THE CULTIVATOR 
85 
lumbermen what was the blood of 
the best cattle which they have em¬ 
ployed in this business for the last 
twelve or twenty years, and so far 
as they can tell, you will find it to 
have been descended from stock 
imported within a comparatively 
few years, by Mr. Vaughan, Mr. 
Thorndike and others, or that it 
has sprung from bulls of the Bake- 
well, improved Short Horn, or 
Hereford breeds, and their crosses, 
which have been carried to that 
region of country. 
But I have not time to enter into 
details in this matter. There are 
extremes on this, as on other sub¬ 
jects. Some who have chosen a 
particular variety of foreign stock 
as a hobby, are apt to imagine that 
no other breed has any merits. On 
the other hand, there are those who 
obstinately refuse to try any change 
from the “native breed;” standing 
in a similar situation to the Irish¬ 
man who refused to try any other 
kind of wheat than that which his 
great great grandfather had used, 
on the plea that it was “nathral^’ 
to the soil. The blindness of pre¬ 
judice is the “ sin that most easily 
besets us,” and against that we 
should be constantly on our guard. 
We should learn to judge from 
priwcipfo, and before our opinions 
are made up on any subject, it 
should be understood. There are 
and will be diversities of opinion 
on the relative merits of different 
breeds of cattle, for the same purposes and for different 
purposes; and I know of no more important service 
which could be rendered by an agricultural socie y pos¬ 
sessed of sufficient means, like your State Society, than 
to institute a series of properly conducted experiments, 
by which the truth on this subject should be elicited and 
•diffused. S. Howard. 
Zanesville, 0., March 5, 1843. 
IMPROVED SHORT HORN HEIFER “ HEBE.”—(Fig 
THE PROPERTY OF MAJ. J. B. DILL, AUBURN. 
At the Fair of the New-York State Agricultural Society, held at Albany, Sept. 1842, “Hebe” re¬ 
ceived the first prize as the best two year old heifer. The portrait, particularly in the head, does not 
do justice to the heifer, which was commended by the judges as “a very superior animal.” Hebe, a 
pure white, calved April 1, 1840—sired by American Comet—dam. Gazelle, by Charles, 1816—g. d. 
Crocus by Romulus, 2563—g. g. d. Prize by Marlbro, 1189—g. g. g. d. Tulip by Regent, 646—g. g. 
g. g. d. Primrose by North Star, 459—[See Herd Book.] 
{^In giving the pedigree of Gazelle, in our last No., an error occurred in the No. of Regent, 
should have read 546, instead of 516. 
It 
MASS. PREMIUM FARMS. 
on your communicant, but a large community of indus¬ 
trious farmers. Respectfully yours, 
Laporte, la., April.lOj 1843. James Whittem. 
PRODUCT OF DAIRY COWS. 
Editors Cultivator —I notice in the last number of 
your paper a proposition of Mr. Sotham, at Hereford 
Hall, to ascertain the product, for the current year, of 
his dairy of Hereford cows, for the benefit of the pub¬ 
lic. I entertain the opinion that it is only by pursuing 
this course that the public can ever become enlightened 
on this subject. We have had theories and opinions, 
unsubstantiated by facts, in abundance; we now call for 
proof of these theories, and it can only be furnished by 
experiments of this character. The isolated cases which 
have been exhibited as tests of superior milking quali¬ 
ties in some of the improved breeds of cows, in my 
judgment prove nothing. Similar examples can be 
shown respecting any breed. It is not enough that a 
single cow, for a single week, yields a large product, 
upon high keeping. Place, with ten or twenty others 
of the same kind, this cow, and keep them in the same 
manner that the native cows of the ordinary dairy farmer 
are kept; weigh and measure the products for the period 
of a year; and if they possess superior properties, it 
will by this process be made evident. I should be happy 
if some gentleman who has a dairy of Short Horns, will 
pursue this course and give the result. If there is such 
an one, I wish to state, for his encouragement, that from 
my dairy of twelve cows, (not one of which possesses a 
drop of royal blood,) for the current year, commencing 
1st March, 1842, I made 6,403 lbs. of cheese and butter, 
or about 533| lbs. per head—the cheese weighed when 
cured and sold. There is no estimate here; it is the ac¬ 
tual weight. The feed of the cows was grass and hay 
alone, no meal or roots being used. Mr. Sotham is go¬ 
ing ahead on the right principle: success to him. In 
this way we shall become possessed of the truth, which 
in these days of humbug and moonshine, is a great desi¬ 
deratum. Respectfully yours, Jas. T. Norton. 
Goshen, Com., April 17, 1843. 
THRESHING MACHINES. 
Messrs. Editors —From the great need of good 
Threshing Machines for the use of fertile prairie farms, 
I take the liberty of soliciting the favor of your inform¬ 
ing me where this valuable desideratum can be found. 
(Its true we have them in plenty, such as they are, but 
the}’’ are rather complicated and too expensive.) I wish 
to procure one of simple construction, suitable only for 
such individuals who have farms sufficiently large to jus¬ 
tify the erection of one on his own premises, and one 
that will thresh out say from 100 to 150 bushels per day. 
The object I have in view, is to establish a manufactory 
of such an article, if the design of a suitable one can be 
obtained. 
I have long felt quite satisfied of the economy arising 
from having one on the farm, stationary, as in unpropi- 
tious weather for out door employment, your farm hands 
can go to threshing out grain. If you can oblige me by 
an introduction to any patentee or manufacturer of this 
article, I need not say you will confer a favor not only 
PORK AT THE WEST. 
The Cincinnatti Gazette has lately had several papers 
on the pork trade of the west, and particularly of Cin¬ 
cinnatti, which have much interested us, as exhibiting 
the rise of that business, its present extent, and the vast 
magnitude it may be reasonably expected hereafter to 
assume. We have room for onlj^ a few facts gleaned 
from the Gazette, which it will be seen corroborate the 
positions assumed by us in some late remarks on the oil 
trade of the west. 
The pork trade of the west does not date more than 
twenty years back; when from five thousand to ten thou¬ 
sand hogs were cut in a season. The farmer who drove 
his hogs to market, then paid the butcher from 12 to 20 
cents per head for killing, and the butcher retained the 
offal as at present. The butcher now pays the farmer 
from 10 to 25 cents premium for the privilege of killing. 
The number of hogs killed at Cincinnati is this year es¬ 
timated at 250,000, and a capital of about two millions 
of dollars is employed. Hogs are driven to the Cincin¬ 
nati market from parts of Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana and 
Illinois; few, however, from a greater distance than200 
miles, and the greater part within a circle of 300 miles in 
diameter, of which that city is the centre. Within the 
above district it is estimated that 500,000 hogs are pre¬ 
pared for market; and of this number 75,000 are raised 
in the Wabash valley alone. This is an important fact, 
as it may reasonably be expected, that now when the 
Erie and Wabash canal is completed, a large portion of 
the pork from this fertile valley, will find its way 
through our canal to New-York. 
In driving hogs to market, the farmers frequently club 
together, each one having his hogs marked, and drive 
them to market in droves of from 500 to 1,000; though 
the farmer sometimes sells to drovers, who purchase by 
the gross weight living. Such droves will travel from 6 
to 10 miles a day, much depending on the state of the 
roads. The Berkshires are said to be the best travelers. 
This fact is worthy of notice, as it disposes of the prin¬ 
cipal objection to their introduction and spread in the 
west. There are a great variety of breeds of hogs in 
the west, such as the Chinese, Irish, several English, and 
the Russian breeds, with a multitude of crosses. “Hogs 
have been raised here weighing over 1200 lbs., but the 
average weight is from 200 to 250 lbs.—the latter size 
being the most desirable.” This must refer to packing 
pork of particular kinds; as where they are intended for 
lard, from 300 to 350 lbs. hogs, well fatted, are found 
the best. 
The western pork differs from the eastern in one re¬ 
spect. What food they receive while fattening is corn 
exclusively. The various methods of making pork prac¬ 
ticed in the east, such as feeding apples, boiling potatoes, 1 
using barley, &c. are unknown at the west. The hogs ' 
are taken from the forests in many instances, and turned 
at once into the corn fields, where they remain till dri¬ 
ven or sold. Of one thing the foreign purchaser of 
western pork may be certain; his pork has not been fat¬ 
tened on mutton; sheep are too valuable there for such 
purposes. This year a large portion of the western pork 
has been packed with direct reference to sales in Europe, 
and prepared in the English mode. Should the trade 
succeed as it now promises, a market for pork and lard 
will be secured, which will prevent the fluctuations 
which has hitherto attended the pork trade, of the west. 
We find in the N. E. Farmer of 
March 8th, the statements of the 
several successful candidates for 
the premiums on farms, offered ■ y 
the Ag. Society of that state, and 
have examined them with much 
interest, as showing how much can 
be done in a short time to improve 
farms, where there is energy and 
intelligence in the occupant. If 
we wished to convince any of our 
readers—we hope there are none 
who doubt it—that manure is the 
great source of agricultural wealth, 
and the means of making and using 
it the surest proof of agricultural 
success, we would request them to 
procure and read these staterpents 
for themselves; for though neces¬ 
sarily brief in the replies to the 
propounded queries, on this point 
they are perfectly conclusive. We 
shall make a few extracts, and first 
from the paper of Mr. Morgan of 
Palmer, in reply to query 20, 
“ What are your means of making 
manure?” 
Last year fatted 28 hogs. I fur¬ 
nished them with muck from the 
banks of ditches, turf from the road 
side, weeds, and every thing of the 
kind I could collect. Fatted 66 we¬ 
thers, which I sold for $585. Al¬ 
so fatted 57 oxen, and wintered 51 
head of cows, steers, and young 
cattle, and one span of horses. My 
entire stock was kept on cut feed. 
The whole labor was performed by two men. I am ful¬ 
ly persuaded this process is a great saving of fodder—I 
think at least 20 per cent. Carted from my barn, 767 
loads of manure last spring. Have now 103 head of cat¬ 
tle; 24 horses fitting for market, and have 97 sheep. One 
barn is 123 feet long, by 36. Have a cellar under the 
whole barn; can drive in with cart and oxen. Nearly 
all my manure is covered. Average weight of my 28 
hogs, 329 lbs. Through the summer and fore part of 
the fall, fed them on raw potatoes and apples, with one 
bushel of corn once in two days, buried in holes in the 
muck, for them to root over. Carted from my hog pen 
last spring, 443 loads of manure. 
This was an old worn out farm in 1839, of 145 acres, 
and purchased by Mr. Morgan, at that time, for $2,140, 
crops included. Of his land, he had in 1842, in tillage 
21 acres, in mowing 55, the remainder pasture and wood¬ 
land. Who can doubt that he has, as he says, doubled 
his crops of grain and grass, when they look at his ma¬ 
nure heaps. More than twelve hundred loads in a year 
from a farm of 145 acres; how few are the farmers who 
provide the same supply, no matter how great their num¬ 
ber of acres. 
This other statements agree with Mr. Morgan’s, in the 
importance attached to manures, and in their efforts to in¬ 
crease the quantity used on their several farms. Thus 
Mr. Harrison says;—I make manure in a vault, in which 
I keep six or eight hogs for that purpose; I cart in earth, 
ashes, lime, all the filth of the house, and all I can get 
from low places. Through the summer, I feed my hogs 
with the wash of the house, and mow clover for them. 
I alsp bury corn in the vault, with a view to make them 
stir up and dig over my dung. I fat them by boiling po¬ 
tatoes and pumpkins, mixing in while hot, barley meal, 
to scald it. Mr. Richardson carts peat or swamp muck 
into his barn yards and hog pen, with wash from the road 
side, potatoe tops, weeds, &c., and puts peat under all pla¬ 
ces where he throws out manure, to save all the leaching. 
In the spring, mixes all together with the best effect. 
The business of making manure is loo much neglected 
by farmers generally. There can be no doubt that near¬ 
ly every man who works a farm, might double the quan¬ 
tity of manure produced annually. It is true it would 
require labor; but in what part of the farming pro¬ 
cess is the laborer so certain of ample reward, as when 
increasing his manure heap? All experience proves that 
expenditures for this purpose, are investments of capital 
that return to the farmer an interest that should satisfy 
the most penurious. 
Faith and Works. —There is no pursuit in life in 
which the union of faith and works is more neeessaiy, 
or productive of better effect, than in that of farming. 
This is well illustrated by the following little story, 
which we have somewhere heard or read. At the early 
settlement of New-Hampshire, the inhabitants of a town 
in the interior consisted chiefly of Irish or Scotch Pres¬ 
byterians, who among other things, adopted the follow¬ 
ing custom. When their fields were planted and sown, 
the minister, with his elders, deacons, and the farmers, 
visited each field in succession, offering up a short prayer 
at each, that their labors might result in a plentiful har¬ 
vest. One day the procession engaged in this pious pre¬ 
ambulation arrived at a field, where the minister stop¬ 
ped, took a quick but keen survey, and then addressed 
his flock to this purport: ‘‘ My friends and brethren, we 
may pass along; it will be of no use to pray over this 
field, till there is more manure spread upon it; other¬ 
wise, even the prayer of a righteous marl, however fer- 
1 vent, cannot be effectual.’^ 
