198 
POLLED GRADE DtTRHAMS. 
stock and other things more than a cursory glance. 
I will forward you papers with the reports of com¬ 
mittees at length,* and pass on Avith the remark, 
that the number of cattle and horses was, I thought, 
fully as great as at any previous meeting, some of 
them being remarkably fine. 
Of bulls, Mr. Hall had a very handsome two-year 
old white bull, which in my estimation rated first ; 
he is a compact, well-made animal, and handles 
well. Col. D. Cooper, from Wilkinson county, ex¬ 
hibited an aged bull which I must place next , even 
over the head of Mr. Hall’s mountain of beef, Beltz- 
hover—in my opinion there is no comparison be¬ 
tween the two animals, though I know that I could 
find few here to side with me. There were also two 
younger bulls, the property of Samuel Chamberlain 
and D. P. Jackson, that were very fine. Of sheep 
and hogs, the show was a poor one; every one being, 
like myself, afraid of the excessive dust. Col. W ailes 
exhibited a pen of very good sheep. In vegetables 
and flowers too, we were sadly wanting—caused 
by our long drought. Col. Wailes, the Rev. Mr. 
Whielden, and Dr. Butterfield, occupied one of the 
college halls Avith their fine cabinets of stones, 
minerals, fossils, &c. Col. W. has a most val¬ 
uable collection, particularly of agates, madrepores, 
cornelians, &c., and of fossil and Indian remains. 
Mr. Whielden exhibited a miniature cage, of 
broom-straw, in which were some dozen silk¬ 
worms in the act of em r eloping themselves in their 
silken covering, by them lay a number of others, 
in different stages of growth, feeding. 
But to the implements. At about nine o’clock, 
the committee commenced operations on a piece 
of ground here, on Ingleside. From the printed 
report you will see what plows, &c., were on the 
ground, and also the opinion of the committee, 
which you would oblige many here by publishing,! 
and confer too a more extensive benefit upon your 
makers of such things, if they will act upon it as 
they ought to do, than they are probably aware of. 
From the opinions there given, I must beg leave to 
differ somewhat. The fact is, we knoAV so little 
here of how implements of cast-iron answer the 
purpose, that there is a strong prejudice against 
them, Ayhich, however, would quickly give way to 
conviction. Rugbies, Nourse, & Mason’s plow is 
a very large and heavy implement,! my objection 
to Avhich I Avill give presently. It turned over a 
regular furrow of from 12 to 13 inches, by 6£ in¬ 
ches ; while the tAvo others that were tried turned 
only about 8 to 9, by from 4 to 7 inches. In my 
opinion the teams did not exert themselves more 
avith the eagle ploAv than with the others, and the 
hand had not half the work to do—then see the 
difference in the amount of Avork done. The 
ground was very dry, and had been much trodden, 
yet the eagle ploAv laid it neatly over, covering up 
* We received these papers, but they have unfortunate¬ 
ly got mislaid, which prevents our giving a synopsis of 
the reports.—E d. 
t This we have never received, and shall be quite 
obliged if Mr. A. can yet furnish it for us.—E d. 
! Since the reception of this report Ave have forwarded 
Mr. A. smaller plows of Ruggles, Nourse, & Mason’s 
manufacture, which Ave are certain will please him, for a 
single mule can draw with ease the smallest one we sent. 
Ed. 
the Aveeds completely, and leaving the ground 
well pulverized, aud ready for any kind of crop; 
Avhile the other plows ran very unsteadily, giving 
the plowman much to do, and turning over a very 
irregular furrow, throwing up the ground in large 
clods, gouging them out, as it were. Wood’s plow 
has been many years in use here, and gives 
universal satisfaction, doing excellent work when 
the ground is in fair order; and they are light, 
strong, and cheap, costing $6, to $7 and $8. But 
when brought beside this excellent Boston plow of 
Ruggles, Nourse, & Mason, it was completely left 
behind, so much so, as to open the eyes of all pres¬ 
ent. One of the committee remarked, that though 
he had been a farmer all his life, he had learned 
more of plows and plowing during these two hours 
than he ever knew before ! There is no necessity for 
our plows and other implements being so strong and 
heavy as with you—Ave have no stones. Then our 
teams are lighter—the weather greatly hotter, so 
that animals can not stand so much. We are al¬ 
most all too short of team, and of consequence have, 
at times, to work them too many hours. But I will 
go more at length into this matter in an article I 
have nearly ready for you, on Implements for the 
South, with rough sketches of some of my im¬ 
provements. Our plows, however, want length , to 
give them steadiness. 
Let Ruggles, Nourse, & Mason, and others of 
your best makers, including Piouty & Mears, and 
Barnaby & Mooer, send to our fall ShoAV some 
plows made for the south, and such as they can fur¬ 
nish us with here at fair rates (my side-hill plow 
cost me here $18,50, Ruggles & Co.’s with coulter 
and wheel, $13) and they will open up for them¬ 
selves a good market. We are tired of sending for 
implements without first seeing them. If they 
will forward them from Boston, they will come to 
the society free of charge, (see report.) Let them 
consign them to Wm. I. Minor, Esq., our president, 
aud have them reach us by the middle of October, 
and they shall all have a "fair trial, and will after¬ 
ward be sold by the society, and the money remit¬ 
ted to the owners, or disposed of otherwise as may 
be ordered. Is there no possibility of sending us a 
correct dynamometer at same time ? If there is, let 
me know the cost, and the society, or some of its 
members will remit you in time to send us one. 
If the OAvners of the plows so desire it, they will 
be foiwarded to shows in the adjoining counties 
of Jefferson and Wilkinson, and exhibited there 
also. Thomas Affleck. 
Ingleside, Miss., 21th April, 1844. 
POLLED GRADE DURHAMS. 
I avish to return you my thanks for the informa¬ 
tion you have vouchsafed me in your May No., 
but must ask your forgiveness if I do not attach 
implicit faith in the purity of the strain of any 
or l blood Durhams without horns. I don’t mean 
to impeach your veracity, or to deny the possibili¬ 
ty of such a phenomenon; but when we consider 
that for an animal of the higher grade named, 
five generations, and at least fifteen years, must 
have intervened from the the first cross, I think it 
more likely, unless the instances spoken of by you 
