SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



577 



opinion mainly on his own experience in manufacturing broad and other 

 cloths of fine quality. In these, the shrinkage of the wool from the fleece 

 is concededly at least half. And the firm, well finished and honestly made 

 Oriskany cloths, I have no doubt require the highest rate of shrinkage in 

 the stock. But Mr. D. concedes that a " pound of fleece wool will make a 

 yard of sheep's gray of medium quality." Now the Welsh plain, of the 

 quality of the sample, weighs 13 oz. per yard. As I have already stated, 

 "the ordinary weight of the sheep's gray is from the weight of the Welsh 

 plain to 16 oz. per yard." Tlius a yard of " medium " sheep's gray out- 

 weighs a yard t>f the Welsh plain. If this is so, the former, of course, re- 

 quires the greatest amount of stock, the mere w'ulth making no difference 

 •whatever. Mr. Dexter wr.s led into this error, evidently, by overesti- 

 mating the weight of the Welsh plains — and this arose from the smallness 

 of the sample submitted for his inspection. 



His statement of the cost of manufacturing broadcloths by the Oriskany 

 Company is entitled, I have no doidit, to the fullest reliance. In conse- 

 quence of his remarks on this topic I have changed a statement in the 

 preceding part of this letter alluded to by him, for fear it might convey an 

 erroneous idea. Where I spoke of " existing establishments declaring 

 dividends o^ Jiftcen per cent.," I have changed it, so that it now reads 

 " from ten to fifteen per cent.," these being the dividends, respectively, of 

 the Oriskany and Middlesex* Companies last year, and exhibiting about 

 the range, probably, ^f well-managed companies. 



* Mr. La\vrence'8 gi-eat establishment at Lowell, which works up 1,700,000 lbs. of wool per annum. 



BAY-SIDE FARMING IN MARYLAND. 



The region referred to in the following, lies, as will be seen, in Talbot County, 

 Maryland, and perhaps no district of equal extent contains a larger proportion of 

 cultivated cultivators. 



For years past they have been known to display an exemplary solicitude on 

 the subject of accumulating manures. Their practice may be said to be distin- 

 guished for perseverance and success in this branch of rural economy, and 

 especially as it relates to the management of their cattle in the summer season. 

 It gives us pleasure to be enabled to present here the results of their diligence 

 and good mana£:einent in these respects. An estimate of tlie average crops of 

 the district would have made the Report yet more satisfactory. 



Hon. John S. Skinnek : Talbot Coumr, 20th April, 1847. 



Dear Sir : At the last meeting of the Board of Trustees of the American Agricultural Society for the 

 Eastern Shore, the following Report having been read, it was 



Resolved, unanimously, That it be published in the Maryland Fanner and in The Farmers' Library. 



Respectfully, M. TILGHMAN GOLDSBOROUGH, Secretary 



The Commhtee on " BxY-sinE Farmikg," 

 appointed by the Trastees oi" the Agricultur- 

 al Society for the Eusteni Shore of M;u-y- 

 land, beg leave to report, in part : 



That they have had the intcrestin?; subject 

 refeiTcd to them uiuler cons'denitiou for sev- 

 eral tuoiilhs past, and have found pome diffi- 

 culty in tlieir investigations, in consequence 

 of the want of facts on which they can rely. 

 They have, at last, been obliged to depend upon 

 tradition and their own lunited observations. 

 (1147J 37 



That great improvements have been mada 

 in the Agriculture of this beautiful region is 

 manifest to all who have any acquaiulanco 

 with it, and your Connnittee will endeavor 

 to .'ihov^' how they have been brought about. 



The waters of the Chosai)eake Bay. Miles 

 River and ClT)ptank, nearly embracing this pe- 

 ninsula, arlord large annual supplies of sea- 

 ware, or sea-ores — and their bau\s contained 

 large quantities of decom[)o.'*ed oyster-shells, 

 novv nearly exhausted. It is believed that tha 



