1S69. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



27 



was the kind aimed for. All through the pe- 

 riod of depression, good long wool has been 

 in demand at prices almost double those 

 brought by common Llerino. And the de- 

 scription of wool adapted to the manufacture 

 of fabrics known under the name of delaines, 

 has been, and is now in good demand at more 

 remunerative prices than the finer clothing 

 wools bring, excepting the very finest class 

 adapted to the manufacture of broadcloths. 

 A late Boston report on the wool trade, says : 

 '"Combing wools are very scarce, and so much 

 wanted that sellers are able to make their own 

 term." In regard to medium wools, it says : 

 "Oiviujc to the prevailing style of goods want- 

 ed for general distribution, the demand for 

 medium wools continues very active, and the 

 market was never so baie of these grades of 

 staple at this stage of the season, as it is at 

 the present time." A judicious diversity in 

 regard to the breeds of sheep kept in the 

 country, by supplying a proper cpantity of the 

 various kinds of wool wanted, would have 

 rendered the aggregate production more valu- 

 able and more remunerative to producers. 



The error in regard to the points or proper- 

 ties of sheep, the propagation of which was en- 

 couraged by high prices, consisted in an at- 

 tempt to produce worthless matter in the fleece 

 — giving to it v/eight and fictitious value — and 

 in covering the sheep with a tkin so wrinkled, 

 doubled and folded, that the fleece was very 

 uneven — the ridges producing coarse wool, 

 mixed with stiflT hairs, while the spaces be- 

 tween the ridges produced much finer wool — 

 the diff.j^rent staples alternating over the body 

 of the sheep, according to the ridges and hol- 

 lows. This greatly debases the (juality of the 

 wool. The fleece cannot be sorted, and it 

 must all go into a lot corresponding to the in- 

 ferior portion. The object should be to pro- 

 duce an even fleece ; whatever the grade, the 

 more uniform the flfeece, the more readily can 

 its proper place be assigned, and the less labor 

 it is to prepare it for manufacture. 



The downfall of speculation will probably 

 break up and destroy the false standard which 

 .has prevailed in regard to the characteristics 

 of Merino sheep. Many of the sheep will be 

 swept awajs but a remnant, composing those 

 really most valuable, will be saved. A truer 

 standard will be adopted -in breeding, and 

 good profits will be realized from the animals. 



DuYirfG PuMPKixs. — Pumpkins may be put 

 up in the old-fashioned mode of cutting into 

 rings, paring and drying upon poles ; or they 

 may be cut into small pieces and dried on 

 plates in the sun or oven. A better plan, 

 however, is to pare, stew and strain them, just 

 as if for pies ; then spread the pulp thinl;y* 

 upon earthern dishes, and dry cjuickly in a hot 

 sun or a partially heated oven. If dried 

 slowly, there is danger of souring. Store in a 

 dry room. Kept in this manner they retain 



[ much of the freshness and flavor of newly 

 gathered fruit. The dried pulp should be 



! soaked in milk a few hours before using. In 

 making pies they are greatly improved by stir- 



i ring the pumpkin in scalding milk, especially 

 if eggs be not used ; but without eggs they 

 fall far short of the true "pumpkin pie." — 

 Oermantown Telegraph. 



HOKSB EA.CIN"G IN" ENGLAND. 

 The advocates and apologists of this sport 

 in our country are very fond of referring to 

 the fact that all classes in England, even the 

 "gentry," attend the races in that country, 

 and of commending the system of manage- 

 ment there adopted. But however respecta- 

 ble may be the management or the attendance, 

 the results and tendencies of racing appear to 

 be about the same everywhere. What they 

 are in England may, perhaps, be fairly in- 

 ferred from the following sad notice of one of 

 her most noble pati'ons of the turf, which we 

 copy from the Boston Daily Advertiser: — 



The deatli of the youn*:? Marquis of Hastings 

 closes one of tfie saddest Ijistories in the annals of 

 the English aristocracy. It is but five years since 

 this unfortunate nobleman came of age after a 

 long minority, and succeeded to estates said to 

 have been wortli eighty thousand pounds a year, 

 liis grandfather, the first marquis, was a distin- 

 qaishcd statesman and Governor-General of India; 

 his mother, grandmother and great-grandtnotlier 

 were all heiresses and peeresses in their own right, 

 and he was one of the few persons entitled to 

 quarter the royal arms of Phmtngcnet. Boin to this 

 high position he has been utterly ruined by his 

 passion for the turf. Before he was of age, he 

 was summoned before a magistrate and fined for 

 cock-fighting, and since then he has devoted all his 

 time to horse-racing, in which pursuit; he has been 

 the victim of e^ry species of rascality, until his 

 fortune was entirely gone, most of his estates sold, 

 and those remaining heavily mortgaged ; and 

 during the last summer he was charged with Iiav- 

 ing attempted to retrieve his fortunes hj frauds 

 as gross as any which had been employed to cheat 

 him. The only excuse which can be made for 

 him is that he was a weak young man, early left 

 an orphan, easily duped by the blacklegs who 

 now take the lead on the turf, and entirely unfitted 

 for the position to which he had been l)orn. His 

 misfortunes had preyed upon his liealth, and for 

 man.y months he has Ijeen seen wandering about 

 leaning on a stick like a decrepid old man, shun- 

 ned by respectable people, and excluded from 

 society. 



The Marquis dies without issue, and the mar- 

 quisate and Irish earldom of Moira become extinct, 

 while the Scotch earldom of London passes to his 

 sister, Lady Edith Hastings, and the ancient bar- 

 onies of Hastings, Botreaux, Hungerford and 

 Grey de Ruthyn, fall into abeyance between her 

 and her younger sisters. 



— Michigan offers for sale 240,000 acres of public 

 land given to the State by the general government 

 for an agricultural college. The land is all in 

 Michigan. 



