The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1880-05-21

sheen Around the Circle.

Avon, delivered, at the recent annual
meeting in Rochester OF the Sheep
Breeders and Wool-G Growers AssQcAa-
ton of Western and Central New-4ork,
an entertaining and instructive address
descriptive of that part of his late trip
around the world which had to do with
foreign fiocks and American enterprise
ia c6npbctipn thprewithf Yhe freepr
tivebf The kisit,Eas TfibuneA readers
know, was the delivery or TWO hundred
OF our thoroughbreds- Cotswold and
Merino-to the Japanese Government.
These arrived intact in number and, as
a whole, in as good condition as when
started on the Journey forty-six days
previous. To General Horace Capron-
pleasantly remembered among us as
formerly United States Commissioner
of Agriculture MIR. Markham pays his
best RESPECTS. fnvited TO japan nine
years ago Ne has done most eteeHve
service to the Industrial interests Of that
great nation, having organized All Ag-
ricultural Department, surveyed the Is
land of Yesso, introduced blooded
horses, cattle and sheep, established
nurseries, and substituted for the use.
less native growth foreign grasses Of
reRl italue for the improved stock, and
no foreigner. Colonel Markham says
30 thoroughly commands the confidence
of the Government, or is more CRATE
fully remembered by the people.
On one of the Government farms 600
American merinos were seen having
given since their Introduction S0per
cent of annual increase, and II, 900 from
Australia, the latter in less favorable
conditions and with less wool, though
of finer quality.
, { Iherelwss also,a flock from Mongos
lila, weighing at the best from 100 toi110
pounds each, with long legs, tails from
6 to Z inches broad, and on which a
cross of American merino increased the
weight of fleece to 8 1-2 pounds, and so
improved the quality as to make the in
creased value of wool fully 800 per
cent. Colonel Markham was so much
impressed with these results that helde-
termined to see these sheep on their ma
tive ground; so after a months travel
by easy stages he arrived early in Octo-
Der in Chinese Tartary, upon the great
plains of Mongolia, 1000 feet above the
sea, sparsely populated by people who
live in tents. The sheep there seem in
1t Is then scratched or combed of, real
ALknk lIOLI u W tCn CCntb DCl lOabs
Pasturage is good, but very little hay is
stored .fors the dry and cold but mostly
enbEless winters, and, as no Shelter is
provided, losses are common as a legit-
innate consequence of these cruel neg
lects. Colonel yMarkham could see no
good reason why these millions of
sheep of Mongolia might not be made
to yield an annual fleece worth 81 to
$1.50, instead of the present tenth or
fifteenth of that sum- Some of the
head men appeared to accept this idea.
with much favor, but the average ma
tive prejudice against innovations upon
old-time customs is adhered to with
great tenacity. Sheep similar in form
were found in the vicinity of Shanghai
and In Central China, eight to ten under
n ownership, and fed IN slops and
garbage, p~ig-tashion. In the stock
yards at Alden, Arabia, several hundred
sheep were seen, covered with short,
, stiff hair, smooth and glossy as that Of
well-groomed horse. AT Port Said a
few blocks from Syria were found,
some white, some black, others red or
brown and a mixture of all these colors,
but giving mutton which looked like
first quality.
On the farm of the P%iancentini broth
ers, noted breeders of improved stock,
eighteen miles from Rome, Italy, who
keep several hundred men engaged in
agriculture, Mr.. Markham found 1000
large, strong sheep of the merino type.
The lambs Of 1000 of these are weaned
at two months old, the mothers are then
MIXED morning and night for four
months, yielding an average of twelve
pounds each of first quality cheese,
worth Is cents the pound, and about
twenty pounds of curd, or second-rate
cheese, worth 4 cents each. In addi-
ton to the 50. go thus realized, they give
about 8 pounds of washed wool of fair
quality. Twenty breeding mares, prin-
cipally large bay "coachers' were seen
here, upon which thoroughbred stall
lions are crossed with satisfactory re.
suits; also italian cattle, the COWS
weighing 1900 to 1900 pounds, blue
roam in color, with immense horns, and
as uniform in type as our Devons. On
a neighboring farm, said to contain the
finest flock of Italian sheep in Italy.
Colonel Markham found that while the
two-months lambs were beauties, equal
in form and style to our most approved
American merinos, those fully grown
were "quite another type, losing alto
gether the stogy appearance" and he
thinks that o cross of our rams would
unquestionably fix the type so that the
lambs would retain their form when
mature and at the same time give a
much greater weight of fleece. On the
estate formerly owned by King Victor
Emanuel, Colonel Markham measured
n Of fifteen rams from the flock of NJ.
Gilbert, of France: height at shoulder.
2 feet 10 inches; length, A 1-2 feet /:
girt, 4 "a feet; from brisket to ground.
Is inches; weight about $50 pounds,
and might shear 20 to % pounds of
wool. Crossed on native ewes with
disappointing results.
The point of supreme interest was
the Rambouillet Government flock of
France-to which we will more particu-
1arly refer hereafter, merely remarking.
that a record of pedigrees dating back
to 1887 has been kept, with weight of
fieeces and annual samples of wool and
pictures showing type of the sheep at
intervals, and that in a school connected
with the establishment twelve bows are
trained in the breeding, care and man.
agement of sheep. The flock of M.
Roger, Of Thirville, France, originally
from R~ambouillet, is mainly kept for
mutton; the two-year-old ewes in fine