80S 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
products continually collecting in the blood, 
and draws in (inspires) about twenty cubic 
inches of fresh air, some sixteen times every 
minute. The heart of a horse, at a low compu¬ 
tation, is twelve times heavier than that of a 
man; it propels five times as much blood, viz: 
upwards of forty-six pounds are sent into the 
system, and as much more into the lungs every 
minute. This amount, great as it seems, is in¬ 
creased when in exercise, and so ample and so 
perfect is the apparatus for respiration, that the 
lungs are continually supplying adequate means 
for the purification of this enormous vital tide. 
This is not practically borne in mind, and those 
in immediate charge of horses (especially in 
this country) are often most ignorant of the 
properties of air and the requirements of blood. 
Consider for a moment the size of an ordi¬ 
nary room, with its windows for light, its fire, 
and doors for ventilation, contrasted with many 
of the stables in this city, and you will find five, 
six, and seven horses, (each requiring eight 
times as much air as a man,) are stabled in less 
space than this, with perhaps no window that 
admits light, no provision to remove dampness 
and gasses originating in the natural evacuations. 
Why, may I ask, are so many stables almost 
dark, even in the day time? A kind Provi¬ 
dence, as if to show man his duty to the lower 
animals, brings forth the choicest natural pro¬ 
ductions of organic life where there is the best 
light and purest air. 
Where there is darkness in stables, there is 
almost always dampness; where darkness, 
dampness, and a close atmosphere combine, each 
and all reeking with decomposing animal evacu¬ 
ations, (particularly where the manure is put 
under the stable floor, which is of too frequent 
occurrence,) there is the worst possible provi 
sion for sustaining life and health in a state of 
integrity. Small indeed is the spark here re¬ 
quired to kindle a great amount of disease. 
When influenza or any other kind of epizootic 
disease prevails, each is most severely felt in 
dark, damp stables, the unnatural heat of which 
is caused by many horses being crowded 
into a small compass. It has also a very se 
rious effect upon the eyes, the details of which 
time and space will not at present allow. 
Many horses bought by dealers of farmers in 
Connecticut, Vermont, and other States, are 
brought here, and two-thirds of the number 
are more or less attacked with distemper soon 
after their arrival. The reason is asked why. 
An observant man would not require an answer. 
Visit the farmers; there you will find the horse 
surrounded with a pure healthy atmosphere; 
if in the spring, (when most are bought,) living 
upon grass, clover, &c., not overworked, proba¬ 
bly never driven fast; if stabled, fed regularly, 
good wholesome water, &c. It may take four, 
five, and sometimes eight or ten days, according 
to distance, to arrive here. One man is gener¬ 
ally employed, (who often knows as much about 
a horse as a horse knows about him,) to bring a 
string of half a dozen, more or less, as the case 
may be. During the journey, (which is gener¬ 
ally made as quick as possible, that no time 
may be lost, and more particularly to curtail ex¬ 
penses,) they are fed on cut feed, with probably 
a little extra quantity of meal, (no shorts,) and 
watered when conveniently met with. Upon 
arrival, they are at once ushered into the stable, 
(such an one as described above,) in some cases 
washed and showered all over with cold water, 
perspiring or not, immaterial; put in a stall to 
be dried by heat of the body and atmosphere 
combined, without even a thought of rubbing a 
single hair dry. Such treatment, with diet 
changed from grass to hay and meal, with per¬ 
haps a great degree of difference in the atmos¬ 
phere to what he has been accustomed, and 
crowded in a dark, close, ill-ventilated stable, 
can any sensible man be surprised at the horse 
being sick? I should be much more so were he 
not, no matter what kind of a constitution he 
had previously. 
If, instead of the above treatment, he tra¬ 
veled say about twenty miles a day, fed and 
watered regularly, the former to consist of 
shorts principally, with hay, instead of meal, 
and upon arrival, (same feed continued a few 
days,) well cleaned, a good bed of straw, in a 
dry, well-ventilated stable, and such treatment 
followed up a few days, not one in ten would be 
attacked with disease, (unless previously con¬ 
tracted,) the owner save the expense of medi¬ 
cine and medical advice, and I probably lose 
the chance of having to present my bill for ser¬ 
vices rendered. 
If the public, individually or collectively, 
derive any benefit from any of the foregoing 
remarks, t shall consider myself well paid, from 
the fact that I have been able to prevent even 
one of God’s noblest animals (the horse) from 
sickness, and probably from a premature death. 
—S. MjSklor, in Providence Journal. 
- e»-e - 
For Ihe American Agriculturist. 
FARMING IN ULSTER COUNTY N. Y. 
Sbawangunk, Ulster Co. N.Y. July 12, 1854. 
Messrs. Editors: —Having been so often 
edified and instructed by the weekly perusal of 
your very interesting paper, I have ventured, 
as some small acknowledgement, to add my 
mite to the contributions of your correspond¬ 
ents. Although I may not at this time present 
many thoughts of peculiar weight and interest. 
I'have thought that a brief communication might 
not be unacceptable; inasmuch as no correspon¬ 
dent, so far as my recollection serves me, has 
recently addressed you from this region of the 
Empire State. From the caption of this article 
you perceive that my location is in the town of 
Shawangunk, in the southern edge of the county 
of Ulster and adjacent to the counties of Orange 
and Sullivan. The town lies chiefly in a wide 
spread valley at the eastern base of the Sha¬ 
wangunk mountains, at a distance of 20 miles 
west from the Hudson river at Newburgh. The 
face of the country is rolling and beautiful, and 
although many of the ridges are stony, the soil 
generally is comparatively smooth and fertile. 
The mountains already named, are a noble 
range, rising in some parts to the height of 2000 
feet. Their contour, as viewed from a distance 
is diversified and highly picturesque. The 
higher and more rugged parts are covered with 
wood, interspersed with patches of cultivated 
land, while in other places the cultivation ex¬ 
tends entirely to the summit. They constitute, 
therefore, a beautiful feature in the scenery, 
when contemplated from the adjacent country, 
while from their summits the view is grand and 
magnificent, and bounded only by the powers 
of vision. The counties of Ulster, Orange, 
Sullivan, Duchess, and Putnam, in New-York, 
of Sussex, in New Jersey, and of Pike, in Penn¬ 
sylvania, are all, in whole or in part, embraced 
in the ample picture which is spread out before 
the eye of the delighted beholder. Many re¬ 
markable local curiosities also exist upon these 
mountains, which are accordingly a place of 
resort for mubitudes from the surrounding 
country during the summer; and were their at¬ 
tractions better known and appreciated, they 
would doubtless be visited by large numbers of 
the lovers of the beautiful, or the sublime and 
the picturesque, from a distance. The New¬ 
burgh and Ellenville plank road crosses the 
mountains, about 2 miles from the highest and 
most interesting point of the range. 
There is a very considerable variety of soil 
within the bounds of this town; In the south¬ 
ern part, with which I am most familiar, the soil 
is warm and gravelly, and well adapted to the 
production of the various kinds of grain. The 
same remark may apply to the eastern slope of 
the mountains, much of which, however, is 
rugged and difficult of cultivation. In the rest 
of the town a clay soil predominates; which 
though pretty well adapted to grass, is not so 
well fitted for the production of grain. There, 
as elsewhere, many of the forms have been im¬ 
poverished by neglect and inj udicious treatment. 
So for as I am informed, the sub-soil plow has 
not yet found its way into this region; though 
I am persuaded, from the character of the soil, 
that its use would be productive of vast benefit 
to the farming interests. Indeed, on many 
farms draining and sub-soil plowing are in dis¬ 
pensable to a high state of fertility. The mode 
in which forming is conducted, is, for the most 
part, quite superficial. But few agricultural 
papers are circulated. Our farmers generally 
undertake more than they can accomplish well. 
They are slow to adopt the improvements of the 
day; and too many of them are content still 
to use antiquated implements, which have long 
since been superseded by others which are far 
better. But little pains is taken to increase the 
quantity and to improve the quality of manures. 
Large deposits of muck of the best quality, 
(overgrown with worthless bogs,) are in many 
places undisturbed; while hungry, gravelly 
knolls, loudly plead for the benefit of the stores 
of vegetable matter which they contain.— 
Around the tanneries (of which there are a con¬ 
siderable number) there are vast heaps of spent 
tan-bark, the accumulations of many years, 
which, if properly composted, and applied to 
the soil, would produce the happiest results. 
The principal crops cultivated are corn, oats, 
rye, and buckwheat. Wheat is raised, but not 
to any great extent. It is regarded as more un¬ 
certain than rye, and upon the whole as less 
profitable. Corn is planted upon inverted sod, 
and, in most cases, without manure; except it 
may be a slight application of ashes, or plaster, 
or a composition of these and other ingredients. 
Under this mode of cultivation very heavy crops 
are seldom produced. The products of the 
dairy constitute an item of prime importance 
with most of our farmers. The universal cus¬ 
tom is to churn all the milk, with the cream, 
according to the mode practised in the Orange 
county dairies. The butter so produced is of 
the best quality, saves well, and always com¬ 
mands the very highest price in the markets. 
Two plank roads connect this town with New- 
burg, which is the natural outlet for all this re¬ 
gion of country; and thither the most of the 
surplus products of the soil find their way; ex¬ 
cepting grain, which is usually marketed at 
Ellenville, and other places west of the moun¬ 
tains, where it commands a higher price than 
on the Hudson. The reason for this is that the 
country beyond the mountains is but partially 
cultivated, and does not, by any means, produce 
a sufficiency of the various grains to meet the 
wants of the population, who arc chiefly en¬ 
gaged in lumbering, and in tanning, and various 
other branches of manufacture. The Delaware 
and Hudson Canal also runs at the western base 
of the mountains, and affords a market for a 
large amount of the coarser grains, which are 
consumed by the horses used in towing, &c. 
In view of these observations, it will be per¬ 
ceived that this region of country possesses 
many superior advantages; and there are many 
motives which should stimulate the farming po¬ 
pulation to cherish a spirit of improvement and 
of progress. The soil is, for the most part, na¬ 
turally good, susceptible of a very high state of 
cultivation ; and my limited observation and ex¬ 
perience, in farming operations, convince me 
tbat, in all cases, thorough farming, is the most 
profitable. I would that every farmer in the 
land were a diligent reader of the American Ag¬ 
riculturist, or some kindred publication, and 
were endowed with an earnest spirit of improve¬ 
ment and of progress. Millions might thus at 
once be added to the wealth and resources of 
the country. M. 
The remainder of this letter appeared last 
week under head crops.— Eds. 
A Fruitful Neighborhood. —In Wayne Co., 
Pa., in a circle of seven miles, there live thirteen 
families, which boast the aggregate number of 
195 children. They are distributed as follows: 
Jonathan Adams 18, Jacob Kellum 14, John 
Kellum 10, David Eaton 15, Eben Brown 15, 
James Adams 14, Josiah Cole 13, Thomas 
Todd 29, John Phillips 12, Oliver Bullings 13, 
