DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 735 



L "I have made peas one of my principal crops for several years, and 

 find these advantages: Peas are as sure a crop as any other, and one which 

 leaves the ground in the best order for wheat. The yield will vary with the soil, 

 40 bush, being a hirge yield. In preparing the land I aim to fall plow and fit 

 with cultivator in the spring; although the best corn I ever raised was on corn 

 stubble, spring plowed. Peas are better if drilled, but can be sown broadcast 

 on the furrow if rolled afterward; Peas like a fine, dry loam or sandy soil 

 best, but will thrive well on a clayey soil, if well fitted. I never have threshed 

 peas with a machine, as it splits them badly, and sheep will not relish the straw 

 as well as if threshed with the flail. If the vines are very luxuriant, sheep will 

 not eat them very closely, but if cut before all the top jiods have grown white, 

 sheep will not only eat, but relish the straw exceedingly well. If the straw is 

 fed at night sheep will eat more than if fed in the morning or at noon. 



II. "Bugs in Peas, to Avoid. — "We have been troubled with bugs which 

 sting the peas while yet soft, leaving the small eggs, which are hatched, the 

 worm feeding upon the pea, leaving but a thin shell by the following spring. 

 This is obviated by the early sowing so as to have the majority of the pods so 

 hard by the time the fly arrives at maturity that it is impossible to pierce them. 

 If the season be backward and this cannot be done, very late sowing will secure 

 the same result. Good crops have been raised when sown as late as the 15th or 

 20th of May. The quantity of seed will depend on the soil. If very fine and 

 rich, 1% bus. to the acre; on ordinary soil, 2, and on very poor, 3, or better not 

 sow any." 



Remarks. — There is not an inconsistent statement in this gentleman's 

 remarks. Never let no one fear to venture upon raising peas for this purpose. 

 Beans have been considered especially the food for sheep, but peas are easier 

 raised, and will, no doubt, do just as well as beans fed in like quantity, about a 

 gill, I believe, for each sheep, once daily. I must say here, however, that I am 

 of the opinion it would be a decided advantage in raising peas to sow sufficient 

 oats with them to hold them up, as suggested in relation to raising them for 

 hogs, which see. Oats are then fed also to sheep; then, as they are a great 

 help in supporting pea vines, which are to be allowed to ripen for sheep, why 

 not sow them together and feed them together? Whoever tries them both ways, 

 I have not a doubt but what he will afterwards always sow them together. 



Sheep vs. Dogs— How to Give the Advantage to the Sheep.— 

 A remedy for sheep-killing dogs is given by a correspondent of the Prairie 

 Farmer, which is better than legal enactments, as the case is settled without 

 complaints, without lawyers, judge or jury. He says: " I have kept a flock of 

 sheep for several years, varying from 100 to over 3,000 head, and for the last 8 

 years have not lost a sheep killed by dogs. I keep my sheep yarded nights, and 

 occasionally, varying from once in two weeks to once a month, I go out at 

 bedtime and place around the outside of the pen bits of meat containing 

 strychnine, which I take up again early in the morning if not eaten during the 

 night. Result, immunity from dogs, and an old well on the farm has received 

 a layer of dogs and a layer of dirt tintil it is about f ulL I have never killed a 



