1854, 



NEW ENGLAND F.\RMER. 



215 



ishing their lot sis minutes quicker than any oth- 

 er. The Durhams he considered best for beef. 



Mr, French, the Chairman, said that, after 

 considerable experience in raising cattle, he had 

 come to the conclusion, that the milking proper- 

 ties of an animal were matters of mere ofcance, — 

 good qualities in this respect not being confined to 

 any particular breeds. Aj'rshire arc about as good 

 for milk as any, but their forms are not so good. 

 The best ox he ever owned came froai Worcester, 

 and was of the Holdernesi breed. The Herefords 



are a good breed, well adapted to thecountry,largc, so, the best kind for this purpose 

 good milkers, and making good beef. The Alder- 

 neys are ver}'^ popular now, as yielding very rich 

 milk, and being gentle, but theyai*e not much for 

 beef or working. The Devons are altogether too 

 heavy for this section of the country ; they may do 

 well with the blue grass of Kentucky, but they 

 generally fail on the short feed of this region. He 

 had tried Ayrshires and Durhams, but had given 

 them up, and was now trying Devons, which he 

 found to be fair, good milkers. In England the 

 largest recorded yield of milk, was given by a De- 

 von. One good quality which they possess, is an 

 almost unvarying uniformity of color, a pure red, 

 which may vary a shade in difl'erent animals, and 

 they possess great symmetry of proportion. Their 

 beef commands a higher pi-ice in the New York 

 market than any other, being sought after by ho- 

 tel-keepers, on account of its juiciness. He felt 

 well satisfied that his Devon oxen were unsurpassed 

 by any other breed ; they are smart and tractable. 



Mr. Lincoln, of Worcester, said he knew of half- 

 blood Ayrshire oxen which were excellent working 

 cattle, but had never seen any full-blooded. They 

 are quick, active and hardy, and teachable, and 

 what some called high spirited, but what he called 

 timid, lie owned all the Ayrshire stock of the 

 late Col. Lincoln, and did not think more gentle 

 cattle could be found on any farm. He considered 

 the red Ayrshires equal to any breed, and as sur- 

 passing the Devons in activity. 



Col. Newell, of Essex, thought the foreign 

 breeds of stock, should be kept pure. The Ayr- 

 shire, if kept pure, would furnish the best milk 

 stock for Massachusetts. 



Mr. Dodge, of Worcester, thought that as good 

 a way as any, in raisin 



best animals, without regard to their breed. Wei Again, at a dwelling-house situated on high 

 have not paid sufficient attention to the subject in ground, and where a scanty supply of water was 

 this country, to establish any general rules 



proportion to the population, than in New York, 

 the latter produces 45 lbs. of butter per cow on 

 an average, while Florida yields but one 100th of 

 a lb. per cow. One breed of cattle may do best in 

 a locality where another would fail. 



Mr. BrooKS, of Princeton, thought farmers did 

 not pursue their systems of stock raising long 

 enough. It takes a good while for foreign stock 

 to get acclimated. 



The sulyect for next Tuesday evening, is — Sheep; 

 can they be advantageously kept on our farms? if 



For the New England Parmer. 



THE "WITCH HAZEL." 



OR, THE rUENOMENA OF RnABDOMANCY. 



Mr. Editor : — In your journal of Feb. 11th, I 

 noticed a few remarks upon the Witch Hazel, and 

 its utility in detecting the localities of waier and 

 precious metals in the earth ; and I beg leave to 

 lay before your readers a few additional iacts, and 

 some remarks thereupon. 



A year or two since, I witnessed some experiments 

 with the "hazel wand," and had an opportunity 

 to test its action. A crotched stick was cut and 

 carried in a perpendicular position, a lir.inch of 

 I the crotch being held in each hand. The diviner, 

 so to call him who carried the rod, slightly stoop- 

 ing, walked slowly along ; for a short time the rod 

 remained upright ; but suddenly it commenced dip- 

 ping, and continued so till it pointed directly to 

 the earth below. This was repeated several times 

 and it was found that in whatever direction this 

 locality was approached, the same depressions of 

 the rod would take place. But, in order to pre- 

 clude the possibility of deception, two of those 

 present held firmly in their hands the ends of the 

 stick which extended beyond the hands of him who 

 carried the rod. In this manner, the diviner ap- 

 proached the hidden water course, and the rod, 

 as before, suddenly turned towards tlic earth ; 

 but so firmly was the stick held, that it was liter- 

 ally twisted and the bark Avas left in the hands. 



This fully satisfied us that there was no decep- 

 tion, and further experiments proved, that in the 

 hands of certain pei'sons, the "hazel wand'' would 

 veritably indicate the localities of water in the 

 earth . 



The same diviner was requested to examine a 

 certain piece of ground, and decide at what depth 

 a supply of water could be found ; after a few 

 trials, lie fixed the depth at eighteen feet. In the 

 course of a mouth or two, a well was dug and w;V 

 stock, was to select the [ter was obtained as liad been foretold. 



on 



Mr. FuExcu alluded to the neces^iity for a State 

 institution where the question of the comparative 

 value of diflferent breeds could be satisfactorily set- 

 tled. 



Mr. Coffin, of New Hampshire, said a great 

 deal must be allowed for difference of climate in 

 different States. The great butter and cheese pro- 

 ducing States of the Union are Nortli of Pennsyl- 

 vania. While in Florida more cows ai'c kept in 



obtained at a great deptli, he made examinationa, 

 and according to his directions, a well was dug 

 near the house,anda never-failing supply of w;ater 

 was obtained at a depth of only eight feet. 



Instances of higlily successful experiment ^ might 

 be multiplied, bgt,"l forbear to xyoax-y any one's 

 patience with rtiiraeuloii? predictions out of my 

 own personal knowledge. I have seen several oth- 

 ers try the experiment, but witli no success, except, 

 in one case, and that only partial. The rod, in 

 all cases wliicli I have observed, rotated in the 

 same direction, that is to ftiy, from before, back- 



