GRAZING CATTLE IN WESTERN VIRGINIA. 367 



and rain waters of the two regions, and thus have settled on the basis of undeni- 

 able illustration, this and innumerable problems besides, inter^ting to A"-ricul- 

 ture — one that if equally interesting to the purposes of war and manslaughter, 

 would be promptly investigated by the Government, as was the gunpoivder 

 cotton question ; and if the facilities had not been already provided for such 

 analysis, for military uses, our Congressmen of both Houses, as recreant to the 

 agricultural as they are subservient to the military class, would promptly and 

 with one voice, on the first hint, supply the requisite facilities without a ques- 

 tion about the cost ! Such is the gross prostitution of legislative power over the 

 treasure collected chiefly from the agriculturists, perpetrated by those whom, in 

 their blindness and tame submission to abuse, they allow to represent them ! 

 Will the time ever arrive when generations described as having " eyes, but who 

 saw not, ears but heard not, and understandings but understood not," shall pass 

 away, and give place to those who will exercise for their own good the senses 

 and faculties with which God has endowed them ? 



We ought to apologize to Mr. Caperton for using, as we here do, what was 

 not " penned for publication " ; but the subject is a novel one to many of our 

 readers, who are as ignorant as we once were of how things are carried on up 

 there in the gorges of the mountains, through which we see these fine droves 

 of fat cattle come annually, rolling along down our turnpike roads, from far-oft' 

 regions — a sort oi terra incognita to us of the salt-water country. 



Mr. JohnS. Skinner: Oakland, November, 1847. 



My residence is in the south end of our county, about 20 miles from the 

 Court-House, on a farm of about 1,240 acres, about 500 of which are cleared, 

 the residue in woods — in its general features and character but slightly dif- 

 ferent from the lands in the vicinity of Union. I do not cultivate lar^-elv, 

 nor to a greater extent than is sufficient to furnish grain, &c., for myljwn 

 consumption, grazing being the business upon which I rely for a return. Be- 

 sides the stock necessary for the purposes of the farm, I winter and g-raze 

 100 head of cattle, the ordinary cost of which, or rather the average of which 

 one year with another, is about $14 50 to $15, which we are generally able 

 to sell to purchasers for the Eastern markets for from $25 to $28. The 

 business of farming and grazing thus combined I regard as the most beau- 

 tiful imaginable. To take care of a hundred cattle, as we mana;?e it in this 

 country, so far as the labor and trouble are concerned, is, to use" a common 

 expression, a mere nothing. The only trouble or labor attending the matter is 

 during the winter months, when it is necessary to feed them, to do which re- 

 quires a man and a boy for a short time each day, using for the purpose a two- 

 horse wagon — one driving while the other throws off the hay, fodder, or straw 

 on either side. We aim always to feed the straw when the snow is on the 

 ground, inasmuch as the cattle eat it much belter than at any other time. It is 

 also better to feed Indian corn fodder on snow, for the reason that tiiey will eat 

 much more of the stalk then than when the ground is bare. 



There is a difference of opinion among graziers as to the superiority of hay, or 

 fodder, as winter food for cattle. The only difference, I think, is that fodder is 

 less apt to constipate. With the exercise of a little skill in the management of 

 our grazing lands, (and that consists simply in not grazing too closely,)" with the 

 aid of our meadows, which are kept up as a reserve after they are" mown, we 

 can keep our stock of all kinds without using a pound of hay, fodder or straw 

 until the first of January. The feeding continues to the 15th of April or 1st of 

 May, depending on the nature of the spring, when they are turned upon the pas- 

 tures, and treated as you saw when here last summer. 



The inquiry of late seems to have been raised as to the utility of salt for stock. 

 I must confess that when I first saw that this question was seriouslv raised I 

 was not a little astonished, for I had supposed that if there was anytliinsj in the 

 care and management of stock of all kinds, the utility of wiiich was settled be- 

 yond cavil or doubt, it was the regular and generous use of salt. The aviditv 



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