1839] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. .^4 



25 



thod of reducing flax to a fibre resembling cotton, 

 it is believed that less care in gathering will be re- 

 quired; especially ifthe "brakes" are improved bj' 

 the addition of transverse rollers, to crush the 

 stem, in whatever position it may be presented. 



From the Franklin Farmer. 

 THE SHORT-HORN FKVER. 



Mr. Editor: — In a recent number of the Gene- 

 see Farmer, in an article headed "Kentucky Farm- 

 ing," the editor expresses the beliefthat ^Hhe short- 

 horn fever in the ivest. like the mulberry fever in 

 the east, must be near reaching its crisis.'' 



Although I will cheerfully accord to the able 

 editor of that excellent paper a general correct- 

 ness of opinion, yet 1 can but express my entire 

 dissent to the above sentiment, in which, I hum- 

 bly think the editor, has for once been vastly mis- 

 taken. He iniimaies iliat the demand and sales 

 of the short-horns in the west is the effect of a ma- 

 nia; and is out of proportion to their value. Does 

 he not know that at all tlie numerous Fairs in the 

 west (the extensive reports of which he has seen,) 

 the merits of these animals have been the subject 

 of most rigid scrutiny ; and that without a sin- 

 gle exception they have carried ofT the palm? 

 Does he not know, that for several years past, we 

 have placed them beside our scrubs in the dairy, 

 the slaughter house, and the feeding lot, and that 

 their intrinsic merit and superior excellence have 

 thus been proved beyond the possibility of a doubt? 



So obvious and decided is the superiority of the 

 improved short-horn over the scrub cattle, all things 

 being considered, that it seems to be the fixed deter- 

 mination of every intelligent farmer in the west, to 

 possess them, so soon as he can procure money to 

 purchase, and grass to pasture them. In this they 

 proceed upon an invaluable principle which should 

 always be observed: Keep no stock hut the best 

 of its kind. 



Hitherto these animals have been restricted to 

 small districts in Kentucky, Ohio, and Tennesee, 

 but more recently have been turning from these 

 districts as common centres, with their heads and I t-'iis county, for ^2,000; the highest price ever 



been the progress of improvement in the west, 

 that for several years past we have not been able 

 to produce a sufficiency of through-bred bulls to 

 cross the common stocks with. Hence, so far from 

 declining, the price of blooded cattle in Kentucky 

 has steadily advanced, even through the pecuni- 

 ary crises of the two last years; and is still advan- 

 cing, notwithstanding the unfortunate death of 

 several of the principal breeders in Kentucky, 

 and some other circumstances, have combined to 

 throw an unusually large number into market du- 

 ring the last summer and fall; and notwithstand- 

 ing the general shortness of the crops. 



I have heard that a cow sold in this section 

 last month for $2000. She is not bad property 

 at that price, for her last calf, though a bull, and 

 only a ftjw months old, sold for igjSOO; and her next 

 will most probably be worth as much. Nor could 

 the calf be dear, for even in a herd of 20 common 

 cows he would pay for himself in four years, every 

 half blood calf being worth ^10 more than a scrub 

 calf (other things being equal) even for beef. 



If there is any propriety in the foregoing calcu- 

 lations, the mania for the shoit-horns, so fiar from 

 reaching ils crises, is yel far, very far,fiom its climax. 

 So confident am I in this belielj that this year, I 

 have sold only about i§ 1000 worth of stock, while I 

 have bred nearly forty cows to a through-bred 

 bull. The short-horns for years to come must 

 spread through the country southward and west- 

 ward, and the price for them will be still onward 

 and upward. Let not these who wish to purchase, 

 delay, under the vain expectation of a reduction in 

 price, or they, like myself, may have to rue it, to 

 the tune of many hundreds. 

 Yours resjxjctfully, 



A Kentucky Farmer. 



From llie Lexington Intelligencer. 

 SALES OF DURHAM CATTLE. 



Wfi learn that Henry Clay, Jr. Esq., has sold 

 his imported improved short-horned Durham cow. 

 Princess to John and Richard Allen, Esqre., of 



footsteps directed to every possible point of the 

 compass. See the vast extent of territory 

 which is rapidly preparing for and calling for 

 these valuable animals. Illinois and iVlissouri are 

 throwing enclosures around their vast natural pas- 

 tures, (with a rapidity almost rivalling magic; it- 

 seltj) soon to be grazed by the best cattJe which 

 can be procured. Indiana, although inclined to a 

 diversifted husbandry, is rapidly acquiring a taste 

 for grazing and good cattle. Tennessee is open- 

 ing her eyes to a soil exhaustiig by cotton and to- 

 bacco, and sees in the growth »f the blue grass, and 

 the pasturing of cattle, the -neans of restoration 

 and riches, and is even ortbring the short-horns 

 from England. Ohio andKentucky themselves 

 are not half supplied with this valuable commo- 

 dity; and to say nothing of North Alabama, x\r- 

 kansas and Wisconsin, tue above states embrace 

 a territory, (by relerence to the Gazetteer,) of 

 more than two hundred and thirty thousand square 

 miles yet to be supnlied with this excellent race. 

 Allowing only one short-horn to the square mile, 

 the stoclt v/e now have to breed from could scarce 

 supply the demand in twenty years. So rapid has 

 Vol. VII-4 



given far a cow in the United States. 



At the sale of Thomas Smith, Esq., last week, 

 the improved short-horned Durham call) Gros- 

 venor, two years old, by Talleyrand, imported by 

 the Ohio stock company, was purchased by Thos. 

 H. Clay, Esq., for $700. 



As the vast improvement in the size and beauty 

 of our stock, effected by the introduction of the 

 Durham breed, has become more extensively 

 known and appreciated, the pure blooded animals 

 of this race have increased in value; and probably 

 will continue to do so, until the supply is equal to 

 the demand. Such has been the anxiety of stock 

 raisers, not only of this county and state, but 

 throughout the west, for a few years past, to pos- 

 sess themselves of through-bred Durham breed- 

 ers, that the multiplication of the race has borne 

 but a small proportion to the number of purcha- 

 sers in the market. This will doubtless continue 

 to be the case for a number oi' years. Fayette 

 county was, we believe, the first place in the west 

 where the improved short-horns were introduced, 

 and, although several of our farmers have, for a 

 number of years, been investing their capital, in 



