THE CULTIVATOR. 
19 
SOUTH DOWN 
Messes. Gaylord & Tucker—I hope you will not 
think me obtrusive, while I ask the insertion in your 
invaluable paper of the accompanying cut. It is one ol 
the South Downs I imported in the fall of 1838, which, 
with several others brought out the year before, all 
selected from some of the best flocks in Sussex, Eng¬ 
land,—now, with their descendants, no doubt make one 
of the finest flocks to be found in this country. They 
are, I think, perfection in shape, and entitled to hold 
the same relative position that improved Short Horns 
do among cattle and Berksliires among hogs. 
Theirs is the celebrated “ English mutton,” which, 
with thousands of others having no particular predilec¬ 
tion that way, I can testify is not “all stuff.” Ihey 
are in size between the Cotswold and our native sheep, 
and will weigh in ordinary flesh from 160 to 200 lbs. 
The one of which this is an engraving, weighs 180 lbs. 
They are of round, full, and beautiful form, and of 
great weight for their apparent dimensions, possessed i 
THE HEREronBS AND SHORT HOHNS. 
Messrs. Editors Cultivator — I recollect noticing 
in your paper some time since, a request that those who 
have any knowledge of the Hereford breed of cattle, 
would give their opinions of its relative merits com¬ 
pared with the improved Short Horn and other varieties. 
In Mr. Bement’s communication, published in the Au¬ 
gust number, he says he thinks there has been no im¬ 
portation of Herefords excepting by Mr. play, Messrs. 
Corning & Sotham, and himself. This is a mistake. 
In the year 1825, if my memory serves me aright, the 
Massachusetts Society for promoting Agriculture, re¬ 
ceived as a present from Admiral Sir Isaac Coffin, of 
the Royal Navy, a bull and a cow of the true Hereford 
breed, selected either by himself or his agent in Eng¬ 
land. There came also with them, as a present from 
the same beneficent gentleman, an improved Short Horn 
cow, (Annabella)—a bull of that breed, (Admiral,) 
had before been sent. 
The Hereford cattle were kept for one or two years 
in the section of the state where I then resided, on the 
farm of John Prince, Esq. of Roxbury. 
The cow never had a calf after coming to this coun¬ 
try, and it being supposed that she would never breed, 
she was slaughtered ; but I have been informed that on 
killing her she was found to be with calf. As to the 
quality of her beef, I cannot speak, but presume Mr. 
Prince can give information on this or any other point 
relating to these cattle. The cow was certainly consi¬ 
dered one of the most extraordinary animals for shape 
and size ever exhibited at the Brighton (Mass.) Cat¬ 
tle shows. 
I believe the bull was not patronized to a very great 
extent while at Roxbury, it not being a stock-growing 
neighborhood, and he was subsequent !y taken into the 
interior of the state, where, if I am not mistaken, he 
was sold. I saw many of this bull’s progeny in the vi¬ 
cinity of where he was first kept, and have owned some 
of them. They were generally highly esteemed. They 
made prodigiously powerful and active draught cattle— 
there was a majesty in their gait, an I an elasticity and 
quickness of movement, which I never saw equaled, 
and which, together with their beautiful mahogany 
color and strong constitutions, made them decided fa¬ 
vorites with the Yankee teamsters. 
For dairy qualities, the progeny of this bull were, 
as far as my observation extended, an improvement on 
the stock with which he was crossed. I am aware that 
the Hereford has not the reputation of a milking race, 
and though this may be generally correct, it is by no 
means certain that some grade of that blood, may not 
be superior milkers. I will mention an instance in sup¬ 
port of this idea. Several years ago, some cattle of 
Bakewell’s celebrated breed of Long Horns, called 
Dishleys or Improved Leicesters, were imported to dif¬ 
ferent parts of this country. They were famous for 
fattening, but notfor dairy qualities ; yet the half bloods 
were generally good milkers, and some of them were 
uncommonly superior in this respect. I know not how 
te account for this fact, unless on the ground of the con- 
BUCK.— -(Fig. 4 ) 
of extraordinary vigor of constitution, fitting them for 
great endurance of keep and exposure. In our flock of 
about 50, I have never known an invalid for an hour, 
or one low in flesh, though their pasture has often been 
as short as I have ever known one on which sheep were 
sustained. . 
Their wool is about as fine as half blood Merino, and 
with them I have no doubt would cross to very great ad¬ 
vantage, giving the Merinos greater strength of consti¬ 
tution, weight of carcase, and aptitude to fatten. 
The Cotswold, of which we have several, I also think 
very highly of, and in some particulars, among which 
is weight of carcase and fleece, they are no doubt the 
South Downs’ superiors, but they have been so lately 
fully described, I will not trespass upon your att uu« n 
by attempting to do so here. 
I am, gentlemen, with all due consideration 
Truly yours, E. P. PRENTICE. 
Mount-Hope, near Albany, Dec. 21, 1840. 
stitution of the cross being so much strengthened that 
they were better able to resist the inclemencies of the 
weather, and to digest their food more perfectly and 
make the most of it. 
I will here remark that I knew many and owned 
several of the progeny of the Improved Short Horn 
bull Admiral, before mentioned as having been present¬ 
ed to the Massachusetts Society by Admiral Coffin, and 
I have no hesitation in saying, that for the ordinary 
uses to which cattle are applied in the northern section 
of our country, I considered the stock of the Hereford 
bull above alluded to, decidedly preferable. 
From 1830 to 1837, I resided in the state of Maine, 
and my business was the breeding of various kinds of 
stock. I had never seen any full bred Improved Short 
Horns, which appeared to possess sufficient hardiness 
of constitution to adapt them to so rigorous a climate 
and the hard labor of the yoke to which oxen are there 
subjected. Accordingly, on commencing operations, I 
purchased of Hon. John Welles, of Boston, a bull of a 
cross between the Hereford and the Improved Short Horn 
with a slight dash of theBakewell. This bull was the 
easiest animal to fatten that I ever saw—was of very per¬ 
fect symmetry, vigorous and active—and very heavy in 
proportion to the bone. His weight at six years old, 
after bavins been wintered on the coarsest fodder that 
the farm afforded, was 2000 lbs. 
With this bull, I bred from selected cows of various 
grades of different families, my object being to manu¬ 
facture and establish a breed, better adapted than any 
other, to the soil, climate and purposes of the section 
of country for which they were intended. 
As my stock arrived at an age to have their qualities 
tested, they gradually got into favor ; but as the pas¬ 
sion of too many was for stock of enormous size, and 
mine had been bred wholly with regard to useful pro¬ 
perties, I had to wait till their superiority could be 
proved before their merits were generally admitted. I 
however took several prizes, on different descriptions of 
cattle, at the cattle shows of the Kennebec County 
Agricultural Society. On leaving Maine, I sold some 
of the best stock which I had bred, to Mr. J. W. Haines, 
of Hallowell. I am informed that it is now considered 
preferable to any stock ever known in that section. 
Mr. Haines carried several of the highest prizes at the 
Kennebec shows of ’38 and ’39—and at the recent show, 
he took the first on milch cows, with one which was 
bred by myself—the first on bulls, and the first on 
heifers, of the same stock. 
The recent importations of Herefords by Messrs. 
Corning & Sotham, of your city, must by all accounts 
be very valuable. A gentleman from Boston and a good 
judge of stock, lately passed through here on his re¬ 
turn from a tour to the west. He had seen the Here¬ 
fords above spoken of, and also had just seen the fine 
herd of Durhams belonging to Mr. Sullivant, near 
Columbus, as well as much other fine stock. He pro¬ 
nounced the Herefords superior in fineness of bone and 
symmetry, to any thing he had ever met with. 
Cannot some of your distant readers be gratified by 
a sight of some of these fine Herefords in the Cultiva- 
toU The portait of Mr. Bement’s bull Dallimore, is 
certainly one of the best figures I have ever seen. His 
death must be a great public as well as individual loss. 
The remarks of Mr. A. B. Allen, in the October 
number of the Cultivator, on the working and fattening 
properties of the Herefords, I have no doubt are cor¬ 
rect ; neither have I any doubt that wherever strong 
constitutions are required, and oxen are wanted for the 
yoke, the Herefords will be preferred to the Improved 
Short Horns, and perhaps to all other breeds. 
Mr. Allen expresses some surprise that the lately im¬ 
ported Herefords have so wide hips and loins, and says 
the Herefords he had before seen, were narrow at 
these points. I cannot think the Herefords are gene¬ 
rally deficient in this particular. Youatt, in his work 
on cattle, published under the direction of the British 
Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, speak¬ 
ing of the preference given by the Duke of Bedford 
to the Herefords, after repeated trials with nearly all 
other breeds in England, after mentioning some objec¬ 
tions to the Herefords generally, says of the Duke’s 
cattle, “ they retain all the length of quarter, and 
much of the wideness and roundness of hip and full¬ 
ness of thigh, which have ever been esteemed the pe¬ 
culiar excellencies of the Herefords. A few ol them 
might in their fore quarters be mistaken for Devon- 
shires ; but with a broadness of chime and weight be¬ 
hind, which the Devons have rarely attained.”—[page 
211 .] 
But in choosing stock, the grand object should be to 
obtain the breed best calculated for the particular situa¬ 
tion for which it was designed. Each has its peculiar 
excellencies and defects, and the one which maybe best 
for some locations and purposes, may be worst for oth¬ 
ers. The great error in public opinion of the present 
day in regard to all kinds of stock, is the passion for 
great size. The only correct medium, is, I think, that 
of your correspondent R., in the August number, that 
“ the only desirable size is where we find the greatest 
weight in the smallest relative compass." 
I had intended to have added a word on the “quacke¬ 
ry” of some of your neighbors’ remarks and advertise¬ 
ments of “thorough bred Berkshire swine, unalloyed 
by black Siamese,” &c. but your correspondent D. of 
Cambridge, Mass, has shown that matter off in so true 
a light, that I have but little to offer. In regard to the 
original color of the Berkshire swine, I will just ob¬ 
serve, that in Dickson’s Agriculture, a large quarto 
work published in England some thirty years since, 
colored engravings of a boar and sow of the Berkshire 
breed are given. They were both of a reddish brown, 
with black spots. 
What has been the modus operandi in tie improve¬ 
ment of the Berkshire breed of swine, I will not pre¬ 
tend to say ; but I think there cannot be a reasonable 
doubt that the originals were entirely too coarse ; and 
as has been said by some one, of the Improved Short 
Horn cattle, unless great care and judgment are con¬ 
stantly used in breeding, they will revert back and bring 
out the oh ectional points of the old stock. 
SANFORD HOWARD. 
Zanesville , Ohio, Nov. 7. 1840. 
<£o tDfstern (Emigrants—No. 3. 
First Night oh the Prairie. 
Messrs. Editors— In my last I proposed to give some 
account of the manner of making a new settlement. 
Although the subject is not exactly such an one as is 
calculated to add to the knowledge of those who are 
seeking for something new in agriculture, it may be one 
from which a numerous class of your readers may 
gather something new to them, and I hope sufficiently 
interesting to add to their amusement of a long winter 
evening. ' And that, you know, is a strong inducement 
towards causing many to read ; and that should always 
be a prominent object, to make a paper amusing as well 
as useful,—in fact the two should be constantly blended. 
The most useful articles are too often too dry to attract 
the attention of the hard laboring man. An occasional 
article then, which will amuse as well as instruct, and 
which will tend to “ lighten labor” by adding an hour 
of enjoyment to the toil-worn laborer, will certainly 
have answered a good end—such is my present purpose 
—but if you consider it out of character for your jour¬ 
nal, you know how to dispose of it without giving of¬ 
fence to a real friend. But to those who intend to set 
their faces westward, I think an old settler’s experience 
will be interesting. I will begin with the First night 
on the Prairie. 
It was the last day of October 1834, when I first en¬ 
tered this “ arm of the Grand Prairie.” It was about 
noon of a clear delightful day when we emerged from 
the woo 1, and for miles around, stretched forth one broad 
expanse of clear, open land. At that time the whole of 
this country scarcely showed a sign that the white man 
had yet been here, except those of my own household. 
I stood alone, wrapt up in that peculiar sensation that 
man only feels when beholding a broad rolling prairie 
for the first time—it is an indescribable delightful feel¬ 
ing. Oh what a rich mine of wealth lay outstretched 
before me. Some ten miles away to the south-west, the 
tops of a grove were visible—toward that, onward roll¬ 
ed the wagons, with nothing to impede them—the road 
was broad—the grass (which some think grows so high 
as to impede travel,) only a few inches long, except in 
creeks and wet places Just before sundown we reach- 
