14 
FARMS OF THE MESSRS, HALLOCK.—CAST OF A PRIZE HEIFER. 
guests, and above all, at the common charges. The ; 
tavern-keepers have some trouble doubtless; but 
is not their harvest a rich one, even at moderate 
prices ? Various other reforms have suggested 
themselves to us, but as our space is limited, we 
must defer speaking of them to a future day. 
FARMS OF THE MESSRS. HALLOCK. 
These farms are situated in Milton, Ulster county, 
almost immediately on the Hudson River. They 
comprise about 400 acres in one body, and it is 
rarely that we meet with land more unpromising, 
at first sight. It is exceedingly hilly, with narrow 
vales through which gurgle little streams. These 
vales were originally deep swamps overgrown with 
bushes and small trees, while the upland was stud¬ 
ded with rocks and thickly overlaid wdth stones. 
One cannot but wonder how any person could be 
found with sufficient courage to undertake to clear 
such land; and when this was done, a greater won¬ 
der would still remain, and that is, how they were 
to get a living from its cultivation. However, 
courage and perseverance conquer everything, and 
people find when they have picked off the stone 
and laid them up into -walls, that the land brings 
forth heavy burdens of the sweetest and most nu¬ 
tritious grass; and that it will, with good culture, 
produce 40 to 60 bushels of com to the acre, 20 
of wheat, and the same of rye; so that they begin 
to see, even in this respect, that it is not so very 
bad, after all. Fruit trees flourish remarkably 
well here, from which considerable quantities of 
apples are either sold or fed to stock, besides not 
unfrequently making 200 barrels of cider in a sea¬ 
son, worth $4 per barrel in this market for vinegar. 
When the swamps are drained they are found full 
of rich muck, from one to two feet deep ; under¬ 
neath this are beds of marl. The first of these sub¬ 
stances is particularly valuable. Mr. Edward 
Hallock made an experiment with it oil corn last 
year, against barnyard manure, and the former beat 
the latter at least one fourth. The valleys through¬ 
out this county abound with muck and marl; 
and, strange to say, the Messrs. Hallock are the 
only persons in their immediate neighborhood who 
have made use of this rich vegetable treasure. 
There are many other things in the farm manage¬ 
ment here we would like to speak of; but being 
mmh in common with farms heretofore described, 
we leave them for the present. 
Stock. —In addition to their fine fruit and good 
crops, the Messrs. Hallock have an excellent stock 
of milking cows, and long-woolled sheep. The 
first are descended mainly from the Bullock breed 
of Durhams, so famous as milkers—a herd of -which 
we met at Mr. Dunn’s, near Albany, in 1839, and 
wrote some account of in that year for the Genesee 
Farmer. Great care is taken in breeding these ani¬ 
mals both on the male and female side—the Messrs. 
H. now using a bull descended from Dishley, im¬ 
ported by the late Mr. Brentnall of Orange county, 
and from w r hom has descended most of the good 
grade milkers to be found in that region. These 
gentlemen informed us that five out of six of their 
calves may be safely calculated upon as good milkers. 
They usually give from 18 to 26 quarts per day on 
good feed, in their best season, and some few, more 
than this One of them has made 17 lbs of butter 
; per week. They sear the ends of the horns with a 
red hot iron, a few days after the calf is dropped, 
which prevents their growing, and gives them the 
appearance of muleys. This is a good practice, as 
it makes the cows more gentle, and tb^v can never 
hurt each other with their horns. They are excel¬ 
lent animals, and w r e wish other farmers would fol¬ 
low their example, and breed for milking qualities. 
The cows of the United States are greatly deficient 
in these qualities. With a little attention at first 
in selection, good animals may be as easily bred as 
poor ones. 
The sheep here are of the Cotswold blood prin¬ 
cipally, and are a superior flock. The Messrs. 
Hallock paid high prices for choice selections, to 
begin with, and have continued to breed with great 
care. They have frequently won premiums at the 
State Agricultural Society and other shovrs, with 
their sheep, and none in the State bear a higher 
reputation. More than this it is unnecessary to say. 
The country in Milton and around abounds in 
noble scenery, and being very healthy and furnished 
with all the comforts of good living, it has become 
quite a resort for our citizens to place their families 
for the summer. We are glad to see that the 
custom of removing the women and children of 
the city to the country for a renovation of their 
physical system during the hot weather is on the 
increase. Few places, we can assure our readers, 
are better suited for this purpose than the banks of 
the Hudson. 
Cast of a Short-horn Prize Heifer. —Hav¬ 
ing learned that this cast had been taken in London, 
Prince Albert intimated to Mr. Rotch of New York, 
who was the means of getting it up, that he would 
be pleased to see him in regard to it, at Bucking¬ 
ham Palace. He accordingly waited on the Prince 
with a cast of the beautiful statue, which he pre¬ 
sented to him. The Prince expressed himself highly 
pleased with the present, and intimated in his inter¬ 
view with Mr. R., that he should propose to the 
English Agricultural Society, that similar models of 
prize animals should be taken from year to year as 
subjects of comparison, and with a view of im¬ 
provement in stock breeding. Our only object in 
mentioning this matter is, to show the attention 
paid to the improvement of animals in Great Britain, 
and that it is there considered a refined and scientific 
business, not beneath the attention of the highest 
minds of the empire. With too many of our own 
countrymen, we regret to say, stock breeding is 
thought a vulgar occupation, worthy only the merest 
clodhoppers’ attention. We hope to live to see a 
change in public sentiment in regard to this thing, 
and are happy to say, that some of the most highly 
educated and refined gentlemen in this city were 
subscribers for these casts, and express themselves 
highly gratified on obtaining them. We spoke of 
this beautiful model in the November No. of our 
last volume, and must refer our readers to that for 
a more full account of it. 
What is Good Farming ?—The best and most 
pithy definition we ever heard of good farming, was 
given by Mr. Kane, at a late agricultural meeting in 
Dorsetshire, England: He said he fed his land 
before hungry, rested it before weary, and weeded it 
before foul. 
