AGRICULTURAL AND MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 



583 



fied their hunger, all lie down immediately for 

 the night, and by that time up comes the drove 

 of hogs to sup on their leavings. Thus they 

 travel on, day by day, making from 10 to 11 

 miles a day, and so reaching New-York from 

 Kentuckj' in about 73 days. A drove of the 

 smaller and more active native breed of cattle 

 will pei-form tlie trip in about 65 days. 



The curious fact in Swineology is affirmed by 

 a Kentucky drover, that his hogs which weighed 

 150 at starting reached an average of 180 on ar- 

 rival at New-York — being nearly half a pound 

 a day while on the journey. On the other hand, 

 the loss of weight — or " drift," as it is called — of 

 cattle, is equal to 150 pounds, which a bullock 

 of 1,000 pounds' weight at leaving home lessens 

 on his way to the Atlantic butcher. This drift, 

 or lo*, it is observed, is chiefly first in the kid- 

 ney-fat and fat of the entrails. It has been ascer- 

 tained that a hog will set out on his journey to 

 that bourne whence no such traveler returns, so 

 fat as to have no cavity or vacuum in his corpo- 

 ration. If as he journeys on, you do u't feed 

 him, he lives first upon and consumes his gut- 

 fat ; then his kiduey-fat ; and, lastly, his carcass 

 wastes away. 



The cross of the Berkshire has much improved 

 the old Kentucky country breed of hogs, espe- 

 cially in their traveling quality — making a stock 

 superior to the full-blood for the purposes for 

 which they are designed. 



In driving cattle, the practice is to stop (but 

 not to feed), for an hour at mid-day, when the 

 cattle in less than five minutes all lie down to 

 rest. 



A drove of 120 cattle, as easily driven as a 

 smaller number, is usually attended by a "man- 

 ager '■ on horseback and two footmen. One foot- 

 man goes ahca<i leading an ox the whole way, 

 say 800 miles. The manager on horseback takes 

 his station behind the first forty head, and the 

 third man on foot brings up the rear. There are 

 stations along the whole route — country tavern.s, 

 often kept by the owner of the adjoining farm, 

 who thus finds a market for his own produce, 

 and keeps at any rate, a constant supply of what 

 is needed for the drover. Wending their way 

 thi-ough Ohio, the farmer su])plies them with 

 that glorious plant, the pride of our country, In- 

 dian Corn, as they have feasted on it at home, 

 stalk, blade, and grain altogether ; but, when on 

 their melancholy journey they touch the line of 

 Pennsylvania, Mynheer brings forth his fragrant 

 hay and com already shucked, and finally, when 

 ihej' come late enough to market, they are turned 

 at night into grass lots, prepared and kept for 

 the purpose. 



The cattle reared in the Com regions of the 



West, especially in Ohio and Kentucky, have 



been heavily dashed with the Short-Horn blood, 



by which their average weight has been in- 



(1243) 



creased, it is said, about 200 pounds, with great 

 improvement in their fattening properties and 

 the quality of the meat. 



A Kentucky fanner would now be verj- loth 

 to let a Bull of the much vaunted old Bakcwell 

 breed, with his straight back and long horns 

 and fat all to \Xse\i overlaying the carcass, come 

 within a ten-foot pole of his herd of cows. Cat- 

 tle with a strong infusion of the improved Short- 

 Hom blood, as by the late celebrated Grazier 

 Steenbergen, are still esteemed to be preferable 

 to the full-blood, as being more thrifty and ac- 

 tive. This improved breed has so increased, 

 and high grades of the blood so widely diffused, 

 that instead of the fancy prices from $300 to 

 $500 for a yearling bull or heifer, such an one 

 of good make will now fetch about as mu-'h as 

 a four year old bullock well fatted — say from 

 S40 to $50. 



For obvious reasons, cattle are not so much 

 transported on railroads in this country as in 

 England, where the distances from the feeding 

 place to the market are so much shorter. Cat- 

 tle will go verj- well on a railroad for 12 hours 

 together, but then they must lie down, which 

 they cannot do in the cars like a hog, that lets 

 himself down and sleeps on the space upon 

 which he stands. The charge too, on the rail- 

 road in our country is too high. For lame bul- 

 locks that are .sometimes sent from Harrisburg 

 to the Philadelphia market, they charge half as 

 much as it co.sts to drive them all the way — 750 

 or 800 miles from Kentucky to New- York — 

 the one being $8, the other estimated at about 

 S16. 



If cars could be, as in process of time they 

 will be, so constituted for this purpose as that 

 cattle could lie down, they might be so trans- 

 ported from distant points to great advantage, as 

 this mode of transoortation would save most of 

 the " drift," or loss of weight which they un- 

 dergo on the way, to say nothing of the deteri- 

 oration which must ensue along with this wast- 

 age, in the quality of the meat. 



But here again the farmer and the grazier, 

 and individuals and States, may cry again on Her- 

 cules to help them in making roads to open up 

 and transport their agricultural resources. As if 

 because it would incidentally aid Agriculture, 

 Hercules won't help him even though it 

 would so much contribute to strengthen his own 

 favorite military plans, power, and machinery ! 

 Indicate to Uncle Sam a spot on the earth, a 

 pocosin or a wilderness to be surveyed, and cut 

 through purely and exclusively for the Army, 

 and straightway he unlocks the Treasury of the 

 People, and takes out millions to do the work ; 

 but only tell him, or let him suspect, that it is 

 needed for the development of agricultural re- 

 sources, to multiply the means of subsistence 

 and the wealth and tlie population and improve- 



