1852 
THE CULTIVATOR, 
363 
should hold frequent meetings, in which discussions on 
various topics, the communication of individual expe¬ 
rience, and the results of private reading, should form 
the distinctive feature. 
The approaching winter season will be a favorable time 
for the forming of such clubs, and if we mistake not, such 
organizations will effect, more speedily than any other 
means, a union of agriculturists and the promotion of 
their interests. 
Sheep and Fleeces. 
A correspondent of the Wool Grower, (W. D. Dick¬ 
inson, Victor,) gives it as his opinion that the waste by 
washing is much greater than people are generally aware 
of. He sheared a two year Saxon ram without washing, 
and found after weighing and washing in cold water, that 
the fleece had lost 52 per cent. When washed with soap 
the waste was 44 per cent—nearly three-fourths on the 
whole. The sheep ran in winter in a well littered yard, 
and in summer in clean pastures. 
Another correspondent, (Geo. Campbell, Vt.,) states 
that the live weight of his French Merino buck “ Match¬ 
less,” is 260 lbs, j his fleece, one year’s growth, was 20 
lbs. 12 oz., after losing a portion of it on the sea voyage. 
The present season, with ten months growth, and only 
ordinary keeping, it was 18| lbs. The average weight 
of 60 ewes of this breed, did not much exceed 100 
lbs. The average weight of fleecee was 12| lbs. “ This 
season the ewes were thoroughly washed , and after 
suckling lambs through the winter, sheared only a 
fraction short of 6| lbs.” 
A Michigan correspondent of the same paper, in show¬ 
ing the difference between good and bad breeds, says, 
“ We once kept a sheep that clipped just fifteen ounces 
a year, never more, and sometimes less,—it was a very 
hearty feeder. On the contrary, we have taken from 
five to sixteen pounds of wool from some of our best 
Merinos, and have yet to discover that they consume more 
than the one alluded to .” 
Sewing Machines. 
The Scientific American states that since its first notice 
of the invention of the sewing machine of E. B. Howe, 
of Cambridge, Mass., that paper has described seven 
different sewing machines. Among them, is the machine 
of A. B. Wilson, which he has since brought to great 
perfection, and has obtained two American patents, and 
has made arrangements to get it patented in the principal 
kingdoms of Europe. The Scientific American says, 
“ Wilson’s Machine, is, in our opinion, a great triumph 
of American genius. It is no larger than a neat small 
work-box, very portable and convenient, and we have 
seen fine shirt-bosoms and collars stitched by it in a more 
perfect manner than we have ever seen done by hand 
work. There are now, we believe, about 500 machines 
in operation, and orders exceed the supply. * * * 
The sewing machine is but on the threshold of its career; 
it is but partially known and apj>lied in this country. 
Private families know nothing about its use, and shoe¬ 
makers and saddlers have not yet tasted its benefits. 
Mr. Wilson informs us that he is about to make one that 
will sew boots and shoes with a rapidity that will astonish 
all the sons of St. Crispin.” Any invention that shall 
abridge these tedious labors, will ultimately prove of 
great benefit to all parties concerned—for whatever les¬ 
sens the aggregate labor performed by a whole com¬ 
munity, soon results in the advantage of every member 
of that community. One of Wilson's machines will 
enable a woman to make a fine shirt with all its seams, 
in one hour. 
Can Money be Made by Farming? 
Eds. Cultivator —I have been a subscriber to your 
valuable monthly for two years, and have attentively read 
all the previous volumes. As my researches have not re¬ 
sulted in the conviction that farming pursuits, however 
desirable in other respects, are sure to be profitable as a 
business, I am led to suppose that the difficulty must be 
either in myself, or a certain unwillingness on the side of 
editors to promptly give the whole truth. For instance 
—Why is it so notorious, that men universally pronounce 
farming occupations to cost more than its results amount 
to, weighed in the balance of debt and credit? It cer¬ 
tainly looks as if there was some ground for such a judg¬ 
ment. Agricultural papers are always putting in the 
fore ground, the delightful advantages of country life, 
the pleasures of farming. But where is the working 
farmer, retired merchant, sea captain, or amateur, who 
can give us the real truth, covering the results of five or 
ten years? You will hear a theorist charm his audience 
with the prettiest systems of rotation imaginable, and 
the talented chemist crying over the dreadful waste of 
organic and other manures by large cities; and what does 
it all amount to? Does he farm it? What responsibility 
dare he assume, who urges his fellow man to invest his 
capital in what he dare not himself? The truth is, I am 
yet to see, in any modern work, an authentic record of 
any man’s farm for a course of years, in this country, 
stating that it has or has not paid him, a reasonable 
family expense, and left him square at the end of the 
year—unless he happens to be one of your grubbing , 
anti-book-farming characters, who do all their own 
work, don’t educate their children, and live with scarcely 
any of the comforts of life—thinking that money is all 
and all, and nothing else is worth possessing. 
Now I want you to frankly tell me, if I can, by a judi¬ 
cious expenditure of capital, with a market not far dis¬ 
tant, bring ordinary land to a condition that will enable 
me to support my family comfortably? 
You perceive I propose an earnest investigation, and 
my reason for it is, fairly to know, from creditable 
sources, whether I am justified in freely investing money 
on my 40 acres of land, with any prospect before me that 
the returns will, after five years, compensate me for the 
extra outlay. 
Once more, is it not true that all farming journals are 
united in representing that the prejudices against farm¬ 
ing among the crowds of young men who throng the 
marts of commerce, is occasioned by a distate of labor, 
or its slow returns, or by reason of caste; and do you 
not endeavor to convince them that these impressions are 
wrong? Indeed, do you not often try to convince them 
that although they will not become rich quite as fast by 
farming as by successful trade, yet that they are sure 
