They have two quarts of oat meal per day, a few carrots, and as much hay as they can consume. Such is also the general outline of Mr. Osgood's system, and of most careful farmers.

Mr. Alpheus Morse, of Eaton, has a herd of about twenty Shorthorn cows, and grades with a view to the dairy. His bull "Buena Vista," is out of Mr. Vail's "Meteor," by an imported cow. His calves are reared on the skimmed milk, to which is added a portion of bran or meal. Twenty yearlings and sixteen calves are on the farm sired by Buena Vista. The value of his two year old animals ranges over $10 per head to drovers.

Mr. William K. Porter, of East Hamilton, has a full blood bull and cow, from Mr. Vail's stock. Mr. George B. Rowe, of Canastota, has also been active in the introduction of good stock.

Several farmers have been very successful in fattening cattle; among them is Mr. Horatio Pope, of Hamilton, who has a yearling bull, whose live weight, at 12 months, was 970 pounds, and at 18 months it was 1,336 pounds. This animal was allowed to suck the dam for 18 months, and was fed with hay, meal and carrots in the winter. The cost of rearing this calf is about $40. A six year old ox has been fed by Mr. J. D. Ledyard, jr., of Cazenovia ; his live weight is 2,800 pounds; many other examples might be adduced, but are not necessary. There are now about 21,500 cows in the county, 2,750 oxen, and 17,300 head of other cattle.

The Dairy.

The generally better adaptation of the soil to grazing than to the cultivation of grain, has evidently induced many farmers to turn their attention to the dairy. It seems quite evident that pasturage and meadow lands have increased greatly within a few years, especially in the northern towns of the county. There is an amount of knowledge and skill in the management of a cheese dairy not very readily attainable, hence it may be that the very inferior cheese produced is caused by unskillfulness and error which a few more years of observation and application will re

move.

And this inferiority must be admitted by those who have a knowledge of cheese or the prices which are obtained for the article sent from this county.

It seems that very few are found here to work their dairies upon any digested system; all is the result of imitation without any knowledge of principle; a good cheese may now and then be produced under such mismanagement, but more indifferent or positively bad cheese must and will follow. Like all new undertakings, failure will dampen the ardor of the zealous; yet every failure is a step to improvement, until at length patience is rewarded by perfection. Just so with the dairies of Madison, improvement was and is ardently desired, the desire produced study, and study has its reward by better cheese and a greater quantity.

The butter dairies of the county are not large, nor is the making of butter extended far beyond the consumption of the county. Excellent butter is found at most farm houses, yet the attention given this necessary of life is far too limited for a county of the area and character of Madison.

The amount of cheese per census of 1845, was 2,022,855 pounds.

The introduction of sheep into the county with a view to profit, may be ascribed to Mr. Curtis Hoppin, about the year 1810. Before that date the woods afforded protection to wolves and foxes too numerous to warrant any extensive sheep walks or ranges among the hills. When Mr. Hoppin arrived in the town of Lebanon, he brought with him two hundred sheep of mixed breeds; among them were coarse wooled and fine wooled fleeces, and a few South-down bucks and ewes. From this flock selections were made by farmers as fancy dictated, and wool bearing a good price, many were encouraged to venture upon breeding sheep.

In 1823, Mr. Hoppin visited Berkshire county in Massachusetts, and selected for his own use four full blooded Merino bucks, this was an improvement; but during the following year he visited Boston with a view to purchase a few Saxony sheep then imported; by this time speculative folly had raised prices to one thousand dollars a head for saxony sheep! Prices and views utterly at variance with a farmer's views. Returning through Hinsdale in Mass., he procured from the Hinsdale flocks five full blooded Merinos, and at Pittsfield, he selected twelve additional sheep of the same breed; with these he returned, and in due season gave a character and value to the growing flocks.

In 1826, Mr. Utter, of Unadilla, purchased four fine Saxony bucks in New-York, three of which were sent to Oneida county, and one was possessed by Mr. Amos Scott of Brookfield; the effect derived from this introduction was, to raise the value of Saxony fleeces derived from this buck, from five to eight cents advance per pound. The increase of flocks was arrested about this period by the appearance of the foot rot, which spread alarmingly.

Judge Enos with Mr. Merchant and Mr. Gage, of DeRuyter, soon gave a new impetus to the increase of sheep; they were followed by Mr. George T. Taylor and Mr. Leonard Howes, of Madison; Mr. Gilbert and other spirited men of East Hamilton. Judicious exertions have never ceased to improve the carcass and the fleece, though numbers have abandoned the pursuit in consequence of the fluctuating values of both sheep and wool. The injurious vibrations of the market values are apparent: thus,

In 1825, prices ranged for wool, from 48 to 50 cents per lb.

and thus the prices have varied to this time.

The present condition of the flocks of the Madison farms may be appreciated by the results derived by Mr. Asa Gage, of De Ruyter, from his judicious management. His flock consisted of three hun

dred and nine sheep, the clip of wool was taken at the usual period, and weighed sixteen hundred and four pounds; the fleeces therefore averaged five pounds and three ounces each. In this flock were two half blood French Merinos as they are called, the fleeces from which weighed rather more than fourteen pounds each.

In connexion with this statement, the following system of management by Mr. Gage, will exemplify the methods most generally pursued by the flock masters of Madison county.

Mr. Gage constructed warm sheds for the winter care of his flocks, and so arranged as to give full ventilation; the sheep are confined to these sheds only during the night, or in tempestuous weather. During the winter the flocks are foddered with as much good hay as they will consume without waste. Frequently a sheaf of oats is allowed to each sheep per day; and in the spring, oats are sowed upon such meadows as have been unbroken for five or six years, with a view to fodder for sheep. Lambs are fed upon roots, meal, or shorts, with hay. The flocks receive their hay in cribs or racks, with upright turned bars about five inches apart. This space is found to be sufficient for the easy entrance of their heads, and they can consume all the fodder without impairing the neck wool by chaff, straw and seeds. Mr. Gage is careful to re-, move from his flock any invalid or imperfect animal, that he may secure a general healthy and sound constitution for his sheep, as well as uniformity of fleece. The number of sheep in the county, at this time, of all kinds, is about 83,500.

Swine.

No attention is given to swine beyond the family consumption of a part of the population, probably not beyond the convenience of a living receptacle for the garbage of a dwelling. A few good hogs are to be seen in the pens of some careful and enterprising men; they are but the usual "grass breed." Recently, a Suffolk boar and two sows have been introduced by Mr. S. A. Gilbert, of East Hamilton, and hopes are entertained that this department may prove more profitable than heretofore. The swine of the county are estimated in number at 14,600.

Horses.

Among the enterprising men of Madison county, are Colonel Charles D. Miller, of Peterboro, the Messrs. Ackleys and Gilbert, who have with commendable zeal.exerted themselves to improve the breeds of horses. The following remarks from Colonel Miller, seem to cover all that can be said on this department.

"To trace the history of horses in Madison county back to its early settlement, if it were possible, would result in little profit, as it would be found in this, as in other cases, each settler brought what he was able, and not the best animal that could be selected in the country from whence he came. We find the young NewEnglander, the Mohawk Dutchman, the Jerseyman, and the old countrymen bringing the best horses they could obtain, to their new homes in Madison. It was soon evident that none but good horses could endure burdens of wheat, and the long journeys to Albany, which every thrifty farmer was obliged to make with his own team. The need, of course, caused a demand for better horses. About the year 1827, John B. Yates, Esq., of Chittenango, (whose services in various ways were of the greatest importance to the county,) introduced many excellent horses; among them, were Ethiop and Hamiltonian. Messrs. Henry and George Ehle, of Sullivan, soon after procured from the eastern part of the State, a horse called "Messenger," whose stock is more generally known than any other ever imported, both into this and Onondaga county.

son.

"The Messenger owned by P. & G. Warren, of Manlius, was sired by the Ehle Messenger, and was one of the prize animals at the first State Fair, held at Syracuse. Warren's Messenger died a few years since, at an advanced age. Ely's Eclipse, though owned in Onondaga, has no doubt greatly improved the horses of MadiBenefit has been derived, also, from many stallions of the Duroc breed. We have many horses of the Consol stock, which suit the fancy of those who like the dun color, and black list on the back. The Godolphin, with his coat of gold cloth, and locks of silvery white, has left many good gentle horses. Some specimens of the English dray horse have made their appearance at