184 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



June 





FOUB COTSWOLD EWE LAMES. 



The lambs figured above were bred by and are 

 the property of Charles Corliss, of " Poplar Lawn," 

 Haverhill, Mass. They were exhibited at the 

 Essex Agricultural Society show, held in George- 

 town, September 30, and October 1st, 1862, 

 and were winners of the premium offered by the 

 society for the best lot of lambs. 



At a recent meeting of the Central Farmer's 

 Club, at London, Mr. Charles Howard delivered 

 an address on the subject of " The Merits of Pure 

 Bred and Cross Bred Sheep," in which he men- 

 tioned the established breeds. In the course of 

 his address he said " the Cotswolds were one of 

 the oldest of the established breeds. They were 

 originally heavy, coarse animals, with a thick, 

 heavy fleece, well adapted to the bleak, unenclose 

 Cotswold hills. They are now very hardy, and 

 will thrive well in almost any situation, and pro- 

 duce a great amount of wool and mutton at an 

 early age. They sometimes reach 86 pounds to 

 the quarter. The average weight of an ordinary 

 flock when fit to butcher, at fourteen or fifteen 

 months old, is about 180 pounds, and the weight 

 of the wool of the whole flock would be about 

 7 1-2 pounds each." Few animals are more 

 beautiful than a full-bred Cotswold sheep. 



Speculation in Cents. — While searching a 

 house in Jersey city the other day in pursuit of a 

 suspicious character, the police found two large 

 sacks full of nickel cents, which had undoubtedly | 

 been collected with the view of obtaining a large 

 premium for them. It was found necessary to 

 prop up a building in the lower part of New York 

 a feM' days since, as it was settling at a dangerous 

 rate, and on investigating the cause two huge 

 tierces full of nickel cents were found in one of the 

 upper stories. Their great weight had made the 

 building settle. 



For the New England Farmer, 

 GOD'S PLAN". 



I heard His voice: "Thy strength is to sit still. 

 A weary task I call thee to fulfil: 

 Patient endurance, humble trust in Me 

 Through pain and weakness, — This I ask of thee." 



Sweet spring is here. Her soft, balm-laden breeze 

 Whispers in mystery to the budding trees. 

 Those restful woodhind wajs to me were "home,"— 

 Shall I no more among their shadows roam ? 



I know so well whenj, 'neath the old beech tree. 

 First bloom the May flower and anemone, 

 The cowslip, sun ci-owned, by the turbid stream,— 

 No more for me. JAj'e is a ^'■broken dream." 



Not so ! Life is God's plan ! No earth born storm 

 Can mar the untold beauty of its form. 

 Wliile we look on, and trembling, dare to doubt, 

 He, with unerring hand, doth work it out. 



No more against my prison bars I chafe, 

 God's plan is mine. Sure of His love I'm safe. 

 And so, while days their painful hours repeat, 

 There's music in my soul, and life is sweet. 

 AprU 22, 1863. Margeb. 



Decay of Apple-trees in Illinois. — The 

 climate and soil of Illinois are very favorable to 

 the rapid growth and early maturity of the apple- 

 tree but we hear much complaint of their being 

 short lived. 



W. C. Flagg says, in a recent address : 

 " The oldest apple trees I have seen in Illinois 

 were not over GO years of age, and \vere generally 

 in a very decrepid state. My own trees, the old- 

 est of which are forty years old, have mostly suc- 

 cumbed to the infirmities of age, and the hard 

 winter of 18u5 and 1856. Of 100 seedlings and 

 217 grafted trees set in 1822, about 40 per cent of 

 each were living in 1862. The longevity of grafts 

 and seedlings was the same, which is contrary to 

 general opinion." 



In the town of Berger, in Prussia, is an elegant 

 church, capable of holding one thousand persons, 

 constructed — statues and all — of papier mache. 



