ANNUAL MEETING N. Y. STATE AG. SOCIETY. 
PREMIUMS AWARDED. 
through rv few times to kill the weeds and loosen 
the soil, be harvesting, if light, it can be 
cradled, bound and set up like grain; but if 
heavy (as it will be if your soil is good,) out it 
corn cutters,’’ bind, uud set up in 
It cau be sown “ broad-cast," 
mltivated, and it is much more 
Try it, brother farmers, 
you will have no 
to complain of dry seasons or empty bams. 
CONDENSED CORRESPONDENCE, &e. 
mean to oe unuersioou „ ----- . 
wool is more profitable than to grow them foi 
the mutton, or that Bheep husbandry is more 
profitable than the dairy ? 
I should like to see his answer. 
Kindly yours, T. C. Peters. 
Darien, Jan. 24, 1864- 
IIon. H. S. Randall— -My Dear Sir :—I 
was very glad to see in the last Rural an arti¬ 
cle from your friend, the Hon. George Ged- 
des. It is a very sensible answer tp an article 
in the 1st No. on the subject of sheep, by Mr. 
Peters. In that article Mr. Peters “swashed 
round» so badly that it was difficult to make out 
what he intended by it. 
It seems to me that Mr. Gepdes takes the 
true view in regard to the question, in that 
modes of farming must be regulated by markets, 
other things being equal. I do not belie! e that 
a dairy can be made to pay near as well upon a 
good grain farm as sheep, for the reason that 
sheep do not require the same kind of pasture 
for profitable development as cows. Sheep and 
plover do well together. But J am informed by 
South Down Sheep Wanted— O. F. Jones, of 
Wooster. Ohio, “wishes to obtain two bucks and six 
ewe« of pure South Down breed. Of whom can he 
obtain them, and al what, price?” Samuel Tuornk, 
of Washington Hollow, N. Y., ia an importer and 
breeder of choice animals of this breed. 
Information in Relation to Vino ini a Sheet- 
Lands Wanted.-” A Subscriber” at Dawiet, \t., 
wishes “to ascertain the ndaptitnde of Western \ if 
ginia to wool growing—and the soil, timber, and price 
of land in the counties of Ritchie, Mitt, Harrison, 
Lewis, Braxton and Gilmer/' Nearly till of West Vir¬ 
ginia is peculiarly well adapted to wool growing, t 
produces the best felling wools raised on this Continent, 
wriii on*... virotnlji correspondent answer the leniatn- 
up with 
shocks to dry. 
but it cannot he c 
work to harvest it. 
ant’ my word for it, next year 
reason t- 
Hiram. Portage Co., O. S. Ryder, Jr. 
Remarks.— We can indorse what our cor¬ 
respondent says of the value of sowed ooi n, not. 
only for soiling stock during the u dry time” in 
summer and early autumn, but. also as a winter 
resource. But there is another plant that is first, 
becoming popular for this purpose. And far¬ 
mers who have grown and fed it prefer it gi eatl j 
to sowed corn. It is Sorghum. It is easily 
grown, cultivated precisely as our correspondent 
cultivates corn, produces an equal or greater 
bulk and weight of stalk and foliage: and cattle 
and swine consume every particle of it — stalks 
and all, with a greediness which needs to be 
seen to be appreciated. It makes the cows 
yield more and richer milk, and fattens the hogs 
wonderfully. Get some seed and try it. 
already been widely published, we omit, details and 
only refer now to the most important features. The 
attendance was larger than at any meeting for several 
years, most parts of the State being represented- T he 
Treasurer's report exhibited a balance of nearly $4,000 
—over $3,000 invested in United States Securities. The 
report or the Secretary, showing the progress of Agri¬ 
culture in the State during the past year, was listened 
to with interest. It all tided to the great advances made 
in Flax Culture, and spoke highly of Sanfoud & Mal¬ 
lory s flax dressing machine; gave a very favorable 
statement concerning the progress and condition of 
Sheep Husbandry in the Stale; urgently recommended 
a practical trial of Agricultural Implements and Ma 
cbtne.rv during the ensuing summer; made an exhibit of 
whul the Society had done during the year to ase.ertnin 
as to the practicability of making sorgo sugar in the 
State; and particularly diluted upon the Dairy Interest, 
and the extensive establishment of cheese factories and 
their profitable, results. Ofilcers of the Society were 
elected for 186-1, as named in our last. The committee 
appointed to recommend a place for holding the neXt 
Animal Fair failing to agree, the matter was finally 
referred to the. Executive Board. Hon. T. C. Peters 
offered a resolution that it was expedient for t he society 
to hold a meeting for the purpose or carrying out a 
thorough trial of Implements of Agriculture in the fol¬ 
lowing classes—1. For preparing the land for the crop; 
2, for harvesting and securing the crop; 3, for preparing 
it for market. This proposition met. with much favor, 
Silesian and New Oxfordshire mteed.-d. r 
Drake, of Boston, Mass., inquires “where lie can 
procure full bteod Silesian and New Oxfordshire Sheep 
nearest that city.” William Chamberlain, of Red 
Hook, N. Y., has a valuable flock of the former. In¬ 
quire or .Tames S. Grinnkll, Department or Agricul¬ 
ture, Washington, D. C., for the latter. 
Scotch Colley?-' 1 —M. Garrett, 204 G street, Wash¬ 
ington, D. C., wishes to know where shepherd dogs of 
this breed can be purchased by the pair, and at what 
price. We have frequently received the same inquiries 
within the past few months. Let the breeders of these 
dogs advertise them. 
The Bono of tbe Sheep.— We have received eight 
superb verses from Ypsihinti. Mich., under the above 
heading. For example, what can be more overpower¬ 
ing than the sixth stanza: 
11 The Vermont sheep are number one 
For length of staple and oil and gum, 
But we can hardly be outdone 
In Michigan, my Michigan." 
Tbe thing is quite too good to be given out nil at 
once! Seriously.—why will not some “ horn poet ” 
write a good sheep song which con be set to music. 't 
Something having the airy grace and tinkling melody 
of many of the German harvest songs—or, better still 
the flue fire of old Marlow’s verses—** The Passionate 
Shepherd to his Love/'—would come in very pleasantly 
rippling from the keys of a piano, or merely from the 
cherry lips of a pretty girl, as an interlude to thein- 
lerminable “Sheep talks,” now SO universal when 
neighbors, addict'd to sho-p, get together of an e\ ening. 
The man or woman who shall produce that song, shall 
be gratefully remembered “with all the honors 
A CHAPTER ON DOGS. 
A New Mode of Getting Rid of tbe EviL 
Al tlic Wool 
Eds. Rural New-Yorker 
Growers’ Convention recently held at Columbus, 
Ohio, the destruction of sheep by dogs was a 
prominent subject of discussion, resulting in tbe 
appointment of a Committee, who reported a 
memorial to Congress to levy a revenue tax of 
one dollar a head on dogs, which is very w ell. 
Notwithstanding the much that was said, then 
and there, it does not appear that the root of this 
dog question was reached. Dog killing and 
indiscriminate dog taxing, hitherto, has failed 
to cure the evil. Allow me to suggest another 
mode. 
It is estimated that there are 500.000 dogs in 
the State of Ohio! Whence came they? Are 
there any breeders of the animal who make it a 
business to raise them ? I know of none. Evi¬ 
dently they are propagated without any care on 
the part of owners, and the result is a mongrel 
breed of degenerate curs, immensely damaging 
to individuals and the country. To relieve our¬ 
selves from this evil, we must proceed upon the 
principle dictated by common sense, that an 
“ounce of prevention is worth a pound of mire." 
If we w ould protect our sheep from dogs, 
we must cut off the source of supply—the female 
dogs. How shall it he done? Let Congress 
pass a revenue law, taxing all male dogs one 
dollar a head, in accordance with the memorial 
adopted by the Convention—hut on female dogs 
let the tax be five dollars a head. Such a tax 
would operate as prohibitory—preventing their 
propagation, as the instances would he few and 
far between of persons paying so dearly for 
the privilege of inflicting their worthless dog 
progeny on ^ho publi^ . 
A law passed for lints taxmir dogs, every 
wool grower, a.s lie values his flock and depre¬ 
cates its injury, should make it his spesial 
business to see that every female dog in his 
vicinity was duly assessed and the tax collected, 
other methods to get rid of this evil have con¬ 
fessedly proved failures, from the aversion which 
THE SPANISH IMPORTATION SWINDLE. 
g letter gives another curious 
[The following 
chapter in the history of the sheep sold to par¬ 
ties in Ohio, as imported Spanish sheep, by 
Henry B. Silvern ail, of Aneram Paper 
Mills, Columbia county, New York;] 
North Hoosxck, N. Y., Feb. 10, 1861. 
Dear Sir:—I received your letter of the 8th 
inst. You wished me to give you a history of 
the sheep SILVERXAIL purchased here. I will 
begin with the large ram. He was bred bv Mr. 
Leach, of Rupert, Vt. — Joseph Harwood. 
of East Rupert, Vt., told me that Mr. Leacii 
brought the dam to his Spanish ram Sw r eepstakes. 
She was a large, coarse, white-wooled sheep. 
They did not know* the blood, hut she resembled 
the French. Mr. I.kacii got the ewe out of a 
drove and gave two wethers for her. Messrs. 
Shrives & Rocgy, of Hoosick, purchased the 
ram of Mr. Leach in October, 1802. They said 
they paid $100 for him. * 1 saw him the next 
play alter they got him home. He was rather 
light-colored and locked oik In a few days I 
saw* him again. He was of a good, even color, 
with the preparation applied, and before spring 
he was a very oily sheep. Messrs. Shrives 
& Roggy said he cut 27 pounds of wool, lie 
was sheared the 8th of May. I saw him the 
20th of May. The wool on his back was from 
one-half to three-fourths of an inch long; on his 
sides, belly and legs it was from three-fourths to 
one inch long, and his fore-top was not clipped 
at all. Slocum Barker, of White Creek, pur¬ 
chased him of Messrs, shrives & Roggy for 
$800. Mr. Barker told me that he sold Mr. 
Silvern ail three-fourths of him for the same 
he gave, reserving one-fourth. He said also Mr. 
Silvern ail took him to Ohio and sold him for 
$2,800, hut he would not tell me to whom. 1 
have no doubt that it wa? to Messrs. Keller & 
Gurney. He also at the same time purchased 
4-4 sheep of Cephas D. Sweet, of Shaftshury, 
Vt., for $2,400; also nine of Simeon PERCY, of 
Hoosick, lor $500; also, some of El.ON SWEET, 
for which lie paid $40 per head. They all claim 
them to he pure Spanish. This is ull^I can say 
about them. Yours, respectfully, 
D. W. Percey. 
gnquirics nntX 
“MtcnioAN ” should carefully read thesneep depart¬ 
ment hi the Rural where the very subject he seeks 
light upon is being discussed. 
Schooley’s ■PuF.suRVATonT.— Can yon or any oi 
votir readers sav anything about Schooley s Preserva- 
tory?—O. B. •! , Hn u'crUm. 
Communications, <£tc 
WINTER FOOD—CORN FOR FODDER. 
Ed?. Rural New-Yorker I call attention 
to a subject in which all farmers are deeply 
interested, and concerning which 1 speak advis¬ 
edly ; for I speak from the clear light of ex¬ 
perience. Then, listen, you dairymen, herds¬ 
men, shepherds, and I will put money in your 
pockets. Look at the market prices of hay, 
oats, corn and all kinds of feed for keeping 
stock! Why are they all so very high priced? 
The reply comes readily,—that the hay and 
oat crops have been cut short by drouths; 
that the corn crop was injured by frosts in 
places, and that the. army consumes such vast 
quantities of forage that the demand is greater 
than the supply. I have an antidote tor this 
state of things, and, if farmers will follow the 
suggestions offered, another year Aviil not he.hokl 
so many empty or half-filled barns: nor will 
farmers he obliged to sacrifice so many dollars 
by disposing of stock at less than half their 
Puff or Wind-Gall. —The following cured iny 
father's horse of n wind-gall}— 1 ounce each of the oil 
of hemlock, aud alcohol, mixed and rubbed on the gall 
twice each dav. T know it will cure —J- H. L. 
New Plows.— In a recent conversation Ex Lieut. 
Gov Brown, of the A. £. Farmer, informed us that 
Mr Noukse, of Boston, was engaged in perfecting a 
Btri.-s or new plows which it was thought would prove 
of great mine; and in his last paper we find this item 
on the subject 5—“ Mr. Nounsn lias devised, and already 
completed, some new plows which wo think will cna 
blc Urn farmer to do hi s plowing cat ter and cheap, r than 
he ha? ever accomplished it before They are of iron, 
—Ilgtit, compact and strong, combining the principles 
„r the best English, French and American plows. 
These plows are so constructed a- to obviate the neccs 
sitv of purchasing a new plow when a portion ol the 
one in hand Is broken.-for a piece may be procured to 
m u,e nlace where the broken or worn part is taken 
than any other; that it can he grown when it 
is too dry for grass or oats, and that it is the very 
best feed for most kinds of stock. Now for 
facts. One of my neighbors, the past season, 
raised three acres. It was sowed in drills, three 
feet apart, one and a half bushels of seed per acre, 
about the first of June. The mult of our figuring 
was twenty-four ami a half tuns per acre of green 
feed. Suppose it loses two-thirds in drying, he 
would have over eight tons of dry feed per acre. 
I sowed an acre of turf ground; did not culti¬ 
vate it; the result was six heavy loads of dry 
feed. I have been feeding it to cow s and horses, 
and I pronounce it the best fodder I ever put 
before stock. How else cun Iced be i.tistd at 
easily ? As a summary of its excellencies T will 
LARVA OF THE MAY-BUG. 
Eds. Rural New-Yorker:—I notice in 
your paper of January 16, 1804, “ Hops, lime as 
a manure, grubs, &c." It. is claimed by the 
writer that the large white grub is the larva 
produced by the May-bug. T think this is an 
error; at least my observation has been differ¬ 
ent. Some 20 years ago I built a temporary 
open shed on one side for cattle and put in a 
plank floor. The first spring after built, I 
cleaned all the manure out, and no cattle ran 
under the shed till into September following. 
Thu next spring, while cleaning out this shed, 
(the first days of May,) 1 found, near one of the 
posts, a quantity of small grubs from ono-fourth 
to three-eighths of au inch In length. Within a 
few years I have found large quantities of grubs 
in the manure piles that are made Wholly in the 
winter or in the foddering season. Now, how 
came the grubs in the manure? The bug lias 
not flown during the time the manure was 
making. I give it as my opinion that there is at 
least three changes from the grub worm to the 
big May-bug that comes out of the ground, in 
this section, about the first of June. That de¬ 
posits the germ for a small brown or black bug 
with spots of red and some yellow. 
The bug is about the size of halt ol a Marrow¬ 
fat pea, and comes out early In the spring and 
lays the germ iu the manure for the grub wown, 
which soon comes out, if the manure piles lay 
on the sunny side of the barn or stable. I think 
A. B. is correct as to the time when the meta¬ 
morphose takes place. I should have said above, in 
place, that where the manure is put In piles out 
of the stable it is all taken away in the spring or 
fall, so It can not be claimed they crawl up in 
the spring of the year. R- w. K. 
French Creek, Chant. Co., Jan., 1864. 
Portland Mills, Indiana, Dec. 26, 1863, 
IIon. HeNuy fe. Randall — Dear Sir: — I 
received your letter, last spring, requesting me 
to give you the measurement of our Nigreiti 
sheep and some samples of their wool. 1 have 
measured a buck aud ewe as near the average us 
I could select. 
Dimensions- Buck. Ewe. 
Inches. Inches. 
Length from month to horn,. (i‘4 T 
« horns to shoulder,___ 1311 
“ shoulder to tail,. 28 28 
Entire lengt h,. 50 50 
Average girth, .......... 4» 46 
Height of lore leg, .. 15 
** hindleg,. 15 11 >4 
Distance- of hip hones apart,. 9 9>4 
“ from gromid to top of 
shoulder,. 27 26 
Weight of carcass,.ISO 115 
I sheared from them this season an average 
of 64 lbs. of wool, washed in soft water. There 
is not sfc much difference in the weight of fleece 
between bucks ami ewes a? in some other fami¬ 
lies of Merinos. I let them run out the year 
round to stock yards, &r,, and only house them 
when they arc about to lamb. Tills, you know, 
has considerable to do with the weight of fleece 
and the appearance of the wool. No one in this 
State houses sheep as they do in Vermont. * 
* * a 1 inclose you samples taken from last 
soring fleeces. No. 1 is from an aged buck; 
No. 2 from a yearling buck; No. 3 from an aged 
ewe, and No. 4 froth a ewe lamb “ below me¬ 
dium in fineness/’ * * 4 
Yours, truly, John P. Carver. 
[Remarks.—N o. 1 Is 1 6-16 inches in length; 
No. 2 is 1 14-16; No. 3,1 13-10, and No. 4 is 21. 
Nos. 1 and 2 have the fineness and style of the 
choicest Saxon wool. No. 3 is not quite so nice. 
No. 4 is considerably inferior.—E d.] 
New England Agricultural association -'* •* 
late meeting of the Mass. State Board of Agriculture, 
n movement was made for the organization of a New 
England Agricultural Association , and a Committee whs 
appointed to call on the several Agricultural Societies 
0 f ,hc State to send delegates to a meeting to *h> held 
in Worcester on the 2d of March ensuing, for such pur¬ 
pose. we learn from the X E. Farmer, which favor? 
the movement 
_* 
Tm: Michigan Ad. Sociktv, by Us Executive Com 
mittee, )ms resolved to establish permanent rooms for 
n museum and library at Ypsilantt, and have appropri¬ 
ated $ 2,000 for the purpose, provided $8,MO Is other 
wise secured. It is proposed to erect the building on 
the Normal School grounds, and in connection with 
that institution. The board also appropriated $250 
annually to make collections for the museum. This 
looks progressive. 
»♦ *- 
The Land Grant and tuk Legislature. — The 
following resolution was adopted at the recent meeting 
of the N. Y. Stat® Ag Society 
K„„hrt, That the New York State Agricultural So 
eletv deplores the iicilon of the last Legislature in b 
stowing upon a single institution. and that not h * 
reorcseiitattve of Agricultural interests ol the Stan , 
die whole of ihe vu.-t loud grant made by Umuriwa to' 
the pronit'iinO of agricultural md oieelmnical edm a 
t mr a d this Society respectfully urges upon 
foment Lecislttl me the repud or modification <;f he 
& so urn. the New York Slate Agneul.ural Col 
lege shall receive a full share or this nob ' “Y' 
thus the Intention of 1’ougr.--. may be fulfilled, m the 
1 advancement of agricultural science. 
Sowing Plaster in Winter —Will plaster evapo¬ 
rate by laying on the ground from mid winter to the 
season of vegetation? Two years ago, one man gave 
hi? testimony in the Rural in favor of sowing in 
March; and a few days ago an experienced farmer ad¬ 
vised roe to sow any time during winter for the reason 
that tlie time allowed it to dissolve would render it 
more effective. The advantage of having the uwl-donc 
before spring work eotnes on, was a consideration. I 
don’t remember of having heard anything said against 
winter sowing—but the knowledge that It changes the 
color of clover or wheat immediately whim sown after 
vegetation begins, causes me to think that it dissolves 
very soon after being sown, and that consequently there 
may be waste from winter sowing. Here planter costs 
Sf 10 per tun, and as I have been accustomed to buying 
l! in New York for $2 50 to $8 00, the object for using 
I, e, onnniicttll V is increased— J. W. CUADIXXJK, Jotut 
