FARM OF MR. BELL. 
275 
relative value of horses and oxen for labor on the 
farm; and any facts in regard to the profits and most 
economical management of poultry of different kinds. 
13. Feeding and fattening animals ; having regard 
to the most profitable modes, and the relative value 
of different kinds of grain, roots, apples, pump¬ 
kins, grasses (both in their green and dry state), or 
any plants for feeding laboring animals (whether 
horses or oxen), milch-cows, or for fattening cattle, 
swine, or sheep. 
14. Dairies and dairy produce; showing the 
quantity of butter and cheese produced, the quan¬ 
tity per cow, the best modes of making these arti¬ 
cles, and the kind of pasture and food, as well as the 
general management, which is found most profitable. 
15. Wool-growing; showing the number of 
sheep in the county, the breeds, the quantity of 
wool produced per head, the value per pound of the 
different kinds of wool, its preparation for sale, and 
where sold; the number of sheep pastured per acre, 
on different soils; time required for winter-feed¬ 
ing ; quantity of hay required for carrying a given 
number of sheep through the winter; most economi¬ 
cal mode of winter-feeding, whether with hay alone, 
or with any other fodder, and whether any, and 
what kinds of grain or roots, and in what quanti¬ 
ties, and in what manner, are fed to sheep. 
16. Manufactures; the kinds carried on in the 
county, their extent, and the effect they have had 
on the farming interest. 
17. Examples of good management or success in 
farming. 
18. General profits of farming ; showing the re¬ 
turns for capital invested. 
19. Education ; the state of schools, and whether 
any instruction, having a particular reference to 
agriculture, is given in schools and academies, and 
with -what success or advantage. 
20. Suggestions for improving the condition of 
Agriculture. 
21. Zoology of the county—at least a notice of 
those indigenous quadrupeds, birds, reptiles, fish, 
&c., that are serviceable or detrimental to man. 
FARM OF^MrTBELL. 
The farm occupied by Mr. Thomas Bell is situ¬ 
ated in Morrisania, near this city, and comprises 
about 400 acres, being a part of the domain of 
William H. Morris, Esq. The present season 100 
acres have been cropped with hay, 40 acres with 
Indian corn, 18 acres with wheat, 12 acres with 
oats, 6 acres with rye, 5 acres with turnips, 3 acres 
with potatoes, and 10 acres with corn, sown broad¬ 
cast, or in drills,for soiling; the remainder lying in 
pasture or fallow. There are also on the place 25 
acres of orchard, principally Newtown pippin trees, 
from which were sold last year 400 barrels of 
apples and 200 barrels of cider. 
The stock of the farm consists of 75 cows, 52 of 
which give milk, two Durham bulls, 25 heifers, 6 
working oxen, 6 horses for labor, 12 sheep of Bake- 
well or Leicester grade, and 50 or 60 hogs and pigs. 
On the 16th of July last, the field crops all look¬ 
ed well, which was doubtless owing, in a great 
measure, to superior management. The wheat was 
in the act of harvesting, and bid fair to yield 25 or 
30 bushels to the acre. It was grown on land that 
had remained in fallow for many years; that is, a 
scanty pasture, interspersed with alders, dwarf 
cedars, wild grasses, &c. The ground was plowed 
twice in the summer of 1846, and previous to sow¬ 
ing, 25 loads of compost, made of swale or pond 
mud, mixed and fermented in the heap with barn¬ 
yard manure, were applied to each acre. The field, 
in which this wheat was grown, at present is in 
excellent condition for laying down to grass, or for 
the cultivation of almost any kind of crop. 
The fields of Indian corn, in general, looked 
vigorous, dark-colored, and were just in tassel, 
although the land varied in character, and had been 
differently tilled. We were paiticularly struck 
with the vigor of one field of eight acres, to which 
had been applied broadcast, 400 loads, of 50 bushels 
each, of swale muck, mixed with 500 bushels of 
oyster-shell lime. Another field of six acres, which 
previously had been cropped with grain, was manur¬ 
ed -with coal-ashes, a pint to a hill, and looked well. 
Mr. Bell practises the system of soiling in part, 
particularly with his milch-cows, and highly ap¬ 
proves of the plan. He sells, upon an average, 
in this city, 500 quarts of milk per day, which 
amounts to more than $7000 a year. From the 
milk of one cow alone, lie realized $530 in two 
years, notwithstanding she had a calf within the 
time, but was never dry. 
Mr. Bell’s bull is a thorough-bred Short-horn, im¬ 
ported from the celebrated herd of the late Earl 
Spencer. He is a superb animal, and has taken 
several prizes, as the first in his class, at the exhi¬ 
bitions of the New York State Agricultural Society 
and the American Institute. ■ 
Several of his cows are also thorough-bred Short- 
Horns; but most of his herd consists of high grades, 
a cross of his bull, Marius, with some of our best 
native stock. Of this cross, w T e observed 15 beauti¬ 
ful yearling heifers, of great promise, which were 
so docile that they could be approached and handled 
by any one who chose. This gentleness Mr. Bell 
attributes to the early attachment they acquired by 
bringing them up by hand when calves. The first 
three days following their birth they were allow¬ 
ed to suckle the cow, after which they were fed a 
few weeks on skim-milk, and then turned out to 
grass. This kind of treatment, no doubt, has a ten¬ 
dency to soften their dispositions, and greatly contri¬ 
butes to their gentleness when they come to be cows.' 
While looking at the herd, it was remarked by 
Mr. Bell, that every cow, without exception, which 
had broad escutcheons, or quirls, formed by the 
meeting of the hair that points in different direc¬ 
tions on the posterior parts of the animal, wide apart , 
were good milkers; but this proves nothing further 
than it goes, as his premium cow, Shaker, the best 
in the herd, has but a trifling development of this 
point, being the one from which he realized $530 
in two years by the sale of her milk. 
Mr. Bell is evidently a thorough-bred farmer, 
which is manifest from the characteristic neatness 
and excellent management of every part of his farm. 
He superintends in person, and puts on record most 
of the operations of the dairy, the farm-yard, and 
of the field, and is up and doing from early dawn 
to-late at night. He keeps an account of his re¬ 
ceipts and expenditures, which, at the end of the 
year, it is highly desirable he should make known 
to the public. B. 
