1S47. 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
47 
romance alike assign t© the beautiful valley of Clttutn- 
ariiis. Hence Macaulay, in his lay— 
“ No more along Clitumrras 
Grazes foe milk-white steer.” 
They have not the square butcher make of the Here- 
tfords, or Durhams., but taking-into view their soft, ting- 
haired skins, their large, black, intelligent eyes, and 
their branching horns, I have never seen handsomer cat¬ 
tle in any part of Europe. The beef is by no means 
highly fed, and as a consequence, is not of very supe¬ 
rior quality. ‘The pork at Rome is decidedly inferior, 
while that in Naples is unsurpassed for delicacy and 
flavor, by any in the worM. Wild boar's meat, makes 
its appearance frequently in the market, and when 
cooked with the rich sauces of the country, is highly 
esteemed. 
The native horses are wild and shaggy, but strong, 
and ’possess great powers of endurance. In winter 
one may see the herdsmen scouring over the plains, in 
roubh sheep-skin coats, and mounted upon the wild, 
shaggy horses. In that season, the sheep upon the 
Campagna are numbered by hundreds of thousands, 
and groups of the grey oxen are feeding here and there 
over the waving surface. Five hundred thousand acres 
of such waving land stretch around the walls of Rome,, 
and make up the old Agro Romano. This is divided by 
ditches or imaginary lines into vast farms, of from 3000 
to 10,000 acres, and until within a very short time 
there was a single one of 20,000, which rented for the 
sum of $30,000 a year. These are owned by resi¬ 
dents—in many instances, Princes of Rome. In but 
very few instances do the owners pay any particular 
attention to the management of their land's. The 
larger farms are leased for a term varying from 30 to* 
50 years, to fattore or mercante, who furnish the capi¬ 
tal necessary to work them. By far the larger portion 
of the lands, however, are rented upon the mezzefioi. 
system—almost precisely like the system of farming 
11 upon shares,” common to the landholders of New 
England. The owner furnishes capital, the lessefe fur¬ 
nishes implements and labor, and the profits are divided. 
Yet, strange to say, many a poor farmer ( fattore ) tak¬ 
ing upon such terms, a thousand acres of the Campagna^ 
rich as prairie land, and within a half day’s walk of the 
city of Rome, can scarce make a livelihood ! Let us 
what difficulties lie in his way. 
WESTERN FARMING. 
Wesh&ve seen in several papers, -some articles pur¬ 
porting be from u Dr. Elliott*® Letters,” in re¬ 
lation t© Western Farming. Wie know not where or 
when these letters first appeared, neither have we any 
other-knowledge of the writer than what we gather 
from the published articles alluded to but we think our 
readers , will be interested in the following synopsis of 
some of 'the items which we condense from an exchange 
paper. 
Winter Pasture on the Prairies. —We think 
that sonss people, who have flattered themselves with 
the idea of making fortunes by wool-growing in the 
west, expected to derive great advantage from grazing 
.their sheqp on the prairies in the winter season but we 
have seen <enpugh of prairie grass to satisfy us that after 
.it is killed by frost it can afford but trifling support to 
any animaffi This agrees with what Dr. Elliot says-. 
“ The prairie pasture answers the purpose until the 
frosts set;h, and after &his it is useless, as it dries up 
and has no .substance an it for nourishment more than the 
worst straw.” 
.Sheep star Illinois, —Messrs. Brown & Smith, at 
ffsland Grove, “ half way between Springfield and Jack¬ 
sonville,” fllL,) are said to conduct their farming busi¬ 
ness on an extensive scale, each having about” 1,400 
.acres under feme, and .cultivated in grain and grasses. 
Eaeh keeps a flock of about 1,400 sheep, and each culti¬ 
vates from 400 to 000 acres of corn annually. 
Their sheep are pastured part of the year on the 
.open prairies, where they are attended by shepherds. 
They are fed in the winter on hay, corn fodder, and 
corn, for the most part. Corn is found to be as good 
food for sheep on the prairie farms as any other. 
And corn fodder is believed by these enterprising far¬ 
mers to be better than hay. The earlier their lambs 
come in the year, they consider the better; as those 
lambed in January and February they find to be much 
netter than those of March or April. The early lambs 
can be weaned much earlier than the late ones, and are 
therefore stronger to endure the ensuing winter. In 
short, they consider the early lambs more than 25 per 
cent, better than the late ones; as they make larn-er 
sheep, and good, strong breeders for the next year.”” 
This practice of having lambs dropped in January and 
February, it should be remembered, is u adapted to tfe 
meridian of southern Illinois ” rather than New-Yark 
and New-Engiand. 
Big Farms. —An extensive farmer of Morgan Go, v 
(Ill.,) by the name of Stron, is said to have :< severs 
thousand and two hundred acres enclosed and under cul¬ 
tivation, in grain and the grasses. He thinks the bin® 
grass does not suit the prairies, on account sf their 
richness and other reasons.” Timothy with clovesr is 
preferred for hay ; but clover is chosen for pasture,. 
“ Some of his fields,” it is said, u exceed a thousand 
acres. He purchases young cattle in great uurnbmq. 
and has continually on hand fat cattle for the laarkel, 
He also owns several farms of from three hundred: t© 
?@ne thousand acres, in different parts of the 
where he grazes and feeds his cattle. Perhaps he- oc¬ 
cupied more land as a grazier, than any man in Efrs 
rope or America.” 
Tie following very sensible conclusions, paYtienl&rly 
the closing sentence, we would recommend t& at¬ 
tention and consideration of all farmers: 
, 11U !5 C ‘arms 11 
ble, according to the investment. ^ . otro tom i» 
that three hundred and twenty acres was mo nak fear 
any man, and Mr. Smith informed us tha* six fesM 
and forty was as much as anv one our ’ ^ to C altivdC*v 
Yet there are thousands of farmers w‘ £* j ess 
who live happier and enjoy life bet' t w e to 
cultivate the large farms.” ‘f lban 
Mr. 
Stro^, told us 
Raising RooTs.-Willie 
lose great and uniform .iff Gar butt/ o - 
ys, in the Genesee F sffifoess amply shoWk his 
ising roots is to ms' tffflSr, “ Th « f‘"5^ Js 1.1 
rized ; and fall is LAG the ground rich abt w P* 
Y 40 or 50 wa- , milch the best .time pd do it- 
shels of plas- god loads of. ^ell-rorthd mamme 
re ; spread ,er • add 5 to 10. bushels o as' - S- 
or 8 inch- . thd'di evenly over .the sliv.aee, ' 
’bes wi es deep, add narrow fuvrbw it ***£&» 
rghlv j* Id the spring, harroW or catat® *£ 
™ , ««til the ground U well 
fc A fenced through it . fie sure 
/m 'gVbiliid-get's'dibd "dty 
e sure ^ 
rerminAtecthe sbs& 
