58 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Deeming it a duly to communicate any tiling j Thus, without regarding the immense forests 

 fhat has an appearance of improvement, 1 send ' wiience we derive our principal supplies of 

 vou a mode a friend of mine has adopted in ' beef and mutton, and I should hope, ere long, 

 stooking his corn, which is altogether different' we shall receive the greater part of our wool, 

 from that usually practised, and deserves to be 1 think it is evident, that to our population at 

 recommended as a great saving in labour. | least, it is worth some effort to ascertain wheth- 



Instead of laying the corn on the ground and ! er experience has established in the country 

 then binding it, he begins by taking five rows, ' where they arc best known, and by the stand- 

 cutting an armful, carries it to a proper dis- ! ard which every man can best comprehend, the 

 tance in the middle row, and setting it up by the superiority of one race of neat cattle over eve- 

 ry other, either original or improved. 



side of a hill ; — he continues cutting and set- 

 ting up until there is enough for a stook. He 

 then has a boy behind with a bundle of straw, 

 who puts a band round the top of the whole. 



If it shall appear, that by the multiplication 

 of this race, " the produce of beef upon a given 

 extent of land, would be nearly doubled'" — the 



leaving a hill in the centre for the support of; quantity of butler increased — the facility of pro- 

 the stock, which is a great acquisition. This is curing powerful oxen for draught, not lessened 

 a much more speedy way of stooking corn, and' — and withal, that the amount of offal would be 



gentlemen, in Massachusetts, one particularly, 

 of Worcester county, who, notwithstanding the 

 various and important duties of high public sta- 

 tion, manifests, in his agricultural acquirements, 

 and in l/tefr rcsultSy New England raalter-of-fact 

 skill. 



Ho observes — " Next (o the Merino Sheep, 

 I consider the introduction of the Short Horns, 

 in the blood of Denton., as the richest acquisition, 

 to the country which agriculture has received. 

 For the Dairy and the Stall I speak with the 

 utmost confidence of their pre-eminence. From 

 my three years" old heifers 1 have calves of the 

 most promising appearance, and greatly excell- 

 ing any I have before seen. One of the hei- 

 fers gives I'rom 16 to 20 quarts of the richest 

 milk by the day since calving; the other a lit- 



obviates the danger of the stooks tailing down, I diminished — the weight of tlesh and of fat would | tie less from the circumstance of having been 



besides it is much more easily handled when 

 carted, and if supersedes the necessity of un- 

 binding bundles when husked. 



With great respect, 



your obedient servant, R. 

 Weitminstcr., Vt. Sept. 10. 



From the American Farmer. 



TO THE PRE3IDE.NT OF THE PENNSVLVANU AGRICUL- 

 TURAL SOCIETY. 



Powelton, Philadelphia Countij. 



Dear Sir, — I have the honor to present va- 

 rious selections from European works, to estab- 

 lish certain positions, which have been assumed, 

 in some of my late communications. In corrob- 

 oration of the facts which have been alleged, 1 

 produce for publication, part of a letter, which 

 1 have just received from Major Rudd, a gen- 

 tleman of high standing in Yorkshire, distin- 

 guished alike by his zeal and success, as an im- 

 prover of Neat Cattle and Sheep. 



1 am aware it has been hinted, that too much 

 discussion had arisen on the properties of Farm 

 Stock ; but 1 may object that no subject is more 

 interesting, and none more important to the 

 husbandmen and landholders of the eastern, 

 middle, and western States, than that which in- 

 directly involves the application of three-fourths 

 of the product of their labours, and of their lands. 

 I apprehend that not more than one third of 

 their cultivated soil is annually subjected to the 

 plough, and that of its produce, except small 

 quantities of hemp and llax, the farinaceous 

 parts ot wheat, buckwheat, and a portion of 

 rye, and Indian corn, for whiskey and bread, 

 nearly the whole is employed for'the nourish- 

 ment of Neat Cattle, Horses, Sheep and Swine.* 



* la the best districts, there will generally be less 

 than one hulf of the land employed in the raisin? of 

 roots and green crops for live stock, and not more than 

 two thirds of the inferiour soils are always under these 

 crops and in pasturage. Probably not more than two 

 fifths of even the arable land, or ten acres in a hun- 

 dred of the whole surface, produce crops immediately 

 applicable to the food of man. The remaiuin" ninety 

 acres, after a small deduction of fresh-water lakes are 

 appropriated to the breeding, rearing, and fattenin- of 

 live stock. —Smclatr's General Report of the agricultu- 

 rul slide and political cireunutances of Scotland, volume 

 iii. page 1. 



be carried upon the proper parts, I trust it will i in milk continually for more than a year, but 

 not be contended that the discussion is futile, or | her milk is in no degree inferiour in quality. — 



the premium absurd, which shall have brought 

 this race more generally into view. 



No man will deny the importance of the ani- 

 mal whose milk afl'ords butter, cheese, and va- 

 rious combinations for his table — whose hide 

 gives leather for machinery, harness for his 



The last season she gave eleven quarts at a 

 milking with grass only. A heifer of three 

 years with her second calf has not been dry 

 since she dropped her first, having given four 

 quarts on the morning of her second calving."' 

 1 have in my importations, and purchase.=, 



shoes — whose hair, supports the plaster upon j sought the slock of those breeders, who have 

 his walls — whose horn and bone, are converted j regarded milking properties, not less than the 

 into medicines, and articles constantly in his | propensity to become tat. 



The Editor of the American Farmer is requested to 

 fnform his ingenious and ardent correspondent " A 

 Subscriber," that in .\ew England, and Pennsylvania, 

 when the measurement of milk is given, it is not from 

 a wine quart, half filled with froth ; and that when an 



Mr. Curwen, who, as the able promoter of 

 the agricultural interest, both in Parliament, 

 and his county, is generally known, evinces 

 great anxiety for the dissemination of this 

 breed. In his excellent Report to the Work- 

 ington Agricultural Society, alter reciting the 

 origin of the different families of Short Horns 

 upon his estates, mentions those, which " u.mt- 



ING THE TWO ESSENTIAL QUALITIES OF MILKING 



A.\D FATTENING are highly valuable;" and adds, 

 " two heifers and a bull were, this spring, for- 

 warded to Thomas Law, Esq. at Washington ; 

 friim friendship and connexion — as well as the 

 desire to support the credit of my farming, 

 (he very best specimens were selected. The 

 steers, which have been bred and slaughtered, 

 have been equal in cjualitij of beef to any thing 

 I could have expected or desired. At two and a 

 half years old they weighed from 80 to 85 

 stones of 14 pounds each, equal to 1200 or 

 1190 pounds," although reared in the usual 

 mode, upon turnips, chaff, and straw. In men- 

 tioning the draught oxen on his farms, Mr. Cur- 

 wen observes, " those which are now at the 

 Schoose, were produced there, and are of the 

 Short Horn breed. William Eve, who has long 

 rated in this volume, it will be seen, by Major ; been with roe, and is accustomed to the work- 

 Rudd's letter, and by the prices which I have | 'ng of both Devonshire, and Herefordshire cat- 

 paid, that their cost continues to be as high, as tie, is of opinion, that the Short Horned are 

 it was ten years since. If it were regulated by i quite as quick as the former, and as powerful as 

 the caprice of men of fortune, it might be a[-l the latter.'''' 



leged, that fashion gave to them a fictitious' I have for some time, bred from the bull, 

 value, but as the practical farmers of England, jnn heifer begotten in England by General, Mr. 

 sanction it by their purchases, and support it by | Curwen's best male, upon one of the heifers, 

 their demand, it must be inferred, that after a isent to Mr. Law. 



trial of fourteen years, the animals possess the; These animals, as my importations from Mr. 

 merit, which has been claimed. To show the j Wetherill, and some of those bred by Mr. 

 inteiest, which they have excited, not only in! Champion, have every claim to excellence, 

 England, but in this country, I could mention | vvhich high pedigree can establish. Comet, 



use — whose tallow and fat, are consumed in can- 

 dles, and soap, necessary to his comfort and 

 health — vvhose heels afford oil, valuable, in ma- 

 ny of his pursuits — whose stomach, even con- 

 stitutes an agreeable repast — whose fail is con- 

 verted into a couch for his indulgence, or re- 

 pose — and whose patient "ITspring, after having 

 enabled him, to reap the harvest from his fields, 

 yields the most wholesome, and nutritious food 

 for his frame, and finally by its oflal enriches 

 the soil. 



It appears by Daily's survey of Durham, that 

 at Colling's sale, in 1810, seventeen cows were 

 sold for 2,802 pounds 9 shillings sterling — elev- 

 en bulls for 2,361 pounds — twentv-eight ani- 

 mals thus produced g22,948 67. That Major 

 Rudd paid 400 guineas for Lady of 9 years — 

 for Lilly 400 guineas — for Peeress 170 guineas 

 — for Petrarch 375 guineas; that ftlessrs. 

 Wetherill &. Co. paid for Comet of 6 years, 

 1000 guineas. Mr. Champion, and Col. Mellish 

 paid 450 guineas, for the services of Charles, 

 during 2 years. A regular record is kept, in 

 the Herd Book, of the pedigrees of animals of 

 pure blood. Although 140 breeders — 130 bulls 

 and nearly 3000 heifers and cows, are enume- 



the names of some of the most distinguished 



as of a definite race, some evidence is required, to 

 show, that it is not an accidental variety, of mongrel 

 origin, stamped with a fashionable name, suited to°the 

 purpose of the vender, or adapted to the fancy of the 



*uimal is produced, (whether Z;... .or BUo^Uo^^i purS^c;:;!,; «ay Lare^'i^L^t ::r tlTi^h^S^ 



Peeress, and Lady, sold to Major Rudd, and 

 Jlr. Wetherill, were the grandsire and gran- 

 dams, of some ; Charles, which had been hired, 

 during two years, for 450 guinea?, was the 

 great grandsire of another. Mr. Wetherill 

 Slates, that the animals, which he had sent to 



