western States, should be sown as early as above. It then has time to become firmly rooted, so that the frost will not heave it out, and is ready for harvesting about the middle of July. The quantity of seed always depends on the soil. Black muck requires the least seed of any land. One bushel per acre is sufficient, if sown by the 1st of September. Sandy soil will require a half bushel more, if sown the same time. Wheat is better ploughed in than any other way. Plough the ground, and drag down; sow on the seed, and plough the same as before. This leaves the ground in the best possible shape for winter. Peas should always be sown in the spring, on ground that is intended for wheat. This crop leaves the ground in the best condition for wheat; and peas are the best grain for fattening hogs I have ever used. I think one bushel of peas fully equal to two bushels of corn. If dry, soak them. For fattening hogs, peas should always be ploughed in, and two bushels sown per acre. The average yield of peas is about 20 bushels per acre. And I venture to say that one acre of peas will make more pork than two acres of any other kind of grain.* Respectfully, yours, Hon. THOMAS EWBANK, Commissioner of Patents. H. A. GALLUP. KOSSUTH, KENOSHA COUNTY, WISCONSIN, December 10, 1851. SIR: In communicating to you the result of the trial of a package of seeds you sent me last spring, I regret to state that two or three varieties of clover proved entire failures, especially the kind I was most anxious to have secured-namely, Chilian clover, of which not a single seed germinated. It was put into the ground in a careful manner about the 1st of April, in rich prairie soil. A continual succession of rains and cold weather might have been the cause. I found, upon examining the seeds, about three weeks after sowing, that they were being devoured by small worms, scarcely visible to the naked eye. The oats produced abundantly; also the spring wheat produced well, and escaped the prevalent disease in this section, (the rot or blast;) an indication of its being a hardy variety, as all other kinds of spring wheat were more or less injured by this disease. We have many fields of the variety called wedge-none proved entire failures. Tobacco is beginning to engage the attention of the farmers in this section of the country, and sufficient has been raised this season, although very unfavorable to its production, to place the question of its successful cultivation beyond a reasonable doubt. The parcels you sent me were distributed, and were cultivated with a view to be prepared for seed for another season, in which it has produced ample returns. [*The remarks in favor of peas for making pork are too strongly expressed. There is no satisfactory evidence that 100 pounds of peas will make more meat than a like weight of corn. And while an acre of peas gave only 20 bushels, two acres of corn might yield 100 bushels.] Wheat has been the talismanic word here for the last twelve years, (I state only since my experience in this State,) as though there was no way to make a purchase or to pay a debt without a wheat crop; consequently, the wheat culture has been fairly run out of the ground. I think I am safe in saying that, for the last twelve years, so far as my observation has extended, more than two-thirds of all the land cultivated has been cultivated in wheat. The consequence is, that for the last two or three years the best fields have produced but about half a crop, and from that down to a total failure, the quality of wheat deteriorating with every succeeding crop. With many it has proved a disastrous experiment. With those who have pursued a varied system of farming, not so bad. This dear-bought experience will work a revolution. Comparatively little wheat will be sown another year. Wool-growing and Stock-raising, and to some extent Tobacco cultivation, will engage the attention of the farmers. Spring wheat will be discarded more, and there will be a return to the cultivation of winter wheat in a more limited and particular manner. In this county about 12 or 15 acres of tobacco have been cultivated with good success this season. It was the first trial, and under favorable circumstances. few years I anticipate it will be one of the staple productions of the county, and perhaps of the State. In a Average per acre of wheat in this county, not more than 10 bushels; of potatoes, not more than 30-many fields a total failure. Oats good, 40 bushels; corn, half a crop; hay, very good; flax, good for the amount cultivated, which is very limited, but growing more into favor. Very respectfully, &c., PHILANDER JUDSON. Hon. THOMAS EWBANK, Commissioner of Patents. MINNESOTA. ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA, October 31, 1851. SIR: I am anxious that our new Territory should not be without rep. resentation in your very valuable Annual; and, therefore, continue my effort to furnish material for the Report until some more worthy candidate presents himself. The past year has been unusually wet, which has been unfavorable to many of our new farms; but to others, and particularly to esculents, it has been advantageous. In a new country it is not to be expected that much will be done in the way of experimental farming-the extraordinary richness of the virgin soil rendering unnecessary all artificial methods of increasing the fertility. This is very much the case in Minnesota; for an experience of 15 years shows little exhaustion of the soil. Two of my neighbors have favored me with communications. As one relates to old ploughing, and the other to an entirely new breaking, I offer them to you to show the strength of our land when thrown into arable. Mr. J. Brewer, of St. Peter's, writes me on the 10th November: "In answer to your inquiries, I have to certify that I have assisted during the summer of 1851 in raising the following vegetables: "1 acre of onions (black seed) yielded 1 do cabbage do blood beets... do carrots... 550 bushels. 1,200 heads 300 bushels. 200 do "The cabbages average 12 pounds each; some weighed 24 pounds after the outside leaves were stripped off preparatory to cooking. Six of the onions weighed eight pounds. “This land has been cultivated 15 years, and has been manured about every second year with 12 cart loads to the acre, of long and short manure; ploughed once in the spring, and not well weeded." Mr. J. H. Stevens writes from All Saints, St. Anthony's Falls, 21st November, 1851: "My land was ploughed for the first time late in April last, and, of course, all my crop was raised on the sod. I had 45 bushels of oats and over 50 bushels of corn per acre. "Of 2,000 cabbage plants, the average was 13 pounds. My carrots came to great perfection. I had them 23 inches long, and 12 inches in circumference. From three ounces of onion seed, sown broadcast, I harvested 13 bushels. One "All my crops, of course, were raised without manure, and, in fact, I do not believe our rich soil will require manure for years to come. of my neighbors raised beets weighing 19 pounds each, and A. Godfrey, esq., had about 30 acres in oats, fifty miles north of this place, from which he has cleaned up 1,000 bushels, which, in that location, will bring him 75 cents per bushel during this winter." All the ordinary crops of a farm have been raised with the same success as in former years, with the exception of the potatoes, which have been much destroyed by the rot. I think the extent of the injury has been about one half. There have been several experiments with apples, but hitherto with indifferent success, not from any difficulty in raising the trees, or their growing well, but in consequence of the ravages of an animal, common throughout the country, called the Gopher. It burrows under ground, feeding on roots, and appears to have a great fondness for the root of the apple tree. This it entirely devours, beginning at the smaller fibres and eating to the surface, until the tree is destroyed. I have not found this animal well described in any natural history. It is about seven to ten inches long, of a mouse color, with teeth much resembling the musk rat; the fore legs and shoulders singu larly strong for its size. It lives entirely under ground, being seldom discovered on the surface. But its great peculiarity consists in the pouch on each side of the head. When digging, this pouch is filled with earth, with which it proceeds to an opening on the surface, and, when there, by a sudden muscular contraction, (much like blowing,) the contents are ejected and form a mound. Many attempts have been made to destroy them with poison, but this method appears to me very objectionable, and I have found abundant success with traps. With a spade you open the ground at one of their mounds, place a small trap (one with a single spring being the best for the purpose) low down in the passage; no bait is necessary. The Gopher appears to dislike the light, and very speedily comes laden with a supply of earth to close the hole. In doing this, he must pass the trap, and so gets caught, We shall find it necessary to exterminate this little creature, for they are seriously destructive to gardens. It will burrow along a ridge of potatoes, eating or carrying off the whole. Their voraciousness is surprising. A large cabbage will be eaten up by a Gopher in about three days. He begins at the root, drawing the cabbage down as he devours it, and you see it gradually disappear, as it were, under ground. With two traps, I suppose ten acres might be kept entirely clear. At the risk of being tiresome, I must speak of the potato rot: For the last four years I have watched the progress of the disease with great anxiety, to find out its cause; and I have sought some explanation of it in the various publications that have fallen into my hands; but I still remain much in the dark. This year I had half an acre of potatoes planted on a very dry, sandy loam; and having read that the disease was attributed to a want of alkali, and that a plentiful supply of manure was the remedy, I applied 20 cart-loads of long manure, mostly from the horse stable. In some parts it lay nearly four inches thick on the ground. At the distance of two miles, I planted four acres on new prairie, broken in the spring. The soil, a rich, dark loam, The disease attacked both patches about equally. Half the produce was destroyed. The remainder, carefully selected, looks well, has been placed in a roof house, and I have every hope of its continuing good through the winter. These potatoes grew well, and were fine, healthy-looking plants until the middle of August. About this time we had cold rains for two or three days; after which the weather cleared, and we had three nights so cold as nearly to produce frost. These nights were accompanied by a heavy dew, by some called a honey-dew. In four or five The weather then moderated and became very warm. days, black spots appeared on the leaves, and about ten days after, the tubers were affected, the first symptoms being a yellowish rust on the coat. Many persons hereabouts name this "potato rust." Now, I have ascertained by observation, that for the last four years the disease has always commenced as I have described. In one instance, I knew the hauling of a whole field of the black or purple potato killed in this way in one night, having the appearance of being destroyed by a hard frost, when I am positive no frost occurred, only one of the cold, heavy dews. The potatoes stopped growing, but did not rot, and were used all winter. I am therefore led to the conclusion, that this dreadful disease is caused by the state of the atmosphere, and that some powerful agent, being deposited on the potato, checks the current of alkali then in its progress through the plant, and causes the decay. I believe that the disease is not so virulent on dry soils as on cold, wet land. I have positive evidence that the disease is not confined to the potato, for the same dews produced the same rust of the leaves on my tomatoes, cabbages, and rutabagas. The rutabagas all rotted. I have not harvested one. The effect of the dew was most apparent on the tomatoes; the under side, where the dew collected heaviest, being soonest turned black. I am unable to suggest a remedy; I fear we must wait patiently until a healthy state of the atmosphere permits the dew, supplied to invigorate the vegetable kingdom, to be deposited free from poison. Some doubt had been expressed as to our growing winter-wheat here; but the past season has removed all question on this head. Crops of it have been raised in several parts of the Territory, and, in all cases that I have heard of, successfully. I have seen very beautiful samples of the grain. Mr. Eli Pettijohn, on his farm near St. Paul, sowed two bushels of buckwheat, and has cleaned up of the produce one hundred bushels by measure. We have to acknowledge the receipt, the past season, of a package of garden seeds; from some cause, few of them vegetated. The flower-beans and early emperor peas grew well with me. I divided the whole package, and distributed it in the neighborhood, but have not heard anything further of it. In my former letter I have spoken of the very favorable nature of the St. Peter's country for a sheep-farmer. A treaty has been made with the Indians for the purchase of this tract, and it will probably be open to settlement the ensuing spring. If this communication should meet the eye of any one desirous of rais. ing sheep here, I would suggest that a breed known in the Old Country as the improved Tees water would be most likely to be profitable and suited to our climate. Your most obedient servant, P. PRESCOTT, Superintendent of Farming for Sioux. Hon. THOS. EWBANK, Commissioner of Patents. OREGON. UMPQUA VALLEY, OREGON, SIR In attempting a reply to your Agricultural Circular for the year 1851, from a land but just emerging from a state of barbarism, where, in the settled portions, the recently and rudely constructed log cabin of the emigrant stands beside the ruder wigwam of the aborigines, it is not expected that a single item will be added to the vast amount of agricultural knowledge collected and disseminated by your Office. But as a sketch of the agriculture of a "new country" may be useful to the farmers of the old and highly cultivated portion of the Union, the better by contrast to appreciate the blessings they derive from civilization, established communities, and the labor of the generations that have preceded them, and also to those who, in disregard of these blessings, desire to make their homes in this far-off country, these remarks are submitted, to be used as you think proper. |