160 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Apkil 



It appears, at first sight, tliat the worli our cattle 

 are made to go througli with, would have but little 

 influence upon the return they give in meat. It 

 might be supposed that this work, since it turned 

 the life of the animal to account, admitted of a 

 cheaper production of meat. But not so argues 

 the English farmer. He believes that habitual la- 

 bor causes animals to become hardy, vigorous and 

 slow, to eat much and fatten little, to increase in 

 bony structure, make little available flesh and that 

 slowly ; that hal)itual inaction on the contrary, pro- 

 duces a soft, lazy race, which fatten early, assume 

 rotundity of form and fleshiness, and on an equal 

 amount of food, give a better product of butcher 

 meat. The English farmer argues further that 

 ■where labor is the first consideration, the animal is 

 not killed till it has finished its oflice ; but on the 

 other hand, where meat only is sought, it is slaugh- 

 tered at that period Avhen it gives most, and that 

 when the breed is precocious, this period comes 

 early — and that thus, by raising cattle for slaughter, 

 he gets the best return for what they consume. The 

 English farmer's reasoning on this matter, is, I 

 have no doubt, right, when he possesses a preco- 

 cious breed of cattle like Durham or improved 

 Hereford. And this reasoning would be true, in 

 any country j)ossessing similar l)reeds of cattle, un- 

 less the profit of working oxen was greater than it 

 is in England. The results of British agriculture 

 in raising cattle are that Great Britain feeds eight 

 millions of horned cattle — slaughters two millions 

 annually, from Mhich she realizes a hundred mil- 

 lions of dollars for meat alone. 



The other species of domestic animals are horses 

 and ])igs. As regards horses, the pre-eminence of 

 the English breeders has long been recognized. As 

 for the race-horse and his rival, the hunter, every- 

 body knows by what a combination of effort the 

 English have succeeded in ])roducing and keeping 

 up these superior breeds. They are productions of 

 human industry, real works of art, obtained at a 

 great expense, and designed to gratify a national 

 passion. A fine horse constitutes with everybody 

 the ideal of fashionable life ; it is the first dream of 

 the young girl, as it is the latest pleasure of the 

 aged man of business. But the English have breeds 

 for draught, which are equally valuable. Such, for 

 example, are the plow horses, the best of which, 

 perhaps, come from Suffolk. I have already stated 

 that tillage with horses has been generally substi- 

 tuted by the Enghsh for that of oxen ; they thought, 

 and with reason, that the quicker action of the horse 

 made its work more ])roductive, and that an idle life 

 made the meat of the ox more productive. But 

 they have done more ; they have substituted horses 

 for men wherever manual labor — the most expen- 

 sive of all — could be replaced by a machine set in 

 motion by horse-power. The brewers' horses and 

 those used in coal wagons are celebrated for their 

 strengtii and bulk. The l^est fetch very high prices. 

 It is the same with the carriage horses ; the breed 

 of Cleveland bays from Yorkshire is reckoned one 

 of the most perfect that exists for average work. 



English pigs on an average are not very large ; 

 but they arc killed young, exemplifying the great 

 principle of precocity contended for by Bakewell, 

 and apjjlied to all kinds of animals destined for 

 food. They are all of breeds which fatten rapidly, 

 and whose shapes have been improved for a length • 

 ened period. 



The English rear few fowls, the dampness of 



their climate being unsuitable for it, and spite of the 

 I efforts of wealthy amateurs, the occupation has 

 hitherto obtained but little favor ; whereas in France 

 the annual production of eggs alone is estimated at 

 twenty millions of dollars, and that of all kinds of 

 fowls at an equal sum. 



Such are the advantages obtained by British ag- 

 riculture, from the best breeds and the best man- 

 agement of them, in rearing domestic animals. 



I must next show what crops support this animal 

 production of England ; for crops are both the 

 causes and consequences of a great production of 

 domestic animals. M. 



For the New England Farmer. 



THE COUNTY OF ORLEANS, VERMONT. 



Mr. Editor: — I improve the o])portunity to 

 make a few remarks with regard to this ])art of 

 Vermont, which may be of some interest to your 

 numerous readers in other parts of the country. 



First, with reference to our winters in particular, 

 and our climate in general. We are frequently 

 amused by the remarks we meet with in one of our 

 newspapers from Cincinnati, Ohio. People there 

 seem to think that the unfortunate people of New 

 England, (Vermont in particular,) live under snow- 

 drifts through a terrible winter, or that spring thaws 

 them from the heart of an ice mountain, — where 

 life is ])reserved by a miracle. Even the good 

 peojjle of your State seem inclined to pity us in 

 the northern part of Vermont, on account of the 

 terrible cold storms and snows of our winters. Such 

 used to receive my assertions, while I resided in 

 Massachusetts, that the winters in northern Ver- 

 mont, are less uncomfortable than they are in Mas- 

 sachusetts, almost with incredulity. ]3ut, as I have 

 spent more than thirty years of my life in two of 

 the northern counties of the State, and some ten or 

 twelve years in Massachusetts, I think I can make 

 a correct comparison. We know here very little of 

 the searching winds, the deep falls of snow, and the 

 territ)le storms to which the eastern part of your 

 State is subject. 



During the time in which the great storms pre- 

 vailed on the 6th and 13th of the present month, 

 in southern New England, tve, in this county had 

 no idea of anything unusual on the coast. My i)ar- 

 ishioners are scattered over a considerable extent, 

 but the meetings for prayer, on those Saturday 

 evenings, and the congregations on those Sabbaths, 

 were not characterized by any considerable dimi- 

 nution of numbers in attendance. I reside a mile 

 from our meeting-house, and did not experience the 

 slightest inconvenience in attending with my fami- 

 ly. During more than fifteen years, my meeting- 

 house has never failed but once of being open for 

 worship on the I^ord's day, and then worship was 

 attended in a smaller room. The Salem Register, 

 of a late date, speaks thus of "stormy Sabbaths :" — 

 "The oldest inhal)itant cannot remember a parallel 

 to the long series of unpleasant Sabbaths with 

 which we have been nsited for the last four months ; 

 or, a former period, when for consecutive Sabbaths, 

 our houses of worship have been closed, at least for 

 a portion of each day. Such was the case in this 

 city, on the 6th and 13th of this month, at least on 

 a portion of each day, in consequence of the inclem- 

 ency of the weather. From the 14th of October, 

 18o5, to the 13th of Jan., 1856, hiclusive, embrac- 



