340 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
gence, very unfavorably with the mowers with 
whom I used to be familiar in other days. They 
used sometimes to sit down under the walnut 
tree, but no longer than their employer sat with 
them; and when they rose, and made a fresh 
attack on the tall grass, how rapidly it fell, and 
how' “ tight I had to spring to it,” to keep up 
with them in spreading it! You, Mr. Senior 
Editor, will understand the terms I use, if some 
of your college-learned readers do not. 
One looks in vain here for the fields of Indian 
corn which give so much beauty to the Ameri¬ 
can agricultural landscape. The growing crops 
are wheat, oats, barley, peas, and beans. Of 
the last mentioned, the species cultivated is the 
one I used to hear called the Spanish bean. Tt 
is raised for the pigs. I have seen but one field 
of wheat which a Yankee would call “stout.” 
The hedges present a less beautiful appear¬ 
ance than I expected. In many places, they 
seem to bo suffering from a blight, and they do 
not form so effective a fence as I supposed. I 
have seen very few' that I should regard as ef¬ 
fective protectors of crops. The English cows 
must be like the English people. They have 
been so long accustomed to restrictions, that 
they never think of doing many things which it 
is in their power to do. 
We have often seen flocks of sheep and herds 
of cattle driven along the highway in England, 
on each side of which was high standing wheat, 
oats, barley, and grass, without a sign of a fence 
for miles; and yet the flocks and herds marched 
orderly along without diverging to the right or 
left to steal a mouthful. They were usually 
preceded by a dog, and sometimes a shepherd 
on a donkey, with another or two bringing up 
the rear, or occasionally passing along the side 
of the herd or flock, to see that all was in order. 
They would follow their dog or donkey leader 
as implicitly as cavalry soldiers their bugleman. 
A Yankee cow would walk through or leap 
over most of the hedges, and not be conscious 
of having performed any extraordinary feat. 
Near the railways, and in some other places, 
there is a considerable amount of post and rail 
fence. 
It strikes me that there is a disproportioned 
quantity of land devoted to pasturage; but I 
presume the farmers know what is for their in¬ 
terest. The day is gone by, when men must 
devote their lands to pasturage or w'heat, as the 
government shall see fit. You know that in 
Fiance men have in former times, been put to 
death for raising cattle instead of corn. The age 
of free trade has come.— Correspondence of the 
Journal of Commerce. 
The reason of their devoting so much land to 
pasturage is, that feeding cattle and sheep is a 
more profitable husbandry than raising grain, 
&c. Since the establishment of free trade in 
Great Britain, they can import a large portion 
of their consumption of wheat and flour cheaper 
than they can raise it. As for Indian corn, it 
will scarcely ripen in that cool, humid climate; 
they consequently must import all they con¬ 
sume. 
One of the Horses. —“The Yankee Horse- 
Swapper in Old Kentucky" must have been put 
into the “Drawer” with some ultimate design 
upon the risibles of the readers of its multifari¬ 
ous contents: 
The Kentuckian, ready for a trade, exchanges 
his “Sorrel” for the pedler’s “Old Gray ;” but 
finding the latter indisposed to move a peg after 
he has secured him, he denounces the Yankee 
as a swindler, who only laughs at and tantalizes 
him in return. 
Presently the cute peddler mounts his prize, 
but “Sorrel” is as immovable as the Mammoth 
Cave. After trying a long.time in vain to start 
the obstinate animal, the Kentuckian consoles 
him with: 
“ Stranger, you kin start him, ef you’ll only 
bring some shavin’s and kindle a fire under 
him! That’s the way I get him going in the 
mornings!” 
—-—- 
THE SOUTH-DOWN SHEEP SHOW AT 
BABRAHAM. 
It has been well known for some time past 
that, for this season at any rate, Mr. Jonas 
Webb would not occupy his usual position as 
an exhibitor at the meeting of the Royal Agri¬ 
cultural Society. Whatever reason may have 
led to such a determination, it could scarcely 
fail to give additional interest to his own gather¬ 
ing, held, as announced, on Thursday last. Be¬ 
yond the fact that this was the only opportunity 
for inspecting the picked animals of his famous 
flock, the visitor had good grounds for assuming 
that the show might be even better than it yet 
has been. There could be no reserve for the 
Great National Exhibition of the kingdom, and 
thus many rams might cotne into the letting at 
Babraham, which under former circumstances, 
it would not have been politic to put up. Any 
anticipations of this kind were amply realized. 
There were never, wc believe, so many sheep 
entered at the Babraham show ; and never did 
those hired average a better price. We have 
thus an ample guarantee as to the continued 
excellence of Mr. Webb’s sort; and this autho¬ 
rity was, perhaps, of a more satisfactory charac¬ 
ter than it invariably has been. Ranging in 
some cases to extraordinary biddings, there was 
still wanting that go-a-head decision to have 
certain lots on any terms, which made the meet¬ 
ing of last year so especially remarkable. It 
is true, amongst the company we met at Babra¬ 
ham, on Thursday, America and France had 
both their representatives; the latter in two 
gentlemen officially connected with the ad¬ 
vancement of agriculture in that country. 
These, however, unlike some of their predeces¬ 
sors from “foreign parts,” were content to take 
rams, to be had at comparatively moderate 
sums. It was the home breeder who on this 
occasion contributed chiefly to the business of 
the meeting—it was he who gave the long 
prices—it was such men as the Duke of Rich¬ 
mond, Mr. Lugar, Mr. Hudson, Mr. Sexton, Mr. 
Rigden, Mr. Turner, and others, who, by their 
presence and support, afforded us some tangible 
proof as to the real merit of the Babraham flock. 
Fashion, the ready servant of established 
success, may always do much, as often enough 
stand answerable for more than can be really 
justified. This of itself, backed with a good 
word well applied, may tempt the untutored 
stranger to the highest flights; but this alone 
will never become authority. It is when we 
sec “ the Down men” returning here, again and 
again, for fresh blood, that w'e come to record 
the Babraham sheep as still the first of his 
breed—however altered or improved since his 
introduction to the flat lands of Cambridgeshire 
one of the most renowned of the Sussex breed¬ 
ers readily admitted, that it was by the aid of 
Mr. Webb’s breed he had only the other day 
been able to carry off all the prizes at a meet¬ 
ing in his own county. 
It is not our purpose here to enlarge on the 
features of a meeting, the fame of which, as we 
had last w r eek to remark in announcing it, is 
already world-wide. On no occasion, certainly, 
could the foreigner be more -welcome, as on none 
could he see more thoroughly realized the hearty 
hospitality and cheery comfort of an English 
home. To the gentry and agriculturists of the 
county the occasion is something of a general 
holiday, while many we noticed from distant 
quarters had scarcely any more “just cause” 
than a day’s pleasure for their attendance. 
The following statistics connected with the 
day’s letting may be not without their value for 
future reference: 
Let at the hammer, 75 sheep for 1,801 
guineas, thus averaging about £25 4s. 3d. each ; 
an improvement in every way upon former 
years, to be best gathered from the following 
table: 
Number Let. 
Average Pi 
ice. 
1851, 
62 
£22 
2 
6 
1852, 
69 
22 
3 
1 
1853, 
71 
22 
6 
3 
1854, 
75 
25 
4 
3 
The 75 sheep “called in” were put up in the 
order we give them, and fetched the following 
prices. 
The 
number is 
that they bore in the 
catalogue : 
No. 
Guineas. 
No. 
Guineas. 
78 
- 
- 16 
217 
- 
- 
25 
234 
- 
102 
206 
- 
21 
228 
- 
- 30 
204 
- 
- 
28 
231 
- 
45 
232 
- 
40 
135 
- 
- 20 
207 
- 
- 
29 
109 ' 
- 
25 
216 
- 
21 
6 
- • 
- 50 
90 
- 
- 
9 
34 
41 
25 
- 
14 
123 
- 
- 50 
35 
- 
- 
51 
205 
- 
31 
209 
- 
16 
219 
- 
- 22 
33 
- 
- 
15 
72 
- 
34 
38 
- 
16 
208 
- 
- 23 
132 
- 
- 
24 
186 
- 
20 
223 
- 
20 
30 
- 
- 41 
229 
- 
- 
44 
47 
- 
20 
77 
- 
12 
37 
- 
- 26 
134 
- 
- 
9 
69 
- 
14 
172 
- 
15 
122 
- 
- 71 
190 
- 
- 
12 
59 
- 
28 
152 
- 
11 
116 
- 
- 41 
159 
- 
- 
13 
154 
- 
15 
40 
- 
21 
237 
- 
- 25 
48 
- 
- 
18 
236 
- 
25 
221 
- 
32 
61 
- 
- 16 
36 
- 
20 
214 
- 
11 
158 
- 
13 
156 
- 
- 18 
110 
- 
- 
30 
80 
- 
21 
202 
- 
9 
86 
- 
- 17 
215 
- 
- 
22 
155 
- 
9 
21 
- 
11 
131 
. 
- 11 
224 
- 
- 
15 
117 
_ 
80 
119 
- 
39 
5 
_ 
- 6 
192 
- 
- 
11 
73 
- 
20 
79 
- 
11 
189 
- 
- 12 
The highest-priced sheep was a yearling, one 
of the six picked of the whole flock. He was 
the second called in at the reserve price of 50 
guineas, but knocked down to Mr. Lugar, of 
Hengrave, Bury St. Edmund’s, for 102 guineas. 
The highest price last year, and the highest 
price at which, we believe, a sheep was ever 
known to let, w'as 130 guineas, the hirer being 
an American, Mr. Jonathan Thorne, of New- 
York. 
- e • - 
SURGERY AMONG THE FOWLS, 
Dr. S-came to settle at Bloomfield, half a 
mile north of what is now Piety Hill, or Bir¬ 
mingham, in 1820, and commenced farming and 
the practice of medicine. A year or two after¬ 
wards, a neighbor, as he was then called, a man 
who lived about eight miles off, with whom the 
doctor was at variance, called him about the 
middle of a bitter winter night, to go to his 
house and mend a broken leg. The Doctor was 
never backward in obeying a professional call; 
and was under way in short order. Arriving 
at the place, he found the patient to be an old 
gander, who sure enough had a broken leg; so 
he set out to work, made splints and bandages, 
put the leg in place, and went home leaving Mr., 
Gander, as comfortable as could be expected. 
In due time, the owner of the Gander was pre¬ 
sented with a bill of $10, for surgical services 
which he refused to pay. Dr. S-sued him 
before a justice, recovered the amount with costs; 
the gander appealed, or his owner did for him ; 
the judgment was affirmed with new costs, the 
gander took another and last appeal to the Su¬ 
preme Court, where the judgment below was 
affirmed, with new costs, from winch Court an 
execution issued for $10 damages, and $150 
costs of suit, which was levied on the farm and 
finally paid, leaving the world in doubt which 
was the greatest goose of the two — the gander 
or his owner.— Dayton Empire. 
