RURAL UF £ 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
AN ORIGINAL WEEKLY 
RURAL, LITERARY AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER. 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORE, 
With an Able Corps of Assistants and Contributors. 
Tire Rural New-Yorker is designed to be unsurpassed 
in Value, Purity, Usefulness and Variety of Contents, and 
unique and beautiful in Appearance. Its Conductor devotes 
his personal attention to the supervision of its various de¬ 
partments, and earnestly labors to render the Rural an 
eminently Reliable Guide on all the important Practical, 
Scientific and other Subjects intimately connected with the 
business of those whose interests it zealously advocates.— 
It embraces more Agricultural, Horticultural, Scientific, 
Educational, Literary and News Matter, interspersed with 
appropriate and beautiful Engravings, than any other jour¬ 
nal,—rendering it the most complete Agricultural, Lit¬ 
erary and Family Newspaper in America. 
219 " All communications, and business letters, should be 
addressed to D. D. T. MOORE, Rochester, N. Y. 
For Terms and other particulars, see last page. 
RURAL LETTERS FROM EUROPE -2. 
BY SANFORD HOWARD. 
Glasgow Cattte Show, —Ayrshire and other Daily Breeds, 
-•^Athe " Points” by which they are Judged—Shorthorns, 
GailU ays and West Highlanders — Draft Horses, Road¬ 
sters and “Ponies for Milk Carts”—Black faced Mountain 
tjheep—American Reaping and Mowing Machines—Cattle 
Fair at Tarbolton; Location, Traditions, &c.,—The Scene, 
Past and Present contrasted— Wallace and Burns; His¬ 
toric Reminiscences, &c.,— Closing Scenes of the Fair. 
Kilmarnock, Scotland, June 18, 1859. 
In my last I made a brief allusion to the Glas¬ 
gow Cattle Show, and a more particular notice of 
some portions of it may be interesting to some of 
your readers. To the public generally, the most 
attractive department was the Ayrshire cattle. In 
several of the western counties of Scotland, dairy¬ 
ing is extensively carried on. Butter and cheese 
are made in large quantities, and in the large 
towns much milk is sold. The Ayrshire breed of 
cows is almost universally kept here, and it is 
Ws-ync Co., N. Y., where he wa« very successful 
in the stud. 
“Norman” is half-brother to “Gen. Taylor,” of 
California—also half-brother to “Grey Eddy,” now 
of Philadelphia—and is the sire of “Prince John,” 
of New York City. 
This line NoiiXuA me property of 
Chas. S. Mack, Loekpoin^^iagara Co., N. Y., is 
17 years old, 16 hands high, and weighs 1,255 lbs. 
His native color, a beautiful dapple grey, (now 
light dapple ;) was got by Norman, (by some called 
“ Morse’s Grey,”) out of a Messenger mare; grand- 
sfre, imported Norman, brought from. Nonnaady, 
Prance, to Quebec, and purchased by James Mc- 
Nett, of Washington Co., N. Y., and put into the 
stud barn. “ Norman ” took the first premium at 
the New York State Fair, Syracuse, 1849, being 
then owned by Wm. P. Nottingham, of Palmyra, 
and oats 58 cents, but wheat was worth $2,50a 
$2,6234 per bushel. Now, while all other kinds of 
grain are declining in price, corn holds its rate of 
75aS0 cents per bushel, and oats are in demand at 
45a50 cents the weighed bushel—an advance of 
five cents since our issue of 2d July. 
But enough concerning prices,— when men have 
nothing to sell an array of figui es are only arith¬ 
metical aggravations. True enough,— did the ag¬ 
gravating influences extend no further we would 
be ready to exclaim, with the ocean-lookout, “ all's 
well!” What is a depleted purse to an empty 
stomach ? That the probabilities seem to indicate 
the necessity for an exceeding and very unusual 
care in the dispensation of fodder, or “ short com¬ 
mons,” at the very least, will inevitably follow, the 
greatest doubter in “panic crop-reports” cannot 
deny. One of the most observing and intelligent 
of our farmers, in speaking upon the condition of 
the grass lands, remarked that “ upon new mea¬ 
dows the crop was light, and upon old, without 
exception, it was not worth the labor of shaving.” 
The keeper of the hay-market in this city,—who 
has noted the various fluctuations in value, with 
the causes for such changes,—gives his unqualified 
half a penny per head was collected for the cattle 
offered, and this was all that was required to ob¬ 
tain the facilities of the Fair. 
Shortly after 12 o’clock a band of music appear¬ 
ed on the mound (the top of the hill,) and many 
well-dressed ladies stationed themselves there for 
a while, listening to the stirring airs from the in¬ 
struments, and enjoying the rural holiday. Chil¬ 
dren of various ages had been out by hundreds all 
the morning. Soon after 2 o’clock every person 
and every animal left the hill, and nothing was 
seen of Tarbolton Fair, except the numerous lots 
of cattle wending their way, on the various roads, 
to the farms of their new owners. But the picture 
was daguerreotyped on my mind, and will often be 
reviewed with pleasure. 
has been done from the earliest period of the 
Anglo-Saxon occupancy. At the foot of the mound 
is a broad terrace, where it is said the heathen 
worshipers were gathered, and who were kept 
from the sacred mount by a circle of trees at its 
base. It is said that at a later period, this spot 
was the seat of judiciary tribunals for the inhabit¬ 
ants of the neighborhood. 
On this terrace and on the slope of the hill be¬ 
low, were collected on the present occasion, within 
the space of two hours, between 100 and 500 head 
of cattle with their attendants, while on the whole 
hill were several thousand persons, as purchasers 
I or spectators. It was a most interesting scene.— 
for the purposes mentioned. In fact it is the only 
dairying breed in Scotland. Other breeds have 
been tried—as the milking (Yorkshire) variety of 
the Short-horn, and the Channel Islands (Alderney) 
breed. The former is less hardy than the Ayrshire, 
is a large consumer, and is said to afford less 
milk—and especially less butter—in proportion to 
the cost of keeping. The Channel Islands breed 
answers well for butter, where good shelter is 
given, but does not bear the exposure which the 
Ayrshires are generally subjected to, and is less 
profitable in the cheese dairy. The Ayrshires are 
constantly disseminating themselves. They are 
rapidly increasing in Ireland; many orders are 
annually sent from England for them, and even the 
governments of France, Prussia, Russia, and other 
countries have sent agents to procure them. The 
rising colonies of Australia and Van Dieman’s Land 
have also introduced them. The reputation which 
WHAT ABOUT FODDER 1 
horns. Their heads, black or speckled, are 
beautiful—the eye full and bright. Their wool, 
of a year’s growth, nearly reaches to the ground. 
A prettier sight is seldom seen than a flock of 
these sheep, led by aline of bold, active, full-horn¬ 
ed rams, followed by ewes and young lambs. I 
think the breed may be useful in America, and I 
have bought a small lot for Mr. Isaac Stickney, 
of Boston. 
Among the implements at the Glasgow Show 
were McCormick’s reaping machine, Hussey’s, 
and Manny’s and Wood’s combined reapers and 
mowers. The two former have been somewhat 
modified since their introduction into Britain. 
The latter has been tried the present season as a 
mower, in England, with good results. 
A few days ago I attended a fair for the sale of 
cattle, at Tarbolton. 
again. 
The occasion was not en¬ 
tirely novel, as I had attended some fairs of this 
kind before, but taken in connection with the 
associations of the place, it had a peculiar interest. 
It will be recollected that this town and neighbor¬ 
hood are connected with the Plowman Poet of 
Ayrshire, or to give him a higher title by which 
he is recognized, the National Poet of Scotland. 
The fair was held on what is called Fire Hill—that 
“hill” which Burns says he “had come round 
about”—(it is hinted that he could not have trav¬ 
eled the foot-path which leads over it that Dight) 
—where he met the grim personage who commu¬ 
nicated to him the designs of Doctor Hornbrook. 
This hill is a singular spot for the curious. It is 
principally a natural elevation, at the apex of 
which is a mound of artificial formation, where, 
according to tradition, the Druids held religious 
worship. They kept a fire burning here day and 
night, for certain periods, and called the place 
Tar-bolton. Partly in remembrance of this an- 
be shown. Indeed, several persons have been 
candid enough to admit, that a cow which did not 
come up to the fashionable standard in this point, 
might afford an equal or greater quantity of milk, 
and be in no way inferior on the score of actual 
profit. Yet the shape of the “vessel,” (as it is 
called,) is often made the leading, and some- 
) times almost the only point, in judging cows in 
milk. At a show, (not that of Glasgow,) which 
I lately attended, the medal for the best cow or 
heifer, was awarded to a clumsy-headed, sour- 
countenanced, weak-backed animal, which I would 
not have accepted as a gift. But this was probably 
! an extreme case, and I am glad to know that there 
are breeders who will not be led by the mere caprice 
of the day, to sacrifice the most important points 
in reference to constitution and general usefulness. 
, The classes of “ aged ” animals (those three 
HOW TO RAISE TURKEYS. 
