NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



359 



climate, sciencG alone cannot show us ; and without 

 its aids, cxpovimonts would be little more than repe- 

 titions of processes, which altered circumstances 

 should long; since have rendered obsolete. Experi- 

 ments worthy of any imitation, and worth recording;, 

 must embrace philosophical principles : the experi- 

 menter may know nothing of system, but his atten- 

 tion, care, and study have conducted him to conclu- 

 sions strictly philosojihical. 



It is from carefully conducted experiments we 

 anticipate the most important results in stimulating 

 inquiry, and giving such new directions to labors as 

 may conduce to general prosperity. We propose 

 subjects for experiments, which every farmer in a 

 measure understands already, but hope all who en- 

 gage in the pi-ocesses will avail themselves of every 

 attainable assistance in extending their knowledge, 

 that with clearer and more comprehensive views 

 they may labor more efficiently, and realize greater 

 gains. We wish to place motives before them to 

 seek new light, and unite, as of)portunities are pre- 

 sented, science with practice. 



WAGONS AND CARTS. 



A farmer in England, named Edward B. Lidding- 

 ton, has produced a prize essay on the comparative 

 merits of wagons and carts, which should arrest the 

 attention of our farmers ; for if he is right, our farmers, 

 in general, are wrong. After iive years' expierience 

 with wagons, and nearly the same with one-horse 

 carts, on a farm of one hundred and seventy acres 

 of arable and eighty acres of pasture, he came to the 

 conclusion that the carts were of the greatest advan- 

 tage. As our farmers all use wagons, let them pay 

 some attention to his statement. He says, " I have 

 no light ploughing land, nor have I more than twenty 

 or thirty acres of very heavy land. I will, therefore, 

 relate my actual experience. In the employment of 

 wagons and the old broad- wheeled dung-carts, I re- 

 quired one wagon, one cart, and three horses to 

 every fifty acres of arable land. I also kept a light 

 cart for general purposes. Now that I am employ- 

 ing carts, I find that I get through my work much 

 more easily with two horses and two carts to fifty 

 acres." 



In the calculation of items, his sa-ving was nearly 

 foiu- dollars on the cultivation of one acre, in the 

 year. Again he says, it is admitted that one horse 

 attached to a given weight will move it more easily 

 than two horses attached to double that weight. 

 This arises not only from the advantage gained by 

 having all the power of draught close to the work, 

 but also all the power applied at the same moment, 

 which is almost impossible where two or more horses, 

 having different wills and steps, are attached to the 

 weight ; and for the same reason, one horse will travel 

 more quickly. 



When a cart is filled, there is no delay in attach- 

 ing the trace-horses, during which operation the one- 

 horse would be two hundred yards on the road. I 

 know this might be done more quickly by having 

 men ready to change the horses, as in the practice 

 of opposition coaches ; but I am speaking of the mat- 

 ter-of-fact working of the system. Then again, when 

 the load is deposited, the one horse turns in much 

 less time than the two or three. These facts are too 

 self-evident to admit of contradiction ; indeed, I 

 believe the economy of carting manure with one- 

 horse carts is generally allowed ; but the employment 

 of them in harvesting is much objected to. In this 

 respect, however, I find them equally expeditious 

 and economical. My actual experience is, that tliree 

 carts, with the harvest frames attached, will convey 

 as much hay or corn in the straw as two wagons, 

 and that they are bound witli the ropes in the same 



time ; therefore no time is lost in binding. They 

 are easier to pitch into than wagons, and not more 

 difficult to unload ; and all the advantages are gained 

 of speed in travelling. 



My attention was first drawn seriously to the sub- 

 ject from hiring a man to draw some stones for drain- 

 ing. He came with a horse only fourteen hands 

 high and a small cart, when the work he accom- 

 plished so surprised me that I at once decided to try 

 two light carts, which, after succeeding well in all 

 other operations, I employed in the harvest field : 

 and being fully satisfied with them in this capacity, 

 I soon discarded every wagon from the farm. — 

 Selected. 



WEST HIGHLAND CATTLE. 



Among the breeds of Scotch cattle, which would 

 be adapted to our more northern states, we may 

 mention these. Like the Galloways they are rather 

 adapted to the stall than the dairy ; though it is 

 possible that both breeds might, with attention, be 

 much improved in their milking properties. Pro- 

 fessor Low says of them, — 



" The finest and largest of the native cattle of the 

 Highlands are bred in Argyleshire and the neighbor- 

 ing islands. This character they owe to the greater 

 development of their forms, to the superior herbage 

 of the western coasts, but in a great degree likewise 

 to the superior care bestowed in breeding. After 

 the middle of last century, Archibald, Duke of Ar- 

 gyle, a worthy and patriotic individual, bestoAved 

 considerable attention in improving the cattle of the 

 district surrounding his own seat of Inverary ; and 

 more recentlj', numerous gentlemen of the Western 

 Highlands have devoted the most sedulous attention 

 to the improvement of this breed. On these ac- 

 counts, the variety of the Western Highlands is 

 usually referred to as the model of the breed. It is 

 well known to all breeders, that a certain class of 

 external characters indicate a disposition to arrive at 

 an early maturity of bone and muscle, and to become 

 easily fat. The most essential of these characters 

 are, a large, cylindrical body, dependent upon the 

 greater curvature of the ribs, a body large with rela- 

 tion to the limbs, or, in other words, limbs short 

 with relation to the body, a broad exi:)anded chest, a 

 skin soft to the touch and expansile, a relative small- 

 ness of the bones, aud an absence of coarseness in 

 the extremities. In certain breeds of the lower coun- 

 tries, these characters may be developed to a high 

 degree ; but in a country of mountains and heaths, 

 with a cold, humid, ungenial climate, there must be 

 combined with these a set of characters indicative 

 of that hardiness of constitution, without which the 

 animals would be unsuited to the condition in wliich 

 they are placed. That extreme delicacy of form 

 which can be easily communicated by breeding must 

 be avoided. The hair, while it is silky, unctuous, 

 aud free from harshness, should be abundant and 

 curling ; the neck should be strong and muscular ; 

 the forehead rather broad ; and the nose, from the 

 eyes to the muzzle, short ; a dewlap should exist as 

 a character of the breed ; the eyes should be promi- 

 nent and clear ; the horns should be of good length, 

 without approaching to the coarseness of the long- 

 horns of the lower country, spreading and tipped 

 with black. Now, in the genuine West Highlanders, 

 we shall find such a combination of these characters, 

 as to show them to be well fitted to the country in 

 which they are reared. Their limbs are short, though 

 muscular, "their chests wide and deep, their ribs well 

 arched, and their backs as straight as in any other 

 breed. The neck indeed, and dewlap, seem some- 

 what coarse in the bull ; but these are characters 

 indicative of their mountain state ; and almost all 



