74 



N E U ENGLAND FARMER, 



SEPT. 7, 184 3. 



THE WILD RICK.— Zhania nqualica. 



This splendid and interesting cereal grows in 

 water at the edges of ponds, and in Bliiggish 

 streams, in various parts of the county of Middle- 

 sex. It bears some resemblance to slender stalks 

 of Indian corn, and grows from seven to ten feet 

 in height. 



But let iia give a short account of it, as it is 

 found in its natural location, the t'rr west. 



'i his singular and spontaneous grain, is by the 

 Indians called Meiwmen, 9nd claims particular at- 

 tention. It is found in inexhaustible abundance 

 in the northern part of Illinois and in Wisconsin 

 and Iowa Territories, in almost every one of the 

 innumerable lakes, ponds, rivers, and creeks. It 

 frequently grows when the water is six feet deep, 

 where the bottom is not hard or sandy, and rises 

 above the surface from four to eight feet, and is 

 often so thick as to prevent canoes from passing 

 readily through it. A few days before it ripens, it 

 is usual for the Indians to force their canoes 

 through it, and tie it in large bunches for the pur- 

 pose of preventing the wjlJ ducks and geese from 

 breaking it down and destroying it. When it is 

 fully ripe, they pt.ss through it again, and spread- 

 ing their blankets in their canoes, ihcy bend the 

 bunches over tkeni and thresh off the grain with 

 sticks — an operation that requires but little time, 

 and is generally performed by the women. After 

 drying it in the sun, it is put aside for future use. 

 It is said to be as palatable and nourishing as the 

 rice of Carolina. There is a tribe called the Me- 

 noinonies, or Rice Eaters, and their physical supe- 

 riority and personal comeliness, is thought to be 

 the result of their frequent and long continued uso 

 of this kind of food. 



Professor Bigelow, in his "Collection of Plants," 

 has given it the following description: "Culm 

 jointed, as large as the little finger; leaves broad- 

 linear ; panicle a foot or more in length, the lower 

 branches with spreading barren flowers, the upper 

 with appressed, erect fertile ones ; the seeds are 

 blackish, smooth, narrow, cylindrical, about three 

 quarters of an inch long, deciduous; — within white 

 and farinaceous ; — ripens in August." 



It may now be found in the Mill Brook, from 

 the banking-house down to the river.' It is proba- 

 ble that the seed was originally deposited there by 

 some bird of passage. Horses are said to be fond 

 of it, and no plant employed as forage yields a 

 larger crop. 



The wild rice will, probably, at no distant day, 

 become an object of cultivation, since it affords a 

 means of rendering productive large tracts of inun- 

 dated ground, and stagnant water, boring's Pond 

 in Concord, and Robbins' Pond in Acton, and per- 

 tiaps others in this vicinity, have a deep, rich, allu- 

 vial bottom. The former, containing seventy or 

 eighty acres, and but three or four feet depth of 

 water, might, probably, with a little trouble in col- 

 lecting and sowing seed about the borders, be in 

 the course of a few years, entirely covered with it. 

 It is Imped that the proprietors of these ponds, nev- 

 er behindhand in labors of useful enterprise, will 

 not suffer any delay to take place until they liave 

 tried the experiment ; and if it has the valuable 

 properties of the commim rice, its cultivation is 

 certainly a desideratum, and may become a source 

 of additional wealth to the owners of such lands, 

 and to New England. W. 



Qj^The above description of the wild rice of 

 the western waters, copied from the Concord (Ms.) 



Freeman, leads us to suppose that we have seen 

 it the present season, on the borders of the outlet 

 stream of Wenham Pond, When rutting our 

 grass there, we found several stalks for which we 

 knew no name, and which were new to us. Our 

 examination of them was not very particular, but 

 our remembrance of them is such as to satisfy us 

 that they were the same plant that is described by 

 " W," in the foregoing article. The plant is worthy 

 of attention.— Ej>. N. E, F, 



HISTORY OF THE SAXON MERINO SHEEP. 

 The following is extracted from a paper on the 

 "History and Characteristrcs of the different breeds 

 of Sheep," by Henry S. Randall, Esq., in the Trans- 

 actions of the N. y. State Agricultural Society : 



"In the year 1765, Augustus Frederick, elector 

 of Saxony, obtained permission from the Spanish 

 court to import 200 Merinos, selected from the 

 choicest flocks of Spain. They were chosen p.-in- 

 Icipally from the Escurial flock, and on their arrival 

 in Saxony, were placed on a private estate belong- 

 ing to the elector, under the care of Spanish shep. 

 herds. So much importance was attached to the 

 experiment, as it was then considered, that a com- 

 mission was appointed to superintend the afTairs of 

 the establishment : and it was made its duty to 

 diffose information in relation to the management 

 of the new breed ; to dispose of the surplus rams 

 at prices which would place them within the reach 

 of all holders of sheep; and finally, by explaining 

 the superior value of the Merinos, to induce the 

 Saxon farmers to cross t)iem with their native 

 breeds. Popular prejudice, however, was strong 

 against them, and this was heightened by the rava- 

 ges of the scab, which had been introduced with 

 them from Spain, and which proved very destruc- 

 tive before it was finally eradicated. But when it 

 became apparent that the Merino, so far from de- 

 generating, had improved in Saxony, and that the 

 Saxon wool exceeded the Spanish in fineness and 

 value, the wise and patriotic efforts of the elector 

 began to reap their n^erited success, and a revolu- 

 tion took place in popular sentiment. 



The call for rams became so great, that the gov- 

 ernment resolved on a new importation, to enable 

 them more effectually to meet it, and to improve 

 still further the stock already obtained. For this 

 purpose an individual, considered one of the best 

 judges of sheep in Saxony, was dispatched to Spain 

 in 1777, with orders to select three hundred. For 

 some reason — probably because he experienced 

 difficulty in obtaining a greater number presenting 

 all the (|nalifications he sought, he returned with 

 but one hundred and ten. They were from nearly 

 all the different flocks of Spain, but principally the 

 Escurial, and were considered decidedly superior 

 to the first importation. In addition to the estab- 

 lishment at Stolpen, already founded, others were 

 now commenced at Rennersdorf, Lolimen, &c. ; 

 schools were established for the education of shep- 

 herds ; publications were distributed by the com. 

 niissioners to throw information on the subject be- 

 fore the people; and the crown tenants, it is said, 

 were each required to purchase a certain number of 

 the sheep. When we take into consideration the 

 unwearied pains bestowed on this favorite object, 

 by Saxon government, the fact that the Saxon va- 

 tiety are descended only from the choicest sheep 

 of Spain ; and that a degree of care and attention 

 are bestowed on their breeding in the former coun- 

 try entirely unknown iii the latter, it is not a sub- 



ject of surprise, that the emigrant Merino in Sa 

 ny excels the parent stock in the quality of 

 fleece and that roundness of form and fincnns.' 

 bone, which indicate better feeding properi i. 

 The Spanish shepherd is little changed from 

 he was in the days of Cardinal Ximenes or '■' 

 IV., with much practical knowledge of liis 

 ncss, but never dreaming of improvement 

 his knowledge strangely blended with prejn(! 

 as ancient as the pedigrees of his sheep, riinii ' 

 back to the period when Spain was a Roman ji ., 

 vince. He is not the owner of the sheep under & 

 care, but the ill-paid servant of a titled family ob^ 

 religious order, who, in nine cases out of ten, M 

 no more disposed or more competent to carry oua 

 system for the improvement of their flocks, ll i 

 himself. And finally, the Spanish custom of i 

 turing their sheep during the entire season iv 

 flocks without enclosures to render thenect, 

 division practicable, entirely prevents that u j 

 adaptation to each other of the male and female - 

 lected for breeding; that counterbalancing of la, 

 defects of one parent by the mnrked excellence I 

 the other in the same points, which exhibits IB 

 skill of the modern breeder. In Saxony, and ( 

 other States of Germany, the case is far othcrwi 

 The electoral flocks — the parent stem — are un( 

 the direction of commissioners, appointed for th 

 intelligence and knowledge of the subject ; a , 

 the noted private flocks employed the first agrici i 

 tural skill of the Saxon land-holders. 



In 1834, the best Spanish wool sold in the Er 

 lish markets at 2s. Gd. to is. ; the Saxon at t 

 same time commanded from 4». Od. (o 5s. 3J. \ 

 pound. In the United States, where less dif 

 rence, and very unjustly, is usually made, the fi 

 blooded Saxon sells for about one third more f 

 pound than the Merino. 'I he fleece in good floe 

 averages about two and a half poinds, and often, 

 grown sheep were only included, would rise 

 high as three. But this is far from the stands 

 of manj flocks in the United States, called a 

 doubtless believed by their owners, to be genui 

 Saxons. This brings us to a most painful part 

 our subject, and one which we would willing 

 pass over in silence, were not our obligations 

 the public paramount to any considerations for t 

 feelings of individuals. In disclosing the frau 

 practiced on the American public, we are cm 

 pelled, for the purpose of doing justice to the i 

 nocent and the guilty, and also for the informalii 

 of those who have been the purchasers of the ii 

 ported sheep, to go into a minuteness of dela 

 which would be otherwise uninteresting, and pe 

 haps be deemed censurable. 



The following statement was submitted to tl 

 committee [of the N. Y. Agricul. Soc. ?] by IV 

 Grove : 



"The first importation of Saxony sheep into tit 



United States was made by Mr , a me 



chant of Boston, at the instance of Col. Jam* 

 Shepherd, of Northampton. They were but six (< 

 seven in number. In 1824, Messrs. G. & T, Searli 

 of Boston, imported 77 Saxon sheep. They wep 

 selected and purchased by a Mr Kretchman, a coi 

 respondent of the above firm, residing in Lepzij 

 and shipped at Bremen on board the Americai 

 schooner Velocity. I was engaged to take chargi 

 of the sheep on the passage, and I also shipped si 

 on my own account, I am sorry to say, that a 

 many as one third of the sheep purchased b 

 Kretchman, (who shared profit and loss in the UD 

 dertaking,) were not pure blooded sheep. Th 



