271 
1846. 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
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the wool-grower, to take such care of his sheep as will 
best supply the needful quantity. Equability of tempe¬ 
rature being one requisite, he should protect his flocks 
during the winter season; and good condition being 
another, wholesome and nutritious food should not be 
spared.” 
Softness of Wool. —Mr. Morrell observes, [Am. 
Shepherd, p. 35,] that—“ wool of the same quality of 
fineness has not the same degree of softness.” This we 
have frequently observed. Samples which under the 
microscope show the same degree of fineness, some¬ 
times appear quite different to the touch-—the one being 
soft and cottony , and the other harsh and rigid. Mr. 
M. remarks ‘‘that it is not as generally known as it 
should be, that softness is a quality of wool of much 
consequence. When the wool-buyer and stapler pro¬ 
ceed to an examination of a parcel, their judgment will 
be materially affected as to its value, whether ‘ soft in 
handle,’ or otherwise. 
Wool is thought to be considerably affected by the 
nature of the soil on which the sheep are grazed; thus 
in England the chalky districts, it is said, invariably 
produce harsh and brittle wool. Mr. Morrell ob¬ 
serves, however, that “the general cause of a defi¬ 
ciency of softness in wools of the same breed, may be 
referred directly to the condition of the sheep. It has 
already been stated,” continues Mr. M., “ that when 
the animal was kept in uniformly good condition, the 
necessary quantity of yolk was supplied. Now if there 
is but little of this substance, which will follow an 
abuse in management, the wool will be less pliable and 
‘ kind to feel.’ Therefore it may be set down as an uni¬ 
versal rule, that wool owes much of its softness to the 
presence of a sufficiency of yolk .” 
Mr. M. quotes the following from an English author, 
Youatt, as showing how highly the quality of softness 
is appreciated by the manufacturer. Mr. Youatt says— 
it has been affirmed that two parcels of assorted wool 
being taken, possessing the same degree of fineness, but 
the one having the soft quality in an eminent degree, 
and the other being harsh, the cloth prepared from the 
first, at the same expense, will be worth more to the 
manufacturer than the other, by full 25 per cent.” 
The fibre —how affected by keeping. —The 
observation of most tvool-growers may have taught 
them that sheep in very high condition do not produce 
as fine wool as the same animals do when less fat. 
The abundant juices oftheskin.in fat sheep, would natu¬ 
rally distend the fibre to an unusual degree. On the other 
hand, poor keep, or disease, by lessening the fluids from 
which the wool is formed, would tend to render it smaller 
or finer in fibre. It is, therefore, plain, from these two 
facts, that to produce a fleece, the staple of which 
should be of uniform character or fineness throughout 
its length, the food and all circumstances affecting the 
growth of the wool and the condition of the sheep, 
should be as nearly as possible the same at all times; 
as irregularity in food tvould obviously occasion a cor¬ 
responding irregularity in the size and strength of the 
fibre. 
It is true that the wool of poor and sickly sheep is 
generally finer than that from those of the same breed 
which are in good health and flesh ; but though such fine 
wool may be highly valued by those unacquainted with 
its true character, the experienced manufacturer will 
readily detect its rottenness, and its want of elasticity 
and other qualities necessary to form useful fabrics. 
It should, then, be the object of the grower of fine 
wool, to supply his sheep, both summer and winter, 
with food adapted to their natural habits, and in such 
quantity that, while it shall not deteriorate the quality 
of the wool by the accumulation of superfluous fat, shall 
secure that medium anti uniform condition necessary to 
tiie production of a fleece yielding the most profitable 
returns both to the grower and manufacturer. 
The importance of these remarks will perhaps appear ! 
snore striking in connection with the following extract 
from Mr. Youatt j s description of the fibres of wool. 
“ The fibres of white wool, when cleansed from ' 
grease, are semi-transparent; their surface in some ! 
places is beautifully polished, in others curiously cn- ! 
crusted, and they reflect the rays of light in a very 
pleasing manner. When viewed by the aid of a power¬ 
ful achromatic microscope, the central part of the fibre 
has a singularly glittering appearance. Very irregu¬ 
larly placed minuter filaments are sometimes seen 
branching from the main trunk like boughs from the 
Principal stem. This exterior polish varies much n 
different wools, and in wools from the same breed of 
sheep at different times. When the animal is in good 
condition and the fleece healthy* the appearance of the 
fibre is really brilliant; but when the sheep has been 
half starved, the wool seems to have sympathized with 
the state of the constitution, and either a wan, pale 
light, or sometimes scarcely any, is reflected .”—[See 
Youatt’s work on Sheep , in the Farmers’ Series, p. 65.] 
FARMING- IN WESTERN NEW-YORK. 
Mr. Tucker —I was much gratified last week in 
viewing a few farms in the neighborhood of Rochester, 
more especially those of Mr. C. B. Stewart and Wm. 
Buel, Esq. 
The soil is a black muck, which has the appearance 
of being all organized matter composed of decayed tim¬ 
ber; if so, it must contain all the necessary food for 
plants without manuring. According to chemical ana¬ 
lysis, the four elementary bodies, hydrogen, nitrogen, 
oxygen and carbon must be deposited there. Still this 
land is as grateful for manure as any land I ever saw. 
How are the professors of chemistry to account for this ? 
I should like to hear from them. I should at once have 
said it was want of sufficient alkalies, or inorganized 
matter, had I not seen the effect of barnyard manure, 
which was only adding organized matter to it.* 
Mr S. has eight acres of carrots; part of them were 
manured from his stables, and were a very promising 
crop. Another part (about half of them) with leached 
ashes, are the finest crop I ever saw. And a patch in the 
centre, exactly the same soil, was planted without any 
manure. This piece looked as if they would not pay 
the trouble and expense of sowing and weeding. They 
were all weeded by German women at three dollars per 
acre the first time, and a dollar and a half the second. 
His plan of soiling is very economical; twenty-five 
acres are divided into five lots for that purpose: 
First —sowed in the fall with rye, cut and fed in May; 
manured and plowed on the first of June, sown with 
corn broadcast, and seeded with clover. This piece of 
corn had a greater bulk of feed upon it than anything I 
ever witnessed. The corn is fed in August; and he as¬ 
sured me that the clover in October afforded him a tole¬ 
rable cutting. 
Second —Sowed early in May with oats and peas— 
the green peas sold in July, and the vines and green oats 
fed as fast as the peas are picked. This lot is manured 
and plowed by the middle of July, sowed with oats again 
and seeded with clover; the oats fed in September, and 
the clover used the next season for soiling. 
Third —Seeded down to clover the year previous, and 
is cut in June, August and October, and at each cutting 
it receives a top-dressing of compost or plaster, and is 
plowed again in the fall, and sowed to rye for the next 
spring. 
Fourth —Sowed with oats early in April, cut in June; 
plowed and sowed with oats again, which are fed in Au¬ 
gust and September; plowed and sowed with rye for the 
next season. 
Fifth —Com and pumpkins planted in drills early in 
May, and seeded with clover; the corn sold green in the 
market, the stalks fed in August, and the pumpkins in 
October; the clover either used for hay or soiling the 
next season. 
* Jt is impossible to tell precisely what are the const intents of 
a soil, without particular examination. This land may contain alt 
the organic constituents of plants, and yet it may lack the inorga¬ 
nic. The “four elementary bodies” named would be of them¬ 
selves insufficient. The " barn-yard manure” probably coniains 
principles which the “ muck ” does not; and its alkaline salts may 
tend to render the vegetable food of the muck more available. 
That alkalies are highly beneficial, is inferred irom the eli’eci pro¬ 
duced by ashes on carrots, as is spoken of further on.- idu. 
