ROUGH NOTES BY THE WAY.-NO. 2. 
313 
ROUGH NOTES BY THE WAY.— No. 2. 
On my way up the river, I visited the farm of 
Mr. Clayton B. Reybold, four miles from Dela¬ 
ware City, in the state of Delaware, in order to 
see his celebrated flock of long-wooled New Ox¬ 
fordshire sheep, of which I had heard much, but of 
which the truth has not always been told. It has 
been stated, I know not on w T hose authority, that 
they are coarse in their form, as well as in their 
wool. But this is not so. His four-year-old buck, 
of which fig. 83 is a faithful portrait, weighed, with 
his wool, on the 15th of May last, 361 lbs. The 
weight of his fleece was 14£ lbs. • girth round the 
body, after shearing, 5 feet 9 inches; length from 
the tip of the nose to the root of the tail, 5 feet 10 
inches. 
The fellow of this buck died last spring of yel- 
kw water. The weight of his fleece, second 
shearing, was 17| lbs .) and his carcass, when 
dressed, weighed 206 lbs. These bucks were se¬ 
lected, in England, by Mr. Reybold, at 40 guineas 
each. He also purchased, at the same time, six 
ewes, and has others now on their passage of the 
same breed' but those who buy must not always 
expect to get sheep of the enormous size of those 
named above. For the same care and attention are 
not observed in breeding in this country as in Eng¬ 
land. .The climate there is considered as cooler 
and better for sheep than ours, and the turnip crop 
here is by no means a sure one, and this or some 
other root crop is all-important as winter food for 
sheep 3 and besides, our farmers in general appear 
New Oxfordshire Buck.—Fig. 83 
to be unwilling to encourage the raising of fine 
stock of any kind. Hence it is, that so few are to 
be found who will take the trouble of a voyage 
across the Atlantic, and pay $200 for a sheep be¬ 
sides the risk and other expenses attending im¬ 
portation. 
I hope I may be excused, if I say a few words 
concerning the farming operations of Major Philip 
Reybold, father of the above, as well as of the 
other members of his family. He has twelve chil¬ 
dren, all married except two daughters. He has 
retired from the old homestead and built an ele¬ 
gant new mansion upon an elevated spot of ground, 
from which he can view, patriarch-like, the dwell¬ 
ing of each of his sons, who, together with their 
sisters and brothers-in-law, own 8,000 acres of 
choice and highly-cultivated land, a considerable 
portion of which consists of reclaimed salt marsh. 
One large tract, that had been diked and under 
cultivation for nearly half a century, and had be¬ 
come completely worn out by injudicious and suc¬ 
cessive cropping, was caused, a few years ago, to 
be overflowed again by the tide waters of the Dela¬ 
ware, by opening the dykes, and left in that condi¬ 
tion for five years, when it was found that a deposit 
three and a half feet in depth, had been formed 
over its whole surface. The water was again shut 
off* by closing the dykes, and the land sown with 
Timothy, which took well, and is very stout on 
two thirds of the tract, but on the lowest parts it 
entirely failed, and herdsgrass (red top of New 
England), came in without seed and now (July 18), 
is yielding a crop of two tons or more to the acre. 
There is also a mixture of white clover through¬ 
out the whole tract. Query. Where do the 
red top and white clover seed come from ? 
Whence are they derived ? Upon what princi¬ 
ples do they originate % (a) Ray grass does well 
on these lands and is excellent for early and 
late soiling feed, but is worthless for hay. There 
is also another grass natural to these meadows, 
upland as well as marsh, which is here called 
“ green grass,” which grows very thick and retains 
its verdure all winter. 
According to the analysis of Mr William M. 
Uhler, made under the direction of James Booth, Esq., 
