SAXON-MERINO SHEEP.—ODD ROWS OF CORN. 
167 
dary of Texas, and 150 miles from the sea, every 
planter will make his own sugar, by a small mill 
of three vertical rollers, made of wood, (except the 
cog-wheels, which are made of cast-iron,) the cen¬ 
tre roller turning one on each side, this taking the 
cane twice through; as after passing one side, it 
is returned by the opposite roller. These domestic 
mills cost $25; the two iron kettles cost according 
to the size, from $30 to $40 for both. This mill 
is worked by a single horse. A man and his 
wife, and a child or two, can manufacture in two 
or three days, from 2 to 4 flour-barrels of sugar, 
and it makes to himself and family a little season 
of festivity. In my next I shall speak of the man¬ 
ner of cultivating the sugar-cane. 
Thomas Spaulding. 
Sapelo Island , Ga. 
SAXON-MERINO SHEEP. 
Being engaged at the business of wool-growing 
in this part of the state, I have taken the liberty 
of sending for your inspection, a sample of wool 
from one of my bucks, which for fineness of fleece I 
think hard to beat, even by some of your veteran 
wool-growers of the north. My bucks were prin¬ 
cipally selected from the flocks of Mr. M. R. Cock- 
rill, near Nashville, Tennessee, who has been en¬ 
gaged at the business of growing of wool for 
the last 30 years, and whose flocks have sustained 
a high reputation for fineness of fleece. From my 
experience in the business, in this part of our wide 
country, I am convinced that this portion of the 
state of Mississippi, which is a dry and rolling 
country, is well adapted to the growing of fine 
wool. Sheep subsist here almost the entire year on 
the range in the woods, which is very extensive. 
The lands in this section of the country, and in 
an eastward direction, consist principally of a light 
sandy soil, not heavily timbered, and much open; 
the bushes being killed by annually burning out 
the dead grass and leaves which cover the ground 
in autumn. This climate appears to be admira¬ 
bly adapted to the nature of the Saxon-Merino, 
(the only variety of the Merino that I have yet 
tested,) the fibre of wool growing somewhat finer 
than it did on the same animal about two hundred 
miles north of this place, and evidently an enlarge¬ 
ment in the carcass of the progeny. My flock is 
acclimated, and I intend keeping a supply of fine 
bucks for the benefit of any of my friends who may 
wish to improve their flocks. 
Can you inform me whether or not a good shep¬ 
herd can be procured in your city, and one also 
that combines a thorough knowledge of shearing? 
If a foreigner, a Scotchman would be preferred. 
Saml. F. Christian. 
Holly Springs, Miss., Feb., 1844. 
The samples of wool received in the above, we 
have stated elsewhere, are very soft and fine, and 
compare favorably with our best Saxon-Merino 
wool produced at the north. As to a shepherd, 
we know of no one in particular at present, and 
shall be obliged if any of our friends who do, will 
correspond with Mr. Christian on the subject. 
ODD ROWS OF CORN. 
On page 26 of January number, you ask why 
an ear of corn with “21 rows exactly, neither 
more nor less,” should be termed “ anomalous ?” 
The reason why I should so consider it, is, that I 
have never yet (though I have in the course of 
my life counted probably thousands) seen an ear 
of com with an odd number of rows. 
Sam Weller, or some other one of Dickens’ 
characters, asks a man, “Did you ever see a dead 
donkey ? Did you ever see any man that ever saw 
a dead donkey ?” 
Now, Mr. Editor, until I have had the pleasure 
to see you, and I hope my thread will not be cut 
before I do, I can say that I have never yet seen 
the man who could say he had seen an ear of corn, 
the rows of which were not of even number. You 
may dismiss all doubt about having seen ears of 
corn with as many as 24 rows. Any one who cul¬ 
tivates the genuine yellow gourd-seed corn, long 
narrow grain shriveled at the top, and much re¬ 
sembling the seed of some gourds, can no doubt 
send you ears with 24 rows. That was a favorite 
corn with my father, who would not sell ten bush¬ 
els in the ear for less than six bushels of shelled 
corn l The usual allowance is one half, but he 
always told the purchaser if he was not satisfied to 
take it at that, he would have it shelled, and both 
parties must abide the result. He had his seed- 
corn from year to year selected from the whole 
mass, choosing always such, if the ears were per¬ 
fect, as had the greatest number of rows. I often 
when a boy assisted in the selection, but never 
met with a single instance, or ever heard of one, 
where the number of rows was an odd one. I 
have seen many ears ending with a less number 
than they began, but always with an even number. 
So too, you will see some ears grow larger at the 
top end, the season perhaps proving more con¬ 
genial just at the time when nature asserts her in¬ 
fluence, to finish that part of her process. 
As to the number of rows on an ear of corn, I 
have seen several bred in the way that has been 
already mentioned, which had 40 rows! I might 
not venture to say it, were it not that I once sent 
forty miles to get one, by way of demonstration, 
and that I can refer for the accuracy of my memory 
and statement, to one whose memory is the best I 
ever knew, and whose word was never yet doubt¬ 
ed—the time-honored and venerable Judge Gabri¬ 
el Duval. If you can send the ear of com to Wash¬ 
ington, “ with 21 rows exactly—neither more nor 
less,” it would be a curiosity in the Patent Office 
A story is told of a slave who was offered his 
freedom, on condition that at husking-time he 
could find an ear with an odd number, and it runs 
that when the corn was young in milk, he cut out 
one row, wrapped it up again, and that the scar 
could not be seen, and so he got free. J. S. S. 
Washington, Feb. 8, 1844. 
It is possible that we were mistaken in the num¬ 
ber of rows in the ear of corn alluded to above by 
our facetious correspondent; but, nevertheless, we 
think we were not; for, as before observed, we 
counted them twice. 
