ural ilotcs aitb Stems 
cgp ‘fP 
bo loudly on manufacturers to do justice to us, let us set 
the example by doing justice to them. There is an evi¬ 
dent effort being made by the latter to buy more discrim¬ 
inatingly—to pay better for good condition. Let us en- 
lias what may be termed a mechanical advantage, 111 
such a test, from the fuel that, a smaller spherical | 
body has more surface In proportion to weight than 
a larger one. Put this is not sufficient, to account 
for the difference We believe these small sheep 
have had the most wool on the same extent of sur¬ 
face. Wc believe it because wc have, on the most 
careful inspection, satisfied ourselves of that fact in 
what we take to he analogous cases in our own flock. 
Accustomed always, in breeding to make count'd u - 
Uon the very first object, we have never knowingly 
sacriliced it to obtain an excessive development in 
any special poiut. Wc have sought all the wool we 
could obtain, but within these conditions only. Yet 
all know that animals however carefully bred 
mint —not simply for the pur- 
ey, but that in the matter of 
he purest and oest, and that 
the highest aud best physical 
is— not only make muscle, but 
iul active brains to crown our 
John Crane, Schuyler Co., N. Y., writes: — I 
send you the results of my experience in rearing the 
Brahma variety of fowls, with my expenditures, re¬ 
ceipts and profits, for insertion in your paper. The 
length of time, embraced in the following statistics, 
was one year, commencing Nov. 18, 18<>6, and ending 
Nov. 18, 1867. The number of fowls, at the first 
mentioned date, was 18 hens and 2 roosters, being 
the same number as left on hand at the last-men¬ 
tioned date. The account stands thus: 
Cost of keeping the old fowls.$ 15.46 
.Cost of rearing 00 chickens. 19.70 
Total expense.$35.15 
Number of eggs sold, at 35 cents per dozen — 
155 5-12 dozen.$53.39 
Sold lowds to the amount, of. 55.57 
Total receipts.$108.96 
Expenses as above. 35.15 
Nett profit. $73.81 
Thank?, most sincere aud profound, are tendered to 
People and Press, all over the country, for the kind, cor¬ 
dial and substantially encouraging manner in which the 
new and enlarged Rural has lx-eu iand is being) received. 
We hope, aud shall constantly labor, to render this jour¬ 
nal continuously worthy of the ardent support and bigli 
encomiums bestowed upon it. especially during the past 
mouth. Were it consistent, or possible, wo would he 
more personal in expressing our acknowledgments,— but 
as the name of those to whom we are under obligations is 
legion, ibis manner of manifesting our gratitude must 
suffice for the present. 
their consumption of fodder, tltey wm eat euougn or n t.u 
keep them in fair condition. He has learnt by experience 
tliat ewes kept 1u a yard, and kept fat, will raise far fewer 
lambs. Moderate feed and plenty of exercisc, he regards 
as the best, t reatment for lamb raising—that the ewes will 
give more milk, aDd Ihe lambs be stronger. He thinks 
roots very beneficial for a short period before yeaning.— 
He calls for the experience of other members of the 
“ Rural Brigade,'' of which he declares “ that he is proud 
to say be is one." We heartily concur in his views in every 
particular._ 
New' York and Pennsyt.vania Wools.— “H. M. L., 
Canandaigua, writes that a Utica wool manufactuier in¬ 
formed her that be had recently paid 70c. per pound for a 
lot of Pennsylvania wool, and that he could not get such 
wool in New York. 8be thinks, however. Western New 
York furnishes that of as fine a quality. The old “Wash¬ 
ington County wool,” grown in Western Pennsylvania, 
and contiguous portions of West Virginia and Ohio, is 
finer than any produced, in any considerable quantity, in 
The Season.— The past week we have had what some 
farmers denominate “ stmg winter weather.” The wind 
bails somewhere from the Arctic regions—probably ii has 
strayed hither from Alaska. Jack Frost searches sharply 
in every crevice, and pokes his rough lingers into the 
faces and ribs of man and beast, whistling merrily as they 
shrink from liis piercing touch. The skies have been 
cloudy, snow flying in the air, though little descends to 
earth. There is enough to make the sleighing excellent, 
and more cau he dispensed with if thereby drifts on the 
roads are avoided. The earth Is well protected from the 
freezing winds by its snowy garment. Circumstances fa¬ 
vor the farmers in reaped to their work, as the battling of 
load? can now be done with great facility, stock should 
be fed frequently and plentifully; shelter for nuimals pays 
well in such weather in the saving of fodder. Water 
is scarce with many, as, contrary to general expectation, 
winter set in without rain; the creeks arc low, swamps 
and wells dry. and the “ January thaw ” has not yet given 
sign of putting in its appearance. 
EDITED BY UENKY S. RAN0AI.L, LL. D. 
To Cobresfondexts.— Mr. Randall's address ie Cortland 
Village, Cortland Co., N. Y. All communications Intended 
for this Department, and all inquiries relating to sheep, 
should he addressed to him os above. 
Cutting Bushes. 
A correspondent of the N. H. Farmer states 
that repeated experiments on various pieces of land 
have demonstrated to him that the winter season is 
the best time to cut bushes on pasture and other 
lands for the purpose of killing them down. A 
pasture lot was cut over in December, six years ago, 
and not one has sprouted since. 
EXCESSIVE GROWTH OF WOOL. 
“I think I heard you ex 
A Friend writes us 
press the opinion, at our annual meeting, that there 
might be such a thing as an excessive growth of 
wool on a sheep. I had not time then to ask your 
reasons; allow me to do so now.” 
We have not space to attempt a physiological 
treatise to establish this fact—if it is a fact. The 
most unscientific kuow that food supplies the raw 
materials for all the parts and products of the ani¬ 
mal system—for the bones, muscles, blood, skin, 
hair, wool, Cut, milk in the female, Are,, and lienee 
that each of those parts and products requires its due 
proportion of the alimentary substance received 
into the stomach. It is evident also that some of 
the animal products demand or prefer particular por¬ 
tions or constituents of this alimentary substance, 
or, in other words, that these constituents enter 
more readily into the secretions which form those 
products. Consequently ever since agriculture has 
beeu an art, the farmer has found, by actual experi¬ 
ment, that certain kinds of food will specially pro¬ 
mote one kind of secretion, and other kinds other 
secretions. Before the commencement of the Chris¬ 
tian era, Virgil, in his Georgics, specifies the food 
best adapted to the production of milk—and, by the 
by, it is worth mention that he includes salt among 
its proper ingredients, as giving a “zest” to the 
milk (Georoic III, line 838.) In modern times the 
careful experiments of Reaumur and others have 
shown with a considerable degree of certainty in 
what proportion the nutritive parts of various \ egc- 
tablc products enter into the composition of the 
different animal products. Thus Reaumur, feeding 
Saxon sheep in Silesia, found that 1,000 lbs. of peas 
gave of increased live weight 184 lbs., produced of 
wool 14 fi>s. 11 oz., of tallow 41 lbs. 0 oz.; that 
the same weight of oats gave of increased live 
weight 140 lbs,, produced of wool 0 lbs. 18 oz., of 
tallow 40 lbs. 8 oz., and so on. It appears then 
that while peas, pound for pound, produce less in¬ 
crease in general weight than oats, and but little 
more tallow, they produce a far greater percentage 
of wool. Recorded experiments showing the dif¬ 
ferent aud special effects of many other kinds of 
feed on sheep will lie found in Chapter XX of the 
Practical Shepherd. Every decently observing 
farmer knows facts of the same land. I or example, 
he knows that Indian com will produce more fat, 
more tallow, in his sheep, cattle and hogs than oats. 
He knows some feeds will produce more lailk than 
others, Jfcc., Arc. 
It is equally evident that excessive secretions of 
one kind are made more or less at the expense of 
other secretions. The physiological explanation 
would seem to be, that the stomach will receive aud 
digest but a certain amount of food. If an uudue 
proportion of the nutritive parts of this food enters 
into the composition of one animal product, the 
other animal products do not receive their full 
6hare. Thus a cow fed “slops” freely will secrete 
an unusual quantity of milk, and but a very small 
amount of flesh and tallow. No Unman ingenuity 
ever devised n feed, which, in the case of deep milk¬ 
ing cows generally, would at the same time produce 
the maximum increase of both milk and flesh. 
Excessive secretions in some particular direction 
arc frequently natural. These may be reudered 
hereditary by breeding. Certain cows, in farm cm’ 
phrase, “run” to milk, other? to flesh. By steadily 
interbreeding cows and their descendants of either 
Retort op the Department of Agriculture.—W e 
arc indebted to Commissioner Capron, and J. R. Dodge, 
Esq.. Statistician of the Department, for copies of this 
report for I86fi. The reports of the various affairs of the 
Department, occupy the first part or the volume. In the 
remainder the vine and its products are freely discussed. 
Popular varieties of hardy fruits are Illustrated and de¬ 
scribed by onr Special Contributor. F. R. Elliott. There 
are articles on the fruit regions of the Northern States; 
cotton planting; aids to cattle feeding; Indian com cul¬ 
ture; improved farm implements, by s. E. Tonn ; articles 
on gtock—tlielr qualities and improvement, with illustra¬ 
tions; English and American dairying; fish culture; 
female life in the open air; education of farmers’ daugh¬ 
ters: ship timber in the United States; high farming in 
the Netherlands: country roads, and article? on the 
agriculture of Georgia, California and other portions of 
the country. There is room for improvement in this 
report, yet it will be a welcome addition to the farmer’s 
library, and we trust the aforesaid room will hereafter be 
usefully occupied. 
Changing- Seed. 
J. H. Klippart writes one of our western ex¬ 
changes on the advantages of frequent changes of 
seed. Hence it is that the German farmers have 
adopted a system of seed exchanges as a means of 
improving the yield of grain. The Sondcrbauscn 
Agricultural Association has made many experi¬ 
ments in the exchange of seeds, and now recom¬ 
mends, as the result of its experience, that “Bceds 
from a good rich soil, to a cold and indifferent one 
is profitable, aud vice versa." 
Western North Carolina. 
Alluding to the products of this section of the 
Old North State, a correspondent of the Waynesviile 
Country Gentleman remarks — "It Is known to 
almost all the natives of this country, that at a cer¬ 
tain elevation on our mountains, there is a stratum 
of atmosphere so peculiarly constructed, and so dry, 
that it will not permit the formation of frost. When 
a farm is located so far up on the mountains as to be 
above the region subject to spring frost, we say it is 
above the frost line. Orchards so located never fail 
to bear full crops on account of spring frosts. Tlic 
peach, in these situations, sometimes fails from the 
destruction of fruit buds by winter-killing, though 
this is uuusnaL I am not aware that the apple ever 
fails at this elevation, even from this cause.” 
EFFECT OF CLIMATE AND PASTURE 
ON WOOL. 
Stock Place, near Nashville, Tenn.. Dec., ’07. 
Messrs. Sam. Lawrence & Sons :—Tour note has 
just been received. Permit me to say that I am bet¬ 
ter aud more fully informed upon the. important 
subject of wool grooving than I was 31 years ago. I 
think 1 have investigated the influence of climate aud 
pasture upon wool as carefully as any man living. 1 
have such a document as 1 think likely no other man 
whatever has in his possession. I have labeled and 
filed away nearly all of my stock bucks’ samples for 
upwards of fifty years, and likewise have samples 
from all the noted flocks in America, aud many from 
best flocks of Europe. I, therefore, cau sit in my 
own house aud compare with all the world. Why 
should 1 not be well posted upon the influence of 
climate upon wool ? Allow me to say that the finest 
wool 1 have ever seen was grown in Mississippi, upon 
iny flock when there, although I have used every 
possible means to improve my sheep for about 53 
years. I have Silesian sheep, and have had bucks 
from many noted flocks from many parts of the 
world. I am able to declare that I give a decided 
preference to a warm climate, where the fleece is all 
the time kept soft, and where sheep can procure, all 
the year round, green, succulent food to produce the 
most soft, line, and perfect staple of wool, but per¬ 
haps not quite a? heavy fleeces. 
Now that (King) Cotton is whipped iu America, I 
think it extremely important that the wool growing 
pursuit should be greatly extended, in the Southern 
States, particularly, — for the warm climates can 
drive all high latitudes out of the business by pro¬ 
ducing the article, of letter quality , and for a little 
You capitalists of the Nortu 
American Institute Farmers' Club.—T his Club 
meets at the rooms of the Association. Cooper Institute, 
New York, every Tuesday, at 1 o’clock P M. At a late 
meeting, (Dec. 31st.) which was fully attended, it was re¬ 
solved to change the course of proceedings somewhat, A 
series of subject? was proposed upon which essays are to 
be prepared, one of which will be read at each meeting.— 
S. E. Todd was to lead off on the 7th inst., on the Con¬ 
struction of Farm Buildings: P. T. Quinn will discuss 
Fertilizers; Dr. F. ill. Hexamer. the Germination of the 
Potato; J. Tt. Ltbian, Pasture Lands of the South; Dr. J. 
E. Snodgrass. Red Clover: J. S. Diehl, Oriental Farm¬ 
ing : Dr. J. P, Thimble, Camden and Amboy; T. Cava- 
NAon, the Raspberry: J. M. Allen. Mowing and Reaping 
Machines. This will occupy the Club a portion of each 
Tuesday evening, until the 4th of March, and will no 
doubt remit in-the production of some very interesting 
and valuable papers and discussions. We, therefore, re¬ 
gard tho change as a decided Improvement. 
From Grain to Beets. 
A whiter Id the North Western Farmer says 
that the grain-growing West will soon be practically 
shut out from the South as a market for their sur¬ 
plus grain, as that region will soon produce a surplus 
which can be sent to the New York market weeks in 
advance of its western competitor. This change, in 
market relations, will compel one in the line of pro¬ 
duction at the West, and the beet, for sugar pur¬ 
poses, is selected as best calculated to secure 
beneficial results. It will take some time to educate 
the moss of Western farmers up to a change of this 
character; but that it will be made is scarcely a mat¬ 
ter of doubt, unpopular as the sorghum and sugar 
business now is in that locality. Such changes in 
farm production are slow, but not the less perrna- 
Tue Ostrich Fowls are said to have originated in 
Pennsylvania, where they are known by a variety of 
names. They are of medium size, and produce re¬ 
markably ldrge eggs. They are considered good 
layers, fair sitters, aud good mothers ; their flesh is 
white, firm, and tine flavored. The color of the cock 
is a dark blue-black, with the ends of his feathers 
tipped with white, wings tinged with yellow; hi? 
legs are dark, and comb double. The hen does not 
differ much in color, her legs are short and body 
plump. These frnvjfc - possess a lively cavriage and 
stately walk. 
The Southern Cultivator.— This old and able jour- 
nal commences it? XXYIth volume under very favorable 
auspices, with Messrs. Wm. and W. L. Jones as editors 
and proprietors. Dr. W. L. .Tones is Professor of Agricul¬ 
ture in the University of Georgia. The Cultivator was 
tho only agricultural journal in the seceded States, which 
continued its Issues during the war. ami is worthy of a 
large circulation, It must be a capital medium for adver¬ 
tisers who wish to reach the planting States, while all who 
desire information in regard to the South, its agriculture, 
etc,, may read the Cultivator with interest and profit. 
Published monthly in Athens, Ga., at $2 per year. We 
will send both the Rural and Cultivator one year for $4. 
over half the expense, 
should start the business extensively upon the large 
cotton plantations iu the South. It requires less 
labor, to the profl, than any other agricultural pursuit. 
I am entirely worn out, aud have given up all toy 
stock and lands to the management of my sons. I 
left Mississippi in 185«. I am at all times gratified 
to give my experience upon wool growing to all who 
may ask it. I ought to have left in print my exten¬ 
sive experience iu this great matter of wool grow¬ 
ing,—for I find, by reading all the works, both Amer¬ 
ican and European, that the authors have not studied 
this subject as long and fully as i have done. For 
instance, they all state that the fly that, is raised in 
the cavities over the eye of the sheep lays eggs upon 
the nose of the sheep, when iu reality it drops live 
worms, which immediately run up the nose of the 
sheep. Many other similar errors prove to me that 
they have failed to study this subject as I have done. 
Respectfully, your friend, Mark It. Cockrill. 
P. S.—You may hand this over to the Editor of the 
Rural New-Yorker, if he wishes to put it iu his 
paper. m. r. c. 
HOW FOWLS GRIND THEIR FOOD, 
On this subject S. Edward Todd discourses as fol¬ 
lows: “ Fowls have no teeth to grind or masticate 
their food with, and the best they are able to do with 
it is to pick it to pieces and swallow it whole. Ker¬ 
nels of grain are swallowed whole by them, and as 
they are surrounded by a tough pellicle or skin, 
which the Juice of the stomachs of the animals will 
not readily dissolve or digest, they could obtain no 
nourishment at all from grain, if this tough pellicle 
were not broken. Now, if we dissect the gizzard of 
a fowl of auy kind, we find a lot of small gravel 
stones, which are usually the hardest kiud of flint, 
granite or sand stone. Surely here is a pocke.t edi¬ 
tion of Farm Grist Mills. 
Fowls swallow their food, broken or not, and it 
enters the crop or first stomach, and remains iu it 
until it has become softened, more or less, when a 
small quantity at a time, just' as grain runs into a 
grist mill, is forced into the gizzard, among the 
gravel stones. This gizzard is a strong muscular 
stomach, and plays night and day, when there is a 
grist to grind, similar to bellows, contracting and 
expanding, thus forcing the gravel stones into the 
grain, and breaking it to fragments, and triturating 
the whole mass; after which it is iu a suitable eon- 
Horses—Stables. 
A correspondent of the Field, Turf & Farm, 
devotes a column, in that Journal, to stable archi¬ 
tecture and management in connection with the 
development of the horse-. In regard to these he 
savs mankind generally evince a most serious want 
of knowledge—a want winch entails serious losses. 
Many places dignified by the name of stable are sinks 
of filth and rottenness, located in some low, dark, 
damp alley with little room, less light, nearly devoid 
of air and surrounded with mounds of reeking filth. 
What the horse especially wants to secure a perfect 
development of his powers is cleanliness, exercise, 
wa rmth, light and pure ai r. This is true and farmers 
would do well to heed the hints here given, if they 
have not already done so, iu the management of 
their stock—especially the horse. 
Milk Producers’ Association. —Combination is the 
order of the day. Among tlie more recently formed asso¬ 
ciations is that of the milk producers iu and around 
Boston.— Lyman Belknap of Westboro, President. >ome 
three hundred delegates were in attendance when the 
organization of llie association was completed. Its ob¬ 
jects, or rather, the principal one, seems to he to act as a 
check to the greed of the middle men in the sale of milk, 
and securing to the producer a fair share of the profits of 
the milk trade. 
Self-Acting Hand Loom,— One of A. O. Vert’s self¬ 
acting Hand Looms has been shown in tills city, and 
attracted much attention. It is compact, i.a? will be seen 
by advertisement and illustration in another column,) read¬ 
ily mo vd from place to place; is operated easily, so much 
so that a child a dozen years old cau weave with the 
greatest facility. It is not subject to derangement; does 
its work well, and can hardly fail of becoming a favorite, 
especially with the fanning public. 
Condensed Correspondence, Items, &c 
Agricultural Societies wishing a brief synopsis of 
the proceeding? of their annual meeting? given in the 
Rural, will please forward the same a? early as possible. 
Give us names of oifleers elected, amount in treasury, etc. 
talned sneli flattering results. Among them was 
four tons of hay to the acre. He first plowed the 
ground and then harrowed it, when it was sown to 
clover early iu tho spring, and the crop left upon 
the ground. The following year the crop was mown 
iu June, and the second growth turned under with 
the plow, and thus remained during the winter. 
The third year the ground was planted to com, 
manured iu the hill aud top dressed with ashes. 
The fourth year manure was applied early in the 
spring, and oats sown upon it. This is followed by 
turnip’s, and the fifth year with potatoes. When 
these are dug rye is sown, and the laud seeded down 
for pasture for several years, when the rotation be¬ 
gins again. __ 
The Barberry for Hedges. 
A correspondent of the. Wisconsin Farmer 
sa y S ._“i have four stands of the Barberry hedge, 
eight years old-each stand originally from a single 
seed. The canes of each stand now number seventy 
to one hundred, thrown from a single center, just as 
the twenty to thirty rye straws proceed from a single 
grain. These canes proceed In a curve at first, then 
assume a perpendicular, the top of the common 
stand rising each year, till a height of eight to ten 
feet is attained, ufterwhieh there appears no further 
increase of the height. In breadth, each staud of 
cancs reaches about two feet at eight years old. I 
think the plants should be set about fourteen inches 
apart. There is no difficulty iu growing plants from 
the seed, by planting either in fall or spriug and 
keeping clear of weeds the first year. As to the 
Barberry for a strong, enduring and every way suf¬ 
ficient live fence, I am unable to think of any cause 
of failure. 1 have often pointed out to farmers my 
several Barberry stands, and asked then' opinions a? 
to whether they would turn stock. In every ease 
they have said it would lie impossible for any aulma! 
to go through, unless by violence compelled; and iu 
sucii ease an animal would prefer to attempt break¬ 
ing down the strongest fence. The prickles, though 
small and slender, are exceedingly hard and sharp, 
and at right augles with the cane each thus pre¬ 
senting a defence, or fixed bayonets.’ 
RURAL BRIEF-MENT10N1NGS, 
out the sac or interior lining of the orifice by a pair of 
pincers, which said operator ■claims will forever protect 
the sheep from taking the disease again,' 1 The ** second 
part” of the patented remedy “ is a compound for healing 
the wound” and healing the disease. Onr correspondent 
asks onr opinion in regard to all of this. Our opinion- is 
that it is an unmitigated humbug—without, so fur ns the 
mangling and tearing out the lining of the Index canal is 
concerned, even the merit of novelty. The same useless 
and senseless barbarity was practiced thirty year? ago to 
cure hool-rot, a? it wns three hundred and fifty years ago 
to exterminate an imaginary worm which was supposed 
to create the opening into the foot by gnawing into it 1 
(See Sir Anthony Fitzhcrbardc’s Boko of Husbandry, 
written in 1523.) The bfflex canal is not the original seat 
of hool-rot; has no explainable agency la causing it; and 
is often wholly unaffected by it. It is, however, sometimes 
subject to a disease of its own, accompanied with inflam¬ 
mation, swelling and suppuration. The external applica¬ 
tion applied by the Ohio man may cure bool-rot. ns twenty 
unpatented ones will do; and the wounded parts may get 
well under the same treatment. That i? all there is of it. 
The extirpation of the hi flex canal has no more to do 
with the extirpation of that disease than would any other 
cm el and unnecessary laceration of the foot. 
Ireland sends much butter to England. 
All wet grounds should be thoroughly drained. 
There are fit cheese factories and branches iu Oxford 
Co., Ontario. (C, W.) 
A Tobacco Grower in the Connecticut Valley sold his 
last crop (28 tons) for $17,090. 
About 2000 mules were prepared for the Southern mar¬ 
ket in Shelby Co.. Ky., Inst year. 
Preserve each number of the Rural, and you will soon 
have a valuable work of reference. 
n. C. Johnson, Danville. Vt., harvested 400 bushels of 
corn from five acres,—80 bushels per acre. 
F. W. Stone of Ontario, Canada, sold six Cotswold 
sheep at the last N. Y. State Fair for $900 in gold. 
The average quantity of milk to a pound of cheese, at 
the factories, is 9.68 pounds — or nearly one gallon. 
The St. Augustine (Fla.) papers are dilating upon the 
oranges now hanging iu rich clusters on the trees in that 
delectable climate. 
The California Farmer says the agricultural products of 
that State already exceed those of the mines, and arc in¬ 
creasing in value with great rapidity. 
W. W. Bellos, Pierpunt, N. Y., ?ays the great trouble 
with the farmer-: in hi- region is that as a general thing 
laud tilting ha? been superseded by laud getting. 
F. AI. Jordan. Auburn, Ale., uses his hot house for a 
hencry during the winter. The hens are delighted at 
living under glass, and "shell put" most liberally. 
A Sugar Maple was lately cut on the pasture of N. K. 
Abbott, West Concord, N. ll.> nearly 5 feet in diameter 
and over 100 feet high. It had been tapped 100 years. 
An effort is making to induce Northern farmers to settle 
in the eastern part of Norte Carolina. The bind and 
climate are favorable,—the former very cheap, varying 
from $2 to $20 per acre. 
Oarbag*;?, in large quantities, have been sent by rail 
from the Hudson river region? to Cincinnati —the dry 
weather of summer having used up tills Krout t imber in 
tin: locality of Porkopolis. 
Tue dry plain? beyond Marysville, Cal., hitherto sup¬ 
posed to be worthier?, are pronounced by competent 
authority, excellent grain, orchard, vine and silk land?, if 
plowed deep and tallowed. 
The Turf, Field A Farm sums up the teeth of the horse 
a? follows: 21 double, or grinder?; 12 front, called gath¬ 
erers; 4 fusin'?, or single file teeth—or 40 teeth in all. 
Marc? rarely have the tushes. The teeth of a horse arc 
perfected at about eight years of age. 
Tut New Orleans Picayune proposes to increase the cul¬ 
ture of sugar in Louisiana by separating the business of 
cultivation from that of milling the cauc. The land could 
then be divided into moderate farms, and united by 
tramways with sugar mills in the center of each dist rict. 
Nothing which the fanner produces is of quicker 
sale than eggs and poultry. The prices which he re¬ 
ceives therefor are in the main remunerative; the 
labor incurred is light and agreeable, aud can be 
performed by the junior members of his family. 
The poultry yard produces food which is highly pal¬ 
atable and nutritious at all seasons, and in this 
respect Is hardly equalled by any other department 
of the farm, Is it not worth while, then, to bestow 
move care aud skill in managing the poultry? Left 
to themselves, half-their products are often wasted, 
and half the year they are non-layers. In winter 
they need simply warmth, light and suushiuc, clean, 
roomy quarters, aud plenty of food. Every day they 
will pay for this, In the summer they want range, 
fresh earth, shade, water, seclusion, and protection 
from vermin. An abundance of eggs aud broods of 
plump chickens, either for market or the farmer’s 
own table, will result from this care. It is not feas¬ 
ible to carry on the poultry business on an euonnous 
scale. Many have tried it and failed; but every 
farmer should make a couple of hundred dollars’ 
worth of their products yearly. That, at least, can 
tip Rone with urofit and pleasure. It is a business 
causes it to tail a rcaiuci pioy ^ me mu?i Uiuuwi.y 
maladies. 
Wool is as much a product of the aliment re¬ 
ceived into the stomach as either milk or flesh. Wc 
see no good reason why it may not, in like manner, 
be made to appropriate an undue proportion of that 
aliment at the expense of the other animal products 
_ or v jjy the injurious results should not be equal. 
The tendency to produce wool can be as readily 
increased by breeding, to say nothing of keeping, as 
in the other cases. It certainly has been the whole 
aim of many of our American sheep breeders, es¬ 
pecially our Merino breeders, to increase this tenden¬ 
cy. On the assumption that, for wool growing 
purposes, those sheep are most profitable which 
yield the greatest proportion^ wool to carcass, 
extremists have made carcass and constitution very 
secondary objects. 
It is undeniable that the sheep which have pro¬ 
duced the most remarkable proportion of wool to 
carcass, have beeu undersized animals for their vari¬ 
ety. This has been true generally, if not uniformly, 
of those Merinos which have won our scouring 
prizes, awarded for tlie greatest amount of wool to 
live weight. It is true that the undersized animal 
Wool Twine— Messrs. Tellkampf & KiTcniXG, New 
York city, forward u? a letter from Messrs. Sprague, 
Colburn As Co., complaining of the soft twine used ju 
doing up a portion of 100,000 lbs. fleece wool sold to them 
by the former, and enclosing specimens of the twine. 
The objection taken to it is that “ it rubs off and gets 
mixed with tlie wool, making it very difficult to dye.’ 
We and other agricultural editors have repeatedly advert¬ 
ed to this fact, yet many farmers, from ntter carelessness, 
or because it is difficult to get other twine, continue to 
use an article which injures the price of their wool more 
than they gain in weight by the twine, Let it be under¬ 
stood that twine ol' any other material than wool, which 
will, in drawing it round tlie fleece or in subsequent hand¬ 
ling, mix any of its particles with the wool, is highly ob¬ 
jectionable, for the reason above stated. The twine should 
be smooth, hard, and contain nothing which can become 
detached. We are well aware that it is not always prac¬ 
ticable to obtain that of u proper quality in country stores. 
Where this is the case, it should be sent for in advance, 
to places where it cau be procured. When we are calling 
