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198 AGRICULTURAL. DANIEL. LEE, m. D., Editor. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 1859. THE PRESENT CONDITION OF AMERICAN AGRICULTURE. The November number of the Working Far mer has an article on “ the present condition of American Agriculture," credited to the London Fanner's Magazine, which wo have good reason to believe was written by one of the editors of the Working Farmer, and sent to England for its publication, as containing a truthful and in structive account of ‘•American Agriculture.” Feeling considerable interest in the character and reputation of that large class of citizens who own and cultivate the soil of the United States, regardless of geographical lines, we have read with some care the letters of the American correspondent of the London Farmer's Magazine , and we are sorry to say they do great injustice to the subject discussed, and especially to South ern agriculture and slave labor. We copy the following from page 255 of the Working Far mer: “ That Virginia, for the settlement of whose domain Raleigh labored so long and so earnest ly, and which was once the queen of all the sis ters of the confederacy, should, with 75,000 il literate inhabitants and but 3.000 copies of her agricultural paper in circulation, be reduced to the very verg® of sterility and decay, will sur prise no one who has studied the inevitable conse quences (f cultivation by slave lal>or." Thu the above statement, made alike to the people of Great Britain and this country, con tains a most pregnant and injurious error, we re ligiously believe, and feel abundantly able to prove, so tar as it is possible to prove any nega tive proposition. The readers of a London agri cultural magazine of high character and long standing, are told by an American agricultural writer, that “the inevitable consequence of culti vation by slave labo ,” is “to reduce a State to the very verge of sterility aud decay,” and com pel its inhabitants to become alike “ illiterate ” aud poverty-stricken. This is a serious, aud even a terrible charge to bring against the agri cultural industry of some fourteen or fifteen sov ereign States ; and we submit the question to an impartial world (if any such world exists, which is doubtful), whether the misuse of any kind of labor, of money or other property, or the abuse of anything involves “ inevitably ” the condemnation of the thing, the property, money, or labor, wrongfully, or mistakenly employed ? It is the want of adequate and abundant labor in the old State of Virginia to improve the soil and cultivate it properly, and not the existence of slaves, that places her tillage in a false posi tion. The demand for laborers to go South has been so great and exhausting, that no farmer could afford to keep slaves enough to do full jus tice to his farm, and Virginia agriculture. Field hands, that cannot earn over $l5O a year, each, in tbo Old Dominion, will earn from S3OO to $450 in the best cotton, rice and sugar districts in the South and Southwest, while the expense of taking a negro from Richmond to Alabama, Mississippi or Texas, will rarely ex ceed from $25 to $35. Indeed, as was well stated by Mr. Hull in his late agricultural ad dress, no man can afford to work slaves aud make only three and a half bales to the hand, when for ten or fifteen dollars a head his ne groes may be taken to land that will yield seven bales or more to the hand ; and the higher cot ton is, the larger the premium offered to abandon old plantations and all poor soils, and concentrate the entire force on rich virgin land. These facts cannot be refuted ; and they prove beyond the reach of a reasonable doubt, that there are not slaves enough to cultivate at once and property, the fields of all the northern and all the south ern slave-holding States. Give Alabama, Miss issippi, Florida, Louisiana, Arkansas, and the broad and ftrtile domain of Texas, what slaves their agriculture demands for its full develop ment, aud not one woolly head will remain in all the South out of those States. Suppose a man should undertake to haul con stantly what was a fair load for five mules, with two ? He would naturally drive hard, wear out his team prematurely, make it look poor, mean and worthless, and after fretting for years at the weakness and inefficiency of his force, he might himself adopt the equally false and popular no tion that mules are inferior to horses for all haul ing purposes. Virginia has never had more than twofi-fths as many slaves as the load to be hauled, or work to be done, required: and be cause those she did have failed to work a mira cle, and each two perform the labor of five, every defect in her agriculture is charged as “the in evitable consequence of slave labor 1" “ Truth is mighty, and will prevail;” and this is very near the exact truth. Slavery was has tily condemned eighty years ago; was tried af terwards ; and when fairly tried, was found not guilty. But how shall we reverse the unjust ver diet of condemnation ? Can it be done by pursuing a policy which originated in hostility to the institution —which invokes both the moral power and material aid of England, France and all Europe to crush it as a detestable thing, no better than piracy? It this condemnation is known to be, and felt to be unjust, why keep Virginia agriculture in a false position before the civilized world, in London journalism, to the serious detriment of Southern intelligence and character, and literally compel the noble mother of States to part with all her slaves, and depend exclusively on white labor ers, who will vote ever with the North ? Is it not time that we modify somewhat Our present system of planting industry, and employ a part of our capital in sheep-husbandry and wool growing, in which far l£ss labor is needed, and of course no slaves from Virginia to prosecute the business successfully ? The concentration of slaves on a comparatively small area by ex. 3>»JS gOTOJKKEK KIKWJ SH BXAKSXU3B. elusive planting, is a virtual surrender of about two-thirds of all our present slave territory to freesoil labor, and its influences. This weighty fact has been too little considered. Every man who buys a slave from Maryland, Virginia, Ken tucky or Missouri, opens the door a little wider, and invites free soil voters to settle in these States for agricultural purposes. Laborers, they must and will have ; aud we ask in all earnest ness, where they are to come from ? It is ab surd to suppose that two negroes will perform the work of ten, or even five. It is suicidal to place slave labor in all the border States in this alike unjust and disadvantageous position.— Our agricultural employments must be more di versified-spreading slave labor over many mil lions of acres of grazing lands —instead of crowding more and more negroes into a few cot toD fields. * The writer who attempts to describe for a for eign magazine “ the present condition of Amer ican Agriculture,” betrays as little knowledge of his subject in the Northern, as in the Southern States. He lauds Mr. Mapes and his Working Farmer most extravagantly, whilo he ignores the existence of the American Agriculturist, an older, and far abler journal, with some four or five times larger circulation. It is with no in considerable reluctance that we ever expose ag ricultural quackery like that of the Patent Of fice and Working Farmer; for by it, we make bitter personal enemies, and receive little or no thanks from the public. Not one man in a thou sand has any idea of the amount of cheating now successfully practiced by selling nearly wortliless articles under every conceivable false pretense as being of peculiar and great value. In the whole catalogue of agricultural humbugs, perhaps there is no one more ridiculous than that based on the notion that an atom of pot ash. or one of sulphur, phosphorus or nitrogen, is “ progressed ” and improved, every time it forms a part of a living organism, as taught by the manufacturer of “ Mapes’ Nitrogenized Su per-phospliate of lime.” —— Four Valley, Houston Co., Ga. ) Nov. sth 1859. ) Dr. Lee— Dear Sir : Though I believe it is contrary to your cus tom to answer privately, inquiries from your correspondents on the subject to which you are devoted, I beg of you as a special favor, to be so kind as to give me by letter, the information sought below. Since I have no domestic manure to spare for grain, please tell me, (now that you are acquain ted with all the foreign and manipulated fertili zers,) the very best article or preparation for Wheat, and for Barley on an exhausted sandy soil, and the quantity in pounds or bushels ne cessary per acre, to secure the maximum yield of both. Now, that my barley has been sown a month or more, what would be the best top dressing for it? What is the comparitive merit of Rhodes, Hoyt’s, and Reeses’ Super Phosphate of Lime ? What preparation shall I have made as the best manure, and enricher of the soil for cotton, on an exhausted sandy land ? (pine land.) Give me a recipe wbioh in your will best stimulate the growth, while it permanent ly enriches a poor sand soil. I propose to manure all my land cultivated in cotton, and follow the year after with corn, without manure, putting all my manure each year on cotton, follow with corn. So in the recipe above requested, please take into ac count my cotton seed, stable, and cow-pen ma nure, and combine them with what you may think best. Please accept my best wishes aud highest es teem. S. C. Edgeworth, M. D. We shall answer the above letter in the only way we can consistently with our numerous and pressing duties. There is no commercial manure that can be bought which will not cost from fifty to one hundred percent more than cotton seed at ten cents a bushel to be used as a fertilizer. Ifyou can now grow cotton, corn and peas on your land, you can produce all needful manure at home far cheaper than it is possible for any man at a distance to manufacture it and send it to yon. Either you must wrong him, or he must cheat you; for the transportation alone will more than consume all legitimate profits to either part} - . If your land is so poor that cotton, corn and peas will not grow, then your condition is the same as that of the writer, who has tried wood ashes and salt, (which used to answer a good purpose on corn in New York,) with no effect. We have also tried guano and commer cial super-phosphate this year with no benefit; and we are now paying something over a dollar a load of about a ton or less, for stable manure, i as the cheapest article we can obtain. Buy all the cotton seed you can for manure, j and sow them over your barley lots and wheat fields. Pay a dollar per 100 lbs. for all the ; bones you can purchase. Boil them in strong lye until they fall into a powder, and then mix | the lye and bones with dry, half-rotted, or not rotted at all, cow-vard manure. This will give you potash cheaper than any city dealer will sell it to you; and also bone dust aud organic fertil j isers. The reason why ashes, phosphatic . guanos and super-phosphates fail on our land, and may on yours, is the lack of ammonia and carbon in the soil. The minerals are all only | special manures, and do not meet the entire j wants of growing crops. Cow-peas plowed in, and stable manure, give plants all they need; I but neither phosphoric nor sulphuric acid, nor | salt, nor wood ashes, nor lime, can do this. They are partial fertilisers; yet all are good for | the enrichment of the soil. Our friend should remember that agriculture j is not an exact science; and therefore its recipes J and formulas are necessarily varied to suit an infinite diversity of soils and of meteorological influences. He must carefully study both gene ral principles, and all the facts which belong to localities. One of the most thorough and criti cal analysts this remarkable age has produced, Baron Liebig, analysed the wheat plant, and from its constituents made, with great care, a recipe for English wheat-growers. It was fairly | tried several years, and most signally failed; and mainly because he relied too much on the atmosphere to nourish this important cereal. If yon can raise perennial lucerne, that will yield rich food for wheat, cotton and corn. Clover is next best, and English grasses next. Make grazing lands by the hundred acres, sup port all your tillage fields. We cannot under take to say whose super-phosphate is better than that of all others. —— • Montgomery, Ala., Oct. 30, 1859. Dr. Lee: —Please inform us, whether lime, which has been used in the manufacture of coal gas, is valuable as a manure on clay and sandy lands. The caustic qualities of the lime seem to be extracted by the process, and a strong smell of gas remains with it. This article can be obtained cheaply at all coal gas works, and if valuable as a manure, should not be thrown away, but turned to profit by spreading over the fields in this vicinity. Please let us hear from you through the medium of your paper, and ob lige, Yours truly, W. C. Bibb. In northern cities, lime that has been used to purify gas, sells at about the same price it would bring for agricultural purposes, if it had not been so employed. It should never be applied di rectly to crops from the gas works, for it con tains bitumenous substances that will injure— perhaps kill plants. But composted with any vegetable matter, like forest leaves, straw, or swamp mud, every virtue in any lime will be developed, except that of perfectly new and caustic lime. There is too much acidity in most organic substances, and in soils rich in mould, which is corrected by the application of lime in any form. Every one should use marl, where it can be had at small costs. ■■. . —— THE INCREASING NECESSITY FOR MAKING FARMING A SCIENCE. The population of the world is increasing steadily with the years; while if the capability of production,does not increase in the same ratio, we shall evidently come to want. It is said that our vast country, if skilfully tilled, is capable of supporting 500,000,000 of human beings; but it is plain that it could not be done by the present system of tillage. And yet, we may confidently believe that this immense num ber will one day inhabit our land; and if so, what shall they eat ? In Belgium, the most densely peopled country on the globe, 538 per sons occupy, and are fed from, one square mile; and yet it is well known that the soil of that country is by no means the most fertile in Eu rope. Our country is naturally far richer. Still, even at this early date, we see immense tracts in Virginia deserted entirely, and thrown open as commons, on the plea that they are so poor that a “living cannot be made on them,” though without doubt they were once fertile and remu nerative. Out on such farming! Unhappily, this method of cultivation and its inevitable re sults are too common in this “ fast” age and country. Most of the European States, so far behind us in other respects, and which we so haughtily and often unjustly taunt, are vastly our superiors in this particular. Again; the ever-increasing variety and num ber of insect enemies which annually infest and destroy the crops, imperatively demand new preventives—new - means of defence and preser vation against them. As the country is cleared up, and civilization advances, the various grains and vegetables, like the human budy, are wasted by new and fiercer enemies. Wheat, our great staple product, and one of the constituents of human existence, lives a precarious life, and withers before the attacks of puny, contempti ble bugs. Coni, the pioneer cereal of America, is cut down in the gretn and vigorous youth by the unsightly worm, and poor man is left with little hope and less bread. What shall be done? Shall we continue to plow and sow and not reap, as did our fathers ? Then the only thing to be done after there remains no more land to be settled (which must, most assuredly, be the state of affairs at some future day,) and the population is still increas ing, is to farm better. Laud speculation must be abolished, and men must be content to own no more land than they cau thoroughly and profitably till. And not only that, the princi ples of good farming must be more studied. In fact, farmers must no longer work with the hands only, but with the head also. It must no longer bespoken of contemptibly as “Farming,” but as “ Geoponics.” Agricultural Colleges must be founded and supported, in which far mers' sons can be taught the science of their art as lawyers are in theirs. Europe supports 400 of these schools; the United States but two. The effects are readily seen in their respective system of agriculture, and the extent of their population. Much must be allowed for the youth of our country; still, much is needed. — SHEEP VS. OTHER STOCK. The Kentucky Farmer thus briefly enume rates some of the advantages of keeping sheep: They make the quickest returns for the in vestment in them, being ready to eat at three or four months old, and yielding a valuable fleece at one year old, and perhaps a lamb also. Their substance is cheaper than that of any other domestic animals—grass and stock fodder being all they will require at any season. They supply the family, at all seasons, with the most wholesome and the most delicious meat, of the most convenient size for family use. They present valuable products in two forms, their wool and their flesh, both of which are adapted to home consumption, and to sale, and both of which are adapted to either domestic or distant markets. The transportation of them to market alive is cheaper than that of any other live stock (not blooded) of the same value, and the same is true also of their wool, compared with other and similar agricultural products. Wool may be more easily and safely kept in expectation of another market, than any other and similar product, as it is less liable to fire, insects, rats or rotting. An investment in them is self-enlarging, and rapidly so, by their annual increase, while their wool pays much in the way of interest at the same time, which is not true of many, if of any similar investments. Sheep, here, have but one enemy, the dog, and his brother, ignoramus legislator; who, not having the capacity to comprehend the whole subject, and to explain it to his constituents, al lows the dog to run at large unrestrained by law, and thereby this inestimable value is al most entirely lost to the State. E2T On some of the market gardens near London, as many as five crops are raised in one year, the principal object being to raise the finest specimens for high prices. Under such a sys tem of culture, slugs and other insects are very formidable foes, and to destroy them, toads have been found so useful, as to be purchased at high prices,—as much as a dollar and a half a dozen. AGRICULTURAL PREMIUMS NOT PROPERLY DISTRIBUTED. The end which should be sought in offering agricultural premiums is, undoubtedly, to stimu late effort for improvement in the results of hus bandry. It cannot be questioned that much good has resulted from the encouragement thus afforded by State and County Associations; for, aside from the mere pecuniary value of prizes, the spirit of active emulation is thereby awa kened. In looking over the premium lists of various societies this year, it will be observed that a largo share of the more valuable prizes are offered for the mere results of culture, while the means by which those results may be at tained are comparatively neglected. Thus, lib eral premiums have been offered for the best specimens of grain and vegetables, without re gard for the manner of their cultivation. The sight of a mammoth pumpkin or beet, a basket of superb potatoes, or a display of luscious grapes, is very gratifying, but of little practical use, unless we may know how they were pro duced. li, sometimes happens that the exhibi tor can give no particular reason for his success; he found a large chance specimen iu the garden or field, and “brought it to the show.” But this proves nothing, and improves no one. A speci men of much less size, brought to superior ex cellence by a well-conducted plan, with a des cription of it accompanying the article exhibited, would be much more worthy of the award. Some societies very properly require such information to be furnished by exhibitors as will be availa ble to others desirous of attaining the same ex cellence. Again, agricultural implements have been as signed a rank far below their actual worth. Much of success in farming operations is due to the use of improved implements. Take from the cultivators of this country their improved plows, and we should at once be set back fifty years in agricultural development. Blooded stock, however high, or horses, of whatever strain, would avail but little in countries where tilling implements are rude and defective. Yet in the several announcements of premiums for this year, we noticed premiums ranging from $25 to SIOO are offered for the best thorough bred horses and bulls, while the best plow is only to receive a silver medal. In one instance SIOOO is offered for the best blooded horse, and only SIOO for the best Steam Plow, the success iul introduction of which will require an outlay of means and talent sufficient to import a score of the choicest horses, and which, when once made to work well, will add more to the agri cultural progress and wealth of the country, than all the horses that ever ran their owners to ruin upon a race track. Neither should the giving of premiums be restricted to mere productions. We now need more than almost anything else, well conducted trials of different modes and processes of culture. If a judicious scale of prizes were instituted as an encouragement to careful experiments, the ef fect would be good. In this way many an error might soon be exploded and many a truth dis covered. Let our Agricultural Societies consid er this matter. — American Agriculturist. hi • A CRACK IN THE HOG-TROUGH Some time ago a friend sent me word that he gave, every day, nearly twenty pails of butter milk to a lot of shoats, aud they scarcely improv ed a bit on it. Thinks I, this is a breed of hogs worth seeing—they must be of the sheet-iron kind; so I called on him, heard him repeat the mournful tale, and then visited the sty. In or der to get a closer view of the miiuculous swine, I went into tlio pen and on close examination found a crack in the trough, through which much of the contents ran away under the floor. Thinks I, here is the type of much of the fail ures and misfortunes of our agricultural breth ren. When I see a farmer omitting all improve ments because of a little cost, selling all his good farm stock to buy bank, or railroad, or mortgage stock, robbing himself and heirs, thinks I, my friend, you have a crack in your hog-trough. When I see a farmer subscribing for half a dozen political and miscellaneous papers, and spending all his leisure reading them, while he don't read a single agricultural or horticultu ral journal—thinks I to myself, poor man, you have got a large and wide crack in your hog trough. When I see a farmer attending to all the po litical conventions, and coming down liberally with the dust on all caucus occasions, knowing every man who votes his ticket; and yet to save his neck, couldn’t tell who is President of the Count} - Agricultural Society, or where the Fair was held last year, I “unanimously” come to the conclusion that the poor soul has got a crack in his hog-trough. When I see a farmer buying guano, but wast ing ashes and hen manure, trying all sorts of ex periments except intellectual hard work and economy; getting the choicest seeds, regardless of cultivation and good sense; growing the va riety of fruit called “ Sour Tart Seedling,” and sweetening it with sugar, pound for pound, keeping the front fields rich and neat, while the back lots are overgrown with elder, briars, snap-dragon, and thistle, contributing liberally to the Choctaw Indian Fund, and never giving a cent to any Agricultural Society—such a man, I will give a written guarantee, has got a crack both iu his head and in his hog-trough. When I see a farmer spending his timo trav eling and visiting in a carriage, when he has to sell his corn to pay his hired help, and his hogs are so lean that they have to lean against the fence to sustain themselves while squealing, I rather lean to the conclusion that somebody that stays at home will have a lien on the farm, and sometime the bottom will come entirely out of the hog-trough.— Orange County Farmer. — Alabama State Fair.— Our friend, Wm. H. Ogbums, Esq., just returned from a Georgia and Tennessee trip, tells us that a general impres sion in Georgia is that our STATE FAIR is held in October. How the mistake originated, we know not, but let it suffice that the Fair commences in this city on the loth of November, and holds four or five days. Our Georgia cotemporaries will confer a spe cial favor by copying the above, or giving the notice in substance.— Montgomery (Ala.) Mail. — Boxes axd Wheat. —The Scientific American publishes a statement that according to Sir Rob ert Kane, the distinguished chemist, one pound of bones contains the phosphoric acid of 28 pounds of wheat. A crop of wheat of 40 bush els per acre, and 60 pounds per bushel, weighs 2,400 pounds, and thus requires about 86 pounds of bones to supply it with that essential material. The usual supply of bone-dust (3 to 4 cwt. per acre) supplies each of the crops for four years with a sufficiency of phosphoric acid, which is given out as the bones decompose. It may therefore, be conceived what would be the effect of a double dressing of bones, renewed each year from time to time, by adding doses, all giv ing out the phosphoric acid by the slow process of decomposition. WOOL AND ITS PROPERTIES. In ancient times the people of most northern climates clothed themselves with the skins of animals. In winter the fur or wool was turned inward. This practice is continued among the peasants of Russia to this day ; many of them make of sheep skins with the wool turned inward, for their ordinary clothing in winter. These skins were called among the Saxons (from whom de derive our language) felts, i. e., skins. So that, strictly speaking, the word “felting” means manufacturing a skin or covering; but is now generally used in the same sense as the “ful ling.” The phenomena of the felting properties of wool long remained a mystery. This gave rise to many speculations as to the cause of it. It is asserted that the “ surface of each fibre of wool is formed of lamella; or little plaits, which cover each other from the root to the point, much in the same manner as the scales of a fish cover that animal from head to tail.” The edges of wool are so hooked, or more properly serrated, that they resemble the teeth of a fine saw; all the projecting edges pointing in a direction from root to point, and that, con sequently, in the process of fulling, the fibres can move only root end foremost. The serrations of wool are the great cause of its felting quality. But its elasticity, pliability, and the spiral curve, contribute greatly to ren der it more perfect. Hence the fine wool of th* Barbary sheep which is very glossy and perfect in every respect, except that it wants spiral curve, is inferior in value to the Merino, which has many spiral curves. In order to complete the felting process; the presence of soap or mois ture is necessary; these add greatly to the co hesion of wool or fur. Hence when cloth or stockings are simply placed in water, and are sugered to remain a considerable time, they will frequently be fulled by this means. The varia tions of heat from day to day will cause an al ternate expansion and contraction of the wool so as to causo the felting process to proceed.— By means of these qualities of wool and the al ternate pressure and relaxation of the hand or machinery, the fibres of wool are compelled to imitate the process of weaving, being driven root end foremost in every direction, so as to form a solid and firm body, which cannot be unravelled, and which is far superior to what can be ob tained merely by weaving. — The Great Easters as a Cotton Carrier.— The success of the Great Eastern as a construc tion is admitted on all hands, but its pecuniary success is yet to be tested. It is pretty certain, however, that such a vessel in the course of de velopment given to the commerce of the world would soon become necessary. The commerce of the world has so increased of late years that the quantities to be carried at any onetime, from any given port to any other, have so much in creased that the capacity of the vessel requires to be proportionably enhanced. To illustrate— cotton is the principal article of export from the United States. The whole quantity exported in 1820 was 00,000,000 pounds, or 200,000 bales, of the average weight of the present day. That would require to transport it 140,000 tons of shipping, or 10,000 tons per month. Thetonago cleared in that year from the cotton States was 195,G37. In 185 G, the quantity of cotton export ed was 3,000,000 bales, or 1,350,000,000 lbs., and the tonage cleared from the cotton States was 1,098,795 tons or comparatively, thus: Cotton exported. Tons. Bales lb. Bales. cleared per ton. 1820 90,000,000 200,000 195,637 1 1856 1,350,000,000 3,000,000 1,098,795 3 The return for 1856 shows an increase of two bales per ton of shipping cleared from the South for foreign ports, but a good deal of cotton — 115,000,000 pounds, or 210,000 bales—were ex ported from New York. The actual quantity and shipping from New Orleans was 670,000 tons, and the number of bales 1,500,000. If we take ten months as the shipping season—in 1820 there were shipped but 20,000 bales per month, and in 1856 there were required 110,000 bales per month. The capacity of the Great Eastern is 27,000 bales, hence this vessel clearing once in each month would, in 1820, have carried the whole crop, but would now carry but one-fourth of it. The commerce of the world, embracing every product of industry, has increased in a similar ratio, and the activity of interchange since the abrogation of the Navigation Laws of Great Britain in 1816, and the modification of all laws for the restriction of trade, has become very great, calling for a greater quantity of tonage and great er speed in the transportation.— U. S. Economist. AGRicur/rr re. —Of all the sciences known to man that of agriculture is the most important, as turnishiug the aliment absolutely necessary for human sustenance. Its pursuit has been consid ered an honorable one from the remotest anti quity ; then, and until the last quarter of a centu ry, it was simply an art practiced with greater success by others. The scene is now, however, wonderfully changed. Soils and crops are re duced to their primitive elements in the labora tory of the chemist, atmospheric influences are thoroughly investigated, and the farmer may know at a trifling cost how to obtain the fullest advantage from the broad acres which he tills. This is the age of high farming; the man who works as his grandfather did is a laggard in the race. Success in agriculture can only now be at tained by a skillful adaptation of means to ends. Land must be dressed by the most efficient im plements, and the produce of the soil skillfully garnered. Labor, both horse and manual, must be economised by steam; and, above all, as the grand-key stone of the arch, manure, carefully selected, must be liberally apppled. This ques tion of manuring is far from being understood even at the present moment by the bulk of the practical farmers of this country; to the majori ty of them the usual analysis of soils and fertili zers are so many occult formulae. It is on all hands admitted that to farm without manure more or less concentrated, is about hopeless a task as attempting to draw water from a well with a perforated bucket; but until our husband men learn to view chemical science as a neces sary and indispensable adjunct of successful farming, thousands of rubbish will bo annually sold, and the fairest fields continue to bo inade quately cropped. —■ The Scientific American speaks of a new in vention for horse shoeing, designed to obviate the continual driving of nails in the hoof, by which great injury is sometimes inflicted upon valuable horses by utiskilfull workmen. A groove is made in tbs underside of a common shoe, into which ia fastened a piece of iron of the same width and shape as the groove, only thicker and slightly curved upwards, the junction forming a c uni pie to dovetail. The advantage of this inner shoe is, that it is made to project be yond the ordinary shoe, and when worn down can easily be removed and replaced by another without pulling off the shoe from the horses hoof.