Sod and Sub-soil Plow, because in our opinion, it could not be brought into competition with other plows, without great injustice to the proprietors of the latter. In the first place, it is properly a threehorse plow, while all the others are two horse plows. Secondly, its double character distinguishes it from

all others.

We regard this implement as a most useful present from the mechanic to the farmer, and in our opinion its introduction will effect a great improve ment in the tillage of some kinds of soil. It pulverizes the soil in an excellent manner, which to be fully appreciated, must be seen; and it accomplishes this pulverization with an amount of power which, in reference to the work performed, is certainly not large. It buries the sod completely and covers it with a coating of loose earth which makes a seed bed almost as perfectly as a space.

The committee, in making the above awards, would not be understood as claiming entire perfection for any of the implements; on the contrary they believe there is room for improvement in all; their decisions are intended to show, that, of the plows which came under their examination, those on which the premiums were bestowed, were the best for the purposes designated. We would earnestly invite the attention of manufacturers of plows to the necessity of adapting their implements to special purposes. It is a great mistake to suppose that the construction of a plow "of all work," as it is called, is possible. The different circumstances under which plows must be used, and the different objects to be attained, render a difference of construction absolutely necessary. For instance, clayey and tenacious soils ought to be thoroughly pulverized, and to effect this, they must be plowed In other plows tried, there was one size of fur- with a deep and narrow furrow, and left as light as row-slice which the plow turned better than any practicable. Sandy soils, on the other hand, should other; if a broader or narrower furrow was taken, be merely turned over, to expose a fresh surface to the plow would act less perfectly. This was not the atmosphere, and to bury the surface vegetable the case with the "sod and sub-soil" plow; it matter, without pulverizing or making the soil seemed to perform equally well whatever was the more loose-its lightness being already too great to breadth of the furrow, and this quality we deem a prevent the escape of the æriform and liquid matgreat advantage. We do not wish, however, to be ters which constitute the food of plants. It may be understood as recommending this, as a plow adapt- observed, too, that plows of somewhat different ed to all work." Where, from peculiar circum- construction are required for rough and smooth stances, it is not desirable to plow deeper than six land-a shorter inplement, especially, being reinches, we cannot recommend this implement; its quired for the former situation, in order to adapt itpeculiar pulverizing powers are not fully developed self to the inequalities of the surface. It is obviwith a furrow shallower than seven inches. Its ously impossible that the same plow can fulfill such properties may be given in substance as follows:- antagonistic conditions; and it therefore becomes 1st. It is particularly useful where trench plow-necessary to ascertain what are the best plowsing is required; that is, where it is wished to bring not for general purposes-but for the various spethe sub-soil or a portion of it to the surface. This cial purposes to which they must be applied. is a useful operation where the sub-soil abounds with vegetable food in a greater proportion than the surface soil; as on alluvial and other very deep soils, where the upper stratum has been exhausted by cultivation. 2d. It is also exceedingly valua. ble for ordinary stiff adhesive soils, the greatest defect of which is their tendency to pack too closely. This defect is in a great degree obviated by the manner in which this plow performs its work. It cuts its furrow-slice in two parts, horizontally, by which operation it makes twice as much division of the soil as is effected by an ordinary plow when going at the same depth and width, and from the fact that each part is turned over by itself, it falls lightly, and remains in a pulverized state.

In consideration of all the circumstances we recommend that a premium equal to the first, in amount and in honor, be awarded to this plow for "old land" and "stiff sod" plowing. In view of the results of the trials instituted by us, and detailed above, we recommend the following

AWARD OF PREMIUMS.

TO FRENCH & SMITH, for their Michigan Sod and Sub-soil Plow, for plowing on “Old land” and “Stiff sod". Diploma and $15.00

1st Premium, to PROUTY & MEARS, for their Centre Draft No. 25... Diploma and 2d Premium, Wm. U. CHASE, for his Amsterdam No. 7,.... SIDE HILL PLOW.

15.00

10.00

Diploma and

To BOSWORTH, RICH & CO., for their Side Hill Plow,.....

The committee would do injustice to their own feelings were they to fail to acknowledge their obligations to Ezra P. Prentice, Esq., the President of the Society, for his earnest efforts to promote the success of their experiments, by valuable advice and intelligent co-operation. They also desire to express their cordial acknowledgments to B. P. Johnson, Esq., the Secretary of the Society, for his assiduity in anticipating and providing for all their wants during the tr als of the plows. Much of the success which has attended their labors, is due to his untiring watchfulness and intelligent zeal.

They also desire to express their thanks to all the competitors, without exception, for their kindness, and for the liberal confidence which they displayed towards the committee during the protracted trials of their implements. To H. L. Emery, of Albany, and Wm. U. Chase, of Amsterdam, their thanks are especially due for active and willing assistance rendered by them on the field.

ANTHONY VAN BERGEN,
JOHN STANTON GOULD,
SANFORD HOWARD,
B. B. KIRTLAND,
PETER CRISPELL, JR.

› Committee.

NOTE.-Suggestions by the Committee in regard to points connected with the construction of plows, which require investigation, and also hints in regard to conducting trials of plows, will be attached to the report in a supplementary_form, when it is published in the Transactions.-EDs.

LARGE FIELD OF WHEAT.-We learn that Mr. William Cook, of Lima, harvested this season 466 bushels of fine wheat from ten acres of land. The wheat was of the Soule's variety and was drilled in TO PROUTY & MEARS, for their Sub-Soil Plow C, Diploma and 88 00 with one of Spencer & Co.'s drills.

SUB-SOIL PLOW.

8.00

The Horticultural Department.

CONDUCTED BY J. J. THOMAS.

Moorpark are less certain and productive, althougn of fine quality and large size

The Primordian plum, a rather tender and slowly growing variety, but profusely productive, ripens with the earliest apricots, and is for this reason very valuable. Early Royal and Imperial Ottoman succeed the Primordian, the Green Gage and Lawrence Favorite; these are followed by Washand the Frost Gage quite late, and a profuse bearing market variety. The Lombard or Bleecker's Red, and the Imperial Gage are well adapted to light soils. Coe's Golden Drop is a fine large late sort, not always ripening at the north. The three best very early peaches we have already mentioned. They are followed successively by Cole's Early Red, Coolidge's Favorite, Large Early York, George IV, Crawford's Early, Morris White, Nivette, Oldmixon Free and Crawford's Late.

Selecting Fruit for a continued Supply. THERE are two reasons why home-raised fruit is better than that purchased in market. First, fully ripe fruit, plump with melting richness, may be taington and Jefferson; Purple Gage is rather late, ken fresh from the tree for immediate use, instead of being plucked while yet hard for two or three days of carriage and exposure in market. Secondly, where fruit is raised in one's own garden, the tenderest and most delicious may be selected; while that which is to be offered in market is usually of such sorts as have a showy exterior, or yield the largest crops. Every man, therefore, who possesses a rood of land, should endeavor, as far as possible, to furnish his own table. There can scarcely be conceived a better combination of the elements of comfort, independence and economy, than in a succession of the very best home grown fresh fruit for the use of a family for the twelve months of the year.

The time for autumn transplanting is now at hand. In selecting the varieties, there are several considerations to be borne in mind. 1. As a general rule, it is safest to adhere to those sorts which have proved | best with the best cultivators in each particular region. New and unproved sorts, no matter how high. ly they may be recommended, should be introduced sparingly. 2. A supply may be relied on at all times and through all seasons with greater certainty, by a rather extensive than meagre list. Some fruits succeed best in one season, and others in other scasons. For example, in one year nearly all the early cherries rotted but the Kentish, which in other years was passed as second rate. We had the present summer three fine sorts of early peaches ripening at about the same period, namely, Fay's Early Ann, the Tillotson and Serrate Early York. The two latter bore but few specimens; the former by a profuse crop supplied the deficiency. One year may be noted for its abundant crop of strawberries, another for its bountiful supply of raspberries, a third for its grapes, and a fourth for its pears. Hence a wide selection, provided the very best are taken, will prove most satisfactory.

We have repeatedly given select lists of fruits in former numbers of the Cultivator. It may perhaps be interesting here to mention only a few of the best or most noted for particular purposes. The season of fruit begins in the northern States by the first of summer, with cherries and strawberries. The earliest stawberries, really worth raising, are Large Early Scarlet, Burr's New Pine, and Boston Pine; the later sorts are Old Hudson, Hovey's Seedling, and Dundee. The earliest cherries are Early Purple Guigne and the Doctor; the later are Elton, Downton and Downer's late. Holland Bigarreau and Black Tartarian are fine cherries, and also productive for market. Belle Magnifique and Plumstone Morello are excellent late cherries. These two sorts coming in this year, after the rotting season, were beautiful, sound and perfect. Apricots, ripening by midsummer, immediately follow cherries. Unless they are planted on a soil with a naturally dry or well drained sub-soil, they are liable to perish long before reaching old age. Low heads are thought best, but are not proof against this disaster. The hardiest apricot, not of the highest quality, but well worth raising, and as hardy as a sugar maple, is the Black. Of the others, the Golden or Fishkill and the Breda are the most reliable. The Large Early and the

The best early pear is the Madeleine. Afterwards we have those delicious summer varieties, the Rostiezer and Tyson; then the Barlett and Washington, both free growers, and great and early bearers; these are succeeded by the Seckel, unequalled for high flavor, by Louise Bonne of Jersey, unsurpassed for productiveness, and by the Flemish Beauty for its free growth, large size and fine quality. The White and Gray Doyenne, on soils adapted to them, are scarcely equalled among late autumn pears. Among late autumn and early winter sorts, the⚫ Aremberg, Winkfield and Winter Nelis are regarded generally as the best. The Easter Beurre if fully ripened and well kept, is a very desirable late winter and spring pear. The new variety, the Autumn Paradise, is likely to prove a pear of great value for mid-autumn. Onondaga or Swan's Orange and Beure Diel, as well as Bartlett, Flemish Beauty and Winkfield, are desirable for market from their size and beauty, to which may be added the Golden Bilboa, although but little above medium in size.

It is scarcely necessary to point out those varieties of the apple which will give us fresh fruit through autumn and winter, and till the early summer fruits appear the succeeding year, the best sorts being so well known.

Materials for Potting Plants.

According to the Gardener's Chronicle, the best materials for the cultivation of plants in pots, are the following:-

Loam-the best is procured from very old pas. tures or commons-the surface to be pared off not more than two inches-to be laid in a heap to decompose for 8 or 10 months. A heavier and a lighter will be found of great convenience, for plants of different habits.

Peat-in choosing this, it should be procured from a dry rather than wet locality. If coarse from fern roots, it should decompose in a heap. Peat is of great value in keeping composts open, and assisting drainage. In this country, where it cannot always be easily had, leaf-mould, from the woods, is a good substitute.

Manure-stable dung, quite rotted, is perhaps as good as any thing. It should never undergo fer. mentation. For some kinds of plants, cow-dung three or four years old, will prove very useful.

Sand, of a pure white kind, is the most desirablethe nearer it approaches pounded silica, the better. To attempt any thing beyond mediocrity, without being possessed of the above materials, will be found a waste of labor. These materials should be always kept within reach of the potting bench, in a

A similar result is taking place in this country. If our territory is wider, the greater difference in latitude will give the north the benefit of southern productions all the earlier. The Early Tillotson peach ripens in southern Virginia more than a month sooner than in New-York. A more general cultivation of this variety there would supply New-York city with an abundance of excellent peaches before mid-summer. This peach ripens at Vicksburg and Natchez within a fortnight of the first day of summer, and the more central portions of the Union might he supplied much earlier than from their own The Transactions of the Essex Agricultural So-raising. Increased facilities for transportation, the ciety, Mass., furnish the following from a contribu- growth of cities, and a greatly extended culture of As copied by Hovey's Mag.

early varieties of fruits and vegetables of different kinds, must ultimately render the domestic trade in these aticles of the greatest importance to producer and consumer, and tend to equalize the price of land by giving the gardeners and fruit raisers living 25 or 50 miles from large cities nearly the same advantages as those formerly within close proximity.

Lime for the Curculio.

Much attention has been excited the present year by a new remedy for the curculio. It was first tried by Lawrence Young, of Louisville, Ky., and has been repeated by others. It consists simply in cov ering the young fruit, as early as danger is apprehended, with a coating of thin lime wash, considerably more diluted than the mixture usually employed in whitewashing. It proves quite effectual; but is must be repeated after ever shower, and even after heavy dews, which wash off the lime. For this reason, it has proved, in the past wet season, more laborious than catching the insects on sheets. A dry season would be more favorable for the remedy with lime. It is applied by means of a large syringe.

The Stanwick Nectarine.

which increase to eight feet during the rainy season. It is even asserted that some have attained twelve feet in diameter. So great is their size and so perfect their symmetry, that when turned up they suggest some strange fabric of cast iron just taken from the furnace; its color and the enor mous ribs with which it is strengthened, increasing the similarity. At the exhibition of the London Horticultural Society last summer, a flower with two leaves of this plant were exhibited, the latter measuring each five feet ten inches in diameter.

EARLY SECOND CROP OF GRAPES.-The Garden. er's Chronicle states that at last summer's exhibi.

tion of the London Horticultural Society, which closed the 13th of 7 mo. (July,) "there was a bunch of black Hamburg grapes, perfectly colored, from Mr. Wilmot, of Isleworth, which formed part of a crop ripe upon vines that were loaded with ripe fruit last February!"

OLD FOREST TREES.-We once counted the rings of a large tulip tree at the newly cut stump, in old at the discovery of America by Columbus. This Western New-York, which we made out ninety years tree was 124 feet high. The pines at the west on the Pacific coast, which attain such enormous di. mensions, have in some instances numbered nine No new fruit has excited so much attention in hundred rings. Such a tree, consequently, would England of late years, as this new variety of the have served as a bean-pole in the time of Gengis nectarine. It was introduced from Syria, and al-Khan, and was a tall towering forest tree of two though it has born fruit on the grounds of a single hundred years during the conquest of Tamerlane. individual, the Duke of Northumberland, the speci mens disseminated among judges have received the highest praise for excellence and delicious flavor. It is about the size of the Elruge, but much paler in color. According to Lindley, it is "exceedingly tender, juicy, rich, and sugary, without the slightest trace of the flavor of Prussic acid."

LARGE ORCHARDS.-Dr. Kennicott states in the

Horticulturist, that eighteen miles above Peoria, Ill., Isaac Underhill has five hundred acres in or chard. He has in the last two years planted out 12,000 grafted apple trees, and 7,000 peach trees.

LUCK WITH TREES.-We have noticed that cer

PRUNING. It is said that the donkey first taught the art of pruning the vine; man being merely an A great sale of 24 small trees of this variety took imitator, on seeing the effect of cropping the points place at London, near the close of last spring, the of the young shoots. It is not always the greatest only trees then in market. They were purchased wisdom to originate, but to turn to good account chiefly by some twenty individuals, mostly nursery-whatever by thoughtful observation comes within our men, for an aggragate sum of over $800, averaging reach. more than $30 a tree, and some sold for more than $50. Time will determine whether, after a wider tain men always have much finer peaches, and pears, and longer cultivation, its high character will be and plums, than most of their neighbors, and are sustained, and whether it will prove of much value called lucky. Their luck consisted, in the first in this country. Fine nectarines, it will be remem-place, in doing everything well-taking what their bered, are quite an uncertain result among us, un-neighbors called foolish pains-leaving nothing unless they have received extraordinary attention. Doubtless they who pay a high price for this will en deavor to persuade themselves that it is quite as fine as its merits will warrant. At the same time that enter prise is to be commended, we must not forget that nineteen-twentieths of all newly introduced wonders among fruits, have ultimately sunk greatly in public estimation after rigid trial, or been wholly forgotten. This should render us cautious, but not cause us blindly to reject every thing without a fair trial.

Horticultural Miscellanies.

finished; and in the second place, in taking good care of what they had; that is, giving their trees wide, deep and mellow cultivation, applying manure where necessary, and especially the liquid manure from the chamber and wash tub. Great pains taken, whether with fruit trees or with children, scarcely ever fail to produce good results.

STIR THE SOIL.—The greatest horticulturist, al most, of the present day, says, "If I had a call' to preach a sermon on gardening, I should take this for my text: STIR THE SOIL."

HARD TO SUIT ALL.-At the American Congress BLACK KNOT ON THE PLUM.-Benjamin Hodge, of Fruit Growers, in 1848, a fruit committee of nine of Buffalo, N. Y., who has raised and sold trees for persons prepared a select list of fruits worthy of the past thirty years, says he has never had this general cultivation. Although many hundred sorts malady among his plum trees till the present sea- of the pear have borne fruit in this country, all-person, and that in the instances cited, it was intro-haps pronounced "excellent" by the nurserymen who duced from the East. One case was with two trees which came from Boston; in another instance, twenty trees out of some hundreds received from the eastern part of the State were affected; and a few trees grown from scions received from Massachusetts were attacked in the same way.

THE VICTORIA REGIA.-According to Spruce's Voyage up the Amazon, this remarkable plant, growing in water, has leaves four feet in diameter,

sold them, yet there were only two that the fruit committee could unanimously agree upon to recom. mend, namely, the SECKEL and BARTLETT.

DEEP SOIL AND DEEP ROOTS.-A. J. Downing says, "I have seen the roots of strawberries extend five feet down into a rich deep soil; and those plants bore a crop of fruit five times, and twice as handsome and good, as the common product of the soil only one foot deep."