SHEEP HUSBANDRY.—RAISING BEET SEED. 
119 
extremely ignorant of the things they write about, | 
and are deceived even by their own experiments, and 
do not know when wool is really coarse or tine, 
whether it is clear., or will waste much in cleansing. 
Others keep but a few, and give them in that way 
■?n extra chance; not knowing, when they pub¬ 
lish. their statements, that a few sheep on a farm 
will keep (when almost entirely neglected) in bet¬ 
ter order, yield more wool, increase faster, and be 
much less subject to distemper of every kind, than 
the same animals would be if d farm were fully 
stocked with them. A few sheep, on a middling 
good sized farm, may be neglected in summer or 
winter, almost as much as the deer in the wild 
forest, and become very large, healthy, and afford 
monstrous fleeces, from the fact that they have so 
fine a range ; a thing more favorable to sheep than 
all the care, hay, and grain, that can be given to a 
large flock. This is applicable to the very finest 
kinds of sheep, in common with others. This will 
account for a part of the fine stories we get from 
some merchants or professional men newly-turned 
farmers, or other new beginners with sheep, who 
ascribe their success to something very happy in 
their treatment, or peculiar in the breed of their 
stopk, and they feel in honor bound not t© withhold 
such light from the world. Others there are who 
stop at no means that will enable them to sell sheep 
for breeders at exorbitant prices ; these publish ac¬ 
counts of what wool they get from perhaps a single 
buck, giving him some great name ; fix him out 
with a pedigree, send a picture, not a portrait —of 
him, to some editor [who, in several instances 
that we could name, is roundly paid for his puffing. 
Ed.], call him a Paular, a Montarco, or some other 
Morus multicaulis name of a breed, to raise an ex¬ 
citement, and take the advantage of it, when their 
slocks are absolutely contemptible! I could men¬ 
tion a score of such gentlemen whose flocks I have 
examined, or whose lots of wool I have seen at 
Lowell and elsewhere. -Others take the advantage 
of strong popular prejudice known to exist in favor 
of Merino over Saxony sheep; and knowing that 
most purchasers judge more by the outward appear¬ 
ance of a sheep than by any correct ideas they have 
of fleeces, will apply sperm oil,Dr some other grease, 
to the outer end of the fleece of a JSaxony, or some 
mongrel of Saxony, Merino, and native stock, and 
oftener than otherwise, a mean animal of its kind, 
and sell him for a pure Merino buck. Others breed 
from Saxony sheep to some extent, to keep up in 
some measure the quality of their wool, crying 
down Saxony and crying up Merino sheep all the 
while, and selling their sheep as pure unmixed 
Merinos, giving you at t'he same time a pedigree 
that, with a little addition, would make an interest¬ 
ing romance ! If any one would inquire how to 
distinguish under such circumstances, I would say 
the most correct information as to the quality of 
any man’s wool is to be had from the best manufac¬ 
turing establishments of the country; and, finally, 
after getting what information can be collected from 
different large manufacturers, the balance is to be 
obtained by a careful examination of the flocks so 
recommended, and a comparison of flock with flock, 
fis to all important traits. 
I have lately given to the Albany Cultivator the 
mmer, of several wool-growers in different parts of 
| the country who do not make much noise them¬ 
selves in the periodicals, who, notwithstanding, are 
in my humble judgment entitled to some notice, as 
well as those who puff their own animals so finely. 
If persons who are prejudiced against the finer 
kinds of sheep on account of their being tender and 
delicate in proportion as they are fine, would select 
an equal number of the best coustitntioned fine 
sheep, and put them side by side with the best they 
can obtain of the inferior grades, they w T ould find 
that a very large share of all the advantage the 
coarser kinds have over the finest kind, is during 
the first four weeks after a lamb is dropped. 
Some of the best flocks I have ever found in the 
country (after going over much of it time after 
time, beginning with Vermont and New Hamp¬ 
shire, and ending with Virginia), are a mixture of 
Saxony and Merino, where the breeding has been 
upward, as I call it (for want of a better expression); 
that is, where the advantage as to quality is on the 
side of the buck. The getting of really fine sheep 
in any part of the world is, I believe, the fruit of un¬ 
common pains, nice discrimination, great perse¬ 
verance, and incessant care ; but it will cost nothing 
to reduce the quality of any breed, but to let it 
alone. It costs a considerable sum to raise the last 
stone on some of the monuments in our own coun¬ 
try, and some skill, but a very ordinary man for a 
trifle would get them down. 
A few years since Vermont was celebrated 
for its fine wools; but in the eagerness of sheep- 
masters for heavy fleeees, they have to a great ex¬ 
tent lost their fine sheep. Five or six years down 
w*ard breeding would entirely change the character 
of the wools of a whole nation. I have no doubt 
but an increase in weight of fleece may be effected 
while the fine quality is retained, and perhaps ad¬ 
vanced ; but, like every other real improvement, it 
must cost labor, perseverance, care, time, and skill. 
I am inclined to believe, that stock from the finest 
ewes, by a low woolled buck, will generally fall 
considerably below the average of each ewe, and. 
the buck, as to quality of wool; and I am quite sure 
that many cases will occur where the stock will 
not (to say the leastl exceed the buck. Such is the 
downward tendency of almost everything we have 
to do with. If this view is correct of breeding 
downward, then all that the ewes exceed the bucks 
will be nearly or quite lost. If it is best for us in 
the United States to grow fine wool at all, we ought 
to be less fickle in our course. European breeders 
are wonderfully steady and persevering, and whole 
districts unite as to a particular standard. Witness 
the Devon cattle, the Southdown sheep, the Berk¬ 
shire pigs, &c., &c. John Brown, 
of the firm of Perkins & Brown. 
Akron, Summit Co., Ohio, Feb. 15,1846. 
Raising- Beet Seed. —Every year large quanti¬ 
ties of beet seed are imported into this country to 
supply the demands of the farmers. Nothing is 
more easily grown. Set out choice roots in the 
spring, the same as for growing turnip or cabbage 
seed, and they will produce in abundance. For lull 
particulars on this subject see Vol. 2, page 35. The 
only additional care requisite is, as the branches get 
large, set small stakes around them in a circle, an 1 tie 
a cord from stake to stake for their support 
