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THE CULTIVATOR. 
135 
Digging and housing 560 bushels, at $3 per hundred bush. 16 80 
Interest on cost of land,. . 3 50 
35 bushels seed, at 2s. 8 75 
Drawing on 40 loads manure, at 20 cents,. 8 00 
Total,...$48 05 
Cr.—By 560 bushels, at 20 cents,...$112 00 
Expense of cultivating, &c. 48 05 
Profit,........ $63 95 
Ruta Baga. Dr. 
Ploughing, harrowing and ridging,. $3 00 
Putting in the seed, 2 days’ work,. 1 50 
2 days’ dressing through with the Cultivator,. 2 00 
First thinning and hoeing, 8 days, at 6s. 6 00 
Second do. 8 days,. 6 00 
One pound seed, 8s. 1 00 
Interest for cost of land,.. 3 50 
Total,.$23 00 
Cr. —By 1,236 bushels, at 20 cents,.$247 20 
Expenses of cultivating, &c. 23 00 
Profit,.......... $224 20 
The tops will pay for harvesting. I am fully of opinion that any 
land that will grow fifty bushels Indian corn to the acre, will grow 
five hundred of potatoes, or ten hundred of ruta baga. 
Yours, very respectfully, J. W. BREWSTER. 
N. B. The soil on which the above crops were grown, was a dark 
loam with a small mixture of clay, a hardpan underneath, say ten or 
twelve inches from the surface, and has by the oldest and most ex¬ 
perienced farmers in the the neighborhood been considered entirely 
unfit for the growth of Indian corn. 
SHEEP HUSBANDRY.—No. II. 
The common sheep of Spain have coarse light fleeces, being worth 
from 10 to 12 cts. per lb. and reared principally for their flesh. 
“ The word Merino is Spanish, it signifies governor of a small 
province, and likewise him who has the care of the pasture and cat¬ 
tle in general. The Merino Mayor is always a person of rank, and 
appointed by the king: the duke of Infantado is the present Merino 
Mayor.” 
The mayors have a separate jurisdiction over the flocks in Estra- 
madura, which is called the mesta; and there the king is the merino 
mayor. Each flock consists of 10,000 sheep with a mayor or head 
shepherd, who must be an active man, well versed in the nature of 
pasture, as well as in the diseases of his flock. It might be interest¬ 
ing to some to pursue this part of the subject further, but I fear en¬ 
croaching on the limits of your paper; if it should excite an inte¬ 
rest to consult standard authorities and investigation, my present 
object will be attained. 
The word merino is now by general usage applied to the fine 
woolled Spanish sheep. 
From the earliest history of Spain, the possession and cultivation 
of a peculiar breed of fine woolled sheep has been a subject of high 
national legislation, and although it was carried to an extent greatly 
oppressive and injurious to some other interests, yet it resulted in 
preserving and improveing their sheep above those of the whole ci¬ 
vilized world. 
The origin of the fine Spanish sheep as stated in the preceding 
number, is yet left for ingenious investigation. 
Strabo, speaking of the beautiful woollen clothes that were worn 
by the Romans, says that the wool was brought from Truditania, 
in Spain. After the conquest of Spain by the Romans, the elder 
Columella was one of the early emigrants to Spain. For “Spain 
was at that time highly civilized ; and agriculture was the favorite 
pursuit of all who were not occupied in war.” How desirable is it 
that our country should properly appreciate this great source of hap¬ 
piness, wealth and true greatness. 
Mr. Fessier, a distinguished member of the French institute, and 
who was commissioned to investigate this subject, says, “all that 
we know of the merino, is that they have a long time existed in 
Spain; the merino is a distinct breed of sheep; as in the class of 
dogs, the Danish dog, the grey hound, the shag dog, the lap dog, &c. 
And in the same manner as among dogs, the cross breeds may af¬ 
ford individuals more or less approximating to the species, but never 
the species itself.” Another writer says, “ the merino differs more 
essentially from every other kind of sheep, than the spaniel does 
from the mastiff. And yet no one has seen any change in either of 
those species of dogs in the course of generations, or in any climate, 
except by intermixture of the breeds. I say the merino differs es¬ 
sentially from all other sheep, and even from all other quadrupeds 
of which we have any knowledge, as an annual does from a peren¬ 
nial plant. All quadrupeds change their coats every year, and in¬ 
deed generally twice a year ; the merino sheep never changes his 
coat; on the contrary, it will continue to grow from year to year, 
and at the end of the third year the fleece will yield a three years 
crop, with little or no diminution. This has been tried in France, 
Switzerland, and England.” 
Sportsmen, for the purposes of the chase and the turf well under¬ 
stand their business, in breeding the grey hounds, and blood-horses. 
Will the deliberate scientific agriculturist be shamefully distanced 
in the comparison of his pursuit with that of play and recreation 1 
Will he rear a cock that will not fight on his own dunghill 1 Excite 
an interest, raise a competition, and any subject at this day will be 
investigated. Let us observe the course which nature treads. 
“ God ne\er made bis works for man to mend.” 
I would with Franklin conduct the lightning harmless down, but not 
in folly strive to stay its force. 
Mr. Livingston says, “ It will be of use to be acquainted with the 
several breeds of Great Bntian and Spain, as a direction to those 
who may endeavor to import sheep from thence ; for though every 
variety* of the merino is valuable, yet they differ widely from each 
other in beauty, in form and in fineness of fleece, as may be judged 
from the prices in Spain, where Leon and Escurial wool sells for 100 
cts. while that of Aragon brings only 60 cts. with several interme¬ 
diate kinds.” 
The principal flocks of Spain are divided into the ( Transhumanta ,) 
or which migrate from north to south twice every year, and include 
the greatest number, their route having been regulated from time 
immemorial by legislation. The privilege of a route ninety paces 
wide across the cultivated fields, is claimed and maintained by the 
government for the passage of the public flocks. 
Then the (Estantes,) or stationary flocks. 
These are next subdivided into several varieties and denomina¬ 
tions, originating either in ownership or locality of production, of 
which the most prominent are the following, viz : 
Those of the Escurial convent are altogether the finest and most 
perfect of any of the Spanish flocks, combining excellence scarcely 
admitting of improvement. 
Those of the duke Infantado and of the countess Nigretti are but 
imperfectly known in this country. 
Those of Monturio and Gaudaloupe, of those brought to this 
country, rank next to the Escurial in their most essential qualities. 
Those of the Paulaur convent. Of all the Spanish flocks this is 
the largest sheep, elegant in form, and producing the greatest fleece, 
but at the same time coarse, and abounding in jarr and yolk. He 
has a large dew-lap extending from the chin to the breast. This 
wool, though not answering the full requirement of the market, 
nor meeting the nicety of modern machinery; still however, stand¬ 
ing in advance of all crossing with Dishley, Lincolnshire or other 
mongrel productions, and of all others are the most rugged and har¬ 
dy, almost answering the requirement of a sheepman, who thinks 
sheep require no care. 
I have seen some fleeces of Paulaur bucks highly fed, weighing 
unwashed, twelve and fourteen pounds. 
Besides these there are many other flocks which I shall omit to 
describe. 
The emigrant merino will form the subject of the next paper. 
F. 
COMPARISON IN CUTTING UP AND TOPPING CORN. 
To the Editor of the Cultivator: —It is a fact of general observa¬ 
tion, that the past season has been very unfavorable to the maturing of 
the corn crop; consequently much of the corn was unripe at the 
usual time of frost, and as there was a prospect that fodder would 
be scarce, it became an object to make the most of the corn stalks. 
With this view, and also to ripen the corn, many farmers topped 
their corn, while others cut it at the ground. To test the compara¬ 
tive merits of these two methods, a part of a field was topped at the 
* I have substituted (lie term variety fur species. 
