154 
THE CULTIVATOR, 
as much as the sheep themselves may affect, throughout even the 
mildest climates of Britain. For neither merino, nor half breed me¬ 
rino lambs, nor indeed those of any other breed, ought to be expos¬ 
ed without some kind of shelter, to the rigors of the winter and ear¬ 
ly spring; and the sheep, when arrived at their maturity or full 
strength, will still require the same, with regular and good feeding, 
if it be intended to force the growth of their fleece, to its utmost 
weight, and to preserve the quality in its highest degree of condi¬ 
tion and fineness.— Lawrence. 
One of the completest sheep yards I have seen, is that which Mr. 
Thurlow has made at Gosfield, partly by means of stubble stalks, 
but the space well enclosed; a large flock may be under cover or 
exposed, at their pleasure. In the centre is a thick stubble stack, 
which forms a double shed. He finds it of incomparable use, inso¬ 
much as he intends to convert all the straw of his large farm into 
dung, and to leave off buying bullocks for that purpose .—Arthur 
Young. 
The late Gen. Murray’s standing folds were equally well contriv¬ 
ed, enclosing an area of 57 yards in length, and 20 broad, contain¬ 
ing 1,140 square yards. Above 700 ewes were folded in it at night, 
and for that number it is more than a yard and a half for each sheep. 
All around it was a shed nine or ten feet wide, and also across the 
middle, which latter was open on both sides. A rack for hay, plac¬ 
ed against the wall, which was boarded, surrounded the whole ; and 
another, which was double, to be eaten out of on both sides, stood 
along the central shed; under the rack was a small manger, in 
which the food was given.— Ih. 
A cool, moderate temperature is more favorable to the production 
of fine wool, than excessive heat; and were the sheep of Spain like 
those of England, unprotected against the effects of climate, I should 
have no hesitation in saying, that the situation of that country would 
be, in some respects, worse than that of our own island, and more 
unfriendly to the growth of a fine even staple. But to the other 
qualities, the soundness and softness of the fibres, our frequent rains 
are very prejudicial, unless the sheep be sheltered and protected 
from their effects.— Bakewell. 
To preserve all the best qualities of wool in the Spanish breed of 
sheep, it will be necessary to attend to the three following objects: 
The first in importance, is the purity of the breed. The next, that 
the fleece be covered by nature with a copious yolk, or being defi¬ 
cient, that it be supplied by art; nor should the unctious covering of 
the wool be absorbed by a mixture with the soil on fallows, or wash¬ 
ed away by the rain. Lastly, that the sheep be kept dry, sheltered 
from the extremes of heat and cold, und their quantity of nourish¬ 
ment regulated.— Ibid. 
The bad effects of water upon the pile, while growing, may be 
owing to the readiness with which it mingles with the yolk, and car¬ 
ries off a quantity of that animal soap, which is so necessary to the 
good quality and even existence of the fleece; for it care be taken 
to prevent this, by the skilful application of tar mingled with butter, 
which act as repehants to the water, the wool part of the staple 
which grew after the mixture was applied, contains a sufficient sup¬ 
ply of rich and nutritious yolk, and is a much superior sort of wool 
to those parts of the pile which have been exposed without pro¬ 
tection, to the dripping wetness of the wintry season.— Luccock. 
Mr. Bakewell is so fully convinced of the utility of greasing, that 
he advises it immediately after shearing, and again in October. In 
his opinion, the trouble and expense of it, twice a year, will be well 
repaid by its beneficial effects upon both the carcass and fleece of 
the sheep, in every part of Britain. He observes, by the first greas¬ 
ing, the wool will be covered and defended from the action of the 
soil, when the particles are most pulverized and active, and it will 
be kept soft and moist during the parching heats of July and Au¬ 
gust; and that he has reason to believe, that the top of the staple 
of a greased fleece, would not become har.-h and discoloured, which 
is frequently the case with English wool. Additional and very pow¬ 
erful inducements to spring and summer greasing, are the following: 
The ointment destroys the sheep tick, and lias a tendency to pre¬ 
vent cutaneous distempers, and to preserve sheep from the stroke of 
the fly. Farther—a considerable quantity of wool will be saved, 
which is torn off by sheep when rubbing themselves, in order to allay 
the irritation of the skin, occasioned by those causes. The oint¬ 
ment resists the action of the moisture more powerfully than could 
the natural yolk of the wool; and Mr. Bakewell gives an example 
of the superior warmness and dryness apparently enjoyed by greas¬ 
ed sheep, on the mountain sides, where greased and ungreased 
browsed together. 
The following is given as the Northumberland preparation:— 
From 16 to 20 pounds butter, are placed over the fire and melted; 
a gallon of tar is then added, and the mixture is stirred until the 
two substances are well incorporated and form a soft tenacious oint¬ 
ment. The care always necessary in the application of ointments 
to the sheep, is especially so in this case ; for, says Mr. Bakewell, 
if the ointment be merely rubbed on the wool, it collects on the top oj the 
staple, attracts and mixes with the soil, and is rather injurious than be¬ 
neficial to the fleece. The staples of the fleece are to be divided 
with one hand, and the ointment applied to the skin with the finger 
of the other hand, by which means the ointment is softened by the 
warmth of the skin, and equally diffused throughout the fleece.— 
The quantity required will in course vary with the size of the sheep, 
but generally, and in the lighter mode of greasing, one gallon of tar, 
and 20 pounds of butter will be sufficient for forty or fifty sheep.— 
Lawrence. 
An unfavorable change takes place on shorn wool, kept long in a 
very warm and dry temperature: the fibres become indurated, rigid 
and elastic, and acquire the properties of the hard wools. The 
greater the degree of warmth, the more speedily will the effect be 
produced. Wool which has been shorn three or four years, will not 
spin or fill so well as when kept only one year. A dry situation is 
necessary for the preservation of wool, which however at length 
loses it natural moisture, and becomes hard, like wool of limestone 
districts.— Bakewell. 
Sheared sheep, turned into a newly mown pasture, their coats at¬ 
tract the short ends of grass left by the scythe, and remain sticking 
m the bottom of the fleece, until in the end they are rolled up with 
it. These with any dried vegetable particles, such as hay seeds or 
chaff, falling from the rack into the coat of the sheep, occasion much 
extra trouble and expense in the manufacture of the wool, since if 
left, they would be wrought into the substances of the cloth, whence 
they must be extracted by holes made, to be afterwards repaired at 
the fulling mill, or by the fine drawer. Hay in racks should be up¬ 
on the level with the heads of the sheep, and the staves by no 
means too wide apart, since some sheep, particularly the Spanish, 
are the most wasteful animals in the world of their provisions.— 
Luccock. 
The wool grower is counselled to place no dependence upon acci¬ 
dental and external circumstances, for the production of good fleeces, 
but to rely entirely and with confidence upon the properties with 
which nature has endowed his sheep. The perpetuity of animal 
properties being scarcely anywhere more strikingly exhibited, than 
in the certainty and regularity with which the parent sheep convey 
to their offspring their own distinguished characteristics. Breed is 
of the utmost consequence. It is the basis upon which all the im¬ 
provements of the flock must be founded; the only source of hope, 
that attempts to produce fine wool will be followed with success.— 
The kind of wool depends entirely on the species of sheep which 
bears it, and the soil and its products, or other external circumstances, 
have no other effect than to vary the quality of the sample, the wool 
itself still remaining true to its species, long, short or mixed. Long 
and universal experience has established the fitness of heavy, coarse 
woolled sheep for rich and grazing grounds and marhes, confining the 
light and short woolled stock to the hills and higher pastures. Ne¬ 
vertheless, fitness and propriety, not .absolute necessity, have given 
birth to such arrangement; since short and fine wool might be 
grown in the low grounds, and long wool in the upper, with an ad¬ 
ditional expense of winter keeping.— Lawrence. 
Miscellaneous. 
f From the Genesee Farmer.] 
RUTA BAGA CULTURE. 
In giving you last year an account of my first experiment in tur¬ 
nip culture, I mentioned my intention of continuing to raise them, as 
I was convinced few things could be more profitable. In order to 
be certain of having first rate seed, I sent last winter to Mr. Buel, 
at Albany, and procured half a pound of seed, having a quantity of 
my own raising to make up any deficiency, should there be any.— 
The ground selected was a wheat stubble, was not manured, but 
thoroughly ploughed, and then thrown into ridges, as described last 
year. On these ridges the seed was sown by hand at the distance 
of ten inches. The seed procured at Albany was sufficent for the 
