1861. 



THE ILLmOIS FAEMEK. 



361 



Of oue thing, however, we are confident, mut- 

 ton is eaten much more generally than it was ten 

 years ago. This may be Otving to the fact that 

 the market is supplied with a much better quali- 

 ty of mutton. The English are called " a nation 

 of beefeaters," and so thry are, compared with 

 the French, but rssuredly not as compared with 

 Americans. AVe eat more beef here, at least in 

 the cities, than any other nat'on. Mutton in 

 England always commands a higher price than 

 hei'.f, while hcte the reverse, beef is always higher 

 tt;an mutton, not unfrequently from twenty-five 

 to fifty per cent, higher. Our beef will compare 

 favorably with the EugU^^h, but our mutton i«, as 

 a rule, decidedly inferior. The excellent quality 

 of Engl;-ti mutton has been attributed to the fact 

 that the Kheep are fed on turnips during the win- 

 ter — this green food, it is thougtit, giving a juici- 

 ness to the mutton. We do not think this is the 

 principal reason. It is rather tu be attributed 

 to the f ict that sheep in England are kept prima- 

 rily for their mutton, and fed much higher. We 

 see nu reason why a South Down slieep fattened 

 on clover hay and grain or oilcake in this coun- 

 try should not be ju:^t as good as when fattened 

 in England. Some time ago we eat a boiled leg 

 of Leicester mutton in Canada that we thought 

 as good as any Leicester mutton — e ever eat in 

 England — and yet the sheep had eaten few if 

 any turnips. We once dined with our friend John 

 Johnson, of G -neva, N. Y., and he had on the 

 table a leg of mutton so large and so fat that 

 we thought it m.ust be Leicester, and yet of such 

 excellent quality that we voted it South Down, 

 but which Mr. Johnson declared, with a merry 

 twinkle in his eye, to be Saxon Merino. The 

 point to all this — if there is any point — is, that 

 we can raise good mtton if we take the pains to 

 teed it high enough. 



In the neighborhood of Xew York, there are 

 those wlio are in the habit of buying ewes in the 

 fall, of the common breed of the country, and 

 putti'g them wiili sy South Down ram in October. 

 As sheep go finuy twenty-two to twenty-three 

 weeks, this would bring the lambs in March and 

 April. 'J'he ewes are kept in fair condition dur- 

 ing the winter, an J the lambs are .sold thu follow- 

 ing summer to the butchers. They command 

 good prices, and this practice is said to. be profit- 

 able. 



We do not see why it might not be more gen 

 erally adopted by farmers. 



An old-country farmer, at our elbow, says: 

 " Why ncit advise them to keep Leicester?" For 

 this reason, it costs too much to buy the thor- 

 ough breds. And besides, we have others on 

 hand. It is also a well known fact that when a 

 mongrel bred ewe is crossed with a thorough- 

 bred ram, the lambs partake largely of the qual- 

 ities of 'he nia^e. Our common bred ewes, there 

 fore, are just the sheep to cross with for this 

 purpose — better than thoroughbred Merinos. 



Whether Leicester or South Down rams are 

 used is probably no . of much consequence Pro~ 

 bably the South Down would be preferable, as 

 the cross would not be quite so great. — Genesee 

 Farmer. 



— The above is most valuable advice for our 



prairie farmers. We have on several occasions 

 called the attention of our readers to the value 

 of the long wooled mutton sheep. We need more 

 and better mutton. In a conversation with one 

 of the large farmers of this county a short time 

 since, he asstred us that this class of sheep were 

 profitablp, and that their wool at twenty-five 

 cents was a good paying business, when he could 

 sell lambfj at from one to two dollars each ; 

 others have since confirmed the same thing, and 

 at this t'.mc, when corn growing is at so Iowa 

 rate, there is a disposition to go more largely 

 into woo! and mutton. One of our neighbors, 

 who has a large flock of good native sheep, pur- 

 chased a couple of full blood South Down bujks 

 at the State Fair, with a view of improving his 

 mutton; he says there is no trouble about the 

 p' ofit of sheep, if one does not go too largely 

 iiito the high priced one?, especially the meri- 

 nos. 



Mr Rosenstiel, of Frecport, one of our most 

 successful flock masters, largely interested in 

 the fine wool breeds, stated at the State Fair that 

 for ordinary farmers the middle wool sheep would 

 pay the test. He says there is no branch of 

 farming at this time more worthy cf attention 

 than wool growing. 



We believe all who have persevered in sheep 

 husbandry have been well satisfied with the re- 

 sults. Corn is so cheap in this country that tur- 

 nips are seldom resorted to — the uncertainty of 

 the turnip crop is a good reason not to depend 

 upon it, so long as corn answers the same pur- 

 pose. 



We have several small woolen mill^5 in the State, 

 and from what we can learn, they are all doing 

 a good business, and crowded with work. 



The future of wool growing looks brighter, 

 from the fact that it is being better understood. 



Ed. 



Tragedy at Makine. — At Marine, Madison 

 county, a horrible tragedy took place a few 

 days since. A German named Feikert, who 

 had become insane on account of the death of 

 his wife, entered the bedroom where four of h!S 

 children were sleeping, all of whom be shot 

 through the head, one after the other, vrith his 

 revolver, then shot himself with a riflf, loaded 

 with buckshot. Two other children were not 

 in the house, and thereby escaped. 



— "Doctor," said Frederick Reynolds, the dra- 

 matist, to Dr. Baillie, the celebrated physician, 

 "don't you think I write too much for my nerv- 

 ous systtm?" "No, I don't," said Dr. Baillie, 

 "I think you write too much for your reputa- 

 tion." 



