of the drill has increased the yield per acre in general, yet, upon the whole, the fertility of the soil is supposed to be decreasing. Our nearest market is Lewistown, and the average price of wheat for 1851 is about 80 cents per bushel. As the difference in the cost of raising a bushel of wheat in various parts of the United States may be a matter of interest, we present the following estimates: Estimate of the cost of producing a bushel of Wheat in Mifflin county, Pennsylvania. Interest on land (one acre) one and a half year, $70, at 6 per ct. First ploughing one acre.. Twice harrowing Second ploughing Twice harrowing Seed, 1 bushel $6.30 1 50 40 1 00 40 1 50 40 1 50 40 1 60 15.00 Which $15-20 is the average 75 cents, the cost of raising a bushel of wheat. Estimate of the cost of producing a bushel of Wheat in the State of New Hampshire; by Henry Huntoon, of Unity, N. H., 1847. Costing, at the rate of 20 bushels to the acre, $1 10 to raise a bushel of wheat in the State of New Hampshire. Estimate of S. M. Bartlett, of Lasalle, Munroe county, Michigan. Interest at 6 per cent. on one acre, worth $15 00... ... Twice ploughing.. Twice harrowing. One and one third bushel of seed.. $0.90 2.00 50 1.00 50 50 1 50 2.00 Which, at 25 bushels, the average per acre, would be thirty-six and four-fifth cents for producing a bushel of wheat in Michigan. Mr. Bartlett raised an average of 251 bushels of wheat for 8 successive years, at an average cost of 343 cents per bushel. From the preceding statements, it would appear that the cost of producing a bushel of wheat is 66 per cent. more in New Hampshire than in the fertile and easily cultivated soil of the State of Michigan. In 1848, we sowed 2,000 pounds of guano, mixed with one-half ton of plaster, on a 15-acre field of corn, which had been under cultivation for 70 years; and which, owing to excessive cropping, produced only a half crop of clover the previous year. The mixture was sown broadcast immediately after planting the corn. After the corn was from three to four inches high, it was harrowed, and soon after the cultivator was passed between the rows. When the corn was from eight to twelve inches high, it was ploughed about three inches deep, and the surface containing the guano thrown in towards the rows. The yield was about 50 bushels to the acre. The following spring this field was sown with oats; and, although the outcrop this year was short in the straw, and light in general, the yield of this field was over 40 bushels per acre. The straw was much longer than any we noticed in the neighborhood during that season. While growing, this field of oats had a remarkably striped appearance, which was visible at a considerable distance from the field. Although the oats were even in length all over the field, the parts which had been occupied by the rows of corn were of a much darker green than the parts between the rows; proving conclusively that the effect of the guano was not all exhausted in the first year upon the corn, but that it contributed largely to the production of a fair yield of oats. When ploughed for corn, about one-half of said field was subsoiled with Prouty & Mears's subsoil plough. No difference, however, could be noticed between the part which had been subsoiled and the part which had not received that extra work-neither in the corn nor the oat crop, nor in the wheat crop which followed. The cost of the guano and plaster, and the cost of preparing and applying it, was $4 45 per acre. The gain of the guano alone could not have been less than 300 per cent. The average crop of corn of the better farmers is about 60 bushels in favorable seasons. The cost of producing a bushel of grain varies much, as well as the number of bushels produced on an acre, and depends on the quality of the soil, as well as a judicious application of manure and cultivation. On the whole, we put the average cost of producing a bushel of corn at 35 cents per bushel, and the average number of bushels produced at 36 bushels per acre. The average yield of oats we estimate at 28 bushels per acre. Oats are believed by some to be very exhausting to the soil. This opinion, we think, is in a measure owing to the looseness of the soil after a crop of oats; which, on soils naturally friable, causes wheat sown after oats to freeze out, or winter-kill. As wheat generally follows a crop of oats, a coat of barn-yard manure ought always to intervene between the oat and wheat crop. Land treated in this way seldom fails of producing a good crop of wheat, and will, if properly managed, increase the fertility of the soil. The improvement of the breeds of horses and neat cattle has been much neglected. Some superior breeds of cattle have been attended to; but as a proper system of crossing and improving has not been attended to, they have generally degenerated. The recent organization of our State agricultural exhibition at Harrisburg has done much to attract the attention of farmers to this subject, and will no doubt excite them to action. What we have stated in relation to neat cattle will also apply to sheep and hogs. The cultivation of fruit is receiving increased attention; but is yet, by many, too much neglected. In the townships of Union and Menno, in this county, extensive orchards abound, containing most of the better varieties of apple trees. Cherries and plums are here, also, tolerably plenty. Pears and peaches are more scarce. I find no difficulty in preserving the peach tree. My method is to keep the trees well mulched, and to apply boiling water to the roots, near the trunk, in the month of April. Before the water is applied, the soil should be removed from about the roots, near the trunk of the tree; and, if any worms have penetrated into the wood, they ought to be laid low by a sharp knife. By mulching, we mean the placing of straw or any other substance around the tree, in sufficient thickness to rot the sod, and to keep the ground moist in dry weather. In no case, however, ought anything of the kind to be permitted in the winter, or in time of snow, as the mice will harbor in it and peel the trees. It should always be applied in the spring, and removed before the first snow in the fall. Respectfully, yours, SHEM ZOOK ' SWATARA FALLS, NEAR MIDDLETOWN, DAUPHIN Co., PA. SIR: Having been favored with a copy of your Circular, soliciting information relative to agricultural crops, modes of farming, &c., &c., I cheerfully comply so far as my experience and knowledge of the various points belonging to rural affairs will enable me to do so. Before I proceed, however, to answer the points set forth in your Circular, permit me to make a few general remarks on this important subject, confining myself entirely to my own county. In this county the practical farmer has long since accomplished all that can be accomplished without the aid of science. Inhabited for years by an industrious German population, the experience of the father handed down to the son by tradition, the cultivation of the soil has been brought to great perfection; but not until within a few years has the aid of science been sought and studied by our farmers generally; and great improvements have already been made in the productiveness of the soil, as well as in the saving of labor and expense in its cultivation. Within this year a State agricultural society has been formed, with an auxiliary county society in this and many of the other counties of the State. The State society had a fair at Harrisburg, in this county, which far exceeded the most sanguine expectations of its friends. This has given our farmers a new and powerful impulse; and the time is at hand when, by the aid of science, and the experience and industry of our farmers, agriculture in this county will be brought to its highest degree of perfection. Fig. 1 represents a perspective of a barn calculated for a farm of 150acres, seen from the southeast, standing on the margin of a western slope running towards the south. The main building to be 92 feet in front, facing towards the south by 40 feet wide, and 18 feet high, with an addition on the northeastern corner of 22 by 72 feet, and likewise 18 feet high, which gives the eastern side a depth of 112 feet, with a cellar extending under the whole building, a portion of which may be partitioned off for a root-cellar for storing roots and vegetables; a portion may be used for storing wagons, sleds, and implements when they are not used; and a portion may be possessed by a stationary or other horse power for threshing grain, cutting cornstalks, hay, straw, &c.; and the residue for depositing manure. On the rear wall, in the middle of the building, a cistern should be constructed to receive the drainage of the manure pile; the bottom of the cellar in front should be nearly on a level with the ground on the open side, and sloped in such manner that all the liquid may readily run into the cistern. The manure is thrown through trap doors into the cellar, in the rear of the animals. On an improved farm there can always be more straw raised than can be used for litter. A surplus of straw will then be on hand to increase the manure pile, which should be spread evenly and at suitable intervals on the manure pile; and, as the urine voided by the animals will not be sufficient to moisten all the straw, frequent waterings will be found necessary; and where no hydrant or other running water can conveniently be had, cisterns should be constructed to provide for a sufficient supply of water. Young cattle may be kept, during winter, on the manure heap; and, indeed, I find it to be of great advantage to have cattle on the manure heap, especially when much straw is thrown on, to have it trodden in, as it will more readily absorb the liquid, and prevent the waste of gases. Fig. 2, shows the interior of the barn; AAA, the entry; B, horse stalls; C, cattle stalls; the animals stand on a platform six inches high, having a slope of two inches towards the rear of the animals, there forming a gutter to receive the manure; EE, &c., are trap-doors in the gutter which admit the manure to be passed into the cellar; DD, &c., doors; F, a trap-door admitting the surplus straw to pass into the cellar on the manure heap; GGG, three threshing floors, two of which may be used as bays for storing grain, hay, or straw; H, bay; I, granary. As regards the health of the cattle, I find this plan greatly preferable to the old fashioned bank, or Swiss barns, which have their cattle stalls in the cellar, or lower story, generally too damp to be wholesome, which, by following nature, may readily be recognised to be so; for example: in a warm summer season, cattle never show a disposition to go into their stalls in a bank or Swiss barn; while my cattle have, ever since I have stalled them in my new barn, every evening, summer and winter, manifested a disposition to go into their stalls, which are in summer cool and airy, and free from any pungent smell. I have made it a practice to clean the stalls daily, and strew loam on the floor, which absorbs the gas and other nauseous odors, rendering the apartment cool, and, by proper ventilation, airy, and thereby acquiring a valuable addition to the manure pile, which, especially in suminer seasons, when cattle run in pasture, may be greatly augmented, as their excrement is then more watery, and, consequently, more loam and litter are required to be mixed with the excrement, to absorb the liquid and odors; while, on the other hand, if cattle be permitted to remain during the night in the yard, this acquisition is principally lost. I had almost forgotten to acknowledge the receipt of a package containing a variety of German garden seeds in the spring of 1850. The result was, several kinds of seeds did not vegetate at all; the others, with the exception of one kind, produced only inferior vegetables; of the seed labelled German white fall turnip," only a few grains vegetated, which produced enormous turnips. These I have preserved for seed. Last season I raised a considerable quantity of seed of said turnip, which I have distributed among my neighbors and others; but the last season was so uncommonly dry, that no fair sample could be raised. I have also to acknowledge the receipt of a copy of the Patent Office Report for 1849agricultural. Very respectfully, yours, Hon. THOMAS EWBANK, Commissioner of Patents. EDWARD KOHLER. HARRIS TOWNSHIP, CENTRE COUNTY, PA., December 24, 1851. SIR: In reply to your Circular, the following notes of our agricultural position and prospects are at your service. Those referring to stock and dairy management are contributed by Mr. Samuel Gilliland, of this township, and are the results of his personal experience. Situation and Soil.-The floor of Penn's and Nittany valleys is almost wholly limestone clay, with remnants here and there of overlying slates and sandstones, which compose the mountain boundaries. The limestone beneath is broken and cavernous, forming natural and perfect drainage, and rendering the soil, though naturally heavy, warm and dry. Penn's valley and Buffalo valley, with the connecting narrows, offer an inviting route for a railroad in a direct line between Pittsburg and Easton, via the Anthracite coal regions. Manure.-A large proportion of the farm-buildings are near the streams, for convenience of water; and in too many cases the richest half of the manure is washed away. Clover grows with the aid of plaster, and is much depended upon for meliorating and enriching the heavy soil. Its large roots, in decaying, break up the solid texture of the soil, and render it permeable to air. Most farmers sow clover after taking two crops of grain, and many sow it in the cornfield after the last working, preparatory for wheat. Plaster is universally used, and could not be dispensed with at present. Lime is but little used, and is not so manifestly beneficial here as in other places; yet examples of its profitable use are not wanting. Culture. Our most successful farmers now plough 6 to 8 inches deep. But many are discouraged from deep ploughing, both by the heavy texture of the soil and the bad results which usually follow from bringing up a thick layer of clay at once. The subsoil plough has scarcely been introduced. It would seem useful in breaking up the subsoil and preparing it for the surface. If brought to the surface raw an |