194 



N E W E N G L A N D F A R M 1 ' R , 



i}Eii. sa. l-rjfl. 



other Merinos, 

 Saxons tl)ut I 

 Spanish flock 



botli in form and fli^ccc, to the 

 have seen, and is probahly the 

 from which the most approved 

 Saxons originated. The Panlars are more com- 

 pact in form, have heavier fleeces, and are con- 

 stitntionally the most hardy of all llie IMerino race. 

 ] omitted to say, that 1 had also, when 1 bcpan to 

 grow fine wool, three other pure Merino flocks, 

 viz: the Nigretta, Equiroz and Monlarco; but, 

 after a few years' experience, 1 gave aflecided pre- 

 ference to the Paular and Escurial, and discarded 

 tlie others. You have now a concise description 

 of my kinds of shcej) ; and I wiil say a word or 

 two as to their gi^neral nianagcwnent. 



I nsiinlly commence with dry fodder by the 

 middle of November, and discontinne by the 5tli 

 of May ; generally, however, (or the iirsl and last 

 fifteen days, giving no hay, mdess the gronnd 

 should be covered, but feeding abont half a gill 

 of Indian corn to the sheep twice a day. As far 

 as my experience extends, a ton of good hay will 

 suffice for ten sheep, with the above quantity of 

 grain. They are fed frotn racks in the yard, and 

 have sheds to retire to at wiil. 1 have fed under 

 cover, but believe that it tends to diminish the ap- 

 petite, and injure the constitution. They are 

 kept in separate yards, in nund>er from 50 to 100, 

 taking care to keep those of about the same de- 

 gree of strength by themselves ; and liaving run- 

 ning water, though, when the ground is covered jf 

 with snow, 1 think they do well without it. 1 

 allow about four bushels of salt to the 100 sheep, 

 the greater part of which is coiisnined when the 

 sheep are at grass. My bucks run with the ewes 

 from the 1st to the lOth of December, allowing 

 tirree to the 100. The number of lambs reared 

 depends nnich niion the season ; 60 lainbs from 

 the 100 ewes may be the average from flocks in 

 quality like mine ; frotn coarser flocks the return 

 is greater. The ewes are not peimitled to re- 

 ceive the buck till after they are two years okl, 

 aud I prefer bucks from two years old to four. 



These few facts will probably afibrd you little 

 or no information ; but in compliance with your 

 request, 1 communicate them, and should be grat- 

 ified on receiving some account of your own 

 management. 1 am, dear Sir, very respectfully, 

 Lkonard Jarvis. 



To this obliging communication,! take the lib- 

 erty to sidjjoin a particular account of the above 

 gentleman's flock from his printed advertising 

 card. 



"I have four distinct flocks of different proper- 

 ties, but of equal value in the market. 



1. Saxons mixed with Merino: fleeces extreme- 

 ly soft and fine, averaging about 2 1-2 pounds, 

 staple generally very short ; these are not so hardy 

 as full blooded Meriiio, and consequently increase 

 more slowly. 



2. Unmixed Merino of the Escurial or Royal 

 Spanish stock ; these are very little inferior in 

 fineness to the Saxons ; staple is somewhat longer 

 aud more elastic, fleeces rather heavier ; these are 

 more hardy aud productive than the Saxon Me- 

 rinos. 



3. Unmixed Merino of Paular stock have still 

 heavier fleeces, not so fine or soft as tlie Escurial ; 



they are compact in form ; constitutionally most 

 hardy of the Merinos, and by far the most prolific. 

 4. Grand full blood Merinos: stock the result 

 of previous intercomse of Escurial and Paular 

 bucks and ewes, and conseipienlly uniting their 

 qualities of form and fleece, but occasionally ex- 

 hibiting the peculiar characteristics of the Paular 

 aud Escurial oidy. 



(Signed) Leonard Jakvis. 



SlNGCLAU MODE OF FATTENING CaTTLE. In 



some parts of France, aci-ording to an English 

 writer on Agriculture, they fatten with maize, 

 [Indian corn,] "but in order to render it tender, 

 they pour boiling hot water upon it, cover it iij) 

 close, and give it to the cattle the same day, and 

 in this way it is a most excellent fattener, both of 

 cattle and poultry. But in order to make them 

 fatten sooner and better, they give them every 

 night, and sometimes of a morning, a ball of pork 

 grease as large as an apple ; they say this is both 

 physic aud food, and makes them thrive the 

 better. 



" The fact of hog's grease being given, was 

 cotifirmed at Souilliac ; it is given to increase the 

 appetite, and answers so well, that the beasts per- 

 fectly devour their food after it, and their coats 

 become smooth and shiniilg. The most fattening 

 food they know for a bidlock, is waiimt oil cake. 

 All here give salt plentifully, both to cattle and 

 sheep, being but Id. per pound. But this jirac- 

 tice is, more or less, universal through the whole 

 kingdom. 



" In F'anders, froin Valenciennes to Orchies, 

 for fattening beasts, and for cows, they dissolve 

 linseed cake in hot water, and the animal drinks, 

 not eats it, having various other food given at the 

 same time, as hay, bran, &c. ; for there is no 

 point they adhere to more than always to give a 

 variety of food to a fattening beast." 



Aktes'An Wells. — In a meeting ot the French 

 Academy, held on the 2Sth of Scjitemlier, it wu* 

 stated that a Mr Sliilot, an Engineer, h.-ul bee u 

 boring for water, near the chate..u of Gauge, sit- 

 uated on the riglit bank of the Cheer, luar Toiirn, 

 at the depth of 210 feel in chalk, wliich he rc'ach- 

 ed in 21 days, he ol)taiued water to the amount ot* 

 603 litres, 576 galleus pei mimitc. At 375 feet, 

 he oiieneil a fountain which gave 960 gal ons pef 

 minute. At 390 feet, a new sheet ol" water was 

 reaclu'd which gave 2-100 gallons p.^r miimte ; 

 and finally having penetrat('d sti 1 farther, he cam© 

 to an actual torrent, which threw up more thaa 

 3840 gallons of water and green colored giavel itv 

 a minute. '1 his in 24 hours would amount to th« 

 enormous quantitv of 5,529,600 gallons ^ a quan- 

 tity, as remarked by M. Arngii, grt^ater than 

 Cm-riished to Paris by the river Bievre in the sauto.. 



G:;ee.n's Straw Cutter — We had an opixir- 

 tnnity, the other day, of observing Green's Straw 

 Cutter in 0|:eration. It is thus described in th«i 

 Report of the Committee on Farm Implements at 

 Albany. 



" it is a hand crank power. It is 5 feet long by % 

 1-2 wide. It has 12 knives, 8 inches long, on tti 

 4 inch cylinder, an<l works upon a cylinder or 

 roller of lead — wiil deliver two bushels of cut 

 hay per minute — feed itselt", and may be man- 

 aged by a stout boy. Price, highly finished, S30." 



We were much pleased with the operation of 

 this machine. When the crank is turned vcrjf 

 fast, the cut hay rushes out in a stream. — Gen: 

 Farmer. 



* An inlelli^pnl wool grower in Wasliinglon county, Pa., 

 stales thai this is a mistaken opinion ; and ihai snow, instead 

 oC qnenching, aclually increases llie Uiirsl o( sheep or any 

 other animals.— Ed. West. Trans. 



Sheep. — The wool grower is counselled to 

 place no dependence upon accidental and exter- 

 nal circumstances, for the production of good 

 fleeces, but to rely entirely, and with confidence, 

 upon the properties with which nature has en- 

 dowed his sheep, the perpetuity of animal pro- 

 perties being scarcely anywhere more strikingly 

 exhibited, than in the certainty and regularity 

 with which the parent sheep convey to their off- 

 spring their own distinguished characteristics. 

 Breed is of the utmost consequence. It is the 

 basis upon which all the improvements of the 

 flock must be founded ; the oidy source of hope, 

 that attempts to produce fine wool will be follow- 

 ed with success. The kind of wool depends en- 

 tirely on the species of sheep which bears it ; and 

 the soil and its |)rodiicts, or other external circum- 

 stances, have no other efiect than to vary the 

 quality of the sample, the wool itself still remain- 

 ing true to its s[>ecies — long, short or mixed. 

 Long and universal experience has established the 

 fitness of heavy, coarse woolled sheep for rich 

 grazing grounds and marshes, confining the light 

 and short woolleil stock to the hills and higher 

 pasture. Nevertheless, fitness and propriety, not 

 absolute necessity, have given birth to such ar- 

 rangement ; since short and fine wool might be 

 grown in the low grounds, and long wool in the 

 upper, with an additional expense of winter keep- 

 ing. — Lawrence. 



Thermometers. — These measurers of caloriat 

 are very often eironeous : inany of them beingr 

 like Pindar's razors. '1 hey differ from each oth 

 er several degrees, and are generally inconsistent 

 with themselves. A defect of this sort may easily 

 be detected by any one who will take the jiaini' 

 to measure with dividers the gradations marked 

 upon the scale. It will be found in most cases 

 that the relative distances of the lines are dissim- 

 ilar ; ami that upon the same scale, any given 

 number of designated degrees will very frequent- 

 ly disagree with any other like number JVan. 



Inq. 



Virtue of Soda. — A correspondent of the 

 London Medical Gazette, has discovered that soda 

 is a remedy for the tooth ache. He says the most 

 [ileasant and agreeable soda will either immediats- 

 ly, or in a few minutes cause the entire ces.sation 

 of [lain, by filling the decayed tooth carefully with 

 the powdered carbonate, so that it may descend 

 to the nerve, which its solution in the saliva will 

 soon allow it to do. 



Iron Steamboats. — (."laptaiu .Johnson of th» 

 Royal Navy, is employed in making observation* 

 on board the iron steamboats in the Shannon, to 

 ascertain the effect of local magnetic attraction, 

 and thereby to be enabled to correct the irregu- 

 larities of the compass, preparatory to the project 

 of employing iron steam vessels in the navy. 



Silk. — Some Philadelphia capitalists have re- 

 cently made large ])urcliases of real estate in Bea- 

 ver, Pennsylvania, for the establishment of a silk 

 manufactory. 



