214 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
MR. A. L. BINGHAM’S SHEEP. 
As we have remarked in another place, we had not an 
opportunity of seeing- this animal; we are, however, as¬ 
sured that the cut is a good likeness. Mr. Bingham says 
“the portrait is no flattery. 5 '' He was bred by Tyler 
Stickney, of Shoreham, Vt., and is brother to Mr. Jewett's 
Fortune. The sire was bred by Hon. William Jarvis, and 
the dam was from the flock of Andrew Cock, Esq., 
Flushing, Long-Island. She was owned by Mr. Stick¬ 
ney, and it is said was an extraordinary sheep, both for 
constitution and wool—“ the weight of her fleece,” 
(says Mr. Bingham,) “ running from five to seven 
pounds.” We are informed that she died in 1843, at the 
age of fourteen. Mr. Bingham states that the weight of 
this buck on the 11th of April last, was 150 pounds; that 
<s the weight of his first fleece was 4 pounds 15 ounces, 
the second 8 pounds 12 ounces, the third 12 pounds 8 
ounces, the fourth 13 pounds.” The fleece of the pre¬ 
sent year was not shorn when this statement was written. 
He will be, as is stated, five years old on the 22d day of 
July, 1845. 
Mr. Bingham informs us that he has lately purchased 
of Joseph I. Baily, of Rhode-Island, “forty-four sheep, 
all ewes but two, 5 ’ for which he paid $661, having his 
“entire selection from the whole flock, consisting of 
250 full blood Spanish Merinos.” This stock, he says, 
“ were imported by James D’Wolf and Paul Cuff, in 
1812 or 5 13. They were bought,” continues Mr. Bing¬ 
ham, “ by his [Mr. Baily’s] father, at the wharf, and he 
tells me they have been bred pure ever since—always 
breeding from bucks of his own raising. His flock is 
the most uniform of any I ever saw; remarkable for size, 
low on the leg, heavy boned, wide chested, large and 
thick necked, considerably ruffled, heavy fleeced and 
dark colored on the outside, the wool fine, thick, and 
long in the staple.” The weight of the fleeces of Mr. 
Baily’s breeding ewes, over a hundred in number, Mr. 
Bingham says, « averaged live and three-quarter pounds 
per head. His lambs from these ewes,” says Mr. B.. 
“averaged six pounds five ounces per head, all well 
washed wool.” 
Mr. Bingham thinks the weight of wool was much in¬ 
creased by Mr. Baily’s somewhat peculiar mode of 
management. “ He selects his sheep in the first place 
into small flocks, of equal size and strength, taking spe¬ 
cial care to keep them fat the year round. He told me 
that he never allowed any snow or rain to fall on them 
from the middle of November till they are turned out 
to grass in the spring. I believe a sheep will shear from 
a quarter to half a pound more wool by being kept 
sheltered from the storms, than they will by being ex¬ 
posed to all kinds of weather. Many persons will keep 
them out at a stack all winter, with nothing to shelter 
them from the storm; anil they not only sustain a great 
loss of wool and flesh, but not unfrequently a great loss 
of life. Mr. Baily tells me he feeds grain to his sheep 
but two months in the year—a month when they are first 
put to hay, and the last month before they go to grass. 
His lambs are dropped between the 15th of April and 
the first of June. To avoid the danger of the sheep 
running over the lambs when housed, they are kept in 
very small lots.” 
DURABLE FENCE—BARNS. 
Mr. L. Tucker —Every farmer should have his lands 
well fenced. All will admit this, and yet how few have 
fences that can be trusted. In this climate, where frosts 
prevail, fences will need repairs every spring if built in 
the ordinary way; and it is one of the greatest vexations 
that farmers have to encounter, the inefficiency of their 
frost-shaken fences. The experience I possess in relation 
to the erection of permanent farm fences, has been con¬ 
siderable. A stone wall, which, for some farms, is the 
cheapest and most durable fence, should be constructed 
by first digging a trench eighteen irfehes deep by two 
feet in width. This should be paved with oak or yellow 
pine boards; and upon this commence laying the founda¬ 
tion, not with small stones that will work out, but with 
large flat stones that will lay well. It is likewise neces¬ 
sary to lay the stones lengthwise across the wall, which 
will bind and strengthen it. A wall put up in this man¬ 
ner will stand the heaving influences of frost much 
longer, and maintain its even and straight appearance, 
in which consists the beauty and efficiency of a wall, to 
amply repay the extra expense. Every wall should be 
made five feet high, which is a reasonable security for 
an enclosure against the depredations of most animals. 
It is my opinion that the cheapest fence for farms where 
stones cannot be had, and lumber is scarce and high, 
would be a fence constructed of cast-iron pickets, the 
pattern for the construction of which should not exceed 
one-eighth of an inch for the most part, increasing to 
one-quarter where the holes are placed for securing them 
to the iron bars. The bars should be twelve feet in 
length, cast very light, with holes in them at proper dis¬ 
tances for riveting. The riveting process is simple, and 
