i'INfi WOOL SHEE& 
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pikes or railroads, gives a decided advantage to 
the dwellers on the navigable rivers, bays, and 
Bhores of the Atlantic. 
With due attention to a proper rotation of crops, 
the collection and application of manure, marl, 
green sand, and lime, with in all cases a good 
cover of grass or clover, when the fields are not in 
summer cultivation, the land from Boston to Flori¬ 
da point, in my humble opinion, will be the most 
valuable in America; and certainly none along 
this extended line more valuable for soil, climate, 
or the productions to which they are adapted, 
than those of Lower Virginia. Let them appre¬ 
ciate their natural advantages, and improve them, 
and they need not encounter the toil, anxiety, and 
expense of removal to other localities less favored 
in all respects except one—richer land, less pro¬ 
ductive of profit though than theirs, if only moder¬ 
ately improved a'nd properly cultivated. 
I have only to add, that wherever I saw agri¬ 
cultural journals in the house, on my travels, I 
saw improvement on the farm. From this I was 
led to conclude* that agricultural publications, in¬ 
stead of making mere fireside farmers, as has been 
objected to them, tend to the reformation of bad 
farmers, and to make the good still better. 
John Lewis. 
For the American Agriculturist. 
FINE WOOL SHEEP. 
Galway, Saratoga Co ., October 20,1843. 
I have noticed in your periodical several com¬ 
munications upon fine-woolled sheep, and sheep- 
husbandry, with which I am well pleased in many 
things. Yet there are one or two particulars, in 
your remarks upon “ Fine-woolled Sheep,” in the 
July No., also in the letter of Mr; Collins, in the 
September No., upon which, with your permission, 
I beg the privilege to offer a suggestion or two. 
If I rightly understand you and Mr. Collins, you 
seem to take it for granted, that there are no flocks 
of Merino sheep in our country, which have not 
been so mixed up with the different varieties, as 
to make a complete “ olla ’podrida ;” and none 
from which pure bloods, of any distinct breed, 
could be obtained with which the American farm¬ 
er might improve or renovate his flock, except the 
flock of Mr. C., recently imported from France, (a.) 
Now, while it is lamentably too true, that a 
large proportion of wool-growers have greatly in¬ 
jured their flocks by the miserable crosses to which 
you allude, it is also true, that there are excep¬ 
tions to this rule. I have a flock of Paular Meri¬ 
nos which I verily believe are of as pure blood as 
any imported from Spain. 
The sheep from which mine descended, were 
imported by the Hon. William Jarvis of Wethers¬ 
field, Vermont, while consul to Spain. Mr. Al¬ 
fred Hull of Wallingford, Vermont, procured a 
small flock of these Paulars some 20 years since, 
before they had been crossed with any other va¬ 
riety. He has uniformly rejected the different 
improvements which have been proposed, and has 
kept them unmixed with other breeds, and has 
now a fine flock of some 500, from which he is 
yearly supplying a large number of wool-growers 
with some of the very best full-blood Paular bucks. 
I commenced my flock by a selection from this 
flock of Mr. Hull’s, five years since, and have not 
crossed them with any other variety. Mr. Hull 
is my brother-in-law, and I have been perfectly 
familiar with the history of his sheep. If we 
have not pure blood Paular Merinos, I know not 
what pure blood means. 
Again, you say, speaking of Mr. Collins’ Ram¬ 
bouillet Merinos, that “ in their form they resem¬ 
ble the Paular Merinos. They are also from one 
tenth to one fifth larger in carcase—give more 
wool for their si2e, and of better quality. 
In giving a more minute description of Mr. Col¬ 
lins’ flock, you say, that “ Grandee, Mr. Collins’ 
imported buck, weighs 150 pounds—that one 
year’s growth of wool, unwashed, weighed 12| 
lbs.—and his ewes averaged 6 lbs. 9 oz.; deduct 
one fourth for washing, leaves an average of 4 
lbs. 15 oz.” Now put these two statements to¬ 
gether, and the reader would infer that the Paular 
Merinos were neither very heavy in carcase nor 
fleece. Whereas, the fact is, that it is not uncom¬ 
mon for bucks of the Paular breed to weigh from 
160 to 180 lbs. at full growth. One of my stock 
bucks, only two years old in May last, was weigh¬ 
ed a few days since in presence of several witness¬ 
es, and though not in extraordinary condition, his 
weight is fufl 150 pounds. (5.) 
Nor is it uncommon for bucks of this breed to 
yield from 12 to 14 lbs., clean washed wool, (c.) 
I showed a buck last year, then but three years 
old, whose fleece weighed, well washed , 12 lbs. 11 
oz. I sold that buck with several others to a gen¬ 
tleman from Wisconsin. Had I kept him until 
this year, when he would have been full mouthed, 
I have no doubt he would have given 14 lbs.; as 
bucks of this breed frequently do that at full 
growth. I sheared in June last 90 sheep—62 
breeding ewes, 27 yearlings, and 1 buck two years 
old. The weight of the 90 fleeces, washed very 
clean, and free from filth of every kind, is 478 lbs. 
9 oz.; being an average of 5 lbs. 5 oz. per head 
of clean washed wool. 
I have sold from my flock all the bucks I could 
raise at $10 per head, and am by no means able 
to supply the demand. You speak of the compara¬ 
tive fineness of the Rambouillet and Paular wool. 
I have no means by which I can form an opinion 
in this respect, but will only say that I have sold 
the wool from my Paular flock this year, to a 
manufacturer for 40 cents per pound ; being $2.12|- 
per fleece. Perhaps the Rambouillet wool is very 
much finer. (</.) 
We do not claim that the Paular is as fine as 
the full-blood Saxony; but the weight of fleece 
we believe equal to any fine-woolled sheep now in 
America. Neither are they surpassed in beauty 
of form, weight of carcase, and strength of consti¬ 
tution, by any of the fine-woolled varieties that I 
have ever seen, or an account of which has fallen 
under my observation. R. A. Avery. 
(«). What Mr. Collins’ views about the purity 
of Merinos in this country are, we shall leave him 
