454r 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[December, 
ness, that a few men should devote themselves to 
breeding pure stock for the use of the public, who 
will find that they can not profitably compete in 
this respect with those who have made a study and 
a profession of it. The mention of a black breed 
of pigs is quite sure to call out numerous inquiries 
if the color is not objectionable in the pork, and 
we anticipate these in this case by stating, as we 
have done many times already, that these, and 
other black pigs, have their “ beauty ” less than 
“skin-deep,” and that when they are dressed 
their skin is as white and handsome as any others. 
Among the Farmers.— No. 11. 
BY ONE OP THEM. 
Westchester County, 
The City of New York, with its Brierian* arms, 
grasped after, grabbed, and hugged to its embrace 
a charming bit of territory, so soon as the legisla¬ 
ture allowed it to claim as its own—the south-west¬ 
ern portion of Westchester County. Bridges and 
roads, water and gas pipes, police, and streetlights, 
disturb the rural simplicity and harmony of many 
a country scene. In the midst of it all—of all this 
town-in-country—there are many beautiful farms, 
stately old mansions embowered in trees, and look¬ 
ing out upon sunny lawns ; cozy cottages, with an 
acre of lawn and shrubbery, and one or two acres 
of garden, with now and then an old time gambrel- 
roofed burger’s house, having picturesque gray 
shingled sides, and a few tall elms and button-balls 
casting their shadows across the fenced-in door- 
yards. The march of rectangular, graded streets, 
will sweep all this away in a few years, except as a 
few citizens cling to the dwellings their fathers 
built, and by personal influence, or otherwise, or 
simply by refusal to sell, retain the old estates 
shorn of all beauty by the criss-cross city streets. 
Now, however, in numerous places we encounter 
here, with the most charming rural surroundings, 
the abodes of wealth and comfort, choice herds of 
Jerseys, beautiful horses, luxurious “turnouts” 
and all with which money and taste can surround 
their possessors. 
Among such environments I found the pleasant 
home of Mr. William Simpson. His son, Mr. Wm. 
Simpson, Jr., has for some years been favorably 
known as a fancier of pigeons and poultry, and a 
breeder of Jersey cattle and Berkshires, and I found 
the examination of his well arranged buildings aud 
their occupants especially interesting. 
A Family of .Jerseys 
demanded attention first of all—and truly they are 
of one family. “St. Helier ” is a bull of considerable 
fame as the getter of good milch stock, owned by 
his importer, Dr. O. S. Hubbell. Mr. Simpson’s 
best cow, 5 years old, is by him, her daughter, by 
“ St. Helier,” 3 years old, and in milk, with full 
sister of the 5-year-old, a promising yearling, stood 
together, and near by a young bull, also by “ St. 
Helier,” and out of the older cow. It will be 
noticed that the three-year-old and the young bull 
show pretty close in-breeding. I saw no sign of 
weakness ; on the contrary, every evidence of thrift 
and improvement. I believe that real steps for¬ 
ward in breeding, in the establishment of perma¬ 
nent types, and in fixing pronounced excellencies, 
are more readily accomplished by close breeding, 
judiciously done, than in any other way. The 
heifer bids fair to be as goo.il a cow as her dam, 
and probably better, doubtless deriving her good 
traits from “ St. Helier’s ” dam more than from any 
other ancestor. It is a question which can only be 
definitely answered by experiment, how far 
In-and-in Breeding 
can be carried with success. In this case the 
chances for securing a real benefit seemed so 
promising, that on talking it over, and studying 
the bulls in neighboring herds, I did not hesitate 
to counsel Mr. S. to try the experiment of another 
and closer cross, by keeping his young bull for a 
year at least at the head of his herd. His progeny 
by the 5-year-old cow, (his dam), will be five-eighths 
of the blood of “St. Helier,” rendered intense by 
the nature of the excellent cow through which it is 
strained. We cannot all allord to»try such an ex¬ 
periment, for if our judgment be at fault, and it 
certainly is liable to be, weakness of constitution, 
deformities, and tendencies to disease are engen¬ 
dered or confirmed, and the loss which results may 
be as great as the good we hope for. There are 
several good young things by other sires, and some 
cows and their progeny in no wise related to “ St. 
Helier,” which make up the herd of a dozen ani¬ 
mals, all of “solid,” fashionable colors, “black 
points,” etc., and showing well for milk and but¬ 
ter, though accurate tests were lacking. Among 
them stalked the outre figure of 
A Fine Zebu Cow 
of large size. She was imported by a Boston mer¬ 
chant in the Indian trade, and has proved an excel¬ 
lent milch beast. She is of a solid, light, silvery 
fawn color, nearly white, with black points through¬ 
out. Her general form is that with which we are 
familiar, as that of the “sacred” cow or bull of 
India, in menageries and in pictures. Her hump is 
of moderate s-ize, but well defined; her ears im¬ 
mense and pendulous; her herns straight, awk¬ 
wardly set according to our taste, nearly cylindrical, 
and black. She gives about 13 quarts of rich ex¬ 
cellent milk, has a well-formed udder, and large 
teats, and is the gentlest creature I ever saw. She 
had a young full-blood calf, looking a good deal 
like a lop-eared rabbit, and not much bigger. It 
was a new idea to me that, as compared with good 
cows, a Zebu could give milk enough to make it 
worth while to keep her, but here was a demonstra¬ 
tion. Mr. Peters, of Georgia, years ago demon¬ 
strated that the Zebus and their crosses and grades, 
made excellent beef, and were entirely free from 
the attack of the Texas fever and murrains, which 
prevail among common cattle in many parts of the 
Southern States, but that they would be really valu¬ 
able for milk, I do not remember to have seen 
claimed. I saw Mr. Peters’ herd a few years ago— 
some of them equalled Short-horns in stature. 
Poultry for Use and Fancy. 
Like most people who conceive a desire to keep 
fancy fowls, Mr. S. launched out into the breeding 
of numerous varieties. He had the rarest and the 
finest, the largest and the smallest. His strains 
were famous for their unique excellencies, and 
breeders still advertise their stocks as derived from 
his strains. Yet, learning wisdom by experience— 
a happy faculty—-he has now reduced his stock of 
fowls to Plymouth Rocks and White Leghorns. 
The former for the table, the latter for eggs. The 
Plymouth Rock fowls stalked about nearly as big 
as turkeys, though hatched in April, and the viva¬ 
cious, vigorous snow white Leghorns flirted their 
scarlet combs at us with a promise of an egg a 
day, which rarely fails, except in moulting-time. 
The true fancier and judicious breeder has full 
scope for his genius in the breeding of two or three 
varieties, in maintaining their excellencies, in cor¬ 
recting faults of form and style, in breeding for in¬ 
creased size and number of eggs, or for better form, 
more meat, and greater weight, a higher quality of 
flesh, etc., according to the breed he has in hand. 
Pigeons 
are bred now solely for beauty, and the varieties 
preferred are a very beautiful group of the Tumbler 
class, namely, Nuns, Bald-heads, and Priests—diffi¬ 
cult to breed in perfection, but exceedingly pleas¬ 
ing in flight and at rest, and when critically ex¬ 
amined. Following his fancy for curious things, 
Mr. Simpson retains a flock of 
Sebastopol Geese, 
which are distinguished by their snowy plumage, 
and by the length of the feathers, the quills of 
which are so weak that the plumes turn and twist. 
This gives the birds somewhat the appearance of 
the Frizzled fowls, whose feathers curl towards 
the front, but on examination one finds that with 
the geese the lower parts of the feathers are as 
usual, while the long shafts only twist towards the 
ends. They look flounced and furbelowed and 
fimbriated to the last extent, not beautiful, but 
very curious. They seem to breed well, and are 
doubtless as good for the table or for feathers, as 
any other geese, but not eo large as the Toulouse 
and Bremen. I have a high consideration for 
Common Creese, 
they rank very near to pigs in some respects. We 
raise a flock every year. They have a pasture de¬ 
voted to their use ; they need no care from early 
spring to autumn, except to see that the eggs do 
not freeze in March, and that when the geese sit 
they have them placed in the nest again. They 
take care of themselves, give us a crop of feathers 
once in seven or eight weeks, and when ready for 
market fatten in ten days, always bring a good 
price, and are always excellent when well roasted. 
Their fat is the nearest approach to lard of any pro¬ 
duct of the farm, in fact is about midway be¬ 
tween lard and butter. The Jews know this, and 
fat live geese always sell well to devout Isrealites. 
I would be glad to know exactly what it would cost 
to"raise by the 100lbs., live goose meat, (and feath¬ 
ers), and am by no means sure it cannot be pro¬ 
duced cheaper than pork. 
Guinea Pigs. 
For absolute uselessness commend me to Guinea 
pigs. They are pretty, harmless, delicate little 
things, great eaters, fast growers, great breeders, 
easily cared for, not liable to disease. I mention 
them as among Mr. Simpson’s fancy stock, simply 
because we, most of us, want our boys, and girls 
too, to grow up with a fondness for animals, and 
accustomed to take little responsibilities, having a 
daily care for some living things—and Guinea pigs 
certainly offer one 'of the best means for this sort 
of instruction. Rabbits, poultry, and ponies may 
follow in due time, and then regular farm chores. 
Seeding to Grass. 
Passing the Faile estate in Westchester Co. not 
long ago, I was struck with the great amount of ma¬ 
nure hauled out and being spread upon au old 
sward, which had been, to all appearance, pastured 
this year, but no doubt mowed until quite recently. 
On inquiry, I learned that they were preparing to 
seed down to timothy, red-top, and clover, with no 
intermediate or introductory crop. I have done it 
occasionally, but not with such a profusion of ma¬ 
nure. We think we never have the manure to 
spare—and yet it is a false principle to be sparing 
in this particular. There is no truer saying than 
that “the liberal hand shall be made rich.” Land 
can hardly be too rich for grass, provided we stand 
ready to cut when it is ready, and not allow it to 
lodge and decay, or heat upon the ground. The 
lot alluded to is now (October) as green as a wheat 
field, and a firm sod is fast forming. It will cut 
three tons of hay to the acre the first season, or I 
am much mistaken. 
Seeding with Rye. 
We were uncomfortably set back in our work this 
year on account of one of the farm horses becom¬ 
ing temporarily disabled just when we calculated to 
do our plowing for rye. September wore away ; 
October came, and the snow storm of the 15th found 
the rye still unsowed. What to do was a question. 
Winter was upon us. We had tried one horse after 
another, but the one was too nervous and the next 
too slow—one was unused to plowing, the plow- 
beams broke, the whiffletrees broke, and things 
went wrong. Finally the gray mare was able to 
work again, but her shoulders were tender, and she 
was “soft” from unuse. We pushed the plowing 
ahead, and counseled with our neighbors. Not 
one said “ you are too late—let the land lie until 
spring.” All agreed that the chances were in favor 
of a good crop, with perhaps shorter straw than 
usual. That a fair sprinkling of manure would 
make up for weeks of time. So we went ahead. 
The result will show. If we did wisely a few weeks 
of warm weather will bring up the seed, and the 
ground is light and not likely to heave by the frost 
to the destruction of the plants. Could we calcu¬ 
late on snow covering the ground all winter, it 
would be all right, but bare ground, dry, cold 
weather, and high winds, will do the field great 
damage. We seeded with 
Timothy uwl Orchard Grass, 
and shall sow clover in the spring. These two 
grasses do not do well together. Not that they do 
