No 11. Extraordinary sales of Cattle. — Pruning Fruit Trees. 



337 



Extraordinary sales of Cattle, &c. 



The following letter from our fellow townsman, we 

 clip from the New Genessee Farmer. 



Mr. Henry Colman, — 



Dear Sir, — I am about to fulfil my pro- 

 mise made to you when in this city a few 

 weeks ago, by giving you a statement of 

 some sales made by me, of cattle and sheep. 

 Some of the ibrmcr were of improved breeds, 

 the latter were of the Leicester or Dishly 

 breed, of which I kept a flock, from 20 to 

 60 head, for some years previous to my leav- 

 ing my farm. 



In the year 1815, I sold 20 oxen fatted on 

 grass during one season, for $90 per head, 

 making $1,^00. The above cattle were 

 raised in the State of New York. In March, 

 lbl6, I sold two steers six years old, for 25 

 cents per pound, net beef. They weighed 

 17?3f} pounds, and 1653| pounds, making 

 together 3,427^ pounds, amounting to $856, 

 75. They cost me $160. 1 kept them about 

 seventeen months, during which time I fed 

 them with corn meal mixed with oat meal, 

 and wheat ship-stuff", turnips, &c, — grass in 

 summer. In the autumn of 1816, I sold 20 

 oxen at $100 each. These and the others 

 above, were raised in the State of New 

 York — the latter had one summer's feeding 

 on £>rass, and weighed 1000 pounds each. 



The spring of 1817, I sold 10 oxen that I 

 fed during the winter on corn and oat meal, 

 and were in good condition when I pur- 

 chased them — for $130 each. In Decem- 

 ber, 1817, I sold 13 cattle to go to the New 

 York market, for $1400. They had been 

 fatted from one to two years, and were 

 raised in Western Virginia. 



In April, 1818, 1 sold four steers for $646, 

 68. Three of them were raised in Ken- 

 tucky, and weighed from 13 to 1500 pounds 

 each. About the same time, I sold to the 

 navy agent in Philadelphia, a yoke of oxen 

 for $175. They were the first oxen ever 

 used in that yard. They purchased them at 

 my recommendation, and have never used a 

 horse there since. 



March, 1819, I sold a five year old steer, 

 for $336. I had fed him about eighteen 

 months, he weighed near 1400 pounds, net 

 beef. This steer was raised by a neighbour 

 of mine, and was remarkable for his beauty 

 of form and fatting qualities; I paid for him 

 $160 — he was of the native breed. At the 

 time I left my farm, I had made some pro- 

 gress in Short-horned blood, and have sold 

 half-breed heilers, as high as $100. 



I had, during seven years previous to 1824, 

 sold many of my Leicester sheep at high 

 prices to breeders — as high as 30 to 75 dol- 

 lars each — to butchers, from 10 to 27 dollars 



each. My sheep always afforded me great 

 pleasure and profit; their docile habits and 

 beautiful forms were always interesting. 



During the time of the above transactions, 

 I was largely engaged in the grazing busi- 

 ness, on the fine meadow lands on the river 

 Delaware, south of this city, for which I 

 paid from seven to ten dollars per acre, rent. 

 I had also high land, where I raised and kept 

 my stock during winter. 



I have thus given you a hasty sketch of 

 some of my operations, merely for your own 

 satisfaction ; and if productive of any grati- 

 fication to you, I shall be quite satisfied. 



I hope to hear from you before you leave 

 for England. — 



And am most respectfully yours, 



Aaron Clement. 



Phi lad., March 2, 1843. 



Pruning fri'it trees. — It will be found 

 upon experiment, that a wound made on a 

 tree in March or April, will look black as 

 soon as the sap begins to flow, and that the 

 sap will ooze out until the leaves have put 

 out so as to receive it; while a wound made 

 in June, will remain white, and immediately 

 commence healing. The wound of a tree 

 that has been broken by being loaded with 

 fruit, or otherwise, while the tree is green 

 with foliage, will look white and the wood 

 remain sound ; while one broken in the 

 winter, by snow, or from other cause, will 

 look black and incline to decay. 



It has been my humble lot to spend most 

 of my time in the spring and fore part of the 

 summer, in engrafting and pruning fruit 

 trees, and my experience goes to prove that 

 the best time for pruning, is when the leaves 

 are full grown, and the tiee is in a vigorous 

 and growing state. For at this season, when 

 the sap has been spent in the foliage, and 

 the pores of the wood are filled, so that 

 when the limb is taken off, the sun and. 

 warm weather will dry the end of the limb 

 and close the pores of the wood against the 

 weather, the sap will keep the limb alive 

 to the very end, and the healing will be 

 perceived immediately. — Boston Cultivator* 



Ploughing in green crops. — Livingplants 

 contain in their substance not only all they 

 have drawn up from the soil, but also a great 

 part of what they have drawn down from the 

 air. Plough in these living plants, and you 

 necessarily add to the soil more than was 

 taken from it — in other words, you make it 

 richer in organic matter. Repeat the pro- 

 cess with a second crop, and it becomes 

 richer still — and it would be difficult to de- 

 fine the limit beyond which the process 

 could no further be carried. — Johnston's 

 Lectures en Agricultural Chemistry. 



