2 66 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
winter in the barn yard on straw, oil-cake, and corn- 
and-cob meal. They are to be turned off for beef 
whenever the market is most favorable. Mr. J. thinks 
the feeding of cattle in this way has some advantages 
over keeping sheep. He can buy the steers in the fall 
and generally sell them in the spring, during which 
time they will have consumed a large portion of his 
straw, and with the other food that will have been 
given them, will be fat. The summering of the stock 
is thus avoided, and Mr. J. thinks he will have more 
manure, which is a great object with him, than he 
could make by devoting his farm as much as he for¬ 
merly did to sheep. 
Superior Cow. —Among Mr. J.’s cows, several of 
which were full blood Short Horns, we particularly no¬ 
ticed a half-blood cow, five years old, which had pro¬ 
duced her second calf about five weeks before. Seeing 
that she was really a fine animal, and had the appear¬ 
ance of an uncommon milker, we made inquiries in re¬ 
gard to her. Mr. J. told us that she had been regu¬ 
larly milked three times a day, since she calved. 
When the calf was about two weeks old, the milk of 
the cow was carefully measured for several days, and 
found to range from thirty-six to forty-two wine quarts 
per day. She is a well-formed and thrifty cow, and 
notwithstanding the very great quantity of milk she 
afforded, was in good flesh. 
Under-Draining. —Mr. Johnston is of opinion 
that the winter-killing of wheat is caused by too great 
a retention of water in the soil and subsoil. In this 
we fully agree with him. To obviate the evil he 
has resorted to under-draining with tiles, of which 
he has laid 700 rods. The tiles are made by Mr. 
Whartenby, of Waterloo, after a pattern procured 
by Mr. J., from Scotland. They cost at the kiln twenty 
cents per rod. The drains are dug about two and 
a half feet deep, or so low that the water does not 
come up through the bottom. The digging costs from 
eight to ten cents per rod, making the whole cost of 
the drains, including the carriage from the kiln, about 
thirty cents per rod. The tiles appear to be made in 
the best manner. They are not in the least injured 
by the weather, even when exposed to the most severe 
frost. Where the bottom of the ditch is fiim, the 
tiles are placed immediately on it; if the ground is 
soft, a hemlock board is laid down, on which the tiles 
are placed. A little straw is laid over the tiles and 
the earth which had been excavated is then thrown on. 
The beneficial effects of draining on Mr. Johnston’s 
farm are very apparent. Places which formerly would 
bear no wheat, nor indeed scarcely anything but a kind 
of sour grass and reeds, are made, merely by draining, 
to produce the finest crops of every description of 
grain. He is so 'well convinced of the advantages of 
the practice, that he has laid 400 rods the present sea¬ 
son, and intends to continue it still more extensively. 
Mr. J. is now beginning to turn his attention, more 
than he has formerly been able to do, to the improve¬ 
ment of his buildings and fences. Along the roads, he 
is removing the rail fences, and substituting for them 
neat and substantial board ones; and he is preparing 
to remodel and repair his barns. 
Having examined Mr. Johnston’s farm, he carried 
us up the lake a few miles. We called at the fine 
farm of Mr. Herman E. Foster, who came here from 
the city of New-York, four years since. Mr. F. was 
absent, and we therefore took only a cursory view of 
the premises. The land is of good quality, and the 
whole farm appears to be managed with much neat¬ 
ness. The location is very pleasant, commanding an 
extensive view of Seneca lake, and embracing altoge¬ 
ther one of the most beautiful landscapes we met with 
in our excursion. 
Sept. 
We are indebted to Mr. Johnston, also, for convey* 
ance to Geneva, and to several farms in Ontario Co. 
At Geneva we called for a short time at the imple¬ 
ment manufactory of Mr. T. D. Burrall. Mr B. is 
one of our most worthy and intelligent mechanics, and 
has been long engaged in making various kinds of ag¬ 
ricultural implements. His plows, cultivators, harrows, 
&c., are widely known, and much liked. He has late¬ 
ly been enlarging his w r orks by several new buildings. 
The business is hereafter to be conducted chiefly by 
his son, Mr. E. J. Burrall. 
The village of Geneva is very pleasantly situated at 
the foot of Seneca lake. Three steamboats ply regu¬ 
larly between this place and the terminus of the Che¬ 
mung canal at the head of the lake. In the vicinity 
of the village are many fine residences, among which 
we particularly noticed the beautiful mansion and ex 
tensive grounds of the late Hon. Gideon Lee. 
Mr. George Fordon, three miles from Geneva, has 
taken great interest in the improvement of horses and 
cattle. He owned for several years the Cleveland 
Bay horse Alfred, imported by Mr. Weddle, and 
which Mr. F. sold last spring, to go to Toronto, Canada. 
Mr. F. also bought of Mr. Weddle an imported mare 
of a breed used in England for coaches. From this 
mare he has bred several fine foals by Alfred. Of 
these he has a four-year-old stallion called Perfection, 
for which he received a premium from the State Ag. 
Society last season. He is a well-made and firm 
looking animal, well calculated, we should think, to 
beget a useful stock. He has another stallion called 
Young Alfred, by Alfred, out of a Kentucky mare. 
He is a heavy, strong animal, but does not show as 
good points generally, especially about the head, as 
Perfection. He has also several fillies and young 
mares of good promise—particularly one from the im¬ 
ported mare before mentioned. Of the progeny of Al¬ 
fred, we have seen but few specimens. Mr. Johnston 
has reared several, some of which we saw, and w T ere 
assured by him—as we have been by others, and as 
their own appearance also indicates—that they are ex¬ 
cellent farm horses. They have weight and strength 
to carry the plow in a stiff soil, or to move a large 
load. 
Mr. Fordon has formerly bred Short-Horn cattle, 
and he has still a few fine animals of this stock, though 
he has disposed of the most of his nerd. 
From this neighborhood we passed over to Col. 
Cost’s, at Oaks’ Corners. Much of the soil in this 
vicinity is quite sandy, forming, in respect to its 
texture, quite a contrast with that of the farms we 
have described on the east side of Seneca lake. We 
are informed that this sandy soil was, till within a few 
years, considered of inferior value, comparatively. Late¬ 
ly, however, its capacities have been better ascer¬ 
tained. Excepting for wheat, (and of this very good 
crops are frequently raised,) it is now considered equal 
to any land in this region; and in the opinion of many, 
its average returns, on the score of profit, actually ex¬ 
ceed those of the stiffer soils. It is easily worked, at 
little expense; it can be worked at all times except¬ 
ing when frozen, and crops on it are more indepen¬ 
dent of the weather than on more compact soils—nei¬ 
ther suffering from wet or drouth. The crops in 
general looked well, and were more forward than we 
commonly met with—Indian corn and potatoes espe¬ 
cially so. 
Col. Cost is not now farming as extensively as for¬ 
merly, and as his principal operations are with a farm 
situated at some distance from his dwelling, we had 
not time to examine them. 
Considerable quantities of peppermint are raised in 
this vicinity, .^yhich is distilled for the purpose of pro- 
, curing the essential oil. Wc expect from Col. C 
