stimulating this plant. It revels in the ammonia emitted from the decomposing substances underneath it; and, after maturity, it leaves the manure in good condition for the succeeding crop. By this method I avail myself of the benefit of the manure one crop in advance of those who pursue a different course. I am not aware that any close, careful, and accurate experiments have been made in this vicinity, testing the difference between feeding corn whole or ground. I do not, however, entertain a doubt that the preference is decidedly in favor of grinding; and if cooked, so much the better. Oats.-Oats very frequently follow corn as the succeeding crop, and, if it stands erect until it matures, a large crop is generally obtained. It is sown as early in the spring as weather and a proper tillage of the land will admit. Quantity sown per acre, 2 bushels; 'average yield, 40 bushels. Rye.-Rye is not extensively cultivated; but to those engaged in sheep husbandry its importance, I apprehend, is not duly appreciated. It should be sown last of August or first of September; one bushel, or, if seed be abundant, one bushel and a fourth, may be sown to the acre Early the ensuing spring the weak of the flocks may there obtain an abundance of succulent food at the very time it is so greatly needed, and cannot be obtained anywhere else. This timely precaution by sheep owners generally, would annually save thousands of those valuable animals a lodginent in the bone-yard. If the crop is intended to mature, the sheep should be removed the first of May; but if the crop is not the object, the field is in fine condition for corn, and may be turned over and planted. I consider the pasture ample compensation for the previous labor of seeding. My own practice is to let the crop mature, and, unless the season is extremely dry and unfavorable, the depasturing is no detriment to the crop believe rye the least exhausting of any of the white crops; and I generally find clover and other grasses to take more certainly, and grow more vigorously, with and after this grain than any other. [ Clover and Grasses.-Seeding down lauds with clover and other grasses, whether for nowing or pasturage, is now considered indispensable. The average yield of hay is about one ton and a half per acre. Clover and timothy have the preference here, either for mowing or pasturage; one gallon of clover and one of timothy seed I deem sufficient for seeding an acre. I may here remark that timothy succeeds much better when sown early in the fall, and, if sown with fall grain, should have the last drag of the harrow. Cattle. The price of cattle when three years old ranges from $12 to $15. I have no hesitation in saying the cost of rearing is several figures above the sale; and were it not for the benefit derived by cattle in breaking down our straw piles, and adding to the manure heap, I presume few would be reared. Sheep and Wool.-"Is wool growing profitable?" At the average price of wool for the last ten years, I do not consider wool-growing profitable; nevertheless, it is true, that some men, by assiduity and perseverance, have rendered their flocks a source of profit. The cost of producing a pound of wool will materially vary in different locations, always regarding the price of laud and other contingent circumstances. The average price of land in this vicinity is about $20 per acre, and much of this extremely hilly and broken, entirely precluding a regular systematic rotation of crops; and from this cause much of our lands remain permanent pastures, or are broken by the plough at long intervals. From considerable experience and much reflection, I am fully satisfied a pound of three-quarter-blood wool cannot be produced here under 33 cents; this price merely covering cost, and yielding no actual profit to the producer; and in those neighborhoods or sections of country where land is more valuable, the production of wool advances proportionably with the price of land; and if the producer is compelled to sell at 33 cents, he is, in my estimation, "working for nothing, and finding himself." I consider the major part of the lands of this and the adjoining counties, under judicious management, well adapted to sheep husbandry, and, under a more favorable state of things, would very soon double or treble the present production. I trust I shall not be considered as entering on either enchanted or forbidden ground in making one or two observations which here force themselves upon me. In the Report of Commerce and Navigation for the last year, I find the wool imported amounts to over 17,869,000 pounds, at an average price of less than seven cents per pound. A considerable amount of these wools come from Buenos Ayres, or the Argentine Republic, and the adjoining States, which is probably the best wool-growing region in the world. The long, rough, coarse Chilian or Valparaiso wools, and all of a similar quality, cannot supplant or materially affect us. But such is not the case in regard to the wools grown east of the Andes. These are emphatically rival wools, and, when burred and cleansed, come to the cards 10 or 12 cents below our domestic wools of similar quality. The present easy terms of admission of these wools invite foreign rivalship and competition, and we are unceremoniously dogged out of our own market, or compelled to receive prices actually below the cost of production. This I believe is wrong. The sheep of this and the adjoining counties are of the merino family, and for the last few years have been approximating to the Saxon variety. We feed our sheep about four months of the year-a ton of hay, or its equivalent, for ten full-grown sheep, is about a fair allowance. Our flocks do not generally average more than 2 pounds per head. A ton of hay does not, in my estimation, represent or produce over 6 pounds. of wool. The manure, however, is an item which should always be kept in view. Those who reside in the locality of a hay market will find it more profitable to sell their hay and purchase their manure than to transform it into wool. On lands not costing over $20 per acre, hay sold at $5 per ton pays a reasonable profit. Hogs.-The best breed of hogs in this vicinity is bad enough. The Chinese, which is the only decent animal in the hog iine I have ever seen, has been frequently introduced; but those roaming hordes of razorbacked alligators which everywhere abound, soon manage to steal amarch, not only on us, but also on their less amorous male competitors, and thus transmit their own depravity in their offspring representatives, involving not only chagrin and vexation to the owner, but a ruination of the breed. One of the greatest obstacles to the improvement of farm stock here arises from those hordes of worthless animals turned out by their owners, often with small profit both to the animal and owner, and always and absolutely a curse to the whole neighborhood. The remedy for this is the enactment of a law prohibiting animals running at large, localizing it to meet the wants and interests of the people. But the legislators of Ohio view this as a delicate subject; peradventure, its support might involve the loss of one or two votes at the next election, and consequently the bill is laid upon the table, there to sleep the sleep of death. It is my opinion that but little pork is produced here at a less cost than Scents per pound, and consequently it is a losing business. The cheapest method of producing pork with which I am acquainted, is to procure the Chinese breed of hogs, and give them a good clover field for summer pasturage. This, in connection with the slops of the kitchen and offal of the dairy, will make quite respectable pork, at a much reduced cost. Potatoes.-The only variety in this neighborhood which has outlived the potato disease is the red Meshanocks; and these, at different times, have been on the very threshold of final departure. The past spring I selected three spots of land-No. 1, a virgin soil, without manure, a gravelly loam, but quite fertile; No. 2, a strong clay loam, highly manured; No. 3, soil almost literal sand, but fertile. At the time of digging, one half of those on No. 1 were grievously diseased, and cast out. On. No. 2 the disease gave sufficient indications of its presence, but not so malignant. On No. 3 there was no sign of disease. Further experiments are necessary before reliance can be given. I shall continue my experiments next season. My own opinion is, that the disease is entirely of atmospheric origin, which is not yet comprehended or understood, and that certain peculiar characteristics of the soil only have the tendency to develop it. Fruit. Cultivation and improvement in varieties of fruit are everywhere progressing. The time will soon arrive when Ohio will be second to none, either in the quantity or quality of its fruit. In promoting the agriculture of the nation, you are engaged in a great and noble work; your labors are appreciated by our most learned and advanced farmers, as well as by your humble and most obedient servant, Hon. THOMAS EWBANK, Commissioner of Patents. ROBERT GEORGE. ST. CLAIRSVILLE, Ohio, SIR: Mr. A. W. Florian Genin, of this county, has been some six or eight years trying to get new varieties of the pear by planting the seed of the Seckel pear, and budding, in the first and subsequent seasons, from the sprouts of this seed, into the quince tree. In this way fruit is got from the seed on the fourth or fifth year after planting it. Most of the fruit yet obtained from the process is bad, or indifferent; but this fall one of these buds presented a good fruit, more luscious, but not better, perhaps, than the Seckel itself. A pawpaw of the best flavor, mixed with the Seckel pear, would give some notion of its taste; it is a little larger than the Seckel itself, and both it and its leaf are more elongated than that of the Seckel. The same gentleman had, in the spring of 1849, some 600 flourishing peach trees. In the summer following he commenced digging them up and burning them as fast as he discovered symptoms of the yellows. There are now but 80 or 90 trees left, and these are the portion least cultivated. He refers me to facts, which show that, in proportion to the restraint of their growth, they have escaped the disease. A part were manured and ploughed with corn and potatoes; these were first affected. A part were in grass, in rich soil, and leached ashes at times spread some four feet around the body, stifling the grass; these grew a little slower than the trees in the ploughed ground, and were the next diseased. Some were set out in grass ground of poorer soil, and were but once given ashes-about a peck of coal ashes. These still survive. A few small ones among them were burned with the first parcel for the yellows; but he has no doubt they had the disease when he set them out. bably rapidity of growth predisposes, or rather exposes, both animals and vegetables to disease. Whether the trees that survive will escape in the end, remains to be seen. The last remedy heard of in this region, is the driving of a nail into the tree, just above the ground, horizontally, in a north and south direction. The on dits are favorable, but need proof. Mr. Genin, whom I have seen since writing the last sentence, tells me he has driven the nail into about three fourths of his eighty trees yet remaining, and thinks some proof of its efficacy has fallen under his notice. Mr. George Anderson, of St. Clairsville, drove nails in May, 1850, into trees affected, and they recovered; also, Mr. Henry Scovern. Both claimed that there were no worms at the roots, when their sickly aspect attracted attention. Pro Meteorology. Mr. Joseph Harris, a tin and coppersmith, of St. Clairsville, has permitted me to use a record he has kept since September 8, 1849, of the fall of rain and snow, and the degrees of temperature. He reduces the snow to water, and treats two inches of snow as equal to one inch of water, as a general rule. From this record I find the average temperature at St. Clairsville, at dawn of day, from 1st November, 1849, to 1st November, 1850, to have been 40.39; 1st November, 1850, to 1st November, 1851, 46.21; and at 2 p. m. for the latter year, 60.68-and the depth of rain for same year, 47 inches; and for the last 8 months of the former year, 34 inches. The lowest temperature of the first year was 4° below zero, on the 5th of February, 1850; and on the second year, 4° below zero, on the 31st of January, 1851. The highest was 82° on the 20th September, 1851; and 74° on the 7th of July, 1850. This lowest and highest refer to early morn. He did not commence recording the temperature at 2 p. m. until July, 1850. I have compiled the following table from the record: 24 |