160 



THK FAllMEUS' REGISTER. 



grass and will want no leeJiiig duiing the winler, 

 unless there should come a heavy enow upon 

 which a crusl should be /brmed. If that should 

 be the case they utiould hav.i a regular supply of 

 hay, fodder or oals until the snow is sulhciently 

 broken to get at the grass again. By having se- 

 veral such blue gracs pastures and translerring 

 the sheep Iroui one to anoilier their health will be 

 promoted and an abundant supply ol' winter Ibod 

 be obtained, ll" sheep are turned early in the 

 spring upon a luxuriant clover lot, especially in 

 wet weather, they are liable to be hoven, which 

 Jrequenlly proved laial. On which account it is 

 besi not to turn them upon the clover bel'ure the 

 first of June, and even then they should not be 

 turned uj)on it when very hungry. Alter the first 

 of June if proper care is talcen when ihe sheep are 

 put into the clover fields there is very liiile danger 

 of ils hurling theui. 



All that hus been said in relation to sheep upon 

 our best lands is applicable to the lands of an in- 

 ferior quality, siiil we should have to vary our 

 treatmen*. in bome paiiiculais. A large portion 

 of the soil of Kentucky that v.ill not produce fme 

 blue grass will produce abundant crops of timothy 

 and clover. We should here have to make some 

 greater provisions for wintering the sheep. Upon 

 some such land orchard grass (Dactyiis glome- 

 rata) succeeds well ; and this will also afford a tol- 

 erable winter supply of Ibod ami a very early 

 spring supply. But here we ntust depend princi- 

 pally upon clover and timothy hay, corn stock 

 fodder, oats, and such roots and vegetables as we 

 can raise. 



Among the roots I would enumerate the turnip, 

 parsnip, carrot, sugar beet, mangel wurlzel, Irish 

 potato and artichoke. 



The turnip is an excellent root from its pro- 

 ductivenes and adaptation to winter feeding of 

 sheep, but is too uncertain a crop to be depended 

 upon in this state. The parsnip is a much more 

 certain crop and the improved varieties are very 

 productive and are easily kept through the win- 

 ter requiring no care nor protection from the cold. 

 The carrot is also easily cultivated and produc- 

 tive. Some of the varieties require to be pro- 

 tected in the winter, others do not. Sugar beet 

 is a tolerable certain crop and easily cultivated, 

 so is the mangel wurlzel ; they both require pro- 

 tection and are easily injured by frost. 



The Irish potato is so well known that I need 

 say nothing more about it. 



The artichoke {Hdicanthiis iuberosimi) is the 

 most productive ol' all the roots that ever 1 have 

 cultivated ; all the stock that I have tried is Ibnd 

 of them ; they require no care, staying in the 

 ground from year to year without injury, and are 

 easily cultivated. I plant tliem in drills four feet 

 apart and two feet asunder in the drills, and work 

 them as 1 would corn, being careful not to plough 

 deep the last time of ploughing. 



Among the vegetables for winter feeding of 

 sheep, pmnpkins and cabbages are both excellent. 

 The pumpkins may be stored away for early use in 

 a cellar or root house or even in a fodder stack. 

 And cabbage may be kept ail the winter in a fod- 

 der stack, or even in a barn slightly covered with 

 shucks or straw. 



But it is principally on our inferior and moun- 

 tain lands that sheep husbandry ^vvill be found 

 peculiarly advcniageous. 



There are in the bounds of Kentucky many 

 thousands of acres of land that can be purchased 

 at prices from five to iwetity cents an acre. 

 Some of these mountain lands are rich and all of 

 iheiii calculated to alford abundant pasturage of 

 tiie most appropriate k'nd fbr sheep. 



To make this land available, one or two acres 

 should be fenced in and the timber inside and Ibr 

 some little way out all killed, the sheep should be 

 brought up and penned in this every night. By 

 penning five hundred or a thousand sheep in thia 

 way in this pen fbr a month the land will be made 

 very rich, anJ a week belbre they are taken out 

 the pen should be sowed with grass seed. 1 

 sh juld preler mixing timothy, blue grass, orchard 

 grass and red clover seed for this purpose. While 

 the sheep are occupying the first pen another 

 should be prepared for their reception the next 

 monih. In this way a pen of one or two acres 

 will be prepared and sown in grass every month. 

 Means should be prepared also fbr wintering these 

 sheej). There are glades in most of our mountain 

 land tliat have green grass in them all the winter ; 

 there is also a large quaniiiy of winter lern, which, 

 with oats, should be raised Ibr the purpose, which 

 will assist in wintering and keeping the sheep 

 healihy. Wiih the assistance of a good shep- 

 herd's dog, one man can easily herd and attend to 

 two thousand sheep. These mountain lands are 

 covered in the spring and summer with a profusion 

 of pea vine, which will afibrd ample provision (or 

 the sheep ; and when it fails, if the seed is put 

 there they will be covered with clover and other 

 grasses. 



There are still a few wolves in the mountains, 

 but they are scarce and easily killed in the fol- 

 lowing manner. Procure an old horse and kill 

 him on some unfrequented ridge (wolves gene- 

 rally travel on the ridges) and stick holes in his 

 flesh all over Ids body and put two or three grains 

 of strychnine in each hole. The horse should be 

 killed in the beginning of winter, as he will not 

 decay during cold weather, and the wolves are 

 also scarce of Ibod during winter. 



The pens that have been sowed with grass will 

 produce a fine crop of hay for the second year, 

 and this added to a crop of oats raised for the pur- 

 pose will afibrd the sheep suflicient food for the 

 second winter. The roots and vegetables men- 

 tioned before may also be brought into requisition 

 here ; and in good weather the sheep will receive 

 much benefit from being driven every day to the 

 clady valley or to those places where winter fern 

 is abundant. The fencing and penning, and sow- 

 ing of grass seed should be continued through the 

 secoiid year, and alter the second winter those 

 pens will afford sufficient hay to winter the sheep 

 with very little assistance from other sources. 



The greatest enemy the sheep have is the dog. 

 I was pleased with a law of some of the eastern 

 stales upon this subject. They have a tax upon 

 dogs ; and whenever sheep are killed by them, 

 the loss is repaired from this fund. 



The shelter Ibr sheep in those mountainous re- 

 gions is generally very extensive. From Mil- 

 ler's creek in Esiill county, as far up the river 

 as I have ever travelled, which has probably been 

 fifty miles higher, it would be difficult to find a 

 place where there was not in two or three miles 

 shelter for many thousand sheep under project- 

 ing rocks, and in large open-moulhed caves, such 

 as sheep would readily enter. 



