1825.] 



NEW ENGLAND FARHER. 



3iy 



Ihe gnizicr wonlJ be amply reimhurspd for thp 

 extra expensu of the mm. I'scil in K*kkueii."s 

 way (a single leap only being allowed) one nun 

 jvoulii serve a hundred eives, and at ten pound* 

 lor his hire, the extra cost of each of his '<t\- 

 sprmg nould lie but two shillings; when he 

 would sell at two years and a half old, for ten or 

 15 shillings more than other slieep, of thp same 

 natural size, and going in Ihe same pasture. 



Bakewell improved a breed of horses and of 

 swine. Fifty or sixty years ago, he let his Stal- 

 lions at from 25 to 150 guineas the season. 



The improved shorl-horned breed, from their 

 disposition to fallen kindly, and at an early ago, 

 must be peciiliarl\ valuable as grazing or beef 

 catiie, in Pennsylvania and other states where 

 horses chielly, and almost exclusively, are em- 

 ployed in farm labour, and where steers and ox- 

 en are raised almost solely for beef. But 1 

 have not yet obtained information of the superi- 

 or character of the few cows of this breed, in 

 the United Slates, for producing butter. Their 

 milk IS -^ifid to be rich ; but its actual product 

 from the churn and (he cheese press would be 

 more satisl'aclory. I am desirous ot seeing the*e 

 tests of its quality. — The case of the cow sold 

 bv Mr Welles to Mr Q,uin'CY, justifies my cau- 

 tion on this head. Mr Welles supposed her 

 milk to be rich — and that on the s.ime food she 

 would yield as much butler as the Oakes cow ; 

 yet, though so much larger an animal, Mr Quin- 

 cv's careful experiment pro\ed her inferiority, 

 even to Ihe vast diil'erence of one half. 



EzEKiEL H. 1>F.RBY Esq. has favored me with 

 an account of a heifer of the improved short- 

 horn breed. She and a bull of the same breed, 

 presents from Admiral Sir Isaac Coffin to the 

 j^griciiltural Society of Massachusetts, were,, *iy 

 the Trusli^es, commUled to the care of Mj 

 Derby in Salem, to s^ive to the Farmers of Es- 

 «ex an ofiporlunil} of putting their best cows 

 to the bull. The heifer, on the 28lh of Janua- 

 ry last, dropped her first calf — a t'em.ile. A 

 ibrtnight after, she gave ten quarts of miik in a 

 day, "besides vvhal Ihe calf sucked; and at six 

 ■weeks iVom her ralving, 8 quarts were taken 

 from her ; being :o much more thin Mr Derev 

 thought necessary to the health and ustlul thriv-' 

 ing of the calf ; which is well grown, and in 

 a good condition. Her milk is prunounced to 

 be rich ; but has not yet been bvougiit to the 

 only certain test. Her food has been partly 

 English and partly salt-marsh hay,* with four 

 quarts of corn and cob-meal mixed with chaffed 

 hay, and half a bushel of the common flat or 

 English turnips, daily. 



Major RuDD says of the improved short-horns, 

 that "• if this breed were every where dissemi- 

 nated, t-he produce of beef, on a given extent 

 of land, would be nearly doubled; that their 

 milk is richer in quality, but less in quantity 

 than of the old breed ; and that ar, imjiroved 

 shorl-horned cow will yield about eight er nine 

 lbs. of butter per week, avoirdupoisa weight." 

 He says also, that in form and handling, the im- 

 proved shorl-horns are a perfect contrast to the 

 old breed ; and he believes they consume less 

 food : and that " in couutries where beef is in 



*Englisk Hay is a term I do not recollect to have met 

 ■wkh out of New England. By it is meant that mixture 

 of grasses which constitute good upland meadow, such 

 as our anrestors knew in England. They used the 

 term to distinguisli this upland hay fro-a the wild, 

 coarse, wet-meadow and saU-marsh hay of the country. 



p;rent ihinanil, the improved short-horns are be- 

 yond all doubt the best." 



Mr PowLr. controverts an opinion nhir.h has 

 been expressed, that the cattle of Mnssa( husetls 

 are of the Devon breed. " I would coniend 

 (he s.-iys) that the finest cattle of Massachusetts 

 are mixed with families of which Mr Oorf., Mr 

 Stuart and Mr Vaughan imported the sires. 

 Lancaster, Leicester, and Hereford blood can be 

 traced by n practised eye, in many of the best 

 working oxen exhibited at the New England 

 Agricultural shows." 



Although satisfied that the blood of those im- 

 porled cattle of Gore, Stuart and Vauohan, was 

 here of very limited extent, 1 have made inqui- 

 ry, to ascertain the facts. From Mr Gorc 1 

 have received the following information. 



" The bull of English extraction, owned 

 by me about the years of 1794, 5, 6 & 7, 

 was by a cow imported frum England by Mr 

 Charles Vauohan. The bull was dropped from 

 the cow on her passage from England, and giv- 

 en to me by that gentleman, shortly after the 

 arrival of the cow in Americ:». He proved to 

 to be a remarkal)ly line animal, large, and of 

 excellent form. His proportions were all good. 

 According to my recollection, he was as hand- 

 some and larsje as any bull I have since seen. — 

 I gave to the man who superintended my tarm, 

 all he could obtain for his services. 1 have no 

 Ldirf that many cozrs raere brnughtto him. Dur- 

 ing my absence in Europe, he became unruly; 

 and about the year 1798, my agent .sold him, 

 and, as I understood, to a man living in Ver- 

 mont." 



"■ The observation exprcsseil to me by Mr 

 Jay, to which vou refer, was shortly after his 

 return from Great r>rilain [which was in 1795] 

 He remarked, that the cattle which he had gen- 

 erally met in New England, appeared to be of 

 the J evonshire breed, that he had seen in 

 Great Britain." 



Now alfhnugh 1 suppose the Devon race of 

 cattle to be predominant in New England, 1 

 doubt not that some of Other breeds weie early 

 introduced by (,ur ancestors; some Herefinls 

 unqueslionatily, whose descendants are yet dis- 

 tinguished by their white faces. The following 

 ccncludf's Mr Marshall's minute description of 

 a good Heieloidshire os : "The coat neatly 

 haired, bright, and silky ; its colour middle red ; 

 with a " bald lace ;" the last being esteemed 

 characteristic of the true Hereford breed."* 

 By " bald face" (marked by Marshall with com- 

 mas, as a local expression) tc'AUe/aces are doubt 

 less intended. White faced cattle, ot our native 

 stock, are now often to be seen ; but I think less 

 frequently than in the early part of my life. 



Of Mr Stuart's animals, the following is his 

 own account, as verbally stated to a friend from 

 whom I have received it. — That he sent to Eng- 

 land for two heifers and a bull of the Bukewell 

 breed : that they were shipped — but that the 

 liuLI and one of the heifers were left on the pas- 

 sage ; that the other arrived at Philadelphia, 

 when he lived at Germantown — where, a few 

 months after, she brought forth a fine bull calf; 

 that shortly afterwards, being determined to re- 

 move to Boston, he sent thither the cow and her 

 calf, where they were delivered to Mr Joseph 

 Russell, who sent them to his island below Bos- 

 ton, where they for some time remained and 



propagated the breed, [but certainly within nar- 

 loiv liiiufs especially as they were kept on an 

 island] thai they were not large animals, but 

 easily made fat, and on coarse lod<ler; that the 

 cow was not a great milker, seldom giving 

 more than six quarts [at a milking, must be un- 

 derstood,] iindei the most favourable circumstan- 

 ces ; but the milk was rich : that they were of 

 a liver colour, spntlr d »vi(h vviiitp ; some of the 

 calves while, with liver coloured ears : and that 

 he sold them to Mr Bownoi.v, who sent them to 

 Nashaun one of the Elizabeth islands(his prop- 

 erty) where both of them died; poisoned, as Mc 

 Stuart flunks, by eating hemlock plants, in 

 the Spring of the year. 



From this history of the Gore, Stuart, and 

 Vaucjian imported cattle, it may be possible to 

 trace some of their progeny in the neighbour- 

 hood of Boston, perhaps a few in Vermont, and 

 a very small number in Maine, if Mr Vaughan 

 took his cow into that district : but on the Nevir 

 England Stock at large, it is certain no eflect 

 could have been produced, by any or all of 

 them. 



From the writings of Young, Marshall, and 

 others, it appears that farmers in England en- 

 tertained different opinions concerning the sev- 

 eral breeds of cattle ; some preferring the long 

 horned, especially Bakeweix's highly improved 

 race ; while others chose the improved Hold- 

 erness, or short-horned. Others again, prefer- 

 red the native breeds of their respective dis- 

 tricts. So in our own country, opinions vary. 

 .Mr PowF.L disapproves of the lately imported 

 Devons* and their offspring. Of these 1 can say 

 nothing, having seen none of thera. But in 

 some parts of England there are Devonshire 

 cri'^ 5*b!rh are highly prized. " It has beeo 

 found by a person in Ihe vicinity of the Devizes, 

 Wiltshire, who, as well as his father before him, 

 has been in the habit of letting cows to men 

 who supply the town with milk; and who buys 

 all hi? i.ons^ and consequently can have no par- 

 tiality l(T any particular sort, having at different 

 times had all kinds ; that the milkmen have uni- 

 formly, for Ihe last thirty years, given the pref- 

 erence to the Devonshire sort, at the same price, 

 as being, on the whole, the best milkers."t 



T. PICKERING. 



* Rural F.coaomy of Gloucestershire, Vol. I. p. 247. 



From the Middlelown SentintL 



POTATOES. 



As it is about time to begin to think about 

 planting, a few remarks on this valuable plant, 

 may not be inapplicable. 



Potatoes were first found in America, There 

 are many and various kinds of this root; some 

 prefer one, some another kind ; but, all things 

 considered, I give that kind, generally called the 

 " Orajige Potatoe,''^ my decided preference, be- 

 cause they produce well, and are altogether the 

 best for cultivating purposes. To raise good 

 potatoes of this kind, (and in fact all other kinds,) 

 it is an important requisite that they should be 

 planted on rich land ; or else a shovel full or two 

 of manure should be thrown into the hills when 

 planted. I usually plant tbem about even with 

 the surface of the ground, planting 10 or 12 

 bushels to the acre, sometimes planting them 

 in hills about four rows to a rod each way with 



* I believe these were a present to a gentleman IB 

 Maryland, from Mr Coke of Norfolk in England, 

 t Rees' Cyclopedia — Art. Dairying. 



