50 



NEW ENOLAjVD farmer. 



[Sept. 9, 



consisted of the improved short horns. The ex- 

 cejilion* uere Devcns, a lew Aldcriipy*, iint. 

 L:\ncMshire. Ol' Ht-re/'ords which h.wc been con- 

 sidered llie rivals [in LnsjUiii.l] .d' tlie •'imi>ro\- 

 ed i^hort- liorns" he s.iw not one. The Devoiis 

 (he sajs) are considered an ancient race ol cat- 

 tle — their colonr that of mahogany ; and thai 

 •' thousands of oxen are to be seen throughoul 

 this country, somewhat liichter in colour, hul 

 hearinjj all the marks of this blood, except tlie 

 yellow cohjur of the muzzle, and the ring round 

 the eyes. No person can sfive an account when 

 Ihev were imported ; and hence it is concluded 

 that it [the race] was brou^lit over on the first 

 settlement of ihe country, and that it came from 

 the red Devons, then generally prevailinsr in 

 Engl.ind. The Devons are consiilered, in Eng- 

 land, smart walkers, and cndurers of laligue ; 

 qualities which distmgnish ihc red oxen aniongs; 

 ourselves." Expressing his admiration of Ihe 



liot) ol its producing the greatest quanliiy qfb^^^ 



lallo-^ ami milh, in tkc shorltsl time, if it w£re-j»f|:p,,,, j^p^ | i,,,^.^ ^^_,' ^^^^^ ^,,|p ,^ ^^^^^ 



is undoul'i illy oi\ing to practices very contrary 

 — or else to a total nei^lect."* 



Here we see Mr Young ascribes, and very 

 justly, 1 am satisfied, all this gentleness to maii- 

 agemenl — to the m.mner in which Bakeweifs 

 bulls were brought up fnim being calves. But 

 Mr Gore's Enylish bull, dropped on the passage 

 from a cow imported about the year 1794, and 

 undoubledly of the Bakewell breed, then the 

 mosi celeliraled of all the imfJioved English cat- 

 tle, — lor the want of that eiuineul breeder's dis- 

 cipline and gentle management, became, as stat- 

 ed m my third letter, unruly ; and was there/ore 

 sold. But 1 omitted to mention the instance (d 

 his" savage" character. which induced Mr Gore's 

 agent to sell him. " A stranger (says Mr Ciore) 

 who was travelling on the road, went into the 

 barn where he was secured, loosened hiui from 

 the chain by which he was hound, and turned 

 him mto the farm yard. The bull tossed the 

 man in the air, who, in his fall. came on a large 

 stone wall, by which his thigh was broken." — 

 Every farmer knows, tliat if the most tame do- 

 mesticated cow runs in a pasture where there I '■'•''''>"° continue to bree ^ , , , 



are bushes, or any place of concealment, and '' ^^^ '"•««'' L^''^ "«l"-"ved short-horns] to be 

 there drops a calf; she, conformably to Ihe in- "tended until it becomes the gener.il slofk? 

 »tinct of cattle in their wild stale, »vill hiile it ; 

 and in order to liiiii its loilging place, she must 

 be watched, to see where she goes to let it suck; 

 and the cnlf will be as shy as a fawn or young 

 deer. The countless herds of cattle spread over 

 Spanish Americi, and now in a wild slate, are 

 descendants from the domesticated cattle of En- 

 rope. I am therefure not inclined to believe 

 ill the doctrine of the singutur gentleness, in their 

 nature, of one breed of English cattle over an- 

 other; but, on the contrary, that all of them, 

 with the exception of here and there an ind'- 

 vidual will be gentle;, if managed by Bakeue I's 

 practised rules. 1 recollect that Marshall, while 

 he carried on a farm near London, mentions a 

 turbulent ox, into whose nose lie put a ring; 

 when lie became perfectly genlle.t It is ob- 

 •(ervable thai the imported bulls of the present 

 tashionable short horn race, have rings in their 

 noses, with chains annexed, for leading them a- 

 bout and tying ihem up in their stalls; and Lein<^ 

 ■ handled daily are vcrij gentle. 



But however disposed .Mr Powel may he, in 

 comparing them with the imported .'^horl-Horns, 

 to depreciate our native caltle. in New-England 

 and New-York — f"r into the filter stale they 

 have been abnndanlly intrndiired by the lens of 

 thousands of New-England eniieranls— his friend 

 Mr Featherstonhaugh, a distingiiishpd English 

 farmer settled in that slate, gives a favorable ac. 

 count of them. It is in his letter of March 1823, 

 addressed to Mr Powel, and by (he latter inlro 

 duced into ll 

 j'al Society. 



TO Tl!E EDITOR OF THE NEW EKGLAND FARMER. 



IRON SCREWS. 

 Aiileiorough, Avgvst 30. 1825. 

 Mr Ffsse.nden — I noticed in your paper of the 

 Kiili insl. an inquiry by ' A Fanner of Cnncord,' 

 whether Iron Screws had ever been used tor 

 pressing cider pomace, and with what success, 

 — wbeiher large screws are made of cast iron — 

 f so. where made and at what price — as well 

 as the Cost of wrought iron sufficient for a ci- 

 der mill, &c. 



Ill answer to the above inquiry I ivould state 

 thai there is a pair < f w rouglit iron screws used 

 in a cider mill in this town owned by Mr Eliph- 

 alet White, who stales that all the juice which 

 any leasonable person would wish can be press- 

 ed out by one person without any extraordinary 

 exerlions — others who have made cider in said 

 mill state that thev are of opinion that nearly 

 improved short-horns, he asks— - can they bej,,^ ,|„i,e ;, barrel more can he obtained from a 

 further improved m this country, by crossing j„.,,g,,^ of 8 or 10 barrels, than what can be 

 them with what we have got? or are we invaj j,,,,^ hy the wooden screws, but that the extru 



from the same blood? ^^,^^^ ,h„s obtained is of a very poor quality. 



Said screws were cut at P.iwtuxet R. I. by the. 



,,, ., •Messrs. Wil!uiisons:anflcosi 'JeO — who also man- 



this ought to lake place (he adds) in conside.a^i.,-,,;,^,^,^ ,,|,„„^, ^^,^,^^. ,,,,,prip!ion of large screws 



lioth wrought anil cast — but the expense of the 



for an ijnpurlanl item in liitsbandni, iht labour an 

 inials are capable nf furnishing. The dcvo.\ eloob 

 appears to produce the isest oxen, and these oxei 

 appear to make as ouOd hEVA' as anij other blood.''* 

 But here Mr Powel will step forward and, in 

 relerence to ihe imported short-horns, conriiieiit- 

 ly remark, as if it were a tact already seltled-- 



••If it shall appear that by the multiplication of|,hpongh the medium of your useful (uiper, it 

 this race, the produce of beef. u[inn a given ex-l will be thankfully received by IIORTi. 



lent of land, would be nearly doubled — the rpian- " . 



tity of butter increased — the facility of procur- 

 ing powerful oxen for draught not lessenel — 

 and withal that the amount of nfl'al would In; di- 

 minished — Ihe weight of flesh and of fat \iould 

 be carried upon the proper parts, 1 trust it will 

 not be contended, that the discussion is futile, or 



the premium absurd, which shall have b, ought ' -Vour paper or August ]P, an inquiry bv a Farm- 

 this race more gener.llv into view.'"! ! «''" °* Concord relative to the use ot iron serew. 



] in pressing cider pomace. 1 am very glad to see 

 this subject broujlil before the public ; and was 



As inquiries seem to be fashionable, and as I 

 believe very nsetu!, I venture to make one — I 

 wish to be inl'ormed by some nf your numeious 

 correspondents of tlie best method ol" raising that 

 very beanliful tree, the Horse Che«niit. Should 

 any one who is possessed of the information a« 

 hove requested condescend to make it public 



TO THE EDITOR OF Tllr. KEW ENGLAND FARMER,.. 



ON MAKING CIDER. 



Tiverton, {R. I) Sept 2, 1825. 

 De.ir Sir — 1 noticed wiih much pleasure in 



race more gener.i 

 Here Mr Powel and I must certainly agree : 

 and if I live long enough f.ir the arriv.il of tiie 

 hajipy time when the same (juaniilij of produce 

 (roni Ihe same piece of lend shall enable the im- 

 proved short horns to furnish nearlij double the 

 tpianlity of beef that any other breed could sup- 

 ply, and be accompanied try all the other ad- 

 vantages enumerated in the above cited para- 

 graph — I will join Mr Powtd in every measure, 

 to the extent of my limited powers, to propa- 

 ?ate rapidly and exiensively his favourite race 

 .Memoirs of the Penn. .'Vgricultu- ' Eul that unlucky " if" must first be changed in- 

 to a positive assertion of ihi' facts, and these sup- 



In the preceding winter, M:- Featlierstonhaugli ' porlird by une.ccrptionabU teitimony 



says he travelled 151)0 miles in the different 

 slates, where he saw the imported cattle. He 

 says the irnporl.itiiuis, with very few exceptions 



* Young's East of England, vol. f. p. 113. 



t Recurring to Marshall's works, I find the fact thus 

 noticed. " Got a nose ring made for the riotnus ox. — 

 Tliif^ thoiig;hl arose from seeing a viiseki'-rtms bull Iri 

 Vorl("liii-e" [the Sknrl-lforn.f arc the prevailing stock 

 in VorUsUire] " telh«red tiy the nosf." •'• Rung the rfc- 

 ieliious ox. The operation is easy." " The ring is a- 

 feoijt three ini:hes in diameter" '^ 'l"he rung ox is as 

 'pas.sivc as a tijiaiiiil, and leads like a mr." 



it in my power, I should he very much gratilied 

 in giving correct information on a subject which 

 seems to me to be susceptible of so much im- 

 provement. 



Considering Ihe importance of this subject, 

 and the fact thai iron is takinsrthe place ol wood 

 in many articles of mechanism, both useful and 

 ornamental, it is quite surprising that Ihe public 

 attention has not been earlier directed to this 

 subject. '["he superiority of iron screws over 

 those of wood, is amply attested by the expe- 

 rience of mechanics in all the different uses to 

 which the potver of tlie screw iias been applied ; 

 and were not farmers, generally speaking, more 

 ' ■ I averse to improvements than most any other 



* Young refers to several Fnglish travellers, who L|.,j;spj, „f n,^.,,^ i|,pir superiority »vould perh.ips 



s,ieak of beef in Italy as superior to their own. Voimg ^.^^.^ y^^^^^ .,^ ^^p|| authenticated in this branch of 



suggests Ihat ivori;tnish:is its snare ui this; adinigthal 



all the tillRgeand rarri.ise of Italy is tlone with oxfn — 



T PICKERING. 



xcrpt some willi bufl"aIoe«, and quotes I. islets Hus- 

 haiiflrv lor the remark — " That ox^n that hav<- been 

 worked Hie pt-f feired :i!l orer Knghoid hy the gia-/.Iers 



industry as in any other. 



I have often he.ird it observed Ihat iron screws 

 would he preferable to those of wood in a rider 

 press; hul 1 never knew any one in this part of 



Ihey not only ^a kio'l'ier th^n olhec^s. hot make the ,he country to make the experiii)ent. The ex- 

 istence of such .screws, however, cannot be 

 doubted, although they are not, to my knowl- 



hesl beef."— »4nno/* of Agricul. rot. 32. 71. 74. 

 t Memoirs of the Penn. Agri. Society p. -12. 



edge, in general use anywhere, ll may be found 



