266 IMPORTATION OF PURE BRED MERINO SHEEP. | IMPORTATION OF PURE BRED MERINO SHEEP, They varied from 124 to 153 lbs. Some of them were quite thin in flesh, the largest especially, which, if in fine condition and her fleece on, would weigh at least 200 lbs. The following is the weight of their fleeces unwashed. We took them ourselves in the presence of several witnesses, and as fast as shorn from the ewes' backs. The scales we used did not mark less than one quarter of a pound, which will account for the absence of odd ounces. No. 17................13 lbs. แ 46 37. ....15 No. 100...... .12 1-4 lbs. 109.17 117. .16 3-4 Ir will be recollected we mentioned in the Agriculturist of last year, that Mr. John A. Taintor, of Hartford, Ct., had sailed for England in the month of May, with a view of making a general tour in Europe; and that a paramount object with him during his absence, would be the inspection of the best fine-woolled flocks of France, Germany, and Spain, for the purpose of selecting some choice animals from them for an importation into the United States. We know no man in America so well qualified to make these selections as Mr. Taintor; for his father was largely interested in the early importations of the Spanish Merinos, and their subsequent breeding; and the son was with him in the same occupation from boyhood, followed up by extensive dealings in wool from that time to the present. In this way he had the best opportunity of obtaining a thorough knowledge of the animals, The fleeces were about fourteen months old, but and the best system of rearing and breeding them, they had lost some on their voyage out, and on actogether with an intimate acquaintance with the count of the lateness of the season, were not shorn wants of the manufacturers, and that quality and near as close as it is customary; besides, on sevestyle of wool most suitable for their general pur-ral of them, from half to one pound of the wool was poses. Thus qualified to make selections, Mr. left on the heads and legs, for the purpose of giv Taintor has spent about fifteen months in looking ing an idea of their fleeces to those who may call over the government and private flocks in the north hereafter to look at them. Taking all these things and south of France, and among the Pyrenees; in into consideration, it was the unanimous opinion the mountains and plains of Spain; and in Saxony, of several sheep-masters present, that the wool Prussia, and Austria, including Bohemia and Mo-clipped from these ewes was not more than would ravia. All this was done under peculiarly favor- have been equivalent to one year's growth. able circumstances, and such as are not soon likely We shall not compare the weight of these fleeces to occur to any one again. The result is, from with what is generally termed clean washed wool, as these flocks, he has been permitted to choose such it is the most uncertain and unsatisfactory comparison sheep as he wanted. Four Saxon bucks and four which can be made, for when it comes to be cleansed ewes of his selection, from the Electoral and the by the manufacturer, it will vary in loss from 20 to equally celebrated Baron de Spreck's flocks, came out 50 per cent. just as the case may happen. It was in the ship Atlantic, from Bremen, for Mr. Scoville, the unbiassed opinion of several wool dealers preof Connecticut, a notice of which we gave at pages sent, and our own, that the shearing above would 198 and 203 of our current volume; and three yield at least 35 lbs. of cleansed wool, fitted for Merino bucks and twenty-three ewes arrived with manufacturing without further loss, out of every him in the ship Patrick Henry, Capt. Delano, from 100 lbs. shorn. The fourteen ewes yielded 216 lbs. Liverpool, on the 1st of August last. unwashed, which would be equivalent to 75 lbs. 10 oz. thoroughly cleansed, or an average of 5 lbs. 6 oz. per head. If any of our readers are desirous to Although we had a good opportunity of seeing these sheep on board ship after their arrival, and again when transferred to the steamboat for Hart-know what this would come up to, clean washed, ford, yet this was not sufficient to satisfy us; ac- they may safely add one third. This would bring cordingly, after they had been at home about a the average as wool growers usually dispose of fortnight, we went on there to examine them more their fleeces, to 7 lbs. 3 oz. per head-a yield totally particularly, and see them shorn, they having come unprecedented in this country. The usual average out with their fleeces on. The rams being young, weight of good Merino ewes is about half this. we will dismiss them by saying, that they are the The average of the flocks in Europe from which most promising animals of their breed we ever saw, these sheep were chosen, is, for rams from 15 to 17 and when full grown, will weigh at least from 225 lbs. per head; for ewes 11 to 13 lbs., unwashed. to 250 lbs. each. The sire of one was sold the The average price of such wool in its unwashed past season for $500. He sheared 23 lbs. of un-state, is 26 cents per lb. of our money. washed wool. To give an idea of the ewes, we measured them after they were shorn, and found they varied from 25 to 29 inches in height over the withers; and lest it may be thought this superior height is attained by extra long legs, we will add, that the height of the under side of their bodies from the ground, was from 9 to 12 inches; which, according to our observation, is no greater in proportion to their size, than that of good American Merino sheep. Their weights we took after being shorn These sheep show great vigor of constitution, and are remarkably well formed, with enormous dewlaps and folds all over the carcass. Their fleeces are very close, thickly covering the head and legs as well as the body, and are uncommonly even, the wool being nearly as good on the flanks as on the shoulders, while its felting properties are unsurpassed. In fineness of quality it is equal to the best American Merino. To those who have good pastures and are desirous of breeding a large, strong, hardy flock, yielding wool fine enough for STEVENS' PATENT FENCE.-SHOW OF N. Y. STATE AG. SOCIETY. the better qualities of broadcloth, here are the animals for them. If Mr. Taintor's time and travelling expenses be taken into consideration, the cost of these sheep I would be enormous. He has not been at the trouble and expense of this importation with a view of making money from it, but to please himself. He will also breed them for his own pleasure and to occupy his leisure hours with a useful hobby. Ewes from the flock will not be for sale at any price; but the ram lambs will probably be offered to those who wish to purchase, in September, 1847, and annually thereafter, at prices doubtless much below what it would cost to import them. We consider this one of the most important importations of fine-woolled sheep ever made into the 267 United States, and that Mr. Taintor deserves the gratitude of his country for it. He has made arrangements in Europe for a few others of a similar superior character to follow these next season, and as often thereafter as it may be advisable to make a fresh cross, so that flock-masters may not only be satisfied as to the character of his produce, but have an opportunity also of getting a fresh cross themselves from his flock whenever necessary. One ram and seven ewes have been placed by Mr. Taintor, in the hands of Mr. Francis Rotch, of Butternuts, Otsego County, N. Y.; another ram has been sent to Mr. L. G. Bingham, of Williston, Vt., to breed to his Rambouillet Merino flock, purchased last year of Mr. D. C. Collins, Hartford, Ct., a notice of which appeared in our last volume, page 382, MR. JOSEPH STEVENS, of Northumberland, SaraSHOW OF THE NEW YORK STATE AG. SOCIETY.toga County, New York, has recently invented a Let our readers bear in mind that this Show will mode of constructing fences on a new plan. The take place at Auburn, on the 15th, 16th, and 17th, posts are made of the same composition as common of this month. The place is easily reached by the bricks, being burnt or baked to the consistency of a hard, arch brick. They are set in the ground through it. Auburn is a beautiful town, in the great Western railroad, which passes directly diagonally, or corner-wise; a tenon is made on the heart of a highly fertile country, and the accommotop of each post, on which is placed a coupling dation for visitors there we understand is most block for the top rail to rest upon, and fastened to it by a pin or nail, which unites the whole fence and we hope to see a large number of them present, ample. The show will be a grand farmers' festival, firmly together; the bottom rail is notched at each with their families. They will find much to admire end, so as to brace the posts firmly, and is support- there, and something we trust to instruct them. ed by the paling or pickets. It will be seen that in We have no doubt it will be one of the best, in this mode of construction, there are no tenons in many respects, that the Society has yet held. Much interest is manifested in it, and extensive preparations are on foot to render it all it should be. the rails, thus preventing rot or decay in the wooden part. The durability of the posts of this fence being almost imperishable, is alone sufficient to entitle it to attention; and in adding to this its beauty-being really ornamental--and, above all, its cheapness, appears to render it a useful and valuable dis covery. SYMPTOMS OF DISEASE IN ANIMALS.-A full and frequent pulse, loss of appetite, dejected head, and a languid or watery eye, with a disposition to lie down in a dark or shady place, are certain marks, in all brute animals, of one of the most frequent Perhaps there is no improvement at the present diseases with which they are affected-that is, the day, more needed or more called for, than that of fever. The watery eye, an inability to bark, or fences; farmers in particular, who are subject to barking with a stertorous hoarseness, indicate the such great expense in constructing in the old man- approach of madness in the dog. The elevation of ner, and a constant tax in repairing them, while the the hair on the back of a cat, and its not falling materials they now use are yearly becoming more upon its feet, when thrown from a moderate height, scarce, and their expenses consequently greater, are the premonitory signs of that disease, which will do well to look into this matter, and avail has long proved fatal to that species of animal both themselves of the opportunity offered, to obtain a in Europe and America. The tail of a horse losing cheap and durable article. The inventor has as-its regularity of motion from side to side, indicates certained by experiment that this fence can be that he is indisposed, and the part in which his constructed as cheaply as any ordinary kind now disease is seated is pointed out by one of his ears inclining backwards to the side affected. The seat in use. NEW YORK FARMERS' CLUB. Ar a late meeting of this club, Mr. Turell presented the following humorous report in the Portsmouth Journal of the New Hampshire Legislature on the crows had been protecting the farmer, by destroying the worms which they found there. From that spot the crows had furnished their young with food, and as long as worms could be found did not touch the corn. Farmers did not fully appreciate such efforts of the crow, and the good effects resulting therefrom. There might be some particular instances when injury was done, but all considered the crow of incalculable benefit to the farmer. Cases were so rare where crows did injury, that he should enter the plea for them in such cases, Bounty on Crows.-Mr. Clark said as the gentle- which was offered by a distinguished lawyer of a man from Alstead (Mr. Vilas) and the gentleman neighboring State, that of somnambulism, and if this from New Ipswich (Mr. Preston) were in their seats, he moved that the report of the Committee on Agriculture and Manufactures, in relation to killing crows and giving bounty thereon, be taken up, which motion prevailed. The resolution declared that it was inexpedient to legislate upon the subject. was not entertained, he should consider this whole proceeding as illegal, it being an attack upon an office held by law, for Shakspeare's reports have it that crows are the "executors of dead horses." [Laughter.] He afterwards called the crow the "administrator de bonis non," which he translated as adminisThe bill, which had been referred to the commit-trator on bones, and appealed to his learned friend, tee, was read. the Chairman of the Committee on Education, for the correctness of his translation. [Laughter.] He gave as another reason against the bill, that as crows were not the intruders upon this soil, but the real aborigines and joint occupants of the soil, they should not be driven off until a year's notice. [Laughter.] Mr. Preston said he was much obliged for the courtesy of his friend from Manchester in giving him an opportunity to speak on this subject. He should, in the common parlance of the day, 'tender his services,' not to the Governor, but in defence of his poor colored friend, the crow. It had been said that the crow did great injury to the corn field of Further, they were native Americans, and he was the farmer. He (Mr. P.) did not believe it, and he opposed to a law cutting off the heads of natives. did not believe that the farmers of the State de- He would further submit whether it would not manded any such law, certainly the true interests be better to refer this matter to the Committee of of the farmer did not in his opinion demand it. A Incorporations, and let them weave around the study of the habits and food of the crow would con-crows all the restrictive features of laws which vince any one that the crows were not the disciples have been passed for a few years in this State, and of Dr. Graham, but quite the contrary. Their food see if they would not conclude that it was a good was mostly made up of worms and insects, which State to emigrate from. [Laughter.] would do ten times the injury that was ever experienced from the crow, were it not that the crow, by destroying them, prevented injury to corn crops and to all kind of crops. Mr. Peabody said he should go against the bill— If such a bill as this passed he should go for one to destroy the mosquito, for the mosquito was the more injurious bird [laughter], certainly more The crow did not meddle with vegetable substan-sanguinary. ces or with corn, until he had made a thorough Mr. Parker, of Fitzwilliam, did not like the feasearch for worms, and made a return of non est in-tures of the proposed bill. It imposed upon the ventus,' and that his appetite was in 'no part satis-select-men the duty of cutting off the crow's head. fied [laughter] then, and not till then, did the He happened to be one of the select-men of the crow commence depredations upon the farmer's town he represented, and he objected to setting a field. guillotine in front of his door for the purpose of taking off crows' heads. [Laughter ] If the bill passed he hoped that it would be amended so that the one that brought the crows would cut off their heads. He (Mr. P.) said he believed that if the farmer made proper exertions, he could keep the crows away-the farmer could provide proper ways for frightening them away. Farmers were not generally aware of the immense benefit derived from the labors of the crow. For one, he professed to be a farmer, and had for a long time cultivated a considerable amount of land, and he had yet to learn that crows did more injury than benefit to the farmers' crops. He would relate one instance. Mr. Vilas differed with the gentleman from New Ipswich, in relation to the beneficial results of the labors of crows. Perhaps there may be some way to keep off the crows, but it required that the means should be more scientifically understood, than was generally the case at this time, among farmers. Perhaps the gentleman from New Ipswich (Mr. Preston), being half lawyer and half farmer, might weave a net of such a kind that the crow would be glad to keep clear from it. He had a piece of corn between two pieces of woods, in one of which, if anything can be judged by the noise, there was a family of crows. The crows constantly passed over his field of corn, day after day, and hour after hour, without touching a Mr. Preston replied to some remarks of Mr. hill, and passed down into a meadow at some dis- Vilas, after which the question was taken on the tance. He had the curiosity to examine the spot adoption of the resolution declaring it inexpedient where the crows visited, and he found that the grass to legislate upon the subject, and it was decided in was dry and withered in many places, caused by the the negative. [A just conclusion-we vote for ravages of the worms under the turf. Here the the crows.] APPLICATION OF GYPSUM OR PLASTER OF PARIS-ETC. APPLICATION OF GYPSUM OR PLASTER OF PARIS. 269 supersede all others now in use. These hammers PREPARATION OF TOMATOS. GROUND plaster, applied as a fertilizer, is so well known, and its properties and uses so well established, that it is presumed that most intelligent farmers are perfectly acquainted with everything concerning it. It is extensively used, and is very advantageous to clover, beans, peas, turnips, cabbages, &c.; but it does not appear to answer so well on natural meadows, for grain crops, nor on wet, or very poor lands, containing but little vegetable matter, nor is it thought to be of much use in places approximate to the sea. It is extensively used in composts in barn-yards and stables, and in To make Tomato Omelet.-Take a stew-pan and neutralizing decayed or putrescent substances, in melt a piece of butter the size of a nutmeg. Mince vaults, urine tanks, &c.; and is advantageously up an onion very fine, and fry it until quite brown. employed with green manures, and as a top-dress- Add ten peeled tomatos, season with pepper and ing of rotted dung or compost, to which it gives remarkable activity. WE Condense the following modes of cooking and preserving the tomato from the Ohio Cultivator, which appear to us to be worthy of the attention of housewives and cooks. salt, and stir them until cooked to a soft pulp. Then stir in four beaten eggs, until the underside of the mass becomes brown. Lay a plate on top, turn the pan upside down, and the dish is ready for the table. Tomato Marmalade.-Gather full-grown tomatos while quite green. Take out the stems and stew them until soft, then rub them through a sieve, put the pulp over the fire, season highly with pepper, salt, and powdered cloves, and let it stew unti! quite thick. The article will keep well, and is excellent for seasoning gravies. The quantity of gypsum used per acre varies from half a bushel to five bushels, depending upon the quantum of substances in the ground on which the component parts of the gypsum operate, or are by them operated upon. In proportion as these are scarce or abundant, the effects are produced in a greater or less degree. And when they are exhausted, or where they do not exist, no quantity whatever will produce any agricultural benefit. If a greater quantity be used, than is required to exhaust the subjects of its operation, the excess French Mode of Cooking Tomatos.-Cut ten or a will remain inert and inactive until new subjects dozen tomatos into quarters, and put them into a call forth its powers. Still the gypsum remaining sauce-pan with four sliced onions, a little parsley, in the soil, on a renewed application of dung, ani- thyme, one clove, and a quarter of a pound of mal, or vegetable matter, will operate, but less butter. Set the pan over the fire, stir the mixture powerfully, although it may have remained in the occasionally for three-fourths of an hour, and then ground for years. Therefore, small quantities, by strain it through a coarse sieve or colander. It frequent applications, are much the best, notwith- may be served with mutton-chops or a beef-steak. standing the excess, if applied too profusely, or beyond what the substances in the earth require, will remain in its original state of composition. ANDERSON'S PATENT HAMMER. DANDELION COFFEE.-Dr. Harrison, of Edinbugh, prefers dandelion coffee to that of Mecca; and many persons all over the Continent prefer a mixture of succory and coffee to coffee alone. Dig up the roots of dandelion, wash them well, but do not scrape them, dry them, cut them into the size of peas, and then roast them in an earthen pot, or coffee roaster of any kind. The great secret of good coffee, is, to have it fresh burnt and fresh ground.-Cottage Gardening. HOW TO BOIL GREEN CORN.-The proper state in which to eat green corn, is, at the time that the milk flows upon pressing the kernels with the thumb nail. It is best when boiled in the ear with the husks on, the latter of which should be stripped off when brought to the table. The ears should then be covered with butter, with a little salt added, and the grains eaten off the cob. Over-refined people think this vulgar, and shave them off, but in so doing they lose much of their sweetness. ANDERSON'S PATENT HAMMER.-FIG. 63. THIS is a recent invention; the claw, as will be seen by the cut, extending to the handle, and clasp- BEST TIME TO PRUNE PEACH TREES.-The ing it with a strong ring, which makes it impossi- most suitable time for pruning the peach, as well as ble, in drawing nails, for the handle to give way, for most other kinds of stone-fruit, is in autumn, draw out, or become loose. The face of the patent just as the leaves begin to fall, when the sap is in hammer will thus always remain true, it being kept a downward motion. At this period, a more perat the same angle with the hammer. We consider fect cicatrization takes place, than when the trees this a very great improvement, and we think it will are pruned in winter or spring. 270 THE ALPACA.-No. 4. THE ALPACA.-NO. 4. sequently, that the two domestic animals of the Peruvians were not brought to their present state by means of crossing. Their intermixture is a modern expedient by the Spaniards. It is a rule of the vital economy, that life only springs from life, and every being is consequently endowed with the property of generating an offspring, inheriting a nature similar to its own. When the species vary, this rule ceases to act; whence, although possessing a strong physiological resemblance in many important points of their organization, there must necessarily be some material difference between the llama and alpaca in the functions of generation, which it is more than presumable equally extends to the wild species, and that difference produces an irregularity at variance with the laws of nature, constituting an essential condition of life." "Reproduction, Propagation, &c.-The alpaca, in The mountains of Peru, brings forth her young at the age of three years; but in Europe, when highly fed, the age of reproduction is at least a year earlier. On the Andes, as well as in Ireland, she usually receives the male in October or November, and brings forth one at a birth, in the month of April or May. It is remarkable, however, that she should be covered by the male immediately after giving birth to her young, a fact which has been fully corroborated by Thomas Stevenson, Esq., of Oban, in Argyleshire, Scotland, and by Mr. Robert Bell, of Villa House, near Listowel, in the county of Kerry, in Ireland, both of whom are practical and observant farmers, and have successfully raised the alpaca for a number of years. "The female,' says Mr. Stevenson, in a letter bearing date of It appears from the report of M. Bory de Saint April 10th, 1843, "was invariably covered by the Vincent, a distinguished naturalist, who accom male two or three days after she had a lamb; and, panied the French army into Spain, under Marshal from the singularity of this circumstance, it attract- Soult, that he observed in the Zoological Garden of ed my very particular attention, and I regularly Don Francisco de Theran, at San Lucar de Barramarked down the date on which the female was meda, in Andalusia, a female llama pregnant by an covered, and found that she went with lamb a very alpaca, and also three alpa-vigonias (the cross befew days less than a year." In a communication tween the vicuña and alpaca), the fleeces of which by Mr. Bell, of March 18th, the same year, he were much longer, and six times heavier than those says, "I find they usually copulate here in the of any other variety. The Spaniards were proud month of October or November, although the of this acquisition, thinking that they had thereby female takes the ram invariably after having obtained a new race of wool-bearing animals, calbrought forth her young, which is generally in the culated to people their hills, and repair the loss susmonth of May or June. At the age of nine tained through the decline in their Merino flocks. months (?) the produce of the feminine gender will By the experiment of crossing, however, they debegin to breed, at which time their wool will be feated the very object which they had in view, as found to be six inches long, and their height to the the animals gradually died off without leaving any shoulder thirty-four, to the top of the head, fifty-offspring, and in the course of a few years there was scarcely one individual to be found in the kingdom. one inches." The llama and alpaca, as well as the alpaca and vicuña, can be induced to breed together, and of the former union there are frequent examples to be met with in Europe as well as in Peru. From this alliance a beautiful hybrid results, if possible, finer to the eye than either parent, and also more easily trained to work, but like the mule, it does not procreate, a fact which has been confirmed by General O'Brien, an observant Irish gentleman, who resided twenty years in Peru, and was actively employed under San Martin, the Liberator, in the War of Independence a great traveller on the Andes, and besides a landed proprietor and miner in the district of Puno. Subjoined is an extract from a communication by him, dated at Liverpool, June 6th, 1841 :— "You ask me whether the alpaca is still used in Peru as a beast of burden. I answer that it is, but not generally, and only by the poorer class of Indians, who do not own many llamas. There is, however, a beautiful animal produced between the llama and alpaca, much handsomer in form and figure than either, and also better adapted for work, but it does not breed. * In Peru we call them machurgas, and these are the animals I principally used at my mines to bring down the ores from the mountains. * "From the sterility of this hybridous race, it would follow that the alpaca is a distinct variety of the llama tribe, differing as much from its allied species, as the borse does from the ass; and, con There are two facts, however, concerning the procreation of the Andes sheep, which ought not to be concealed-one, a difficulty of copulation arising from natural causes, and the other an almost uncontrollable and jealous disposition of the males at this season. The difficulty of copulation, and the manner in which it is overcome by the Indians, were first noticed by Hernandez, and it is said that nothing can be more accurate than his remarks, as exemplified in the practice of the present day. Without the assistance of man, sexual intercourse certainly can and does take place, as seen in the wild races, the structural formation of which is the same; but in the tame ones it invariably gives rise to confusion. In Peru, the rutting season com. mences at the close of October, when the animals become restless and lascivious, and, according to Dr. Unanue, the estimable writer on the climate of Lima, in 1806, "all nature seems to be in motion; vegetation assumes a new form; earthquakes and volcanic eruptions frequently occur, and the air is filled with an electric fluid. Every production then glows with fresh fire, and by an active stimulus animals are impelled to the propagation and conse quent preservation of their own kinds." At this period the working llama has a respite; for it is regarded as unsafe to put a burden upon his back, and indeed dangerous to thwart his wishes, or control his actions. Both the tame and wild breeds, it is said, sometimes fight outrageously for their |