56 
THE CULTIVATOR 
Shropshire Downs. 
The above engraving represents one of three prize 
wethers, bred by and the property of Henry Smith, 
Jr., of Sutton Maddock, Shiffnal, England. They re¬ 
ceived the first prize, with a breeder’s silver medal, at 
the Birmingham and Midland Counties Show of Christ¬ 
mas, 1856. We have had the cut drawn and engraved 
from a fine plate in a recent number of the Farmer’s 
Magazine—Avhich speaks of the sheep themselves as ad 
mirable for “splendid quality of meat, broad chines, 
and full plaits, and wonderfully good loins and rumps.” 
This breed—the “Shropshire Downs”—is now ra¬ 
pidly coming into notice and repute in England. They 
are originally descended from a hardy mountain breed, 
through which they inherit an excellent constitution. 
This enables them to thrive on some of the most exposed 
districts; while on more fertile pastures they evince a 
rapidity of growth, and natural tendency to a heavy 
weight at an early age, certainly not surpassed by 
any other breed. The exertions of the Salopians, how¬ 
ever, have not been directed to size and weight only. 
The Shropshire sheep unite with these two recommend¬ 
ations—excellent form and symmetry, first-class wool 
of thick pile and great length of staple, well-formed, 
good dark brown heads, deep chests, famous legs of 
mutton, with a good dock set high on a straight long 
spine. 
The class of “ Short-wooled sheep not being South- 
downs,” now affords the Shropshire breeders an oppor¬ 
tunity of exhibiting their stock on fair terms at the 
meetings of the Royal Agricultural Society. At Salis¬ 
bury in this section the Shropshire Downs took three 
of the prizes for rams, out of the four offered. At 
Birmingham, as we have often had to record, the show of 
this kind of sheep is one of the chief features. 
Washing Soap. 
2 lbs. bar-soap—1 oz. borax. Shave the soap fine. 
Put that and the borax in one quart of water, and sim¬ 
mer till well mixed. One-fourth of a pound of this 
compound is sufficient tor a washing for six persons. 
Soak the clothes a few hours, and then put in the soap 
and boil thirty minutes, and then rinse in two or three 
waters, and hang out. If the clothes should not be 
clean enough after boiling, a little rubbing will gene¬ 
rally suffice. Senex. 
-- « -- 
Milking Three Times a Day, when cow3 give a 
great quantity of milk, is a great advantage. Try it. 
A New Vegetable Washer. 
Mr. Nutting has, I see by your last no., invented 
a root washer or cleaner. So have I; and as it is not 
my intention to send it to the Patent Office, I will send 
it to the Country Gentleman for public use. When 
I can spare the money, I want to get one or two of Mr. 
Nutting’s inventions, which, from his description, are, 
I think, good. I send herewith a draft and description 
of my vegetable washer. 
Description. —An oblong water-tight box, 2 by 4 
feet, as the case may be, and 2 feet deep, with a lid on 
hinges. Inside of this is a cylindrical open work or 
barred frame, revolving in gudgeons fitting in each end 
of the box. This cylinder revolves at a distance of six 
inches from the bottom of the box, and is opened by 
means of one of the bars arranged for that purpose. 
The box being half filled or nearly so with clean wa¬ 
ter ; the potatoes, beets or other roots to be washed, 
are then put into the cylinder, the bar replaced, the 
lid shut down, and the cylinder turned by means of 
the crank outside the box. Vegetables can be washed 
easily, quickly and thoroughly in this machine, al¬ 
though a home-made concern. The gudgeons on each 
end of the cylinder fit down in a gain or place cut in 
each end. The cylinder is thus easily removed and the 
bo£ washed out after being used. H. H. Near Ta- 
cusa , III: 
Good Spring Pigs. 
Elihu Eldredge of Union Springs, N. Y., has show** 
the present season the advantages of good manage¬ 
ment in rasing spring pigs for autumn fattening. They 
came on the 29th day of 3d mo. (March) last, and 
were slaughtered on the 23d of last month, being less 
than nine months old. Their early feed—a most im¬ 
portant item in causing their ultimate large size—was 
skim-milk, undiluted, mixed with meal—and regular¬ 
ity and cleanliness were properly attended to. They 
were half Suffolk, and no doubt this admixture of blood 
greatly favored their growth and fattening. They 
were kept in a Jloor pen ,—which was thought to bo 
important on several accounts, and more especially so 
as preventing rooting. They were six in number, and 
the following were their respective weights when 
slaughtered and dressed—357 lbs., 351, 322, 316, 310, 
299—aggregate 1955 lbs., and average 326 lbs. Our 
readers will find on p. 13, of vol. 7, of the Country 
Gentleman, a statement of the mode, very similar to 
this, adopted by Joseph Greene of Macedon, N. Y., 
and attended with equally successful results; and for 
which he thinks he is mainly indebted to feeding un¬ 
diluted milk at first, (not allowing any slop or dish-wa¬ 
ter to be thrown into it,) and by taking especial care 
that there are as few pigs as will eat the food furnish¬ 
ed them. 
