THE CULTIVATOR. 
83 
Farm Report. 
Messrs. Gaylord & Tucker— I furnish for the Cultivator 
the following account of the crops raised on my farm, and 
manner of cultivation. I do not make the statement because 
I think that I have outdone others, for I do not doubt that ma¬ 
ny very many, have done much better than I have. My ob¬ 
ject has not been to raise a large crop at great expense, to 
boast of; but to pursue a regular system of permanent im¬ 
provement, which should not only render the land each year 
more productive, but should pay for all improvements, and re¬ 
turn a moderate profit. In this I have succeeded ; my farm 
is annually becoming more fertile, and is cultivated with less 
labor and expense.* , _. 
My farm contains 140 acres, 30 of which is wood land, 3 in 
highway, and the last year 24 in mowing, 15 in summer fal¬ 
low, 15 in pasture, and about 53f in tillage crops. The culti¬ 
vated part is divided into fields, which average about 10 acres 
each, by fences of chestnut rails laid up in what is called Vir¬ 
ginia or worm fence, occupying about 7 feet in width. 
Wheat.— On 24 acres I raised 625 bushels. The field was 
occupied by pasturage in 1839. In June it was broken up, 
harrowed in July, and cross plowed in August, by laying itm 
beds about 24 feet in width by back furrowing. The first ten 
days of September it was sown with a trifle more than 14 
bushels of wheat per acre, harrowed thoroughly lengthwise of 
the beds, then rolled down with a heavy roller, and the fur¬ 
rows between the beds opened with a plow. In the spring of 
1840, a quantity of clover seed in the chaff, sufficient to seed 
it well, was sown. 
Corn. —In the spring of 1840,1 planted 10 acres with corn, 
on land that the year previous had borne wheat, (one acre ex¬ 
cepted which bore corn,) 7 acres were covered with wheat 
straw, 2 with barn-yard manure, and one acre received no 
manure. The straw was turned under by one good plowing, 
the land was then made fine and mellow by harrowing, and 
[anted between the 8th and 24th of May with corn, in hills 
A feet apart each way. It was twice hoed, after having had 
the cultivator run through it twice each way. The product 
was 634 bushels. 
Potatoes.' —I planted six acres of potatoes, which were ma¬ 
nured and cultivated much in the same way as the corn, and 
produced 1400 bushels. 
Barley. —With one plowing, two harrowings, and one 
rolling, I sowed 4 acres of barley, on corn stubble, which pro¬ 
duced 160 bushels. 
Peas. —A piece of land containing 5 A acres, which in 1839 
was mown, early in the spring of 1840 received one plowing, 
then was rolled, sown with peas, harrowed thoroughly and 
rolled again, produced 166 bushels. After the peas came off, 
I gave this piece one more plowing, harrowing, and rolling, 
and sowed wheat, which at the setting in of winter looked 
well. 
Oats. —Three acres of corn stubble were sown with oats, 
after one plowing, harrowing, and rolling. The oats lodged 
some, and the whole piece suffered very much from the grass¬ 
hoppers. Produce 125 bushels. 
Carrots. —Three-fourths of an acre was planted with car¬ 
rots, on corn stubble, after two plowings and two harrowings; 
rows about two feet apart. Produce 500 bushels. 
Sugar Beet. —Half an acre of ground, like the above, re¬ 
ceived similar treatment, and was planted with sugar beet. 
Produce 300 bushels. The beets and carrots were hoed 
twice. 
Hay. —I mowed 24 acres, which yielded at least two tons 
er acre, or 48 tons. Since I have pursued a rotation of crops, 
have never had occasion to complain of light grasses. Fif¬ 
teen acres have been summer fallowed, and sown with wheat 
the same as in 1839. 
The stock which has been pastured on the farm the past 
summer, consists of three cows and one heifer, three horses, 
twenty-five hogs, (and through the latter part of the summer 
and fall 15 pigs,) and 225 sheep. 
Seeding Lands. —My method of seeding lands to grass, is 
to sow five quarts of clover seed, and the same quantity of 
timothy seed per acre on wheat, on some of the last snows of 
March: or if on spring grain, I use the same quantity of seeds, 
harrow them in lightly, and make all smooth with the roller. 
When the grass seed is up, sow two bushels of gypsum per 
acre. If it is intended for pasturage, sow the same quantity 
of gypsum the second season ; but if it is intended for mow¬ 
ing, omit the second use of gypsum, as it causes the growth to 
be too great, makes bad mowing and poor hay, because clo¬ 
ver when lodged soon becomes moldy and rotten. Since I 
have followed the practice of sowing gypsum after grass seeds, 
I have found no difficulty in their vegetating well and living 
through the summer. I think it assists the young plants to 
withstand the drouth. I would advise every farmer to pur¬ 
sue a rotation of crops; plow, mow, and pasture each field in 
its turn. If you have fields which are so v\et as to prevent 
this, make them dry by judicious draining. Ample directions 
for this may be found in the former volumes of the Cultivator, 
and in no other way can capital be more profitably employed 
on a wet farm. 
Keep a crop of some kind at all times growing on your 
fields; if you have no grain or roots on them, be sure to have 
a good quantity of grass there. To this end sow grass seed, 
and especially clover, often and plentifully. The opportunity 
of making thousands of dollars annually, is lost to our farmers 
by failing to sow clover. The fields, which a few dollars worth 
of clover seed would cover with a luxuriant crop of grass, to 
fatten the cattle and fertilize the earth, are for the want of such 
seeding, often seen a barren waste, or what, is still worse, a 
vast receptacle of thistles, daisy and johnswort, from which 
the adjacent fields receive a large supply of these noxious 
seeds. One thing more respecting the management of my 
own farm, and I close. No intoxicating drinks of any kind 
are used upon my farm ; neither is any thing raised upon it, 
allowed to be converted into such drinks, and this course I 
would respectfully recommend to my brother farmers. 
Navarino, Onondaga Co. February, 1841. E. MARKS. 
*It is for the reasons here stated by Mr. M. that we take a 
pleasure in laying such papers before our readers. They are 
the results obtained by a practical, intelligent, reading farmer; 
such as any well informed, persevering, cultivator may obtain. 
There has been no extraordinary effort for an extraordinary 
effect ; but what has been done is the result of system, and 
therefore permanent. Such examples are far more valuable to 
the great mass of farmers, than those in which much extra 
capital has been expended, or means adopted not within the 
power of all.— Eds. Cult. 
Herefords vs. Short Horns. 
Messrs. Gaylord & Tucker— I have read with much 
amusement the highly facetious letter of Mr. Henry S Ran¬ 
dall, in your last Cultivator, and laughed at its contents, al¬ 
most as much as he says “ the impudent yankees” did at my 
steeds and pigs. My mirth, however, was mingled with a 
feeling of regret, that I had incurred his wrath, and that his 
good sense, “of which I had previously a high opinion) had 
allowed him to stoop to ridicule and ribaldry,as a “dernier re¬ 
sort ;” certain signs of a weak argument. 
I know nothing of his friend “Mr. Ezekiel Peabody,” and 
therefore give Mr. R. all the credit he can gain by his ac¬ 
quaintance ; and I leave all such passages, dictated as they are, 
by any thing but good breeding and gentlemanly discretion, to 
pass for what they are worth; which I think will be very lit¬ 
tle, less even than the shadow of one of the Kilkenny cats, so 
wittily, served up in the “ Olla Podrida,” with which we are 
regaled. Such insinuations are unworthy of Mr. R., and are 
beneath my notice. 1 will merely answer those parts of his 
letter which appear business like. 
In the first place, I am aware I spoke highly and confident¬ 
ly, regarding my purchases; but it was not bravado. I knew 
the prejudices I had to contend against, the true worth of my 
animats, and was willing to back my own opinion. I see by 
your last paper that I have raised up opponents who will throw 
out <-*,;ry obstacle against me, but “ Truth is mighty and will 
prevail ,” and they shall not drive me from my purpose. 
I did not intend to say any thing regarding the judges at 
Niblo’s Fair, but only wished for an opportunity to test their 
judgment. Mr. R.’s article has given it to me. I will show 
“ Matchless” against any cow in the U. States, of any breed, 
as the most valuable animal, for a cup of the same value as 
was there given, adding the expenses of the judges, who shall 
be seleetea in the following manner :—I will name mine, my 
opponent his, these two selecting the third ; and to prove that 
I am not actuated by any exclusive feeling, I will show a three 
year old Durham heifer lately imported, against the one pro¬ 
duced by my opponent, whether winner or loser, on the same 
terms. I will also shew a Berkshire boar and sow now in the 
possession of Mr. John Thomas of Albany, nine months old, 
which were a part of the identical stock so cruelly “ laughed 
at,” against any thing in this State, of the same breed, except¬ 
ing Mr. Allen’s herd of Buffalo, (as I think him the best judge 
to decide,) for a prize similar to the one given by the Institute. 
I will gs still further; Mr. Clift has the two ewes shown at 
the fair, now in his possession, and I presume both have lived 
together, and fared alike since then; if so, they shall be exhi¬ 
bited at Mr. C.’s farm ; I will accompany Mr. R. there, who 
shall be the judge without knowing to whom either originally 
belonged; and I will venture a similar cup to the one Mr. C. 
gained on his decision. 
As'regards the milking dispute, I shall not go beyond the 
proposition I have made, but am ready to fulfil that “ in ear¬ 
nest.” My cow shall be a pure Hereford, but I could not 
agree to lorfeit if not in my possession ; she shall be one of the 
“ 24” I imported last summer. It is not my wish to make any 
sort of a gambling contest of this business, but to give an ex¬ 
cellent breed of cattle a chance of being appreciated as they 
ought to be, and to silence their traducers; and I refer the 
ubiic to Mr. R.’s various epistles, to say whether or not they 
ave made it incumbent on me so to do, or whether I had any 
alternative but to reply or submit in silence, to his injurious 
misrepresentations. Should mv offers be taken, and the tri¬ 
umph be mine, I shall value the prizes as mementos worth 
preserving ; should I fail, a second trial may be more success¬ 
ful, as I am resolved on perseverance. 
Mr. Randall says I have “ seduced' ’ himself and others in¬ 
to this controversy; let him refer baclt to the Cultivator, if his 
memory fails, he will soon see who commenced it, and I will 
leave it to your readers to say, which of us has most violated 
that amenity of feeling, which ought always to accompany us, 
however eager we may be to impress our own opinions on the 
minds of others, or controvert those of our opponents. I ask 
Mr. R. what accusation can be more opprobrious, than that 
of “stealing ?” And has not Mr. Hepburn endeavored to fix 
this charge on the breeders of our cattle ? I also again ask 
him to cross his pure Berkshires with the “Landpike” he 
speaks of, exhibit the produce to proper judges, with his certi¬ 
ficate of pedigree and purity, and if he is not detected by them, 
the said produce and his own conscience, he may then ven¬ 
ture on the “ Alligator;” and I will believe that “ stolen” cross¬ 
es may be concealed. I say now, what I have said before, 
that a cross with the Hereford and Durham, is an excellent 
one; probably better than the pure breed of either, but cannot 
be brought under the observation of a judge without immedi¬ 
ate detection. 
I must now call your attention to Mr. Youatt’s text book, 
to which Mr. Randall and Mr. Hepburn seem to have pin¬ 
ned their faith with an obstinacy, which regards any thing 
that may differ in the smallest degree with its dogmas, as an 
innovation and a heresy not to be tolerated. Mr. Youatt is 
unquestionably a man of great talent and judgment; he how¬ 
ever is but a man, and is liable to error like others; while 
therefore his opinions have all the weight which they so justly 
deserve, with practical men in his own country, these men 
do not, like Messrs. Randall and Hepburn, make an agricul¬ 
tural Pope of him, or consider his book (excellent though it be) 
as the agricultural gospel. Science and improvement are too 
much on the advance to rest long on any particular point; 
but to return to the text book. In the 11th page he says, 
speaking of Devons : “ They have been long celebrated fora 
breed of cattle beautiful in the highest degree; and in activity 
at work and aptness to fatten, unrivaled.” In speaking of the 
Herefords, page 32, he says—“ They are even more kindly 
feeders than the Devons, and will live and grow fat, where a 
Devon will scarcely live." And further in the same page— 
“ The Devons will acquire bulk and hardihood, and the Here¬ 
fords a finer form and activity.” These are his exact words. 
Gentlemen reflect on these conflicting statements and recon¬ 
cile these contradictions if you can. When Mr. R.’s classi¬ 
cal knowledge, backed by Mr. IJ.’s “ intelligence ,” have shed 
their light on them and converted such language into reason 
and proof, I shall then believe there is real and sound advan¬ 
tage in studying the classics; but till then, I shall be content 
to make my quotations in humble dog latin ; to “gallus meus 
ego et nunquam animus,” notwithstanding Mr. R.’s ter¬ 
rific range of literary acquirements, from the “Kilken¬ 
ny cats” and his friend ‘ Peabody’ to Galileo and Coper¬ 
nicus,” his highly sportive and illuminating prose, his 
poetic taste, and “ slaughtering ” satire; but enough of 
this. I will turn to another attack. When I sent you the 
“ Earl’s Letter” for publication, I did not expect my motives 
to be impugned, or my character calumniated by an illiberal 
suspicion; my object was to show that men of the highest 
rank in England, know the value of good stock, equally well 
as the practical breeder; and the advantages to be derived 
from a careful selection; the letter was a “ genuine ” off hand, 
business like communication, in which forms and phrases 
were evidently less thought of, than the sound information 
conveyed in it; and I very much regret it did not please the 
fastidious taste of your several correspondents; doubtless some 
of them thought that an “Earl” should convey his information 
on the science of breeding cattle, in a most labored and ele¬ 
gant pastoral composition. For the criticisms on myself, I 
care not; I write with a view only of promoting the farmer’s 
welfare and the cause of truth; I am not so easily pulled down 
therefore, by an error in etymology and syntax. I have taken 
my stand and purpose to maintain it. Now Messrs. Edi¬ 
tors I shall be very much obliged if you would tell me the names 
of your private correspondents, or publish their communica¬ 
tions, so that I may distinguish my friends from my enemies. 
I send you a letter from Mr. Turner, Court ofNoke, Here¬ 
fordshire, a gentleman well known in the agricultural world, 
so that you may again state you have seen the “ original ” 
from which my extracts below are taken: 
“ It is a well known fact, that there is no other breed that 
can compete with the Herefords as regards a profitable stock; 
for instance, the memorable old Mr. Westcar, the Bucking¬ 
hamshire grazier, at the dinner of the Christmas cattle show, 
some years ago, when the first prize in the first class was 
awarded to a Durham ox, the owner in the heat of the mo¬ 
ment, rose and offered to bet a wager that he won the same 
prize the following year with an ox of the same breed. Mr. 
W. silenced him with this public challenge. He would go to 
the next October fair at Hereford and purchase one hundred 
oxen of the Hereford breed, which he would feed and show 
against the same number of all the breeds in England, for one 
hundred guineas per head, or two thousand guineas, which 
offer no one dare accept.” This was done to show the rich 
men who then possessed the Durhams, that he was ready to 
support the Herefords with his purse. “He then told the com¬ 
pany that during his experience as a grazier, he had fed and 
sold twenty Herefordshire oxen to the butcher, at an average of 
one hundred guineas each, and he would defy all the breeders of 
Short Horn's, to say they had done the like. As regards my own 
breed of Herefords, I can boast of having bred the last ox sold 
to the slaughterer for one hundred pounds, which was in 1827; 
since that, several steers under four years old, from sixty to 
seventy. I have much pleasure in saying my herd has not 
degenerated, as will appear by the show at Hereford last 
week; all the prize cattle were either bred by, or descended 
from bulls of my own breed. Mr. Perry purchased the ‘ Gold- 
finder’ of me when a yearling. 
“ As regards the Hereford breed for dairy purposes, I can 
speak from experience, that when well kept few will answer 
better. I can give an instance of a prime cow of my father’s 
producing thirteen pounds of butter per week, when allowed hay 
and cabbages, the whole of the winter; but the principle of the 
Herefords being the stock, little attention is paid to the dairy. 
We all know to keep up cows to their milk, requires the most 
nutricious food,which is seldom allowed to cows in this country. 
We have experienced a very severe winter, and theepidemio 
so prevalent I fear good stock will not be very plentiful this 
spring; the present prices are verv satisfactory to the breeder. 
The fair at Hereford was very plearing to do business at, a 
complete clearance of all the good stock, particularly the bulls, 
of which there was a most splendid exhibition.” 
I now conclude with one remark for the satisfaction of Mr. 
R. that “ Matchless” was bred by Mr. Turner, purchased by 
Mr. Hewer for Mr. James Walker; and the only reason I 
altered her name was, I had one named “ Spot” in my first 
importation. I will give my views on sheep breeding at some 
future period. I think nothing is a better test for profitable ani¬ 
mals, than those that get the greatest weight of animal food 
with the least weight of vegetable. 
WM. H.’Y SOTHAM. 
Perch Lake Farm, April, 1841. 
Experiments in the Culture of Corn. 
Messrs. Editors —In the spring of 1839,1 turned over a 
clover sod of two years standing, as early as it would admit of 
plowing. The first week in May I planted one half the field 
to potatoes, and after planting my corn, I plowed the other 
part of my potato patch three times more, dragging between 
each successive plowing, and planted the potatoes the last 
week in May, the ground being in first rate order for any crop, 
as judged by the workmen. After thi-, each piece received 
like treatment. I would here observe, that I plant my po¬ 
tatoes a little below the level of the surface, and cover some 
deeper than is required for corn ; while the potatoes show like 
rabbit’s ears, I hoe for the first time, and second and last, be¬ 
fore the vines fall. The result of the operation was decided¬ 
ly in favor of the once plowing. I would here remark that 
my corn was planted on once plowing, rolled down, dragged 
fine, planted on a level surface, plaster and ashes, (two parts 
ashes and one plaster) put on before hoeing, hoed three times; 
not much hill made. The result was an extraordinary crop, 
to the astonishment of most that saw it. 
In 1840, I had about thirty acres for corn—previous crop 
wheat on summer fallow. I let neighbor P. have three acres, 
(not the choice of tire field but a grade the poorest,) that he 
fitted for himself by twice plowing; planted about four feet 
apart, plowed very deep between the corn, and hoed twice. 
The result was about thirty bushels per acre. Neighbor W. 
had five acres, plowed once and ridged; planted four feet 
apart; hoed three times; a heavy hill made around the corn. 
The result about forty bushels per acre. The remainder of 
the field plowed once ; dragged fine, and planted on the sur¬ 
face. Six acrus being planted from three and a half to four 
feet apart, yielded fifty bushels per acre. Nine acres, planted 
three feet apart; hoed twice and weeds cut down the third time; 
not much hill. The result from sixty-five to seve lty bushels 
per acre. The remainder of the field yielded from fifty to 
sixty-five bushels per acre. A Subscriber. 
Camillas, Onondaga Co. N. Y. 
Cooking-Stove Ovens, often burn the bread, by the plate 
getting too.hot; spread a layer of clean ashes over the iron 
and it will prevent it. This is much better than putting in 
bricks; bricks cause the plate to burn out, ashes preserve it. 
