1852 
THE CULTIVATOR 
251 
French Merino Sheep. 
Messrs. Editors — I send you a wood cut,* engraved 
from a Daguerreotype, of a group of French Sheep im¬ 
ported by Wm. Chamberlain, Esq., of Red Hook, of 
your state, and myself, one year since. 
The buck “ Matchless,’’ represented in the above cut, 
is three years old, and weighed on the first of last March, 
261 lbs. His fleece of one year’s growth, was 20 lbs. 12 
oz., after losing a portion of it on the sea voyage. As to 
the shape, constitution, thickness and fineness of wool, 
this buck is considered by all who have examined him, 
to be equal to any of the breed. He was my first choice 
in France, and was very much admired there, especially 
by some gentlemen from Australia, who owned large 
flocks of sheep, and were in France for the purpose of 
buying bucks to cross with their sheep, which originated 
in Germany. One of these gentlemen informed me that 
his number already reached 44,000, and that he intended 
to increase it until it reached 100,000. 
This man alone wanted 100 bucks for the service of his 
own sheep. He also informed me that others from his 
country were making preparations to travel in France 
and Spain, for the especial purpose of selecting sheep, 
with a view to increase the weight of fleece, and if possi¬ 
ble to retain the fineness. So you see that not only we 
“ Americans’’ have the “ sheep fever,” but that it is ra¬ 
pidly spreading over almost the whole world. 
The live weight of the ewes here represented, is about 
125 lbs. each. The average live weight of our whole 
flock of this breed, after having been shorn, did not vary 
much from 100 lbs. 
The average weight of fleece of the whole flock, 12 lbs. 
8 oz. In selecting the sheep, I regarded a large size as 
a matter of secondary consideration, choosing those that 
would produce the most fine wool, according to the cost 
of keeping. 
It is believed by many that the French Merinoes re- 
quire more than ordinary feed and attention, to keep 
them in good condition; but my experience with them, 
thus far, leads me to the conclusion that they will thrive 
well on ordinary keeping. They require nothing but a 
good pasture during the summer season. I gave mine 
nothing more. They are well adapted to our climate, 
and will bear exposure to storms equally as well as any 
sheep in the country. A portion of ours were turned off 
to pasture last June, and came to their winter quarters 
looking remarkably well. They had no grain of any de¬ 
scription, nor were they sheltered from a single storm 
during the season. 
Although the French sheep possess many desirable qua¬ 
lities, I should be unwilling to say that they are greatly 
superior to all other breeds in every particular, but be¬ 
lieve that all experienced and impartial judges admitthat 
they possess the following desirable points, viz: 
1. A good vigorous constitution. 
2. That they carry a heavy fleece of -wool, of a fair 
grade, and 
3. That they are gentle and docile in their dispositions, 
with an easy propensity to fatten. 
It is my belief that the above qualities are better com- 
* The cut has not come to hand. It will be published hereafter. 
bined in the French sheep than in any others; but where 
wool alone is the object, I am of the opinion that there 
are other varieties of the Merino, of a less size, which will 
yield as much or more 'wool, and of a finer quality, in 
proportion to their size, and consequently the cost of 
keeping, than those under consideration. 
There are, perhaps, some few improved flocks of the 
old Spanish stock, that will compare favorably with the 
French sheep, for the profitable production of wool; but 
the variety to which I have more particular reference is 
the Silesian Merino, of which I will send you an engrav¬ 
ing, and describe in some future number. Geo. Camp¬ 
bell. West Westminster , Vt., May 20, 1852. 
—-»o,- 
Pruning in Autumn. —The late S. W. Cole, who 
strongly recommended autumnal pruning for fruit trees, 
says, “Thirty-two years a*go, in September, we cut a 
very large branch from an apple tree, on account of an 
injury by a gale. The tree was old, and it has never 
healed over, but it is now sound, and almost as hard as 
horn, and the tree perfectly hard around it. A few 
years before and after, large limbs were cut from the 
same tree in spring; and where they were cut off the 
tree has rotted, so that a quart measure may be put in 
the cavity.” - 
Increasing new Kinds of "Wheat. —Scarce and valu¬ 
able kinds of wheat may be more rapidly increased by 
di . iding the roots or stools, than by the ordinary process 
of simply sowing and re-sowing. A very successful ex¬ 
periment is recorded as performed some years ago in 
England, with the stool from a single grain of wheat. It 
was sown early in summer, and tillered so much that it 
was divided early in August into 18 parts. In the au¬ 
tumn, these were again divided into 67 separate plants. 
In the spring the tillering went on rapidly, so that 500 
plants were finally obtained, so that they yielded 21,109 
ears, or about 40 to each plant. The whole product was 
a little short of a bushel. The reader will understand 
that tl.e best possible chance was given, both in soil and 
culture. --- 
Dwarf Apples. —The Genesee Farmer states, that a 
dwarf apple tree, seven years planted, and ten years old, 
the tree not over three feet high, growing on the grounds 
of Aaron Erickson, of Rochester, produced a Fall Pip¬ 
pin sixteen inches in circumference and weighing twenty- 
six ounces. Two or three others were nearly as large. 
Apples grow rather larger on dwarfs than on standards. 
There is one interesting question in connexion with this 
subject, that we would like to have answered, viz: At 
what price could such apples, thus grown on dwarfs, be 
afforded per bushel, as a general average for seasons and 
cultivation and the cost of a crop per acre,—and the 
comparative value with other apples in market? 
A Practical Writer. —Every intelligent farmer 
knows perhaps that one of the best and most complete 
books ever written on agriculture, is Stephens’ Book of 
the Farm. The reviewer of this work in Hie English 
Journal of Agriculture, gives a little insight into the rea¬ 
son of this superiority, by informing us that besides his 
eminent scientific knowledge and a remarkable facility for 
popular writing, the author has been in the habit of sow¬ 
ing, stacking, feeding the threshing mill, sowing grain and 
grass seed, grooming his oivn horse, guiding the plow, all 
with his own hands; and that in fact “the only opera¬ 
tion that a farm laborer has to do, that Mr. Stephens 
1 cannot do well, is riddling corn.” 
