The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1862-01-21 00:00:00

- porottobire•

DORCHESTER& —PIINIINTATION.— On Monday
eveniog, taih tusk, the officials employed at the
Poet-office met together at the Plume of Feather's
Inn for the purpose of joining in one of those fra-
ternal gatherings which to such a great extent tend
to cement together the employer and the employed.
Mine host Taylor, in his usual excellent style, pro-
vided • first-rate entertainment, which did great
credit to his cuitrine skill. The chair wee taken by
Mr. F. Lock, postmaster, and the vice-chair by Mr.
C. Parsons. After the removal of the cloth, the
"Health of Her Majesty " was proposed, and drank
in silence. The "Health of Ddr. Davis," manager
of the Savings' Bank, one of the guests, was then
given, and afterwards the "Health of Mr. Lock," to
yrbjch thoeeßntlemen responded in suitable terms.
-The Healthe of the Letter-carriers" was then
s- and responded to by Messrs. Keats and
rirda7,l'whe 'poke in the highest terms of the
rtanity and kindness of their employer, with whom
they hoped to be many years connected. The evening's
pleasure was considerably increased by the presenta-
tion to one of the staff, of a very handsome con-
certina, with box and instructor complete, purchased
of Mr. Robinson, musioseller, High East-street,
which sat the united gift of the Post-office officials
to Mr. C. Parsons, as • mark of their esteem and
appreciation of his eharaoter and kindness of disposi-
tion. This was presented by Mr. Randall, who in
handinti it to Mr. Parsons, expressed the earnest
desire of those who had joined in subscribing to this
meepento of their goodwill, that he might live long
Ito have the pleasure of performing on it, and also
lit being his birthday) many happy returns of
o'itie day. Mr. Parsons, in replying to the toast, said
he most sincerely thanked them for the expo:anions
-"re goodwill they had, by the hearty way they drank
l'itieUilth and the handsome parent they had made
evinced in his welfare, and he trusted by per-
sevenng in the same line of conduct which had ailed
a. forth thiaexpreation of their goodwill, to continue to
, tnerit the same so long as be was connected with the
'Rost-office. The " Omaha of the Rural Messengers"
stras then proposed, and acknowledged by Mr. W.
Ferny. The harmony of the evening was kept up
by singing several songs and a clued, and all appeared
highly delighted with this pleasant reunion which
• was brought to a doss by Joining in the toast" To
war next merry meeting."

_
-
DORCHESTER FARMERS' CLUB.
The monthly meeting of the Dorchester Farmers'
, Club was held on Thursday evening, at the King's
I Arms HotaL After the election of several new
- members, it Was If solved, on the proposition of Mr.
Saunders, that the meetings of the club be held in
' future on Saturday evenings instead of Thursday,
as being more convenient for farmers attending
'- Dorchester market—such meetings to commence at
..a.,t e
aypt•past 5 o'clock.
President, Mr. G. J. WOOD, said that before
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.' dialed oriiseaMr.thGemen,geit
wtemarerbetwheei
w ; $ Pr°°'
PlafP:rrthheemhwito
e whether they should announoe their next
eallantiing by advertisement in the papers, as berate-
ei kr* ea by private circular addied be the secre-
tary to each member of the club. He was very
we to sanounce that Mr. Robert Damen had pro-
w.= to deliver a lecture at the next meeting of the
a .club, on the important question of the malt tax.
t He had asked Mr. Damen to favour them with,.
; 'lecture, and that ilentleman in his reply stated he
• el, as aware the subject he proposed to select was a
.'
debatable one —but that, so far as he knew, it had
a not been brought before a Farmer's Club before.
• L. ,liis nephew, Mr. George Homer, had also offered to
deliver the lecture at their March meeting. Of
t.;:eourse he was • very young man, but he had paid a
a. vast amount of attention to the subject he proposed
• 'to bring before their notice, and he believed he was
t•-tfally competent for the task. The subject was,
- "The relationship of capital and labour in
. agriculture."
' . Mr. HARDING, the vice-chairman, asked whether the
.- meeting considered the club had been established • sue-
Slant time to deem it advisable to withdraw the &dyer
4 tisements of their meetings from the papers.
'
At the present time their club was kept before the
',- public far and wide, by announcing the subject of the
' lectures to be delivered through the medium of the
' public press, but if they withdrew the advertisement,
and sent circulars to the members instead, their club
, would be lost sight of by farmers, who were non-
members, altogether.
.., Mr. SAUNDIIIB would adopt the hefting of cards to
-, the member., and continue the advertisements as well,
. tor a few more meetings.
Mr. Dorman would certainly continue the advertine
' meats for some time longer' but be could not see,'. if
'4l...that were done, the necessity for going to the doable{
90! expense of printing and posting circulars as well. •
Mr. J. F. Honoze said they were now in • broken'
~
h. session, and he would certainly say, that they ought not, Co
any account, to discontimie advertising for a considerable
- .
, tuna to come. He thought it most desirable that they
should continue to advertise their meetings the whole of
the present session, if not, indeed, also the whole of
the next session. In his opinion, they could not
give to their proceedings too much publicity, nor keep
the club too prominently before the public.
It was then resolved that the next meeting shonld be
advertised in the Dorchester papers as usual, and Mr.
(lenge proceeded to read his paper,
f, "Os ma VARIETY AND MANAGEMENT OP SHEEP."
.• GINTIAMIP, It was, I assure you, with much
reluctance that I yielded to Mr. Wood's request
. - to bring forward • subject with which to occupy
•c,...yoar attention this evening, as I felt that at this early
period of the club's existence, some one moot' better
"liked for the task than myself, should have been
I selected. Being allowed, however, to choose the subject,
, • I have fixed on one so important and so interesting to
. every agriculturist, that 1 Miner myself that all short-
• comings and imperfections in the introduction, will be
- folly made up for by the discussion which it will be my
c. endeavour to provoke.
-,, Sheep farming in Dorsetabire is • branch of one bolli-
x nem second in importance to none, and is wellworthe
of OUT most anxious care, How to produce the greatest
-4 amennt of matton or wool pm annum, is • lesson which
'al Lampe to learn to-night, for ollow we to observe that I
a, bilik not steed before you as • teacher, but as one simply
rcrielating his own ideas and opinions, that they may be
ellinspertially tested by the more lengthened experienoe of
e.ingtony present. The sheep has been one of the most
Valuable of the domestic animals from the earliest ages
ii.lail the world • supplying both food and clothing to man,
~. , 'contributing most materially to the wealth and com-
fort of the community. The number and value of the
-., sheep stock of the United Kingdom is something enor-
mous; the various returns differ very widely. Mr.
Leonard Wray, in a paper read before the Society of
f Arts, in February, 1,860, estimated their number at
. 50,000.000 (which appears to be the medium), produc-
,. , iag 275,000,000 lbs. of wool, which, at 154. per lb.,
would be worth £17,187,500; the sheep at 30s. per head,
would be £75,000,000; than supposing one-third to be
. slaughtered annually, valued at £i2,000,000, we get •
return in money of £49,187,500 for our flocks. The mann-
fecture of wool is second only to that of cotton. There
are in the United Kingdom 1,505 wool, and 525 worsted
factories, employing 166,885 persons, and engines of the
working power of 40,805 horses. The estimated value
of woollen goods produced in this country, in 1856, was
£23,942,976, and that of worsted, Z 12,715589 ; but it
seems that wool is almost imperishable, Inc Mr.
Badgers, one of H.M. Inspectors of factories, to whom,
writings I am indebted for the above information,
further states, "It luie been found that old msterials
form very good substitritee for new." A Polish Jew, or
an Italian beggar, is generally considered one of
dirtiest objects with which we can come in contact, yet
. it is not impossible that some of us may, at this moment,
: happily unconscious of his fate, be wearing some portion
of the cast-off habiliments of a Polish Jew. Coats,
~ trowsers, lac., after having been well worn in this
country, ass shipped off for the German ports, and
. c after having been distributed where most in request,
....,. and thoroughly used up as garments, are returned to us
as woollen rags. They are sorted in qualities, ~ad they
1, than go through • machine called the "devil." which
tares up the bits of cloth, and delivers them out as
~.. wool, which undergoes again the various pi-comes of
, carding, spinning he., and being mixed with new
~ wool, again becomes cloth." It is calculated that
.., R. 000,0001134 of woollen rags are annually consumed.
• Woollen rags are also, found valuable as manure. I
fs. should like to have procured • return of the number
~ of sheep in the county of Dorset, and the value of their
..„, wool, had there been means of doing so readily. And
, it may not be out of place here to enquire what descrip-
tion of wool it is most to our advantage to produce?
, We have hitherto been accustomed to value our wool
. for it. fineness and claim.= of texture, but wliat is the
~. ease now? Short fine wools are comparatively at a
, discount, and long wools are worth considerably more in
the market. With your permission, I will illustrate
, this matter by • quotation from • paper read by
" Mr. Caird, M.P., in June last, before the Council
, of the Royal Agricultural Society,—he says, "The short
ens wools of this country, such as the Down and
. Cheviot, formerly sold at double the pries of Lincoln
or long combing wool. When the colonial wool trade
had no existence, in 1811, Cheviot wools were worth
2s. Bd. per lb. when the Lincoln brought no more than
19.1. per lb., lint in proportion as the market has begun
hi It be supplied with Australian wool, the relative
grs of the two have been greatly altered. In July,
PA
, the Lincoln's had reached within 2d. per lb. of
"r'fielf-bred Cheviots ; and in 1856 within ld per lb. ;
6"d6 in May, 1861, the Lincoln long-wool was the
.'"lllearer of the two. The change in price as bet mien the
1 "Down and Lincoln's wool has been equally great."
I believe any wool merchant will confirm the
' truth of these statements, the wool imported into
" this country in 1859 amounted to 133,000,0001 U.,
$ 82,000.000 of which came from our own colonies,
" 54.000,000 of this from Australia alone • last year
148,000.000 were imported, of which 59,00,000 mune
l from fluetralia ; the supply from that country is likely
o, to seenewessing, its climate is favourable to the pro-
AI Its wool, with which we cannot compete.
sac Ilholild we not therefore endeavour "to develope
tetteaminligh as possible that kind of wool which is least
isoilgaldelli to foreign and colonial competition, and for the
toti issoilastion of which we fortunately poetess the most
crvicalliMble soil and climate • and the supply of which can
•Tvbi -list ineremed by good farming, liberal feeding, slid
'4-4.lolMie *large frame of mutton, as well as • heavy
-'--• wool ••• - written newt/rag
will not occupy
my remarks to
nition even to
, of the animal
A would extend
but will content
-- and I infer
n with the
. descriptiou
the county ; he. ,
,ewhat like the ,
with Somer.
produced ono
in the king-
.
—. miss iss4

_ ? Soiebabesse
history of the EOSIN that I
with it, but rather confine
t period ; nor is it my -
the numerous lraown Ye
40...bied is al.nost inexhaustible,
lir paper to far too great a length),
myself with noticing the breeds beet ki
beet suited to this hmality, and will
" Dorset Horns." Ti. original type of
of sheep has become almost extinct i"
was a little hardy black-nosed'
Exmoors of the present day.
sets and improved management,
al the most valuable *lasses of .
aota ; they are, int the best lands, .

aaeos---- of

written

intention

v.rieties

smnewhat

Crossing

have

thorlaitio

.'144
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