p A T % R 4 
ISIPSll 
r n^'GRICULTURf 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
AX ORIGINAL WKERLT 
AGRICULTURAL, LITERARY AND FAMILY JOURNAL. 
FINE WOOL SHEEP—HIGH FEEDING. 
Mb. Rural:— T notice the remarks of 8. H., of 
ConeRiiH, In your Issue of Jan. 26th, on raising fine 
wool. His fleeces of fine wool, weighing on the 
average 4 lbs., are very respectable. If every farmer 
would raise 4 lb. fleeces, there would he little use for 
advocating a higher system of feeding; but Mr. S. H. 
must be aware that his is rather an exception and not 
a rule. It may do very well as far as the wool is con¬ 
cerned, but generally those that have wool to sell 
have mutton sheep also to sell, and I maintain that 
from CO to 70 cents expended daily for either corn or 
buckwheat at present prices, to his 100 sheep, over 
and above what ho now feeds them, would, in my 
views of feeding, pay a good profit. In the first place 
it would enable him to sell his mutton sheep immedi¬ 
ately after they are shorn, when mutton generally 
brings a much higher price than late in the season; 
besides his lambs, owing to richer milk from their 
mothers, would bo both larger and fatter, and he 
would ultimately have much larger sheep. Nothing 
prevents Merino sheep from being one-third heavier 
when they are fat for the butcher market, but the 
poverty-stricken way they itie kept in their youth. I 
have often had yearling Merinos weigh 12dlbs. gross, 
when sold, and that is A fair weight for much larger 
breeds. 
S. H. says 5 lb. fleeces wont bring so much per 
pound by 10 cents as those weighing only 4 lbs.— 
that is If the buyer and seller are honest. No such 
deductions were ever made on any five pound fleeces, 
nor <i lb. ones either, that I have sold. I shall boast 
nothing shout honesty; but I wonder if any one 
would believe that 8. If., if offered 60 cents per pound 
for 6 lb. fleeces, would tell the buyer, “No, I am too 
honest to take that; those fleeces weigh 5 lbs. each, 
and are not worth over 40 cents. You can have them 
for that." 
There »"> to my opinion, «, gain in high feed- 
i>a cvin 1 ; way. 'Pb-* high teed;- • cm have *ub year¬ 
ling wethers ready for market and get as high a price 
as many a farmer gets when two years older, and that 
allows him to keep more breeding ewes; therefore he 
can turn oil'his increase cither in Iambs or yearlings. 
Often good fat lambs will bring as much In market 
as many three year old Merino wethers, or even more. 
I was raised amongst sheep, have had care of them 
ail my life, and I am more and more convinced that 
the better they are kept, the better they pay. Breed¬ 
ing ewes should not be kept too fat, else there is often 
serious losses at yeaning. Neither should the young 
ewes intended for breeders he kept too fat; hut all 
the wethers and old ewes kept from breeding cannot 
be made too fat. Any man may see at once that if 
lambs can be sold to the butcher for $2,60 to $0, it is 
folly to keep them poorly arid sell them for $2,60 to 
$3 at 34 years old, which is generally the price of the 
common run of Merino wethers at 3 to 3J years old. 
Even if they get $2 per fleeco for keeping them, at 
the price of hay hern, that would never pay. A 
sheep, if fed as much good iiay as he will eat, will 
consume 600 pounds during the feeding season, and 
that, consumes the fleece or the •( pounds at 60 cents, 
which would be pasture and expenses lust. No, sir, 
sheep kept in that way will not pay here. We must 
keep them on straw and grain till March, if not 
longer, and then feed good hay as the weather gets 
warmer. In that way we winter them both cheaper 
and better, and then we have a large part of our 
meadows for other purposes. When hay is worth 
from $8 to $10 per ton ut the barn, it wont pay to 
feed to sheep when wool is 40 to 60 cents per pound, 
unless grain is fed along with it, heavy fleeces raised, 
the lambs got to market or kept until yearlings, made 
fat aud got to market immediately on being shorn, or 
before if practicable. But enough about sheep at 
present. John Johnston. 
Near Geneva, N. Y , 18(51. 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORE, 
With an AblS Corps of Assistants and Contributors, 
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other Subject* intimately connected with tlio business of 
those whose Interests it zealously advocates. As a Family 
Journal It is eminently luetruotfre and Entertaiuinir— being 
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Homes of people of Intelligence, tastn and discrimination. It 
embraces more Agricultural. Horticultural. Sclentiilc, Educa¬ 
tional, I.iterary and News Matter, in to reprised with appropriate 
and beautiful Engravings, than any other journal,—rendering 
it th<» most complete Agricultural, Literary and Family 
Newspaper in America. 
Fott Terms and other particulars, see last page. 
Entered according to net of Congress, in the year 18(11, by 
D. t». T. Moons, m the Office of the Clerk of the District 
Court for the Northern District of Now York. 
I'JT Our only object in copyrighting Oils paper is to secure 
what every honorable, journalist will freely grant —proper 
credit for articles selected from its pages. Any and every 
journal is at liberty, and invited, to copy freely, 117 crediting 
each original article or illustration to Rural AVto- Yorker. 
BRUCE' S YORE-8HIRH 
WINNER OF THE FIRST PRIZE AT TF1K WINTER MEETING OF HE KOYAI. DUBLIN AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY, 
IS COTTON KING? 
While the improved breeds of cattle have excited 
almost universal attention, and have formed one of 
the most important features in our Annual State 
Fairs; vhile the contest between the friends of long 
and abort wnnled, and South-Dawn She on has *“ < 1 
both inv’ '•sting and exciting; and while many nave 
exhibited undue interest in fancy breeds of fowls, 
the pig for many years lias been almost forgotten. 
Knowing this fact, the managers of our Fairs have 
provided few pens for this family of domestic ani¬ 
mals, and but a small portion of those provided have 
been occupied. That all breeds are alike profitable 
to the feeder, or that the subject is unworthy the 
serious attention of farmers, wo cannot believe. 
Wo present our readers with a portrait of one of 
the finest hogs wo have seen for a long time. 8bo 
was exhibited at the Winter Fat Cattle Hhow of the 
Royal Dublin Society, and obtained the first prize in 
the class of “single pigs, large breed, of any age,” 
and is an enormous white Yorkshire pig, of great 
depth and thickness. She was bred and is now 
owned by Mr. Bruce, of M illtown Castle, Ireland, 
and is nearly two years old. Mr. B. bad previously 
obtained with this animal four ilrat class prizes, and 
we present her as a peri' i f)i_,idol of a large pig. 
J«, Irish Farmers? 
ing, but not too large; back broad, and very slightly 
curved, with wide well-set pump, chine and loin 
broad; ribs springing; deep sides and full chest; 
color white; hair long, and thinly set, It is a lino 
**">i' linen of the tiiv: arov'" vcr.v l’uat, fee Hu rapidly, 
an, Alii ivaoify, unde. 1 $ 001 ) i.ii'i.agp r .a t '“.txSn te 
from 216 to 360 pounds in twelve months from birth, 
and the quality of pork is remarkably good, having 
a good proportion of fine lean flesh.” This change 
was effected by the Lincolnshire breeders, but those 
of Yorkshire have improved the form, and at the 
same time preserved the size of this old breed. J. 
A. Clarke, in the Cyclopedia of Agriculture, says, 
“the specimens lately exhibited of the large York- 
-liire breed have attained a size too largo for any 
useful purpose, and would exceed in Weight that of 
a moderately grown Scotch ox. The present taste of 
the public is decidedly set against such an over¬ 
grown sort; at present, however, they make large 
prices.” Here wo have no such prejudices against 
large pork for packing. 
It may be a matter of interest to agricultural 
readers jnst now, to look at the possible bearing of 
any disturbances in the South which may interfere 
with the usual supply of cotton. As it is claimed 
rn'i-u,,., ; K',, e at oogt»» ki.o>v .1 
pedigree, and legitimate claims (if it have any,) to 
bear its name and sway. Of the Importance and 
value of cotton as a textile fabric, there can be no 
doubt. But it should be borne in mind that fibrous 
plants are very numerous, and that the Almighty has 
not ehnt us up to one source, important as it rnay be 
for our supply of vegetable fibre for clothing. There 
arc probably fifty different species of plants which 
yield vegetable fibre in such a form as to lie useful in 
some degree, and under favorable circumstance, for 
t,lie manufacture ol' cordage, paper, and cloth. In 
addition to this, wc have the wool and hair of 
different animate, either domestic or capable of being 
domesticated. We have the various varieties of the 
silk worm, some of which, like that lately introduced 
into France from the East, can be cheaply fed and 
reared, and made to produce a coarse fabric suitable 
in point of cheapness for common wear. It may bo 
said that none of these have been proved equal In 
cheapness and excellence to the cotton. But it may 
be answered that no man can predict the effect of the 
application of scientific and inventive intellect to 
the general subject of textile fibres under the impulse 
of necessity. The inventions of Hargreaves and 
A rjcwright in England, and of Whitney is this 
country,'actually created the cotton culture in the 
South, and the cotton manufacture in England. It 
is unsafe for politicians or economists to presume on 
peculiar advantages which the Creator has given to 
to any one country or climate. There is a law of 
compensation which presides over all God’s blessings. 
It may be doubted whether cotton is a “King” at 
all, and with still better reason may it be doubted 
whether the cotton of the Gulf .States of North 
America ia " King.” 
Let us look at this matter a few moments. Cotton 
grows freely in almost all the warm countries of the 
globe. In almost all these countries it may be 
supplied to an indefinite extent. The limitation 
upon its production is either the lack of civilization, 
and a government which can protect regular labor, 
as in Africa; or in the means of transporting it to 
market, as in India. It is well known that half a 
century ago India was the great cotton growing and 
manufacturing country of tho world. Our older 
readers can remember when “India Cottons” were 
common in our own country. What has changed all 
this, and enabled Old and New England to carry 
cotton fabrics to India? It is not that India has 
ceased to raise cotton, or weave it, for a hundred 
millions of people arc clothed with cotton of their 
own raising. It is simply because English and 
American talent has applied machinery to clean, and 
spi* 1 ) aud weave the cotton, so that by these means 
they are able to enter into a successful competition 
even with the marvelously cheap labor of the rice- 
eating natives of India aud China. In this way 
England, herself, has thrown her fabrics made of 
American cotton into India, and by reducing the 
demand of raw cotton there, has reduced the amount 
grown. Raw cotton is easier obtained from America 
than irom India, for want of the means of transpor¬ 
tation over the immense distances between the cotton 
fields and the Indian sea ports. The quality of the 
American article is better, but this depends, in a 
great measure, on the skill of the cultivator. The 
railroad system of the English iu India is now about 
coming into activity, and this will enable the natives 
to reach a market with all the cotton they may have 
a demand for. it may be safely said that in five 
years’ time India may be made to supply a very large 
part, if not the whole of the English demand for raw 
cotton. 
't hfr *mrrav)i)£ 
* if-cite. 
There is a great prejudice in England against large 
pigs, and the old Yorkshire bus been modified in size 
as well as improved in form. While in this country, 
packers pay the highest price for large hogs, in Eng¬ 
land a pig weighing from six to eight score, or from 
120 to 1 GO pounds, will bring more in market than 
one of greater weight. Tho Yorkshire pig is one of 
tho oldest as well as one of the largest breeds, but 
until improved by modern breeders it was extremely 
long-logged and wcak-loined; very long from head to 
tail, color chiefly white, with long course curly hair, 
and yielding a coarse flabby flesh. The Improved 
Yorkshire, sometimes called Lincolnshire, however, 
“ is well-formed throughout, its head of fair length, 
with pleasant, mild, docile countenance; ears droop- 
Our readers are aware of the issue of the late Chi¬ 
nese war. The capital of England and France can 
now avail itself of the teeming millions of China 
with their rich lands and cheap labor for the supply 
Of cotton. The Chinese are a migratory people,— 
they will go anywhere, or do any kind of work, for 
money. They are the Yankees of tho East. The 
English can establish Chinese colonies in Australia 
and introduce the cultivation of cotton there to any 
extent. We know that our cousins over the water 
are very philanthropic, but they are not scrupulous 
when their own power or safety is put in jeopardy. 
All the islands of the Pacific may he thus made to 
yield the coveted staple. So ean Egypt and Turkey, 
Sicily and Algeria, Jamaica, British Guiana, Central 
America and Brazil, and English capital and skill are 
present in all those countries. The exploration and 
civilization of Africa has for many years been a 
favorite subject with the English people and Govern¬ 
ment. Africa furnished the finest cotton lands on the 
globe. Love of money ia everywhere the great civi¬ 
lizing force. When the petty tyrants of Africa find 
that a man is worth more to plant cotton and hoe 
cotton than to sell to the coast slave dealers, the 
trade in cotton will supersede the trade in men. If 
they continue to make raids for captives, these petty 
kiugs will bo more likely to send them into the cot¬ 
ton field than to the slave ship. 
The recent letter in the livening Post from Hon. 
E. G. Squibb, shows that nothing is needed but a 
stable government to make Central America one of 
the most profitable cotton regions in the world. 
England is an adept at protectorates, and we are not 
exactly in the condition to enforce the Monroe doc¬ 
trine for the benefit of the Southern Secessionists. 
It should be remarked that in this effort to open 
new fields of supply for cotton, France and England 
have a common interest, and will work together. 
Lord John Russell has just put all the Consuls of 
the British Government at the service of the Man¬ 
chester Cotton Supply Association, and thus we find 
that private capital and self-interest are rc-inl'orced 
by government in the great work of seeking new 
fields of supply for the mills of Great Britain. The 
secession movement and its possible consequences 
have set all this powerful machinery into the intensest 
activity. For years this Association has been making 
explorations, but apparently with no great vigor. 
Now all these considerations of danger and self-inter 
eat arc increased in force by the general dislike of the 
slave system of the South. Such machinery, with so 
much capital, with so much weight of motive drawn 
from morality and self-interest combined, can hardly 
fail to be effective. 
The manufacturing districts of the Northern States 
are alike interested with England to ascertain the 
extent to which their laboring population are liable 
to sailer from a stoppage or diminution of tho supply 
of cotton. It is true that there seems at present to be 
little danger from this source. As cotton is the main 
dependence of the seceding States, and as their tax 
atiou will be enormously increased by their late 
action, they must raise cotton in order to raise 
money,— to raise money from their cotton it must be 
sold. It will be sold to those who have money to buy 
it. If tho Southern ports are blockaded, tho cotton 
Can be sent by railroads overland nearly as cheap as 
it can he shipped by sea. If war or insurrection stop 
the cotton supply from the South, we shall have *>pen 
to us through the command of the sea all those new 
sources of supply which the activity of the English 
and French shall lay open. 
But though we see no reason to fear a deficiency of 
raw cotton for our mills, we have another kind of fibre 
upon which we can fall backhand this can bo raised 
in all the Northern States, and to any extent, ft. is 
known that flux can be prepared for spinning by 
jennies in the manner of cotton. Several mills for 
its manufacture have been started in our country. 
But so little pains have been taken by farmers who 
raise flux (mainly for tho see(l,) to prepare the fibre 
and get it to market, that for till the finer fabrics the 
manufacturers were obliged So import from Europe, 
mainly from Russia. Upon this there was a duty 
equal to that laid on imported linen, so that they get 
no protection. Their succcfk so far as quality is 
concerned, was complete. lint the active competi¬ 
tion of foreigners in the substantial absence of all 
protection, finally induced thdm to abandon the man¬ 
ufacture of the liner class of goods. The coarser 
fabrics are still made at a profit, and, without doubt, 
when attention iu given to tin preparation of llax, so 
that the home supply will l« equal to any demand 
made upon It, the same roi^ht be true of the more 
dedicate fabrics. A recent le;ter to tile writer from a 
distinguished manufacturer, whose means of iufor 
ination have been unusually K»od, says that there ia 
so much flax raised, lor the iced alone, in the single 
State of Ohio, that if the quality of the article was 
properly attended to, and tho fibre well broken and 
cleaned, it would serve, in addition to the seed, to 
supply the entire Union w tli linens. Beyond all 
question the Northern States are able at any time to 
raise sufficient flax to replaio the whole amount of 
cotton now spun without any serious addition of 
cost to the consumer. It wai recently stated in Bos¬ 
ton that flax could be purchased in Ohio, curried to 
Jloxbury, cot,Ionized, and delivered at the place where 
it was grown for fifteen cents per pound. 
The process of separating the ultimate fibres of the 
flax from each other, and preparing them tor spinning 
with same case as cotton or wool, is now well under¬ 
stood and easy. The old idea that (lax is of neces¬ 
sity an exhausting crop, is now controverted on 
good authority. With the enormous capacity of our 
western prairies for production, and the facilities 
now existing for preparing the fibre for use, it is 
evident that a very slight advance in the price of 
cotton would stimulate the culture of (lax so far as to 
meet all the necessities now supplied by cotton. It 
is by no means certain that free labor and scientific 
skill might not enable llax, or some other fibrous 
plant, to change places witli tho regal plant of the 
tropics, Oue thing is certain. Wo need have no 
fear in regard to an immediate supply of our spindles 
and looms should war or insurrection diminish or 
destroy the crop of cotton in our Southern States. 
Wo can even do much toward furnishing fibre for our 
English neighbors in tho improbable event that their 
new sources of cotton supply should bo insufficient. 
We are thus aide to assure our Southern friends that 
in any event we shall not he iu danger of suffering 
for shirts, bedding, or calicoes. We are, on the 
whole, disposed to think that cotton is not “king” 
cither dr jure ov de facto. We will suggest to tho 
cotton planter that fashions in trade are apt to 
become a rage. The embargo destroyed the timber 
trade between the United States and Great Britain,— 
it. did the same work for the trade in beef and pork. 
Before tho Revolution in Hayti, that inland was the 
great source of supply for coffee. But that being, in 
a great measure, cut off by the insurrection, Brazil, 
under the impulse of foreign capital, took np tho cul¬ 
ture of coffee and now is ready to supply the world. 
We venture to predict that the present secession 
movement will, by opening new sources of supply for 
cotton, effectually tako away from the Southern States 
the control of tho cotton market, and leave them 
where Jlayti is iu relation to Brazil in the culture of 
colfi-e, and where l.ouslami stands relatively to (Julia 
in the growth of sugar. The bold assumption that 
the cotton of the Gulf States is “ King,” aud that 
this secures tho success of the Southern Confederacy, 
will be sure, in the end, to compel the cotton growers 
of the South to take the humble place of unequal 
competitors with a dozen other sonrees of supply, of 
w-hose existence they now hardly dream. 
In case matter;; look stormy iu the spring, it may 
be well for our farming friends to recollect that we 
may need an extra amount ol flax to keep our spindles 
going, while the seed, as a staple article, will ulwayB 
meet a ready cash sale. Meanwhile we invito those 
who have had experience iu flax raising to give us, 
in definite form, the results of their labors. The sub¬ 
ject has received some notice in previous volumes of 
tho Rural, but the present condition of affairs in our 
country now renders eucli a discussion peculiarly 
appropriate. 
PRACTICAL SERMONS ON SHORT TEXTS, 
DEEPENING THE SOIL. 
“ Boils should bo plowed as deep as the substratum will 
admit ol' its being dorm by tho forces of one ordinary team, at 
least once in u course of crops.”—JlfDOK 11 u K L. 
In this country it will be found a general rule, that 
the plow seldom penetrates more than four or live 
inches into the soil, and in most eases the soil is 
plowed to the same depth for every crop that is 
grown upon it, thus exposing only two surfaces, as it 
were, to atmospheric action. This may, and did, 
answer very well when the soil was newly cleared, as 
the superiuenmbent forest contained a large amount 
of fertilizing mutter near tho surface; but this matter 
having been used up, the continuation of this system 
of plowing has resulted in worn-out lands, with a 
concrete hard-pan intervening between the cultivated 
and the uncultivated soil, preventing tho roots of 
ordinary crops from entering the sub-soil in search 
of food, and also in a great measure obstructing the 
drainage of surface water, and the ascent of moisture 
by capillary attraction. 
It would be well if our farmers would pay more 
attention to this important matter. In carrying out 
a system of rotation of crops, I would hero strongly 
recommend the soil to be turned up in the first 
course to tho depth of four inches, and to be deepened 
one or two inches at each successive crop till the 
seeding to grass, when it would be twelve or fourteen 
inches deep. On the commencement of each rota¬ 
tion after grass, begin again at five inches. Jn this 
way a new stratum of soil would be turned up each 
TWO DOLLARS A. Y'EAR.) 
“ PliOGLRJCSS AJNHD IMPROYKMKN'r." 
[fdNGLE NO. P’OTJK CENTS. 
VOL. XU. NO. 8.! 
ROCHESTER, N. Y.-F0R THE WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 1861. 
! WHOLE NO. 580. 
