CULTIVATION OF MADDER. 
53 
Connecticut, lately imported from the royal Ram- 
bouillet flock, which you discovered and reported 
in your September number. That importa¬ 
tion of pure fresh Merino blood, I look upon as be¬ 
ing opportune and of great value and importance to 
the whole country, if, as will doubtless be the case, 
the growing of fine wool is hereafter to be an ob¬ 
ject of consequence and of profit in the United 
States 
I observed with some interest and curiosity, a 
notice which you gave in your August number, 
that you had received a letter from a correspond¬ 
ent with specimens of Merino wool, and a portrait 
of a Paular buck, which “ you should give in your 
next.” I was curious to see what sort of a Paular 
buck it would prove to be, and accordingly looked 
for it in your September number, where at page 
178 I found the promised letter of Mr. Jewett of 
Vermont, but not the portrait of the Paular buck. 
But I suppose that we have probably seen in the 
August number of the Albany Cultivator, the por¬ 
trait referred to. Being without information from 
Mr. J. as to the pedigree of his buck, and how he 
was bred, we can not decide what he is, but what¬ 
ever else that ram may be, I will venture the opin¬ 
ion that he is certainly not a Paular . Such use 
of the fair name of the Paulars is beyond all ques¬ 
tion libellous , though perhaps not actionable in 
the Vermont courts of law. Sheep, as well as 
other ihings, should be called by their right names, 
though in justice to Mr. Jewett, I would disclaim 
imputing to him anything like unfairness of inten¬ 
tion, in selecting a popular specific name for his 
sheep. 
But a single glance at the portrait of the buck, 
or the slightest examination of his fleece, would be 
sufficient to settle the question, not only that he is 
not a Paular (unless greatly changed or deteriorated 
from the original), but would also authorize the 
belief that he is not a pure bred Merino of any 
sort, but a mongrel sheep of some kind or other, 
very likely having a cross of some sort of large 
English sheep just by way of “improvement,” 
though, if so, doubtless it was without the knowl¬ 
edge of the present owner, and prior to his posses¬ 
sion of the blood. It would take much to satisfy 
me that this is not the case,—but however that 
may be, I am well assured that the ram is not a 
genuine Paular, for if we may rely at all on the 
faithfulness of the portrait, or judge by the quality 
of his fleece, he is eminently destitute of some of 
the most essential characteristics and distinctive 
peculiarities of the Paular sheep, which are distin¬ 
guished among other things, by a greater and more 
evident degree of throatiness than any other flock 
of Merinos in all Spain. Their fleece is also among 
the finest and best of all the choice travelling flocks 
of Spain; so much so, that for many years the ex¬ 
portation of the Paular wool from Spain was strict¬ 
ly prohibited, the whole of it being retained for the 
use of the royal manufactory of cloths, at Guada- 
laxara. Yet Mr. Jewett, in his letter accompany¬ 
ing the portrait of his buck in the Albany Cultiva¬ 
tor for August last, speaks thus doubtingly as to 
the quality of the wool. He says (to quote his 
own words) : “ The wool from these Paular Meri¬ 
nos is not as fine as some other varieties, but I 
think they should be classed among the fine-woolled 
sheep .” 
When, let me ask, was there ever heard before, 
a doubt whether the Paulars would take rank, and 
a high rank too, among the fine-woolled sheep ? 
But after seeing the fleece of his (so-called) Paular 
buck, no one will wonder that Mr. J. should speak 
doubtingly on the subject. If his ram was a spe¬ 
cimen, he might well doubt. We have no sort of 
doubt about it; we say unhesitatingly that such 
wool as that of the ram above spoken of, is not en¬ 
titled to be classed among the fine wools, nor should 
the ancient and most highly valuable Paular Me¬ 
rino race, be discredited by such use of its name— 
for assuredly the fleece of the Vermont ram in ques¬ 
tion, is no more like the real Paular wool of Spain, 
than it is like the South Down or some other of 
the harsh* kinds of English wool, which it some¬ 
what resembles. 
Pardon the unintended length of my “ Paular” 
lucubrations, and believe me, 
Yours, faithfully. 
Examiner. 
New York, Feb. 28th , 1843. 
P. S. What has become of the promised “ Es¬ 
says” on sheep, which, in your preface to your own 
article on Sheep Husbandry in your August num¬ 
ber, you told us you were in daily expectation of 
receiving from two of your valued friends ? Surely 
they have not both disappointed you, or have we 
already had the said essays, and digested them 
“ without knowing when good cometh ?” After 
such a flourish of trumpets, we expected something 
not only instructive, but interesting, though upon 
an old subject. In all other respects, I think your 
journal and its editors have not only redeemed their 
promises, but fully met public expectation. 
For the American Agriculturist. 
CULTIVATION OF MADDER.—No. I. 
The great depression in every kind of agricul¬ 
tural produce, makes it the duty of patriotic citi¬ 
zens to point out any new vegetable products 
wanting in the practical arts. Of these there are 
some five or six, hitherto imported from foreign 
countries, that can just as well be grown by our 
farmers as by foreigners. These are madder, In¬ 
digo, Sicilian sumach ( rhus coriaria ), Italian su¬ 
mach (rhus cotinus ), weld (resides lutiola), and 
woad. 
I undertook to bring these articles to the atten¬ 
tion of our agriculturists some fifteen years since, 
but the then high price of produce paralyzed the 
effort. I will again bring them to their notice, 
and I hope with better effect. Gibson quotes a 
wise maxim from the Zendavesta. “ He who 
sows the ground with care and diligence, acquires 
a greater stock of religious merit, than he could 
gain by a repetition of ten thousand prayers.” 
I shall in this article treat of the cultivation of 
madder. The consumption of it is very large, and 
would require many thousands of acres to supply 
* Note. —We must explain that the term “ harsh” by 
our correspondent, is not used here in an invidious, but a 
technical sense. 
