310 
AGES OF ANIMALS. 
“ Gentlemen,” said I, “ this man is imposing 
upon you; that buck is upward of fifty years old.” 
The chairman of the committee smiled, and 
some of the other members looked as though they 
thought a deranged man should not be permitted 
to interrupt their proceedings. I was not disturbed 
at this, for I was enjoying in anticipation the tri¬ 
umph I was about to achieve over them by the 
aid of the Albany Cultivator. The chairman made 
a remark, designed to illustrate the absurdity of 
my supposition, that a sheep could live fifty years; 
whereupon, I drew from my pocket the August 
number of the Albany Cultivator, and at page 134 
read to the committee, as follows:— 
“ The ages of all horned sheep may he known 
by their horns , which show a ring annually to the 
end of their lives.” 
“ Now,” said I, “ gentlemen, be good enough to 
count the rings on that buck’s horns, and you will 
find, as I have, that they are over fifty !” 
This was the moment of my triumph. It was, 
however, but for a moment. I found that knowl¬ 
edge, such as I derived from the Albany Cultiva¬ 
tor, was doomed to be trampled upon by ignorance. 
The chairman said bluntly, that they knew more 
about sheep than all that, and that what I had 
read was “ book-farming,” which they did not 
think much of, and walked on, leaving me to be 
laughed at by a set of ignorant boys, for saying 
that a sheep was more than fifty years old. I 
know, however, that you, Mr. Editor, will more 
properly appreciate such knowledge, and will, 
without questioning this mode of determining the 
ages of “ horned sheep,” admit that it is new to 
you. 
Again, in the next paragraph of the same arti¬ 
cle, the editors, speaking of the mode of ascertain¬ 
ing the ages of cattle, remark, that “ horns are 
shed at the end of three years, and they are re¬ 
placed by other horns, which, like the second teeth, 
always remain.” 
Is it possible, said I to myself, when I read this 
paragraph, that I have been familiar with young 
stock from my childhood, and never have noticed 
this curious fact! It must, however, be so; for here 
it is in black and white, in the Albany Cultivator; 
though I am sure they have neglected to state 
another curious fact necessarily connected with 
this, but which they undoubtedly know, and that 
is, the new horns spring out like mushrooms in 
one night , as large as the horns shed ; for all my 
three-year-old stock have new horns, larger than 
those they had last winter. Thus I satisfied my¬ 
self, for the want of that accurate observation which 
would have led me long ago to know this curious 
phenomenon. Having, however, learned it, I was 
determined to have a little of that sort of half-mali¬ 
cious enjoyment which arises from showing that 
you know more than your neighbors; and more¬ 
over, I thought this upon the whole justifiable, 
from the fact that they had refused to take the 
Cultivator, though I had from year to year urged 
them to do it. So with the August number of 
that “ valuable paperfi as all the correspondents 
say, in my pocket, 1 happened over to my next neigh¬ 
bor’s, and found him with his three boys, situated 
exactly right for displaying my knowledge. They 
were carting out the compost-heap upon the mead¬ 
ow, for top dressing, with a pair of three-year-old 
steers before the old oxen, by way of training them 
more perfectly. After a few common-place re¬ 
marks, I asked him if he knew those steers shed 
their horns next spring? and that all cattle shed 
their horns at three years old ? The old gentle¬ 
man’s shovel at once rested upon the ground ; his 
under jaw fell a little; and after gazing at me for 
nearly a minute, with an inexpressible wonder de¬ 
picted in his face, he said, “ What upon airth are 
you talking about ?” The boys seemed ready to 
roar with laughter; but respect for the old gentle¬ 
man, and perhaps a little for myself, restrained 
them. I told him it was truly so, and I could 
prove it; and again with an air of confident trk 
umph, drew forth the August number of the Al¬ 
bany Cultivator, and read the passage above quo¬ 
ted, remarking that though such knowledge was 
of no very great practical benefit, still it was pleas¬ 
ant to understand the peculiar habits of the ani¬ 
mals with which we are so familiar, and that 
his ignorance of this curious fact, showed how 
much he had lost by not following my advice, and 
taking the Cultivator. But here again I was met 
by the incredulity of ignorance. The old gentle¬ 
man maintained there was no such thing as young 
cattle shedding their horns, and said if I had no bet¬ 
ter reason than that to urge in favor of his taking 
the Cultivator, he should never take it, adding the 
usual sneer upon “ book-farming.” 
Now Mr. Editor, will you aid me in this matter, 
and give me the result of your observation on the 
method of determining the age of “ horned sheep” 
by the “ rings on their horns;” and especially give 
me some further proof that cattle shed their horns 
at the “ end of three years, which are replaced by 
other horns, which, like the second teeth, always 
remain,” so that I may convince my obstinate 
neighbor of a fact which he has failed to notice 
through a long life, though during all that time he 
has been familiar with cattle of all ages. 
A Learner. 
P. S. Since writing the foregoing, the October 
number of the Albany Cultivator has come to 
hand, and I learn from a note of the editors on the 
first page, tljat my ignorance of the import of com¬ 
mon language has led me into an error, and that 
I shall be obliged to explain to my neighbor, lest 
through that ignorance the reputation of the Culti¬ 
vator should suffer. I shall tell him that the 
“ shedding of horns” means, that they become a 
little “loosened” at the end of three years, and 
that by “being replaced by other horns, which, 
like the second teeth, always remain,” means, that 
the old horns only become tight again ! By the 
way, how very interesting and wonderful is this 
obliging habit on the part of the horns, to become 
“loosened annually, so as to allow a lengthening 
of the bone of the horn,” as without this obliging 
habit, “ growth would be difficult, if not impossi¬ 
ble.” Query. Is it not owing to an absence of this 
obliging habit on the part of the horn toward the 
bone, that the Durhams have such short horns ? 
I will only add, that as the editors of the Culti¬ 
vator speak of the “ shedding of teeth” in the same. 
