THE CULTIVATOR. 
71 
nothing so vexatious and so trying to patience, as the 
destruction of a crop when half grown, by cattle and 
hosts. I have seen, in more cases than one, a promising 
fiefd 'of corn literally destroyed for the want of a proper 
fence. To prevent such losses and drawbacks upon my 
labors, I have adoptedthe plan of setting the stakes per¬ 
pendicularly, dressing the upper end about two feet, to 
fit a 3| inch augur hole, put on a tie, two rails below the 
top, and drive the stakes about twelve inches into the 
ground. Stakes and ties of white oak. There are sev¬ 
eral advantages in this manner of setting stakes. All 
the rails, from top to bottom of the fence, are confined, 
and the stakes thus set are not in the way of the plough 
or of the scythe. 
Of Stock and the manner of Feeding. 
I have learned that a good cow in good condition will 
more readily sell for forty dollars, than a poor cow in 
low flesh will bring twenty dollars. A good cow, well 
fed, is more profitable than two poor ones. Hence the 
importance of keeping such stock as will pay well for 
first rate keep. We are too careless on this subject. A 
great proportion of the farm stock is of that worthless 
character, that its best returns will not pay for the food 
consumed. But still, I believe there is more careless¬ 
ness and indifference, more censurable negligence, and 
perhaps greater call for reform, in the manner in which 
our stock is protected and fed, than in the quality of the 
breed. Within the last two years, in the course of busi¬ 
ness, I have visited many farmers in different parts of 
the country, and for the most part during severe winter 
weather. I have been into the house, barn, cattle yard, 
and fields. And I am ashamed to tell the result of my 
observations. I am exceedingly mortified to see, and 
even to think of such slovenliness and poverty, even a- 
mong men esteemed respectable. I mean not, however, 
poverty absolute, but poverty of the carcases of cattle, 
sheep, and horses. And, sirs, I would only whisper 
these facts to you, were it not that I believe there is a 
remedy. And that remedy is in diffusing information. 
And I feel it my duty to proclaim such facts upon the 
house-tops. 1 would go into the minutia of such man¬ 
agement. I would draw such a picture of improvidence 
and recklessness, as should prove a looking glass, in 
which every farmer, if he saw not himself, would at 
least see more or less of his neighbors. 
And first of the cattle yard, which, in some cases, was 
a lot, of six, eight, or ten acres, and the barn somewhere 
near the centre. In other cases there was a pretended 
enclosure about the barn, but did not afford the least 
hindrance to all the stock, from rambling the whole farm 
over in search of scanty food and water. In these cat¬ 
tle yards I have seen dead sheep, which, from the ap¬ 
pearance of those alive, one would expect had died of 
starvation. Colts and calves, which might be expected 
to be found in the same condition in a few days. Cows 
which, instead of furnishing the family with milk, look¬ 
ed as if they themselves would require to be fed with 
milk, to preserve their lives a month longer. Not a sta¬ 
ble, cow-house, hovel, or shelter of any kind, to protect 
them from the chilling winds and storms of winter. I 
have seen the owner of such a stock of cattle and sheep, 
scatter hay of the most worthless kind about the yard, 
which was filled with mud and filth. The stronger of 
the herd would, with apparent reluctance, eat a por¬ 
tion of the hay, and trample the balance in the filth of 
the yard ; while the weaker were driven away to shiver 
in the corners of the fence. 
Such management I have seen with my own eyes, or 
I would not believe it. Such, to be sure, is not the gen¬ 
eral character of our farmers, but far too many woulc 
see themselves in the above description. Now, sirs, 
what do you suppose was the first question I should ask 
such a man? I will tell you. It was this: “ Do you 
take the Genesee Farmer ?” And can you imagine what 
was his reply ? Of course you can. He says, “ No, I do 
not ; I have thought several times I would, but my fam¬ 
ily expenses are large, and I cannot afford it.” “ What! 
not fifty cents a year ?” said I. “ Suppose you sell one of 
those pigs for 50 cents, give the same food to the other 
three, and subscribe for the Farmer. Here, (continuer 
his visitor,) you have three or four sons between twelve 
and twenty-one years of age, and it appears to me ex¬ 
ceedingly important that they should have the opportu¬ 
nity of reading and informing themselves of the very 
great improvements in agriculture, which have been 
made within the last few years.” Butali tonopurpose. 
Ignorant he was, and ignorant he will be. 
But I rejoice to say I have visited farmers of a differ¬ 
ent character. And with your approbation, I will give 
you a little sketch of the management of one of them, 
with whom 1 am personally acquainted. I went also 
into his house, barn and cattle yard, for he had one de¬ 
serving the name, on two sides of which were barns well 
filed; on one of the other sides, a good frame cow- 
hoes', and on the other side a large stack of straw, anc 
a well-house, covering a good well of waterand a pump, 
and in which well-house were deposited ploughs, har¬ 
rows, cultivators, roller, wagon, &c. In the yard were 
good substantial racks for coarse fodder, such as corn 
stalks, straw, &c. But no mud or water. This was all 
absorbed by the straw and litter which was scattered 
liberally about the yard. I went with him to his barn 
at night, (for he attends to these matters himself,) to 
observe his manner of doing things. And when he 
opened his stable door, first a large pair of oxen, next 
several eows, all in such condition as butchers wouk. 
not complain of, marched into the stable, and each to 
the proper stall, in the most perfect order and regular¬ 
ity, where they were tied with ropes, standing to their 
cnees in dry straw litter. Then he took a basket, and 
went into a cellar adjoining the stable, and brought out 
sugar beets, and fed to each milch cow a half bushel, 
first cutting them in a box standing on the barn floor, 
directly in front of the stable, with an instrument re¬ 
sembling a large family chopping knife, the edge straight 
and about fifteen inches in length, and the handle about 
three feet in length. In the same manner, and from the 
same cellar, did he feed to his oxen and other cattle the 
same quantity of ruta baga tumeps. 
I requested of this farmer a statement of his opinion 
of the root culture, and the comparative value of roots 
and hay ; also his manner of wintering his stock. And 
I was so well pleased with his views and his practice, 
that I am inclined to give it to the public through the 
Cultivator. It was in substance as follows :—He says, 
“ In the first place, I keep no more stock than I can keep 
well. As to the feeding of milch cows, I commence in 
September with a liberal supply of pumpkins, which I 
continue till the first of December, and then commence 
with sugar beets, in preference to turneps, because the 
turneps give a bad flavor to the milk and butter. The 
sugar beets I continue all winter, half a bushel per day 
to each cow. When I put up my cows at night, I first 
feed them their beets, and in the course of the evening 
feed them with good clover and timothy hay. In the 
morning give them corn stalks, and through the day 
feed with straw, plentifully scattered in the yard. And 
I find by experience, that I can keep more stock in this 
manner, than to feed hay only. And besides, I am 
doubly paid for the cost of the roots, in the increased 
quantity of milk. And with this feed, together with 
good water in the yard, and a decent application of the 
card every morning, my cows are always in good flesh, 
and, as may be supposed, are always glad to see me.— 
I feed my oxen and calves in the same manner with tur¬ 
neps. 
“My manner of feeding my sheep is as follows:— 
They are kept in yards well protected from winds and 
storms. They are fed in boxes made perfectly tight, 
very accessible, and yet so constructed that they cannot 
get into them. In these boxes I feed in the morning, at 
the rate of one peck of corn to a hundred sheep, and at 
evening 1J bushels ruta baga turneps, cut fine and salt¬ 
ed. This is all the feed they get, except a liberal sup¬ 
ply of straw of the different kinds scattered about the 
yards.” 
Perhaps some of your readers may at first object to 
this manner of feeding sheep, thinking the expense 
greater than to keep on hay. But suppose we make an 
estimate for 130 days, say from 1st Dec. to 1st April. 
130 pecks of corn, or 32| bushels, at 4s.$16 25 
195 bushels turneps, Is. 24 38 
Total expense of keeping 100 sheep 130 days, $40 63 
It is generally estimated that ten sheep will con¬ 
sume as much hay as one cow, and some 
think more, which, at 1£ tons for every ten 
sheep, would require fifteen tons for 100 
sheep, which, at $10 per ton, is. 150 00 
Then wouhTthere not be a saving of. $106 37 
in the keeping of 100 sheep for one winter ? 
Again. Suppose we compute the quantity of land 
which would be occupied in these two cases. Fifteen 
tons of hay, at an average yield of one and a half tons 
per acre, would require ten acres of land to furnish hay 
for the hundred sheep. But at a very moderate cal¬ 
culation, one acre of corn will furnish the 32£ bushels, 
and the corn fodder into the bargain. And one-fourth 
of an acre of turneps will furnish the 195 bushels. Thus 
have we not 84 acres of land to appropriate to other 
purposes ? Or, if you please, let us put eight of the ten 
acres to corn, and the other two acres to turneps, and we 
shall have the means for keeping eight hundred sheep 
from the same quantity of land which would be requir¬ 
ed to keep one hundred upon hay ; and the manure of 
the eight hundred sheep will keep the ten acres of land 
in good condition. 
But enough for the present. Should you deem such 
communications conducive to the agricultural habits of 
the farming community, you may expect again to hear 
from your friend, NIAGARA. 
Rural Life. 
Messrs. Gaylord and Tucker —For ages past the 
poets of all nations have sung to us of the charms and 
enjoyments of rural life ; they have told us in their min¬ 
strelsy, that happiness has fled from the palaces of 
kings and has sought an asylum in the cottage of the 
peasant; they have told us, that 
“ Those who have wealth must be watchful and weary; 
Power, alas 1 naught but misery brings.” 
And philosophy, which has been but too frequently the 
inspiration of the muse in the garb of reason, has told 
us that seclusion from the world, in the pursuits of the 
field is the cradle of virtue, and the undisturbed repose 
of happiness and the choicest blessings of heaven. And 
time, which has often sanctioned by venerableness the 
grossest errors, and thrown a charm and loveliness 
around the delusions of fancy, has, in connection with 
the brilliant language and imagery of the poet and the 
philosopher, transmitted and sanctified to us the poet’s 
goose quill dreams and experience; and the anomaly, 
strange as it may appear, is presented in this age of in¬ 
telligence of man’s feelings and knowledge being diame¬ 
trically opposed upon a mere matter of fact. Tor we 
now see, and have long seen, when we have divested 
ourselves of poetic delusions, and have looked at things 
with practical, common-sense eyes, as they have been 
and now are, that the cottage is generally the abode of 
contracted intellect, contracted virtue and contracted 
happiness ; and that the farmer is as likely to be immo¬ 
ral and irreligious as other members of society, and is 
generally less refined and less intelligent. I say not this 
to traduce or to detract, but to exhibit truth in its native 
simplicity, and to strip the syren song of the poet of its 
delusive attractions. 
Rural life, or in plain English, the farmer’s life, is 
not and never has been, productive of the virtue and 
happiness claimed for it by the ancient and modern 
bards ; it has ever been a life of toil, of drudgery, of li¬ 
mited enjoyment, of uncultivated taste and rustic man¬ 
ners. But this state of things has Resulted more from 
inattention to the cultivation of the mind and heart, and 
an enlightened understanding of his business, than from 
the actual occupation of the farmer. The proof of this 
assertion, if proof be necessary, is found in the fact that 
American Farmers are rising and improving, preparing 
to merit and assume a more exalted station in society. 
The press, with a power almost omnipotent, is shed¬ 
ding abroad upon the world of mind, a mass of intelli¬ 
gence, practical and theoretical; grand and interesting ; 
elevating, expanding, and refining the intellect; open¬ 
ing a more extended range of usefulness, and coming 
within the reach of all who will grasp at and possess it. 
The possession of these high intellectual attainments af¬ 
forded by the press, gives worth, and interest, and en¬ 
joyment to the possessor, which the bare pursuit of the 
most useful avocations of life can never bestow. Such 
being the fact, it requires but little discernment to see 
that any one distinct class in society, which shall disre¬ 
gard the progress and dissemination of general intelli¬ 
gence; rejecting the advantages and improvements 
which it affords, will cease to be respected, as being des¬ 
titute of those high intellectual attainments which are 
the powerful incentives to interest and action. Such, 
for ages past, has been the relative condition of the la¬ 
boring classes. Compelled to labor as the only means 
of procuring a livelihood, little or no leisure was afford¬ 
ed for mental culture ; and from the cost in times past 
attending the acquisition of knowledge, before the- art 
of printing was discovered, and long after that period 
the poor were completely shut out from the world of in¬ 
telligence, and were consequently held and esteemed as 
almost a distinct race of beings, unworthy the kind re¬ 
gard and respectful consideration of the wealthy and the 
learned. But through the benign influence of the press 
a happier day is dawning upon the world ; the laborer 
is becoming intelligent and respected ; and the respect 
which is given to the laborer is extended to the labor; 
for in the same degree as the laborer is respected or de¬ 
spised, is the labor made respectable or despicable.— 
And the farmer, who of all the laboring classes is uni¬ 
versally acknowledged to be the most important and ne¬ 
cessary to society, is assuming his proper rank among 
the honorable of the earth, with a speed proportionate 
to his march of mind, and his approximation to the high 
standard of intelligence established in society. 
Every day is unfolding some new project for the more 
general diffusion of knowledge and its attendant bless¬ 
ings among the laboring classes. The last, most grand 
and efficient measure for this purpose in the state of 
New-York, has been the establishment of school district 
libraries; and if our farmers will second thiswise en¬ 
terprise of our government, by the continued applica¬ 
tion of the public funds to the purchase of new and va¬ 
luable books, and making themselves masters, as they 
most certainly will, of their contents, how enlightened, 
how elevated and how influential must they now be¬ 
come. Then, indeed, may the beautiful reveries of the 
poet be verified. For intelligence establishes an elevat¬ 
ed standard of morals, as ignorance does a low and con¬ 
tracted one; and upon the strict observance of moral 
and religious principles, depends man’s greatest happi¬ 
ness. 
Happiness, to be found, must be sought for in that 
mode of life, and in the possession and the practice of 
those things which all the wise and good of mankind 
have declared affords peace and tranquility. It is often 
sought for, and thought to consist in an indulgence 
in the extravagant, evanescent and enervating luxuries 
of life. But, alas! how delusive the idea, and how ru¬ 
inous in its consequences to that exalted happiness 
which depends upon a contented mind. Luxury has 
crept into society as an attendant upon wealth ; but not 
necessarily, for in the hands of good men wealth is a 
source from which emanates a thousand blessings ; but 
in the hands of bad men, a thousand evils flow there¬ 
from. Therefore, it may be said, that wealth is not an 
evil, only as it is in evil hands to do evil. Yet, in ano¬ 
ther light, it may be said that wealth is the greatest evil 
in sociely ; that in its influence upon the character and 
conduct of men, it is the most to be dreaded of all the 
agents that induce to action. It is powerfully calculat¬ 
ed to weaken the bonds of fellow feeling—that feeling 
which is the basis of society, affording the sweetest en¬ 
joyments of life,—weakening it, by increasing the natu¬ 
ral distance between man and his fellow man. It tends, 
directly and strongly, to detach the heart and the head 
from the social and religious feelings and duties of life, 
by substituting in their stead a wide and. splendid variety 
of sensual enjoyments which centre in self. Here sensual 
enjoyments are of two kinds and characters, exerting 
two distinct evil influences upon society. One is purely 
animal, extending its ill fraught consequences immedi¬ 
ately to those who indulge in it, and remotely to their 
offspring; as luxurious living, indolence, &c. The 
