96 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
Value of Agricultural Papers. 
Messrs. Gaylord & Tucker —We often hear the 
old adage, “ never too old to learn,” and I think we 
might safely add, none are too wise to learn. In call¬ 
ing on my neighbors to subscribe for the Cultivator, I 
find many who are too well versed in agriculture to be 
taught; they understand the business perfectly well in 
all its branches, and as for paying away their money 
for that which is worse than nothing, they will not do 
it. Now I am fearful such men stand in their own light. 
I know I have been prejudiced myself, and I fear there 
are others in the same situation. I once thought agri¬ 
cultural publications were useless—that they treated" on 
new notions and the like, that were of no consequence 
to any one; but I find I was much mistaken. My 
views on the subject were altogether incorrect. I never 
have read a number of the Cultivator, without obtain¬ 
ing some useful knowledge from it. I have found many 
facts laid down in its columns, that I had learned before 
by dear-bought experience, and much too, that probably 
I never should have learned in my own private sphere. 
Thus we see that by mingling our minds together, and 
giving each other the results of experiments fairly test¬ 
ed, all are benefitted; and I am fully persuaded, if any 
one is benefitted more than another, by agricultural pub¬ 
lications, it is the experienced farmer. There is no one 
so capable of judging of the different kinds of soils, and 
making the best selection of different crops, and apply¬ 
ing manures to secure a rich reward for his labors, as 
the observing farmer; yet to arrive to perfection on this 
point is past the comprehension of man. 
Management of Milch Cows. 
I have read with much interest the remarks of your 
able contributors on stock, and especially on milch 
cows; yet there is one particular in the management of 
milch cows which seems to have been passed over un¬ 
noticed—that is milking. Perhaps there is no one point 
of dairying treated with so much neglect and indiffer¬ 
ence, and attended with as great loss to the dairyman 
as milking. Not more than twenty-five years ago, it 
was considered a good lot of cows to produce 200 pounds 
of cheese to the cow on an average, and the farmer 
Avho obtained that, was a skillful dairyman ; and even 
at the present day, many keep along in the same old 
track, doing well enough as they term it, while others ob¬ 
tain 590 pounds, and some have gone as high as 600 
pounds and over, besides a good quantity'of but¬ 
ter. How is this difference to be accounted for? 
One reason I would give, is milking. A cow, to give a 
large quantity of milk, should have one steady hand to 
milk—one that can draw the milk quick and easy; care 
should be taken to milk the cow perfectly dry (or in 
other words clean.) Another important object is to 
milk at regular hours. In long days, cows should be 
milked and turned to the pasture before sunset, that the 
time between milkings may be nearly equal; yet the 
practice with some is to work in the field as long as 
they can see, then drive up the cows and have them 
milked by inexperienced hands, and those too who take 
no interest in the business; then leave them in a close 
yard during the night. I have always noticed that 
those who make an odd job of milking, never realize 
much profit from their cows. That there is a great dif¬ 
ference in cows, I will admit, though I think there is 
more in the management of them than in the quality ; yet 
the farmer should be verj r careful in the selection of 
cows for the dairy. I find some of my best cows would 
be counted worthless if they had different hands to 
milk them, and those, too, who were inexperienced in 
the business. I am often told by my neighbors that I 
have some peculiar method of making more cheese 
fro n the same quantity of milk than they ; and it is true 
there may be something to be considered on this point; 
but I never as yet have found the secret of making 
butter and cheese without milk. 
Another reason is, good k aping. Cows should be 
kept in warm stables, well littered, until late in spring. 
The practice of letting cows lay out on the cold wet 
ground as soon as it is bare, is a bad one. They should 
be kept up and well fed, that they may be in good heart 
and high order when turned to grass. Salt should al¬ 
ways be kept in troughs under sheds that cattle can 
have it at their command throughout the year. Another 
fact of much importance is stabling cows early in the 
fall. As soon as cold storms come on they should be 
stabled, which will add one-third to the quantity of milk. 
y Stantials are to be preferred for putting up cattle, al¬ 
lowing each one three feet, and boar led between the 
stantials to keep the fodder from wasting; the stantial 
fastens 1 at top by running thro’ the upper timber and a 
long iron link, made to drop on the top, which by raising 
rne end will loose the moveable stud of the stantial. 
I table-floors should be a little sloping, that a dry bed 
may be kept to keep the cattle clean and comfortable. 
Horn Ail. 
I have peruse 1 with deep interest the remarks of dif¬ 
ferent writers on the subject, of horn ail. lean fully 
accord with Mr. Payne and Mr. Warner, as to the cause 
of murrain or horn ail. I have been troubled with that 
dreadful scourge among my cattle for more than six 
years, and wish I might be informed of a sure preven¬ 
tive from some one of your numerous subscribers. I 
have tried many experiments, and I think to some ad¬ 
vantage, but have found no certain remedy—that the 
complaint arises from an obstruction of the gaul duct, I 
think there cm be no doubt, and any thing that would 
assist that organ in the discharge of its regular func¬ 
tions would in a certain degree prove effectual. The 
cattle which are most liable to this complaint are those 
in high order; yet I think those in poor flesh and 
very weak might be alike subject to the disease. The 
complaint is sometimes discovered first by bloody urine, 
sometimes by swollen udder, and sometimes by the ani¬ 
mal’s shaking the head, the eyes and head swollen; at 
other times, comes on gradually, the victim standing 
with the head against a fence or barn, eyes dull and 
sunken, horns generally cold, though not in all cases, 
and when bored are found to be hollow. I have gene¬ 
rally been very successful in saving my cattle when at¬ 
tacked with it. My method is to bore the horns on the 
under side near the head, and with a syringe force in a 
composition of salt, pepper and vinegar ; put spirits tur¬ 
pentine on the head and horns, bleed in some cases, and 
keep the holes open in the horns that they may dis¬ 
charge freely if requisite ; soot and pepper given inter¬ 
nally is good. I have lengthened out my letter too long 
already, yet there are some other things I should like to 
notice, but shall leave them for more able pens. 
A. B. COLE. 
Williamstown , (Mass.,) March 24, 1840. 
Experiment in Pork Making. 
Messrs. Gaylord & Tucker —I notice your excel¬ 
lent correspondent, Mr. Robinson’s no less laughable 
than true picture of the “ Hog Illustration” in this 
month’s number of the Cultivator, just at hand, but as 
I have lately had my say pretty extensively on the sub¬ 
ject of the improved breeds, I shall leave the reversing 
of the “ illustration” to the graphic pen of Mr. Bement, 
and give you in lieu thereof my first experiment in ma¬ 
king pork, as a pendent to that of Mr. Robinson’s. 
Tho’ bordering on the populous and commercial mart 
of Buffalo, my farm is still mostly in the original forest, 
and backed to a great extent by Avoodlands, the home, 
in large herds, of the A r eritable originals from which 
Avere draAvn the faithful portraits of the savage Alliga¬ 
tor and desperate Landpike. From this prolific herd, I 
was constantly favored, morning, noon and evening, by 
friendly calls, and without deigning to ex'er say, “ by 
your leaA'e, sir,” they unceremoniously helped them¬ 
selves to Avhatever lay in their way ; all species of grain 
and roots seemed alike delectable to their omniverous 
appetites, and if a brood of chickens, goslings or ducks, 
or eA'en a young lamb got astray, wo worth the day ! it 
Avas but presto ! and a smack of their greedy jaws, and 
goose and bi ldy, and duck and lamb, had gone to their 
last account. I believe eA r en that they once devoured a 
fine large calf for me. 
Conspicuous in this train, I frequently noticed a tall, 
long, lean, gaunt sow,Avith nine whopping pins, the beau 
ideal of her gentle self. She Avas apparently the “queen 
o’ the herd,” in the forest round, and her genius and ex¬ 
ploits cannot better be described, than in the language 
of the poet, 
“ Twas her that led thro’ every fence, 
O'er field, o’er bog, by woody dell ; 
’Twas her whose clap of civern'd jaws, 
To all things living rung the knell.” 
Well, gentlemen, this at length became unendurable 1 
and as Avith all my diligence of inquiry I could find no 
owner for the roaming brutes, I determined on the next 
foray, if possible, to make prisoners of at least the head 
and offspring of the offending moss troopers, and cage 
and fasten them. Alas, for the then innocent simplicity 
of my knoAVledge in hogology 1 I supposed that a pig 
was a pig the Avorld over ; that the Avolfy gauntness de¬ 
scribed arose from much roving, and a scantiness of 
food, and that confinement and plenty to eat, Avould soon 
put them into the daintiest of pork. So the next time 
my lady queen and her progeny made their appearance 
on my open premises, I sent a couple of men to drive 
them into the yard. They pretty soon returned breath¬ 
less Avith their chase, and a report, “ that them are crit- 
turs Avan’t to be cotcbedno Iioav, and wouldn’t drive even 
the way a body knocked ’em doAvn and dragged ’em.” Well 
I detached a corps de reserve of four men more, Avho 
soon came back in the same condition, and Avith a simi¬ 
lar report to the first. So messieurs les sauvages Avon’t 
come in and surrender; very well, like Uncle Sam in 
the Florida Avar, I resolved to call on the aid of my 
dogs, and have here to add, that I Avas rather more suc¬ 
cessful than the old gentleman seems to have been as 
yet with his Cuba Bloodhounds, for no sooner Avere an 
Irish Greyhound, a stout Newfoundlander, and a pair 
of bull Terriers put on the scent, than the men soon 
had the land loafers by the heels, and into a double 
planked high roofed pen. 
Now, sirs, came the tug of Avar—potatoes Avere just 
ripe, and a man Avas set to digging, boiling and feeding. 
Well, dig and boil, and feed, he did and nothing else, 
from day break in the morning till dark at night, steadi¬ 
ly, day after day, which Avas responded to on the part 
of the hogs, by gulping down and wasting the food 
as fast as they could get at it, squealing and fight¬ 
ing with eaclLother, pawing, rooting and tearing at, and 
gnawing the thick oak planks that hemmed them in. 
I occasionally paid them a visit, and they universally 
received me Avith a general yell, and springing up to¬ 
ward the open place of the pen as high as they 
could reach. To my great astonishment, so far from 
Avitnessing any gain from week to Aveek, it, on the 
contrary, seemed that they only greAV more gaunt. 
I thought it was the fault of the food, and I or¬ 
dered it changed to a varied mixture of oil meal, 
oats and barley, but still the result was the same. 
I then put them to corn, and lastly, corn meal made 
into thick pudding, but it proved but another edi¬ 
tion ol the nursery ballad, of the wife that sought to 
rid her hands of the stain from the blood of her mur¬ 
dered husband: 
“ I he more she washed the more she might, 
’Twas down by Linkum-lidie.” 
By Avay of interlude to all this fatting tragedy, I had 
m the mean while, the pleasure of various daily calls 
from my distant neighbors and travelers on the road, 
humanely inquiring—“ What could be the matter with 
my hogs? Want they starved? Did’nt the feeder 
abuse them ? Want they caught in a trap somehow,” 
&c. &c. After each interrogatory, I ordered fresh litter, 
extra feed and attention, but Mr. Robinson has graphi¬ 
cally told the Avhole story, and I will not repeat it; and 
to cut the matter short, after the hogs had devoured 
thrice as much food as their carcasses could ever be 
Avorth, I ordered them killed, in despair of ever seeing 
any fat accumulate on their ribs. Nor Avas I here at all 
disappointed, for Avhen I came to inspect them dressed, 
there Avas primus a thick rhinoceros rind, about half 
an inch of bluish Avhite gristle, secundus a streak of 
tough lean, and lastly, a great thick bone 1 
Noav for the pork. As a commencement, a barrel of 
it was sent out to some Avood choppers, hutting it in a 
shanty, and Avho, tho’ blessed with appetites akin to a 
polar fisherman, and that had gone it occasionally on a 
lean coon, they could not stand this, and after frying 
and boiling, and baking, and roasting, they shouldered 
their axes and rebelled in a body. I then ordered it fed 
out to the dogs who had been instrumental in aiding to 
catch the living subjects, but tho’ long and elaborately 
cooked, it was soon no go, and they too rebelled upon 
the stuff, and the last that I saAv of the barreled pork, 
was the upsetting of the same by the gardener, together 
with the brine and salt into a compost he Avas manufac¬ 
turing into manure. 
Noav all these are A r eritable facts, without a shade 
of embellishment; it Avas my first experiment in Alliga¬ 
tors, Landsharks and Pikes, and I guess it will be the 
last. I immediately after this set myself to reading, 
inquiring and searching for the best breeds of SAvine, 
and soon lit upon the quiet little Chinese. These Avere 
in a short time folloAved up by a choice selection of 
the splendid Berkshires, from the stock of Messrs. 
Lossing and Bement, of Albany, those excellent 
breeders the Shakers of Watervliet, and the Messrs. 
Brentnalls of Canterbury, together Avith some fresh 
importations direct from the best bred stocks in Eng¬ 
land, on my own account, and any time that any person 
can sIioav that he has better breeds than the above, 
that moment Avill I sacrifice my present carefully chosen 
and high bred animals to the knife, and become his pur¬ 
chaser. Your ob’t serv’t. 
A. B. ALLEN. 
Buffalo, May 12, 1840. 
Whitington Wheat and Chinese Corn. 
Gentlemen— The Whitington Avheat,Avhich the late 
Jesse Buel, in the January number of the Cultivator, 
for 1839, said Avas “ the handsomest sample of Avheat 
Ave have ever seen of any kind, although it is a spring 
w-heat. The berry is large, plump and very white, the 
skin apparently thin, the heads seA r en inches long, the 
straAV stout and bright,” &c.; has I understand been a 
complete failure in this country as a spring wheat. Per¬ 
mit me to communicate my experiments on its culture, 
which may shoAV that Ave have still a fair prospect of 
cultivating, Avith success, this neAV and beautiful variety 
of wheat. On the 9th of April, I sowed half a peck on 
a light grax’elly soil; it greAV Avith surprising luxuriance, 
throwing out the most vigorous stems, averaging, I 
should think, fifteen to each plant. They continued for 
sometime groAving and spreading OAmr the ground, so as 
to make me regret not haAdng gmng the half peck three 
times the quantity of land. Half the plants were soon de¬ 
stroyed by a large Avhite worm,but there Avere still remain¬ 
ing sufficient to justify the hope of anabundantcrop. The 
stems, Iioav ever, never rose from the ground, nor did they 
throAV out a single seed stalk, but gradually died. This 
convinced me that in this country it could not be a 
spring wheat, AvhateA-er it might be in the different cli¬ 
mate of England. HaAdng reserved about half a pint 
of seed in case of accidents, on the 12th of September, 
I planted thirty-six grains in toavs, ten inches apart, and 
six inches distant in the rows, to uIIoav room for its pe¬ 
culiar spreading growth. Thirty of these grains vege¬ 
tated Avith remarkable vigor. When the snoAV disap¬ 
peared in the spring, they presented a very healthy state, 
spreading their numerous stems so as to completely cover 
the ground ; unfortunately a fence Avas bloAvn doAvn by a 
violent wind, which admitted some geese to eat it off close 
to the surface of the earth. They are noAvrecox-ering from 
this accident, and look particularly strong and healthy; 
though the leaves are not yet of that remarkable size 
they Avere before. On the 21st February, I soAved the 
remainder of the seed,Avhich appeared aboA'e ground on 
the 15th day, and although a considerable quantity 
was destroyed by ftrods, the rest looks very well. This 
last soAving has been exposed to the influence of the 
subsequent frost and snoAV, wdthout being injured in the 
slightest degree. By these tAVO experiments, I hope 
to be able to test its qualities in this climate as a Avin- 
ter, and as a very early spring crop, and also to prove that 
its failure as an ordinary spring crop, must be attributed 
to the difference of climate alone, and not to any misre¬ 
presentation of Mr. G. Thorburn or Mr. Whitington. 
One word on the “ Chinese Tree Corn” to conclude. 
