ative value of the various kinds of fodder used, and how far one can be used as a substitute for the other. In the same appendix we have given an account, taken from an agricultural paper, of some experiments respecting the steaming of food for cattle; also, a condensed view of some experi ments made by Mr. Stevenson, as to the feeding of farm horses, which we have taken from his essay in the Quarterly Journal of Agriculture. He received from the Highland Society the premium of ten sovereigns for his successful experiment reported.

In reference also to the fattening of cattle, and the quantity of food consumed, &c., much depends on the temperature at which cattle are kept. In appendix No. 33 will also be found an extract on this subject from Professor Johnston's lectures. The great excellence of oil cake, there stated, deserves notice; and to show the amount of oil, and proportion of oil cake, &c., in the seeds of plants raised for this purpose, we have given, in appendix No. 34, some extracts from Dr. Ure, and also a table of Veit, a German author, in E. Goodrich Smith's translation of Burger's Economy of Farming. These tables will be useful to those who wish to compare the relative value of the different oil plants. The variation in any case may be attributed to the difference of country, climate, &c.

The steaming up of cattle is carried on to a large extent in the West; and some interesting particulars relating to this subject, together with letters of gentlemen to whom application was made for information relating to this subject, as well as respecting the use of sheep in the same manner, will be found in appendix No. 35. It will be seen by these papers, that the raising of cattle and sheep may be made very profitable; and we can scarcely doubt that, before many years, more attention will be paid to this branch of business in the West and South than has been hitherto done. It is probable that not less than 50,000 or 60,000 sheep were purchased for the West during the last year. In many parts of our country we notice statements which show that the raising of sheep might also be rendered profitable for their wool. It appears, from the statistics of Lowell, that the amount of wool consumed in those factories alone (1,000,000 pounds) would require, at the rate of 3 pounds per sheep, at least 330,000 sheep. In a Rochester paper of July last, it is stated that more than 300,000 pounds of wool was purchased in that city during the month of June preceding, at prices 10 cents higher than the former year. The crop of wool in Washington county, Pennsylvania, for the season, is said to have been 800,000 pounds, which sold for $300,000. A million of pounds of wool was advertised for by a firm in New Orleans, for the French market; and the opinion is expressed in a public journal, that the wool business will yet perhaps exceed in quantity, if not in value, the cotton business. It now amounts to about one-quarter. The original Saxon clip in 1826, in Dutchess county, it is asserted on good authority, gave only 2 pounds to a clip; whereas the American product of last summer gave over 3 pounds said to be the result of our better climate. If such be the case as far north as the State of New York, what might not be expected in the more mild climate of the South? We perceive by the public journals that various experiments are making by individuals in North Carolina, Georgia, &c., from which much may be expected.

The introduction of the Alpaca, or Peruvian sheep, is a subject which deserves attention. It is said that more than 2,000,000 pounds of wool of this animal were imported into Great Britain in 1843 from South America. Some papers relating to this subject, selected from the agricultural journals,

&c., may be found in appendix No. 36; and also on poultry, the annual product of which (see appendix No. 37) is $20,000,000 per annum.

The review we have taken of the crops and various products which are or may be raised among us leads most naturally to the inquiry, What are our prospects with respect to the disposal of the articles produced by the agricultural industry of our country? In former reports, we have considered this question, both with reference to our home and our foreign market. We shall pursue the same course at the present time.

HOME MARKET.

There are a great variety of articles which, as is well known, are absolutely needed for the support and comfort of our own citizens. These must, and will, of course, find a market, to the extent of that necessity, near the spot where they are produced. Others find, too, a ready sale by our internal commerce of one State with another. The man who raises nothing must be fed by the fruits of the labor of him who gathers the crop; while he, on his part, gives that return which his own industry or capital enables him to make. Every section of the country must, in some degree, be dependent on some other; and probably it is well that it is so; for, otherwise, the interchange of commodities would cease, and, in a degree, likewise, that intercourse which is essential to the best knowledge by fellowcitizens of each other. The great outlets of the West, pre-eminently the agricultural part of our country, are the Mississippi and the lakes. It is true that a portion of their products find their way through railroads and canals to Baltimore and Philadelphia; but, if we would estimate the amount of the trade, we must turn to these two great channels of commerce. By these, the agricultural products also find their market in foreign countries. The enterprise of our citizens is pressing still further beyond the Mississippi; and the ancient fable seems almost realized, in the rapidity with which towns and villages spring up. The following, which we cut from a public journal, is but a specimen of what is going on:

"The growth of a village.-The village of Oquawka, on the upper Mississippi, was laid out in 1836. At that time, provisions of every sort were obliged to be imported for the use of the settlers. Now, the tide has turned; and the insignificant village, within the present year, has made to St. Louis and other markets the following exports: 5,358 barrels of pork. and lard; 124 barrels of beef; 2,584 barrels of flour; 40,000 bushels of wheat; 64 bales of hemp; 30 sacks of wool; 200 hogsheads of tobacco, a large quantity of corn, oats, hemp seed, hides, fur, peltries, and other articles."

The slaughter of pork and beef is increasing in many parts of the Western country. From a St. Louis paper, some months since, we gather the following information: That arrangements had been made there for slaughtering and packing down 60,000 hogs, and from 10,000 to 20,000 cattle. From 700,000 to 1,000,000 lbs. of beef also, it is stated, could be smoked each month during the season, at the establishments there. Of the Cincinnati trade it is stated—

There was shipped from Cincinnati to New Orleans during the past year $2,795,676 worth of the manufacture of hogs. Of the eight leading articles of Western produce, (pork, bacon and hams, lard, beef, flour, whiskey,' cheese, and butter,) it would seem that Cincinnati alone ships more than one-half of the entire receipts at New Orleans. The whole value of these at New Orleans is said to have been $4,472,369.

There has, however, been a falling off, the past year, of perhaps one-third, in the pork made in the whole Western country.

The number of hogs packed in the Wabash valley, this season, is stated at 62,400-a falling off, compared with last season, of 82,600.

The New Orleans Bulletin, of the 26th December, says that the quantity of pork received at that port the present season is less by more than onehalf the quantity received to the same time last year.

This will increase the price, and in this respect will be favorable to the farmer.

A single firm in Cincinnati, it is stated, sold in a single year 6,000 tons of cheese, in value $70,000 to $80,000. The cheese trade of that place for the year, it was supposed, would amount to upwards of 3,000,000 lbs., and reach in value $180,000 to $200,000. The number of hogs slaughtered there and at Covington is given at about 200,000 head. The value of the products of the hog, exported from Cincinnati during the first six months of 1844, is stated to have exceeded $1,500,000; to which other domestic products might be added, equal to at least $3,000,000 more.

The amount of home consumption of various articles may be judged from the following estimate for a year for the city of New York. It is probable that it falls short of, rather than exceeds, the truth.

The American Institute of New York has published a statement respecting the consumption of animal food yearly in that city. The weight of beeves killed yearly is 34,400,000 lbs. ; sheep and lambs, 6,300,000 lbs. ; hogs, 3,750,000 lbs.; calves, 990,000 lbs. Total, 45,449,000 lbs. The Republican says:

"Assuming the population of New York city to be 350,000, and that the consumption of animal food averages four ounces per day to each, the total consumption in a year amounts to 31,937,500 lbs.; to which may be added the amount consumed by commerce in the coasting and foreign trade, and also by the population in the immediate vicinity of the city-13,472,500 lbs. fair estimate; it makes up and confirms the total before stated, of 45,449,000 lbs., which, at 3 cents per lb., amounts to $1,363,470."

Add to this the flour and other agricultural products, and take a similar ratio for other large cities, and it will be seen the amount of home consumption must be very great.

$2,000,000 worth of hogs, cattle, and sheep, are sold, annually, at Brighton, near Boston.

The amount of wheat passing through the Welland canal, up to 23d of July, is given as 1,958,000 bushels. This would probably be considerably increased during the remainder of the year; so that the whole amount would take off a good proportion of the surplus product of the States bordering on Lake Erie. The operation of Sir Robert Peel's corn bill on the Canada trade is said to have been great. There was exported at Montreal from the opening of navigation to the 11th of September, 1844, 241,276 bushels of wheat, against 15,417 the previous year; and 351,692 barrels of flour, against 57,497 of that year.

Immense quantities of wheat have been sent into Canada, and there ground; in which state it is allowed to be shipped as British produce.

The quantity of flour forwarded on the Erie canal from Buffalo the present season, notwithstanding the large quantities shipped from the lakes, by way of the Welland canal, was, to the 1st of August, 500,000 barrels ; and of wheat, 940,000 bushels. There were forwarded, in the same period,

50,000 barrels of beef and pork, 40,000 bushels of corn and oats, and a million and a half pounds of wool. The amount of canal tolls received at that place was $292,000. There has been received in the same period, by the canal, 22,000 tons of merchandise, and 46,000 barrels of salt.

The great wheat State of Ohio, it is evident, promises less respecting this chief staple than she has done. In appendix No. 38 we have thrown together some extracts from a recent report of commissioners appointed to take an agricultural survey of a part of this State, and which embraces some interesting facts deserving attentive consideration.

In appendix No. 39, also, we have placed an extract from a Southern paper, relating to the home production of cotton bagging and other articles; which indicates that the attention of some of those States is most likely to be more fully turned to that subject.

FOREIGN MARKET.

Our articles of produce are also gradually finding increasing favor in foreign markets. Some of them, scarcely known before, appear to be gradually introduced. Of this description are Indian corn, hay, apples, &c., which seemed to be received with more or less favor. The quantity of Indian corn shipped to England, from New York, the first eight months of 1844, was 190,000 bushels; in 1843, only 35,000 bushels.

In an English paper it is stated that American cheese has already driven the Dutch cheese out of the market. Our hams and beef are generally becoming more popular. One cause of the superiority of English beef is in the preparation of the animal for slaughter. In this country, our cattle are knocked down, bled a short time, left to cool, and then barrelled. The English, on the contrary, bleed for several days previous to killing. This custom is now practised in some of the Eastern cities, and occasions the whitest color of the meats in the best markets. A grazier of high respectability from the West, now a member of Congress, states that he lately sold a large lot of cattle in New York; 15 or 20 were butchered daily; for several days previous to killing, the ox was tied in a stall, with no food, and only a little water; he was bled three successive days, until he fainted and fell; the issue was then tied up, and the ox recovered. After this, he was slaughtered. The butcher thus accomplished two objects: he lessened the weight of beef, and increased the beauty of its appearance on the stall. So many subterfuges are resorted to by the purchasers to effect a good trade for themselves, by increasing the offal when the quarters are weighed, that drovers prefer to sell the ox at so much per pound live weight; and this is certainly fair for both, and a great check on fraud. In appendix No. 40 will be found a letter from Mr. Scott, of this city, lately from England. His experience in grazing has been great, and his letter, we think, will be read with interest.

In appendix No. 41 will be found a method of packing provisions for the English market, illustrated by an appropriate cut, which will also aid in understanding the directions there given. In the same appendix we have also added prices current of two firms, which, though in some respects similar, yet also contain a variety of particulars in which they furnish additional information. These are the latest accounts we have as to the state of the English market in American produce.

The late treaty with China must probably open to us eventually-if not directly, yet indirectly-a new channel, through which will be poured the

acres of corn ground, where he planted pumpkin seed with the corn, besides the good yield of corn which he harvested, he also gathered over 4,000 pumpkins, averaging 10 lbs. each-making 40,000 lbs., or nearly 7 tons to the acre; which would prove valuable feed for stock, particularly milch cows, for which purpose he considered them superior to any thing else.

In a public journal in Massachusetts, it is stated that a gardener in Worcester raised from a single seed 15 pumpkins, weighing 384 lbs. The largest weighed 314 lbs., and the average of the whole was 25 lbs. each. The vine, including all its branches, measured 635 feet in length.

A great desideratum with respect to this and similar fruit, is, to obtain the best method of preserving it through the winter. Its value as fodder may thus be much enhanced, as it may save, in some degree, more costly food.

The following is a method said to have been given at a meeting of the Farmers' Club, in New York: A pumpkin, the growth of the year previous, was presented by a farmer from Red Bank, who remarked that he had found it an easy matter to keep them through the winter, and had nearly succeeded in keeping them two years. He directed to select only the dead ripe ones to be preserved. These should be carefully laid on the bottom of a cart, and carried to a shed having a southern exposure. On the bottom of the shed must be a layer of rails, and then a layer of pumpkins. When this is completed, then it must be built up with another layer of rails, so placed as not to press on the pumpkins; and so on, till the shed is full. Let the pumpkins remain here till you are afraid of their freezing. As soon as this is the case, they must be taken to the kitchen, and put on shelves nailed to the cross beams.

In connexion with the subject of this species of fruit, we subjoin the following mode of raising cucumbers, which is stated to have been fully tested, and found preferable to any other, especially when the season is dry:

"An excellent mode of raising cucumbers and melons, is to dig out a space (say) 6 or 8 inches deep and 3 feet across; place an old keg (nail cask or any thing of the kind) with both heads knocked out, in the centre of the excavation. Then fill the space around the tub with compost made by mixing good loam with manure from the hog pen, hen roost, or stable, (the former are preferable ;) cover it over with two or three inches of earth, and plant the seeds near the tub; fill the tub or cask with some light kind of manure or muck that will hold water like a sponge. The advantage of this is, that, in case of drought, water may be turned into these tubs by the pailfull, and the light manure will prevent it from going off too suddenly, but will give a gradual supply to the roots as they require. The casks should be open between staves, or else holes must be bored in them, to let the water soak through. If the ground is inclining to be wet, no excavation should be made; but the cask should be placed on the top, and a little mound made round them by the manure and earth. To give a chance for the vines to run, the casks ought to be about 8 or 9 feet apart."

We subjoin a somewhat similar account of a method tried and proved, received from one of our correspondents in Massachusetts. It is, "to raise watermelons on waste sandy lands."

Dig holes about 8 or 10 feet apart, of sufficient size to contain half a bushel; the depth should exceed the diameter. These holes fill with rich compost, (the best is that obtained from the hog pen,) and there deposite the seed. Should it be a dry season, it may be necessary to water the hills occa

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