AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
58 
FRENCH MERINO BUCK, TIPPECANOE. 
The Property of Mr. J. Goes, Cleveland, Ohio. 
ORIGIN OF THE MERINO SHEEP, 
a dozen years old or more, will accomplish 
nearly as much as a man, at less than half 
the wages. Boys are sometimes hired from 
the city by the Connecticut farmers for a 
few months to tend this crop. 
CULTIVATION WITH OTHER CROPS. 
In Rhode Island, a favorite mode of culti¬ 
vation in the field is to sow onions and car¬ 
rots in alternate rows. The onions are out 
of the way by the middle or last of August, 
when the carrots have the ground. This 
root, it is well known, makes the most of its 
growth in the latter part of the season, and 
is left out with safety until the middle of 
November. In this way five or six hundred 
bushels of onions, and as many or more of 
carrots are frequently grown upon an acre. 
This is a good method, if we manure high 
enough to keep the land in good heart. 
In this region, and all along the seaboard, 
sea manures are largely used for this crop, 
and are found to give excellent results. Sea¬ 
weed and kelp are frequently plowed in, in 
the Fall. A compost of marsh-mud and fish, 
made the previous Summer, and applied in 
the Spring, gives good results. Sea-sand 
spread upon heavy soils is found to be an 
excellent dressing for this crop. By the sea 
shore, a compost of fish and muck is proba¬ 
bly the most economical manure that can be 
applied. 
The mode of culture pursued by market 
gardeners is somewhat different. With them 
it is a matter of prime importance to get 
onions into the market very early, before 
the harvests of field culture are gathered. 
They take bulbs or pips of a previous year’s 
growth, raised for the purpose, and set them 
out as soon as the ground opens in Spring. 
These mature very early, and are mostly 
marketed in June and the fore part of July. 
They are tied up in small bunches, with the 
green tops on, and bring two or three times 
the price of field onions. The ground is 
then devoted to some other crop, very fre¬ 
quently to late cabbages. The seed for 
making the pips is sown very thick, so that 
the bulbs cannot grow large. Potato and the 
top onions are also used for this early crop. 
But this couise can only be pursued by a 
few near cities and villages. The field cul¬ 
ture may be indefinitely extended, and the 
demand is likely to exceed the supply for 
generations to come. It is an excellent crop 
for all farmers who live within an hour or 
two of tide-water, and have facilities to ship 
them to market by sloops and propellers- It 
is far more profitable than Indian corn, and 
pays better than any ordinary farm crop. A 
common yield on land that will grow fifty 
bushels of corn to the acre is four and five 
hundred bushels. A large yield is six hun¬ 
dred bushels, on better land. Eight hundred 
are sometimes grown with high manuring 
and extra care. 
Horne Tooke was the son of a dealer in 
poultry, which he alluded to when called 
upon by the proud striplings of Eton to de¬ 
scribe himself—“ I am (said Horne) the son 
of an eminent Turkey merchant.” 
Always have your matches and lamp ready 
for use in ease of sudden alarm. 
Columilla, a Roman agricultural writer in 
the time ol the Caesars, states that the fine 
wooled Spanish sheep were originally im¬ 
ported from Africa. Some suppose that 
these sheep were of the same coarse hairy 
breed as are now known among the Arabs 
and along the African coast of the Mediter¬ 
ranean. But on physiological principles, this 
idea would be absurd. As well suppose that 
the Congo negro would be changed in a 
couple thousand years to a fair-faced Euro¬ 
pean with straight blonde hair and blue eyes. 
Wools of the finest quality are now pro¬ 
duced in the districts of Tozar, Coffa and 
Nafta, and in the Nezzab, a district lying 
south of the main Atlas of Algiers. This 
wool is used bjr the Persians and others in 
the manufacture of those beautiful shawls 
and other fabrics which bring so high a price 
in commerce. 
We have no recollection of ever seeing 
any of the sheep which produce the above 
fine wools, but if really sheep, and not goats, 
would it be too much to suppose that they 
were the originals of the Spanish Merino of 
our day 1 
COWS KILLED BY EATING “BARLEV 
SPROUTS.” 
Several instances have recently come to 
our knowledge of injury resulting from feed¬ 
ing cows with “ sprouts” of malted barley 
with which are mixed other light matters, 
such as imperfect grains, &c., blown out 
in cleaning. We hoped ere this to have in¬ 
vestigated the subject more fully, but not 
having time as yet, we present the follow¬ 
ing extract, and request further facts and 
particulars from our readers: 
Editor Agriculturist :—Having lost a very 
fine cow this winter, as I suppose from feeding 
barley sprouts, I send you a few facts relative to 
the case, which may perhaps be of interest to 
some of your readers I commenced feeding on.e 
peck of sprouts (scalded, and allowed to steep 
until cool), twice each day. After the first few 
days, the animal seemed to lose all relish for this, 
although she ate heartily of other kinds of food, 
and about this time began gradually to lose the 
use of her limbs (showing a wild glaring of the 
eyes), until at the end of a few weeks she be¬ 
came entirely helpless. She lived about five 
weeks after I commenced using this feed, and 
she had eaten in all about seven bushels. I have 
heard of several cases of the loss of milch cows 
from the use of this feed, and with precisely the 
same symptoms in every case. 
Wm. P. Tompkins. 
Scarsdai.e, N. Y., Feb. 20, 1857. 
HINTS ON OX-YOKES, 
To the Editor of the American Agriculturist: . 
For the benefit ot farmers and all others who 
use oxen, I send a hint or two on ox-yokes. From 
experience and long observation on the structure 
of ox-yokes, I am certain that one-third of the 
service of these noble animals is lost, for the want 
of a better formed yoke ; to say nothing of the dis¬ 
comfort they suffer for the want of one constructed 
on a different, principle. Every one who will give 
heed to the following suggestions may obtain one- 
third more force and endurance from them, be¬ 
sides adding much to their comfort, and save him 
self an annual expense for W'hip-lashes sufficient 
to procure his Agriculturist. 
All the ox-yokes in use have too narrow a bear¬ 
ing on the ox’s neck. * * * These yokes are 
a disgrace to the age, a relict of barbarism, mere 
cattle-tamers or ox-killers, and should be used 
only for fire-wood. The kind of yoke needed is 
one with a wide, flat bearing. In no case should 
the bearing be less than eight inches wide, dressed 
entirely flat, with the edges moderately rounded. 
This bearing should not be notched on the neck, 
as v r e see in some instances, but should be circu¬ 
lar between the bow r -holes, and dressed roomy 
on the corners near the bows, so as not to wrench 
the neck w-hen drawing in an indirect line. The 
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