THE CULTIVATOR. 
319 
pints of our measure. Bran is also allowed. The al¬ 
lowance of hay is about 2 lbs. daily, and of mangold 
wurzels double that quantity. 
Every buck is numbered on his horns, and the num¬ 
bers are all registered. As care is taken to prevent 
all intermixing at the time the bucks are following the 
ewes, the pedigree can at once be traced. 
The lambs all drop in the months of November and 
December. They are allowed to follow their dams for 
about four months, and then fed as the older sheep. 
Twin lambs are not desired. When twins occur, one 
of the lambs is slaughtered when it is three days old. 
As the intention is to produce sheep of strong, vigorous 
constitutions, this destroying of the extra lambs is 
deemed advisable. The number of ewes allowed to 
one buck is forty to fifty. 
The Merino breed is rapidly extending in France, 
particularly for the purpose of crossing the native 
breeds. When the thermometer is about 90" Fahr. 
the sheep at Rambouillet have usually refused to feed. 
The profits of the establishment at R. have been large. 
The average sale of bucks during a year is seventy or 
eighty. This number taken at an average of $100 a 
piece gives a large sum. 
Hemlock Hedges. 
Eds. Country Gentleman —Can you give direc¬ 
tions through your paper, for the cultivation of Hem¬ 
lock Hedges? 
A paragraph giving particulars will greatly oblige 
A Would-be Farmer. New-York, Sept. 4, 1854. 
The first thing is to procure the plants. If our cor¬ 
respondent can find a locality in the woods where 
young hemlock trees are abundant, he will have no 
difficulty in forming a hedge. The great requisite for 
success in transplanting is to remove a considerable 
portion of earth on the roots of every tree. If this 
cannot be done, they should instantly, on being with¬ 
drawn from the ground, and before the outside of the 
roots have dried in the least, be buried in wet moss,— 
or still better, if practicable, dipped first into a bed of 
thin mud, and then protected with moss. Another 
mudding, and puddling on setting out, will be of ad¬ 
ditional service. 
If the young plants can be had from a nursery, 
where they have become hardened to open ground, 
they will be still better. We know of no nursery in 
the vicinity of our correspondent’s residence, more 
likely to supply good plants than that of Dell & Col¬ 
lins of Waterloo, N. Y. 
The mode of planting must depend on the objects of 
the hedge. If for a simple screen from the wind, and 
if the plants are scarce or costly, a distance of three 
or four feet apart will be near enough, to form in a 
few years, a continuous line. But if a hedge proper 
is wanted, the trees should be within about a foot of 
each other. 
The hemlock will make the handsomest screen or 
hedge of any evergreen known ; it will bear almost 
any amount of shearing, and the hedge may be formed 
into a smooth wall of verdure, or be left for a tall na¬ 
tural growth. Either way, it is of surpassing beauty. 
If cattle or other animals cannot see through, they 
scarcely ever attempt passing, even a weak hedge. 
Rich’s Cast Iron-beam Plow. 
The following testimonial in favor of this plow, 
which is manufactured by Brown, Rich & Co., at 
Troy, and which is becoming very popular wherever 
it has been introduced, is from an extensive planter 
of Virginia. 
Bonnie Boon, Culpepper Co., Va., Sept. 1, 1854. 
Messrs. Editors —We of the Old Dominion are 
making strenuous efforts to renovate our lands which 
have been exhausted years ago, first by the continued 
cultivation of tobacco, and secondly by the alternation 
of wheat and corn without any intermediate crop to 
arrest the constant draught upon the soil, or meliorate 
its condition—third and last, though not least, by shal¬ 
low plowing—the consequence of which is that no new 
soil is added to the few inches turned up by the plow, 
the rains cannot penetrate beyond the loose earth, and 
the greater portion of them runs off as soon as it falls, 
and not unfrequently carries off with it what loose 
earth there is. The crops are drowned out or washed 
away in wet weather, and burnt up in dry. We are 
greatly indebted to your state for agricultural imple¬ 
ments of various kinds, but the implement of incalcu¬ 
lable value as we conceive, is a plow lately introduced 
into this state and now in great demand in many por¬ 
tions of it. It was patented by John Rich of Troy in 
1849. It is an iron-beam plow, short and curved ; the 
shortness of the beam brings the power near the 
draught, enables the plowman to turn shorter and 
quicker around rocks and stumps and at the end of 
the rows,—the curve prevents choking in stubble, clo¬ 
ver, &c. The chief advantage, however, this plow has 
over all others I hare tried is, that with it I can plow 
from one-third to one-half deeper with the -same force 
than with any other I have ever tried. The plow is 
the most valuable of all the agricultural implements, 
and your fellow-citizen John Rich, in my opinion has 
contributed, by this invention, more to the improve¬ 
ment and consequent wealth of the country than any 
man of any profession in it. He has received repeat¬ 
ed honors and medals from agricultural societies and 
fairs, but the country should honor him in a more sub¬ 
stantial form. W. B. Slaughter. 
The Cheapest Cistern* 
Messrs. Editors — I saw in one of your numbers, 
“ the cheapest and the best cistern,” which the corres¬ 
pondent says is, to dig a hole in the earth—then brick 
up, and plaster with cement. I am not mistaken in 
saying that I have built hundreds of cisterns which 
are as durable and much cheaper. My plan is to dig 
a hole in the earth—put on four preparations of cement, 
and then let the water in. The whole expense of a 
cistern of this kind, that will hold thirty barrels, will 
not exceed twelve dollars. A. Butterfield. Colosse , 
Oswego Co., N. Y. 
