tion is doubtful. The seed from that cut the last of August was better, but the seed from that harvested the 9th of September was full grown and perfect. Thus we see for fodder the grass was growing from the 16th May to the 20th August, three months and four days; and for seed from

three and a half months to three months and
twenty-four days. We saved merely seed enough
for our own land. I have found the statements of
Mr. Richards, and some other of your correspon-
dents, in regard to the quality of the fodder, to
concur with my own limited observations. We

have never had so universal a favorite for fodder
in our barn with horses and cattle as the Hungari-
an grass, green or dry; they seem to prefer it to
any other kind of hay. I am of the mind of your
correspondent who said, "I never will sow any
more oats for fodder." I have harvested as good
English hay as grows anywhere, if not so much to
the acre, but all our graminivorous animals give
their votes for the Hungarian grass. The culti-
vation of the Hungarian grass being comparative-
ly a new thing among us, I give out the few prac-
tical results of my limited experience in a report
which may be instrumental in distributing a few
sparks of light among farmers less experienced
than myself. The introduction of Hungarian grass
will make a very valuable addition to the varieties
of fodder now in use for stock, it is a kind of grass
which will be of first importance to farmers who
occupy the sandy plains throughout the country;
great crops of it can be raised on light and warm
soil where it would be difficult to obtain moderate
crops of other kinds of grasses.
North Wilmington, Sept., 1862.

SILAS BROWN.

For the New England Farmer. SUPERIOR KINDS OF APPLES.

AGRICULTURAL EXHIBITIONS. MIDDLESEX SOUTH AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY FAIR. The annual exhibition of the Middlesex South Agricultural Society was held on the Fair Grounds at Framingham, and was one of the largest and finest that has occurred for many years.

The display of fruit was uncommonly large and fine, comprising 729 different parcels. The chief contributors were George W. Goodenough, of Southboro', 40 varieties of apples and 15 of pears; W. G. Lewis, 26 varieties of pears, 17 of apples; H. G. White, 15 of each; Liberty Chadwick, 20 of apples; Oliver Bennet, 12 varieties of hothouse grapes and 10 of native; James W. Clark, 35 varieties of grapes. R. A. French exhibited a large plate of apples of the Gloria Mundi variety, weighing from 8 to 20 ounces each; and N. F. Clark, of Sherborn, a fine basket of assorted fruit.

The principal exhibitors of vegetables were H. G. White, 39 varieties; W. G. Lewis, 40 do.; Liberty Chadwick, 95; C. J. Powers, 34; Isaac Osgood, Hopkinton, 115. Mr. Lewis exhibited some German sweet turnips, raised from seed obtained at the Patent Office three years ago. They averaged 14 pounds each when about half-grown. Thirty-seven tons to the acre have been harvested. He also exhibited a new and remarkable variety of yellow corn, that ripens before the frost, however early it may come. Mr. White exhibited nine new varieties of seedling potatoes, the only ones considered worth retaining of 1700 varieties started by Goodrich, of New York. The displays of flowers, bread, preserved fruits, &c., were very fine.

The ladies proved themselves superior in needle practice, and their display of crotchet work, quilts, knitting, plain and fancy sewing, &c., was very

creditable.

There are, doubtless, many first-rate varieties of the apple which have originated in this region that have never been propagated by budding or grafting, and are scarcely known beyond the farm where they sprung up. These should be submitted to fruit committees, and others, who are well qualified to judge of their merits, and such as are The stock entries were numerous and excellent, found to be first-rate in all respects should be add-numbering from 5 to 20 each of bulls, fat cattle, ed to the list for general cultivation. There are cows, heifers, yearling colts, boars, sheep, calves, many second and third class kinds, now grown to &c., &c. H. G. White's stock of short-horns are some extent, which might be rejected with propriety, and their places supplied with the best of these varieties. Some of the best old kinds sometimes change and degenerate after cultivating for a long series of years, and we must obtain something among the new, equal, if not superior, to fill their places. Exhibitions of fruit at cattle and horticultural shows afford a good opportunity for bringing these new kinds into public notice. Within a few years, I have sent several varieties to an eminent pomologist, who expressed a very favorable opinion of them. Ó. V. HILLS.

Leominster, Sept., 1862.

extensively known, and were recently the subject
of an elaborate article in the Country Gentleman.
H. H. Peters and W. G. Lewis exhibited several
Aryshires, William Buckminster, his celebrated
Devons, and F. A. Billings, his Alderneys. Of
swine, Mr. White exhibited specimens of the
Chester county breed, and sheep of the Cotswold
variety. There were several Morgan and Mes-
senger colts, and the usual variety of fowls.

BRISTOL COUNTY CENTRAL AGRICULTURAL SO-
CIETY CATTLE SHOW AND FAIR.

The annual exhibition of this new Society was held on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. The weather was delightful, the attendance large, and the exhibition a great success.

The subjects of special interest on the first day

were the plowing-match, the show of town teams, NORFOLK COUNTY AGRICULTURAL EXHIBITION. with all the neat stock on the track,-the drawThe fourteenth yearly display of this Society ing-match, the trial of walking horses and pacing was held on the Society's grounds at Dedham. horses. Everything passed off well, and the at- The weather was beautiful, and the attendance, tendance was good. The show of poultry and though not as large as upon some former occasions swine was large. The exhibition of sheep was was very good, considering the state of the counfair for the present era of sheep husbandry. try. The show of horses and cattle was not as Among the stock there were some fine pairs of large, but was considered by many as more choice oxen, both working and fat cattle. A fine grade bull of the short-horn type was exhibited by the President of the Society, with other of his stock which was fine, including a pair of steer calves, about seven months old, that weigh a little short of 900 lbs.

After this came the dinner, and address by Hon. B. F. Thomas. Mr. Thomas commenced by referring to farming from the commencement of the world, when Cain went out from the presence This, though the youngest Society in the State, of the Lord, and asked how many young men in is one of the most enterprising, vigorous and suc-our day leave the quiet of a country life, to go incessful, even though deprived of the State boun- to the market-place and the forum, thus going out ty, and of a representation in the State Board of Agriculture.

riculture, aided by science, yields enough for any man's desires. We have begun to find that there is no place for the rich man in the kingdom of rest and peace. He then particularly spoke of the visible result of agricultural labor, and said this was not only palpable, but comparatively certain. He thought the thirst for political distinction had been one of the greatest curses of the farmer. He dwelt at some length on the aid God gave farmer, and the importance of taking advantage of this, and closed a fine address by appropriate quotations from the Proverbs of Solomon.

the

vast numbers of the larva of the submarine varieties; but such is the incredible rate of increase, that many kinds would overrun us, but for the wonderful check of this parasite class. The newspapers often report fearful numbers of some new insect, and forebode dreadful consequences. Such insects are troublesome for a short time, and then disappear. Some observe a periodicity, as the Locust, the Chaffers and Ephemera, but most of them are checked by the Ichneumon.

I have seen the stems of grapes cut off in great numbers by a caterpillar, and I attempted to see what butterfly it would come to, but I got only large, fierce looking Ichneumon flies, two from

each.

A very well written poem for the occasion was then read by the author, Francis P. Denney, Esq., and the lumber from damage, by the friendly inOur pine forests are saved from serious injury, which was loudly applauded, when brief respon- terference of an Ichneumon insect that stings the ses to sentiments were made by Rev. Dr. Thomp-borer, while just under the bark, during the perison, Judge Thomas, E. L. Pierce, Esq., of Milton, od of its transformation. and a humorous report of the Committee on Swine was read by Capt. J. S. Sleeper, of Roxbury.

BROOKLYN HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.

The number of the Horticulturist for September is before us, as fair and attractive as usual. It has excellent articles upon several interesting topics. In its account of the Brooklyn Horticultural Society it gives part of a report of Dr. TRIMBLE'S address on insects injurious to city trees, from which we make the following extracts:

THE ICHNEUMON.-The Ichneumon animal eats the eggs of the crocodile, to some extent controlling its numbers.

I once knew an eccentric person make a calculation, that the undisturbed increase of a single herring would, in twenty years, more than equal the solid earth, and he became nervous with the idea that we were all to become herrings. He forgot that in addition to the hundreds of enemies that prey upon these fish, besides ourselves, that the cachelot whale feeds upon them, and takes in 2,000 at a single mouthful. No. Nothing here hundreds of thousands of varieties of insects, none is allowed to take exclusive possession. Of the become extinct, and none are permitted to preponderate to a dangerous degree for any length of time.

When meteors and comets jostle the planets out of their places, and the heavenly system becomes disturbed, it will be time enough to anticipate that God has forgotten to regulate the insect world.

GIRDLED TREES.

The cuckoo in England and the cow bunting in this country, lay their eggs in the nests of other birds, and the young are nurtured by foster mothers; and it is said these parasite intruders have the instinct to throw the rightful possessors out Mice often produce sad havoc in young orchof their nests. By such a process these foster par-ards and nurseries by gnawing the trunks near the ents would be lessened the next year-a law that would react upon the parasites in the future; and we see that none of these birds become numerous. The ichneumon insect is a four-winged fly, and an immensely numerous class, of all sizes and exceedingly irregular and eccentric in shape. They are the great regulators of insect life.

The female deposits her eggs in, and the young feed upon, the living bodies of other insects.

surface of the ground, and not unfrequently for a considerable distance above it. This may often be prevented by compressing the first snows that fall about them, by stamping and keeping them as hard as possible until spring. If, however, from neglect or any other cause, trees do get injured in this way, watch the opportunity, and as soon It is the fatal enemy of many other insects; flies as the frost leaves the surface, bank them up in their larva state, and even the eggs of some in- with soil to the extent of the injury, and allow the sects, are destroyed by them, but the caterpillars same to remain till the subsequent year. A new are the great sufferers. You may often see feeble looking ones, studded over the back with little deposition of granulated matter will thus be inprotuberances; these are the cocoons of the para-duced, and this becoming in due time liquified, site grubs that have fed to maturity upon the flesh the surface will appear nearly as smooth as before of the poor worm, and leaving just vitality enough it was injured. It will be well, however, before to last as long as it is necessary for them that they

should live. These little creatures, when full banking up to dig the soil thoroughly, if the frost grown, issue from the substance of the poor cater-will admit, and to the extent of the lateral limbs, pillar, spin their cocoons and attach them by silk- and work in a liberal quantity of old, fine manure, en cords to their miserable victims. (Here the mixed with a little ground bone, ashes or plaster Doctor showed a specimen with eighty cocoons at- to each tree. This will stimulate action, and tached, and from which he had collected the flies.) Many insects prey upon each other; sometimes cause a more rapid and abundant deposition of diseases diminish them; birds destroy incredible granular substance to heal and conceal the wound, numbers; toads eat them: frogs and fish consume and be otherwise beneficial to the tree. Those

who have gum shellac dissolved will do well to | This rapid agricultural growth has been achieved brush the gnawed places over with that before chiefly since the collapse of land speculation in banking up. Many valuable trees may be saved 1857. In 1858 Minnesota imported bread and provisions. In 1861 she exported 3,000,000 bushby this process-but perhaps not all. If gnawed els of wheat alone. places are found in the winter, or early spring, they should be kept covered with snow, or wrapt up at once to prevent their becoming dry and hard. Very much will depend upon this. If girdled entirely around the tree, scions must be inserted in order to keep up the circulation. We have some interesting facts to communicate on this subject.

MINNESOTA.

We have before us a well-printed pamphlet of 126 pages, with the following title:-"MINNESOTA: Its Progress and Capabilities. Being the Second Annual Report of the Commissioner of Statistics for the years 1860 and 1861. And containing an abstract of the U. S. Census." The mechanical execution of the work reflects credit upon Mr. Wм. R. MARSHALL, the State printer at St. Paul.

Minnesota is probably the best wheat State in the Union, with the exception of California, and perhaps Wisconsin. The statistics of her wheat crop show an average yield in 1860 of twenty-two bushels per acre, and in 1859 of nineteen bushels

these results being from fifty to three hundred per cent. greater than that of the principal wheat States, with the exceptions noted. In 1859, for example, the average yield of Iowa was four and one-third bushels per acre; of Ohio, seven and one-third bushels. Illinois, according to a high local authority, produces from year to year not els is considered an unusually large average for more than eight bushels per acre, and fifteen bushthe best wheat States. The comparative exemption of Minnesota from the disease and insects which ravage the wheat crops of other States, gives it a great advantage in the cultivation of this most valuable staple.

Minnesota is often supposed to be too far north for corn. This is a great mistake, founded on the popular fallacy that the latitude governs climate. But climates grow warmer towards the west coasts the summers of Minnesota are as warm as those of continents, and although its winters are cold, of Southern Ohio. It may surprise some readers to know that the mean summer heat of St. Paul is precisely that of Philadelphia, five degrees further south, and that it is considerably warmer during the whole growing season than Chicago, three degrees further South. The products of the soil confirm the indications of the Army Meteorologi

In a speech made by Mr. SEWARD, at St. Paul, a year or two since, he said, "Here is the place, the central place, where the Agriculture of the richest region of North America must pour out its tributes to the whole world." We have been greatly interested in looking over the pages of this work, and as much surprised as pleased at the wonderful resources and developments of this new world. Mr. J. A. WHEELOCK, the Commis-cal Register. The average yield of corn in 1860 sioner of Statistics, has embodied such a budget of facts and intelligent observations upon them as is seldom met with. The country seems to be rich in all the elements essential to a rapid growth in population and almost unbounded wealth-in minerals, timber of various kinds, in the cereal grains, in rich native grasses, in abundant water privileges and communications with the rest of the world, and in a climate highly favorable to health and the production of the great staples for sustaining human and animal life.

The following facts are collated from the official

statistics of Minnesota :

was thirty-five and two-thirds bushels per acre, and in 1859—a bad year-twenty-six bushels. By comparison, in the latter year, Iowa produced but twenty-three and one-half bushels per acre, and Ohio, the Queen of the corn States, but twentynine bushels. In Illinois-of which corn is the chief staple-Mr. Lincoln, now President of the United States, in the course of an agricultural address in 1859, stated that the "average crop from year to year does not exceed twenty bushels per acre."

HENS EATING EGGS.-A writer in the London

Field says that hens eating their eggs is often owing to the form of the nest, and suggests that the Rapid as has been the growth of the new West- proper form is that of a plate, shallow, that she ern States, Minnesota has surpassed them all in may not have to jump down on the eggs, and flat the rapidity of its progress. Its population in on the bottom, so that when she treads on them, 1850 was 5,330; in 1860, 172,022. İts agricul- they will roll aside, and let her feet slip easily betural development has been even more remarkable. tween them. She can then pass her bill among The number of acres of plowed land in 1850 was them, as she tucks them under her, and shuffle 1,900; in 1854, 15,000; in 1860, 433,267-hav-them together with her wings without hurting ing increased nearly thirty fold in six years.

The number of bushels of wheat produced in 1850 was 1,401; in 1854, 7,000; in 1860, 5,001,432 bushels, being nearly thirty bushels to each inhabitant, or four times as much as the whole wheat crop of New England in 1850.

The whole amount of grain and potatoes produced in Minnesota in 1850 was 71,709 bushels; in 1860 it was 14,693,517 bushels-mostly in the small grains. What a progress for ten years!

them. If, on the contrary, the nest is made in the form of a basin, the eggs press against each other, and are liable to be crushed by her efforts to push her feet between them, or to alter their position with her beak or wings. When an egg is broken, most hens will eat it, and, as hatching time approaches, the eggs become more brittle and in a deep or badly-formed nest, the chicks are very apt to be crushed and killed between the other eggs, by the movements of the hen.

;

For the New England Farmer. OBSERVATIONS ON DRAINAGE.

BY JUDGE FRENCH.

save, on moist land, twenty-five per cent. of the labor of cultivating; heavy soils being rendered by thorough drainage, almost as easy of cultivation as naturally light land. 8. To promote the absorption of fertilizing substances from the air;

and so to get your share of the exhalations from your neighbors' manure heaps, as well as from the swamps and cities. 9. To supply to the roots of plants, air; which is necessary to their very life,

water.

Since my treatise on Farm Drainage was published, three years ago, I have carefully watched all the drainage operations that have come within my sphere of observation, as well as the published statements in the agricultural journals, and especially in the Transactions of Societies, and no sinand which must follow the rain water as it degle instance has come to my knowledge, where scends towards the drains. 10. To warm the soil, even a tolerably well conducted experiment in which can never be warmed while filled with wadrainage has proved unsatisfactory to the propriter. Heat cannot be propagated downward in etor. Indeed, the fact, that almost any poorly conceived, and half-executed plan of drainage, No degree of heat applied to the surface produces such wonderful results, is an obstacle in of a vessel of water, can warm it at the bottom. the way of the most thorough and permanent, Heat passes through water by the circulation of and in the end, economical execution of the work. its heated particles, which, being made lighter by A farmer, who has run a few open two-foot ditch-heat, always go upward. The only way to warm es through his meadow, triumphantly points out the soil in the spring, is by allowing the snow wato you the perfect realization of his idea of suc- ter to pass down and warm water or air to take cessful drainage, and another, who has filled a like its place. A rain storm of boiling water on soil ditch two-thirds full of roadside stones, and cov-saturated with cold water, could not perceptibly ered it with shavings and soil, exhibits his field as a new evidence of the importance of underdraining. All this is well, if the same labor and expense would not have done the work better. Any drainage, like any plowing or any manuring for a crop, is better than none at all, but let us keep the standard at its proper height, and work as nearly up to it as practicable, and let no man flatter himself that anything less than tile drains four feet deep is really the best drainage. Stone drains are just as good as tiles, if they can be kept open, but unless very deep, so as to be below frost and the operations of moles and mice, they are likely to be obstructed, and when once obstructed, cannot be repaired.

THE OBJECTS OF DRAINAGE

may be briefly stated thus: 1. To remove stagnant water; which is, for some reason not easily defined, poisonous and destructive to all valuable grasses and cultivated crops. 2. To deepen the soil, and so afford to the roots of plants a larger pasture or feeding ground. 3. To promote pulverization of the soil, so as to allow the roots to traverse far and wide and to find their appropriate nourishment in its proper condition. 4. To prevent surface washing; by allowing rain and snow water to pass through, and not over the soil. 5. To prevent freezing out of grass, grain, and even shrubs and trees; by allowing the water to pass quickly down, instead of freezing near the surface and expanding by crystallization, and so tearing the roots from the soil. 6. To lengthen the season for labor and for vegetation; making what was before a late soil in spring, the earliest for working, and giving all the autumn, till the ground freezes, for fall tillage or improvement. 7. To

warm it three inches below the surface. 11. To

render the soil more moist in times of drought; a pulverized soil holding, by attraction, much more water than a lumpy or compact soil, as is readily proved by the fact, that water may be squeezed from a moist, light soil, as from a sponge, even by hand pressure. 12. To prevent injury by drought, also, by causing the roots to strike far deeper in early spring, than they can do in wet soil, thus giving them an equal moisture throughout the season, instead of floods in spring, which prevent expansion of roots, followed by a lowering of the water-table beyond their reach.

These advantages of drainage are all real and intelligible, and may be greater or less, according as the particular field under consideration may be more or less moist. It may be added, that all fruit-growers and nursery-men seem to agree, that stagnant water, even in winter, is very injurious, and that standing even in that season with their feet in cold water is destructive to fruit trees.

WHY TILES ARE BEST.

Tiles are getting to be abundant in many parts of New England, and as there is no reason why they may not be made wherever common bricks are made, any demand for them will soon be met by a supply. Where tiles cannot be obtained at reasonable rates, it may be often expedient to use stones. There is no one advantage, that a stone drain possesses over a tile drain, and no reason can be given for using stone, except economy, which is a point presently to be considered.

Tile drains are better than stone. 1st, Because they are more permanent and reliable. No mole or mouse, or insect large enough to do any harm, can enter a tile drain properly laid and secured. A