THE CULTIVATOR. 
77 
FACTS IN FARMING. 
Nothing is more agreeable to us, than to meet with 
observing, practical farmers, from whom we can gather 
valuable facts. One day in January last, we called on 
Mr. William Merrifield, who lives in Guilderland 
about sixteen miles from this city. The weather being 
inclement, and the ground covered with snow, we could 
not go over the farm to examine the soil and mode of 
management, but we had the pleasure of seeing his cat¬ 
tle, sheep, hogs and poultry, and of obtaining from him 
some useful hints in relation to farming operations. 
Cattle. —Mr. Merrifield is a native of Devonshire, 
England, and he informs us that the dairymen in that 
district were in the habit of crossing their Devon stock, 
occasionally, with the Jersey-Island, or Alderney breed; 
the result of which was, a great improvement in the 
milking and butter making qualities. 
Mr. Merrifield states that about thirty-five years ago, 
the late Chancellor Livingston had some imported cattle 
called Devons, but whose color, points and qualities, in¬ 
dicated that they had a dash of the Jersey blood. They 
were excellent for the dairy. Mr. M. had the good for¬ 
tune to obtain a heifer of this stock, from a gentleman 
to whom it had been presented by Chancellor Livingston. 
She proved a first rate butter cow. 
Several years after this, Gen. Solomon Van Rensse¬ 
laer, of this city, purchased two bulls and twelve cows 
of Gen. Williamson, of Ontario county. One of these 
bulls was called a Short-Horn, and the other a Long- 
Horn; but Mr. Merrifield has no doubt that the latter was 
a Hereford , as he had the red color, white face, and other 
characteristics of the Hereford race. The stock bought 
of Gen. Williamson, were said to have descended from 
animals imported by him from England. Mr. MerrifieldJ 
crossed the slock which came from the (so called) Devon j 
heifer with two bulls from the herd of Gen. Williamson, I 
and has kept the stock thus derived to this day, with no 
other mixture than a slight cross with the short-horns of! 
the late Matthew Bullock, Esq. 
Mr. Merrifield observes that the blood of the Hereford! 
bull (as he calls him) above mentioned, must have bee.nl 
very strong , as his descendants, down to the present time, j 
show many of his prominent characteristics, though they 
may have no more than a sixteenth or thirty-second part! 
of his blood. Mr. M.’s stock look well, and do well forj 
the dairy, and have generally good constitutions, with a| 
fair disposition to fatten. A three year old heifer of his, j 
is really “ hard to beat,” for a combination of qualities 
that constitute a profitable animal. A few years ago,! 
Mr. M. had four cows, all four years old. He tried the! 
milk of the four cows for a few weeks, while they were 
kept entirely on pasture feed, and they made, on the 
average eleven pounds of butter each, per week. 
Sheep. —Mr. Merrifield has a small flock of excellent 
long-wooled sheep. They were originally Leicesters, 
derived from the flock of Mr. Dunn, but latterly Mr. M. 
has worked in the blood of the Cotswold. Last season, 
he sheared sixteen ewes, (each of which reared a lamb,) 
four bucks, two wethers and four yearlings, and they 
gave an average of seven pounds of perfectly washed 
wool per head, which sold at thirty and a half cents per 
pound—making the value of the fleeces two dollars 
thirteen and a half cents each. One yearling buck sheared 
eleven and a half, and a three years old buck ten a half 
pounds. Mr. M. has had a buck which sheared twelve 
pounds per fleece, and Mr. Dunn had one that sheared 
fifteen pounds, of one year’s growth, Mr. M. has fre¬ 
quently fatted wethers of his flock, and they have some¬ 
times weighed as high as forty-five pounds per quarter, 
bringing (sold on the farm) from ten to fifteen dollars 
per head. 
Swine.— Mr. Merrifield has a first rate stock of swine. 
They are a cross of the Cheshire (from stock imported 
by Mr. Corning) and the Mocha. They have small 
heads and legs, with very large bodies, and can be made 
fat at any age with small expense. He was feeding his 
breeding stock almost entirely on raw carrots, yet they 
were fat to a fault. He has a boar, nineteen months old, 
whose superior, every thing considered, we think we 
have never seen. The average weight of these hogs, 
tolerably fattened, has been, at six to eight months old, 
175 to 200 lbs., and at eighteen months old, 400 lbs. 
Poultry. —Mr. Merrifield showed us two breeds of 
hens—a large sort, evidently a cross of the Java and 
Malay, and the Game. The latter are as handsome in 
shape, and as fierce in appearance, as any we have seen. 
Spring Wheat.— Mr. Merrifield has for many years 
sowed more or less spring wheat. He finds it a rather 
more sure crop on his land than winter wheat. Of late 
years, however, it has often been injured by the worm, 
or maggot, in the head, (Cecidomyia tritici,) improperly 
called “weevil.” Late sowing, for spring wheat, is the 
best remedy against this enemy. Mr. M. has had the 
Italian spring wheat eighteen years, and by taking great 
care to save the plumpest and heaviest for seed, it has 
much improved, become more hardy, &c. He has now 
a quantity of this seed wheat, which is very clean, a 
few bushels of which he would spare. 
Potatoe Rot. —Mr. Merrifield’s potato.e crop has suf¬ 
fered much from the prevailing malady for two years, 
particularly the last. He has as yet found no remedy 
against it. He has made fair experiments with lime, put 
on the seed at planting time. It has done no good what¬ 
ever, so far as could be seen. Last year he caused some 
of the potatoes to be thoroughly rolled in lime, just be¬ 
fore planting them. The whole crop rotted without any 
regard to the lime. This is worthy of notice, as it has 
been by some supposed that lime would prevent the rot 
CUTTING GRAFTS. 
Lord Bacon said very truly, “ When nations arrive a' 
civility and elegancy, men come to build stately, soonej 
than to garden finely, as if gardening were the greater 
perfection.” Yet the most of farmers who expend one 
to two or three thousand dollars or more on a fine dwell¬ 
ing, think it extravagance beyond sufferance, to expend 
one or two hundred dollars to have a good, pleasant, 
profitable garden, for themselves, wives and children. 
And no part of the “ greater perfection” aforesaid, is 
more neglected, than that appropriated to the cultivation 
of first rate fruit. How much better to have rich, swecl 
and superb cherries for one or two months in the earlj 
part of summer, than only the common pie cherry, whose 
only taste is its intense sourness; and apricots, almost 
i equal in flavor to the most del icious peaches, and ripening 
! weeks before the earliest peaches are thoughtof; and 
melting pears before harvest, and so on in succession till 
mid-winter; and the finest peaches all the autumn; and 
other fruits added, the whole making out a complete 
circle of succession the whole year round. 
Now, those who have worthless, or second or third 
rate trees, should forthwith prepare to graft better info 
them. Now is the time to cut the grafts, which may be 
collected any time during winter, if they are well pre¬ 
served till spring. No pains should be spared in getting 
the very best kinds; some money and a few long rides will 
be well employed for this purpose. If the fruit can be ex¬ 
amined before the kinds are chosen, it may be done much 
more satisfactorily;—although those who are not familiar 
with good fruits might make some blunders. We have 
known some cultivators, when travelling from home, and 
very hungry, select as delicious some very contemptible 
| sorts, which their keen appetites led them to pronounce 
| delicious. 
! To preserve grafts till spring, the following mode is 
perhaps the best, as it is uniformly successful, and of 
very easy performance: Procure a wooden box, of a size 
about twice as large as will contain the given bundle ol 
grafts, and open on one side; put the grafts into it, and 
fasten them by cross sticks as far as possible from the open 
side. Then dig a hole into the ground to receive the box 
with its contents; place the open side downwards, and 
cover the whole with ea'rth till wanted. Two or three 
inches of earth over the top of the box are enough. A 
dry spot of ground should be selected. In this way tho 
grafts are kept damp enough, without being wet by actual 
contact with the soil. 
Timber and corn cannot be grown together with ad 
vantage. 
