the weight of fleece and weight of carcass, respectively, at a public shearing of these lambs, given by the purchaser, at West Cornwall, Vermont, May 23, 1866: Gross weight of carcass after shorn, forty-five ewes, 2,515 pounds, 3 ounces. Average weight of fleeces, 11 pounds 5 ounces. These lambs, like most of the principal flocks of pure bred merino sheep in Addison county-the leading sheep-growing county in the State-were descendants of the Spanish merinoes of the importation of Stephen Atwood, of Connecticut, and now generally known as the Infantado stock. The ram lamb Ophir is a most perfect specimen of what long continued effort at improvement can accomplish. He was but ten months old when his portrait was taken. The ewes of the best flocks, when matured, shear from ten to fifteen pounds each; the ram from fifteen to twenty-five pounds, unwashed, and they are generally shorn in April or May, when the weather is cool and the fleece less oily than it would be later in the season, at the ordinary time of shearing. The number of breeders of fine sheep is rapidly increasing. Competition is keen, and we may look for a still further advancement in the excellence of flocks and a more general dissemination of the American merino through the United States during the next decade. The addition to the material wealth of the country in this event can scarcely be estimated, as, with the requisite protection by a judicious tariff, the American breeder can be confidently assured of ample and gratifying remuneration. The people of Texas were becoming considerably interested in sheep husbandry and the breeding of improved stock when the late unhappy rebellion terminated their intercourse with the north, and even since the close of that struggle have again commenced visiting Vermont with a view of purchasing stock and engaging anew in the prosecution of the enterprise. The soil and climate of Texas are favorable to the breeding of sheep, and we look to see the "Lone Star" become one of the leading wool-growing States of the Union. Several of the best flocks of Vermont will be represented at the exposition at Paris in 1867, and a still greater triumph for the American breeder than that achieved at Hamburg a few years since may be expected. We hope to see it fully demonstrated that the pure bred American merino has no equal on the face of the globe. CATTLE FARMING IN THE PAMPAS. BY REV. G. D. CARROW, LATE SUPERINTENDENT OF THE MISSIONS OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN SOUTH AMERICA. There are two classes of men (discoverers by land and sea, and pioneers in new fields of tillage and commerce) who, though almost invariably distinguished for great and good qualities, seldom realize an adequate return for their services to their country and to mankind. The truth of this statement is confirmed by many facts belonging to the history of the discovery and colonization of this continent. Were we not so strongly assured of the contrary, we might suppose that the discovery and exploration of the three greatest rivers of this continent, and of the globe, were events certainly calculated to insure solid comfort to their authors during the brief period of their mortal life, as well as immortal fame on the pages of history. What are the facts which so sternly forbid this natural supposition? Fer nando de Soto was the first white man who explored the banks of the Missis sippi, and saw that "father of waters" roll beneath the boughs of the primeval forest to the sea. But only a few days after his passage of the mighty stream he had ceased to live; his body, to conceal his death from his enemies, was wrapped in his mantle, and, at the hour of midnight, was silently sunk in the middle of the current. "The wanderer," says Mr. Bancroft, "had crossed a large portion of the continent in search of gold, and found nothing so remarkable as the place of his burial." Francisco de Orellana, striking a stream that wound itself along through the rugged passes of the Peruvian Andes, built a mere raft of green wood, launched it, and drifted with the current. Onward it bore him through plain and forest, mountain gorge and fertile valley, ever grow ing deeper and wider, till, at the end of seven months, and at a distance of four thousand five hundred miles, his frail and rudely constructed vessel felt the heaving, and his experienced eye surveyed the great expanse, of the Atlantic Ocean. He called the river Amazon. Marvellous was the adventure, and im mortal the fame. But, ten years later, the discoverer perished in an expedition designed to locate and further explore the river, whose course he had followed from its birth in the mountains to its death in the sea. In 1515, Juan Dias de Solis, crossing the equator, and steering boldly to the south, in the teeth of the terrific gales which sweep northward from the latitude of Cape Horn, entered what he soon perceived to be the mouth of a great river,, and finding, or hoping to find, silver among its sands, called it El Rio de la Plata. But venturing ashore a few days after the discovery, he was put to death by the native savages. The explorers were in search of the precious metals, but died at the height of their career in poverty and disappointment. Posterity, however, was to reap incalculable advantage from their adventures and sufferings. Harvests of grain and cotton are now gathered in the valley of the Mississippi more valuable than the produce of the mines of Potosi. Harvests of fruit, corn, and cotton are to be gathered in the valley of the Amazon worth more than all the gold that streaks the mountains whence that river flows. And from the far-reaching plains of La Plata's basin, supplies of meat and clothing might be drawn in quantities sufficient to meet the necessities of more than half the world. The pampas form the larger portion of that great river's basin. Of their wool-producing capabilities, and of the extent to which they are already laid under contribution, the writer has given some account in the report of 1864, Department of Agriculture. In the present communication his purpose is to give to agriculturists of the valleys of the north some information on the subject of horned cattle breeding on the great plains of the South American continent. THEIR ORIGIN. There were no horned cattle either in the northern or southern division of this continent prior to the discovery. The first ever seen in the new world were imported by Columbus in 1493. Respecting their importation into the northern section of the southern continent, Lieutenant Gibbon, in his Exploration of the Valley of the Amazon, says: "This pampa looks like a great pasture field, enclosed by the Mamoré ditch on the south, and the Securé on the north. Under the shade of the trees stand the cattle of the field. They have gradually clambered over the Cordilleras from the flats of Guayaquil, through the table lands of Oruro, and from the salt district of Charcas. The creoles drove them down by the side of the Mamoré river, and let them out into the grassy prairie lands of Chiquitos and Mojos. When the cattle came among the Indians they knew not what to make of them. There were no such animals in their wild lands. The fierce tiger, and the poisonous serpent which they worshipped, were outdone. The cow interfered with the belief they previously had, that the largest animals were God's favorites, particularly those which had the greatest means for active aggression or self-defence. The cow helped to change such a religion. By degrees they learned that she neither bit, clawed, nor stung; that she carried a bag full of milk; that her teeth were given her to cut the pampa grass, and not to devour the flesh of a human being; that she was docile and friendly to man, and not his enemy. The Jesuits (missionaries) taught the Indians how to milk the cow and how to use her milk. They soon learned how to tend cattle, to lasso them, to yoke them by the horns, so that they may drag along a bundle of drift wood from the edge of the river to the middle of the plain. In this way they kept cattle near them, while herds roamed through the pampas, became wild, and are now so scattered through the lands that it is difficult to count them." The pampas described in the lieutenant's report form the central and southeastern departments of the present republic of Bolivia, and he is doubtless correct when he states that the first horned cattle introduced into that part of the continent came from the Pacific coast. In 1551 horned cattle were first brought into Paraguay from the coast of Brazil. These Sir Woodbine Parish regards as the progenitors of the numberless herds that for three centuries have roamed the southern plains. For the original importation Paraguay was, doubtless, indebted to the Jesuits, as was that country, and, in fact, the whole interior of the southern continent, for almost all the elements of their early civilization. Sir Woodbine is mistaken, however, in asserting that the whole pampas stock originated from the breed imported into their mission grounds by the Jesuits of Paraguay. Prior to the date to which that importation is assigned, settlements of Europeans had been effected in southeastern Peru, and the colonists, as Mr. Gibbon suggests, had brought cattle with them from the west coast. The present stock, therefore, may be regarded as the combined results of two original importations, one from the Atlantic and the other from the Pacific shore. As to the particular character of the original stock, it no doubt, consisted of the common black cattle of Spain and Portugal. WILD CATTLE. There is a very common mistake in regard to what some writers designate as the "wild cattle of the south." The writers themselves are mistaken, and have led their readers to the same erroneous conclusion. The opinion is, that from an early period after the conquest herds of straying and unclaimed cattle were allowed to run wild, and that these were, in the course of many years, multiplied into countless millions, roaming wild and fierce through the forests and over the plains. It is true that portions of herds, which had never received proper care, or that by some special and violent cause had been separated and scattered, have become wild in their habits and fierce in their dispositions. But being regarded as common property, both Indians and white settlers have hunted them till the breed can no longer be said to exist, and the only wild cattle now are the few, comparatively, that have wandered away from the farms during the absence of the herdsmen in times of revolutionary commotion. GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. The general characteristics of the present native stock are about the same as those of unimproved stock in this country. The principal points of difference are in the legs and horns; the legs being longer, and the horns longer and wider at the tips, than those of our native breed. Their average weight is about the same as that of our ordinary farm cattle. In a large herd almost all shades of color may be distinguished, the prevailing hues being light and dark red, and black, and dark brown. Steers frequently attain a fine size, are very symmetrical in their proportions, and when broken to the yoke and put to service are gentle in their dispositions and rapid and graceful in their motions. In regard to the qualities of the cows for the production of milk, but little can be said with certainty. On the cattle farms milk is but seldom used, and so little attention is paid to the cows that are kept by milkmen for the purpose of supplying the towns and cities, that the quantity of milk they yield cannot be taken as a fair sample of their natural capabilities. The milk itself is very rich and has an excellent flavor. The town and city traffic in that article is somewhat noteworthy. Certain police regulations are made to prevent adulteration; but they are not very effectual. Every few mornings quite a troop of milkmen's horses may be seen in line before the door of the police officer, and after due examination, the charge of adulterating being brought home, the contents of the cans are condemned and confiscated. But the adulteration of milk, like the adulteration of whiskey, is found to pay so well that the rogues can afford to suffer the penalty of the law quite as often as a policeman can be found sharp enough to detect and sufficiently conscientious to arraign them. It must, indeed, be rather an extreme case of milk and water to be thought grave enough to be presented for the action of municipal authority. Hence it is worthy of note, as another peculiarity belonging to this traffic, that many of the milkmen will confess to the faces of their customers the sin of adulteration. The lachero who supplied the family of the writer, frankly acknowledged that he regularly brought three kinds of milk to market. "I have," said he, "a double share of cream for my customers who pay me an extra price, no cream for those who pay the regular price, and milk and water for such as may not pay anything." For reasons that will be stated in connexion with another point remaining to be noticed, no attempt has been made to improve the native stock by the cattle breeders of the pampas. This, to many, will doubtless seem strange; for, considering the facilities afforded for such an experiment by the climate and pasturage of the country, it might prove successful there beyond precedent in those countries where, by crossing and careful treatment, stock has been brought to its highest degree of perfection. If the writer mistake not, there is a handsome fortune in store for any intelligent, enterprising cattle farmer who would go to that country and invest a moderate capital in the improvement of native stock, both for domestic supply and foreign exportation. A CATTLE FARM. An estancia, or cattle farm, varies in extent from one thousand to fifty thousand square leagues-the square league containing five thousand seven hundred and sixty English acres. In the districts adjacent to the cities and towns, and in those which lie upon the margin of the Plate and Parana rivers, sheep are rapidly taking the place of horned cattle. The largest estancias for cattle, in fact, are now to be found only in the interior, and in such sections as are far from the great water-courses. The cattle farms abound in what the natives distinguish as strong grasses. These coarse grasses gradually disappear whenever the land is appropriated to sheep. In their place there comes a rich supply of smooth-stalked meadow grass, (Poa pratensis,) and meadow foxtail, (Alopecurus.) Horned cattle, like sheep, prefer these, but thrive very well on the trefoil, wild barley, and other varieties of coarse grass which abound throughout the plains. The coarse grasses are more hardy, and stand the dry season better than finer ones, but contain less nutriment; and while stock fed upon them are preserved in a healthy and plump condition, they neither fatten so quickly nor so abundantly as when favored with their choice pasture. Pasture is most abundant in winter, the rainy season of that climate, and of best quality during the months of summer and autumn. On a single estancia is frequently pastured a stock consisting of a hundred thousand head. The general herd is divided into smaller ones containing, each, from three to twelve thousand. A herd of three thousand can be properly cared for by one man. The entire herd is collected every evening at a spot near the farm-house. This gathering place is called, in Spanish, rodes. And one marked peculiarity to be observed when the stock has been assembled for the night is, that each animal is careful to select precisely the same spot on which it laid the night before, and every night, probably, since it took its place among its full grown companions. The immense herd will all lie or stand together thus, each in its own place, without enclosure of any kind, and will not separate for the day's grazing until eight or nine o'clock in the morning. Cows calve once a year; heifers as early as two years old. With regard to the longevity of horned cattle, no exact information can now be obtained. Farmers have not recorded nor perhaps even made any observations on that subject. In the opinion of Mr. Van Blarcom, (an experienced and intelligent observer,) the average age of animals may be set down as fifteen or twenty years. Neither the proprietors nor the men they employ will eat the flesh of an old cow or steer, and as stock is not bred to any extent either for milking or labor, there is no inducement to preserve animals till they have grown old, especially as the heifers and younger cows are preferred for the purpose of breeding. For these reasons but very few animals are allowed to grow old; and such as receive this privilege are permitted to die of neglect, or are killed for the hide and tallow, the carcass being thrown to the dogs and buzzards. To secure comfort and success in cattle breeding, water is a prime consideration. The most desirable land, therefore, for this purpose, is that which is situated in those slightly undulating districts of the great plains where large ponds of water collect during the rainy season. These, however, evaporate in most cases during the heat of summer, and water must be obtained from wells. where care had not been taken to provide a sufficient number of these, In cases |