New York Cattle Market* 
taken in looking- over the leaves of other sim¬ 
ilar papers, although at too late a period to 
profit by them. Having been a practical farm¬ 
er, I felt much interest in the improvements 
now making, and although I practised pretty 
much on the old plan, I thought it a delightful 
employment, and one which made good com¬ 
pensation for my labor, even when every kind 
of produce was much cheaper than now; and 
every thing done by hand, instead of the ma¬ 
chinery now in use. Notwithstanding I labor¬ 
ed under some disadvantage, I made some im¬ 
provements ; I was the first to introduce Plaster 
of Paris in the town where I lived, and the 
effect- it produced on a sandy soil astouished all 
who saw it. I was the first to dismiss the long 
eared hogs; I raised th-e best calves, and had 
the best cows by selecting the short-legged and 
broad-hipped for milk; and having some 
knowlesge of chemistry, I made an improve¬ 
ment in churning, . so that I got good yellow 
butter in the hottest weather ; aud having a few 
mulberry trees in my garden, I raised for ex¬ 
periment a few hundred silkworms, although I 
had never seen one, and made a very great im¬ 
provement in the manner of winding their 
cocoons; also some on raising bees, all of 
which it will give me pleasure to communicate 
in the proper season. # 
In short, if I can do anything to promote the 
legitimate design of Providence, I should feel 
that I was fulfilling an essential duty to my 
country. 
Your Friend, Octogenaria. 
Black Rock 1( )th March 1842. 
Franklin House, New York, 
March 14, 1842. 
Dear Sir, 
I was induced to go to the “Bull’s 
head” this morning, and examine the Beef 
Cattle, after a close “handling ” of those in the 
Smithfield market, for the purpose of compar¬ 
ing the two markets, but I found it a harder 
task than I expected. It is impossible to des¬ 
cribe the difference, unless to those who have 
some knowledge of each. I -would have given 
much to have had the whole of them transport¬ 
ed into England just as they appeared, and the 
best graziers in the midst of them. 
* We can assure our friend, we shall receive most 
cordially all the communications she may .favor us 
with for the public. Though her early improvements 
are probably embraced in those of modem times, yet 
the spirit that induced these efforts and the perseve¬ 
rance that crowned them, are what we especially 
desire to inculcate upon our readers. It is a habit of 
close and careful observation, and the application of 
whatever is suggested by their own minds together 
with what they may find in agricultural papers suited 
to their own wants, that makes the wide difference 
between the good and indifferent Farmer. 
I will venture to say, there were not more 
than eight of the whole number that would 
have sold at any price, and those I found obtain¬ 
ed fifty per cent over the others. The whole 'of 
them looked like working oxen just ready for 
the grazier, but the moment his hand had gone 
through them, he would have been off to ano¬ 
ther fair; the quality would not do for profit. 
Mr. Townsend; of New Haven, sold to Mr. 
Montgomery, a yoke of oxen for $600, for 
which he deserves much credit; the beef sold 
from eighteen to twenty five cents per lb. 
I could say much on this subject but the 
farmers would think me exagerating for my 
own interest, were I to state “ positive facts.” 
Yours truly, 
Wm. Hy. Southam, 
R. L. Allen, Esq., 
36 Park Roio. 
We admit with pleasure the remarks of our corres¬ 
pondent above, on the important subject of our cattle 
market. We too, took a stroll over “the Bulks head” 
premises, recently, and must acknowledge our cha¬ 
grin at the exhibition we there witnessed, of what 
should be “fat cattle.” We speak within bounds when 
we say, there was not one animal in twenty properly 
fitted for the shambles. Nor were they better suited 
to the stall than to the butcher. Many of them are not 
only, not fit for beef, but incapable under any circum¬ 
stances of being made into beef of a desirable kind; 
their unfitness for this important object, consisting 
in a radical deficiency of form and constitution, which 
totally incapacitates them from feeding with any profit 
to the’ grazier, or acceptance to the consumer. The 
rearing of such cattle is a sad loss to our farmers, and 
we would gladly aid them in avoiding it. And we 
here make them a fair offer. If they will attentively 
read what we may have to say on the subject of cattle 
within the coming five years, and carefully practice on 
our suggestions, we will ensure them at the end oi 
that time, with but comparatively a moderate expense, 
a race of animals that shall return their owners, twice 
the amount of money for the food and attention be¬ 
stowed, they now receive for their mongrel herds. We 
saw cattle there of the improved races, that com¬ 
manded readily ten cents per lb., while many of the 
others were well sold at from five to six cents, and the 
best beef was made at the least expense, pound for 
pound.* The farmer, therefore, who raises the best 
cattle, receives more than twice as much as the own¬ 
er of the inferior ones, for what costs him the same. 
Nor is this a difference made to suit the whim or fancy 
of the purchaser. The butcher makes more money 
out of the best, and the consumer who buys of him, 
gets more value for the price paid than if he bought 
the inferior quality. There is an actual, and in the 
aggregate, a vast loss to the country in rearing these 
uncouth brutes, and we hope the light, that is now 
penetrating the country in every direction, from our 
Agricultural papers, will ere long effect a change that 
will add materially to the profit of our stock raisers. 
We have not room to add more at this time, but shall 
hereafter as occasion offers, comment fully on this 
subject. 
* We dont mean to be understood as saying that thoroughly 
stall fed beef is as cheaply ma.de as grazing or imperfectly grain 
fed animals are, but that owing to the superior fattening proper¬ 
ties of the improved animals we saw, they -were made at no 
greater expense than the poorer bullocks, taking the aggregate 
outlay of rearing from the calf, as in any stage of their exist¬ 
ence, there was a saving in the former over the latter. 
