172 
JAUNT IN OHIO.—NO. 3. 
infusion of new and pure blood is required to 
improve the quality and refine the coarseness, 
which the careless breeding of their cattle has 
produced. And so long as good and choice 
animals are to be found, particularly in this 
state, and of recent importation from the best 
herds in England, the neglect of western cattle 
breeders is inexcusable. The efforts of Col. 
James to improve the stock of his country are 
untiring; and although he has now chosen dif¬ 
ferent breeds for bis own purposes, those who 
prefer shorthorns as their farm stock, should at 
once procure the proper animals, and breed up 
to the mark, as formerly. But the great trouble 
with the Ohio farmers is, they live too easily 
and abound in too great plenty to be quick to 
their interest in anything requiring an extra 
amount of exertion or outlay of capital, unless 
by spasms, as in 1834, 5 and 6. 
To northern men, who hear of the vast fertil- 
itity of the \vest, and particularly that of the 
broad river vallies which intersect the state of 
Ohio, such as the Scioto, the Miami, and Mad 
River, they would suppose that with such abun¬ 
dance of Indian corn, wheat, oats, grass, &c., 
all must be of the first quality, and produced in 
the greatest perfection. But on examination, 
they will be sadly disappointed. The corn, 
which is the great crop of the west, is good, but 
the stalk, of which so great use is made with us 
as fodder in winter, is coarse, and harsh, and 
only the blade is of any value, and even that, 
owing to the careless mode of curing it—or 
rather not curing at all—is too often of little or 
no account. Straw is no better, nor half so 
plenty as with us, as little care is taken of it; 
and what little hay is grown, (not half the quan¬ 
tity being required for winter forage as with us,) 
is spoiled in the curing. I never saw such poor 
hay as at Cincinnati, musty, washed, over ripe, 
and tanned to death in the making. Col. James 
told me that hay is usually kept out a week to 
ten days after cutting before it is housed, or put 
in stack! Cattle, of course, will not thrive, nor 
even winter well on such hay alone; but the 
well-stored corn cribs are at hand to make up 
the deficiency, and the quantity consumed by 
farm stock, hay included, is enormous. And I 
have no doubt one half of this extravagant and 
wasteful expenditure might be saved by proper¬ 
ly curing their grass and corn stalks. But the 
land yields so bountifully, that there is little hope 
of reform for a long time to come. In convers¬ 
ing on this subject with some agricultural gen¬ 
tlemen, who saw and deplored the wasteful hab¬ 
its of their people, I remarked that it would. 
in the end, result in a God send to the people 
if their lands could become as impovished as 
those of Eastern Virginia! For the farmers 
would then go to work, and by a good system 
of cultivation, restore them to their original fer¬ 
tility ; and the knowledge thus acquired by 
necessity, would stimulate them ever after to 
a proper economy in husbanding and consum¬ 
ing their crops ; and as a consequence, of keep¬ 
ing up the fertility of the soil. 
Among other objects showed me by Col. J., 
was a pile of peat, nicely cut up, and piled un¬ 
der a shed, for fuel. He discovered an extensive 
bed of this in a bottom near his residence. The 
abundant supply of wood will probably long 
prevent this article from coming into use; but at 
some distant day, it may be resorted to for fuel. 
After tea, as the evening was chilly, he had a 
fire lighted from it in the open chimney of the 
dining room, where it burned clear and bright 
for several hours, reflecting its ruddy light upon 
the cheerful group composed of his own family 
and guests, who sat around it. It was my first 
sitting by a peat fire, and long shall I remember 
the agreeable incidents which accompanied it. 
A gentleman, Judge M., of Bellefontaine, and two 
interesting daughters made a part of the party. 
He was born and brought up in the immediate 
vicinity of the Indian tribes, who, until a few 
years since, inhabited a neighboring county, and 
related to us many traits of Indian life and char¬ 
acter. Thus, in agreeable intercourse passed 
away the evening, closed by an assemblage 
round a table spread with a substantial lunch 
preparatory to the departure of Judge M. and 
myself, which came quite too early upon our 
scene of enjoyment. As the hour of ten drew 
near, the distant whistle of the locomotive com¬ 
pelled us to bid adieu to the hospitalities of Col. 
James and his agreeable family, and in a few 
moments we took the cars in their upward route, 
my companion to his home, an hour and a half 
distant at Bellefontaine, and myself through a 
night-long and sleepless ride to Sandusky, where 
I arrived at early morning. 
In a leisure hour, I may give you some account 
of a day in and around the interesting country 
bordering Sandusky. A Visitor. 
-- 
Sheep in the Rio Grande.— A gallant officer 
of the United States Army writes us from Texas, 
that they have just established a flock of 2,000 
Merino sheep on the banks of the Rio Grande, 
their pasture fields to be the late battle ground 
of Palo Alto. This is putting the soil to much 
better use than to support the strife of hostile 
armies. 
