Farmers' gazette, and Cheraw advertiser. (Cheraw, S.C.) 1839-1843, July 14, 1841, Image 1
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VOLUME VI CHER AW, SOUTH-CAROLINA, WEDNESDAY, iUNE 14, 1841. NUMBER 35.
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By M. iflAC LEA^fi
Tkkms:?Published weekly at three dollars a
year; with an addition, when not paid within
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t rdered out.
IT The postage must lie paid on letters to the
editor on the business of the office.
MISCELLANEOUS.
TALES OF THE OCEAN.
BY J. 8. SLKKPER: DICKINSON AND CO.
We have never met with a better collection
of sea stories. Whether humorous I
or pathetic, they are written with great;
nc f?ir our slirrht knowledge !
apiili, unu, p-- n |
extends, with correctness Of description, j
The following is from the "Impressment i
of Seamen"?a paper giving details of
British cruelty, which make the blood run j
cold even to imagine: |
^ 44ln the year 1810, a brig belongingto
Salem was overhauled by a British ciuiser
on the South American co-st. Thecrew
were composed of Americans, athletic,
fine looking fellows. But the cruiser was
in want of hands, and the boarding offi J
cer ordered two of the seamen to pack up
their duds and go into the boat. The
men were thunder struck, and the captain
remonstrated in the strongest terms
against such an unjust and atrocious act.
The lieutenant shrugged his shoulders.
on
and cooly said that it was needless to multiply
words about it, for the men he must
have?and notwithstanding their protections,
he believed they were Englishmen!
There seemed to be no alternative?for
with a man of war on the oc^an,
as well as a pirate, might often makes
right. One of the men silently resigned
O * C7
himself to his fate, although ho was well
aware that it was a dreadful one. The
other, whose name was Barnes?a noble
looking fellow of six feet in height, and
of fine proportions, protested against the
course adopted bv the Englishman, declaring
himself to be a native American
citizen, and entitled to the privileges of
an American. The officer, however, was
inexorable, and finding his orders reluctantly
obeyed, was about to proceed to use
force, when Barnes took his clasp Kniie
from his pocket, opened it, and grasping
it in his left hand, drew it across the palm
of his right hand?then, dropping the
knife, he seized the fingers, and with a
wrench forced them back until they lay
parallel with tho wrist, in the direction of
the elhow, at the same time exclaiming to
the astonished officer, 'Now take me, if you
like, on hoard your rascally craft?I shall
. be a cripple for life."
^ Another Vmerioan was seized on a similar
.occasion. His protection was disregarded:
and in consequence of his brave
resistance to the British kidnappers, he
was taken on board their vessel, and
ichipj>ci by order'of the captain.
*'Hia bonds were loosened, and he arose
from his humiliating posture. He glared
fiercely around. The captain was standing
within a few paces from him, with a
demoniac grin upon his features, as if he
enjoyed to the bottom of his soul the dis- ,
grace and the tortures inflicted on the
poor Yankee. The hapless sufferer saw
that smile of exultation; and that moment
decided the fate of his oppressor.
.With the activity, the ferocity, and almost
the strength of a tiger, the mutilated
American sprang upon the tyrant, and
grasped him where he stood, surrounded
bv his officers, who for the moment seem
eel paralyzed with astonishment; and before
they could recover their senses, and
hasten to the assistance of their commander,
the flogged American had borne
him to the gangway, and then clutching
him bv the throat with one hand, and firm,
ly embracing him with the other, despite
his struggles he leaped with him into the
turbid waters of the Demarara! They
parted to receive the tyrant and his victim
?then closed over them, and neither was
ever afterwards seen. Both had passed !
to their last account."
INTERESTING FACTS.
According to the returns of the Afarshalls,
by whom the late census was taken, :he State
of Now York is behind Pennsylvania in the
production of wheat, to the amount of about
2.000,000 bushels annually; while it excels
Pennsylvania in the production of rye over
8.000.000 bushels, of Indian corn 2.500.000
bushels, of oats over 2,000,000 bushe's, of:
buckwheat 300.CHX) bushels, of barley 2,000,- j
* 000 bushels, of potatoes 21.000,000 bushels, i
wool nearly 1,000,000 pounds, hav nearly 2,. I
000,000 tons, supar over 8,000,000 pounds, j
and of products of the dairy over $$8,000,000. :
# In the production of wheat Ohio exceeds !
Pennsylvania about &000.000 bushels, while ;
'Virginia is but about 1 1-2 million bushels j
behind New York in that article. In Indian
corn, Tennessee takes the lead of all the j
Stated producing42 and a half millions of bushels
yearly. North Carolina 34 and a half trillions
of bushels, Virginia about 34 mihons of
bu'hels, Illinois 28 millions, Michigan 22 j
fnil'inns. Alabama 18 millions, Missouri 15
millions, Pennsylvania 13 and a half millions,
and New York 10 millions. Of neat cattle.
New York possesses 2 642,438, Pennsylvania
146,41?, Ohio 1,006,313. Of sheep, New
York has 5 381.225, Pennsylvania 3,386,431, ei
Ohio 1,964,957, Vermont 1,393,480, Virginia re
1,280786. In the product* of the orchard, y
New York and Vermont lead the other States
nearly two to one?the former being to the
amount of 81,732,357. the latter 81,109,387.
tn cotton Mississippi bears the palm, producing
yearly 289,838,818 pounds, Alabama 240,379,669
pounds, South Caro'ina 14^,807,880
pounds. Georgia 134,322,755 pounds, Lnui*iana
87.640,1*5 pounds, Virginia 10,767,251
pounds. Of Tobacco, Maryland produces 10 e?
millions pounds, Virginia 14 millions pounds, P
I Ohio6 millions pounds,Tennessee 26,700,000 P
lbs., Missouri 8,500000 pounds, and Indiana w
near 2 millions pouids tl
PhUailelphia Saturday Courier. n
_ b
From the Souihern Agriculturist. a
On thf cultuss of Rick-grass? a
Lkf.r si a orizoides. g
Pendleton.Oct. 21, 1840.
Mr. Editor:?In the hope of inducing ij
some of our farmers to turn their atten- tl
! tion from the exclusive cultivation of tl
cotton to the improvement of stock, I send 5
you the result of eight years' experience ti
/..,1+mpa nf ha v. on a t>iece of mead- tl
Ill UIC V/IMIUIV "? row
land, one mile distant from the village p
of Pendleton. The branches, whose o
united streams are sufficient to turn a c
small grist mill, are kept continually run. $<
ning over the meadow, except during the y
harvest. A day before cutting we re- o
move a small obstruction placed in the na. c
tural channel of the branch, when the si
| water leaves the land sufficiently dry for t<
1 the mowers to work and a narrow
! wheeled two horse wagon to take off &
| about 300 lbs. a load. Immeditaelv af. ti
j ter harve?t. the bar is replaced across the U
channel in a few minutes, bv drawing c.
! mud against a rail la d over it and the d
j land again put under water. Having made a
I nhundant crops of hay several years, at a
I so little expense. I last year laid off* one j]
acre, had the wagon carefully loaded by |<
! a white man, directing him to make b
every load as n^ar as possible of the same b
| size, and on weighing one load, found the *
average product of theacretobe more than v
| three tons, of two tho :sand pounds each n
! nt the first cutting. The same directions j|
i were followed this year, and the product j|
j was more than four tons at the first cut- f
ting. This great product may be attri- o
buted to a late harvest, and a summer of a
more rain. ii
The soil on which these crops were
made is the ordinary quality of low land i n
near the creeks, overflowed only by high f<
freshets. It had been cleared and culti. y
vatcd several years, produci ng good crops rj
in drv'seasons. I first saw it in 1831, when d
the com on it was nearly destroyed by a fi
wet season; in '32 it produced more
weeds than g'ass, they were all moved
?'33 I was astonished by the product of p
hav, which has been good ever since.? ti
This hay is made from rice-grass, the s
"Leersia Orizoides" of the botanist, called t
Nimble Will, in the upper country, it has n
r - - 'L-*-11- annarinfr frnm fmir fn i,
A nnR insn nmitv ,,
five feet in length, but not being erect, it ii
does not stand more than three to four feet
on the ground; no part of the stalk is one- c
eighth of an inch in diameter they have d
been measured more than six feet long, n
It grows well on the low grounds of p
branches, and mav be found in every part s
of the state: it is killed bv frost, and does I
not grow in the interior before May. h
I have made various experiments with c
red clover, herd's grass, orchard grass, ti
and timothy, the two former on wet and ti
I drv soils; after two or three years they c
have been over-powered by the native f
weeds, grasses, briers and shrubs, which ti
spring up spontaneously when the soil is h
unbroken. The single enemy of the rice p
grass is the rush, large and small, which n
nppears to be the only noxious growth of
land covered by running water, and this t
, is so entirely out-grown by the rice-grass, h
I that notwithstanding its formidable ap- o
r i *_i I
j pearance in tne snnng, t nave mncn u<* n
J measures to eradicate it. By the end ?>f h
j June the rush is so completely covered t
; hy the grass. that it is scarcely thought of v
, until the ensuing spring. One great ad q
I vantage of this grass is, that you can h
choose the time for cutting, as it does Jj
not hlossom early. Towards the end of
July it seems to settle or lodge in spots a
but I am not aware of any injury that ii
results. We commence mowing with a c
brier scythe the first fair weather after oat f
harvest?the task is a quater of an acre o
for the mower; one woman can toss and ii
turn half an acre, which should be done c
as soon as it is cut and put up into cocks t!
bv evening When the dew leaves them ti
next morning they are open at the top, d
after an hours' sun on the hay, cut before v
twelve o'clock of the preceeding day, o
* J A.
mav be carted nome anu pin aw ny.? i
Eight or twelve hours, sun is sufficient v
to cure the hav of pr operlv tossed and f
turned immediately after cutting, which j
is easily done with a wooden hav fork.? i
An iron fork is used for loading and unload, t
ing the wagon. p
The bloom and seeds onpear late in
September. A few days before we expect c
fro?<t, a second crop is cut and harvested, n
As this occurs at a busy period of Octo- t
her, we have never measured the product ii
of an acre, it has been variously estimated I
at a third or half of the first cutting. f
I have never made mv comparative ex- e
periinents of the nutritious qualities of a
this hay, but have been informed that it r
sells in the Columbia market &9 readily as n
Northern hay. One of our most experi* r
? > .' i i
t *
need farmers told me that he had preferid
it to corn blades when wagoning to
[amburg.
Yours, respect fullV,
C. C. PI-XCKNEY.
DURHAM STOCK AS MILKKRS.
From the Cultivator.
Under this title an article, or speech, is
oing the rounds of our agricultural and
olitical papers purporting to be from
Lev. Henry Colman, which is prcgnnnt
nth so much error, and, coming from
bat high and responsible source, of such
lischievous tendency, as I believe it, to
be welfare of our dairymen and stock
reeders, that although seldom appearing
efore the reading public, I feel bound
tthe threshold of its circulation, to enter,
s the lawyers would say, my caveat aainst
it.
That there may be no misunderstand,
ig in the matter, let me at once remark,
bat no one can have a higher respect
ban myself for the exalted character of
ir. Colman, in all that constitutes the
rue gentleman and the honest man ; and
bat no individual is so capable to acrom.
lish the responsible and important duties
f agricultural commissioner of the proud
ommonwealth of Massachusetts as himelf.
I have known him intimately for
ears, and a knowledge of his worth and
f the high authority of his declaratior.9
orapels me, humble as are my pretenions
to assume an attitude in opposition
* his remarks.
The value of the neat cattle in the
tate of New York, according to the reurns
of the late census for 1840, is not
?ssthan $15,000,000; and probably exeeding
that amount. If to these be nded
those of New England, which
re at least of equal value, it will present
n aggregate of thirty millions of dollars,
i vested in that branch of agriculture aune.
Now, if by adopting an improved
reed of these animals, the some number
iy exhibiting in their improved forms a
uperior excellence, and an'additional
alue of 331-2 per cent., which is a very
uodernte advance in the improved races,
t would swell this already vast capital
nto the round sum of 840,000,000! This
act will at once show that the subject is
f immense consequences to our farmers
t large, and of no trifling moment to all
n its details.
But for the purpose of illustrating mv
emarks, and even at the hazard of adding
i the prolixity of this paper, I will ask
on to insert at once the article in ques.
ion, requesting you also, to number each
istinct paragraph of Mr. Caiman's essay,
ur more convenient reference:
From the Yankee Farmer.
" As we had not room last week to reort
all the doings at the agricultural meeing,
and as the subject of Durham
toc.k, as milkers, compared with our naive
cows, is of high importance to farriers,
we now copy Mr. Colman's remarks
n full, from his own report in the Courcr
:
1. " Mr. Colman had not intended to
nter upon this discussion, but he felt it;
ue to his official relation to the farmers
f Massachusetts, to say that he had the
leasure of seeing the improved Durham
tock of the Messrs. Lathrops, of South
ladlev, and he thought them eminently
eautiful, and evincing great skill and
are in their management, on the part of
-> i " n.. i?i nr
nose genuemeni. ne uitu ?ccn umuj ui i
he imported animals throughout the
ountry ; and one of the herds imported
or the Ohio Company, which he saw on
heir way, was truly splendid, and in
eauty and perfection of form, far surassed
any thing which he had ever witlessed.
2. 44 Fie must, however in justice, add i
hnt he vet wanted the proof of the Dur- i
am short horns being the best stock for i
ur dairies. Seven of the race which he I
ad owned, ome full and others half-blood ;
ad been inferior as milkers. The quanity
of milk given by many of the animals
rhirh he had seen was remarkable ; the |
uality, in general, inferior ; though he !
iad found some exceptions, which he be- j
icved, were accidental.
.3. 44 The C'hesire farmers, who were
s distinguished as any in this country or
n any country for the produce of their
heese dairies, preferred the native stock.
Vom a dairy of eighteen cows, an average
f 623 pounds new milk cheese to a cow,
a a year had been obtained. He had
hallenged in writing and conversation
he owners of the short horns in the counry
to prove, by actual experiment, the
airy properties of this stock; and he
- /? i
irould furnish a list ot a hundred cows 01 |
ur native stock, which had made from
welve to fourteen pounds of butter per
reek, through the season. lie was far
rom having any predjudices against the
inproved Durham*. He was an enthuastic
admirer of them : hut he wanted
heir dairy properties tested by nctual exicriment.
4. " A very distinguished English farner,
Mr. ShirrefT, who had made the tour
if this country, expressed his regret at
heir introduction, and pronounced them
rj his book the poorest dairy stock in
England. We could not be said to have
ormed any distinct race among ourselves,
xcepting the trials made by Mr. Jacques,
nd a long continued improvement caried
on in reference to milch cows, in amther
part of the state, upon which he had
eported. Much, undoubtedly, yet re
mains to be done, but nothing in this re. j
spect can be effected but by skill, extreme |
accuracy of observation, and long perse- j
verance.
5. " He thought the Durhams not well
adapted to the scanty pastures and, negligent
habits of many of our farmers^ All
high bred animals require particular care
and the most liberal feed. Two of the
finest oxen ever raised in the country
were of this stock. One, it is believed, a
full blood from Greenland, N. H., weighingover
3.400 pounds, live weight, and
one a halfhlood, raised in Clarcmonf, |
V. H.. and sent year before last to Eng- |
land, for exhibition. His live weight |
was said to be 3.700 pounds ; and he was
pronounced in England, by the best judges
of sfbck, as unrivaled for weight and thrift,
and eminently well formed.
6. " The best breeds would soon run
out if n^rligently or severely treated.
This race were undoubtedly well suited
to the rich pastures and abundant products
of the west of Kentucky and Ohio.
There they would flourish. What might
he done for own stock by more liberal
keeping, was yet to be seen. He had
known a calf from a native cow, at four
months old,to weigh ne.ir!v400 pounds;
and another, at five months old, to weigh
600 pounds. If the improved Duibam
stock should prove the best for us, and he
kept his mind on this subject open to conviction,
we could at once avail ourselves
of tho distinguished improvements of half
a century's skill and toil and expense, so
liberally bestowed inEngland. At any
rate, the improvements which they had
accomplished in England so obvio.is and
impressive to the most careless ooserver,
read a most important lesson to us, and
showed what might be done by skill and
care, by judicious selection, by steady
perseverance in a regular system, and by
liberal keeping; and presented, at the
same time, the most powerful motives to
exertion and enterprise in a branch of
husbandry, acknowledged by all to be of
the fi*st importance."
Now, in reference to paragraph No. 1
of M r. Colmai, I have never seen the.
herd Messrs. Lathrop, of South Hartley ;
but if they are what Mr. C. represents,
they must he beautiful and valuable ani.
mals. and a great acquisition to their neigh,
borhood, although I exceedingly regret
that he did not give the opinions of those
gentlemen as to their value and excellence
in the Connecticut Valley, and
the results of their experience regarding
them. A detail of their observations
would have been at least more satisfactory
than a summary condemnation without a
hearing.
Mr. Colman and myself visited the
Ohio Company's herd, which he mentions,
together in company at Buffalo in 1835,
as they were passing through from the
sea-board to Ohio, on their passage out.
They were in high condition, as few or
noneef the cows were then in milk, and
we had no opportunity to judge of their
capabilities for the pail; although I have
since learned that several of the cows
were great and rich milkers. It must be
understood, however, that many of the
English breeders of high bred short horns
breed only for sale and the shambles, and |
do not cultivate the milking qualities or j
their cattle. This is almost universally !
the case in Ohio, Kentucky, and the wes.
tern states, where the dairy forms no part
of the farming business, and stock is reared
mostly for beef: but from the universal
tendency of the true short horns to excel
in milking properties, when appropriated
to that purpose, I can have no doubt they
would show as advantageously over the
pail as in the stall. When it is considered
also, that owing to their scarcity and high
value in America, all the females are employed
in rearing their calves, and the
bulls, instead of being converted into
stores for the shambles, are preserved as i
stock getters, it is evident that mmoara- j
tivelv but few examples can he adduced j
of their real superiority over the common '
?tnrk of our country as milkers. S;ill, a !
sufficient number of specimens have been
shown, both in milk and beef, to demonstrate
that in each of these qualities the J
improved short horns have excelled nil
hat has yet been produced of our native
American stock.
In paragraph No. 2, Mr. C. remarks,
that he rrants proof of the milking qualities
of the short horns. His own. seven in
number, proved inferior milkers, although i
he admits that several of them, either of
his own or which he had seen, were large
milkers ; but he believes these exceptions
I to the general rule. That his own cows
proved bad milkers prove nothing. What
was their blood ? Were thev of true and i
improved short horn descent ? No data j
is here given for lis to judge of their prop- j
erties in this particular, and we are forced j
to pass on to.
Paragraph No. ,3. The Cheshire and
many other dairy farmers have long had
an excellent stock of selected native cows,
[ which have been propagated with particulnr
regard to their mi'king properties for
many generations. Mr. Col man has traversed
the whole state of .Massachusetts
several times, and out of the whole number
of oows that he has seen among many
' thousands, he presents a list of one hundred
of the native stock which had made
twelve to fourteen pounds of butter per
week. He has also challenged, both in j
writing and conversation, the owners of,
short horns to prove their dairy qualities, j
I doubt whether one hundred thorough
bred short horn cows can he conveniently
produced at all in the whole states of New.
York and Massachusetts, so few are there
in comparison with the common stock of
the country. Ner do I believe five times
that number of grade cows of half blood
and upwards, can be easily found in either
state ; but I will venture the assertion,
that where such cattle do exist, no matter
what their parentage may be on the native
side, if they were directly bred from vnproved
short horn bulls, four out of every
five of them have proved superior milkers:
and at least twenty percent, better in the
aggregate titan the ordinary cows around
them. And t will also assert, that of the
whole numner of ,'horough bred cows in
our country, nine out often are excellent,
if not superior milkers, and twenty.five
percent, above the average native cows.
To illustrate this matter, as I have bred
a large number of improved herd book
animals of the highest blood, within the
last six years, as well as many grade cat.
tie from the native, Devon, and other
breeds, I will state the results of my own
experience, and also the opinions of sundry
other breeders, with such facts as a
hasty reference will permit.
In 1835, I bred ten or twelve half-blood
heifers from three Devon and several
common cows of inferior quality and appearance.
They were sired by my short
horn bull Favorite, bred near Boston,
j)In99.. whose pedigree will be found at
No. 2,089. 3d vol. Coate's Herd Book.
These heifers proved, without an exception,
good milkers; much above the average.
both for quality and quantity. In
1830.'7 and'8, I bred several one-half and
Ihree-fourth blood heifers, also from Devensnnd
others, which, although many of
them were sold have so far as I hara heard
from them, proved superior milkers. A
part of these were sired by my short horn
hull Devonshire No-, 9GG,2d vol. Coate'a
Herd Book. I also had, during the years
from 1834 to near the close of 1839, a
herd of full bred improved short horns,
varying from four to ten milking cows,
of which all, with one exception, (and that
cow suffered art injury in her udder when
young,) were frsl-raie milkers. One
cow gave often thirty qua.ts of milk per
day of good quality. Several of them
gave over twenty quarts daily in summer
seed, and not one of them gave poor milk
or, as the term is, milked hard. They
were individually easy, pleasant milkers,
with beautiful silky udders, and handsome
taper teats and were, taken together,
mueh beyond the average run of native
cows as milkers. I have now a Durham
cow that has made her twelve pounds of
butter per week, and of four full-bloods
now in milk, every one is a superior milk
er. I have also five or six half-bloods,
all of which are above the average of our
native cows, by twenty per cent, in their
milking properties.
To corroborate mv experience, I need
only mention the evidence of such gentlemen
as John Hare Powell, of Philadelphia,
who asserted to my father, that one
of his full-blooded short horn cows had
made twenty-two pounds of butter per
week for severnl weeks in succession ;
Gov. Lincoln, and Messrs. Wells, Derby,
and Dearborn, of Massachusetts, who
have been the owners of several grade and
thorough bred cows; Francis Rotch, Esq.
of Butternuts, iu this state, who has repeatedlv
testified to the superiority of his
short horns as milkers, and to his entire
experience, probably equal, if not superior
to that of any other gentleman in America,
of the superiority of the short horns in
their purity and in the;r grades, as milkers.
I need not add the names of many
other individuals who have repeatedly testified
to these facts, as a reference to our
agricultural papers for the last five years
will corroborate all that I remark, And
last of all, I will assert 'hnt Colonel Jacques'
fancifully ycleped " Creampot"
breed or milkers, and which I saw in companywith
Mr. Colman himself, are simply
a cross of a thorough bred short horn
bull with a native cow, then at Col. Jacques'
farm, of good size and appearance,
of a deep red color, and with an apparent
dash of Devon blooo in her veins. His
bull that he then used was nearly or quite
a thorough bred short horn, and all his
heifers were high in that blood. This
same stock of cattle. Mr. G. has himself
highly recommended in one of his agricultural
reports, and wo were together
living witnesses of the surpassing richness
of the milk and cream of these beautiful
cows. With a few selected facts, I
will c!?>se this testimony :
lr> Ud vol. of Cultivator, page 191.
Francis Cioo.igood's imported cow (she
was a Durham) gave, when her calf was
.1 - ?i _ u_ir
two weeks old, iniriv inrec anu a nan
quarts of milk per day. Her feed was
one and a half bushels of brewer's grains
per day, with hay.
In vol. 7, same work, page 132. Mr.
Grower's short horn cow Dairymaid, for
seven days gave an avernge of thirty-three
and c haif quarts per day.
In New Gennesee Farmer, vol. 1, page
143 Samuel Canity's short horn cow,
Blossom, yielded for seven days over thirty
five quarts per day, which produces
thirteen and a quarter pounds good butter.
At page 149 same vol. John Wetherbull's
short horn cow, four years, old, gave
from twenty-six to thirty and a half
quarts of milk per day, and in one week
. ; *, I l*-'-'* \ \ ? ' * ? / h, / d ,
?V, * * *. -- k
produced eleven and a half pounds butter,
and in another week fifteen pounds.
In a Philadelphia paper of 1839.
" Colonel Wolbert's cow, Isabella a pure
short horn, gave during seven days 191
quarts, or near twenty-eight quarts per
day. which produced fourteen and threefourths
pounds butter ofthe finest quality."
So much for the assertion that " Durham
cows are not good milkers."
In paraeraph 4, Mr. C'olman introduces
us to the distinguished farmer, Mr. Shir- .
rnff, who has made the tour of this country r
If this same Mr. Shirreff, who by the way
I never heard of before, be as profound
in his remarks upon our country, its inhabitant
sand their pursuits, a sa herd of
English travellers who have hitherto trundled
over it for the purpose, as it would
seem, of writing libelous books and holding
u9 up to the ridicule >f Englishmen
at home, his opinion is little to be regarded.
His knowledge of the process of
short horns in his own country may Ix,
well estimated, when he remarks "that
they are the poorest dairy stock in England."
To this remark I need only observe
that nine out of ten of the intelligent
English farmers who emigrate to
? ? - - ? ? - J -11 D I.IU tMiUIi/iatiAna
itu3 gouviirvj ailU ft 11 UIIIISII puim^ainuio
on the subject. assert precisely the contrary
; for the high grade, and often the
thorough bred abort 4iorns, have been for
maoy years past taking the place of other
breeds far dairy and milking purposes in the
grazmg counties, and near the large town*
and cities. That Ac should regret the introduction
of any tiling tending to advance our
agriculture, and our wealth, is altogether natural
in an English book making tourist. (
am only surprised that a gentleman of Mt?
Colman's shr^wdnss should bcthas easily deceived.
As to the 44 distinct race of American
cattle" to he yet formed, the end of all this >
to be seen in the continual efforts at blending
incongruities by those experiments who strive,
without an accurate knowledge of their sub
ject, to produce what is already better mads
up to their hands in the unproved breeds now
extant. Su'h erperimenie, as they live and
learn, have been always abandoned as impracticable
and visionary. There is, nor csn
be.no such thing as a M distinct American
breed." made iid as all our cattle are from selection*
from all parts of Europe; nor, if our
agriculture is to be, as we hope, progressive
in its excellence, is it desirable. Our cattle
should improve with our general agriculture.
The last sentence of Mr; C.'s remarks is very
just, and concedes, a9 We view it, the gist of
what we commend.
In paragraph 5, Mr. C. gives us the only
good reason why Durham* should not become ,
the s'ock of New-England, to wit: the poverty
of its soil, and the negl gence of many of the
people ! Truly a very broad admission, bardlv
just, indeed, to the snug farmers of NewEngland,
and not at all within the desideratum
for which the advocates of short horns
contendimproved husbandry, improved
care and improved stock. If, upon Isnds, a
thousand acres of which will scarcely graze
a goose, and from which the very vermin in.
sfinefively flee ro escape starvation, the beau,
tiful short horns are to be doomed to pine,
without, care, and without sympathy, I at one?
admit that the less of them the better. Nor
do the miserable animaleofthe native breeds
even, winch are doomed to a wretched existence
on those 44 scanty pastures." exhibit a*.y
signs of thrift as they daily suffer from the
41 negligent habits of their keepers." True.
a long course ot neglect and starvation endured
by their ancestors, and perpetuated for
many generations anterior to their own existence,
may render their wretchedness more
tolerable than it would that of a better anitnai^
but. what advocate of any sort of improvement
is content to bind himself to such hope- > \ \
less sferihty! Did we desire a race of animals
that would stane the best, we could at
once make an importation from the Shethland
Islands, and establish a S/te^/o-'vAmerican
br? fd" that would bid defiance to neglect and
poverty, and flourish amid both frost and de*
eolation I
But this proposition is not within the cafegory
of hut sysiem. We hold, that if land
be worth cultivation at all, it should be at
Ipast in a reasonab e Ptate of fertility. It
should yield in any event a tolerable jshare of
its various producis under good and kindly attention
with which to feed well the stock of
the farm. If cows are not to be decently fed,
bv no means keep the Durhams or any other
valuable breed* But Kit be intended to give
"value received," to feed wel , and pay attention
to your stock, and there is no other
way to make any kind ofstork profitable, then
let the breed bea? good a? possible, and of as
high a grade in blood as the nature of ymur soil
//l/i p/ m ntm im// runtnit Tha tnmiHiniia
Uffl* IIIO ft (tw
made before the close of this paragraph, oftiw
enormous weights of the Durham ox with
?mo<f keeping, admit to the fullest extent all
'hat we claim, when abundance of feed is given
to the animal.
In the 5th and last paragraph, Mr. C.
doubts whether the Durhams are, after all,
not the best stock for ns to have, and eandilly
achnnsthat his inind is yet open to conviction.
Now this, after making the round assertions
and denials that are above exhibited, is not
ex*ctly what we should expect from one of
his observa ion and aa'uteness. It is indeed
uo much in the vein of the old adage: * Hang
him first, and try him afterward*." In this
last paragraph, all is admitted th*t the advocates
of the short horns d'sire. We bare
never assorted that they would produce great
quantities of beef, or of milk, without sufficient
food ; i.or would lhey thrive under continual ill
treatment, neglect and abuse; nor, indeed,
? :il <1..... k... ?/. M.,?l rtion itk,. at.A ill tfoaf.
Will lllt'J UCfll *>U y/tut#/| oir i t (iii?'|| niiu ??i m
ment as some of uur native cattle ; but we do
fearlepsiy assert that either thorough bred or
grade short horns will produce more beef, and
more milk, each in their own proper time,
with the same quantities of grass, hay, or other
proper feed, than any breed of cattle ever introduced
into this country ; and so have they
thus far done in England.
My own cattle have never been highly kept.
On the contrary, owing to my farm being at
some few miles distance from my residence,
and therefore not having my daily attention,
my herd always received but ordinary
and sometimes, I regret to say, np? that.
B? l do njr, tbauo f? g ^ gyr&Ke tw