AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
J.mprir taimgrato % fanner, tjje planter, aitir X\t <farfrmr t 
AGRICULTURE IS THE MOST HEALTHFUL, THE MOST USEFUL, AND THE MOST NOBLE EMPLOYMENT OF JIM A".-Washington 
CONDUCTING EDITOR, 
ORANGE JUDD, A. M. 
PUBLISHED WEEKLY By 
ALLEN & CO., 189 Water-st., New-York. 
VOL XIV.—NO. io.] NEW-YORK, THURSDAY, MAY 17, 1855. [NEW SERIES.-NO. 88. 
Jm* prospectus, Serins, $zc., 
ET*SEE LAST PAGE.^J 
Every one writing to the Editor or 
Publishers of this journal will please read 
“ Special Notices," on last page. 
3*3?“ All letters relating to Editorial mat¬ 
ters should be addressed to Mr. Orange 
Judd, (the Conducting Editor). 
Letters inclosing subscriptions and on oth¬ 
er business should be directed to Allen & 
Co., Publishers, and also those referring to 
both departments. Editorial and business 
matters, if in the same letter, should be on 
separate sheets. 
OHIO AGRICULTURAL REPORT FOR 1854. 
Through the kindness of Dr. G. Sprague, 
the Secretary of the Ohio Hoard of Agricul¬ 
ture, we are favored with its Report for the 
last year. Although less in volume than its 
previous reports, it gives a clear and encour¬ 
aging account of the progressing husbandry 
of the State, which is soon to become, if not 
now, the first in agriculture of the Union. 
It gives an account of the last year’s Cattle 
Show at Newark—equal in point of interest, 
and the numbers attending it, to any one of 
past years. The reports of the County So¬ 
cieties show increasing interest in those very 
useful institutions. Several valuable essays 
upon fruits, fine-wooled sheep, the renova¬ 
tion of exhausted soils, hedging, dairying, 
and other subjects, are added, of special in¬ 
terest to the Ohio farmers. On the whole 
an excellent report, and well got up—save 
some very poor engravings of sundry domes¬ 
tic animals. 
We confess, however, to a little wear and 
tear of patience, in reading an otherwise 
quite sensible introductory article from the 
pen of the worthy Secretary, to find the fol¬ 
lowing : “The present race of* Short Horns ’ 
are believed to have been produced by a 
cross from a Teeswater bull (Hubback), 
owned by Mr. Charles Colling, and a polled 
Galloway cow. Whether this be the fact or 
not, all history goes to show that Mr. Col¬ 
ling produced the breed on the one side from 
‘ Hubback,’ and on the other from a cow, or 
cows, if not hornless, were certainly not in 
possession of the peculiarities of the present 
race of Short Horns. The ‘Morgan ’ breed 
of horses, in our country, was produced by 
an accidental cross, and all the different va¬ 
rieties of improved farm stock in our own 
country, or in England, owe their origin to 
the crossing of dissimilar breeds.” 
We should like to be shown any creditable 
history that says the Short Horns were ever 
so produced, or even improved—or if, by any 
process whatever, by intermixture with any 
or all the “ dissimilar ” breeds of cattle under 
heaven, you can produce at one, two, or 
three crosses, an animal that will show the 
full characteristics of a thoroughbred Short 
Horn, or Devon ; or show us a man who 
can. To enlighten you on the subject, we 
beg you at once to procure the American 
edition of “ Youatt on Cattle, edited by Am¬ 
brose Stephens,” and read the history of the 
Short Horns in that; and if you do not rise 
from the reading with different notions than 
these, we are mistaken. As to the “ Mor¬ 
gan” horses, we will show them “ full blood¬ 
ed” to you, all over the country, from four¬ 
teen to sixteen and a half hands high, of all 
colors, shapes, and styles, sprung from scores 
of mares not at all alike in breed, or quality, 
and bred from horses in which not one one- 
hundred-and-twenty-eighth part of the blood 
of the original “Morgan” horse can be traced 
—for there never was a mare of the breed 
to start with. 
It is better to say nothing, than to propa¬ 
gate such monstrous error as this, in a book 
where accuracy of statement is expected. 
Every thing good in a “Morgan” horse, 
and indeed in most other breeds, is derived 
from Arab blood. The late Charles Henry 
Hall, of this city, has often told us he was 
personally knowing—with his father before 
him—to more Arabian horses imported into 
the New-England States for the last three- 
quarters of a century, than into all the others 
of our Union. These horses were used to 
a considerable extent, particularly by the 
farmers of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Ver¬ 
mont, and New-Hampshire ; hence the supe¬ 
riority of their horses. 
Correspondence of the American Agriculturist. 
LETTERS FROM MR. PAGE— No. III. 
Near South Charleston lives Mr. Alex. 
Waddle. Near, in southern Ohio and Ken¬ 
tucky, means any distance less than ten 
miles ; so I took a pleasant walk of four 
miles. By the roadside, in a large, level 
pasture, I saw one hundred steers,belonging 
to Mr. W. They were making their living 
on last year’s grass—and a good living, too. 
They had been foddered but once or twice 
the past winter. The practice on the large 
grazing farms in southern Ohio is, to shut 
up a field—perhaps of several hundred acres 
—about the first of July ; keep every hoof 
out until the summer pastures fail; by this 
time the blue grass has grown, ripened, fall¬ 
en down, and a new crop started, which 
keeps green the most of the winter. In 
such feed in a mild season, cattle require no 
extra care whatever. I saw many which 
had been wintered thus that would make a 
butcher’s “ mouth water,” so smooth and fat. 
Mr. Waddle’s residence is near the center of 
his farm, one mile from the pike. I have 
before spoken of the good taste shown by 
Mr. W. and Dr. Watts in their selections 
from the English herds. We here saw three 
of the Ross Company’s importation—a white 
bull, of good style generally, and very fine 
loin and hips for a two-year-old ; a roan cow, 
Zealous, which could show points well up 
to the standard of the breed, her eyes in 
particular being fine—showing in this respect 
the cross which she has of the Princess 
tribe. Whatever may be the opinion on 
other points of Mr. Stephenson's cattle, in 
this they all agree—that, as a stock, they 
have the finest eyes of any Short Horns in 
existence. I also saw an imported two-year- 
old heifer, and a lot of home-bred cows, 
whose names I did not learn. 
Mr. Waddle kindly furnished me with a 
saddle-horse, and showed me the path across 
his farm, to a cross-road which led to Mr. 
Wm. Pierce’s. 
This afternoon, the first time since I have 
been in the State, the sun came out warm, 
with a good breeze from the south. The 
air had that soft, delicious feel, which is so 
cheering to a farmer in early spring ; starts 
the buds and grass, and brings out the frogs, 
which this afternoon were having a “ regular 
blow out.” It is to be hoped they didn't 
“hang out” late, for we had a sharp frost 
before morning. My ride across and by the 
side of the large pasture-fields was very 
pleasant; most of the land hereabouts is in 
grass ; many oak openings, and most splen¬ 
did fields they are, too. You see here and 
there a clump of low growing oaks, an occa¬ 
sional pond-hole grown up with flags and 
rushes, then a long, level view reaching off 
into the dim distance, with a sward of Ken¬ 
tucky blue grass, on which the foot will 
make no more noise than upon the softest 
carpet; looking now, probably, much the 
same as years and years ago, when the buf¬ 
falo and the deer had possession. Now, 
these pastures fatten hundreds of Short 
Horn steers, most of which eventually find 
their way to the capacious maw of New- 
York city. 
Mr. Pierce is a large breeder of Short 
Horns, asses, and mules. He has three of 
the Ross Company importation—the bull 
Alderman ; a three-year-old heifer, and a two- 
