured with cattle or sheep for ten years past. I think the land sufficiently strong to bear a good crop. I plowed it last fall-this spring pulverized with cultivator harrow and sowed to oats. Shall harvest a good crop. I would like to sow it to wheat this fall. What I desire to know is, your opinion, or the opinion of some of your wheat growing correspondents, as to the expediency of sowing wheat on such soils, in this loeality, (35 miles north of your city, in the valley of the Hudson,) also what is the best variety sown in this part of the State, and the best time to sow in order to have it the least. exposed to the ravages of the fly? This was formerly a fine wheat growing county, but recently there has been little or none grown on account of the destructive effect of the weevil. Saratoga Co.

SAM'L SHELDON.

SUPERPHOSPHATE OF LIME.-Can you, or some one of your correspondents, tell your readers how superphosphate of lime may be manufactured. Many of us have been humbugged quite enough with the articles that are sold for superphosphate. For my part, I have no doubt of the value of the genuine as a fertilizer, and if we could by some economical process manufacture the article ourselves, we should know at least what we invested our money in, and if it proved valuable as a manure, receive some benefit from it. I was shown some corn the other day, where the material from different manufacturers was tested side by side; the difference was apparent at forty rods distant. With one, there was no perceptible difference between the row and the next which had no manure applied; while on the other side, a row to which was applied the product of another manufacturer, the corn was such as we all like to see, and nearly twice the heighth of the former. The conditions otherwise, were as nearly alike as possible. E. E. W. Concord, N. H.

MAN of July 12th, you give the opinion of a dairy woman in western New-York, as to when milk should be skimmed. She says, just as the milk begins to sour in the bottom of the pans. Can you inform me how we are to know when the milk is sour in the bottom of the pans? If you or your correspondents can answer this, I will be obliged.

JOHN SNELL. Canada West. PRICES OF LANDS IN NEW-YORK-Our Virginia correspondent, who inquires about the price of farms in eastern and central New-York, is informed that the prices will vary from $30 to $100 per acre, according to quality of soil, location, improvements, &c. Good farms, with tolerable buildings, and in good locations, could probably be bought for $75 per acre.

QUERY ABOUT WHEAT.-Is there a variety of white wheat

that ripens as early as the Mediterranean, and is no more injured by the Hessian fly than the red chaffe i Mediterranean? A variety that produces as well as the white blue stem has, before the midge made their appearance. If there is, whore can I get it, and at what price? H. K. Wrightsville, Pa.

COTTON SEED OIL-I should be glad to get more information on the making of Cotton Seed Oil than I have seen in the CoUNTRY GENTLEMAN, or the Patent Office Report of 1855. W. C. H. Maryland. [The inquiry upon this subject is constantly extending; we trust a reply may be elicited ]

BRIGHT ON GRAPE CULTURE.-You will please to inform ine where I could obtain "Bright's System of Grape Culture." J. POLLOCK. [In answer to the above and similar inquiries from others, enclose 50 cents in P. O. stamps to Wm. Bright, 627 Market-st., Philadelphia, Pa.]

[For the Country Gentleman and Cultivator.] GOOD RHUBARB WINE.

made up from many others, and I think it produces an excelIn answer to "An Old Subscriber" I submit below a recipe lent wine, closely resembling in taste and color the best sherry after two or three years age.

RECIPE-Take, for instance, a 40 gallon cask. Fill it nearly full of rhubarb juice and water in equal proportions. Then dissolve 120 lbs. best white sugar, and add to this one tablespoonful of sulphuric acid to over five gallons wine. This converts the sugar into grape sugar. Then fill the cask full and set it in an equable temperature to ferment with the bung lightly laid on the hole. Let it stand until fermentation entirely ceases; then add the beaten whites of eight eggs and shake the cask well and keep it open for a week. Then rack stand for a year or two, when it will be better and more wholeit off into a clean cask and bang it up or bottle it and let it will add, that all other domestic wines may be made after some than nine-tenths of the foreign wines in the market. I this recipe, only adding or decreasing the quantity of sugar and water as the fruit juice is more or less acid than the rhubarb juice. CHARLES STEWART. Pennsylvania.

PRA NUTS.-Will the Co. GENT. please inform me how Pea nuts are cultivated, also if they grow under ground same as a Potato, if so why they are covered with so hard a shell? Hoping you will give this your earliest attention I remain. R. T. BROOKS. [As the pea-nut cannot be cultivated in the northern States, we have no practical knowledge of its management. The plant is the Arachis hypogea, belonging to the same natural order as the pea, bean, &c. The specific Recipe from Another Correspondent. name ("below ground ") is an allusion to the unusual circumMESSRS. EDITORS-A few years ago, while visiting in the stances of the pods, as they increase in size, forcing themselves Connecticut valley, I drank some rhubarb wine, clear, sparkinto the earth. The seed are planted about a foot apart, in ling and delicious. My host said, as he smacked his lips over sandy or alluvial ground, and the plants are earthed up as it, that it equalled the best champagne, and he was a person the pods form. For further information, we desire the ex-well acquainted with wines, both foreign and domestic. perience of some of our southern readers who have had practical experience with this crop.]

CULTURE OF THE BLACKBERRY.-If convenient, I should like to see an account of the cultivation of blackberries in the next no. F. A. R. Annapolis, Md. [Procure plants which have been propagated from cuttings of the roots, (suckers are apt to be one-sided and destitute of small fibres,) of moderate

I afterwards got the recipe, and send it now, hoping it may meet the want of your "Old Subscriber."

Take 1 gallon of rhubarb well bruised, add 1 gallons of cold water. Let it stand 3 days, stirring it every day. Then strain it, and to each gallon of the liquid put 4 pounds of loaf sugar. Keep it one or two months, or until it seems to have done working, then bottle it. u. Keene, N. H.

THE CULTIVATOR.

ALBANY, N. Y., AUGUST, 1860.

The truth that improvement is gaining ground, however slowly, among the Farmers of this country, is one of which additional evidences are afforded to the careful observer in almost any direction in which he may direct his scrutiny. In the course of our last volume we referred at considerable length to one or two instances in this County, in which, particularly, gratifying proof was given that changes for the better are getting a foothold, by the extension of drainage, the feeding of mutton and beef, better tillage, more manuring, and the extended cultiva tion of roots-changes here, as elsewhere in our older states, by no means yet entitled to rank as a revolution, and sometimes, indeed, proceeding almost imperceptibly, but still such as to warrant us in deriving from them encouragement for the Present, and a considerable contrast with the Past of ten or fifteen years ago.

Last week we had the opportunity of driving out several miles into the towns of Bethlehem and New-Scotland. Col. WM. H. SLINGERLAND, whose home farm is between five and six miles from the city, has there occupied about a hundred and fifty acres for ten or twelve years. When he went on to the farm, not an acre would cut a ton of hay -now he will mow 60 or 65 acres, and has no doubt it will average two tons throughout; last year a patch of six acres in oats yielded 106 bushels per acre, and his oat field this year promises 100 throughout, notwithstanding the season is considerably less favorable. He has laid three or four miles of tile drain, and is constantly putting in tile as a field needing drainage comes to be broken up. He has an excellent barn for convenience, and saves carefully the manure there accumulated-using also largely of plaster and ashes, which-especially, perhaps, the latter-prove admirably effective upon his soil, a tolerably heavy loam, while lime has never seemed to do it much good.

Impressed with the importance to the farmer of a better class of stock, Mr. S. has been breeding Short-Horns for several years, alone, and in company with Messrs. BULLOCK & HURST, to which partnership belongs the frequently noticed bull 'Neptune.' The cattle were looking well, although receiving no extra care. Without having at present the space to particularize, it is at least proper to add that Mr. S. and his associates will be doing a good work indeed, if they induce more of the farmers of the county to take that most important of all steps in the improvement of their stock-never breeding except to a bull of good character and descent. The means of taking this step are now easily within the reach of nearly all.

Driving on a mile or two we called hurriedly upon Capt. HILTON, who has been co-operating toward this end, by the introduction of Devons; a stroll into the pastures carried us among them, and we were much pleased with their condition and appearance. Capt. H. has been setting out a good deal of fruit since his place was noticed two or three years ago in our columns.

These notes must, however, be concluded. The interest with which the farmers of the neighborhood watched a dozen years ago the first operation of a Mowing machine on Col. Slingerland's farm-an improvement which, since that time, has been worth to them by its general adoption probably thousands upon thousands of dollars-has been in some measure paralleled by their curiosity in the matter of drainage and other improvements, but these latter, not appealing so immediately as it seems, to the pocket, would naturally win their way more gradually. We may repeat in closing, a remark we have heretofore made more than once that the Farmers of this region possess some most important advantages in the excellence of their home market and other respects, and that we hope to see the County itself in time ranking correspondingly well, in

comparison with other parts of the State heretofore more noted for their agriculture.

Our foreign exchanges are already full of the Agricultural Shows of the present season. Many of them we should like to notice if our space permitted. The Essex Society has just had its exhibition at Saffron Walden, and the account of it teems with familiar names. The Oxford and Banbury Society has just held its show at the latter place, and "Royal Turk" comes from it with a challenge cup as the best horned animal in the yard. In Scotland Glasgow has been the scene of one exhibition and Stirling of another, accounts of which are among our last advices. The present month is to be a still more active one than June the Royal Ag. Society closes its General Meeting at Canterbury this week; the Irish Society meets at Cork, July 25-27, and several of the most important provincial shows occupy busily the interim.

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- Across the channel, we already have accounts of the National Show at Paris as a great success. For the second time "the Palace of Industry, built in that unique promenade, the Champs Elysées, for the Great Universal Exhibition of the Industry of all Nations in the year 1855, has been turned into a temple dedicated to the products of agriculture." The Mark Lane Express has a special correspondent there, and Edinboro' is represented by the Editor of the North British Agriculturist. Never," says the latter, "in any previous exhibition connected with agriculture has there been such an extensive display of stock, implements, and products of the soil. The French Government is bestowing more attention on agricultural improvement, than any other Government in Europe." But our contemporary argues "that the Government would attain their purpose much more economically, and at the same time more effectually, were such exhibitions more directly connected with the practical agriculturists of France." This may be true, but we saw last year how it is a part of the French system to retain all these things in the hands of Government directly; it is the Emperor by deputy who conducts the local as well as National Shows, and it is very possible that private enterprise in France could never accomplish, even if it could be brought to undertake, what is now done by the public funds in the hands of the Ministry of Agriculture.

In France-now that we are fairly there-the season has this year been a backward and peculiar one. We have already referred to the cold and stormy character of the spring, and the severity of the preceding winter. The prospects of the French husbandman are quoted as anything but bright, as late as the 20th of June; there had been consequent excitement in the grain markets, and rising prices are anticipated-indeed an advance the previous week had unsettled business-holders unwilling to sell, millers and merchants anxious to increase their stocks. France, it is stated, apparently on good authority, "will doubtless require large imports of grain to supplement a deficient crop, and thus tend to raise prices over the whole of Europe and America."

No other European nation is apparently more eager at present to acquaint itself with the improvements of others, than RUSSIA. This is true in Agriculture as well as with regard to other arts. The Russian government is now establishing at St. Petersburgh an Imperial Agricultural Museum for the collection and exhibition of Implements and Machines of husbandry, and has taken measures to secure an assortment of the best American manufacture for this purpose. The commission having the subject in charge, accompanied by the Russian Consul-General at New-York, recently visited Albany, and after a careful examination of some of our manufacturing establishments, as well as of the collection deposited in the Museum of our State Agricultural Society, made an arrangement with Messrs. EMERY BROTHERS not only for samples of the machinery of their own construction, but also for the selection of an additional assortment-the shipment of the whole of which, we learn, has just been completed, and

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