ature 
/gricuu-ur r 
spoken only of the existing markets; I am now 
anxious to call your attention to that great 
demand which will be opened by my discovery 
of the inode of adopting flax to cotton and 
woolen machinery. The substitution of (lax for 
cotton is now no longer a matter of doubt. 
Recent experiments at Rochdale have com¬ 
pletely set that question at rest. Important, as 
may be the considerations connected at present 
with linen manufactures, and cogent as may be 
the arguments deduced from them, in order to 
induce you to obtain possession of the ground 
now occupied by the foreign producer, infinitely 
more important, and far more forcible are those 
which may be drawn from the prospective 
demand now springing up in our cotton manu¬ 
factures. The consumption of the vaw material 
must, of necessity, be governed by the machinery 
which exists for its manufacture, and the spindles 
of Belfast, Dundee, and Leeds, are already 
supplied with the produce of foreign countries. 
Not so, however, with respect to llax, and its 
adaptation to the cotton manufactures. Millions 
of cotton spindles are ready at once to take the 
raw material and spin it for you, without the 
slightest alteration being required iu their ar¬ 
rangement.. A thousand tuns of cotton daily, or 
770,000,000 of pounds annually, are consumed in 
our cotton manufactures, and the result of my 
recent experiments have been such as to show 
that flax may be substituted for at least one half 
of this amount. In order, therefore, to supply 
this nm demand, for a new material thus 
created, the produce of 2.000 acres will be 
required for each day, and the whole of the flax 
grown in the United Kingdom does not amount 
to more than one-seventh of the supply required 
for Manchester alone. It is a duty imperative 
upon the agriculturists of the country to endeavor 
to meet this enormous demand, and not allow it 
to pass into the hands of foreign countries, which 
will inevitably be the case, if they do not imme¬ 
diately exert themselves in this respect,.” 
N. Good sell. 
New Haven, Oswego Co., N. Y., 1863. 
price. If they do,—but they don’t—it is because 
they intend to go out of the business, or because 
they do not like their own stock and want to 
effect a radical change iu it. Again, breeders 
keep careful track of families of sheep, and of 
the crosses made on them, and are careful to let 
this knowledge enter into their calculations of 
the adaptation of an animal fov crossing on their 
flocks. No young shepherd, who has reason to 
distrust his own judgment, but may prolitably 
pay a round price to an experienced and honest 
breeder to select stock bucks for his flock. It 
pays to pay for such a man’s services. 
APPRENTICESHIPS. 
A young man who intends to become a sheep 
farmer can afford to work two or three years for 
a skillful shepherd who will educate him, for 
nothing, or for his food and clothing. He had 
better work for nothing that length of time, than 
pay the prices that some men pay for having 
their -“eye-teeth cut” by sheep fanciers and ped¬ 
dlers. It is the place to educate a child,—It is 
the kind of school in which to educate men to be 
mild, patient, watchful, prompt, and skillful. Let 
young men with capital who would go into sheep 
husbandry, wait a year or two, and give them¬ 
selves away to an intelligent shepherd that 
length of time. 
CHILLED LAMBS. 
Theso days when wool Is high and sheep 
costly, lambs should not be simply-suffered to 
live if they can, or perish without care. Early 
lambs require looking offer; and if tho sheep 
stables are not close they are liable to get chilled 
through. A shepherd whom I called upon 
recently had just been saving a chilled lamb, from 
which life had nearly Ued. He said:—“It is 
wonderful how quick a chilled lamb, from which 
breath seems almost gone, will revive if put iu a 
warm oven. I put one into an oven on a board, 
with a warm cloth wrapped about her; and 
although life was apparently extinct, In five 
minutes the lamb was lively and eating.” 
There are many shepherds in tho West who 
watch o'nights with their lambs; and well they 
may, when they are regarded worth from twenty- 
five to titty dollars the moment they are born. 
And that is the way to succeed — to take care of 
what you get A Utile care often saves much 
money; and a little neglect often loses more. 
BREEDING TWICE A YEAR. 
This is a good deal practiced just, now. When 
sheep and wool are worth bo much it may bo 
profitable. But it shortens the life of the ewe — 
especially if extra care is not taken of her. I 
have talked with breeders about the months in 
the year in which they prefer the lambs should 
drop iu such cases. The testimony varies; the 
oldest breeders prefer April and September; 
others May and October, or November,— the 
preference usually depending upon the system 
of management adopted. But ordinarily it is nut 
best to breed ewes twice a year; and no man 
should venture to do it who is not prepared to 
give them the best possible care —who has not 
had some experience in such management; for it 
is an easy matter to lose more than one will 
gain. But there are breeders who double the 
increase annually, in this manner, safely and 
with profit. 
weighed, numbered, and left for sale. The 
weavers went to the Halls, selected and pur¬ 
chased their yarns for weaving, wove their cloth 
and carried it back to tho Halls, where it was 
inspected, measured, numbered and left for sale, 
Tho bleachers went to tho Halls, purchased (heir 
unbleached cloths, bleached and finished thorn, 
when they were again carried to the Halls, 
inspected, numbered, stamped and left for sale. 
In the finishing their goods, the manufacturers 
had reference to the market, for which they were 
designed. Those for the. American market, after 
being bleached, were starched, ami passed 
through a machine called a calender, consist¬ 
ing of polished iron rollers pressed together by 
screws, similar to our plating mills, by which the 
threads were flattened down so as entirely to till 
the interstices between the threads, and in some 
Instances the rollers are pressed so close as 
nearly to cut the threads in two where they cross, 
much to injury of tho goods. Those linens 
designed for a home market receive a very 
different, finiph. After being bleached they are 
folded up and undergo what is termed the butting 
process, by which the linen after being folded 
many thicknesses is placed upon a smooth plat¬ 
form, where perpendicular shafts, having their 
lower ends made of lignum vitre, and made 
smooth, and raised by cogs, are allowed to fall 
upon tbe linen, which the operator keeps mov¬ 
ing between the blows, until every part of the 
Cloth is made smooth. By this process the linen 
does not receive a polished surface, us when 
finished by the calender; and tho threads appear 
as distinct ns when it comes from tho bleach* 
fluid, and they are not injured by too close press¬ 
ing at their crossing. 
The amount of linen cloth manufactured in 
Ireland, in tho year 1820, was 43,013,218 yards; 
in 1825, 55,113,265 yards; in 1835, GO,916,592 
yards. This was not all made of flax grown in 
the kingdom, for it appears, by statistics, that 
England imported from foreign countries In tho 
year 1846, to the amount of 79,424 tuns, valued at 
twenty millions of dollars. Previous to 1825 
linen was mostly made from home-spun yarn. In 
1839 there were in operation in England forty 
flax spinning mills, using steam to about 2,000 
horse power. In 1845 there were III linen 
factories, of 12,000 horse power, giving employ¬ 
ment to 4.8,000 persons. Three of these mills 
consumed 110,000 tuns of flax annually, and all 
employed a capital of sixty millions of dollars. 
At the weekly mcetiug of the Council of the 
Royal Agricultural Society of England, February 
12th, 1861, a paper was road from which we 
make the following extracts: 
“Tho fetal value of the flax fiber imported for 
manufacturing into linen, suit cloths, tarpaulins, 
rick covers, sacking, and other materials, exceeds 
£5,000,000 annually; and there is no doubt, judg¬ 
ing from the rapid progress of our manufactures, 
that if the supply of the raw material could be 
more readily obtained at home, the consumption 
would be increased to a still greater extent. The 
progress of the linen trade, in consequence of the 
great improvements which have been made in 
machinery, has, within the last twenty years, 
been almost unparalleled. Tho exports of linen 
have increased since that time from 50,000,000 to 
105,000.000 of yards, and its declared value, from 
£1,700,000 to upward of £3,000,000. No attempt, 
whatever, has been made on the part of our 
agriculturists to meet the enormous, and rapid 
increase iu tho demand for the raw material; 
and, as a consequence, the foreign producer has 
been reaping a golden harvest from the monopoly 
which he has possessed. The imports of foreign 
flax have increased from 936,000 cwt., in 1831, to 
1,800,000, in 1842—the value of the increased im¬ 
ports being not less than two millions and a half, 
nearly the whole of which is paid for in money 
sent out of tho country. 
“ Hemi*.—W e also import large quantities of 
hemp, which might, like flax, be easily and profit¬ 
ably grown at home. The value of hemp annually 
Imported is about £1.500,000. We have thus 
a demand existing for flax and hemp, and for the 
supply of which we are dependent upon foreign 
countries, shown in round numbers by the fol¬ 
lowing figures:—Flax fiber £5,000,000 ; seed for 
crushing £1.800,000; seed for sowing £200,000; 
he get so much oil in his wool ? By what I have seen, and 
heard observed by others, many of the French sheep havo 
been shipped west; but a portion of them are left—and 
for what purpose? To improve the size and length of 
the wool on the Spanish. No sheep man, you know, 
pretends any such tiling. Nor is it necessary as long as 
they can accomplish their ends. To look at their sheep 
they are nearly perfect. It would not be for their interest 
to tell minutely how they have accomplished their pur¬ 
pose, os long ns they can command such prices for their 
hhcop. Mr, S anno tin hns 23 yearling ewes in one lot, 
and 1 learn he has refused three thousand dollars for ten 
of them Mivj. STOWKI.L, of Cornwall, luid. live yearling 
ewes, and live two year olds in one lot, which he valued 
at two thousand dollars. Ho had the offer fit’ $300 for one 
of them. Mr. Mkrriam, of Brandon, has Ji.ist refused 
$2,000 for fourteen yearling ewes, They worn the de¬ 
scendants of the Robinson Mock I am told Mr. Ham vo.su 
offered Mr. Roui.vson, before lie died, $1,700 for 17 sheep. 
The prices of bucks are almost incredible. Mr. Hkmmin- 
w ay, of Whitewater, Wis., paid Mr. Rkuhlkb, of New 
Haven, $500 for a throe year old buck. Mr. J. l). Uir- 
tolvh, of Middlebury, sold to a man Iu Hoosick, N. Y., u 
yearling buck for $300. lean mention buck Iambs that 
are held at $300. Mr Hammond holds Ids buck “Gold 
Drop ” at $3,000. There are others that not only have 
good sheep, but sell as high as any I have mentioned, and 
even higher,— Wright, Bingham, Stickney, Cutting, 
Lawk, and others. 
I said your sheep differ from the Addison county sheep. 
Yes, they differ front the Atwoods. They ant a little 
larger sheep, Ihe wool Is longer, and a little better style 
than the Atwoods, If it Is true that, the French has made 
tliis wonderful change in the Addison Co. sheep, wonld it 
not do more for your (lock V The question would be 
whether they would he os good for the prairie land os your 
own; for they must lie cared for summer and winter. 
But (hen, they make a wonderful show sheep. 1 have 
said nothing about the common flocks, I will let. that be 
tiU next time. Yours Truly, 
MOOSE’S SURAL NEW-YORKER, 
AN ORIGINAL WEEKLY 
RURAL, LITERARY AND FA Mil, Y NEWSPAPER. 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORE, 
With a Corps of Able Assistants and Contributors. 
O. II. IUtACTION, Western Corresponding Editor. 
Tm? Rural New-Yorker is designed tube unsurpassed 
in Value, Purity and Variety of Contents, and unique and 
beautiful in Appearance. Its Conductor devotes his per¬ 
gonal attention to the supervision of its various depart¬ 
ments, and earnestly labors to render the Rural an 
eminently Reliable Guide on all the important Practical, 
Scientific and other Subjects intimately connected with 
the business of those whose interests it zealously advo¬ 
cates. As.a Family Journal it is eminently Instructive 
and Entertaining - being so conducted that it can be safely 
taken to t.li« Homes of people of intelligence, taste and 
discrimination. It embraces more Agricultural, Horticul¬ 
tural, Scientific, Educational, Literary und News Mutter, 
Interspersed with appropriate Engravings, than any'other 
journal,- rendering it tho most complete Agricultural, 
Litrrary asp Family NBWSPjU'Ui In America. 
137~ For Terms and other particulars, see last page 
WESTERN EDITORIAL NOTES 
SOME HINTS FOR GREEN SHEPHERDS.--NO. I, 
SOMETHING ABOUT BREEDING SHEEP IN 
VERMONT. 
I intimated in iny former article (sou last Ru¬ 
ral,) that tho purity of the Spanish slump as 
bred by certain breeders in Vermont, is doubted. 
Tho French features stick out suspiciously plain. 
A fine formed sheep is obtained, but tins (locks 
resulting are not uniform, and hybrids are ob¬ 
jectionable. 
A Western shepherd, of some sagacity, and 
who is careful not to assert what he does not 
know, has been spending some time iu Vermont. 
Naturally enough,he corresponds with his friends 
“ Out West.” One of his private letters acciden¬ 
tally got into my possession, and I have retained 
it, and herewith publish such parts of it as I 
deem of interest, to buyers of pure bred sheep. 
I take the responsibility of doing this without his 
knowledge or consent. 
THE LETTER. 
Rctlanu, Vt., Jan. 22d, 1863. 
Mr -, Dear Sir:— During the last ten years 1 have 
had many a talk with you about sheep. Now, as you are 
not near, I cannot talk to you verbally; so I would like to 
talk to you on paper Since i saw you last I have learned 
many tilings about sheep. I find there is more to he 
learnod about them than any other domestic animal. I 
havo been around to see Ihe principal Hocks, and the. best 
sheep in the world, perhaps--that is—if Addison eonnty 
hoe got them. J should he u very duU scholar if I did not 
add a little to my knowledge. It is said by some that pri¬ 
ces have something to do In making sheep valuable, and a 
thing is worth what it fetches. Now, if this be true, Ad¬ 
dison county is ahead of anything I have seen yet. As far 
as price i* concerned, I thought you enough for anything 
that comes along, but I give up now; you arc nojiup with 
the times this way, considering the quality of your sheep. 
Your sheep differ somewhat from the Addison county 
sheep—1 mean from what they call their best sheep. Ad 
dison county sheep differ very much from what they w ere 
eight or ten years ago, »lien 1 was here. Now what makes 
that difference ? You know that about that time there 
was a strife between the Atwood sheep and the French. 
One was a small and the other was a big sheep,—one had 
short, greasy, thick wool, and the other had long, thin 
wool,—one had small wrinkles, and the other had big 
wrinkles,—one bad fine wool, and the other was medium. 
Now, 1 ask, what has become of the French sheep? You 
may go through Addison county, and it will he hard to 
find a French sheep. If you find one, it Is tucked atvay 
in some comer for some “ purpose.' In speaking of their 
best sheep, some claim that there are two classes. You 
ask Edmund Hammonii, of Middlebury, and he tells you 
his breed are the descendants of the Atwood flock. You 
ask Edgar Sanford, of Cornwall, and he tells you his are 
from the Roeinson flock. Then, again, where was the 
Robinson flock from ? 1 am not posted. Perhaps some 
Atwood; I think they claim Jarvis.♦ Now, why is it no 
one claims to have French ? It is answered because they 
have become unpopular among sheep men as a distinct 
breed. The Atwood, or Spanish, seem to take the lead. 
But they bad their faults. They were not quite large 
enough, and their wool was too short. Now, what was to 
lie done to Increase tbe si/e of the sheep and the length of 
the staple of wool. It has been done. How has it been 
done ? About ten years ago, I am toid, Mr. Hammond 
went down to Connecticut to see Mr. Atwood on tliis very 
subject. Mr. H. put up with Mr. A. over night. No sleep 
to their eyelids that night; but it was sheep, sheep. You 
know how it }3, Mr.-, when sheep men get together. 
Iu aU that night's talk Mr. II. found Mr. A. was lacking 
the knowledge he wanted. Mr. H. went home and 
studied out his own plan and succeeded. How did lie do 
it f Some say he went to Canada and got a long wool 
buck and made a cross. Doubtful. If he did, how did 
There, I don’t think that letter will do any 
harm. On the contrary, I think it will do good. 
THE USE OF TAR IN FITTING SHEEP. 
Western readers know that itinerant peddlers of 
fine wool sheep traverse the country and attend 
the fairs with their show sheep which they reluc¬ 
tantly (?) sell when tbe price offered suits them. 
Now, it is a great tiling to breed a class of sheep 
that shall be well wooled at all points—that 
shall have wool growing everywhere where 
there is a spot for it to grow. But, unfortunately, 
this class of sheep are not always available for 
the uses of the peddler and Itinerant showman. 
He knows that a man who knows anything about 
sheep, turns the animal on its back when he ex¬ 
amines it, and looks for wool on tho belly. It i8 
a nice art to prepare the sheep for this class of 
examiners; and where wool is wanting to cover 
the area left vacant by skillfully sticking the 
ends of the adjacent staple together, thus cover¬ 
ing it. A little wool is made to go a great way 
in this manner by the aid of a little tar. And the 
inexperienced buyer don't know the difference. 
DEMAND FOR OILY SHEEP. 
A certain breeder who, within two years, 
told me he did not believe in breeding 
oil, has since come to the conclusion that 
it pays. He has a flock of sheep bearing a fine 
quality of wool, a long staple, but lacking the 
collars and the oil so much in demand. He has 
begun to breed for it,—says that in order to keep 
up with the times he must supply the demand. 
If people want to pay for oily wooled sheep, he 
wants to be prepared to furnish them what they 
want to pay for. And this mania for oil on the 
sheep’s back has reached such a pass that breed¬ 
ers look after oil as much as wool. One breeder, 
in reply to a question I asked him, said ho 
wanted 124 pounds of oil on a sheep. This was, 
of course, in banter; but it too nearly gives the 
aim of modern breeders. And tho clearness of 
this oil,* its transparency, and the evenness 
with which it is distributed through the wool is 
now the aim of the best breeders. If it is so well 
put in as to render it possible to wring it out in 
drops from a small sample, all the better. 
BUT ABOUT BREEDING. 
The man who succeeds must have an object. He 
must know clearly what if. is best to do—what he 
should breed lbr. To do this he must thoroughly 
understand the character, and ancestry, and ten¬ 
dency of his flock. He must know what is 
lacking, and learn how to supply it. lie can 
learn what is lacking by comparison with the 
best flocks, and he may learn how to supply it by 
conference with the best breeders. And time 
spent in this work of visiting flocks and flock- 
masters is not lost, nor is money, thus spent, 
thrown away. A man the better learns his own 
needs and bow to keep up with his neighbors. 
Good shepherds never sell their best breeders,— 
never allow any one to pick their flocks at any 
' Yolk, Randall calls it; but there is a great difference 
between the oil of some flocks and the “ yolk” of others. 
TICKS ON SHEEP-THE DIPPING BOX, 
One of our correspondents, who thinks sheep 
an “institution,” and that wool pays at present 
prices, has u flock very much afflicted with ticks, 
and asks for some effectual remedy. We will 
try to help him aud other Rural readers in a 
like dilemma. Randall, tbe standard authority 
on matters pertaining to sheep, in his “Sheep 
Husbandry in tho South, ’ says: 
“ Ticks, when very numerous, greatly annoy 
and enfeeble sheep iu the winter, and should be 
kept entirely out of the flock. After shearing, 
the heat and cold, the rubbing and biting of the 
sheep soon drive off the tick, and it takes refuge 
ABOUT FLAX-NO. IV, 
To prepare llax for spinning it is divided, by 
weight, into small parcels, according to tho size 
of yarn they wish to produce. The operator 
stands by the side of a long table, tho leaf of 
which is hung upon hinges and turns upward. 
To the back side is attached a trough, made with 
aa angle of 45 degrees. Tbe end of this trough 
is near the spinning machinery. Tbe Operator 
takes one of the small, weighed parcels in his 
right hand, near one end, places the other end 
upon the table, putting his left hand edgewise 
upon the point of it, then extends his right band 
to the right, when the left is again placed upon 
the point of tbe flax, at each time leaving a due 
proportion of flax upon the table. Practice 
enables the operator thus to extend his given 
weight of flax the length of his table very 
equally. The front leaf of the table is then 
raised and the Uax slips into tho trough from 
which it is drawn by the rollers of the spinning 
apparatus, and extended in a manner not unlike 
cotton. The machinery is more simple, and less 
expensive, than for cotton. 
Before.machinery for spinning flax was intro¬ 
duced into Ireland, the yarn was spun by hand 
in families, and the yam thus produced was 
taken to the Linen Halls where it was examined, 
in the long wool of tho lamb. Wait a fortnight 
after shearing to allow ail to make this transfer 
of residence. Then boil refuse tobacco leaves 
until the decoction is strong enough to kill ticks 
beyond a peradventure. This may be readily 
tested by experiment. Five or six pounds of 
cheap plug tobacco, or an equivalent In stems, 
Ac., may be made to answer for 100 lambs. The 
decoction, is poured into a deep, narrow box, 
kept for this purpose, and which has an inclined 
shelf one side, covered with a wooden grate, as 
shown iu the cut. One man holds tho lamb by 
the hind legs, another clasps the fore legs in one 
hand, aud shuts the other about tbe nostrils to 
to prevent the liquid entering them, and then the 
lamb is entirely immersed, it is immediately 
lifted out, laid on one side on the grate, and the 
wafer squeezed out of its wool. 11 is then turned 
over and squeezed on the other side. The grate 
conducts the fluid back into tho box. If the 
lambs are annually dipped, ticks will never 
trouble a flock.” 
Another mode, and one successfully adopted 
’ They are descendants of the stock imported by Crown- 
-ygsiiikld, I believe. 
TWO DOLLARS A. YJE-A.R.] 
** PROGRESS AND IMPRO VEMENT." 
[ SINGrl^IG no. ftvr cents. 
Y0L. XIY. NO. 16.! 
ROCHESTER, N. Y.-F0R THE WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, APRIL 18, 1863. 
1 WHOLE NO. 692. 
