120 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
ENGLISH FARM HOUSE AND OUT-BUILDINGS—(Fig. 38.) 
(Drawn and Engraved for “ The Cultivator.”) 
MR. MITCHELL’S LETTERS—NO. IV. 
Liverpool , Eng , Alh Jan 18-15. 
Luther Tucker, Esq. —I send you with this, as pro¬ 
mised, a little sketch which will give you a general idea 
of an English farm house and out buildings. The air of j| 
neatness which prevails about every country house I have 
seen, and which travelers universally remark upon, can¬ 
not be represented in such a sketch, much less by so poor 
a sketcher. Yet lam assured that the farm houses of 
Lancashire compare unfavorably with those of almostH 
any county in England. Still there is a soberness, aqui- j 
etness, a tastefulness, a rural ity, and a home-look about j 
nearly all I have seen, which once grafted upon the : 
country houses in America, will go far toward making 11 
our landscapes equal to English in beauty. The roofs I j 
u.re in most instances in this country, slated; some are co-1| 
vered with tiles baked in the same manner with brick, |j 
and formed with a lip turning down upon the upper and; j 
under side, so as to hang upon the lathes which run hori-l 
xontally. Thus the whole roof is laid without nailing, j | 
Others still are thatched; the thatch requiring renewal! 
every five or six years. The extreme verge of the ga-ji 
ble is generally covered with a tier of heavy stones 11 
clamped to each other. Every thing in England is ar-jj 
ranged for permanence. Calculations in housebuilding, 
in fence building and in draining, as in other matters, arej 
made with a view not of one, or two or half a dozen | 
years, but of a century. The barns and out buildings are 
invariably placed near the dwellings: indeed, not unfre- 
quently the same roof covers both the farmer and his 
herd. Nor is this connection, from the peculiar struc¬ 
ture of the dwelling, rendered disagreeable. I have not 
yet seen such a diversity of plans, nor so good a system 
of arrangement, as a whole, as to wish to make full com 
munication of the order observed. I hope yet to have a 
glimpse of, and wander among the best farmers and farms 
of England. I give you the general course of cropping- 
in the best regulated farms in this vicinity—Sandy land, 
Dairy Farm. 
1st. Oats on grass ley. Plow in February; sow in 
March; heavy harrowed—light do. and rolled if dry. 
2d. Wheat. —Plowed in October. 
3d. Swedish Turneys or Potatoes in drills. Drawn in 
November; tops fed to milch cows; roots pitted for hor¬ 
ses, cows and sheep. 
4th. Wheat or Barley , with clover or rye grass—re¬ 
mains in grass 4 or 5 years. 
On clayey lands—1st. Wheat on grass ley. 2d. Oats. 
3d. Fallow. 4th. Wheat. 5th. Clover , and pastured 4 
or 5 years. 
The cattle are not superior in this region; some fine 
dairies of improved short horns. Though I am assured, 
that over the river in Cheshire—the great cheese coun¬ 
ty—Short Horns are not thought well of for milkers; 
where they have Ayrshires, Devons, Welsh and Trish. 
Scotch, Welsh, Irish, and some Yorkshire and Holder- 
ness are fed for fattening. For sheep, the prevailing 
choice stock is South Down and Leicester. Swine are 
many of them Irish; on the Cheshire side are a cross of 
the old long bodied with Berkshire and Leicester, or 
China and Neapolitan. The latter are considered too 
light and delicate for general favor. To fatten, they are 
put up early in the spring; 12 months pigs, to feed on 
oflal..of dairy, (one to five cows.) Nothing more given 
for three months; after this, potatoes and some barley 
meal. Weight, 10 to 14 score. Sows farrow twice a 
year, in February and August. Young stock is raised 
(on dairy farms in Cheshire,) 5 to 20 cows—those drop¬ 
ped in March. The food is a half pound of meal in a 
tub, with scalding water, or whey poured to it, well stir¬ 
red; skimmed milk added; given till midsummer; then 
weaned, well pastured, well wintered with hay, bruised 
oats and turneps; turned to feed in April. Implements 
are various; perhaps fewer of the improved kinds in 
this, than in any oilier county. I send you two or three 
sheets of cuts with price attached. Tiles for draining are 
in most general favor; 1,000,000 a year are made upon 
the Marquis of Westminster’s estate alone. 
American apples still have a good sale; you will notice 
in rates given below, their value as compared with Eng¬ 
lish. The English apples, such as I have seen, are small 
and without flavor. Good pears are in the market, but 
all from over sea. The “Underhill” apple brand 
(American) appears to be the favorite one in this part, 
doubtless from the good state of preservation in which 
they open. They are, I think, from near Sing-Sing. 
American cheese is plenty in the markets. Every ship 
from New-York or Philadelphia, brings a quantity. Its 
treatment upon the docks under custom officers, is most 
severe. The boxes or casks in which they are stowed, 
being knocked to pieces; if they open easily, (packers 
must take the hint) well; if not, they must come open- 
no gross weight being allowed. After weighing—one 
by one—they are tumbled upon the dirty dock from the 
scale, for the carman to replace in box or cask as he best 
knows how. I have seen many fine cheeses ruined under 
this treatment. The sale of American beef is in the cut¬ 
ting; this cannot be told too often; specially is it so in 
the London market, where inspection is most searching. 
I should have mentioned in my last, that the tax on beef 
and pork, for cask and pickle, is almost invariably one- 
third part; for canvass wrappers of hams, 8 oz. each. 
Tallow, 12 per cent. 
I give you the ordinary retail prices of provisions from 
