vated for a number of years on the same soil will impoverish it unless enriched by manures or alluvial deposits. While the entire growth of Indian corn and other crops is removed from the field in which it is grown, the stalks and blades of broom corn remain upon the ground and are plowed under the following year. The decomposition of so large an amount of vegetable matter cannot fail to enrich and fertilize the soil. Thorough and repeated applications of manures, leached ashes, compost, etc., will improve the crop, and what crop will it not improve?

The yield of brush depends upon the soil, season, extent of cultivation, and varies from 350 pounds to 850 pounds per acre; 600 pounds is a fair, average yield.

The price of the brush ranges in this State from 4 to 9 cents per pound. In the eastern market from 6 to 12 cents. The price depends on the quality, quantity raised, and the amount in market. All these considerations are very liable to fluctuation. Its intrinsic value depends on its color, size, fineness and flexibility.

The seed of broom corn, when ripened and cleaned, forms a very important item in its cultivation. All kinds of stock will eat it readily; it is especially good for fattening sheep and when ground makes excellent slop for milch cows. It yields, in a fair season, from 40 to 80 bushels per acre, and weighs 42 pounds to the bushel.

Following is subjoined an account of the expenses of cultivating and profits of one acre for 1863:

AN ESSAY ON THE VARIETIES OF SHEEP, AND

SHEEP CULTURE IN OHIO.

(Continued from Ohio Agricultural Report for 1862.)

COMPILED BY JOHN H. KLIPPART.

THE GROWTH OF LUSTRE WOOL.

[From the London Farmer's Magazine.]

Wool had ever formed an important item in the receipts of the stock farmer. It had commanded of late years a very satisfactory price, and, in consequence of the cotton supply being interrupted by the fearful American war, it appears likely to do so for some years to come, and therefore it behooved them, as British farmers, to endeavor, by every means in their power, to increase the growth of that kind of wool which was likely to fetch the best price in the English market, other matters of course being considered. It must be the object of the British farmer to produce as much stock as possible-a subject which was to be introduced next month by their old and esteemed friend, Mr. Robert Smith. He would remark that there was no animal that would so well repay the attention of the farmer as the sheep. The gentleman who was about to introduce the subject for consideration that evening had had considerable experience, both of English and foreign wool, and no doubt they all looked forward to an interesting paper, and one from which they could derive most useful les

sons.

Mr. ANDERSON then said: When some months ago a conversation on this important subject, the desirability of increasing the growth of lustre wool, took place between myself and a few members of this club, I little thought I should be called upon to write a paper in support of this proposition. I regret exceedingly that my time has been so occupied with my numerous business engagements that I have not been able to give that attention to the subject which it deserves. Indeed, had I consulted my

own feelings in the matter, I should have declined altogether taking the prominent position which I occupy this evening; but, knowing the importance of the subject, and the interest which has for some time been taken in it by the Bradford Chamber of Commerce, as representatives of the worsted trade, I could not refuse to collect a few facts together, in the hope that a discussion might arise which would direct the attention of the growers of English wool to the benefits which must result to themselves, the manufacturers, and the country at large, if the growth of this valuable wool is materially increased. I may remark that, though connected with a firm which consumes a large quantity of wool, I am not directly interested in the increased growth of Lustre wool, not being a consumer of this description of wool at all; yet I am well aware that the demand for this bright-haired or Lustre wool has almost exceeded the supply during the last few years, and I think from the gradually increasing price of this wool, (which I shall afterwards show) and from the weight of fleeces produced, it is a matter of great importance to the farmer to consider whether it is not for his interest to try and increase the quantity of this wool, and whether it may not be the most profitable article which he can grow on his farm. In looking through "James' History of the Worsted Manufacture," I find a great many curious regulations (made centuries ago,) for the protection and for stimulating the growth of our English wools. I hope I may not be considered tedious if I give a few of these quotations, to show the importance which has always been attached to the growth of wool in England. I may here remark that I have not been able to ascertain what was really the character of the wool produced in those early days, but my impression is that it was long-wool, from the style of goods said to be manufactured, and also from the want of competition there was in the growth of it with other countries. In the reign of Edward III., and again of Edward IV., a number of English sheep were, as a great boon, allowed to be transported to Spain to improve the Spanish breed, thus denoting that English wool was superior to Spanish wool. But very conclusive evidence on this point is given by Capmany, in a number of laws drawn up in the year 1438, and confirmed in 1493, by municipal authorities of Barcelona, for regulating the manufacture of cloth (woolen and worsted) from fine English wool. It appears that there were thirty of these regulations. The first prohibits the "mixture of another wool with the English;" others relate to precautions for "preserving the purity of the wool in shipping, &c." We are also informed by Capmany that in the fifteenth century fabrics made from English wool were sometimes sent to England. Considerable commercial intercourse existed between England and Spain in the middle ages, and Spanish merchants trading hither were

granted many immunities. Our early ancestors, the Saxons, had large flocks of sheep, and produced great quantities of wool, which must have been of fine quality, as it brought high prices; and it is fairly argued by Mr. James that they could not have consumed all the wool they produced, and therefore doubtless exported largely to Flanders, then distinguished for the variety and beauty of its woolen fabrics. In his quotation from Dr. Henry's History of England, vol. 2, book 2, chapter 5th, we learn "the fleece was, in the time of the Saxons, two-fifths of the value of the whole sheep." Macpherson, in his Annals of Commerce, vol. 1, page 288, says: "That there was an export, seems to be indicated by the disproportionate price fleece appears to have been compared with the whole sheep, and also from the high price of wool. From the earliest periods English wool has been remarkable for the length and fineness of its staple, and general adaption for clothing." To show that it was extensively produced, I may quote Matthew, of Westminster, an historian of the Norman period, who asserts that all the nations of the earth were kept warm by the wool of England, made into cloth by the Flemish manufacturers; and, however hyperbolical this language may appear, Mr. James justly says: "Unquestionably the duty on its export formed during the early periods of our history the principal source of revenue of the national exchequer." Dr. Whitaker, in his History of Craven, published in 1805, speaking of the value of wool towards the close of the twelfth century, says: "A sack of wool consisted (according to Spielman,) of twenty-six stones, each weighing fourteen pounds. A laborer then only received a penny per day, and an ox was worth about thirteen shillings and fourpence; whence it followed that at that time two and a half stones of wool would purchase an ox, whereas now, in 1805, a laborer will earn the value of a stone of wool in a week." The monks of Fountain's Abby, in the North Riding of Yorkshire, appear to have possessed large flocks of sheep in the Craven district. Those flocks furnished a large portion of the revenues of the monastery. It appears that to pay the heavy ransom of Richard I., one year's wool was borrowed of the "Cistertian order of Monks," towards raising the amount. Pertinent to the foregoing, James, from whom I quote, gives a balance sheet of the exports and imports of the kingdom in 1354, (preserved in the Exchequer Records,) showing that the balance in favor of this country was to the amount of £255,204 3s. 6d.; the exports being £294,184 17s. 2d., and the imports £38,970 13s. 8d. In this amount there was no less than 31,651 sacks of wool at £6 per sack, making a total of £189,909 for wool alone, and this exportation of raw material took place in the face of an enlarged home manufacture. In the reign of Henry VII., the woolen trade was greatly extended in this kingdom, and this

king, to use the quaint language of Defoe, "prohibited the exportation of unwrought wool, and to encourage foreign manufacturers to settle here, several of whom, coming over, established the manufacture of cloth in several parts of the kingdom, as (it is said) they found the people tractable: the bays in Colchester, in Essex, the Says, at Sudberry, in Suffolk; broadcloths, in Wiltshire; kerseys and narrow cloths, at Halifax and neighborhood in the West Riding of Yorkshire." It was in the reign of Henry VII. that a statute was passed to check the forestalling of wool. This was re-enacted in the reign of Henry VIII., and a clause run thus: "During ten years next ensuing, no person shall buy any wool before the 15th of August next after the shearing of the same, but such as would make cloth or yarn thereof, upon pain of forfeiting double the value; and no stranger should buy any wool before Candlemas day next after sheering thereof." Other enactments were also passed during this reign, which establish beyond doubt the high estimation in which wool, from sheep bred in the county of Norfolk, was held; nay, that worsted yarn could only be spun from such wool; and from other enactments we discover that large quantities were exported to France and Flanders for "the manufacture of Russell's worsted and other cloths;" so that "as a particular enactment goes, Norwich and other Norfolk towns were not only most likely to be brought to utter ruin and decay, but the inhabitants to be destitute of any way of getting an honest living."

No stronger evidence, I think, can be given of the value of this wool, and the estimation in which it was held abroad. laws passed in the reign of Henry the Eighth.

It is curious to notice the One was to the intent that

no person should hold above two farms, or keep 2,400 sheep, unless the land be inherited or held by a spiritual person. On account of the great profit which came from sheep, some persons kept 24,000, some 20,000, others from 5,000 to 10,000; whereby a good sheep, which used to be sold for 2s. and 4d., or at the most 33., had risen to 6s., 5s. or 4s. (at the least); and a stone of wool, which, in some countries, used to be sold for 1s. 6d. or 1s. 8d., had risen to 4s. or 33. 4d. at the least; and in others, where the price had been 2s. 4d., 23. 8d. or 3s. at most, was then 5s., or 4s. 8d. at least. In the year 1338 the finest wool was about 5s. per stone over and above 403. per sack duty on exportation. The price was undoubtedly set low by the royal wool stapler, as he was a purchaser without competition. McPherson (vol. 1, p. 521) says: "Edward III. had a grant from Parliment of 20,000 sacks of wool. He fixed the price, payable in two years, at which the best wool of the several counties should be settled for per sack, namely: Hereford, £3; Shropshire, £7; Lincoln, £6 133. 4d.; Gloucester, Worces ter, Chester and Flintshire, £6 63. 8d.; Leicester, Stafford, Oxford, Som