342 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



July 



sionary eiforts, any considerable number of per- 

 sons can be found, so ignorant, so short sight- 

 ed, and so vicious ! No ; the great mass of the 

 people are right upon this subject. Their course 

 is onward and upward. Their progress, if not so 

 rapid as could be desired, is still in the right di- 

 rection. "Having put their hands to the plow, 

 thej^ will not look back," but will press forward 

 in the work of improvement till every mountain, 

 hill and valley shall be improved and beautified; 

 every field rendered productive ; and every hu- 

 man dwelling shall be pleasant to behold, neat, 

 beautiful and attractive. John Goldsbury. 



PRUSSIAN SHEEP. 



The Merinoes were introduced into Germany, 

 about the middle of the eighteenth century, and 

 the advantageous change they effected every- 

 where they were introduced, could not be disput- 

 ed. Notwithstanding this, Mr. Fink — to whom 

 Germany owes much in regard to sheep-culture 

 — unwilling to give up altogether the native 

 breeds, purchased in 17G8 some Saxon Merinoes, 

 and though his breed was much improved, yei 

 bis object did not seem accomplished, and in 

 1778 he imported some pure Merinoes from 

 Spain. He took as the guide of all his experi- 

 ments, that which is now received as an axiom 

 among breeders, that the fineness of the fleece, 

 and to a great degree the value of the carcass, 

 too, are far more attributable to the inherent 

 quality of the animal than to any influence of 

 climate or soil. Uniformly acting on this fun- 

 damental principle, and being most particular in 

 the selection of the animals from which he bred, 

 he improved his own native flocks to a consider- 

 able extent, and he succeeded to a degree which 

 he dared not anticipate, in naturalizing a still 

 more valuable race of animals. His success at- 

 tracted the attention of the Prussian government ; 

 and Frederick H., in 1786, imported one hundred 

 rams and two hundred ewes from Spain. Mr. 

 Fink was subsequently commissioned by the gov- 

 ernment to purchase one thousand of the choicest 

 Merinoes ; agricultural schools were established, 

 and at the head of one of them was placed Mr. 

 Fink — the most competent of all persons — the 

 first improver of the Prussian sheep. The follow- 

 ing was Mr. Fink's mode of management : 



He properly maintains, that free exposure to 

 the air is favorable to the quality of the wool, 

 and therefore, although the sheep are housed at 

 the beginning of November, yet whenever it 

 freezes, and the ground is hard, even although it 

 may be covered with snow, the sheep are driven 

 to the wheat and rye fields, where they meet 

 with a kind of pasturage exceedingly wholesome, 

 and while they feed they are likewise benefiting 

 the crop. Nothing is more common than to see 

 a flock of valuable sheep scratching away the 

 snow with their feet, in order to arrive at the 

 short wheat or rye beneath. When the weather 

 will not permit their being taken out, they are 

 fed on hay, aftermath, and chopped straw of vari 

 ous kinds. The kind of straw is changed as 

 often as possible, and wheat, barley, and oat- 

 straw, and pea-haulm follow each other in rap- 

 id succession. The oat-straw is sparingly given, 

 and the pea-haulm is preferred to the wheat 



and barley-straw. Oil-cake, at the rate of six or 

 seven pounds per hundred sheep, and dissolved 

 in water is also allowed when the flock cannot be 

 turned on the young wheat. 

 • Three or four weeks before lambing, an addi- 

 tional allowance of hay and straw is given to the 

 ewes ; and while they are suckling, a little oat- 

 meal is mixed with the solution of oil-cake. 

 When the weather will permit the turning out of 

 the ewes, the lambs are still kept in the houses, 

 and the mothers brought back to them at noon 

 and night ; after that the lambs are not permitted 

 to graze with the ewes, but are turned on the 

 fallows or the clover of the preceding year ; for 

 it is supposed that they unnecessarily fatigue 

 themselves by running with their mothers, and 

 almost incessantly trying to suck, and that on 

 this account, they refuse the herbage on which 

 they are placed, and take less nourishment than 

 when quietly kept on separate pastures. A few 

 barren ewes are, however, placed Avith the lamba 

 for the purpose of guiding them, and perhaps 

 teaching them to select the best and most whole- 

 some food. More lambs are saved than are ne- 

 cessary to keep up the flock, and when they are 

 two years old they are inspected — one-third of 

 the best of them are kept, and the remainder 

 sold. The lambs are never shorn, in order that 

 they may be better able to endure the cold and 

 rain of autumn. 



The Prussian sheep-dogs, like almost all on 

 the continent, are trained to obey the shepherds, 

 and are skilful in guiding the sheep, but they 

 never worry or bite them. There is no natural 

 necessity for it anywhere ; and if flocks are occa- 

 sionally wild and intractable, bad management 

 and bad treatment have made them so. — FouatL 



For ike New England Farmer. 

 THE MAQQOT IN ONIONS. 



Friend Browx : — I am pleased to see, by 

 your paper of this date, a further explanation of 

 Mr. Emerson's theory of the destruction of the 

 onion maggot, by the application of guano. 1 

 find no fault with his facts, but with the inferen- 

 ces he draws from them, and beg leave, respect- 

 fully to say, that his facts do not warrant his 

 conclusion. 



I repeat, what I have before stated, that no 

 method of destroying, or even checking the pro- 

 gress of the maggot, has yet come to my knowl- 

 edge ; and that 1 have no confidence at all that 

 this can be done by the application of guano. 

 Such is the opinion of many practical men of 

 sound judgment, who have had a hundred times 

 as much experience, in the culture of onions, as 

 Mr. E. has ; who have grown thousands of bush- 

 els annually, for the last twenty years ; and who 

 now discontinue the culture, by reason of their 

 fearful apprehension of the ravages of this de- 

 stroyer. 



I am pleased to know that the Secretary of 

 the Board of Agriculture is directing his atten- 

 tion to this subject. I would not have impugned 

 Mr. E.'s assertions, if he had not unnecessarily 

 commenced the attack, I commend his spirit 

 of inquiry, but caution him not to think he knows 

 as much about the culture of onions, from the 

 growing a small bed in his garden, as those who 



