served, but nearly all had the defect of too much com. The show of SHEEP was unusually fine and very explexity, while they did not appear to possess any decided tensive. The ranges of pens extended for about a quaradvantage over simpler sorts. A similar objection, com- ter of a mile. Among the Spanish Merinos, were 35 plexity, existed with some of the butter workers. The fine animals from George Campbell of Vermont, which same hall contained a moderate exhibition of good vege- were not excelled by any in this class; the largest ram tables-a good collection of grains and seeds, and several had sheared 20 lbs. one years' growth, last season, and 214 complex patent bee hives. Another subdivision of the lbs. this year. Pitts& Wiley of Honeoye, 52 head of hall was occupied with a moderate collection of stoves the full blood Spanish, excellent animals. S. Hillman of and hot air furnaces, a number of water lifters, and a Avon, 10 handsome rams of the Atwood Merinos. Wm. miscellaneous collection of mechanical contrivances, some Chamberlain about sixty head of Spanish Merinos, over of considerable interest and value. A simple, ten dollar 40 of which were full blood,-in the hands of his excelroot cutter, made by J. R. Robertson, Syracuse, appeared lent manager Carl Heyne. Among other exhibitors, we to be one of the best we have seen. A superb collection observed the names of Carl Heyne himself, W. L. Chamof cutlery was exhibited by D. R. Barton & Co. of Roch-berlain, E. G. Cook, N. M. Dart, John Pierce, John ester. A new grain cradle, possessing some conveniences Brown, E. N. Bissell, and others. A pair of large and fine for adjusting and regulation, in connection with durability, Leicesters were exhibited by James Lawrie, Scarborough, came from Remingtons, Markham & Co. of Ilion. D. W. C. W. Amos F. Wood, Jefferson Co., Jurian Winne of Seely of Albany, exhibited a good brick machine. A Albany Co., and Geo. Miller, C. W., several fine animals of neat, compact and strong willow peeler was furnished by the same breed. Brodie, Campbell & Co. had a large and Easterbrooks of Geneva. Wm. Lines of Rochester had excellent herd on the grounds. John Snell, Brampton, a compact and convenient coal sifter. Well made steam C. W., had 18 Cotswolds and 4 Leicesters; the two-year engines were contributed by D. A. Woodbury & Co., | animals weighing about 320 lbs., and shearing 15 lbs.; Rochester. Eames' Water Engine, of which some of the yearlings weigh about 270 lbs. James F. Converse our readers will remember a remarkable account in last year's COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, was also on exhibition. It possesses the power of elevating a stream of water to a height many times greater than the head which elevates it, by the simple reciprocating motion of a piston—and while it is extremely simple, it operates somewhat as a steam engine, only the head of water works it, in the same way that the head of steam drives in the steam engine. It is not unlike the water ram in its results, but operates with little or no waste of water. Without seeing it in actual operation we were disposed to think very favorably of it, and that it promises to be extremely valuable.

The Live Stock.

and E. Gazley were prominent among the large exhibitors of excellent Cotswolds; and there were good ones from Cooper Sayre of Ontario Co. A half-dozen large and fat ones, bred by F. W. Stone of Guelph, C. W., and fattened and exhibited by W. M. Smith of Detroit, were stated to weigh 400 lbs. each.

Charles B. Meek of Canandaigua, had some excellent specimens of his Hampshire and Shropshire Downs. Geo. Betteridge of Riga, showed some good Cotswolds. Among the South-Downs, nothing of course could excel the splendid animals of Samuel Thorne; while some animals of great excellence were also shown by James O. Sheldon of Geneva, P. Lorillard of Fordham, A. B. Conger of Haver. straw, &c. Very fine Shropshire Downs were exhibited by J. Lorillard, and Hampshire Downs by A. T. Parsons. Among the exhibitors of Leicesters were C. B. Eastman of Jefferson county, and others.

CATTLE.-The collection was moderate, but embraced some excellent animals. There were no extensive herds of Short-Horns on the ground. Among the exhibitors were Geo. Miller of Markham, C. W.; James O. Sheldon SWINE.-There were many fine animals, but the of Geneva; E. Griffin of Duchess county; A. B. Conger exhibition was not quite equal to the extensive one last of Haverstraw; Dr. George Phillips of Ogdensburgh, who year at Watertown. Among the exhibitors of Yorkshires had many good animals; A. Stevens of Batavia; and C. and kindred breeds, were Robert Ball, T. O. Jones, K. Ward of Le Roy. The principal exhibitors of Devons, Brodie, Campbell & Co., A. C. Clark, and others. E. S. were Joseph Hilton of New Scotland; A. Stevens of Hayward showed a fine herd with some mixed blood. Batavia; and A. B. Conger of Haverstraw. S. D. Hun-James F. Converse an extensive herd of thorough-bred gerford, Brodie, Campbell & Co., and J. F. Converse, all Yorkshires. A large and fine Essex boar was brought by had very fine Ayrshires. Erastus Corning, Jr., of Albany, R. B. & A. A. Underhill of Duchess Co. T. T. Cavanagh as usual, nearly swept the board with his excellent Here- exhibited a huge animal of the Yorkshire class, that was fords-if we mistake not, he carried off all the premiums stated to weigh full half a ton. but one, which was awarded to John Hovey of Broome county.

One of the most interesting exhibitions on the grounds, was that of the skill of a young man by the name of Williams, from Jefferson Co., who without yoke, or any kind of harness or lines, preserved complete control of six young steers, driving them and working them through all kinds of evolutions, and almost literally doubling and twisting them, with scarcely ever speaking a word, and almost wholly by gentle signs of the whip or hand. Such perfect discipline and control, with never a loud word, furnished a strong contrast with the noisy vociferation with which some farmers think it necessary to drive oxen, accompanied by repeated blows of the whip.

POULTRY.-The exhibition of poultry was a fine onetwo hundred feet in length were densely packed with cages of handsome and selected breeds. Among the prominent contributors were Heffron & Best and E. N. Bissell, who had many animals-and Lewis F. Allen, J. R. Page, D. P. Newell, E. P. Cheever, P. S. Clute, G. Westfall, W. King, and E. A. Wendell of Albany, all of whom had valuable contributions.

Implements and Machines,

The collection of these was extensive and valuable, and as was to be expected, was especially so in Mowers and Reapers, and in Horse-powers and Thrashing Machinescharacteristics of the great grain-raising region in which the fair was held. In viewing the long lines of these ma

chines, extending across the grounds, they suggested the immense importance at present attached to inventions of this character, furnishing, as they do, the only means by which the million farmers of the northern states can now carry on successfully the cultivation of grain, while so many laborers have passed from the plow to the battlefield.

The following list of exhibitors of horse-powers and thrashing machines, many of whom had several machines each, will show the extent and value of this part of the exhibition :-Emery Brothers, and Wheeler, Melick & Co., Albany; R. & M. Harder, Cobleskill; G. Westinghouse & Co., Schenectady; Birdsall & Brokaw, West Henrietta; Dow & Fowler, Fowlerville; J. M. Harvey & Son, Amsterdam; Lawrence & Gould, Troy; Hildreth & Co., Lockport; Perigo, Avery & Gould, Groton, and Fisher, Weiland & Co., Buffalo. Most or all of these machines indicated great excellence.

Among other machines on the ground, were Emery's cross-cut saw, La Tourette's tile machine, which screens the clay and makes the tile at one operation, and which was kept at work on the ground; valuable sectional cast rollers and clod-crushers, from Burrall of Geneva; a vibrating or dirt-shaking potato digger, which may prove valuable, from Wm. B. Ryan of East Pembroke; a fine collection of steel plows and cultivators from Remingtons, Markham & Co., Ilion; another collection of good and durable iron-frame harrows and cultivators, from J. Fink of Baldwinsville; and another collection from Whiteside, Bennett & Co. of Brockport.

The large collection of Mowers and Reapers will be noticed next week; but the newly invented Self-Raker attached to Kirby's Reaper, should not be overlooked. This contrivance is a very simple one, is moved by gearing, and appeared by an imperfect trial with straw, to do its work in a very complete manner.

and it sowed cloverseed very evenly, and much faster and better than could be sown by hand. The plaster attachment, in our opinion, is superior to anything else that was exhibited in that line, considering the price of it and convenience.

J. Nourse & Co., Boston, Mass., exhibited a universal plow, with iron beam, having several different patterns of mold-boards, for different kinds of work, which appeared to possess quite as much merit as any other cast-iron plow on the ground.

Of horse hoes there were but two implements entered. Of these Milton Alden's horse hoe, or thill cultivator, took the first prize, $8. There was, besides, a large variety of one-horse and two-horse cultivators, which were most excellent implements, well made, and of good style.

Mr. J. Fink, Baldwinsville, N. Y., exhibited a Union Climax Cultivator, which is a most superior implement, especially for working among potatoes, and for digging them. In the line of Potato Diggers, where farmers do not raise but one-fourth or half an acre, this will subserve an excellent purpose, as the small iron harrow, which is attached to the implement, will bring out every potato te the surface of the ground.

There was a good assortment of harrows on the ground, and one combined revolving harrow, which discloses a new and valuable principle, and which we have seen in operation, and know to be a valuable implement, took the first premium.

Intimately connected with harrows was a revolving castiron clod crusher, which, no doubt, would operate well where lumps and clods are always sufficiently dry not to pack into the grooves, in which case it would be but little better than a plain land roller.

There has evidently been a vast amount of thought and money expended in endeavoring to get up implements that are different from anything now in use, and which There was a very good number of grain drills on the farmers. This was the case here at the fair. There were never were, and never will be, of any practical utility to ground, and at first sight it would seem rather difficult to thousands of dollars worth of farm implements that were determine which one was really the best. Bickford & utterly worthless as real practical implements, and still the Hoffman, Macedon, N. Y., and P. Seymour, East Bloom-inventors flatter themselves that they have produced somefield, N. Y., exhibited each a combined drill, broadcast thing that will astonish the world. Of such implements grain sower, seed sower attachment, and an attachment we do not propose to say anything, but to speak of those for sowing plaster, ashes, guano, or any other fertilizer at which possess true merit, that will stand the test in future, the same time. Mr. M. Downey, Springfield, Clarke Co., years, and which will operate well whenever they may be O., exhibited a combined grain drill, which, by the way, put to the test. took the first and only premium, of a silver medal, which possessed many features which recommend it highly to every farmer who wants a good drill. The judges on this class of farm implements, who were all practical farmers, were guided by the price of the implement, its simplicity, its durability and its convenience. This last one would admit of the tubes being in a line or in a zig-zag position; the grass seed attachment was behind the tubes, which left the grass seed to be covered by the rain; the grain tubes were India rubber, instead of iron or zinc, which is quite preferable; and the price was nearly one-third less than the other drills. And, more than this, there was a land measurer attached to this drill, by which the teamster could see at a glance exactly how much ground he had passed over, and how much grain and grass seed also he is sowing per

[For the Country Gentleman and Cultivator.] TURNIPS AFTER CORN AGAIN.

I notice an article in last week's COUNTRY GENTLEMAN entitled "Corn after Turnips," by your correspondent, Mr. BARTLETT, and as I have had some experience in the matter, which I certainly paid well for, you shall have it.

Some four years since I raised a noble crop-some 30. loads of Ruta Bagas, on a lot consisting of about 1 acres, which was a heavy clover sward turned under in June, and well top-dressed with fine compost. The next season I planted to corn, supposing, of course, to receive good returns, as the land had been so thoroughly fed the year previous. sufficient grain really to pay for harvesting. I have also The result was, however, a total failure-there not being known similar cases of failure in our locality since. The reason I am wholly unable to assign, as the land was certainly in good tilth, but infer the turnips must extract some ingredient from the soil which is all-important to the corn crop. Perhaps Prof. JOHNSON, or some other of our agricultural chemists, can tell us what it is. We only know the facts, without pretending to assign the cause. Salisbury, Conn.

W. J. PETTEE.

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

I became a farmer in April, 1859, and therefore as my experience in farming is brief, those who choose can skip over what I have to say. But experienced or not, I find I have succeeded in making farming, on $100 land, pay and if I was asked to name the reason, I should unhesitatingly point to the production of sowed corn. My production of this crop this year will amount to about 15 acres, 10 of which I have just finished cutting, designed more particularly for late use; the balance has either been fed, or is yet standing to be fed before frost, if there is time enough before that event, or to be instantly cut down should that event be threatened.

I have before explained my method of raising sowed corn, but as I see so much poor stuff under this title about the country, I consider it my duty to repeat my system. On the largest scale, I raise this crop on the Mohawk Flats. In June I turn over an old meadow, harrow thoroughly, and with the Albany drill, sow Western corn in the lap or at the lap of every other furrow. I cultivate once with Alden's thill cultivator, and that is all till

harvest.

Now at the lowest estimate, I am reaping 25 to 30 tons of the best cow food in the world per acre, at the trifling outlay of

Plowing once per acre, say..
Harrowing per acre, say..
Three bushels of seed...

Sowing and once cultivating..

Cutting and binding..

Hauling to yard and stooking...

Or per acre,...............

$2.00

1.00 1.87

1.50

3.00

2.00

$11.37

That is to say, the fodder stacked up in my yard costs less than two dollars per ton, or less than one cent for ten pounds.

I have said nothing about manure, for I use none at all for the Flat's crop, and it leaves the land in a most excellent condition for the succeeding crop, which is oats or barley with grass seeds; for be it understood, sowed corn is not an exhausting crop. In the most perfect degree it comes up to the requirements I have seen discussed in the COUNTRY GENTLEMAN during the last year, of a fallow crop. It shades the land; it assists in decomposing the Bod; it assists in destroying and smothering weeds by its luxuriant and late growth, and it requires that the weeds should be destroyed in the earlier stage of its growth. What more is required of a fallow crop?

Talk about roots! carrots, turnips, &c. I have heard of 1,000 bushels of the former-some twenty tons per acre; and of the latter, the Scotch farmers talk about eight or ten tons, and in rare instances as high as fifteen, but I venture to say that no person in the United States ever succeeded in raising over an acre or two of either at those rates. It is generally small patches that produce at the rate of 1,000 bushels of carrots per acre; the labor actually forbids extensive fields, even if cellar room did not.

But the objector says the root crop is worth the most. It ought to be, for it doubtless costs at least five times as much to produce one-half the quantity, or in other words, I can produce ten pounds of sowed corn as cheaply as I could one pound of any root crop, unless it may be potatoes of some of the new and hardy varieties.

Now let us see what the value of sowed corn really is. Let me first premise that I took the trouble to weigh a portion of my upland crop in August, and I found it to be 36 tons of the green fodder per acre, and not nearly fully grown at that, though probably quite as valuable as if mature. Bnt as to the value. I feed and milk 66 to 68 cows. They are milked at 4 o'clock A. M. As soon as milked a bag of two bushels of "ships" is fed out to some of the more deserving of the herd. After breakfast, or about 7, they are turned out upon after-feed, and kept there about three hours. They fill themselves pretty well, though not sufficiently to lie down generally. At 10 they

are turned into a lot where there is plenty of water, but no feed. At 12 they go into the stable, where the corn is already placed in their mangers, in quantity about 20 pounds per cow. At 2 they are again milked and turned out where they just get feed enough to keep them busy till 5 or 6, when they are again turned into the stable, where about 40 pounds per cow, of corn, has been placed in their mangers.

The reader can judge how large a proportion of their food is corn. I estimate two-thirds, though their pasture is good, but allow one half. Well then, 67 animals in 23 days days had consumed just 231 square rods of corn, or 10 rods per day for the whole herd, or the sixteenth of an acre per day for one-half the living of 67 cows; or oneeighth acre per day for their entire living; or some 4,200 pounds of the fodder, or 60 pounds per day per head for the half of it. Calculation shows that 108 rods should, at this rate support a cow in milk 365 days. Will any root crop in the universe beat this?

For upland an abundance of manure must be used, and besides the cultivatien, one hoeing and weeding is given. The distance apart of the rows the same, say 24 inches, and the stalks about 3 inches apart. If the reader will take the trouble to calculate, he will find that if the stalks averaged a pound each with these conditions, the yield should be 56 tons per acre, but they do not. A good stalk in the tassel will weigh a pound, as I have many times proved, but they will not average that.

For winter use, the corn is bound in bundles, and set up in the stack-yard in moderate sized stooks well bound, consisting of twelve bundles. From this yard it is taken as fed out, and I have fed as late as February 1st. It kept well till then.

Let me close my essay with an incident appropos to the subject. One day last June, when our hay crop looked unpromising enough, I met a distinguished politician of this State, whose reputation is national, and who is besides being a politician, a practical farmer-much the noblest calling of the two by the way,-"Mr. W.," said he, "what shall we do for hay next winter? Shall we sow Hungarian grass?"

The Governor, by the way, was one of the first to bring that humbug from Iowa into this county. I replied that I sowed Western corn, and was then about to sow ten acres of flats for winter use, besides my usual crop for summer. Acting upon my advice, he sowed some six or eight acres of his flats with corn. I met him the other day. He had harvested his crop, and remarked "what a splendid crop it is. Why is there not more of it produced ?"

American Farmers, ask yourselves that question, and cease imitating English farmers. Adapt your farming to your climate. W. Utica, Sept., 1862.

The Provincial Fair of Upper Canada. We much regret that unavoidable circumstances prevented our attending the exhibition of the Provincial Ag. Society of Canada West, week before last at Toronto. From friends who were present we learn that it was well attended, the sales of admission tickets amounting in the whole to probably $12,000 or $13,000. In several departments-particularly perhaps, Short-Horned, Galloway and Angus Cattle, and the mutton breed of Sheep, the show is thought to have been a remarkably good one, and throughout it probably compares favorably with any ever held by the association.

Mr. HARRIS of the Genesee Farmer, who was present has kindly furnished us with a copy of the Catalogue of the Exhibition. This is a most important adjunct to the interest and usefulness of such a Show, and ever since we had the opportunity of learning its value at the Foreign exhibitions, we have been most desirous that our Society should also issue a Catalogue of its exhibitions. To do this, however, with any degree of completeness, it is ab

e DO

solutely essential that all entries should be made several weeks in advance; and it has been thought doubtful whether we should succeed in inducing or compelling our impatient people to take this anticipatory trouble. The Catalogue before us contains 100 pages, and 1814 entries numbered successively, and arranged in classes and divisions corresponding to those of the Premium List.

Thus

we ascertain that the number of entries was as follows: Class

1. Blood,.

HORSES.

2. Agricultural..

3. Road and Carriage,

4. Heavy Draught,..

CATTLE

5. Short-Horns,

6. Devons,

7. Herefords,

8. Ayrshires...

9. Galloway and Angus,..

10. for Special Prizes, 11. Grades.....

12. Fat and Working... SHEEP.

13. Leicesters,

14. Cotswolds,.

ed.

| Class

SHEEP.

24 15. Other Long Wooled,.

91 16. South-Downs,..

143 17. Cheviots,.

45 18. Other Medium Wooled...

19. Merino and Saxon,

123 20. Other Fine Wooled,

Aggregate of the whole...

1814

87

87

NEW IMPLEMENT FOR CULTIVATING. A late number of the COUNTRY GENTLEMAN contained a brief notice of a new implement for planting and cultivating, invented by S. W. HALL of Elmira. It was exhibited at the State Fair at Rochester, but we understand through a mistake of the Committee, was not seen nor reported upon. We gave it some examination, and found it to comprise several points of merit. It is used for both planting and cultivating. Its leading object is to obviate 19 the necessity of carefully guiding the horses in marking, 60 planting and cultivating, by making a track in which they will accurately walk with but little attention. A single straight furrow having been made, two parallel pieces of 16 timber or scantling, furnished with small wheels, and 36 cultivator teeth, follow, marking two perfectly parallel 37 straight furrows. The implement being drawn by two 244 horses, a new furrow is made at each passing. Between these tracks, the seed is deposited-the rows of course being quite straight and parallel. The contrivances for dropping beans, corn, carrots, beets, and potatoes, are

45

23

33

14

54

We give the above in extenso because it presents in tabular views both the classification of breeds adopted and the relative numbers in which they were represent-good ones, and show much ingenuity. After the crops The Short-Horns, Herefords, Cotswolds and South- have come up, they may be cultivated by the same maDowns shown by the President, FRED. WM. STONE, Esq., chine, with great accuracy, the rows having no curves nor were among the finest in their several classes. Mr. JOHN crooks, and admitting the teeth or knives to run very SNELL, Col. DENISON, Messrs. JOHN and GEORGE MILLER, closely-thus saving much hand labor. For cultivating and DANIEL TYE, were among the large and prominent carrots and other small plants, while in an early stage of exhibitors. From the American side of the line were T. growth, a contrivance is attached that cuts very closely to L. HARISON, Esq., and Messrs. BRODIE, CAMPBELL & Co. the rows, at the same time that it protects the young For the Canada Company's prize for the best 25 bushels plants from being covered by masses and clods of earth. of winter wheat, there were 22 entries; for the best 2 and cleans the cultivator teeth when they become clogged, bushels of white winter wheat, 40 entries; for the best For digging potatoes, a set of hooks is placed in the im2 bushels red winter, 15 entries; for the best 2 bushels plement, which move along through the centre of the row white spring, 22 entries; and for the best 2 bushels red with none of the usual care required to keep a potato spring, 39 entries. Our informant thought these samples plow in the center; as, to use the inventor's phrase, of grain not equal to those exhibited on former occasions. "there is no dodging." This implement is rather comThe Toronto Globe, in its very full report of the exhi-plex, and costs about $60. bition, says, "the show of agricultural implements, of fanning mills and of threshing machines, of straw cutters and root cutters, of cider presses and of cheese presses, of horse rakes and hand rakes, of scythes and snaiths, of steam engines, of harrows, of churns, of plows, is, we think, taken all together, better than we have ever seen before in this Province." The same paper, which is one of the most ably managed and influential of the Canadian journals, also notices the fact "that many of the articles shown are copies of others of American make," and adds 'the following pertinent remarks:

There are two leading objections to it, which we trust the inventor may obviate. The first is its complex structure and consequent cost. Possibly the frame-work may be greatly simplified. The other is its inability to work but one row at a time-although this objection is at least partly obviated by the extreme accuracy with which the planting is done, and the closeness with which the cultivating is done to the rows. Yet if a simpler and lighter form of frame could be devised, so that instead of forming two furrows only, four could be cut at once, with three intermediate planted rows or drills, the machine would Our manufacturers and the people of this Province, who buy from the manufacturers, are much indebted to American work more rapidly by three times, and be more in accordsuggestions, and we still think those who have the manage-ance with the wants of American husbandry, which calls ment of the Exhibition are guilty of a very narrow-minded for horse labor, with as few attendants as practicable. policy in not opening the prizes for competition to our neigh- Garrett's Horse-hoe, which is used on the clean, smooth, bors. The object in holding the exhibition at all, we suppose, is not to enable Canadian manufacturers to get premiums, but to create competition among them whereby improvements will be effected which will redound to the good of the Province as a whole. By encouraging American manufacturers to come here, many valuable hints would be obtained. To exclude them because they would take a good many prizes, is a sort of system by which we "cut off our nose to spite our

highly cultivated lands of England, cleans or cultivates eight rows of carrots at once, planted nearer together than farmers usually plant in this country; and every invention that will enable farmers here, where hand-labor is more expensive, and horse-labor cheaper, to sweep through their corn-fields and root crops, taking more than one row at a time, will meet their approval in this respect. Their successful use, presupposes, of course, good land in fine cultivation, and not grassy, stony, rooty, stumpy ground, rendered uneven by "cradle knolls."

PATENT OFFICE REPORT.-HOD. D. P. HOLLOWAY, Commissioner of Patents, will please accept our thanks for copies of the Report on Agriculture for 1861. A copy of of the Report on Mechanics would be very acceptable.

SURFACE APPLICATION OF MANURE.

"At one of the meetings of the New-York State Ag. Society, 1860, Major DICKINSON is reported as saying: 'I hold that one load of manure on the surface is worth two loads plowed in.'"

This remark, made by me to a body of practical farmers of large experience, and of the very highest intelligence in their art, being received without discussion, it was not supposed at the time to be necessary to prove it-especially before so enlightened an audience. I certainly did not expect to be called on by a reader of the COUNTRY GENTLEMAN to defend so plain a proposition; much less by one who sets himself up as a teacher of agriculture. But so it is, and I beg the indulgence of agricultural readers for trespassing on their patience to prove the truth of my assertion, for the benefit of Mr. BARTLETT and a few new beginners.

seed in the manure to supply any deficiency in the meadow. This ripened hay should be cut from meadows that have been made so rich that it will not deteriorate them so as to prevent their yielding a good crop thereafter. Manure prepared in this way through the winter is ready for use in the spring. The plaster not only holds all the ammonia with which it comes in contact in the yard, but has the power of accumulating more after being spread on the meadow or pasture. In hauling out the manure, a yoke of oxen is the best, because the cheapest. A yoke of oxen well fed, with a careful man to drive them, will fat almost as fast at this business as to lie idle; and they can therefore be increasing in value every day. The man that spreads it must have brains, as there will be some portions of the field that need more than others to make the meadow even. He should stand on the load while spreading, as he can see much better from that position where and how to spread the manure; and besides he can spread it faster in this way than when it is unloaded in Eight tons of manure, properly prepared and judicious- piles about the field. I never permit a man to unload in ly applied to the surface of an acre of poor, thin meadow piles for the purpose of making haste for dinner, rain or soil, that would not produce more than half a ton of hay night. He may unhitch from his wagon to make haste for anything, but manure is too precious for top-dressing to the acre without it, will increase the yield of hay to to be piled up in the field. No man can apply it to grass one ton per acre. And if the grass is cut early,—that is, as it should be, after it is unloaded in piles, for the reason before the seed begins to form,-anu the meadow is not that all that is left in the pile must be spread, and if not pastured, the same application of manure three years after- sufficient, it must answer; and still worse, the fine whiel would be left in the bottom of the wagon is pulled off ward will increase the yield to one and a half tons per into the pile instead of being taken as it should be to acre; and the same process repeated three years there- some portion of the field where strawberries, moss, or after, will make it produce two tons to the acre. The some other pernicious things are trying to run the grass roots and rootlets would be increased quite as much by out, which latter course is as much preferable to harrowthe application as the growth above ground. Each ap- ing and scarifying the meadow, as it would be to feed the plication of this manure will add one hundred per cent. proper food to stunted scurvy cattle whose hides have to the original growth. This large increase is on the most grown fast to their bones from starvation, instead of scarifavorable soils; but to prevent its being an extreme case Ifying their hides to give them a start. will reduce the increase three-fourths, so as to meet the most unfavorable soils that can be found; and even then, one load of manure thus applied is worth two loads plowed in, for at the end of ten years the sod will have so increased in thickness and in substance, as to contain more fertilizing material for plowing under, than is contained in forty-eight tons of such manure plowed in.

Now let us take a much stronger case: Plow up the soil by the road-side of your meadow, where it is as nearly as possible like your meadow soil; draw and spread twenty-five loads of it on an acre of the meadow, and after an interval of two years, spread the same amount again, and you will thereby increase the quantity of hay from fifty to one hundred per cent., if the original yield was not more than three-fourths of a ton to the acre. Then take one other acre of such land, and spread one hundred loads of the same soil upon it, and plow it in, and if you derive ten per cent. advantage from the operation, you will have accomplished more than I could do.

in.

Again, sow ten bushels of ashes on an acre of meadow producing less than a ton to the acre, and it will increase the yield from one-fourth to one-half of a ton. And that is not all; it will bring in and promote the growth of other grasses that did not before make their appearance, and add very much to the quantity of sod to be plowed Then take the same amount of ashes to the acre, and plow it in immediately after spreading, and you will find by comparison that one bushel for top-dressing is worth ten plowed in. With plaster the case is still stronger with this difference-that it does not increase the sod to the same extent. I must not be understood that the same soil is always best to top dress with. While I have invariably found it to answer an exceedingly good purpose, I have found that clay is much better than any muck with which I am acquainted. The preparation and application of these fertilizers, is simple, plain, and consistent with nature,

It is well while making manure in the yard to spread occasionally a load of plaster on it, at the rate of say one ton of plaster to fifty tons of manure. It is well also to feed occasionally through the winter some hay that has been cut after it has ripened, so as to have abundance of

I never saw a skillful top-dresser whose meadows "run out," and I never saw a man, or one that had ever seen one of that class of farmers, whose sheep had "run out” or deteriorated in his hands.

Top-dressing sometimes can be applied to the cereals to great advantage, especially when the piece is seeded down. In the year 1859, the crop of oats was in many sections a failure, in others a short crop, by reason of the cold drying winds which followed the rains, which so crusted the soil over that the roots neither received sufficient air nor surface moisture. I then top-dressed 35 acres of oats, and 25 of spring wheat, with ten bushels of of ashes burnt from sods, and two bushels of salt, to the acre, which served, with the aid of the after rains, to feed the roots and stimulate the growth, so that the oats and wheat thus treated yielded twice as much as other oats and wheat which I raised that season on equally good and well prepared ground, without the top-dressing.

After the manure has been spread from the wagon, it should be spread over again after a rain. Eight tons to the acre are not sufficient to cover the whole surface, but the manure can be spread much more nicely when wet than when dry. There are two objections, however, to drawing when wet. One is, the manure is then much heavier to handle, and the other, which is by far the greatest, is that it cuts up and injures some soils almost as much as the manure does good. The second spreading should be made to touch every place which was not reached the first time, even if some places have to be slightly uncovered to do it, as the rain will have washed out enough to give all the plants a taste, where it lay in the first place.

It is better to spread small quantities of manure often over the surface of the whole farm, than to put large quantities on some places, letting other portions go without any, except for a few crops which require quick rich soils before the farmer has time to enrich his soil sufficiently by the slower process. This I know is against the teachings of Liebig and Way, as well as most of the agricultural writers of ancient and modern times. But I have the practical experience of our own country to sustain me, which after all is the surest teacher.

A sufficient quantity of manure applied to a thin soil