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O* The postage most be paid on letters to the editor on the bonnes* of the office. a I emmm~?w??? ? S< r< _j_ o From the Boston Courier. a THK FOURTH AGRICULTURAL MEETING.? LIVR STOCK. 3 The fourth agricultural meeting was held at the State [louse, on the evening 'r of the 4th inst., Hon. D. P. King in the J a chair. The subject of discussion was * live stock. " Mr. Colman introduced the subject bv 11 ^ a succinct account of the various breeds which had been and were to be found in 11 the country; enumerating and describing the native stock, the Devon, the Here- ,e ford, the Yorkshire, the Holderness, the ?' Alderney, the improved Durham Short w Horn, the Ayrshire, and lastly a new race, which, by the skill and perseverance of a gentleman from whom the meeting a. would hear presently, had been formed in rl our vicinity; and in some respects was not re surpassed by any breed known among us, v< or in the world, particularly for the rich- 'c neas of their milkaud the amount of but- ^ ter obtained from it. Cl He proceeded to speak of some remarkable animals of our native breed which bad fallen under hi9 observation. The 113 Oakescow, which in one instance made 18 1-4 lbs. butter per week; an average , of more than 16 lbs. per week for three ,c months in succession* and 484 lbs. from the 1st of May to the 30th of December P* in one year, besides suckling a calf for six weeks; of the Nourse cow, formerly Jj( AurnMi Kv Pickering, from which more then 14 IJw. per week were obtained aa for four successive months; of a cow at SJ*' Stockbridge, which, in three successive J" years, made 900 lbs. of butter; of a cow . owned in Shelburn, which produced 335 c> lbs. of butter in one year; and a cow in w North-Adams, which produced 425 lbs. Pr of butter in one year. or These were extraordinary examples. Others might be found. But they are in- c? dividual instances; and among our native a stock we have no established race of animais. whose excellent qualities may be pronounced fixed by always breeding from lhe very best, unless it be in the case ulfoadv referred to. m In England, great attention for more 11 than halfa century had been paid to this subject, and by the highest skill and the a most determined perseverance, valuable w races had been formed. Bake well may ^ be said to have begun these improve- P( ments. The Messrs. Collins pursued it 01 with distinguished ability and liberality. l.r The country patronized and encouraged such improvements by the most liberal * * * * 1 * * a I * dy, and fine silky feel. This cow was ; ossed with Coelebs, an imported bull, ] f the Durham blood. Coelebs had pro- I need some remarkable milkers. It was I i this wav, Mr. Jaques thought, best to < y the foundation of an improved stock. I lis object was to obtain a stock eminent < r their dairy properties. i Having succeeded, according to his ex- ] stations, in producing a race distin- I uished for the richness of their milk, he i i chose to denominate it the Cream pot t eed; and he had now proceeded as far t i the fifth generation, and had already e cty animals, more or less tinctured with i is blood. He went, as he said, for ood, and whatever surprise it might ex- t te, he was confident in saying, that he j ould breed animals to order. He would r occed upon the same principle as that \ ) which the painter applies his lamp, i ack to his white lead; and in respect to f ittle, as rumps of beef sold in market for < shilling per pound, and shins for three ' >nfs, he would seek to make the rumps ' rge, and the shins small. Farmers admitted this principle of 1 ceding, in respect to sheep; so they ? ould crass their Merino with their nntive, ' ntil, by successive steps, they improved j teir wool from one half to three quarters < nd seven eighths grade. All farmers i ould agree to make wool to order, if i 3U would promise them one dollar per i >und. It is the same with cattle. Stock i the Exchange may be changed and I ansferr^d at once. Live Stock is not < isposed of so easily. It requires four 1 ears to produoe a calf, and eight years I second, that is, before you can deter- | line their properties. < The race-horse is not |>opular among ; < s. We want a horse that will do all < inns of work. This was obtained by n | ross of the full.blood race-horse with the. i torough bred Normandv. This colt < . * as given, hy a gentleman in Canada, to i Vermont fanner by the name of Mor- i in. This was the foundation of a dis- i nguished breed. This horse would run j i ghty rods in fifteen s'con !s. He could j < ck out a Morgan horse, among a hnn. i.< ed. Trie combination of two of the r sst bhxds, in this case, gave a general I tiaracter. This horse is of eminent en- i u ran re, docile, obedient, rugged; and is a i ill hand for the best whip. Ccelebs had no pedigree, but there was I r>od reason to believe that he was a direct i ascendant from the stock of Messrs. oilins. He wasconrident that by across fCcelehs with a suitable native cow, he lould succeed in his object of obtaining i cii miiii and excellent butter.properties. [e had iio\v in milk the third generation, i ad four quarts of h?r milk had made one < mnd of butter. The miik contains so < tile that cannot he mad** into buttei, that ! i his belief one liundred pounds of her h ream would produce ninety-five pounds j fbuiler. He had now twenty-eight rows and j filers of this stock; and at his pleasure ! c could breed his stock with orange color I r yellow round the eye, of a mahogany j ' ? ? L .. .. | .. ? ,1 (no I o , a innrnt I uior, wiiue w .v-uio, , 2 desired. This m?y seem incredible, ut not more incredible than the present ite of travelling on railroads would have ?emed to an individual who lived a hunrcd vears a^o. Most cows which arc used by the fnrmrs tor breeders, have no more claims for hat object than a skunk would have, j le prefers, in selecting a suitable breed- | r, to trust his hands more than his eves, lo wants to have a silky, elastic feel, "he difference in the feel of animals, that j, of their skin, is like the difference be anttP UfB cgmmiii'M I AW. SOUTH-C AKOLIN. tween a two dollar negro-cloth and a fourteen dollar broadcloth. The difference in fatting animals arises from the thriftiness of their constitutions, so that while upon half a bushel of meal per day < neox would yield only seventy-five pounds of rough tallom, another, of a better kind, would produce a hundred and seventy-five pounds. He was told by one visiter that he had oiled his stock; and on a visit to Mr. Phinney's farm in Lexington, a farmer who had been at his place found him srlf able, among half a dozen calves, to select two of tho Creanr-pot breed, simply bv the feel. The breeding of swine had been carried to great perfection among us. Improvements in neat stock few would undertake. Sheep are very profitable stock, with an amount adapted to the size of the farm. The Merino and Saxony are deemed too tender for our climate, and produce mutton of small size ff swine do not cost so much in the keep, ng as the common breeds, but the return 3 much greater. He insists much upon ihe breed. You cannot make a racelorse out of a Canadian runt, if you ihould have a groom at each leg; nor by my art bring him to run four miles at a heat, and repeat. You might as well attempt to produce upon a scrub-pear the fruit of the St. Michael's. We cannot io as we will, in many cases, because we (lave not the means. Most of our farmers have the talent, but few have the captal wherewith to make improvements, [n England, capital is applied to agricultural improvements with the utmost eadiness, and with a success proportionite to this liberality. Our own agricul:ure has received a generous impulse, and sverv friend to his country must wish it ncreased success. Mr. Putnam of Danvers then stated hat he had seen a heifer of the Crcam)ot breed, in Southboro,' which he recog. lised by her silky feel, and her milking >roperties promised well. She had been ajured in two teats, but the milk taken rom those two in one week produced ;even and three-fourths pounds of butter. The calf took the two uninjured teats. This was in October. Mr. Sheldon of W'lmington was then xcn with full bosoms, as indicative of strength. In choosing cattle to travel well, he would have their tors straight forward. If they are inclined outward in travelling, the strain will cceeded by remarking on the gen! eral opinion, in which he did not concur. > that a high-lifed horse could not be prop| erly employed before oxen. He would never, in breaking a horse to this labor, tackle him in the afternoon. He would spend a day in coaxing him, and never j allow him, under any circumstances, to be struck. When he began with tackling a colt, he would have a horse in sight, towards whom he might be directed. He would put him before oxen, hut nev. er with a load that it would be difficult to draw^ and in breaking a colt, he would nevrj try to drive him away from home. Mr. Sheldon has since informed us, that his oxen at work in Boston, averaged 19 miles travel per day; and that he wish! ed to have added some remarks on the j shooing of 6Xch, in V>"II0n he thinks great I errors ore committed. For travelling on j the rond, the shoe of an ox is almost alj ways made too short. It should comI pletely cover the bottom of the heel. J Mr. Jones of West-Tisburv, being j called on by the chair, joined in the discussion. He deemed an agricultural life as highly pleasant and respectable. The raising j of stock, as a branch of husbandry, had many attractions. He had resided in I the best agricultural districts of England three years, and was familiar with their operations. He had attended many of their cattle shows. Much had been done in this country, hut from any thing ac cotnplished here, little idea could be formed of what had been effected there.? England seems to have carried the art of breeding to a high degree of perfection. He considered that greater improvements had been made in sheep than in cattle. Those of us who have not seen them, can form but a very imperfect idea of the English flocks. He had seen large flocks of the Lsicesters and the Teeswaters, not one of which would weigh less than 150 pounds. In some districts, the long woolled sheep are preferred. On the Downs, the South Downs. He had seen Mr. Coke's flock, which at that time consisted of 5000. In some districts, the sheep are all bred with yellow faces; in others, with blnck faces, which illustrates th? principles of breeding laid down by Mr. Jaques. On our scanty soils the South Downs would undoubtedly pay the most profit. We cannot grew the long wools to advantage. That had better be left to Pennsylvania and Delaware. We demand much mutton for market. On this account the South Downs are to be preferred for us. The fine wools may be advantageously cultivated where mutton is not in so much demand. We have n >w very good stocks foi animals if we would be careful in the sclection. The Short Horns may answer for many districts in our country; hut he believed the middling sized red cattle were nrofnrrnH fnr us. Our nfrncillture IV l/v yf I V I VI VM I ??- V>v w v.. ^ - is not pursued upon a sufficiently libera! scale. Wc do not employ sufficient cnpi. tal. He expressed his strong regret that any intention should have been manifested for the discontinuance of the Agricultural Survey. He thought it had been eminently serviceable, and great benefits were to be expected from it. No measure could be adopted more conducive to the improvement and welfare of our agricul. turn. The Agricultural Surveys in Eng. land had been worth millions to that country; and he thought it a niggardly policy and unworthy of Massachusetts tr i hcsi'ate Jibout a few thousands for the ad. | vancement of this groat and common inj terest. It was matter of great regret tc j him that any thoughts should be entertained of discontinuing the survey, which had already received the most favorable J notices abroad. The English Agricul, i ture was more improved than any olh -.r and the great impulse to imnrovemer-1 ! was given hv the eminent labors of \rj thur Young in his agricultural ton-s. If: j honed that, in addition to the pcmpletim of the Agricultural Survev. the State, in i the course of five years would have estab. lished a Hoard of Agriculture. I Mr. Putnam made son? irquiries o| ; Mr. Jaqueson the point whether butter i; : as good obtained from large quantitiesas ! small quantities of milk, as on his father'' ! farm, in the care of two cow.?, one giving 47 or 48 pounds milk per day. and our j 33 pounds milk per day in June, an. 1 making each about thirteen pounds ol ' butter per week, the quality of the buttei , from the cow giving the largest quantity | was superior to that from the other. Mr. Jaques was unable to give a defi. nite answer in this particular case. II" j spoke again of the importance of blow . and preserving races pare. Our ratth j had been much corrupted bv intermix j tores* With a view to test his principle.' | he had entered largely into the breeding ! of rabbits; and it had required the ninth genera ion and four hundred rabbits t< - - n rench the point at which he aimed, t'.x cellent stock were often exhibited a , Brig Hon, but a valuable race could no I be obtained without much pains. I j would require hplf a century in som< 1 cases to transfer the vigor of consfifutio' , of one race to another. The milk ofdif ferent cows differed essentially in it richness. A cow exhibited at Brighton by Hou. William Gray* sortie year j since, gave thirty quarts of milk at a J milking, but the milk produced no cream. Mr. Buckmin?ter, (always strongly inI clined to conservatism,) derfmed the sub. ject of discussion highly important, and had listened with much approbation to the remarks of Mr. Jaques. They agreed with his owu opinions. So long as the imported foreign stock produced nothing better than we already had, he saw no use in importing. He thought we could not improve our stock without stock farms. Few persons are capahJe of judging accurately. Any man could see the difference between a large and a small hog. hut other points were to be determined. He approves highly of Mr. Sheldon's no. tions of managing stock. He would banish a whip from the farm, and he would have rattle and horses hroken and managed with all the gentleness possible. The tune of adjournment havingnearly j arrived, the meeting were gratified with ; Mr. Jaques's exhibition of a pot of cream | from his celebrated stock. It was of i most extraordinary consistency, and was j converted into butler by churning in a j bowl with a spoon, in the presence of the I ftnn minn to (tl na I lllUUllllgi iii ii;w man uiim iiiimuiv) iuu" completely verifying the declarations which he had made. The meeting was exceedingly well at. tended. The interest in these discissions increases, and with that a general and strong conviction of their utility. H. C. Comparative Value of Horses, Mules & Oxf.n. Messrs. Gaylord Tucker?An apol ogy is due to the N. Y. State agricultural Society, for omitting to report on the subject they have twice assigned to me, 1 but it having been inconvenient to attend the annual meeting when the appointment was made, they were not sufficiently impressed on my mind to draw my attention to the subject in time for their j meeting the present month. Indeed, in consequence of the press of other matters, it was not till now, that it occurred to me ) 9 th it this duty was to be performed., So far, however, as their object is the publi> cation of the different reports, it may be , accomplished by the insertion of this t communication, but with this serious abatement of its usefulness, that it cannot receive that revision and sane ion of the 1 intelligent members of the board, that would so materially add to its correctness and authority. The compartive value of horses and oxen for agricultural purposes, has so often been the subject of discussion, and the arguments so very correctly and , sufficiently stated in your own paper so lately as March last, that it would hardly seem necessary to repeal them here. But there are some considerations connected with this subject, not hilherto treated of to much extent, that I will submit to the 1 public, for the purpose of eliciting here1 after, such observations and discussion as I may lead to highly important results. In a country so varied as ours in climate, soil, surface, tillage, crops, extent of farms, 6cc. &c., there must necessarily be sufficient difference in circumstan( ces, to justify the use of both horses and , oxen, not only in contiguous, but even on , the same premises. This assertion will , appear conclusive, by simply stating the , universally acknowledged merits of each. These are summarily stated by assigni .g such labor to the horse, as is required to II much extent during the hot season, whore J active movements are wanted, and when ' i a load is to be removed a considerable ' I distance over a good road. This seems ' i io i?e the ex'ent of superiority claimed | j Cor the "noble beast." The claims of his ! more humble, but on the whole, much I in?>re useful competitor, are the smaller >| amount required to purchase them, the j economy and simplicity of tackle, the ; J casinos* and cheapness of keep, less liabil. ? iv ' nobles a no grandees of the land, than the nation passed under an intolerable op. pression, that resulted in the revolt of ten twelfths of the people, and soon after, in the subjugation and captivity of all. We have no hesitation in venturing the' assertion, that were our present stock of horses reduced to one fourth their prei s-nt number, and the places of another I fourth supplied by mules, and each put to | their required duties, the remaining labor of the country a ould be vastly more adoan| tagcouslyperformed by oxen. But first of ! mnles. It would appear on even a very s'ight j reflection, that in excluding the services j of this humble, hut hardy and useful ani! mal, we are ; nnualiy sustaining an im. i i ? M j m nSU lOSf. X It nuuiu n?/t im i ovcrstatiog the case, to say that with little grooming, half the aitention and feed, and no disease, they will outlive the laboring lives of horses, and do the whole work of each. But that there is great* disparity in favor of the former, in the amount of labor rendered for the quantity of expense bestowed on each, those who have tested both are prompt to testify.?They are the only beast of labor that can be trusted by their masters in the hnnda of the slaves at the South, their hardiness enabling them to live under, a usage that would kill horses almost as fast as , jjsrnessed. They are easily and cheaply ! reared* stron^ft?r their n night, hardy, re9