314 
SALE OF MR. SHEAFE S SHOB.THORN CATTLE. 
before the Lowell Institute, Boston, also before 
the Smithsonian Institute, at Washington, and 
two lectures before the American Institute of 
New York. He made an agricultural examina- 
tion and survey of the Province of New Bruns- 
wick, which has been published by the Provinc- 
ial Legislature, and which is very highly com- 
mended by gentlemen of that province. 
Professor Johnston is in the meridian of life, 
and of usefulness ; and, should his life be 
spared, as we trust it may be for many years, 
from his acknowledged industry, his habits of 
thorough investigation, his ardent desire to 
contribute to the advancement of science, his 
labors will yet, we doubt not, result in great 
good to the cause to which he devotes the en- 
tire energies of his vigorous intellect. 
The agriculturists of America are under great 
obligations to him for the course of lectures 
which are about to be presented to them, and we 
feel assured that they will prove of unspeakable 
advantage to the entire agricultural interest of 
our country. 
Professor Johnston is a Fellow of the Royal 
Society of England, Honorary Member of the 
Royal Agricultural Society of England, Honor- 
ary Member of the New-York State Agricultural 
Society, and of several of the European scien- 
tific agricultural associations. . 
B. P. Johnson, 
Cor. Sec. N. Y. Slate Ag. Soc. 
To C. M. Saxton, Esq., N. Y. 
Albany, Aug. 19th, 1850. 
»♦-» 
SALE OF ME. SHEAFE >S SHORTHORN CATTLE. 
This. great sale came off at the High-Cliff 
Farm, Dutchess county, N. Y., as advertised, on 
the 29th of August. 
At 12 o'clock, M., upwards of 300 persons 
had assembled upon the ground, many of whom 
were opulent farmers of the neighborhood, and 
gentlemen from distant parts of the country. 
The stock was tied in a row six feet apart, in 
the same order they were numbered in the cat- 
alogue, in a fine grass pasture, just west of the 
farm house. They presented a front of upwards 
of 200 feet in length, and made a superb show. 
Though merely grass fed, the animals were in 
excellent condition, and reflected no little credit 
on the herdsman, Mr. Lawson, for his superior 
care in bringing them to the post. The whole 
thing was admirably arranged, and a gentleman 
present said, it reminded him of the great sale 
of shorthorn cattle, which took place at Castle 
Howard, seat of the Earl of Carlisle, in England, 
in 1839. 
A bountiful collation was provided under a 
large awning, of which the company were in- 
vited to partake, as they came on the ground. 
This finished, and fifteen minutes grace allowed, 
for laggers behind time, Mr. A. B. Allen — to 
whose care Mr. Sheafe had left the stock and 
farm — called the company to order at a quarter 
past one, P. M., and proceeded to address them 
for about ten minutes, on the value of this highly- 
improved stock to the dairymen and graziers of 
the country, and also as an additional ornament 
to the grounds of country gentlemen. 
Mr. J. M. Miller, the auctioneer, now com- 
menced the sale. The bidding was highly spir- 
ited, and the 33 animals in the catalogue, to- 
gether with two others dropped since it was 
published, making 35 in all, were struck oft" 
within an hour. He then proceeded to the 
working cattle, sheep, and swine, which took 
nearly another hour. The pair of working 
oxen brought $142.50; the sheep and swine 
sold comparatively low. A few grade short- 
horns, not advertised nor put into the catalogue, 
were disposed of afterwards, at private sale. 
The sum total of the stock sales, on that day, 
was a little over $5,000. 
Although the prices obtained for this herd were 
not what they ought to have been, to remunerate 
a careful breeder, still, they are so much high- 
er than the same quality of animals would have 
brought at any time for the past seven years, 
that it looks more encouraging to the producers 
of improved stock. We trust that the farmers 
of America will yet have spirit and intelligence 
enough to arouse themselves to equal their 
English brethren on the other side of the Atlan- 
tic, who have long been, and still are annually 
reaping a rich harvest in the production of su- 
perior domestic animals. 
No. 1. Dahlia 1st, calved June, 1836. A. L. 
Allen, Poughkeepsie, N. Y., $47.50.* 
No. 2. Dahlia 3d, calved April, 1846. S. B. 
Parsons, Flushing, N. Y., $95.f 
No. 3. Dahlia 4th, calved April, 1847. J. T. 
Moore, Rah way, N. J., $105. 
No. 4. Dahlia 5th, calved April, 1849. George 
Vail, Troy, N. Y, $604 
No. 5. Beauty 3d, calved March, 1845. Loril- 
lard Spencer, Westchester, N. Y., $180. 
No. 6. Beauty 4th, calved April, 1846. S. B. 
Parsons, Flushing, N. Y., $125. 
No. 7. Beauty 5th, calved April, 1849. S. B. 
Parsons, Flushing, N. Y, $80. 
No. 8. Phcebe 2d, calved April, 1844. William 
Kelly, Red Hook, N. Y., $145. 
No. 9. Phoebe 3d, calved March, 1845. Loril- 
lard Spencer, Westchester, N. Y, $160. 
No. 10. Phoebe 4th, calved June, 1847. H. & 
J. Carpenter, Poughkeepsie, N. Y., $100. 
No. 11. Phcebe 5th, calved March, 1848. 
George Vail, Troy, N. Y, $125. 
No. 12. Phcebe 6th, calved March, 1850. S. B. 
Parsons, Flushing, N. Y., $75. 
No. 13. Phoebe 7th, calved April, 1850. Loril- 
lard Spencer, Westchester, N. Y., $80. 
No. 14. Lucilla 1st, calved June 1837. Sick, 
and withdrawn. 
No. 15. Lucilla 2d, calved April, 1846. S. B, 
Parsons, Flushing, N. Y., $125. 
No. 16. Lucilla 3d, calved December, 1848. 
George Vail, Troy, N. Y., $125. 
No. 17. Lucilla, 4th, calved April, 1850. J. T. 
Moore, Rahway, N. J., $80. 
No. 18. Gream Pot 2d, calved March, 1845. 
*Being fourteen years old, she was considered a doubtful 
breeder. 
f Had lost one teat. 
% Two gentlemen present informed us after the sale, that they 
had marked on their catalogues to bid $100 and $105 for this 
heifer, but by some unaccountable mistake, had let her go with- 
out dojng so. 
