220 



GENESEE FARMER. 



1 



Sept. 



rated, broke to the yoke and worked till near five years 

 old. Tliey were always good workers, but were never 

 put to any very severe labor. 



Their keeping while thus at moderate work, was not 

 more than 1 usually give to my working oxen or other 

 stock. They received hay, with a small quantity of grain, 

 from March till ihey were put to grass, but the improve- 

 ment made under tliis treatment soon evidenceil that they 

 were superior animals, and such was their promise, that, in 

 the winier previous to their coming five years of age, they 

 were high fed, and then in the summer afterwards, mode- 

 rately fed with grain, about (! to 8 quarts of meal each per 

 day. I or one year after Jst November, 1840, and until the 

 lime that I sold them, I gave them the best keeping that 

 could be furnished, making the whole lime of feeding 

 about twenty-one months. 



The last year of that time, they were kept at the barn 

 on dry feed, averaging about 13 or 14 quarts of meal each, 

 with some carrots, potatoes, pumpkins, &c., and to sustain 

 their appetite in vigor, sometimes ground barley was used, 

 and oats and corn, and sometimes clear corn meal, chang- 

 ing from one to the other. Great care was taken in the 

 quality and preparation of this corn meal, indeed so far 

 as to have some of the corn kiln dried. 



The cattle were never stabled, but usually put up to re- 

 ceive their food, and then exposed to the season with more 

 or less of shed protectioii. To a roomy yard, with the 

 ground to stand or Me upon, instead of confinement upon a 

 stable floor, I attribute the great activity and sprightliness 

 of the cattle when at their perfection. Although remarka- 

 ble for expanding in size, and taking on fat, they were 

 never what could be called great eaters. 



I purchased the steers in the fall of 1843 for $60 00 



I kept them for work 2i years, but as their work 

 was not severe, and they only received the ordinary 

 keeping of my stock, I estimate the expense of 

 keeping over work, at 4s. per week for 21 years, .. G5 00 



I then commenced feeding them, and for | of a 

 year, fed but moderately — say. what equals in ex- 

 pense 8 quarts of corn meal for each per day — 

 being 5 bushel corn per day for 274 days, making 

 137 busiiels at 4s. per bushel 68 50 



Add hay, grass and attendence 8s. per week,... 39,00 



For the last year, I fed them in the best manner 

 — say, corn, oats and barley meal about 12 quarts 

 each per day, and some pumpkins^ potatoes and 

 carrots, equalling in expense one bushel corn per 

 day — being 365 busjiels, at 4s. per bushel, 182 50 



Hay and and attendance at 8s. per week, 52 00 



$467,00 

 This at a liberal estimate was the cost of the cattle when 

 sold. I sold them m November, 1847 for $550 paid down, 

 and a promise from the purchaser Mr. Calkins of $100 more 

 if the cattle turned out well — which promise he has since 

 agreed to make good. 



r annex a copy of a certificate given by over one hun- 

 dred butchers and cattle dealers and the purchaser, who 

 saw the cattle in New York, and certify as to their fine 

 ipialities. Very respectfully yours, 



Allen Ayrault. 



''•'rlif'V'ite of One Hundred and Six Butchers, Ih-overs, 

 and persons judges of Cattle. 

 Thi.s is to certify, that the undersigned, butchers, drovers 

 and persons conversant with and judges of the best cattle 

 prodiu'ed 111 this market, lake pleasure in stating, that the 

 (ienesee Valley Twin Steers, raised by the Hon. Allen 

 Ayriiuh, of Geneseo. Livingston County, N. Y., are the 

 best pair ever exhibited in this market. And we further 

 take pleiisiire in stating, that the price obtained for said 

 steers far exceeds any price ever obtained for a pair of cattle 

 at this market before, by several hundred dollars. 

 Geo. W. Allerton, 

 James Crawpord, and 104 others, and 

 Bryan Lawrence, Purchaser. 

 Btdl's Head. N. Y., Jan. 8th, 1848. 



A nevkr failing Remedy for Dysentery. — Those af- 

 flicted with this disease, by procuring a piece of the root of 

 genuine Turkey Rhubard, and chewing a peice of the size 

 of a cehrry-stone once or twice through the day, will find 

 certain relief. If the rhubarb be the genuine article the 

 remedy is almost sure in whatever stage the disease may be. 



Agricultural Education. 



-A Suggestion. 



The attention devoted to the improvement of 

 the agriculture of our country affords a cheer- 

 ing nnanifestation of the increasing interest this 

 important subject is receiving from the American 

 Farmer. The cultivation of the soil not only 

 adds to the prosperity of the nation, but multi- 

 plies wealth and augments the happiness of in- 

 dividuals. Agriculture is the eldest of the arts, 

 the alma mater, giving life and health to trade, 

 commerce and the minor business of life — fur- 

 nishing healthy employment for a majority of 

 every civilized people. How important to a 

 nation, then, is its agriculture. What a power- 

 ful auxiliary in sustaining its prosperity and sup- 

 plying the wants and comforts of its people. 

 How very desirable, how indispensable, that, 

 skill, intelligence and industry should control 

 its operations. 



In all the other departments of science and 

 art, a thorough and rigid system of study has 

 ever been deemed necessary to prepare the stu- 

 dent for the duties of his profession. Years of 

 laborious toil are devoted to the study of all the 

 branches supposed to have a bearing upon the 

 chosen one. Acadeinies and Colleges have 

 been established at gfeat expense, and liberally 

 endowed by the munificence of the State, to 

 enable the student in what are termed the 

 " learned professions" to acquire the knowledge 

 conceded to be necessary to the course he is to 

 pursue. 



This is proper, praiseworthy — perhaps indis- 

 pensable. Is there no study requisite, no know- 

 ledge important, to fit young men to be success- 

 ful and profitable tillers of the soil ? Can there 

 not be a judicious and necessary education 

 which shall eminently prepare the farmer to un- 

 derstandingly and p"ofilably pursue the profef>- 

 sion he has chosen, and add materially to his 

 zeal and his happiness while so doing ? May 

 not the tilling of the earth be justly considered 

 a profession, an honorable profession, ranking 

 as much higher than others as it is more impor- 

 tant ? Should it not, then, be studied as a 

 science, while practiced as an art ? 



The question will be naturally asked — where 

 shall it be studied as a science ? The appro- 

 priate answer would be, in an Agricultural 

 School Where, how and by whom shall this 

 School be established? Private individuals 

 have established such schools, and much good it 

 is believed has arisen therefrom. But the en- 

 terprise is too vast, to.T expensive, to succeed by 

 individual exertion. Some few years since the 

 senior editor of the Farmer, by an exertion al- 

 most unparalleled, did succeed in nearly getting 

 a School established at Fairfield Academy, fc 

 which the state was to appropriate $5,000 an- 

 nually ; but for reasons unlcnown to the writer, 

 the enterprise did not succeed. 



