return than cattle or horses. The breed, until lately, was the native breed of this country, which, by in-and-in breeding, had deteriorated to its lowest ebb. Some two years since, however, some of our most enterprising citizens procured several fine merino, Bakewell and Saxon rams, and have now a fine prospect in the number of half-breeds, and the enhanced value of the wool. Judge J. B. Bigelow, of this place, was the first to attempt the improvement of our sheep, and he succeeded so well that several of his friends. have now gone into the business, and our section of the country bids fair to produce wool of an excellent quality, and in sufficient quantities to become an object. Major W. W. Chapman, United States army, of this place, has done much to encourage the improvement in sheep, and to develop the agricultural interests of our valley in general, and is entitled to the gratitude of those who are so materially benefited by his counsels. Our sheep have lambs twice a year. They are herded through the day and folded at night. One man and his dogs are sufficient to take care of 2,000 head, except when the ewes are dropping their young, when additional help will be required for about a month each time. Counting all drawbacks upon sheep and lambs, they increase here 50 per cent. per annum. The common sheep shear about one pound, and are shorn twice a year. The expense is, one shepherd, at $5 per month; ration, $16×12 = One man two months in lambing time, $6 × 2= $72 00 12.00 40 00 10 00 1,000 00 80 00 1,214 00 $500 00 250 00 750 00 214 00 536 00 Capital employed, and expenses on 2,000 sheep Cr. by 4,000 pounds wool, at 12 cents 66 1,000 lambs, at 25 cents Product of 2,000 sheep in one year or over 50 per cent. on the investment. Fat sheep are worth from $1 to $1 50 for killing. The half breeds of Judge Bigelow, before referred to, will average $1 50. Our native breed has a fixed value of 50 cents. Colton was formerly cultivated in this valley; but the advent of the American army here in 1846 was the cause of all agricultural operations being suspended, when the farmer took to his sword instead of his ploughshare. Cotton has not been cultivated here since, although several of our land owners are about doing so this year. Sugar-cane does well. It is, as yet, only cultivated to sell in the stalk for eating, as our Mexican friends are very fond of it in that state. Tobacco has not been cultivated here as yet, although I have not the least doubt that when our lands get into more general cultivation, tobacco will be a staple product. Manures.-None used. The only lands being in cultivation are the river-bottoms, which overflow, on an average, once in three years, leaving a rich deposite; and thus we go on-the Mexican farmers not knowing anything about guano, poudrette, or gypsum, as fertilizers of the soil. Rained 10th, 11th, and 31st. 25th. Rained 23d and 28th. Rained 16th; therm. 1020 at 12 m, 25th. Rained 5th and 220; frost 25th. The above is taken, by permission of Dr. N. S. Jarvis, U. S. A., from the meteorological register kept under his direction at this place, and can be relied upon as correct. We had 42 days on which rain fell, which, in the aggregate, amoun s to but 27 inches, not being in quantity sufficient to mature corn planted after 1st of February. Our second crop is planted from the 1st to 15th of August, and bids fair to give us a large return for our labor; but the frost of 25th of November did the work for us, not leaving us even the stalks for fodder. Our lands are now in a good state, as they were pretty generally overflowed, and retain the moisture a long time. Many of our farmers have already planted their corn; others are yet at work planting. These hasty remarks are submitted for what they may be worth, as I doubt not some other person, better qualified, has responded to your Circular from this valley; but if attention should be called to our valley through the means of this, I shall consider myself more than paid for this mite to your valuable Report. It would be well to state that good land can be obtained in our county, with quiet titles, at from 10 cents to $10 per acre, according to its situ ation and improvements. All of which is submited by EDWARD DOUGHERTY, Secretary Cameron County Agricultural Society. To the COMMISSIONER OF PATENTS. SAN AUGUSTINE COUNTY, TEXAS, SIR: Your Circular of August came duly to hand, and has been noticed. I herewith submit a few thoughts which are mainly from my own experience, having followed the plough thirty years; was brought up on a farm. Athough my success has been equal to any of my neighbors', it is not from book-theory, but from practical experience. I will endeavor to answer correctly the questions propounded; and if they are worthy of embodying in your Report, I shall feel amply rewarded. Cotton and its Culture in this County.-The Hogan cotton I prefer to any I have tried. It yields the most per acre, to wit: One acre in Hogan yields 1,788 pounds of seed cotton; Petit Gulf, 1,300 pounds, planted in the same kind of soil, at the same time, and cultivated in the same way. One hundred pounds of Hogan cotton in seed, yields 69 pounds of seed; motes, 1 pound; clean lint, 30 pounds-equalling 100 pounds. One hundred pounds of Petit Gulf cotton in seed, yields 691 pounds of seed; motes, pound; clean lint, 30 pounds-100 pounds. No difference, as I could perceive, in the quality, or in the labor to gather it. In fair soil a hand can cultivate ten acres in cotton and three in corn, which will support the team and board the hands, with some to spare for stock. The best plan that I have tried to avoid the plagues that so often interrupt cotton, especially when young, is to plough the soil deep with a double team. Where cotton has been before, reverse the rows, or cross. Delay planting, even here, until the 20th of April, when the soil is warm; it is much the safest plan. I have found it grows kindly, and bears equally well, and is much the easiest to cultivate. As to the bollworms, caterpillars, &c., I think they are produced mainly by the wet weather peculiar to the season during June and July; so I have no remedy against them. How to treat Plough-teams to keep them healthy.-Feed them with what they will eat clean; increase or diminish, as may require, for all teams differ in the quantity of food they consume. Clean out everything from the trough; salt regularly every Wednesday night and Saturday night, when it can be had; pasture them occasionally while ploughing them. A team should never be interrupted before day, as it tends greatly to injure them. Treatment of Hands.-Feed and clothe well; speak kind to them; never use any bad language to them; have them retire at regular hourssay 9 or 10 o'clock. Never interrupt them till daylight; then to business promptly. More injury is done to hands by their keeping bad hours than by the labor they perform. The main point to guard is, take care of little things that cannot help themselves. The great road to success is close attention to business-changing or governing our acts as circumstances may require. Weight of corn raised this year, 1851, (per bushel,) 51 pounds, raised in upland. Weight of corn raised in 1850, (per bushel,) 52 pounds, raised in upland. Weight of corn raised this year, 1851, (per bushel,) 65 pounds; Spanish corn-in bottom land. Red peas, per bushel, 62 pounds. White peas, per bushel, 66 pounds. Wheat, per bushel, 58 pounds; some years it weighs 60 or 62 pounds. Rye, per bushel, 56 pounds. I have no thermometer, nor water-gauge. I give you the number of days it has rained for the last five years, from my journal: Cotton-seed is a good manure, generally. What it will increase in corn, or any other grain, per hundred pounds, I cannot tell. One thing I learned this year: I placed a large handful, with rotten cotton-seed under, in a portion of my corn-hills. The season being so dry, it injured it very materially. It did not produce as much as when there was none on the same kind of soil; and the exact difference I did not ascertain, but think it about one-fourth less where the seed were, than where there were no seed. The best kind of Sweet Potatoes.-Red Bermudas grow well, and are easiest kept. Round yams next. What the cost of raising, or amount raised per acre, I know not. It differs very materially in different soils, or even in the same soil. There are many things required to make a good farmer. Some men, who are professed hands with pen and ink, cannot plough a straight furrow, nor gear a horse, nor do they know when it is correctly done for him to work easy. If I know anything about it, it has been by knocking the clods, under which I must soon be laid; which is the end of all flesh. I am, respectfully, your friend and obedient servant, To the COMMISSIONER OF PATENTS. HENRY BROOKS. WHARTON, WHARTON COUNTY, TEXAS, SIR: Your Circular, calling for information, (agricultural,) was handed. to me by the postmaster at Wharton who requested me to answer it. Having been engaged in the county for 13 years in the cultivation of corn, cotton and cane, the statements I shall make will be the results of my own experience, corroborated by the opinions of many, with whom I have consulted. But little information, however, of general interest, can be expected from a new country; and, particularly from one for which nature has done so much, and art so little. That little, I will now give you; premising, however, that the soil of the country is entirely alluvial, of immense fertility, and of unknown depth; that, though there is much prairie land in the county which has been improved by the yearly burning of the grass, yet cultivation, with few exceptions, is confined to the canebrake and timbered lands. These remarks will make it unnecessary for me to notice your queries as to manures. Corn. This grain is raised in great abundance; but only for home consumption. Fifty bushels are considered as the average yield per acre. I think this too low, for my crops have ranged from 40 to 90 bushels; and, in two years only, out of 13, has the yield been less than 50 bushels per acre. If cultivated for sale, the cost of production would be about 25 cents per bushel. My mode of cultivating corn is peculiar; and, as I believe it to be the best, I will state it. As my soil is light, and does not break up in clods, I do not break it up before planting. The furrows are opened four feet apart, and about four inches deep. I then drop about two and a half or three feet apart in the furrows. A furrow from each side is then thrown over the corn; and, after all is planted, the middles are broken out, leaving the ground ridged up over the corn, to the depth of six or eight inches. When the corn is about to come up, a one-horse irontoothed harrow is run over the ridges lengthwise. This throws off much of the dirt, and leaves the ground clean for the corn. When about a hand-high, a turning-plough is run around the corn, with the bar next to it. The furrow is shallow; but, as I use a wide plough, the dirt meets in the middle, and the ground is left clean, except in the drill; the hoe-hands follow the plough, clean the drill, and thin out the corn to two stalks for every two and a half feet. As soon as the weeds make their appearance, one furrow is thrown to the corn from each side; ridging it up only enough to cover up the small weeds and grass. The corn is now knee-high, or higher. Before the weeds in the middle get too large to turn in, I run another furrow around it, at a greater distance from it, but still near enough to lap a little more dirt around it. I then break out the middles, with one or two furrows, and my ploughing is done. The corn, at this time, hides the ploughman, and shades the ground well. If the season should be favorable for weeds, I find it necessary to clean out the middles with sweeps, not running more than an inch deep; or, to pass over it with the hoes, to take out the larger weeds. It will be seen that, with the exception of the two furrows throwing the dirt from the corn, I give but one ploughing, but that in broken doses. The object is to avoid cutting the roots. As the corn gets larger, and the roots spread wider, my furrows are run further from it. I follow the same plan in cultivating the sugar-cane, and for the same reason. 1 |