NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Puhlishef) bv JOHN n. R(/SSF.IX. sttlip cornpr of rf.ii?res9 nnd Mnflall-Slrwts, Rostnn TlfOMAS G. FKSSF.NnKN. FniTOR. 



VOL. IV. 



FRIDy\Y, rs'OV^EMBER 2:>, 1B2;'). 



No. IB. 



ORIGXNAI. COmniUNZCATXONS. 



TO THE EDITOa OF THE NEW EXGLAND FARMER. 



SOME REMARKS ON TFiE ouEEn Cr CAT- 

 TLE, CALLED SHORT liORNS. 

 A CnrresponHpnt of yours inquired, vvlip.ther 

 MV. Piirsons'p bull known I'y the nnme of "• Hoi- 

 derness," is re.illy one of the rnces or descrip- 

 tions of caMle, known by i he name of " Sliort 

 Horn?." Mr. P;ir?nn« m-ty give ("or himself', 

 the history of the piirr.hase of this fine nnimal, 

 l)nt being an inlprcitod fiartv, (^(hnngh that inter- 

 est is lint small,) hi« acrr unl may be received 

 by per?on«, who are disposed lo be jealnu-. with 

 some Hisirii'^l. I will ihfn ailompt to given 

 lidle fiirlher informatron on the hislorv of the j 

 Short horned imporled ralde, and I do it the] 

 more readily, becansi> I per'^eive nioch misap- 

 •prehpn^ii'n exists on the snl'jcct. Wr. Parsons'; 

 iuill is tinqiiesiionably otie of I he Short Horned 

 races, exislin'? in the N'lrlhprn parts of Eng- ; 

 laiiil, orisjinaliy YrT|.-.ihirp, loi! gradually inlro-j 

 dnced into (he adj'didFi^j connlies of Cumber-, 

 land and Laiica'ihirp. He is [irobably of the! 

 subdivisions of the race of Short Horns, called 

 *' Holderness." Tlie g'rcat price paid for him 

 in England, while a calf, is some proof of the 

 purity of h's blood, ami of his individual good 

 'inalities. These good qnaliiies conid not, of 

 course, be certainly ascertained, while he was 

 but a calf, hnt it is familiar to all raisers of stock, 

 that good judges pronounce wilh very tolerable I 

 and sufficient arruracy upon young animals, r 

 to their future character. It has been said, that 

 ivilh respect to colts their future character may 

 be belter settled before (hey are two months 

 old, than at any later period, until they are 



TRIED. 



No doubt these early presages often prove 

 erroneous, but not so often as materially to af- 

 lect the general opinion of the soundness of 

 the rule. 



If we can place any reliance on the Supple- 

 ment 10 the British Encyclopedia, evidently 

 written with great care, or on the works of 

 Culley, and the Complete Grazier, still more 

 recent, the Short horned cattle are divided into 

 different classes ; the Holdernes-, the Teeswa- 

 ter, the Yorkshire, the Durham, Northumber- 

 land and other breeds. They are all short liorn- 

 ed. They are all of the same original race. 

 The Teeswater was in the greatest favour for 

 some time, because some individuals had taken 

 greater pains to imfirove them. More recently, 

 they have assumed lor these races, the name of 

 the " Improved Durham Short Horns." It is 

 obvious, therefore, as their origin is common, 

 that every degree of superiority, which one 

 branch ot the family may claim oyer the other, 

 must depend on individual care and skill, and 

 there is no reason to doubt, that the Holderness 

 breed, of the same stock, may by individual ef- 

 fort, be made equal or superior to the Tees- 

 water. 



Every man, who ever raised ten animals of 

 any sort, must be at once convinced of the ab- 

 surdity of supposing, that all the individuals of 



(he same paren(:'ge will be equally gntul. In a 

 litter of pig-'^, he will iind every gradation of 

 diflerence in tbrm. 



The finrest race of turf horses, will sorne- 

 times exhibit delects which no care can over- 

 come. Among the Short horned cattle we knoiv 

 that many are utterly Ziorlhlcss, and we had an 

 example of a large herd at our late show, which 

 ptoved conclusively, that .S/ior( horns are not by 

 any means the hii,! tests of superiority. 



It is indeed unfortunate, but it is a mislbrlune 

 which belongs to all hum.m affairs, that we give 

 »auic.s-, and rely upon (/(o/i, without any due regard 

 i'l facts. W'p talk of Saxony sheep, as superior 

 to our own .Meriofps, yet we have seen many 

 Saxony sheep which were very far inferior to 

 our own. .'\s to our oicn Merino sheep, we 

 speak generally of their being full blooded, and 

 perhaps they arc .fo, yet we see the whole (lock 

 of j\]r Ticknor and one or two others producing 

 a price at a [lublic sale 50 cents higlier than 

 other t3ocks as pure. 



'Ibis |)rovps, that constant care must he taken 

 to sell or kill olTihe indifferent individuals and 

 to preserve the best. 



Mr Williams's bull, Denton, was unquestion- 

 ably one of the [lurest ol the short horned breed 

 of cattle ever imported, but the progeny of 

 Denton mu«t differ most essentially. Mr Ixice 

 produced one of the best milch cous from Den- 

 ton ever exhibited at our cattle shows ; and 

 while his Excellency Gov. Lincoln from the 

 same animal has produced others very exlraor- 

 -linary, it seems to be well ascertained, that in 

 many instances the heifers have failed in this res 

 pect. It is true with res[iect to the bull ol iMr Par- 

 sons caUed "Holderness," ihat he has had un- 

 common success in the County of Worcester, and 

 that he is a fine animal. It is no! a matter ol 

 small consideration, that in sucli a county, Hol- 

 derness had such success. 



The only motive which I have had in mak- 

 ing the foregoing remarks, is, to induce our 

 I'iirniers to exercise their oa.-/i judgment as to 

 the individual., to see whether his form and 

 qualities are such, as they apjirove, to see 

 vvhetlier he has much or liule offal — whether 

 his flesh is most abundant on the profitable or 

 unprofitable points — whether he is disposed to 

 keep fat on moderate allowance. 



Generally speaking, it may be adopted as a 

 maxim (so say all writers on this subject,) that 

 a soft and silken coat or skin, which has a mel- 

 low leel, a compact body, and small limbs, are 

 indications of a disposition lo fatten well. 



It is said however, and said wilh great justice, 

 and force, that it is more important to us, to 

 have good working cattle aud good milch cows, 

 than to have cattle, which will acquire fat easi 

 ly, and at small expence. To this doctrine 1 

 cordially accede, but I am not as yet satisiied, 

 that the two objects may not go on together. 1 

 am not as yet convinced, that the Dutch race, 

 the foundation or ancestors of the Short horned 

 breed, may not give to our own cattle their 

 beautiful well proportioned form, their disposi- 

 tion to fatten easily, without impairing their ac- 

 tivity and strength, or lessening the products o( 



the dairy. For ihis reason I am in favour of 

 the experiment. A F.ARMER. 



Rcrbury, A'ov. 11. 



TO Tin- EDITOR OF THE NEW -ENGLAND 5'AR.MEK, 



THE PAST SEASON. 



East Atllehnro'' Knv. 18, 1825. 



Mr Editor — I send you a few notes on the 

 se.ison, in the soi;lh-eaitprly part of Massichii- 

 setls. If farmers generally would pay more at- 

 lenlion lo this subject, I think they could calcu- 

 late with greater certainty on the just proijtsot 

 their farms. 



The last Blarch was remarkably warm and 

 pleasant — the frost nearly all out of the ground, 

 and travelling as pleasant as in midsummer. — ■ 

 The oldest person jvilh whom I have ever con- 

 versed, slates that in his remembrance he never 

 knew such warm iveather as in that month. 



The Summer has been generally productive, 

 though Indian Corn suffered from the drought of 

 July. The practice of cutting up Indian Corn 

 by the ground and setting it in shocks to dry, is 

 not generaltii considered good policy here. On 

 the Mill of September 1 cut up 40 hills of Indian 

 Corn and shocked it. On the 12th of October I 

 ffalhered the same number of hills by the side 

 of ihose shocked ; both parcels were husked and 

 weighed. That which was cut up in its imma- 

 ture state was clean, sound, and mostly dry ; it 

 weiijhed 7 lbs. more than that which stood on 

 the field till it came to mnlurity— owing to its 

 being ';or.-3idti.iMy dryer than that which was 

 shocked, !iut ! should think if ihey were of equal 

 dryness, there ivould be no material C'ifTerence 

 in weight — but the fodder is worth much more, 

 being cleaner. Mr Preston of Pennsylvania dis 

 approves of this method ; it might be of some 

 service if gentlemen who have harvested their 

 Corn by culling it up by the ground, would com- 

 municate iheir observations through your paper. 



Our summer crops have been very good. Hay 

 was abundant. The season for securing it was 

 tine,— there being no rain of any consequence, 

 for about six weeks from the 1st ol July. 



It is recommended by some, that when apples 

 are gathered, they should not be immediately 

 made into cider, but put into heaps on the ground, 

 but the utility of this practice may be question- 

 ed. Our winter fruits, we well know, when 

 picked from the tree, should be put into tight 

 casks, and straw or sand put in with them, and 

 the casks made air tight— the sand absorbs the 

 perspiration of the apples. 

 ^ JOS. W. CAPRON. 



FOR THE NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



LEAD AQUEDUCT. 



JVewton, A'ov. 14, 1825. 

 Mr Fessenden,— Permit a reader of your use- 

 ful paper to ask, whether Lead Aqueducis,whicb 

 are now common, are or may be to advantage, 

 connected with pumps where the water is ob- 

 tained wholly by suction. And likewise, the 

 expense per rod of a pipe of sufficient capacity 



