and pulled some half dozen hills of the other, but did not eat it. Barnyard fowls will not eat it. The average quantity per acre here is about 60 bushels, though some fields produce more than that.

I think 100 pounds of butter about an average per cow. A neighbor of mine, who kept 12 cows in the summer of 1850, made 1,220 pounds of butter, besides the milk used in a family of seven, and raised 5 calves. The last season, which was remarkably dry, and feed short, he kept 8 cows; made from them 600 pounds of butter, and raised 8 calves. The same person raised 42 chickens, the past summer, which weighed, when dressed for market, 163 pounds, and sold at his door at 10 cents per pound-$16 30.

А

Hogs.-The Suffolk breed of hogs is decidedly the best for fattening to slaughter previous to one year of age, and make the best pork. A cross of the Suffolk and Middlesex is thought an improvement by many, as it increases their size. Pure blood Suffolk pigs will bring $10 per pair at 5 or 6 weeks old, while other kinds are sold from $3 to $5 per pair. Your obedient servant,

PRESCOTT HEALD.

BERNE, WASHINGTON COUNTY, VT.,
September 20, 1852.

SIR: Your Circular is received, and I will endeavor to answer some of the inquiries contained in it very briefly.

Wheat is not raised here to any great extent, on account of the weevil, although on high land with an inclination to the north or west, we raise good crops. It does the best after corn, if the land is well fitted. Our usual method of preparing the land for corn is to give it a good topdressing with green stable or yard manure-say twenty loads to the acre; then plough or harrow it in. We then furrow it three and a half feet apart, one way, and then drop manure-either manure drawn out in the fall or from the hog pen-and put it two and a half feet apart in the furrows, a small shovelful to a hill. We then drop the corn, five kernels to the hill, and cover it two inches deep with the hoe. We plant from the 15th to the 20th of May, and get from fifty to one hundred bushels per acre-on an average, about sixty bushels. We get of wheat, on upland, fitted in this way, from fifteen to twenty bushels per acre, if sown the first of April; but wheat is so uncertain a crop that the farmers prefer raising oats, as land so fitted will yield from fifty to seventy-five bushels of oats per acre; and they are worth from thirty to forty cents per bushel, and wheat is worth but one dollar. The kinds of wheat raised are mostly Black Sea or tea wheat. I have raised for a number of years the golden straw. We have never used guano in this section. We use Timothy or herdsgrass mostly for seeding clover, and sow it when we do our wheat or oats. A peck to the acre is enough, and if the land is rich six quarts will do, and the first crop will be full half clover, carried on in the manure. There is but little barley raised here, and but few peas. Beans do well, but are not cultivated to any extent. Dairy Business is carried on to a considerable extent in this vicinity, and is, perhaps, as profitable as any business in this section. An average amount of butter per cow is about one hundred and twenty

five pounds, (but some yield double that amount,) and is worth, this season, from eighteen to twenty-five cents per pound. The average yield of cheese per cow is two hundred and fifty pounds, or double that of butter per cow, and the price is seven to nine cents per pound. It costs as much to make and take care of two pounds of cheese as it does of one pound of butter. Making butter is more profitable, and cheese is attended with less care when made. In setting milk for butter we use tin pans, from six to ten quarts, strain them as full as we can handle them, and set them in the milk room, in a cool part of the house, and let them stand from twenty-four to forty-eight hours, until the cream has risen. It is then skimmed off, and kept cool until it is churned. Some churn every day, and some but twice a week. The churn mostly in use here is the barrel churn, placed on legs, with a crank and floats attached to it, so that by turning the crank the floats keep the cream in motion, and it will come in from ten to twenty minutes. We then draw off the buttermilk and wash the butter in cold water until it is clear of buttermilk, and salt it with the best ground rock-salt, and work it with the hand; let it stand twenty-four hours, and then work it thoroughly again and put it down solid in a firkin made of spruce or fir that will hold from thirty to sixty pounds, (the firkin having been previously soaked in strong brine.) We then set it in a cool place until we send it to market. In this way we seldom have any hurt. An average price of butter and cheese, for three or four years past, has been sixteen cents for butter and seven for cheese; but this year butter is worth twenty cents, on an average, and cheese eight cents. The cost of raising neat cattle here, on account of our long winters, to three years old, is eighteen dollars, or all they will fetch at that age. Good cows are worth twentyfive to thirty dollars in the spring, and fifteen to twenty in the fall. For feeding beef cattle we use but little corn, but feed potatoes, turnips, and carrots. We think the native animal, with the same attention and care, will compare favorably with the Durham, Devon, or Hereford. Our mode of breaking steers to the yoke is to begin when they are calves; the boys have a small yoke, and yoke them occasionally, and soon learn them to do anything they require of them; so they are broken from the time they are six months old; and they never forget it. Horses are the most profitable stock we can raise, if we take pains to improve the stock. It will cost thirty dollars to raise one to three years old, and the average price at that age is not less than fifty dollars, and at five years old they are worth from seventy-five to one hundred and twenty-five dollars, and, in the latter case, double the cost of raising.

Sheep are profitable stock at the present prices of wool. There is but little difference in the cost of producing coarse or fine wool; we prefer the latter, as it brings the most money. The Merino has the heaviest fleece, yielding on an average four pounds per head. It is worth forty cents per pound; and the coarse-woolled sheep will yield about the same amount, worth one-fourth less. For mutton the large and coarse-woolled sheep is the best. The ewes will raise about sixty lambs to one

hundred ewes on an average.

Hogs. The breed most and grass-fed, (so called.) very sweet and thick pork. when slaughtered, from two

sought after here is a cross of the Suffolk They are peaceable and easily fattened, and Pigs seven to nine months old will weigh hundred and twenty-five to three hundred

and twenty-five pounds, and at eighteen months old five hundred pounds. We take all the bone and lean meat when we cut it up, and use fresh. The fat we pack in layers, in a barrel, putting salt (rock or Turk's island) on each layer, eight quarts to one hundred pounds; and after a few days we add pickle enough to cover it, and it will keep sweet for years.

Very respectfully, yours,

To the COMMISSIONER OF PATENTS.

OSMAN DEWEY.

WEST RUPERT, VERMONT.

Clover and Grasses.-The hay crop is of vital importance in this latitude-north 43° 15'. The average quantity cut per acre is about 14 ton, although the past season has not given over three-fourths of a ton to the acre in consequence of the drought.

The best and most durable fertilizer for our meadow sand pastures is a top-dressing of ashes. Gypsum is mostly used. Sheep manure is also used advantageously on meadows. Clover and Timothy are the principal grasses cultivated in this vicinity. About 8 quarts of Timothy and 6 pounds of clover-seed is the usual quantity sown per acre. Spear grass adds much to our meadows and pastures, although it is not cultivated. I have no experience to show that red clover is detrimental to horses.

Sheep and Wool.-As the verdure of grass extends to the very summit of our hills, they are well adapted to wool growing, and it is profitable. A few facts in relation to wool-growing are conclusively settled, viz: That a fine staple of wool cannot be grown on a carcass that is suitable or profitable for the butcher; and second, all animals require food according to the live weight of their bodies.

The average weight of the improved Saxons is about 65 pounds, consequently the yearly expense of keeping Saxons is as follows: If fed with hay 150 days, 243 pounds, which, at $7 per ton, is 85 cents; pasturing 31 weeks, at 14 cent per week, is 39 cents; care, 6 cents, which foots up as follows:

Wintering...
Summering.

Care....

$0 85

39

6

Making the expense of keeping a Saxon sheep one year.. 1 20

In return we receive

2 pounds of wool, at 50 cents per pound, making.. Manure.....

Proportionate value of increase.....

1371

6

60

2 03

1 30

73

From which, when the expense of keeping is deducted, you have 73 cents profit on sheep, or making 1 pound of Saxon wool cost 26 cents. Cost per pound of growing coarse or fine wool. A like quantity of food will produce an equal quantity of clean wool upon all sheep raised for the value of the fleece. It is therefore more lucrative business to the farmer to grow fine than coarse or common wool, in proportion as the fine exceeds the coarse in price.

Large or small sheep most profitable? The expense of rearing animals should always be taken into account. Small animals come to maturity with much less expense than large ones, and therefore they are more valuable. This is especially true of sheep. Small sheep are the most profitable, and particularly so for the fleece.

How much more does it cost to produce 1 pound of fine than of coarse or ordinary wool? It costs less because the food of the coarse sheep is converted into fat rather than into wool. Proportion of lambs raised to the number of ewes is about four-fifths.

Respectfully,

JOSEPH PARKER.

MIDDLETOWN, NEWPORT Co., R. I.,
12th mo., 4th, 1852.

Corn.-Average yield, about 40 bushels per acre. Best system of culture is to spread a good coat of manure on the land and plough in, and another on the surface after ploughing, harrow, and then plant, about three feet apart each way, four or five seeds to a hill.

Barley.-Average yield—say 30 bushels; three bushels seed per acre; less exhausting than oats.

Oats.-Average yield, about 45 bushels; from three to four bushels seed per acre sown.

Hay-Quantity per acre, average, about one ton; all animal manures good for meadow land generally, and ashes, for some lands, produce crops equal to any kind of manure; about a bushel of grass seed sown per acre, of different kinds, mixed and sown together, varying the quantity of clover according as the soil is wet or dry, putting most on dry land. I do not think clover injurious to horses.

Horses raised here are not very profitable, unless of extra quality. The best way to break young horses, I consider, is, to begin with them when very young; almost as soon as foaled, to handle them, and to halter them, and accustom them to lead while quite small, and, as they ncrease in size and strength, accustom them to wear the harness, and to draw light carriages, and they will soon become very docile and tractable.

Sheep are raised here as much for the meat as the wool. The middle size thought best-say Southdown; the cost of raising a pound of Merino not much more than of coarse. About as many lambs as ewes are gen

erally raised, and sometimes more.

Roo-Crops considered on the increase; soil should be made fine and rich. Average crop, about 400 bushels per acre.

Potatoes, Irish, used to produce on an average 200 bushels per acre, but since the disease, much less. Best method of culture is to spread

the manure on the furrows, and harrow well before planting, and plant in rows about three feet apart.

Fruit culture is on the increase. I consider apples enough may be grown to make it profitable. The Rhode Island Greening best for winter use here. Apples are good to feed to hogs and cattle, but not so good as potatoes.

Manure. I consider the best way to preserve it is to spread it on the soil as fast as it can be procured, when the state of the crops will admit. Lime and plaster not much used here, and, from my experience, not of much use on the soil of this island.

To the COMMISSIONER OF PATENTS.

DAVID BUFFUM.

MASON, HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, N. H.,
December 26, 1852.

SIR: Having received a Circular from the Patent Office, I will answer some of your inquiries, as far as I may be able.

From a somewhat extensive examination, I am satisfied that the average crop of Indian corn will not equal the amount of thirty bushels to the acre, in this region, and I should presume the same of the crop throughout the State. There are occasionally instances of more than four times that amount. The cost of raising corn, where the expense of manures, cost of labor employed, interest on the valuation of land, and taxes on the land, are all included, cannot be much, if any, less than one dollar per bushel on the average of crops.

Guano is beginning to be used in the production of Indian corn. From a field which I examined last harvest, I gathered the following reliable and certain facts, namely, that an application of about one hundred weight to the acre increased the quantity of the crop to the amount of seventeen bushels and six quarts. The land was first well dressed with barn manure, which was spread and ploughed in. After the ground was furrowed, the guano was put in the hill. It was covered to about the depth of one inch with earth before the corn was dropped upon it.

The most common manner of cultivating corn is to use a field which has been worked on the preceding year, plough it two or three times in the spring, spread on manure and put it in the hill, and hoe it two or three times during the early part of summer. When it begins to ripen most farmers cut off the top stalks.

Some of the best fields of corn which I have seen in this State were upon ground which was broken up in the spring, manured well, and planted in rows about three and a half feet apart, and hills about two and a half feet, and a liberal top dressing of lime and ashes after planting, to hasten the decomposition of the vegetable matter; and, after a short time more, a good dressing of plaster of Paris. The field hoed about as is usually done, and the top stalks not cut off.

The average quantity of hay, I should think, was something less than a ton to the acre. The cost of growing hay, adding the interest on the value of land, taxes on the land, cost of manure to keep the earth from exhaustion, and the expense of labor, would be from six to eight dollars per ton.