1857. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



445 



ence in the animals classed as Devons. The De- 

 vons are claimed to be good workers in the yoke, 

 fair milkers, and to afford a very good quality of 

 meat, and to be very hardy. The Herefords are 

 claimed by their breeders to afford the most meat 

 for their food, to be good workers, and usually, 

 good milkers. The Jerseys are admitted on all 

 hands to be first-rate milkers, to be good for noth- 

 ing for the yoke, and to have no meat on the bones. 

 I intend to deal very carefully in opinions on this 

 subject, and to revise any opinions I may intimate, 

 as often as I see occasion. 



For the gratification of a rational curiosity at 

 home, I will give you the girth, as measured by my 

 own hand, of some of the best animals : 



1st prize, Short-horn bull, 3 yrs. 5 mos. 3 weeks.... 8 ft. 11 in. 



Bull, Short-horn, 1 yr. 8 mos. 1 week 7 ft. 7^ in. 



Bull, Short-horn, (prize) 8 mos. 4 weeks 6 ft. 



A Short-horn cow 7 ft. 8^ in. 



A Short-horn cow. 2nd prize 8 ft. 2^ in. 



Hereford bull, 1st prize, 2 yrs. 8 mos. 1 week 7 ft. 8 in. 



Hereford bull, prize, 1 yr. mos. 5 weeks 6 ft. 8 in. 



Hereford heifer, prize, 2 yrs. 8 mos. 2 weeks 7 ft. 7 in. 



Hereford heifer, prize, 1 yr. 11 mos 6 ft. 9 in. 



Devon bull not prize, 3 yrs. 6 mos 8 ft. 



Devon bull, 1st prize, 3 yrs. 3 mos. 2 weeks 7 ft. 2 in. 



Devon bull, 2nd prize, 3 yrs. 4 mos 7 ft. 4 in. 



Devon bull, 1st prize, 1 yr. 6 weeks 5 ft. 9 in. 



Devon bull, 2nd prize, 1 yr. 8 mos 6 ft. 3 in, 



Devon cow, commended, 7 yrs. 7 mos 7 ft. 9 in. 



Devon cow, 1st prize, 5 yrs. 5 mos 6 ft. 7 in. 



Every animal to which any prize was awarded, is 

 covered with fat about six inches thick. The breed- 

 ers say, when inquired of, that you cannot know 

 the qualities of an animal unless it is fat, because 

 you want to know on what parts it will lay on fat, 

 and besides, they say that some animals cannot be 

 fattened, and are good for nothing for that reason. 



The Jerseys or "Channel Island" cattle, as they 

 are called here, are an exception to my remarks, 

 for the few that are exhibited are all thin in flesh, 

 and by the way, they are the only cows, except two 

 or three Suffolks, that look as if nature ever intend- 

 ed them to give milk. The Short-horns and De- 

 vons looked to me as if they would have to put 

 their children out to nurse, if they should under- 

 take to rear families. I believe I spoke of the 

 Suffolk cows in a former letter. They are red, 

 without horns, and have the appearance of good 

 milkers. On the whole, I think they might be a 

 good breed for New England, though they seem to 

 be limited to a very small district in this country. 



One hundred horses were entered for premiums. 

 They have no race course on the grounds, and the 

 horses are only seen by spectators in stalls, or rath- 

 er pens. The agricultural horses are very good, 

 but the only distinct breed that I recognized is the 

 Suffolk cart horse, or "Suffolk Punch ," as he is some- 

 times called. I have a drawing of one, which I will 

 send, and if it is thought worth while, you can have 

 it engraved for the Farmer. Their wt'.ht is from 

 fifteen hundred to two thousand pounds. 



The Thorough-bred horses, or racers, are of no 

 value to us, though of great consequence here. The 



Hunters, which are the riding horses of the gentle- 

 men, are a long-legged, active, high-stepping breed, 

 a cross of the Thorough-bred or race horse with va- 

 rious other breeds. I think there is no breed of 

 horses in England so good for driving in single 

 carriage, as our Vermont Morgans. I have driven 

 a great deal here, and they hardly know what a 

 good driving horse is. Those that could trot are 

 used as hunters, and spoilt by galloping. 



The exhibition of sheep is very extensive. They 

 are classed as Leicesters, South-downs and Long- 

 wooled sheep not Leicesters, and Short-wooled 

 sheep not South-downs. No French or Spanish 

 merinos are named or shown. It requires a better 

 judge of sheep than I am, to analyze the various 

 varieties of Downs and the like, with which the 

 pens are filled. One needs to understand all the 

 languages spoken at Babel, besides modern tongues 

 to converse with a farmer about sheep. The Lin- 

 colnshire farmer, speaking of his sheep, tells you he 

 has a fine lot of theaves, and hoggets, and shears, 

 and two-shears, and presently he begins to talk 

 dhoMthehogs and she-hogs, q\\ exceedingly edifying 

 at first. I will give the definitions in their order. 

 A theave is a young ewe, a hog or hogget is an un- 

 shorn sheep, a shearling is a sheep that has been 

 once shorn, and a two-shear one that has been twice 

 shorn, and the he and she-hogs are the male and 

 female unshorn sheep. He speaks of turning all 

 these strangely called animals, whose names would 

 lead one to expect to see a menagerie, into the 

 eddish at "the back end of the year," meaning into 

 the second crop grass, in the autumn. So that it 

 may be readily understood, that the pursuit of 

 knowledge is under difficulties, in all its depart- 

 ments. 



Of swine, I find a very excellent exhibition, but 

 I see nothing that excels Mr. Crisp's black Suffolks, 

 for one of which he takes a prize here. I saw both 

 the black and the white Suffolks, at the Suffolk Co. 

 Show, of .which I gave an account in a former let- 

 ter. Among tho.se exhibited as of a large breed, I 

 noticed a pen of improved Chiltons, white with blue 

 spots very large and good. The Berkshires and 

 Chinese seem to be crossed with almost everything. 

 The improved Essex, a breed of black pigs, attract- 

 ed a good deal of attention. Each exhibitor seems 

 to have a breed of his own, and I think, on the 

 whole, for New England, we are doing very well in 

 breeding the Suffolks, though I should like to see 

 the blacks introduced, as well as the whites. 



The Svffolks are accounted a small breed, but 

 they mature young, and form a valuable cross with 

 our larger varieties. 



Of the poultry, of which there is a large show, I 

 have not space to speak at length. They crow, and 

 quack, and cackle much as in our country, and I do 

 not see that the show is superior to any poultry 

 show at home. 



