No. 85. J 365 



the potatoe. Ruta bagas, mangel wurtzel and sujar beets were for a 

 time cultivated to a considerable extent, but are now abandoned and 

 left for those alone to cultivate who have not a soil and climate for 

 Indian corn, or those who can live by cultivating merely a fashion- 

 able crop. There has no crop, either grain or root, ever been culti- 

 vatedjn this county that with the same labor and expense would 

 produce grain and fodder, or any other nutritive aliment, to that ex- 

 tent, and that would sustain so much animal life, better the condition 

 and increase the fat of our domestit; animals, as that grain which was 

 cultivated by the natives of the soil at the landing of our pilgrim 

 fathers. 



For more than half a century we have had an improved breed of 

 cattle in this county. Previous to 1790, Col. Jeremiah Wadsworth 

 introduced into this county one or two imported bulls. Mr. Samuel 

 Wolcott, then the most enterprising and best farmer in the State, 

 brought one of those bulls into this town, and he was used by him 

 and others. That bull evidently improved our stock. Mr. Wolcott 

 bred by the use of that bull, and sold one year, twelve steers, the 

 average weight of which was 1,200 lbs. at four years old. and for 

 many years he bred and fatted the best cattle that were slaughtered 

 in New-York. HiS brother, Elizur Wolcott, bred the celebrated East- 

 Windsor ox, which about the year 1809 was taken to Boston, there 

 exhibited for a long time, and finally slaughtered, and weighed 2,133 

 lbs. Two steers, bred and fatted by Mr. E. Bissel, were driven to 

 Philadelphia and slaughtered in ISII, then six years old, weighing 

 1,808 lbs. and 1,828 lbs. They were spotted, red and white, de- 

 scendants of Mr. Wolcott'sbull, and evidently had a dash of the short 

 horned blood in them. Two oxen fatted by Mr. Samuel Bartlett, 

 known to be at least half-bloods, were in 1834, then eight years old, 

 driven to Boston and there slaughtered — live weigrht, 3,709 lbs. and 

 3,740 lbs.; dead weight, 2,637 lbs. and 2,644 lbs. In 1840 Mr. 

 Willis White sold a steer, a cross of short-horns, which when slaugh- 

 tered weighed over 2,500 lbs. All the above weights were quarters, 

 hide and tallow, and all the animals were bred in this town. In 1826, 

 Wye Comet, a thorough-bred Durham short-horn bull was introduced 

 into this town, and since that many other excellent bulls and cows 

 of that breed have been brought and bred here. Our stock generally 

 has been greatly improved by their introduction. About 1822, Henry 

 Hills, Esq., of Windsor, imported from Ayrshire a bull and cow. 

 The bull, a fine animal, was kept for a time in this town bv Mr. Eli- 

 hu Wolcott, was the sire of many good animals, and was finally taken 

 to the vicinity of Rochester, by a Mr. Culver. The oxen fatted by 

 Mr. Bartlett were well broke, and were worked on his farm, and we 

 have had many grade or high bred animals that were valuable as 

 working oxen ; and the best cows for milk we have had here have 

 been grade animals. In some parts of this county we have had high 

 bred Devons, and with a dash of that blood we have had, and now 

 have, some valuable working oxen. 



All the best cattle that have been bred in this town, have been 



