THE CULTIVATOR. 
ays 
11 
^rozea to death by the unusual severity of the season; however, since 
Ihen the mortality continues notwithstanding the greatest care of them, 
in food and shelter. Such as appear to droop are housed in my barn, 
where they have an ample supply of the best hay, ground oats and peas, 
and pure water—I may add, the whole flock have had good feed through¬ 
out the winter, with a due allowance of salt. This disease commences 
by partial paralysis of the limbs, prostration of strength ensues, and the 
animal seldom survives the fifth day. On taking off the belt and exa¬ 
mining the carcass, it is found to be highly offensive, and the intestines 
and flanks in a putrid state; although the infected animal continues to 
feed well, in no instance has one recovered. Should any of your nu¬ 
merous subscribers have been successful in curing this malady, I hope 
they will make their remedy known for the public good. As the growth 
of wool has become a national object of magnitude, allow me to suggest, 
that the publication of a work on the management of sheep, in the dif¬ 
ferent countries of Europe, and the mode of treating their diseases, 
might prove highly beneficial to the sheep farmers of this country, who 
I have no doubt, would give their united support to such a work, if un¬ 
dertaken by a competent person. In our northern states, where the 
reatest proportion of sheep are raised, -the mode of management and 
iseases incident to them, must differ essentially from the comparatively 
mild climate of Spain, from whence the merino breed was introduced. 
Hartwick, Oswego Co. Feb. 25th, 1836. A SUBSCRIBER. 
To J. Buel, Esq.—Sir—I have read most of the periodical works on 
agriculture, which have appeared on either side of the Atlantic, but not 
till very recently, the Cult ivator: the twenty-three first number of which 
were lent me by a friend, and after an attentive examination of their 
contents, I can sincerely say, that I consider it one of the best conducted 
and most useful publication upon the subject that I have perused. I 
have requested your agent in this city, to procure me all the published 
numbers, and shall, in future, be a constant subscriber and occasional 
contributor. 
I beg to offer the following hasty and desultory observations as my 
first communication. Writing anonymously, (for reasons mentioned in 
the accompanying private note,) it may not be improper to state, that 
I am no novice in agriculture, having for several years, before I arrived 
in this country, occupied a quantity of land more than would suffice to 
form twenty farms, which would be considered large in this vicinity, 
and I now farm 400 acres of excellent soil. You, sir, and your sub¬ 
scribers, may rely upon my stating nothing, as matter of fact, which I 
do not know to be so. 
In the Cultivator of January last, page 168, your intelligent corres¬ 
pondent, Mr. L. F. Allen, uses the following language: “I hold that 
there is no straw, corn, fodder or grass, cut on a farm, with the ex¬ 
ception, perhaps, of the straw of peas, beans, and buckwheat, but what 
may be consumed as food.” This is calculated to impress inexperienced 
readers with an idea that the excepted articles are, at least, of doubtful 
value as food. Now, sir, I can assure Mr. Allen, from experience, that 
the straws of peas and beans ( Phaseoli ) are the most valuable food for 
stock of any straws that he can grow upon his farm. Many of the finest 
farm-teams in Great Britain, are maintained on them through the first 
months of winter, without any hay, and the haulm of peas, well har¬ 
vested, is considered by intelligent farmers there, as fully equal to hay 
in feeding sheep: all horned cattle will thrive upon it. Of course both 
these straws should be cut sufficiently small. As to the straw of buck¬ 
wheat, I have no experience, but I know that this plant, cut when in 
bloom, makes good hay. I beg respectfully also to submit for the con¬ 
sideration of Mr. Allen, and your readers, whether the plan of his barn, 
as described by him in the same number, is not liable to the following 
objections. 1st. That its being entirely surrounded by stables and cattle 
houses, might prove injurious to the grain, &c. deposited in its bays, 
upon which the warmth and breath of the circumjacent animals must 
produce some effect. 2nd. That the dung and urine of the stock, cannot 
be conveniently collected into one mass, and the latter into one and the 
same reservoir. To cellars under barns, for the reception of manure, 
I have an insuperable objection: independent of the injurious effects 
that must result from the exhalations of the large mass of manure in a 
state of fermentation, the most serious accidents may occur by the trap¬ 
doors, necessary to precipitate the manure from the stables into them, 
being carelessly left open, or not securely closed. I had a most valua¬ 
ble mare dreadfully mangled by her hind leg slipping into such an aper¬ 
ture. A quadrangle, with the principal barn on the north, and the en¬ 
trance on the south side, or at the south-west corner, is certainly the 
best form for a farm yard. 
I have seen several remedies for the ravages of those pests, the cut¬ 
worm and turnip-fly, and, among others, lime has been recommended 
as a specific. To prevent your readers wasting their time in useless ex¬ 
periments, I will relate the result of two which I made last summer. 
I placed three cut-worms in a saucer, filled with earth and fresh slaked 
lime in equal parts. On visiting them a few hours afterwards, I found 
two had escaped; these I discovered at a short distance in high health. I 
restored them to their less impatient companion and placed a board over 
the saucer to prevent further escape. On the following day all were 
alive and merry, though their backs were as white with lime as a mil¬ 
ler’s with flour dust. Having a small bed of turnips attacked by the fly, 
I scattered quick lime and ashes over them early in the morning, while 
the dew was on; at twelve o’clock I found the insects as busy as ever 
at their work of destruction, and counted no less than five on the seed 
leaves of a single plant thickly powered with the “remedy .” I appre¬ 
hend that lime, in fine powder, thinly spread, becomes almost instantly 
carbonated and effete by exposure to the atmosphere. Can any of your 
correspondents mention an instance where lime has certainly been the 
sole cause of destruction to the aforesaid nuisances ? Natural causes 
frequently produce effects which experimentalists are too apt to attri¬ 
bute to artificial applications. 
I last spring sowed mangel wurzel at various distances, to ascertain 
which was the most advantageous. A workman who was carting ma¬ 
nure, having carelessly left the gate open, great part of my crop 
was eaten by cows, but of the remainder I found the plants which stood 
only one foot apart as large as those at greater distances ; both were an 
excellent crop. I would recommend that the rows should be just far 
enough apart to admit the cultivator, and that the plants should not 
be left more than ten inches or a foot asunder. Even if a less weight 
should be produced by close planting, the quantity of nourishment would 
probably be as great or greater; for M. Chaptal asserts, that beets of 
one or two pounds weight, yield, in proportion, double the amount of 
sugar to that which is produced by roots of ten or twenty pounds; and 
sugar is nourishment. The smaller roots are much more conveniently 
prepared for the manger, &c. I have fifteen acres of land, cleared two 
years ago, which produced last year an immense crop of wheat straw, 
but scarcely fifteen bushels of grain per acre. The soil is a deep, warm, 
sandy loam, among which lime stones are thinly scattered. This field 
I shall plant next May with early twelve rowed Indian corn, at vari- 
ous distances, and carefully note the produce per acre, of each divi¬ 
sion. The result shall be communicated to the Cultivator. I am, sir, 
very respectfully, yours. 
Boston, February 17, 1836. COLONUS. 
SHEEP HUSBANDRY.—No. IV. 
WOOL, THE COAT OF THE SHEEP. 
The laws of nature are determined above the power of man to coun¬ 
teract. It is almost as preposterous to attempt any permanent improve¬ 
ment of the (Greyhound,) and of the distinctive sheep denominated 
Merino, by any foreign admixture, as the improvement of wheat by at¬ 
tempting its admixture with rye or barley. 
The wild goose sustains his distinctive character, in defiance of the 
arts of civilization. And Buffon, together with those that prefer their 
own opinion to established facts, ultimately concur in the conclusion, 
that the wild and tame goose cannot be permanently assimilated. 
Man should be an intent, admiring, discriminating observer of nature's 
works and laws. 
The human inhabitants of so large a portion of our globe, are under 
the necessity of so protecting themselves from cold and wet by clothing, 
as to render the best material an object of primary estimation. Wool, 
the covering of the sheep, has hitherto mostly supplied this requirement. 
Wool, in its varieties of soft, fine, elastic and glossy, elicits the in- 
quiry, on what causes are these varieties and properties dependent and 
influenced ? All these considerations involve the philosophical consi¬ 
derations of the subtility of cohesion of particles, attraction, agglutina¬ 
tion, elasticity, light, &c. &c. 
Silk in its curious properties, must here be regarded as an anomaly. 
The essential or chemical properties of wool, hair and fur, are very 
similar, or the same; as also hoofs, nails, feathers. The specific or 
characteristic distinctions between these various productions, are at 
present principally depedent on their application to manufacturing pur¬ 
poses. The distinctive identification of wool, independent of its grow¬ 
ing on the back of a sheep, are but few. The peculiar coil, or crimp of 
its fibre, like the coiled wire in a spring cushion, and its elasticity, are 
to me its most prominent features. If the best material for making 
cloth called wool, is found on the sheep’s back, without going into dis¬ 
tinctions of too great nicety, that is the place to go for it. The best kind 
of fur suitable fbr hats, is found on the back of the Otter and Beaver. 
It is an inquiry to which I would invite the curious naturalist, to 
point out the characteristic differences between hair, fur, wool, feathers, 
&c. independent of its production and application. The consideration 
of the covering of animals is particularly interesting. Its incorruptibi¬ 
lity, and yet its suceptibility to change. I have seen the aborignal re¬ 
mains of the human frame disclosed by excavation, of which the hair 
and bones were the only vestages: the hair more perfect and entire 
than the hones. Yet there are on record many well authenticated in¬ 
stances of persons under circumstances of extreme terror and distress, 
having their hair turn gray in one day ! I have known one person who 
was gray at the age of eighteen, and yet in good health. I do not know 
but gray hairs adhere with the same tenacity, and are as strong as 
others—who can explain the modus operandi ? 
