THE CULTIVATOR. 
87 
Notice of Improved Cattle. 
Messrs. Gaylord & Tucker —I had occasion to vi¬ 
sit your city a few days since, and took the opportunity 
to go and see the fine cattle, sheep, &c. in the vicinity. 
My curiosity led me to this from several notices and 
portraits of animals that have appeared in the Cultiva¬ 
tor. -i 
The Patroon’s stock are large and beautiful animals, 
about 30 in number, which are, as I was informed, de¬ 
scendants from the imported bull Washington and cow 
Panzy. Ajax is a bull of great weight, good form and 
fine in many valuable points, and his stock is well de¬ 
serving of the reputation the public has given it. 
The herd of E. P. Prentice, Esq. at Mt. Hope, 
are a specimen of the qualities of good improved 
Short Horns. His bull Leopard, bre.l by the Patroon, 
is a beautiful animal. I only saw him standing in the 
stable, did not handle him, but by his general appear¬ 
ance I thought him the best bull I ever saw. Fairfax, 
bull calf, 10 months old, pure white, (not the best co¬ 
lor,) yet in point of substance, beauty, and other good 
qualities, is not equaled by any calf of his age that I 
have ever seen. His dam Splendor was bred by Mr. 
Whitaker, England, and imported by Mr. P. about a 
year since. His sire was Sir Thomas Fairfax, owned 
by Mr. Faux, England, and is said by many good judg¬ 
es of stock to be the best bull in England. Bull North¬ 
umberland, a beautiful red color, from Appolonia,^ got 
by the Prince of N—-from the herd of Whitaker. 
The cow Matilda and a number of her heifers, are 
beautiful animals, in reality what they have been rep¬ 
resented to be in the description of them annexed to 
their portraits in the preceding numbers of the Cultiva¬ 
tor. But as it would be impracticable to give a des¬ 
cription of all these fine animals, I would ask Mr. P. 
to insert (particularly his bulls) their portraits, with a 
description of them in the succeeding numbers of the 
Cultivator, as it would interest your readers and favor 
the public. 
The portrait of Mr. Vail’s imported heifer Dutchess, 
is a poor or bad likeness, as it appeared in the Septem¬ 
ber number of the Cultivator, as one would judge from 
it that she was a large, coarse, inferior heifer, when 
in fact, I know not where an equal can be found, or one 
in which are so admirably combined fineness, substance 
and beauty. Duke of Wellington and Dutchess, Mr. 
Vail’s bull and heifer, show the result of scientific 
breeding, that is a reduction of too great a size and re¬ 
taining a full development of valuable points, and keep¬ 
ing in view their constitution, substance and beauty, for 
which these animals are so highly valued. 
I noticed a few lots of South Down sheep. They 
have the appearance of being a hardy race of animals 
and I should judge that they would return more in va¬ 
lue of wool and mutton for the quantity of keep, than 
any other breed of sheep. 
As it is my design to keep the best breeds of cattle, 
I took the opportunity to look at a number of lots of 
Hereford cattle. That they are a good breed of cattle 
for beef, or that they will improve our native stock, I 
doubt not, but to compete with Short Horns seems im¬ 
possible ; at any rate I believe no man who has the im¬ 
proved Short Horns and whose farm is well adapted to 
them, will dispose of any to make room for the Here¬ 
ford. Yours respectfully, J. PASCO. 
Ware House Point, Ct. Feb. 1841. 
The Rohan Potato at Quebec. 
Editors Cultivator —Gentlemen—Having seen se¬ 
veral notices in your useful and highly interesting pub¬ 
lication, respecting the prolific qualities of the Rohan 
-potato, it may not be uninteresting to some of your 
subscribers who reside far south and west of us to know 
the result of an experiment, in trying the growth of 
this vegetable in our northern climate, as a comparison 
with similar experiments in their warm and more ge¬ 
nial regions. On the 10th May last, I purchased two 
Bohan potatoes from Mr. John Musson of this city, 
who had imported a small quantity of them from New* 
York. The weight of the two potatoes when bought 
was a little over one pound. I divided them carefully 
and found 15 eyes in one and 14 in the other, having 
kept the pieces in a warm room for 5 or 6 days, till I 
could see the eyes in each piece beginning to enlarge, I 
planted them on the 15th of May last, in my garden a 
few miles north of this city. I deposited one eye in 
each hill, which I made 22 inches apart, putting in 
each hole the usual quantity of stable manure ; about 
the 1st June the plants appeared above ground, and 
grew with extraordinary rapidity ; about the 20th June, 
we were visited with a severe storm of wind and rain 
from east, which broke off close lo the ground 4 of the 
plants, when the sprouts were from 10 to 12 inches 
long. These broken plants never after recovered, and 
I consequently lost 4 hills out of the 29 which I planted, 
leaving but 25; these hills had a deep hoeing twice or 
thrice during the summer. The plants grew with amaz¬ 
ing luxuriance, and when I had them dug up on the 15th 
day of October last, some of the stalks were exceeding 
8 feet in length and none were under 6 feet long. The 
result of the crop was a little over 2| bushels, weigh¬ 
ing 152£ lbs. The potatoes were unusually large and 
very unsightly,with deep indentations. One potato in par¬ 
ticular excited a great, deal of surprise amongst our 
Canadian farmers, its weight being 4 lbs. and 2 oz. and 
a great many weighed from 2 to 3 lbs each. 
H. GO WEN. 
Quebec, March 15, 1841. 
Root Steamers, &c. 
Messrs. Gaylord & Tucker— The columns of the 
Cultivator are too crowded with valuable matter, to be 
made the vehicle of querulous self-love. I will there¬ 
fore simply remark that your correspondent has assum¬ 
ed to himself much more of my article than belongs to 
him, and has given to both himself and it greater con¬ 
sequence than the writer intended. 
As to the incognito complained of, it was much like 
the darkness that held Falstaff at such odds, when he 
assures Prince Henry that “ three misbegotten knaves, 
in Kendal green, came at my back, and let drive at me ; 
—for it was so dark, Hal, that thou could’st not see thy 
hand.” 
One more quotation and I have done : 
“ Resolved, That J. B. Nott, C. N. Bement, and Volkert 
Bullock be a committee to examine such agricultural 
implements as may come under observation, and pre¬ 
sent their views of the utility of the same at the next 
annual meeting.” See Cult. Feb. 1839. 
Allow me to put aside the ‘‘curtain” which has been 
thread-bare this many a day, and subscribe myself 
Respectfully yours, R. FRAN’S ROTCH. 
Butternuts, April 8, 1841. 
Wool Growing- in Buenos Ayres. 
Messrs. Gaylord & Tucker —The fertile “Pampas” 
in the interior of South America have been long cele¬ 
brated for the immense herds of cattle and horses rear¬ 
ed upon them. So abundant are they and so easily 
reared that they are slaughtered in many places for 
their skins and tallow alone. Sheep too of native breed, 
with coarse hairy wool, have been so plentiful that their 
carcases were used for fuel in burning brick. The ex¬ 
pense of transportation and the absence of timber and 
salt for barrelling alone prevents us from the competi¬ 
tion of their meat in our own parts. The attention of 
agriculturists there has been of late years turned to im¬ 
proving their stocks of sheep by large importations of 
Saxony from this country and from Europe. An Eng¬ 
lish gentleman by the name of Sheridan began the busi¬ 
ness with a stock of 60 Saxony and 3,000 native ewes, 
and in the year 1835 he had increased the number to 
45,000, and the grade Avas very nearly increased to full 
blood. In the year 1837 he had 90,000, and intended to 
keep on until he numbered 200,000, which quantity he 
has doubtless attained ere this time ; others were copy¬ 
ing his example until the business bids fair to outstrip 
that of cattle, within a few years. I have a small sam¬ 
ple of Mr. Sheridan’s clip of 1837, which I enclose to 
you ; I was assured it was below the average of the 
flock. The prices at which these grades of wool have 
sold has been from 8 to 12 cents per pound in Buenos 
Ayres. 
The price of government lands there is ten cents per 
acre. It is laid off in “ estancias ,” a league square, 
containing 5,760 acres English ; the face of the country 
almost a dead level, no timber, but a luxuriant coat of 
grass. 
A cottage is erected in the center of the farm for the 
keeper, and an ample yard enclosed by driving the 
trunks of the common peach into the earth, and wat¬ 
tling the interstices with the branches. An “estancia” 
will support 3,000 sheep, (which is about the size of 
their flocks.) The only care they require is to yard 
them at night and during a storm. They will seldom 
wander beyond the landmarks during the day ; at the 
approach of a storm they turn their heads to the lee¬ 
ward, and feed on until turned by their keeper towards 
their place of security. An instance has been known 
where 900 of a fine stock, and the best sheep in it, were 
destroyed by being in a storm, pressed by the rear ranks 
into a run of water, until the chasm was filled with 
dead bodies, and the remainder of the flock passed 
over. The shepherd does not remain with the flock, 
but at the cottage, having a horse already saddled and 
bridled (ready for a sudden call) always at the door in 
the day time. The streams are few in number, slug¬ 
gish and muddy. Thus far very little attention has 
been paid to cleaning the wool for market. It is gene¬ 
rally sold in the dirt. Perhaps this has been encour¬ 
aged by our tariff admitting all costing eight cents or 
less per pound duty free. But after this year, when 
our leveling tariff shall have brought down the duty on 
wool to 20 per cent on its cost, it is calculated that these 
evils will be remedied and this wool will be fairly 
brought into competition with our own clips in our own 
market. Even now I have reason to believe that Mr. 
Sheridan’s large clips have been purchased for this 
market so as to bring them in duty free. The conse¬ 
quences I leave to those interested to judge of. But 
while the “Senior” has a farm of 5,760 acres of first 
rate land for 576 dollars, affording pasture the year 
round,, with semi-yearly and twice increase, and wool 
equally fine and valuable, how can our growers com¬ 
pete with him, with a 20 per cent tariff!!! I have de¬ 
rived these facts from an American high in authority at 
Buenos Ayres. I do not own a sheep, and my personal 
interest, if any, is the other way. But I have some 
American feeling, and would not willingly see this 
great branch of our national wealth crippled or destroy¬ 
ed, as I fear it will be, except the compromising tariff 
be amended in due season so as to leave the duty not 
reduceable by filth or merely nominal on clean wool. 
It is time for wool growers to be up and doing. The 
next congress will confirm or remodel the tariff' Shall 
this great interest be left to protect itself, or shall it 
claim a protection equal to the superior advantages of 
the foreign grower ? Let northern men look to the sub¬ 
ject in season. __ A Nor thern Man. 
Buckthorn for Hedges. 
Messrs. Editors—As the subject of hedging is of 
great importance to many of your readers, especially 
those residing in the prairie west, and as you invite all 1 
to “ do good and communicate” any item, however 
small, to the common stock of knowledge, I will relate 
a bit of experience, which may be of essential benefit 
to many of your subscribers. Last June I received 
from the east three pounds of buckthorn seed ; accom¬ 
panying the package were printed directions for sprout¬ 
ing the'seed of th e hawthorn. which, like you, I “ pre¬ 
sumed” were applicable to the buckthorn. According¬ 
ly, I mixed them with an equal quantity of sandy soil, 
confined the whole in a coarse bag, and buried it in a 
hillock of earth in the garden, expecting they would 
sprout in something less than two years. In about three 
weeks, perceiving that the squirrels had dug a hole in 
the hill, I opened it, and was much surprised to find the 
seed all finely sprouted. I immediately transferred 
them to seed beds, and in a fortnight they made their 
appearance above ground. It was so late in the season 
that they grew only one or two inches, and I am afraid 
the winter has killed them. From this trial I conclude 
that no preparation of the seed is necessary, but to 
plant them in early spring, and they will vegetate as 
quick as onion seed. I think the buckthorn will prove 
to be better adapted for prairie fencing than any other 
plant. Very respectfully, C. L. SHEPHERD. 
Buffalo Grove, III. Mar. 1, 1841. 
The Howard Plow. 
Messrs. Gaylord & Tucker —As respects the How¬ 
ard plows, we can say, that for the last fifteen or six* 
teen years we have sold at least 20,000 plows ; and al¬ 
though every plow has been warranted, we can safely 
say, that not a dozen have been returned. Mr. Howard 
is a first rate workman both in iron and wood, and eve¬ 
ry plow is made under his own eye. As to materials, 
nothing is used but the very best, which accounts for 
his plows being preferred for heavy work ; as for 
strength, durability, ease of draft, and doing the work 
in the best possible manner, they cannot be surpassed 
by any other plow. We should have been pleased to 
have seen you at Worcester, for then you could have 
judged for yourself. You would there have seen the 
Howard plow run rods without a holder, taking the 
furrow up and turning it completely over, turning eve¬ 
ry thing from the top directly to the bottom, leaving 
the bottom of the furrow as smooth as it possibly could 
have been done by shoveling the diit out. by hand. You 
will notice by the report of the committee, that How¬ 
ard’s plow run about seven per cent lighter draught 
than any other plow on the field. I presume you have 
noticed the report, where they recommend the Howard 
plow, where strength is wanting. There can be no 
mistake but the Howard plow is far the best plow for all 
purposes that has been introduced, as respects strength 
and durability, and for doing the work in the best pos¬ 
sible manner. JOSEPH BRECK & Co. 
Boston, Feb. 9, 1841. 
Animal Manures. 
Horses prefer coarse hay, and cows prefer fine hay. 
A cow, therefore, may be profitably kept by him who 
keeps a horse : for the horse is offended, and objects to 
feed on hay in his own crib, after breathing on the finer 
part of the hay, while eating the coarser parts : yet the 
cow appears to prefer the refuse part and leavings of 
the horse, after he has selected and eaten the coarser 
parts of the hay. 
In speaking of the qualities of manure—it is com¬ 
mon to say rich horse manure. There is probably some 
error or misunderstanding on this subject, as to the qua¬ 
lity of different manures. 
The droppings of the cow is termed the poorest of all 
animals, and that of the horse stable and hogpen are 
called the richest, and produce the greatest effect on ve¬ 
getable growth All these distinctions and qualifies owe 
their richness to promote vegetable growth, to the qua¬ 
lity of the food of the cow, horse or hog, &c. 
If the horse is fed solely on grass or hay, his drop¬ 
pings are of no greater value or richness than that of the 
cow which feeds on the like food. It is the same with 
the manure from hogs. If the hog eats manger swill, 
void of grain, &c. or is fed on grass, as the cow is (and 
the hog will pasture on grass as well as the cow or ox,) 
his droppings are of the same value and quality only, 
to promote vegetable growth. 
The horse is generally fed on grain largely, and so is 
the hog to fatten him, and then their droppings are rich 
in proportion to the quality of the grain they eat, and 
are more valuable as manure. 
So the reason why night soil or poudrette is richer 
than other manures, is because the human food is of 
richer materials. 
I think, however, that the manure from sheep, when 
fed on grass, is richer than that from the horse, cow or 
hog ; and the reason appears to arise, not from a de¬ 
parture from the same principle, or different doctrine 
than that I have stated—but because the sheep will not 
eat good and long grass, called the best pasture for the 
cow and the horse ; but they feed only on short grass, 
too short for the cow and the horse. 
Here the same rule obtains. The grass of new growth 
and close to the roots, is much more sweet, nutricious and 
of richer quality over the same grass of larger growth. 
