86 THE CULTIVATOR. March. 
“ The bull Walton was also exhibited at the late 
great meeting of the Liverpool Agricultural Show, and 
received the highest honor of being the best aged bull 
exhibited beyond two years old; and his son, named the 
Lad of Safton, received the highest honor of being de¬ 
clared the best bull under two years old. Lad of Saf- 
ton’s dam was got by my Duke of Northumberland. 
In the evening after the exhibition, the bull Walton 
was shipped, and sent to Dumfries to the great annual 
meeting of the Highland Agricultural Society of Scot¬ 
land ; where the premiums are open to all England; 
and he there again received the highest premium for 
the best Bull of any age; and was esteemed the best 
bull ever exhibited in Scotland, of the Short-Horn breed. 
The second best bull exhibited at Dumfries, of the 
Short-Horn breed, belonged to Mr. Wm. Jobson, and 
was got by my second Duke of Northumberland; so that 
the best bulls exhibited were of the Duke of Northum¬ 
berland tribe of cattle, and owed their superiority to 
that blood. The public mind in England begins to see 
more and more of the merits of this tribe of cattle. 
The late Earl Spencer and other breeders, have recent¬ 
ly been purchasing descendants of my stock. Mr. C. 
W. Harvey, owner of Walton, previous to his exhibi¬ 
tion at Liverpool, let a son of Walton for 60 guineas, 
(about $300,) for the use of 12 cows; and I have let 
bulls higher than this—75 guineas for the use of 12 
cows. I have no doubt that Mr. Bell, (who is his 
owner,) will readily sell the young bull out of your 
Lady Barrington, 3d, at 100 guineas, though he is a 
red color. The fashion here is roan, and such is the 
caprice here at present, that a roan color will give one- 
third more price. Walton is a roan, out of a red, 
Lady Barrington, and his calves are mostly roan or 
white. 
The original Dutchess family are red and white, with 
an occasional roan. My 50th Dutchess is white, the 
only white one that has been of that family, and she is 
by Duke of Northumberland.” 
I might multiply extracts from the letter of this vete¬ 
ran scientific breeder, which doubtless would be accepta¬ 
ble to many who are devoting their time and means to 
improve the breed of cattle of this country; the emi¬ 
nent success which has crowned the steady, unwavering 
perseverance of this gentleman for a period of 60 years, 
would prove an immense value to the agriculturists of 
this county, should the example here presented be fol¬ 
lowed by our countrymen, in the improvement of the 
different breeds of cattle in this country. Mr. Bates is 
now over 80 years of age, and is blessed with the en¬ 
joyment of uninterrupted health, and continues to devote 
his time and energies to agricultural pursuits, with a 
perseverance which is characteristic of the devotion of 
a man of thirty. Permit me to add in the language of 
another, speaking of Mr. Bates as a breeder:—“This 
gentleman was not the copyist but the contemporary of 
Mr. Colling, with whom he lived on terms of friendly 
intercourse, and as breeders, they indulged in a free 
interchange of views and opinions. It was not, there¬ 
fore surprising that they arrived at the same conclusions, 
and pursued the same means, and aimed at the same 
results. Those who feel any interest in the subject will 
find much that is curious and instructive, in a close 
examination ®f Mr. Bates’ course of breeding, which 
may be done by reference to the Herd-Book, and by a 
little subsequent arrangement of the materials, he will 
then find such an investigation is the better worth pe¬ 
rusing, since the awards of the Royal Agricultural Soci¬ 
ety in 1839, have borne such ample testimony to its 
success. Those who make this analysis may have to 
acknowledge that “ close breeding ” in competent hands, 
is the acme of the science.” 
Mr. Bates principally attributes his success in breed¬ 
ing to the blood of his Dutchess tribe, which were 
originally bred by the ancestors of the Duke of North¬ 
umberland, of which he says, in a communication 
addressed to the publishers of the print of his celebra¬ 
ted prize bull Duke of Northumberland—“ I have un¬ 
doubted information from the best authority for saying 
that this tribe of Short-Horns was in the possession of 
the ancestors of the present Duke for two centuries, and 
that Sir Hugh Smythson, the grandfather of the present 
Duke, kept up the celebrity of this tribe of cattle by 
paying the utmost attention to their breeding, having 
purchased my original cow of this tribe of cattle of the 
late Charles Colling, Esq., of Ketton, near Darlington, 
35 years ago; they had been in the possession of Mr. 
Colling 20 years, who purchased his original cow from 
Stanwix, of the agent of the Duke of Northumberland, 
and called her Dutchess.” 
Mr. Bates has retained in his posession all the females 
of the descendants of this heifer. The record of the 
untiring zeal and perseverance displayed by Mr. Bates 
and many others in England in the improvement of 
their herds, should stimulate the breeders of cattle in 
this country to renewed perseverance. There is now 
in this country some of the best breeds of cattle that 
England possesses, and we can have more; and no far¬ 
mer who has the means at command, could make a 
more profitable use of those means than to purchase at 
the present prices some of the best improved breeds 
for his farm, and when he has them pay that attention 
to their breeding which he should do, and he would 
find his own interest eventually promoted, and would 
have the satisfaction to reflect that he was contributing 
his aid in advancing the great interests of husbandry. 
Truly yours, &c. Geo. Yail 
Troy, Jan., 1846. 
INDIAN CORN CULTURE AT THE SOUTH. 
L. Tucker, Esq. —This letter is particularly intend¬ 
ed for the perusal of the planters in the southwest. If 
there be any particularly successful in making large 
crops of corn per acre, say in a field or crop of one 
hundred acres or more, that will average all over, say 
thirty bushels to the acre, I should be much gratified to 
see a statement in the Cultivator, of the whole process 
of making said crop; first, the preparation of the land; 
the distance in planting observed; whether in hills or 
drill; one stalk or two stalks to the hill; and if drilled, 
the distances, &c., observed—what manures are used, 
and if cotton seed, how applied; on the surface or below; 
and an exact account of the plowing and hoeing at each 
working given to the corn. It is thought by many that 
making corn crops is a task so easy, it requires but 
little attention, and no doubt but the above inquiries 
will startle some, thinking the questions asked were 
already known to any who had made five crops. A 
great deal is said here about making corn of late, and a 
great deal more has been said to have been made than 
really has, for no planter in my knowledge knows for 
certainty what he has had housed; all is guess work, 
and what is certain, the corn never holds out in one fourth 
of his calculations. It is gathered and housed unshucked. 
The only basis for calculations are the wagon loads, no 
two men agreeing on what the wagon contains; and 
last, but not least, the acres in the fields planted are all 
guess-work. As such, one is not far wrong in sur¬ 
mising that from beginning to last, all is guess-work 
and uncertainty; nothing based on certainty or facts. 
Our lands are fresh and strong, and with proper culti¬ 
vation they ought to be made to average at least thirty 
bushels of corn to the acre. For my own part I have 
heretofore been injured by crowding too much; our 
climate being too hot, it has invariably fired. I have 
manured highly with cotten seed; distance 3| by 3£ 
feet one stalk, and 5 by 5 feet two stalks, which shared 
the same fate. It appears to me that in strong lands 
well manured, corn should stand these distances and do 
well; nevertheless the results of the last two years have 
proven disadvantageous. My first plowings have been 
deep; first siding the corn with a skooter, and breaking 
out the balk with a turn plow; the last plowings very 
light, depending on good hoeing, dirting the corn with 
the hoe. My lands planted are porous earth, light soil, 
and will yield on an average, eight hundred pounds of 
cotton per acre, unmanured. 
In conclusion, if there are any planters who do make 
for certain, thirty bushels of corn to the acre, all round* 
