38 



MOISTIILY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE. 



tional fact, tliat they cultivate no more land ihan 

 they can manure and improve. It was, I think, 

 the late Lord Leicester [Mr. Coke] who once 

 said that the great and prevailing- error in Eng- 

 lish Agriculture was what he called over-plow- 

 ing, and ha\'ing more land under tillage than 

 the quantity of manure \^•ould justify. This, I 

 thmk, is one of the gi-eat evils in our system of 

 cultivation. If. ou the conti-ary, we were to 

 limit our tillage to our supply of manure, what 

 aji increase of old and exhausted fields should 

 we witness ? and yet I am convinced that our 

 planters and farmers would be in much better 

 and more prosperous circumstances. Our rule, 

 however, seems to be, that having so many la- 

 borers we must necessarily cultivate a gi-eat 

 deal of land, whetlier it be rich or poor. This 

 is one of the en-ors of our Agriculturists, and it 

 tJierefore becomes important to convince them 

 tliat means exist by which their poor lands may 

 be fertilized and rendered profitable at much less 

 expense, and by which their lauded property, 

 as well as the comforts of life, might be greatly 

 increased ; and that these means are in their 

 own power. This is, doubtless, a subject which 

 wiU command attention and engage your vigor- 

 ous pen. I flatter myself also with the hope 

 that your Journal will not fail to notice another 

 important matter connected with the Agricul- 

 tural mterests of the Middle and Southern States. 

 I mean the iatemal communication of the coun- 

 try and the transportation of our Agricultural 

 Products. Our produce, until it reaches the 

 market of exportation, does not change its cha- 

 racter of interest. It is still the planters, and 

 only becomes an article of commerce when it 

 touches the hand of the merchant. The trans- 

 portation, therefore, to market, is as intimately 

 connected with its value as any proce.ss of its 

 previous preparation, and the planter and far- 

 mer have, therefore, a deep iuterest in the im- 

 provement of the internal navigation of the 

 country. To accomplish this, we sliall require 

 not only the aid of the press but the continued 

 and enlightened influence of the whole Agri- 

 cultural commmiitj-. Indeed it should be borne 

 in mind tliat in governments founded upon re- 

 publican principles, national enterprises, to be 

 6ucces.sful, require the support of general senti- 

 ment and feeling. Public opinion must there- 

 fore lead while government follows, to organ- 

 ize the means of earning into effect the popu- 

 lar will. It will need, also, the enlarged views 

 and enlightened policy of our State Govern- 

 ments. 



You ask me in your letter for some account of 

 my South-Down Sheep, imported three years 

 ago, and the reasons -which led to their selec- 

 tion. 1 regret to say that I have been unfortu- 

 nate -with the lot. I had the misfortune to lose 

 the buck and one of tlie three ewes soon after 



their arrival in the United States. I attribuled 

 the loss to the voyage. The result has been 

 tliat I have now only the half breed. Concur- 

 ring in the general opinion that the breed of 

 Sheep, to be reared, ought to be selected ac- 

 cording to the nature of the pastures and the 

 artificial means of suppl_\-ing food, I gave the 

 preference to the South-Downs, over all the 

 other breeds, for this section of country. 



In selecting a mountain breed, for instance, 

 for rearing in low arable land, the advantage 

 would be lost of producing a larger and a finer 

 class of animals ; and so, on the other hand, if a 

 lo%v-land breed is carried to a mountain region, 

 an evil of a different kind is committed, much 

 more hurtful ; for a fine stock would be ruined 

 if placed in a situation where it could not be 

 maintained. The South-Down I found adapted to 

 most situations in the midland parts of England. 

 Besides their beauty and fullness of form and 

 propfinsitj' to fatten, tliey had patience of occa- 

 sional short keep and an endurance of hard stock- 

 ing, equal if not superior to any other sort, with 

 an earl}' maturity scarcely inferior to the best of 

 the New Leicesiers, and ^vith flesh of an equally 

 fine grain and flavor. They were, moreover, 

 better suited to an extensive range of light soils, 

 and to our naturaljaud permanent pastures. An- 

 other reason, too, was their good and abundant 

 wool, and their supposed hardiness and good 

 health. These were the reasons of my prefer- 

 ence for the South-Do%vns. I was particularly 

 anxious in selecting to get a fuie male sheep — 

 I did this upon the ground that, as respects both 

 cattle and sheep, the opinion was general and 

 doubtless coiTeci, that m most cases the quali- 

 ties of the male parent predominate in the off- 

 spring, and the more indifferent and the worse 

 bred the female was tlie more this would be the 

 case when she ■^^•as put to a well bred buck. I 

 procured the ram and ewes from the folds of Mr. 

 Jonas \Vebb, of Cambridgeshire, who, I think, 

 is justlj' esteemed one of the most eminent 

 breeders in England. He obtained at the Show- 

 of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, 

 at Liverpool, in 1841, three of the highest pre- 

 miums for his South-Downs, over all the compet- 

 itors of the United Kingdom. Virginia has many 

 advantages for breeding sheep, not surpassed in 

 the United States. The middle part of tlie State, 

 and especially the whole range of the South- 

 West Mountains and Blue Ridge, afford tlie 

 gi-eatest facilities for fine sheep-walks. HiUs 

 covered with fine herbage, extensive enclo- 

 sures, abundance of running water, and well 

 sheltered by trees against the heat and sun of 

 summer. But tlie prejudice which the late Col. 

 John Taj lor, ol Caroline, (who, by the bye, did 

 more for Agriculture than anj' man in America,) 

 had against sheep, has been the means of ren- 

 dering this description of stock unpopular in 



