36 



MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE. 



of the whole flock is 6 lbs. 15 oz., and of a qual- 

 ity of wool that we tliought better in the gen- 

 erality of South-Downs. The fleece ia close 

 and compact, and we should think would resist 

 rain, sleet and snow, nearly as well as the best 

 merinos." 



Being a-ware that two of our mo-st eminent 

 citizens — Mr. Webster in the North, and Mr. 

 Stevenson in the South — ^had both selected 

 Sheep of this breed to bring home to America, 

 we were naturally, as it will be admitted, curi- 

 ous to know what coincidence of views had 

 prompted tlie choice of the same breed for re- 

 gions of countiy so essentially different in most 

 of the circamstances likely to influence a choice 

 of stock Sheep. Accordingly application was 

 respectfully made to both, in the confidence that 

 they would be alike ready to state, as we knew 

 they had been alike disposed to take note of 

 Vr'hatever they could discover in the Agricul- 

 ture of England that could benefit the landed 

 interest of their ov^-n country. This explanation 

 is given to show how it is that ■we have been so 

 fortunate as to draw from Mr. Stevenson the 

 very interesting letter wliich follows, quite 

 .} enough in itself to justify our anticipations 

 i and to evince bis deep anxietj- for the redemp- 

 tion of the Agincultural prospects of his no- 

 ble State. We will only add that, lively as 

 is our sense of obligation for the prompt- 

 ness -with which be has answered to the call we 

 ventured to make upon him, we hope to be often 

 subjected to the same impressions. Mr. Web- 

 ster's engagements here in causes of great im- 

 portance, left liim no leisure to descant on topics 

 more congenial to his natui-al temper ; but when 

 he shall, in July, get quietly seated under bis 

 umbrageous elms at Marshfield, we shall hope 

 to have some kind friend there " takin' notes " 

 of his observations on English Agriculture, as 

 adopted and not adapted to the United States. — 

 IVe shall see. 



Correspondence with Honi A. Stevenson. 



Office of the Farmers' Library, > 

 New-Yokk, 6th May, 1845. > 

 Dear Sir : — I persuade myself that in the 

 subject of this you will fiad some excuse for the 

 demand it is designed to make on your known 

 partiality for Agriculture, as well as on your 

 personal kindness. Circumstances beyond my 

 control have driven me here to reside, where, I 

 am sure you will be pleased to learn, I have 

 found agreeable emploj-ment for all my time 

 and anxiety, in tlie editorial management of a 

 journal to be devoted impartially and exclusive- 

 ly to Agricaltnre. The design and plan of it is 

 explained more particularly in the accompany- 

 ing paper. It would not become me to ask 

 your patronage of it, at least not until you can 

 better judge of its merits by a sight of the first 

 number ; nor, indeed, at any lime should I deem 

 (84) 



your patronage in any shape so acceptable and 

 auspicious as in that of communications, such as 

 your observation and experience so well qualify 

 you to make. The most particular objects of 

 this, however, are to bespeak an indulgent re- 

 ception of the first number, and the favor of let- 

 ting me know as to your South-Downs enough 

 to constitute historical memoranda of the partic- 

 ular race fi-om ^vhich they sprung, and the par- 

 ticular considerations which led you to the se- 

 lection of that breed. 



There are, I am aware, verj- strong attractions 

 for sheep husbandry in Virginia. Will you per- 

 mit me to inquire what you regard as the most 

 formidable obstacles to its extension in that and 

 more Southern States — especially in the vast 

 extent of their more hilly and congenial districts, 

 as such districts are knov.-n to be. 



I made an earnest effort, before I left Wash- 

 ington, to get for the " Farmers' Liurary " a 

 portrait and memoir of that eminent promoter of 

 Southern Agriculture, Col. John Taylor, of Caro- 

 line. Witli every courteous disposition on tne 

 part of his son, Mr. W. P. Taylor, to meet my 

 \v ishes, they have been grievously disappointed. 

 It was not that any thmg was necessaiy to revive 

 my recollection of, or to augment mj- sensibility 

 to, the value of his ser\-ices ; but Iv.as desirous, 

 by the renumeration of them now, to hold him 

 up in a stronger light to the rising generations, 

 as one of the greatest benefactors of the land — 

 one of whom it may be said, as it may not of 

 all good writers on Agriculture, that his zeal 

 was not ahead of his practice — one who, in a 

 \vord, stimulated men to think ; without which 

 no signal improvement is to be achieved in one 

 art more than another. 



I still cherish the hope of getting what may 

 approach -svhat I sought in reference to the au- 

 thor of Arator. Mr. Madison, too, of course 

 will have a place in the Library as the President 

 of the Albemarle Agricultural Societj-, and au- 

 thor of one of the best (if not the best} addresses 

 from any friend of the cause. 



I cannot forbear the opportunity io express 

 my humble gratification at tlie formation of yon r 

 State Society for the promotion of the Agricul- 

 ture of your State. It will come in for a full 

 share of attention in the periodical I am engaged 

 to conduct. With science and experience as 

 you have in the head, and such activity and in- 

 telligence in the members, of your Association, 

 its ends must be accomplished. There is radi- 

 cal evil somewhere : it is time to probe it, bold- 

 ly and fearlessly, and to look for the cure. 



I pray yon pardon me for ti-onbling you with 

 a more extended exposition of my undertaking 

 than I had intended. 



The first number will appear on the first of 

 July, and will contain Portraits of South-Down 

 Wcdiers, taken from Bischoff's work on Sheep 



