THE CROPS IN .WESTERN NEW YORK.—CATTLE, ETC. 
245 
variety exclusively. It is a plump, reddish berry, 
on a stout and long stalk, and yields remarkably 
well—thirty to forty bushels to the acre is not an 
uncommon crop. 
For Buckwheat the weather for some weeks 
has been too dry. The yield will be light, al¬ 
though several good pieces are seen on strong 
lands. 
Potatoes will be light, owing to dry weather. 
We have had only three moderate showers in 
more than four weeks, and the earth is exceedingly 
parched. The pastures and mown meadows dried 
almost to a crisp. Most of them, if fired, would 
burn freely. 
Hay has been a fair crop; about the usual 
average. The quality-of it is unsurpassed. 
Root Crops of the minor kind, such as sugar- 
beet , carrot , ruta-baga r &c., &c., are but so so— 
too drouthy. Abundant rains, if soon, may push 
them yet to a large yield, as they are late growers. 
Cattle have generally thriven well, and are 
very healthy. So, generally, with other farm 
stock. 
The Horse-Rake.— I have put up full 175 tons 
of hay with only a shower or two on the first cut¬ 
ting—at least 150 tons have been secured, part of 
it in stack, without a drop of rain upon it. I have 
also harvested 60 acres of wheat, barley, and oats, 
with equal success. For the first time in my 
farming, I have used the horse-rake in gathering 
barley; it succeeded admirably, and in my field 
labor this season, it has saved me at least fifty 
dollars. Although my people opposed the use of 
the horse-rake, fearing the meadows, most of 
which are of last year’s seeding, were too rough 
and stumpy, no machine ever did better. A boy 
to ride the horse, with an active man to hold, will 
rake fit for pitching, 25 acres easily, per day; and 
if the bottom be smooth, no hand-raking after is 
required. My rake was made by an ingenious 
friend, at a cost of about twelve dollars, and I would 
not be without it for one hundred. It is the most 
labor-saving instrument on the farm. With 175 
tons of hay, and the grain of 60 acres all snugly 
stored in the barn, and good stables, and sheds 
adjoining, to'shelter the 150 head of thrifty young 
cattle and horses that are to winter upon it, one 
can think upon the coming winter with some de¬ 
gree of comfort. 
Cattle Shelters.— I am building a large yard 
and shed on one end of the barn, 114 by 50 feet, 
rolled up of logs averaging 12 or 15 inches diameter, 
and 27 feet long; (we have timber cheap and 
plenty.) The walls are about 7 feet high, around 
which are made mangers, also of logs but smaller, 
for feeding hay, straw, &c. Sixteen feet from the 
outer walls all round, are crotches inserted in the 
ground, some 10 feet high, on which are placed 
poles by way of plate, and from these to the wall 
run other poles on rafters, about one foot apart, to 
the wall. This is all to be covered with coarse 
marsh hay and flags, of which there is plenty cut 
on the farm, making a warm, snug roof, imper¬ 
vious to rain and snow. No cheaper or warmer 
sheds can be invented; and in a new country the 
cost is literally nothing. In a prairie region such 
sheds are invaluable. Well chinked, they are as 
warm as any shed need be. As my bam was 
figured in Yol. I. of your paper, no further descrip¬ 
tion of that is necessary. I have kept strict ac¬ 
count of my haying, and it has averaged about If 
days’ labor of a man to a ton, including the horse 
and rake. The work, board included, 90 cents a 
day. 
Farm-House. —I have just finished a new farm¬ 
house, of which I will send you a plan shortly. It 
has plenty of room for a large family; is 38 by 34 
feet on the ground, stories high ; a stone cellar 
under the whole, containing a cistern and ash- 
house, and with the wood-house, piazza, &c., com¬ 
plete, will cost about $1000. The grand difficulty 
with the plans of farm-houses that I find laid down 
in the books and papers is, that the constructors 
think there must be something very odd and com¬ 
plicated about them, or they will not take with 
the public, and in a great majority of cases, they 
sacrifice convenience to fancy. This is all wrong. 
I doubt very much if the old-fashioned New Eng¬ 
land farm-house of a century ago has been much 
improved upon—the sensible ones, I mean. There 
is a mighty deal of humbug now-a-days in houses 
as in everything else. Comfort and convenience 
are the main requisites, and these obtained, if the 
slightest good taste in architecture is used, the 
house will look well. Shelter and repose are the 
grand characteristics of the country dwelling. Se¬ 
cure these, and the rest will follow. 
Short-Horns.— Well, I suppose I must tell you 
about the stock. The cattle have this season done 
very well. They got through the terribly severe 
winter better than I anticipated. All in fair con¬ 
dition, without the loss of a single animal, which, 
in so large a stock, is remarkable. Nor have I 
lost one since, save a diseased cow a few days 
ago, of some three years’ ailing, with a sort of 
throat-cancer, or bronchitis , which could not be 
cured. The Short-Horn cows prove admirable 
milkers; in many instances giving more for six 
weeks than their calves will suck, and several of 
them have brought up two or three calves suc¬ 
cessively, and done it well too. It is a great and 
fatal mistake that many of our blood cattle-breeders 
make, of drying up their choice cows soon after 
calving, and putting their calves on foster-mothers. 
In thus sacrificing the milking properties of their 
stock, as they evidently must by such a course, for 
the sake of keeping them in high flesh, how do 
they expect the public are ever to be convinced of 
their valuable milking qualities, which they really 
do possess in an eminent degree, but which are 
thus kept from development ? No—milk the cows 
to the utmost: if their flesh runs off*, which it in¬ 
evitably will if good milkers, give them good feed, 
and my word for it they will show as well as any 
other cows under the process, and to all rational 
eyes, all the better for their capacious udders, 
and full dairies. 
Fine select Short-Horns, although comparatively 
scarce, have been extremely low, and are yet so; 
but they are evidently growing better. With re¬ 
turning prosperity, and an advance in prices of 
produce, they will be eagerly sought after, and a 
year or two hence they will bring remunerating 
prices. I have made several sales this season at 
