17 
BEANS.-MR. JARVIS 1 SHEEP.-AGRICULTURAL SHOW IN MISSISSIPPI. 
GARDEN vs. FIELD BEANS. 
We can well remember when the field bean was uni¬ 
versally used as a crop for harvesting dry, the garden 
bean being considered unsuitable for this purpose. 
The practice of late years has made serious inroads 
on this opinion; and where this has been long tried, 
it is a common observation, even with uneducated 
consumers, that garden beans require much less pork 
to give equal body and flavor to them than is neces¬ 
sary with the field bean. 
Science comes in to verify and explain this opi¬ 
nion ; as it has been found on analysis, that the kid¬ 
ney contains 23.6 per cent, of legumin, albumen, &c., 
while the field bean contains but 11.7 per cent., a 
difference in favor of the former of more than 100 
per cent., which, however, is lessened hy greater 
proportions of some of the nutritious principles of 
the latter. The legumin, albumen, &c., is nearly 
analogous to the nutritious principles contained in 
meat, and hence the correct estimate placed upon the 
superior value of the kidney-bean for edible purposes, 
it may be added that, on strong soils , the kidney-bean 
is equally wholesome, and a much more prolific 
bearer than the field bean ; which is all that is neces¬ 
sary to be known, to ensure for it a substitution in 
all cases for the latter, by all such as read agricultural 
papers, or who take the least interest in the study of 
the why and wherefore of the farmer’s profession. 
PEDIGREES OF MR. JARVIS’ SHEEP. 
Cortland Village , Dec . 6, 1844. 
In my article in relation to the pedigrees of my 
Merino sheep, in your December No., allusion is 
made to the pedigrees of Hon. William Jarvis’ sheep, 
from which mine are partially descended. A writer 
in the Agriculturist having ventured the conjecture 
that all of Mr. Jarvis’ Merinos have received a Saxon 
cross, I forwarded to the latter the following inquiry: 
—“ Have you a flock of Merinos which you know 
to be the pure blooded descendants of your early im¬ 
portations ?” I subjoin his answer. 
Henry S. Randall. 
Dear Sir, —In May, 1826, I purchased 52 or 53 
at the sale in Brighton, Mass., of the large importa¬ 
tion of Saxony sheep by Messrs. Searle of Boston ; 
and the following autumn I selected and separated 
one hundred Merino ewes from my flock, and the 
rest I crossed with Saxony bucks. Those.hundred 
Merinos and their descendants I have always been 
careful to keep by themselves, both summer and 
winter, and have been very particular in the choice 
of pure blood Merino bucks to put to them for breed¬ 
ing. The pure blood Merinos I kept marked with 
my old Merino ear mark, a half penny (or notch) 
under each ear: the progeny of those crossed between 
Merino and Saxony, with two half pennies under the 
right ear; and the full blooded Saxony with two 
half pennies under each ear. 
In 1831 or 1832, finding that the Saxony crosses 
were reduced in weight of fleece from four pounds, 
which was about the average of my full blood Me¬ 
rino flock, to two pounds ten ounces, or two pounds 
twelve ounces, per fleece, upon an average, I took 
out all the remaining old Merino ewes, and put them 
with the descendants of the one hundred formerly 
reserved pure bloods. I have since bred all the Me- 
iqjno ewes with Meiino bucks; and the cross blood 
ewes with cross blood bucks, selecting those with 
the heaviest fleeces; and full blooded Saxony ewes 
with full blooded Saxony bucks. I have been very 
particular to keep the three kinds of ewes apart, win¬ 
ter and summer. This I have been easily able to do, 
as I have ten sheep yards, each connected with a 
shed, and well separated with a good fence, and water 
in each;—and fifteen pastures, all well walled or 
fenced. I particularly employ one man about my 
sheep, and constantly give the necessary directions 
regarding them, which I personally see are faithfully 
executed. Usually in March or April, I myself se¬ 
lect from the preceding spring lambs the buck lambs 
1 intend for stock bucks. The flocks are separately 
washed, and separately sheared ; and during the 
shearing process the lambs are ear-marked and tar- 
marked ; and the old sheep are tar-marked as fast as 
sheared. I have been thus minute, to satisfy you of 
the confidence and safety with which I can speak of 
the blood of my sheep. 
My flock consists of about a thousand sheep of all 
kinds, of which there are one hundred and sixty 
Merinos, the pure blooded descendants of those I pur¬ 
chased in Spain in 1809 and ’10, and exported from 
Lisbon; about one hundred full blood Saxons; and 
the remainder are crossed between Saxony and Meri¬ 
no. The fleeces of the latter, from the attention I 
have paid to the selection of bucks (as before men¬ 
tioned), are much heavier than in 1832. The ave¬ 
rage of the three kinds, taken together, is now 3lbs. 
2oz., to 3lbs. 4oz., per head. 
William Jarvis 
Weathersfeld, Nov. 1, 1844. 
AGRICULTURAL SHOW IN MISSISSIPPI. 
On Friday, the 25th ult., our fall show came off’. 
The exhibition was a good and interesting one—the 
attendance, I regret to say, was very poor—the po¬ 
litical excitement being so great that nothing else was 
thought of. So much was this the case, that on 
learning that a Whig pole was to be raised in Natchez, 
on the following day, which time being appointed for 
the trial of implements, the President postponed the 
trial until that day week. 
Show of Stock, Vegetables, fyc. —The show of stock 
was very fair ; in hogs particularly good. In-doors, 
the ladies carried the palm—sweetmeats, jellies, cor¬ 
dials, &c., of the highest excellence ; most beautiful 
specimens of needlework, knitting", netting, &c., 
warm, comfortable, home-made comforts for the ne¬ 
groes; quilts, bundles of home-made socks, &c., &c.. 
gave ample proof that in taste, skill, and industry, the 
ladies of Adams, and the adjoining counties, are un¬ 
surpassable. The vegetables and flowers were excel¬ 
lent ; fine specimens of wines; samples of leather 
tanned on plantation, good merchantable leather; 
with many other things which I cannot now specify. 
Trial of Plows. —On the following Saturday we 
had but a slim attendance, the same cause still operat¬ 
ing to prevent an interest being felt in any other to¬ 
pic. A few experienced planters, zealous for im¬ 
provement, were there. The plows attracted the 
most attention ; and of those, Ruggles, Nourse, and 
Mason’s cast all the others in the shade. Every one 
present acknowledged their superiority over any plow 
they had used, and several expressed, in my hearing, 
a determination to procure a supply. After trying 
all the sizes wdiich you sent me, the opinion of the 
