LOCUST-TREE FOR PLANTATIONS. 
167 
Merino blood at this late day, you have correctly 
stated in your July number. It. was simply this; 
to establish in this country, within reach of our 
fine wool growers, a breeding flock of the best 
sort of Merinos, of undoubted purity of blood. 
which should be jealously guarded from all ad¬ 
mixture or deterioration, and thus constitute for 
the time to come, a perpetual source of supply of 
superior pure-bred Merino bucks. All well-in¬ 
formed persons must agree that such rams have 
long been greatly needed for the improvement and 
renovation of the fine-woolled flocks generally, 
throughout the country, for the most part urgently 
requiring essential improvement, some in consti¬ 
tution, and in weight of fleece, others in quality of 
wool, all which, it is believed, can be obtained in 
no other way so well as by returning to the pure 
original Merino blood . The opportunity to do 
this, is now placed within reach, by the use of 
these rams, at a cost comparatively small, espe¬ 
cially as compared with the cost of importing the 
blood, in doing which, I have incurred some 
trouble, besides the outlay of a considerable sum 
of money. This buck Grandee alone stands me 
in a net cost of several hundred dollars, at which, 
considering his excellence, he was indeed cheaply 
bought, and would readily bring the money again 
even at public auction, if he were carried back to 
Europe, though I may probably never, in this 
country, be reimbursed his cost. 
You inform me that you have repeated inquiries 
by letter, as to the price at which pure-bred Merinos 
can be obtained from my imported flock. In re¬ 
ply, I would say that I have never sold any of the 
ewes, nor do I wish to part with any at present, 
as I would like to enlarge my own flock till it is 
established on a firm basis as to numbers, be¬ 
fore selling any of the females. My whole num¬ 
ber is now not much more than sixty. Of the 
young rams, I could spare a few, though no great 
number at present. As to price, I have never sold 
one for less than fifty dollars, though perhaps I 
should now say from $30 to $50 each, depending 
on their goodness. But always and only for money 
in hand, as you know I am no believer in the 
“ credit system” in regard to such matters. 
In order to try the effect of the cross of fresh 
blood on the American Merinos, such as they now 
are in the United States, I caused to be made last 
autumn, a choice selection of ewes from several 
of the very best flocks in the country, descended 
from the former importations, and as pure as any 
now remaining, which ewes were at the right 
season brought to Grandee, and last spring pro¬ 
duced a very superior company of lambs, mostly 
bearing strong resemblance to their sire. These 
*ambs (got by Grandee), though apart from my 
flock are all subject to my control, and could be 
furnished, both bucks and ewes, at $15 to $20 
each, perhaps some at $10—in addition to which, 
if wanted, their dams, the selected American Me¬ 
rino ewes before named, can be obtained at any 
time this coming fall, after being again put to 
Grandee, at the price of $10 to $15 each, as to 
quality or goodness, which last is doubtless the 
cheapest way of obtaining a good cross of this 
newly-imported Merino blood. However, if the 
ewes last named, are wanted, the sooner applica¬ 
tion is made the better. They, as well as the rams, 
can be easily shipped by way of New York, to 
any part of the southern or western country, ac¬ 
cording to directions. The ewes above named 
bear good fleeces of fine wool, and are really very 
well worth having. Though not quite like my im¬ 
ported flock, yet they are as well bred and their blood 
as much to be relied on, as any of the Merinos at 
present existing in the country; indeed, they are 
doubtless of far better blood than the great ma¬ 
jority of those which are now-a-days put forward 
and recommended as the best sort of pure Merino, 
under the name of Escurials, Paulars, and I don’t 
know how many other great names, that in my 
estimation, when so applied, do not amount to 
much; it being now very well understood by the 
generality of well-informed persons, that there is 
at this day but few, if any (probably none) of the 
old Merinos remaining in the country, but what 
have been more or less crossed and deteriorated 
with either Saxon or some other inferior blood. 
Yours truly, 
D. C. Collins. 
P. S. The imported buck Grandee is sire of all 
my young bucks and ewes. It is believed that by 
the use of these pure Merino bucks in our Ameri¬ 
can Merino and Saxon flocks, there may be se¬ 
cured in the progeny an increased weight of fleece, 
to the average extent of at least one pound gain, 
per head, and generally with a material improve¬ 
ment also in quality of the wool. Crossed on the 
native or more common flocks, the improvement 
both in weight and quality of fleece, would of 
course be still greater. 
THE LOCUST-TREE FOR PLANTATIONS. 
This is a very valuable tree for the plantation, 
and we are surprised that more of them are not 
grown in this vicinity. They might occupy many 
a waste spot that is fit for scarcely anything else; 
but even suppose good ground is appropriated for 
their culture, a very handsome profit can be de¬ 
rived from them. A friend of ours has furnished 
us with the following calculation in regard to a 
plantation of five acres of locusts. 
5 acres of land at $50 .... $250 
Cost of seedlings.50 
Labor of planting.200 
$500 
200 trees might easily be grown on an 
acre, standing 20 feet apart, which would 
make 1,000 on the 5 acres. These would 
be worth, at a moderate calculation in 
twenty years, $10 each . . $10,000 
Profit at the end of twenty years, with¬ 
out deducting the interest on cost, &c., 
or adding the value of the land . $9,500 
The borer seems to have nearly ceased its rav¬ 
ages now, and in any event would not much injure 
the growth of the tree, or the value of the timber. 
