456 BLACKHAWK COUNTY, IOWA. 



$3 each. To get rid of old ewes I wean the lambs early, so as 

 to refresh the ewes on grass. I fatten them on ground feed. 

 I do not yard them in Summer, but I Winter them in good, 

 comfortable sheds, protected on tli>e north and west by a belt 

 of evergreens. I Winter the lambs by themselves, and the 

 bucks by themselves, except two months when they run with 

 tlie ewes. I feed oats in the bundle, in a double rack, with 

 mangers, so as to receive what falls through. They have hay 

 and all the straw they can eat, and I keep the yards, well lit- 

 tered. I salt them once a week, and they have access to well- 

 water in Winter and running water in Summer. 



My object in keeping Cotswolds is to have longer and bet- 

 ter wool, and heavier mutton of a better quality in a shorter 

 time. These benefit the pocket and improve the farm. It 

 is emphatically true in all business, that nothing pleases with- 

 out profit as well as pleasure. 



PASTURE AND MEADOWS. 



. I usually sow grass seed after wheat, in the Spring, for 

 pasture and meadow, and sow five quarts of timothy, five quarts 

 of clover and five quarts of red* top, and drag with chain drag. 

 I generally take the first crop of clover after the first haying, 

 for seed. I never sow blue grass seed nor white clover, as I 

 consider them a nuisance on all cultivated lands. The blue 

 grass has to be subdued again, and they both drive out every 

 thing else. I never pasture very close, only so as to have red 

 clover re-seed itself, and continue for years. I treat my 

 meadow land the same. The old grass protects and keeps the 

 land damp in early Spring, before it can shade and protect 

 itself. I keep all stock olf the meadows when they are soft in 

 Winter and Spring, and do not let stock pasture in it after the 

 grass starts. I consider it malpractice to break up meadows, 

 as the older a meadow the better it is, if well seeded down 

 and taken care of. 



MANURING. 



With reference to applying manures, I am satisfied that 

 more can be realized from manuring, as top dressing, on grass 



