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AGRICULTURE OF COLUMBIA COUNTY. 



t 

 Kandolpii, December 25tL, 1851. 



Dear Sir — Your communication of December 1st, 1851, asking a general 

 account of the agricultural condition of Columbia county, its manner of culti- 

 vation and crops, its facilities for market, <fec., together with my opinion as 

 regards its adaptation to tillage compared with grazing, came to hand by due 

 course of mail. 



In reply, I have to say, that the greater part of our citizens came here poor, con- 

 sequently could raise wheat easier than any thing else, that staple requiring a less 

 outlay in cash than stock of any kind, and some farmers seemed to be doing 

 very well so long as they could get from eighty to one hundred cents per bushel 

 at Milwaukee ; but for the last two or three years the crop has been short, and 

 this year the price very low, a great many have anticipated good crops and have 

 purchased teams, tools, and made improvements on time, expecting to meet their 

 engagements with their crops: but instead of being able to do so, have been 

 obliged to loan money at a high rate of interest, and now find themselves in 

 straightened circumstances — how to get right again seems to be a subject for 

 general conversation. 



Some are of opinion that it will not pay to grow wheat ; others, that it will 

 not pay to grow stock in this high latitude, requiring so large an amount of feed 

 for winter. 



I am fully satisfied that neither branch would be practicable alone, but by con- 

 necting the two branches, both can be made to pay well. 



Suppose a farmer cultivates eighty acres in M'heat, oats and barley, and twenty 

 acres of corn, the straw, chatf, and corn stalks, will very nearly winter thirty head 

 of cattle ; whereas if he kept no stock, the coarse food from his farm would be 

 very nearly, if not quite lost to him, and he would receive no profit except from 

 the grain. On the other hand he would get the growth of his cattle. 



A good yearling calf is worth five dollars; at two, it is worth ten; and at 

 three, fifteen dollars — one hundred per cent on the first cost. 



Twelve or fifteen cows on a farm, properly managed, will yield a profit of fifteen 

 dollars per head, besides raising the calf, and using milk, butter, and cheese, for 

 a small family; the surplus milk makes fine pigs. 



The farmer, while cultivating his hundred acres, can take care of his thirty 

 head of cattle at the same time, with very little extra expense ; the milking can 

 be done in the morning, while breakfast is being prepared ; and so in evening ; 

 it will require from thirty to sixty minutes. 



I have kept from five to twelve cows per annum for the last ten years — hare 



