66 
THE CULTIVATOR 
HEREFORDS AS MILKERS. 
Messrs. Gaylord & Tucker —Probably you will 
say I am too frequently addressing- you on the subject of 
Herefords; but you are aware of the prejudice I have 
had to contend with against a combination of some Short 
Horn breeders, to a solitary individual breeder of Here¬ 
fords. My stock heretofore have not been in a situation 
for criticism, but I think they are now just what cattle 
should be. I state this with “ feeling pride ” and ivithout 
vanity. I am highly gratified with the breed, and have 
not the slightest wish to exchange for any other. 
Much has been said against their milking properties 
without the least foundation. I do not desire better cows 
for the pail than the eight just calved; one does not vary 
a quart more than another. The following is a statement 
of the butter made, and I am feeding their calves on 
the skim milk. 
I do not know a better mode of bringing these facts 
before the public in the most satisfactory manner, than 
in requesting their strongest opponents to see and judge 
for themselves, and give them, impartially, their just due. 
Therefore I beg to say through your paper, that I shall 
be most happy to invite Messrs. Randall and Hepburn to 
stay a week with me, or as much longer as their con¬ 
venience will allow—my cows and dairy shall be open 
to their inspection. If the Hon. Henry Clay will accom¬ 
pany them, or any other breeder, not forgetting my co¬ 
temporary Mr. Thos. Thompson, Prospect Farm, Pa., I 
will endeavor to entertain them, with farmer’s fare, a 
pitcher of “ home brewed,” and assure you with a hearty 
welcome. 
I have been very much amused, (some w’ould say an¬ 
noyed, but to me it did not amount to the latter,) ever 
since I brought this breed of cattle into the country. I 
have had letters without number, inquiring the price of a 
bull, or a pair, &c. and without paying the postage; to 
which I replied, and there ended the correspondence. 
Six calves out of the eight abovementioned, w ere bulls, 
and six better bred ones could not be produced; I have 
kept my determination and made steers of them. I have 
now two two year old bulls and two yearlings for sale; 
the price will vary from $150 to $250, and if I cannot 
obtain that amount, I will make “stags” of them, there¬ 
fore your readers know as much aTaout the price as if they 
wrote me twenty letters. It is not my object to accumu¬ 
late a fortune out of this business. I care as little for 
wealth as any man; but I feel assured my stock will in 
due time cancel the obligations I am under to my friends 
and supporters, which is my greatest care and anxiety. 
More than that, it has kept my mind active , and my hands 
employed, two of the greatest blessings; and I am happy 
to see my stock in such a situation to suit my purpose. 
The butcher and the butter market will do all I want. 
I have just commenced feeding Eliza , my only half 
bred cow, (half Short Horn and half Hereford.) and I 
will show her at the next Fair, but not for a premium, 
so that the public may be able to judge what the half 
breed will do for the stall. She was an excellent milk¬ 
er, probably as good as any cow in the herd. I shall 
milk this season, twenty-three full blood cows and heif¬ 
ers, and I have now on hand just sixty of all ages, bulls, 
cows, steers, heifers and calves, and shall have fifteen 
more calves before the 1st of May, if all goes well. 
I am feeding my cows on the fodder of Indian corn, 
from a crop sown broadcast, cut fine w r ith a machine, 
with one feeding of hay at night, and half a bushel of 
brewer’s grains (cost 6 cts. per bushel,) to each cow per 
day. I submit a statement of the amount of butter made 
from the 5th to the 11th of Jan. We had the milk of 
Lucy, 4 yrs. old, calved Nov. 28,. 7 days. 
Martha, 8 yrs. old, calved Dec. 28,.... 7 
Catharine, 4 yrs. old, calved Jan. 2,... 7 
Victoria, 4 yrs. old, calved Jan. 4,.... 5 
Spot, 4 yrs. old, calved Jan. 4,. 5 
Perfection, 4 yrs. old, calved Jan. 4, .. 5 
Matilda, 3 yrs. old, calved Jan. 7,. 2 
Equal to the milk of one cow 38 days, and we had 481 
pounds of butter, weighed in separate pounds. Had it beep 
weighed at once, the aggregate would have been some 
greater; but this gives as an average, a fraction over eight 
pounds per week for each cow. The statement is a literal 
transcript from Mrs. Sheldrick’s dairy book, and can be 
duly attested. I send you a roll of the butter as a speci¬ 
men of its quality.* 
It is proper to say that when I bought this stock in 
England, I never asked a question about their milking 
properties. Wm. H. Sotham. 
Hereford Hall , near Albany, Jan. 10, 1844. 
SHEEP HUSBANDRY. 
Messrs. Editors —I noticed in your December no. 
that my views heretofore expressed about the feasibility 
of cultivating sheep on the western prairies, has waked 
up, among others, our friend Robinson of Illinois. I 
am glad to see him in the field again, and hope he may 
have all the success he anticipates in growing wool. Our 
Vermonters yet remain firm, and cannot be persuaded to 
give up the ship yet awhile to western competition. We 
remain of the opinion that no country is better adapted 
than ours for sheep. If there is a falling offj it must be 
jin the price of our farms; all things considered we can 
grow wool as cheap as our western brethren. 
I also noticed in the Jan. no. a communication from 
H. S. Randall, Esq. on Paular Merinoes, that he had in¬ 
troduced my flock to the public. It will be proper to 
state that “ Fortune” was bred by Tyler Stickney. He 
was got by a Jarvis buck, but his qualities partook more 
of the superior ewe from which he was dropped, a pure 
descendant of the Col. Humphrey importation in 1810. 
She died at the age of about sixteen years; her fleeces, 
when in her prime, averaged over seven and a half lbs. 
of cleansed wool; very prolific and hardy, which is one 
qualification o'f this breed, and may be shown by her 
raising a lamb this last season. By her wool, and form 
also, every mark of the Paular family was fully develop¬ 
ed. The price I paid Mr. Wilson for the buck, is cor¬ 
rect; I also purchased all of Fortune's stock that could 
jbe had at any reasonable price. These, with what I 
have raised from his getting, I have been able to supply 
many orders to the satisfaction of those who now have 
them. 
I have seen an article in one of our papers, ridiculing 
the idea advanced by the Cultivator, “ that the age ot 
sheep may be known by the horns.” That statement in 
the Cultivator is correct. The ring on the horns will 
tell the true age much better than it can be known by the 
teeth. S. W. Jewett. 
W'eybridge, Vt., Jan. 8, 1844. 
WHEAT vs. CHESS. 
Messrs. Editors —While I rejoice at every advance 
in the practice or the science of agriculture, I experi¬ 
ence a proportionate regret at every retrograde move¬ 
ment, or inculcation of error, especially if made in an 
imposing form, or coming from a source from which 
farmers have a right to expect better things. Without 
intending to open anew the chess controversy, whicncan 
only be permanently settled by the farmer adopting the 
same course with that weed which he pursues with other 
pests, viz: sowing no seed of chess, and carefully pulling 
and eradicating all such as may accidentally appear, I 
wish permission to express my surprise at finding in R. 
L. Allen, late one of the editors of the “ Agriculturist,” 
and a frequent contributor to that journal, a strenuous ad¬ 
vocate of that exploded heresy. In that paper for No¬ 
vember, is an article insisting that wheat turns to chess, 
and presenting what he calls an array of facts to confirm 
his position. Now there is not one of the “ facts” there 
presented which is not evidently founded on mistake, or 
which is not capable of an easy solution, on principles 
that do not involve an absurdity, or a contravention of 
the well known laws of nature. There is not one of 
them that has not been conclusively refuted again and 
again; and any person, who after reading the papers of 
David Thomas and others, in the old Genesee Farmer, 
will revive, and endeavor to sustain such a pernicious 
* The sample sent is in appearance (we have not yet tried it,) 
fine, the color and consistence being as good as that made 
June or September.—E ds. 
