A. 1 RIP TO LONG ISLAND. 
11 
rhase, save a few tons of plaster for the clover, and 
some ashes for a top dressing to the grass lands. 
We are persuaded that fine woolled and mutton sheep 
are the best crops for all light soils, even with a pros¬ 
pect of these products falling 25 per cent, below 
present prices, so long as grain and hay remain as 
low as they now are. We are not sure, either, that 
the woodlands would not pay better than they now 
do, turned into sheep pastures. We recommend at 
least the trial of a few acres of such by underbushing 
them, and cutting out all the small wood, leaving 
good timber trees only; then sowing orchard grass 
(which grows well in the shade), red-top, and clo¬ 
ver ; spread two or three bushels of plaster on this 
to the acre, let it get well set, then turn sheep upon 
it. The growth of the timber under these circum¬ 
stances we think would be worth half as much as 
the whole of the wood, as the land now stands; and 
the pasture, if we are not too sanguine, would turn 
out from $2 to $3 worth of mutton and sheep per 
acre every season, which would more than double 
the present income—at least from the better quality 
of this kind of land, and in addition be constantly 
enriching it. These are important considerations 
to the Long Island, farmers, and we hope they will 
give the matter here recommended a fair trial. We 
shall probably have more to say on these matters 
hereafter. 
Farm of Mr. Edward Henry Smith. —This farm 
embraces about 400 acres, and is situated in Smith- 
town, on Nissequague Neck, about seven miles from 
Comae, up the Sound. It is naturally a very fertile 
tract of land, a considerable portion of it being a rich 
alluvial. Mr. S. has his farm under a high state of 
cultivation, and it produces good crops. Nor does 
be trust to the natural fertility of the soil for all this. 
He keeps a large stock to eat up his produce, and 
make manure, which he can the more easily do in 
consequence of having quite a tract of salt meadow 
in front of the upland, which is annually mowed, 
and the hay fed out principally to the younger animals. 
It is a good kind of stock hay, and all animals are 
very greedy for it as a change, and thrive well upon 
such fodder. Large quantities of sea-weed are ga¬ 
thered here, of which composts are made; it is also 
used to litter the barn-yard. In addition to this, there 
are thick beds of oyster shells deposited by the In¬ 
dians on different points of the farm, which Mr. S. 
has not yet disturbed. He thinks they will be valu¬ 
able sources of manure, and intends hereafter to avail 
himself of them. 
The dwelling-house is a fine old building, with 
gambrel-roof and dormar-windows, and is handsomely 
situated in an open park near the bay. The farm- 
ouildings are extremely comfortable and well-arranged, 
with long rows of excellent sheds, and ample subdi¬ 
vided yards, thus enabling Mr. S. to keep his young 
and old stock separate. We took a sketch of these 
buildings, and shall have it engraved for our paper 
hereafter. 
Stock. —We found here some excellent horses, 
very fast trotters, of the Engineer, Mambrino, and 
Messenger stock ; Durham cattle, and crosses of the 
same, together with an ox of such extraordinary di¬ 
mensions, that we think he would even astonish a Ken¬ 
tuckian, though fresh from the excavation of a huge 
mastodon. We should judge him 6£ feet high over 
withers. 13 feet long from the tip of his nose to 1 
the end of his rump, and of a girth probably of 10| 
feet; and the joke of the matter is, he is still a youth 
and not done growing. The swine we noticed were 
nearly all Berkshires, or crosses of a Chinese boar 
lately imported. The former are much the hand¬ 
somest animals, though the latter are equally, if not 
more thrifty. Our great objection to all the pure Chi¬ 
nese we have lately seen, is, they are hollow-backed, 
and have too much belly. The China ships bring 
more or less of these animals into this port every 
year, and to such of our friends as have made inqui¬ 
ries for them, we can say, that any of those we have 
seen are not worth their possessing. They are not to 
be compared in point of form to the improved Chinas 
we formerly bred at Buffalo. 
On this farm we found large orchards, which, in¬ 
deed, are very general on all farms on Long Island. 
The apples are principally fed to the stock. As an 
evidence of the great durability of locust and cedar, 
Mr. S. showed us two posts of each of these kinds of 
wood, which were planted in 1725, 119 years ago. 
The former is still sound, the latter rotted off near 
the ground, but sound elsewhere. 
At Mr. Joel L. G. Smith’s, 3 miles above, we found 
an excellent farm; but we had only time to stop and 
examine a superb pair of Durham oxen which he 
was fatting, and Young Mambrino, a splendid road¬ 
ster stallion of a blood bay, about 16 hands high, 
very fast, and possessing a fine action. 
We had now got fairly embarked among the 
Messrs. Smiths, of whom they jocosely say there 
are two tribes on Long Island—the Bulls, and the 
Tangiers. The latter take their name from a former 
governor of the island of Tangier, who crossed the 
Atlantic and settled here many years ago. The an¬ 
cestor of the former came direct from England, and 
settled in this country when it was possessed by the 
Indians. Wishing to purchase some land of the ab¬ 
origines for a settlement, the chiefs of the tribe hold¬ 
ing dominion here, assembled in council, and informed 
Mr. S., that for certain articles of merchandise, he 
might have as much land as he could ride round on 
a bull from sun to sun, thinking that they had thus 
insured themselves an excellent bargain. He took 
them at their word, and one bright summer morning, 
saddled and bridled a beast which he knew to be do¬ 
cile, of great speed and endurance, and away he 
strode. By the time the sun had gone down he had 
accomplished 40 miles, encircling the whole of 
Smith-town, one of the finest and most fertile por¬ 
tions of Long Island, and just 10 miles square. The 
Indians immediately gave him a deed of it, and with 
it added the patronymic of the Bull Smith—and 
hence the local name. But Bulls or Tangiers, we 
found them an excellent set of fellows, and right 
sorry were we that our time was so limited among 
them. Riding bulls, however, was more fashionable 
in those days than now; for according to tradition, 
many a handsome young bride, not only on Long 
Island, but in Massachusetts and elsewhere, rode 
home with her husband after marriage on the 
broad cushioned back of a stately bull. Passing a 
holiday on the farm of an uncle of ours, when a mad 
cap school-boy, we too once essayed a bull-ride; but 
as it would be a long story to tell, and has little to do 
with farming, and moreover, did not turn out quite 
as fortunately as the renowned Smith’s, we shall for¬ 
bear relating it in these pages 
