92 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
March, 
barns w-ill make a farmer poor, as well as his cattle. 
A merchant or mechanic would grow poor fast enough 
if he wasted ten per cent of his stock. No wonder, 
then, farmers grow poor who waste often more than 
ten per cent, of all their hay, by keeping their cattle in 
cold, open barns. The farmer had better sell a ton or 
two of hay, (if he cannot do it without,) and get some 
money to make his barn warm. 
We have seen cold stables made quite comfortable by 
boarding them up on the inside, three or four inches 
from the outside boards, and filling the intermediate 
space with straw. The front side of the stable should 
also be boarded up, leaving a space open to feed the 
cattle, which may be kept open or closed, according to 
the temperature of the weather. This is a very cheap 
method for those who cannot build new barns, or make 
thorough repairs upon old ones; and it is only necessa¬ 
ry to have it accomplished, that the farmer should go 
about it. It may be done at any season of the year, in 
fair weather or foul. Farmers, in what manner can 
you more profitably invest a few dollars? You have, 
perhaps, a warm kitchen, and find it much less expen¬ 
sive providing fuel for it than for a cold one, besides 
being much more comfortable for your family. You 
will find there is as much economy in having a warm 
barn, as in having a warm kitchen ; and although the 
comfort of your cattle is not to be compared with that 
of your family, yet it should not be forgotten. Could 
the dumb brutes speak, they would tell many sad tales 
of suffering;—yes, and they would argue , too, more 
feelingly than ever a stump speaker could, in fa¬ 
vor of protection. John Tufts. Wafdsboro’, Vt., 
Jan., 1849. _ 
Kentucky Wild Lands. 
Eds. Cultivator —I saw a piece in a late Cultiva¬ 
tor under this head, praising the blue-grass pastures of 
Kentucky, and a careless reader might be left to infer 
that these wild lands would make such pastures. Too 
much praise cannot be bestowed upon the blue-grass 
pastures of Kentucky; and perhaps it may not be 
known abroad, that lands that will produce those first- 
rate pastures, are worth about fifty dollars an acre, 
whether in a wild or cultivated state. It is true there 
is much land in Kentucky that can be bought for ten 
cents an acre, and more than half the land in the state 
under ten dollars an acre. 
Some years ago I bought a large tract of mountain 
land, at what I supposed to be a very low price. This 
land has upon it the finest timber, rich beds of coal, 
and abundance of iron ore. But I thought when I 
bought it, I could make of it a fine grazing farm. I 
sowed upon a small part of it, abundance of various 
kinds of grass seeds. The blue-grass and clover took 
well and thrived tolerably. But the blackberry brier, 
sassafras, dogwood, oak, and hickory, took better, and 
grew so that I had to clear the land every year. After 
a few years I gave it up, and for ten years past it has 
not yielded me one cent in rent or profit. The timber 
would be valuable if it was in the right place; so would 
the coal and iron be; but they are of no value there, 
because there are plenty of those articles in places that 
are more easily got at. If the timber was sawed into 
plank and lumber, it would cost as much to haul it 
to any place where it w r ould sell, as it would bring. 
It is the same case with the coal, which woul^ have 
to be wagoned seven miles over a bad road, and come 
in competition with coal mines upon the Kentucky 
river, with coal that is now sold at four cents a bushel. 
I think it probable that some of the Kentucky wild 
lands might be made tolerable grazing lands for sheep, 
as the sheep would assist in keeping down the bushes. 
The bushes, if neglected one year upon my mountain 
land, would so overshadow the grass as to either kill 
it or render it so feeble as to make it worthless. The 
blue-grass succeeds best on the mountain slopes, below 
the limestone cliffs. The mountains upon my place 
are composed of limestone and sandstone rocks. The 
limestone occupies the first slope from the creek, and 
after passing up some distance the free-stone com¬ 
mences, and continues to the top of the mountain. The 
top of the mountain is generally capped with a perpen¬ 
dicular sandstone rock, varying from a few to several 
hundred feet high. Upon the top, where the ridge is 
level, tbe soil appears to me to be quite good for that 
region. I have made no experiment with the ridges, 
but suppose they will be found nearly as valuable for 
agricultural purposes as any part of the mountains. 
The mountains are generally easily fenced, as those 
perpendicular sandstone rocks will afford most of it. I 
am acquainted with localities where thirty pannels of 
fencing will inclose five hundred acres, with the assist¬ 
ance of the cliff. Sam’l D. Martin. Near Colby- 
ville, Ky., Jan. 3, 1849. 
Culture of Spring Wheat. 
Eds. Cultivator —Should you think the following- 
method of raising spring wheat worth communicating 
to the public, it is at your service. My land is gene¬ 
rally a gravelly loam, some of it pretty dry. I plow 
meadows or pastures late in the fall or early in the 
spring; be sure it is well done. Go on to it before 
sowing with the harrow. Smooth it down well; sow 
from four to five pecks to the acre, (Black Sea wheat.) 
When the wheat is well up, sow on from 80 to 100 
lbs. plaster to the acre. I have never failed of raising 
from fifteen to 25 bushels per acre. There is one ad¬ 
vantage in Black Sea Wheat; it never rusts or smuts, 
with me. 
Owing to the continual wet weather the past sea¬ 
son, while my wheat was filling, it was not so good as 
usual, though I never had a better growth; but it was 
badly lodged. Yield, about 18 bushels per acre. I 
have been in the habit for several years, of raising 
nearly all my grain on an inverted sod. Always plas¬ 
ter—sometimes throw on manui-e, and harrow in with 
the grain. If the land is rich, this will cause the grain 
to grow too large. I consider that while the sod is 
undergoing the process of decomposition, it facilitates 
the growth of any kind of grain, almost, if not quite 
equal to any manure whatever. Acting upon this 
principle, I turn over pastures and meadows often, and 
think every time I do so, I add a dressing of manure. 
Timothy Beaman. Burke , Franklin Co., N. ¥., 
Jan. 16, 1849. 
Offspring of the $3ulialo and Domestic Cattle. 
In an article on the American bison or buffalo, in our 
January number, we said that there had been instances 
of its having bred with the domestic cattle, but that, 
so far as we learned, the hybrid offspring was incapa¬ 
ble of procreation. This, we believe, is the conclusion 
which has been generally held on the subject. For the 
purpose, however, of obtaining positive information on 
the point, we wrote to Thomas Allen, Esq., of St. 
Louis, Mo., who has very kindly transmitted to us the 
following letter, which he received in answer to an in¬ 
quiry addressed to Col. O’Fallon. By this letter it 
will be seen that the progeny resulting from an union 
of the buffalo and domestic cattle, has proved fertile.— 
Eds. Cult. 
Dear Sir —I am just in receipt of your note of the 
16th, requesting information in relation to the cross of 
the buffalo with our domestic cattle. I once owned a 
half-blood buffalo cow, with a calf by a common bull, 
but was unable to domesticate her, whicn I attempted 
