18G6.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
93 
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GROUP OP TWO- YEAR -OLD AND YEARLING COTS WOLD EWES 
upon a " pudUliiig " of clay ; clay is also well 
packed about it. TIio exterior end of this cul- 
vert receives a trunk of 3-JucU oak plank about 
3 feet long, solidly cemeuted in. The gate is 
hung upon the exposed end by heavy 3-ellow'- 
metal butts screwed upon the top of the trunk 
or flume, and let into the inner foco of the gale, 
which is made of two courses of plank placed 
crossways and fivstened by copper or composi- 
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tion nails. The end of the flume is made slant- 
ing so that the gate shall naturally shut close 
when the tide is down. The objections to this 
form arc that sticks, etc., sometimes prevent the 
gate shutting tightly, and the hinges being half 
the time under water rust out in time, need to 
have the bolts renewed frequently, and are other- 
wise subject to corrosion from the salt water. 
The second illustration (fig. 2,) represents a 
deep open flume, in which is a swinging gate, 
having a wooden hinge high above the water. 
The flume is supposed to bo about 18 inches or 
two feet wide, and 5 or C feet high (as high as 
the top of the embankment.) It is made of 
heavy plauks, tUe sides being nailed upon the 
outside of frames made of 6 x 4-inch studs, and 
the floor being laid upon the top of the framo- 
sillg. The uprights of one of the frames, in this 
case the middle one, rise to the hight of sever- 
al feet (G) above tlie flume, and upon these the 
gate is hung so that it shall shut snugly against 
the posts and the inner course of floor plauks, 
ou which a thin sill may be spiked. Gates of 
this kind work very well, but should be well 
protected against the muskrats burrowing un- 
der them. The seams are made tight by caull;:- 
ing and pitching if necessary. One especial 
advantage of this form of gate is, that a grating 
or perpendicular paling at each end of the sluice 
will exclude drift wood, hay, etc., from clog- 
ging the action of the gate. Figure 3, shows a 
combination of the two plans, the posts upon 
which the gate swings being set in the ground 
or in masonry. A gate like this may be hung 
in a flume against the mouth of a trunk, that is, 
a flume for the protection of the gate may be 
erected on the outer end of a culvert, or box 
flume like figs. 1 and 3, and the gate may then 
be suspended as shown, a plan wo are inclined 
to prefer, though we have never observed it 
in actual operation as we have the other forms. 
All these gates must be protected against the 
gnawing of muskrats, by 
sheathing the exposed 
parts with copper. The 
rats will enter the sluices 
from the inner side and 
gnaw the bottoms of the 
gates, and the contigu- 
ous parts of the box ; 
they will i^robably also 
gnaw upon the out- 
side. Strips of copper 
ship- sheathing a few 
inches wide, nailed on over the end of the box 
near the bottom, and upon the lower part of 
the gate to match, wUl form an efficient guard, 
and this should by no means be neglected. 
Long-Wooled Sheep. 
We freqttcntly have occasion to refer to the 
long-wooled sheep as making excellent crosses 
with common ones, for heavy mutton and early 
lambs. The breeds best known in this country 
are the Leicesters and Cotswolds. The Lincolus 
are another breed of this group which were 
introduced some years ago into this country, 
a flock having been kept and highly esteemed 
in Duchess County in this State, 30 or 40 years 
since ; but they have been allowed to run out, 
and we have heard of no recent importations. 
They are probably the largest sheep in the 
world, and are hardy, but not so well formed, 
nor so good feeders, as the improved Leicesters, 
and the Cotswolds. We present an engraving of 
a group of beautiful Cotswold two-year-old and 
yearling ewes, from the flock which swept all 
the prizes in several classes at the New England 
fair last autumn. They are the property of Jlr. 
Burdett Loomis of Windsor Locks, Conn., who 
has recently added to the value of his flock by 
the importation of some very excellent sheep 
and rams. The Cotswolds are large sheep, 
often attainmg very great weight. (We saw at 
Christmas time the carcass of one which came 
from Canada, and was killed by Biyan Lawrence 
of Centre Market, the dressed weight of wliich 
was 243 lbs.) They fat easily; the wool is long, 
not fine compared with the felting wools, but 
delicate and silky, and in great demand, sel- 
ling now at a higher price than common merino 
fleeces. It is very free from oil, hence the sheep 
should have shelter and good care. The fleeces 
weigh 6 to 10 lbs., rams' fleeces sometimes 
reaching 18 lbs. These sheep are moderately 
prolific, adapted to rich pastures, and the fat is 
much better distributed upon the carcass than 
is the case with some other long-wooled breeds. 
The quality of the mutton is inferior to that of 
the South-Downs and other middle- wool sheep, 
but rich, juicy, and always has a ready market. 
