THE CULTIVATOR. 
3S5 
LEICESTER WETHER_(Fig. 113.) 
The above is a por rait, from life, of a Bakewell or 
Leicester wether, bred and fed by Maj. Philip Rey- 
bold, of Delaware, and slaughtered in Philadelphia, in 
March, 1842. H • was two years old and weighed 
alive, 251 lbs.—the four quarters 147 lbs., or nearly 37 
ibs. per quarter. The saddle weighed 78 lbs. and cui 
44 inches of fat on the ribs. Maj. Reybold’s is, we be¬ 
lieve, the largest of any long-wooled flock in America— 
numbering, as we have been informed, over 600 of the 
pure blood. He has taken great pains in breeding, and 
has found his flock highly profitable. One of his sons 
has during the past season been to England for the pur¬ 
pose of procuring bucks, which, if possible, might still 
farther improve their sheep. He returned, as we hear, 
with two very large and splendid bucks of what are 
usually called in England the Improved Cotswold, or Im¬ 
proved Oxfordshire breed. This breed originated, ac¬ 
cording to British authors, by a cross of the Bakewell 
or Leicester, with the old Oxfordshire or Qotswold sheep. 
They are highly prized as fattening sheep, possess good 
constitutions, and yield very heavy fleeces of long wool. 
They and the Leicesters, carry the principal prizes for 
long-wooled sheep in England. The increasing demand 
in this country for long wool, and the increasing demand 
also, for fine mutton, renders these sheep particularly 
adapted for situations convenient to market, ami the pro¬ 
fits which they afford in such situations are undoubtedly 
equal, at least, to those given by other breeds under any 
circumstances. 
WOOD AND WOOD-LANDS. 
The fore part of the winter is the best time for cutting 
and securing the year’s wood, as well as for clearing off 
the forest preparatory to cultivation. Before snow falls, 
or while there is little on the ground, it is much more 
convenient and pleasant working in the woods—the trees 
can be readily cut close to the ground, the small limbs 
and brush can be easily separated from the wood and 
piled by themselves, and the workmen are not obliged 
to plunge their hands in cold snow to pick out the wood, 
which is always more or less buried if the snow is deep. 
Few things are of more consequence to the farmer 
than a judicious management of his wood-lands; and yet 
nothing is generally more neglected. Such in fact has 
been the inattention to this subject, that a scarcity of 
wood and timber has occurred in many districts naturally 
provided with abundance. After having cut off the old 
or ts first growth,” as it is called, fires have in some in¬ 
stances been allowed to sweep'over the ground with such 
intf nsity as not only to prevent the stumps from sprout¬ 
ing, but also to destroy most of the seeds of trees con¬ 
tained in the soil—thus leaving the lands comparatively 
a barren waste. Besides this, cattle are often allowed to 
range at will, and are indeed sometimes compelled to 
obtain their living by brousing on the sprouts and young 
trees, which permits only a scrubby, worthless growth. 
It has been sometimes recommended to cut out old de¬ 
caying trees first, but the practice is attended with several 
objections, and we believe experience has proved that the 
best course is to cut off the entire growth, clean and 
smooth. In attempting to cut out the old trees, a great 
many of the smaller ones are inevitably broken down 
and spoiled, and as the growth is always kept uneven, 
the greatest quantity is prevented from accumulating on 
the ground at once. 
Where fuel is the object, the course now pursued in 
those sections where wood-lots are turned to the best ac¬ 
count, is, to cut everything close and clean once in fifteen 
to twenty years. The lots are protected as much as pos¬ 
sible against fires, and cattle are kept entirely off. Lands 
producing hard-wood are in this way made to yield from 
fifteen to twenty cords of excellent wood per acre at each 
cutting—giving a growth at least equal to a cord per acre 
annually. 
On cutting the primitive or old growth from a lot, the 
succeeding growth cannot be relied on from sprouts—es¬ 
pecially if the trees were much on the decline. In sue! 
cases we have usually to wait for a generation to come 
from seed, which generally takes a considerably longer 
time than is required where a thrifty growth is cut; be¬ 
cause in the latter case the stumps sprout vigorously and 
as great a growth is obtained in one year as ordinarily 
takes place from seed in four years. This is one of the 
great advantages of frequent and clean cutting—a rapid, 
even, and thick growth always springs from the stump, 
and we have never to wait for the slow and somewhat 
uncertain process of a renewal from seed. 
Trees had better be cut close to the ground, whether 
the lot is intended to grow up again or to be cleared. 
When there is a great depth of snow on the ground, it 
is difficult to cut trees closely, and we sometimes see the 
stumps from two to three feet high; but we think suffi¬ 
cient care is not generally taken to cut low. The best 
of the wood or timber is generally next the ground. If 
the land is to be cleared, the plow and the harrow can be 
made to work much nearer the stumps if they are cut 
close to the ground, and if the lot is intended to grow 
up, the suckers or sprouts grow much more vigorously 
from low than from high stumps. If the stumps are left 
high, the sprouts often come out on the sides or near the 
top, and the winds break them off, or the stumps rot and 
they perish. These remarks of course apply to hard¬ 
wood trees; resinous ones never start from the slump. 
In our next we shall give an article on this subject, 
received since the above was written from W, Bacon, Esq. 
