Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1867-09-11

cent number OF the Register, and DOUBT not
our readers may be interested in it, perusal
LSDov, England, : King st 2
Cieapsite June l. l., 1867.
promised To write you when got safely
over the ocean. Well, we came safely IN
eleven DAYS from New York, landing ut Inv
..rpool on the 2Jth of May last. Ne have
since Travelled about twelve hundred miles IL
Great Britain, and are quietly settled down
as above till the first Of July-when We 90
to- Paris But letters should be sent us al
London, as above put IN Z" Chedpsfdc," as
there are thirty-twO King streets in Lond =
and we shall get them on oar FctuIn.
Next 70 the fact that are comfortably
well, / suppose yOu VIII ash, what we lave
seen in this country? | may answer J. great
many things, civil, secular and religious
but | will state in this single Letter what
suppose is of most interest to YOU ana vour
neighbors-that Is, SHEEP, These are the
great agricultural staple of the whole land
Since the RhindTpest, cattle are not plenty
Cows are kept, and Il few young cattle bat
a yoke of working oxen have not seen either
in Scotland or England | told that in
one or two counties. working oxen are used
on the farms-as with farmers in America.
but have seen none in going from Liverpool
to Inverness, Scotland, and III returning
thence RIA Edinburgh and Glasgow To Lon
don, either in woke or out of it, neither on
meadow, moving land or hill pasture and
while large numbers of beef cattle are brought
from Holland and other places on the cont
ncnt, to supply the Englishman's appetite
for beef steaks, rare done, | think working
oxen would have little prospect of life here
But mutton. mutton Joints, mutton steaks.
mutton chops, mutton roast and mutton
baked are the bill of fare of all tirst-class no.
tells as well as the luxury of private families
Sheep will become more and more staple az
ticle of production and of domestic com
nerce.
The primary object OF the English in raiz-
ing sheep is tor their nleGt for the table. The
wool is indeed sold for its value, but on this
the people not so dependent. The wool
grows straight and long. not remarkably fine,
but is used in the manufacture of carpets ana
other cloths, to which middling grades Of
wool are adapted Plenty of foreign wool is
imported for the same uses But the fresh
mutton POINTS must be raised here, If such
luxury is to be enjoyed. Hence, Thousands
of acres of the hest land in England ana
Scotland are devoted to sheep-raising. These
English sheep are larger than the mcrincs
and when fat, they are the finest mutton in
the world | have seen no merinO sheep here
as vet | think the climate would hardly
suit them, and they would not suit the Eng
L
think, the re1stS to he paid for land here would
prevent any kind Of sheep being reared with
the primary object OF their wool And, ~
suggested it is exceedingly doubtful if ne
rino sheep would live and thrive IN this eli
mate. Some parts of Scotland are quite TOO
cold for ordinary English sheep. IN passing
over the Highland Railroad from Perth to
Inverness, | found only u small hardy race
of sheep with black faces, tails, and feet.
I III L. !
sort of brown color. These sheep are led On
the mountain pastures. covered with low
bush, called heather neither, and are small,
but hardy, and when well fatted on the
groupings of the heather, their flesh is sald
to be exceedingly fine and tender In these
mOuntain, pastures are thousands of acres
without fence and the sheep are kept on the
lands of their owners by the personal care
and attention of shepherds employed by the
owners of the sheep-who arc usually the
owners or lessees of the lands. The shepherds
either receive a share of the flock, serve
for stipulated wages. Stone yards or encio-
sures are provided for each flock, to which
for shearing or in case Of intense cold wealth
er, they may be gathered. Though sometimes
fed in the winter, with such hay az may have
been gathered in bottoms of meadows in the
vicinity, and turnips, in any but the coolest
weather the sheep run on the pastures Win
tiers as we'll as summers. and suhsist on the
Groupings of the buds of heather, PROJECTING
through the SHOWS, or rooted out by the
sheep from under the SHOWS The severity
to which these sheep are subjected, may be
inferred from the fact that hundreds of acres
of the old winter snow drifts remained on the
tops of the hills when | passed them on the
9th day of June, and another fact. that the
wards in which the sheep are gathered have
no sheds or coverings The cottages of the
shepherds are usually built of stone walls,
not over FIVE feet high, covered with thatch.
of neither, having perhaps a stone chimney,
and perhaps only hole In the roof 10 let the
smoke out. But even this forlorn business OF
grazing on these mountain pastures has to
divide a large share of its profits to its com
fortably housed and well to do landlords.
Class, or caste, in human society runs 10 the
very top of these bleak hills. These hills
are known as the Grampian Hills, and they
remind one of the primitive scene of the lit
tie defamation in the old school book be-
ginning
My name is NorvsI Grampian Hills
Ny iather feeds his flock, frugal swain,'' &c
The lowest part, where the railroad passes
over them, is one thousand feet above the
level of the sea. Whether these hardy sheep
could be made profitable in Vermont, might
well be a subject of inquiry. You have
lands adapted TO their habits of living, but
have not the heather on which they thrive.
1t is great nuisance, like the Scotch bull
thistle, and Canada thistle, that should not
be carried to America. But you have other
mountain vegetation that might answer
equally well, and when mutton is fairly esti-
mated, in preference to wool, | have no doubt
these sheep viii be a valuable acquisition t.
Vermont agriculture. l have other notes of
agricultural interest, In relation to the cult
walton of farms here, farm fences, farm
buildings, and the like, but | must defer
them for the present.
Yours, etc,
JoHN NJ. SrEARNs.