276 



FARMERS' REGISTER, 



horee-rake in the evening. Tliefoiindalion oflhe 

 cocks are made fhree leet in diameter, and after 

 heiuix Trtised two Icel high, a stake is run through 

 inio the jyfround, and the codi finished by pulling 

 hay over the top of the slake, and carried up in 

 form ofa cone. The slakes handle hetier by heing 

 pmooihcd wiih a drawing knile, and short hay fori^s 

 are the best for the work. Orchard grass, and 

 I suppose limoliiy and lierds-grass, put up in this 

 way, rarely susiain injury lioni rainorwin(], and 

 alter iwo<lays' clear weather may be mowed away 

 with perlect safety. If urgent business on liie 

 liirni refjuiies it, I do not hesitate to leave the liay 

 out til! a convenient season. 



I cut no other liay hut, orchard ijrass : most 

 persons prefer liniolhy; hut if orchard grass be 

 cut as soon as it <rels inio full bloom, it makes ex- 

 cellent hay, and if the first crop be not snfHcienl, 

 ihere is a good chance lor the second. The se- 

 cond crop is neyer so good in quality as the first, 

 and a provident liirmcr ou<fht never lo rely on it, 

 but may resort to it to supply the deficiency ol'his 

 first crop. After the first crop iscut, if the land be 

 kept clear of slock, lor two or three weeks, it will 

 aHord excellent grazing, and afier it isealen down, 

 iflhe cattle be removed, and it lias ihe benefit of 

 ihe September rains, it makes valuable pasture till 

 December, and sometimes till Chiislmas. When 

 biiilcr is to be made in the lidi, for winier use, the 

 cov\g are alwa3s turned upon my orchard grass. 

 I have never esteemed clover v;duable for hay; it 

 is not a healthy food for horses, though it does well 

 forcalile. Sugar beets, with rough provender, 

 corn shucks, (wheat or oat straw,) is their best 

 winier provision. Red clover with the aid of 

 gypsum on exhausted lands has been found a 

 most valuaiile imjirover : but I have been ol" late 

 inclined to doubt, afier lands have been well im- 

 proved by lime or marl, and putrescent manures, 

 if red clover is not n;enerallv eslimaied beyond 



summers I have spent some time in Pennsylvania 

 — I conversed Ireely wilh some persons connected 

 with the Philadelphia market, and lound ihey es- 

 teemed wliiie clover as more valuable for bulter 

 and beef than red. 



The farmers of Maryland and Virginia have 

 been marked (or iheir improvidence, and among 

 other proofs, a strong one is our dependence upon 

 foreign slates for our grass-seed. I liave saved 

 on my own farm clover and orchard grass seed, 

 and I can say vviih confidence, they may thus 

 be obtained at one-lburih of what they cost; and 

 I confess wilh shame, that with this knowledge, I 

 have generally depended upon the Baliimore 

 market Ibr clover seed. I warn cur farmers against 

 lijreign seeds — JBy this menus we have introduced 

 ihe plantain, liie Si. John's wort, and ihe Rich- 

 ardson's pent ; and if we add to it the Canada 

 ihistle, we shall have a heavy evil upon us. I 

 have sown this spring but little clover seed ; I 

 purpose to keep my wheat fields, or some of them, 

 clear ofslock till late in October, and not graze 

 them next year, lill the mon'h ot May. 1 am very 

 sensible that my speculation in relation to red 

 clover, is contrary to received opinion — i do not 

 advance it wilh confidence, and 1 desire to lest it. 

 Old Mr. Shandy thought there was nothing like a 

 theory — I think an agricultural theory of little 

 worth, unless its value be tested by experience. 

 War. Carmichael. 



TVije, Queen ^/jjfe's Co., 3Id. 

 Jpril 20, 1840. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY. 



To the Editor of tlie Farmers' Register. 



Although it can easily be demonstrated to the 



dullest apprehension, that no farming stock wilt 



yield greater net profit than sheep, when pro- 



ils real worih. When red clovcris sown on our { [jerly treated, yet we may venture to assert, that 



oat or wheat fields, ii is not usually grazed lill ihe 

 middle olOciober. Il clover is not sown on them 

 as soon as the grain is secured, the siock is lurned 

 in, and the fields remain a hack pasture, until 

 ploughed lor another crop, in this district of 

 country, even under this treatment, while clover 

 will arow on our improved lands, butted clover 

 would generally he exiin<ruishcd ihe first season. 

 I have heard experienced farmers say, that the 

 great iuiproving properly of the red clover was in 

 the tap root. This consists in the vegetable 

 matter it contains, and if the same qtianiity of ve- 

 gclable matier could be imparled to the soil (i-om 

 any oihcr source, the effects I should ihink would 

 be equal. Some years airo, u[>on "he chauL^e of my 

 eystem ol' iarniing. 1 was unable to make' during 

 the year a dividing fence between my wheat and 

 corn field, and, of course, after culling ihe wheat, 

 the field was not grazed; it had been dressecl 

 the year previous v.'iih marsh mud, and the 

 while ciover was equal lo what i have seen in 

 the fall of the year on fields sown with red clover. 

 Red clover often liiils fi-om a defect in the ^eed, 

 or ttie season; and, if the oats or wheat upon 

 which it is sown be luxuriant, it is liable to be 

 smothered before harvest. White clover is indige- 

 nous, and on improved lands rarely fails : under 

 smy circumstances, and I think under provident 

 ilvupbandry would afford siifiicient vegetable matter 

 ?o keep them in hcalihy action. The last two 



none are more shamelijily neglected, especially 

 in our own stale. The loss among ihem by 

 death, during the last winter and early spring, 

 has been enormous; far indeed beyond any that; 

 the oldest man among us can recollect. Now, as 

 this, 1 believe, has been entirely owing lo a dis- 

 ease which, although very common, has not yet 

 been disiinguished by any technical name or piiy- 

 siological description, I will endeavor to point out 

 the piemonitory symptoms, for the benefit of sucJi 

 young farmers as may not have attended to them 

 sufficiently, to take timely warning against their 

 faial consequences. The first is a sinking con- 

 vexiiy of ihe back, and a position oflhe head and 

 neck, which give lo the animal more the shape of 

 ihe camel than the sheep. The next is an inward' 

 shrinking of the belly, which gives lo that part an. 

 upward curvature, nearly parallel lo the curve of 

 the spine. Lastly, and whin the case is nearly 

 desperate, may be seen a drawing of the li"ont 

 and hinder liiet towards each other, as if the poor, 

 doomed creature, hopeless of all aid fiom man, 

 was about to fall into the agonies of death. A 

 post mortem examination, alihough rarely made, 

 except by dogs and buzzards, always discloses a 

 carcass the bones of which have nearly worn 

 through the skin, and intestines almost as empty 

 as the exhausted receiver of an air-pump. 



Having described, as accurately as 1 can, what 

 ihe doctors would call the diajinostics of this 



