

THE ILLINOIS FARMER. 



83 



in consequence of their proprietors joining 

 the French. These were the Paular, previ- 

 ously owned by the Prince of Peace; the 

 Negretti, previously owned by the Conde del 

 Campo de Alange; the Acqueirres, which had 

 been owned by the Conde of the same name; 

 and the Matarco, owned by the Conde de 

 Montarco; and were such sheep as could not 

 have been got out of Spain, had it not been 

 for the invasion of the French, and the dis- 

 tracted state of the country growing out of 

 this invasion. 



''When the Junta sold, it was upon the 

 express condition of their granting licenses 

 to carry them out of the kingdom. Four 

 thousand of the Paular flock were sent to 

 England for the King; and Col. Downie a 

 Scotch office in the British service, but who 

 also held the rank of generaPin the Spanish 

 service, and I, purchased the remainder of 

 the flock, between three and four thousand 

 more; and of this purchase, I took fourteen 

 hundred, and he sent the rest to Scotland, 

 with the exception of two or three hundred, 

 which he sold to come to this country. 



"Sir Charles Stewart purchased the 

 Negretti flock, and sent them to England, 

 with the exception of two or three hundred, 

 which I got out of his flock aftej they reached 

 Lisbon. 



^^*I purchased about seventeen hundred of 

 tS? Acqueirres flock of the Junta, and the 

 remainder were sold and sent to England. 

 The Montarco flock was bought by a Span- 

 iard and Portuguese, and about two thousand 

 seven hundred were shipped to this countiy, 

 I shipped to the United States the fourteen 

 hundred Paulars, one thousand seven hun- 

 dred Acqueirres, two hundred Escurials, one 

 hundred Negrettis, and about two hundred 

 Montarcos, Of this number, one hundred 

 were gent to Wiscasset and Portland, one 

 thousand one hundred to Boston and New- 

 buryport, one thousand five hundred to New 

 York, three hundred and fifty to Baltimore, 

 one hundred to Alexandria, and two hun- 

 dred to Norfolk and Richmond. 



"Besides those which I shipped to the 

 United States on my own account, there were 

 about three hundred more Guadaloupes, pur- 

 chased by others, and two or three hundred 

 of the Paular stock, sold by G en. Downie, 

 shipped to Boston; and of the Montarco fleck, 

 shipped by others, about two thousand five 

 hundred were sent to Boston, Providence, 

 New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and 

 Savannah. The Guad;doupes, Paulars and 

 Montarcos, which "Wcrc shipped to Boston by 

 others, were for the recount of Gorham Par- 

 BOns, Esq., Gen. Sumner, D. Tiehenor and 

 E. H. Derby, Esq. All these sheep were 

 shipped in the latter part of 1809, and the 

 early part of 1811, and were the only Leonesa 

 Transhumantes, if wo include Col. Humph- 

 rey's and Chancellor Livingston's, (which I 

 have no doubt were of tlie same stock,") that 

 were ever shipped to the United States^ 



"Badajos is but little over one hundred 

 miles from Lisbon, and all the sheep pur- 

 chased there, and in that vicinity, were ship- 

 ped at Lisbon. I was then Consul there, and 

 in office, was actually acquainted with all 

 the shipinenLs, as certificates of property from 

 me always accompanied them. ' 



In the years 1827 and 1828, 3Ir. Henry 

 D. Grove imported into the United States 



one hundred and ninety-five pure Eseuriai 

 sheep, from the celebrated flock of Macherns, 

 in Saxony. Mr. Grove's flock was found to 

 be hardy in the climate of New York, and he 

 was successful in propagating them. 



In the years 1824-7, large importations 

 were made from Saxony ot Escurial sheep 

 into the United States, much the largest pro- 

 portion of which were only grade sheep; and 

 at this time only a small proportion of pure 

 Escurials are to be found in this country. 



Li 1840, Mr. D. C. Collins, of Hartford, 

 Conn., imported twenty ewes and two rams 

 from the Rambouillet flock, of France. 



4«* 



Sowing Grass Seed. 



There seems to a great diversity of opinion 

 in regard to the proper time and proper man- 

 ner of sowing grass seeds. Among our best 

 farmers diff'erent opinions and different prac- 

 tices exist. This state of the case is found 

 not only in Illinois but in other States. So 

 important has the matter been considered in 

 Massachusetts, that a series of experiment 

 have been made in that State, under the 

 supervision of the Secretary of the Board of 

 Agriculture. 



In the published transactions of that 

 board, there is a Treatise on Grasses by the 

 Secretary, C. L. Flint, Esq., showing the 

 depth of soil in inches and fractions of an 

 inch, at which the greatest number of seeds 

 germinate, also the depth at which only half 

 the seeds germinate; and lastly, the least 

 depth of soil at which none of the seeds ger- 

 minate. From this table has been selected 

 what pertaiijs to the following kinds of 

 grasses, being those mostly grown in this 

 country : 



Orchard OrasB, 

 Timothy, 

 Red CloTer, 

 White Cl0T«r, 

 TaU Oat Grass, 



None, 



2 



2 



1^ 

 4 



All. Half. 



to 14 ?i to 1 

 to 1^ % to 1 



to I/O ik to 114 



to 1,1 V^ to 3,/ 

 Vi to % 1'4 to 1% 



"The foregoing results were obtained by 

 careful experiments. The first column 

 shows that these five kinds of seeds germina- 

 ted as well on the surface of the ground as 

 when covered from one-fourth to three- 

 fourths of an inch. But it is proper to say 

 that the soil used in the experiments to as- 

 certain the proper depth ofcovering was kept 

 moist during the pro; ess of germina'-'on, 

 though freely exposed to the light, w/ich 

 accounts for the large number of seeds ger- 

 minating without any covering whatever. 



''Only one-half of the several kinds of seeds 

 germinated when covered at the depth speci- 

 fied in column second; and none of the seeds 

 germinated when covered at the depth speci- 

 fied in the third column. The above state- 

 ments will, doubtless, surprise many farmers. 

 We have time and again known farmers to 

 sow their grass seeds at the same time they 

 sowed their grain, and then, with a heavy 

 harrow, go over the ground from two to four 

 times. Such a process must bury much of 

 the seed too deep to vegetate, if there is any 

 truth in the figures we have given." 



"It has been ascertained, also, as a part of 

 this investigation, by carefully courting the 

 seeds in an ounce, how many there should be 



in a pound or bushel. From such data it has 

 been ascertained that the farmer who sows 

 upon an acre of land one bushel of red top, 

 one peck of timothy, and four pounds oi" clo- 

 ver, puts upon his acre no less than 95,868,- 

 000 seeds. This gives over 15 .s^eds to each 

 square inch, or about 2,200 seeds to each 

 square foot. Now it is evident that this 

 greatly exceeds the number of grass plants 

 which are usually obtained from the sowing 

 of such quantities of seed on a newly stocked 

 down field." 



"From many years' observations, and some 

 recent experiments," says the reliable editor 

 of the ^^ Country Gentkman," "we arc led to 

 believe that not much less than half the grass 

 seeds sown by many farmers fail to germi- 

 nate in consequence of being covered too 

 deep." This amount of loss of seed must 

 take place, it would seem, when grass seed is 

 sown with grain upon the furrow aud then 

 cross-harrowed; or even after the first harrow- 

 ing, as in this way many seeds must be covered 

 deeper than two inches, at which depth, ac- 

 cording to the table, the seeds of timothy, 

 clover, and white clover fail to germinate. 



In view of the facts thus presented, the 

 question is submitted to fanners, what is the 

 best manner of sowing grass seeds? Will it; 

 do to sow them on the surface of the "Tound, 

 and there leave them? Will they harrow 

 the seed in? Or will they roll the ground 

 afler the seed is sown? 



If a farmer desires to satisfy himself upon 

 this matter, he should sow and harrov.;; he 

 should sow, without harrowing; and he should 

 sow, and roll the ground. Without making 

 these trials, our opinion would be that to sow 

 and roll the ground, would promise the best 

 results. 



Taxation. 



Editor of the Farnur : — The system of 

 taxation is unequal in our State. It falls 

 improperly and injuriously, I think, upon the 

 hard working farmer. A large portion of our ' 

 State is yet wild lands; owned mostly by non- 

 residents and by rich people living amongus. 

 The farmers of our State, while endeavoring- 

 to make living for themselves, areat the same 

 time working for the benefit of these owners 

 of wild lands. Thoy make more nif^ney for 

 them than they do for themselves. The sweat 

 that exudes from their brows is not more for 

 the benefit of their wives and children, than 

 for the man who does not labor, but who is 

 able bj' the labor of other? to ride in his, car- 

 riage, while the farmer has to trudge on behind 

 his plow. 



Now, for one, I don't believe in thi.s state 

 of things. There is neither equality nor jus- 

 tice in it. It makes the honorable and in 

 dustrious laborer the .slave of the rich man, 

 whether he will or not. And he is forced 

 into this position by our law.<, which arc 

 made, in this easBj, for the benefit of the rich 

 and not the poor. 



There was some sense and justice in the 

 old system of taxing lands — assessing them 

 at first, second ?.nd third rates. This would 

 place all lands on their natural equality and 

 without reference to improvements. Let a 

 man who makes improvemerts in the eoun- 



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