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Scenery iii the Connecticut Valley—Farming—Messrs. Chapin’s Oxeiii 
or an occasional crop of rye, buckwheat, or 
oats. In the vicinity of Warehouse Point on 
the river in East Windsor, large quantities of 
tobacco are grown of late years. Several ex¬ 
tensive distilleries are located at that place, and 
the manure obtained from the piggeries attached 
to them, is found to be exceedingly favorable to 
its growth, its cultivation, thus far, is success¬ 
ful and the crop profitable. 
In Enfield and Long Meadow, cattle are fat¬ 
ted to some extent. Much hay is grown both 
for farm uses and exportation, and the farmers 
live in easy circumstances. A few miles above 
the latter place is Springfield, 8 an ancient yet 
thriving and beautiful town, and now by the 
construction of the Western Rail Road connect¬ 
ing Boston with Albany, the seat of a growing 
commercial business. The fine, rich farming 
town of West Springfield, whose broad river 
bottoms stretch over a great extent, lies on the 
opposite side of the Connecticut, and is connect¬ 
ed to the eastern by a bridge; and probably no 
town in America has higher advantages in a 
productive agriculture than this. Its beautiful 
meadows—its arable upland—its productive or¬ 
chards, and comfortable farm houses, many of 
considerable elegance, indicate great agricultu¬ 
ral prosperity, and the enjoyment of rural ease 
and opulence. Farms here are worth from one 
to two hundred dollars per acre, depending upon 
their cultivation, improvements, and locality. 
Wheat is but little grown; corn, grass, and gra¬ 
zing being the principal occupations of the far¬ 
mers. Throughout the entire Connecticut 
Valley many flocks of valuable sheep are kept, 
which in the summer are driven a few miles 
back to the neighboring hills to pasture, and in 
the autumn are brought in to winter on the 
home farms of the proprietors in the valley. 
These are principally of the Merino and Saxo¬ 
ny varieties, and are kept chiefly for their wool, 
here a considerable source of income. Their 
influence on the “ home lots ” and meadows, in 
thus consuming the summer crop, and adding 
annuaily to their production, may be duly esti¬ 
mated. The practice is essentially a good one, 
and has proved eminently beneficial. Here are 
meadows or mowing grounds which have been 
in grass constantly for more than a hundred 
years, and by occasional top dressing they re¬ 
main in excellent condition, and the grass and 
hay are considered sweeter and more nutritious 
than those newly laid down. Wherever this 
practice is pursued and the lands properly treat¬ 
ed, the result is successful. I here saw a capi¬ 
tal Ayreshire bull, the property of the Hamp¬ 
shire Agricultural Society. His stock is al¬ 
ready considerably scattered over the country, 
and is generally approved by discriminating 
farmers who have reared it. I have little doubt 
but this stock is derived from a cross of the im¬ 
proved Short Horn upon the native Scotch; and 
that by improving the fortunate admixture of 
these bloods in the lowlands of Scotland; this 
race has become now well established as a val¬ 
uable stock for that country. That, with pro¬ 
per care and good breeding, they may greatly 
improve the neat stock of New-England, I have 
little doubt, as their compact and hardy forms, 
and evident milking properties seem well adapt¬ 
ed to the short, yet nutritious pastures and the 
somewhat rigorous climate of those States. 
At the parish of Chicopee, five miles above 
Springfield, I stopped to see the farm of the 
late Col. Abel Chapin, now occupied by two o 1 
his sons, and for thirty years past famous for 
producing the finest and largest fat oxen in the 
state. One of the brothers Chapin, whom I 
found at home, shewed me five noble animals, 
bred on the farm which they were grazing, of 
the several ages of five, four, and three years. 
They were certainly the finest bullocks I had 
lately seen, and three of them, a five, four, and 
three years old, were the best and largest steers 
of their age, that I recollect ever to have looked 
upon. The two oldest were weighed a few 
days previous, and swung a trifle over 4800 
pounds, being 2400 each; and they had eaten, 
as I was told, hut little meal, grain, or roots. 
The other, three years old, would, as well as I 
could judge, weigh 1800 pounds as he stood. 
These three animals were about three-fourths 
Short Horn blood, being sired by thorough-bred 
hulls; and their dam, for they were all of one 
cow, was of native stock principally, with a re¬ 
mote cross of Devon and Hereford blood in 
her veins. The other two bullocks -were deep 
red in color, partly of Hereford with perhaps a 
slight dash of Devon blood, upon a native stock 
and a trifle of Short Horn; for on examination 
1 find, that nearly all the superior animals in 
New-England, although claiming in many in¬ 
stances to be principally, or altogether of native 
origin, are more or less crossed with foreign 
blood, as the Massachusetts Agricultural Socie¬ 
ty; together with several public spirited indi¬ 
viduals, have, for twenty-five years past, distrib¬ 
uted a considerable number of valuable foreign 
cattle throughout the state, the influence ol 
which can be seen in the breed of almost every 
enterprising farmer. These animals of the 
Messrs. Chapins, are all to be fed as long as 
they continue to thrive rapidly, or until they 
are about seven years old, when some of them 
will weigh alive near 4,000 pounds. 
As this farm had long been celebrated for its 
extraordinary bullocks, I was anxious to ascer¬ 
tain whether these which I now saw were equal 
to, or superior to those which the late Col. Cha¬ 
pin had usually reared and fattened. I was 
