1835.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



157 



when killed at four years and a hali. Flesh fine- 

 ly grained, and of excellent flavor. 



The Shetland Breed, a nearly similar race, de- 

 rives its name from the islands on the north coast 

 of Scotland, where these sheep are reared. The 

 wool is very fine and soft, fit for the finest manu- 

 factures: the fleece weighs upon an average from 

 one to three pounds. The Shetland sheep are 

 very hardy, but too wild to be confined. There 

 are two varieties of this breed; the first of which 

 has very coarse wool above, and fine wool below, 

 being supplied with long hairs tevmedfors and 

 scudda, which protect the animals from the intense 

 cold of winter; the second variety has soft, cottony 

 fleeces, and is less hardy than the preceding vari- 

 ety, the wool being short and open: the weight of 

 the wether carcass of either does not average 

 more than 8 lbs. per quarter. 



The Isle of Man possesses a breed of apparent- 

 ly the same parentage, but partly horned as well 

 as polled: their general color is white, but many 

 are gray, and a few of a peculiar brown color, pro- 

 vincially termed Laughton. In the whole breed 

 one distinctive mark is said to appear in a Laugh- 

 ton-colored patch on the back of the neck; and it 

 is somewhat singular that a similar mark has been 

 observed on sheep from the island of Iceland, 

 whi'- -i are, indeed, said to bear a general resem- 

 blance to the Manks breed. It is observed, that 

 sheep of the Laughton color are more tender and 

 slower feeders than the others; but their wool is 

 peculiarly soft, and is held in high estimation for 

 the manufacture of stockings. The mutton of 

 each sort is excellent; but in other respects the 

 breed is little deserving of attention. They are 

 of mean appearance, with high backs and narrow 

 ribs; slow feeders, and long in coming to maturity. 

 Many attemps have been made to improve them 

 by crosses with Leicester, Southdown, pure Meri- 

 no, and Ryeland Merino rams. These have in 

 some degree succeeded, and in particular the cross 

 between the Southdown and the Manks is said to 

 be little inferior to the male parent; that with the 

 Ryeland Merino having been judiciously made 

 with some of the finest woolled ewes, has greatly 

 improved the fleece; but it is admitted that these 

 halt-bred Manks Merinos are not good feeders.* 



QUERIES AND DESULTORY OBSERVATIONS 

 ON MANURING, &C. 



To the Edilor of the Farmers' Register. 



In a late No. of the Register it is said that land 

 originally poor can never be brought to a higher 

 .state of fertility unless calcareous manures are 

 used — or to that effect. Now as your reasoning 

 appears to me to be conclusive, as to the fact, it is 

 my wish to test it by an experiment. I have about 

 three acres of land, "just cleared, of rather inferior 

 quality. It is pretty well covered with litter, 

 leaves, and coarse grasses, which have sprung up 

 in consequence of the land having been partially 

 cleared for several years. It is my purpose to put 

 the land in tobacco the next year. As I cannot 

 get marl, I intend to use lime, and wish you to be 

 good enough to say in the Register, whether it 

 must be used before grubbing and coulterinc. or 



* Agricultural Survey of the Isle of Man, Chap. 

 XIV. Sect. 11. 



not? whether before or after the trash is removed 

 — and what quantity of slaked lime to the acre 

 will be sufficient to begin with? and when to be 

 repeated, &c. &c* 



Would it not be well to urge (through the Re- 

 gister) upon the friends of the enclosmtr system, the 

 propriety of meeting in convention, Ihrough repre- 

 sentatives from all the counties below the ridge, in 

 order to prepare and present a joint memorial to 

 the legislature, for amendments of the law of en- 

 closures? The prosperity of our poor old state de- 

 pends, in my judgement, more upon this mensure, 

 than upon any other, or all others — whether they 

 consist of interna! improvements by rail roads, ca- 

 nals, turnpikes, improvements of the channels of 

 rivers, locks and dams, or any thing else the wis- 

 dom of the legislature may think proper to devise. 

 The plan for enclosing our stock, instead of en- 

 closing our crops, extends its benefits to every in- 

 dividual in the stale, and, with peculiar certainty, 

 to the poor non-land -holder; whereas, those sys- 

 tems which give facility to our intercourse, apply 

 mainly to the wealthy — having a tendency to 

 make the rich richer. Do not understand me to 

 be an enemy to any system of internal improve- 

 ment. I only mean to place the one under con- 

 sideration above all others, as the benefits to 

 arise from it are general. 



In a small way I have been a very successful 

 corn raiser; and I have ascribed my success prin- 

 cipally, to my planting corn much thicker or closer 

 together than my neighbors are in the habit of do- 

 ing. My rule is, where the land has sufficient 

 strength, under good cultivation, to produce as 

 much as five barrels to the acre— to throw the land 

 into ten feet beds — lay off two rows on a bed, the 

 row next to the bed furrow to be six, and the other 

 four feet wide. The corn is dropped three feet 

 a part, and thinned to two stalks in a place. This 

 gives seven and a half square feet of land to every 

 stalk. This rule applies to the large soft corn of 

 the south. If I plant small flinty corn on similar 

 land, I reduce the number of square feet to six 

 for every stalk. If the land is capable of bringing 

 ten barrels to the acre, I would reduce the number 

 of feet to each stalk nearly one-half: and on the 

 other hand, if compelled to cultivate poorer land 

 in corn, I would increase the number of square 

 feet in similar proportions. I usually run the new 

 ground coulter next to the corn as early as possi- 



*Our personal experience of the use of quick or 

 caustic lime is very limited, and the views which we en- 

 tertain, as to the manure in that state, are more theoret- 

 ical than practical. They have been expressed more fully 

 in Chap. 8, of Essay on Calcareous Manures. New- 

 ly cleared land would probably receive, without da- 

 mage, a heavier dressing of quicklime than most other 

 arable soils. Still we should fear to give more than 

 150 bushels of slaked lime — though three or four times 

 that quantity, if mild, (as in marl,) might be applied 

 to such land, safely and advantageously. In either 

 case, the best time to apply the lime, or other calca- 

 reous manure, would be before Removing the leaves 

 and litter — which indeed Should not be moved at all, 

 if the main object is the improvement of the soil. 

 How far leaving the litter would be opposed to the first 

 crop proposed, tobacco, is a different question. — Ed. 



