333 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
and your bulls in fair working order. Such is the con¬ 
dition most consonant to nature, and promotive of the 
highest animal health. The scale of points laid down 
in our introduction, with the occasional remarks on the 
practice of breeders, as we have passed in our history, 
detail what a good animal should be. These, together 
with a close examination of the general figure of good 
cattle, as illustrated in our plates, will aid the judgment 
of the breeder. With a well-balanced judgment of his 
own, and a sound experience, they will be a safe guide, 
and lie may go on his way rejoicing. 
A single word to such, if any there be, into whose 
hands these pages may fall, as deride the value placed 
on superior cattle by their breeders, and such as know 
their real worth: Breeding good animals is a subject of 
great labor, and incessant care. Such labor cannot be 
bestowed for nothing. To breed successfully, requires 
skill,—talent,—research,—observation; and all of these 
of a high order. Let the breeding of our fine stocks 
fall into unworthy hands, and hardly a single genera¬ 
tion of man will pass before the real loverand promoter 
of the matchless herds which now so proudly embel¬ 
lish many of our rural estates—a source of pleasure, of 
pride, and of comfort to their possessors—will mourn 
over their degeneracy, and Avhich the time of another 
generation with great labor and constant solicitude 
would scarce suffice to reinstate in their former splen¬ 
dor and excellence. Talent and labor of this kind can¬ 
not be had for nothing; and without remunerating pri¬ 
ces be maintained, the downfall of the Short Horns in 
America will sooner or later be at hand. 
THINGS BY WRONG NAMES. 
Insects are the greatest enemies to the crops of the 
farmer, and it is to be regretted that a more thorough 
knowledge does not prevail of their habits. Great con¬ 
fusion is made from wrong names being applied to in¬ 
sects, or from several species of very different habits 
being known by one name. For instance, one man 
gives a remedy for what he calls “the weevil;” 
the remedy is adopted by another man for an entirely 
different insect which he calls by that name, and the 
consequence is, as might be expected, the prescription 
proves totally useless. 
In one section of the country, the wheat-midge (Ce¬ 
dric my ia tritici, ) is called “ weevil.” The larva of 
this insect, a small orange-colored maggot, is found in 
the heads of wheat, between the chaff and kernel, and 
often does much damage to wheat while growing, but 
not after it is harvested . 
Another insect sometimes called the “ black weevil,” 
(Curculio granaria , Linn.,) is injurious to wheat and 
and other grain in its dry state, or while deposited in 
granaries; but does not injure the grain while standing 
in the field . This is a coleopterous insect, and is a true 
weevil. 
The grain-moth, ( Tinea granella,) is also sometimes 
called weevil, in some sections. We presume it is 
this insect which at the south is known as the “white 
weevil,” “ fly weevil,” “flying weevil,” &c. This is 
totally different from the true weevils, as it belongs to 
the same family as the well-known clothes moth. [See 
Mr. Owen’s article, with cuts, on another page.] 
This subject was brought to our mind by seeing an 
inquiry, in the Massachusetts Plowman, for a remedy 
against “ an insect called a weevil.” From the lan¬ 
guage used by the inquirer, we have no doubt that the 
insect he alluded to was the wheat-midge before spoken 
of, and not the weevil. He says—-“ my wheat crop 
was considerably injured this season by an insect called 
a weevil.” 
In answer to the inquiry, the editor of the Plowman 
gives an article written by a Georgian, in which it is 
recommended that grain affected by weevils, be spread 
in the sun, and the casks, in which it had been kept, 
heated over a bark fire. The article speaks also of 
remedies against the “ white weevil,” which he says, 
“ attacks wheat only in large stacks, in houses when in 
the straw, and in the chaff after it is threshed.” 
The remedy of sunning the grain, &c., is evidently 
intended to apply to the Curculio granaria, and could 
be of no use whatever in obviating the attacks of the 
wheat-midge, popularly known as weevil in New-Eng- 
land and this vicinity. 
The editor of the Plowman observes that so far as he 
knows, “the weevil has not proved very destructive to 
wheat-crops in Massachusetts; though in southern and 
western states great complaints are made.” 
The fact is, however, that an insect called weevil 
(as above described,) has “ proved verj r destructive to 
wheat crops in Massachusetts ” and over a large por¬ 
tion of the northern section of the country, though 
this insect is scarcely known in the “southern and 
western states,” and it is not improbable that the author 
of the inquiry in the Plowman, and the writer referred 
to for a remedy, had each no knowledge of the insect 
to which the other alluded. 
SAXON vs. SPANISH SHEEP. 
Mr. Editor —In your August number, I noticed an 
article purporting to give the transactions of a meeting 
of wool-growers convened at Lowell, Mass., on the 1st 
day of July. I perceive by that article, that John 
Brown, of Akron, O., and Jacob N. Blakeslee, of Water- 
town, Ct., have entered into an arrangement for the pur- 
pose of testing the relative value of the fleeces of their 
sheep, and have agreed that Samuel Lawrence, Esq., of 
Lowell, shall be the umpire for deciding the case. I 
noticed, also, that the wool-growers throughout the 
United States are requested to “participate in this com¬ 
petition.” 
Now the object of this communication is to inquire: 
1. Whether the inference is correct that the arrange¬ 
ment spoken of, is designed to test the value of the 
fleeces of Saxon sheep on the one hand, compared with 
those of Spanish, (or as commonly called, Merino) 
sheep on the other? 
2. In determining what are Saxon and what Merino 
sheep, what will be the criterion? Will those only be 
considered Saxons which are descended wholly from 
stock originally brought to this country from Saxony? 
and those only Merinos which are descended wholly 
from Spanish sheep—that is, such as have not come, 
(either themselves or ancestors,) through Saxony? 
3. Would an individual having sheep not wholly of 
Saxon descent, but intermixed with Merino, be allowed 
to compete with them against Merinos? 
Answers to these inquiries would greatly oblige 
A Wool-Grower. 
[Without presuming to give an authoritative reply to 
the above, we will just observe that from the tenor of 
the article referred to by our correspondent, (which we 
copied from the Lowell Courier ,) it would seem that 
the arrangement spoken of was designed to test the 
comparative value of the fleeces of Saxon and Merino 
sheep. For example, the article states in the first 
place, that there was much discussion at the meeting 
between Messrs Brown and Blakeslee, as to the “ rela. 
tive properties of the Saxon and Merino sheep, and more 
especially of their fleeces;” and it is expressly stated 
that the arrangement was finally entered into for the 
purpose of “ testing, and as far as could be done, 
settling the question of the relative value of these two 
important breeds of sheep.” We must leave to Mr. 
Lawrence a more definite answer to “ A Wool-Grow¬ 
er's ” queries.— Ed.] 
Hens. —Mr. Crocker of Sunderland, N. H., has kept 
a regular account of the expenses and profits of seven¬ 
teen hens, showing the following expensesThe hens, 
cost him in food for a year $30.78, while they brought 
him in eggs at 13 cents a dozen ami chickens at 15 
cents each, $27.25, making a balance in his favor of 
1 $16.97. 
