r4. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



[Sept. 30, 



ether in the liotjinninjy of the same number of not judiciously si;lected : — for Mr E. Wolcolt, 

 his Reply, tint " I dp«ire to improve our native ' who had sei^i them hoih in Connecticut and 

 stock, without the aid of foroig-n hreed<" — pre- Maryland, freely expresses his opinion, '' that 

 sents me to the piihlic, as extremely foolish, or ; they are interior to our native stuck.'"* 

 extremely perverse; and that from one or the' Mr Wolcott informs ns, thai ihe extraordinary 

 other of these causes, 1 persist in a preposler- >' Ccmneclicut ox'" si iiishlered in Boston, in 

 ous endeavour to persuade the farmers of New 1809. had for his <;riiiilsire an irn(>orted hull; 

 England to hreed exdusivelii from their present that Col. ChapiiTs '• three extraordinary oxen" 

 native stock; when, by ohtainioij an English were descended from .Mr Qnie's iinfuirled hull, 

 breed, from even their '• middling'' dairy stock; and (hat two of these were larger ihan the Con- 

 (leavmg out of the queslion Mr Powel's incom- 

 parable '• improved Durham Short Horns'") they 



cluMied iheir purses and purchased them of Col. 

 Chapin, for 1050 dollars, to induce him lodiive 

 them 10 Brighton,— "and at a certain, inevit- 

 able expected loss." The two liishest premi- 

 um':, 50 dollars and 40. were advanceit to Cof. 

 Chnpin; whicli sums he accepted as a part of 

 the piirrhase money. " They were supposed 

 to be the tinest ever produced." — " I'he linest 

 animals proliably at thai moment in the world, 

 the products of the rich pastures of Massarhu- 



necticul ox, but neither of them of equal sym-| sell«."* These oxen were sl.iughtered and the 

 raetry." He then adds— " these fads 1 think beef sol^i in Boston. 1 partook of a toasted 

 might get more than three times as much but- go to show that " the finest cattle" of New-! piece of one of the sirloins, which cost jis well 

 ter as their contemptible "native" cows no\v | England have been derived from bulls of recent | as I recollect 2/'6rf, or 4'2 cents a pound. Yet 

 yield!— 1 should be justified in repelling, in importation." This is precisely (he point for| notwithstanding the high prices (cH/wsi/y indue- 

 strong language, the groundless charge and re- which Mr Powel contends, and is desirous to cs-|i,io- purchases) at which the beef was sold, the 

 proachful imputation. I have no( shown that tablish : But Mr Wolcolt's conclusion is not war- generous purchasers ol the oxen sustained n 

 the products of the dairies of native cows ot i ranted by his premises. I am willing to admit 'inss. 1 presume that better beef, — more con- 

 IVIassachusetts, in five instances out ofsix, when j that those were the largest oxen of New Eng-| venient in cooking — more [deasant to the taste, 

 compared with "middling" English dairies are land, — although I do not know that they were;|;,nd more grateful to the stomach, has long been, 

 as 92 to 28G ; but as 92 to 112,— and to the , it is a point about which I am altogether indif- and mav e'very year be found in the markets of 



average of some pronounced good, as 9- to 140 

 pounds of butter, per cow, by the year. But 

 some of the IMassachusells dairies averaged 120 

 pounds per cow, in a year. — Every reader who 

 remembers or will take the tmuble to turn 

 back to some of my preceding letters, will 

 see Mr Powel's ingenious mode of cahulafing 

 the products in butter, of Massachuseils and 

 English dairies. The former yielding go lbs. 

 a year, divided by 52, the number of weeks in 

 a year, give only I^ pound a week, per cow : 

 but because some of the English dairies, at the 

 top of the butler making season, produced 5' lbs. 

 a week, pet* cow, Mr Powel, exiendin? this 

 \veekly product through the entire yiar. obtains 

 his 280 pounds for the yearly product, per cow. 

 of a middling English dairy; 52 multiplied by 

 51 giving- 28G. In a precedino- l^ner. I have 

 presented to (he reader several MK-e examples, 

 and their curious results, of Mr Powel's rules of 

 calculation. I do not envy him the honour of 

 his singularly ingenious invention. 1 do not 

 think the aculeness ho ascribes to his " brother 

 Jonathan," competent to this disrnvpry. The 

 hackneyed term '-brother Jonathan" is nseil to 



ferent. For if they were the largest, it by no , Boston, New-York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, 

 means follows that they were the fin'est. Other t;,( one fourth of that price. Curiosity is gratifi- 

 oxen of half their size might possess the most jed by such an exhibition ; but at the expense of 

 USEFUL QUALITIES in mucli greater perfection. — \iitiUiy. If beef of such excessive fatness were 

 One thing, however, is plain, from .Mr Wolcolt's j frequently at market, and other beef jtist duly 

 statement — that the value of an ox was consid- : fa/,^e,ierf, were at (he same time on the stalls, 

 ered as depending on his sj'^e andybrm — or 6((/A; "(he latter would be purchased and the other 



and beauti/. And it is these tbM have constituted 

 the attractive charm of the admiring spectators 



reelected, though both should be offered at the 

 same price. — I presume I am not singular in 



comprehend all (he people of New Enwland ; jsati«fy the public, that the sire of an animal did 

 and especially — if ihere be any discrimination — \ not govern their awards. 



the farming portion, who cnnslilute the majnri- 1 The enormous size of cattle was once a ragi: 

 ty of the population. The farmers, and their''" England. '• In a letter (says .\rlhnr Y'oung) 

 wives who are the dairi/ xeomrn are indebted injwhirh I lately received from Mr Culley, he re 

 Mr Powel's liberality, for one complimentary 

 'exemplification oC iheir acutene^<: as well -tv 7trat 

 ness — that of increasiiia- the xeeirrht nf their butter 

 by leaving bufter-m Ik in it. and ad lin? salt in 

 profusion. Ills words are. " the quantity [of 



at the Brishlon Cattle Show : and/ormer^y werej thinking (hat feeding cattle to such excessive 

 not without a share of influence on committees. | fatness, does not deserve encouragement; on 

 Hence in regard to size, the formal comparison, ' the contrary, that it ought to be discouraged. — 

 bii feet and inches, of the two Chapin oxen with ; P;i!;ewell could lay on the bodies of his breed 

 the famous Enelish large Durham ox. It was jof sheep, fat to the thickness of four inches. — 

 by the same criterion, or rule of estimation, thatj But no one who bad ever tasted good mutton, 

 judgement was pronounced on the Weslbrook'j reasonably fattened, and could make his choice 

 heifer, whose girt was equal to that of a stronr i ,ynu!d ever touch the former. Hoivever, such 

 ox, and her weight above 1700 pounds; allho'lfat mutton serves labouring men in England; it 

 she was only 21 months old. It is the same cri- j ceem- to be a substitute for pork; and probably 

 terion which, if i( does not absolutely determine, at a lover price. 



yet materially inOuences the judgement of com- 1 I\Ir ?owel, in No. 3. of his Pieply, exhibits 

 mitlees in England, among competitors for pre- the weight of a number of cattle of the improv- 

 miums and svveep-stake purses. But it is so im- ed shcil-horn race in England, when lallened : 

 proper a rule of decision, that the Brighton among !hem one ox whose four quarters of beef 

 commitlpps have latterly taken some pain« to weighel 1890 pounds 



his tallow 350—2240 lbs. 



butter] may be increased, if the qualKy be no 

 regarded; the weiehl must be augmented if the 

 hutler-milk be not well expressed, as in JVew) Encr. 

 land, and scdi be profusrhi supplied.'''' 



That the cattle of New England and other 

 Stales are of the Devon race, the re-^der will 

 have seen, has been tesfifieil by the dislingiii=h- 

 ed English farmer, I\Ir Fealherslonhans-h T who 

 also bears witness to the excellency of our A-iier 

 ican oxen of this breed, for hthour and for beef. 



I must have been mistaken in (he idea I en- 

 tertained, that the Devons. as « e!l as some other 

 breeds of cattle in Englan 1. had been subjects 



another beef 2058 



a third beef 23G6 



tallow 375—2741. 



and several steers of crreat weight in beef and 

 marks — " Before Mr Bakewell's days, we hail lalloir. Such caltle may b" called monstrous, 

 no criterion but size ; nothing would please but [?uf is this mammal'n breed — Ibe largest in Eng- 

 Elejihants and giants."t — This is the same Mr' 'and — adapted to the keep, and to the service or 

 Culley. who wrote a treatise on Live Stock, , io4««» of New-England farmers ? are (hose " el- 

 novv so of(en quo(ed as an au(horily by other ''fihanis" raised to be put to (ho yoke? 



English writers, and by Mr Powel. Those few 

 words in his letter (o Mr Younsr, slronelv ex- 

 press his rei)robalion of size as a criterion for 

 judging of the value of caltle ; and it is clear 

 that Young that " enlightened agriculturist," en 

 tertained the same sentiment. 



Two of Col. Chapin's oxen were brought to 

 Ibe cattle show at Brighton in October 1817.— 

 They were very large and very fat. They had 



Will a breed of caltle, in ubich a heifer only 

 [1 months olil,t girls and weighs as much as 

 one o( their aclive, strong and useful oxen, be 

 more beneficial to them Ihan Iheir present 

 breed ? a breed which furnishes oxen for lah(U)r 

 exactly suited to (heir services, and (o their pas- 

 turage in summer, and hay and other fodder in 

 winter? and which whin fallened, give beef in 

 joints an<l |)ieces perfectlv adapted to their own 



been celebrated for a year preceding; and for wants and those of the community at large ?- 



the honor of M issacbiisetts, in which they were iThe few farmers who have lately fallen in my 



bred and fattened, some generous gentlemen way. ofwhomlcould make inquiry, have ans- 



,~ , .: wered, that oxen which when (aliened would 

 1)011" anil heifers of the ,\orih Dcvon'^ — as will as of 



of great improvemrnt, on Bakewell's I>rinci- ;^^^■th" ITi'L" », t mi v . 



r>l/>-.* „- 1 .1 T-v 1.1- , tlie " Short llorii" ami Other brueds. » d r . v i < i~ c \< . • „ 



pie.-,, or else the Devons lately imported were «. s^„ ,>;.,„,„.. .,f i ,. i . . vt p i - i ■ n * I'l-' face to ^o. I. vol. V. of .Mass. .^-n. Keposilory. 



. .- • See Ins ietler ol Juiie Ust to Mr 1 owel, m his Rp- + ,..., : v v,„t . „. c- r-u i m . /• ..i 



» , . , , — l„,., «]^ <3 ' T (hampjon's heifer, at hir Charles Morjan s ( attle 



* I fiad however, r-at in <he account ?iven ' y Mr i P'y ^°- •^- .«how. Hrr -irt 1., tiind the fore Ii- was fi iVel 7 h.rh- 



inwe , in his lie ply \ . ,^,of S.r Charles Mii--an's Cat- t Mr Young's lecture before the Board of Ajricul- cs ; and her weight in beef alone, calculated to be 723 



Uo bljow, "liecijums wc;c awarded for the best ture, June 6, 1811. pounds. 



