No. 8. 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL. 



117 



A Visit to Mr. Sheffer's Farm (in Wheatland.) 



It affords iia much pleasure to publish the following 

 account of the operations of our Iriend ShcfTer. Far- 

 mera would find it grea'ly to their advantage to visit 

 each other more frequently; and we wish our friends 

 would oftener send ua their observations on the man- 

 agoment and success of their neighbors. Mr. Shcf- 

 fer is a plain hardworking evcry-day farmer, enjoy- 

 ing m greater advantages than are possessed by thou- 

 sands of others in our land. — Ens. 



Far the yea Gentsee Eartnir. 



Mkssrs. Editors — In making a visit to our towns- 

 man, George Sheffer, lost week, I was so well pleased 

 with what I saw of bis management, that lorn in- 

 daced to send you a short sketch of my observations. 



Mr. Sheffer's farm consists of 360 acres, and has 

 been in the possession of the family 51 years. It is 

 situated a little below the month of Allen Creek, and 

 i» part of the farm that was purchased of Indian Allen, 

 ■o called. About two-thirds of the lond ia Goneste 

 Flats, the remainder undulating oak land. 



In stock, Mr. S. is doing a fair business, with cat- 

 tle, sheep and hogs. His cows, (of the native mixed 

 breeds,) cannot probably be excelled in Western New- 

 York; and his other cattle ate also fijic. He hag a 

 thorough bred Durham bull, pure white; and a full 

 blood Devon bull. He is this year breeding from 

 the latter. In his pasture I saw a pair of yoimg 

 horses, of the Sir Isaac stock, very largo and fine. 

 Of sheep, he has some of the Improved Leicester and 

 some of the Merina breed; both kept distinct. He 

 gives the Leicesters the preference, and says the 

 greater quantity of wool they afford, will more than 

 make up for the lesser price: besides, they are one- 

 third better for mutton. He said nothing of the diff- 

 erence in feed; and if that was taken into the ac- 

 count, i think the balance might he in favor of the 

 Merinos. His hogs are of the Leicestershire breed, 

 with a small cross of the Byfield. He has 63 one 

 year-old store hogs, wintered mostly on cooked roots. 

 (Potatoes and Mangle Wurtzels we presume. Eds.) 

 They are now running in the clover pasture, with 

 iibunt the same number of pigs, all in fine condition. 

 He kept his hogs in close pens through the winter, 

 and thus made 100 loads of first rote manure which he 

 applied to the land for his root crops, (lam of the 

 opinion that he might improve on his pig management, 

 by feeding b.iiled corn with his roots; and if he had it 

 ground and slightly fermented it would bo still bet- 

 ter.) 



In wheat growing, Mr. S. is not behind his neig. 

 bors. He has 110 acres, mostly extra-fine, for this 

 season. Some on the flat was injured by the winter 

 •nd the high water this spring, and is consequently 

 quite thin; but it is not filled with cockle or chess, as 

 Some of the readers and correspondents of the Far- 

 mer might suppose; on the contrary, not a stalk of 

 coekle could be seen, and in going more than 200 rods 

 around and through his wheat, I only found one soli- 

 tary root of chess, ond that he said was chargeable to 

 me, for I furnished him the seed. If the advocates 

 of transmutation would take a walk ihrouoh his 

 wheat, I think their faith would bo somew-hat sha- 

 ken; for here, if any where, is the place for wheat to 

 turn to chess; when it hos been severely frozen, and 

 covered with water. 



Of Corn, he has 17 acres, planted on award land, 

 turned over and well harrowed, (after being covered 

 with manure.) This crop looks remarkably well, 

 and if the weather proves favorable will afford a great 

 yield. In passing through it, I could not discover 

 •ny pumpkin vines, and was informed by Mr. S. they 

 waul i not grow inj the shade, where the corn was so 

 Ih V;. 



Ho has 27 acres of Oats, a part of which are on the 

 land where his root crops were raised last year, and 

 are very heavy. The remainder are on sward land 

 turned over, rolled and harrowed in; these bid fair to 

 afford a good yield. He observed that if oats did not 

 fetch three shillings a bushel, he fed tbein out. 



Of Barley, he has about 10 acres, half of the six- 

 rowed, ond half of the two-rowed kind. He gi^e8 

 the latter the preference. 



In Root Culture Mr. Sheffer is quite at home, and 

 is operating with a masterly hand. His long, straight 

 rows of Btets, Carrots, Potatoes, and Ruta Bagas, 

 are a sight worth seeing. Ho has nine acies of pota- 

 toes plonted in drills, manured in the rows, of the Ro- 

 han, Jlercer, and Ox-Noble or large pink-eye varie- 

 ties. He expects they will average four hundred 

 bushel* per acr». Next are two acres of Mangel 

 Wurtzel, in rows twenty-seven inchbs apart, and the 

 plants from six to nine inches apart in the row. Then 

 two acres of Sugar Beets, three acres of Carrots, and 

 four acres of Ruta Bagas, all in similar rows and all 

 looking very even and thrifty. With ruta bagas he 

 is very successful. He is very liberal with seed, us- 

 ing three pounds to the acre. The amount of labor 

 expended upon the root crops, including preparing 

 the land, seeding, thinning, and twice dressing has 

 avenged about ten days work per acre, 



In taking a peep into his garden I found another 

 sight that but few farmers can exhibit. A good as- 

 sortment of vegetable luxuries, all thriving in their 

 proper places, and free from weeds. His melon vines 

 were so fine that I enquired his mode of culture; and 

 was infcrmed that he first opened a trench about two 

 feet wide and one deep; this is filled two-thirds full of 

 hog manure and the other third a little rounding with 

 river eond, on which the seed is planted. 



The cider mill ia but little used. With his large 

 orchard, Mr. Sheffer only mode three or four barrels of 

 cider the past year, and that was used for vinegar and 

 apple-sauce. No spiritous liquors are ueod ofi his 

 farm. The apples are mostly fed to stock. 



Last, though not least, I took great pleasure in 

 viewing the Apinry. Mr. S. has 16 awarms of bees 

 in Week's Vermont hivee ; with the bo.xes or draw- 

 ers filled or nearly filled with fine white honey, and 

 the little workers busily stowing away their treasures 

 for the owner, who says, Go on, industrious bee; I 

 will only take what you can well spore from your 

 store. With these hives the honey can be taken at 

 any time without destroying or disturbing the bees. 

 Respectfully, yours, 



RAWSO.V HARMON, JR. 



Wbtatland, Monroe Co. July\7, 1841. 



what ia for better, to the living specimen, obtained 

 from 8ome"honest and competent importer and raiser 

 of the breed. We hope to sec something more satis- 

 factory from some of our correspondents under this 

 head next month. * 



For the ISeto Oenesee Farmer, 

 Sngar Beets Plough Lnte and Plant Early. 



Messrs. Editors — Finding that some of our beet 

 Farmers had abandoned root culture, I inquired the 

 reasons: " A puttering business — hired men won't 

 work at it," " increase don't pay the malting," &c. 



Now if the time employed in digging, and picking 

 up small potatoes in the full was spent in hauling long 

 monure on to a, single acre of ground ond ploughing 

 it under, this acre would be ready early in the spring 

 for sugar beets with hoirowing only. Plant as early 

 as the ground is dry enough, thin out and transplant 

 as soon as the beets are three or four inches high, and 

 by the first July some of the beets will measure five 

 or six inches in circumference. I admit that if apiece 

 of ground is holf ploughed in the spring and planted 

 just before the droughts of summer commence, that 

 the culture of beets will prove a puttering businesj, 

 and the increase w.U not pay the malting. 



SENECA. 



Wutcrloo, July 18, 1841. 



P. S. — I have now sugar beets in my garden, self- 

 sowed ond transplanted in May, that will now mea- 

 sure four inches in diameter above th» ground — heavy 

 clay soil. S. 



Berkshire Hogs. 

 A. C. Blaekwell, of Round Grove, Mo., requests 

 "a full description of the never- varying flesh marks 

 of Berkshire hogs," adding that there are a great 

 many imported into that State as Berkshires, some 

 white with black spots, others black with white feet, 

 face, and the tip of their tails. He wishes the neces- 

 sary information to prevent imposition on himself ond 

 many other subscribers. We hope some one, properly 

 informed in this particular, will give the necessary 

 information in onr next number ; just observing at 

 present, that a very large portion of the Berkshires 

 now in this country ore of the color our correspondent 

 speaks of, — black, with white face, feet, and tail tip, 

 (not exactly nine white hairs in the tail, as some have 

 humorously and sarcastically said ; ) some others ore 

 spotted ; and some are even noticed on the most res- 

 pectable authority, as being ujhilc. We consider the 

 shape, not the color, as the distinguishing feature, 

 and as this cannot be easily described by words, we 

 must either refer onrlcorrespondent to some well execut- 

 ed ro.-traits, which we hav? rarely seen ourselves, or to 



For the i>e» Geneiet Farmer, 

 Wheat Culture. 



Messrs- Editors — Having been a reader of ih' 

 Old and of the New Genesee Farmer from their 

 first establishment, I have observed that some branch- 

 es of agriculture have been much neglected, while oth- 

 ers of minor importance have received their full shuro 

 of attention. I refer to our great staple wheat, as 

 one of the much neglected, yet one that inieresis us 

 more in this vicinity than all others. Now why it ia 

 BO after so. many repeated calls, I leave for others to 

 say, and propose to break the ice on this subject by 

 briefly giving you the results of any experiments. 



The field contained six acres of lapd, principally oc- 

 cupied with Canada thistles, ond on which a Florida 

 war had been waged for twenty-five years or more, 

 with little prospect of success or termination, cost- 

 ing, as is always the case, all that was obtained. 



In 1837, in the latter part of May, I broke it up, 

 and drew on it about one hundred and eighty loads of 

 manure, I ploughed the ground deep four times, and 

 harrowed it as often, in the heat of summer. From 

 the tenth to the filiecnth of September, I spread the 

 manure on the ground, sowed the wheat at the rat« 

 of one bushel and a peck per acre, and ploughed it in, 

 and then passed over it lengthwise with a light har- 

 row. The result was, that I killed </iro<i instead of 

 tico birds with one stone, for I harvested three hun- 

 dred and forty one doien sheaves, a part of which 

 being thrashed by itself, gave one bushel to^elevenand 

 half sheoves. The wheat wna the red chaff bald, 

 and the soil was a black loam with a subsoil of eloy. 

 Proof of the above can be furnished if needed. 



In the above piece it cost me but little more than 

 other fields of similar size, I received about twice as 

 many bushels of wheat, killed the Canada thistles, 

 and my ground is in good condition for after-crop- 

 ping. AUGUSTUS D. ATERS. 



Romvlus, June 2G, IS'll. 



Pig Sale. — J Lossing of Albany has sold a Berk- 

 shire boar and sow, the former for $200, and the lat- 

 ter for $300, to W. P. Curd of Kentncky. Th» 

 boar with hie rag^ weighed 890 Ibg. 



