213 



Prepare your land early in spring, that your crop may be got into the 

 ground in time, and an early harvest insured ; but do not by any means 

 plow or plant in wet weather. Wait a month for a favorable season, if 

 it should not come sooner. 



Earth your potatoes early, before the tubers are formed ; if you do 

 not, too much clay will be placed over the tubers by successive land- 

 ings, and earthing late will retard the ripening of the crop, and it will 

 probably be destroyed by bhght. 



Heap your manure early, that it may be decomposed and ready to 

 afford nourishment to the plants. 



Dig or plow out your potatoes early, just as soon as the tops are de- 

 cayed, and store them up safe from rain and frost. 



Finally, intelligent reader, if in this essay you have seen anything 

 worthy of your approval, begin early and put it into practice. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY. 



BY E. LAKIN BROWN. 



J. C. Holmes, Esq., Sec^t/ of the Michigan State Agricultural Society: 

 Sir — Agreeably to your request, I will endeavor to give you the 

 benefit of what experience I have had in sheep-husbandry; and al- 

 though but a mite, still it is of such mites, collected and compared, that 

 knowledge \a made. 



Wool-growing, as a business, in Michigan, is but just commenced ; 

 having hitherto failed to attract the attention of farmers to a great de- 

 gree, for various reasons. First. Such as attend every new and sparsely 

 settled country — the ravages of wild beasts, the want of suitable pas- 

 ture grounds, and the diflBculty of procuring stock. Second. The fer- 

 tility and productiveness of the fresh and virgin soil, rendering grain- 

 growing the great and controlling businea?, to the exclusion of every- 

 thing else, even of all thought or perception of the ultimate ruin of 

 those engaged in it. Third. The generally prevailing opinion abroad, 

 and to some extent at home, that Michigan is not adapted to the wants 

 and habits of the sheep. This latter reason has undoubtedly been a 

 very effective one in preventing the introduction of the sheep from abroad, 

 it being supposed the bleak and breezy hills of New England were es- 



