B6S 



FARMERS' REGIS T E R 



[No. 6 



thererore now a very valuable animal ; ancl if a 

 finer grain coultl be g\vc4i to the meal, llio fzreat 

 quantuy ofniuscle, coinpaied wilhlhalol'lat, would 

 be no tiisadvaulaiie. 



Alter leaving ihc land, or the cow, tiie young 

 cattle are kept during the first winter on hay, hay 

 and turnips, or sonieiiaies hay and a little oil cake. 

 In the next summer they run on seeds orsecond rate 

 land, and toooliengel nothing but straw in the win- 

 ter. At two years olii they fare no belter, except 

 that some now give tiom two lo (bur pounds of oil 

 cake daily; and'tb<^y are sold, in the spring or sum- 

 mer, by those who have not the means lo leed them, 

 to jobbers, who dispose of them lothe grazier. He 

 winters t'lem belter if he buys them at the latter 

 end of summer, and leeds them otf belbre another 

 winter; but if tliey are brought in the spring they 

 are generally fed off before winter, many of them 

 being put up for stall feeding, to which no breed 

 is better adapted." 



The Lincolnshire cattle are principally red and 

 while, but a dun variety was introduced, about the 

 middle of the last century, by Sir Charles Buck, of 

 Hanby Grange, and winch have so much im- 

 provrd in s-ize, as almost to overtake the common 

 breed of the county. Thev are found principally 

 in the neighborhood of Foikinghara, and have 

 been (ed up to one hundred and sixteen stones at 

 seven years old. 



The extraordinary animal which was exhibited 

 under the name of "the Lincolnshire ox," although 

 bred in that county, was an improved short-horn ; 

 and many of these are establishing themselves in 

 every part of Lincolnshire. 



Here, as in most oilier districts, there are great 

 varieiies of breeds, and which are said to be in- 

 creasing, and even inlerli^ring with the purity of the 

 native one, by means of the great annual importa- 

 tions of Irish cattle. 



Some have pur|)0sely and very recently endea- 

 vored lo establish a cross be'.ween the best of the 

 long-horned Irish and the short-horns of the coun- 

 ty : but the attempt, although promising some 

 success at first, has decidedly failed. 



Among the small iarmers, lialfhorns of every 

 size and variety are fiund, and they are crossed in 

 every way that caprice or lolly can suiiaest, yet 

 they are most of them good milkers. The Lin- 

 colns, although better adapted for grazing than for 

 the dairy, yield more milk, and of a richer (juality, 

 than some of the advocates for the old order of 

 things are willing to allow. 



J2sscx. — There is no distinguishing breed in this 

 country ; but the chief agricultural business, so far 

 as cattle are concerned consists in the suckling of 

 calves and grazing in the marshes, with some at- 

 tention to the dairy in particular districts. 



Our friend, Mr. May, veterinary eurgeon at 

 Maidon, informs us, that the suckling liirmers 

 procure tlieir calves at the principal markets, viz., 

 Romford, Chelmsford, Maidon, Braintree, and 

 Colchester. The Romford marlcet is chiefly sup- 

 plied from London ; Chelmsford and Maidon Irom 

 London and Suflblk ; and Colchester and Brain- 

 tree chiefly iVom the Suffolk dairies. 



They are brought in at from a week to a fort- 

 night old, and are generally fed about twelve or 

 fourteen weeks, when they are either brought by 

 the butchers in the neighborhood, who kill and 

 dress them, and send them lo the London market 

 or they are sent alive to the Romlbrd and Smith- 



field markets, where they are purchased by the 

 London butchers. 



Many of these calves used to be reared in the 

 rich pastures of Essex, and particularly the heifer 

 calves from the metropolitan dairies ; and many a 

 cow went from Essex to keep up those establish- 

 ments ; but tliis practice is now almost totally dis- 

 continued. 



The marshes aflbrd excellent grazing for cattle 

 that are not affected by the brackishness of the 

 water, and ihere are lew who sutler mateiially by 

 this. When cattle are not perlijclly ready for the 

 market, a few weeks's grazing on the marshes will 

 bring them rapidly forward. Some are purchased 

 in'store condition, in order that they may run ihree 

 or lour months on thisluxurant pasture, and at the 

 expiration of the time they are ready ibr Smith- 

 field.- At some periods of the year these flats are 

 covered with cattle, chiefly of a small kind, and 

 mostly the Welsh and Scotch runts ; indeed the 

 grazing is principally confined to these small cattle. 

 A few farmers, however, m every part of Essex 

 apply themselves to the regular grazing of cattle 

 ofa larger size. A itjw have the Devons, among 

 whom must be reckoned Lord Western, who is 

 partial to these cattle, both to feed and for the dai- 

 ry. When they are grass fed, there are always 

 some Scotch or Welsh runts as trimmers, i. e. to 

 eat down what the larger and more valuable cattle 

 leave. Many Heretbrds are pre[)ared for the 

 London market in the same manner. 



The dairy business is confined to a compara- 

 tively small part of the county. A consideiable 

 quantity of butter is made in the neighborhood of 

 Epping, and sent to the metropolis in small rolls ; 

 and it is deservedly celebrated for the peculiar 

 sweetness of its taste. This depends not on the_ 

 kind of cow, for occasionally a dairy contains half 

 a dozen diflerent breeds of cows, although the 

 short-horns are the most prevalent; but because 

 they feeil during the summer in the shrubby pas- 

 tures of Epping Forest, and the leaves of the trees, 

 and of numerous wild and aromatic plants which 

 Ihere abound, impart to it its peculiar sweet flavor. 

 The consumer, however, can seldom be certain 

 that he has the real Epping butter, Ibr a very fair 

 imitation of it is sent u[) from Northamptonshire; 

 and the London retail dealers wash the salt well 

 out of the Cambridge butter, and, forming it into 

 rolls, sell it for Epping butter , while a few are 

 more impudent, and sell almost any kind of butter 

 as true Epping. 



PRUNING. 



From tlie G(;iiesee Fanner. 



A great variety of experiments made in Europe, 

 and by Buel, Kenrick, and others, have been made 

 on the subject of pruning trees, and though the re- 

 sults did not perfectly agree on all points, yet they 

 seem to fully justify the general conclusion that 

 the best time fbr pruning trees is that period 

 in midsummer in which there appears a cessation 

 of the sap's ascent, and which lasts some three or 

 four weeks. Those who had paid attention to the 

 growth of trees must have remarked that the pe- 

 riod of increase is divided in two seasons, during 

 the first of which, or the one most active, the 

 shoots that form fruit, flower, or seed-buds are 



