Vol. 6. 



GENESEE FARMER. 



117 



gainst book-farming' — such unfeeling contempt for 

 the poor, physically impotent, visionary book-mak- 

 ing, and book-reading world. But I must confess 

 that my respect for such men is hardly diminished 

 by their failings. When I see with my own eyes 

 the fruits and monuments of their idomitable indus- 

 try, their Herculean powers of muscle, their all- 

 conquering perseverence, their all and singular de- 

 votion to their own proper calling, verily, one such 

 man is of more substantial use to the sub stratum 

 of society, than a hundred mere idle, theoretical, 

 unpracticed, blundering book-farmers. 



We now stopped to dine at the house of Cornel- 

 ius Bartlett, in the town of Romulus. His farm is 

 bounded by the lake. It contains 220 acres of first 

 rate land; the surface soil is the same heavy loam 

 before noticed, the subsoil an impervious hard-pan; 

 but as the inclination towards the lake is sufficient 

 to carry off the surplus water, little inconvenience 

 is given by the impervious subsoil. In a few instan- 

 ces, Mr. B. has underdrained some of his more 

 level lots, to the great improvement of the surface 

 soil. Here wa? a five acre field of corn, which gave 

 a better promise of a heavy crop than any one we 

 had seen. It was planted in drills three feet apart, 

 in the rows ; the field had received early in the 

 spring sixty-two horse loads of barn-yard manure to 

 the acre. The corn was now five feet high. It 

 covered the ground so completely that the rows 

 could hardly be distinguished. While the present 

 high temperature and scorching sun was curling the 

 leaves of every other field of corn we had seen, here, 

 heat and moisture were so finely balanced, that veg- 

 etable decomposition, and vegetable growth went 

 on pari passu, to the making of such a crop of corn 

 and corn stalks, as is rarely seen. Mr. B had about 

 two acres of corn sown in drills for fodder, which 

 had been hoed once: from its present luxuriant 

 growth it had the appearance of being sown broad 

 cast. The same pains taken in the culture of wheat 

 would save much seed, and msure a very large crop. 

 Mr. B. will, when his crops are in, send to the 

 Genesee Farmer, an account of his corn crop. He 

 had a field of twenty-six acres of wheat which will 

 probably yield 25 bushels to the acre; also, a prom- 

 ising field of spring wheat, with sundry other fields 

 of summer grain. His stock of young horses were 

 of good blood. His cows and other neat cattle, few 

 in number, as are all our grain farmers', were of the 

 improved breeds. His sheep we did not see. Our 

 dinner was such as it should be the pride of every 

 lord of the soil to set before his guests. It was 

 composed of the substantial products and dainties of 

 the farm, without the adventitious aid of far-fetch- 

 ed exotics. It was served by his own wife and her 

 fair daughter, with that unpretending hospitality 

 which does all for comfort, and little for show. 



S. W. 



For the Genesee Farmer. 



DEVON CATTLE. 



Mr. Editor, — In my few remarks on Devon cat- 

 tle, in Ihe July number of the Farmer, I inadver- 

 tently omitted to give an opinion relative to their 

 size and milking properties. 



It is a prevalent opinion, amongst those who are 

 not acquainted with them, that as a breed they are 

 80 diminutive in size, and such poor milkers, that 

 they are of little value to the farmer : this I think 

 is a great mistake. They are small when compared 

 to the Durhams, but are generally larger than the 



native cattle, and, when well fed on common foliage, 

 the cows will weigh from 600 to 800 lbs. dressed, 

 and the oxen from 1,000 to 1,500, and with extraor- 

 einary feeding they become very heavy, and always 

 weigh well to their appearance. Their activity en- 

 ables them to travel a great distance to market 

 without much loss, and their smooth and sprightly 

 appearance always secures for them the highest price 

 in marKet. 



I do not consider great size very desirable in any 

 animal. The small-boned, fine, anc smoothly-made 

 animals, of all breeds, are generally the most profit- 

 able ; and that breed of cattle which will yield the 

 most profit for the food which they consume, is the 

 most valuable for the farmer. 



As milkers, they are similar to our native cows, 

 there being poor, middling, and good ones amongst 

 them. Their milk is very rich, yielding a large pro- 

 portion of butter and cheese. It is my opinion, that 

 very much depends upon the management of heifers 

 for making them great milkers. They jought to be 

 bountifully fed with succulent food the first season, 

 and especially before calving ; to expand their milk 

 veins and enlarge their udders ; and they ought to 

 be very vigorously and carefully milked. The prac- 

 tice of letting heifers suckle the first season, is 

 against their making good milkers. 



WILLIAM GARBUTT. 



Wheatland, July 10, 1845. 



N. Y. STATE AGRICULTURAL FAIR. 



A meeting of the Executive Committee of the 

 State Agricultural Society was held at Bagg's Ho- 

 tel, Utica, on the 10th July. Present — 

 B. P. Johnson, President. 



H. W. Doolittle, Herkimer ; E. P . Prentice, Al- 

 bany ; H. S. Randall, Cortland, Vice-Presidents. 

 L. Tucker, Recording Secretary ; D. Lee, Corres- 

 ponding Secretary. George Vail, Troy ; T. S. 

 Faxton, Utica ; Major Kirby, Brownville ; J. M. 

 Sherwood, Auburn ; George Geddes, Oneida, Ma- 

 nagers. 



The President of the Oneida County Agricultu- 

 ral Society, E. Comstock, and a number of the offi- 

 cers and members of the society, were present at 

 the meeting. 



The following gentlemen were appointed a Com- 

 mittee of Arrangements for the Fair: 



B. P. Johnson, Rome ; Alex. Walsh, Lansing- 

 burgh ; J. M. Sherwood, Auburn ; George Geddes, 

 Tyler, Onondaga county ; Luther Tucker, Albany ; 

 E. Comstock, Rome ; T. S. Faxton, Utica ; Spen- 

 cer Kellogg, Utica. 



The following gentlemen were appointed a com- 

 mittee to confer with the rail-road and boat compa- 

 nies, in relation to the transportation of stock and 

 articles designed for exhibition : 



J. M. Sherwood, Auburn ; Horatio Seymour, Uti- 

 ca ; M. D. Burnet, Syracuse ; L. B. Langworthy, 

 Rochester ; Lewis F. Allen, Buffiilo ; George Vail, 

 Troy ; Thomas Hillhouse, Albany. 



The Judges for the Fair were appointed, and the 

 list will be published as soon as it shall be ascertain- 

 ed from the gentlemen appointed that they will 

 serve. 



The following additional premiums are to be 

 given : 

 For the best corn and cob crusher, to be operated 



by horse power, • • • • .$10 



For the best grade yearling heifer, .i... 6 



