50 



THE GENESEE FARMER, 



lbs. 1 oz, of butter, allowing the yield to be the 

 same per quart as in the hot weablier. As the 

 weather was much more favorable, ho was satisfied 

 it wmild have yielded 15 lbs. 



The Devon cow "Ruby," owned by Mr. TV. S. 

 CowLES, of Farmington, Conn., dropped her calf 

 in February, and made in the month of April fol- 

 lowing 1 lb. 13 oz. of butter per day — equal to 

 nearly 12^ lbs. per week. 



The late Rev, H. Colman, in his European Ag- 

 riculture, says: "The Devons are, as a breed, most 

 highly and deservedly esteemed." Of their milk- 

 ing qualities he says; "The North Devons have 

 strong advocates as a milking stock. The most 

 productive cow in butter which I have found, was 

 a North Devon, which for several weeks in- succes- 

 sion, without extra feed, made 21 lbs. of butter per 

 week. The character of the owner places it beyond 

 A doubt." He gives other cases corroborating the 

 ^ove. These cases, and those before enumerated, 

 we think establishes the fact that the Devons, as 

 milk-ers, do not fall behind the " crack" breeds for 

 milking properties. 



The illustrations at the head of this article were 

 taken in ambrotype, and engraved by Messrs. Los- 

 fttsco & Barritt. They are correct portraits of 

 two yearling heifers, bred by M. Vassar, at Spring- 

 aide, and sold to E. R. Browit, Esq., of Mount 

 Hope, Misa. o. n. bemknt. 



Springtide, Po''ke«p»i«, JV. Y., Jan^y, 1859. 



WHEAT vs. OATS FOK SEEDING IN. 



Messrs. Editors : — It is the practice of many of 

 the farmers of this section, to seed their fields in 

 wheat in preference to other grain, especially oats. 

 They aver that oats abstract a greater amount of 

 fertQity from the soil than wheat, thereby leaving 

 it in a poorer condition for a grass crop. 



The rotation of crops generally followed here is, 

 at the first breaking, oats ; second crop, potatoes ; 

 third, corn ; fourth, seeding down in wheat or oats. 

 The latter many object to, "for," they say, "oats 

 sap the ground more than wheat." Whether this 

 objection is well grounded, I know not, and would 

 like to hear from some of your correspondents on 

 tiiis point. My own observations aro not in accord- 

 ance with this opinion. 



In a field, the whole of which received the same 

 amount of manure, and the same treatment, one 

 portion was seeded in wheat and tlie otiier in cats. 

 On the former, the crop of grass fell short the past 

 season, and it requires breaking again ; while the 

 latter yielded an average crop. 



This year, a neighbor had a field which had been 

 »own to oata the two preceding years, without 

 being manured highly. He wished to plant the 

 field with corn; but he thought if oats "sapped" 

 the ground so badly, corn would yield a poor re- 

 turn. He therefore decided to plant another por- 

 tion of the field, which immediately joined it, and 

 which wa5 planted to pototoes last year, and very 

 highly manured. When plowing the field, he en- 

 croached a few feet on the stuhhle ground, on which 

 two rows of corn were planted, receiving tlio same 

 dressing and care aa the rest of the field. At harvest, 

 all the sound com taken from the field was gath- 

 ered from those two rows planted on the stubble. 



Btt^^L, JTa, 1858, G. E. BRACKETT. 



NOTES FOR THE MONTH. -BY S. W. 



SoRomrM SAccnARATUM. — Sorghum failed to 

 ripen its seed in Western New York in 1857, 

 although frost kept off until the 18th of October; 

 hence it was the opinion of many that this cane 

 would not succeed well in our climate. But the 

 wet and umlsually cool season of 1857 is an excep- 

 tion to the general rule. This season, the little 

 that has been planted has ripened its seed well. 

 There can be no longer a doubt that sorghum is to 

 become a profitable crop for syrup or sugar in any 

 region where the Ohio dent corn is successfully 

 grown, and the stalks and very nutritious seed will 

 go far to pay for the cultivation. 



The Importance of Shelter and Nutritious 

 Food for Stock. — Your Gorham correspondent, in 

 the Farmer for December, contributes a scientific 

 article on this subject, which should be studied by 

 every neophyte in scientific farming. It shows 

 how much fodder may be saved by warm, tidy 

 stabling. Although the cow is more filthy than 

 the hog, she prefers the cold air without to a stable 

 redolent of her own excrements. But if she is 

 permitted to run out on cold or wet nights, it will 

 take nearly half the food she eats to keep her warm 

 and comfortable. Hence the importance of a 

 cleanly-kept, well-littered and ventilated stall. If 

 straw is scarce, saw-dust or tan-bark is a good sub- 

 stitute ; and freshly-burned, sifted coal ashea, is a 

 good absorbent, and it puts a soft covering to a 

 naked floor. Although good, early-cut, well-cured 

 hay, is the best winter food for bovines, a little lin- 

 seed meal, or Indian meal, or roots, fed daily, will 

 more than save its cost in hay, whUe it adds to the 

 health and flesh of the animal; and such rations 

 are indispensable to keep up the milk of cows. 



The best Son, improvidently tilled. — A friend 

 writes from Aui-ora, Cayuga county, that his neigh- 

 bor is overwhelmed with the idea of the manure 

 necessary to his now very hungry fifty acres. This 

 land was in the beginning the beau ideal of a soil 

 for both grain and grass — a clay loam, ameliorated 

 by lime pebbles, surface-drained by a gentle decliv- 

 ity to the bay, and a deep, narrow ravine, as an 

 u-nderdrain to boot! A Pennsylvania German, on 

 the opposite shore of the lake, five miles further 

 down, to whom I told this story, said : " Tell him 

 to sow more clover seed and less timothy." This 

 German has 130 acres, keeps seventeen head of 

 bovines, three horses, fifty sheep, and hogs to pork 

 his family and helpers. He grows corn, wheat, 

 oats, and h-is own red clover seed, very little timo- 

 thy ; but he never fails to sow from six to twelve 

 bushels of clover seed every year. He says he can 

 not get so good or so large a crop of wheat with aa 

 little labor as formerly, although he feeds his soil 

 better. It would thus seem that a kind Providence i 

 favors a pioneer in a new country, in pity for hiS' jj^j 

 privations, by giving him ample crops for little out- ^j 

 lay or labor. But when he waxes fat, and eschewai ^i^ 

 Nature's lavish bounties, she lets him know that. (^^ 

 they are not indefeasible, and he soon learns thati i,(^ 

 if ho would escape the decree tha-t "man shall liv«i f^^ 

 by the sweat of his face," he must expect to pay< reej 

 the penalty. s. w. \^ 



Waterloo, IT. 7., Dec. 6, 1859. l, ' 



A box 26 inches by 15.2 inches square, and 81 Jj™ 

 inches deep, will contain one bushel. * 



