red cow is richest; may it not arise from the color being indicative of different races. What leads me to think so is, that in France black cattle are very uncommon; whereas through the whole of South-Holland and Brabant, I did not, though the fields were covered with droves of cattle, see a single cow that was not either black, or a mixture of black and white, which rendered them either pied, or of a kind of blue grey; not one was either red or spotted with red. Nor did I find any butter in Holland that equalled the flavor of the Brittany butter; so that it is possible that the American cattle may be from this or other stocks, which dif fer not only in their color, but in the quality of their milk.

THE horses in Brittany are small, and not remarkable for any peculiar beauty or defect; but as you advance towards Paris, those in common use are of the Norman breed. These are evidently the parent stock of the Canada horses, but are much finer for their having been more attended to. They are remarkably square and heavy, particularly in the hind quarters, and are broader across the buttocks than any other race I have ever seen. Their forehand is not fine, their necks being generally short, though there are many exceptions to this defect. Their head and eyes are good, and they are found to be the best and strongest race of horses in Europe. English and Holstein horses have been frequently tried in Paris, but they are said to be found not to

bear the shock of hard driving upon the pavement; however, this does not accord with my own experience. Among those I drive, I have an English horse and three Normans, and I see no difference in the looks of any of them, though they are kept and driven alike. The weights carried in the carts here would atonish you, and I am quite convinced that either our horses are inferior, or that we do not put them to exert half their strength. I measured one of the country waggons in Flanders; I found it 11 feet from axle to axle, and the box 18 feet long, and about twice the breadth of our waggons. These are drawn by four horses, generally one in shafts; but as if this enormous machine would not carry enough, there is frequently a box hanging by chains below the waggon (for the wheels are very high) which also carries a part of the load. To shew how much every thing depends upon custom or prejudice, and how little upon reasoning, in Holland, where horses are large, fat and fine, and the road a dead level, the only carriages used by farmers are Dutch waggons, exactly resembling those of our own country, except that they are not much more than half the width in the bottom, and of course do not carry more than half as much. But to make up in show what they want in use, they are covered, painted, and often gilded in the most superb manner; and that their finery may not escape your notice, in many places there are two large round plates of copper, suspended on a pin passing through the centre and

fixed in the axle-tree, which serves the double purpose of musick to the driver and notice to the tra veller.

ASSES are much used between Nantz and Paris, and I am convinced in this particular our prejudices have deprived us of an extremely useful animal. They are in general very small, even less than those brought from the Cape de Verd Islands; but their size bears no proportion to their strength. You meet numbers of them on the road at the same time carrying two large loaded paniers and a stout fat woman, whose feet nearly touch the ground as she rides. Sometimes you see them loaded with hay, or rather you see a walking hay cock, for the ass is so completely covered by the load as to be invisible; even the wood is carried upon their backs by fixing crotchet sticks upon their pack saddles. They also carry light loads in small carts; a great part of the water dealt out to the inhabitants of Paris is brought in this manner. I am satisfied that poor tradesmen in our country, and especially in the small villages, would derive great use from them, at half the expense that it costs them to keep a horse for drawing their wood, going to mill, &c. since they subsist upon almost nothing, and are satisfied to be perpetually employed.

SHEEP. The common sheep of France, I think very much resemble the sheep of New-England. The best are rather inferior to the best of New.

York, but more so in their wool than in their car. cases, which are as large if not larger than ours; but the flesh of those is much less esteemed than that of the small breed of Brittany, which is extreme. ly delicate and high flavored. All the sheep of this country are parked or housed at night, and attended by a shepherd in the day, who leads them over the commons and stubble grounds, and though there are no enclosures or any thing to separate them from gardens and sown fields, yet so vigilant are the shepherd's dogs that they never trespass, but satisfy their hunger on the coarsest food while dainties are in their view. I should except from these observations, the race of the Merinos or Spanish sheep which have been lately introduced, as they well deserve a very particular notice, and the rather as I have now some in our state, and I am told that a number have also been imported by Col. Humphrey; so that with a little attention we may be amply stocked with the only species that produces wool which is of sufficient fineness to make broadcloths, and who on many other accounts will claim particular attention. But as the vessel that takes this is on the point of sailing, I must defer this and a variety of other matters to the next conveyance; and the rather as I believe the society will see little in this to compensate the time that I have already detained their attention. I hope you have received my letter, together with the samples of pyrites used as a manure, since I consider that as a very important discovery, and I

believe one that is quite new in America, as indeed it appears to be in Europe, a small part of France only excepted.

I PRAY you to present me respectfully to the gentlemen of the society at large, and very particularly to my friends among them; and believe me to be, dear Sir,

With the highest esteem,

Your most ob't. humble serv't.

ROB. R. LIVINGSTON..

To Doct. DE WITT, Sec'y. to the Agricultural Society,

State of New-York.

DESCRIPTION

OF A CHURN ON A NEW CONSTRUCTION,
By SIMEON DE WITT.

FIGURE 1 is a section of the Churn. A B is an upright post, which may be fastened at top to a beam of the milk-room. CC are two arms mortised into the post, at such a height as to be level with the lower part of the breast of a common sized man. D is a representation, as seen from above, of one of the arms, with its tenon a, its open mortise b, to receive the churn stick, and pin c to confine it to its place. E F is the churn-stick. G G are two leaves of the dasher fastened to cross