1871.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
215 
I think that picture of Shropshire-Down 
sheep in the April number of the Agriculturist 
is the best I ever saw; and I am glad these 
magnificent sheep are to be in Central Park. I 
suppose the design is to keep specimens of all 
the leading breeds of sheep. Until 1857, the 
Shropshire-Downs were comparatively un¬ 
known. The Royal Agricultural Society that 
year offered a special price for the best sliort- 
wooled sheep, not South-Down. This brought 
out the Shropshire-Down sheep, and the late 
George Adney, of Harley, was the most suc¬ 
cessful exhibitor, winning the first prize, if I 
mistake not, with “ Old Patentee,” one of the 
ancestors of the Central Park sheep. I once 
spent several days on Mr. Adney’s farm. He 
was a good specimen, though rather a rough 
one, of the plain, practical English farmer. He 
had then a splendid flock of sheep, but I ques¬ 
tion if the thought ever occurred to him that 
he and his sheep would ever become celebrated. 
He worked for years on his quiet farm, improv¬ 
ing his flock, without dreaming of fame or for¬ 
tune. The success of the Shropshire sheep at 
the “ Royal ” took England by surprise, but I 
question if any one was more surprised than 
Adney himself. Previous to the fair, these 
sheep could have been bought for the price of 
mutton; afterwards they were worth whatever 
the breeders chose to ask. “ George,” as he was 
familiarly called, was a “ character,” and many 
stories are told of him. He would not sell his 
ewes to any of his neighbors. Lord Wenlock 
had an estate in the neighborhood, but was per¬ 
sonally unknown to Mr. Adney. One day a 
gentleman called to look at Mr. Adney’s sheep, 
and said he would like to buy some. Not 
knowing him, “George” thought he was a 
stranger, and told him he would sell him some; 
“ but,” said he, “I shall want the money down.” 
The stranger, who proved to be a capital judge, 
selected out a lot of good ewes, and the price 
was agreed upon, and he stepped into the house 
to pay for them. He wrote out a check, signed 
“Wenlock,” and handed it to Mr. Adney. 
“You don’t call this money,” said George. 
“Wenlock is the name of a town; anybody can 
sign a check Wenlock.” “But that is my 
name,” replied the stranger. “I am Lord 
Weulock.” “ You ben, ben you ?” said 
George; “then you can’t have none of my 
sheep.” At one of the fairs where Mr. Adney 
exhibited his sheep, the late Prince Albert 
visited the show grounds before the general 
public was admitted. Coming with a number 
of other distinguished persons to Mr. Adney’s 
pen, he stopped to examine the sheep, and 
called particular attention to their peculiar 
merits. George was greatly excited, and as 
the Prince dwelt first on the importance of this 
“ point,” and then on that, he could hardly con¬ 
trol himself. At length the Prince alluded in 
high praise to one of the best features of the 
sheep, when George could hold in no longer, 
but gave the Prince a hearty slap on the back, 
exclaiming, “You ben a judge of sheep,you ben.” 
The Shropshire-Downs are of a mixed origin, 
and it is doubtful whether they are entitled to 
be regarded as a thoroughly established breed. 
They have many excellent points—will fat more 
easily than the South-Downs, and their mutton 
is of better quality than the Leicesters, though 
not equal in this respect to the South-Downs, 
while their wool is now not as valuable as that 
of the Leicesters, Lincolns and Cotswolds. 
There have been several importations of Shrop- 
shire-Dowus into the United States and Canada 
during the last dozen years, but I do not know 
how they have succeeded. 
The Deacon has always condemned my steel 
plows; and I do not know of anything that 
surprised or pleased me more than to find that 
this spring the Deacon was plowing with a steel 
plow. He still contends that for plowing hard, 
dry land, the cast-iron plow is the best; “ but,” 
said he, “ I must say I never had a handier plow 
for putting in spring crops.” I shall next ex¬ 
pect to see the Deacon bringing home a load of 
two-inch pipe tiles, and commence ditching. He 
has very decided opinions of his own, but, like 
other sensible men, the Deacon will adopt a 
new thing when he is convinced of its value. 
My English friend is satisfied that no am¬ 
monia is escaping from the manure heap, and 
yet it is not covered with soil or any other ab¬ 
sorbent. We pump up the water that soaks 
into the tank back on to the heap, and I never 
saw manure ferment better. There can be no 
loss either from leaching or evaporation, and it 
will be in capital condition for root crops or for 
top-dressing meadow land after hay harvest. 
The high wages and low price of produce 
are having their legitimate effect. Farmers 
are employing much less labor than formerly, 
and putting in fewer crops. And I never knew 
so many farms being let out to “work on 
shares.” In the present condition of affairs, 
this is perhaps the better plan, but rented farms 
invariably deteriorate. As long as labor is so 
high, we must lessen the quantity of plowed 
land, and especially of hoed crops, and increase 
the area in grass and clover. This will make 
the land richer, and in the end we shall grow 
as much grain on far less land, and consequent¬ 
ly with far less labor. I think this will be the 
solution of the difficulty. 
Manure in Illinois. 
A correspondent of the American Agricul¬ 
turist at Decatur, Ill., writes: “ I presume you 
do not often have Illinois farmers write you 
concerning manure. I have for three years 
hauled all the manure I make upon my mead¬ 
ows, and find that the amount of grass is 
nearly doubled ; and not only this, but during 
our dry, hot time in summer, the grass on land 
manured looks greener, and the ground seems 
to retain moisture better. From this experi¬ 
ence I am led to think that our land, which in 
grass (clover and timothy), usually requires 
three acres to the bullock, can be improved so 
that two acres will carry a bullock, and do it 
finely; and I would ask you if, in the event I 
continued manuring my apparently rich, black 
prairie soil, there is a likelihood of one acre 
carrying a steer? On corn ground the ma¬ 
nure appears to show its effect more the second 
year than the first, and, as we com our land 
constantly, is there not a great chance for all of 
it to need manure ? How much some of your 
Eastern farmers w'ould like to be situated as 
we are. A number of men here buy and feed 
mauy thousand bushels corn, and feed it on 
their farm with what they raise, and the man¬ 
ure from all could be applied to the grass and 
corn ground; but few make any use of it.” 
Remarks .—We should be glad to hear from 
our Western readers in answer to these ques¬ 
tions. Top dressing is unquestionably a grand 
means of enriching grass land; and the advan¬ 
tage is not merely the absolutely greater quantity 
produced during the season, but in the improved 
quality of the grass, and in giving a more 
steady growth throughout the season. We 
have observed the same effects as our corres¬ 
pondent. Top-dressed grass will keep green, 
and afford a fair bite during periods of drouth, 
when the grass on ordinary pastures is dried up. 
We do not think that the grass on the rich, 
black prairie soils is likely to be as fattening as 
that grown on the rich, clay, permanent pas¬ 
tures, known as “ bullock land.” But where 
corn is as cheap as it usually is in Illinois, this 
defect may be advantageously obviated by feed¬ 
ing the steers a little corn every day while 
grazing. We believe the time is coming if not 
already come, when the farmers of the West 
will find it highly justifiable to save and apply 
all the manure they can make.—E d. 
- • < — rnm+mmm > «a» 
Large Turkeys and Turkey Breeding). 
# * 
A passion for extra size is one of the weak¬ 
nesses of the American mind. Fat men’s clubs 
show the national drift. In what other nation 
would it be possible to associate men simply on 
their avoirdupois merit? Where else should 
a man be most highly considered, because lie 
could show the most adipose matter laid upon 
his bones ? In the decisions given at our fairs, 
weight is not only an important item, but the 
one thing needful. In a scale of one hundred 
points, weight would be the equivalent of fifty, 
in the minds of most judges. It is the big 
swine, the big pumpkin, and the largest fat ox 
that takes the premium. Economy of fatten¬ 
ing, or the process of production, is seldom in¬ 
quired after. The same bad taste is likely to 
affect the decisions in our poultry shows, un¬ 
less the managers insist upon a more whole¬ 
some standard. A large, well-developed bird, 
of maximum size, is desirable. A monster is not, 
for any conceivable purpose, except to excite 
wonder and draw the crowd. We raise poultry 
chiefly for the table. What the producer wants 
in his stock is good quality of flesh, early ma¬ 
turity, and capacity to make the most flesh out 
of a given amount of food. A turkey, weigh¬ 
ing fifteen pounds, is just as good for the table 
as one weighing thirty; and most housekeepers 
would prefer them under twelve pounds. In 
most markets the lighter weights would bring 
the higher price. It is only in the region of 
large hotels and boarding-houses that the very 
large birds bring an extra price. For what ob¬ 
ject, then, do we want large breeding birds, 
and how large do we want them ? It takes 
about three years for a turkey to attain his 
largest weight. If at twelve months a gobbler- 
reach thirty pounds live -weight, at two years 
he would reach thirty-five, and at three years 
forty, or a little more. But it is rare to get a 
male bird above forty pounds, and then it is gen¬ 
erally by some process of stuffing that destroys 
his stamina and oftentimes his life. This weight 
is excelled sometimes ; but about the time one 
thinks he is almost sure of a forty-five pounder, 
the prodigy sickens and dies. It may be as¬ 
sumed, then, that forty pounds is about the 
limit to which a vigorous turkey-cock may be 
safely carried, and from half to two-thirds of 
that weight is the last safe limit for the hens. 
With breeders of this size, and a little under, 
we will get large, strong chicks, that will econ¬ 
omize food, and mature earlier than the off¬ 
spring of common-sized birds. No bird yields 
more quickly to treatment than the turkey. 
The influence of a large-sized gobbler in a flock 
is immediately visible in the increased size of 
the chicks. The introduction of wild blood 
increases the hardiness of the j-oung. A larger 
proportion of the eggs will hatch, and a much 
larger number of young will be likely to grow 
