1839] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



613 



Every well informed farmer will agree to the 

 importaijce oC there being more melioratiug crops 

 introduced in our rotalion? — more grass, peap, 

 roots, and broad-leaved vine crops. But ihe oiijec- 

 tion always is to making crops Ibr which there is 

 no sale, or market demand. But suppose there is 

 no direct sale and money profit made liom hay or 

 roots — they v/ill yield as nujch profit by being used 

 to feed and fatten (not merely to keep alive) the 

 necessary farm stock, and tbus allow to be sold 

 the corn and other grain vvliich would be otherwise 

 consumed by the animals, with less relish, and 

 less benefit. 



While roots are totally wanting in our rotations, 

 one important office is left unfilled, that is, the 

 deep-piercing of the soil and thorough openins ol 

 it by tap-rooted and tuberous rooted plants. An- 

 other thing wanting, is the ploughing under of pea 

 or other annual green crops, to cleanse, as well as to 

 manure the soil. These properly introduced, and 

 the grain crops separated by green crops, would 

 produce rotations lar more improving to the land 

 than any yet known, and probably as much better 

 lor earl}'^ annual income as Ibr improvement of the 

 land — the farmer's best capital. 



It is greatly to be feared, however, that root 

 culture on a large scale, forming a part of the gen- 

 eral rotation of crops, cannot be profitably adopted 

 in this country, owing perhaps to the defect of our 

 climate. Turnip culture was the great means of 

 improving agriculture iii England ; and, as there 

 united with sheep and cattle fattening, the turnip 

 crop is the most enriching of the rotation. But 

 here, turnips are considered among the most ex- 

 hausting of cultivated crops ; and besides, too un- 

 certain in product, and of too little profit, to be ad- 

 mitted into a general or regular rotation of crops. 

 But perhaps the experiment may not yet have 

 been fully tried ; and even if turnips are unsuita- 

 ble, perhaps some other kind of roots more suited 

 to a warm and dry climate, may serve the pur- 

 poses of turnips. 



We have in this country a class of crops which 

 are not known in European rotations, or scarcely 

 in agriculture, and which may come in admirably 

 as part of a rotation, and serve tfie ends of all 

 the three rules. These are annual vines, such 

 as pumpkins, squashes, cimbiings, and melons. 

 These plants, though requiring rich soil, must 

 by their broad leaves draw the most of their sup- 

 port from the air. By the early ullage which they 

 require, and the thick and smothering cover which 

 they afterwards afl'ord, they serve to cleanse the 

 land ; and on this account, and also by the total 

 change of kind, and of circumstances, they must 

 be good precursors for the narrow leaved grain 

 crops. But these are mere theoretical views, as 

 these valuable crops have been heretofore culti- 

 vated almost as sparingly, and with as little atten- 

 tion to their cost and profits, as has been done in 

 Virginia in regard to root crops. E. R. 



FINE WOOLED SHEEP. 



b'rom tlie Farmer's Moutlily Visitor. 



Hopkintmi, March 1, 1839. 

 Dear Sir: — I have seen in ihe last number of 

 the Farmer's Monthly Visitor, pai'e seventh, an 

 account of the purchase and stocking with sheep 



of the Burleigh farm in Dorchesfer by President 



l^ord of Dartmouth college. In the account giv- 

 en, a very uid'avoralile allusion is made to the fine 

 ]Merino and Saxony sheep, as requirmg 'he utmost 

 care and the most tender treatment, 1 also find in 

 the second number of the same work, pntre ei'Hi- 

 leenih, a declaration that the native New England 

 sheep are more hard}' and less liable to disease, 

 than the finer breeds; and that an opinion is sug- 

 gested that they may be kept at as good advan- 

 tage. I am not prepared to say that the native 

 sheep of this country may not be raised by the 

 fiirmer at a profit, if they can be found; but I know 

 of none that are not more or less mixed with the 

 finer kinds. I greatly misjudge, if the advan- 

 tage is not very much in fivor of finer breeds, and 

 the finer the greater the profit. I am also extreme- 

 ly deceived if they are not kept through the 

 year at as little expense as the natives, and at 

 much less trouble. Native sheep are uniibrmly 

 tall, lon<r, lank, and coarse vvooled; untame, great 

 racers and expert jumpers; vexing their owners, 

 and liequently the whole neighborhood by visiting 

 every field and enclosure they wish. The Sax- 

 ony and Merino sheep, which produce the finest 

 wool that is known in this or any other country, 

 are shorter legged than the native breed, more 

 round and plump in every part of them, and easily 

 fattened. They are more quiet and peaceable in 

 their disposition, and with ordinary care ol" fences, 

 seldom if ever stray from the pasture where they 

 are put. They afibrd mutton equal to any other 

 kind; their quarters being round and full, mild, ten- 

 der, and fine flavored. They are the smallest sheep 

 I have ever known. This I consider an advantage 

 rather than a disadvantage. Thev are not like our 

 oxen required to perfbrm labor. They are kept lor 

 their flesh and fleece only, and from long observa- 

 tion I am convinced that it requires the same quan- 

 tity and quality of food to make a hundred pounds 

 of mutton, or a hundred pounds of wool, whether 

 it be given to small or large sheep. 



As regards diseases of fine sheep, I know of 

 none that may not be visited upon the natives, 

 which are equally liable when tirought together 

 in as large flocks. In my own flock I have never 

 known any contagious disease, if I may execpi a 

 flock of fine sheep of one hundred and twenty-one, 

 which I took in the fall of 1827 for the terra of one 

 year. When I took this flock, they were all dis- 

 discased and lame with the foot-rot. I found them 

 extremely poor, and some of them unable to 

 walk, and feeding upon their knees. During 

 the year I lost nine of them by poverty and 

 disease, and two by casuality. At the expira- 

 tion of the term I divided equally with the other 

 owner one hundred and ten old ones, and at Ihe 

 thirds, thirty six lambs, all perfectly healthy and in 

 good order. With this exception, I have never 

 known any contagious disease to trouble any sheep 

 I have had the care of. I seldom lose one in any 

 way, and am equally fortunate with my lambs, 

 when not troubled by foxes. At the yeaning sea- 

 son of 1837, one fox killed from my flock, and car- 

 ried to her young, seventeen landis in four days and 

 nights. I had a number killed at other times, and 

 my loss in lambs by foxes that season was from 

 fifty to sixty dollars. 



I am one of those who believe things should 

 be told as they are. I sliould feel hurt were I to 

 lead any one astray from his interest by any thing 



