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Official Organ of the Patrons of Husbandry.
From the Homeward Star.]
SHEEP RAISING IN TEXAS.
Eagle Pass, Texas.
I desired to comply with your several
requests to write for The Star, some
time ago, but could not well do so while
constantly in the saddle. Now, after a
ride of some two thousand miles, over
different parts of West Texas, and into
the heart of the sheep-raising country,
I will try and give you a few notes.
I have met and talked with sheep rais
ers from Australia, New Zealand, Brazil,
California, New Mexico, and nearly all
the Eastern States and Canadas. With
the exception of one or two from Cali
fornia (and you know Californians are
terrible braggarts) they all agree that
Texas, west of the Nueces river, is un
excelled by any country in the world as
a wool producing territory. Some
place the boundry of this favored re
gion as far east as the San Antonia riv
er, and a few even the Colorado. My
own observation convinces me that
sheep do as well and produce as much
wool in the stretch of country lying be
tween the San Antonia and Nueces riv
ers as in that between the I, ueces and
the Rio Grande. I would prefer not
to go east of the San Antonia river,
though there are many localities over
there where sheep do excellently.
When we reach the Sabinal river, sixty
miles west of San Antonia, we find our
selves within the limits of the sheep
producing country of Texas. On this
stream is the well known ranch of Col
onels James and Shean. They have
from four to five thousand head of
sheep, mostly graded up from the Mex
ican ewe. They have seventy head of
thoroughbred, imported merino bucks,
valued at three thousand dollars.
These flocks will shear four to five
pounds of wool per year per head,
which brings the highest price in San
Antonia market. When we visited the
ranch they were about trading one hun
dred fine young bucks, of their own
raising, to parties in Mexico, for ten
Mexican ewes each, the Mexicans to
pay all duties and costs. They shear
once a year, and dip whenever the flocks
seem to require it. Their facilities for
dipping are very complete, consisting of
a large iron boiler, to boil tobacco in,
and a water tight tank. Mr. Shean
has used some lime in connection with
tobacco, but believes it to be injurious
to the wool, unless the dipping is done
soon after shearing. Their breed is
the Spanish merino. There are several
other flocks on this stream ; that of
the Thompson brothers, a few miles
above, being one of the best and lar
gest ; but we had not time to visit
each one. On the Blanco, four miles
west, is the ranch of Peter Riner, a
former Californian. He began with
two hundred and fifty Mexican ewes
and has now some six thousand head,
counting the lambs. He also has fine
imported bucks of Spanish merino.
Last winter Messrs Riner and Thomp
sons traded wethers to Mr. Mathews
for a car load of bis imported merinos,
getting $4 per head for wethers and al
lowing S4O for the bucks per head.
Mr. Riner sells off his sheep annually so
as to limit his number of grown ones to
four thousand head. What his reason is I
hardly know,unless it is that he is one of
those who does everything well that he
puts his hand to, rather than do twice
as much and only do it half. Last
spring his wool brought twenty-seven
cents per pound, and averaged about
4} lbs. to the head. Has made a for
tune from a very small beginning,
and is now putting a fence of thirty
two miles (and the best fence in that
country too) around a pasture, prepar
atory to raising improved cattle. He
has a good dipping tank, and only dips
when the sheep seem to need it, using
nothing, I believe, but tobacco. Fol
lowing down the Blanco a few miles,
we come to the ranch of Mr. Wish, and
some ten miles west, on the Frio, that
of David Broun. Both of these men
have been very successful, and their
flocks do not differ very much from
those of others in the vicinity. All
these parties seem to have given more
care to the improvment of their flocks
than the average sheep raiser of West
Texas. On down the Frio are
Crouch's, Campbell’s, and a number of
other fine ranches, with two to ten
thousand head each, some of them mak
ing a specialty of raising fine bucks,
and others somewhat careless as to
improvement. A few miles west of
Uvalde, on Nueces river, we stopped
over night with Mr. Miller. From a
very small beginning his flocks now
number about six thousand well graded
sheep, which afford him an income
from wool amply sufficient to support
Lis family handsomely, without using
the increase of his flocks. Up the val-
• ley thirty or forty miles is Mr. Lewis,
' an old settler, who has about twenty-five
* hundred head. Fifteen miles further
giggfiH
up is Mr. Thorpe, a Calfornian, whom
we found very intelligent and with an
agreeable family. He has four thous
and head of good Missouri sheep that
are doing splendidly. His profits last
year in wool and lambs were $5,000.
He keeps his stock in three flocks, and
is grading up with merino and South
down ; breeds once a year and shears
once a year ; whenever a sheep be
comes lame or otherwise injured he is
trea+ed at once, and the flocks all look
well. Some forty or fifty miles west
are the Morris brothers, English gen
tlemen of fortune, from Australia.
They are located on the Pilo Pinto, in
the midst of one of the finest ranges in
the State. They were reared in the
business, and know it from a to z.
They have about ten thousand head in
this State ; some of them very fine, im
ported from England at much cost.
The only lot of genuine Shropshire
down I know of in Texas are on this
ranch. They keep an overseer at a
good salary, a fine team, buggy, dogs
and guns, and, I am told, feel satisfied
if they come out even at the end of the
year. They shear once a year and
breed the same, and use the tobacco
dip. Not being acclimated, a number
of their fine sheep have died, entailing
a heavy loss in that line.
Twenty-five miles west, at St. Phili
pe, on the Rio Grande, is the present
frontier sheep ranch on that part of
the border; kept by Jones Grimes.
The range here is so good that his
wethers get too fat in warm weather.
He has some three thousand head, and
has adopted the plan of shearing twice
a year, and breeds twice in fourteen
months.
The advantages claimed in favor of
shearing twice a year are that the sheep
keep healthier, and that they produce
enough more wool to pay for the extra
shearing and difference in price. The
semi-yearly clip being of shorter staple
does not bring quite so much per pound
as the annual clip.
Down the Rio Grande is Mr. J.
Towne, with three to four thousand
sheep, graded from Mexicans ; and fif
teen miles above Eagle Pass we find
Messrs. Lytle, Spencer, Oliphant and
Mitchell, with some eight thousand
head, some pure Mexican ewes and
some fine graded merinos. They im
ported forty Vermont bucks this fall.
They pay two cents each for shearing
Mexican sheep, and three for merinos.
One man will shear from fifty to sixty
mexicans a day, and a few shear as
many as one hundred. They, as well as
all others in this region, send their
wool to San Antonia ; freightage half
a cent a pound. These gentlemen will
soon stand among the leading sheep
raisers of this country.
Between Eagle Pass and Uvalde is
Mr. Bell, with a couple thousand head,
fair graded sheep ; Mr. Finley, who is
just getting a good start, and who paid
S4O dollars each for several head of
bucks this fall; the Negley brothers,
young Baltimoreans, with eight hun
dred head of good Mexican ewes and
sixteen head good bucks, and who have
bright prospects if they will only stick
to it a year of two, which they are
bound to do, for they have the true
grit; and Mr. Flowers with forty-five
hundred head, whose flocks shear from
four to five pounds—keeps the ewes
pregnant all the time nature will allow
it, and has a lambing time in Februa
ry and March, June and July, and Sep
tember and October. The Spring
lambs do the best. He has heretofore
used a dip of two pounds arsenic, eight
cans concentrated lye and fifty pounds
of tobacco ; but believes tobacco decoc
tion, simple and pure, is all that is
needed. He shears twice yearly, and,
like the majority, puts dry powdered
charcoal on cuts that the shears make
in the sheep, to heal the wound and
keep away the flies.
Among other lots in this neighbor
hood is that of Wood hull brothers, of
about twenty five hundred head. In
dipping they added to the tobacco liq
uor about a pint of coal oil to every
ten or twelve head, the only case of
the kind I know of, and whether the
benefit equals the cost is, as yet, un
known.
North of Eagle Pass are the flocks of
Griffith Jones. I do not know the
number of head, but I judge two or
three thousand. Several years ago
this gentleman lost twenty-six hundred
ewes and lambs by the bursting of a
water spout, and about the same time
five hundred died of liver rot ; hence,
he had reason to think that the stock
was not very profitable, but he still
sticks to it, and is making money.
Eight miles east of Eagle Pass are
Major Fielder with five hundred head
of good Eastern sheep, and Mr. Simp
son with five hundred as fine Mexican
ewes as can be found.
South of town, alongthe Rio Grande,
are the flocks of Mr. Stone,, numbering
fifteen to twenty thousand head.
These parties all shear twice a year,
are grading up with Spanish Merino,
and breed twice in fourteen months, or
some say three times in two years. I
opine three times in two years is as
rapid breeding as any of them reach
for any number of consecutive years,
though I have heard of them breeding
twice a year for two successive vears.
It is, I think, generally admitted, that
if a person has tine sheep and wants to
raise bucks, it is not l»est to breed more
than once a year, but the value of the
Mexican ewe depends on its half breed
lambs, and not on its wool ; hence, it
is pushed to its full capacity. Mexi
can ewes shear from two to two and a
half pounds per year per head, which
is worth ten to fifteen cents per pound.
Among other ranches visited was
that of R. Martin, between Fort Ewell
and Laredo. He has now twenty-three
thousand head of average sheep. His
flocks are less now than formerly, as he
has lately made some favorable sales.
A. short time ago he squared his books
and had made thirty-five thousand dol
dars clear, besides having on hand at
that time twenty-eight thousand head of
well improved sheep. Twenty-five hands
are employed regularly, and at shear
ing time fiftv more. His semi-annual
clip amounts from forty to fifty
thousand pounds, and is worth twenty
five cents per pound. He owns twen
ty five thousand acres of land here, and
has a great deal of valuable property
in stores, etc., in Laredo. He began
busines a poor man, and is now worth
from a quarter to a half million of dol
lars. His fii-ftt flock of sheep number
ed one thousand head, and the first
year or two he lost his wool crop by
reason of the war, and other causes.
On this ranch they do not use the to
bacco dip, but rub tar on the scab-af
fected ones, which they say is an effec
tive cure and cheaper than tobacco;
for the s r -rew worm they use carsylic
ointment.
Don Anselmo Flores is the capable
Superintendent, who knows as much
about sheep as a man generally learns.
It is positively asserted that he, in
herding a flock, will know every sheep
by its countenance, and not only that,
but that he can tell, from the face or
countenance of a lamb, to which ewe it
belongs. I have heard this asserted
several times, of different shepherds.
It seems hard to believe, yet I am
not prepared nor inclined to dispute
it.
Don Flores has an under boss to as
sist him. The shepherds herd on foot,
as all do, with one or two exceptions,
I’ve met, where white shepherds used
poniers. Mexican shepherds are al
ways on foot. The superintendent and
boss, on the ranch, have ponies, of
which there are twenty to thirty on
the place. Everything is furnished by
the proprietor, who, in addition to his
own clip, buys large quantities of wool
from others, which is shipped direct to
New York by water.
Twenty-six miles from Fort Ewell,
and thirty-five from Laredo, is the fa
mous Callaghan ranch, which will be
dwelt upon at greater length. Mr.
Callaghan began wi'h a few hundred
Mexican ewes in 1862. During the
war they were scattered, with no one
to care for them. After the strife was
over, he gathered the remnant togeth
er, and, in 1867, had seven hundred
head of all sorts. There are now on the
ranch sixty thousand head. The iIK
crease, this year, was sixteen thousand
lambs, and the annual expenses of the
ranch are twenty to twenty-five thou
sand dollars.
The sheep are placed in groups of six
flocks each, beside a small seventh
flock, made up of goats (used for meat)
and the lame and weakly sheep in the
group. Each flock numbers two thou
sand head, which has its shepherd.
Each group has over it a boss, and two
under bosses, on horseback. The un
der-bosses must visit each of three
flocks daily, and see the shepherds
thereof personally- The boss manages
everything in his group, sleeping at
night with the goat and crippled flock,
which is generally kept in a brush pen
at night. The other flocks have no
pens, and the shepherds stay with
them day and night. A manager (Mex
ican) has direct charge over all the
groups, and gets $75 a month. He
reports regularly to the superinten
dent, and everything is systematized to
the minutest details. Toward lambing
time, the pregnant ewes are placed iji
herds of four to six thousand head, and
penned at night in brush pens. All
that bear lambs are separated in the
morning and placed to themselves, to
the number of 300, and a shepherd takes
charge of them. In ten or twelve days
two of these lamb flocks are thrown to
gether, making 600 ewes, with their
lambs; in a week or two more, two of
these flocks are thrown together, mak
ing 1200 hundred ewes and 1200 lambs.
Thus the lambs, in each of the large
flocks, are of about the same age and
condition, and, when weaning time
conies, can be separated without trou
ble.
On this ranch, each ewe is supposed
to bring a lamb each year. If a ewe
loses her young soon after birth, or
does not become pregnant in the fall,
she is again put to the buck, and pro
duces a fall lamb. Shearing is done
twice a year. Begins in fall, about the
middle of September, and lasts four to
six weeks. This year it commenced
September 20th, with thirty men. some
of them stripped bare to the waist. The
second day there were sixty shearers.
Before daylight all was astir. At day
break a cup of coffee was served, and
immediately 150 tine young bucks were
let into shearing pens. The shearers
stood in readiness in a line, and, at a
given signal from the superintendent,
each man caught and tied a sheep, and
thus continued until five to each man
were tied and laid on the ground.
Then the merry click, click, of the
shears began, and will continue into No
vember.
Raw hide straps are used to tie with.
These are attached to the workmen’s
waists, so as to be convenient as soon
as they take hold of the animal. While
this is going ’on, others are preparing
strings t > tie up the fleeces, bv scorch-
ing the leaves of the Spanish dagger,
and splitting them into strips ; others
are twisting cord with a stick, out of
pi epared estie, a sort of Mexican grass,
that is stronger than seaweed rope, and
is used to sew up the wool-sacks ; while
others are cooking and carrying wa
ter.
The shearing is done on the floor of
the pen or shed. The shearer begins
at the tail, and the fleece, as it is cut
off, falls upon the floor, where it is
left; the shorn animal is turned loose
and the shearer begins on another.
Other workmen gather up the fleece and
loose locks carefully, and carry them
to a table, where two fleeces are folded
nicely together, by two workmen,
and securely tie the same with “dagger”
strings. A frame is made from which
to suspend the wool-sacks The fleeces
are carried thence from the tie tables,
and are pa-ked into the sacks.
A heavy man gets into the sack, and
tramps it down solidly. Each sack
contains about three hundred pounds.
They are weighed before leaving the
ranch, and the weight marked on the
sack with a stencil plate. Ten of these
are placed on a huge Mexican ox-cart,
and the long journey to Corpus Christi
begins. There the entire clip is sold
to a single firm. The freight is one
cent per pound, and the wool brings
twenty-five cents per pound in gold.
In the shearing pens, boys run about
among the shearers, like pages in a leg
islative hall, with cans of sheep dip and
turpentine, and little brushes. When
ever one is cut, or has any wounds or
sores, the brush is at once applied by
the boys ; other boys keep the floor
swept clean with brushes made of
twigs.
Near the water casks, sandstones of
fine grain are placed on which to whet
the shears. No tables are used, except
for the tyers. The superintendent,
with book and pencil in hand, goes
about among the men, keeping an ac
count with each one, and seeing to ev
erything. If a sheep is turned loose
poorly’ shorn, the man must catch it
again, and finish the work satisfacto
rily. This does not often occur. Two
and a quarter cents are paid per head
for shearing, and forty-five head per
day, per man, is good average work.
All the shearers are Mexicans. Clip
averages four and a half pounds per
year —two pounds in fall and two and
a half in spring.
The shed is made of forks set in the
ground, with brush and grass thrown
over for shade ; it is not rain-proof,
and is large enough for sixty to eighty
shearers. A half dozen sheep, called
Cabrestos, are used for leading the flocks
from pen to pen. These sheep are
trained, when lambs, for leaders, and
are never sold off a ranch. They cosU
$5 per head in Mexico, and are very
tractable.
Through shearing time coffee is served
at daybreak ; breakast, at 7 ; dinner, at
12 ; coffee at 3, and supper at evening.
Seventy men are regularly employed,
beside the shearers, and much extra
help in lambing time. Shepherds get
$lO per month for first three months,
and sl2 afterward. For scours in the
sheep, a spoonful of tar is given inter
nally, and dipping is done only when
the appearance of scab seems to neces
sitate it. Two thousand sheep are dipped
a day. A small quantity of carsylic
ointment, or sheep dip, is added to the
tobacco liquid. The liquor is used as
strong as it can be made, and as hot as
the animal can bear. Cost of tobacco,
twenty cents per pound; cost of dip
ping per head, including labor, four
cents.
Bucks arc put with ewes only at
night. The imported Lucks are fed
three half-pints of oats per day, each,
and have a good pine lumber shed for
bad weather. All imported Northern
bucks die in two years. 20 per cent,
are lost in transit from the North.
(This surprising fatality is not com
mon in the experience of all sheep
dealers. Many have not lost over 20
per cent, all told, and many of the im
portant bucks of Messrs. Shean, Broun,
Riner, and others, seem to be as healthy
as those raised in Texas) (Some
give their bucks no extra feed ; others
cook the prickly pear, or cactus, and
feel it, which is said to equal corn ;
but, I believe, all agree that imported
bucks ought to be fed some grain, or
other extra food, and housed from
Northers.) The imported bucks on
this ranch cost in New York and Ver
mont, S4O to SIOO each, and a fine
fellow “ Eclipse,” that died, cost
$250.
A stock of clothing, food and camp
utensils, is kept on the ranch, but the
men are not rationed as on most ranch
es. The shepherds are furnished only
meal and meat, and do their own cook
ing.
The corn is ground on the place by
a five-horse power mill. For meat, one
•_-oat per day is sufficient for six men.
The milk used at the ranch is that of
g'>ats, and is much richer than cows’
milk. (In the Uvalde country, the
shepherds are also furnished sugar and
coffee, generally.)
The material for wool-sacks is bought
by the piece, and the sacks made on
the place. Not a woman lives <»n the
ranch, nor ever has. Cheeks printed
in blank, exclusively fur “Callaghan’s
Ranch,” are given to men in payment
of their services, and it is the only
place I know us in Texas where any
thing but the solid silver or gobi will
be accepted by a Mexican. A'.l the
euq ’.uVcs, except the u.urk, are Mexi-
cans, and that language is used exclu
sively.
Col. Wm. R. Jones, formerly of Vir
ginia, is superintendent, and Mr. How
ard Dunn, of Lexington, Missouri, is
clerk. The Colonel is a cultivated and
polished gentleman, educated at West
Point, and of large business experience.
He is making a specialty of breeding
fine bucks for the Texas and Mexican
market, and can show several hundred
good merinos, the result of fine blood
and skillful breeding, which he offers
at prices so that all can purchase. On
his shelves we found the New York
Herald, St. Louis Republican, Harper’s
Weekly, and other leading papers, and
volumes of the poets, and Sherman’s
Memoirs lay upon the desk. An air of
Virginia comfort and hospitality rests
upon the office, and the weary traveler
is refreshed in mind as well as body.
Mr. Callaghan died about a year ago,
comparatively a young man, and the
entire management of the ranch has
since devolved on Col. Jones. His suc
cess is sufficient proof of his executive
and administrative ability.
The number of ewes that should be
put to a buck, is a mooted point, and
ranges from five to fifty/according to
the individual’s notion. Ou Martin’s
ranch five ewes to a buck is their present
number ; on Callaghan’s, ten to fifteen.
It is well known that, in the North, 100
is a common number.
The time has come when it is almost
necessary to own land. All, or nearly
all, the large ranches have large bodies
of it, and it is not safe for any one to
come to this part of the State to en
gage in sheep raising unless they are
prepared to buy land. Very nearly, if
not quite, all the streams and perma 7
nent water holes are already occupied.
The common price is now $1 per acre.
No money is used here except coin.
The price of Mexican ewes, this side
the Rio Grande, is now SI 50 and ris
ing, and graded merinos $2 50 to §4 00
per head. A great many are engaging
in the business and prices have been
run up. The majority of men say there
is bound to be a reaction, as the price
of wool, this fall, will not warrant such
high rates for sheep.
The foot rot is unknown here. The
only serious diseases I have known of
are liver rot, although it is very un
common, and scab. The latter does
not seem to be so virulent as in the
East, and is easily cured. The Spanish
merino is the favorite breed all over
West Texas, and the tobacco dip, pure
and unadulterated, is believed to be as
good as can be found.
I find that the profits are not so great
as some figure them on paper, yet, if a
man has success, I believe it is better
than cattle or horse breeding. To be
eminently successful, the closest watch
ing and utmost care are positively es
sential. In the Rio Grande country
no salt is given the flocks, as there
are several plants and grasses having sa
line properties, and much of the water
is of the same nature.
C. S. Brodbent.
The Sceret of Success in Life.
No man now standing on an emi
nence of influence and power, and
doing great work, has arrived at his
position by going up an elevator.
He took the stairway step by step.
He climbed the rocks often with
bleeding hands. He prepared him
self by the work of climbing for the
work he is doing. He never ac
complished an inch of his elevation
by standing at the foot of the stair
way with his mouth open and long
ing. There is no “royal road” to
anything good—not even to wealth.
Money that has not been paid for in
life is not wealth. It goes as it
comes. There is no element of
permanence in it. The man who
reaches his money in an elevator
docs not know how to enjoy it; so
it is not wealth to him, To get a
high position without climbing to
it, tr> win wealth without earning
it, to do fine work without the dis
cipline necessary to its perform
ance, to be famous, or useful, or or
namental, without preliminary cost,
seems to be the universal desire of
the young. The children would be
gin where their fathers leave off.
What exactly is the secret of true
success in life ? It is to do, without
flinching, and with utter faithful
ness, the duty that stands next to
one. When a man has mastered
the duties around him, he is ready
for those of a higher grade, and he
takes naturally one step upward.
When he has mastered the duties of
the new grade, he goes on climbing.
There arc no surprises to the man
who arrives at eminence legitimate
ly. It is entirely natural that he
should be there, and he is as much
at home there, and as little elated,
as when he was working patiently
at the foot of the stairs. There arc
heights above him, and he remains
humble and simple.
Preachments are of little avail,
perhaps; but when one comes into
contact with so many men and wo
men, who put aspiration instead of
perspiration, and yearning for earn
ing, and longing for labor, he is
tempted to say, to them : “Stop
looking up, and look around you !
Do the work that first comes to your
hand, and do it well. Take no up-
ward step till you come to it natu
rally, and have won the power to n
hold it. The top in this little j
world is not so very high, and pa- J
tient climbing will bring you to it ’
ere you are aware.”
smaller industries.
It is a great mistake with many of
our people, in judging that to raise
cotton, or corn, and wheat, and to turn
out wares and goods from the loom, the
forge and the foundry, is all we can do
here in Georgia. Yet a great deal more
of this kind of thing should be done.
As much as he loves his dinner, the
writer almost loses his appetite, daily,
walking through the freight depot
of the Western and Atlantic railroad,
and seeing piles and nests of tubs, pails,
rolling pins, wash boards, potato mash
ers, clothes pins, plows, churns, horse
buckets, sugar boxes, knife boxes,
lemon squeezers, hatchet, ax and hoe
handles, beef-steak mallets, rocking
horses, shoe-pegs, shoes, etc.
But there are other agricultural pro
ducts, as well as manufactured articles
of utility, it would pay us to turn our
attention to. Take for instance, our
importation of silk goods, which now
amount yearly to thirty millions.
During the war, the writer examined
some beautiful silk which was manufac
tured in Troup county, by a young
lady. Why should not its manufac
ture be entered into, and it become an
an important industry in Georgia?
Teas have been cultivated successfully
in the State ; perhaps the only trouble
in making it profitable would be the
high price of labor, compared with its
cost in China. Why should not the
cultivation of the castor bean, and the
the manufacture of oil, pay ?
The honey crop of California will
soon prove more valuable than the
sugar and molasses crop of Louisiana,
Texas and Florida combined. Will it
not remunerate some of our people to
embark more in the business ?
There are other and profitable in
dustries, which our people might take
hold of, which would diversify our ag
agriculture and augment the wealth of
Georgia.
Cyclones.
The observer at the Signal Service
office in New York, says that the Septem
ber cyclones followed the usual course.
Cyclones never cross the Equator.
Those on this Continent begin a little
abode the Equator and follow a para
bolic curve. That of last month be
gan near the Bahamas, took at first a
northwesterly course, entered the Gulf
of Mexico, where it remained about
tw r o days; and, then, proceeding in an
easterly direction, followed the course
of the gulf stream.
The cyclones have two motions. One
is a progressive one, whereby the area
of low barometer moves forward. The
other is a gyratory motion. The wind
tends toward the center of the cy
clone, where the barometer is at its low
est. Its direction is not, however,
straight, but curved. The gyratory
motion in the Northern hemsphere is
in a direction opposite to that of the
hands of a dock. In the Southern
hemisphere the motion is in the oppo
site direction. On September 13, while
the gale was at its height, the wind at
Galveston moved with a velocity of
fifty-six miles per hour. The barome
eter stood at 29 deg. 10 min., both in
the Gulf of Mexico and along the East
ern coast of Florida.
AlpaeaSheep.
Ex-Governor Thomas, of Mary
land, has recently imported, from
Peru, a lot of Alpaca sheep. The
fleece of this animal far surpasses
that of our best breeds of sheep in
the length and firmness of its fiber,
and weighs about seven pounds for
each shearing, and as it is much larger
than our own sheep, and its flesh is
said to be superior to mutton for
food, as well as its capacity to pro
duce the material for a beautiful ar
ticle of clothing, it ;nay, in time,
become of great value to the coun
try. Their colors are glossy black,
beautiful brown of various shades,
very white and gray. They are
heavy and deep in the chest, slim
in the loins, and of handsomely
curved and full-round hindquarters,
with a long, swan-like neck, which
they carry in a vertical direction,
and which, with a well-formed head
and remarkably beautiful eye, gives
them a pleasing and imposing ap
pearance.
—The Covington Star says : Mr.
F. P. Reynolds has made this year,
with three plows, 27 bales of cotton,
nearly four hundred bushels of corn,
and 160 bushels of wheat, besides a
large crop of peas. He made 150
bushels of peas from one bushel plan
ted. Mr. Reynolds is one of the most
energetic and industrious young far
mers in Jour jeounty, and his example
is worthy of emulation. If any one
has beat him we would like to hear
from it, for ten thousand such farmers ,
in this section would make it truly the
garden spot of the ‘“Empire State.”
—The Sparta Times says: There has not 1
been in our community for years a moral in
stitution of so much potency as the Young i
Men’s Christian Association. It has taken
deep hold upon many heretofore indifferent to
the claims of good morals ami religion upon
them. W.- an- glad to see it, and we hope to
see its influence widen ami deepen every dav