THE CULTIVATOR. 
from New-Hurley to the city of New-York by way of 
■^^"’burgh, was made under her directions and super¬ 
vision in your grandfather’s old stone house. Since my 
first visit there, forty years have nearly elapsed, and I 
well remember what delightful butter your aunt then 
made; and I ascertained that she used clean coarse salt, 
reduced to powder by some of the family, and her butter 
was sweet and good, and would keep without spoiling, 
while others in that part of the valley of the Wallkill 
used fine Liverpool salt which, from its impurities, 
caused the butter made with it to become strong or ran 
cid in a short time. 
Some of our friends in the city of New-York think 
that our occupation requires no attention in winter, and 
that we might spend our time more profitably and agree 
ably in the great emporium. But farming, like every 
other useful employment, has its cares and its duties to 
be attended to in the winter as in the growing season 
A well established maxim, says— “ that which is worth 
doing , is worth doing iue?Z.” If a farmer does not attend 
to his calling at all seasons, something will be neglected 
and losses sustained. He must in fact have his attention 
constantly directed and fixed upon the object in view 
Let me illustrate this by an anecdote. 
When a boy, I went in a small boat, on a fishing ex¬ 
cursion, in the neighborhood of New-York, with an old 
gentleman who was extravagantly fond of the sport, and 
who frequently enjoyed it. We left the city with the 
early flood-tide, first dropping anchor on Shell Reef, then 
off Williamsburg, Grassy Point, and in succession the 
rocky shores about Hurlgate; at all which places he 
drew up the fishes with great glee, telling me what they 
were as soon as hooked, and before seeing them. Here 
comes, said he, a Sea Bass—then a Black Fish—then, 
perhaps, an eel, &c. It was astonishing to me that he 
knew every fish by its manner of taking the bait, and 
would hook them so readily, while I could not take 
single one. My attention was directed to him and his 
line and not to my own; and when he saw me listless 
and discouraged, hanging over the side of the boat, he 
cried out—“ My boy, you must put your attention upon 
the point of the hook, and then you’ll catch fish.” This 
remark has been practically useful at subsequent periods 
of my life, and is applicable to all pursuits which require 
attention to make them prosper. So with the farmer; if 
his attention be not constantly directed to the main ob¬ 
ject, if he be diverted from the “point of the hook,” he 
must suffer by neglect; he cannot catch fish; he cannot 
thrive. 
LETTERS FROM MR. PETERS—No. III. 
Hereafter I may give you an abstract of Liebig’s work, 
which will save you some trouble in reading much of 
it you would not understand. Richmond. 
RUST ON WHEAT—CLOVER SEED. 
,Mr. Cultivator —-The volume of the Cultivator for 
last year has arrived, and I am now reading it with much 
satisfaction, and I hope profit. In the May number I 
noticed an inquiry of “ A Subscriber,” whether plaster 
sown upon wheat in the spring does not have a tendency 
to make the wheat rust? In your reply to the quere, 
you state it as your opinion that it does not. From ob¬ 
servations made by myself the last three years in regard 
to this question, I have formed an opinion directly oppo 
site to that of your own. I shall not undertake to say 
that plaster sown upon wheat will make the wheat rust 
in a good season; but I do believe that it will predispose 
the wheat to rust; and in seasons when rust prevails, 
those fields which have been plastered will be found 
rusted sooner than those not plastered, and in a much 
greater degree. As to the cause, my opinion is, that it 
may be ascribed principally to the accelerated growth 
given to the wheat by the plaster. One case, among 
others, which came under my observation I will state to 
you; and as your columns are crowded, I will be as 
brief as possible. In the year 1839, two fields of wheat 
were growing adjoining to each other, or separated only 
by a road four rods wide. The soil of each was the 
same; both were fallowed the previous season; one was 
sown on the 8th, the other the 9th of September; both 
same kind of wheat; and as similar in every respect as 
two fields could well be. In the spring one field was 
plastered liberally; the other not plastered. At harvest, 
the wheat which had been plastered was badly rusted 
—so much so, that the grain was not merchantable; 
while the unplastered wheat had a bright straw, fine, 
large, plump berry, and averaged thirty-three bushels 
per acre. True, the clover crop was a total failure in 
consequence of not plastering, but the crop of wheat 
more than made up the loss. 
That season, it will be recollected, rust was very pre¬ 
valent throughout Western New-York. In our town, 
but little wheat came in plump; and as far as my obser¬ 
vations extended, such as did, proved to be—upon inqui¬ 
ry—from fields which had not been plastered. Your 
correspondent—“ A Subscriber,” asks what plan shall 
then be adopted to secure a good crop of clover? I will 
inform him of one which I have adopted, and he may do 
the same if he chooses; that plan is, to apply the plaster 
to the clover seed before it is sown. I have tried it, and 
the result was satisfactory. I prepared my clover seed 
by soaking it twelve hours in brine, and then rolling or 
stirring it with dry plaster until every grain is com¬ 
pletely coated, when it was immediately sown. I be¬ 
lieve that five pounds of seed prepared in this way will 
seed an acre as well as ten pounds sown dry. Try it, 
Mr. “Subscriber,” and publish the result in the Culti¬ 
vator. J. Horsfield. 
Castile , N. Y., Feb. 1, 1842. 
London , Jan. 6, 1842 
Messrs. Gaylord & Tucker —I hope you will not 
find my letters entirely uninteresting, if I do not give 
you an account of the tower ruins, or the thousand other 
sights which interest all who visit this great city. I 
have seen a few of the sights, and but a few. One day 
I clambered up to the top of the monument, and looked 
down upon the small portion of the city which was visi¬ 
ble through the dark cloud that seems to envelop it at 
this season of the year. 
I must plead guilty to the unsentimental. I was more 
pleased and interested in the cattle market, the corn ex 
change, and the provision and custom house ware hou 
ses, on the banks of the Thames, than among the time 
honored monuments which have clustered around them 
—-the cherished memories of a thousand years. My 
mind has been entirely engrossed with the useful pre¬ 
sent. The mighty dead, the renowned living, the 
pomp and circumstance of royalty, and its splendid train 
of glittering nobility, have had no charms for me. 
have turned away from the magnificent palace to look at 
the contents of the humble farm yard, and have had 
quite as much pleasure in looking at the beautiful cattle 
and sheep, and the farmer’s improvements, as in ram 
bling through the castle, and gazing at the rarest pictures 
of the old masters, any one of which would be a fortune 
to the owner. Think of $50,000 being refused for a 
piece of painted canvass, half as large as a barn door. 
The only people I have seen here whose possessions I 
coveted, were those gentlemen who own the fine herds 
of thorough bred cattle, particularly the Durhams and 
Herefords, which are now considered the best breeds in 
this country. 
Owing to misinformation, I did not get up to the city 
in time to attend the Smithfield cattle show for fat cattle, 
which takes place annually before Christmas. I saw 
some of the premium beef and mutton a few days after 
hanging in the Leadenhall market. Such a sight I 
never before beheld. The meat was beautiful, but en¬ 
tirely too fat to suit my notion, or the tastes of the great 
mass of the people. It could not be profitable or whole¬ 
some to the consumer, the fat was so entirely dispropor- 
tioned to the lean. The first prizes for oxen and steers 
were taken by the Herefords; for cows and heifers, by 
the Durhams. I must confess that the beef which was 
pointed out to me as being from the Herefords, was in 
some respects superior to that of the Durhams; the meat 
ing finer mottled or marbled. The Durhams seem to 
have laid on the fat more in lumps. The Herefords to 
have the fat and lean better intermingled; and this is con¬ 
sidered one of the points where they excel the Durhams. 
Breeding has become a regular science, and is carried 
on as systematically as any other. The secret is con¬ 
fined to a very few of the most successful breeders, and 
is not likely to transpire very soon. Competition be¬ 
tween the breeders of the two favorite kinds of cattle 
and sheep is very keen, and no expense is spared to have 
the best; and thorough bred animals fetch higher prices 
now than ever before. 
My own opinion as to the merits of the two breeds of 
cattle has been somewhat modified since I have been 
here, and had an opportunity to see for myself. I should 
prefer a herd of cows of the improved Short Horn Dur¬ 
hams, and a herd of working oxen of Herefords. For 
working cattle, I have never seen anything equal to 
them. Pure blooded, however, is very expensive, even 
here; it would be doubly so with us; and breeding from 
pure blooded animals is confined to comparatively a small 
number. I find the midland farmers generally prefer 
grade animals, being a cross between the two. They 
say that the grade cows give more milk on the one hand, 
and richer on the other, than the thorough bred of ei¬ 
ther; and their practice is to buy, or hire from the tho¬ 
rough breeder good bulls, and thus improve their stock 
small expense. I would recommend to such of our 
farmers as wish to improve their stock at the least ex¬ 
pense, to purchase good Short Horned bulls, and cross 
with our best common cows, and with the second or 
third cross use Herefords. Great improvement can be 
made in that way at small expense. And for all practi¬ 
cal purposes to the farmer, as good, if not a better stock 
can be got up than to be at the expense of pure bloods. 
Let those who are able to import stock become bull 
breeders; and in a little time the whole country will 
come to reap the benefit of the improved stock. The 
great Durhams in our state, and West, are as fine ani¬ 
mals as I have seen anywhere, for all useful purposes. 
The only thing is to keep them up to the proper point. 
~ think this can be done best by crossing with the Here¬ 
fords. Such at any rate will be my practice. 
One of the best Hereford bulls I have seen, indeed one 
of the best I ever saw of any breed, is going out to Al¬ 
bany by the packet ship Hendrick Hudson. Major, was 
purchased by Mr. Sotham in person for the herd of 
Messrs. Corning & Sotham of your city. There is no 
better in England; and it’s no disparagement to our best 
breeders to say that he has not his superior in the Union. 
He is four years old, has proved himself a capital stock 
bull, and I consider his acquisition a real treasure to our 
state. Mr. Sotham is also taking out two improved 
Short Horned cows and a bull calf, besides quite a num¬ 
ber of Cotswold and Leicester sheep. Venus is a very 
superior cow; but Cleopatra for pedigree and form, is 
one of the very best that has been taken out. 
I find this has become so lengthy that I must postpone 
my remarks upon other stock until my next. 
The weather up to this time has been very mild, 
though still wet. The fields are green, which looks to 
me strange and unnatural at this season of the year. 
A good old fashioned snow storm would be a real luxu- 
ry. I pity people who never enjoy the pleasure of 
sleigh riding of a bright starlight winter’s night. Wish¬ 
ing you the enjoyment of many such, I remain sincerely 
yours, x. C. Peters. 
OX GEARING. 
Messrs. Gaylord & Tucker —Having been a reader 
of your invaluable paper for the last year, I have been 
highly gratified by the numerous engravings, embracing 
almost all kinds of farming implements, machines, &c. 
I have not, however, seen any plan of an ox gearing, 
except the Dutch method; and as I believe that an ox 
will bear a heavier burthen next the shoulder than at the 
head, I submit the following plan, thinking it may be 
interesting to some of your numerous readers. 
Fig. 47. 
Fig. 47, is a side view of the stick 7| by 8 inches, 
maiked out as follows: the bow holes being 9 inches 
from center to center, and the staple holes 12 inches 
from the in bow holes—measure 2 inches out from the 
center of the bow, from a to a- then set the compass so 
that the circle point will just touch at the points a a and 
b, 3 inches from the top of the stick, and mark the pla¬ 
ces for the neck; then set the compass 3 inches wide, 
which will mark the ends d d. 
in the middle within 1 \ or If 
which should be bored 
', and the bow holes with 
Fig. 48. 
Fig. 48—After the yoke is worked down to line c, 
then it may be cornered down to line/; the neck pla¬ 
ces are to be cornered one inch convex, or an angular 
oval from side to side, worked smooth—the ends round¬ 
ed off in the same manner. The middle of the yoke 
may then be worked off from c to c, leaving it 5 inches 
wide from the bottom as above. The sides may then be 
worked down in the middle within 1£ or If inches of 
the center of the staple holes, 
with a three-fourth inch aug 
a seven-fourth auger. The ends on the sides may be 
hewn down to 4| or 5 inches thick, and well cornered, 
so that it will not hurt the shoulder. As oxen’s necks 
differ more on the lower part than top, it is difficult to 
have any exact rule for the bend of the bow. Care 
should be taken, however, that it is so bent that it will 
work between the neck and the front point of the 
shoulder bone; for if it is a little too wide or too nar¬ 
row, it will cause much distress. The above yoke is 
calculated for cattle that will measure 7 feet. The length 
may be varied at will; but if it is varied on the bow 
holes, the two inches from a to a must be varied in pro¬ 
portion. o. H. 
N. B. The bow boles should be bored square through. 
The staples deserve the attention of every teamster; the 
iron should be made round before bending, and bent on 
a half circle with a shoulder projecting about half an 
inch at the holes. Rupert, Vt., Jan. 31, 1842. 
MILK HOUSE, &c. 
Editors of Cultivator —Having seen an inquiry in 
your useful paper relative to the best method of con¬ 
structing a milk room, the following hints are submitted 
for the consideration of the inquirer, and those wishing 
to investigate the subject, by a lover of good butter and 
cheese. 
To insure perfect success in the above art, the follow¬ 
ing rules should be observed: 
1st. Good milkers, well selected from the best breeds 
of cattle for that purpose, and to keep them on good 
sweet pastures, or succulent food. 
2d. A good clean yard, and faithful, humane milk¬ 
men or maidens. For my part, I admire the latter, as 
more neat, kind hearted, and neither so harsh or bois¬ 
terous to the animal, which, like the earth, will not pro¬ 
duce well unless kindly treated. 
3d. Clean and sweet vessels, which are much im¬ 
proved by cool, pure spring, or well water, and neat 
milkmaids. 
4th. The milk room, to set the milk to cool, should 
be so constructed that a circulation of cool, dry air should 
freely pass through it to carry off, as quick as possible, 
the volatile effluvia which rises as the milk is cooling, 
and would soon become impure if confined in the milk 
room, and thereby impart its impurities to the milk. 
5th. The temperature should range, by Farenheit’s 
thermometer, between 48 and 58 degrees, to prevent a 
putrid fermentation from taking place; to obtain which, 
the following description of a milk room is submitted: 
1st. A good room of sufficient size to accommodate 
the size of the dairy, which should be so constructed as to 
exclude it from the influences of the surrounding atmos¬ 
phere, or changes of the weather, by g-ood walls, filled 
with some substance that is a non-conductor of heat. 
2d. There should be a ventiduct at the bottom of the 
