TILE DRAINAGE. 37 



in a basket. This bin, having a good roof over it, will keep 

 the corn in as good condition as though in a granary or crib. 



COTSWOLD AND MERINO SHEEP. 



Where flocks of sheep, of one hundred or less, are kept, 

 the Cotswold is undoubtedly the best. I keep a flock of four 

 hundred Merino sheep, and consider that they pay me 

 well, in both wool and mutton, and also in keeping up the fer- 

 tility of the farm. The ewes should be bred, so as to have 

 the lambs come in April, while the sheep are still in their 

 winter quarters, as it is much less trouble to give them the at- 

 tention required at that time, than when they are roaming 

 about the fields. Lambs should be weaned the first of Sep- 

 tember and allowed a ration of grain daily, until the grass has 

 well started the next May. Good Merino lambs will shear ten 

 lbs. per head at a little past one year old ; and after they are 

 sheared, weigh from eighty to one hundred pounds and be 

 ready for the butcher. My practice is to shear the latter part 

 of April, without washing. A good shelter is necessary to 

 the successful raising of sheep ; as they should not be allowed 

 to get wet from the first of November until the warm rains of 

 Spring. 



THE OUTBUILDINGS 



on my farm are a barn, fifty by eighty-four feet, with a base- 

 ment for stabling horses, cattle and sheep ; a hog house, thirty 

 by forty feet, with scale house attached, and two double cribs, 

 each forty feet in length. 



A convenient size for cribs, is a building twenty-six by 

 forty feet, with twelve feet posts. This gives two cribs eight 

 feet wide, and a driveway of ten feet, and will hold three 

 thousand bushels of corn. 



TILE DRAINAGE. 



Too much can not be said with regard to the advantages 

 of tile drainage. My experience in laying tile reaches back 

 for a period of nine years. Have laid more or less nearly every 

 year since, until nearly all the ravines in my farm produce a 



