THE CULTIVATOR. 
173 
out its perquisite of cider trees. The trees are small; and 
covered with a green moss, the consequence of the hu¬ 
midity of the climate; I observed the same of the or¬ 
chards of Devonshire. A great deal of cider is drunk, anil 
many thousand hogsheads shipped annually to England. 
Their best apples for eating, are much inferior to ours, 
though superior to any I saw in England. They are fair 
and beautiful to the eye, but lack flavor and life; the best 
I have seen is a Pearmain, of flavor very like our Seek- 
no-further, but inferior to it. They sell at a penny and 
a half-penny each. Pears, I am told, are of unusual 
goodness; they have not only the best, French varieties, 
but one peculiar to the Island, of extraordinary size and 
rarity, selling in its season, for half a dollar each. The 
cider (I have drunk only the new made,) is very rich. 
The mode of making quite similar to that with us; as 
with us, there are here various nostrums for preserving 
its sweetness. 
The potatoes are excellent; large, fair, very w hite and 
mealy when boiled, and of the best possible taste; thatj 
is, no taste at all. Their crops are large: great numbersj 
pass along* the street every day for shipment to England,! 
and various other parts. Both their excellence andj 
abundance are owing, I think, in a great measure to the| 
peculiar culture. An old green sward, is in the winter) 
run over with an exceedingly light furrow, just sufficient) 
to turn the turf. This is left for a month or more expo-j 
sed to the weather; the field is then cross-plowed, after} 
a very different fashion. To use the words of my infor¬ 
mant—‘‘We first skims it, and afterwards we puts thei 
big plow, and ten or twelve horses to her, and takes it) 
down about a foot.” The plows are monstrous; very! 
strongly made of wrought iron, and perform the work 
most thoroughly; their operation differing from the sub-j 
soil plow in turning the decaying turfs to the bottom— 
thus leaving a light deep bed for the tubers. The gear¬ 
ing of the plow is singular, the horses being attached by 
means of a short rod, and pair of wheels. No small far¬ 
mer, indeed none on the Island, could command sufficient 
force for such plowing. But by bringing together the 
draft horses of a dozen neighbor farmers, the work is ef¬ 
fected. This interchange of work is very prevalent in, 
harvesting, as well as breaking ground. The potatoes} 
are invariably cut for seed—dropped in a furrow and co-l 
vered by a lap of the furrow; planted in drills; and the| 
digging is effected by means of a double mold-board 
plow. They sell now for exportation, at from 40 to 50 
cts. per bushel. They are not, like crops above ground, 
subject to tithes. 
Hay is of good quality, and bears a high price. Near¬ 
ly all the valleys and lower grounds are kept in grass; 
and in those which are irrigated, even thus early, (1st 
March,) there is a cut, longer and thicker and stouter, 
than in a New-England door-yard, at 1st of June. 
All the wheat raised in Jersey is exported. It is ex¬ 
plained from the fact that imposts are not known here, 
and produce of the Island goes to England duty free. The 
consequence is, farmers find it most profitable to ship 
their wheat for English prices, and to return for their 
own consumption, American flour, from the English 
warehouses, or to supply themselves with bread stuffs 
from the continent. Absence of duty enables the farmer 
to purchase other provisions proportionately cheap. 
Thus, best of Santa Cruz sugar is 7 to 8 cts. the pound, 
&c. It might appear that advantage would he taken of 
the privilege of free shipment of Jersey grain to British 
ports, to mix foreign produce with home stores, and so 
multiply profits. This is strictly guarded against. Every 
farmer is obliged to report at the opening of each season, 
the number of acres he means to put to wheat, barley, 
&c., to the Island authorities, with an estimate of the 
probable crops; and any falsification is punished by hea¬ 
vy fine. 
Jersey cows are famous; they are better known in 
England and America as the Alderneys. There is but 
trifling difference in thebreeds of the two Islands; ifany, 
it is decidedly in favor of the Jerseys, in point of size, 
general appearance, and milking properties. About two 
thousand are annually exported from this Island: and re¬ 
membering that the Island compasses but about 40,000 
acres, you will conclude, with me, that some roots are 
“ made,” (this is their term for growth,) some hay is 
made, and some money is made. The cows are of mid¬ 
dling size, small heads and necks, short crooked horns, 
clear, intelligent eyes, with small feet, high hip bones, 
heavy quarters, large bag hanging low; their color is a 
yellowish brown, changing to deep chestnut along the 
line of back, and frequent white spots. They are kept 
stalled in the winter, save an occasional turn out to 
grass or turneps, upon a pleasant day, at which times 
they are tied to a stake driven in the ground. They are 
always kept tethered in the field, summer or winter. 
Either head tied to foot, or to tree or stake. Various 
reasons are given; the best, (hey do not get at the apples, 
they consume less feed, and (a doubtful one,) they give 
more milk. They milk them until within a short time 
of calving, and feeding on parsneps. turneps, and hay. 
In summer they are milked three times a day. The hei¬ 
fer calves, in consequence of the demand, are all raised. 
The calf is not suffered to be with (he cow at all, but fed 
upon milk and slops. No cow can be imported into Jer¬ 
sey from any quarter, under a heavy penalty. This is to 
guard against corruption of the breed; of which Jersey 
people are over proud. Talk to a farmer of the merits 
of any English breed, and you will bring a torrent of his 
Island patois about your ears, less tolerable than the 
bleating- of his motherless calves. 
Veal begins now o ; ppear in the market. I have 
tasted non- ut French, v. hich was miserable. Butter is 
beautiful. The dairies are above ground; milk is set in 
earthen pots; in hot weather, suffered to sour before it is 
skimmed; butter is never worked with the hands. It is 
made into s amped pound cakes, which bring about 25 
cents each. A curious custom p evails in the market, re¬ 
lating thereto; wice a week an examination is made bj' 
proper officers, of the butter; if any (alls below weight, 
even so much as half an ounce, it is taken away and giv 
en to the poor. The consequence is, the pound cakes 
range an ounce above weight. 
Manure is saved with care; there is little draining and 
little needed. Irrigation is general. There is no lime, 
or marl, or gypsum, or peat, upon the Island. But, says 
an old historian —“ The winter oraic (our Cape Ann 
rock weed,) being spread on the green sward, and 
after, buried in the furrows by the plow, ’lis incredible 
how with its fat unctuous matter it meliorates and fertili¬ 
zes the earth, imbibing itself into it, softening the clod, 
and keeping the roots of the corn moist, during the most 
parching heats of summer.” I should like to tell you 
more of Jersey, but this is the end of my sheet. 
Yours truly, D. G. Mitchell. 
KERRY COWS. 
Great yield of Butter .—In the rough and mountainous 
parts of Ireland, there is a small race of cattle called the 
Kerry breed. They are considered indigenous to the 
country, and are much esteemed for their good qualities 
—especially for the dairy. From the descriptions and en¬ 
gravings given of them by writers, particularly by You- 
atl, and by Low in his “ ! llus(rations*of British Cattle,” 
they appear to be a beautiful as well as hardy and useful 
variety. Mr. Youatt say's—“ The cow of Kerry is truly 
a poor man's cow, living every where, hardy, yielding 
for her size abundance of milk of a good quality, and 
fattening rapidly when requ red.” 
Mr. Colman, in his late speech at Sir Charles Mor¬ 
gan's cattle-show, spoke of the Kerry cows as follows:— 
“He found in Ireland a dairy consisting of five dairy cows, 
from which the owner had sent to Liverpool, twenty-five 
firkins of butter, averaging 64 lbs. a firkin, and that was 
320 lbs. of butter to each cow for the season. He con¬ 
ceived a stock of dairy cows worthy as much attention 
as a stock of fat cows. He believed from observation, 
ar.d observation not confined (o a few years, that in many 
localities, the farmer’s best proper/y, would be a good 
stock of dairy cows.” (Report of Mr. Colman's speech 
in the London Farmer's Journal, Dec. 30, 1844.) In the 
Journal of the Royal Ag. Society, we find an account of 
a trial made between three Ayrshires, three Galloways, 
and three Kerry cows. The Ayrshires gave rather most 
milk, but the Kerries exceeded them all in butter. 
