THE CULTIVATOR 
189 
THE BEST COUNTRY FOR SHEEP. 
breed equal to the Galloway in the point of constitution? 
It xvas certainly superior in others, and if equal in this, 
where the benefit of a cross? The ti'uth is, to secure a 
particular quality, Mr. Collings crossed his Short Horns 
with a breed inferior in every respect, a single point or 
quality excepted, to his fine animals, and every breeder 
knows with certain and eminent success. Mr. Berry 
found that too much attention had been paid to the form 
and fattening qualities of his fine stock of Short Horns, 
and that their milking qualities had been neglected. De¬ 
sirous to reimpart to his herd this quality, what did he 
do? He chose a bull from a family superior in milking 
properties to his own, but inferior in other respects, as a 
comparison of the portrait of his bull with that of Lord 
Althorpe, in Youatt, will show, and soon found that 
without deteriorating his original stock in the least, he 
had added to their qualities, by a cross with an animal 
on the whole inferior to his own, that of being excellent 
milkers. These instances, and such are not confined to 
cattle, are sufficient, we think, to demonstrate the possi¬ 
bility of improving a breed of animals by a cross with 
another inferior in many respects. We have never ad¬ 
vised our breeders to crosses with the native stock, with 
an idea or purpose of improving the pure Short Horns, 
although they have been improved by a cross with na¬ 
tive stock, or history is but a fable. We know the risk 
attendant on such a process too well to advise any to 
incur it needlessly, and we leave such an absurdity with 
those who coined it. Our object has been to urge upon 
our farmers the importance of improving their stock of 
native animals by crosses with pure bloods, never using 
part blood males, and always recurring, after a single 
cross, to pure blood; and we hope no idle clamor about 
‘‘scrubs” and “dunghills,” or charges of enmity to the 
Short Horns or other improved breeds, or false issues as 
to the ends we aim at, in ui-ging this subject of the im¬ 
provement of domestic stock, will prevent our farmers 
from going steadily forward in the work which the ex¬ 
hibitions of 1843 prove has been so successfully com¬ 
menced. 
Of one thing we are certain: if the Short Horns or 
other improved breeds have enemies, they will be ■m'- 
tiplied a thousand fold by the injudicious cour« n r 
some who profess to be their friends, par excell&n^o. ai ^ 
pursuing. The results of these indiscriminate aitaclis 
on our native animats, and the dignified appellations so 
liberally bestowed on the animals themselves and those 
who venture to think our native breeds possess some 
excellences that may be turned to good account in con¬ 
nection with pure blood animals, are beginning to be 
felt, in a reaction of the public mind that cannot fail to 
be injurious to the cause of improvement. Well may 
the breeders of pure blood animals exclaim, ‘“'If these 
men claim to be our friends, heaven save us from our 
friends!'’ We desire to see in every neighborhood of 
farmers a pure blood bull of some of the improved 
breeds, the one that shall be the best adapted to the 
wants or wishes of that particular place; and with our 
knowledge of these breeds, we doubt not that in a great 
majority of cases, the choice should fall on the Short 
Horns. Let not the breeders of pure blood Short Horns, 
Herefords, Devons or Ayrshires be disheartened. Pub¬ 
lic opinion is becoming enlightened; the true value of 
pure blood in improving our native herds is being bet¬ 
ter understood and appreciated. The times, that have 
been so long “out of joint,” are becoming better, and 
the prospects of the farmer and breeder are, as a matter 
of course, brightening. 
FRENCH AND BELGIAN FARMING. 
We find in Mr. Weed’s letters, the following account 
of the manner in which a French harvest is gathered. 
Such notices, by contrast, show most forcibly the wide 
difference existing between modern and ancient hus¬ 
bandry. 
“A farmer of Western New-York, who dashes into 
his hundred acre wheat field with a force sufficient to cut, 
rake, bind, and thresh it, in two or three days, would be 
infinitely amused with the primitive mode of harvesting 
in France. Here the wheat is all cut with the sickle, 
and then bound by women, who place the sheaves in a 
sort of scraggy rack upon the back of donkeys that move 
along behind the reapers. When the donkey gets load¬ 
ed, (some eight or ten small sheaves in each of his wood¬ 
en saddle bags,) he is marched oflf to the road, where the 
wheat is transferred to a clumsy wagon, and drawn lazi¬ 
ly hence by three French ponies, tandem, to the granary ! 
In this way, a dozen people consume a day in harvesting 
an acre. Two-thirds of the people I saw at work in the 
fields, were women.” 
As a contrast to the foregoing, we present the follow¬ 
ing from a lelter written by a correspondent of the “ Tri¬ 
bune.” It shows conclusively the advantages of an im¬ 
proved husbandry: 
“ The country between Ostend and Bruges is, like 
nearly all Belgium, a perfect paradise for farmers. It is 
as level as a floor, and is most laboriously cultivated, till 
every inch of ground is compelled to produce its utmost. 
It is one vast garden, and the tulips of the Dutch fanciers 
do not receive more unceasing attention and nursing, than 
the turneps and cabbages of the Belgian farmers. The 
fields are covered with men and women, digging and 
weeding, and well they may, for in one district (St. 
Nicholas,) there are 5210 inhabitants to every square 
league. The superficial farmers of Am.erica, who im¬ 
perfectly turn up the soil of a thousand acres, might take 
% profitable lesson from the care and skill which here 
eiiables every acre to support more than its man.” 
The question as to the best part of the United States 
for sheep husbandry, and the growth of wool, appears of 
late to have elicited considerable attention, and very dif¬ 
ferent sections of the country have claimed the prefer¬ 
ence in this respect. That sheep will succeed in nearly 
every part, is doubtless true; but when we take into 
view the difference in soil and climate, it is scarcely pos¬ 
sible that some parts should not be better adapted to the 
production of wool, or furnish it at less cost than others. 
It has been generally supposed that warm climates wei'e 
not suited to the growth of the finer wools, however fa¬ 
vorable they might be for the sheep itself; but from the 
experiments that have been made in the southwestern 
states, in the case of the Merino and Saxon, it would 
seem that this supposition was erroneous, at least so far 
as the interior of these states is concerned. 
Maine, Vermont, the south of New-York and the north 
of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, Wiskonsan, Iowa, and 
Tennessee, have respectively claimed the distinction of 
the best sheep and wool districts; a fact in itself sufficient 
to show there can be no reasonable limit to the produc¬ 
tion of wool in a country where it can profitably be 
grown over so large a surface. Still later than the claims 
put forth by the states and territories abovenamed, there 
appears in the Louisville Journal, an able and elaborate 
paper from the pen of Judge Beatty of Kentucky, on this 
subject, in which a great mass of evidence is adduced, 
from the testimony of gentlemen on the spot, to show 
that the western part of Virginia and the eastern part of 
Kentucky, or the whole region occupied by the slopes 
and vallies of the Cumberland ranges, are excellently a- 
dapted to sheep culture. The cheapness of the lands, 
only from five to ten dollars per hundred acres; the fine 
water, and elevated airy nature of the district, insuring 
the health of the animal; the ready formation of excel¬ 
lent blue grass and other pastures, and the shortness of 
the time in which it is generally necessary to furnish 
animals a trifle of food in the winter, generally from five 
to eight weeks, are certainly circumstances much in fa¬ 
vor of the position taken by the Judge. There are, how¬ 
ever, some counteracting causes, such as the descent of 
wolves occasionally from the mountains, and the pre¬ 
sence of poison laurel and ivy, killing sheep that eat 
them; but as the wolves are mostly exterminated, and 
sheep accustomed to such plants will never feed upon 
them, he considers these objections as of little conse¬ 
quence on the whole. 
The claims of Wiskonsan and Iowa are founded on the 
fact of the immense natural pastures already existing, 
furnishing abundance of food for both summer and win¬ 
ter, and at present costing absolutely nothing; while 
wool is one of those articles that costs less in transporta¬ 
tion, in proportion to its actual value, than almost any 
other article, thus enabling the wool grower of Wiskonsan 
or Illinois, to offer it at the Lowell Factories at rates but 
little higher than those of Vermont or New-York. We 
do not think, however, that the great question as to the 
effect which prairie lands, particularly what are called 
the wet prairies, will have on the health of sheep, as suf¬ 
ficiently settled by experience to determine Ihe value of 
these lands for sheep culture. Level, wet lands, or even 
those not wet, have not in general been found as suitable 
for sheep as drier, or more hilly ones. In Europe, it is 
in such districts, or where low meadows abound, that the 
foot rot makes such ravages in flocks, and where the 
disease has shown itself in this country, such districts or 
tracts have been found to aggravate it. If on the contra¬ 
ry, it should be found that sheep on the prairies do not 
suffer from foot rot, and those complaints that usually ap¬ 
pear where sheep are kept in large numbers, it seems to 
us that Wiskonsan and Iowa hold out great inducements 
to the wool grower. 
Although on all grain farms more or less sheep are 
necessary, it can scarcely be expected that the best grain 
districts of the Union will leave the production of wheat 
and corn for that of wool. And admitting that wool does 
not deteriorate at the south, we cannot expect the cotton 
planter to forsake cotton culture for wool growing. The 
genius of their institutions forbid it. That the wool bu¬ 
siness of this country is destined to exercise an important 
influence on our agricultural destiny, is certain; the two 
hundred millions of dollars now invested in its produc¬ 
tion, will in a few years be doubled, and every thing re¬ 
lating to such an interest cannot be otherwise than im¬ 
portant. We are glad the discussion of this matter, as to 
the best wool growing district has arisen; it will be the 
means of eliciting facts and establishing truths, especially 
if the investigations should be conducted by others as 
they have been by Judge Beatty. 
STUMP MACHINE. 
In our Oct. no. we published a drawing and descrip¬ 
tion of a stump machine, about which our correspond¬ 
ent, ‘‘M. A.” wishes further explanation. He says:— 
“Will H. T. C. tell us how that frame, constructed as it 
is, can sustain such a huge wheel and axle, with nothing 
to support it from swaying over to the right or left, but 
the ends of the axle passing through the upright posts, 
with pins driven through the gudgeons to keep the posts 
to their places? What if one end of the axle should be, 
by the make of the ground or from some other cause, a 
little more elevated than the other? Would not the 
chain draw perpendiciilarlj’, or incline to, and when 
the power is applied to the wheel, in an instant crush 
the whole machine to the ground? Or again: how is 
this ponderous machine to be moved by teams, with no¬ 
thing to keep it to its proper position but those two 
round tennons, some ten feet from the ground? How 
quick the post is split and the bearing of the gudgeon is 
destroyed, if one team should start a little too soon for 
the other upon the opposite ‘ sill.’ Messrs. Editors, I 
hope H. T. C. will be able to explain these difficulties, 
which I find in his stump machine. When he says that 
for fifteen years it has been in constant requisition, I con¬ 
clude there must be something about the drawing or de¬ 
scription which I do not understand.” 
PLOWING IN CORN FOR MANURE. 
We find in the Louisville Jom-nal of October 25th, an 
excellent article by a correspondent on the subject of 
manuring land, by sowing corn broadcast and plowing 
it under, as a green dressing. It is only one of the many 
instances which have come to our notice the present 
year, in which sowing corn has been experimented up¬ 
on, and in every instance with marked success. 
In the case recorded in the Journal, the field contained 
37 acres, and the year before had been in corn, and pre¬ 
vious to being sowil, had not been broken up, and the 
old stalks still remained on the ground. The latter part 
of April, 30 acres were sown with corn, at the rale of 
two bushels to the acre, and 7 acres at the rate of three 
bushels per acre. The whole, old stalks and all, was 
covered by the plow about two inches deep. It came 
up and grew equally until about two feet high, when a 
difference began to appear, and at maturity the thick 
sown was but five feet high, while that sown thin was 
seven or eight. The writer is decidedly of the opinion 
that two bushels or even less is a sufficient supply of 
seed per acre. To turn the corn under, a heavy roller 
was used, which pressing and mashing the corn close to 
the earth, and in one direction, enables the plow to cover 
it perfectly. In this way, stalks ten or twelve feet high 
may be crushed down and turned under without difficul¬ 
ty. The writer adds: 
“ Were my only object the rapid improvement of my 
soil within the shortest space of time, I would not seek 
further or better means than first sowing down thick 
with rye, which I would plow under just before the 
time of ripening, fo prevent its seeding the ground, and 
upon which I would sow one bushel and a half of corn 
per acre; thus in the same season plowing under a heavy 
coat of rye and corn, which, in the short space of twelve 
months, will equal if not surpass any benefit which can 
be derived from clover in two years.” 
THE HERD BOOK. 
We have been favored by E. P. Prentice, Esq. Mount 
Hope, with a copy of the new and long expected vol. 
(the 4th) of this work. It is an octavo volume of over 
800 pages, and is devoted exclusively to the pedigrees 
of Bulls, numbering from 2898 to 6699. Among them 
are 130 bulls bred in this country, by.Messrs. Prentice, 
Rotch, Bement, Van Rensselaers, Sherwood, Randall, 
Lennox, Hollis, and Gregory, of this state—Messrs. Rod- 
man, Derby, Lathrop, Silsby, and Williams, of M.ass.— 
Messrs. Bartlett, Collins, Hudson, Pasco, Phelps, Colton, 
Watson, and Whitney of Conn.—Messrs. Brinton, Bur¬ 
ton, Cope, Morris, and Powell of Pa.—Messrs. Clay, 
Gano, Majoiy, Martin, and Taylor of Ky_Messrs. 
Mahard, M’llvaine, Sullivant, Warfield, and the Ohio 
Company of Ohio. A fifth vol. of the Herd Bookisnow 
in press, to be devoted exclusively to females. 
P. S. A few copies of the fourth vol. have been sent 
us for sale. The cost, including duties, delivered here, 
is $7,50. 
IMPROVED RAIL FENCE. 
' Extract of a letter from Henrv Weston, Rensse¬ 
laer, Indiana: 
“ I observed in your no. for October a communica¬ 
tion from S. E. T. and a figure (79,) of a rail fence, 
which I intended to bring to your notice. I have had it 
in use for two years, and can speak experimentally of 
its qualities. It has not required the additional rider he 
suggests, nor have I even driven the stakes, though that 
is proper. It is more solid and firm, is more easily put 
up, occupies four feet less ground, is more readily re¬ 
moved or opened for gaps, and any thing will answer for 
stakes, the chief object being to hold the riders to their 
places. I have for this purpose tossed in mere limbs of 
trees, letting them fall into the angles formed by the top 
rail and the rider. The crossing of the stakes at bottom 
fills the angle of the fence that would otherwise permit 
the passage of unruly sheep or hogs. In a word, it is 
perfectly formidable.” 
The Genesee County Agricultural Society, seems 
to be going ahead finely—the last Fair, holclen on the 
4th and 5th of October, showing 367 animals offered 
for premiums—one hundred articles of domestic manu¬ 
facture, &c. An able address was delivered by T. C. 
Peters, Esq. 
In seasons of distress, the mind recovers itself by tak¬ 
ing hold first of one hope and then of another, until all 
its functions are restored; and it feels once more, that 
there is pleasure in looking forward and anticipating the 
light and warmth of to-morrow’s sun. 
The range of earthly good is narrow and soon trod¬ 
den ; after a short time there is no variety, and the en¬ 
joyment is without hope. 
