46 
mr. Norton’s letters.—merino sheep 
iitr. Norton’s £etters.—No. 18. 
Before this time, in the New England and the 
Northern States generally, the ground is probably 
frozen, and perhaps covered with snow. Here, I 
have as yet seen no ice more than an eighth of an 
inch m thickness For the last four or five days 
there has been no frost at all. It must not be sup¬ 
posed that this is an enviable state of things; for, 
in place of our cold, clear, bracing atmosphere, we 
here have day after day of rain; not a right down 
pour, but constant, gloomy, ceaseless dripping. 
The roads are hard, it is true, but are covered with 
a layer of mud, having the consistency of a very 
thick soup. One soon learns here to despise an 
umbrella entirely, or to make it an inseparable 
companion. 
In the ability to plow during the whole winter, 
excepting perhaps a week or ten days in each 
season, the Scotch farmers have a great advantage 
over us. They are not forced to hurry through all 
the operations of seed time in a few weeks. This 
disadvantage under which we labor, is in some 
degree balanced by the fact, that our climate is 
much less changeable, so that when we do begin, 
we are able to go on almost without interruption. 
The mild winters of this country also permit the 
farmer to feed his turnips off by sheep in the field. 
He thus saves all the expense of lifting and storing, 
while the land receives a good coating of manure 
at the same time. Some light soils are also greatly 
benefited by the consolidation which is produced 
by the constant passing to and fro of the sheep over 
the small areas in which they are successively con¬ 
fined. As we cannot feed off turnips in the field, 
we cannot grow them in such very large quantities 
as are grown in this country. It would be an im¬ 
mense undertaking to store the produce of 180 or 
200 acres at from 20 to 30 tons of turnips per acre. 
At the same time, the fact is unquestionable, that 
we may most profitably grow roots to a far greater 
extent than at present. 
Though Scottish agriculture, in its best features, 
decidedly deserves all the praise which has been 
lavished upon it, I am inclined, on looking at the 
whole country, to take courage respecting ourselves. 
The highly cultivated parts of Scotland, compared 
with the whole extent of arable land, are found to 
bear a very small proportion to the indifferently cul¬ 
tivated tracts. When the high roads are left the 
farming grows bad in almost every case. Travel¬ 
ling during the present year, by railway between 
Edinburgh and Glasgow, by coach between Edin¬ 
burgh and Dumfries, also between Edinburgh and 
Carlisle and Newcastle, I have passed over great 
tracts of country, as badly cultivated,, judging from 
appearance, as almost any district in our Northern 
States. When I see these things even in Scotland, 
I take courage, and hope that we may rival the 
Scottish farmers sooner than they expect. I do 
hope and believe, that our farmers, the owners and 
occupiers of their own land, will more readily try 
new methods, will read more, and not being wedded 
by the practice of so many ages to bad habits of 
cultivation, will give up such habits a little more 
readily. 
I have, in several instances, taken opportunities 
in responding to toasts at public dinners, to tell the 
Scotch farmers o bestir themselves; that the 
people of the United States, were accustomed to 
carry through without hesitation everything which 
we seriously believed was for our profit; and that 
unless they made use of Prof. Johnston and every 
means in their power for improvement, we should 
soon be upon their heels; nay, that it might in pro¬ 
cess of time come to pass, that they would be send¬ 
ing their young men to us to learn farming. Of 
course,, I do not expect this last thing to happen 
soon ; but there is no setting any limits to what we 
may do if we go resolutely to work. 
Our Canadian neighbors are waking up. A 
young gentleman named Gilmour, who has a farm, 
near Toronto, has just arrived here with the purpose 
of spending a year in Prof. Johnston’s laboratory.. 
I have commenced with him some investigations 
upon Indian corn, but shall be obliged soon to 
leave it in his hands,, under Prof. Johnston’s direc¬ 
tion. We see, therefore, that we are to have rivals 
on our side of the Atlantic; such a strife will be for* 
the good of both parties ; we need fear no defeat if 
we fully improve our advantages. 
Edinburgh , Dec. 1, 1845. John P Norton 
MERINO SHEEP. 
I observed in a recent number of the Agricul¬ 
turist, a statement in relation to the extraordinary 
merits of the Rambouillet Merinos. No definite 
statements are made in relation to the weight or 
quality of their fleeces, as proved by the scales or 
the wool measure. I have seen no notice in your 
paper (except the publication of their pedigrees)» 
of a flock of sheep owned in this county, the qua¬ 
lities of which have been rigorously submitted 
to both of the above tests, the results of which I 
think well worthy of public attention. I allude to 
the flock of Mr. Henry S. Randall, of Cortlandville. 
First, as to the vjeight of fleece. Mr. R.’s full- 
bloods averaged over 6 lbs. of well washed wool, 
including young sheep. Some of the ewes went as 
high as from 8 to 9 lbs., and one the extraordinary 
weight of 9 lbs. 2 oz. A three year old ram sheared 
13 lbs. 8 oz.; a yearling (the one which received 
the first premium at the State show at Pokeepsie), 
8 lbs. 8 oz. These were all single year’s fleeces. 
The fleeces were weighed in fine balance scales; 
were sheared, and put in the scales in the presence 
of two disinterested men of high respectability, and 
each made separate memoranda of each fleece. I 
do not know that I violate any confidence in stat¬ 
ing that both of these gentlemen have made affida¬ 
vits to the above facts. Mr. R. has objected in my 
hearing to the publication of the above fact, and 
stated that the affidavits "were only made in conse¬ 
quence of his expectation of being called upon to 
show his sheep, when such tests would be required 
But I view the question in a different light. I be¬ 
lieve statements of this kind have been in some 
instances submitted to the public, when if the 
solemnity of an oath had been required, and from 
disinterested persons, more care, to say the least of 
it, would have been taken in ascertaining the facts. 
The State Society, in giving premiums on products, 
requires their amount per acre to be verified by an 
oath. No man should be too proud to thus sub¬ 
stantiate his statements. As long as there are 
knaves in the world, let the honest man increase 
