THE CULTIVATOR. 
49 
THE SHEPHERD'S DOG.—(Fig. 00.) 
Where sheep husbandry is practiced on a large scale, 
this dog perforins so important a part, that some notice 
of his qualities cannot be deemed irrelevant. The vari¬ 
ety which is above delineated, is found chiefly in the ex¬ 
tensive sheep walks of the northern part of England and 
in Scotland, where the purity of the breed appears to be 
preserved in the greatest perfection. Its docility and sa¬ 
gacity, indeed, surpass those of every variety of the ca¬ 
nine race. Obedient to the voice, looks, and gestures of 
his master, he quickly perceives his commands and in¬ 
stantly executes them. A well trained kog of this kind, 
is, to a shepherd, an invaluable acquisition. The faith¬ 
ful animal anxiously watches the flock, keeps them to¬ 
gether in pasture, from one part of which it conducts 
them to another, and if the sheep are driven to arty dis¬ 
tance, he will infallibly confine them within the road, 
and at the same time prevent any strange sheep from 
mingling with them. 
In keeping sheep on the large prairies of the west, or 
on extensive hills and mountainous ranges of country, 
this kind of dog would be found very serviceable. Those 
who wish to see a specimen of their sagacity, will find 
one in possession of Mr. Sotham, of “ Hereford Hall,” 
which will perform about all that is attributed to any of 
the species. 
FARM OF GEO. GEDDES, ONONDAGA CO. N. Y. 
Product and Expense of Cultivating Twenty Acres, for 
Ticelve years. 
We consider the following Farm Report of Mr. Geddes, 
worthy of notice on several accounts. It furnishes an 
example of the debt and credit system which every farm¬ 
er should keep with his several fields, and also the ease 
with which great productiveness is kept up in a natural¬ 
ly well constitutedsoil. We had the pleasure last autumn 
of inspecting Mr. Geddes’ beautiful farm, his well con¬ 
structed barns, stables, &c.; his machinery, worked by 
water, for raising water to his yards and buildings, saw¬ 
ing his wood, and for other mechanical purposes; and he 
called our attention in particular to the field, the course 
of cultivating which he has here described. It lies on 
the gypseous shales at the base of the Onondaga lime¬ 
stones, and is a deep sandy loam, easily worked, and 
containing evidently both lime and gypsum in conside¬ 
rable quantities. In its geological position and chemi¬ 
cal constitution, it appears to resemble those fertile soils, 
the analysis of which is given by Sprengel, and one of 
which had been constantly cropped for 160 years. Few 
fields of corn we have seen the past season, showed a 
finer growth than that of this field, but it was much in¬ 
jured by the premature frost of September. To the ex¬ 
cellent chemical and mechanical condition of the soil 
must be attributed its continued fertility, materially aided 
no doubt, by the clover and plaster used upon it. It should 
be understood that Mr. Geddes did not offer his farm for 
examination by the County Committee, but it was visit¬ 
ed by them, for the pleasure which every good farmer 
must feel in witnessing the improvements in agriculture, 
conducted under the supervision of a man of wealth and 
intelligence. 
Messrs. Brown, Ellis and Cleaveland —Having been ab¬ 
sent from home when you visited my farm last summer, 
to examine the growing crops, I take this mode of giv¬ 
ing you such information in relation to the mode of cul¬ 
ture, and the results obtained, as I think will be necessa¬ 
ry to enable you to judge correctly in the matter. 
The land upon which you saw the corn growing, had 
been pastured two years, and was manured slightly this 
spring with straw that had been trampled,under foot in 
the barn yard last winter. The manure was drawn on 
the ground before plowing, and plowed under as well as 
could be done by one pair of horses before one of the 
plows known as the Nourse and Rugglcs’ plow, marked 
“ Sward C.the plow going about five inches deep. 
The ground was then rolled and harrowed. The corn 
was planted the eleventh and twelfth days of May; the 
hills three feet apart from center to center, both ways, 
averaging about live stalks in the hill. As soon as the 
corn came up it was plastered, and in due time hoed 
twice. The implement used to prepare the ground for 
the hoe both times, was a cultivator having steel teeth, 
which was passed once in each rowboth ways of the field. 
This mode of culture, made the ground, as you* must 
have observed, very clean. Here permit me to say, that 
ground that is free from stumps and stones, and is plowed 
well, rolled and thoroughly harrowed, will be clean 
when the corn is harvested, if it is faithfully hoed twice, 
unless some very bad weed is to be subdued. Three 
timescultivating under the circumstances above supposed, 
will in my opinion, do more injury in breaking the corn 
down, and trampling it under foot, than benefit. I wish 
to be understood when I speak of hoeing corn, I mean 
that every plant besides the corn, is to be cut up or bu¬ 
ried, and the work in all respects faithfully performed. 
The season will not allow my corn to be harvested in 
time to report the quantity to you before the annual 
meeting of the Society. It is now cut up and in stooks. 
I had at the time of your visit, a field of barley grow¬ 
ing, that may have attracted your attention. It has been 
carefully measured and weighed, and the ground upon 
which it grew accurately measured. It produced by 
measure, forty-nine and ©ne-third bushels to the acre; by 
weight, fifty-one and a half bushels to the acre, and a 
small fraction over. 
I propose to give you the history of the ground upon 
which this crop grew, as showing what our best lands 
are capable of doing, even under ordinary management. 
Forty-five years ago, this land was cleared of a mode¬ 
rate growth of oak and hickory timber, interspersed with 
wild cherry, butternut, box wood, aspen, &c. and sown 
to wheat. The course of tillage for the first thirty-three 
years, I know little of/save that barn yard manure has 
never been used except once, and then in a very small 
quantity, and on only a small part of the field. Clover 
and plaster, however, have been used freely from the 
earliest period that they could be obtained in this country. 
Twelve years ago, I came into possession, the land 
being then covered with clover. The course pursued, 
and the results obtained from that time, I give you below: 
First Year— I summer fallowed, receiving from the land 
only the pasture, during the fore part of the season, 
say four weeks, a cow being kept upon each acre at 
25c. per week,... $l-GO 
Second Year— Harvested wheat. The crop was sown 
early, and grew large in the fall, and the snow was 
very deep, and remained on the ground till late, and 
the crop was so injured that probably not more than 
five acres were harvested. One hundred bushels 
only was obtained, it being at the rate of five bush¬ 
els to the acre on the whole piece, at one dollar per 
bushel would give per acre,.. • * • 5*00 
Third Year— Put in corn, and had by measure, a little 
over sixiy bushels per acre, sold at 50c. per bushel, 30 00 
Fourth Year—Corn again, estimated at fifty bushels per 
acre, at 50c.. 25-00 
Fifth Fear—-Oats, measured seventy bushels per acre, 
at 37|c. . 26-25 
Sixth Year— Harvested wheat, put in after oats, mea¬ 
sured twenty bushels per acre, and sold at $1-50-- 30-00 
Seve?ith Year— In pasture. An acre will keep one cow 
for six months, at 25c. per week,. 6-60 
Eighth Year— Sowed oats, measured sixty-five bushels 
per acre, at 37.]c.. 24-37 
Ninth Year— Wheat after oats, 19f bushels per acre, 
sold at $1-31*. 25-87 
Tenth Year— Summer fallowed and pastured, say one 
cow 4 weeks, at 25c.. 1-00 
Eleventh Year— Harvested wheat, injured by rust, fif¬ 
teen bushels per acre, sold at $1-00. ••••• 15*00 
Twelfth Year , 1843—Barley, fifty-one and a half bush¬ 
els per acre, sold at 37 u c.. • • 10-31 
Total value of product of one acre for twelve years,-•• $209-3o 
, From this sum is to be deducted the cost of cultiva- 
