1851 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
275 
time. A good share of the way after striking the 
mountains, the country is miserable, and the inhabitants 
more so. If any one wants to see poverty, let him 
travel tnrough Spain. I have counted ten beggars at 
one time around the diligence; they are at all the stop- 
ing places, and at hills where they have to walk the 
team you will find them stationed. Everything is done 
in Spain, I should judge, as it was a thousand years ago. 
A great share of the stuff goes to and from market on 
the backs of mules and donkeys. As you get near Mad¬ 
rid, the road is full of them. Saw very little stock on 
the way but sheep, and they of a very inferior kind. In 
the north of Spain and south of France, they have the 
poorest sheep that I ever saw. In many of the flocks 
two-thirds of them will be black—their sheep are small, 
with coarse wool, and ill-formed. 
The tools used here are very rude and clumsy; their 
plows are a crooked stick, the mortice through the up¬ 
right part, just in the turn, and put through a piece of 
iron which runs along the top of the lower part, an inch 
or two beyond the point of the wood. With this apolo¬ 
gy for a plow, they scratch up the ground. In some 
parts of Spain I saw fine looking crops, cultivated in this 
miserable way, and without manure. Very little use is 
made of manure in Spain, except to burn the land. The 
land must be very strong and rich to bear such crops 
with sifch cultivation, and without manure. We were 
three days and two nights from Bayonne to Madrid. 
We called on our minister at Madrid, and found him 
very ready to do all in his power to assist us. He is a 
gentleman well fitted for the place, and is very much re¬ 
spected. On inquiry, I found most of the sheep owners 
lived in Madrid; but the sheep were about 200 miles from 
Madrid, in Estramadura, in their winter pastures. I 
became pretty well convinced before leaving Madrid, by 
conversing with the sheep owners, that we should not 
find anything that we wanted. Some of them admitted 
that their sheep were much degenerated, and they wee 
thinking about taking some measures to improve them. 
They said they were going to Germany to get bucks. All 
said that their sheep were not as good as they were be¬ 
fore the French invasion—that they have no standard 
flocks to resort to for good sheep, as they had before 
these good flocks were broken up. But as we had gone 
so far, we concluded we would go and see for ourselves. 
When we examined the flocks we found them about 
as we expected. The sheep, as a general thing, are 
small—no wool on their legs, and very light colored— 
occasionally there would be a good looking sheep in 
the flock, bearing some resemblance to those that were 
formerly brought from there, but with no fixed charac¬ 
teristics. I should not dare to breed from them, as 
there would be no certainty in breeding from such ani¬ 
mals. I did not see a sheep in Spain that I would pay 
the transportation on to this country. 
9 
Estramadura is one of the wildest parts of Spain, and 
is rathera hard place for an American to live. Every¬ 
thing is cooked with garlick and oil. It is a great place 
for Olives, thousands of acres being covered with the 
trees. They raise a good many hogs in this part of the 
country. I have seen sometimes 200 in a drove, all 
black. They are never fed, and are kept by shepherds, 
the same as their sheep. They get fat in the fall on 
olives and acorns. There is a good many coarse sneep 
in this part of Spain. They raise this wool for their own 
use. They manufacture their own cloth, both wool and 
linen. Their process of doing it is very slow. I saw 
them getting out and spinning flax. It is all done by 
the women. They use no brake in gettmg out their flax, 
it being all done by the swingling knife. The spinning 
part is done wholly with the hands. They take a stick 
about three feet long, tie the flax on to one end; the 
other they hold under the arm, and pull out and twist 
with the other hand. It hardly seems credible that peo¬ 
ple will live and do as they do. There are large villa¬ 
ges where you cannot find a light of glass. They have 
only one door to their houses, and everything goes in 
and out at that door. The stable is in the back part of 
the house, and the animals have to pass in at this door, 
and the manure out the same way. After looking 
among the sheep till we became satisfied that there was 
nothing that we wanted, we put back for France. Resp. 
yours, W. R. Sanford. Orwell , Vt., June 24, 1851. 
-- 
Sales of Live Stock. 
The sales of stock advertised by L. G. Morris, Esq., 
of Fordham, Westchester county, and George Yail, 
Esq., of Troy, took place according to appointment. 
Mr. Morris’s was on the 24th of June. The weather was 
fair, and there was a large attendance of people. The 
beautiful lawn in front of Mr. M.’s residence was divided 
into lots with iron hurdles, and the cattle and sheep 
to be sold, were brought there in the forenoon, for ex¬ 
amination. The stock was generally in good condition, 
though not in high flesh. At one o’clock the large com¬ 
pany was invited to a sumptuous repast, comprising the 
substantials and many of the delicacies of the season. 
Soon after this the sale commenced. The bidding was 
generally brisk, and the animals were speedily disposed 
of at prices as per following list—which, considering that 
the larger portion were what are called u grade” stock, 
may be deemed quite satisfactory. It will be under¬ 
stood that Mr. Morris intends to establish himself as a 
breeder, and this sale should rather be considered as a 
preliminary step to that object. He has still in his pos¬ 
session that portion of his herd which he designs as a 
breeding stock. These consist of selected individuals 
of the Sliort-horn, Devon, and Ayrshire breeds, each 
of which are to be bred pure, under his special care. 
The stock sold consisted of 
Thorough Bred Short-horn, Cows, Heifers and Heifer 
Calves. 
1. York, Gen. Gadwallader, Philadelphia,.$110 00 
2. Cleopatra, 9 years old, Gen. Cadwallader,. 85 00 
4. Coquette, 4 years old, Edward H. Smith, Smithtown, .. 50 00 
5. Red Lady, 4 years old, Gen. Cadwallader,. 175 00 
6. Eleanora, 4 years old, Gen. Cadwallader,. 135 00 
8. Miss Rolfe, 2 years old, A. Van Ingen, jr. 105 00 
9. Fame, 16 months old, Gen. Cadwallader,. 60 00 
10. Red Rose, 15 months old, G. Hopkins, Long-Island,.... 30 00 
11. Kate, 5 months old G. G. Hubbard, West Needham, 
Mass.,. 140 00 
12. Lily, 3 months old, Joel Terrill, Oswego, . 80 00 
13. Beulah, 2f months old, Gen. Cadwallader,. 55 00 
14. Pocahontas, 11 years old, Henry Parsons, C. W.,. 100 00 
Improved Dairy Stock. 
Cows , Heifers , and Heifer Calves . 
15. Beauty, 6 years old, Dr. A. Smith, New Rochelle,. 105 00 
16. Sue, 8 years old, Richard Lewis, N. Y., ‘..100 00 
17. Watson, Henry Parsons,.'. 80 00 
18. Strawberry, Gen. Cadwallader,. 75 00 
19. Bess, 6 years old, G. Hopkins, .. 65 00 
20. Gazelle, 4 years old, G. W. Thacher, Pelham,.... 105 00 
21. Alarm, 3 years old, John Rae, Morrisania,. 3? 50 
