THE NEW GENESEE FARMER, 



Vol. 3. 



ROCHESTER, JANUARY, 1848. 



To Readers and Coiresi>oiidents. . 



The non-arrival of Mr. Colman must serve as 

 an apology for any deficiencies that may appear in 

 this number. Our readers may rest assured that 

 full amends will be made hereafter. 



Our acknowledgements are due for the goody 

 number of valuable communications received du- 

 ring the past month. Some of them requiring Mr. 

 Colman's supervision are necessarily deferred till 

 our next. Asrimlu is welcome to our columns ; 

 we hope to hear from him (and others of our friends) 

 often. Quite a number of inquiries, notices of 

 periodicals, &c., are awaiting editorial attention, 

 and for the delay of which we claim indulgence. 



Mr. Cobuan intends leaving Boston in time to 

 attend the meeting of the State Agricultural Socie- 

 ty at Albany on the 18th and 19th inst., and then 



coming to Rochester. 



C.eam Pot Breed of Cattle. 



Samuel Jaquea, of Charlestown, Mass., at his Stock 

 Foim near Boston, proposes lo offer on the lOih ol 

 January instant, at public eale, a large number of 

 Cows and Bulls of bis improved stock. These ani- 

 mals have been bred with great care. They are de- 

 scended from an Improved Durham Short Horn Bull 

 and one of the best cows ever owned in Massachu 

 setts. This cow was moat remarkable for the peculiar 

 richness of her milk, and its large proportions of but- 

 ter properties. Mr. Jaques assures the public that 

 the progeny partake of the qualities of their ancestry. 

 They are generally of a deep red color and more than 

 medium size, and are without doubt, among the best 

 cattle to be found in New England. The eale will 

 offer a favorite opportunity for persons who wish to 

 improve the character of their milking stock. This 

 attempt of Mr. Jaques is probably the fir.^t systematic 

 attempt made in the country to form asupetior dairy 

 Block. Several of hie animals are of the fifth gener- 

 ation. 



Gate Hinges and Gate Fastenings. 



Most of our readers may have seen an estimate of 

 the relative cost in using bars and gates for one year, 

 and the consequent economy of the latter. It may be 

 casi'y conceived, by thinking of the labor required to 

 open and shut a set of bars five hundred times in im- 

 mediate succession, and then the same for a gate. A 

 very good thing was mentioned in a late number of the 

 Cultivator, of R. W. Scott, a farmer of Kentucky, 

 •very field of whose farm was entered by a well-hung, 

 self-shutting, and self fastening gate, and each field 

 numbered conspicuously on the gate-post. 



Many gates are passed twenty times a day, or more 

 than seven thousand times a year, and it is a matter ol 

 some importance whether they shut easily or not. — 

 half a minute spent in dragging a half hung frame over 

 the ground, and crowding a pin with difficulty intr 

 an auger bole to fasten it, amounts, in such a case, in 

 one year, to no less than one full week of hard la 

 bor. 



Hinges. — As a corrective to the falling of gatet 

 from their original position, the following is a good, 

 but not new mode, though but little known and used. 

 Fig. 1, represents the part of the gate attached to tht 

 post, and the hinges ; the eye b of the lower hinge has 

 • ivrew cut upan it, and by ratons of tke nut e, th« 



gate head may be elevated or depressed at pleasure - 

 This is often very convenient when the gateway 

 obstructed by snow. 



In order that a gate maybe self shutting, it should 

 be hung as follows: — Having set the post upright, 

 draw a plumb line on the face of the post, and by this 

 line set the hook of the upper hinge ; and the book of 

 the 'over one two inches from this line, on the side 

 to which the gate opens ; this will cause it to fall 

 shut, while opened less than ninety degrees or the 

 quarter of a circle. To continue this tendency to fall, 

 when opened still wider, k-t the upper hook project 

 :bur inches from the post, and the upper eye or loop 

 two inches from the gate ; the lower hook project 

 two inches, and the lower eye four inches. Agate 

 thus hung will fall shut through the half circle. 



^ Ms-^ 



F.4STEN1.NG3. — Thcso arc almost aa various as the 

 niechanicB who make them ; and are of all grades, 

 from the leather strap tied round gate and post, to the 

 well made spring — latch shutting with all the pre- 

 cision of a mortise- lock on the house door. 



An e.\cellent latch for a farm gate, in frequent use, 

 is the horizontal wooden bar or bolt, suspended either 

 at the middle or at each end, by a short chain and stn. 

 pies, and sliding through a mortise in the gate-bend, 

 into a corresponding mortise in the post. When 

 drawn back in opening, the chains being thrown from 

 the perpendicular, the weight of the bolt throws it 

 back to its place. F>g. 2, represents this fasiening ; 

 , the bolt ; b, the chain. The dotted lines t-how the 

 place ol the chain and bolt when the latter is drawji 

 back. 



The fasiening represented by Fig. 3, has been 

 found, by the writer, simple, cheap, and effective. — 

 K > is a r«d of iron, half an ineh or mora in diamstcr, 



bent as shown, passing through the two narrow morli. 

 sea c c in the head of the gate, and movirg on a in 

 at b. When the gate is thrown shut, this iron latch 

 strikes the projection d on the post, and is lifted back- 

 wards ; its weight causing it to drop forwards aa soon 

 OS the gate is shut. Such an iron rod, for a large farm 

 gate, need cost but a shilling or two, and any farmer 

 of ordinary skill may bend it to suit his fancy, by heat- 

 ing it in a stove, with a few minutes work. It may 

 be made much Bh«ter than represented, if desired. — 

 Besides being cheap, and never liable to get out of or- 

 der, a little sinking of the gate, not affecting it, it is 

 easily opened by persons on horseback. J. J. T- 



For the IS'ew Genesee Farmer, 

 Steuben Co. Agricultural Society. 



Mr. Editor — I send you a notice of the first 

 annual Meeting and Fair of the Steuben County 

 Agricultural Society ; also a notice of the last 

 meeting of the Society's Board. It is not yet a 

 year since the question was raised in good earnest 

 by a few entei'prising citizens of this county, 

 whether they should have such a society or not. 

 This circumstance, together with the fact that the 

 great mass of the farming community felt but lit- 

 tle or no interest in the subject, put it out of the 

 power of the Society to say what, or how large 

 premiums should be awarded at its late fair. But 

 feeling that such an exhibition as, by the blessing 

 of God, they might be able to make, was the best, 

 if not the only means in their power to awaken 

 interest in behalf of their cause, the Board ap- 

 pointed Wednesday, the 10th of November last, as 

 a day for the election of new officers, and for ex- 

 hibiting such animals and articles of domestic 

 manufactures as those who v,-ere already enlisted, 

 or who would then enlist in the cause, might see 

 fit to make. 



The wisdom of this step has since fully appear- 

 ed. The day was highly propitious, and at an 

 early hour it was seen that the most sanguine had 

 fiiiled to imaging the deep interest that was every- 

 where being manifested in the operations of the 

 day. Our list of names was swelled to one hun- 

 dred and eighty-three ; and the cattle, horses, 

 sheep, hogs, &c., that were presented would have 

 reflected honor upon a society of more days. 



The following is a list of the officers that were 

 chosen for the present year : 



Lazarus Hammond, President. Otto F. Mar- 

 shall, Israel R. Wood, Lyman Balcoin, Vice Pres- 

 idents. Zibact Leland, Corresponding Secretary ; 

 Theron Loomis, Recording Secretary ; Henry 

 Brother, Treasurer. 



EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. 



Henry Wambaugh, Lay Noble, Elias Mason, 

 Samuel Cook, Warner Patehen, John- McBurney, 

 Sherman Rose, Jacob Van Valkenburgh, Orlando 

 Comstock, William Dixon, William Kernon, Ar- 

 thur IT. Erwin, Amos Lewis, Albert C. Morgan, 

 Stephen Kent, Nathaniel Mallory. Levi Davis, 

 liarvey Andrews, Samuel Mathollen, Otis Thatch- 

 er, Daniel N. Bennett, Joel Canington, John- 

 soil N. Reynolds, Wm. Hastings, Hiram Merriman, 

 Jason Chamberlin, Araasa Stanton. 



I send you a paper containing a list of the pre- 

 miums awarded at our recent Fair. 



(Received but have not room to publish. — Eds.) 

 T. LOOMIS, Rec. Sec'y. 



Balk, Steuben Co.. N. V. Dec. 2i, 184 1. 



" The Chautavgiia Co. Hilk Journal." — We have 

 received the first number of o paper with ibis title, 

 published at Ucxterville, N. Y. by Edwin P. Lord. 

 VIr. L. 16 said to have been many years engaged in 

 the Silk business, and I e nppenrs to undeis'.and it 

 ihoioughly. He gives some interesting statietice of 

 the exteut and success of the Silk Cuiiure in Chau- 

 '.nuqua and S"me other counties ; and if his pnprr is 

 supported as it deserves to he, it will tend greatly to 

 «ncourBg«thi< ii»p«rlant caui-e. 



