No. r-2.] 507 



« 

 the offspring the nerve and energy necessary to a good working 



ox. The cross with a bull of either variety will facilitate 



matching. 



Of sheep, the exhibition was excellent in Merinos, South 

 Downs, Long- wools, Cheviots, and in French Merino? ; these lat- 

 ter selected and imported direct by the owners. They were 

 animals of most wonderful wool-bearing properties, nothing re- 

 maining unclothed by that material but the tips of the nose and 

 the hoofs. We were glad to see that their fleeces were in a natu- 

 ral state, without resort to the " Cornwall finish," or any other 

 composition by which the weight of fleece in French Merino 

 sheep have elsewhere been delusively increased. 



We would here take occasion, though aware of traveling some- 

 what out of the record, to inquire wliat is tlie object cf those 

 Vermont flock-masters who load their fleeces with all kinds of 

 filthy mixtures 1 it is not f)r a moment to be supposed that ihe 

 manufacturer mistakes " Cornwall finis k''^ for wool^ or that he will 

 pay the price of wool for that filthy mixture. Not so, however, 

 with the inexperienced farmer, who, lured by the hig/i a\ eights 

 declared and published, and oftentimes respectably vouched for 

 at shearing time, purchases a sheep from which he is assured a 

 twenty-five pound fleece was shorn, or some other extraordinary 

 weight, no matter what. The purchaser pays down a commensu- 

 rate hei vy price, and takes home his sheep ; in course of time l;e 

 shears him ; the fleece is put on the steelyards, and comes up to 

 the repu'ed weight. Another year is passed, and again the sheep 

 comes to tlie shearing bench, but this time the fleece has wufully 

 fallen ofl'in weight, and what was twenty-five, has shrunk to 

 perhaps fifieen pounds. Ilic sheep never was in finer condilion 

 nor JwiUh^ and has been well and evenly shorn. Wluit c^m have 

 occasii^ned tliis deficiency? W'liy, my good, honest friend, you 

 neglected to put on the celebrated " Cornwall fiinish^^^ that golden 

 panacea of the Vermont breeder, which, l)y its virtue, increases 

 the weight of a French Merino yZcccc, though it may not add to it 

 a single ounce of wool. 



Otsego, now eminently a dairy county, was not long since 

 known as a sheep district, priKlucing a large amount of beauti- 



