FARMERS' REGISTER— AGRICULTURE— BREEDING CATTLE. 



m 



and this half cost them more labor than when they 

 got double the quantity of li'rain or <irass. 



The land I now till, at first, would not produre 

 on an averao;e, more than fifteen or twenty bushels 

 of corn, ten or fifteen bushels of wheal, bailey oi 

 rye, and from half a ton to one ton of hay per acre. 

 I commenced making;, saving- and applying; my 

 manure in the most economical way on the surface, 

 and ploughing: shallow ; and in ten or twelve yeais 

 I found i had brought it back to its original state 

 of fertility. My practice has been to turn over 

 the soil in the fall or spring, spread eight or ten 

 tons of barn yard manure on an acre, and tlien 

 plant with corn ; and to follow the corn with barley 

 and grass seeds, putting three lbs. clover, and four 

 of timothy seed on an acre ; then let it lay two 

 years to grass; then to go over with the same rota- 

 tion of crops; and my third rotation was first 

 wheat, second corn, third barley, to seed d(>wn with, 

 applying ^out the same quantity of manure every 

 time I tuwied over the sod. In this way, in the 

 course of twenty years, I got some of my fields to 

 yield from eighty to one hundred Inishelsof corn, 

 thirty-five to forty bushels of wheat, fifty to sixtv 

 bushels of barley, and from two and an half to 

 three and an half tons of hay per acre, and with 

 less labor, except in harvesting, than when 1 did 

 not raise only about one-third or one-quaitcr as 

 much. I know from my own ex|)erience, that it 

 does not cost one-half, if more than one third as 

 much, to raise a bushel of grain by good husbandry, 

 as it does by bad management. 



The farmers have much improved their farms in 

 this town since our state agricultural society was 

 organized, and of course their crops have increased 

 in proportion. / have no doubt that the money 

 ichich \oas appropriated by the state to encourage 

 agriculture, has increased the wealth of this county 



MORE THAN T^VKNTY PER CE.\T A YEAR siuce, 



yet there seems to be a want of enterprise with 

 our farmers in promoting their true interest. 



The crops in this town were generally good the 

 last season, except corn, which owing to the unu- 

 sually wet and cold season, did not yield more than 

 one-third or one half of a usual crop. I planted a 

 field of four acres, which was in ray highest slate 

 of cultivation. Occupied as pasture I turned over 

 the sod about the first of June, and planted it two 

 feet eight inches apart, with eight rowed yellow 

 corn. When the stalks were fit to cut, I had the 

 curiosity to ascertain the weight of the corn and 

 stalks on an acre, and found that I had 38,000 lbs. 

 and 26,000 ears of corn. This was the heaviest 

 growth I think that I ever raised, and I have no 

 doubt that there was 150 or 160 bushels corn when 

 fit to crib. 



Respectfully yours, earl stimson. 



J. Buel, Esq. 



THE CLAIBIS OF AGRICULTURE TO LEGISLA- 

 TIVE AID. 



Extract from an Jlddress to the Farmers of New 

 York. 



From the New York Farmer. 

 You are now petitioning, humbly petitioning 

 your legislature to grant you a little portion, merely 

 a remnant of that which you have placed in their 

 hands, to educate your sons, and assist your daugh- 

 ters in the labors which they clieerfully bestowfor 

 the good of tlie wjiole. 



You are virtually saying to your senators, legis- 

 lators, a pi'incipal p.irtof whom are composed of law ■ 

 yers, merchants and professional men— gentlemen, 

 we have built your public works; our i)rea(l and 

 viothing, toil and cash, have completed yourcanals, 

 aided value to your lands, and rendered productive 

 your other sources of revenue. Our toil, and the 

 fruit of our labor, have also erected and adorned 

 your public edifices, your h.alls of legislation, your 

 court-houses, your offices, your churches, your 

 colleges and academies, over which we have given 

 you and your class a paramount control — will you 

 be pleased, at our hund)le request, to give us back 

 a little to assist us in our toil.'' We are more en- 

 couraged to do this, as your governor has conde- 

 scendingly said that by feeding the animal that 

 lalors in the field he will do more work, and " be- 

 nefit every other class!" This must surely betrue, 

 if it is any lienefit to the man that labors in the 

 mental and intellectual field, or in the shopor office, 

 to have bread and clothing! Ah, farmers, had you 

 a due proportion of members in your legislative 

 halls, or could those v. ho are there feel any confi- 

 dence in your united support, they would before 

 this have spoken with an authority that would 

 have brought to your immediate benefit a large 

 portion of that revenue which is the fruit of your 

 toil ; and you would have had an institution — yea, 

 more than one — in progress, that would have eleva- 

 ted the character of that profession in which it is 

 your duty and pleasure to labor ; and in which your 

 sons would be in a course of education to prepare 

 them to render their labor more than doubly effec- 

 tive to increase the productions of the earth, and 

 to jirepare them, after they are produced, for the 

 most pleasant and profital)le use — where thej' would 

 be educated so that their influence might be felt 

 where influence is desirable! 



EXTRACTS FROIM BRITISH HUSDANDRY, PUB- 

 LISHED BY THE SOCIETY FOR THE DIFFU- 

 SION OF USEFUL KNOWLEDGE. LondOH, 1832, 



Improvements in Breeding Cattle. 



But it is not to the patriotism of the farmer that 

 we appeal. That is a motive called into operation 

 only on great occasions; it governs none of the 

 common actions of life, and has no influence over 

 ordinary minds; neither is it necessarj' toour pur- 

 pose. Self interest alone is a suflicient inducement 

 to most men to exert themselves in their peculiar 

 walk, and, if properly directed, it accomplishes the 

 ol)jectof society as well as if they were swayed by- 

 higher principles of conduct. We, therefore, only- 

 mean to call attention to the fact, that, when pur- 

 sued with skill and assiduity, husbandry offers one 

 of the surest sources, not merely of independence, 

 but of fortune; in proof of which assertion, num- 

 berless instances could be adduced of men now liv- 

 ing in affluence, acquired solely by farming, as 

 well as of others who have left large property to 

 their heirs. 



Among the latter, Bakewell stands foremost — 

 not so much for the fortune which he realized, as 

 for the important results of his experiments, as a 

 breeder, both to the public, and to his numeious 

 followers; inasmuch as the improvements which 

 he effected in live-stock, or to which his example 

 has led the way, have contributed largely to the 

 increase of animal food, and opened a" branch of 

 farming as novel as it has proved lucrative. 

 Efforts had, indeed, been maide before his time, to 



