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FARMERS' REGISTER— IMPROVED SHORT HORNS. 



point out the plan which it is my intention to pur- 

 sue. I have procured seeds of tlie yellow locust, 

 and shall (after scalding) j)ut them in tlie ground 

 as soon as it is fit to receive them. When one 

 year old they should be cut near the ground, when 

 a very straight and thrifty shoot will spring up, 

 and at the age of two or three years they may he 

 transplanted from the nursery to the field wlicre 

 they are to stand. 1 intend to cover with them 

 five acres of light sandy soil, and expect at the end 

 of six or eight years to have plenty of trees fit for 

 posts. 



The soil best adapted to the locust is a rich 

 sandy loam, but they flourish remarkably on the 

 poor sands of Cowneck, Long Island, where two 

 hundred and fifty dollars have been paid by ship 

 builders for the locust timber standing on an acre. 

 Although a warm liglit soil suits them best, I am 

 persuaded they would grow in any part of Wes- 

 tern New-York, and attain a size in twelveor four- 

 teen years, sufficiently large to make two to four 

 posts. I had two growing in a stiff clay, either of 

 which, at that age, would have made four good 

 posts. 



Attempts to cultivate tliem have been made, on 

 a very extensive scale, in several towns on the 

 Hudson; but I believe in almost every instance, 

 the borer has destroyed the hopes of the farmer. 

 In this country we are exempt from this evil. I 

 have been conversant with the locust for more than 

 twenty years, and I have never seen one in the 

 western section injured by the borer. 



The locust has the remarkable property, even 

 ■when planted on the lightest sands, of introducing 

 a fine sward. I have remarked this where I have 

 seen it growing on the very poorest soils of Long 

 Island, and have often heard others make tlie re- 

 mark. 



As an ornamental tree it is beautiful ; and when 

 in flower, perfumes the air for a con.siderable dis- 

 tance. But it should never be planted on the bor- 

 ders of fields designed for tillage, for the roots ex- 

 tend many yards, and wherever one is cut off by 

 the plough, a young locust springs up. This pro- 

 pensity renders it very easy to spread it. It is said, 

 that plant twenty at equal distances on an acre, 

 and plough the field twice, at intervals of three or 

 four years, and the number of trees v/ill be alto- 

 gether sufficient. 



It is well known that locust is considered the 

 most durable tind^er our country affords — tor no 

 other do ship builders pay so high a price, and in 

 fence posts it is said to have stood 100 years. I 

 have no doubt the time will come when it will bear 

 transportation on the canal. 



Almost any timber of our forests would answer 

 for boards, and saw mills are found in e\ ery town. 

 So that if every farmer will 7iow turn his attention 

 to the locust, he need not fear but tliat when his 

 present fences have decayed, he will have the 

 means to erect such as will take up the least possi- 

 ble ground, will not blow down, will be an orna- 

 ment to his farm, and such as his children may 

 enjoy afler him. Ontario. 



IMPROVKD SHORT IIOKNS. 



From the Genesee Fanner. 

 Your valuable correspondent," Ubnits," has in- 

 troduced to the notice of your readers the subject 

 of stock, in a way well calculated to elicit the views 



and opinions of those who have given their atten- 

 tion to this important branch of agricultural inte- 

 rest; and it will, I trust, not only awaken a more 

 general attention and inquiry into the value of the 

 res[)ective breeds alluded to, but will lead to a 

 closer examination, a nicer scrutiny, and a more 

 minute investigation of their distinctive character- 

 istics, pretensions and merits. These being well 

 understood, the very important points of pedigree 

 and descent will be more narrowly looked into, and 

 the excellence of a pure and improved breed will 

 not be estimated by results obtained from its 

 coarser originals, its half breeds, or mongrels. 

 Every red beast of the field will not claim descent 

 from the elegant and beautiful "Devon" — every 

 imported " Short Horn" — every ship's cow with a 

 crumpled horn, will not be palmed off on us for an 

 " improved Short Horn"- — the vulgar looking over- 

 grown Leicester will not pass as Bakewell sheep, 

 neither will the Hampshire downs be mistaken lor 

 the more refined Southdown sheep. In these mat- 

 ters we have been long enough the dupes of our 

 own ignorance; and when we liave given them 

 more of our attention, we shall hear less of disap- 

 pointments, of animals possessing no purity of 

 blood, — of mixed bi'eeds and their immediate de • 

 generacy,&c. for the fact is, we shall then depend 

 onfall 6re(i animals only for the improvement of 

 our native stock, selecting such as are of undoubted 

 pedigree, possessing their good qualities and excel- 

 lent forms by inheritance; and these points, 

 thoroughly established by long descent, form the 

 characteristics of a particular breed which will be 

 assuredly transmitted to their progeny. It is this 

 certainty of inheritance from full bloods, {hi[t ren- 

 ders them so incomparably more valuable to the 

 breeder, than any lesser grade of the same blood — 

 it is this admitted fact that induces men to hazard 

 such large sums of money, as we daily see risked, 

 on the unborn jiroduce of high bred animals; and 

 upon this same principle it was, that when I wished 

 to purchase, from the celebrated breeder, N.Whita- 

 ker, the produce of " Western Ladij," (one of the 

 cows cited by L'lmus,) I found it had been previ- 

 ously engaged to Col. Powel ; nor was it at all re- 

 markable that Mr. Whitaker, after I had become 

 acquainted with his herd, should send me, for my 

 selection, the names of seventeen cows, and their 

 time of calving, with the prices of their produce, 

 which varied as much as though the respective 

 merits of their parents had already been identified 

 in their embryo progeny. Another circumstance 

 l)rought to my notice the importance attached to 

 pedigree, by the breeders of cattle in England: 

 While attending the cattle show, at Otley, in the 

 West Riding of Yorkshire, for the purpose of pur- 

 chasing the best individuals I could obtain of the 

 improved Durham short horns, I was offered the 

 prize heifer of the day, for less than one half what 

 I paid Mr. Whitaker of Greenholm for younger 

 animals! The heifer, though very beautiful in 

 herself, had but two crosses of the improved blood; 

 her grand dam being a selected "short horn" cow, 

 but not of the improved breed; therefore, those ex- 

 cellencies, which obtained for lier the premium, 

 were not considered sufficiently established in her- 

 self, to secure their descent to her offspring, and 

 thus render her valuable to the breeder, who could 

 obtain othersof ])ure'r blood, nor was it of frequent 

 occurrence that a minor grade should beat a full 

 blood. The premium, for the best two year old 



