610 FARMERS* REGISTER— FREDERICKSBURG AGRICULTURAL ADDRESS, 



beinpj a practical Farmer of long experience, — 

 sound judgment, and iiigh respectability of ciia- 

 racler. All who have seen his larm siy, that it 

 has been brought, by his skill and industry, frou) 

 great poverty of soil, to a very considerable degree 

 of productiveness. He is, therefore, qualiiied to 

 instruct us, — not only by precept, — but, what is 

 far better, by example also. 



The increasing popularity of this paper establish- 

 es another fact of much interest, which is, that the 

 silly prejudices against what is calietl " book-iarm- 

 ing," which have exposed our Agriculturists to 

 so much just ridicule, are fast disappearing heibre 

 the lightof truth : and that Agricultural Books, — 

 like all others, containing well authenticated facts 

 in relation to any practical art, shorten the labor of 

 a whole life, by condensing and registering the ex- 

 perience of thousands for the beneiit of each indi- 

 vidual who may be desirous to avail himself of so 

 inestimal)le an advantage. By a few hours read- 

 ing, from time to time, he may thus possess him- 

 self of a stock of Agricultural knowledge, which 

 his whole life might not enable him to gain, had he 

 no other dependence, but his own solitary practice, 

 or the casual observance of the practices of others. 

 In the Farmers' Register and the American Far- 

 mer he may find this kiioivledge ; for i believe that 

 in those two kindred papers will be found almost 

 every thing that the Farmers and Planters of Vir- 

 ginia wish to know in relation to their profession. 



Another proof that the desire for improvement 

 in husbandry is greatly increasing among us, is, 

 the augmenting demand for improved agricultural 

 implements, and machine.?, and farming stock, ex- 

 enjplified by ten times as many purchases of such 

 things, as I have ever known t>ef()re, in the same 

 period of time. In regard to the latter, by the 

 way, a fact has occurred in my own neighborhood, 

 which furnishes additional proof to corroborate the 

 opinions first advanced, I think, by old Mr. Pick- 

 ering, of Massachusetts, that by making proper 

 selections from our own native breeds of cattle, we 

 should very soon obtain stock, possessing all the 

 qualities we want, without a resort to foreign im- 

 portation ; — a stock too, which in some respects 

 would be found better suited to our soil and cli- 

 mate. The fact to which I allude — is, that what 

 we country folks call "a come by chance" cow, 

 but certainly of the native breed, has been yield- 

 ing this fall half a bushel of fine milk at a milking, 

 with only some small additional care bestowed in 

 rearing and feeding her. A similar instance oc- 

 curred still nearer to me* several years ago. Per- 

 mit me also to cite the following flicts, taken from 

 the report of the Committee of the Massachusetts 

 Agricultural Society on milch cows, heifers, bulls, 

 and bull calves, exhibited at the last Brighton 

 Fair. The three premiums of $25, i$15 and .^10, 

 were awarded to three cows of the native breed. 

 The first cow, five years old, was proved to have 

 given, during the whole of June and July last, 

 never less than twenty-four quarts per day, and'to 

 have yielded from her milk fourteen pounds thir- 

 teen ounces and a half of excellent butter, in one 

 week. She sold for !§ 100. 



The second cow, 12 years old, gave from the 

 10th to the 20th of June from 19 to 20 quarts of 

 milk per day, from which were made, during these 

 ten days, seventeen pounds of butter, and thirty 

 pounds of cheese. It was further proved, that, 

 although the quantity of milk was greatly reduced 



by the drought from the 10th to the 20th of Sep- 

 tember, this cow had made for the previous six 

 months for her owner, ,^94 22 cents by her milk 

 and cheese, including .^8 42 cents for which her 

 calf sold, that had been fatted on little more than 

 half her milk. 



The third cow had given from the 10th to the 

 20th of June, from 20 to 21 quarts of milk per day, 

 that yielded in that time, 17 pounds of butter. 

 From the 10th to the 20th of September, she gave 

 from 16 to 17 quarts of milk j)er day, which made 

 during that time, 13 [(ounds of butter. 



I mention these facts, — not because I object alto- 

 gether to the importation of cattle of the improved 

 English breeds ; but to prove that at least one 

 principal object, that of obtaining good milkers, 

 can be accomplisiied, — if not as speedily, yet with 

 as much certainty, by more simple and less costly 

 means. I state the facts also to suggest the in- 

 quiry, whether we may not have been paying 

 somewhat too dearly for this foreign whistle ; al- 

 though I confess that I have been lately whistling 

 a little on it myself, not however in such a way 

 as to exhaust nmch wind in the experiment. 



With respect to improved machines and imple- 

 ments, we have had a great accession to our stock 

 sinc.e our last meeting; — not so much however 

 in variety, as in the quality of three or four, which 

 I will take this occasion to notice. Douglass' 

 wheat machine has had several improvements 

 made in it, which have rendered it the best fixed 

 machine that I have yet seen. But it is not a porta- 

 ble machine, and must therefore be inferior to any 

 one of the latter kind, which requires no more 

 power, and gets out wheat as fast and as clean as 

 Douglass' with an equal promise of durability. 

 Such a one, I believe I have seen, since, our 

 last meeting. It is jiatented by Fox and Borland, 

 of Herkimer County, in New York; and Mr. 

 Jabez Parker is the agent in Richmond, for selling 

 them. It is true that I have had no such oppor- 

 tunity of testing their comparative merits, as I 

 should deem absolutely necessary to determine ac- 

 curately and justly between them : for to do this, 

 both should be worked on the same wheat, at the 

 same lime, or immediately in succession, and with 

 horse or water power and attendance, as nearly 

 equal in all respects as practicable. But what I 

 witnessed sufficed to make me prefer Fox and 

 Borland's to Douglass', although I now have one 

 of the latter kmd. I ought to mention, as an ad- 

 ditional recommendation to the former, that it also 

 shells corn perfectly well, and nearly as fast, as 

 .some six or eight ears can be thrown in at a time. 

 But as if to verify the old adage that " there is no 

 besV in tliis world, another wheat machine, pa- 

 tented by a Mr. Bayliss, is to be exhibited to-day, 

 which possildy may surpass either of the two that 

 I have mentioned; since the agent for selling them 

 in Virginia offers to warrant that his two-horse 

 portable machine, at ifiloO i)rice, will get out 200 

 bushels of good wheat per day, as clean as any 

 other machine, and that his hand-power machine 

 will get out at least fifty bushels per day. What I 

 have seen of the hand-power induces me to form 

 high expectations of its power and durability. 

 Among the new implements which have attracted 

 my attention so far as to make trial of them, since 

 we last met, is .Beache's single horse cultivator, 

 with cast iron moveable points, made to reverse as 

 the point first used wears out. It is by far the 



