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For ten bushels of wheat, put sixteen ounces of blue vitriol in a boiler with ten gal- 
Jons of water and heat thoroughly. This mixture is sprinkled, boiling hot, over the 
wheat, which is then gathered into a heap and left to absorb the mixture for one day. 
It is then spread out again and allowed to dry. 4 
HOPEFUL SPRING PROSPECTS.—Under date of February 28, our cor- 
respondent in Dooly County, Georgia, reports that, owing to the mild- 
ness of the winter, there has been no occasion to shelter stock. Cattle 
.and sheep are free from any prevailing disease, and 40 per cent. better 
in condition than a year ago. At that date planters were already put- 
ting in corn, which was something very unusual. He also states: 
There is 30 per cent. more wheat sown than last year, and I never saw it look finer. 
I may also say, speaking accurately, that there is 50 per cent. more of oats sown. 
The low price of cotton has induced many planters to invest largely in grain, which is 
an omen of better times for Dooly County. 
A NEW FORAGE-PLANT AND FERTILIZER.—A correspondent of the 
Georgia commissioner of agriculture calls his attention to a new for- 
age-plant, which first appeared on a farm of forty acres in Liberty 
County, Georgia, owned by two freedmen, and was first noticed in 
1871. It appeared to be a troublesome weed, springing up very thickly 
after the crops were laid by. It began to spread and soon covered 
every foot of uncultivated.ground. It has since spread over a large 
surface, and has reached points several miles distant from its original 
point of development. But, so far from being a nuisance, as was at 
first suspected, it has proved a great boon to the worn-out lands of the 
South. It is relished by farm-animals, both in the green and the cured 
state. As a fertilizer its application in one case indicated qualities 
superior to stable-emanure. <A farmer plowed under two acres of this 
plant, and on an adjoining two acres a coating of stable-emanure was 
spread. The first two acres produced twice as many bushels of corn as 
the second two. Itis known as Mexican clover, and is a leguminous 
plant. In many localities it has driven out all other grasses. It seeds 
heavily, but is not an early grower; and hence it never gets in the way 
of young crops. The first light frost in the fall kills it. 
SHEEP-HUSBANDRY IN OREGON.—The following is a condensed state- 
ment of facts respecting his own experience in growing sheep and wool in 
Oregon, communicated by our correspondent in Marion County, Mr. John 
Minto. He began to keep sheep in 1849, with good common stock from 
Missouri. In 1858 he crossed these with Southdowns. In 1860 he ob- 
tained thoroughbred Merinoes, partly from Vermont and partly from 
New South Wales. When received they averaged 6 pounds per fleece, 
of very fine unwashed wool. The average per fleece of the Vermont 
Merino ewes was 83 pounds; of the rams, 112; ranging on grass and 
sheltered at night in the winter. 
' He says: / 
The average number of lambs saved per 100 ewes varies with the breed; with the 
common stock, 100 per cent. is a very fair result, though I have often saved more than 
that; with Southdowns, 120 per cent.; with Cotswold and Leicester, 100 per cent. 
when kept in small flocks; with Merinoes, 85 per cent. In my experience, all these 
breeds diminish the ratio of their increase as the floek is increased—the Merino in the 
least degree and the long-wools in the greatest. The percentage here given is what 
may be realized when sheep are a part of a system of mixed husbandry in Western 
Oregon, as I have conducted it. Under such circumstances, the cost of keeping on 
land worth $20 per acre does not vary much from $1 per head. Such land, devoted to 
sheep exclusively, I think would carry 3 per acre. 
_ For the past four years my wool has sold at an average of 32 cents per pound. There 
is not much difference made in this market between that from common sheep and that 
from improved stock. Usually that of the latter commands 2 or 3 cents more, chiefly 
because those keeping up the improvement of their flocks are known generally to 
