138 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
cally so. I have been looking on for years 
with the deepest interest to see what should 
be the result of their experimenting. Their 
experiments have established beyond a doubt 
the perfect adaptation of this plant to the pur¬ 
pose of live fence in our climate. Owing to 
its peculiar growth, both in root and branch, 
it is not affected by the heat and drouth of 
our summers, as are the tap-rooted plants 
which form the beautiful hedges of England. 
At a late meeting of the Ohio State Board 
of Agriculture, composed of some of the 
most intelligent farmers of the State, a com¬ 
mittee was appointed to examine the hedges 
entered for premium, which resulted in the 
unanimous award to Mr. Jas. McGrew for the 
most perfect hedge in the State. 
In regard to the relative cost of the living 
fence, one who had ample opportunity, and 
has a farm of a quarter section, and full four 
miles of hedge indifferent stages growing 
upon it in Ohio says : 
“ In balancing my estimates of cost be¬ 
tween the hedge and rail fences on my place, 
I can not make it come out any other way 
than that I shall, on the whole be as well off 
at least, with the hedges, and a good man 
hired five months in the year to take care of 
them, as I should be with a wooden fence in 
point of cash cost. But, in point of security 
and beauty, there is of course no compari¬ 
son. But it will not cost me a fifth part of 
that labor, on an avergae, to take sufficient 
care of the hedges, even with the imperfect 
tools now in common use. 
Here then is a clear saving of $30 per 
annum, at the end of ten, or at most fifteen, 
years, there will accrue another saving of at 
least the whole cost of the rail fence, which 
will be decayed and gone, while the hedge 
will be better than ever before. Here, then, 
is another saving of $1,260 more, or $100 
per annum.” 
Let it be remembered that expenses can 
be lessened very considerably by farmers 
who live contiguously uniting and contract¬ 
ing for 8 or 10 miles per annum.” 
Having consented to act for McGrew, 
Leas, & Co., as general agent at St. Louis, 
and wishing to devote myself exclusively to 
growing hedges in this vicinity, any applica¬ 
tions from either side of the river for seed, 
plants or instructions shall receive prompt 
attention. Logan Sleeper. 
St. Louis, March 20th, 1855. 
THE RACE HORSE LEXINGTON. 
The New Orleans Picayune gives us the 
following description of this famous horse, 
that recently ran four miles in 7 minutes 10 f 
seconds: 
A blood bay, about 15 hands 3 inches high, 
with fore and hind feet and pasterns and a 
small portion of his hind legs above the pas¬ 
tern joints white ; his bones are not particu¬ 
larly large (except the back bone, which is 
unusually so) ; his muscle is abundant— 
clean, dry and sinewy, without any cum- 
berous flesh ; his ears, which are handsome 
and wide apart, are beautifully placed; his 
head, though not small, is clean, bony and 
handsome—his nostrils being large, the jaw¬ 
bone uncommonly wide and the jaws wide 
apart, affording abundant room for a clear 
and well detached throttle ; his left eye full 
and mild, though animated; his right eye has 
lost its convexity from disease ; a noble 
countenance, indicating good temper and 
disposition, for which he is remarkable ; his 
neck rises well from his shoulder and joins 
his head admirably. His shoulder has a very 
wide bone, very strong, well displayed, par¬ 
ticularly oblique, and rises sufficiently high 
at the withers, without any of that superflu¬ 
ous neck so frequently seen to surmount the 
shoulders two or three inches, which can 
not add to power or easy motion. His 
arms come out well from the body, are suffi¬ 
ciently wide apart for a good chest, and are 
long, muscular and strong. His back of 
medium length, coupling pretty well back ; 
a loin wide, slightly arched and very pow¬ 
erful. His body will bear the most rigid 
scrunity—it looks perfection, being ribbed in 
the best possible manner, and very deep 
throughout, which makes his legs appear 
short, while at the same time he has a great 
reach. His hips are not remarkably wide, 
though strong, and in the sweep down to, 
and embracing the hough, he really has no 
equal. His feet, though mostly white, are 
excellent, as are his legs, with good bone, and 
clean, strong, tendons and good proportions, 
uniting in their motion great ease and cor¬ 
rectness. His action can not be surpassed ; 
bold, free, elastic and full of power, and with 
his ease and elegance of action, and a re¬ 
markable running-like form throughout, he 
unites great beauty and grandeur. 
THE DOG. 
THE GREYHOUND 
Is the fleetest of all dogs ; his form indicates 
his power of speed, being more light and airy 
than the deer. He is principally used in 
“ coursing,” when he chases, by sight, the 
hare over the open country. The speed of 
the greyhound is very little inferior to the 
best horses, and in a broken country would 
probably outstrip the fleetest of them. Al¬ 
though this graceful animal hunts by sight 
only, his scent is very exquisite, as will be 
seen in the following anecdote : A hound, 
quite celebrated, was brought from Glasgow 
to Edinburgh in the boot of a coach, a dis¬ 
tance of forty-two miles. A few days after¬ 
ward she made her escape, and returned to 
her kennel. This hound must have followed 
the track she scented in the air in her jour¬ 
ney to Edinburgh. The greyhound was the 
favorite of the ancient Greeks ; his form fre¬ 
quently appears upon their best sculptures ; 
he was the inmate of their homes, and fed 
from the family table. The beauty of the 
form of the greyhound is wonderfully harmo¬ 
nious with the delicate sentiment so peculiar 
to all Grecian art, and under the training of 
that wonderful people their qualities were 
more fully develoyed than in modern times. 
THE SPANIELS. 
The group of dogs claiming the most at¬ 
tention is the one known as Spaniels, includ- 
specimens of the race most remarkablp for 
their docility and affectionate disposition. 
These good qualities are eminently combined 
with such unexceptionable beauty, that they 
are always favorites. Their fur is long and 
silky, sometimes curled or crisp; the ears 
are large and pendent, and the expression 
of the countenance pleasing and intelligent. 
THE WATER SPANIEL 
Belongs to this group, and is remarkable for 
his fondness for water. He is the able as¬ 
sistant of sportsmen in hunting the wild 
duck. It is supposed he was originally from 
Spain, and is probably descended from the 
large water-dog and English setter. From 
the moment he attaches himself to his own¬ 
er, the intensity of his affection is scarcely 
conceivable; and he is apparently never 
happy unless near his master’s person, rest¬ 
ing his head upon his foot, lying upon some 
portion of his apparel, with his eye intently 
fixed upon his master, and even studying the 
slightest expression of his countenance. 
THE SETTER 
Is supposed to be the spaniel, improved in 
size and beauty, and by many is preferred 
to the pointer, in pursuit of small game. He 
is one of the most artificial of dogs, not en¬ 
thusiastic in his disposition, and is some¬ 
what forgetful of his training. Toussenel, 
who is very meritorious and very French, 
speaking of the setter, has the following 
rhapsody, in which is concealed a great deal 
of truth: u The setter is a product of art, 
as much as the Queen Claude plum or double 
rose ; he is a dumb dog, grafted on the run¬ 
ning dog, and which returns to the wild stock, 
like the double rose, when the graft fails to 
take effect.” The setter has in his favor ele¬ 
gance of form, vigor of muscle, and power 
of thought; but he is not faithful, as has 
been too often asserted. The setter allows 
himself to beloved by greenhorns, but he 
never loves any other than the accomplished 
hunter. We remember in our youth of hav¬ 
ing often suffered from the contempt of a 
setter named Ajax, whom we courted every 
day with wings of fowls and other delicate 
attentions, and who flattered us in return by 
every expression of good-will while at the 
table, but in the field he no longer knew us 
Spirit of the Times. 
Sheep Shearing. —A patent has been 
granted to Palmer Lancaster, of Burr Oak, 
Mich., for nothing less than the shearing of 
sheep by machinery, instead of a pair of 
sheep-shears—the common way. The ma¬ 
chine, which is small and neat, is hung by a 
strap to the arm of the operator, and placed 
on the body of the sheep to be shorn. By 
simply turning a handle back and forth, and 
moving the machine over the body of the 
sheep, the wool is made to fly in double- 
quick time. It is well known that the most 
skillful hands at sheep-shearing do not cut 
the fleece even ; and besides, the skin of the 
animal is invariably clipped out by the 
shears in many spots. This instrument cuts 
the fleece rapidly and evenly, never cutting 
any part of the wool twice ; and it avoids 
cutting the skin of the animal ; it is there¬ 
fore a humane as well as a new contrivance. 
THE PHILOSOPHY OF CHIMNEYS. 
A recent number of the London Quarterly 
Review contains a readable and instructive 
article upon chimneys and their belongings. 
The writer is apparently a decided admirer 
of the open fire-place, as a genial enhancer 
of home joys, and while he admits its de¬ 
fects, and its annual chapter of accidents or 
annoyances, still thinks the enjoyment of 
the open fire to be too deeply seated (among 
Englishmen especially), to be greatly dis¬ 
turbed by these causes. But leaving this so¬ 
cial aspect of the open fire-place, which the 
weather just now would rob of all its charms, 
the writer gives much that is new in rela¬ 
tion to chimneys and the philosophy ot their 
action, some portions of which we condense 
for our columns. 
The chimney has been in use for four cen¬ 
turies. Existing remains prove that perpen¬ 
dicular flues were constructed in England as 
far back as in the twelth century. In draw¬ 
ings of the time of Henry III., chimneys of 
a cylindrical form are represented as rising 
considerably higher than the roof, and or¬ 
ders to raise the chimneys of the king’s 
houses were frequent in that reign. Never¬ 
theless, it was still the general custom, even 
in the fourteenth century, to retain the hearth 
in the middle of the room. When the wood 
was fairly ignited the smoke would not be 
great, and the central position of the fire 
was favorable to the radiation of heat. 
This method of warming the hall was con¬ 
tinued long after the fire-places with chim¬ 
neys had been erected in the smaller apart¬ 
ments. By the reign of Elizabeth the ad¬ 
vantages of the new system were so well 
appreciated, that ladies in their visits to 
their friends, if they could not be accommo¬ 
dated with rooms with chimneys, were fre¬ 
quently sent out to other houses, where 
they could enjoy the luxury. 
