MERIC AN AGRICULTURIST. 
such would be about the fact; viz., that the 
thin sdeding would furnish the poor crop ; 
the 2 or 2J- bushels, not an extraordinary 
crop, perhaps, but a fair average for such 
land ; probably 3^, 4, oreven more, quarters 
per acre. But my present object is not so 
much to argue the question of thick or thin 
sowing as to enter my protest in this, as in 
Mr. Dickenson’s case, against drawing an 
inference either pro or con, from so con¬ 
temptible a trial as a square yard of ground; 
and that, too, rich, highly cultivated garden 
ground. It can satisfy no one, least of all 
the practical tenant farmer, to whom his 
wheat crop is, or ought to be, the first and 
most important object, and who, if foolish 
enough to act upon it, will assuredly find 
himself most lamentably deceived ; and if he 
escape a lunatic asylum, can hardly fail of a 
berth in the county jail. 
T. GLOUCESTER- 
TARTAR OR SHANGHAI SHEEP. 
Your object being the distribution of the 
newest information connected with the vari¬ 
ous branches of Agriculture ; I wish to place 
at your disposal a few remarks relative to a 
new kind of sheep recently introduced into 
this country, which from peculiar habits are 
specially adapted to supply the exigencies 
frequently offered by the human family. I 
refer to the Tartar, or Broad Tailed Sheep, 
which, from having been brought directly 
from Shanghai, have also recived the name 
of Shanghai sheep. They are of good size, 
with ears drooping forward, prominent noses, 
agreeably expressive faces, covered with a 
short and very fine glossy silken hair. The 
fleece is light, and best adapted for blankets, 
and similar wollen textures. The value of 
this breed does not, therefore, consist in the 
fleece, but must be sought for in the remark¬ 
able facility it offers to increase the supply 
of this kind of animal food almost at pleas¬ 
ure, for the ewes have lambs twice a year, 
generally from three to four at a birth, and 
not unfrequently five at a time. I have a 
ewe which brought three lambs last Februa¬ 
ry, all of which were raised to maturity. 
About the middle of November one had two- 
more, and at the same time her two February 
ewe lambs each brought a lamb, making her 
progeny in nine months no less than seven, 
all living and thriving save the February 
buck, a fine fellow whose head was cracked 
in the sixth month of his age, by the patri¬ 
arch of a flock into which he had rashly in¬ 
truded. 
The quality of the mutton is of the high¬ 
est order, as every one can attest who has 
eaten of it. When in China several years 
ago, I was not a little surprized to find the 
eagerness exhibited by every one for mut¬ 
ton, and never did I see a leg brought upon 
the table of which any thing was left but the 
bone. I attributed this partiality in a great 
degree to the high price of che meat, the 
cost of which to foreigners was something 
like 50 cents per pound. But I have since 
been convinced that while rarity contributed 
something to the flavor, there was still more 
due to the intrinsic qualities of the meat, 
which is entirely free from any woolly, or 
other disagreeable taste, and has a delicacy 
resembling venison. This characteristic 
of the mutton of the Tartar sheep, with the 
capacity they afford of furnishing lambs at 
any time of the year, must make them of 
great value to those whose chief object is to 
breed for the shambles. 
I have crossed the breed with a good stock 
of country sheep, and have about twenty- 
five half bloods, pronounced remarkly fine 
sheep, by all who have seen them, being 
rather larger than the full bloods, with much 
better fleeces. How they are to turn out in 
the excellence of their mutton and prolific 
qualities remains to be tested. Probably 
they will exceed common sheep in the aver¬ 
age number of their lambs, but not equal the 
full bloods in their astonishing prolific quali¬ 
ties, and this to many persons may constitute 
an improvement. G. Emerson. 
Progressive Farmer.] No. 38 Girard-st., Phila. 
We condense from the report in the Tri¬ 
bune, the remarks of Mr. Solon Robinson, at 
the American Institute Farmers’ Club, on the 
construction of the light-framed buildings, 
commonly known as the Balloon. We do 
not agree with Mr. R. as to the comparative 
strength and durability of these structures ; 
but we think them eminently adapted for 
temporary buildings, intended to last long 
enough to enable the owner to put up others 
more substantial and durable, for which he 
has neither present time nor means. 
I would saw all my timber for a frame¬ 
house, or ordinary frame out-building, of the 
following dimensions : Two inches by eight; 
two by four ; two by one. I have, however, 
built them, when I lived in Indiana, many 
miles from sawmills, nearly all of split and 
hewed stuff, making use of rails or round 
poles reduced to straight lines and even 
thickness on two sides, for studs and rafters. 
But sawed stuff is much the easiest, though 
in a timber country the other is far the 
cheapest. First, level your foundation, and 
lay down two of the two-by-eight pieces, 
flat wise, for side-walls. Upon these set 
the floor-sleepers, on edge, 32 inches apart. 
Fasten one at each end, and, perhaps, one or 
two in the middle, if the building is large, 
with a wooden pin. These end-sleepers are 
the end-sills. Now lay the floor, unless you 
design to have one that would be likely to be 
injured by the weather before you get the 
roof on. It is a great saving, though, of 
labor, to begin at the bottom of a house and 
build up. In laying the floor first, you have 
no studs to cut and fit around, and can let 
your boards run out over the ends, just as it 
happens, and afterward saw them off smooth 
by the sill. Now setup a corner post, which 
in nothing but one of the two-by-four studs, 
fastening the bottom by four nails ; make it 
plum, and stay it each way. Set another at 
the other corner, and then mark off your 
door and window places, and set up the side 
studs and put in the frames. Fill up with 
studs between, 16 inches apart, supporting 
the top by a line or strip of board from cor¬ 
ner to corner, or stayed studs between. Now 
cover that side with rough sheeting boards, 
unless you intend to side up with clap boards 
on the studs, which I never would do, ex¬ 
cept for a small, common building. Make 
no calculation about the top of your studs; 
wait till you get up that high. You may use 
them of any length, with broken or stub-shot 
ends, no matter. When you have got this 
side boarded as high as you can reach, pro¬ 
ceed to set up another. In the meantime, 
other workmen can be lathing the first side. 
When you have got the side all up, fix upon 
the height of your upper floor, and strike a 
line upon the studs for the under side of the 
joist. Cut out a joint four inches wide, half¬ 
inch deep, and nail on firmly one of the inch 
strips. Upon these strips rest the chamber 
floor joist. Cut out a joist one inch deep in 
the lower edge, and lock it on the strip, and 
nail each joist to each stud. Now lay this 
floor and go on to build the upper story, as 
you did the lower one; splicing on and 
lengthening out studs wherever needed, until 
you get high enough for the plate. Splice 
studs or joist by simply butting the ends to¬ 
gether, and nailing strips on each side. 
Strike a line and saw off the top of the studs 
BALLOON HOUSES. 
even upon each side—not the ends—and nail 
on one of the inch strips. That is the plate. 
Cut the ends of the upper joist the bevel of 
the pitch of the roof, and nail them fast to 
the plate, placing the end ones inside the 
studs which you will let run up promiscuous¬ 
ly, to be cut off by the rafter. Now lay the 
garret floor by all means before you put on 
the roof, and you will find that you have 
saved fifty per cent of hard labor. The raft¬ 
ers, if supported so as not to be over ten feet 
long, will be strong enough of the 2 by 4 
stuff. Bevel the ends and nail fast to joist. 
Then there is no strain upon the sides by 
the weight of the roof, which may be cov¬ 
ered with shingles or other materials—the 
cheapest being composition or cement roofs. 
To make one of this kind, take soft, spongy, 
thick paper, and tack it upon the boards in 
courses like shingles. Commence ;at the 
top with hot tar and saturate the paper, upon 
which sift evenly fine gravel, pressing it in 
while hot—that is, while tar and gravel are 
both hot. One coat will make a tight roof; 
two coats will make it more durable. Put 
up your partitions of stuff 1 by 4, unless 
where you want to support the upper joist— 
then use stuff 2 by 4, with strips nailed on 
top, for the joist to rest upon, fastening alto¬ 
gether by nails, wherever 'timbers touch. 
Thus you will have a frame without a tenon 
or mortice, or brace, and yet it is far cheaper, 
and incalculably stronger when finished, 
than though it was composed of timbers ten 
inches square, with a thousand auger holes 
and a hundred days’ work with the chisel and 
adze, making holes and pins to fill them. 
LONG AND SHORT MANURE. 
We find, in looking over an old volume, 
that in the statement of the committee on 
Farm Management for the New-York State 
Agricultural Society for the year 1847, it is 
mentioned that all the competitors for pre¬ 
miums, with the exception of Mr. Delafield, 
preferred using manure in its long, or unfer¬ 
mented state, while the latter preferred using 
it after it had rotted. Now, in our opinion 
one cord of long or unrotted manure will be 
found to possess a value far superior to a 
cord of the same after it has rotted down to 
the state of muck or short manure; and this 
opinion, we think, is clearly indicated by 
both theory and practice. During the pro¬ 
cess of decomposition, a very large propor¬ 
tion of ammonia will be released, and 
escape into the atmosphere, thus depressing 
the mass of one of its most efficient manurial 
agents, and of course greatly diminishing its 
value as a stimulant of the soil and crops to 
which it is to be applied. Besides this im¬ 
portant loss—for an important one it unde¬ 
niably is—the saline matters will also be 
separated and washed into the soil where it 
is allowed to remain during the decomposi¬ 
tion. But we ascertain from the answers 
given to Mr. Delafield to the interrogatories 
of the investigating committee in this case, 
that he obviates these evils, successfully, by 
covering his manure heaps with a stratum 
of loam or muck, which not only prevents 
the wastage of the valuable saline matters 
contained in the former, but secures the 
gaseous product of ammonia by absorption ; 
thus preserving both, and adding, also, at 
the same time to the bulk of his manure by 
the enrichment of the muck or loam, which 
is transformed into an excellent stimulant 
by the diffusion of the volatile or gaseous 
products of the decomposing mass. This 
plan has, doubtless, its advantages, and man¬ 
aged thus, short manure may be as valuable 
as long. As commonly managed, it is not. 
Germantown Telegraph. 
Boys, save your odd pennies* rather than 
foolishly spending them. 
