THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



241 



EXTRACTS FROM A REPORT TO THE 

 STATE EOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



By Edrimnd F. Noel, of Essex county, la. 



ON LIVE-STOCK AND FRUITS. 



The Virginia Board of Agriculture, at their first 

 meeting in December last, agreed upon certain 

 queries to be propounded to the most inteiliirenl 

 and experienced farmers and planters in the state 

 stating that no one individual would be expected 

 to reply to all, but only such as he should best 

 understand. As one of the circulars of the Board 

 containing the queries has been addressed to me, 

 I will proceed to cast in my mite, hoping others 

 may do the same, and that much valuable and 

 useful inlbrmation may be obtained. 



8lh Division of queries.— Live-stock. 

 Our breed of cattle, with few exceptions, is most- 

 ly of the native breed. Mr. Coke, of Norfolk, 

 England, sent to Messrs. Patterson and Caton, o( 

 Baltimore, some Devon cattle in 1S17, and in 1825 

 I purchased a pair of calves of Mr. Caton at ^250. 

 I crossed them upon my cattle of the native breed. 

 The cross I thought was superior to either breed. 

 Many of the oxen lived and worked for me more 

 than ten years, and per/brmed well. Along with 

 them the most of the time half Durham*^ oxen 

 worked : the cartmen were of opinion the half 

 Devon oxen were much the best. 



Durham cattle.— In 1828 I purchased of Col, 

 J. H. Powel a Durham short-horn male cali; at 

 $300, and crossed upon my cattle of the native 

 breed. The cross was larger and finer than the 

 Devon cross ; but whether they were larger and 

 finer in proportion to the food consumed, I do not 

 know. The animal I bred from was probably 

 superior to most of the Durham cattle. His sire 

 and dam were imported from England by Col. 

 Powe! ; and he bred from his eire, instead of 

 other males imported by him. His dam, with 

 twenty other Durham cattle, was exhibited at 

 the Pennsylvania Agricultural Society the year 

 before I got the calt; and by the society was pro- 

 nounced second best. Col. Powel afterwards 

 raised a male calf from her by the same sire, for 

 his own use; which animal he afterwards sold to 

 a gentleman in Kentucky, near Lexington, for 

 ^1000. I make this statement of facts so as not 

 to mislead any person. An inferior animal of the 

 Durham breed might have given a different re- 

 Bult. I have had a chance of seeing a great many 

 fine cattle in different parts of the United States ; 

 and, my life being entirely that of a farmer, I 

 have taken much pleasure in looking at them. 

 Many years past I saw the Devon caule then in 

 the neighborhood of Baltimore. Some years after 

 I saw, near Philadelphia, Col. Powel's large stock 

 of Durham cattle, a few days before his great cat- 

 tle sale. Since which I have had a chance of 

 Beeing in Kentucky and Missouri a number of 

 fine cattle of different breeds and crosses, but I 

 have never seen finer oxen than I have seen in 

 Mississippi, in the Choctaw purchase, of the native 

 breed. I became a planter in that part of the 

 Btate soon after its settlement, and I have spent 

 many winters there. For some years after its 

 settlement, nearly all the cotton was carried to 

 market in ox-wagons, and during the lime of 

 delivery, it was nothing uncommon to see in a i 

 Vol. X.-^31 



day several hundred oxen on the road leading to 

 Manchester, (now Yazoo city,) and no person 

 could behold them without admiring their size 

 and beauty. Grass was then plenty, and they 

 were fat the year round. The great error in 

 lower Virginia is that of keeping an overstock of 

 animals. Under such management no breed will 

 be an improved breed long, nor an improved cross. 

 Sheep.— Onr breed of sheep, like our breed of 

 cattle, with few exceptions, is mostly of the native 

 breed. Fine-wool sheep with us will not answer; 

 we want coarse wool to manufacture in our fami- 

 lies ; and undec our system fine wool is filled 

 with trash, and will not do for market. 



Bakewell sheep— caWed Bakewell after the fabri- 

 cator of the breed, Dishley after his farm, and 

 New Leicester after the part of the country in 

 which he lives. This breed is hornless, white 

 lace and legs, wool long, just such as we want in 

 our families lor coarse labrics; constitution tender; 

 remarkably docile, more so than any sheep I have 

 ever seen. For beauliflil form and great propensity 

 to fatten this breed is supposed to be unequalled. 

 Numbers of this breed of sheep have been im- 

 ported into the United Slates since our last war, 

 and they have taken nearly all the premiums of- 

 lered for coarse-wool sheep; lots of them have 

 been slaughtered in our large towns to the north, 

 averaging overt wenty pounds of tallow per head, 

 and small lots of them have averaged over thirty 

 pounds per head. For a number of years I have 

 had only half Bakewell sheep upon my farm, a 

 cross on the native breed, with which I am very 

 much pleased. But I have occasionally had a 

 few pure Bakewell sheep, the cost of which $20 

 per head. But they did not appear to do as 

 well as the half breed; they were more subject to 

 disease, and not disposed to ramble over the farm 

 as much in search of food. But where food is 

 plenty, and they are well taken care of during the 

 wmter, I should suppose the pure breed greatly to 

 be preferred. 



Southdown s/^eejtj.— Hornless, speckled face and 

 legs, wool short and fine, of a hardy constitution. 

 Many years past I purchased two ewes of this 

 breed, then with iamb, at $30 each. I was induced 

 to make this purchase from the high character 

 given to this breed of sheep, and particularly this 

 family of them, by gentlemen in Philadelphia. 

 See Am.erican Husbandman and the American 

 prmer, vol. 7, page 361. I am thus particular, 

 lest It may be thought this family of Southdowns 

 were not of the pure breed. I found them to Ije 

 a hardy breed of sheep, with no greater propensity 

 to fatten than the common sheep of our country, 

 and their mutton no belter; the quantity of wool 

 very small, about what English writers state it to 

 be m England, two and a half pounds per fleece. 

 1 his breed of sheep proved the most unprofitable 

 01 any I ever had upon my farm. 



Ho^s.—Om hogs have been crossed by various 

 breeds. I have myself purchased some from Con- 

 necticut, New York and Pennsylvania. Those I 

 got from Pennsylvania I got of Mr. Baroitz, This 

 breed was the best 1 ever had upon my farm : 

 ihey wftre not of the breed described in the Ame- 

 rican Farmer, vol. 13, page 279, but a cross upon 

 that breed, which he afterwards made. I cannot 

 now lay my hand upon his letter, but, as well as I 

 now recollect, he stated it to be a cross of the 

 Chinese and Chichester breeds. Some years past 



