No. 8. Little Delaware against all the World. — Change of Crops. 241 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 



Little Delaware against the World. 



Messrs. Editors, — Major Reybold's an- 

 niKil exhibition and sale of tiit. sheep, took 

 place at Philadelphia bn the 18th of Febru- 

 ary. The present pear's Bock consisted of 

 |50 wethers and ewes, of the different grades 

 of the Leicester breed, from the purr blood, 

 to the single cross between the Leicester 

 buck and the Merino ewe, the first slaugh- 

 tering amounting to 60 in number, taken 

 promiscuously from the whole; and never 

 was the character of the Bakewell blood 

 more honourably sustained. Forty of those 

 mere slaughtered at Sheldrake's tavern, 

 above Twelfth, in Market street: the aver- 

 age live weight being 179 pounds, and fivi 

 pounds over; dead weight, 10^4 and three 



pounds over, per sheep; with a quality oi 

 meat that astonished the beholders, who 

 pocked to examine the sheep while alive, 

 as well as their carcasses, before and after 

 cutting up; at which time the different 

 grades of blood could be traced with the 

 greatest nicety and precision, in the form, 

 as well as in the condition of the animals, 

 and particularly, in the laying on of fat on 

 the different points, according to the degrees 

 of purity of blood — a practical illustration of 

 jjBakewell'e theory, who used to say, "Only 

 tell me where you will have the fat, whether 

 on the outside or inside, on the tore-quarter 



or on the hind-quarter; on the rump, or on 

 the breast, and there you shall find it; but 1 

 profess to grow mutton, and not soap and 

 candles; 1 ' for here was the animal of pure 

 blood, witli a small carcase, weighing 120 

 pounds, and cutting nearly four inches thick 

 through the rib; with a cushion of fat on 

 the rump, and a tail like a pure broad-tailed 

 sheep; with hams like a Berkshire hog; the 

 leg-bone about the length of the palm of the 

 hand, and the bone the size of the little fin- 

 ger, and not two pounds of fat on the kid- 

 neys; the three-quarter blood dying poor, and 

 the single cross dying capital, with plenty oi 

 loose tiit; all in exact accordance with the 

 different grades. Then came the subdivisions, 

 or variations of form in the same grade, 

 Showing where the animal had turned most 

 after the sire or the dam, by the length of 

 the leg or the thickness of the side, particu- 

 larly of the plate; but most of all in the 

 width of the hack, and the kidney fat, which 

 was uniformly small in proportion to the 

 purity of blood, and Large, where that was 

 least exhibited otherwise: a proof of the 

 theory, that "all the juices of an animal 

 pass over the back; if that be broad and 

 flat, they there remain, and go to produce 

 outside tat; if sharp and narrow, they pass 



away, settle inside, anil go to form tallow 

 and inside fat." 



The present occasion has afforded mate- 

 rials tor an admirable lecture on the differ- 

 ent breeds of sheep; and it is matter of 

 surprise, that a course of agricultural lec- 

 tures has not been gol up on the principles 

 here exhibited; the first might be made to 

 embrace the subjects while living; the se- 

 cond, when dead and at dissection ; and the 

 third, the discussion of the subject at the 

 dinner table! Now will not some of our 

 scientific friends take up the matter and 



carry it out! what an opportunity to "en- 

 lighten and to charm," by a course of lite- 

 rary, historical, scientific and anatomical 

 addresses, affording a broad field tor practi- 

 cal observation and experiment, and render- 

 ing an essential service to the agricultural 



pommunity, far greater than the perusal of 

 volumes of mere theory. 



'The above splendid flock of sheep has 

 been purchased by Messrs. I lesser &. Nell ; 



and they will supply the market weekly, 

 for some time to come, with the choicest 

 mutton, at their stall, in Market street below 

 Twelfth, at prices to suit the tunes, say from 

 (ij to 8 cents per pound. 



Major Key hold has the thanks of the com- 

 munity, for his zeal in the cause of the im- 

 provement of sheep husbandry, and he richly 

 deserves them. J. Lkttsom. 



Philadelphia' Feb. 20th, 1843, 



For the Fanners' Cabinet. 



The necessity of a ohange of Crops* 



Messrs. Editors, — In a conversation the 

 Other day with an intelligent friend, 1 stated 

 the remarkable fact, that if an animal w ere 

 to be confined to one particular diet for a 



certain number of days, sickness and even- 

 tually death must he the consequence; when 

 he immediately applied the rationale of the 

 fact to a subject at once so highly interesting 

 and natural, that 1 cannot help recording it. 

 "Then," said he, "this shows at once the 

 necessity of a change of tood to the crop; 

 or, which is the same thing, a change of 

 crop to the soil — a rotation <;/' crops, as it is 

 called." Now in this little remark, a vol- 

 ume is thrown open to our perusal, and by 

 studying it, 1 believe we may derive infor- 

 mation and advantages at present unknown 

 and unappreciated; and in return lor the 

 many useful hints and very pleasant ideas 



that 1 am continually reaping and garnering 



up from the perusal of the Cabinet, I offer 

 the above, in grateful acknowledgment. 



J. Dale. 



