350 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
SAXON SHEEP AND THEIR CROSSES. 
Notwithstanding that the Eseurial or Saxon breed of 
sheep have been so long in the United States, it would 
seem that their merits and demerits are not yet fully un¬ 
derstood. The truth seems to be that the Eseurial, orj 
pure Electoral Saxony, are a hardy race of sheep, and 
that in their organization they possess every element 
which, in other breeds of sheep, is necessary for their 
preservation and prosperity. Their bones are small, 
but their bodies are very round, with broad shoulders, 
thereby forming a chest which is anteriorly large, and 
which gives them great strength according to their size. 
They have less yolk than other kinds of merino; but it 
may not be necessary for them, as their wool is very 
thick, and time has adjusted their qualities and propor¬ 
tions so that they can sustain themselves with moderate 
care in almost any climate of the temperate zones. The 
only reason why they have been esteemed so very tender 
and delicate, is that they were known almost only by the 
crosses which have been made between them and other 
breeds of Merinoes, and these generally were worthless, 
miserable animals. 
The Eseurial flock in Spain formerly contained fifty 
thousand, and if they had been so very tender and deli¬ 
cate as thought by some, it does not seem reasonable to 
suppose that their proprietors would have continued to 
propagate them, as they could easily have obtained oth¬ 
ers which were hardy. Mr. Grove’s success with them, 
goes to show that they are hardy—but as one experi¬ 
ment may not satisfy all, I will relate the experience of 
my neighbor, Mr. Jacob Cook, and also my own, which 
may serve to elucidate the subject. Mr. Jacob Cook for¬ 
merly owned a flock of the short wooled breed of Meri¬ 
noes, but not being pleased with the appearance of dirty 
looking sheep, he purchased, ten years ago, a few White 
Merinoes, as he calls them, which were brought from the 
State of Maine. They are high grade Saxon, and are 
evidently a cross between the Saxon and the old breed 
of New-England sheep, without any mixture of any oth¬ 
er breed of Merinoes, and have less yolk than the pure 
.Saxons. They are great milkers, and he has been very 
successful in raising lambs. He gives them very little 
grain, and in winter, in latitude 41 deg. north, he pro¬ 
vides them no shelter from rain and snow, having nei¬ 
ther sheds or stables for them, and they do not appear to 
suffer with cold any more than the best breeds of Meri¬ 
noes of other kinds. Their wool is nearly equal in fine¬ 
ness to that of full blood Paular. The last time at which 
he took an average of the weight of the fleeces of his 
flock, it was 4 pounds two ounces. 
Again, in 1837, I had a hardy well formed high grade 
Saxon ewe, having very little yolk, which I afterwards 
kept till she was twelve years old, and then fatted her 
off, making most excellent mutton of her. I crossed her 
that year with a long wooled ram of another breed of 
Merinoes, whose wool was black with yolk. The cross 
produced a round bodied well formed ram, having a 
great abundance of yolk, but which, when four years old 
and in good order, and standing with a dry fleece in a 
sheep barn among other sheep, would shiver with cold, 
when both sire and dam and all others, appeared perfect¬ 
ly unaffected by the cold. 
These experiments would seem to show that the Saxon 
sheep, pure or of high grade, are hardy; that crossed 
with the old breed of New-England sheep, they make a 
hardy race, which are well suited to the use of those 
who wish to raise wool which is not (*uite so fine as the 
pure Saxon, but whose fancy is such that they must have 
clean lohite sheep ; and therefore a cross between the pure 
Saxons and the Leicester or South Down might possibly 
make useful sheep for such persons. 
Unfortunately, almost all the Merino sheep in the Uni¬ 
ted States have been crossed with the Saxon. Mr. Wil¬ 
liam Jarvis imported six kinds—among the rest, Escuri- 
2 , 1 s, which he mixed with the others; and therefore pro¬ 
bably all the sheep in Vermont are tinctured w r ith this 
breed; but as the people of Vermont have attended to 
those points which more particularly distinguish the Pau¬ 
lar breed, it would seem that they must have nearly run 
out the Saxon, and that by selection and improvement, 
may show fleeces as thick and heavier than those of the 
Rambouillet flock, as their wool may be of a longer pile. 
For the Rambouillet flock is also tinctured with the Es- 
curial or Saxon breed , as may be seen by the color of its 
wool, which is a cream color—and their wool is also 
i shortened by it. Don Pedro, the first Rambouillet ram 
imported to this country, had wool only one and three 
quarter inches long, whereas the Negretti wool will av¬ 
erage two inches in length, and the Paular two and a 
quarter to two and a half in length. Nevertheless, this 
Rambouillet flock may be hardy sheep; for this point of 
hardiness can only be determined by experience. And 
therefore the Rambouillet flock is still capable of im¬ 
provement by increasing the length of its wool. When 
a flock is made up of a number of different breeds, it is 
very difficult, nay, almost impossible, to consolidate it so 
that their progeny shall appear homogeneous. Each 
kind will seem determined to dissolve the confederacy 
jand set up for itself; and the remains of Chancellor Liv¬ 
ingston’s flock will exemplify this fact. The skillful 
jbreeder, taking advantage of this circumstance, may by 
'selection, run them all into one of its kinds so as nearly 
to resemble each other. By reference to Burgoanne’s 
travels, it will be seen that the Rambouillet flock was 
originally composed of seven different kinds or cavanas 
of sheep. Selections were made from the Paular, Ne- 
Sgretti, and Eseurial (or Saxon ) cavanas—also from the 
jeavanas of the Marquis de Iranda, the Marquis de Pera- 
ses, Manuel de Balbucua, and the Count de San Rafael. 
The commissioners appointed by the French in 1785, 
wrere permitted by the Spanish king to select from the 
best flocks in Spain, and have, by publishing their pro¬ 
ceedings, pointed out where the best may be obtained. 
Mr. Jarvis informs us that the remains of the Paular and 
Negretti flocks were taken to England and Scotland. But 
as the insane practice of mixing all breeds together does 
|not prevail so extensively in Britain as in this country, it 
jis probable that the Paular or Negretti breeds may be 
obtained from them in their purity. Among British 
sheep, it seems the best sheep have been formed by im- 
jproving each kind by itself—witness the Leicesters, 
South Down, Cotswold, &c., and it seems as though the 
same course should be taken with the Merinoes—for 
there is as much difference between the different kinds 
of Merinoes as there is between different breeds of Brit¬ 
ish sheep, only that their wool being all fine, these dif¬ 
ferences are not so readily noticed as those of coarse 
sheep. Any person who will import the Paular or any 
long thick wooled breed of pure Merinoes from Britain 
or Spain, and improve them as Mr. Grove has done the 
Saxons, and keep them unmixed, will confer a great fa¬ 
vor on the wool-growing interest. We may then obtain 
fine wooled sheep, having good constitutions and large 
fleeces well covered with yolk, unique in their appear¬ 
ance, having wool of an even length on each sheep and 
of a greater softness than can be obtained from flocks 
made up from a variety of breeds. For superfine wool, 
we must always depend upon the Saxon; and between 
them and all other breeds of Merinoes , there should be a 
perpetual non-intercourse. C. D. 
Colleges.— We have long been of the opinion that re¬ 
form was no where more needed than in the course Ok 
studies pursued at our Colleges. The necessity for this 
reform is well set forth in the following paragraph, 
which we take from one of Mr. Colman’s Agricultural 
Addresses :—“ Classical learning, so called, which occu¬ 
pies now a large portion of the best years of those who 
pursue it ; excepting as matter of mere taste, pastime, or 
embellishment, is of little substantial use to any one. It 
is a notorious fact, and in my opinion sufficiently dis¬ 
graceful to the boasted wisdom of the age, that at least 
two-thirds of the young persons, who enjoy the best ad¬ 
vantages of a liberal and classical education, and come 
out adorned with the highest honors* of our colleges and 
universities, are even then incapable of keeping them¬ 
selves from starvation; and have then to begin to learn 
the practical arts of life; and the remaining third are 
able to do it, not from any thing they have learned at 
these places of education, but from what they were com¬ 
pelled perhaps by stern necessity to learn elsewhere.” 
