California Agriculturist 



AND Live Stock Journal. 



K 



i Wool Growers' Association, in which 

 [/ brief reference is made to the history 

 iind value of the leading and most popu- 

 lar breeds of sheep : 



First— The Merino is a breed origin- 

 ally Spanish, but now generally existing 

 over Kurope and the United States, and 

 very extensively in Australia. Merino 

 wool constitutes a great part of the 

 wealth which flows into the new contin- 

 ent from its exports. The Merino has 

 large limbs, and the male has large spiral 

 horns which do not rise above the head. 

 The skin of the neck is loose and pendu- 

 lous, the cheeks and forehead bearing 

 wool. The fleece is fine, long, soft and 

 twisted in silken spiral ringlets abound- 

 ing in oil which, attracting dust, gives it 

 a dingy appearance until scoured, after 

 which it is silky and white. This variety 

 fattens slowly and is valuable mainly for 

 the excellence of its wool, but as a gen- 

 eral thing, has not been found profitable 

 in England or the United States, and is 

 not reckoned by some as being strictly 

 one of the long-wool sheep. 



Second—The Leicester sheep is re- 

 garded in Europe as one of the most val- 

 uable of the long- wools. This breed, in 

 the present improved condition, is the 

 result of the skill and care of Mr. Bake- 

 well of England, who, soon after the 

 middle of thela.st century, began to make 

 experiments for the improveraent of the 

 old Leicester sheep. It was then a lar^e 

 coarse-boned sheep, not easily fattened' 

 with coarse wool weighing about ten 

 pounds to the fleece. The new Leices- 

 ter, or present breed, has wool moder- 

 ately long and of better quality, weighin" 

 seven or eight pounds, and is easily made 

 very fat. The color is white, and both 

 sexes are hornless with bald face tinged 

 ■mth blue, and low carriage. Other 

 breeds of long-wools in England have 

 been greatly improved by crossing with 

 this— the Lincolnshire, Romuey Marsh, 

 etc. In this country the Leicesters are 

 large and coarse, but easily fattened and 

 with good mutton, the wool moderately 

 long, but stiff, and without gloss. Alto- 

 gether this variety is not generatly held 

 in great esteem. 



Third — The Lincolnshire is a large 

 bony animal, takes longer to mature, has 

 a long, flat, bony head quite bare of 

 wool, with a good fleece, rather thin 

 slightly kinky with some gloss. But all 

 though the Lincolnshires have bee,. 



Southdowns derive their origin and name 

 from the Chalkdowns of the south of 

 Engl.and, but are not adapted to a cold 

 climate. 



Fifth — The most important and valu- 

 able of all breeds of sheep is the Cots- 

 wold or Gloucester, the wool of which 

 has been held in great esteem since the 

 fourteenth century, and has generally 

 commanded a higher price than any 

 other. In UG4 Edward IV. of England, 

 sent a present of Cotswold rams to Henry 

 of Castile, and in 1-168 he sent a Siimilar 

 present to John of Aragon. So the Cots- 

 wolds reach back to a right honorable 

 age and right royal patrons. But in 

 modern times the Cotswolds have been 

 greatly improved by cros.sing with the 

 Leicester, producing a shorter wool and 

 better mutton than in former times. The 

 Cotswold of to-day has a long, straight 

 body, well rounded ribs, flanking low 

 down, good full twist, broad, flat back, 

 full and low in brisket, a neat, stylish 

 head, broad between the eyes, neatly 

 tapering mouth, short legs, "with head, 

 jaws and legs covered with wool, and al- 

 together a pretty and stylish body, cov- 

 ered with long, fine, wavy wool, "which 

 is glossy and very valuable and in great 

 demand. The face in this breed is some- 

 times gray, but not generally so. They 

 are more docile than any other breed, 

 and take on flesh very kindly, making 

 good mutton, but are not considered in 

 this respect equal to the Southdowns. 

 Yet, all things considered, the Cotswold 

 is the best and most profitable breed for 

 the wool growers of Kentucky, and we 

 would earnestly advise them to continue 

 to improve their flocks until they shall 

 be as near thoroughbred as possible. It 

 costs as little to raise and take care of a 

 good animal as an iudifl'erent one, while 

 the thoroughbred will yield a fleece of 

 from twelve to twenty-five pounds, worth 

 twice as much per pound as the fleece of 

 a common sheep, which would weigh 

 three or four jjounds. 



greatly improved in late years, their legs 

 being shorter aud the wool more glossy 

 yet the fleece not being equal in quantity 

 or quality to that of some other breeds 

 they have not met with general favor' 

 and are rarely adopted by our wool grow- 

 ers as a breed. 



Fourth— The Southdown is one of the 

 most popular breeds both in Euroiie aud 

 the Unite.l States, and have, by crossing 

 produced what are called Hampshire- 

 downs, Shropshiredowns, Oxforddowus 

 and i)erhaps others, all larger and coars- 

 er, but retaining the Southdown marks 

 and (characteristics, all producing valua- 

 ble wool aud making good mutton. But 

 the Southdowns must bo regarded as at 

 the head of all these, both for wool and 

 table use, the crossing of this breed hav- 

 lug added nothing to the originals in 

 either quality. The Southdowns are ex- 

 ceedingly neat in form, both in head and 

 body, with gray face aud legs, forehead 

 "I'd logs well covered with wool, the 

 lleeco short, thick and soft, the (uiter 

 Hurtacc often appearing as smooth as the 

 iiicely ehpp,.d. The body is straight, 

 vith well-sprung ribs, broad, level back 

 w,oI -;!>■"';"'"•,"" ^^'^" 'hovered with 

 luLl, ', "T'l"'""'^'' "t the head of 

 all the breeds of sheep for superior table 

 qualities, but docs not rank so hi-h for 

 quantity and quality of wool. ° The 



AGRICULTIJKAL FAIES. 



I , • 



I gain the season ot annual fairs 

 ^Wo approaches, and it seems a fit time 

 M\, to discuss the subject. Farmers, 

 M'cf after the season of hard work in 

 '^cJ=' the harvest field, need some recre- 

 ation, and generally attend the fairs, 

 though they seldom have much to do iu 

 tlie management of them. If they did 

 have more to do with their conduct it 

 would undoubtedly be better for all con- 

 cerned; there would be more of the use- 

 ful and less of the sportive element 

 brought to the front. The design of the 

 city managers is to bring together a 

 crowd and get the people to spend the 

 most money possible. The success of a 

 fair is counted by the amount of money 

 that can be collected from the crowd that 

 attends the fairs. The economy of the 

 matter consists in spending the least 

 money possible to obtain the most re- 

 turns. It is a sharp piece of flguring to 

 so arrange the premiums and purses as 

 to give satisfaction, or at lea.st, the least 

 dissatisfaction, and draw the crowd to 

 .spend money. 



Now, our notion may be old fogy in 

 the opinion of a jocke'y sharji, but we 

 think that if the farmers and industrial 

 masses would tako the thing into their 

 own hands, and make the fairs success- 

 ful in developing the utmost good, and 

 iusteadof trying to get people to spend 

 money in demoralizing horserace gamb- 

 ling, would <'iicouragethem in true c:con- 



omy, and in making efi'orts to improve 

 in every industrial pursuit, it would be 

 just as agreeable to visitors, and much 

 more beneficial to the whole community. 

 There is need enough of improvement 

 and reform in fair management. We 

 remember how fairs used to be conducted 

 iu New England, in the farmers' own in- 

 terests, and would like to see the good 

 old times copied from, if they cannot be 

 improved upon. We wish we had no 

 occasion to grumble, and will copy from 

 an English paper what it says about the 

 cattle show season: 



The local cattle show, in its way, is an 

 important institution, stimulating the 

 breeders of the district to imi>rove their 

 stock, each in gentle, rivalry trying to 

 outvie his neighbor. It is at the cattle 

 show, when his horse, cow, pig, or sheep 

 stands alongside his brother-farmer's an- 

 imals, that iie finds out the failings and 

 virtues of his own stock, and then goes 

 homewards with a determination to go 

 on improving its type and general char- 

 acter. Though, perhaps, beaten, he is 

 not quite vanquished while he lives to 

 fight another day. 



To the healthy influence of competi- 

 tion at cattle shows, we must greatly at- 

 tribute the present fine, improved char- 

 acter of our flocks and herds. In the 

 exhibited animals the breeder sees what 

 points to avoid or to cultivate. If he 

 determines on making a mark himself, 

 he does not fail to procure the blood of 

 some winning strains. He cannot well 

 do it without. Other laborers, however, 

 have been in the field, and he enters 

 upon their harvest. It would be folly to 

 attempt to perfect an old unpedigreed 

 strain of Short-horns, whilst the work is 

 already to hand in a far advanced stage, 

 from which the breeder may at once take 

 his starting point without loss of time 

 It is this consideration which puts a 

 somewhat fictitious value, apparently, on 

 the strains of cattle, hor.ses, and sheep 

 which have made special character and 

 the power of transmitting their best 

 qualities to their descendants. It is not 

 the value of the individual animal as 

 a food producer or as a breeder of ordin- 

 ary stock for sale to the grazier or butch- 

 er, but its potentiality for good for gen- 

 erations to come that makes it a much 

 coveted prize. The many years of skill 

 and science also spent in developing the 

 strain, the costly experience gained iu 

 the face of many difficulties, all go to 

 render highly-bred animals valuable. 

 AVere it otherwise, fancy prices would be 

 ridiculous. The cost of jiroducing stock 

 is necessarily included in their market 

 price — fellowing a common law of com- 

 merce. Thus prices that sometimes ap- 

 pear sensational are frequently but a nat- 

 ural result of time aud treasure sunk in 

 forming the special type, which, if brok- 

 en, wfuild take a generation to repair. 



To all, and especially to the farmer, 

 these exhibitions of stock and farm im- 

 plements are educational. It is there- 

 fore satisfactory to find them ever in- 

 creasing in ijopularity. The influence 

 they exert on modern agriculture must 

 be great. They are deserving of evei'y 

 support, and we trust the present show 

 season will be as pleasant and successful 

 as that of any previous year. 



ried on during late years, a herd of buff- 

 aloes is a most unusual sight in places 

 where, within the memory of those who 

 are still young, myriads of them passed 

 and repassed on their route to pastures 

 new at various times of the year. Now, 

 also, according to the ScienUJla Amaican, 

 not only is the carcass itself utilized, but 

 the bones form the source of a profitable 

 business among the settlers in Kansas. 

 The prairies, for forty miles each way 

 from the railroad, have been gleaned 

 over till not a relic of the chase can be 

 found. Heads and ribs are worth $.5 a 

 ton; these are shipped to Philadelphia 

 and ground up into fertilizers. Shins 

 and shoulder-blades are worth $10 a ton; 

 these go to the sugar refineries. The 

 horns are worth $30; the tips are sawn 

 ofl' here, and sent to the factories of um- 

 brellas, fans, pipes, etc. The remainder 

 is used by the chemists. Bits of hide 

 found hanging to the heads are taken off 

 and sent to the glue factories. Every 

 fragment of these animals is made to 

 serve a purpose. — Zand and Water. 



Buffalo Bones. — A few years ago, 

 none but tlio very tit-bits from the car- 

 casses of these nionarchs of the Ameri- 

 can plains were thought worthy of the 

 hunter's notice, and after strijiping them 

 of their skins, these huge masses of 

 wholesome flesh were left on the prairies 

 to rot in the sun or to bo devoured by 

 the carnivorous beasts and birds that 

 abound there. Now, however, owing to 

 tlie wanton slaughter that has been car- 



AyiM.iL P.iRASiTEs. — At a recent meet- 

 ing of the Stowmarket (England) Farm- 

 ers' Club, a pai^er upon animal parasites 

 was read, from which we extract the fol- 

 lowing. Doubtless the greater part of 

 our yearly losses of stock is caused by 

 diseases which result from parasites, to 

 say nothing of the danger of using the 

 flesh of affected animals for food: 



In carnivorous animals the tapeworms 

 possess rows of hooks in the head, as 

 well as suckers. In herbivorous animals, 

 such as oxen and sheep, they possess 

 suckers only. With thie difference, 

 which was simply an adaptation to dif- 

 ferent conditions under which food 

 passed into the alimentary canal, the life 

 history of all tapeworms is similar. The 

 head is in reality an animal, for it is 

 pcssessed of suckers or hooks, and has 

 begun to bud into one of the well-known 

 joints. The budding process takes place 

 next to the head, so that each joint is 

 thus pushed a step further along to the 

 intestine. This continues until the 

 whole of the intestines might become 

 completely charged with those joints. 

 The joints are connected by a kind of 

 canal down each side. The interior of 

 each joint is filled with a large branch 

 ovary. When the joints are detached, 

 the skin decomposes and the ovary is 

 thus liberated. A tapeworm has often 

 been known to extend to sixty feet in 

 length, especially among those of the ox, 

 ami possessed more than 1,100 joints, 

 and each one of these tapeworms devel- 

 oped many millions of eggs it was not 

 surprising that the eggs were found al- 

 most everywhere, being blown about by 

 the wind. In this dried up condition 

 they posses an amazing vitality, remain- 

 ing uninjured perhaps for years. Should 

 a pig, an omnivorous feeder, partake of 

 food in which some of these eggs were 

 contained, they would be conveyed into 

 its stomach, where they would be con- 

 verted into larvie, and would after n short 

 time bore their way through the pig's 

 stomach and get into its muscles. There 

 they would be (piiesccnt, and assume a 

 condition liki' the crysalis; this condition 

 is called encysted. Pork killed in this 

 condition is said to be mcasled, and 

 should it be cooked without the larv» 

 being destroyed, and partaken of by mar 

 the encysted larv.ai would then develop 

 in man into the tajicworm. The tape- 

 worm of dogs is of a very peculiar kind, 

 and for a long time it was a matter of 

 wonder how the creature got into the 

 stomach of the dog. Now the secret is 

 out. Sometimes when dogs afi'ectcd by 

 these worms went near sheep, the .sheep 

 also suffered from them. When in the 

 ffomach ot the sheep they bored their 



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