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6
THE UNIVERSALITY OF TROTH.
In the common use of language, nothing is
more prevalent than the confounding of the
words tinth and fart. In a court of justice, a
witness is required by his oath not to state the j
facts, the whole facts. and nothing but the facts,
but to tell the truth, the whole truth, and noth- j
ing but the truth. This lie cannot do unless he j
is able to tell what the facts mean; for truth is
a logical deduction from known facts, and is not
itself a thing done (factum) or a fact. A person
may remember many facts without knowing the
meaning of any one or more of the number. The
right interpretation of facts demands a higher
order of intellect, and far more cultivation, than
to remember and record them as they transpire.
Society owes most of its popular and mischievous
errors, and its false notions of men and things, to
the premature attempt to generalize observed
facts, and establish truths for the guidance of
human conduct. More than three centuries ago.
Baco.v demonstrated both the value and the
principle of the inductive system of reasoning, j
and the necessarily slow growth of all true
science. Such is the vagueness of human
thought and perception, and such the imperfec
tion of language, that even where no personal ;
interest, nor preconceived ideas intervene to '
warp the judgment, many generations have to
relate their experience, live and die lx-fore the j
real meaning of common facts and things can l>c
ascertained.
Minds but little cultivated, or badly developed,
where the imagination is stronger than the rea
soning faculties, have little taste for severe logic,
and generally accept the ready formed opinions
of others as settled truth, especially where the :
adoption of these established opinions favors j
some sensual appetite, or tends to promote some
social or political advantage. A wrong practice,
or a false principle, is followed with little re
morse so long ns it is fashionable: so that error
lias the million on its side for indefinite ages,
while truth is persecuted as a wicked rebellion
agaiust tUS powers that be, This popular igno
rance of truth- and contempt for the inductive ;
system of reaching it, has naturally led educated
persons in different nations and communities to
entertain the most opposite views as to the right
and wrong of particular systems of government,
laws, religious creeds, domestic habits, and so
cial institutions. Some well-informed people re
gard negro slavery with perfect abhorrence;
wliile others, better informed on this subject,
esteem it as deserving of universal support and
commendation.
Notwithstanding this apparently hopeless and
endless conflict of opinion, there underlies, deep
in the human soul, the living germ of liarmo- !
nious truth, which expands ns knowledge and
virtue increase in the world. It is the high
function of this vital truth, which may sleep for
ages but cannot die, to assimilate the moral and
intellectual conclusions of the whole human fam
ily. Three and two never make six in one man's
mind, and four in another man's, when the rela
tions of these numbers are understood by both;
and in time, there will be equal unity, and there
fore universality, in the truths attained from all
known facts.
The existing relations of things being the
work of au all-wise, and unchangeable Creator,
truth is not, and cannot be, either exclusively
personal, local, or sectional in its nature, but is
as universal as the universe itself. If this were
not so, the world would be a mass of warring
elements, in which neither vegetable nor animal
organization could exist, nor the beautiful har
mony of vital currents flow on through the 1 todies
of countless generations. Cause and effect ate i
left to no blind chance; so that the laws of Na
ture may be comprehended and anticipated, as
well as studied. No unity is more perfect than
that which subsists between Nature and Reve
lation ; between truth and duty. It is not more
necessary to cultivate the ground out of which
man was taken, and formed in the image of his
Maker, than to cultivate every faculty that raises
him above the beasts that perish. An unselfish
love of truth, and skill in separating it from error,
are attainments placed by Heaven within tho
reach of all. It is, however, far more difficult to
unlearn false notions on any subject, that is,
correct errors which are already received as un
doubted truths, than to learn the true meaning
of facts on which no opinion has been formed.
A wise person will never be hasty in making up
his judgment from the presentation of a few iso
lated facts. Experience proves that such hasty
opinions are of little value, and often lead to evil
consequences. There are thousands of farmers
who are too ready to adopt the mere opinions of
men of very limited observation, as embodying
the principles of agricultural science. Such an
error can lead only to disappointment and loss—
loss of money and loss of confidence in what is
termed book knowledge. A man has to labor
faithfully to obtain truth as he would to extract
pure gold from hard granite rook. "Wealth can
not puNfiase high intellectual powers; nor can
one mind a* the thinking and studying of another
without dwafSjjg the faculties of the idle brain.
Every youth sh\w learn to reason logically on
every matter he thinks. This course
leads to wisdom and st^ty.
SOWING CORN BROADCAST.
Now is the time to sow cork broadcast, or in
drills, for soiling purposes, or forsaking excel
lent hay. Make the ground stable
manure; plow deep, stir all the soil, Wjd sow
three bushels of com per acre. If youn%ve a
subsoil plow, let it follow the turning plow in
the same furrow, breaking the ground to the
depth of twenty inches, but leaving the loosened
subsoil unturned, and below the surface soil.
Harrow the earth thoroughly before sowing the
seed; and let the latter be covered by a one
horse turning plow. If put in drills, mark out
the rows three feet apart, sow the com liberally
along the drills and cover with the plow. If in
rows, run a plow a few times between them to
keep down the weeds, and loosen the earth.
SOTTXKKBJSr AM BXBJBBIDK,
LETTER OF gen. WASHINGTON
TO HOWELL LEWIS. SEVER BEFORE PIBLI3HED.
Philadelphia, Augt 18th, 1793.
Peah Howell —Your letter of the 14th inst..
| and enclosures, came duly to hand,
i lam glad to hear you had a fine rain on the
Thursday preceding the date of your letter, even
if the corn should receive no benefit from it, be
cause it would put the ground in good condition
| for the the reception of wheat. I hope it was
followed by another good rain on Wednesday
night last. At this place it rained the whole
night.
I want to make an experiment with respect to
taking the tops from com before the usual time.
I know 7 that if the tops of a whole field were taken
off' lie fore the dust has fallen, so as to impregnate
the grain, that there will be no com; but as soon
as this function is performed, the tops, in my
opinion, serve only to participate in the nutriment
which otherwise would lie more abundant for
what remained. I lielieve, also, as the dust
from the tassel impregnates equally with its own.
all the corn (through the tidies of the silk) it
| falls upon, that if every other row, throughout
’ a whole field, was deprived of the tops, the com,
notwithstanding, would be equally good; and this
is the experiment (although it is late for it) that I
| want to have made. Tell Mr. Crow, therefore,
i tliat it is my desire that he would immediately
cut the tops from every other row of com in No.
j 5, to the amount of twenty, beginning on the
| side next to No. 2, by the bam. Let the
first row retain the tops—the second, 4,6,
and so on alternately, to the 40th, to lose
them. lie need not go beyond the old ditch
which formerly divided the fields. Particular
care must be taken to cut the tops above the
second joint, that is. above the one from where
the corn proceeds. Experiments of this sort are
easily made, and without risk or expense: and
the result may be important. Ido not moan
that the blades are also to lie taken oflf, for this
might expose the stalk to the sun, stop the dr- j
culation of the juice, and of course injure the '
grain.
What arrangements have the overseers made for
exchanging their wheat, and of what kinds does
each sow agreeably to my former directions to 1
them ? The barley from hence has been delayed I
lieyond my expectation—the vessel by which I ;
intended to have sent it, having sailed sooner
than was expected. Ido not suppose now, it j
can go earlier than in Elltvood. But as soon as
it is received, it must be sown, in order to give j
it ftn equal chance in point of season. Whether
to liegin on the contra side of the fields which j
are sowing with wheat at the time of its arrival ,
or otherwise, I scarcely know r , at this distance, :
how to direct. I would wish it to have neither ]
lietter nor worse ground than what is allowed
for wheat, and it would appear odd to have it in '
the middle of a field of this grain. The over- !
seers, knowing what my design is, must dispose |
of it in the best manner the}' can to answer it. j
Mr. Lear insists upon it, that he put the clover
seed (in a cask containing about 7 bushls)
into the store himself, on the left hand of the
door. If it is not to be found there, you may
tell Mr. Butler I shall look to him for the value
of it, unless he can discover what is gone with
it. The reason I had it put into the store was
for safety: and he will find, by the written in
structions I left with him, that the key of that
house was not to remain in his possession longer
than whilst he was in tlio act of giving things
out. If the clover seed, then, is not there, But
ler must have disposed of it himself, or by re
taining the key in his possession, contrary to my
orders, given the roguish people about the house
an opportunity to come at it; in which case, as I
have observed in a former letter, there can lie no
doubt of their taking every thing else that was
saleable. If no clover seed was gathered before
you found the rake or comb, were not both seed
and clover lost by standing too long ? And why
this, ask Butler, when lioth are so essential to
my wants. Is the clover which, by the report,
is brought from the oat fields at Dogue Run, that
which was sown last spring ? If so, was it rank
enough to cut ?
I do, in earnest terms, enjoin it upon you to
see that the hay is used with the greatest econ
omy at Mansion He—and particularly, to guard
against Mrs. Washington’s Charles and her
boy in the stable, both of whom are impu
dent and self-willed, and care not how extrav
agantly they feed, or even waste, for I have
caught the boy several times littering his horses
with hay. Except her blind horse, (wliich may
be endangered by running at large) I see no sort
of necessity there is for feeding the other with
eitlier grain or hay, when they are not used, or
any other horse that is at liberty and able to
provide for itself; those that are kept constantly
in the house, constantly at work, or under the
saddle, must lie fed, or they would perish. I
can plainly perceive that in a little time, (after
saving what oats I want for seed another year)
there will lie nothing either for my negroes or
horses to eat, without buying, which will neither
comport with my interest or inclination. By
Stuart's report, 1 find he still continues to feed
horses with com instead of cut oats, as I directed.
What two saddle horses are those which stand
in the Mansion House Report ? I know of none
but the one which Mr. Whitting used to ride.
Has Mr. Stuart received any aid in getting in
his wheat ? and have you, as I directed some
time ago, furnished him with plow beasts in place
of those which he says have colts, and are una
ble to work; & the other two. one of which,
according to his account, cannot, & the other
will not work ? Those which cannot, or will not
work, had better be turned out for breeders, &
their places supplied out of the brood mares—
and tlio'se which have colts ought to be favored.
As to liaving their hearts broken, I do not won
der at it, considering how they are treated, A
I fear rode of nights.
I see by the report respecting the ditchers,
that one of them is working at Union Farm, in
the room of Cupid; but no mention is made of the
latter, whether sick, absent or dead. Consider
always that these reports are intended for infor
mation, and ought, therefore, to be plain and
correct; one part should always correspond, or
at least not lie inconsistent with another part.
In the Mansion House Report you make Godfrey
sick six days, (wliich is the whole week) and yet
he appears to be engaged in business some part
of the week. I mention these matters not with
a view to find fault, but to show you the advan
tages of correctness; and as you are ft young
man, just advancing into life and business, to
impress you with tho propriety and importance
of giving attention and doing whatever you un
dertake well.
How do the potatoes at the Mansion House
look ? Let the ground be kept clean and in fine
order—that is well pulverised, not only at top,
bu* to a sufficient depth for grass.
Unless Isaac is engaged about things, tho ex
ecution «f which cannot be delayed, order him,
and whoever is with him, to join Thos. Green,
and the what of them to stick to the bam at
Dogue Run untH it is completed. It appears to
me that the whole*, or greatest part of the time
of these people, is employed about one nonsen
sical job or another, which is the very thing
Green is delighted with, as they afford him a
pretext to be idle or to lie employed in matters ■,
yy-liich more immediately relate to himself. I
wish this may not be the case also with Isaac,
as I find he is very desirous of petting by him
self always. When I said the whole were to be
employed at the new barn at Dpgue Run, I did 1
not mean to leave the dormant windows in the
stable (both back and front) unfinished, as they |
have been begun, which would not have been
the case if I could have conceived they would j
have taken half or even a quarter of the time
they have. In front of the stable I ordered two,
one on each side of the pedement, dividing the
space equally between the latter A the ends of
the house.
Davis, any more than the carpenters, ought
not to be taken from the above work for every
little trifle that might as well be done by that
lazy scoundrel. Charles, who might as well be
employed in white-washing, painting, or putting
up bedsteads, as to take Green or him for these
purposes. Idleness will be his ruin, for I have
no conception of his employing himself otherwise
than idly; A when this is the case, besides the
bad example it sets to others, he will be in mis
chief or making a disturbance in ye family.
I do not recollect telling you in any of my
letters, that the Rheam of writing paper which
went by Ellwood, was for the purpose of sup
plying the overseers, Ac., with paper to make
their reports on. Give each (if you have not
already done it) a quire, and let them know that
it is to be applied to this purpose only.
I did not expect an accurate account of the
Hogs from the Overseers at this time; but if they
do not keep a pretty good eye to them them
selves, I shall have but a flemish account of them
when they are called for as porkers.
I see by the mill report, for the last week,
2.3 bushels of meal was brought to the Mansion
House, when the usual quantity for that place is
20 bushels. Why was this done ? If 30 bushels
was brought them it would, I am persuaded, be
consumed, or otherwise disposed of in the week.
Your Aunt A all here are well, and I am
your aflecte uncle, G. Washington.
Mr. Howell Lewis.
—mMX-
SEEDLING IRISH POTATOES.
Mr. C. E. Goodrich, of Oneida county, New ;
York, lias liegp experimenting for the last thir
teen years in the production of seedling Irish
potatoes. Some of the results of his investiga
tions of this interesting matter have recently
l»een submitted, to the consideration of an able
committee appointed by the New York State
Agricultural Society. Its Journal for April con
tains the rejtort of the committee, from which we
copy a few remarks:
Mr. Goodrich also presented eighty-two varie
ties of seedlings, originated in 1856, and inclu
ding originally thirteen hundred of the nine
thousand above mentioned, embracing those
from very early to very late. He finds thesje
later families producing a much larger propor
tional number of good varieties than the earlier
families did; because started from better bases.
After the trial of another season, he li9pes to
throw a large number of valuable varieties into
market.
The committee were very much pleased with
all the specimens presented by Mr. Goodrich,
and he must have taken infinite pains to produce
so many specimens, and always of such tine ap
pearance. It proves conclusively that he is not
only an enthusiast on. the subject, and, from the
length of time, beginning in 1846, that he has
not only a taste for the cultivation of this plant,
but, by his perseverance, is well calculated, in
the end, to give the most valuable varieties.
The potato itself, entering so largely into the
consumption of our people, it is all important,
both to their health and pecuniary profit, that
even he, or some one else, conduct these experi
ments to the end, if such be practicable.
——Ml
Bloody Murrain. —We leam that this dread
ful disease among cattle, is now prevailing on the
east side of the river, about five or six miles from
this city, to an alarming extent. On the plan
tations of our friends J. D. Monk and William T.
King, it has been very bad, having killed some
of their most valuable stock; and we leam that
it is spreading very rapidly among the cattle on
the adjoining plantations. It is to be more fatal
than the black tongue, which was so prevalent
during the last summer throughout the country.
There was some remedy for the black tongue,
but it is said that there is none for the bloody
murrain. We hope, if it should become an epi
demic among the cattle, that some one will be
able to find a remedy, and publish it.
Selma (Ala.) Sentinel.
Will not some gentleman in the district where
this generally fatal malady prevails, send us a
description of its most prominent symptoms ?
From the time murrain prevailed as one of the
plagues of Egypt, was referred to by Homer,
and discussed at length by both Grecian and
Roman authors down to tlie present day, the
disease has often been the scourge of the bovine
race. It is most commonly a malignant bilious
disorder of a typhoid type, end better treated by
prevention than by remedies administered after
the system has become infected by the malarious
or other poison.
As the history of murrain is as old as that of
man, and full of instruction, it will receive a due
share of attention hereafter. In the meantime
we suggest the propriety of keeping cattle out of
swamps where ague, or chills and fever, would
be likely to attack our own species. A mixture
of salt, sulphur and soot, designed to act as a
gentle aperient, and purify the blood, is the most
promising medicine. Let all stock have free ac
cess to salt, sulphur and soot, and to the purest
water that can be had. The habitual drinking
of stagnant water is a prolific source of epizootic
distempers. Such water often contains either
mineral or vegetable poisons, or both. Pure
water, pure air, and nutritious herbage, with
regular salting, are the best preventives of all
diseases in live stock.
m ~l
I2F” Few planters will neglect to work their
staple crops of cotton and com; but some may
forget to put in as many peas as their stock will
require before grass grows next year. Raise a
liberal allowance for hay next winter and spring,
for your working cattle, and cows giving milk.
Before it is time to cut and cure the crop, we
will tell you how we have managed these some
what difficult operations with entire success.
Double your supply of good forage and you will
correspondingly increase your manure, and your
profits next yean
The leaf blight in the pear, Mr. Berkley, in the
Gardener's Chronicle, still thinks, is caused by a
minute fungus.
jgp We give below the contribution of a
valued correspondent, from whom we expect
malty good, and some better things, for the Lit
erary department of our paper. TVe hardly know
under what name to publish the favor sent us.
The writer himself calls it “ Facts and Fancies." ,
We feel inclined ourselves to introduce it to our '
readers under the more suggestive title of “A
Ilynin, in prose, in praise of Agriculture."
[Written lor the Southern FieUl and Fireside.]
I have been thinking, or trying to think, as I
always do. when I cannot find any other amuse
ment and my thoughts liave gone wandering
back the dim pathways of the past, and before
my mental vision have arisen the spectres of
Empires that have been, and are not. I see the !
mighty Nimrod gather around him those whose
leader he has been in the sports of their child
hood. and his brain conceives the government
that his arm afterwards upholds—his children
and his children’s children are a line of kings; |
their people drain the marshes of the Euphrates, !
and cultivate the plains of Shinar, until without
commerce, without trade, without manufactures j
or mines, the descendants of the mighty hunter
looked down from the lofty walls of Babylon,
upon the greatest Empire of the world, while
Ninevab, her rival in greatness, drew her vast j
treasures from the self-same soil. But the vis
ion of the cities of Chaldea is indistinct, for they
are gone; but they fell only when the terrors of
arms forced from the plain the shepherds and
tillers of the soil, and when the fields became
deserts, the towers became dust.
Then before me I see another land, but the
shadows of her Ramoses and her Fhariohs are
dim in the distance; but there is a river that
sweeps through the land—the Kings instruct the
people to prepare a mighty lake, and dig ditches
and canals, and then the great river overflows, j
and the lake receives the excess of waters, the j
canals guide it over all the land until it becomes
a sea—the waters are strown with grain, and
when they subside, such crops spring up from
the new-made soil as only the world remembers j
in tradition. AVars and pestilence have swept
over that land. Thebes and Memphis are no .
more; the Pyramids stand as monuments of de
parted greatness upon the desert; the bodies of
Egypt’s Kings and Queens are scattered through ,
the museums of the earth—yet the old Empire
that was the prison-house of Israel, the refuge of
the new-born Savior, the tomb of Cleopatra, is
yet a nation on the earth, and yet the fields pay
back in fruits, and grain, and floyvers. the greet
ings of the Nile. Greece yvas happy while con
tented with her verdant vallies, but the sea that j
spread her greatness brought her foes, and
Greece is poorer now than when she first learned
the use of letters and of anus. Tyre rose like
another Venus from the sea, but she had no life
from the soil, and when the trade of her mer
chants departed, the owls and bats came to in
habit her palaces, and now the sea-bird skims
above the rvavc and screams for the ships that
used to shadow the deep. Carthage forsook
agriculture for trade; her trade drew the envy
of Rome, and the ruins of her cisterns only tell
w-here. Carthage was. The fields of Italy yet
produce the vine, but she was happier when
Cincinnstus tilled the soil and before Cmsar led
her sons to the conquest of Gaul.
But' the curtain falls before the drama of the
past, and I see before me the panorama of the
present. I see an empire that has been black
ened fry storms, that has acknowledged the lillies
of thc*Bourbon, the tri-color of liberty, and now
the eagle of Napoleon spreads its wings above
her vineyards and her fields; and France, that
is not renowned for trado or manufactures, is
greater noyv than she ever has l»een since the
legions of Caesar struggled through the forests.
I see an island, and on the masts of the ships
that almost hide its shores, there is a meteor
flag that blends the rose and the thistle, the lion
and the harp. The fields arc yvell tilled, it is
true, but her life is in her trade, and the angel of
history is waiting until the highway of commerce
shall change, and then he will inscribe the name
of England on the tablets of the past, and then
India and China, the oldest agricultural empires
of the world, may again be free—lndia from her
arms, China from her opium.
Then my gaze wanders towards the setting
sun, and there is a great land; an eagle spreads
his yvings above it, holding the olive of peace,
but having in reserve the thunderbolts of yvar.
Upon the banner of that land are the memorial
stripes, but its blue is spangled with the stars of
Heaven. The page of her history is open, and
there I read that the power that bears the meteor
fiag would have crushed her infant life, but when
her trade was cut off, her sons yet battled for
the fields that yielded daily bread, and the mis
tress of the ocean was foiled by the young Nim
rods yvhose existence yvas identified with the soil
and yvhose rifles were angels of death. With
the return of peace, the sails of the netv country
began to whiten the deep, and when Mexico be
came insulting, Old England said that there was
nothing to fear from a nation of traders; but
from the vallies of the Mississippi, from the corn
fields of Virginia, from the cotton-fields of Geor
gia and Carolina, came the sons of the sires of
1716, and then I learned the lesson of the past —
that cities may become dust, that the din of maim
factures may cease, the convulsions of States may
sweep the white wings of trade from the waves;
but the angel of peace is the sister of Agriculture,
and the flag of Empire will follow the track of the
plow. Novissimus.
WOOL-GROWING IN TEXAS.
For future reference, and to the exclusion of
some editorial matter, yve give in this connec
tion lengthened extracts from letters written by
Mr. Kendall and Mr. Nichols, and published
in the Country Gentleman, of May sth, which
deserve more than a passing notice:
My original Merino stock I purchased from
the best flocks in Vermont and France. I have
ewes which cost mo nearly S2OO each here;
original price and transportation included. I
have a three-year-old buck from one of them,
got by Omar Pasha, (a buck sold at Rambouil
let, from the Imperial flock for $2,000;) I have
one imported ewe which has sheared as high as
17£ pounds. From tlfis you can judge the quali
ity of my stock. As to the prices I put upon
my pure bloods, I can say that I never intend
selling a buck of my oyy-n raising for less than
SSO. I w-ill not sell a ewe at any price—at
least not to any one in Texas. I have one Ver
mont buck I value at S2OO.
Os coarse stock my original purchase was
some 600 Mexican ewes at SI.OO per head. The
same class of animals would noyv be worth here
at least $1.50. These sheep shear about one
]>ound each on the average. I have since pur
chased a few common American ewes, which
cost me about $2.50 each. Animals of this class,
shearing, say three pounds each, are worth now
$3.00. No other than pure French Merino bucks
have ever been allowed to run yvith my ewes;
and, at tliis time, I can show wethers but three
removes from my original Mexican stock, which
shear five and six pounds of wool —and some of
them as high as seven pounds, the wool very
fine. From this you can see how I am improv
ing my flocks. I have some three thousand
sheep in all: in November last I put some six
teen hundred ewes, two years old and upwards,
to the buck; and hope to raise some fourteen
hundred lambs the coming spring and summer.
I have oeen engaged in the sheep business
about five rears; the first three, my success was
indifferent. Two years ago I came here with
my flocks and family; have been here ever since,
and during that time my success has been un
paralleled. I have not lost at the rate of one
per cent, per annum, and my sheep have run
summer and winter without shelter, and no other
food than what they could pick or crop on the
hillsides and in the valley.
Comal county is mountainous; healthier than
any quarter of the world; and the climate, al
though we have occasional cold and wet northers
in winter, is superior to that of Italy. lam now
writing to you with coat off. doors and windows
wide open, no fire, and am perfectly comfortable
—robins and other birds are singing in the live
oaks.
As an offset or drawback to all this, our crops
have partially failed for the last two years, owing
to a drouth. Old Texans, however, say that this
drouth has been unprecedented. It has rained
heavily for the last four months, and those en
gaged in farming are all confident of good crops
the coming year. That Western Texas will turn
out to be a fine stock-raising region is unques
tionable.
I have some eight thousand acres of land in
Comal county, which cost me from forty cents to
one dollar per acre. You can judge from this,
should my sheep continue to thrive, whether
Northern 001-growers can compete with me.
Yesterday morning my sheep were all looking
well and thrifty. If I can get through the
coming five weeks of winter, without a severe
storm. I shall hardly lose an animal, old or young.
I brought down yesterday a wether, (half Mexi
can,) to eat. Finer grained, fatter, more tender,
or juicy mutton you never saw, and never will
until you come to Texas. My wethers are all
fat, with two-thirds of the winter gone by.
My estancia is thirty-five miles nearly west
from New Braunfels, and twenty-five nearly
north of San Antonio. By looking at a map
yon can e«e the location. To transport our wool
to Indianola, our shipping port, costs us seventy
five cents per hundred With such suc
cess as I have had the two past years, the profits
of sheep-raising in this part of Western Texas,
may safely be set down at seventy-five per cent,
per annum. But I cannot say that such good
luck will continue; to use a common saying, “it
will be almost too much of a good thing,’’
My house is four miles from New Braunfels.
As yet I have not built at my estancia, but I
make a weekly trip there—tlurty miles distant.
There is one gap of eight miles in the way.
without a house, and another of twelve miles;
but I do not find the road lonesome, as there are
plenty of deer, turkeys, and other game.
George Wilkins Kendall.
I will say that Mr. Kendall’s want of success
the first three years, was owing mainly to the
carelessness of a Mexican slieperd. At one time
he lost between four and five hundred sheep, by
being burned in a fire on the prairie. Mr. K.
also gives the following statement of the profits
to be expected by wool-growing in Texas;
Cost of 1.000 American ewea*»t $2.50 $2,500 60
Cost of 15 Merino bucks SSO 750 00
Total capital invested $3,250 00
Interest on above at 10 per cent SBBS 00
Cost of hiring and boarding shepherd 275 00
Cost of salting the sheep 50 00
Expenses at shearing time, Ac 50 00
Total cost of keeping, Ac S7OO 00
Valne of 2,000 lbs. wool from ewes, (20 cts.)... S4OO 00
Value of 150 lbs. wool from bucks, (80 cts.)... 45 00
Increase in the flock, (700 lambs, at $3 00.)... 2,100 00
Total receipts $2,545 00
Deduct cost of keeping 700 00
And wc have a clear profit of $1,345 00
This is a tolerably fair business. Mr. K. says
lie has raised nearer 900 than 700 lambs from
1,000 ewes; also that his ewes shear more than
j two pounds each.
I also append a tabular statement, as furnished
me by my brother. He purchased liis ewes near
Springfield, Illinois, and they are a mixture of
! French and Spanish Merino blood, costing $3.00
each:
Cost of 1,000 ewes at $3.00 each $3,000 00
Cost of 15 bucks at SSO each 750 00
Cost of driving to Texas 250 00
Total capital invested $4,000 00
Interest on the above. 10 per cent 1 S4OO 00
Cost of salting, shearing. Ac 100 00
i Cost of labor In moving pens 25 00
f
Cost of keeping, (being his own shepherd,) $525 00
: Valne of 8.000 lbs. wool from ewes. (25 ct 5.,)... $750 00
! Value of 150 lbs. wool from bucks. (25 ct 5..)... 87 50
Value of 700 lambs at $3.50 per head $2,450 00
Total receipts $8,237 50
; Deduct eost of keeping 525 00
j Leaving a profit of r $2,712 50
This estimate of the price of wool is very low ;
he can sell for forty cents. Also, he says the
estimated number of lambs is too low by 100;
also, he lias refused the estimated price, (3.50,)
for his iambs. lie was informed by the farmers
living near the ferries on the Red river, that
I 100,000 or more sheep had been driven from
I Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri into Texas,
j last fall, by people who were, or intended to be,
I residents of Texas. lie has been a resident of
Texas four years, and knows of no difficulty in
wool-growing in any part of the State. Those
: who have kept sheep have had such invariable
' success, that the demand for good fine-wooled
sheep amounts almost to a mania. All the Mex
ican sheep that can be obtained, have been driven
across the Rio Grande, and Missouri has liter
ally been drained.
Hon. 11. S. Randall, of Cortland Village, N.
Y., in a long and able series of letters to the
Galveston News, recommends the Spanish Merino
as the best breed of sheep for Texas. Mr. Ken
dall. and also my brother, concur in saying that
the French Merino is the best: saying that al
though the French cost more at the North for
keeping, yet at the South, keeping cannot be ta
ken into consideration, and lieing larger framed,
and having heavier fleeces, thej are the most
profitable. They are also longer legged, and can
be driven to and from the i>en easier and quicker.
Kendall also says that the French ewes are bet
ter mothers than tlx* Spanish. Perhaps a cross
between the two may be better than either.
A few nior« figures and I have done.
Texas contains 175,594,560 aeres. Up to No
vember Ist, 1857, there had been titled by Spain,
Mexico, and the State government of Texas,
73,436,210 acres, leaving as public domain 102,-
158,350 acres. It thus appears that there are
open to settlement by emigrants and others,
about 100,000,000 acres of land. The price
fixed by the State is from fifty cents to one dol
lar per acre, according to quality. Climate, ease
of keeping stock, and price of land being taken
into consideration, I know of no opening so good
for young, enterprising, Northern farmers, with
but limited capital, as the beautiful and bound
less prairies and groves of Texas.
D. A. *A. Nichols.