THE CULTIVATOR. 401 duce, but this year the trees bear but very little-not in connection with the door, and a chimney or pipe at The cows calve the latter part of January or first of February. The main object in having them "come in" at this time, is that the calves may be fatted and sent off while veal will command a good price, and also leave the best of the season to be availed of for making and selling butter. The calves suck till they are six weeks old, and are then sold in market at four and three-fourths to five cents per pound, live weight. They bring from eight to ten dollars each. The cows being well fed and sheltered in a warm barn at night, and in all inclement weather, and allowed the liberty of the yard for exercise and air in pleasant days, they give a large quantity of milk, make the calves fat, and afford a large quantity of but ter after the calves are taken away. The sixteen cows gave an average of 180 pounds of butter each, in 1850, besides fatting their calves. Mr. C.'s ideas in regard to the proper way of keeping cows, deserve to be mentioned. He holds that they should have an abundance of good food, and be kept in good order. If they get fat, even, as they frequently do towards the time when they go dry, he considers it no disadvantage, and refuses to sell his best cows to the butcher, though offered a high price. He says the fat is not lost, that it is only stored up in the system, and after the cows calve, it goes into the milk, and either fats the calves, or forms butter. We think this is correct reasoning. Great loss is sustained in many instances by cows being very poor when turned to grass. condition, it takes considerable time, and a large amount When in this of food, to fill up the wasted tissues of the body, and give the animal any surplus to spare. by a connection with the well, is over-balanced by the and whose farm adjoins that of the latter,) has a spring. It is kept constantly running, and it is so cold that there is out the whole process of managing the milk, cream and BUTTER MAKING.-As already remarked, butter is an spatula, both of wood, are used-the hand not being "mon variety of fowls has long been bred here which has been so noted as to receive the name of Bucks county breed." It is not easy to obtain an authentic account of their introduction; but it is evident that they belong to the family known as Malay, Chittagong, Shanghae, &c. The stock has however been much improved in some instances, and is not unfrequently found of much better shape, better quality of flesh, and even greater weight than most of the newly-imported fowls of the same tribe. Mr. ADRIAN CORNELL, Jr., has kept quite a large stock of poultry for several years. He kept last winter, seventy hens and seven cocks, and this is about his average number. He has several stocks which he breeds by themselves. The old Bucks county stock, we were assured by the elder Mr. CORNELL, who is up wards of seventy years of age, has been kept, unmixed, on this farm, for more than fifty years, These fowls, whatever some writers may say as to their being grels, comparatively worthless," breed with more uniformity, as to shape, size, and color, than any of the large Asiatic fowls that we have seen, imported within the last ten years! Mr. C. raises them every year. They are usually short-legged, broad-breasted, rather small boned for their weight, and give a good quality of flesh. But the stock to which Mr. C. gives the preference, eggs and flesh considered, was imported from China in 1842. They are now mostly black-having been bred with a view to obtain that color for the eight years Mr. C. has had them. He has paid particu lar attention in the selection of these for breeding, to the proper shape, and has improved the stock much in this respect. They are large-the hens frequently weighing eight and the cocks ten pounds each. They are greatly disposed to fatten, and on this account sometimes attain heavier weights than mentioned. Mr. C. selected two hens from his flock last spring, to be sent to a person in England, who wished to obtain the best speci mens of American fowls, that weighed a fraction over ten pounds each. Mr. C. has also the Jersey Blues, and specimes of several of the late importations-Shanghaes," Cochin-Chinas," &c. For the stocks which he wishes to breed by themselves, Mr. C. has separate yards. In February, the requisite number of the best fowls of each stock is selected, and put in their respective "walks " The eggs laid by the selected fowls are hatched by other hens, which run at large, or are kept in different places. The chickens are hatched in April and May. The fowls are only kept in separate yards about three months. The rest of the year they all run together uncontrolled. Towards the latter part of the time they are confined in yards; they sometimes get the habit of pulling out and eating each other's feathers. Mr. C. thinks this is caused wholly by the fowls being discontented and worn down by confinement. Mr. CORNELL began the business with the object of selling eggs and chickens in the market, but of late years has made sales of breeding stock to good advantage. Chickens usually sell in Philadelphia, dressed, nine cents per pound, and eggs at fourteen cents a dozen. He caponises more or less fowls every year. SAMUEL REED, of Joabstown, N. J., makes a business of doing this work. He goes through a large extent of country, perhaps twice in a season, and operates on all the fowls that are brought to him, charging five cents each. He sends word when he is coming, and the fowls are shut up and kept without food for a day. He has castrated 275 in a day, and castrates from 12,000 to 15,000 in a year. Not more than one in a hundred die from the operation. Last year Mr. CORNELL had forty-eight chickens and six turkeys caponised by him in one day, day, and lost but one. The age preferred for doing this, is three to four months, or when the feathers are well set. Capons are usually killed in February, when about ten months old. They are made very fat by full feeding for a month before they are killed, and weigh, dressed, from sixteen to twenty-two pounds per pair. Mr. C. has had a pair weigh thirty-two pounds, dressed, at fifteen months old, and he sold them at seventeen cents per pound. The usual price is about twelve cents per pound. Mr. A. CORNELL, Jr., keeps but few turkeys; his brother (Mr. J. C. C.) had about 100, and he remarked that he thought they saved him a $100 worth of grass this year, by killing grass-hoppers, which have been very numerous. The turkeys were worth a dollar a piece for market. The income from Mr. A. C., Jr.'s poultry for the last two years has been as follows: 1849 sales of poultry and eggs $211.85-used in the family to the amount of $38.15-equal to $250; 1850, sales, $131.39-used in family and otherwise disposed of, $68.61-equal to $200. LABOR.-Mr. A. CORNELL, Jr., employs two men on his farm the year round; one of them, as foreman, receives $150 a year, and his board, the other $110 a year and board. The other hired labor on the farm amounts on the average to about $30 a year. The hired female labor in the house costs $75 a year besides board. Mr. C. superintends the farm operations. It will not be amiss to say, in order to give an idea of the labor sctually employed on the farm, that Mr. C. has but one child, a son, whose time is spent at school. His taxes amount to $100 a year. The following is a copy of his memorandum of sales for 1850: Butter and calves,.. Hay,, Fruit, Wheat,.. $699 96 261 87 25-60 193 65 136 98 131 39 64 52 40 00 20.00 $1,735 87 L. TUCKER, Esq.-A friend has kindly lent to me the October number of "The Cultivator," containing an article by Dr. ASA FITCH, on wheat-insects. The "bugs upon growing wheat," noticed by Dr. FITCH, are no other than young chinch-bugs, insects that have long been known in the Southern and Western States for their depredations on growing wheat, Indian corn, and other grains. They are mentioned in the eleventh volume of Arthur Young's "Annals of Agriculture," published about 1788, from which work Messrs. Kirby and Spence probably compiled the following account of them in the first volume of their "Introduction to Entomology:" "America suffers in its wheat and maize from the attack of an insect, which, for what reason I know not, is called the chintz-bug fly. It appears to be apterous, and is said in scent and color to resemble the bed-bug. They travel in immense columns from field to field, like locusts destroying everything as they proceed; but their injuries are confined to the states south of the 40th degree of north latitude." "From this account," add Kirby and Spence, "the depredator here noticed should belong to the tribe of Geocorisx, Latr.; but it seems very difficult to conceive how an insect that lives by suction, and has no mandibles, could destroy these plants so totally." I have ascertained, from an examination of living specimens, that the chinch-bug is the Lygrus Cucep terus, described by Mr. Say, in Dec., 1831, in a little Heteropterous Hemiptera of North pamphlet on the " America." It is a mistake that these insects are confined to the States south of the 40th degree; for I have been favored with them by Professor LATHROP, of Be loit College, Wisconsin, and by Dr. L. BARON, of Geneva, Illinois. The latter gentleman had no difficulty in ob taining a sufficient number without going out of his own garden. A very good account of them, with an enlarged figure, will be found in the "Prairie Farmer" for December, 1845. In the same publication, for September 1850, may be seen an excellent description of this insect by Dr. LEBARON, who, not being aware that it had been previously named by Mr. Say, called it Rhy. parochromus devastator. The eggs of this insect are laid in the ground, in which the young have been found in great abundance, at the depth of an inch or more. They make their appearance on wheat about the middle of June, and may be seen in great numbers, and in various stages of growth, during the whole summer. Some of them continue alive during the winter in their places of concealment. Other particulars concerning these insects are given in the Prairie Farmer. Yours, resp'y, T. W. HARRIS. Cambridge, Mass., Oct. 31. Heating Apparatus for Dwellings. The substitution of stoves for open fire-places, has effected a great saving of fuel, and in a pecuniary view is an important improvement; but it is more than probable that in ourefforts to secure this advantage in the greatest degree, an injurious sacrifice of health has been in many cases sustained. A serious objection to close stoves is, that they tend to prevent the renewal of the air of the room, and give off more or less noxious fumes. The injury in the latter particular of course, depends on the nature of the fuel employed. Anthracite and bituminous coals often contain sulphur, and sometimes arsenic, and when burned in stoves, without free draught, evolve gases which con perfectly accomplished by the "Franklin Coal-Burner." It posseses the advantages of the Franklin-Fire-Place or open grate, with the additional advantage that it may be set in any part of the room, and connected with the chimney by pipe. It is neat and tasteful in design, and superior in respect to finish and quality of casting,-and affords the cheerful light of an open fire, with sufficient ventilation for health, making, at the same time, but a comparatively small consumption of fuel. We have tested it for anthracite coal, with which it operates in the most satisfactory manner. It is equally well adapted to burning bituminous coal. It was introduced here, and is made by Messrs. JAGGER, TREADWELL & PERRY. Exotic Vegetables.---The Tea Plant. It would seem to have been intended by nature that all vegetables should not do equally well in all climates and countries, and that some should do better in foreign countries than in their own. There is nothing better known in medicine, than that certain medicinal plants are active only when grown in certain countries. Rhubarb for example grows and thrives in this country with vigor, and does excellently well as a culinary vegetable; but as a medicine it is almost worthless. It must be grown in Turkey, or some part of Asia, to be a good medicine. The same is the case with numerous other plants. Digitalis, for example, grown here, is worthless, and so is Colchicum, while the roadsides and meadows of England in the same latitude afford them in all their excellence The Irish potato produces a better article of food any. where else than in its native country. The highly glutin. ous white wheat of Maryland, when grown in the Genesee country loses a large portion of its gluten. Now why is all this? It seems to be a result of the all-wise providence of nature, the object of which is to keep up commercial intercourse with all parts of the world. If all plants would do as well in all parts of the world, then each portion of the world would have no occasion to import from other portions, and thus the population of each portion would become stagnant and inert. As it is, the teas of China induce us to send something that we produce there to pay for teas. So with all other products. I do not believe that tea will ever be cultivated in this country. Experiments have been tried with it for forty years. The plants can be cultivated successfully, but the tea produced from them has not the flavor of China tea. And it seems to me almost a pity that we should succeed in cultivating tea, for if we should a very large inducement for intercourse with China would be annihilated, and thus her civilization be retarded. England will never succeed in cultivating cotton in her East India possessions. She must purchase cotton from us. Because the varied productions of the earth, each in its locality, are necessary to keep up the intercourse of the various populations. for the advancement of the welfare of the whole. S. taminate the air. Dr. URE speaks of such stoves as "pseudo-economical," and says, "There is no mode in which the health and life of a person can be placed in more insidious jeopardy, than by sitting in a room with TO CLEANSE JARS,-fill them with rather hot water, its chimney closed up, with such a choke-damp-vomiting and stir in a spoonful or so of pearlash (or caustic potash stove." Of late, attention has been directed to obviating is better) pouring off, and repeating if necessary. The the objections to close stoves, without incurring a large loss on the score of economy. Considerable success has adhering contents will be immediately disengaged. In extreme cases, let the water and pearlash stand a few in several instances been attained in this respect, but so hours. Rinse the jar with cold water. Vials and other far as the writer is acquainted, the object has been most vessels are easily washed this way. NOTES FOR THE MONTH. To our Agents and Correspondents. Having arrived at the end of another volume, we renew the expression of our obligation to all who have contributed, by their efforts, to the circulation of THE CULTIVATOR the present year, and most respectfully solicit their influence in behalf of our next volume. We are dependant upon you, gentlemen, for our circulation. The annual subscription is so small, that we are compelled to adhere to our rule of advance payments, and consequently all papers are discontinued at the end of the year. Whether our subscribers renew their subscriptions or not, depends, in a great measure, upon the fact of their being called on to do it, by some local agent, as no travelling agents can be employed on a paper published at so low a price. We therefore earnestly solicit your continued efforts, and hope you may all feel sufficient interest in the progress of Agricultural Improvement, to induce you to make the effort necessary to make your lists at least as large, if not larger, than the present year. To a large number of post-offices, we send only to a single subscriber. If that subscriber would himself act as agent, or induce his Postmaster to get up a club, he would very greatly oblige us, as well as benefit his neigh bors, whom he should be instrumental in inducing to read THE CULTIVATOR. It will be seen that we have added several prizes to our Premium List, and we trust there will be a spirited competition. It will be noticed also, that the Premiums are to be paid in CASH, SILVER PLATE, or AGRICULTURAL BOOKS or IMPLEMENTS, at the option of the agent Prospectuses are sent to all our Agents, and we shall be glad to send Prospectuses and specimen numbers, to all who may be disposed to act as agents. Premiums to Agents of the Cultivator. As an inducemen to those disposed to act as Agents, the following Premiums will be paid in CASH, SILVER PLATE, OF AGRICULTURAL Books and IMPLEMENTS, 10 those who send us the largest List of seb scribers for THE CULTIVATOR for 1552, previous to the tenth of April next. 1. To the one sending us the largest number, with the pay in al vance, at the club price of sixty-seven cents each, the sum of FIFTI DOLLARS. 2. To the one sending us the next largest list, the sum of Foart DOLLARS. 3. To the one sending us the next largest list, the sum of Tam FIVE DOLLARS. 4. For the next largest list, the sum of THIRTY Dollars. 5. For the next largest list, the sum of TWENTY-FIVE DOLLARS. 6. For the next largest list, TWENTY DOLLARS. 7. For the next largest list, FIFTEEN DOLLARS. 8. For the next largest list, TEN DOLLARS. 9. For the next largest list, FIVE DOLLARS. 10. To all who send us Thirty Subscribers or over, and do not receive one of the above Prizes, a copy of THE HORTICULTURIST for one year. 11. To all who send us Fifteen Subscribers, and do not receive one of the above Premiums, THE HORTICULTURIST for six months. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.-Communications have been re ceived from T. S. Dewing, H. W. Bulkley, A. Mot, H. G., S. Clarke, G. W. Youngman, John Diehl, Elizabeth Diehl, Prof. J. P. Norton, Dr. T. W. Harris, A Lover of Farming, Frank, S. B. Buckley. BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, &c., have been received as follows: Mr. Geo. R. RUSSELL'S Address before the Norfolk Ag. Society, at Dedham, Sept. 24, 1851, from the Author.Catalogue of the Commercial Garden and Nursery of PARSONS & Co., Flushing, L. I.—Glances DE WITT & DAVENPORT, New-York-Patent Office at Europe, by HORACE GREELEY, from the publishers, Report, for 1850-51-Part II. Agriculture,-from Hon. THOMAS EWBANK, Com. Patents. WINTER EXHIBITION OF THE NEW-YORK STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.-It will be borne in mind that this Society will hold in this city, an exhibition of fat animals, dressed meats, seeds, dairy produce, fruits, &c., in connection with the Annual Meeting for the coming year-20th, 21st, and 22d of January next. The place selected for the show of live-stock, and all the articles to be exhibited, excepting fruits, is the yard and sheds belonging to GALLUP's United States Hotel, corner of Washington and Swan streets. About $600 have been offered in premiums for this occasion, and we have no doubt that an interesting and useful exhibition will be made. The premiums not only refer to the best fat cattle and sheep to be shown alive, but also the best carcasses, (dressed,) of swine, Long-wooled, Middle-wooled and Cross-bred sheep-best turkeys, geese, ducks and fowls, including capons, all dressed. And in connection with the exhi bition there will probably be a voluntary display of live poultry, of the celebrated varieties. The premiums em To all CORRESPONDENTS who have contributed to our pages during the current year, we tender our hearty thanks. They have benefitted all our readers, and the consciousness of the good they have thus done, will, we trust, stimulate them to continue their contributions. We have, however, hundreds of readers, who have enjoyed all the benefit of the labors of others, without contributing at all to the fund of information brought together in our pages. Would that we could convince them of their duty to contribute their share of knowledge to the common fund. We should be glad to have every one of our readers furnish us with rough notes of the results of their experience in the various branches of rural affairs. No one need refuse because he is not accustomed to write for the press, as we shall cheerfully make all the correc-brace specimens of wheat, rye, barley, oats, corn, peas, tions necessary. Our HORTICULTURAL DEPARTMENT has been unavoidably crowded out this month. We will make amends for it hereafter. beans, flax seed, clover seed, timothy, and other grass seeds, and hops. There is not a more favorable point in the country, than Albany, for the collection and purchase of all these articles, and we believe that the butch Several communications are necessarily laid over, ers, provision-dealers, seed-dealers, &c., from the south which will have a place in our next volume. SOUTH DOWN SHEEP.-Those who wish to purchase this breed of sheep, are referred to the advertisement of Mr. Rorch, whose sheep, it is not too much to say, are fully equal to any in the country. and the east, can be induced to attend this exhibitionand that a permanent Annual Fair of this kind may be established here, which may greatly conduce to the mu tual benefit of the producer, dealer, and consumer. A little exertion on the part of those interested, we are con fident would secure this result. Bills containing the pre miums may be had gratis, on application to Mr. JOHNSON, the Secretary of the Society. ADDRESS OF HON. FREDERICK HOLBROOK AT THE VERMONT STATE FAIR.-Seldom have we seen so much valuable thought in so small a compass. It is strictly an Agricultural Address, presenting the importance and dignity of man's sphere, as the tiller of the soil,-the scope which the varied branches of agriculture gives to superior talent,—the high purposes which should animate every farmer, and the rich reward which awaits his successful efforts. He claims that more is required of the farmer of the present day, than to have the "hard day's work in him"-that agriculture should be studied as a rational, progressive science, and have among its chief votaries, high-minded, intelligent young men, who know how to observe and compare, to invent and improve, and in what way to perfect their profession. He argues, that a mind thoroughly imbued with first principles, familiar with the laws of nature and the mode of their manifestation, would find food enough for its ambition, and sufficient range for its power, in a pursuit which was in the beginning man's only inheritance, and more than all, would preserve, by constant communion with nature, that natural simplicity, integrity and love of country, which render man worthy of a citizenship in a free and enlightened country, and those hidden virtues which make a rural home attractive and happy. We cannot but admire the spirit that breathes in the whole production, and believe that a Society, which has so auspiciously commenced its existence, will do much in carrying out the exalted aims, which its president has exhibited so profoundly, truthfully and practically. CORRECTION.-A letter has been received from Prof. MAPES, with reference to some remarks, (see page 339, Oct. No.,) attributed to him, in which he says, "I feel it a duty to deny most emphatically ever having made such assertions at the Farmer's Club, or elsewhere." He says that he read a letter to that body from Mr. P. Mason, of Somerville, N. J., who asserts that he had raised pork at 4 cents per pound, on cooked corn meal, and that when a similar pen was fed with raw meal, the pork cost 12 cents ver pound. Also a letter from Mr. James Campbell, of Weston, N. J., giving some results of the feeding of carrots to cattle, but that he made no mention of feeding carrots to hogs. Our authority for the statement attributed to Prof. MAPES, was a report claimed to be "official," which we found in the New-York Leader. FAIR OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE.-The animal department of this exhibition the present year, is stated to have been superior to the display of any former year. We are informed by those who attended, that the cattle, sheep, and swine, comprised many of the very best specimens of the various esteemed breeds. The departments of manufactures, implements, &c., though not as full as in some former years, were considered rather superior in respect to the character of the articles. A very large number of premiums has been awarded, consisting of gold and silver medals, money, plate and books; but want of space obliges us to refer to the official Report of of the Institute for particulars. VARIETY OF DUCKS.-We saw at Col. SHERWOOD's, in Auburn, last summer, a singular variety of ducks, and on inquiry were told that they were obtained from Mr. JOHN S. CLARK, of Throopsville, Cayuga county. We were so much interested in their appearance, especially from their striking resemblance to the wild black-duck, (Anas obscura,) that we wrote to Mr. CLARK to learn their history. In reply, he said-"The ducks you inquire about, have been bred distinct from any other variety, at least twenty years. We obtained them some ten years since, in Orange county, and were then told that they were originally descended from the wild blackduck, and from the great resemblance, I have no doubt the statement is true, but cannot affirm this as a certainty. The characteristics of this variety are, nearly a uniform color, [a little darker than the wild black-duck,] good size, attaining the weight of eight pounds, dressed, at four months old, very quiet, and very prolific, one duck laying from 150 to 200 eggs in a season, with proper care. There are some in this vicinity which have lately acquired a top-knot, equal to any Poland fowl." We have lately received from Mr. CLARK a pair of these ducks, which fully answer the above description. The drake has the top-knot in perfection. There also came with this pair, a couple of the beautiful wood, or summer duck-the handsomest of all the duck family SINGULAR PHENOMENA.-Mr. THOS HANCOCK. of the Ashton Nurseries, Burlington, N. J.; informs us that on the 2d of Nov., a most singular phenomena was observed at a pond adjoining his lands. The fishes, consisting of pike, sunfish, ca fish, roach, eells, &c., of all sizes, from one to twenty-two inches, were dying in great numbers. He states that the water appeared unusually clear, and seemed to magnify the objects in it. The pond gets low in summer and fills up with the fall rains. With the exception of a ditch recently opened into the pond, about half a mile above the outlet, there had been nothing to affect the state of the water. Can any one account for this? Small Potatoes to Plant. A writer in the Cultivator last spring, stated that small potatoes were as good to plant as large ones. I had some doubts of it at the time, and thought that inasmuch as the size of all the potatoes raised in the season of 1850, were uncommonly small, it was possibly like making a virtue of necessity to recommend small potatoes to plant. However, I thought that I would try the experiment. I therefore took four rows across my patch, side by side, land of equal quality and condition, and planted them on the 19th day of April, 1851-two rows with very small potatoes, averaging in size from a walnut to a small butternut, and put two and three in a hill. Planted the other two rows with a full common large size potato. In the course of the season, I could not discover any difference in the appearance and size of the vines, and on the first day of October, 1851, I dug the said four rows. There was a fair yield of good size potatoes in the whole; and I could not perceive any difference in the size, quality or by measure, between those rows planted with the sinall potatoes, and those planted with the large ones. I |