14 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Jan. 



SHEEP AND WOOL 



The annexed table, showing the number of 

 sheep and pounds of wool produced in each of 

 the States and Territories of the Union, according 

 to the Census of 1850, has been published in 

 many of tlie papers. We have added, in another 

 column at the right hand, the average yield of a 

 sheep in each State, in j^ounds and hundredths : 



States. Sheep. Lb3. Wool. Av. 



Maine 440,943 1,302,986 3,09 



New Hampshire 384,656 1,108,476 2,88 



Vermont 919,992 3,410,993 3,70 



Massachusetts 188,651 685,136 3,10 



Rhode Islam! 44,296 129,692 2,92 



Connecticut 174,181 497,454 2,85 



New Yorlf 3,4.54,241 10,070,301 2,91 



New Jersey 160,488 375,396 2,-53 



Pennsylvania 1,822,357 4,481,570 2,45 



Delaware 27,503 67,768 2,10 



Maryland 177,902 480,226 2,69 



District of Columbia 150 525 2,82 



Tirginia 1,311,004 2,860,765 2,18 



North Carolina 695,249 970,738 1,63 



South Carolina 281,754 487,223 1,76 



Georgia 560,435 990,019 1,76 



Florida 23,311 23,247 0,99 



Alabama 371,800 657,118 1,76 



Mississippi 304,929 5.59,619 1.83 



Louisiana 110,333 109,897 0,99 



Texas 90,098 131.374 1,45 



Arkansas.., 91,256 182,595 2,00 



Tennessee : ... 811,587 1,364,378 1,63 



Kentucky 1,070,303 2.2S3,6S5 2,13 



Ohio 3,937,086 10,111,288 2,56 



Michigan 746,435 2,043,283 2,73 



Indiana 1,122,493 2,610,287 2,32 



Illinois 894,043 2,150,113 2,53 



Missouri 756,309 1,615,860 2,28 



Iowa , 149,960 373,898 2,49 



"Wisconsin 124,892 253,963 1,03 



California 17.574 5,520 0,31 



Minnesota Territory 80 85 1,06 



Oregon Territory 15,.3S2 29,686 1,27 



Vtah Territory 3,262 9,222 2,82 



New Mexico 377,271 32,901 0,08 



21,571,306 52,417,287 2,42 



It appears that the average is higher, by six- 

 tenths of a pound, iu Vermont, than in any oth- 

 er State. Massachusetts comes next, and then 

 Maine. These are the only States where it ex- 

 ceeds three pounds. In New Mexico and Cali- 

 fornia, probal)ly, the sheep are raised for mutton and 

 poultry, and few of them are sheared ; for though 

 we find a very regular diminution in the weight 

 of fleeces as we proceed southward, it is not 

 credible that fleeces actually sheared should av- 

 erage only about live ounces in California, and 

 only about an ounce and a quarter in New Mexi- 

 co. 



The weight of fleeces in Vermont is not owing 

 wholly to the latitude or temperature ; for if it 

 were, New Hamps'iire and Maine ought to yield 

 heavier fleeces still. It is doubtless, in part, caus- 

 ed by the quality of tlie pasturage, air and water 

 of the Green Mountain range ; an advantage in 

 which Massachusetts partakes. Another, and a 

 principle cause is, the superiority of the breeds 

 raised there. Almost all the sheep there are des- 

 cended from breeds carefully selected from the 

 best flocks in Spain ; and it has been long since 

 ascertained that, with decent treatment, they do 

 not deteriorate in Vermont. Not improbably, 

 most parts of the Alleghany range may be found 

 nearly or quite as well adapted to the same breeds. 

 Tha fleeces in Vermont are very nearly 20 per 

 cent, heavier than those in any other State, and 

 52 percent, heavier than the average of the whole 

 United States. The profit of wool-growing, corn- 



about in the same proportion ; for the rearing 

 and supjwrt of a poor sheep is as costly as of a 

 good one. But besides this, the fleeces are much 

 Hner than the average of the whole country, and 

 bring a higher price per pound. It is plain, there- 

 fore, why the Vermont farmers go into the busi- 

 ness so much more generally and extensively 

 than those of any other State. It is plain, too, 

 what farmers of other States must do, if they 

 would reap the same profits from this business. 

 There are towns in New Ham psliire, where sheep 

 of the same breeds yield the same profits ; and so 

 in some other States. It is probable, however, 

 that in this staple the Northern States will always 

 retain some advantage over the Southern, and 

 the mountains over the plains. — Travtlkr. 



For the New England Farmer. 



A MEDLEY. 



Mr. Editor : — I do not often turn aside to 

 notice articles by correspondents for your paper, 

 believing that it is better, in most cases, to let 

 every writer have his "say" in his own way. 

 But in looking over the article of " A Reader," 

 in tlie Farmer of November 18th, I think that 

 some " ideas" offered on the " articles," or some 

 of them, need a little explanation. On the arti- 

 cle of " Some Wants wanted by Farmers," he 

 says, " A pretty good article on a capital subject. 

 Want of means, want of knowledge, want of in- 

 terest, love of business is discussed. To raise the 

 ' means,' a mortgage is suggested. Mortgages — ■ 

 I have learned by experience to shudder at the 

 mention of that word. How they sweep the 

 board to pay the ' interest annually,' and still 

 hang over t!ie old homestead generation after gen- 

 eration — a smothering ' nightmare ' on enter- 

 prise, ambition and hope." Now what I said in 

 a former article on t'his point, in substance, was 

 this. " When a young farmer has just started 

 on a new place, instead of laying out all his cap- 

 ital in land, let him save part of it to lay out in 

 farm buildings and other improvements, of course 

 owning less land, and having more ready money 

 to improve what he has got. But, as is now often 

 tlie case in New England, when the farmer occu- 

 pies the lands that his father did before him. if 

 ready capital is wanted, and it cannot readily be 

 obtained, put a mortgage on a few acres of land, 

 and raise the money in that way. For it is better 

 to pay interest money for a few years, than to go 

 witliout the means to invest in farming improve- 

 ments," &c. Of course, it will be understood 

 that this raising money by " mortgage," is only 

 to be done in extreme cases of necessity. If the 

 farmer has a surplus of land, and can " sell " a 

 few acres, then do so, by all means, and raise the 

 money in tliat way. But tlien, as is more often 

 the case with poor farms, where every farmer 

 wants to " sell" and none wish to buy, the case 

 becomes almost a " desperate " one. Then, I say, 

 put a mortgage on a few acres at once, (that is 

 if the farm is not already covered with mortgages 

 for old debts,) and raise the means for future im- 

 provements. I think that " A Reader " on mort- 

 gages makes an uncommon great " bugbear " out 

 of vei-y small materials, so, in reality, no one 

 need be scared by it. 



I have both seen mortgages, lived by them, 



pared with lighter fleeces of equal fineness, is lived with them, and lived under them, and never ; 



