iRKto&i* 
about equally heavy fleeces. Among all of these 
were at least ten or fifteen which -would have 
produced, and have since produced, as much un¬ 
washed wool each as did Baker & Harkigan’s— 
without having anymore than the usual amount 
of yolk for 6ummer-houscd sheep. We do not 
understand that Messrs. B. & H.’s ram had any 
less than the usual amount of yolk. 
“ Why were not these sheep sheared at Canan¬ 
daigua?” Because they were mostly brought 
from a distance, and the weather was so cold 
and stormy that it was properly feared that if 
sheared they could not be got home safely, 
without a very extra amount of trouble. The 
heaviest fleeces which were sheared, were not 
entered for the Moore Premium. Why? Be¬ 
cause their owners were intelligent men, and 
perfectly well knew that full grown and good 
sized animals cannot, other things being equal, 
compete in proportion of wool to weight of 
carcass with small animals. It is a well known 
law of physics that a small spherical body has 
more surface in proportion to diameter, and 
more weight where the component material is the 
same than a larger one. A round shot 2 inches 
in diameter has 11.60 inches of surface to one 
pound of weight, while one 3 inches in diameter 
has 7.69 inches of surface to the pound; one of 8 
inches diameter has only 2.87 inches of surface to 
the pound. (For a tableon this subject sec Fine 
Wooled Husbandry, Van Benthuysen’s edition, 
p. 64.) Hence a small sheep has in proportion 
to its weight more surface for wool to grow on. 
An Interesting corollary springs from this 
fruit. Apples grow and bear, but the fruit does 
not attain the same perfection as farther north. 
The quince seemB at home, and every bush was 
loaded with fruit. Wherever I found a pear 
tree it was covered with fruit; and on one 
place I found forty dwarf pear trees grafted on 
the quince. They were the picture of health 
and were loaded with beautiful fruit. The cul¬ 
ture of the pear could be made a very profitable 
investment. 
The vine, grows luxuriantly, and would bear 
and ripen large crops, but the flowers are yearly 
destroyed by the rose hug. All the smaller 
fruits can be grown to perfection. Irish pota¬ 
toes succeed, and many of the farmers are still 
engaged planting them. The sweet potato is a 
very profitable crop, yielding abundance oflarge 
and fine tubers. In some few instances the sor¬ 
ghum has been tried and succeeds admirably. I 
examined one field of 118 acres ot this plant, and 
have reason to believe that it will prove highly 
remunerative. Cotton has been largely planted 
and will favorably compare with that of North¬ 
ern Georgia, or Western North Carolina. 
I noticed many large fields of red clover, but 
as it seems to be exclusively used as pasture 
and for the improvement of the land, I could 
not obtain any information as to the yield per 
acre. My impression was, that it is adapted to 
the elimate; and if the land was properly tilled, 
that it would yield a large crop of hay. I had 
an interview -with an intelligent physician, (who 
by tbe by has the prettiest place on the penin¬ 
sula,) and who has devoted a long life to the 
improvement of his homestead, He informed 
me that he had sown timothy on one of his 
fields, and that “ it grew as high as bis middle.” 
He stated he had sown blue grass in front of his 
residence, and expressed his satisfaction with 
regard to its permanency and adaptability to 
The climate. From all I could ascertain no one 
else had attempted the cultivation of the artifi¬ 
cial grasses. As it is unusual to feed stock 
during the winter months, except working ani¬ 
mals, (they receiving corn fodder,) tbe attention 
of farmers has not been directed to the growth 
of artificial grasses. Again, Southerners dislike 
innovation. Their lands are productive, and 
they are disposed to live on in the good old 
easy way. 
No attention whatever seems to have been 
paid to the improvement of stock. The cattle 
arc the smallest and poorest I have ever seen; 
and my opportunities for observation have ex¬ 
tended over a large portion of the United States. 
Well, you will s.ay, “how about the porkers ?” 
I can only say that it seems to have been “ root 
pig or die.” The head constitutes about one- 
if carefully housed from rain and enow from one end 
of the year to f be other, will accumulate enough “gum 
aud grease ’’ (yolk) to produce brag fleeces—and they, 
too, have gone lo bousing I And some of them (like 
some of the Vermonters) are ruuning the sheep oil 
manufacture entirely into the grouud. We have seen 
fleeces lately of which it Is no vast exaggeration to 
say that chunk* taken from them looked like masses 
of viscid oil, or pasty gum, with wool scattered thro’ 
it like the hair in rough-coat plaster I The lie mania 
may continue, where the nrticle is obtained by boring 
into the earth; but it will not be found profitable to 
grow it in such disproportionate quantities on sheep. 
famous “Old Robinson ram" was 60 8mall and un¬ 
promising, the first season, that Erastus Robinson 
repeatedly offered him for $2.-5. The “ Tottingham 
ram" was so small when E. A. Birchard (who had 
had the flock three years on shares) divided the Rob¬ 
inson flock with D, E. Robinson, in 1858, that ram was 
not counted as anything. Robinson gave his share of 
him to Birchard's son. And Robinson’s “Gen. 
Grant," now held at *3,000, was offered all the first fall 
for $10. Our own “ 21 per cent.” — who in the hands 
of another owner performed the largest achievement 
on record in increasing the fleeces of his get over the 
fleeces or their dams—is described in the days or his 
youth as having borne a close resemblance, in dimen¬ 
sions, to a “pint of cider." We could multiply such 
examples cui injini/um. So, culls may do to start 
flocks with, The sound rule, however, would gener- 
These matters are quite too often overlooked. 
We have known many farmers who have ex¬ 
pended five to ten dollars or more per acre in 
preparing and planting a piece of ground, from 
which they have gathered half a crop, simply 
for want of a shilling’s worth of time in select¬ 
ing and preparing the best seed, and this, in a 
greater or less degree, is too much the case 
generally. It is like that other piece of bad 
economy practised by multitudes, who send 
their children to the district school a year at an 
expunse of thirty to fifty dollars for clothing, 
teachers, Ac., aud yet loose half tbe benefit to 
be derived, simply bc-cause they withhold one 
extra shilling for a suitable book. 
We urge every farmer to go over his cornfields 
himself, as soon as the crop is ripened, and 
gather out the kind of ears we have indicated, 
and then either husk and store them away in a 
dry room, or go back to tbe old-fashioned plan 
of stripping down the husks, braiding them to¬ 
gether so that the seed ears may T be hung up in 
the attic or other safe, dry place.— Geo. Wood, 
in Gcr. Telegraph. 
D. E. Robinson's Sueei\— In onr recent articles on 
“The Terms Paular and Infantado" we stated that 
no new family blood had been introduced into the 
flock of the late Erastus Robinson until 1868, when 
It was done by his eon and successor, Darwin E. Rob¬ 
inson, by using a ram whose grand-dam, in the female 
line, was a full-blood Infantado. We made this state¬ 
ment supposing that D. E. Robinson used, to some 
extent, In his flock his ram “ 
Lincoln ” which was ex¬ 
hibited at the N. Y. State Fair last year, and of which 
a cut and pedigree were published in this paper July 
23d, 1864. In this we were mistaken. Mr. Robinson 
never need “Lincoln" in his flock. We are glad to 
learn this. All know that we think as much of Infan- 
tados as of Paulars, hut unless there were far stronger 
reasons to the contrary than now exist, we should 
expect the son or Erasttts Robinson to cling closely 
to that stock of which his father was so eminent a 
breeder and improver. 
D. E. Robin«ok's stock ram “ Gen. Grant ” is pure¬ 
ly of the old stock, and on both eides from animals of 
Mr. R.’s raising. He resembles the “Old Robinson 
ram,” but is a much superior animal. He is three 
Cost of Raising Corn in Illinois. 
A Warren County correspondent of the 
Prairie Farmer says“ The great staple crop of 
this section is corn, for which the soil is particu¬ 
larly well adapted. Corn, properly taken care 
of, does not generally cost over twelve cents per 
bushel cribbed. Last year I raised over lour 
thousand bushels, at a cost of nine or ten cents 
per bushel when cribbed with the husks on. 
Any person doubting this can have the figures 
oi every item charged in my farm account.” 
Agriculture of California. 
The gold and silver of the mines do not now 
attract so much attention as the wonderful pro¬ 
ductive capacity of the Pacific State. Beyond 
all question, with its rare climate, its fertile soil, 
and its energetic population, it will soon take 
the iront rank among the agricultural States. 
The great staple ot the South will flourish well 
in some of the eouutie3, and a bounty of *8,000 
is offered by the Legislature for the first one 
hundred hales of 300 pounds each. The wine 
product is growing every year more important, 
and it is said them are vines in prolific bearing 
which were planted over seventy years ago at 
the mission along the coast, and which have 
continued to flourish without the first dressing 
of manure since. 
In 1S60 the State produced nearly twelve mil¬ 
lion bushels of the cereals ; had 2,835,824 domes¬ 
tic animals, swine and horses; rajsed S67,4S5 
bales of cotton; and 494,516 gallons of wine. 
The large mining population will supply a mar¬ 
ket for most of the produce of this luxuriant soil 
for many years, and as there seems to be nothing 
that a community needs which California can¬ 
not supply, she ought in time to become a self- 
The elements of 
Corn Crop and Stock Hogs. 
The corn crop throughout Ohio, Indiana, 
Illinois, and this State promises such an extra¬ 
ordinary yield that many consider that the new 
product will not realize over 25 cents per bushel 
in the field; and in consequence the farmers, it 
is reported, are generally directing their atten¬ 
tion te the raising of hogs, aud considerable in¬ 
quiry prevails for stock hogs throughout the 
country, which are very scarce. In view of this 
condition of things, the next hog crop may turn 
out much larger than has generally been antici¬ 
pated. Many entertain the opinion that hogs 
will open at a high figure next fall, which Is an 
additional incentive to the farmers for the adop¬ 
tion of this course 
Baker & Harrioan’s Ran — Scoured Wool. — It 
being published that this ram yielded seven pounds of 
scoured wool, we received a letter asking if it was 
sheared before witnesses, and if the wool wne thor¬ 
oughly scoured. We communicated this inquiry to 1. 
V- Baker, Jr, of Comstock’ e Landing, who sends us 
another certificate of the mode of cleansing which 
was employed, drawn up by Samuel Lamb & Co. of 
the Fort Ann Woolen Mills, N. Y., and also a sample 
of the cleansed wool. It was cleansed in the same 
way as the fleeces for the State Moobe Prize. We 
believe the sample forwarded to be pure wool. The 
fleece was sheared and weighed in the presence of 
several witnesses. The proofs sent ns satisfactorily 
establish these facte. 
On the whole we are glad tUese proofs were called 
for. If called for from gentlemen of character and 
standing, as in this case, there will be no exense for 
ihe scamps (for, helnsl even the “ sheep-bneiness" 
has its scamps !) claiming the privilege of recording 
their marvellous statements, without furnishing good 
and sufficient proqfs ot thorn. Each one of these Al¬ 
lows can tell a bigger story-than his predecessor—and 
tbe most moderate of them can on/brag men of veraci¬ 
ty. The “sheep men" are scattered thousands of 
miles apart, and must in ninety-nine cases out of a 
hundred be strangers to each other. Let the best 
known be the first to set the examplo of shearing be¬ 
fore witnesses; and when cleansing is done privately 
let every step be proved us*e let the manufacturer 
who does the deausing btfw ■moagh known to place 
hie certificate wholly ahtr(v siftpicion. The statement 
of Holmes & Stevens of G^edriwieh, Washington Co., 
but time alone can decide 
as to its wisdom, as It is too early yet for any 
one to make any positive declaration as to the 
result .—Louisville Journal. 
of its consumption. And this, in our judgment, 
would he a lar better permanent test thau the 
one in the opposite extreme, viz., one which 
offers prizes for the heaviest scoured fleece, 
irrespective of weight of carcass. This utterly 
divorces the relation of consumption to pro¬ 
duction, and thus ignores all reference to profit - 
ableuess of production. 
sustaining independent State, 
her prosperity will not be suffered to lie don- 
man t, and the returns of the next agricultural 
oensus will be probably enormous.— Ex. 
Do not Pasture the Mowing Lots. 
At least, do not allow your cattle to eat 
them down close, or you will have a poor yield 
of grass next year, 
8upposetwo overgrown 
sheep would annually consume the grass and 
hay from an acre of land, and that four small 
sheep would do the same. Now the large sheep 
might individually considerably excel the 6mall 
ones in weight of fleece, while the four small 
ones might materially excel the two large ones 
in aggregate production—so that the four would 
give a good deal the best profit from an acre of 
land. 
The true test, in onr opinion, would be one 
which combined both considerations; which 
would hold steadily in view the proportion of 
cod to wool production, but at. the 6ame time did I 
j not lose reference to reasonable size (or weight.) 
True, it might be a little troublesome to settle 
definitively what shall be held to constitute 
reasonable size, or weight, but the general 
grounds on which it ought to be settled are 
apparent to all. These would have reference to 
constitution, (hardiness and easy keep,) work¬ 
ing capacity, adaptation to climatic circumstan¬ 
ces and proportion of meat t o offal—for though 
mutton is hut a secondary object in wool grow¬ 
ing, still it cannot properly be overlooked even 
in that pursuit. 
A Society "would not be called upon to decide 
exactly what was the best average weight for 
age. The object would he attained by saying 
that those shall not compete which are not in 
good fair condition, and which weigh not lm 
than-pounds for each year and month up to, 
say, three years; and that those three years old 
or over shall not weigh less than-pounds. 
Feed your cow6 cabbages, 
turnips, sowed corn, carrot-tops and carrots, if 
yonr pastures are short, or whether they are or 
not; but spare the meadows, or only permit the 
best of the aftermath to be eaten off. J ust be¬ 
fore a heavy rain, to dress the meadows with 
800 pounds to the acre of superphosphate, 
mixed with four times its bulk of muck, peat, 
diteh-scrapings, charcoal dust or loam; this 
will make the grass grow, and repay you, “ some 
Jthirty, some sixty, and some an hundred fold,” 
It is far better to mow 
Personal.—' The recent severe illnees of Mr. Moors 
has prevented him from attending to editorial or othor 
duties. Correspondents expecting personal replies 
innst have patience yet awhile, for, though convales¬ 
cing, he is still confined to his room and unable to 
write. 
Rain at Last.— After having suffered for five or six 
weeks with an unprecedented drouth, that parched 
the earth aud caused much injury to the crops, wo 
have been blessed with copious showers. The ** spell" 
was broken on the 0th inst., and rain has since been 
abundant, refreshing the earth, aud reJoiciDg the 
hearts of all. 
next mowing season, 
only ii.ve acres, where you get three tans of 
grass to the acre, than to mow fifteen acres, 
cutting but oue tun of grass each, or thirty acres 
averaging but half a tun of hay to the acre.— Ex. 
Summer Housing Sheep,—" Uncle Simon of East 
Peabody villc," writee to know if we have really 
torned our coat on the housing question, and he, in 
his usual profoundly investigating epirit asks: "What 
good on earth does it do either to the sheep or the 
wool ?" He presently adfla: “ If the ' rich contraband 
hue is what, you are arter, why don’t yon elap on the 
Cornwall finish and done with it; it don’t cost a 
quarter as muck, and is no more of a cheat than the 
other, for neither or Them make nateral color." “It 
mast look funny," Uncle 8. facetiously exclaims, “to 
see a lot of fellers putting arter their sheep, in a hot 
July day, on a rain coming np; and they tell me these 
fellers will leave dry hay or wheat in the ewath, to got 
their sheep under kiver.” 
No, Uncle S,, we have not turned onr coat on the 
question. We consider summer lioneing an expen- 
Potato Tops. 
As I have worked in the potato field for 
fifty years, I will give you my way of managing 
the tops. My method has given good satisfac¬ 
tion to others who have practiced it, as well as 
to myself. My plan i3 simply to drop them 
under my feet us I pull them up, and cover them 
frith the dirt that I draw from the hill. Man¬ 
aged in this manner I never have any trouble 
with them at plowing time. I can learn a boy 
in fifteen minutes so that he can do it properly, 
but it iB hard learning aged men, for they will 
cover a lew hills, and then, forgetting, will 
throw them here and there in a slovenly manner. 
On speaking to them, they reply, “O, yes, 1 
forgot.” To carry off the tops, or to bum them, 
is loss of time and property. Farmers, try it 
this year, but don’t “forget."—A". JB. Farmer. 
Tub Cattle Disease in England.— On our first 
page will be found an interesting let ter on this subject 
from London. Later accounts all agree that this pes 
tlienco is alarmingly Infections and fatal. It is spread¬ 
ing in all directions through England, aud Is likely to 
cause «u extent of loss which it is scarcely possible 
to estimate. The Scottish Farmer of the 0th. ult. 
says—“Scarcely three weeks have elapsed since it 
was generally r a mured that a disease of a dangerous 
though unknown character had broken out in London 
dairies, and already we have reports of its extension 
to the furthest confines of England, while day by day 
we are told of its appearance in new localities. In 
London, which may be looked upon as the center of 
the malady, and from which it appears to have origi¬ 
nally spread—the latest accounts speak of it as in no 
way mitigated front its primary severity; whilst in 
nearly all the adjacent counties it has acquired a con- 
sierable prevalence.” 
Death op Jacob Strawn, 
The Prairie Farmer 
chronicles the death of Jacob Strawn, the great land¬ 
holder and “Cattle King" of the West, and gives the fol¬ 
lowing sketch of this truly remarkable man: —"Air. 
Straws emigrated from Ohio to Morgan conuly, Ill,, 
in 1S50. Ho began life in the former Slate a* a team¬ 
ster. Upon hie arrival here be entered 500 acres of 
government land at $1,86 per acre. To this he has, 
from time to time added largely, until lie became oue 
or the largest land-holders of the State, and from the 
gradual rise In the value of this properly from govern¬ 
ment price to-10 or 50 or more dollars per acre, must 
have been worth so mo million and a half dollars. We 
believe at the time of his death he was the owner of 
something over thirty thousand acres of laud, mostly 
in the fertile county of Morgan. Besides this, he was 
possessed of considerable property in the city of Jack¬ 
sonville. The cash value of his farm stock was also 
immense. Mr. Strawn was a very eccentric man, 
and rather glorified In being considered so. He was 
remarkable for great force of character, great personal 
endurance and strict Integrity. He was not Illiberal, 
as his donation of $10,000 to the State Sanitary Com¬ 
mission attests." 
Coloring Cheese. 
We understand a new preparation of anotta 
is being introduced among some of our dairies, 
composed of the following ingredients : —18 
ounces anotta, 1 ponnd sal soda, and 1 gallon of 
strong ley. 
•ed a return of $400. In this as in everything 
else appertaining to Agriculture, this portion of 
Virginia is half a century behind the times. 
The price of land in East Virginia varies from 
$15 to $40 per acre. Owing to the present situ¬ 
ation of things it will probably lower In price. 
As a general rule fhe buildings are very inferior. 
If any of your friends desire part icular informa¬ 
tion with regard to farms for sale they have but 
to address Mr. Hennessee, real estate agent, 
Hastville, Vlj^inia, who will forward his printed 
This preparation for coloring cheese 
may not be more objectionable than where ley Is 
only used to cut the anotta, but we should hesi¬ 
tate to U6e sal soda without knowlug the effect 
it would produce in the color of cheese through 
the different stages of enriug, and after having 
been shipped to a foreign market. The subject 
is alluded to at this time, because complaint has 
been made by shippers, respecting a new color¬ 
ing material used for cheese, which, when ex¬ 
posed to the air “ turns dark and dirty.” The 
letter from an English cheese shipper, printed 
iu last week’s Herald, gives some of the facts In 
tbe case, and it would be well for those who 
have been using the above preparation of anotta, 
to thoroughly test this coloring material before 
any more Is used. It is not improbable that tbe 
color complained of may have originated from 
this source. Dairymen, in preparing their anotta, 
should be well posted in regard t« what they are 
doing, otherwise great losses are liable to be sus¬ 
tained on tbe sale of cheese. 
housing f But how can this tendency be avoided, 
without saying that no animal shall receive any prep¬ 
aration for market? Your horse or your bull, fat and 
groomed and polished, looks better arid sells better 
than he would in ordinary condition and In his rough 
coat. The dlfl'erence between applying Cornwall fin¬ 
ish (oil, burnt timber and lampblack,> and getting on 
t.he contraband hue by housing, appears to ns, Uncle 
Simon, capable of being explained In about this wise: 
When yoa gave your son Josh that, big brown Mainbrl- 
no gelding last, fall, you expected him to do Just fr'hat 
he did, viz., feed him up plump as a barrel, put a shin¬ 
ing coat on him, aud then sell him for all be conld get. 
But suppose Josu had painted, (or colored) that unfor¬ 
tunate white stocking on that gelding's off hind leg, a 
nice black to correspond fr ith the color of the other 
three lege, and then sold him, without distinctly noti¬ 
fying tbe purchaser of his painting exploit? You 
approved of the fattening and grooming, Would you 
report. And if they visit this region they will 
find this gentleman reliable and obliging. 
In a fiw days I expect to start for Georgia, 
and njriy possibly visit Florida; and it will 
afford me great pleasure to communicate my 
impressions of those States. 
I have the honor to remain, 
Tours, truly, K. 
CONDENSED CORRESPONDENCE, ITEMS, &c, 
Cuts in the Rural. — Wo occasionally receive 
urgent requests to publish cuts of sheep without delay. 
The rule we intend to adhere to. generally, is to pub¬ 
lish them in the order of priority In which they arc 
received,—though we might depart from it occasion¬ 
ally to favor breeds not so often illustrated In these 
columns, or for other unusual reasons. Wc wish it 
distinctly understood by all who have sent drawings 
or sheep to he engraved by Mr. C’abson, and others, 
that we have nothing to do In determining the order in 
which they are engraved, i. e. whose shall be first, 
whose second, and so on. We have loft this matter to 
ho arranged between owners and artists. 
WEIGHT OF SCOURED FLEECES 
SCOURING TESTS. 
Proportion or Butter to Yield or Milk.- Accor¬ 
ding to Johnston, while a Holderncss cow gave 29 
quarts, producing 1 lb. of butter to the 12 quarts, an 
Ayrshire cow gave 20 quarts, and 1 lb. of batter to the 
quarts; an Aldernay cow gave 19 quarts and yield¬ 
ed 1 lb. of butter to the 12 quarts; a Devon cow gave 
17 quarts, and butter ut the rate of 1 lb. to the 9X flh*- 
Utica Herald. 
Seed Corn. 
Not only should extra care bo taken t* have 
all corn designed for planting next spring thor¬ 
oughly ripened and dried, but the beet eara 
should be Selected. Those ripening first aro 
quite likely to produce the earliest ripening crop 
when planted again. 
The largest ears should be taken, and these 
from the most prolific stalks. Those which are 
perfect, having tbe kernels well filled out at 
both ends, should in all coses be chosen. 
Culls.’ 1 — “Obadiah” asks if It “ would be advis¬ 
able to start a flock with culls P' That depends upon 
circumstances. The culls of some flocks are worth 
more than the pick ot other flocks I And then again, 
the principle on which the culling has been made, has 
much to do with the matter. If the farmer keeps all 
his largest and strongest lambs, and turns off ull the 
little ones because he is afraid they will not winter 
well, his calls will orten include, after they reach ma¬ 
turity, somo of the very best animals of hts flock. 
We can adduce some decided instances of thiB, The 
Warts on Cows.— Will yon or some of your numer¬ 
ous readers p!m*e inform an old veteran of tlio 
“Rural Brigade" the means of removing warw on 
cows ? I have a very nice beftwr that ba» warts on her 
bag. Though I call them warts, they are not like the 
wart* seen on cows’ teats; these are on the bag and 
sides. Oue certainly i*» as large as a hen’* egg, and 
keeps on growing.— A Farmer, Ithaca, H. T. 
Sudden Incrbas> in Weights of Fleeces .— 1 “Sen¬ 
tinel” “woold Jiko to know how It happens that so 
Budden and extraordinary an increase has taken place 
in the weights of Merino fleeces ?” “ Why,” he ex¬ 
claims, “27 ponnd fleeces, so hard to swallow only 
t wo or three years since, are getting thicker out in 
Ne w York and Ohio, than blackberries I” To he 
sure they are, worthy “ Sentinel!” The people out in 
New York and Ohio have learned that “greasy” sheep 
Horacb Greelbt Is to deliver the annual address at 
the Minnesota State Fair at Minneapolis, the last week 
in September. 
