1846. 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
119 
strong clays; yet fewer thrive upon wet soils; but 
some will, as the Sweet or Carolina June, which does 
well on quite wet soils; some refuse their gifts except 
upon a warm and rich sand; some, and by far the 
greatest number, love a deep loam, with a subsoil moist 
without being wet. The buds of some varieties escape 
the vernal frosts by their hardiness; some by putting 
forth later than their orchard-brethren. Some varieties 
thrive admirably by ground or root grafting, while very 
many, so worked, are killed off during the first winter; 
some varieties, if budded, grow off with alacrity, others 
are dull and unwilling; some form their tops with faci¬ 
lity and beauty; others, like many men, are rambling, 
awkward, and averse to any head at all. Some sorts, 
put upon what stock you will, have singularly massive 
roots; others have fine and slender ones. Every variety 
of tree has traits of disposition peculiar to itself; and in 
respect to traits possessed in common, even these may 
be classified. In every description there should be, at 
least, an attempt at giving these various nursery pecu¬ 
liarities. It cannot be done, as yet, with any conside¬ 
rable accuracy. Fruit trees have not yet been minutely 
studied. A florist can give you a thousand times more 
minute and special information in respect to the pecu¬ 
liar habits and wants of his flowers, than an orchardist 
can of his trees. Doubtless, it is easier to do it in plants 
which have a short period; whose whole life passes 
along before the eye every season, than in plants whose 
very youth outlasts ten generations of Dahlias, Pansies, 
Balsams, &c. But that only makes it the more import¬ 
ant that we should be up and doing. Let no work be 
regarded as classic which does not take into its design 
the most thorough enunciation of all the peculiarities of 
fruits, and pomology will receive more advantage in 
ten years, that it could by a hundred years of rambling, 
unregulated, discursive descriptions. 
We have drawn our remarks out too long already; 
and must reserve other considerations for another num¬ 
ber. We shall then give Mr. Downing a chance to 
pay us back in our own coin, as we hope to give the 
description of some half-dozen apples, that we may by 
example develop our ideas of the method of describing 
fruits. The ability which Mr. D. has shown as a hor¬ 
ticultural writer, his industry in collecting materials for 
this, his last work; the skill which he has shown him¬ 
self to possess in describing fruits, give the public a 
right to expect that he will “ go on unto perfection,” 
and if Mr. D. will adopt a higher standard and set out 
with a design of a more systematic description of fruits, 
every liberal cultivator in the land wiil be glad to put 
at his disposal whatever of minute observation he may 
possess. Henry Ward Beecher. 
Indianapolis, la., March 5, 1846. 
CULTURE OF FLAX. 
The culture of Flax is becoming a very important 
branch of agricultural pursuit. But a few years since, 
if a farmer sowed more than a bushel of flax-seed, un¬ 
less he was a very extensive farmer, he was considered 
by his neighbors as bordering on insanity. The great 
majority of farmers in those days, sowed but a few quarts 
of seed, with the view more particularly of raising flax 
rather than seed. It is now no uncommon thing for 
farmers to sow twenty, thirty and sometimes fifty bus els 
and upwards; and notwithstanding the flax is usually 
destroyed, the seed alone, as a general thing, pays as 
well and frequently better, than any other crop. The 
flax is considered of no value from the fact, that the 
expense of pulling, rotting, dressing and preparing for 
market, over balances its worth, and hence farmers have 
resorted to the most expeditious modes of getting rid 
of it, such as burning it, throwing it into wet marshy 
places, &c. I have recently had conversations with 
several farmers, who have for the last two years engaged 
quite largely in raising it, who assure me that if the 
flax is cut before it becomes “dead ripe,” by paying 
the same attention to it in curing it that is usually be¬ 
stowed upon the securing of hay, cattle will not only 
eat it readily, but are very fond of it, besides it keeps 
them in a very thriving, healthy condition. Those 
persons with whom I conversed, agreed in their belief, 
that the flax thus secured, is worth almost, if not quite, 
as much as the seed. 
I wish to mention another important fact in relation 
to raising flax-seed, which every farmer should know. 
Several farmers of my acquaintance, the past season, sowed 
flax-seed and barley on the same ground, and in every 
instance the yield of either kind, was as great as if 
sowed separately, besides flax and barley straw com¬ 
bined, makes very excellent fodder. By having proper 
screens, there is no difficulty in separating the flax-seed 
from the barley. If, by sowing flax-seed and barley 
together, twice the amount can be obtained from the 
same ground, is it not worth at least the consideration 
of every farmer? N. 
We have received several communications in refer¬ 
ence to the practice of growing flax and barley together, 
but know nothing of its advantages from personal ex¬ 
perience. We were not aware that the seed of flax 
would be matured while the stalk was in so green a 
state as to be good for fodder; but it will be seen that 
the above and several other articles speak of it as being 
valuable for this purpose when mixed with barley straw, 
and that at the same time a crop of seed is obtained in 
connexion with the barley.— Ed. 
SHEEP—ESCURIAL AND ELECTORAL SAXONY- 
Are the Spanish Escurial and the Electoral Saxony 
the same race of sheep? This inquiry has been raised 
in my mind by reading an article entitled “ Saxon 
Sheep and their Crosses” in the volume of the Cul¬ 
tivator for 1844, page 350. In my ignorance I had 
supposed they were as distinct as any two races of Ger¬ 
man and Spanish sheep can be. If they are the same 
thing , as this writer seems to take it for granted, then 
all this flourish, which has been made about the supe¬ 
riority of the ppre Electoral Saxony Sheep, imported 
and bred by the late lamented Mr. Grove, is moonshine. 
For there are men in the country who profess to have 
the pure Escurials—and if it can be proved that they are 
the real “simon pure” Electoral Saxons, Escurials 
will be thicker than “hair on a dog’s back” before 
1846 is at an end—the simple reasons being, that Elec¬ 
toral Saxons are in great request and command higher 
prices. 
I had supposed that the Escurials were to be found 
only in Spain and the Electoral Saxons only in Saxony 
—and elsewhere, only as they have been imported from 
these countries. I have supposed that an Electoral 
Saxon sheep never was in Spain—and that the Spaniards 
have no such variety—and I had supposed that the six 
varieties of sheep, which Consul Jarvis imported into 
the United States, were only sub-varieties of the Spanish 
Merino Sheep— al l excellent, and all in a great measure 
resembling each other. The Escurials were one of the 
six—and many have contended that they were not a 
whit behind any other—while all were similar, each 
had its excellencies and peculiarities. Will you, Mr. 
Editor, be pleased to show what light you can on this 
subject? Inquirer. 
Note. —From the best accounts, the origin of the 
Saxon Merino Sheep, was 200 ewes and 100 rams sent 
by the King of Spain to the Elector of Saxony in 1765. 
They are said to have been mostly of the Escurial vari¬ 
ety, which are acknowledged on all hands to produce 
the finest wool of any of the Spanish races, and were 
particularly cultivated by the Spanish kings. The Elec¬ 
toral Saxon sheep have, according to their history, de¬ 
scended mostly from this Escurial stock. It is claimed 
by some that they have been improved in respect to 
fineness of wool, since their transfer to Saxony. Our 
own observation does not permit us to give an opinion 
on this point. It must be obvious, however, that the 
blood of the Electoral Saxon and the Escurial must be 
nearly the same, the former being only a lateral brancli 
of the original stock. 
