162 
THE CULTIVATOR 
Buckthorn Hedges. 
Willis Gaylord, Esq .—Dear Sir —In replying to your favor 
of the 12th of August, it will give me pleasure to furnish you 
any information in my power respecting the Buckthorn for 
hedges. It is nearly forty years since I commenced experiments 
with a variety of plants for making hedges. First, with the 
English Hawthorn, and soon found it was not adapted to our 
warm dry summers; it would blight as early as August and 
lose its foliage, and was frequently destroyed by the borer. 
Among other plants, I tried the three thorned acacia recom¬ 
mended by Judge Buel, but the experiment was not satisfactory; 
it v. as too open below, and liable to be killed down by the win¬ 
ter as much as it grew the previous season. In the garden of 
the venerable Dr. Holyoke, of this city, which adjoined that of 
my brother, there was a large tree of the buckthorn or Ilhamnus 
catharticus. In digging the latter garden, about the year 1808, 
there were found several young plants which had grown from 
seed shed by this tree. They were given to me and set out in a 
nursery; finding they grew rapidly, I was induced to try them 
for a hedge, and I have been highly pleased with the result. 
They were set in a single row in my garden, and very soon be¬ 
came a I eautiful hedge, and it remains so to the present time. 
Not a single plant has failed, and has never been attacked by 
any insect; it vegetates early in the spring, and retains its ver¬ 
dure very late in the fall. It can be trained into almost any 
form, and makes a beautiful arch over a gate way or passage. 
I was so much pleased with this experiment, that I have since 
set out several other hedges, all of which are now making a 
beautiful appearance. With these properties, it has become 
quite a favorite plant for hedges in this section of the country, 
and I have been induced to raise it for distribution. 1 have now 
at least one hundred and fifty rods of this hedge, which has 
been greatly admired by every person who has seen the same. 
I am so fully convinced that the English hawthorn is not suita¬ 
ble for our climate, I should not advise any one to set out a 
hedge with it, provided it could be done free of expense. One 
that nearly surrounded my garden began to fail soon after it was 
set, and I was induced to set a buckthorn between each of the 
hawthorns, and it now makes a fine and thick hedge. 
Respecting the culture of this plant, I should recommend sow¬ 
ing the seed in the fall (as it is taken from the tree,) rather 
thick, in drills from 14 to 16 inches apart; it will vegetate the 
next spring; should leave it in the seed bed the first season, and 
remove them to a nursery the following spring. As soon as the 
plants are of a good size, about eighteen inches high, I should 
plant them out where I wished to make the hedge, in a single 
row, about eight or nine inches apart, either in the springer 
fall of the year as suited my convenience. As soon as they be¬ 
gin to vegetate after setting them out for a hedge, I should head 
them down to within six inches of the ground, which causes 
them to thicken from the bottom ; this I consider very important 
as it tends greatly to beautify the hedge. The only fault I find 
with my first hedge is, that I did not follow this plan, and it is 
not so thick near the bottom as those I have since set out. In 
the after management, very little more is required than to keep 
the ground clear from weeds, and to form the hedge in any way 
most agreeable to the cultivator. It should be trimmed regu¬ 
larly every year, and I consider the month of June as the most 
suitable season for that purpose; the greatest portion of the la¬ 
bor may be done with a common sythe. 
In answer to that portion of your letter requesting informa¬ 
tion whether the plants would be suitable to the latitude of Ma¬ 
ryland, I can only say, that I have no doubt it would answer for 
most of the States in the Union. It appears remarkably hardy, 
and adapts itself to almost any situation. I have been called 
upon for plants to be sent to several of the States, a number for 
the neighborhood of Baltimore, and I have not in a single in¬ 
stance been advised that they have not succeeded. 
Very respectfully yours, &c. E. HERSEY DERBY. 
Salem, Mass. August 21, 1841. 
Milking Properties of the Improved 35. Cows. 
Messrs. Gaylord & Tucker —An esteemed friend, Mr. Bart¬ 
lett of Connecticut, has called upon my brother and myself, 
through the July number of your valuable periodical, to give 
some account of our herd of Short Horned cattle, and I must 
plead other and more pressing avocations as the only reason 
why he has not met with an earlier response. The object of Mr. 
Bartlett appears to be, to show that so far as our animals 
are concerned, they do not sustain Mr. Colman’s position, 
that Durhams are inferior to the native race for milking 
and dairy properties. Lewis F. Allen, Esq. to whom Mr. 
B. refers, has, in the June number of your paper, met the 
position taken by Mr. Colman with great ability and success. 
Besides high grade, and some native, we have twenty-five 
thorough-bred animals. By the term thorough-bred, I mean 
animals which are themselves, or whose dams and sires are re¬ 
corded in Coate’s Herd Book, which furnishes for them full and 
undoubted pedigrees. Among these animals, we have one cow 
and three female descendants, the produce of two animals 
which were imported by Enoch Silsby, Esq. of this state, under 
the name of ‘‘Boston,” and were bred by Robert Curry; one 
cow with two female descendants, the produce of Washington 
and Panzy, imported by the late Patroon, and bred by Mr. 
Champion; two females, the produce of Harriet, imported by 
Joseph Lee; and one cow, the produce of Arabella, imported 
by the late Stephen Williams, and seven other female descen¬ 
dants of the last named animal. 
One of these cows is sixteen, and two others fourteen years 
old. All of them arc in good health and exhibit the appearance, so 
far as condition is concerned, of being young animals, and two 
of them have regularly bred up to this time. These facts do not 
contribute to prove that this breed of animals are too tender and 
delicate to endure our cold climate, as I have occasionally seen 
and heard it alledged. 
The milk from nearly all of our cows is unusually rich, and 
the quantity much greater than we have been able to obtain 
from superior native cows with the same keep. My brother has 
regularly had good common cows on his farm for about twenty 
years, and he affirms without qualification this fact. 
Our cows have not given as much milk, nor made as great- 1 
a quantity of butter, as have some other Short Horns, yet one 
of them, in April last, on hay, made more than twelve pounds 
of butter in a week, and we have repeatedly converted the 
cream in small quantities from this cow, into butter in fifteen 
seconds. In June, upon grass alone, this cow gave 360 lbs. 
of milk in a week, being milked but twice a day; the milk at 
this time was converted into cheese, and consequently no 
butter made from her. Had she been milked three times a day 
at this period, I am quite confident that her product of milk 
would have reached 400 lbs. and of butter not less than 14 
lbs. per week. We have another cow which averaged 48 lbs. 
milk per day in June, and still another, (now quite old,) 
which a former owner assures me has yielded 2S quarts of milk 
per day. 
We have also two heifers with their first calves, which ave¬ 
raged 37 and 35 lbs. milk per day through the month of June last. 
I will readily admit that among the great mass of the com¬ 
mon cows of the country, we occasionally find those which are 
very deep and rich milkers. But little reliance, however, can 
be placed on their progeny for the same properties, whilst with 
thorough-bred animals, by using bulls from deep milking fami¬ 
lies, the produce is quite certain to partake largely of the sires 
and dams. 
I't would indeed be remarkable, as Mr. Allen well observes, 
if, in traversing the whole of this state, in the discharge of his 
official duties, Mr. Colman, our late highly respectable Agri¬ 
cultural Commissioner, did not discover among the great mass 
of our common stock, some superior milkers and valuable dairy 
animals. 
In the 4th vol. New-England Farmer, I find the following 
opinion given of the Short Horns, by Governor Lincoln, in a let¬ 
ter to Mr. Powell: 
“I have now (of Denton’s progeny) seven heifers in milk, 
four of them three years old, and three two years old; and for 
richness in quality and abundance in quantity, they are not ex¬ 
celled by the best cows of any age of the native stock. A heifer 
three years old, with her second calf, has not been dry since 
she dropt her first calf, having given 4 quarts on the morning of 
her second calving. For the dairy and the stall, I speak with 
the utmost confidence of their pre-eminence.” 
I have recently had an interview with the intelligent and per¬ 
severing owner of the “ Cream Pot” breed of cattle, and Col. 
Jacques assured me that he attributed the rich dairy properties 
of his herd more decisively to the Short Horned bull Calebs, 
than to the native Haskins cow, from which his whole herd, as 
I understand, descended, and it would seem from Mr. Haskm’s 
own account of the produce of this cow, as published in the 5th 
vol. New-England Farmer, that he must be correct in this opin¬ 
ion ; she is there represented as having made in two days 2J 
lbs. butter, which is 9 lbs. 10 oz. per week, being by no means a 
remarkable product, when compared with that of many of the 
Short Horns. 
In Mr. Allen’s valuable communication, he has given the pro¬ 
duct of six Short Horn cows, viz. in both milk and butter from 
three animals, in butter alone from one, and in milk alone from 
two animals. 
The butter from the four animals varies from 11J to 22 lbs. 
per week, making the average of the four cows 15 lbs. 6 oz. per 
week. 
The milk from the five cows is from 28 to 35 quarts per day, 
averaging for each animal more than 32 quarts per day. 
Besides the product of these six cows, I find the produce of 
butter from six more Durham cows, as follows, viz: 
Mr. Hasket’s cow, 19 lbs. butter in one week, 
Mr. Calvert’s cow 373 lbs. do. in 32 weeks. 
Mr. Canby’s cow 533 lbs. do. in one year, 
Thomas Ash’s cow, 64| lbs. do. in 35 days— do. vol. 12. p. 60. 
A Durham cow, 14? lbs. do. in one week.— vol. 17. p. 403. 
Mr. Woolwich’s cow, 14f lbs. do. in one week.— Cultivator, 
vol. 6. p. 102. 
My belief is that the pure Short Horns, with good keep, (and 
no animal will thrive when starved,) is much more valuable 
than any other race, for the shambles, for the pail, and for the 
dairy; yet if our fathers have reared abetter race, without sys¬ 
tem and without the least care in breeding, I shall bow with 
submission, regret the cost of my error, and hereafter “ tread 
in their footsteps.” WELLS LATHROP. 
South. Hadley Falls, Mass. August 19, 1841. 
N. E. Farmer, 
vol. 7. p. 150. 
Horses“”©rig , in of the Morgan Breed, 
Messrs. Gaylord fe Tucker —I lately received great satisfac¬ 
tion from hearing what appears to be a correct account of the 
origin of the Morgan Horses of Vermont; a breed known and 
esteemed for activity and hardiness throughout all the north¬ 
ern states; not remarkable for size, and scarcely known to 
sportsmen for speed. This race is perhaps as highly celebrated 
as any for general usefulness, and for such a degree of fleet¬ 
ness as entitles it to the appellation of fast traveler. Their 
height is from fourteen to fifteen hands, color bay, make 
round and heavy, with lean heads, broad and deep chests, 
the fore limbs set far apart, clean and sinewy legs, short 
strong backs, with that projection of the ribs from the spine 
which is a sure indication of powerful lungs, and consequent¬ 
ly of great wind and bottom. 
The original Morgan horse, called also the Goss horse, is 
well known to have appeared in Randolph and in St. Johns- 
bury, (Vt.) some forty years since, and to have been kept as 
a stallion, at first with but little, and subsequently with very 
great patronage, some five and twenty years, or until he was 
thirty years old or more. Various accounts are current as to 
his origin; many think it quite distinct from the Canadian 
breed of Norman French extraction, and consider the horse to 
have been of Dutch blood, and to have been introduced from 
some of the settlements on the Hudson river, southward of 
Albany. Stories are also told of a traveler’s blood mare hav¬ 
ing got with foal by a Canadian or Indian pony at various 
places north and west, and having brought forth this horse; 
all these accounts are improbable, and appear to be unauthen¬ 
ticated. 
For the last dozen years, being aware, both by observation 
and experiment, of the surprising results of crossing the Ca¬ 
nadian with other breeds of horses, and having become ac¬ 
quainted with the vast variety and different qualities of va¬ 
rious races in the Canadian breed, I have believed that the 
original Morgan horse was of French Canadian origin. This 
opinion being confirmed by the account here given, I am anx¬ 
ious to ascertain whether any one can prove it erroneous, and 
if not to make it puplic, that it may be known that thousands 
of horses may be obtained in French Canada of the same blood, 
and not inferior in qualities to the Morgan, whose existence 
added several hundred thousand dollars to the wealth of Ver¬ 
mont. GEORGE BARNARD. 
Sherbrook, P. C. August, 1841. 
[affidavit.] 
I was about 13 years of age when the Morgan horse was first 
brought to St. Johnsbury, in Vermont, where my father lived. 
As I am now 50, it must have been about 1804. On the eve of 
the second Tuesday in June, (for I well remember that the mor¬ 
row was training day,) I was at my father’s house, and a man 
of the name of Abel Shorey, a skillful horseman of the neigh¬ 
borhood, was there also; when David Goss, Jr. my cousin, 
then aged about seventeen, came up from his father’s, dis¬ 
tant about three-quarters of a mile, with a message to Sho¬ 
rey, requesting him to go to his father’s, (my uncle David’s) 
and trim a horse that uncle John Goss had just then brought 
over from Randolph, distant forty miles. I accompanied them, 
and at uncle David’s we found uncle John from Randolph, 
with a little heavy, handsome active bay horse, which he re¬ 
quested Shorey to trim, chiefly by pulling out and cutting the 
hairs of his tail, which appeared as if it had been gnawed by 
calves. Uncle John said he was a Canadian horse that he had 
got from Justin Morgan of Randolph, who had lately brought 
him from Montreal. I afterwards frequently heard the manner 
of his purchasing the horse related in my father’s and uncle Da¬ 
vid’s families, which was this : uncle John had lent Morgan the 
sum of forty dollars on occasion of the latter’s going a jour¬ 
ney to Montreal in Canada. Morgan obtained the horse, then 
four years old, at Montreal, and being unable to repay the mo¬ 
ney on his return, disposed of him to uncle John to pay the 
debt. Uncle John, who was no horseman, now brought him to 
his brother, my uncle David, who was much of a horseman, 
in the hope that something might be made by keeping him for 
mares. I remember Shorey’s calling him “ a full blood French 
horse.” 
Uncle John Goss engaged Shorey to take the horse next 
day to training at Major Butler’s, and there I saw him cov¬ 
er four mares. My uncle David Goss kept the horse through 
the season, working him on his farm, and putting him to mares 
when they were brought: he also kept him through the next win¬ 
ter and the ensuing spring, when the foals were found to be uni¬ 
versally excellent; uncle John took him back to Randolph where 
he made his second season: the third season he was brought 
to St. Johnsbury, and stood at uncle David’s again. After this, 
as I went to learn my trade, I cannot give so particular an ac¬ 
count of the horse, but remember that he was kept several sea¬ 
sons in St. Johnsbury. 
This and more to the same purpose may be attested by Da- 
sen. Phillip Goss, David Goss, Jr., Clark Stearns, 
Abel Shorey, Abel Butler and Thomas Pierce, all of St. Johns- 
j! ur y- v „ JOHN STEARNS. 
Sworn before me at Charleston village, ) 
this 14th August, 1841. ( 
David Connell, J. P. 
Management of Bees. 
Messrs. Gavlord & Tucker —In the last Cultivator, I notice 
an inquiry concerning diseased bees from Mr Quimby of Cox 
sackie, in answer to which I propose to give the public some 
part of my experience and practice on the subject. It is no un¬ 
common thing for bees to be troubled with disease in the month* 
of April and May when improperly managed during the winter 
and spring. For these diseases I shall only give a preventive. 
Bees when exposed to the severe storms of winter and the 
damp east winds of spring, are most liable to disease, especially 
if the hives are too open or too close. If too open in spring, after 
the combs are filled with brood, the bees are obliged to retire 
during a cold storm to the upper part of the hive and cluster to¬ 
gether to raise animal heat sufficient for their safety, leaving 
the brood to the fury of a northeaster unprotected. Death to 
the brood is the natural consequence,—the young soon become 
putrid, and before this loathsome brood of thousands can be 
rei ?°^ ed tbe bees > tbe greater part of them usually sicken 
and die, and if the colony is not entirely destroyed, it is render¬ 
ed unprofitable for the season. If the hive is too close at the 
bottom, (and this is the only place that the air should be suf¬ 
fered to enter a bee-hive during the spring months,) a dampness 
is collected in the hive from the breath of the bees which is 
equally fatal to the brood with cold. 
It is well known to every apiarian of much experience, that 
bees die from every hive more or less during winter. Now if 
these dead bees are suffered to remain under the hive and mold 
and putrify, it cannot be expected that the live bees will long 
remain in a healthy condition. But for the remedy. Bees 
should be kept dry and clean at all seasons; and to accom¬ 
plish this it is necessary to use artificial means to some extent. 
Every hive should be of the best of workmanship, and made 
perpendicular, and if this rule is ever deviated from, it should 
never be smallest at the bottom, as this would allow much of the 
filth to lodge in descending, to the great injury as well as annoy¬ 
ance of the bees. I have used the Self-Protecting Hive with per¬ 
fect success; it is also used by almost every apiarian in this part 
of the State, and receives the unqualified approbation of all. I 
place my hives in my apiary after having received the swarms, 
and suspend them by cleats on the sides of the hives. I then 
open the double inclined planes about 5-8ths of an inch to ad¬ 
mit the free passage of the bees and also to ventilate the hive 
and discharge worms and other filth when disengaged by the 
bees. _ This is undoubtedly the best possible plan for dis¬ 
charging filth, and at the same time preserving the bees. 
My bees hang in this situation through the year. My apia- 
ary is furnished with doors to be closed during the winter, 
and also a false bottom, making it perfectly dark and dry. The 
planes being open, and the hive perpendicular, every bee that 
dies fall to the planes and is discharged, keeping the hives at 
all times perfectly clean and healthy. About the first of March 
I unclose the south side of my apiary, and also withdraw the 
false bottom. I keep the north side closed until about the 
twentieth of May, when I remove it and give the bees an oppor¬ 
tunity to range at pleasure from either side of the hive, making 
the apiary as open as possible except the roof. In this manner 
the bees are secured from cold storms during the winter and 
spring months, so prejudicial to their health and economy, and 
have their full liberty during the season of collecting honey. I 
have never known a hive of bees diseased when thus treated. 
And if your correspondent and other subscribers will use the 
self-protecting hive, and manage it as described above, I pre¬ 
sume you will hear no more about diseased bees. 
The self-protecting hive having been illustrated and fully de¬ 
scribed in the February number of the Cultivator, renders a 
further description unnecessary here. The above hive may be 
had of my assignees in almost every state in the Union, and in 
nearly, if not quite every county in the state of New-York. 
Wallingford, Ct., May 10, 1841. WILLIAM M. HALL. 
Clearing Band. 
Messrs. Editors — I noticed an inquiry by one of your sub¬ 
scribers for the best method of clearing new land, and as there 
has yet been no reply, it may not be amiss to give my opinion 
and views on the subject. For the good of land, and for the 
ease of clearing, I would prefer to have the chopping done in 
the months of June and July, and take a spring burn the next 
season. I prefer this course, first, because there will be no 
sprouts on the land; and second, because the stumps will come 
out three or four years sooner than they would, if chopped in 
the winter or spring months, as then they are sure to sprout, 
and thus long retain some vitality. To clear land slow and 
easy, I always girdle; and that work should be done in June, 
when the sign is in the heart. [?] I have seen the leaves with¬ 
ered and dried in one week. I always choose to let beach and 
maple timber stand until about half the top and branches fall 
to the ground, which will take place in some five or six years. 
When I wish to clear the piece, I cut the balance of timber 
down a few days before I wish to burn, always preferring the 
spring, as there will be less herbage on the ground at that time, 
and the burn, of consequence, more complete. I have seen land 
cleared that would not cost one dollar an acre to fit it for the 
seed, after the timber was cut down; as in dry weather, when 
so prepared, the fire usually cuts it up effectually. I will 
answer friend Robinson in regard to a National Agricultural 
Society in the language of Sir David Crockett, “go-ahead, sir.” 
W eathersjield, Ohio. O, G. 
Barge Hoot of Bye. 
Messrs. Editors —Accompanying this, I forward you a root 
of rye, the product of one kernel, which I thought was remark¬ 
able, if not without a precedent. I cut more than one hun¬ 
dred and twenty heads from it, and the mice eat off seven stalks 
before. The heads were but poorly filled, as it stood alone, 
and but few of them would come in blossom at the same time. 
It continued to send out new stalks as long as I let it stand. 
There were other roots in the vicinity of this, which had from 
thirty to eighty heads. 
Remedy for Girdled Fruit Trees. 
I have an apple tree which the mice girdled four or five years 
ago, taking the bark off for about eight inches. I saved the 
tree by taking three cions of the previous year’s growth, and 
carefully inserting each end above and below where the bark 
was off, tying them on, and covering the wound with some 
grafting cement. The tree appears to thrive as well as if noth¬ 
ing had happened to it. I am glad to say that I am indebted 
to your valuable paper, the Cultivator, for the idea. 
New-Milford, (Con.) August 31, 1841. M. E. MERWIN. J 
