NEW ENGLAND FARMEK. 



usual premiums must prove 



nake preparations for becoming competitors 

 t or tlie premium? now ofiered, the Committee 

 I'.re of opinion that tliere shoulil lie no pnlilic 

 |:xhibitioii in the present year. Tlic dispusaHo 

 junds of the Society will thereby he increased, 

 lo reward successful candidates for premiums 

 he year following. T.uf wliether there sh.dl, 

 r shall not, be a public exhibition in the pres- 

 et year, the Society, at their approaching an- 

 ual meeting, will determine. As, however, 

 Dme claims were to be made in the present 

 ear, these may be sent to the Secretary of the 

 ]ociefy, to be laid before the Trustees, for 

 l^eir decision thereon. 



The Committee propose no premiums for the 

 reatest quantity of any kind of crops. Tiie 

 xperiments already made liave demonstrated 

 ■hat is practicable ; and if those known exam- 

 (les of success are insufficient to stimulate geu 

 ral exertions, the 

 leflectual. 



^sex not being a county for grazing and fat- 

 :ning cattle much beyond the farmer's oivn 

 ants, this article also is discontinued in the 

 st of premiums. 



As to the usual live-stock — working oxen, 

 iich cows, young cattle, sheep and swine — 

 ey are to be considered as comprehended in 

 le Management of a Farm, additionally to the 

 f«Kisions under the heads No. Ill, & No. Vlll, 

 Hating to the Dairy and Ploughing Matches; 

 lid to the following article. 



X.— FOR IMPROVING OUR N.\TIVE 

 BREED OF NEAT CATTLE. 



The first most celebrated breeder of live stock, 

 England, was the late Robert Bakewell ; to 

 nom, Mr. Arthur Young says, that country is 

 i lebted for just principles of breeding. And a 

 >) er eminent breeder says, that " before Mr. 

 •] kewelTs days, we had do criterion but size ; 

 I thing would please but elephants and giants." 

 , d " he declares that Bakewell enabled those 

 ' 10 followed his ideas to produce two pounds 

 < mutton, where only one was produced be- 

 i e." The following were the points to 

 1 lich Bakewell specially attended : — " line 

 i 'ms, small bones, and a true disposition to 

 like ready fat: which indeed is inseparable 

 Tm small bones, or rather fine bones and tine 

 i -ms, or true symmetry of the parts." 



But BakewelPs prime object, in improving 

 I. tie and sheep, was to render his animals 

 I (St profitable in becfanA mutton. And he suc- 

 i:ded in obtaining forms indicating i<rcng(/( of 

 iislitulion-^a disposition to fatten, and at an 

 * -ly age — weightiness in the most valuable parts — 

 %th lightness of offals. If there was deficiency 

 i any point, he would cross his animal with 

 <e that was amply supplied in that part; and 

 i iny point of his animal was too heavy, by an 

 (posite cross he would reduce the superfluity. 

 1 'uch management, diligently pursued, he at 

 ligth gave to his stock the shape and qualities 

 i desired. -' 



So far as we breed domestic animals in this 

 tanty — and the observation will apply to our 

 »iole state, and generally to all New Englanii, 

 1 must extend our views beyond 6cc/and nun- 

 t ; and with the former combine milk, butter 

 «i cheese, and a fitness for labor ; and together 

 »th mutton aim at the greatest quantity of the 

 t st useful wool. 



If Bakewell could alter the shape of his cat- 

 » > aad lay flesh and fat on the most valuable 



,loinls--as was the fact— cm it be doubted th;il, 

 by similar attention, the quantity and quality of 

 the milk of our cows m.iy be increased and en- 

 riched ? But to obtain this improvement, calves 

 should be raised from such cows only ;is excel 

 in those two particulars. 



II seems to be the best opinion, that of the 

 diflerent breeds of live stock, those of the lar- 

 gest size are not the most profitable. The 

 breed of cattle, however, should be such as to 

 produce oxen a single pair of which, at tlieir 

 full growth, should have strenglh sufficient, on 

 proper tillage land, with well formed ploughs, 

 to opftn a furrow to the depth of five, or e"ven 

 of six inches. As to the form of the diflerent 

 kinds of live stock, an eminent naturalist and 

 farmer in England has thus expressed his opin- 

 ion ; — '• The more deep and capacious the chust, 

 and the shorter and lower any animal is, rela- 

 tive to its weight, the belter adapted it will be 

 to live and fatten on little food, the more labor 

 it will go through ; and 1 have always found 

 the most short-legged oxen to be the best la- 

 borers."' 



291 



The foregoing rules of breeding, and descrip- 

 tion of good live stock, being the result of the 

 experience of eminent English farmers and 

 breeders, merit the particufar attention of all 

 who shall attempt to improve upon our present 

 races of domestic animals ; and are here intro- 

 duced to furnish them with useful information. 

 And in the hope and expectation that such im- 

 provements will be undertaken, the following 

 premiums are offered : 



To the person who shall produce at the pub- 

 lic exhibition of the Society, in the year 1828, 

 any number of milch cows, not less than four^ 

 of our native breeds, showing manifest improve- 

 ments therein, by an important increase in the 

 ipeantity, and maintaining, at least, if not im- 

 proving, tlie good quality of milk — the latter to 

 be tested by the quantities of butter made in 

 the six mouths next precediug the exhibition — 

 For the best, .... 430 



(■"or the next best, - - - .25 



For (lie third best, .... OQ 



For the best pair of working oxen, or well 

 trained steers, improved on the principles 

 above stated, and exhibited at the same time — 

 For the best pair, .... 420 



For the second best, - . . 55 



For the third best, . . . - 10 



It will readily be admitted that our live stock 

 demand great improvements ; and no one will 

 question whether such improvements are prac- 

 ticable. They ought then to be attempted. It 

 will avail little to bestow premiums merely for 

 the best that shall be produced; for such pre- 

 miums might be given for a century, without 

 effecting any real improvements ; and thus, as 

 .to live stock, defeat the object for which the 

 Society was formed. The known excellency 

 of some oxen and cows, of our native breed, 

 give assurance to judicious and enterprising 

 farmers, that their numbers may be multiplied 

 by observing the well-tried rules of breeding. 

 The Oakes cow has probably not been surpas- 

 sed in any country. By some she was judged 

 to be under the size of our common cows. Her 

 short legs probably gave rise to that opinion. 

 There are, however, many larger cows in the 

 county. 



The best bulls and cows do not always pro- 

 duce a progeny equal to the parents ; but ex- 



perience lias shown, that from such on.v the 

 highest improvements may be expected The 

 same observation app'ies to all other kinds of 

 live stock. 



Farmers who shall cflect great improvements 

 in live stock, while they render a lastino- ben- 

 ; cfit to their country, will lay a foundation for 

 j advancing their own interest, in the demand, 

 and consequently increased prices, of their im- 

 proved breed-,. 



Reflecting farmers, who shall become candi- 

 dates for preniiiini';, will b^ aware, that if (heir 

 exertions should not obtain tlie honor of a prize 

 they will not pass unrewarded; as all the im- 

 provements they make «ill either give them 

 immediate piofits, ci' add to th.e 

 farms. The direct object of 

 to excite niLM-ely frinl.s of skill, but to add to 

 the solid interests of farming; and he, who 

 shall show how we may add most to that solid 

 interest, will obtain the highest prize. 

 In behalf and by order of the Committee, 

 T. PICKERING. 

 Salem, January 22, 1823. 



value of their 

 premiums is not 



Pope, who, whatever his good qualities might 

 be, certainly was not much troubled with good 

 nature, was one evening at Burton's Coffee, 

 house, when he and a set of literati were por- 

 ing over a manuscript of the Greek comic poet 

 -Aristophanes, in which they found a passage 

 they could not comprehend. As they talked 

 pretty loudly, a young man who stood by the 

 fire, heard their conference, and begged that 

 he might be permitted to look at the passage. 

 " O!" said Pope, sarcastically, "by all means, 

 pray let the young gentleman look at it." On 

 which he took up tlie book, and considering a 

 while, said, that there only wanted a note of in- 

 terrogation to render the whole intelligible, 

 which was really the case. " And pray master," 

 said Pope, piqueA perhaps at being outdone, 

 "what is a note of interrogation ?" " A note 

 of interrogation," replied the youth, with a 

 look of the utmost coutempt, " is a little crook- 

 ed thing that asks questions !" 'Tis said, how- 

 ever, that Pope was so delighted with this wit- 

 ticism, that he forgave the sarcasm on his per- 

 son. ^5^r^ 



A sportsman, by touching his horse near the 

 withers with his whip, taught him to kneel im- 

 mediately : when shooting, and a dog came to 

 a point, he made the horse kneel, and persua. 

 ded tho.se present that the horse was an excel- 

 lent pointer. A gentleman having purchased 

 the gelding, was fording a driver with him, 

 when, having touched his withers, he was true 

 to the touch, down he dropped in the stream, 

 and soused his new master in the water. The 

 latter in a great passion, asked his former own- 

 er what he meant by selling him a horse that 

 played him such a trick in the water? " Oh 1" 

 said the other, " you bought him as a pointer, 

 and at the time he went on his knees he was 

 pointing at a salmon.^'' 



The Reserve. — A gentleman showing his 

 friend his curiosities, &c. in his gallery, on the 

 other's praising them all very much, he gave 

 hira a choice of any one of them as a present. 

 The stranger fixed his election on a tablet, in 

 which the ten commandments were -.vritten in 

 letters of gold. " You roust excuse mo there, re- 

 plied the gentleman, those 1 »m bound to &eep." 



