The stable to -which my sheep have access 
both in summer and winter,{is sufficiently ca¬ 
pacious, dry, airy, well vertilated. and lighted 
by glass windows and an ample door standing 
open at all times except during some Of tie 
most blustering days of winter. 
Having had, in early life, some experience in 
the care of sheep in larger numbers, and still re 
taining an interest in whatever pertains to thi . 
breeding and rearing of these animals, the abort 
cases have not failed to make a strong Imprest 
The question natural!^ 
farmer’s education of affording a channel through 
which he may communicate his thoughts in wri¬ 
ting, thus improving him in that most important 
art of composition. How few farmers, from a 
want of practice, are able to keep the minutes 
of a meeting or make a statement of facte satis¬ 
factory to themselves. And how indulgent is 
the editor, who encourages every attempt of the 
farmer at writing for information or 10 com¬ 
municate facts of benefit to others, putting 
them in shape to conform to literary usage, 
sending them back in print to allure him on to 
farther effort. This has been the beginning of 
many a writer who has arrived at great excel¬ 
lence in the art. Hundreds of farmers may be 
found whose first effort was In communicating 
some fact or experiment for the agricultural 
paper, who have since, through frequent cor¬ 
respondence, become proficient in logical state¬ 
ment and purity of diction. The newspaper, in 
fact, is the great democratic educator of this 
age. It finds its way to the million readers. 
And yet, with all their excellencies, the Agri¬ 
cultural Journals do not have have one-third the 
circulation, even in this country, that they de¬ 
serve. With over two millions of farmers, prob¬ 
ably less than half a million take an Agricultural 
Journal. Title shows the immense held yet un¬ 
explored by the journalist, and the incentive he 
has to bring all his effort to hear upon this great 
multitude of fanners who have never enjoyed the 
blessings of an Agricultural Newspaper. Almost 
every county in every State needs this mission¬ 
ary effort. Those are to be found, everywhere, 
who hesitate to make the trifling outlay for 
such a paper, yet are able to spend ten times 
the amount upon some frivolous gewgaw or 
small ornament, adding little to enjoyment and 
nothing to knowledge. Every faqper who has 
enjoyed the pleasure and privilege of the weekly 
or monthly visit of this great educator, should 
resolve that he will, at least, get one new sub¬ 
scriber and thus be the means of illuminating 
one family now dark. All great wholes are 
made up of units, and a doubling of the units 
is what is needed in the patrons of the Agricul¬ 
tural Press. How easy for such patron to per¬ 
suade hiB friend to become one. And yet what 
a magnificent result! Suppose a half million 
could be added to the subscribers of Agricul¬ 
tural Journals during the next year, what an 
upheaval of old and senseless routine—what a 
bonfire of old, useless implements—what a rise 
in the value of farms—and what a plethora of 
cash in the farmer’s pocket! a. w. s. 
A New Quarter—Volume XIX. &c.—AU its read¬ 
ers are reminded that a new Quarter of the Rural 
begins this week, and Volume XIX in January ensu¬ 
ing. we propose to materially improve the paper, 
all who can consistently do so are invited to aid In 
extending its circulation and usefulness at the pres¬ 
ent time—when people want and can afford to take 
such a journal. Wte are daily receiving requests for 
epecimen numbers, show-bills, etc., and will cheerfully 
send ench free to all disposed to lend their kind offi • 
ces in behalf of the Rural's circulation Will not 
every Agent-Friend open the Fall Campaign at once t 
And will not some subscriber act as club agent In 
every place where there is none i Now is the time 
'to begin, before the canvassers for cheap and trashy 
papers make their locust-like appearance. We pro¬ 
pose to famish the best paper of its class obtainable, 
and yet reward its club agents aa liberally and sub¬ 
stantially as any honest publisher can afford. 
sion on my mind 
suggests itself, whether there is not some local 
cause existing about my premises, or some cir- 
eircumstance connected with my mode of keep¬ 
ing, which may conduce to the production of 
goitre. 
Of the various theories which have from time to 
time been advanced respecting the cause of this 
disease In the human subject, no one has proved 
in any degree satisfactory to the great mass of 
medical inquirers; and I am well aware that 
the number of cases here noted is alto¬ 
gether too limited to form the basis of an 
opinion as to the probable cause of the aflec- 
tion, in this instance, occurring to every individ¬ 
ual of my little flock; yet it seems to me a some¬ 
what re murk able coincidence at least, and I shall 
be glad to bear from such as have enjoyed more 
extended advantages for observation, and who 
are therefore better qualified to theorize upon 
H. 0. Jewett. 
bottum & Benedict’s inpantado ewe bbtty. 
saw that sheep shorn, saw the fleece done up, and 
saw it weighed. Respectfally yonrs. 
H W. Beckwith, 
President Wash. Co. Sheep Breeders' and Wool 
Growers' Association, 
P. S.—1 do not care to hare this letter pnblisbed 
unless it becomes necessary to have the public prop¬ 
erly understand the circumstances Mt. B. is one of 
the officers or our Society, and if his sheep shears 
what he says i* does, he certainly neglected a very fa¬ 
vorable opportunity to have the public know it with¬ 
out the expense and trouble of getting up affidavits. 
h. w. B. 
Mk. Bakkeb asserts that be could send ns a 
large number of names (of persons) that have 
examined his (ram’s) fleece and. wen it weighed, but 
that wc say “ that would amount to nothing.” 
Mr. B. totally misapprehends ns. What we did 
that the certificate of Ingalls (the 
The Crops.- Yield and Prospect*.—’The Crop Re¬ 
ports of the Department of Agriculture for August 
and September, have been published. The leading 
wheat growing States report the Sncreaee of wheat, 
the present season over that of the last, a* follows :— 
Ohio, one hundred and thirty per cent.. Indiana fifty, 
Michigan thirty-three, Wisconsin seventeen, Minne¬ 
sota twenty-five, Illinois eleven, Iowa twenty, Mis¬ 
souri forty. Kentucky thirty-four, West Virginia six¬ 
ty, Virginia fifty, Tennessee forty, Georgia eighty, 
Arkansas forty-five. New York fourteen, and Pennsyl¬ 
vania forty, while only Kansas and Texas show a fall¬ 
ing off from last year, when the crops In those States 
were very large. This would give an average In¬ 
crease for the States named of about forty per cent — 
It 1 b probable that the October report will decrease 
this percentage of grain somewhat. The Corn crop 
prospect has Improved somewhat, but In the Middle 
and Northern States It will unquestionably be consid¬ 
erably below the average, while In the Southern ones 
a marked increase Is confidently relied upon. Cotton 
prospects are improving. Six Slates show a pros¬ 
pective increase of about thirty-two per cent, as 
compared with last year, while In Louisiana and Tex¬ 
as there will be a considerable falling off The Potato 
EDITED BY HENRY 8. RANDALL, LL. D. 
BOTTUM AND BENEDICT'S JNFANTADQ 
EWE 11 BETTY.” 
Messrs. N. & N. Bottum, Shaftsbury, Vt., 
wr ite: — “ The e-wc represented in the cut is one 
of two which we (Bottum & Benedict) pnr- 
chashed of Mr. Edwin Hammond in the fall of 
1803, price paid *800 each. She was got by 
Sweepstakes out of Mr. Hammond’s best ewes. 
We have not the full pedigree of her dam at 
hand, and can only say that she is from the 
Long Wool stock on one side.” 
the subject. 
say was 
weigher) amounted to nothing, for the very rea¬ 
son that he “did not open the fleece to see 
whether It appeared to be one,” or in other 
words il examine" it. Furthermore we had in 
our possession a letter from Ingalls from which 
we extract the following sentence: “The bunch 
of wool that I weighed, weighed truly 30 lbs., 
but as to its growing on one shorp is^ another 
thing, aud a matter of great doubt.” 
If Mr. Barker has the fleeces of his ram in his 
possession, (we are informed he has two of 
them,) and will publicly and above board take 
them to the wool stapler of some manufactory— 
to such person for example as he and President 
Beckwith shall agree upon as a competent and 
reliable person for that purpose—to be opened 
and examined, the certificate of such stapler 
that each “ bunch ” of wool is composed in his 
judgment of a single fleece from one animal, 
though not absolutely decisive testimony of that 
fact, will in our opinion be far better prool of it 
than any yet offered, or than can he established 
by any offers to bet what the ram wifi yield next 
year if Mr. Bakkjuv “ keeps him and lie does 
well.” 
BUTTER-FAST AND SLOW CHURNING. 
REPORTS OF GREAT FLEECES 
A Pennsylvania dairyman, In giving his 
method of managing cows and making butter, 
takes exceptions to the celerity with which the 
churning process is generally gone through 
with. In his opinion one hour is not too long 
for the operation of churning; two hoars are 
better atilL It is regarded as a desideratum 
among dairymen generally to get a churn which 
will produce butter in the shortest possible 
time, and the one that succeeds beet in this Is 
generally the favorite. Those who have worked a 
dash churn by band, for an hour or two, with a 
batch of cream that acted as though “possessed,” 
will hardly give their suffrages in favor of pro¬ 
longed churning, even though an o«nce or two 
more of butter were sure to result from It. If, 
as we have seen in some sections of Pennsylva- 
Ih employed to do the churn- 
Uxder this head we hav e alluded to the re¬ 
ported fleeces, for three years, of a ram owned 
by John Barker, of North Granville, N. Y. 
Our last remarks on the subject will be found in 
our issue of Aug. 31st, and can be referred to by 
those who feel sufficient interest in the matter to 
wish to know how far the following certificates 
constitute the proofs there called lor In response 
to Mr. Barker’s offer, or which ought to be 
considered satisfactory in the premises: 
HULKBTTON, Sept. 4, '(17. 
I sold a buck to John Barker’s son in Sept., 1865, a 
yearling. I sheared him about the first of May, 1865, 
and he sheared 21 lbe., and Mr. Romney and St. John 
did the fleece up and weighed the fleece, and its weight 
was 21 lbs., and I have seen the buck at Barker's 
elnce. M. J. Webster. 
Middle Granville, Sept. 6, ’67. 
To whom it may concern: This may certify that I 
sheared sheep for Mr. John Barker, Ksq„ of North 
Granville, Washington Co., N. Y„ the 2d week in 
May, isot). i also sheared hi* celebrated duck, saw 
the fleece done, up, and weighed, and am ready to cer¬ 
tify under oath that said fleece weighed in the barn 
27 fl>n. and 4 oz.. and that said fleece contained 
nothing hut what is usually put up at the time of 
shearing, ami all came off from said buck. 
Respectfully yours, 
Horatio N. Morgan. 
Whitehall. Sept. 9, '67. 
I and my son sheared sheep at J. Barker &■ Son’s, 
about the middle of May, 18«7, and my son sheared 
Bap.Keii's buck. I believe they call him “Profit." 
I saw' his fleece done up and weighed. It weighed 
30 pounds, aud there was nothing weighed hut what 
was shorn from the buck, Amos F, Loons. 
Mr. Barker accompanies the above state¬ 
ments with the following letter: 
North Granville, kept. 11. ’67. 
Hon. H. S. Randall— Dear Mr: Please find in¬ 
closed the certificate from the men who sheared and 
saw the fleece, done it aud saw the weight. One man 
that sheared for me in 18' li has gone west, or 1 should 
have sent hie. 1 could send you a large number of 
The Monroe Co. Fair —Held on the grounds of the 
Society, near this city, four days of last week,—was 
favored with charming weather and a good attendance. 
The display of Fruits, Flowers and Vegetables was 
fine—as noticed on next page. The exhibition of 
Agricultural Implements. Ac., was limited, but com¬ 
prised samples of the best reapers and mowers, 
plows, potato diggers, cultivators, harrows, rollers, 
etc., nftde (n this vicinity. Domestic liali was filled 
with varied specimens of domestic and mechanical 
industry—a very fine display, alike creditable to the 
contributing ladies aud artisans or the county. The 
show of Cattle, Sheep, Swine and Poultry was de¬ 
cidedly meager. In llorse*—stud, farm, fast and 
fancy—the display was affluent In numbers and fair 
In character. We s nan net that the ercar attmrftnn at 
this Fair (as at many others recently held In Western 
New Yorki was the trotting course, where trials of 
speed, cqustrlanism, etc., were in order,—and we 
more than suspect that a good many Intellleent and 
right-thinking members and patrons of the Society 
disapprove of thu prominence given to tliat feature. 
Though we have not learned as to its receipts, we 
presume the Fair was a financial success. 
ma, “dog power 
Ing, or if the power of 6team or water is need, 
the question of time is of much less conse¬ 
quence, but where hand lubor has to do the 
business, the sooner it is accomplished the bet¬ 
ter, is the general verdict of farmers and their 
wives. It is not believed that any increase lu 
the amount or Improvement in the quality of 
the butter, claimed as the result of slow churn¬ 
ing, is a paying equivalent for the extra time 
recommended for the operation. 
STOCK AT THE LIVINGSTON CO. FAIR, 
The Livingston Co. Fair (Sept. 36th,) was 
slimly attended. I suppose it was because the 
horse racing was not to come on till the next 
day. As usual, the show of Durham cuttle was 
very good. I flrst noticed aevcrnl flue two-yeai 
old 6teers belonging to my friend, Farmer Abell. 
I don’t wonder their owner it fat, feeding on such 
steers. Mrs. Allen Ayrattlt exhibited about SO 
head of excellent Durhams, Herefords, and a 
cross between the two which, in the opinion of 
her herdsman, were hardier, and gave a better 
quality of beef, with less feed, than pure Dur- 
liarns. Mr. Wm. Spencer made a good show, 
os did that venerable breeder, Aaron Barber, 
whose, magnificent cows could furnish plenty of 
milk or plenty of tallow —I don’t know, which. 
I was glad to see the Wadsworth Stock In all 
its glory, and to meet,Mr. Crajg Wadsworth, 
who takes a lively Interest In Agricultural Im¬ 
provement, like his distinguished and patriotic 
father. He is doing something for horses by 
introducing blood animals of rare merit. The 
exhibition in the horse line was meager. 
A few good hogs, some of them Chester Co. 
’Whites, exhibited by Russell Bauheu of Wy¬ 
oming Co., made the show in that department. 
Sheep.— What on earth had the ewe* doue that 
none of them were there? Have ewes gone 
out of fashion ? Well, it is some consolation 
to know that the rams are alive aud hunt* 
OOITRE 
THE CHEESE AND BUTTER MARKET 
The Utica Herald reports the cheese market 
at Little Falls, on the 23d ult,, as brisk, but the 
delivery from farm dories was not large. No 
factory made was offered, though factory men 
were on hand for the purpose of effecting sales. 
Some of the best Herkimer dairies were held at 
16 cents. During the week preceding about 
2,000 boxes were disposed of at prices ranging 
from 13 cts. to 16 cte. The total shipments from 
Little Falls during the month of August was 
17,547 boxes, w eighing 1,095,063 pounds. The 
shipments for tlie first two weeks of September 
were 9,555 boxes, weighing 589,337 pounds. The 
Herald is of the opinion that the amount of 
cheese on the shelves of the factories is much 
less than at the some time last year. Since our 
last the butter market here has been much ex¬ 
cited and prices advanced several cent6 on the 
pound, but whether this can long he maintained 
is a questionable matter. 
Costing too Muon.—During a recent Session of the 
N. Y. Institute Farmers' Club, a member said he had 
just visited the Government Kurin at Washington, 
and saw flie manner of treating the ground for straw¬ 
berry vines. The entire surface, of the ground was 
covered by a heavy dressing of barn-yard manure. 
The leaves of the plants were raised up and tyke ma¬ 
nure placed closely around the stems. By this system 
of cultivation most bountiful crops were produced. 
Mr. Meeker replied that it cost the Government at 
the rate of $1,500 per acre to manure the ground, and 
objected to taking lessons from such a eoutce. 
Cottages fob $000.- A savings' hank in Chicago, 
having determined to provide for the use of its depos¬ 
itors models of cheap houses, offered a premium for 
the moat desirable building not. costing more than 
$600. The premium cottage consists of four rooms ; 
parlor, kitchen, two bed rooms, press and pantry. 
The size of the house is 18 x 24 feet. There is no 
cellar and the foundations of the building are of wood. 
It is said the author of the plan built a row of Beven 
houses, each costing but $600, including fencing, and 
renting for $20 per month. 
DAIRY ITEMS 
Stock Sales at Michigan State Fair.— At the 
Close of the Michigan State Fair a sale of farm stock 
took place.- A Durham bull, Canada bred, sold for 
$200; a Devon cow, six years old, for $150: three bull 
calves, raised by Walter Cole, of Bamv-ia, X. Y., 
$150, and a cow $400: seventy Cots sold Canada sheep 
$420, or $6 per head; a Shropshire Down buck from 
Canada $50; one small Essex pig. j23. 
Ho was compactly covered with a llceco that 
would make a coat for a King or a Congressman. 
That worthy and capital breeder, Hillman of 
Avon, had a stock sheep which for symmetry of 
form, length, compactness and weight or tleece, 
could hardly be excelled. A Wyoming Co. ram, 
“ Tiger,” bred by Hammond of Vt., and owned 
by Fierce, Townsend, Tallmadok & Co., cre¬ 
ated a marked sensation. “ Kilpatrick ” him¬ 
self was there—one of the celebrated stock 
rams of Vt., bred by Sanford ; and 1 was very 
glad to learn that he was brought out by Doc¬ 
ker, Bush & Co,, expressly for the service of 
ewes, to stand at Alexander, in Genesee Co. He 
combined in a wonderful degree compactness 
and weight of fleece, with a marvelous constitu¬ 
tional development, which gives character to his 
progeny, and is ut the foundation ol all excel¬ 
lence in sheep. 
AU the sheep T have described above are char¬ 
acterized by most of the good points of ourbest 
animals, and it appears to me that the true way 
for farm ere to improve their stock is to select- a 
few of their very best ewes and cross (whatever 
it may cost) with these rams. Two or or three 
crosses will give you sheep worth fifty dollars, 
and sometimes vastly more. Let farmers now 
prepare for the “ good time coming ” for sheep 
men, and not very distant. n - T ' B - 
Cream—Milk Pans .—Repeated tests have dem¬ 
onstrated the fact that milk, strained into pans 
to the depth of from two aud a half to three 
inches, precipitates the cream more rapidly aud 
in greater quantity than when twice or thrice 
that depth. Hence, if butter makers desire to 
get the moEt from their milk, they must give 
more surface to it than is sometimes done. 
Butter by the Ton .—'The Randolph Register, 
Cattaraugus Co., states that over twelve tons of 
butter were brought into that place in a single 
day. The average price per pound was 32 cents. 
Salting Butter.—The Irish Farmer’s Gazette, 
Dublin, states that Dr. Cameron examined a 
sample of cask butter, aud found it to contain 
eight per cent, of salt! That paper justly adds: 
“ It is a penny wise aud pound foolish consider¬ 
ation which induces so many farmers to incor¬ 
porate excessive amounts of salt with their 
butter. This practice increases the weight of 
the butter, the grain is more than neut ralized by 
the deterioration of the article which ensues.” 
Where butter is designed for immediate con¬ 
sumption, it does not require more than a quar¬ 
ter of an ounce to the pound, but if intended 
for keeping or shipment, double this amount 
will be about right. The salt sbonld he pure 
aud of the best quality of rock. Its use is es¬ 
sential in consequence of the presence of casein, 
or curd, which it is difficult to separate wholly 
from the butter, and whose tendency is to ran¬ 
cidity unless counteracted by salt or its equiva¬ 
lent. 
distinct, but inconsiderable. The glandular 
hypertrophy seemed to bear a my exact propor¬ 
tion io the lack of development and want of 
vitality in Hie lamb. In those that throve best, 
the swellings diminished but did not wholly dis¬ 
appear as the summer advanct il, 1 ndeed nearly 
all were better in warm wreath r, and worse du¬ 
ring the changeable weather cf spring. 
The above account, as will be seen, embraces 
twenty-seven in number, of bptli old and young, 
including all of the sheep or toat kind that have 
been kept on my home premiss during the time 
alluded to. Not one of then was entirely free 
from the disease, although snee their removal 
several of the ewes have been kept upon 
hill farms with other sheep, and have reared 
Grass Named,— J, S. Ligut.nkr, Hartstown, Pa., 
sent ns sometime since a few stalks of grass for the 
put pose ot being named. The request was attended 
to at the time, but the answer was overlooked and not 
published. We supply the omission now. It is 
known as soft-grass, velvet-grass — Holcies lanatus— 
introduced from Europe, and rather rare in this 
country. 
Genesee County Fair.— This Fair, held at Batavia 
week before last, is said to have excelled in the 
amount and variety of articles exhibited, and also in 
point of numbers in attendance, anything heretofore 
witnessed in that county. The weather was propi¬ 
tious and the receipts large, footing up nearly $1,900. 
Wyoming County Flra,—The Attica Atlas says 
that the Fair at Warsaw last week, though a financial 
success, was, as a rural or industrial show, not what 
it should have been. The show of fruits—especially 
of grapes—is mentioned with special commendation. 
A Remarkable Sijhkp. —The Maine Farmer says 
that John Roukk of Pittstown iu that .State has a 
ewe sevnteen years old. She has raised 29 lambs, in¬ 
cluding 13 pairs of twins, and never lost one one till 
last t spring. 
“ profits of raising geese.'’ This created a laugh, and 
the geese seem to have been hissed on l, though So¬ 
lon Robinson spoke a word in their favor. Hens 
turkeys and ducks have ample ventilation, through 
the press and before clubs, while geese get little bnt 
hissing. Though largely given to quacking, the goose 
has claims to consideration which should not be 
wholly Ignored even by the “Institute Club.” 
Wisconsin State Fair.— The Wisconsin State 
Fair, held at Madison, closed on the 27th ult., and 
was quite successful. Receipts about the same as last 
year—$11,000. 
Auction Sale op Blooded Stock.— Attention is 
directed to the announcement of Thomas Fitch of 
New London, Conn., relative to his second annual 
sale of through-bred and high grade Alderney and 
Ayrshire cattle, to take place on the 17th instant. 
Ag’l Fairs.— For lists of State, County and Local 
Fairs see our issues of August 17th and 31st. 
