234 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
Aug. 
many fine water privileges, several of which are occu¬ 
pied with establishments for the manufacture of cotton 
and woolen cloths, paper, &c. 
6 Revolutionary reminiscence.— Judge Ball point¬ 
ed out the ground, (over which we passed,) where the 
battle of Bennington was fought on the 16th of August, 
1777. There were two engagements; the first being 
an attack and capture of an entrenchment of the Bri¬ 
tish, by the Americans under Gen. Stark, and the se¬ 
cond a rencontre between thejsame body of Americans 
and a detachment of Britons, who were marching to 
the relief of the other force. The latter battle was a 
mile or so from the first. The ground, in both cases, 
is on the New-York side of the line, in the town of 
Hoosic. On arriving at the Walloomsac House, in 
Bennington, we were quite surprised at finding the 
sword which belonged to Col. Baum, the officer who 
commanded the British forces on the occasion mention¬ 
ed. It will be recollected that he was mortally woun¬ 
ded and taken prisoner in the battle. The interesting 
relic referred to, is the property of Mr. G. W. Robin¬ 
son, who gave us the following history of it. When 
Col. Baum was carried off the field, his sword was ta¬ 
ken by one of the men who assisted in that duty. This 
man afterwards sold it to Gen. David Robinson for 
two dollars, Continental money. The sword has since 
been kept in the family of Gen. R., and is, together 
with the scabbard, in a good state of preservation. 
Manufactures. —The village of East Bennington 
is the seat of considerable manufacturing business. Iron 1 
ore abounds in the vicinity, and a company at this place ! 
makes 2,000 tons of iron per year. There is, also, a j 
large quantity of yellow ochre, which is used in paint- | 
ing, obtained here. From 600 to 800 tons of this ar¬ 
ticle are sold annually, at an average price of $18 per 
ton. But the most important description of manufac¬ 
tures carried on here, is that of crockery ware. The 
establishment is owned by Messrs. Lyman, Fenton 
and Park, and has been in operation four years. The 
ware consists of the following kinds: Yellow Fire- 
Proof, Dark Lustre, or Rockingham, and White Flint 
ware. All the varieties are of superior quality—said 
to be equal to any imported. The sales amount to 
$40,000 to $50,000 annnually. The materials used 
are mostly obtained in the vicinity of Bennington. The 
works employ forty hands, who were obtained from the 
Staffordshire potteries, England. Messrs. L., F. &- P. 
have lately made some experiments in the manufacture 
of fine porcelain, which have succeeded well. Inex¬ 
haustible quantities of the principal materials required 
for this kind of ware, have been found, and it is in con¬ 
templation to embark extensively in its manufacture. 
A few more experiments will be made, in order to fully 
settle its practicability; when, should results be favor¬ 
able, large works will be erected, and two or three 
hundred workmen employed. The mineral called feld¬ 
spar, which constitutes the basis of porcelain, has been 
found in abundance in Ashfield and Goshen, Massachu¬ 
setts, and has been pronounced by those acquainted 
with the article, equal to any in the world. The purest 
quartz is obtained at various points in the Green Moun¬ 
tains. 
Hoosic Falls is likewise a considerable manufactur¬ 
ing place. There are two cotton factories, which em- 
! ploy about 1,000 hands. Messrs. Wilder and Par- 
j sons have here a large manufactory of machinery of 
I differennt kinds. They make about $14,000 worth per 
'year. 
the COTSWOLI) seeeb of §heef. 
As this breed of sheep is now being disseminated 
to a considerable extent in various parts of this coun¬ 
try, we have thought that a brief sketch in regard to 
their history would be read with interest. 
The original stock from which the present improved 
Cotswolds were derived, has been known on the Cots- 
wold hills, in Gloucestershire, England, for a great 
length of time. W. C. L. Martin, in his late work 
on sheep, (one of the series in “ Knight’s Farmer’s Li¬ 
brary,”) gives an account of the breed, from which we 
give the following extracts. The name (Cotswold,) 
by which the breed is known, is said to have been deii- 
ved from cots or cotes having been formerly erected in 
the district occupied by these sheep, for their accom¬ 
modation. They consisted, we are informed, of “not only 
rude huts or sheds, but of extensive ranges of buildings, 
of three or four low stories, communicating with each 
other by means of gradually sloping ascents or path¬ 
ways, so that the sheep had no difficutly in ascending 
to the topmost story. Thus no room was lost, and the 
most efficient shelter was provided for the flock either 
by day or by night, during the continuance of winter, 
or at the lambing season, or when it was deemed advi¬ 
sable to house.” 
The Cotswojd breed, was, we are told, anciently 
held in such hig^i estimation, that “in 1467, by per¬ 
mission of Edward IY, some of them were imported 
into Spain, not as some ha^e supposed, to mingle with 
and improve the migratory fine and short-wooled 
Spanish sheep' of«an&ient renown, but either to form the 
o-round-worlfof 80»new long-wooled stock, or to improve 
some native long-wooled breed from which serge-like 
fabrics, requiring this kind of «vool might be manufac¬ 
tured.” 
« The old Cotswolds were a large hardy race of 
sheep, big-boned and long-wooled, and well adapted for 
the hill range which constituted their stronghold. To 
judge from the relics still extant (though not pure,) 
they were flatsided, deficient in the forequarters, hea¬ 
vy in the hind quarters, slow fatteners, and covered 
with a long and weighty fleece; this latter being varia¬ 
ble in quality, but always truly valuable as a combing 
wool. But the old breed is now more or less modified, 
and though it has not merged into the Leicester [or 
Bakewell breed,] is in many parts deeply imbued with 
the Leicester blood; in other parts, on the contrary, 
where hardiness is peculiarly essential, the cross of the 
Leicester has been only carried out so far as to give 
those improvements which we have more than once de¬ 
tailed, as the invariable result of even a single cross 
with this peculiar strain. 
“According to the situation of his farm and the na¬ 
ture of his pasturage, does the Cotswold farmer ma¬ 
nage his flock. Perhaps the prevalent breed may be 
half Cotswold and half Leicester. But in sheltered 
places and on good land, the strain of the Leicester 
may be found to predominate; while in more exposed 
situations the farmer, finding the Leicester cross tend¬ 
ing not only to the diminution of the size of his sheep, 
and the weight of his fleeces, but to the loss of due 
hardiness and fertility, increases the Cotswold blood in 
his flock, and proceeds rather upon the principle of se¬ 
lection than of admixture to a rash extent, with the 
Leicesters. In both instances the farmer is right; in 
the one case, he has the means of feeding off rapidly, 
and he is content with the loss and a lessened weight 
of fleece; his profits arising from early maturity and 
from the capability of the land for feeding at a given 
time, more sheep of the crossed breed than the old, so 
as in reality, to return at a quick ratio a greater 
