No. 8. 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL. 



117 



A Visit to Sir. Shett'ci''s Fiirin (in Whcntlnud.) 



It alfords ue much plensiire to publiah the following 

 account of the opernlions of our (rienJ Slicflcr. Vm- 

 mers would fiml it grenMy to their advantage to visit 

 each other more fri'iiucntly; and wa wish our friend* 

 would oUener eend us their observations on the man* 

 astnicnt and success of their neighbors. Mr. Shef- 

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

 ing no greiicr advanlnges than are possessed by thou- 

 sands of others in our land. — Eus. 



Fi/r tbt yew Gcntate Earmtr. 

 Messrs. Eoirnn! — In making a visit to our towns- 

 man, George SbelFer, Inat week, I was so well pleased 

 with what I saw of his management, that lam in- 

 duced to send you a short sketch of my observations. 

 Mr. Sheffcr's farm consists of 3(>0 acres, and has 

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

 aituated a Utile below the month of Allen Creek, and 

 ia part of the farm that was purchased of Indian Allen, 

 ao called. About two-thirds of the land is Genesee 

 Flats, the remainder undulating oak land. 



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

 tle, eheepand hogs. Ilia cows, (of the native mixed 

 breeds,) cannot probably be excelled in Western New - 

 York; and his other cattle aie also fine. He has a 

 thorough bred Durham bull, pure white; and a full 

 blood Dovon bull. He is this year breeding from 

 the latier. In his pasture I saw a pair of young 

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

 Of sheep, he has some of the improved Leicester and 

 aame of the Merina breed; both kept distinct. He 

 jires the Leiceeters 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 hcin lavor of the 

 &Ierinos. Hia hogaaraofthe Leicestershire breed, 

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

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

 (Potatoes and Mangle Wurtzela we presume. Eus.) 

 They are now running in the clover pasture, with 

 about 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 rate 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 boiled corn with his roots; and if he bad it 

 ground and slightly fermented it would be still bet- 

 ter.) 



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

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

 aeason. Some on the flat was injured by the winter 

 and the high water this spring, and Is consequently 

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

 •ome of the readers and correspondents of the Far- 

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

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

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

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

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

 of trans mutatiiyn. would take a walk through hie 

 wheat, I think their faith would be somewhat sha- 

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

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

 covered with water. 



Of Corn, he has 17 acres, planted on sward 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 

 any pumpkin vines, and was informed by Mr. S. they 



Ho has 97 acres of Cats, a part of which are on the 

 land where hia 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 biishcl, ho fed ihem out. 



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

 rowcil, and half of the two-rowed kind. Ha gi\es 

 the latter the preference. 



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

 is operating with a masterly hand. His long, straight 

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

 are a eight worth seeing. He has nine acics of pota- 

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

 han, Mercer, and Ox-Noble or large pink-cyo varie- 

 ties. He expects they will average four hundred 

 bushels per acre. Next are two acres of Mangel 

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

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

 two acres of Sngar Beeti, three acres of Carrots, and 

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

 looking very even and thrifty. With ruta bagns 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 laud, seeding, thinning, and twice dressing has 

 aver((ged 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 

 projKsr places, and free from weeds. His melon vines 

 were so fine that 1 enquired his mode of culture; and 

 was informed that he first opened a trench about two 

 feet wide and one deep; this is filled iwo-ihirds full of 

 hog manure and the other third a little rounding with 

 river sand, on which the seed is planted. 



The cider mill is but little used. With his large 

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

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

 apple-sauce. No spiritous liquors are used on bis 

 farm. The apples are mostly fed to stock. 



Last, though not least, I t>ok great pleasure in 

 viewing the Apiary. Mr. S. has 16 swarms of bees 

 in Week's Vermont hives ; with the boxes or draw- 

 ers filled or nearly filled with fine white honey, and 

 the little workers busily stowing away their trcoaures 

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

 will only take what you can well spare from your 

 store. With these hives the honey can be token at 

 sjiy lime without destroying or disturbing the beea. 

 Respectfully, yours, 



RAWSON HARMON, JR. 

 Whtatltbtul, Monroe Co. July 17, 1841. 



what is far better, to the living specimen, obtained 

 from some honest and competent importer and ralEor 

 of the brc<'d. We hope to sec something more satia- 

 fnctory from Bomo of our correspondcnia under tfaia 

 head next month. * 



For the Seio iieneeee Tarmtfr, 

 Sngar Beets PIohkIi Lnto nud Plant Earlr> 



Messus. Editors — Finding that some of our best 

 Farmers had abandoned root culture, I inquired the 

 reasons: "A puttering bueincea— 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 fall was spent in hauling long 

 manure on to a single acre of ground and ploughing 

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

 for sugar becto with harrowing only. Plant as early 

 as the ground is dry enough, ibin out and transplant 

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

 by the first July some of the bcels will measure five 

 or six inches in circumference- I admit that if apiecs 

 of ground ia half ploughed in the spring and planted 

 just before the droughts of summer commence, that 

 the culture of beets will prove a puttering busincs;, 

 and the increase will not pay the malting. 



SENECA. 

 Waterloo, July i8, 1841. 



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

 sowed and transplanted in May, that will now mea. 

 sure four inches iji diameter above th» Vouiid — heavy 

 clay soil. S. 



Berkshire Hogs. 

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

 a full description of the never-varying flesh marks 

 of Borkehire hogs," adding thai 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 toils. He wishes the neces- 

 sary informaiion to prevent imposition on himself and 

 many other subscribers. Wc hope sohie one, properly 

 informed in this particular, will give the necessary 

 informal! )n in our nexi number; just observing at 

 present, that a very large portion of the Berkshires 

 now in this country are of the color our correspondent 

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

 (not exactly nitie v.-h'ae hairs in the tail, as some have 

 humorously and sarcastically said ; ) some others are 

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

 pectable authority, as being ichite. We consider the 

 shape, not the color, as the distinguishing feature. 



For the JV«» Genetee Farmer. 

 Wlieat Culture. 



Mbssrs. Editors — Having been a reader of th* 

 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 iniporlance have received their full shuro 

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

 one of the much neglected, yet one that interests ua 

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

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

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

 briefly giving you. the results of my experiments. 

 The field contained six acres of laq(], principally oc- 

 cupied with Canada thistles, and 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 filteeoth of September, I spread tho 

 manure on the ground, sowed the wheat at the rate 

 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 three instead of 

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

 dred and forty one dozen sheaves, a part of which 

 being thrashed by itself, gave one bushel to^leven and 

 half sheavea. Tho wheat was the red chaff bald, 

 and the soil waa a black loam with a subsoil of clay. 

 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 aa 

 many bushels of wheat, killed the Canada thistles, 

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

 ping. AUGUSTUS D. AYERS. 

 Romulus, June 26, 1841. 



and as this cannot be easily described by words, we 

 would not grow in] the sliade, whore tlw forn was so I must cither refer ourloprrespondeot to some well exccut- 

 ti.clt, 1 ed f ortTsitS) which we have rarely seen ouraelves, or to 



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

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

 ter for .$.300, to W. P. Curd of Kenwcky. Tua 

 bow with hie eege vrei^hed 880 lbs. 



