224 
THE CULTIVATOR. July 
that of one or two individuals who assisted in milking 
the cows and making the butter. The statements so 
made to be sealed on the first day of September next, 
and one copy to be directed, by mail, or otherwise, to 
Wm. Buckminster, Esq., Editor of the Boston Plough¬ 
man, and another copy to Luther Tucker, Editor of the 
Albany Cultivator, and by them to be published in their 
respective papers. 
Though the writer has great confidence in the supe¬ 
rior combination of excellencies possessed by the Dur- 
hams, his opinion is not less favorable in regard to their 
dairy qualities in particular; but whatever may be the 
result of the trial in question, it cannot fail to be of ser¬ 
vice to agriculturists| and hence his inducement to make 
this offer. 
Lest it may be thought that the writer’s cattle have 
received high keep, he would state that his cows were 
kept during the past winter, on hay at night, and sta¬ 
bled; during the day they were turned into the cattle 
yard, and fed upon cut cornstalks and straw, and were 
not fed upon roots. The cows which calved early in 
the season, were fed a small quantity of shorts or slops 
for two or three weeks before they were turned into 
pasture, but since then have received no other food than 
pasture. 
If the proposition herein made is accepted, Mr. Buck¬ 
minster will have the goodness to inform Mr. Tucker, 
Editor of the Cultivator, as soon as convenient. 
Troy, N. Y., June 8, 1846. V. 
BUFFALOES. 
Mr. Editor —Have any attempts been made in Mis¬ 
souri, or other parts of the United States, to domesti¬ 
cate the American buffalo or bison; and with what 
success? Can any one give information on this sub¬ 
ject? 
The buffalo in Europe is bred in Hungary for the 
same purpose as common cattle. The milk which they 
give is richer than other milk, and considerable in 
quantity. One animal yielded 1470 quarts in a year. 
As beasts of labor, they are very strong, but slow and 
unmanagable. The flesh of the calves is said to be 
good, but that of the old cattle, though sold as beef, is 
very indifferent. The number of these animals kept in 
Hungary, is said to be 70,000. 
The native domestic Hungarian cattle, bear a great 
resemblance to the wild white species which was for¬ 
merly, [and is yet kept in a few instances,] in England. 
They are of a dirty white color, are large, vigorous, 
and active. Their horns are of a prodigious length, 
exceeding in this respeet, even the Long-Horned 
breed of Lancashire. The oxen are most excellent¬ 
ly adapted to labor, uniting to all the qualities of 
the ordinary ox, a very superior degree of activity. 
The cow is perhaps deficient in milk; yet by care in 
the choice of the best, the quantity given by one has 
been increased to 2,000 quarts in a year. The cows are 
kept constantly in the house during the whole year, and 
are brushed and cleaned daily. Their stalls are kept 
perfectly neat, and are well constructed. 
Wm. Jennison. 
Cambridge, Mass., April, 1846. 
RECENT AMERICAN PATENTS. 
Reported for ;£ The Cultivator,” by Zenas C. Robbins, 
Mechanical Engineer, and Agent for procuring Pa¬ 
tents, Washington , D. C. 
For an improvement in the machine for making 
bricks; John Simpson, Decatur, Georgia. The nature 
of the improvement is set forth in the following claim: 
“ Having thus fully described my improved brick-mak¬ 
ing machine, what I claim therein as new, and desire 
to secure by letters patent, is the compressing dry clay, 
or clay in its natural state, into the moulds, by the per¬ 
cussion of heavy beaters, combined and operating with 
the other parts of my machine.” 
FACTS AND OPINIONS 
Condensed from various Exchange Papers . 
Fruit in Massachusetts. —The town which raises 
the greatest quantity is Wilbraham, Hampden County, 
amounting to 51,832 bushels. West-Cambridge, next, 
raises 50,240 bushels. Then follows in course, Danvers, 
Newbury, Hopkinton, and Roxbury. As far as value 
is concerned, Brookline stands first, being $37,840; 
West Cambridge, $25,175; Watertown, $20,000. Near¬ 
ness to market may affect materially the value of fruit; 
and fine or very early varieties may sell for ten times 
as much as ordinary kinds. 
Coal Tar for Fruit Ttees, having been recom¬ 
mended to exclude rabbits, and the peach worm, two 
correspondents of the Ohio Cultivator state that they 
have tried it, and that it either destroyed or greatly 
injured the trees. One ascribes the injury to the great 
heat produced by the absorption of the sun’s rays by 
the blackened surface. 
Lice on Cattle. —M. Linley, in the Genesee Far¬ 
mer, says that the most effectual remedy, which he has 
found on repeated trial, is to sprinkle sand copiously 
over every part of the bodies of his calves; to be re¬ 
peated once a week. The experiment was suggested 
by the remark, that bulls, which dust themselves try 
pawing, are never lousy. 
Wheat Weevil. —A correspondent of the Boston 
Cultivator says, that two quarts of rye to each bushel 
of wheat, is the best remedy for the weevil, the rye 
heading out a week before the wheat, the fly deposits 
its eggs in the rye, and the wheat escapes. [We know 
many slovenly farmers whose wheat fields are plenti¬ 
fully sprinkled with rye; do they ever suffer from the 
weevil?] 
Cellar for Roots. —A communication in the Ohio 
Cultivator contains a description of a good and cheap 
root cellar, made by digging about three feet deep and 
of suitable size, the sides walled up to the surface, and 
a timber roof, covered with earth, to prevent freezing. 
A door in one end, and a window in the other, admit a 
free circulation of the air except in the coldest weather, 
and prevent the heating and stench too often attendant 
on the storing of the roots in close cellars covered by 
barns or dwellings. 
Bugs on Squashes, are repelled by sprinkling a 
mixture of soot and sulphur on the young plants while 
wet with dew in the morning. 
Preserving Sweet Potatoes. —The difficulty of 
preserving sweet potatoes for seed through winter, in 
the northern states, is well known. C. Springer, of 
Ohio, succeeds perfectly by filling a nail keg with alter¬ 
nate layers of wheat chaff and potatoes, and enclosing 
the whole in a barrel of wheat bran, headed up. This 
was kept in a cool part of a room, which was not sub¬ 
jected to freezing. When the barrel was filled with 
wheat chaff instead of bran, the experiment did not 
succeed so well. 
Parsnips for Hogs. —While carrots appear to be 
excellent food for horses and cattle, and very poor food 
for hogs, parsnips are found to be very fine for hogs. 
A writer in the Prairie Farmer says, that parsnips are 
preferred by hogs to all other roots, make excellent 
pork and will fatten them in six weeks. A hog 22 
months old, weighing when alive 750 lbs., was fattened 
entirely on raw parsneps and sour milk, “and finer 
meat was never seen.” 
Varieties runnlng out. —A. W. Dodge, of Hamil¬ 
ton, quotes a “ striking prediction” of the late John 
Lowell, made by him in relation to Knight’s theory of 
varieties running out by age. “ The Long Reds,” says 
Lowell, “called the River Platte potatoes, have essen¬ 
tially changed their character, and ten years hence we 
shall no longer see that valuable variety .” Not ten 
years merely, says A. W. Dodge, but more than twenty 
have now elapsed, and the Long Reds have never 
ranked higher for yield or quality. 
