262 



NEW ENGLAND FARMEK, 



FEB. I^, 1841. 



by Mr Colling, in 1810, gave to his herd a reputation 

 wliicli Wiis above cum[ietition. These 48 aniin:ils sold 

 for £7,115 17s. Of Ihe numb r, the cow known in the 

 Herd Book by iho name of" Liuiy, ' brought 200 guin- 

 eas; Countess, her daughter, 9 years old, brought 400 

 guineas; iho bull Comet, 6 years old, brought 1000 

 guineas; and 28 ofthe bulls nnd cows sold for 5,l(i3.'. f)«. 

 or near $ar,,00n. 



By intrtducing llie cross referred to, Mr Colling re- 

 duced tlie size of the original Short Horn, but brought 

 the anitnal into a more compact Ibrni. 



It is dringerous, and more especially fur one unskilful 



in breeding, to breed (rnm close atfinities. If not done 



bl'icksmilhsdonotmakelhe shoe long enough at j ^^ith great jud;rmcnt it will impair the consftulion o 



AND HORTICULTURAL REGISTER. 



Boston, Wednesday, Feb. 17, 1841. 



FIFTH AGRICULTUR.AL MEETING AT THE 

 STATE HOUSE. 

 On the evening of Thursday last, Mr Sheldon, of Wil- 

 mington, who on the week preceding gave us some in- 

 teresting information relative to working oxen, stated 

 that the shoeing of catlle is of more importance tha i 

 many persons are acf;ustomed to suppose. Ordinarily 

 our 



the heel. For travelling on pavements, on fmzen ground 



or holding a load when descending hills, if the shoe be 



not wide and if it do not extend back near half an inch 



beyond where the foot bears, Ihe shoe is liiible to be 



pressed into the fuol and produce lameness. Such shoes I great size. As has been well remarked by a distinguish 



are more liable to be pulle.l off in llie mire, and are not | ed breeder of Short Horns in the State of New York— 



the animals pr<iduced, and one of the earliest evidences 

 in such animals is a cavity or falling off back of the 

 shoulders. 



Never Facrifice good points and symmetry to attain 



very essential for common farming wi.rk. The teamster 

 ouffht to know when lameness is caused by a shoe, and 

 he knows cr should know when his ox is properly shod. 

 What is learned in early youth is well remembered ; 

 this is aa true of steers as of children. Break gteers 

 yoOng ; some boys may be trusted with the business of 

 breaking them, but must not be allowed to do it in frol- 

 ic. The best way he knows to teach them to back is, 

 to put a hand under Ihe nose of each, raise the head and 

 press right up to their fices. This process does well 

 with many oxen. Th.e teamster should be careful in 

 language ; should never utter words to his team which 

 do not mean something, and which his cattle do not un- 

 derstand. Some language is neressary. He had seen a 

 deaf and dumb man who by motions could manage one 

 pair of catlle well, but failed when he tried three pair. 

 Something may be known of the horse by his looks, 

 but in him we are more liable to he deceived than in 

 the ox. He has found generally that when the head 

 hollows in from the nose to the top of the head, the 

 animal is generally ambitious, but if not used skilfully 

 is apt to be contrary. Dill'ering from the ox, a good 

 travelling horse sometimes toes out, and will strike the 

 ancles. Mr S. supposes the speed in such may be ow- 

 ing to the greater ease with which the balance is pre- 

 served when tlio feet keep near together. For travel- 

 ling and for strength, he would have the limb short from 

 the gambrel to the footlock, and long from the gambrel 

 to the stifle. The hoisc should be full — quite full — over 

 the kidneys. 



Mr Fav, if New Braintree, inquired ■ f Mr S. wheth- 

 er he would confine steers within a yard when first yok- 

 ed, and whether he would allow them some time to 

 become familiar with the y ike before he attempted to 

 do much with thera. 



Mr S. replied that it might be well to keep them 

 where they could not run until they were a little accus- 

 tomed to the yoke, and that all your doings should be 

 such as to excite no fears that the yoke or any thing 

 else was to hurt them. 



Mr L.ithrop, of Springfield, next addressed the meet- 

 ing, and he has been kind enough to favor us with a re- 

 port of his remarks as follows : 



The Teeswater, or unimproved Short Horns, were 

 large, but disproportioned and of looso make. To reme- 

 dy thise defects, Charles Colling, .about the year 179.5, 

 put a bull of this breed to a [tolled Galloway cow, and 

 then l)red directly back to ihe original Short fli-rns, thus 

 taking but one cross of the Galloway breed. It seems 

 that little or no confidence was had in this cross for a 

 long pi rind, for the animals thus produced wi^re termed 

 in derision, the alloij. Bui the sale of 48 animals made 



The object to be attained is to produce the greatest 

 animal within the smallest possible cimrpass." 



No animal is entirely perfect ; some point in the best 

 animal will always be defective. It is not sufficient 

 alone to avoid breeding in and in, but there is much 

 room for the exerci.'ie of sound jii.lgnient and science in 

 breedinir. For instance — if a cow is too long or too 

 short, deficient in the loin, flank or any other importanl 

 point, she should be put to a bull who is veiy full in the 

 points where the cow is deficient, and thus correct the 

 defect of the dam in her produce. 



The owner of one of iho best herds of Short Horns 

 in England, and one of the most scientific breeders of 

 these animals is Earl Spencer. He affirms that the male 

 animal should approach towards coarseness — that the 

 neck should be thick, as evidence of a good constitu- 

 tion — yet that he should be a mellow handler — and he 

 says that he would be unwilling to breed from a male 

 animal that does not possess these two important points. 

 I believe it to be a v^-ell established fact that this race 

 of animals far exceed any other in early maturity ; that 

 with good keep they will make greater weight at two or 

 three years old, than any race of cattle which shall have 

 equal advantages. 



In a treatise of Rev. Henry Berry on catlle, (and it is 

 believed there is no better authority.) he says the pure 

 Shorts are in color always red or white, and these two 

 colors intermixed, and so far as my knowledge upon the 

 subject extends, it is .so ; anil hence any portion of black 

 or blue hairs, are looked upon with suspicion and con- 

 sidered as evidence of impurity of blood. 



This race ol animals can be traced back in a direct 

 line for about half a ceniury, and from so long a course 

 of breeding, it is quite apparent th'it the produce will be 

 like the sire or the dam, or partake in part of the one 

 and part of the other. 



In this race of improved Short Horns, some families 

 are very superior, deep and rich milkers, whilst others 

 are fit alone for their readiness to take on fat. The lat- 

 ter are suited to the new parts of our country where 

 iheir principal object is to mak.^ beef to be sent to mar- 

 ket, and the former alone suited to our own part of the 

 country for dairy purposes. 



I believe it to bo well established, that the quality of 

 beef from ihese aninials is at least equal to that of any 

 other breed, and for the butcher they have this advan- 

 tage over most others ; the portions of the animal which 

 are the least valuable ari» of lightweight, whilst the most 

 valuable portion of the animal are of great weight when 

 compared with other animnls. 



I believe the milking and dairy properties of the Short 

 Horns to be equal if not superior to any otiier race — 



and when good judgment is exercised in the breeder, 

 that the produce can be relied upon fnr these pr'iperlies, 

 with much more confidence than upon any other breed. 

 I am not prepared to enter much into detail upon this 

 point — but will cite one or two recent instances of the 

 product of the milk of these animals. 



A cow owned by Mr Canby of Delaware, has given 

 one week the past season, over ^5 quarts of milk per 

 day, another, owned by Mr Gowen of Pliilarielphia, 

 gave for a week 33 1-2 quarts per day. 



In our own herd (it is owned by my brother and my- 

 self) two cows have given the past season, for three 

 moiiihs each on an average, one 48 pounds of milk per 

 day and the other 45 pounds. They were milked but 

 twice a day and kept on grass only. 



Of pure short horns we have 19 animals — and we 

 have 10 more that are high bred. 



We have two, two year old heifers last spring and one 

 two years old in the autumn, which weighed severally 

 in October last 1200 lbs , 1175 lbs , and 1005 lbs — 

 These animals are very compact in their for n, and good 

 judges dill not estimate iliem at more than 3-4 of their 

 actual weight. 



We have two cows whose dame was sired by Mr 

 Colling's Bull Comet, who was sold for 1000 guineas, 

 -And 1 believe these cows partake of as much of the 

 blood of that superior animal, as any animal now in 

 being. 



Mr Dodge, of Hamilton, inquired whether the cross 

 of a Durham bull and native cow was liable to produce 

 a calf of extraordinary size .' He had known instances 

 in which the offspring was so large as to injure the 

 cow, and in one case it had proved fatal. He asked 

 also, whether Durham ci ws are better milkers than na- 

 tives, and whether large cows generally yield more milk 

 than small ones, because he had noticed that on 

 milk farms around this city, the cows were large, very 

 large. 



Mr Lalhiop, of South Hadley, replied that a large 

 coaise bull, part blood, put to a native cow will produce 

 ordinarily very large calves, but the full blood bull of 

 fine limbs does not- Ilis calves do not weigh more than 

 from 60 to 75 lbs- Cid. Jaques confirmed this opinion, 

 adding that a coarse large limbed sire however small 

 his body, would produce a large offspring. 



Mr Buckminster, Editor of the Cultivator, was of the 

 opinion that our natives are better milkers than any 

 that are imported. And that in England they miss it, 

 in bleeding animals that are too large. Horse, cow, or 

 hog of medium size is better than a large one. 



Ml . Sheldon thinks that the purchases of cows for 

 milk farms are not particular as to size, but that their 

 sto(-k attain to a large growth in consequence of being 

 kept high. Large cows in good ^i^vd do give more 

 milk, but in short feed the small ones do as well. 



Mr. Weld of Sturbridge, confirmed the last remark of 

 Mr Sheldon and his views in regard to breaking steers 

 and driving the team were similar to those of Mr Shel- 

 don. 



Mr Colman has seen the Durham stock of the Messrs 

 Lathrop, and it is splendid. But he is disposed to main- 

 tain that this breed is not fit for us in New England, — 

 has himself owned three pure bloods and four half 

 bloods and not oni' them was good at the pail. Wlien 

 these cows give a large quantity of milk, there is no ex- 

 traordinary qiiantily of liuttcr obtained. These high 

 bred , nimals require iiecnliar rare and keeping. 



Mr D. K. Minor, of New York, being pr(sent the sub. 

 ject of live stock was laid upon the table to afford him 

 an opportunity of making some remarks upon poudrette, 

 in the manufacture of which ho is concerned. After a 

 few preliminary remarks he inquired whether this kind 



