144 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
(Driginal Ipapcvs from Contributors. 
PAULAR MERINO SHEEP. 
Messes. Gaylord & Tucker— In a communication 
published in the February no. of the Cultivator, page 38, 
in answer to Inquirer, in reference to the Paular Merino 
sheep, and the feed which mine received, I said I was 
making soome experiments in feed, the results of which 
I would communicate to the readers of the Cultivator. 
My present object is to redeem that pledge. 
My flock was divided about the first December, into 
four lots. 
No. 1, fed corn, at the rate of 2 qts. to 32 sheep. 
2, “ oats and corn “ 3 “ “ 
3, “ oats, ‘‘ 4 “ “ 
4, “ cracked corn; that is, corn taken to the mill 
in the ear, and cob and cox-n ground together. They 
were fed on this meal at the rate of four quarts to 32 
sheep, a part of the winter, and the remainder of the 
time on buckwheat bran, and the coarsest of the flour— 
the finest being kept for family use—at the rate of 6 qts. 
to 32 sheep; each lot were fed otherwise alike. 
The result is, they have all wintered well. There 
was no perceptible difference in spring. The ewes have 
done equally well in rearing lambs; as I have now from 
my 62 ewes, which are of sufficient age to rear lambs, 
62 thrifty lambs. They were all tagged befoi-e tui-ning 
them out to grass; taking from each, as near an equal 
quantity as possible. They were all washed the same 
4lay; my men were two days in shearing them. The 
wool was done up and weighed in presence of several 
gentlemen, who pronounced it very clean. From the 62 
breeding ewes, and 27 yearling bucks and ewes, and 1 
stock buck, in all 90, the following is the result, as taken 
from minutes made at the time: 
Lot No. 
1, 
16 sheep, fed corn,. 
841 
Lbs. 
2 
oz. 
2, 
16 
CC 
corn and oats. 
91 
CC 
1 
CC 
ii 
3, 
37 
(( 
oats,. 
190 
e( 
6 
( e 
ii 
4, 
21 
(C 
ground feed,. 
113 
0 
eg 
90 
478 
9 
ee 
Being but 2 oz. less, on the whole flock, than 5 lbs. 5 
oz. per head. 
Those fed corn and oats, it will be noticed, gave the 
heaviest fleeces, but these, were very young bucks. The 
other three lots were all ewes, of different ages, and no¬ 
thing in the sheep, which should give the preference to 
those which gave the heaviest fleeces, which are those 
fed on ground feed. 
From the results of this experiment, I am led to be¬ 
lieve that it is better to grind feed for sheep, as well as 
other animals. I intend to renew my experiments the 
next winter, and hope other sheep owners will do the 
same. I find an increasing demand for my Paular Me¬ 
rino Bucks, having already supplied several orders from 
different parts of this state and Ohio, the present season. 
Permit me to saj' to your correspondent. Mr. J. R. 
Speed, who has given us an account of his flock of se¬ 
lected Merinoes, in the July no. of the Cultivator, that 
he has, in my humble opinion, acted wisely in rejecting 
the Saxony, and commencing a flock with Spanish Me¬ 
rinoes. I cannot imagine how any man can afford to 
keep sheep, which will yield from two to two and a half 
pounds of wool only 
I think also with Mr. S., that the weights of the seven 
fleeces, an account of which he gives, are certainly “ ve¬ 
ry clever.” But he has not arrived “ at the top round 
of the ladder” yet. 
If he will take my word for it, which can be substan¬ 
tiated by several credible witnesses, who saw them 
weighed, I have had taken from the same number of 
ewes, and one yearling buck, fleeces which weighed as 
follows:—6 lbs. 10 oz.; 6 lbs. 9 oz.; 6 lbs. 4 oz ; 5 lbs, 
15 oz.; 5 lbs. 13 oz.; 5 lbs. 12 oz., and one yearling 
buck, 6 lbs. 12 oz., total 43 lbs. 11 oz. An average of 
6 lbs. 4 oz. of clean washed wool, exclusive of tags. 
These were, of course, my heaviest fleeces. 
Nor need Mr. S. fear, if he has got the right kind of 
Merinos. They will give as large a yield of wool, when 
hundreds are kept upon a farm, as when tens only are 
kept, provided they have proper feed and attention. 
Very respectfully, R. A. Avert. 
Galway, Saratoga co. N. Y., Aug 7, 1843. 
ACID IN SOILS. 
The following may prove an interesting fact to those 
engaged in the investigation of this subject. Nine years 
ago. Dr. Button of Newark, Wayne county, N. Y., laid 
down in a ditch about two feet deep, a lead pipe for the 
conveyance of the water of a spring, on a hill distant a- 
bout 150 rods from his dwelling house, to which the wa¬ 
ter was brought. The wafer flowed freely till the last 
spring, when becoming obstructed, the pipe was exam¬ 
ined. Large portions of it on the hill side below the 
spring, were found much corroded, in some places quite 
through the pipe, which caused the obstruction. On this 
hill side, sorrel (Rumex acetosella,) grew in great abun¬ 
dance, and generally the most so near the corroded parts. 
No sorrel grew on any other part of the ground where 
the pipe was laid, and no other part of the pipe was in 
the least degree affected, but appeared as when first laid 
down. J. J. T. 
Maced&n, 8 mo., 1843. 
9X8 
9X 10 
9X3 
Principal Floor.—Fig. 65. Basement. — Fig. 60 
A. Parlor — B. Sitting of Sleep- D. Kitchen — E. Cellar — F. Store 
ing Room — C. Lobby. Room — G. G. Closets. 
Messrs. G.vylord & Tucker— I herewith send you a 
design for a Laboring Man’s Cottage, somewhat after the 
old English style, with heavy projections. and orna¬ 
mental barge boards. I have given it the benefit of a 
LABORING MAN’S COTTAGE.—(Fig. 64.) 
piazza, by throwing out a roof on brackets, without the 
cost of the floor and supports, thus getting a shelter from 
sun and storm with little expense, and I think in a way 
calculated to please the eye. All that is ornamental in 
this design is of a very cheap 
character, while it is calcu¬ 
lated to produce much effect 
You will perceive that this 
cottage requires a peculiarly 
shaped situation, although 
almost any site may be made 
to answer by a little labor in 
grading about the building. 
Were I to build of wood, I 
would enclose it with boards 
tongued and grooved, and put 
on vertically, and painted a 
stone color. Brick or stone, 
however, is preferable. On 
Chamber Fioor.-Fi^. 67. ^he One side, which we will 
H.H.H. Bed Rooms—1. Clothes suppose js the north, I have 
Press. placed no windows, (ex¬ 
cept two small ones in the basement,) which will give it 
a naked and repulsive appearance; this may be obvia¬ 
ted by a little trouble in training one of our creeping 
vines over it, and add much indeed to the appearance of 
the cottage. The cost will be about $700. Yours, 
T. M. Niven, Architect. 
Newburgh, March 15, 1843. 
IMPROVEMENT OF SANDY LAND. 
Messrs. Gaylord & Tucker —The following account 
of an experiment with muck, is not sent because the 
crops are of themselves extraordinary, but as one more 
confirmation of its oft repeated value. 
Upon two acres of pine plain land, that has produced 
from 15 to 20 bushels of corn per acre, (say 15 average 
crop,) as usually managed, was carted in the fall of 1841, 
about 50 loads of muck, taken immediately from a swamp 
near by, which I was ditching at the time. The muck 
was wet and the road steep; consequently not large loads 
could be drawn. It was laid in small heaps over the 
piece, and in the spi'ing of 1842, after the frost was out 
of the ground, spread. About the same time, I carted 
upon the field stable manure, and mixed with one-third 
muck; also one hogshead of lime, (6 bushels,) slacked 
before using, in sufficient quantities for a compost heap 
of 25 loads. This compost, when partially fermented, 
was spread upon the ground and plowed in with a light 
plow. The ground was harrowed, planted 'with eight 
rowed white corn, and rolled with a common plank rol¬ 
ler. The corn came up and looked finely until the heavy 
frost in June cut the tops even with the ground. How¬ 
ever, it soon started and grew as before. It' was hoed 
three times, using the cultivator between the rows. As 
soon as sufficiently ripened, the corn was cut and stocked; 
the ground plowed once and sowed to winter rye, one 
bushel to the acre, and harrowed in. The corn when 
harvested, yielded 70 bushels of ears,or 35 bushels of corn 
to the acre, and a fine quantity of corn fodder, which 
when cut and mealed, made excellent feed for my hor¬ 
ses. On the 3d of May last, I sowed upon the ground 
10 lbs. of southern clover and 8 quarts of fox tail seed to 
the acre, and harrowed lengthwise of the furrows. Not 
quite liking the looks of the field, it seeming not quite 
sufficiently scratched, ! ordered it harrowed crosswise, in 
spite of many warnings that I should spoil the crop, be¬ 
ing determined to know whether harrowing killed or 
cured. After harrowing, the gi-ound was rolled and left 
until last week, when we reaped from it 32 shocks of 
rye, which will yield me 30 bushels—so say the reapers. 
The grass seed has come up, and bids fair to give a good 
crop of hay next season. 
The question that comes up, is—‘‘ Can we afford to 
cultivate such lands with any extra expense or labor?” 
The same quantity of manure put upon the field, would 
not have returned me over 20 bushels of corn, and 10 of 
rye—30 bushels of grain in all. Now I have 35 of corn 
and 15 of rye—50 in all. What is the extra expense? 25 
loads of muck. I can hire muck drawn for eight cents a 
load. If others will do it for that, I can do it for less, 
with my own man and team. Cost of muck, two dollars; 
add to that, if you please, the cost of the lime, three dol¬ 
lars: and the 20 bushels of grain has cost me five dollars. 
Take into the account the extra quantity of corn fodder 
and straw, with the certainty of a good crop of hay where 
nothing grew before on summer fallows and two years 
idleness, and the corn is nearly, or quite, clear gain. And 
have I not added to the capability of the soil? If this 
course of treatment add to the crop this time, will not 
a like course add still more next time? 
Comparative value of land affords another test and 
answer to the question—“ Can we afford it?” The best 
meadow lands in this %4cinity, ranging in value from 
$60 to $125 the acre, do not yield an average crop of 
more than 40 bushels of corn to the acre. What they 
might yield, is not what we have to do with. If first 
rate lands yield no more, then the bare difference of in¬ 
terest money expended on light lands, costing $20 the 
acre, makes the poorer land equal in productiveness,with 
the very great advantage in these hard times of a small 
debt to pay, for those who buy on credit. There are 
hundreds of acres in Connecticut valley, of such light 
lands, and almost invariably a muck swamp or clay bed 
is near at hand, to be used for their renovation. So well 
satisfied am I with my success, that I have several acres 
more under a regular course of muck diet, differing per¬ 
haps in some degree from the first, but all apparently to 
be as successful. One piece, that yielded a crop of 6 
bushels of rye to the acre last year, bears at present a fine 
looking piece of corn, that has stood the drouth much 
better than some better soils, although a part of it was 
blowing sand before planting. 
The course that I have pursued, I do not recommend 
as the best one, but I have been obliged to adapt iny 
course to my knowdedge and locality. A liberal reading 
in the Cultivator, Dana’s Manual, Liebig, &c. has had its 
effects already; yet as my swamp is but a few rods from 
the plain, and my stable yards a mile and a half, I cannot 
realize all the benefit that I should like. Time perhaps 
may remedy that. Yours, &c. A. Perry Peck. 
Sunderland, Franklin eo., Mass., Aug. 3, 1843. 
THE WEATHER AND THE CROPS, 
On Staten Island, June and July, 1843. 
Messrs. Gaylord & Tucker —After suffering from a 
severe winter and a cold protracted spring, agriculture 
in this region is languishing from the absence of rain. 
It is now more than a month since the earth was refresh¬ 
ed with sufficient moisture to wet the surface half an inch 
deep. Here where the soil is principally clayey, it is 
hard and dry, and baked into a crust, and that crust in 
some fields cracked into fissures. The crops of all kinds 
are consequently injured by the drouth, which extends 
east of us throughout Long Island and into Connecticut, 
and south and west of us into New Jersey. 
Hay is the staple crop of this Island, and it bid fair to 
be a good one in the beginning of June; but it has since 
been checked in its growth by heat, and so dried up by 
a scorching sun and di-ying winds, that the crop of this 
year will be one-half less than thatof’1842. In the early 
part of the month I thought it would be less by one-third, 
but by examination and inquiry' among farmers, they 
generally admit thatone-half the quantity compared with 
last y'ear’s crop, will be as much as they can possibly re¬ 
alize. This opinion has now been confirmed by some 
who have gathered and housed their crops of hay, while 
those who have done it in part, have come to the same 
conclusion. Mine will not be far from the same propor¬ 
tion. I have already gone over ground that produced 
one hundred and twenty-five loads last year, and have ga¬ 
thered Iherefrom seventy-five. I have yet to cut two lots 
of grass that produced one hundred and eight loads last 
year, and by estimate will produce sixty. At this rate, I 
shall have 135 loads this year against 233 last j'ear, be¬ 
ing a little more than half. My neighbor, Mr. S--y, 
who has heretofore cut between three and four hundred 
loads of hay, has gathered nearly all his crop, and he in¬ 
forms me that his fields will produce about half the quan¬ 
tity they did last year. Thus it is ascertained without 
guessing, and without a doubt, that this region of coun¬ 
try, which produces much hay, will be short one-half of 
its last year’s production. 
Wheat.—The crop of wheat on this Island is generally 
good. The berry is. plump and fair, and the straw is 
light. Mine is better than it has been for two years past, 
but the grass seed which was sown with it, though it 
came up and looked well in the early part of the season, 
has withered and dried up with drouth, and unless we 
have plenty of rain in a short time to revive the roots, 
the crop of grass for next year will be lost. 
2?i/e.—The rye crop in the county of Richmond is not 
an extensive one, and the grain is mostly for domestic 
