198 
i’HE CULTIVATOR. 
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 extraor¬ 
dinary 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 condi¬ 
tion. 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 weth¬ 
er’s fleeces are always coarser than ewes fleeces. Every practical 
wool-grower will concur with me. 
In conclusion, I may be permitted to say, that it is matter of regret, 
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 
With sentiments of the highest respect, I remain, yours, 
H. D. GROVE. 
Hoosick, N. Y. January 6, 1837. 
ALLEN’S THRESHING MACHINE. 
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name is Fair Play —and I must say, I think your friend Fry’s com¬ 
plaint against Mr. Green’s improvement, not cutting the feed short 
enough to suit him, cannot be a very serious one to those who have 
so highly recommended 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 tendency to choke up in their operation; 
but this can be obviated by lengthening the cutters, and lessening 
their projection from the cylinder: or a light spring may be intro¬ 
duced between the cutters, that will recede while the straw is be¬ 
ing cut, and pressed on the wooden cylinder and return as the roller 
leaves it, thereby liberating the cut straw from between the knives. 
And as Mr. Green would no doubt prefer our suggesting some im¬ 
provement on his machine, (where no new principle is embraced,) 
to our finding fault with what has been done, I will say, if the ma¬ 
chine 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. Green’s improvement; which 
(as it is) I consider a cheap and ingenious one, and one that has, 
perhaps, gained greater celebrity for the time it has been in opera¬ 
tion than any one that has preceded it. 
As to Mr. Fry’s recommendation of another invention, which, for 
aught we know, (except through Mr. Fry,) is now in embryo, but is 
to be brought out by his English friend, 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 counting without their host, or offering ducks before they are 
catched, or counting chickens before they are hatched. 
FAIR PLAY. 
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It does its work well, and as fast as any machine we have seen 
in operation. The machines are built by Penton &. Benedict, Sa¬ 
ratoga Spa, Thomas Eastbrook, Ballston Spa, and C. F. Buckley, 
Milton, Ulster county. A sample machine may be seen at Thor- 
burn’s seed store, Albany. 
STRAW CUTTER. 
Mr. Buel,—Sir, — I discover in your valuable paper for Novem¬ 
ber, some few strictures from Mr. John Fry, on Mr. Green’s straw 
cutter. Now Mr. Green and Mr. Fry are both strangers to me, of 
course I have no partiality for or against either of them—only my 
New-Lebanon, Dec. 22, 1836. 
Mr. Buel,—Dear Sir, —Being a subscriber to your valuable pub¬ 
lication, 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 per- 
cieve, is an advocate for breeding coarse wooled sheep, because he 
thinks their carcass better for mutton. I admit, that there are 
growers of Saxony and merino 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 themselves 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 will 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 Saxony or merinos cut from 3 to pounds per head—this 
bringing from 68 to 80 cents per pound, netts as much or more to 
the grower as any flock of Bakewells in my knowledge. Our grass 
fed wethers bring from 3 to 4 dolls, per head, the culls from our ewes 
about the same ; and our lambs from 2 to 3 dolls, per head. 1 
doubt whether a Subscriber knows a flock of Bakewells (which he 
thinks the best) for which he can say as much. A Subscriber says 
they, the Saxons and merinos, frequently die, from their inability to 
stand our hard winters. In reply to this I would say, that our best 
shepherds even in our last hard winter did not lose more than one 
and two from a hundred. I agree with a Subscriber perfectly in 
urging breeders to procure well bred bucks. I know some farmers 
who breed from ill shaped, long, bare legged, bare faced bucks that 
will not cut more than 2\ lbs. of wool, and only, because they can 
obtain them at a small price. Such farmers I think must breed with¬ 
out pleasure or profit. A Subscriber says, that two breeds cannot 
be kept distinct on one farm ; I believe he is mistaken, for I am ac¬ 
quainted with a flock of merinos and Bakewells kept so, the breed¬ 
er of which informed me he found no difficulty in keeping them so— 
that his merinos cut as much wool as his Bakewells, and that the 
average weight of his whole flock was 4$ lbs. He has one merino 
buck that cuts 8| lbs. of washed wool. In conclusion, I wish to 
urge upon farmers the necessity of raising vegetables for their stock. 
My farm horses eat the Ru‘a Baga with great avidity, and thrive re- 
