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ADRIAN, MICHIGAN, December 16, 1852.

SIR: To such of the questions contained in the Agricultural Circular from your Office, sent me, as I am able to reply to, I proceed to give you such answers as I believe to correspond with the experience of this part of the country.

Wheat.-Up to the present time the average product of wheat per acre in this State has not exceeded ten or eleven bushels; yet the average product where the land has been properly cultivated and manured has not been less than twenty bushels, and in isolated instances has reached from fifty to fifty-five. Like the other new States, Michigan was settled principally by persons of limited means, whose inability to procure the necessary aid for cultivating the soil well, and the necessity of relying almost entirely upon their own labor for clearing and tilling their lands, have led to the most negligent culture, and to such successive croppings of their limited improvements as have, in a great measure, exhausted the soil before they began to restore to it any of its original fertility. With them cheap cultivation and quick returns were a necessity. The average product per acre may now be said to be increasing, and will soon be double what it has ever been heretofore.

Farmers are using now a larger quantity of seed than formerly; not less now than a bushel and a half per acre, while formerly the average did not exceed a bushel. It is usually sown broadcast without any previous preparation, though some of our best farmers first coat it with plaster or lime, expecting thereby not merely to manure it, but also to prevent smut.

Summer fallowing is still general, though gradually, I think, falling into disuse, and once ploughing from 8 to 10 inches deep is being substituted. Opinions differ greatly as to the comparative merits of the two modes.

The average price of wheat at Adrian the present year has been 70 cents; at Toledo, 74.

Corn.-I think the average product of corn in this county about thirty bushels per acre, and the cost of production, harvest, and thrashing about 20 cents per bushel. The soil of the county will produce one hundred bushels per acre in favorable seasons, with good culture, and crops still larger have been produced here. The price of corn varies from 31 to 48cents per bushel, and it is, therefore, a much more profitable crop than wheat. Corn is usually planted in hills of three or four stalks each, about three and a half feet apart each way. A much better mode, I think, is the planting of one kernel in a place in rows from three to four feet apart; the kernels to be dropped-say twelve inches apart in the rows. The advantages of this mode are obvious. The roots of the plants are more evenly diffused over the ground in search of the moisture and nutriment; the hoe meets with less difficulty in reaching the weeds about the stalks, and the plants shade each other less. The rows should be planted north and south, to give the sun access to the plants.

Corn is fast becoming the most important crop of the State. The quantity raised is now greater than that of wheat, and its higher comparative price is inducing every year a still more extended production.

Wool-growing is universally believed to be profitable, which is, perhaps, sufficient evidence that it is so. The crop is annually increasing,. the amount exported from this county the present year being about.

270,000 pounds, which was purchased from the farmers at an average price of 31 cents, and the most of it resold, before leaving the county, at an advance of from 2 to 3 cents. This amount, of course, includes no portion of that retained for manufacture in the various wool factories of the county, and in families. Grade sheep are, as yet, by far the most common, though the French and Spanish Merino, and Leicestershire, are being gradually introduced. There are also some flocks of Saxon, but they are not general favorites, and will be supplanted among the growers of fine wool by the larger and heavier-fleeced Merinos. Near the large villages and cities, where mutton is in good demand, the Leicestershire is undoubtedly the most profitable breed for the farmer, and is believed by many to be the most profitable everywhere.

Fruit culture is receiving increased attention every year, and large numbers of the choicest varieties of apple, pear, cherry, and peach trees are now being sold among our farmers by the nurserymen of this State, Ohio, and New York. Apples, however, are not as yet grown for food for stock to any considerable extent. The best varieties for winter use, and for exportation, are the Yellow Bellflower, Newtown Pippin, and Spitzenberg. Next to these are the Sweet, the Roxbury Russet, the Talman Sweeting, the Bellmont, the Vandevere, and the Greening; but the value of the last, for market, is diminished here by the circumstance of its not keeping so well as in New York and New England, where it is at its prime from January to March, while here it begins to ripen by the 1st of November. The Baldwin, the farmer's market-apple of New England, and the Northern Spy, equally famous in western New York, are as yet but little tried among us. The Yellow Harvest, early and late Strawberry, Fall Pippin, Hawley, and Rambo, are the best summer and fall market-apples; but the market is usually overstocked at those seasons, so that the cultivation of the best keepers among good varieties is much the most profitable, and, I think, more profitable than anything else in which a farmer here, with a small capital, can engage. Good winter fruit sells readily here at this time for 50 cents per bushel, though the crop has been an abundant one.

We are not as yet troubled to any great extent with the blight on apple or pear trees, nor with the yellows on peach trees. More difficulty is experienced with cherry trees than with any others. The tree is being often destroyed, or rendered unsightly and unhealthy, by the bursting of the bark on one side-usually the side exposed to the sun-leaving the wood at the opening to deaden and decay. The difficulty seems to consist in a too rapid growth of the wood for the growth of the outer bark, and the remedy needed is something to check that growth. Seeding down the cherry orchard is one remedy. Perhaps root pruning would be less likely to diminish the size and quality of the fruit. Pealing off the outer bark is recommended by some Western pomologist, and I have seen it tried, on a small scale, the present year, with apparently good

success.

Grapes. Our native grapes, the Isabella, Catawba, and Cluster, grow luxuriantly here, and produce abundantly, but are not cultivated for wine, except to a small extent for sacramental purposes.

Root crops are by far the most profitable of any of the crops raised by the farmers for feeding stock, and it is matter of great surprise that they are not cultivated to a greater extent than they now are. Rutabagas,

sugar beets, and mangel wurzels can be raised on the lands of this county at a cost varying from 4 to 7 cents per bushel, including the expense of harvesting and housing; and a clear profit of from 200 to 400 per cent. on the expense of raising them is thus realized. This fact is beginning to be understood, and, together with the fact that by feeding them so much more stock can be kept on the same number of acres than by rais ing any other crop for that purpose, are introducing them to general favor. A fair crop of either of the above roots is 500 bushels per acre, but with extra care and cultivation 1,200 bushels may be raised.

Carrots will not yield quite so much per acre, and, as they require the same care, they cannot be produced so cheaply. They are, however, believed to be more valuable than the rutabagas, and equally profitable to raise.

Tobacco is now being cultivated here to a small extent, and promises to be extremely profitable. I think its cultivation is destined to increase very much within the next two or three years.

Yours, very respectfully,

THOMAS M. COOLEY.

ROMEO, MACOMB COUNTY, MICHIGAN,

October 8, 1852,

SIR: The annual agricultural fair for this county has just closed at this place. There was a good display of all kinds of agricultural, mechanical, and ornamental products. This is but the third year since a fair was first held in this county. The principal products of the county are wheat, oats, corn, hay, and potatoes; of each of these there were fair specimens. Of horses, the display was fine, from the yearling to the full-grown horse. The breeds of horses have very much improved within a few years. Of stock, there were Devons and Durhams, and crosses of both with natives. Of sheep, the assortment was large, from the full-blood Merino and Saxon to the Bakewell and Southdown. Of hogs, the number was not large nor anything extra. Butter and cheese were, probably, as good as are made in the State. The judges on butter were puzzled to decide: there were so many specimens, and all so good, and so much alike. Indeed, the large number and variety of articles and animals entered for premiums speak well for the enterprise of our farmers. This is one of the smallest counties in the State, but it is settled by emigrants from New England, New York, and New Jersey, with a sprinkling of Irish, Scotch, English, and French Canadians, who are all industrious, and improving in property and intelligence.

Fruit. The variety was large, particularly of apples. One farmer had 54 varieties, others 40 and 20; some very fair and fine flavored. The best varieties are the Spitzenberg, Rhode Island Greening, Northern Spy, Seek-no-further, &c. The lateness of the season made the display of other fruits smaller than they would otherwise have been. Of articles in the domestic and needle-work department, the display would well compare with any of the State fairs; showing that our ladies are as enterprising and industrious as the lords of creation.

The crop of wheat this year has been about an average one; the straw was light and short, but the berry plump. Corn is a very poor

crop; oats the same. Hay, light. Potatoes, about an average; but little complaint of rot. The summer has been a very dry one. Wool has been a good crop; the clip in this county will probably reach 150,000 pounds. Of this amcunt, over 80,000 were brought in this village; the price here averaged about 32 cents. Last year the amount purchased here was about 60,000, at an average of about 36 or 37 cents. There are in this county nine flouring mills, and all find enough to do nearly the year round. Besides, a large amount of wheat is yearly shipped east to Rochester, and sells in New York as Genesee flour.

Very truly, yours,

C. F. MALLORY.

ADRIAN, MICH., December, 1852.

SIR: Your Circular, among other things, asks for suggestions on the subject of forests. No branch of agricultural industry is of greater importance than the combined appliances of the forest; and accordingly I offer a few thoughts upon it. In most of our States, the question now is, not how the wood-lands shall be most speedily cleared of the trees, but by what management shall the necessary calls for wood, in its different uses, be most economically answered, with the smallest inroad upon the standing timber? Even in our new States a good "wood-lot" is often considered the most valuable on the farm.

Two questions are involved in the preservation of these forests-how may the uses of building material and fuel be economized? and how far may the products of the forest be increased and improved in quality by proper management?

With the greatly-improved modes of generating heat for domestic and manufacturing uses, not more than half the amount of fuel is required now that was consumed 10 years ago.

Iron and glass are displacing wood for the frames and finishings of buildings, water craft, carriages, furniture, and in many other branches Iron and glass are fast gaining ground where strength is more needed than bulk, and where durability is an important consideration. I do not now wish to discuss the economies of wood after it has been taken from the forest. How much and how good the wood that we may get from woodland, consistent with the least deterioration of the permanent value of the forest, is a question that more immediately concerns the land owner. The oak is the most valuable of all our woods. It is the most generally diffused, and it is put to the greatest number of good uses. It is well known that the most valuable timber is that which has attained its growth with most light and air. The wagon-maker takes care to combine toughness and durability by selecting his wood from trees of second growth, or from trees of first growth that from infancy have stood alone or far apart. Acting on this hint, we could cull out such of the oaks as are unsound first, giving those that are left more light and air. It is a fact in vegetable physiology, that motion facilitates circulation, and that young trees confined to stakes do not form their bodies so rapidly as when left free to the moving influence of the breeze. The thinning should be carefully effected, too; for the sudden exposure of the bo dy o a tree to the light after it has been shielded for centuries from the rays of the sun is frequently fatal to it. The growth of a tree which has

always been closely hemmed in and guarded by its fellows has a form so different from one of the same species that has sprung up and come to maturity in open ground, that the identity would scarcely be recognised. Thus the black walnut in a close forest is a tall, naked shaft, with often but a few short branches at its top; while in the open field it grows low, round, and spreading. I have often recommended the white wood for the avenue, or as a very fit tree for private grounds, and have almost as often been asked if that tall, naked tree, out of which so much lumber is made, could be beautiful.

How often does the woodman's axe itch for contact with the tall, naked column of the white ash, whose tempting softness is destined to be unfelt until he shall have disposed of some harder specimens. As a lawn tree, the white ash becomes short and round, close and symmetrical. The experiments of hundreds in attempts to develop the sylvan beauties of wild-wood have failed from sudden and indiscriminate thinning. I have seen the fruits of it on my own ground. A narrow belt of forest, composed of oak, linden, hickory, and elm, was left, a few years ago, on the front of a sloping field-noble old oaks some of them were while standing in the thick forest. I had hoped that exposure to the light would force them to throw out branches from their naked bodies, and that some of these days a pretty grove would be the result, as many more sound trees of a younger growth were left as bodyguards to shield their stems. These younger have done their duty well; but the old ones struggle on from year to year, and refuse to be comforted by the youthful family around them. Some of them have thrown out a few weakly branches, but as many more look as if beginning to decay. I shall, after all, look to the second growth for my permanent and most beautiful shades. The difficulty in this case was, that the wood was too suddenly thinned. Two-thirds of the large trees had been cut out of the belt nearly at once, judging from the appearance of the stumps, and all the trees on either side. Owners of wood-lots do not attach sufficient importance to their nut-bearing trees. It will not be very many years before the hickory, black walnut, and chesnut will have become so scarce as to possess a value for the fruit which they might produce quite exceeding that of most orchard trees. But a small portion of the hickory trees in forests where this is the prevailing tree bear well, if at all. The good bearers should be saved and cherished. There is so much difference, too, in the quality of the nuts-nearly as much as in the fruit of a seedling apple orchard-that great care should be taken in selecting the trees to be spared the axe. Some claim to be able to judge of the character of the nuts by the number of leaflets in a leaf. I do not know how far this test may be relied on.

In forest labor there is quite too little attention paid to the fact that some trees are impatient of removal, and that such should be cherished on their natal soil. The hickory, for instance, is very difficult to transplant; indeed, I do not recollect ever to have seen one of the common size for transplanting live long after removal. We should act upon the hint, and encourage it to give us the greatest possible beauties in the place where it germinated. Few of our Western farmers realize that they have been guilty of a great barbarity when they have "cleared" their last field, without having left a hickory upon the farm. With this tree utility and beauty go so hand-in-hand that such wanton destruction is quite

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