NEW YORK FARMERS' CLUB. Ar a late meeting of this club, Mr. Turell presented the following humorous report in the Portsmouth Journal of the New Hampshire Legislature on the

crows had been protecting the farmer, by destroying the worms which they found there. From that spot the crows had furnished their young with food, and as long as worms could be found did not touch the corn. Farmers did not fully appreciate such efforts of the crow, and the good effects resulting therefrom. There might be some particular instances when injury was done, but all considered the crow of incalculable benefit to the farmer.

Cases were so rare where crows did injury, that he should enter the plea for them in such cases, Bounty on Crows.-Mr. Clark said as the gentle- which was offered by a distinguished lawyer of a man from Alstead (Mr. Vilas) and the gentleman neighboring State, that of somnambulism, and if this from New Ipswich (Mr. Preston) were in their was not entertained, he should consider this whole seats, he moved that the report of the Committee on proceeding as illegal, it being an attack upon an Agriculture and Manufactures, in relation to killing office held by law, for Shakspeare's reports have it crows and giving bounty thereon, be taken up, that crows are the "executors of dead horses." which motion prevailed. [Laughter.]

The resolution declared that it was inexpedient to legislate upon the subject.

He afterwards called the crow the "administrator de bonis non," which he translated as adminisThe bill, which had been referred to the commit-trator on bones, and appealed to his learned friend, tee, was read.

the Chairman of the Committee on Education, for the correctness of his translation. [Laughter.] He gave as another reason against the bill, that as crows were not the intruders upon this soil, but the real aborigines and joint occupants of the soil, they should not be driven off until a year's notice. [Laughter.]

Mr. Preston said he was much obliged for the courtesy of his friend from Manchester in giving him an opportunity to speak on this subject. He should, in the common parlance of the day, tender his services,' not to the Governor, but in defence of his poor colored friend, the crow. It had been said that the crow did great injury to the corn field of Further, they were native Americans, and he was the farmer. He (Mr. P.) did not believe it, and he opposed to a law cutting off the heads of natives. did not believe that the farmers of the State de- He would further submit whether it would not manded any such law, certainly the true interests be better to refer this matter to the Committee of of the farmer did not in his opinion demand it. A Incorporations, and let them weave around the study of the habits and food of the crow would convince any one that the crows were not the disciples of Dr. Graham, but quite the contrary. Their food was mostly made up of worms and insects, which would do ten times the injury that was ever experienced from the crow, were it not that the crow, by destroying them, prevented injury to corn crops and to all kind of crops.

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crows all the restrictive features of laws which have been passed for a few years in this State, and see if they would not conclude that it was a good State to emigrate from. [Laughter.]

Mr. Peabody said he should go against the billIf such a bill as this passed he should go for one to destroy the mosquito, for the mosquito was the more injurious bird [laughter], certainly more

The crow did not meddle with vegetable substan-sanguinary. ces or with corn, until he had made a thorough Mr. Parker, of Fitzwilliam, did not like the feasearch for worms, and made a return of non est in- tures of the proposed bill. It imposed upon the ventus,' and that his appetite was in no part satis-select-men the duty of cutting off the crow's head. fied [laughter] then, and not till then, did the He happened to be one of the select-men of the crow commence depredations upon the farmer's town he represented, and he objected to setting a field. guillotine in front of his door for the purpose of

He (Mr. P.) said he believed that if the farmer taking off crows' heads. [Laughter ] If the bill made proper exertions, he could keep the crows passed he hoped that it would be amended so that away-the farmer could provide proper ways for the one that brought the crows would cut off their frightening them away. Farmers were not gene-heads.

rally aware of the immense benefit derived from Mr. Vilas differed with the gentleman from New the labors of the crow. For one, he professed to Ipswich, in relation to the beneficial results of the be a farmer, and had for a long time cultivated a considerable amount of land, and he had yet to learn that crows did more injury than benefit to the farmers' crops. He would relate one instance.

labors of crows. Perhaps there may be some way to keep off the crows, but it required that the means should be more scientifically understood, than was generally the case at this time, among farmers. Perhaps the gentleman from New Ipswich (Mr. Preston), being half lawyer and half farmer, might weave a net of such a kind that the crow would be glad to keep clear from it.

He had a piece of corn between two pieces of woods, in one of which, if anything can be judged by the noise, there was a family of crows. The crows constantly passed over his field of corn, day after day, and hour after hour, without touching a Mr. Preston replied to some remarks of Mr. hill, and passed down into a meadow at some dis- Vilas, after which the question was taken on the tance. He had the curiosity to examine the spot adoption of the resolution declaring it inexpedient where the crows visited, and he found that the grass to legislate upon the subject, and it was decided in was dry and withered in many places, caused by the the negative. [A just conclusion-we vote for ravages of the worms under the turf. Here the the crows.]

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APPLICATION OF GYPSUM OR PLASTER OF PARIS-ETC.

APPLICATION OF GYPSUM OR PLASTER

OF PARIS.

PREPARATION OF TOMATOS.

269

supersede all others now in use. These hammers are made of cast steel of the best kind, and in a very GROUND plaster, applied as a fertilizer, is so superior manner. Further description seems unSix different well known, and its properties and uses so well necessary, as the cut shows all. established, that it is presumed that most intelligent sizes are now made, weighing from half a pound to farmers are perfectly acquainted with everything one and a half pounds. The price varies accord concerning it. It is extensively used, and is very ing to size, from 75 cents to $1 each. advantageous to clover, beans, peas, turnips, cabbages, &c.; but it does not appear to answer so well on natural meadows, for grain crops, nor on wet, or very poor lands, containing but little vegetable matter, nor is it thought to be of much use in places approximate to the sea. It is extensively used in composts in barn-yards and stables, and in neutralizing decayed or putrescent substances, in vaults, urine tanks, &c.; and is advantageously employed with green manures, and as a top-dressing of rotted dung or compost, to which it gives remarkable activity.

WE Condense the following modes of cooking and preserving the tomato from the Ohio Cultivator, which appear to us to be worthy of the attention of housewives and cooks.

To make Tomato Omelet.-Take a stew-pan and melt a piece of butter the size of a nutmeg. Mince up an onion very fine, and fry it until quite brown. Add ten peeled tomatos, season with pepper and salt, and stir them until cooked to a soft pulp. Then stir in four beaten eggs, until the underside of the mass becomes brown. Lay a plate on top, turn the pan upside down, and the dish is ready for the table.

Tomato Marmalade.-Gather full-grown tomatos while quite green. Take out the stems and stew them until soft, then rub them through a sieve, put the pulp over the fire, season highly with pepper, salt, and powdered cloves, and let it stew unti quite thick. The article will keep well, and is ex. cellent for seasoning gravies.

The quantity of gypsum used per acre varies from half a bushel to five bushels, depending upon the quantum of substances in the ground on which the component parts of the gypsum operate, or are. by them operated upon. In proportion as these are scarce or abundant, the effects are produced in a greater or less degree. And when they are exhausted, or where they do not exist, no quantity whatever will produce any agricultural benefit. If a greater quantity be used, than is required to exhaust the subjects of its operation, the excess French Mode of Cooking Tomatos.-Cut ten or a will remain inert and inactive until new subjects dozen tomatos into quarters, and put them into a call forth its powers. Still the gypsum remaining sauce-pan with four sliced onions, a little parsley, in the soil, on a renewed application of dung, ani- thyme, one clove, and a quarter of a pound of mal, or vegetable matter, will operate, but less butter. Set the pan over the fire, stir the mixture powerfully, although it may have remained in the occasionally for three-fourths of an hour, and then ground for years. Therefore, small quantities, by strain it through a coarse sieve or colander. It frequent applications, are much the best, notwith- may be served with mutton-chops or a beef-steak. standing the excess, if applied too profusely, or beyond what the substances in the earth require, will remain in its original state of composition.

ANDERSON'S PATENT HAMMER.

DANDELION COFFEE.-Dr. Harrison, of Edinbugh, prefers dandelion coffee to that of Mecca; and many persons all over the Continent prefer a mixture of succory and coffee to coffee alone. Dig up the roots of dandelion, wash them well, but do not scrape them, dry them, cut them into the size of peas, and then roast them in an earthen pot, or coffee roaster of any kind. The great secret of good coffee, is, to have it fresh burnt and fresh ground.-Cottage Gardening.

HOW TO BOIL GREEN CORN.-The proper state in which to eat green corn, is, at the time that the milk flows upon pressing the kernels with the thumb nail. It is best when boiled in the ear with the husks on, the latter of which should be stripped off when brought to the table. The ears should then be covered with butter, with a little salt added, and the grains eaten off the cob. Over-refined people think this vulgar, and shave them off, but in so doing they lose much of their sweetness.

ANDERSON'S PATENT HAMMER.-FIG. 63. THIS is a recent invention; the claw, as will be seen by the cut, extending to the handle, and clasp- BEST TIME TO PRUNE PEACH TREES.-The ing it with a strong ring, which makes it impossi- most suitable time for pruning the peach, as well as ble, in drawing nails, for the handle to give way, for most other kinds of stone-fruit, is in autumn, draw out, or become loose. The face of the patent just as the leaves begin to fall, when the sap is in hammer will thus always remain true, it being kept a downward motion. At this period, a more perat the same angle with the hammer. We consider fect cicatrization takes place, than when the trees this a very great improvement, and we think it will are pruned in winter or spring.

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THE ALPACA.-No. 4.

THE ALPACA.-NO. 4.

sequently, that the two domestic animals of the Peruvians were not brought to their present state by means of crossing. Their intermixture is a modern expedient by the Spaniards. It is a rule of the vital economy, that life only springs from life, and every being is consequently endowed with the property of generating an offspring, inheriting a nature similar to its own. When the species vary, this rule ceases to act; whence, although possessing a strong physiological resemblance in many important points of their organization, there must necessarily be some material difference between the llama and alpaca in the functions of generation, which it is more than presumable equally extends

irregularity at variance with the laws of nature, constituting an essential condition of life."

"Reproduction, Propagation, &c.—The alpaca, in ine mountains of Peru, brings forth her young at the age of three years; but in Europe, when highly fed, the age of reproduction is at least a year earlier. On the Andes, as well as in Ireland, she usually receives the male in October or November, and brings forth one at a birth, in the month of April or May. It is remarkable, however, that she should be covered by the male immediately after giving birth to her young, a fact which has been fully corroborated by Thomas Stevenson, Esq., of Oban, in Argyleshire, Scotland, and by Mr. Robert Bell, of Villa House, near Listowel, in the county of Kerry, in Ireland, both of whom are practical and observ-to the wild species, and that difference produces an ant farmers, and have successfully raised the alpaca for a number of years. "The female,' says Mr. Stevenson, in a letter bearing date of It appears from the report of M. Bory de Saint April 10th, 1843, "was invariably covered by the Vincent, a distinguished naturalist, who accommale two or three days after she had a lamb; and, panied the French army into Spain, under Marshal from the singularity of this circumstance, it attract- Soult, that he observed in the Zoological Garden of ed my very particular attention, and I regularly Don Francisco de Theran, at San Lucar de Barramarked down the date on which the female was meda, in Andalusia, a female llama pregnant by an covered, and found that she went with lamb a very alpaca, and also three alpa-vigonias (the cross befew days less than a year." In a communication tween the vicuña and alpaca), the fleeces of which by Mr. Bell, of March 18th, the same year, he were much longer, and six times heavier than those says, "I find they usually copulate here in the of any other variety. The Spaniards were proud month of October or November, although the of this acquisition, thinking that they had thereby female takes the ram invariably after having obtained a new race of wool-bearing animals, calbrought forth her young, which is generally in the calated to people their hills, and repair the loss susmonth of May or June. At the age of nine tained through the decline in their Merino flocks. months (?) the produce of the feminine gender will By the experiment of crossing, however, they debegin to breed, at which time their wool will be feated the very object which they had in view, as found to be six inches long, and their height to the the animals gradually died off without leaving any shoulder thirty-four, to the top of the head, fifty-offspring, and in the course of a few years there one inches." was scarcely one individual to be found in the kingdom,

The llama and alpaca, as well as the alpaca and vicuña, can be induced to breed together, and of the former union there are frequent examples to be met with in Europe as well as in Peru. From this alliance a beautiful hybrid results, if possible, finer to the eye than either parent, and also more easily trained to work, but like the mule, it does not procreate, a fact which has been confirmed by General O'Brien, an observant Irish gentleman, who resided twenty years in Peru, and was actively employed under San Martin, the Liberator, in the War of Independence a great traveller on the Andes, and besides a landed proprietor and miner in the district of Puno. Subjoined is an extract from a communication by him, dated at Liverpool, June 6th, 1841::

"You ask me whether the alpaca is still used in Peru as a beast of burden. I answer that it is, but not generally, and only by the poorer class of Indians, who do not own many llamas. There is, however, a beautiful animal produced between the Ilama and alpaca, much handsomer in form and figure than either, and also better adapted for work, but it does not breed. * In Peru we call them machurgas, and these are the animals I principally used at my mines to bring down the ores from the mountains.

"From the sterility of this hybridous race, it would follow that the alpaca is a distinct variety of the llama tribe, differing as much from its allied species, as the horse does from the ass; and, con

There are two facts, however, concerning the procreation of the Andes sheep, which ought not to be concealed-one, a difficulty of copulation arising from natural causes, and the other an almost uncontrollable and jealous disposition of the males at this season. The difficulty of copulation, and the manner in which it is overcome by the Indians, were first noticed by Hernandez, and it is said that nothing can be more accurate than his remarks, as exemplified in the practice of the present day. Without the assistance of man, sexual intercourse certainly can and does take place, as seen in the wild races, the structural formation of which is the same; but in the tame ones it invariably gives rise to confusion. In Peru, the rutting season commences at the close of October, when the animals become restless and lascivious, and, according to Dr. Unanue, the estimable writer on the climate of Lima, in 1806, "all nature seems to be in motion; vegetation assumes a new form; earthquakes and volcanic eruptions frequently occur, and the air is filled with an electric fluid. Every production then glows with fresh fire, and by an active stimulus animals are impelled to the propagation and consequent preservation of their own kinds." At this period the working llama has a respite; for it is regarded as unsafe to put a burden upon his back, and indeed dangerous to thwart his wishes, or control his actions. Both the tame and wild breeds, it is said, sometimes fight outrageously for their

PERUVIAN GUANO ON WHEAT AND GRASS.-ETC.

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mates, and instances occur of the combat proving PERUVIAN GUANO ON WHEAT AND GRASS. fatal to one or both. ON the light soils of Long Island, and generally By a letter from General O'Brien to Mr. William around New York, Peruvian guano has proved, the Walton, who received a gold medal in 1842, from past year, one of the best and cheapest manures the Highland and Agricultural Society, for a which can be applied to the wheat crop. We "Satisfactory Account founded on Actual Observa- think we are safe in saying, that so far as our obtion and Experiment, to naturalize in Scotland, theservation extends, an application of 300 lbs. of Alpaca," we learn that " In Peru, the rutting season Peruvian guano per acre, costing $7 to $8, has commences in the month of November, when the produced an increase in the yield of the crop of male alpaca throws off his tame and quiet habits, wheat of from 7 to 12 bushels per acre, and the pursuing the females until he separates from the after benefit of the guano on the succeeding hayHock one of his own choice. Her he woos with crop, may be counted upon as equivalent to a ton the most ardent demonstrations; and if she proves and a quarter of hay extra in the three succeeding coy and runs away, he follows her through the years; thus proving that a pure article of guano, country for miles, and until his importunities have judiciously applied, is a profitable fertilizer. been successful. At this moment, the flocks of If the soil is not leachy or exposed to be washed both alpacas and llamas sometimes break up and by winter rains, we will recommend that guano be disperse, running in different directions through the applied to wheat, rye, or grass, in the fall of the country, and weeks may elapse before the owner year, otherwise as early as March the following is able to collect them again. Hence, when this spring. Some sow guano and harrow it in either season approaches, the Indian shuts up his sheep, before or with the seed. Being so powerful a maseparating the male from the female, in pens, pur-nure, and when coming directly in contact with the posely constructed in such a manner as to allow of their putting their faces together, and caressing each other a week or a fortnight before the day appointed to bring them out."

young roots of plants, burning and killing them, we think that this system is more or less hazardous; we would therefore recommend those using guano for winter grain, to let the plant get up about three Owing to the extremely lascivious disposition, weeks high, and then sow broad-cast upon it, at however, of the Andes sheep, great care must be the rate of 300 lbs. of Peruvian, or 400 lbs. of observed when the males are admitted to the African per acre. If the causticity of the guano females. Both by night and by day the shepherd destroys some or even many of the leaves of the should be vigilant; for besides quarrelling with one plants, it is of no great importance; for by this another, where two males are allowed to compete for time they will have become well rooted, and others the same female, they might trample her to death. will immediately spring up to supply their place. Hence every possible precaution ought to be used The great benefit of applying guano, and indeed all to keep them apart. Upon this point General other manures, to grain and grass crops in the fall, O'Brien remarks, that should the alpaca ever be is, that they remain a slight covering to the ground, introduced into Great Britain, on a large scale, and assist in keeping it warm, are gradually decomas a national benefit, breeders must adopt the Peru-posing, and by early spring become soluble and vian mode of separating the males from the females, well prepared for the crop to take them up and at least a fortnight before the union of the sexes assimilate their elements for its rapid growth. It takes place, and in order to prevent their wander- has been ascertained in England, that a crop of ing away.

around his premises. Let him remember that a penny saved is twopence earned, and that it is easier to save than to earn.

MANURE.—

66 I have

grass or grain guanoed in the fall, will ripen from "In some parts of Peru," Mr. Walton observes, a week to ten days earlier than the same would "the llameros prepare small folds, in which they under similar circumstances un-guanoed. Before shut up one of each sex. The male begins his purchasing guano, we advise every farmer to look caresses by antic tricks and boundings; the female, about him and gather up and apply all the manure at first, appears shy, and moans, while at intervals and fertilizing substances that he can find upon or one spits at the other. After a day or two they become more intimate, when at length the female, with her fore-legs bent under her, and resting on her breast, assumes that position in which only she can receive the embraces of her mate; but this is DETERIORATION OF BARN-YARD not a forced prosternation on her part. It is, on Dung, in the opinion of the late Judge Peters, bethe contrary, the easy and natural posture which gins to deteriorate after it is one year old. she takes when reposing. If she evinces anything put it on," says he, "after lying several years, withlike caprice, and difficulties should arise from her out any perceptible benefit. But the practice of repugnance to assume the position required, the plowing in hot and fresh dung, has often been to me keepers place a slip-noose, called pajal, on the a subject of regret. It not only produces smutty lower part of the fore-legs, when pulling from be- crops, in parts, over stimulated, but cannot be equally hind, they trip her up, and alighting on her breast, spread or covered, so that much straw and little grain with their assistance, she easily receives the act of appear in spots, which often lie down; and, in generation. The state of excitement into which others, scarcely any advantage is derived. Muck, the male has been worked up, is at this moment so composted, will keep the longest, without injury to great, that he is immediately afterwards turned out its fertilizing qualities. Dung and muck, in conseparate, and left to repose, never being "coupled fined places, from which free air and moisture are twice in the same day. One, however, suffices for excluded, undergo a degree of combustion, and twenty females." become dry-rotten, mouldy, and useless."

terial for this purpose, if to be had. It will dry in half an hour in the sun, and is then ready to be sown. Copperas water and urine are frequently used instead of brine to soak the seed; but we much prefer brine, as it is cleanly, and never dangerous in application. Some say grain may be soaked 24 hours in the brine without injury; but if it be a thin-skinned variety, we should think it would endanger its germination to soak over four hours or so. It is a good plan to prepare rye, barley, buckwheat, and oats, for sowing in the same way as wheat, especially oats, as they are frequently as liable to smut.

They are much liked at the South for horizontal the Atlantic, and if the people of the United States plowing; for by this system of turning up and lay- expect any such thing, they will find themselves ing the soil, it is prevented from being washed into greatly mistaken; a rise of prices is only to be those deep gullies, so destructive to the general looked for after a bad harvest in one country or the face of the country. They are also highly useful, other. With our widely extended and highly ferand by many much approved for level plowing, as tile territory, and unprecedented increase of rural this leaves the field without any centre dead or population, there is a constant tendency in reasonfinishing furrow; nor does it make bauks or ridges ably favorable seasons, to produce a large surplus by turning two furrows toward each other. They of provisions. Now if we were obliged to keep are likewise useful in enabling the plowman to this surplus at home, there must inevitably be a turn the furrow from his walls and fences. Ano-steady fall in the prices of agricultural products, ther advantage, they save much trouble in enabling and a greater or less loss every year from the injuthe team to turn short about at the end of the fur-ries to which such bulky and perishable articles are rows, instead of obliging it to travel across the wide constantly liable. The ports of Great Britain being ends of each land in the field. Price $5 to $14. now nominally free, we shall easily get rid of our surplus produce, and thus be able to maintain fair REPEAL OF THE BRITISH CORN LAWS. prices. If the tillers of the soil will take this fact WE had the gratification in our last, of announc-duly into consideration, they will see that it is likeing the repeal of the exorbitant and odious Custom ly to be a greater boon to them than fluctuating House duties which have been so long levied upon high prices. Under the former tariff, Indian corn, the importation of breadstuffs into Great Britain, to one of the largest productions in the United States, the serious injury, and often heart-rending suffer-was virtually a prohibited article-now it can be ings of her people. It is one of the most beneficent exported in large quantities. acts of the age, and does honor to the men who were instrumental in passing it. The people of Great Britain and Ireland have at length attained the common rights of humanity, and are now enabled to supply themselves with food where it is to be had best and cheapest. We hope henceforth to hear no more cries for bread, from half-famished thousands, when it can be had at a low price from a neighboring country.

Notwithstanding the promising harvest in Europe the present year, it would not surprise us if the exportations of corn, wheat, beef, pork, lard, butter, and cheese, should amount to twelve or thirteen millions of dollars. This amount will be steadily on the increase, and in a few years doubtless approximate to twenty millions; while the freight and charges earned by American citizens will be five millions more-and let it be recollected that It is not, however, as an act of beneficence those engaged in the transportation of these prowholly, that we desire to call the attention of ducts are consumers, and not producers. Hence American farmers to the repeal of the British Corn the disastrous effects cannot be so great as apprelaws, but as one likely to redound to their perma- hended by some, as many of our farmers will grow nent interests. We are not, and never have been so richer by the sales of their produce, our shippers sanguine in our belief, that their repeal would raise and sailors will find employment, and the country the price of breadstuffs materially on this side of will still prosper.