170 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
one in question is thriving and appears to be able to endure the severity 
of our winters. 
Should Mr. K.’s experiment in introducing this valuable addition to 
our stock be successful, we trust soon to see our wives and daughters 
w;ear American Cashmere Shawls, as well as American silk. 
We invite communications on this interesting subject, from any of our 
readers who may be acquainted with the animal, its habits, or the manu¬ 
facture of its wool. 
THE FLEECE A GREATER OBJECT THAN THE CARCASS. 
Jesse Buel, Esq.—Dear Sir—In the December number of the “ Cul¬ 
tivator’-' I noticed an article on sheep husbandry, over the signature of 
“A Subscriber”; and as the writer thereof solicits an argument, and 
correction, permit me to make a few remarks on the subject. 
I differ with him when he says; “ that the carcass should be the most 
profitable”—for the following reason: the price of mutton is general!}' 
so low, that the sheep masters would make but small profits from their 
flocks should they direct their attention mainly to that object, because 
the price of mutton, for the last ten years, has notaveraged exceeding 
two cents per pound, to the farmer; while in England, during the same 
period of time, it has been about ten cents. There they can make mut¬ 
ton their principal object of raising sheep ; in this country it must prin¬ 
cipally be for their wool. I have known mutton sold in this town Hoo- 
sick, at lijjcts. per pound by the quarter; and it is a well know fact, 
that thousands of thousands of sheep are annually killed,, for the sake 
of their pelts, the carcasses tried to obtain the tallow, and the meat fed 
to the swine? Now, should our wool-growers generally change their 
fine for coarse sheep, and go to raising for the sake of their mutton, 
principally, I ask, what would their profitsbe, as long as mutton is so low ? 
Would not the price be still further reduced? Coarse wool is brought into 
into this country in great quantities, free of duty; should our farmers 
therefore enter into the raising of coarse sheep, their wool would be ex¬ 
tremely low, and our manufacturers be obliged to draw from foreign 
countries fine wool to supply three factories,, whereby a great amount 
of money would yearly go out of the country. It is useless for me to tell 
you, that by far the greatest quantity of wool manufactured in this 
country belongs to the finer qualities. 
The writer asserts that the quality of the mutton of the Saxony and 
merino, is far inferior to that of coarse sheep. I wish he had told us 
his reasons why it is. so ' Now L assert, that it is equal if not supe¬ 
rior, for they being smaller, and more delicately constituted animals, 
the grain of the meat is finer, which in my opinion makes the quality 
equal, if not superior, to that of coarse sheep** It, is true, , their car¬ 
cass is lighter, but, let me ask,. do not the large coarse sheep require 
more sustenance? I assert that they do! Yet there may be locations 
—for instance near large market places—where coarse woolled sheep 
are as profitable—perhaps more so—than the fine woolled; but remote 
from such places, the expense of driving the mutton to market, would 
nearly, if not quite, consume the. profits. Will your correspondent fa¬ 
vor the public with a statement, how much provender the Ba-kewell, 
Hampshire Down and South Down sheep daily require ? He may, if 
he pleases, reduce the quantity to hay, as that is the standard by which 
we generally calculate the expense of keeping sheep. 
The writer is-.evidently..mistaken, when he says: “they generally 
keep their wether sheep five or six years,..as they produce the greatest 
quantity and the finest quality”— £ they frequently lose them in conse¬ 
quence of their weak constitution, and their inability to stand the hard 
winters.” I agree with him that they cut the largest quantity of wool, 
but beg leave to say, that but very few wethers are kept to that age— 
not one in ten, take country through; they generally are turned off, at 
three and four years old. “ A Subscriber” must have but limited prac¬ 
tical experience when he says: “they frequently lose them in conse¬ 
quence of their weak constitution, and their inability to stand the hard 
winter.” Why has a wether, at the age of six, a weaker constitution 
than a ewe which partially exhausts her strength by raising a lamb 
yearly, while a wether's strength is not exhausted at all%■—for which 
reason, I should think, they could stand the hard winters better. I 
have now a ewe in my flock, originally imported from Saxony, twelve 
years old, and from which I have raised 10 lambs, and if nothing ex¬ 
traordinary happens to her, I expect .to raise one more from her next 
spring. She has not a tooth in her head, and yet is in good condition. 
I cannot think that your correspondent was really in earnest, when he 
says, “ that the wethers produce the finest wool.” I am a purchaser, 
as well as a grower of wool, and have found that wethers’ fleeces are 
always coarser than..ew.es’ fleeces. . Every practical wool-grower will 
concur with me. 
In conclusion, I may be permitted to say, that it is matter of regret, 
* I hereby extend my challenge, which some time since 1 gave to brother “R,” 
to your correspondent, “ A.Siibscriber”— that he may procure the best sample 
of Bakewell, Hampshire Down and South Down mutton, he can find, and I 
will meet him with a sample of Saxony or Merino. Both shall be cooked in 
the same manner; we will select one or more of the most accomplished con¬ 
noisseurs in good eating, and I will rest the point on their decision. 
that some of your correspondents do not sign their real names to what?, 
they write; if they did, some of your readers at least would be enabled; 
to judge whether their statements were the result of. experience. It is 
alike due to themselves as well as to the public. 
* Hoasick, N. Y. January 6,. 1837. H D GROVE 
ALLEN'S THRASHING MACHINE. 
It always affords us pleasure to notice the inventions of genius, par¬ 
ticularly when they are calculated to aid and abridge the labor of the 
farmer. The machine described below is of this description, as we are 
satisfied from a thorough trial of it on our premises. It deserves at¬ 
tention,. 
1. From the small space it occupies. —The thresher is a cube of twer 
feet square, that is, it is two feet broad-, two long, and two high. The 
whole machine, including the horse power, may be stowed in a light, 
wagon,, and transported by a single horse, if necessary. 
2. From the small power required to propel it —one horse being able 
to drive it, and only two horses being required under any circumstances.. 
The journal of the thrashing cylinder turns upon afriction roller, which, 
latter revolves in an iron box or case filled with oil, which avoids all: 
danger from friction,, and renders this part of the machine durable. 
3. From its price —being from 75 to $100, including horse power. 
It does its work well, and as fast as any machine we have seen in. 
operation.. The machines are built by Penton & Benedict, Saratoga. 
Spa, Thomas Eastbrook, Ballston Spa, and C. F. Buckley, Milton, 
Ulster county. 
STRAW CUTTER. 
Mr. BtrEL—Sir—I discover in your valuable paper for November, , 
some few strictures from Mr. John Fry, on Mr. Greene’s straw eutter. 
Now Mr. Greene and Mr. Fry are both strangers to me, of eourse I 
have no partiality for or against either of them—only my name is Fair 
Play —and I must say, I think your friend Fry’s complaint against Mr. 
Greene's improvement,, not cutting the feed short enough to suit .him, 
cannot be a very serious one to those who have so highly recommend¬ 
ed it, nor can it be in reality to the principle of the machine when it is- 
.considered that it can be obviated by adding more knives or cutters to- 
the cylinder. I know it may be said this would give the cutters a ten¬ 
dency to choke up in their operation ; butthis can be obviated by length¬ 
ening the cutters, and lessening their projection from the cylinder: 
or a light spring may be introdued between the cutters, that will recede 
while the straw is being cut, and pressed on the wooden cylinder and' 
return as the roller leaves it, thereby liberating the cut straw from be¬ 
tween the knives. And as Mr* Greene would no doubtperfer our sug¬ 
gesting some improvement on his machine, (where no new principle is 
embraced,) to,our finding fault with what has been done, I will say if 
the machine was made to receive double width of straw on the feeding 
apron, and the cutters were secured more permanently to their place,, 
(by the heads that confine them being made much heavier,) it would 
be a great acquisition to its use for almost any farmer. With these 
few remarks, I leave Mr. Greene's improvemnet; which (as itis) I con¬ 
sider a cheap and ingenious one, and one that has, perhaps, gained, 
greater celebrity for the time it has been in operation than any one 
that has preceded it. 
As to Mr. Fry’s recommendation of another invention which for aughV 
we know, (except through Mr. Fry,) is nowin embryo, but is to be 
brought out by his English Mend, and christened the “ Firth Patent 
Straw Cutter,” appears rather premature, and I cannot help thinking 
that Mr. Fry and his friends may possibly, (as the saying is) be count¬ 
ing without their host, or offering ducks before they, are catched, or. 
counting chickens before they are hatched.. FAIR PLAY.. 
New-Lebanon, Dec. 22, 1836. 
Mr. Buei.,—D ear Sir,—Being a subscriber to your valuable publica¬ 
tion, and interested in all that concerns farmers generally, I take the 
liberty of addressing a few lines to you, chiefly to dissent from some of 
the positions taken by a subscriber—in the last No. of the. Cultivator, 
on sheep and sheep husbandry. A Subscriber, I perceive, is an advo¬ 
cate for breeding coarse woolled sheep, because he thinks their carcass 
better for mutton.. I admit, that there are growers of Saxony and me¬ 
rino wool, who aim at raising fine wool, at the expense of quantity, 
and also of the size and form of the animal. These are doing them¬ 
selves and breeders of good fine sheep great injustice by bringing them 
generally into disrepute. Perhaps some farmers so near market, that 
they can take all . the advantage, to be derived from their location to 
dispose of their lambs and mutton, at high prices, can breed the South 
Down or Bakewells to the most advantage, but that farmers generally 
can do so I do not believe, and for my reasons for this belief, I wifi 
state what I know of the Saxony and merino sheep, having been a 
breeder of them for nearly ten years, and also living in a community 
of wool growers, some of whom have been engaged in it twice that 
length of time. Our flocks of Saxpny or merinos cut from 3 to 4\ 
pounds per head—this bringing from 68 to 80 cents per pound, netts as 
