put on the wrapper, we cannot turn to the account to stop it. We hope this also will be particularly borne in mind by subscribers.

THE first number of our sixth volume will be promptly issued on the 1st of January next, and we hope it will be agreeable to all to renew their sub- All those who do not promptly return the next scriptions. At the low price at which the Agricul- number sent them, unmutilated and not written upon, turist is published, a large subscription list, promptly will be considered as subscribers for the whole paid in, can alone support it. We earnestly entreat volume.

our friends, therefore, to exert themselves in favor It is needless to dwell on the importance of of this journal. If they will do their part, we pro-liberally sustaining agricultural publications. Their mise most faithfully to perform ours, by making the cheapness and utility strongly commend them to next volume, equal at least, to any of its predecessors. the community. We care not what a man's occuWe intend to give a handsome new vignette for one thing, and have other improvements in store, of which the public will be advised when they see them.

pation may be, all are interested either directly or indirectly in the improvement of agriculture. Ther. let the periodicals on this subject meet with the generous support of every good citizen.

As to the terms, it will be recollected that they are in advance, and it is to be hoped that all city To PREPARE CORN FOR SHIPPING TO EUROPE.subscribers will immediately call at the publishers' See that it be perfectly sound and dry. If it could office and make payment. Those at a distance will be kiln-dried it would be still better. Transport it oblige us by remitting their subscriptions, in current to the ship in a clear dry day, and place it in funds, directly to the publishers, by mail, and they moderate-sized bins in the hold of the vessel. will take the responsibility of the money coming These should be well sealed, and made watersafe to hand. Post-Office orders we do not want at all-it is more trouble to get the funds in this way than they are worth, when obtained. We truly hope that our subscribers will bear this particularly in mind.

Any one wishing to discontinue the paper, will please to get his postmaster to inform us of the fact by an open letter, requesting him to endorse on it"POST-OFFICE BUSINESS." By doing this the letter comes free. If unwilling to take this trouble to oblige us, then return the first number sent you, in a strong wrapper, with your name and post-office legibly written on the wrapper-and not on the Agriculturist-together with the word "refused." All subscribers' names are entered on the books under post-office heads, and unless the post-office be

proof; and great care should be taken to have them dry at the time the corn is put in. Thus prepared and loaded, it will arrive sound in Europe, and bring a good price. If carelessly shipped, the grain will surely mould on the voyage, and arrive unfit for use; for musty corn cannot be sweetened again by any method with which we are acquainted.

The varieties of corn which will best bear transportation by sea, are those containing a large portion of oil, such as the Golden Sioux, the King Philip or Northern Eight-rowed Yellow, the Dutton, the Browne, the Rhode Island White- Flint, &c.; but the flour made from those varieties is not so palatable to those unaccustomed to its use, as that made from the soft farinaceous varieties of the South and West, which are improved by kiln-drying.

362

LETTERS FROM THE SOUTH.NO. 1.

LETTERS FROM THE SOUTH.-No. 1.

of his countrymen," sought in the pursuits of a AFTER leaving Baltimore, there is soon visible a individual enjoyment, and the best welfare of his diligent and enlightened agriculture, his highest striking deficiency in the cultivation, in comparison with that of the north; though this difference is Washington, so extensively engaged in public country. It may be doubted, however, whether less apparent in Maryland than farther south, as the affairs during a great part of his life, made his agrimanufacturing spirit already developed in that culture so productive as has been frequently claimed. State is manifest in new and thriving villages occa- His home estate partakes of that barrenness of soil sionally springing up. The increased demand and which characterizes a great part of Eastern Virvalue of agricultural products, necessarily induces ginnia; and the want of good markets, and the inattention to the cultivation of the soil; and more different cultivation which characterized the land is inclosed, old fences are repaired or removed, and new fields are taken in, and all is better culti operations of good farmers in his day, could not, vated. The farmer soon finds from his increasing accumulation of a large estate, even on a virgin without the greatest economy, have resulted in the receipts that his prosperity is identified with that soil. of the mechanic and manufacturer; and that if he which the intelligence of his time enabled him to The most rigid and enlightened system has to pay a trifle more, which he seldom does, or adopt, while it might have failed to secure great even 50 per cent., which has never been the case, wealth, is still an illustrious example to the present for the few domestic manufactured articles which and future generation of farmers; and the considerhe consumes, he is yet vastly better off for sustainable wealth he secured from the partiality of his ing the useful arts of his own country in preference early friend, Lord Fairfax, and his judicious selecto buying abroad, at even lower rates, for which his means of payment would be soon exhausted from his inability to secure any fairly remunerating market for his products.

tions of choice lands at nominal prices, while engaged in the laborious duties of a stripling surveyor, enabled him in after life to refuse all comder-in-Chief during our Revolution, and afterwards pensation for his seven years' service as Commanmaintain that munificent liberality, which, though conspicuous above most others, was among the least of his resplendent virtues.

The neighborhood of Washington, proverbially sterile, has latterly felt the influence of a domestic market for its productions, and many emigrants from New York and New Jersey have sold their farms at $40 to $60 per acre, and purchased here For a short distance on the banks of the Potomac of a quality originally as good, at from $5 to $10; where the railroad commences, the soil yields a and by the use of proper fertilizers, lime, gypsum, natural growth of a variety of trees and shrubs; manures, and a rotation of crops, they are fast bring- and many a large clustering vine gave evidence ing them into a productive state, while receiving an of its capacity to rear the grape to advantage. adequate return for their cultivation. It needs But on emerging from the bank, we soon entered strong inducements, however, to lead the best class upon a soil, which, whether of the lightest sand, of northern farmers to abandon their social privi-an indifferent gravel, or even when inclining to clay, leges at home, in which they have been born and with but slight exceptions, gave support to a natural nurtured, and in which they feel that they have growth of uninterrupted stunted pine and oak; and inherited a right in fee simple, for the privations with little variation, this dwarf pine and oak folto which they are subject here. The only way in lowed us from Acquia Creek to Wilmington. The which these disabilities can at present be measura-bottoms of the Rappahanock, the James, and the bly remedied, is by emigrating in masses, bringing Appomatox rivers, and for some little distance on their schools, society, and mechanics with them, either side, were an exception. The two former as many of the best early emigrants in northern especially, below Fredericksburg and Richmond, Ohio, and other western settlements, bave done. give wide bottoms and some uplands of great ferExtensive changes of opinion, as to the future ility; and the inexhaustible beds of marl in their social and industrial relations of the inhabitants of vicinity, owing particularly to the unwearied the Southern Middle States, which are evidently efforts of that able friend of agriculture, Edmund in progress, and which, if not arrested by any un-Ruffin, one of Virginia's best and most useful sons, toward event, will, ere long, produce such modifi- have of late years been instrumental in resuscitating cations in the present system of labor, as will many of the worn-out lands, and almost invariably secure future emigration, and greatly increased prosperity and augmented value to their land.

increasing fertility wherever it has been applied. As our boat approached Mount Vernon, the is generally profitable. Farming, intelligently pursued under this system, bell gave token, as if by instinct, that the soil potatoes, and the grasses, are raised in profusion, Wheat, corn, tobacco, which occupied the happiest hours of one of earth's and with decided advantage. But in general, the greatest sons, now holds his remains in her bosom. country has a barren aspect, indicating too plainly That inbred nobility of soul which led him to the to admit of dispute, that a soil, originally lean, has achievement of deeds in his social, military, and been exhausted by a careless system of husbandry, civil career, which will commend his name to hal- which has taken everything off without giving back lowed remembrance while civilized man inherits anything in return. If I am asked what is the this globe, equally taught him to regard the culti-remedy, the certain means of restoration and imvation of the earth as the noblest and most useful provement for that broad belt of indifferent land that, occupation of man. And as long as the farmers with few exceptions, lines the seaboard from Maine of the United States continue to read the history to Florida inclusive, I would say, use lime, marl of their country, they will learn that Washington, (another form of lime), and gypsum, wherever they "first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts prove useful, and can be procured at such prices as

PRESENT CROP OF CORN IN THE UNITED STATES.

363

The section of the state farther westward, and near the base of the mountains, is much more fertile, and produces abundantly of wheat, corn, and in many instances of cotton, flax, &c. The lands still further back are of a highly productive soil, on which is grown almost every variety of product suited to the climate, and the river banks, near the coast, afford some of the best rice lands in the United States. The legislative policy of the citizens of this State has been cautious, and generally judicious, and probably no one in the Union is in a safer condition.

will justify their use; where wood is abundant as | faggots, piled in heaps, and covered like charcoal it is generally south of the Chesapeake; use char- pits, where a smouldering fire expels the resinous coal ashes; husband and apply all the animal and matter, which is secured in trenches, and barreled vegetable manures which can be procured; pursue in its liquid state as tar. Resin and pitch are other a judicious system of rotation of crops, taking care forms of the same crude material. One worthy to give back to the soil a part of the vegetable citizen observed to me, people might laugh at matter by turning in a growth of clover, grain, | North Carolina for its pine, but the inhabitants did peas, &c.; and finally, introduce stock which shall mighty well by it. consume a part of the products on the soil, and return in their manure an equivalent for what they have exhausted. Sheep, of which there are comparatively few south of Delaware, would soon produce a marked and rapid improvement in the soil, while they yielded an ample return for the attention bestowed on them. The adoption of this system would result in slowly, but certainly restoring the land; while such as were more favorably situated, where peat, muck, and sea-weed can be obtained and profusely applied, would rapidly come up to the most satisfactory standard of fertility. Where the growth of clover or the cow-pea can be secured, Wilmington has increased rapidly of late, since the success is certain with proper management. These construction of the railroad, and now contains some will secure the means of augmenting fertility to 8,000 people, with most of the important buildings any required extent, by occasionally turning in a new and well constructed. It enjoys a profitable crop, and making their consumption contribute to trade from the regions drained by the Cape Fear the same object, by applying the manure from the and its branches, and its traffic and manufactures animals, fed upon them. We know nothing beyond of turpentine are productive. Both Richmond this; nor has science, or the most successful and Petersburg are thriving from their considerable practice, so far as our knowledge extends, discov-introduction of cotton, iron, and woollen manufacered anything further. There is no royal road to tures of late. The former has about 25,000, and farming, more than to education; and its pursuits the latter near 20,000 inhabitants. R. L ALLEN must be sought by the intelligent and diligent ap- Charleston, S. C., Nov. 11th, 1846. plication of nature's slow, but certain means, or success is unattainable.

So far as my route enables me to determine the staples of the eastern part of North Carolina, they are exclusively turpentine, and its products. For a distance of considerably over one hundred miles, there is but one interminable plain of pine and oak, and mostly of the former. There are two species here, the long and short leaf. The former, when but a few feet in height, has a very graceful appearance with its long, spreading, grass-like, tufts of luxuriant leaves, and when grown, giving a palmetto aspect to its branches. Both are rich in turpentine, while they yield freely. The system adopted here, is to bare a part of the trunk of its bark, and fresh or external wood, say one-third to half its circumference, and two or three feet in height, cutting a basin at the bottom to catch the turpentine. This is done in the spring, and the deposit removed from time to time as it exudes and is accumulated through the season. Another year requires a fresh cut, which is made higher up on another side of the tree, and a thrifty growth will bear from five to eight years' tapping. As may be supposed, an extensive forest is required to afford adequate employment to many laborers; yet it is found highly remunerating under favorable circumstances. A single hand will frequently earn $500 or $600 in a season, and sometimes $120 in a single month is realized by an active person. Much of this crude material is manufactured into spirits of turpentine in the woods where produced, and barreled for market, many of the furnaces employed for this purpose meeting the eye as we passed. In other localities, the pine is split into

PRESENT CROP OF CORN IN THE UNITED STATES.We see that the Louisville Journal estimates this at 500,000,000 bushels. We should be pleased to learn upon what data this estimate is founded. The census for 1840 sets it down at 387,380,185 bushels; but we place no dependence whatever on the careless returns of this census. For example, it sets down the potato crop at 113,183,619 bushels, not one-third of that of corn. We are of the opinion, that in the Northern States more potatoes are raised than corn; at the South and West, not near so many; still we doubt whether the crop of corn is double that of the potato. Admitting our present census to be 20,000,000, in round numbers,500,000,000 would be 25 bushels of corn to each man, woman, and child, in the United States. We doubt whether there are 3,000,000 of farmers among our people. The above estimate would make the average among these 166 bushels eachentirely too much in our humble judgment.

65

100

The census for 1845 of the State of New York, sets down the potato crop at 23,653,418 bushels; the corn crop at 14,722,114-a little over one-half of that of potatoes. Admitting the population to be 2,604,495, this would be 50 bushels of corn for each man. woman, and child. Suppose the corn crop of this State to be an average of that of the Union, the population of which is estimated to be 20,000.000, the whole crop then would be only 113,000,000. In a note, page 375 of this number of our paper, taking the late U. S. census for guide, we estimate the corn crop at 400,000,000 Without doubt this must be too high.

Mr. Norton's Letters.

whole county; that is, he has a right to everything that is under the surface. He may sink a shaft for coal or lead in the middle of any gentleman's garden, on merely paying him for the extent of surface occupied by the mouth of the shaft, and the buildings which it may be necessary to erect about it. Chirk Castle, Mr. Biddulph's residence, is a building of immense extent, and great antiquity. The rooms are very superb, and the repairs and improvements now going on, must cost from £60,000 to £70,000, or about $300,000. Many hundred acres are devoted to a deer park, where there is a herd of 600 deer. Some of the stags are of great size, with noble branching antlers.

As I find myself once more upon this side of the Atlantic, I shall take pleasure in renewing, according to your request, an occasional, if not a regular correspondence. My time in Holland during the coming year, will be almost entirely engrossed in the pursuit of my chemical studies, but opportunities will undoubtedly present themselves for the communication of anything interesting to your readers, that may fall within the range of my observation either in the laboratory or on the farm. Before our ship had reached the docks at Liverpool, I received an invitation from a Scotch friend, Mr. Girdwood, to visit him at his new home in My stay in Wales was too short to admit of North Wales, about 40 miles from Liverpool. As those particular inquiries into their agriculture and it was a part of the country which I had never systems of cropping, which I could have desired. visited, I determined to spare a day in compliance It was easy to see, however, that they were far with his request. From Chester to Chirk, the from perfection, and that deeply-rooted prejudices place of Mr. Girdwood's residence, a distance of 22 were abundant. There is much more hope of our miles, I rode on the top of a coach, and thus had country than of such districts as these, where their an opportunity of enjoying some of the most beau- practices, founded on the habits of many hundred tiful scenery that I have ever observed in England. years, have become almost sacred. The face of the country is agreeably undulating, I had no idea until I landed in this country, of the with high bare mountains rising in the background. extent to which the potato disease has prevailed. The hedges are very luxuriant, and a sufficiency of In many districts, the destruction seems to be noble trees are scattered about to give a finish to almost entire. The factor of Islay, one of the the view. The number of gentlemen's seats is very Western Hebrides, told me a few days since, that great, this being a favorite region. The Marquis there were not enough potatoes for seed left in the of Westminster has a magnificent place, with a island; he had seen none upon his own table for straight avenue of three miles in length, lined with some time. Many of the crops were not lifted at trees, running up to the house from the high road.all, but the starving poor were allowed to pick over I was particularly struck by the fine appearance the fields and save what they could. The populaof the grass along my whole route; it was close, tion of the island is about 17,000, and of these a thick, and beautifully green. It is no doubt better very large proportion depend almost entirely upon than usual this year, as the summer has been a potatoes for their food. The factor said they mus! warm and dry one, so that the undrained fields starve without assistance from government. The have enjoyed the most favorable conditions. Now price of potatoes here in Edinburgh is 25 cents per that the rains have commenced, a great breadth of peck. In Ireland, as you have doubtless heard, the the country shows the want of drainage, a branch destitution is becoming frightful. A general moveof farming in which this section is particularly de- ment of the whole disposable military force thither, ficient. I saw some of the finest fields of turnips has taken place within a few days, as in some counimaginable, one of about 40 acres would yield at ties the people are proceeding to violence. In other least 25 tons to the acre. This must not be consi- places there have been gatherings of men who dered as a fair specimen of Welsh agriculture, which is notoriously inferior.

have marched peaceably to their landlords and asked what they should do to avoid starvation. On assurances of relief the poor creatures have quietly dispersed.

Mr. Girdwood has recently become the agent of an immense property, more than 20 miles in extent, and will no doubt gradually introduce most of the The demand for our bread-stuffs must be enorfeatures of that improved system of agriculture mous during this winter, particularly for Indian which he has so successfully practised on his own corn. We are highly favored with an abundant crop, farm in the Lothians of Scotland. He has taken and it is to be hoped that by the energetic measures one very large and neglected farm under his own which the British government are now adopting, supervision, and will proceed to drain, subsoil, and a sufficient supply will be procured from us and otherwise improve it, so as to form an example for others, to avert the unspeakable horrors of famine. the rest of the property. Improved implements are Edinburgh, Oct. 16, 1846. JOHN P. NORTON. much required. There are immense coal mines on the estate, one of the beds being 18 feet in thickness. The lime quarries are also worked to a very great extent, 120,000 tons were raised and burned last year. This is in great part used for agricultural purposes, and is transported on the Ellesmere canal, which passes within a short distance of the quarries. A railway now building from Chester, will still farther increase the advantages of the property. Mr. Biddulph, the owner of this wide domain, has also what are called manorial rights over the

Above, we have the gratification of laying before our readers the first of a second series of letters from Europe, by our excellent friend, Mr. Norton. Sufficient funds having been recently donated to Yale College, to establish a professorship of Agriculture in that venerable institution, Mr. N. was appointed to it, and sailed from this port on the 16th of last September, with a view of passing another year in Europe, in order to better fit himself for assuming the duties of his station.

PIGSTIES.SHOW OF THE BERKSHIRE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.

PIGSTIES.

365

SHOW OF THE BERKSHIRE AGRICULTU-
RAL SOCIETY.

THERE is perhaps nothing that more strikingly marks the thrifty farmer than the judicious arrange- THE thirty-sixth anniversary of this Institution ment and good condition of his farm-buildings. was celebrated by the farmers, mechanics, merHaving had occasion lately to erect some pig-chants, lawyers, physicians, clergy, and ladies of sties, and being dissatisfied with the old arrangement, I set about devising a more convenient one. My plan, on trial, is found to answer an excellent purpose. I send you a copy, with a description, hoping that it may prove of some service to my fellow farmers; or at least excite their attention to this important, but much-neglected branch of farm economy.

The cut represents one of a series of pens that of course may be extended to any number.

Description.-Pen 12 by 18 feet. Letters a, posts of cedar or white oak, 8 feet long, set in the ground 3 feet, and 6 feet apart each way. On the inner side of the first three tiers of posts, short posts are inserted, on which are laid stout oak sleepers to support a floor of 2-inch plank, which must have a sufficient slope back and towards the passage way, A, to carry off water freely; the last plank being raised a little at the lower edge so as to form a gutter through the passage, A, carrying all the slops into the manure-yard, B, in the rear.

rows

The space between the second and third of posts to be covered with a roof resting on the top of them over the sleeping apartment, C, and the passage way, and enclosed all around excepting the doors to the sleeping apartment, and at each end of the passage, which should each be 2 feet wide by 3 high. This leaves a floored apartment, D, in front (which should be to the south), of 6 by 12 feet, in which is placed a trough, b, with a spout, d, from the outside, for feeding. A ledge should be raised in front of the sleeping apartment, to keep the wet from running in, and the front posts under the roof must be 2 feet higher than the rest, to give it sufficient slope.

Berkshire, and a large assemblage of visitors from abroad, at Pittsfield, on the 7th and 8th of October, with all the usual demonstrations of joy and kind friendly feeling which a feast of the in-gathering of the harvest can be supposed by the most poetic feelings to inspire.

At an early hour on the morning of the 8th, the wave of concourse commenced rolling on our hillsides, and through our valleys, bearing in its course the patriarch of hoary years, together with

his sons rejoicing in robust manhood, and his daughters smiling with matronly grace, bearing "their little ones like flocks;" and attended by their oxen given to strength, their generous kine, and bleating flocks; and a wave accumulating new strength in every motion, so that long ere high noon had marked the zenith of the day, our metropolitan village exhibited a floating mass of living things, borne together by a mighty impulse of kindred thought and d feeling, from the most distant corners and obscure recesses of our territory.

The exhibition of neat stock was said by competent judges to have been in every respect superior to that of any previous occasion. In

the beauty and strength of horses, Berkshire has not in former days been celebrated; but it was remarked by many that the show of these animals gave assurance that the enterprise of her farmers was waking up in this particular, a fact which is of itself evidence, that these hills will, ere long, furnish ranges of as beautiful stock of this species as ever luxuriated on the plains of Arabia. character of former years. Among the noble aniThe sheep and swine more than sustained the mals that graced the pens were the Durham heifers, recently introduced from the land of peers and nobles, by the Hon. Edward A. Newton, of Pittsfield. Notwithstanding their late arrival from over old ocean, they appeared perfectly "at home," among the new scenes of their surroundings, and highly pleased with the becoming simplicity of our repub

lican institutions.

The reputed eagerness with which Yankees gaze at strangers, and the guessing and wondering always attendant when he sees a new object, caused no dismay to them. Should they ever pant for usages in society which acknowledge sovereign power, other than the power of the people, they would undoubtedly yield as willing and as great a tribute to the queen of the milk pail, as they would to the reigning sovereign of the British isles.

The manure-yard, B, 6 by 12 feet (which, by this arrangement, is effectually hid from view), From the show of animals, we passed to the should be paved with large stones, to prevent the spacious Town Hall, the grand repository of beauhogs from rooting too deep. The whole to be en-tiful specimens of handiwork and shrewd ingeclosed with good boards about 4 feet high, leaving a gate, c, to the manure-yard. Perth Amboy, Oct. 19, 1846. SUPERIOR WHITEWASH.-Potter's clay mixed with prepared whitewash in the proportion of a pound of clay to a quart of liquid, is excellent.

J. M C.

mittens, boots, shoes, gentlemen's and ladies' hats; nuity-carpets, rugs, blankets, quilts, stockings, indeed, everything calculated to protect the outer man from the invasion of the stern old king of the north (whose approaches are already heralded by the advance guard of chilling winds and nipping frosts), were there seen, got up in styles of admiration and