1851. 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
51 
subject explained. For example, I have seen two 
large and fine heifers, of a bright red color ; the 
skin about the eye and bag, not a cream color, as 
with the first of our Devons. They resembled those 
of the first stock crossed with the Heaton breed. I 
have also seen a very large and fine yearling bull, 
imported the past season. He is well formed, has 
good limbs, a round neck, long face, narrow across 
the eyes, thick horns, a white skin, and some white 
hairs under the belly. He resembles animals I have 
seen which were a cross of Devon and Durham. 
I have been told that the Devons have been bred 
in England, latterly, chiefly for beef. In this coun¬ 
try, we should have three objects in view in breed¬ 
ing stock. The first and most important is the 
milking quality; second the working quality, and 
third the fattening quality, as all are designed for 
beef at last. It is of the greatest importance that 
we breed our Devon stock with both milking and 
working qualities. In selecting stock for the dairy, 
a yellow skin is important; those cows which have 
a white skin are likely to give thin and poor milk; 
and it is also.important that our male animals should 
come from good milking families. J. N. Blakeslee. 
Watertown , Ct. 
It will not be denied that there is a difference in 
the points and markings of some of the Devons 
lately imported, and those imported thirty years 
ago; but we do not think it necessary to conclude 
that this difference has been occasioned by a cross 
with the short-horns, or any other breed. Breeders 
have different standards, and this occasions, in a 
few generations, a corresponding difference in the 
points of animals of the same original stock. For 
instance, if two men were to purchase of our cor¬ 
respondent, ten of his Merino sheep, and should con¬ 
tinue to breed from the stock without the least ad¬ 
mixture—the one endeavoring to produce sheep with 
long, narrow faces, and the other those of an op¬ 
posite character; is it unreasonable to believe that 
after thirty years, there would be a marked differ¬ 
ence in the two families thus bred? 
The qualities which should be chiefly regarded in 
stock, depend on the circumstances of the breeder. 
The relative value of milk, beef and labor, must de¬ 
termine which shall be the primary object. 
The stock alluded to by our correspondent as the 
ce Heaton breed,” was probably derived from the 
short-horns imported by Robert Heaton of 
Throgg’s Neck, Westchester county, N. Y., in 1792, 
and which were obtained by him of the celebrated 
English breeder, George Culley, author of Ob¬ 
servations on Live Stock , Sc c. Eds. 
Number of plants Eaten by different Ani¬ 
mals. —It has been calculated that 
The Cow eats 276 plants, and rejects 218 
Goat do 449 do 126 
Sheep do 387 do 141 
Horse do 262 do 212 
Hog do 72 d« 271 
National Agricultural Bureau. 
We are much pleased that the establishment of an 
Agricultural Bureau has been recommended by 
President Fillmore in his late message. The re¬ 
port of the Secretary of the Interior, Mr. Stuart, 
also takes up the subject, and urges the formation of 
the new Department by sound and cogent reasoning. 
The suggestion in regard to the purchase of the es¬ 
tate of Gen. Washington, we hope will be second¬ 
ed by all who cherish the memory of that eminent 
patriot, by whose far-seeing wisdom, a National 
Board for the improvement of Agriculture was first 
recommended. The following remarks of Mr. Stu¬ 
art, we trust will receive the consideration to which 
they are entitled: 
In surveying the various interests of the country, no 
one can fail to observe how little has been done by our 
government to promote the cause of agriculture. It is 
true, the cultivator of the soil, in common with all 
other classes of society, enjoys the protection of the 
laws and the blessings incident to good government 
But something more seems to be due to a branch of in¬ 
dustry which employs more than half our population, 
and, to a great extent, sustains the other. 
The power of the general government over this sub¬ 
ject is limited, but this furnishes no good reason why 
it should not be exercised so far as it does legitimately 
extend. 
The ordinary means adopted to afford protection to 
the manufacturing and commercial interests are com¬ 
paratively inoperative in regard to the agricultural. A 
tariff can do hut little, directly, to benefit the farmer 
or the planter. 
The staple productions of the South are peculiar to 
that climate, and therefore are in no danger of compe- 
titon from abroad. Those of the North and West, in 
consequence of the fertility of the soil and the low prices 
at which land can be bought, are produced at less cost 
there than in other countries, and consequently, except 
under extraordinary contingences, need no protection by 
imposts on the breadstuff's of foreign nations. 
But still much may be done by government, at small 
cost, to promote the interests of agriculture. The sci¬ 
ence is yet in its infancy, and great minds are now di¬ 
rected to the study and development of its true princi¬ 
ples. Experiments are in progress to ascertain the qua¬ 
lities of different soils; the comparative nutriment of 
vegetable productions; and the utility and efficiency of 
various manures in fertilizing and renovating the ex¬ 
hausted lands of the old states. 
Encouragement may be afforded to enterprises like 
these, and facilities furnished for the collection of seeds 
plants, and vegetables from all parts of the earth, and 
their distribution throughout the country. 
Premiums may be offered for the best practical treati¬ 
ses on the different branches of husbandry, which can be 
published and sent abroad among the people, By means 
like these, a spirit of philosophic inquiry may be stimu¬ 
lated, and a great impulse given to the interests of agri¬ 
culture. Much has already been done in this respect, 
through the agency of the Patent Office; but the subject 
is too important to be left in this dependent condition. 
The last annual report from the department, recommend¬ 
ed the establishment of an Agricultural Bureau, to afford 
to this great branch of American industry the encour¬ 
agement which it so well deserves. This is no novel sug¬ 
gestion. It had the sanction of Washington, who, in his 
last annual message, referring to the propriety of creat¬ 
ing an Agricultural board, said:—‘ This species of estab¬ 
lishment contributes doubly to the increase of improve¬ 
ment, by stimulating to enterprise and experiment, and 
by drawing to a common center the results, everywhere, 
of- individual skill and observation, and spreading them 
thence over the whole nation. Experience accordingly 
