THE CULTIVATOR 
67 
use in Greene county, and others building in different 
parts of the counties of Greene and Columbia. One may 
be examined at the residence of the inventor, Leeds, 
Greene county, and one at the farm of Judge Cooke, 
Catskill. The latter is sunken through the threshing 
floor, and the horse travels outside of the barn. 
W. S. Jacks. 
Catskill , March 5, 1842. 
IMPORTATION OF STOCK. 
Messrs. Gaylord & Tucker —No person knows the 
true value of good stock unless he enters into the im¬ 
provement of it with a determined spirit to equal any one, 
and then he finds from experience there is no end to it; 
the more warmly he pursues, the more highly he is gra¬ 
tified. The nearer his stock advances to perfection, the 
more care and judgment is required to keep them up; 
and no one knows the pleasure that proceeds from this 
care, but the real and scientific breeder. His thoughts, 
his reflections, and his attention are all called into active 
and pleasing research; and from this, he finds there is 
much to learn, and much to overcome. He is laughed 
at by the ignorant, contradicted by sceptics, “ abused ” by 
smatterers, and envied by the wealthy and “ would-be- 
great.” And why is this? Because, while constantly 
inventing plans to improve the body of the beast, in true 
hearted earnestness, he has faith in doing a good action. 
It adds value to his mind, and brightens it to mightier 
thoughts for the benefit and happiness of his noble sta¬ 
tion; for such a man must stand above. And if I may 
say it without presumption—the good, thorough, practical 
breeder and tiller, when rightly known as such, deserves the 
highest title under heaven. He adorns the earth beauti¬ 
fully and substantially, and is the foundation of useful and 
interesting knowledge. 
Well do I remember ten years since how many “ old 
fashioned farmers” in England ridiculed and “abused ” 
the better bred ones for their spirit and enterprise, who 
'Vi'ild not then be persuaded to go out of their beaten 
t *ack, but now see it in a very different light; but it was 
“ocular demonstration,” and the proof of their neigh¬ 
bors’ prosperity that weaned them from it. 
If a person gave one hundred and fifty guineas for a 
bull, either Hereford or Short Horn; or from fifty to 
eighty guineas for a ram, either Cots wold or Leicester, 
he-was by them considered “ a down right fool” for his 
pains. The bigoted old farmers would meet together at 
the village public house, or on market day, and over 
their pipe and pot would go as far as to call him a com¬ 
mon enemy, and scandalize him accordingly, because he 
was injuring their sales. They would go home to their 
family circle “half groggy ,” and cunningly admonish 
their sons against this extravagance, who had probably 
been (“ out of patience”) driving their diminutive stock 
to several different fairs without sale or chance of it, at 
an expense each time; while buyers would come to the 
houses of their neighbors who had better bred ones, 
cheerfully give the best price, and rejoice at their bar¬ 
gain. I have many times seen cattle and sheep bred in 
the same parish, on exactly the same sort of soil, kept in 
the same manner, fed and sold at the same age, and to 
the same butcher; the mongrel cattle would go from 
fifteen to twenty pounds each, while the better breeders’ 
(for which the demand was great,) went from twenty- 
five to thirty-five. The mongrel wethers, at two years 
old, would not fetcli more in market than the good 
breeders’ tegs at fourteen months. “ These ignorant 
knowing ones ” would read the market prices, and find 
“course and inferior beasts” selling from three and two¬ 
pence to three and fourpence per stone, (of eight pounds 
to tne stone,) when the prime quality fetched from four 
and .enpence to five shillings; making thirteen pounds, 
fifteen shillings difference (in the beef only) in the 
lowest and highest price, with a beast that weighed one 
hundred and fifty stones. 
These circumstances, and many others plainly visible, 
at length opened the eyes of those who exclaimed against 
the expense of good sires. They found that worth was 
worth; and that their produce would repay it with inte¬ 
rest and profit. Those who were so much prejudiced 
against giving such high prices lor them, now spur on an 
auction with as much spirit as the “best;” and instead 
of calling such men fools, follow their example in every¬ 
thing, and acknowledge their own deficiency; and they 
found that prices grew larger, as better breeders became 
more numerous. When I see this, as I have done, I say 
I see a noble feeling at work; and it is my “deliberate 
opinion,” that good sires and dams, both of the Herefords 
and Short Horns, will always be in good demand, and at 
very high prices; the more they are known, the more 
they are appreciated. 
I purchased the Hereford bull, Major, of Mr. Wm. 
Hewer. Had he lived, he would have been five years 
Old this spring; he has taken seven first prizes at the dif¬ 
ferent agricultural societies, viz: Hereford, Farringdon, 
and Cirencester, from a calf to the best bull of any age, 
contending against some of the best Herefords and Short 
Horns each time. He won as many first prizes of his 
age as any bull in England; and I have heard it remark¬ 
ed by many of the “ best ” judges, (some of them Short 
Horned men,) that he was as good a bull as England 
could produce. This I readily believe, and would have 
given my “last shirt ” to have saved his life; for I think 
his loss is a very heavy one to this country. His off¬ 
springs, two year olds and yearlings, are getting nearly 
as conspicuous as he; two of each within the last two 
years have taken the first prizes at Cirencester, against 
many of the first breeders, both of Herefords and Short 
Horns; and I trust as they grow older they will give the 
“ best ” a hard race to conquer. 
Major lived forty-two days on the vessel, amidst ad¬ 
verse winds, storms, and waves the most terrific; the 
last fifteen on nothing but what I gave him from a bot¬ 
tle. On the banks of New-Foundland he was committed 
to the deep. If one of my best friends had gone, I could 
not have felt more. I had anxiously watched over him 
night and day. No person could have had more atten¬ 
tion; but all was useless; his hour had come. Such 
trials as these are designed to develop a noble spirit; 
therefore I must not give way, but try again. I have 
one consolation; we have four yearling bulls, six two 
year old, and two yearling heifers got by him, quite as 
promising as those I saw in England. I never saw the 
waves roll higher, or the wind blow harder, for thirty 
days in succession. And our long tried, experienced, 
and worthy seaman, Capt. E. E. Morgan, who has 
crossed the ocean 106 times, says he never had such a 
boisterous voyage. We had one wave strike the vessel, 
which shivered the bulwarks and galley, and upset the 
main boat. Had such a wave struck the wheel of a 
steamer, it must have disabled her; or had my stock 
been there, where I had previously carried them, they 
must have all been swept away. In the course of these 
trying storms, I lost Major, Cleopatra, (a four year old 
Short Horn cow—as good a one as I ever saw,) eight 
Leicester and three Cotswold ewes; they were worried 
to death by the continued rolling of the vessel. Venus, 
a four year old Short Horn; Columbus, a Short Horn 
calf, and the rest of my ewes stood the test well, and 
have improved much since the storms have ceased. I 
brought Cleopatra and Venus on purpose to show against 
those Mr. Allen is going to receive from his “one 
breeder.” Although I have lost the best, Mr. Hillhouse 
has Wildame from the same herd to take her place. 
Therefore, spirit and courage must keep up and doing. 
The Messrs. Hewers’ annual sale of rams last year ave¬ 
raged, with the rest of his sales, £17 17s. 6d.; one sheep 
making one hundred and sixteen guineas, or $580. And 
one of their wether tegs, fourteen months old, weighed 
fifty and a quarter pounds per quarter. This was without 
his head or caul; according to American weight would 
have been about 236 pounds. This teg was shown 
dressed at Stow fair, May the 12th, 1841. 
There is now a fair and spirited contest between the 
Herefords and Short Horns, and time only will prove which 
are “ the best.” The former have taken every one of 
the first prizes for fat oxen at Smithfield show this year. 
The best breeds of Herefords and Short Homs never 
have been higher than at the present. The demand is 
greater the more they are known; and I do assure you 
the “best” are far between in England, although not 
confined to “one breeder.” 
I would publish another very interesting letter from 
the “Earl” of Warwick, were it not for the ill natured 
criticisms of some of your correspondents. However, I 
will make some extracts from it in another communica¬ 
tion. Though I do not fear it myself, I will not bring 
my friends under the lash of the literati. 
Wm. H. Sotham. 
Ship Hendrick Hudson, March, 1842. 
CULTURE OF THE POTATOE. 
Messrs. Editors —I this year planted about four and 
a half acres of the potatoe. The ground was a heavy 
sward, some part of it formerly quite wet; but drained 
last year, turned over late in the fall, subjected to the 
frosts of winter, and in the spring harrowed on the fur¬ 
row without disturbing the sod, until sufficiently loose 
for planting. My Rohans last year pleased me so much 
that I determined to make my principal crop of them; 
but on the same ground I planted for table use the May- 
duke and white kidney for early potatoes, and the pink 
eye and Mercer for winter use, together with samples 
of several other varieties as an experiment, and some 
three-fourths of an acre of the Sardinia potatoe for the 
purpose of comparison with the Rohan. About three 
acres were Rohans. Part of the Rohans, with the early 
kinds, and those for experiment, were planted about the 
20th of May; but the planting of the remainder of the 
Rohans, and that of the Sardinias, was not completed 
until the 9th of June. The severe drouth of the sum¬ 
mer seriously affected the crop, nearly preventing some 
of the late planted Rohans from vegetating at all; and 
as the whole were on the top of the sod, they probably 
suffered more than they would had the turf been rotted 
more thoroughly. As it was, I obtained about 750 bush¬ 
els; the Rohans first planted producing at the rate of 
about 200 bushels to the acre; while the late Rohans 
and Sardinias were about equal in productiveness. My 
experience this year, as heretofore, has gone to prove 
that the chances for a crop of potatoes are much increas¬ 
ed by planting as early as the ground is in a fit state for 
their reception. There was no curl among any of the 
varieties grown this year, though it appeared among 
some of them last year, and although other farmers in 
the county have suffered much from that disease in their 
crop this season; but the roots were much injured by the 
wire worm; they seeming to find sustenance or harbor 
mainly in these. 
I wish to mention here one circumstance respecting 
the potatoe crop of this year, which has come directly 
under my observation, and which, though inexplicable 
by me now, may hereafter help to explain the total and 
singular failure of Mr. Guthrie’s Rohans last year. My 
Rohans succeeded so well last year that several of my 
farming friends were disposed to try their culture; and 
among others, T. Cowles, Esq., a careful and accurate 
farmer, took half a bushel. They were taken from the 
same bin in the cellar as those I planted, and at the same 
time; and were cut and planted on the same day he re¬ 
ceived them. As an experiment, and to test their com¬ 
parative productiveness, they were planted with Sardi¬ 
nias on one side, and Mercers on the other; the length, 
number of rows, and number of hills, being the same. 
The Sardinias were planted whole; the Mercers cut 
like the Rohans. From the first coming up the Rohans 
seemed a failure; and while the tops of the others were 
vigorous and flourishing, there was scarcely a handful 
of. vines on the whole of the Rohans. A few days since, 
he put into my hands the following statement of the crop 
at digging: Mercers, 17 bushels; Rohans, If bushels; 
Sardinias, 18f bushels. The explanation of such a total 
failure I leave for the reader to make. 
Otisco, Dec., 1841. H. M. Gaylord. 
OPERATION OF SPAYING. 
Messrs. Gaylord & Tucker —I have just read, in 
the Cultivator for this month, your mode for performing 
the operation of “ spaying.” A different mode is prac¬ 
ticed in this neighborhood, at least by one operator, 
which in my judgment has some very important advan¬ 
tages over the one recommended by you. Instead of 
the incision being made “between the four back teats,” 
it is made in the side. The operator provides himself 
with a bench or plank about a foot wide, elevated suffi¬ 
ciently to enable him to work easily, standing in an up¬ 
right position. The animal is laid on the plank on her 
side, (usually her right side;) a leather strap is then 
passed under the flank and over her body, just behind 
her fore legs, and buckled down tight enough to hold 
her still; her head and hinder legs are held steadily by 
a couple of lads; and the operator, standing at her back, 
makes the incision in her side or flank, just between 
and a little below the hip and the short ribs. The bal¬ 
ance of the operation is the same as that recommended 
by you. The advantages of this over your mode are the 
following: the suspension of the animal by the hind 
legs, which must be painful to it and prejudicial to its 
health, is avoided; the operation is less dangerous, and 
the animal being more steadily confined, there is less 
probability of the operator doing mischief from the con¬ 
tortions of her body; it is more speedily accomplished, 
and the ovary more conveniently reached, and easily ex¬ 
cised; and the wound, being not so much exposed to 
subsequent injury, heals quicker; and the enlargement 
of the belly, caused by careless spaying in your mode, 
and consequent rupture, to which there is great liability, 
are entirely avoided. This practice has been used 
among my stock for the last five years with entire suc¬ 
cess. I have never lost a single animal from spaying, 
or had any disfigured, since this mode of operation was 
introduced on my farm. J. W. Crisfield. 
Princess Anne, Md., Jan. 13, 1842. 
A PRODUCTIVE FARM. 
Messrs. Gaylord & Tucker —In your number for 
February, 1841, you take notice of a farmer named 
Thomas Oliver, within a short distance of Edinburgh, 
leasing for the last 20 years a farm of 150 acres at £10 
10s. per acre, and renewing his lease for another term 
of years, which in Scotland is 19—not 15 years, as you 
state; and that from a poor man, Mr. Oliver has become 
rich. 
Mr. Oliver’s farm is peculiarly situated, and thereby 
possessed of advantages seldom falling to the lot of 
farms. It is distant about two miles from Edinburgh, 
and about the same distance from the sea. Through a 
considerable part, the common sewers from the southern 
districts of the metropolis are conducted by one ditch; 
from this, small canals are cut to every part of the farm, 
low enough for the water to flood. These canals are 
stopped or dammed up at intervals, whereby the ground 
is flooded with liquid urate and poudrdte; when it is 
thoroughly soaked, the water is turned off that it may 
dry. A thick stock of very succulent grass springs up. 
This portion of his farm Mr. Oliver lets off by public 
auction every spring to the cow keepers, who supply 
Edinburgh with milk, in lots from one-fourth of an acre 
and upwards. The price per acre varies every season. 
It has been let as low as £20; and has brought £50. 
The medium is from £30 to £40 per acre. 
In forward seasons they commence cutting the first 
week of April, and continue doing so until 15th Novem¬ 
ber, when the term of possession expires. 
Mr. Oliver has no trouble, farther than to employ a 
man to keep the canals clear, flood the ground regularly, 
and turn the water off when the ground is sufficiently ir¬ 
rigated. The grass is cut every third or fourth week, 
and causes a great flow of milk. 
Mr. Oliver has several shallow ponds at the lowest 
corner of his farm. Into these the water is turned du¬ 
ring winter, and deposits a rich sludge or mud. In the 
spring these are dried, and the manure, which is very 
rich, carted off to his fields, and the surplus sold at a 
high price to the neighboring farmers. 
Mr. Oliver is a scientific farmer, of liberal education, 
and was a candidate with Mr. Low for the chair in the 
University of Edinburgh, now filled by the latter gen¬ 
tleman. Before he entered into possession of this farm 
he was in easy circumstances. These he has no doubt 
improved by his successful farming. 
From the same source several thousand acres between 
Mr. Oliver’s farm and the sea are also enriched, yielding 
