41876 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
13 
' v _ The Black-Faced Scotch Sheep. 
A recent importation of Black-faced Sheep from 
Scotland, by a resident of the western plains, has 
tended to bring this hardy and useful race into 
notice. A flock of these sheep has been kept in 
Illinois for some 
years past with suc¬ 
cess, and they have 
proved themselves 
well adapted to the 
climate and soil of 
that locality. These 
sheep will be still 
more suitable for 
the mountains, val¬ 
leys, and plains of 
Colorado, and the 
territories further 
north, and also for 
the Alleghany 
ranges, than for the 
rich pastures of Il¬ 
linois. This race is 
remarkably hardy, 
and for some cen¬ 
turies have been ac¬ 
customed to subsist 
on the coarsest fare, 
and in the most 
exposed situations. 
Used to the most 
violent snow storms, 
they are well able to 
take care of them¬ 
selves, under condi¬ 
tions where no other 
sheep could survive. Cases have been known in 
which portions of a flock, caught in a sweeping 
snow storm, have been overwhelmed in the drifts, 
and yet have come out safely, after an imprison¬ 
ment of many days. In case of a sudden storm 
they instinctively crowd together, and as the snow 
gathers about them they push and pack it in a com¬ 
pact wall around them, until finally they are en¬ 
closed as by the sides and roof of a cave. Here they 
remain until they are discovered by the keen scent 
of the shepherd’s dog, or until the snow thaws 
sufficiently to allow them to break through and 
escape. Even the lambs will survive hardships 
that few full grown 
sheep of other breeds 
could resist. These 
sheep are small and 
active ; the horns of 
the ram are large and 
spirally twisted, while 
in the ewe they are 
smaller, and are often 
wanting. The form 
is robust, and the 
flesh remarkably suc¬ 
culent and palatable, 
possessing a peculiar 
venison flavor, which 
causes the mutton to 
be preferred to all 
other kinds by those 
•accustomed to it. 
The weight of the 
carcass is about 60 
lbs. at four years of 
age; when well fed 
and cared for, from 
an early age, this 
weight may be large¬ 
ly exceeded. The 
fleece yields three 
pounds of washed 
wool, of medium 
length, and coarse fiber, and is in demand for 
carpets and coarse cloths. When care is taken to 
select for breeding those animals which have the 
best fleeces, very considerable improvement can 
be made in the character of the wool. 
There is no doubt that, with the excellent pas¬ 
ture furnished throughout the year by our western 
plains, a rapid improvement could be made in 
these sheep, and an acclimated breed obtained, 
which would be very valuable for the production 
of flesh, and also wool that would be suitable for 
our home manufactures of the less fine woollens. 
As an animal for crossing upon other breeds, it is 
not a success, except with the Southdown. It has 
Jersey Cow “Maggie Mitchell.” 
AN IMPORTED BLACK-FACED SCOTCH SHEEP. 
been used in this way with the effect of producing 
handsome sheep, with very black faces and legs, 
and a good, close, useful fleece, and excellent, very 
hardy and thrifty early lambs. There can be little 
doubt that this breed could be used with profit to 
improve the pool Mexican sheep, which are com¬ 
mon in the far west, and to produce a better carcass 
than the cross with the Merino, even if the fleece 
is not so valuable. In Scotland these sheep are 
kept in large flocks, one proprietor owns 40,000, and 
there are very many flocks of over 5,000. 
They rarely reach maturity upon their native 
pastures, being generally passed through several 
JERSEY COW MAGGIE MITCHELL,” OWNED BY M. Y. TILDEN, NEW LEBANON, N, 
hands before they reach their final destination—the 
markets of the English cities. In their migrations 
they are made to pasture for a season, or to con¬ 
sume turnips, upon which they are folded, and are 
often fattened upon oil-cake-meal on some of the 
highly farmed English estates. They are brought 
to market at maturity, or when 3 to 4 years old. 
The portrait here given is from a photograph of 
the Jersey cow “Maggie Mitchell,” owned by Mr. 
M. Y. Tilden, of New Lebanon, N. Y. This cow is 
an extraordinarily large butter producer, and in this 
respect she is prob 
ably not surpassed, 
if equalled, by any 
other in the country. 
She was bred by Mr. 
Thomas Fitch, of 
New London,Conn., 
and sired by his bull 
“General Scott.” 
She now weighs 
1,020 pounds. She 
gave from April 
12th, 1874, to Jan. 
1st, 1875, 6,5061 lbs. 
of milk, and after 
the latter date, be¬ 
fore the year ex¬ 
pired, enough more 
to bring her yield 
within the year up 
to 7,500 lbs. An at¬ 
tack of garget re¬ 
duced her yield at 
least 500 lbs. She 
“ came in ” the past 
season on the first 
of September, and 
on pasture alone, 
was giving in Octo¬ 
ber, at the rate of 
1,000 pounds of milk 
per month. Her public reputation was made in 1873, 
when in the first 15 days of September, she made 
35 lbs. 11 ounces of solid packed butter, which was 
soon afterwards exhibited at the N. Y. State Fair at 
Albany. Previously, in July of the same year, when 
she was yielding 38 lbs. of milk daily, a trial of her 
butter yield was made for one week, the first seven 
milkings produced 9 lbs. 6 ounces of butter, or at 
the rate of 181 lbs. per week. Some thunder show¬ 
ers happening the latter half of the week, the test 
was not continued. In this test one pound of but¬ 
ter was produced from 6°/io quarts of milk. An¬ 
other and \ery careful test was made the same sea¬ 
son in the month of 
August, in the pres¬ 
ence of Col. M. C. 
Weld and Dr. F. M. 
Hexamer, two gentle¬ 
men whose testimony 
is beyond doubt. The 
cow was milked in 
the presence of these 
gentlemen, early in 
the morning, and the 
milk, w r hich weighed 
161 lbs.. was cooled 
in a tub of cold wa¬ 
ter, and immediately 
churn eel. The result 
was a pound and a 
quarter of butter 
from this half day’s 
milking. The cow 
had been milked as 
usual the previous 
evening, in the pres¬ 
ence of Messrs. Weld 
and Hexamer. Mag¬ 
gie is a fine looking, 
good sized cow, fawn 
and white in color; 
the fawn shading to 
dark brown on the 
fore-quarters and about the head; skin very yel¬ 
low ; body capacious ; limbs fine; head bony and 
haudsome. She has a rather large bag, evenly quar¬ 
tered, rich in color, with large milk veins and broad 
and high milk mirror. Altogether she has the look 
of the good milk and butter cow which she is, but 
there is nothing in her appearance that any ona 
