140 
SOUTHERN CATTLE. 
of the ammoniacal salts with which the phos¬ 
phates are intimately blended. 
-- 
SOUTHERN CATTLE. 
There are some individuals in this state who 
own as many as 6.000 head of cattle. They sel¬ 
dom feed anything but their oxen. About the 
1st of March, the person owning the cattle gets 
all his cow drivers together, generally 30 or 
40 in number, mounted on horses of his own 
raising. They then proceed to the prairie 
where the cattle range, and collect them togeth¬ 
er for miles around, into a herd; they then pro¬ 
ceed to separate the cows and calves from the 
dry cattle. This, as you would most likely ex¬ 
pect, occupies a whole day, with all the hands 
which can be obtained. 
After getting the cows and calves by them¬ 
selves, they are driven into a large pen, capable 
of holding several thousand. The calves are 
then kept up for a month or six weeks (their 
mothers being turned in with them every evening 
where they remain all night and are turned out 
again in the morning). In these large herds, 
the increase is generally 1,500 to 1,600 a 
year, and their owner sells 700 or 800 beeves 
annually, at from $10 to $15 per head. 
I think this state will eventually be one of 
the greatest stock-raising countries in the 
world. It is everywhere well watered, and con¬ 
sists almost wholly of prairie land, which, in all 
seasons of the year, contains a sufficient quantity 
of grass to sustain any number of cattle; and 
moreover, the climate is so mild that there is 
not the least necessity for artificial shelter dur¬ 
ing the winter. In this country, we very seldom 
hear of cattle dying with the murrain, and sim¬ 
ilar diseases to which they are subject. Some¬ 
times in the heat of summer, the fattest of the 
cattle die; but this is seldom the case unless 
they have been driven very hard. 
Most of the cattle in this state are of the 
Spanish descent, and may be known by their 
long horns, fierce and savage looks, and their 
apparent dislike of mankind. It is almost im¬ 
possible to tame a Spanish cow, so that she 
will come into the pen without trouble, or be 
milked without being tied ; for this is the wa)’- 
in which most of our milch cows are tamed; 
but after a while, t-hey get so that they will 
only stand when the rope is around their 
horns. But what is very singular, you seldom 
see a large stock raiser who has a sufficient 
quantity of milk and butter for his table. I am 
well acquainted with a man, who owns 3,000 
head of cattle, and yet is obliged to buy all his 
butter. 
The cattle are never salted, and never see a 
pen more than once or twice a-year. D* * 
Houston , Texas , Jan.. 1851. 
CULTIVATION OF CORN. 
I planted one acre in corn; the ground was 
manured with 35 ox-cart loads of unfermented 
dung, which was evenly spread over the sur¬ 
face, and directly after spreading, it was turned 
under as deep as we could plow the ground, 
with a heavy, iron-beamed plow. The ground 
was subsequently well harrowed, and then 
marked out with a plow in rows, three feet 
apart. The seed was rolled in plaster, and 
planted in hills, varying from two to two and a 
half feet distance from each other, on the 14th 
day of May last. We planted 18 quarts of good 
seed, and the corn was not thinned out any, as 
the main object was to get a good growth of 
fodder; and as soon as the corn came up, it was 
plastered on the hill, and was afterwards ashed 
in like manner. It received two dressings with 
the hoe, and was cut up the 20th of September. 
It was husked in October following, and the 
product was 136 bushels of ears of sound corn, 
and two and one fourth tons of excellent and 
well-made fodder. The whole expense of rais¬ 
ing and securing the crop, including seed, plas¬ 
ter, and ashes, I find amounts to $11; we con¬ 
sider the crop richly worth $40. I was disap¬ 
pointed in the result, as I expected more fodder 
and less corn. S. R. Gray. 
Salem, N. Y. 
We wish our correspondent had given the 
exact amount of plaster and ashes he used, and 
informed us as near as possible, the cubic yards 
or feet of his 30 loads of manure. The experi¬ 
ment would then have been more definite. 
However, as it is, we are much obliged by the 
article. 
CULTIVATION OF THE RUTA BAG-A. 
According to promise, I now send you an ac¬ 
count of the ruta-baga crop I raised the past 
season, on two acres, six or seven rods of 
which were nearly destroyed for the want of 
an underdrain. The whole crop was 1,800 
bushels. The acre which did not require un¬ 
derdraining, grew 1,015 bushels. 
The field used to grow this crop, had been 
laid down to grass for the last ten years, and 
the crops taken off without the use of manure 
during that time. The soil is a dark-colored 
gravelly loam. 
I The manure used for the two acres was a 
I compost of 10 loads common barnyard manure, 
