THE CULTIVATOR 
19 
The above is a portrait of Mr. Cooper's “ Messenger,” to which was awarded the first prize of the N. Y. State 
Agricultural Society at their Fair, at Syracuse in 1841. He also received the first premium of the American In¬ 
stitute, in October last. 
J 4 
/ 
SHEEP—THE SOUTH DOWNS. 
Messrs. Gaylord & Tucker— I am enabled to an¬ 
swer some of the queries of your correspondent, J. N. 
Smith, in your November Cultivator, on South Down 
Sheep. 
I have sold the fleeces of South Down sheep, and 
attended the weighing, for an uncle, who first introduced 
them into the West of England, from Sussex. In the 
year 1803, I weighed upwards of four thousand fleeces, 
averaging about three pounds to the fleece; one-third 
were from lambs. Wool was high at that time, the 
Spanish and Saxony market being nearly closed to the 
English, and the lot was sold at two shillings and nine 
pence per pound, or about sixty-one cents of our cur¬ 
rency. The same kind is now selling at from eighteen 
to twenty cents. I brought a piece of cloth to this 
country, made from the fine portion of South Down 
wool, the fleeces being thrown into four sorts, and sold 
it in this market at six dollars per yard. The same 
quality is worth at this time, if sold at auction, two dol¬ 
lars and fifty cents per yard. 
South Down stock sheep should be kept on moun¬ 
tainous land at least six months in the year. The origi¬ 
nal English stock were first bred on the South Downs of 
Sussex, or that ridge of chalk mountains running through 
that and other counties. The flock brought from Sussex 
by my late uncle, J. Mighell, Esq., were kept the 
greater part of the year on the chalk fields running from 
Marlboro, Wilts, to Cain, a distance of some twelve 
miles. The grass on these hills is scanty, short, and 
sweet, and they have to move about the whole time of 
feeding, the continued action contributing greatly to the 
health of the flock. 
South Down Sheep are easily fed, and fatten quick 
on moderate feeding. The meat is considered sweeter 
than any other mutton, with the exception of Welsh 
runts. 
In a visit to England, about twenty years since, I 
spent three days at a Mr. John Gale’s, Stirt, near De¬ 
vizes,Wilts, who had a flock of mixed South Downs, of, 
I believe, nearly three thousand; and I examined some 
cloth made from their wool, which was equal in quality 
to any cloth now sold in our market at eight dollars per 
yard. The handle was remarkably soft, and the face 
fine and silky. Mr. Gale (since dead) was, and hail 
been for many years, a prominent member of the Bath 
and West of England Agricultural Society. Mr. Gale 
gave me the following information relative to the cross¬ 
ing of Merino and South Down sheep: that the first 
cross from the South Down furnished much finer fleeces 
than from any other English sheep; that the mutton was 
not much injured, and that the sheep were still easily 
kept, and were hardy. He further observed that, how¬ 
ever fine the fleeces of a flock may be, they will gradu¬ 
ally deteriorate, unless the owner attend to the lambs; 
that every increase will produce some lambs of coarser 
fleeces than the original stock; that unless these are 
separated, they will gradually degenerate; but if judi¬ 
ciously attended to, the quality will improve. It is a 
legitimate deduction, that a cross with Saxony would 
produce the same results, as the Saxony stock were ori¬ 
ginally Merino. 
Wm. Partridge, 34 Clilf-st., N. York. 
Nov. 15, 1841. 
THE CANADA THISTLE. 
Messrs. Gaylord & Tucker —I wish to make a call 
on every farmer and friend of the cause of agriculture 
in the state, to unite, one and all, in making application 
to the Legislature, at the present session, for a law to 
compel every owner or occupant of land to prevent a 
plat or patch of Canada thistle from going to seed on 
his grounds, or in the road opposite to his lands, under 
a penalty of $5 or $10 for each and every neglect. 
With such an enactment in this state, we could partly, if 
not wholly, arrest the spread of this very obnoxious 
plant by the seed. The thistle gives the farmer more 
trouble than all the other weeds put together. A good 
careful farmer may spend a good deal of time and 
money to eradicate the thistle from his plantation, by 
keeping up a continual warfare, till he has finally exter¬ 
minated the last one; but in vain will a careful farmer 
regularly cut down the thistles on his own land, if his 
neighbor is permitted to suffer beds of them to flourish 
and go to seed on his adjoining grounds. Therefore, I 
think an act should be passed at once, and there is no 
doubt but every good farmer will second the suggestion, 
and enter into it with all his energies, for all know the 
farmer has not a more powerful enemy to contend with. 
At the last session of the Legislature, they did render 
some aid to the farmers of the state, by the appropria¬ 
tion of $8,000 a year, for five years, to promote the 
interest of agriculture; and all have seen the benefit of 
the law already, by the splendid State Cattle Show and 
Fair, and the various cattle shows and fairs held in the 
different counties of the state the past fall, which have 
gone off with great credit to the farmers, and with the 
approbation of all. The present Legislature should do 
a little more, and help the farmer to get rid of the very 
worst pest he has, by passing some law to effect the de¬ 
struction of the Canada thistle. Let this important sub¬ 
ject be at all times before the farmers, till they obtain 
such aid from the Legislature as is needed. Every 
county society in the state, as well as individuals, should 
send memorials to the Legislature, at its present session, 
for the accomplishment of this object; and no exertions 
should be spared, until we have something done for the 
destruction of the Canada thistle. J. B. D. 
SALMAGUNDI—No. III. 
Messsrs. Gaylord & Tucker —Permit me, gentle¬ 
men, to tender to you, with heartfelt sincerity, the usual 
NEW-YEAR CONGRATULATIONS. 
May your lives long be spared, and each succeeding 
year bring with it renewed health, and increase of know¬ 
ledge to sustain you in that vocation which has thus far 
been crowned with such signal honor to yourselves, and 
usefulness to the cause of agriculture. I have been a 
vigilant observer of your editorial labors, not accompa¬ 
nied however, with a fastidious, nor fault-finding spirit, 
but with an earnest desire that the seed sown by your 
hands should be free from tares; and without arrogating 
to my-self the ability in all instances to decide, yet in my 
humble judgment, I can truly say that your course has 
been free from error, and the result has been a bountiful 
harvest of correct knowledge to your readers. The editorial 
columns of the Cultivator have been distinguished by a 
justly balanced scale of science and art, of theory and 
practice; the former, teaching us a knowledge of first 
principles—the laws which govern and influence vegeta¬ 
ble nature—and the latter, a minute knowledge of that 
unerring system of practice which deviates least from 
these laws, and which the more nearly approximated, 
the more certain to be crowned with success. In short, 
I shall take the liberty to say, in behalf of twenty-five 
thousand readers of the Cultivator, that its editorial mat¬ 
ter is all that its friends could desire. Go on, then, gen¬ 
tlemen, with increased zeal in your honorable and use¬ 
ful path; and may not only the incense of grateful 
hearts cheer you in your progress, but solid advantages 
to yourselves, be the reward of your arduous labors. 
DICTIONARY of TERMS used in AGRICULTURE. 
Not even a passing tribute of praise has been awarded, 
by any of your correspondents, to Mr. Gaylord, the 
author of that admirable digest of theoretical and prac¬ 
tical knowledge, published from time to time, under the 
above caption. Few of us are aware of the amount of 
information, and continual research, required to fulfill the 
task he has undertaken; the useful result of which, to every 
farmer, cannot be too highly appreciated. I have been 
more strongly impressed with the value of the dictionary, 
on reviewing it recently; and permit me to recommend a 
continuation until the lowest letter of the alphabet is reach¬ 
ed. Should then, this beautiful epitome of agricultural 
knowledge be revised and enlarged, if found necessary, 
and published in a separate volume, it would command 
an extensive sale, for few books could be found to sur¬ 
pass it in utility to the agriculturist. The Dictionary of 
Terms, alone, is worth the price of subscription to the 
Cultivator. ■— 
“COMMENTATOR.” 
The path chosen by your talented correspondent, who 
attaches the above signature to his valuable papers, (it 
would be more gratifying to all, however, if he would 
give us his real name and whereabouts)—meets with my 
hearty approbation. I speak for myself, and not for oth¬ 
ers; although let this not be considered as a qualifying 
remark, for his criticisms and comments evince sound 
judgment, much and varied theoretical and practical 
knowledge, and therefore must be equally approved by 
others. The course he has adopted of correcting errors, 
of whatever character, which appear in the Cultivator, 
is precisely what I intended long since to have suggested 
to you, as your duty, Messrs. Editors; but reflecting on 
your already arduous labors, as well as on the delicacy of 
the duty, prevented. That errors of doctrine and practice, 
exaggerated statements, visionary and ill-tested experi¬ 
ments, will ocasionally make their appearance in all our 
agricultural periodicals, is very certain; and hence, when¬ 
ever these occur, immediate correction should follow in 
the form of notes appended by yourselves. Then would 
truth go forth to shame falsehood, and orthodoxy arrayed 
against heresy-. The neglect of this often occasions 
those who are still prejudiced against “ book-farming,” 
to carp at agricultural papers; for the great mass of far¬ 
mers are too shrewd and knowing not to detect many 
fallacies for themselves. I have not unfrequently been 
asked by farmers, and some of them my immediate 
neighbors, if I believed such and such a statement, or, 
if such a man’s experiment was worthy of being pub¬ 
lished, much less followed; and I have generally been 
forced to admit their exceptions, and put the statement 
down as a “ Gulliver,” and the experiment as devised by 
a visionary. I do not charge that these things often occur 
in the Cultivator; no, on the contrary, but seldom. But 
I would not have a line that would tarnish its columns, 
nor a foul weed to nurture there. Thanks to “ Commen¬ 
tator,” for, if we nun- judge from the specimens of pure 
seed he has presented, his mill is a powerful one, and 
screens well. Let Erobdingnags, speculating humbug- 
gers, and visionary experimenters, take heed and not get 
themselves into his hopper; a blowing will be the certain 
consequence. — 
“ DID’NT I DRUM WELL ?” 
Many of your readers, doubtless, have read the anec¬ 
dote of the justly celebrated merchant of Boston, Billy 
Gray, as he was familiarly called; but lest all your read¬ 
ers may not have seen it, I will take the liberty to give 
the substance here. When Mr. Gray was somewhat ad¬ 
vanced in years, he was one day superintending a piece 
of carpenter work—for nothing about him was permit¬ 
ted to escape his vigilant eye; he had occasion to repri¬ 
mand the man who was performing it, for not doing his 
work well. The carpenter turned upon him; he and 
“ Billy” being known to each other in their youth—and 
said, “Billy Gray, what do you presume to scold me for? 
you are a rich man, ’tis true, but did’ntl know you when 
you were nothing but a drummer ?” “Well, sir, did'nt 
I drum well, eh, did'nt I drum well ?” The carpenter 
was silenced, and went on to do his work better, agreea¬ 
bly to Billy’s orders. Billy Gray commenced his career 
a poor boy, and began early and continued through his 
long life to act on the principle of always drumming 
well, or otherwise, of doing everything as it ought to be 
done, and not by halves; and the result was, that he died 
worth his millions of dollars. A number of years since, 
I heard from his nephew, who received his mercantile 
education in his uncle's counting house, several anecdotes 
connected with his habits of early rising, untiring indus¬ 
try, personal supervision of his immense business, and 
the clock-work manner in which everything about him 
had to move—indeed, always “ drumming well.” This is 
a text from which much, very much, might be deduced 
to the advantage of every farmer. Let us, one and all, 
endeavor through the year 1842, to drum better than we 
have ever drummed before; and an increased reward to 
our labors will be the sure result. L. A. Morrell. 
Lansing, Tompkins co. N. Y. Dec. 10, 1841. 
Agriculture is the most ancient, the most honorable, 
and the most useful of Arts. 
