Short Horns—Roads—Northampton* 
51 
answered, that these were much finer boned 
and better shaped than the old stock, which 
were mostly of native blood, coarser, and throw¬ 
ing off more offal; and although large and 
bulky, they were grosser feeders, did not lay on 
flesh so evenly, and told less profitably in the 
butchers’ hands than these—and finally, that 
they would drive a cow ten miles and pay five 
dollars for the services of a thorough-bred Short 
Horn bull, rather than use a common one for 
nothing. 
This was the result of their experience—a 
judgment founded on a long course of practice 
in the Connecticut Valley. These gentlemen 
are rearing some valuable heifers of the Short 
Horn, or Durham cross with their native cross, 
and assert their determination to adhere to that 
stock to a great extent hereafter. The brother 
with whom I conversed had travelled extensively 
in England, and had critically observed much 
of the best stock in that country. His convic¬ 
tion of the utility of raising the character of 
our domestic cattle in this country by foreign 
crosses is decided. 
A Herd of Short Horns. —From Chico 
pee, I proceeded to South Hadley Falls, where 
I stopped to see the valuable Short Horn stock 
of Messrs. Collins & Lathrops. They number 
some five and twenty head now on the farm, of 
the best blood, comprising crosses of some of 
the earliest New-England importations. They 
thrive well on the farm where they are kept 
the soil being a strong clayey loam, although 
on hill land, and very friendly to the production 
of grass. Most of the cows in this herd are 
valuable milkers, and they generally possess 
the high qualities of excellence identified with 
this beautiful race of animals. In the summer 
of 1840, the Messrs. Lathrop took three of their 
best heifers to the neighborhood of Philadelphia 
for the purpose of crossing their progeny with 
a fine imported bull, purchased by Mr. Cope, of 
Thomas Bates, Esq. of Kirkleavington in York¬ 
shire. England. The produce were thfee bulls 
and one heifer calf, (two of them being twins,) 
of sunerior excellence, as they appeared to my 
eyes, and well repaid the expense of so labo¬ 
rious an enterprize. I learned that these ani¬ 
mals are fast gaining in the estimation of even the 
New-England farmers, who have been altogeth¬ 
er slow in acknowledging their superiority to 
th^ir native stock, and that they find ready sale 
fo p all they have to spare. These facts are 
gratifying to the lovers of agricultural improve¬ 
ment. The Messrs. Lathrop are adding new 
buildings on their farm for the accommodation 
of their stock, and when their present improve¬ 
ments are completed, they will have one of the 
neatest and most valuable farms in this vicinity. 
I ought, perhaps, to observe that I was ac¬ 
companied in this jaunt from Springfield by Mr. 
Horatio Sargent of that town, who drove me 
up after a beautiful, spirited little horse of the 
u Morgan breed,” so highly valued in New- 
England, and which originated in Vermont, 
Mr. S. is a great judge of horse flesh, and 
among the great number which, for a series 
of years, have passed through his hands, he is 
more partial to these for business purposes than 
any other. They are compact and graceful in 
their figure, of great speed and endurance, and 
uniformly, when well trained, make extraordi¬ 
nary travellers. 
Roads. —As I passed on towards Northamp¬ 
ton, I was struck with the public spirit of these 
indomitable Yankees, in witnessing the great 
expense of constructing their ordinary high¬ 
ways, which they had in several instances done 
to avoid a sharp hill, or to cut off an extra mile. 
of travel. Nowhere in America are so good 
common roads found, probably, as in Massachu¬ 
setts. They render a great facility to the farm 
ing interest, and are an indispensable conveni¬ 
ence to their comfort and prosperity in any 
country. Would that the people of many 
more fertile districts of the United States would 
copy the excellent habits of these people in that 
particular; and although their heavy loams and 
stiff clays may refuse to afford them the good 
roads of the sandier soil of New-England, yet 
a decent skill and a proper application of labor 
will abundantly help their present condition. 
On no one subject of agricultural convenience 
does our country require a greater reform than 
in this of roads. 
Northampton.— Emerging through the 
gap enclosed by the two mountains, the broad 
and magnificent basin in which is located the 
most beautiful of all country towns, Northamp¬ 
ton, Hatfield and old Hadley, spread out like a 
beautiful picture before me. I entered this up¬ 
per valley by the pretty hamlet of Hockanum, 
and crossed the river on the ice. A ride of two ‘ 
miles across the fertile bottoms, or intervals as 
they are here called, brought me to Northamp¬ 
ton, the termination for the present of my little 
journey up the valley. These bottoms are al¬ 
most annually overflowed by the freshets of the 
river, which leave a rich deposit of fertilizing 
matter. They are unfenced, and although be¬ 
longing to numerous proprietors, and in parcels 
of five, to two or three hundred acres each, are 
distinctly separated by stakes, furrows, and other 
recognized lines of division. The different 
fields are cultivated in grass, where the heaviest 
crops of hay are gathered, yielding two, and in 
some instances three tons to the acre. Indian 
corn, oats, barley, rye, broom coin, tobacco, and 
other crops are cultivated in the highest perfec¬ 
tion, extending over several thousand acres, 
