No. 5. 



Raising Wheat and Cattle. 



-American Apples in England. 155 



Raising Wheat and Cattle. 



7*0 the Editor of the Funnrrs' Cabinet : 



Sir, — Mr. Gowen in liis letter to General 

 Riclianlson, — published in your lust Number 

 — advances tlie opinion, tliat, when land is 

 worth fitly dollars an acre, wheat at one dol- 

 lar a bushel will not pay expenses — advisin<T 

 ti> raise cattle in preference. This is lead- 

 injT the General, as I think, from the frying- 

 pan into the fire. 



A ofentlenian who has acquired wealth in 

 mercantile pursuits, and subsequently de- 

 votes his time to agriculture, promotes an 

 art which is the most important to human 

 siiriety, and renders himself a valuable citi- 



II : he shows a very good example to 

 • :ne of his brother merchants, who spend 

 their acquired wealth by aping in miniature 

 the English nobility. Mr. Gowen richly de- 

 serves the esteem of his fellow citizens, but 

 does he not show himself from home in ad- 

 vising a Virginia farmer! his opinion re- 

 ferred to above should be refuted. 



One dollar per bushel for wheat, has been 

 the average price for many years, and will 

 probably remain so for years to come. 

 If it is a losing concern, what will become 

 of our farmers of Chester, Lancaster, Berks, 

 and many other counties, who have paid fitly 

 dollars per acre, and more for their land? If, 

 according to Mr. Gow^en's opinion, we can 

 not compete with the Western farmer in 

 raising wheat, still less can we compete in 

 raising cattle. If Mr. Gowen will mount 

 jiis horse and take a trip with a Pennsylva- 

 nia drover to the Western counties of New 

 York, and Upper and Lower Sandusky, in 

 Ohio, he will find thousands of acres of land 

 v.here hundreds of thousands of cattle are 

 prazing, as well built as any Durham cattle, 

 it appears as if those counties had been 

 chains of lakes, intersected ,by ridges of 

 high land: by some process of nature the 

 water has been absorbed from them,lf-*ving 

 a crust of the richest alluvial soil, producing 

 a grass that cannot be equalled by any ma- 

 nuring, on the lands in Pennsylvania, and 

 less still in Virginia, where the climate is 

 hotter and dryer, and less fit for pasture. 

 We never must pretend to compete with 

 tlioae regions in raising cattle. 



Mr. Gowen has been successful in selling 

 at high prices his Durham breed of cattle, 

 and could therefore bestow extraordinary 

 rare in their nursing. 1 have said on a 

 former occasion, that our New York and 

 Sandusky cattle are as good, if properly 

 taken care of, as the imported breeds. Let 

 any dairyman or practical firmer refute my 

 assertion or confirm it. The degeneration 

 of the breed of our cattle is owing to the 



negligence of farmers, and if they continue 

 this negligence, in a few years the Durhams 

 will also degenerate into scrubs. If Mr. 

 Gowen will step over to his neighbours, the 

 intelligent farniers of Chester county, he 

 will find what I have asserted; they carry 

 out his plan in part, leaving three-fourths 

 of the arable land in grass tor four or five 

 years, refreshing it now and then with a top 

 dressing of compost; the other fourth is ren- 

 dered rich by copious manuring, and gives 

 such a rich crop of wheat, that they are sat- 

 isfied to receive one dollar per bushel. They 

 fatten cattle for the market, but have not the 

 folly to raise their own stock, except some 

 atnateurs among them, who have a well filled 

 purse besides their farms, and wish to have 

 something different from their neighbours. 

 The judicious farmer, who looks for profits, 

 buys his stock for fattening of New York 

 and Ohio drovers, at less than half the price 

 at which he could afford to raise it himself; 

 and handsomer cattle arc not brought to the 

 Philadelphia market than these. I must 

 confess Chester county is now in advance in 

 agricultural improvement of old Berks. 



H. S. 



Eethel, Berks co., Nov. 28th, 1845. 



American Apples in England. — We 



learn from the N. Y. True Sun a circum- 

 stance showing the results of careful culture 

 as applied to fruit as well for home consump- 

 tion as for fame abroad. Robert L. Pell, Esq., 

 of Pelham, Westchester county, has an or- 

 chard of twenty thousand apple trees, all 

 bearing Newton pippins?. By trimming and 

 tlie application of" the best manures, he has 

 brought the fruit to unusual size and excel- 

 lence. The apples are picked and packed in 

 barrels, without being rolled or jolted in 

 carts, and so arrive in the very best order 

 for shipment. Last year they were sold in 

 London at $21 a barrel, and the merchant 

 to whom they were consigned, wrote that 

 the nobility and other people of great wealth 

 had actually bought them at a guinea a 

 dozen, which is some forty-five cents an 

 apple. Mr. Pell has from three to four thou- 

 sand barrels of the apples this year, which 

 are sold as fast as they arrive at market, at 

 $6 a barrel, and are all shipped to England, 

 It is quite a business for one of our commis- 

 sion merchants to dispose of the produce of 

 this noble plantation. — Maine Farmer. 



The best fertilizer of any soil is a spirit 

 of industry, enterprise and intelligence — 

 without this, lime and gypsum, bones and 

 green manure, marl and guano, will be of 

 little use. 



