pounds. Both of them are widely known among those who have kept the run of Ayrshire stock.

The imported cow Tibby, with Highland Mary and Heather Bell, by chance stood together in the yard, and it seemed to us three more perfect and beautiful specimens of the breed could not well be brought together. Highland Mary, it will be remembered, took the first prize at our recent State fair. She is a descendant of White Lily, five years old, and sired by Kilburn. Her color is salmon, splashed with white, with fine head and horns, clean limbs, and an udder that would delight those looking for a perfect dairy cow. She is the mother of a bull calf which took first premium at the fair, and which Dr. Morse, of the Missouri State Board of Agriculture, purchased to go West.

Tibby gave twenty-five and one-half pounds at a milking. She is white and red, beautifully marked, and with a form and udder that show at once that she is a deep milker.

Lucky, Gem and Ellen Douglas, the latter five years old, and born on the sea, have all fine points-and thus we might go through with the various animals, but yet fail to give the reader a full idea of all the merits of this really select and valuable herd.

Of the two imported bulls, Baldy and Tarbolton, which were exhibited at the State fair, it would, perhaps, be needness to speak, and yet handsome and perfect as Baldly is, Tarbolton, to our mind, surpasses him. He has greatly improved since the fair, and we have never seen an Ayrshire that shows so many good points and such promise as a getter of deep milking stock.

We have already occupied so much space that we must defer speaking of the calves and the nice lot of thorough-bred heifers, the latter of which were feeding down in the great meadow on the flats-and can only advise farmers in search of models for the dairy to take a look at this herd, since we are convinced enough will be learned to pay for the journey and the time occupied.

The attention of dairymen has of late been directed to the importance of securing the best breeds of stock for dairy purposes, and those who have tried an Ayrshire strain of blood are greatly pleased with results obtained.

The main points now sought after by the dairymen are deep milking qualities, good constitution and economical feeders. The production of beef in connection with dairy farming does not generally enter into account with those purchasing stock for dairy purposes. Fair size is, with many, desired, under the impression that the larger animal, all things being equal, has capacity for producing more milk than the smaller-hence a cross of Ayrshire on the Short Horn is highly recommended by some. Breeding in this way has been practiced for a number of years by Mr. A. L. Fish, of Windfield, Herkimer county, and with the best results. In a conversation with Mr. Fish, he states that he has no difficulty in breeding very deep milkersoften carrying this quality so far that the animal produced such large

quantities of milk as to fail in constitution and break down under the tax imposed on the system.

Others, again, hold that a medium sized cow, like the Ayrshire, not only produces as much milk as the larger animal, but that much less food is required for their keep, and hence the breed is most economical for dairy purposes. Another recommendation in their favor is their activity, which adapts them to broken or uneven lands, like those composing a large share of the dairy regions. They live and thrive well upon lands unfavorable for feeding other breeds. Importations of Ayrshires into this county were made upwards of twenty years ago, but it is only of comparatively late date that they have been known here as possessing qualities to recommend their general introduction for the dairy. The origin of the breed does not seem to be definitely settled-at least writers differ in regard to their history. According to some, the Ayrshire originated in a cross of the Short Horn and Alderney; others state the stock to be derived in part from animals imported from Holland. Rawlin remarks that "it is said to be a mixture by bulls brought from the island of Alderney with their own or the old race of cows," while Martin says, "at some period or other there has evidently been a cross with the Durhams or Holderness, and perhaps also with the Alderney breed."

These statements we find in an excellent paper on the breed by Sandford Howard, Secretary of the Michigan State Board of Agriculture, who says that "the leading type of the breed was formed in part by an infusion of the blood of the Kyloe or West Highland breed." But whatever their origin, their value as a dairy stock is beyond question, and commands the attention of those seeking to improve the milking qualities of their herds. Having said this much, we cannot close without making a brief allusion to Mr. Campbell's new barn, referred to in the early part of this article, which, when completed, will be one of the best in the State.

The building is something in the form of an H, or two parallel buildings connected together by a central building forty feet by forty feet, which is to be used as a feed room. The stable is one hundred and fifty feet long by forty feet wide, and the front building eighty feet by forty-six feet. The drive floor in the center of the front is so arranged as to lead into the feed room, making a long passage-way to the stables of one hundred and twenty-one feet by thirteen feet. On either side of the drive-way in the front building are bays each forty-six feet by thirty-three and one-half feet, and so constructed that no timbers are in the way to interfere with the hay, giving, when filled solid, mows twenty feet high. Mr. Campbell believes that hay can be deposited. in the mows cheaper and better by horse forks than when buildings. are constructed so that the loads may be driven in at the upper story and the hay tumbled down in the mows. He says in this way the time and labor gained in unloading are, after all, not so much gain, since the hay is deposited in masses difficult to be removed for feed

ing; but with horse forks the load can be carried to any part of the mow, and the mowing away done more perfectly and in but little less time than by the other method. The stable is made to hold about eighty head of cattle, and is to be arranged with modern fixtures for feeding -with troughs or receptacles, where each animal can at any time be watered by turning a faucet connected with the water pipes. An opening in the water boxes will be provided to convey off surplus water when the animal has taken its fill. The whole structure stands upon a very neat and substantial wall-that under the front and feed room being about ten feet high. Under this part of the building is the root cellar, where teams can drive through and deposit their loads. At the time of our visit the roots were being gathered and stored, and the estimated number of bushels grown this year was put at ten thousand-mostly turnips and sugar beets.

The barn is to be lighted with gas, Mr. Campbell believing that there was less danger by lighting in this way than by carrying lights in lanterns or lamps, after the usual way. Of course, as a convenience, nothing is superior to gas. When all the necessary machinery for cutting feed, roots, etc., and other fixtures shall have been introduced, this will be, perhaps, one of the most perfect barn structures in the State.

The Messrs. Walcott & Campbell have a large tract of land in the vicinity of their mills. We went down to the great meadow, which lay spread out with level surface, and carpeted with a rich old turf, perfectly filled with grasses.

The beautiful young Ayrshires, with now and then a thorough-bred Short Horn, were feeding upon the rich after growth, making a picture that would have delighted an artist. The young stock were as tame and playful as kittens, seemingly pleased to make the acquaintance of strangers, and courting a pat with the hand or an affectionate fondling. We went up and through the great mill, with its mammoth water wheel of peculiar construction, and of itself worth seeing. Here are collected all of those wonderful machines used in cotton manufactories, performing their work with regularity and precision, and seeming to be able to accomplish everything except speaking the English language. They had, indeed, a language of their own, but it was Greek to us, and however loud and angry they might seem to talk, the work we noticed went steadily on without a minute's delay, and was finished in all its parts to perfection. We should be glad to make a note of what we saw here, but our paper is already long, and space forbids.

(1) Cotswold Ewe, one year old, bred by John | George Miller, Markham, Canada West.

(2) Cotswold Ewe, one year old, bred by

Lane, Cirencester, England.

Owned by J. J. Dodge, New Lyme, Ashtabula county, Ohio. One of the most important interests of Missouri is wool growing and the production of mutton. Immense flocks of sheep have heretofore been kept in some parts of the State, and, it is believed, always with very satisfactory profits. This interest has been very much interfered with during the war, but the recent increased demand for and high price of wool, with the scarcity of cotton, and the high price of

mutton, owing to the comparative scarcity and high price of beef, and the growing taste for mutton, has given sheep husbandry a new impetus, and farmers have been increasing their flocks by every means in their power, and many have embarked in wool growing as a new enterprise.

With our extensive territory of low-priced lands, so large a portion. of them readily susceptible of sheep grazing, with our mild climate, where, in many parts, at least, sheep may live over winter on blue grass pasture, we should be able to produce wool at a cost more than one-half less than can be done in the Eastern States.

Mr. Randall, in the Practical Shepherd, says: "The cost of producing wool depends upon that of keeping sheep, and this necessarily varies greatly in different situations. On the high-priced lands in New York and New England, on which sheep are now usually kept for wool growing purposes, it, under judicious systems of winter management, reaches about two dollars a head per annum. In extensive regions of the South and Southwest, it is mainly comprised in the expense of herding, salting and shearing, and where the number of sheep kept is large, it does not exceed twenty-five cents a head. But it would be more profitable in those regions to provide some kind of shelter, and give a little feed in the height of winter, and this would increase the cost to fifty cents a head."

According to a table given by Mr. Randall, medium wool has sold, on an average, for forty-two and eight-tenths cents per pound, for the thirty-five years preceding the high prices of the late war. Allowing fleeces to average five pounds each, which is low enough for Merinos, this would give two dollars and fourteen cents to the fleece, which would pay the cost of keeping anywhere, and leave the owner the lambs and manure for his profit. But in Missouri, where sheep can be kept for more than half cheaper than in New York and New England, it will be safe to calculate as a permanent thing on one-half of the fleece as profit, in addition to the lambs and manure. At present prices, fully two-thirds of the fleece can be counted as profit. Mr. Flagg, of Moro, Illinois, has a flock of five hundred French Merinos. They averaged this year over seven pounds of wool to the head. This, at sixty cents a pound, gives two thousand one hundred dollars, while the cost of keeping, it is presumed, would be less than one dollar each.

It is scarcely possible for sheep husbandry to fail in the future to be remunerative. According to good authority, the imports of unmanufactured wool to the United States has exceeded our exports, for the twenty-two years preceding the war, at the rate of more than two millions of dollars a year, and of manufactured wool at the rate of more than nineteen millions a year. There cannot be a reasonable doubt that the United States can permanently furnish its own markets with wool more cheaply than other countries can furnish it. Why, then, shall we continue to be vast importers of one of the prime necessaries