THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



27 



the first prize at Syracuse ia the class of yearlinga. She 

 comes of the old Nonpareil stock, her grandam Moss Rose, 

 beiiij? a dauijhier of the old cow. Eva ia a very pretty animal. 



Helen* 3rd ia a ahowy, Urge cow, a good milker, with a 

 beautiful held aud a good loin. She waa awarded the first 

 prize at the United Statea Show at Philadelphia, in 1856. 



We learn that a considerable demand is springing; up for 

 Devoiis to go to Miasisaippi and other Southern States, and 

 more recently numbers have been sent across the plains to 

 California. 



We noticed in the cow staMesi, at Mr. Wainwright's, that 

 alongside each gruiu-box there is a small bos for salt, in which 

 a lump of rock-salt is always kept. The animal, being thus 

 left to choose her on-n poi tion of the condiment, takes as much 

 only as hur system actually needs. 



Tiie cows are tethered by chain collars, tied to the manger 

 by a rope, passing through a hole, and held at the end by a 

 wooden block. The rope is used bec&ase, in case of fire, it 

 could be cut in a moment, and the animal freed in much less 

 time than if the chain were of the usual length, and sliding on 

 a bar. 



Among the leading breeders of Devons in this country, be- 

 sides Mr. Waiuwright, areE. G. Fade, of Westchester County, 

 New Yurk ; George Patterson, J. Howard McHeury, awi 

 OJin Bowie, of Maryland ; Horace Capron, of Illinois ; and 

 Richard Pe era, of Georgia. Mr. Patterson's stock haa been 

 bred for milk almost exclusively, and he has offered to milk it 

 against any breed in the country. He is the only person in 

 the United States who has gone into the importation and 

 breeding of Devons as extensively as Mr. Wainwrlght. Mr. 

 Caprou has had the Caton stock from the old Patterson im- 



portation, but haa recently purchased of Mr. Waiuwright his 

 imported bull, May Boy, aud is breeding him to bis stock with 

 good success. Mr. Capiou's herd we saw at the National Fair 

 at Chicago, a few weeks since, and thought they excelled in 

 beauty anything of the kind we had seen. The old bull May 

 Boy was there, and showed fine condition. On the black soil 

 of the prairies, where speed is more an object than thorough- 

 ness of work, the Devon os must surpass all others. It is said 

 to be nothing unusual for four steers to plough two acres a 

 day, and in catching weather, when the Devonshire farmers 

 are getting in their hay, the cattle will be trotted along the 

 road at the rate of six miles the hour I We learn from Youatt 

 that in their native coutity they are worked lightly on the hills 

 for two years, aud are then bought at four years old by the 

 farmers in the valleys, by whom they are put to hard work 

 until they are six. It is worthy of notice that unless put to 

 this hard work they are liable to beeoiEe stinted in their 

 growth. 



Satisfactory experiments are ou record which prove that the 

 Devons possess the propensity to fatten in aa eminent degree. 

 They do not, perhaps, attain to such great wei^hta aa the 

 Shorthorn or Hereford, but in a given time they acquire more 

 flesh, and with less consumption of 'food than, perhaps, any 

 other breed, and their flesh ia beautifully marbled. 



We cannot conclude thia notice better ttiau by quoting a 

 remark made by a leading S&orthorn man to Mr. Robert 

 Smith, at the Chester Show last year. He said : "I find we 

 Shorthorn men have got much to leara of the formation of ani- 

 mals; their beautiful contour and extreme quality of flesh 

 surprises me." This remark was made when going over the 

 Devon cow class. — New York Tribune 



THE MYRE-MILL AND CUMMING-PARK FAILURES. 



For the while we had a brief sojourn at Myre-mill in the 

 county of Ayr. We have before stated our great disap- 

 pointment in everything we saw at this noted farm. 

 Expectation might have been raised too high ; our notions 

 of nigh farming, as given by the pen of ready writers, might 

 have taken more of spade or of garden cultivation than was 

 reall)' useful or praciicable. In our state of continual pupil- 

 age we had hoped to have seen something to copy, or heard 

 somethinif worth hearing. We did neither the one nor the 

 other. We heard of nothing but failure and pecuniary 

 losses; we saw nothing but desolation and neglect, showing 

 the folly of keeping stock in an unnatural and too artificial 

 Mate of existence. Disease and death and consequent loss \ 

 must follow those theories which are not based on— first, , 

 preserving the health of the animals ; and, secondly, when 

 in health, obtaining from them the greatest amount of 

 human food. Much care is necessary to obtain all this, and , 

 it may be doubted whether horned cattle are really healthy , 

 when cribbed and cabined in stalls ; having plenty of food, 

 but no easy and comfortable bed to lodge on. This is suffi- 

 ciently shown by the great number of cows in the hands of 

 (town) dairymen having swollen joints, and the creamless 

 quality of their milk. This was found to be the case at 

 Slyre-mill farm ; the milk was poor and thin ; the cream 

 ■was very much like that usually found in London and other 

 large towns ; while the cheese was neither of Cheshire nor 

 Derbyshire quality, but such as if given to ploughmen might 

 have lound its way as a wedge into a plough beam. Such 

 was the result of the dairy practice g,t Myre-mill, and 

 proving a failure, the cows have been released from their 

 prison-house, and kept as cows ought to be kept. The 

 change in the health and condition of the animals is for the 

 better, and now I\Iyre-miil can produce useful cheese and 

 butter in the more natural way. And yet, in spite ot the 

 great failure of this system as practised by Mr. Mechi, Mr. 

 Kennedy, Mr. Telfer, and others, the plan seems even now, 

 in the sensible year 1850, to meet with friends. In the 

 Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society recemlypublishd, 

 there appears a long and laboured article advocating the 

 liquid-manure system and the growth of Italian rye-gra»s. 

 But some change is recommended, and instead of flexible 

 hose, a machine on wheels is constructed to assist the 



distribution of the liquid over the surface. All this, in the 

 eye of practical men, is a fallacy, its chief recommenditioQ 

 being, that it does not iu this instance proceed from the fer- 

 tile genius of Leadenhall-street. it is well known that this 

 plant, so rapid in its early growth in the spring, is a bien- 

 nial, and of no use after the second year. In truth, it is of 

 little use during the second year, having no power to tiller, 

 and standing on one leg only, more especially if the plant 

 has been mown and not pastured. Useful as Italian grass 

 may be for ordinary pasturage, it cannot be considered 

 a permanent grass for the purpose of irrigation. In this 

 respect it is greatly inferior to the common and natural 

 grasses. It is strictly a cereal, and has always been classed 

 as such. To expect to grow wheat or oats from stubble, 

 would be as reasonable as to expect a continuation of Italian 

 grass after mowing green, or after shedding its seed. 

 Whatever may be the failure of the tank system as regards 

 cows, it is still greater with sheep. It is to these animals a 

 cruelty — a something so unnatural and so filthy, that it is 

 difticult to understand the object and meaning of keeping 

 them in stalls. One object appears to have been to keep 

 them warm, and by so doing to reap two crops of wool 

 annually. This was a failure; for the sheep being kept 

 warm, nature did not put on the necessary covering to pro- 

 tect the poor creatures from the cold. The wool, thereiore, 

 lost its staple, its strength, and quality, and was unsaleable 

 in the market. But what could be said of the mutton .' It 

 was hybrid, between veal and pork, and had no venison qual- 

 ity. The little fat was lardy, and the lean ought to have been 

 given as food to those who invented the system of stall-feed- 

 ing sheep. We must now leave Myre-mill and its fallacies 

 and failures, and tramp on eight miles to Gumming Park, 

 near the pretiy town of Ayr, and through a beautifully 

 undulating and romantic country. This farm is in the occu- 

 pation of the owner, Mr. Telfer, who had copied the Myre- 

 mill tank system, and the keeping of cows in stalls. That 

 gentleman had not, to his great credit, made any preparation 

 for stalling sheep. Rather than do so on a tine turnip soil, 

 he considered it wiser to keep no sheep on the farm, but to 

 devote it entirely to dairy purposes. Perhaps no better 

 plan could have been devised to make the undertaking pro- 

 fitable, considering the proximity of the farm to a large and 



