492 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Oct. 



->&m.-^vvv®^-«as\^'!<—' 



GIFFOBD MOKGATT COLT. 



We present, herewith, the above 

 engraving of the four-year-old Gif- 

 ford Morgan colt, "Vermont," which 

 received the first premium in its class 

 at the State Fair in Brattleboro', Vt., 

 in September, 1854. He was then 

 owned by J. H. Peters & Co , Brad- 

 ford, and was claimed to be the most 

 thorough-bred Morgan then living ; 

 being a descendant of the old Gilford 

 and Green Mountain Morgans. The 

 distinguishing characteristics of these 

 horses are neatness and compactness 

 of form, hardiness of constitution, 

 soundness of wind and limb, strong 

 digestive organs, enabling them to 

 live on little food, good action, and 

 a high degree of intelligence and 

 spirit. 



-WOOL GRO^WTNG AT THE LATEST. 



The article entitled "Dark Side of Wool 

 Growing," which we copied a few weeks since 

 from the Prairie Farmer, has drawn out sev- 

 eral replies from other correspondents of that 

 paper. One farmer in Iowa, whose experi- 

 ence agrees with the writer "A. R. H.," so 

 far as the Merinos are concerned, changed his 

 flock for Cotswolds two years ago, and is 

 much pleased, both as to the production of 

 mutton and wool, with his experiment thus 

 far. 



A farmer in Du Page County, Illinois, who 

 still adheres to the "little, nasty, greasy, black 

 Spanish sheep," figures up a very satisfactory 

 income from his flock during the past five 

 years, and says he finds no trouble in selling 

 sheep or wool, and does not know of a man in 

 his section that will be likely to give his sheep 

 away or even sell them at much of a reduction 

 from last year's prices. 



And in the last Prairie Farmer we have a 

 lengthy rejiponse from "Wool Grower" him- 

 self, whose "cyphering" and teaching was so 

 severely (criticised by the writer of the "Dark 

 Side of Wool Growing." We have not space 

 to pi-int in full "Wool Grower's" replies to 

 the complaints of this writer about his failures 

 in realizing his expectations as to the propor- 

 tion of lambs raised ; to the weight of fleeces ; 

 to the numl)er of sheep a farm will carry; to 

 the unfavorable effect of sheep upon pastures ; 



to the price of wool ; to the tendency of the 

 flock to degenerate into "culls," &c. But we 

 must copy his reply to the remark by "A. R. 

 H.," "I have got sheep to sell, and so have 

 nine-tenths of the farmers of Illinois :" — 



So have I got sheep to sell ; I sell my culls 

 every fall and wsually a lot of wethers every 

 year. If he means that nine-tenths of the 

 sheep owners in the State wish to sell out of 

 sheep, I beg leave to say that I think him very 

 badly mistaken. No man could buy at any 

 very low price the crop of lambs, or the ewe- 

 flock of any of our long-time flock masters, the 

 class he distinguishes by the epithets "enthu- 

 siastic" and "fascinated." I can tell you what 

 the enthusiasm and fascination consist in ; they 

 consist in good, large and well-improved 

 farms, growing richer every day, having been 

 "sheeped" until the soil is better than the day 

 the prairie plow rolled the sod over. They 

 consist in good, well-bred flocks of sheep ; in 

 good teams, and plenty of farming tools and 

 machinery ; in barns, sheds and other out- 

 buildings ; in large, comfortably, — and in 

 some cases — luxuriously furnislied houses ; in 

 books, newspapers and educated children ; 

 and last, but not often, in a good big credit 

 account in bank. Who would not be enthusi- 

 astic and fascinated on those terms ? 



Our Shelby county friend takes his skite at 

 our taritf. He shows very plainly by liis own 

 language th.at he knows very well icliji it is not 

 helping the price of wool more at the present 

 time. He knows, in his secret thoughts, that 

 it is literally true, that the country has been 

 rammed full of woolen goods. Let hi\H ask 

 any manufacturer here at home, in any of our 

 larger towns, how stands the case with him. 



