THE CULTIVATOE. 
76 
PAULAR MERINO SHEEP. 
We have received a letter from Mr. Merrill Bingham, 
of Cornwall, Vt., giving an account of his sheep. Not 
having space for the letter in detail, we give the follow¬ 
ing abtract, which comprises, we believe, the principal 
•statements: 
Mr. B. states, that about eight years ago, he purchas¬ 
ed in Massachusetts and Connecticut, 111 full-blooded 
Paular Merino ewes, and placed them on his farm in 
Vermont. He also bought 400 sheep which were high 
crosses of the Merino with the native. The first buck 
he bought was a full-blooded Paular, from the farm of 
Mr. Titus, of Flushing, Long Island. For this buck he 
gave $60. He afterwards purchased a buck from Rhode 
Island, and one from Mr. Jarvis, and continued to make 
-such crosses as seemed to be expedient. Mr. B. says he 
has “ kept the pedigrees of the 111 ewes which he 
first purchased, which would satisfy any curious mind.” 
He says, “the one hundred and eleven ewes gave at the 
first shearing after I purchased them, 3 lbs. anil 12 oz. of 
wool. Last year, from one hundred and one of their 
•progeny, ewes, each with a sucking lamb, I sheared 5 
lbs. and 2 oz. on the average, and this as the result of 
hay and grass feeding, without extra food of any kind. 
From some lambs (yearlings) I sheared from 6 lbs. 5 oz. 
to 7 lbs. 12 oz.” Mr. B. states he has sold about 60 bucks, 
.annually, for the last five years. Among those referred 
to as purchasers, is Mr. Wm. Howard, near Auburn, N. 
Y. In all cases the wool has been well washed on the 
sheep’s back. He gives sheep no grain as a general 
?rule, believing that the increase of wool from it, does 
not pay the cost. 
Of Mr. Bingham's sheep, a correspondent from Wil- 
liston, who signs himself “ Old Chittenden,” says—“It 
is one of the best flocks of this kind of sheep I saw in 
Cornwall, for fineness, evenness, length and weight of 
fleece; and for size, shape, and constitution, I have seen 
few sheep to equal them in the State.” 
We have been requested to eopy an article from the 
Northern Galaxy, on the subject of Mr. Jewett’s Paular 
Merinos; but the crowded state of our pages will not 
■admit of our complying with the request. 
THRESHING MACHINES. 
Mr. Lucius Simpson of Alabama, makes some inqui¬ 
ries aboul threshing machines, to which we reply, that 
mtost of those in use in this section of country are “'port¬ 
able,”-—that is, they may be readily moved from place 
to place. The kind described by Mr. S. us being placed 
on a wagon, and performing its work in that situation, &c. 
we have seen, but do not know where any of them are 
now manufactured. We think they are not as well liked 
as some others, though there may be better ones than we 
have seen. John A. Pitts, of Rochester, in this State, 
manufactures various kinds of threshing machines. He 
has also a “ separator,” which maybe attached to any 
machine, and will thoroughly clean the grain as fast as it 
is threshed, without any waste. This contrivance is well 
recommended by those who have used it. The price for 
the machines, with the separator is (we think) from $150 
to $300. 
REARING LAMBS FOR THE BUTCHER. 
The Essex (Mass.) Agricultural Society’s Transactions 
for last year, contains a valuable statement from Joseph 
Marshall, of Ipswich, on the management of sheep for 
the purpose of rearing lambs for the butcher. His sheep 
are a quarter Merino, with what is called the native breed 
of the country. He keeps them in good plight, as he 
finds they will not otherwise be profitable. In winter 
they are fed on clover, or ‘second crop’ 1 hay, bean and 
pea vines, &c. He is scrupulously attentive to the pre¬ 
servation of their health, by keeping them in dry places. 
In winter they are kept under an open shed nights, and 
are never allowed to be out in wet storms, day nor night. 
He does not even allow their skins to be wet by washing 
them—preferring to wash the wool after shearing. He 
%as followed this treatment with his sheep for several 
years, and has never had an unhealthy or dirty-nosed 
one among them—and they have neve* had a tick or a 
louse. At the time of lambing, he gives them each a 
gill of corn every morning, and feeds plentifully with 
turneps or carrots. They commence lambing in Februa¬ 
ry; and last season, a part of them being put with the 
buck in March, again produced lambs in August—-and 
Mr. Marshall has no doubt that had they all been with the 
buck at that time, they would have ‘ produced a second 
crop of lambs.’ He intends hereafter to have them pro¬ 
duce lambs twice a year. He sells his lambs at between 
three and four months old, at two dollars each, and finds 
the business profitable. His sheep average four to live 
pounds per fleece. Mr. M.’s pastures are high ground, 
not very rich, nor better adapted to sheep than most farms, 
in the country. 
THRIFTY HOGS. 
Mr. J. R. Speed gives us an account of two remarka¬ 
ble hogs belonging to Mr. S. D. Thompson, keeper of 
the Ithaca hotel. They are said to be a cross of the 
Berkshire and Russian breed, though Mr. Speed thinks, 
it more probable that they are a cross of the Berkshire and 
'Leicester. They are described as having “great length 
and depth of carcass, with small bone, thin skin and silk 
like u'hite hair.” 
“ They were pigged,” says Mr. S., “ on the 15th of 
Sep;. 1842, and consequently were 16 months old on the 
15th of Jan. 1844, on which day they weighed on the 
scales, alive, 1,390 lbs., and were said by .Mr. Barnes, 
(their keeper,) to be‘as spry and playful as kittens.’ 
They weighed on the 2d of Jan., 1,347 lbs., showing an 
increase of 43 lbs. in 13 days—being 214 lbs. each.” 
Mr. S. informs us that the hogs were to be killed in 
about two weeks, when he will send us their dressed 
weight. 
A Berkshire hog was brought to this city on the 
27th Jan. which weighed, dressed, 675 lbs. He was 
raised by Mr. Thornton, on the farm of the Messrs. 
Knower, near this city. It is of some consequence to re¬ 
cord these weighty, because some think the Berkshires 
are too small. 
Mr. Levi Durand, of Derby, Conn., slaughtered 
6 pigs of one litter, on the 24th of Jan. that were eight 
months and one day old, whose aggregate weight was 
1,175 lbs. The largest weighed 223 lbs., the smallest 
180 lbs. 
BLACK SEA SPRING WHEAT. 
Messrs. Gaylord & Tucker _Believing it will be 
beneficial to the public to have this wheat reserved for 
seed, I make this communication. It is believed, in this 
quarter, to be superior for seed to any other spring wheat. 
First, because it requires but about two-thirds the usual 
quantity to sow an acre—2d, it yields better in a good 
season. If it lodges, it generally fills well—but its great 
superiority consists in its hardiness to withstand the rust. 
Our thresher, Mr. G. Farnam, of this town, says he 
threshed in Cornwall, about 500 bushels of this wheat, of 
1842 crop, and did not have a rusty bundle; whereas 
three-fourths of the other wheat was very materially 
damaged by rust. Of the 1843 crop, he threshed aboul 
3000 bushels of this wheat, and found its yield superior 
to any o:her spring wheat; and also that it filled well 
where it lodged. 
I learn that all this wheat raised in Cornwall, came 
from a peck of seed, procured near Boston in 1839 or ’40. 
Some suppose there are two kinds, and that the red chaff 
is the best. It is dark colored, hard and heavy. Until 
our millers learned how to grind it, it was supposed to 
make inferior flour. 
Homer Wright, of this town, got 44 bushels from 1| 
bu. of seed; Mr. Elmore, 26 from 1 bu.; Orval Smith, 
29 from 1 bu. of seed; Hiram Foster, of Whitney, 42 
from 14 bu.; B. Simonds, 41 from 1| bu. of seed. 
I am surprised that our farmers should send so much 
of this wheat to the mill to be ground, considering the 
estimation in which it is held, and that there is not more 
of it than ought to be sowed in two counties. 
Shoreham , Vt, % Feb. 14, 1844. Clark Rich. 
