90 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[Makch, 
planted close grows straight; its sap affords sugar, 
and its wood is similar in value to the other. Both 
are valuable as first crop trees to be removed when 
slower ones come on. The Sugar Maple is of much 
slower growth, especially when young; it will do 
well on rocky hill-sides as well as on rich prairies. 
The value of its sugar is well known, and as a fuel 
it is inferior only to hickory. 
Honey Locust, or three-thorned Acacia, is a 
quick grower, and'gives valuable timber and fuel. 
The Ash, both the White ( Fraxinus Americana ) 
and Black (F. sambucifoUa), stands first, among the 
trees producing hard and valuable timber, for rapid¬ 
ity of growth. In t.en or twelve years from the 
seed, these, when planted close, produce straight 
trunks of sufficient size (eight in. in diameter and 
25 or 30 feet high), for any of the many uses for 
which ash timber is needed on the farm. A few 
acres in ash will pay better than most farm crops. 
Chestnut is another quick growing tree, and 
some claim that it will give more wood in a given 
time than any other. It has the great merit of 
sending up shoots from the stump, after it is cut, 
and the plantation is thus continued. The wood is 
of little worth for fuel, but it is very durable, and 
much used for ornamental work. The nuts are al¬ 
ways in demand at a good price. 
European Larch. —This is one of the most val¬ 
uable of timber trees ; it grows rapidly and pro¬ 
duces wood that is practically indestructible. 
Sufficient on this for the present, was said last 
month. Among the slower growers, to he plant¬ 
ed with the quick growing ones, and ready to oc¬ 
cupy the space when those are removed, are : 
Brack Walnut, with wood always in demand., 
though the fruit is of little value. 
Hickory, or Shell-bark stands first as a fuel and 
its wood is valuable, while its nuts always sell 
well. The Pignut hickory has harder wood, but 
the nuts worthless. Another hickory is the 
Pecan-nut, the wood of which is less valuable 
thau that of the others, but the fruit brings a high 
price. It is best suited to southern localities. . 
Oaks should not be forgotten; all grow much 
better if protected by other trees when young. 
The White, Bur or Ovcrcup, Post, and Yellow 
Chestnut oaks are the most desirable. 
The Locust. —Notwithstanding the ravages of 
the borers, this tree is too valuable to he given up. 
It will grow well on land too poor for other valua¬ 
ble trees, and when planted in groves many trees 
escape the attacks of insects. v 
Ailanthus grows rapidly, makes useful timber, 
and good fuel. The odor at flowering time has 
created a prejudice against it; this lasts but a short 
time, and is of no consequence at a distance from 
the house. It is a very useful tree. 
Catalpa, where the winters are not too severe, 
grows rapidly, and its wood is but little inferior to 
that of the locust in durability. This and the Ai¬ 
lanthus are raised with great ease, and their merits 
have been strangely overlooked. The same is true 
of the Southern Cypress and Osage Orange, which 
should be planted for timber in mild climates. 
The Qypress, or Deciduous Cypress (Taxociium 
diatichum), is hardy at New York city ; its timber is 
.most durable, and young trees may be profitably 
grown for grape and other stakes, etc., while the 
wood for shingles and other uses is most valuable. 
Osage Orange, grows with- moderate rapidity, 
especially in the warmer parts of the country. Its 
wood is valued for wagon building, and for posts 
and railroad tics it is almost indestructible. 
But little space is left for the enumeration of 
Evergreens of value, for the usefulness of their 
timber, their cheerfulness in winter, and especially 
for the fact that as wind-breaks they arc as effective 
in winter as in summer. They are less planted 
than they would he were there not a general idea 
that they are difficult to manage. We shall show, 
in a future article, how they may be handled with-? 
out loss. For general utility wc place first the 
White Pine ( Finns Strobus ),' a native which is 
always beautiful, grows with fair rapidity, and its 
wood is more generally useful than that of any 
other tree; the supply is annually diminishing, 
while the price is increasing. The next most de¬ 
sirable species of pine for the planter is the 
Scotch Pine ( Pinus sylvestris ).—This makes 
itself quite at home in this country, and adapts 
itself to a great variety of soil. Its wood is about 
as valuable as that of the white pine. 
Norway Spruce (Abies exceha), is the most gen¬ 
erally planted evergreen in this country. It is one 
of the best for screens, as it is hardy and suited to 
nearly all situations; its wood in Europe occupies 
the same place that white pine does in this country. 
Arbor-yith5 ( Thuya occidental is), is a native spe¬ 
cies, also valued for screens ; it is more dense than 
the Norway spruce, and is of rather slower growth. 
The wood, incorrectly called white cedar, is durable. 
Bed Cedar was at one time highly praised as a 
desirable evergreen, but its popularity has waned, 
and it is at present justly regarded as inferior to 
those we have named. The catrdogues offer a long 
list of evergreens, but we have included here only 
those that are generally hardy and useful. How to 
get the trees, by raising from seed or buying, and 
manner of planting will be given in other articles. 
The Uocky Mountain Sheep. 
(See First Page.) 
The Engraving of the Rocky Mountain Sheep 
given upon the first page of this Dumber, is from a 
sketch taken from life by Mr. Wm. F. Cary, while 
on an expedition in the “far west.” This ani¬ 
mal was first described (1807) as the Siberian Arga¬ 
li, (Ovti Argali) ; later naturalists regard it as dis¬ 
tinct, and call it Oris montana; it is a true sheep, 
and not to be confounded with the so-called Rocky 
Mountain goat, which is probably a species of an¬ 
telope. It is found in the mountain ranges from 
the Rio Grande northward to California, Oregon, 
and Washington Territory, extending westward to 
the coast range, and the “ bad lands ” of Nebras¬ 
ka appear to be their eastern limit. The animal has 
a large'body, a full grown one weighing 350 lbs.; it 
is'clothed with a coarse hair in summer, much like 
that of the deer, which in winter is intermixed 
with a fine soft wool. The general color is a grayish- 
brown, which is darker in some portions, and light¬ 
er in others, especially around the head; the legs 
have a line of white on their rear edges, and the 
belly and a patch on the rump are white ; the tail is 
very short ; the hoofs, in shape much like those o£ 
tire antelopes, are black. The striking peculiarity 
of the animal is its horns, which are of enormous 
siza, and have given it the name of “Big Horn,” 
by which it is known to the mountain men. The 
bases of the horns nearly touch ; they rise from the 
root fora short distance, curving gently backwards, 
aud at the same time circling outward ; thus they 
describe rather more than half a circle, the apex 
being turned outwards ; the horns seem out of pro¬ 
portion to the size of the head; in section they 
are somewhat triangular. In an old animal they 
have measured 18 inches around the base, and 36 
inches long, following the curve ; the tips 19 inches 
apart; their weight, with the attached skull, 181 
lbs. ; the horns are of the same color as those of 
the common sheep, and marked with transverse 
wrinkles. The female has much smaller horns, on¬ 
ly 0 or 7 inches long. Mr. Cary states that he has 
seen them in flocks of 30 or 10, grazing near herds 
of buffalo and antelope; besides grass, they feed 
upon the bark of trees. When alarmed they at 
once take to the mountains, and tiiey are so very- 
shy that one may be in the locality where they 
abound, and see frequent “ sign ” without ever get¬ 
ting a sight of the animal. To get a shot at this 
game the hunter must get above it, as practiced 
by the chamois hunters of Europe. The flesh of 
the mountain sheep is much like that of mutton, 
but it is less fat, and has a “ gamey ” flavor relished 
by many. The meat, like that of the buffalo, is 
sometimes offered in the New York markets, and is 
served at the restaurants as a rarity. It would be 
interesting to see the result of crossing, this wild 
species with some of the breeds of domestic sheep? 
Ogden Farm Papers.—So. 73. 
BY GEORGE E. WAKING, JR., 
[Col. Waring furnished us with a paper of the 
usual length, but such is the crowded state of our 
columns, that we have been obliged to condense 
wherever it was possible, and as a part of his ar¬ 
ticle will be quite as seasonable another month, 
we reluctantly leave out a portion of it.—E d.] 
A correspondent inHlinois asks : “ What amount 
of milk can be depended on from a three-year-old 
Jersey for ten months, after coming in ?”— A. .■ 
Average per day six quarts, with the advantage 
over other breeds that it would be less during the 
early part of the milking, and much more during 
the last month. 
“ How much butter will they ordinarily make 
under fair treatment?”— A.: From 200 to 225 
pounds per annum....“ W'ill high grades, which are 
much cheaper than thorough-breds, be equally 
profitable ? ”— A. If of good quality thero will not 
be much difference so far as their butter products 
are concerned, but the difference in the value of 
their progeny would soon made up for the differ¬ 
ence in their original cost....“ Will not grades be 
found hardier, better feeders, and give more milk 
of nearly, or quite as good quality ? ”— A. The Jer¬ 
sey is perfectly hardy in all sections of our coun¬ 
try, as much so as any cow we have, and when 
dried off will fatten as readily as any other animal 
having the same tendency to the secretion of fat 
with the milk. I should say, that, as a rule, in pro¬ 
portion as the quantity of milk is increased, will 
its quality be reduced, and that with a considerable 
infusion of good blood, any falling off in quantity 
will be accompanied by an improvement in quality. 
He says : “ I have supposed the objection to Jer¬ 
seys to be the small amount of milk given so that 
families desiring to use milk freely could not be 
supplied by one cow, even when the milk is not 
used for butter. Is this correct?”— A. In one 
sense the Jerseys are small milkers. Very often 
they fall below twelve quarts per day at their very 
best, and often toward the end of their milking 
they give but three, or four, or live quarts per day, 
but it is to bo remembered that they give this re¬ 
duced amount during weeks and months, when 
other cows would be entirely dry. The common 
cow is not well adapted for the use suggested, be¬ 
cause, while she will for a month or two flood the 
pantry, beyond the requirements of the family, she 
•will leave them to buy milk, often during nearly 
one half of the year, while tho Jersey may bo dc' 
pended upon during, at least, nine months for a 
very satisfactory supply, and during six weeks, or 
two months more, for a smaller quantity,which has 
by this time become almost as rich as cream, 
Where a large quantity of milk is needed for family 
use, the year round, it is advisable to keep two lit¬ 
tle Jerseys, consuming together no more thau one 
shorthorn cow—one coming in in the spring and one 
in the fall, and so keeping up a regular supply of the 
best milk, and* the richest cream throughout the 
whole year, and (mixing the milk of the two) pretty 
nearly uniform in quantity month after month. 
The following comes from Massachusetts: “ How 
many acres of land will it take to soil six cows and 
three steers, which are intended for fall fattening? 
Our soil produces corn, clover, and roots very 
freely and cheaply, better in fact than it does pas¬ 
ture grasses. To feed this number of cattle, what 
crop should I put in, in what succession, and what 
the acreage of each? Would it he ou the whole 
cheaper to soil than to pasture ? Unimproved land 
costs from $25 to $50, or more per acre.” 
The amount of land required for this duty will, 
of course, depend very much on its quality, the 
amount of manure used, and the thoroughness of 
the cultivation. I should expect to accomplish the 
result satisfactorily ou my own land with four acres, 
which I should divide into plots of one-fourth of an 
acre each ; sowing oats on one plot as early as possi¬ 
ble in the spring, and ou a second oue ten days 
later, and on a third ten days later than that. On 
a fourth I should try spring wheat. Then, begin¬ 
ning as early in Mayas the experience of the neigh- 
