186 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



April 



For the New England Farmer. 



RURAL ECONOMY OF THE BRITISH 

 ISLES — No. 6. 



COUNTRY LIFE. 



Whoever attempts to explain the causes of the 

 agricultural wealth of England, must not omit, as 

 among the most important, the taste of the wealth- 

 ier and more influential part of the nation for a 

 country life. 



This love of a country life is not of yesterday's 

 birth, but dates from the earliest history of the Eng- 

 lish people, and is part of the national character. Both 

 Saxon and Norman are children of the forest. Com- 

 bined with a spirit of individual independence, these 

 barbarous races, of which the English nation is com- 

 posed, had all, instinctively, a turn for solitary life. 

 It was not so with the Italians, the French nor the 

 Spaniards, who early manifested a predilection for 

 town Hfe. From the days of King John to the 

 present time, it has always been among the coun- 

 try or rural population that the true national char- 



habitual residence of families at their country places, 

 may easily be conceived. In other countries, field- 

 labor goes to pay for town luxury; in England 

 town work pays for the luxury of the country. Al- 

 most everything which the most industrious nation 

 in the world can produce, is in England consumed 

 for the benefit of farming. The proprietor takes 

 a pride in his place, and lays out his pi'ide produc- 

 tively ; just as in cities, it is sjjent in folly from ex- 

 ample and rivalship. 



We, alas, are far from this state of things. Yet 

 improved means of communication make a constant 

 residence in the country compatil:)le with the pleas- 

 ures of society, cultivation of mind, or even the 

 amusements of town life. Mr. Webster, almost 

 alone of those among us who have removed to the 

 city and grown great, was true to his Saxon and 

 Scotch blood, and the love of the country which 

 belongs to our race. 



I should point to three, as above all others prom- 

 inent causes of the agricultural wealth of Eng- 

 land — first, the expansion of commerce and manu- 



acter was to be found ; the fighting people are of i factures, which furnishes markets for the products 



the rural districts, not of the towns. The present 

 war is most warmly espoused by the country pop- 

 ulation. Everybody in England desires to become 

 a landed proprietor ; those who make fortunes buy 

 land. When a man has had the misfortune to be 

 born in the town, he tries to conceal it as much as 

 possible. Everybody would be born in the coun- 

 try, because a country life is the mark of an aristo- 

 cratic orighi, and when a man happens not to be 



of agriculture — second, to the English love of coun- 

 try life — third, to the spirit of freedom indigenous 

 in the English race. M. 



For the New Ensland Farmer. 



SOUTH DOWN SHEEP. 



Mr. Editor : — In answer to I. Dimon's second 



question, I would say the South Down sheej) com- 

 born there, he wishes, at least, to die there, that his bine as many good qualities as any that are adapted 



children may inherit the prestige. Look at a list 

 of the House of Lords, in official publications, it is 

 their country residences, and not their town address- 

 es, which follow their names. It is the same with 

 the members of the House of Commons as with 

 the Lords. All those who have country residences 

 take care to have them indicated as their habitual 

 residences. Appearances in this respect correspond 

 with fact ; members of both Houses are scarce 

 more than visitors in London. Show and splendor 

 are reserved for the country, as are the interchange 

 of visits, fetes and pleasure parties. 



The Enghsh sovereigns show the same predilec- 

 tion for a country life as their subjects, living, as 

 they do, as little as possilile in town. Both Prince 

 Albert and Queen Victoria take a real pleasure in 

 farming. The Prince has a farm at Windsor, where 

 the finest cattle in the three kingdoms are bred 

 and fattened. His produce genei'ally gains the first 

 prizes at the agricultural shows. At Osborn, where 

 she spends the greater part of the year, the Queen 

 takes great interest in her poultry yard ; and the 

 newspapers have lately announced a cure which her 

 majesty has discovered for a particular disease 

 among turkeys. We may laugh at this, but the 

 English take it very seriously, and are happy to see 

 their Princes thus occupied. I judge the Queen 

 keeps country habits of early rising also, for, the 

 otker day, when the King of Sardinia was obhged 

 to leave in the 5 o'clock train, the Queen break- 

 fasted with him at four in the morning. 



All the literature of England is marked Avith this 



to our soil and climate. "The South Down Mill 

 subsist on short pasture, but well re])ays full feed- 

 ing, it attains early maturity, is hardy and prolific, 

 frequently producing two at a birth," producing 

 wool of fair medium quality, and to my eye, the 

 most beautiful in form of any sheep I know. The 

 bucks of this breed seem to be more particularly 

 adapted to crossing with our common mixed me- 

 rinos than those of the other kinds of "mutton 

 sheep." The first cross of this kind usually pro- 

 duces an animal very similar to the South Down, in 

 form and disposition to fatten ; and, if the ewes are 

 fine wooled, with quite an improved fleece. Some 

 of the nicest shcej) I know, are Avhat I Mill call 

 South Down merinos, being large, handsome, and 

 excellent nurses, and yielding good fleeces of wool. 

 The quantity of grain that sheep require varies 

 so much, depending on the condition of the flock 

 at the commencement of the foddering season, that 

 no definite rule can be given ; no animal is more rea- 

 dy to repay, with interest, good care and generous 

 keeping. As a general rule, about one gill of Indian 

 corn per day, with good hay,AviIl be sufficient, but if 

 early lambs are wanted, perhaps half a pint per day 

 would be better, until the lambing season, when oats 

 should be substituted, as they are not so heating. 

 You may gi-adualh' increase the quantity to nearly 

 a quart per day, if "you want very nice Iambs, and if 

 the ewes can "have roots in addition, so much the 

 better. Early lambs, from sheep fed and managed 

 in this way, will bring, at four months old, pretty 

 nearly five "dollars per head. Lambs that arc drnjippd 



distinctive trait of the English character — love of the ' late can be raised much cheaper, but the market fjr 



country. England is the country of descriptive po- 

 etry, most of her poets have lived in the country, 

 and sung of it, — Spencer, Shakspeare, Milton, Cow- 

 per, Thompson and Gray. 



The beneficial eff"ects produced upon land by the 



such is not good. 



The Leicesters, Cotswolds, S:c., are much in fa- 

 vor with some, and are doubtless good kinds of 

 sheep for some parts of the country ; but I am not 

 in favor of over large breeds of animals for New 



