No. 8. Ploughing. — Cattle — Philadelphia Agricultural Society. 251 



Its flesh is good. On the whole, a hand- 

 some and profitable fowl. There is a white 

 variety, without a featlier of any other co- 

 lour. These are very beautiful, but not 

 quite so hardy as the black. There is also 

 a splendid gold and black, or pheasant color- 

 ed variety. These are scarce in the United 

 States. I have seen several beautiful speci- 

 mens imported from England; but was never 

 able to obtain any for breeding. These co- 

 lors are more propagated by the poultry- 

 fanciers than others, and are seldom to be 

 had of them." 



Mr. Giles, of Providence, who has paid 

 considerable attention to the subject of poul- 

 try, in a letter to the author says, " if eggs 

 be the only object in view% then as far as my 

 experience goes, the Poland fowls are the 

 best layers, seldom if ever wanting to sit." 

 — BemenCs American Poidt(.rer''s Compan- 

 ion. 



Ploughing, 



The first and most general operation to 

 which the soil is subject, is ploughing. Man 

 must have been early taught that, in order 

 to render the earth productive, it must be 

 tilled ; and it would be extremely curious, if 

 the materials of such history were attain- 

 able, to trace the progress of improvement 

 from the first instrument employed to stir 

 the earth to the present beautiful and inge- 

 nious implement, by which acres, and miles 

 of acres, are at pleasure inverted. It would 

 be interesting to know how tiic North Ame- 

 rican Indians cultivated their corn (mnize) 

 when the country was discovered; trailition 

 has not preserved the traces of tlie method 

 which they adopted. Their implements 

 must have been few, and of the most simple 

 description. The smooth stones, some of 

 which I have myself found in places known 

 as their favourite haunts, of a wedge shape, 

 may have been used for digging the ground 

 for the deposit of the seed, and perhaps for 

 keeping the soil loose round the plants: near 

 the sea-shore a clam-shell may have an- 

 swered the same purpose. Of weeds, pro- 

 bably they had few to contend with, as the 

 land was new and not surcharged with ma- 

 nure, of which perhaps they did not know 

 the use, since, within the memory of per- 

 sons now living, farmers in the vicinity of 

 Albany were accustomed to cart the manure 

 from their barns on to the Hudson when 

 frozen, and in the neighbourhood of Mon- 

 treal on to the St. Lawrence, that, at the 

 breaking of the ice in the spring, it might 

 be carried away by the stream. Even much 

 more recently, in some parts of the country, 

 farmers, when they have found the piles of 



manure round tlieir barns accunuilntcd to 

 an inconvenient size, have preferred to de- 

 sert them, and build otiicr barns, ratiier than 

 be at tiie trouble and expense of removing 

 these heaps. One is often amused at hear- 

 ing people boast of "tiie wisdom of our an- 

 cestors;" and to be consistent, we slioukl 

 expect to see such persons adjusting the 

 equilibrium of a bag of grain upon the 

 horse's back by putting the corn in one end 

 and a stone in the other. 



When I come to treat of the implements 

 of husbandry, I shall describe an English 

 plough ; at present I have to deal only with 

 the operation itself 



I think I may say that, in England and 

 Scotland, the art of ploughing has reached 

 perfection, and that it is unrivalled and un- 

 surpassable. This at least is my opinion, 

 which must be taken at what it is worth. I 

 cannot conceive how it can be improved ; 

 and this not in rare instances, and at plough- 

 ing matches, but I may say universally. In 

 some cases, the work has been done better 

 than in others ; but I have not seen an ex- 

 am.ple of bad ploughing in the country; I 

 have not seen one which, in the United 

 States, would not be pronounced superior. — 

 Colman''s Agricultural Tour. 



For the F.iriners' Cabinet. 



Cattle— rhiladefphia Agricultural So- 

 ciety. 



To THE Editor, — It is matter of sur- 

 prise to the great body of the agricultural 

 community witliin twenty or thirty miles of 

 Piiiladclphia, who take no active part, though 

 they feel interested in the proceedings of the 

 Philadelpliia Agricultural Society, to find 

 that the Society continues to devote so large 

 a portion of its premiums, and so much of 

 its attention to what it is pleased to term 

 the " improved breed of cattle," — which, 

 however, means the " Durhams," par excel- 

 lence. It is known that of the numerous 

 butter dairies within the verge of the Phila- 

 delphia market, scarcely one is composed of 

 Durhams, or indeed of any of the imported 

 breeds; and that as a general rule, they are 

 wholly composed of the native breed of cows, 

 with no admixture of foreign blood, except 

 in some instances where the owners have, 

 by way of trial, introduced a few of the 

 Durhams, generally half-blood; but in no 

 instance within my knowledge has the ex- 

 periment been so satisfactory as to induce a 

 continuance of the practicej nor do 1 know 

 f a single instance, among the many pur- 

 chases made by our enterprising farmers, or 

 presents received from the early patrons of 

 the Durham cattle, of full-blooded calves, 



