240 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



except for manure. Tlic blades and tops of nicely cured cornstalks make 

 prime sheep feed. Flue red-clover hay, cured bright and green, is better than 

 the best meadow hay, and on a full winter allowance of it sheep actually fatten ; 

 it is also highly favorable to ihe milk secretions in breeding ewes. The grains 

 and pulse most used in our coiuitry for sheep feed are oats, corn, and peas. 

 Oats are given to store sheep and lambs ; corn is given to fatten sheep, and with 

 some it is a favorite for all other classes of sheep. Some excellent feeders, like 

 Mr. Johnston, of Geneva, New "5^ork, employ buckwheat. Peas are fed in a 

 few instances to breeding ewes, and they greatly promote the growth of wool 

 and the secretion of milk, but they are too scarce and expensive for common 

 use. The same is true of beans, though they are accounted among sheep- 

 breeders more heating, and therefore less suitable feed. Bran and shorts, 

 mixed with a little gi-ain, make a most excellent feed both for lambs and old 

 sheep. Bran-slop is admirable for promoting the secretion of milk in yeaning 

 ewes. Breeding ewes thrive better, and are better prepared in their general 

 physical condition to bring forth well-developed, strong lambs, if they habitu- 

 ally receive green food during the winter, and other sheep are healthier for it. 

 Colic or " stretches," often so serious a malady among flocks confined to dry 

 feed, does not attack sheep that get green feed. In regions adapted to their 

 culture, Swedes and some other varieties of the turnip are especially adapted to 

 this object. There is a beet which was brought from Silesia by Mr. William 

 Chamberlain, (not the variety sold in seed stores as the Silesian beet,) which 

 some persons who have tried them prefer to turnips. Either root is vastly 

 cheaper than grain of any description for the feed of sheep. Carrots have been 

 tried and do not give satisfaction, and potatoes are too expensive. 



REGULARITY IN FEEDING. 



One of the important points of successful sheep-farming conisists in strict 

 regularity in the time of feeding, and in proportioning the amount of fodder to 

 the wants of the animal. With good attention to these particulars, sheep will 

 do better on moderate keep than on the best food fed with irregularity. 



DISEASES OF SHEEP. 



Only those diseases of sheep which are known to have appeared in the United 

 States will here be noticed, with the single exception of small-pox. This malady 

 is so dangerous, and there is such a strong probability of its being introduced 

 into our countiy, that our people ought to have some preparatory information 

 on the subject. 



SORE FACE AND LIPS. 



Sheep's faces occasionally become quite sore when they are at pasture in 

 summer. It is attributed to the effects of St. John's wort, and to some other 

 causes. It is cured by the application of sulphur ointment, consisting of sul- 

 phur and lard. 



Swelled and sore lips more frequently appear about the opening of winter, 

 but the causes are unknown. Sulphur ointment, mixed with a little tar, is a 

 very efficacious remedy. 



* OPHTHALMIA. 



This disease is characterized by redness of the eye and the parts about it, 

 intolerance of light, and a flow of tears. Bathe the eye occasionally in warm 

 water, and with a weak solution of sulphate of zinc, combined with tincture of 

 opium. 



GRUB IN THE HEAD. 



Among farmers this is the name given to various different diseases. The 

 gad-fly of sheep deposits its eggs in their nostrils in the months of July and 



