SHEPHERD’S DOG_Fig. 13. 
There are several breeds of dogs which may he 
trained to watch and drive sheep. We have seen at 
least three varieties which came from England and 
Scotland, one or two from Germany, and a very large 
kind from Spain. Which of all these varieties Buf- 
fon alluded to as being in his opinion the root of “all 
the canine race,” we have no means of knowing; but 
tire English sheep-dog, with a sharp pointed muzzle 
and long glossy hair, has more the appearance of a pure 
original stock, than any we have met. The above figure 
seems to have been taken for a rough-haired dog, such 
as we have in two or three instances known brought 
from Germany. Mr. Bymler, the principal of the Ger¬ 
man community at Zoar, Ohio, had sheep-dogs of a simi¬ 
lar appearance, a few years ago. 
Many shepherd’s dogs exhibit a wonderful sagacity 
in the performance of their task, and no animal can be 
considered superior to them in usefulness to man. But 
we have not room to relate here, any of the remarka¬ 
ble instances which are recorded of their half-reasoning 
powers. 
There is a breed of sheep-dogs in Spain, which is at 
least three times as large as the common English sheep¬ 
dog, and are said to unite the intelligence and faithful¬ 
ness of the latter with a courage and strength superior 
to the mastiff, or any other dog. We saw an imported 
dog of this breed, several years since, and we are cer¬ 
tain that we never saw any other dog whose size and 
form indicated such amazing strength. Some of these 
dogs were imported into this country, over thirty years 
ago, and in the third volume of the Memoirs of the 
Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agriculture, we 
find a letter from P. Bauduy, of Delaware, describing 
the Spanish dog Montague, of which he was the owner. 
The description is accompanied by a copper-plate en¬ 
graving, aud from the explanation given in connection 
with the plate, it appears that this dog at eighteen 
months old, measured two feet and eight inches from 
the bottom of the fore foot to the top of the shoulder, and 
three feet and eleven inches from the nose to the end 
of the rump. The breed is not only ferocious towards 
wolves, to guard the flock against which they are kept 
in Spain, but their antipathies are equally as strong to¬ 
wards other dogs which offer any injury to the sheep. 
Mr. Bauduy, in the letter above mentioned, states that 
his dog was endowed with all the good qualities of 
of other dogs, “ possessing immense strength, great 
mildness in his usual deportment, though ferocious to¬ 
wards other dogs. I can say, without exaggeration, 
that at least twenty dogs have heen killed in my barn¬ 
yard or on my farm by him.” .***.■« The natural 
instinct of this animal is to guard sheep against wolves 
and dogs. No other training is required but to keep 
them constantly with the flock, the moment they are 
from the litter, till they are grown.” The color of 
Montagne was perfectly white; the one we saw was 
yellowish white, and the breed is said to range from 
these colors to dun brown. We would advise the flock- 
masters of our western states, whose sheep are in dan¬ 
ger either from wolves or prowling dogs, to import the 
Spanish speep-dog, as affording the best possible pro¬ 
tection to their flocks. We may give a cut of the Spa¬ 
nish dog hereafter. 
MAPLE SUGAR. 
The superiority of fine white maple sugar, over the 
dark chocolate colored article often seen, and the higher 
price, and readier sale it commands in market, render 
very desirable the knowledge of the cheapest and best 
mode of manufacture. Some of the best sugar, which 
has obtained the premiums of the State Agricultural So¬ 
ciety, has been made white and pure by redissolving 
that which was first made, subjecting it to the purify¬ 
ing process, and again evaporating; and in making tire 
very best this process has been repeated, making it ne¬ 
cessary to evaporate three times, before the sugar has 
become perfectly white. Some was exhibited at the 
State Fair at Utica, which, by the use of the strictest 
cleanliness throughout, and evaporation in pans, was as 
white as loaf sugar, with only one repetition of the 
evaporating process. 
One of the heaviest drawbacks on the general manu¬ 
facture of maple sugar, is the amount of fuel consumed; 
and this must of course be greatly augmented, where 
two or three evaporations have to be employed. The 
following method, which may not be generally known, 
obviates all this difficulty, at the same time that it af¬ 
fords sugar equal in every respect to the whitest loaf- 
sugar of commerce. An individual, of very moderate 
means, well known to the writer, made over a hundred 
pounds of the purest white, in one season. 
The tubs for collecting the sap are perfectly clean— 
and are scalded with lime-water before using. The tub 
or reservoir in which the unboiled sap is kept is treated 
in the same way, and is kept constantly covered to ex¬ 
clude dust; if warm weather comes on during the sugar 
season, lime, equal in bulk to a hen’s egg for a hogshead 
of sap, is put in this tub. The sap is poured into it 
through a strainer, and the strictest cleanliness observed 
in every part of the operation. 
When boiled down sufficiently, the syrup stands over 
night to settle. It is then carefully poured off the sedi- 
