1851 
THE CULTIVATOR 
325 
ing from 30 to 60 cents per lb., and almost invariably 
paid a considerable portion of the money in advance. 
One farmer in Licking county, having some 600 head of 
fine wooled sheep, contracted for his entire clip at 45 
cents per lb., and received in the month of January, on 
the same, one dollar per fleece on the contract. These 
and other influences of a similar character, have raised 
the expectations of the farmer a good deal higher, in 
relation to what they expect to realize from their sheep 
in future years, than can be reasonably obtained. The 
barbarous system of slaughtering sheep by the thousand, 
for the pelts, and tallow will be somewhat checked by 
the upward tendency of wool. In Knox county alone, 
some 30,000 sheep were slaughtered last autumn, which 
netted to those engaged in the operation, at least one 
dollar per head, clear of all expenses. Whilst the sale 
of those sheep produced a large revenue to the country 
immediately around those mammoth slaughtering es¬ 
tablishments, it produced a direct loss to the owners and 
the State, from the simple fact that the clip of wool, 
which was two-thirds produced, would have yielded a 
larger amount of money than was obtained for the sheep; 
and besides, the stock, for a similar production in future 
years, would have been in the hands of the farmers, and 
the increase of lambs would also have been an addition¬ 
al source of income. Sheep can only be had at present, 
by offering twice the rates they could be had for last 
season, and unless a great change for the worse in the 
wool market should take place, there is no good reason 
why . in periods of three years at least, the flocks of 
sheep in Ohio may not be doubled, until the numbers 
equal at least 20,000,000. The attention of the farmers 
is strongly directed to the importance of adopting im¬ 
proved systems of culture and farm management, and 
upon trial this will be found difficult of accomplishing 
without manure, and the latter can only be produced 
through the agency of stock, among which stand fore¬ 
most sheep for enriching thin and worn out lands. 
Horned Cattle. —The herds of the improved breeds 
of British horned cattle found in Ohio, are confined al¬ 
most exclusively to the Short-horns, or Durhams. In no 
part of the Union can so great a number of pure blood¬ 
ed Short-horns be found as in the Scioto Yalley. Herds 
of from one hundred to three hundred each are frequent¬ 
ly met with, that combine all the symmetrical points of 
the improved Durham breed of cattle, and are unques¬ 
tionably as free from alloy, or mixture with American 
stock, as can be met with on any part of this continent. 
Ohio became stocked with Durhams through the praise 
worthy exertions of the li Ohio Company for the Import¬ 
ing of English cattle f which was organized in the year 
1833. Some score or upwards were imported, at the 
start, of both sexes, and these by judicious crossings have 
stocked central Ohio especially, with a race of cattle that 
scarcely have any equal. The genial climate and rich 
soils that prevail along the whole extent of the Scioto Yal¬ 
ley, are conducive to the improvement of horned cattle. 
Some 30,000 head of fat cattle are fed and driven to 
the eastern markets from the Scioto Yalley annually, 
and the average value of each ranges from $50 to $60, 
making the handsome business of nearly $2,000,000. 
Other portions of the State also drive a large number 
of cattle over the mountains yearly, but Ross, Pickaway, 
and Madison counties do by far the largest proportion 
of the business. In some instances from 400 to 600 head 
are fed by a single farmer and driven to the New-York 
and Philadelphia markets. The very best quality of 
clover and permanent pastures are furnished the stock 
during the summer months, and early in autumn they 
are turned into corn fields and owing to the openness 
of the winters require little or no protection, from the 
the snow or frosts, and by the early part of spring are 
well fattened. The stock for feeding consists almost ex¬ 
clusively of four and five year old steers, which net when 
in market from 700 to 900 lbs. each, of beef, hide, and 
tallow. It costs, at a low average, to get a drove of 
cattle from the Scioto Yalley into the Kew-York market, 
from $10 to $12 per head, without including the loss of 
flesh sustained by driving, which may safely be calcula¬ 
ted at $10 per head, reckoning beef at $7.00 per hundred 
lbs. which is much below the New-York price. When 
the central Ohio railroad is completed, the business of 
driving on foot, it is thought, will be rarely practiced, as 
a gain of from $5 to $10 per head will be obtained by 
transporting the cattle in cars on the railroad. When 
the three roads are completed, leading to New-York, 
Philadelphia, and Baltimore, the inducements for stall 
feeding beef cattle for these markets will be so great 
that it will doubtless be engaged in on a large scale. 
Ohio might and doubtless will do a large business of this 
kind, and when it becomes pretty generally adopted, it 
will afford an additional evidence of the wisdom of her 
farmers. The stock of barn-yard and stable manure is 
quite too limited at present, and when each arable farm¬ 
er cultivating one hundred acres of land adopts the plan 
of stall feeding some six or eight six year old bullocks 
yearly for the Eastern market, then will the feeder be¬ 
come enriched by an abundant annual supply of rich 
manure, and the crops of grain and grasses will afford 
ample proof of the wisdom of such a course of farming. 
Dairy Business. —The north-eastern portion of the 
state, generally known by the appellation of 11 The Re- 
serve,” and of recent date by that of Cheesedom, is the 
great dairy district of Ohio, which consists of eight coun¬ 
ties, inhabited almost exclusively by New-England peo¬ 
ple. It -would be difficult to reduce any branch of busi¬ 
ness to a more perfect system, than that practiced by the 
intelligent farmers of the Reserve in their dairying ope¬ 
rations. The cheese is shipped to New-York, Cincinna¬ 
ti, St. Louis, and other large emporiums of trade, and 
is put up in the very best style for market. Cheese fac¬ 
tors purchase the green curd at the rate of from three 
to four cents per lb., of the farmers, and call at their 
doors regularly every week-day morning for it, and thus 
much labor and responsibility is got rid of in curing and 
marketing the article, and the business, on the whole, is 
better done than if each farmer pressed and cured the 
product of his own dairy. A single factor finds no diffi¬ 
culty in manufacturing the curd produced by a thousand 
cows, and in prosecuting the business to this extent, is 
warranted in investing a suitable amount of means in the 
erection of appropriate buildings, and in the purchase 
of economical appliances for its profitable prosecution. 
Both farmer and factor appear satisfied that a higher 
character is given the cheese in the market, and better 
prices are obtained for it, than if the old system wa$ 
