168 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



quires mcTre care iu elaclcing out than uilicr hay. 

 ClovtT Slacks should 1)6 io|>jjei) oil wiih siraiv or 

 liujolhy or blue, yrubb [my iii ilic ioliovving way. 

 As soon us llie mack is ouili up lo the imtliJie, 

 Biraw or some other luiy should be placed ail louiid 

 ihe outside as you proceed iu builiiiiig, lor a looi 

 Jroai the outside, and all the centre filled wiih 

 clover hay ; this should be continued until the 

 last course, vvliich sliould be eniiiely ol' straw 

 or some oiher htiy. A bmcIc built in this way 

 will present on the outside, ironi the middle up, 

 the appearance ol being composed ol' siravv or 

 other hay, and will turn the rains ofi' the stack. 

 Clover hay will permit the rains to run through 

 it, unless thus jjioiecicd. Clover also suits bet- 

 ter in a pro|)er rotation ujjon a larm tiian most 

 other grasses, yielding a large crop of hay the 

 year alter the ground has been in small gram, 

 and enriching the ground very last. This sub- 

 ject properly Lielongd to the treatise upon ihebest 

 rotation of crops ; so lor the present I will say 

 no iDore upon the subject. 



As the selection ol males is an important 

 matter in the rearing ol' sheep and the chiel" in- 

 sirumenl whereby the Hoclc is to be impro\ed, 1 

 Will give the lollowing description oi' a good 

 ram, laUen hom Culley's Treatise on Live Siocic: 

 " His head should be fine and small ; nosiriU wide 

 and expanded ; eyes prominent and rather bold 

 and daring ; ears thin ; h,s collar lull Irom his 

 breast and shoulders, but tapering all the way 

 lo where the neck and head join, which should 

 be very fine and graceful, Ueiii'g perkctly Jree 

 liom any coarse leather hanging down ;* the 

 shoulders broad and lull, which must at the same 

 time join so easy to the collar Ibrward and chine 

 backward, as to leave not the least ho. low in ei- 

 ther place ; the mutton upon his arm or Ibieleg 

 must come quite to the knee; his legs upright, 

 with a clean fine bone, being equally clear from 

 superfluous skin and coarse hairy wool, from the 

 knee downwards ; the breast broad and well for- 

 ward, which will keej) his forelegs ai a proper 

 wideness ; his girth, or chest, full and deep, and 

 instead of a hollow behind the shoulders, that part 

 by some called the forelock should be quite full ; 

 the back and loins broad, liit, and straight, Irom 

 which the ribs must rise with a fine circular arch; 

 his belly straight ; the quarters long and lull, 

 with the mutton quite down to the hough, which 

 should neither stand in nor out ; his twist (i. e.^ 

 ihejunciion on the inside the thigh) deep, wide, 

 and full, which, with the broad breast, will keep 

 his forelegs open and upright ; the whole body 

 covered with a thin pell, and that with a fine, 

 bright and soft wool.'' 



Besides the above characteristics, it is of the 

 utmost importance that the wool be of the quality 

 desired. And he should be pure blooded ol his 

 kind. 



In the mountainous regions, if large flocks 

 should be kepi, the shepherd should be almost 

 constantly wiih the sheej). in enclosed laiuls a 

 very cfl'ectual guard against dogs is two or three 

 cows with young calves, in the same lot with the 



* The Merino sheep have much loose skin hanging 

 down under their necks and throats. This is a charac- 

 teristic mark of the breed, yet much may be done to 

 get rid of (his leather by selecting those rams that have 

 the least of it. 



6heep.~ It' a dog comes into such a pasture, the 

 sheep will ruri to ihe cows, anJ they will be rea- 

 dy to figiii lor ihcn calves, and will immediately 

 chase ilie dogs oat of the enclosure. 1 have lo^t 

 no shce|) wim dogs when I have kept them with 

 cows and their young calves. 



There ii> at least lour mdlions of acres of moun- 

 tain lauds wiihin the boundary oi Kentucky, and 

 it would be a very moderate calculation to say 

 that those mountains would supjjort one sheep to 

 the i:cre now, and as they become improved, two 

 or more would find support there. Four millions 

 of sheep would require a population to attend to 

 them 01 loriy thousand persons, sujiposing that 

 every man, woman and child could attend to one 

 hundred each, and would afljrd an income of one 

 hundred dollars lor each member ol the /amily, 

 calculating the wool at one dollar per fleece, be- 

 side the increase of (he flock. 



it would retiuire 30,000 persons to manufac- 

 ture ihis wool (if done by hand) into coarse cloth, 

 and a much larger number to make fine cloth. 



Thus those mountains would easily be made to 

 sustain four millions of sheep, which would give 

 wages of !j?100 each to seventy thousand inhabi- 

 tants. 



In Spain and some other countries the wool is 

 washed after the sheep have been shorn. In 

 England, Ireland, Silesia, Saxony, and in the, 

 northern pans ol tiie United States the wool is 

 washed upon the sheep. The lollowing is Baron 

 Shultz's account of the Swedish manner : 



" Belbre shearing, ihe wool is almost universally 

 washed upon the sheep. Some persons wash the 

 sheep in the open sea, or in running water, but 

 this is never so clean as when the sheep are first 

 washed in a laige tub, with one part clear lie, 

 two parts lukewarm water, with a small quantity 

 of uiine ; and thenin another tub, with less lie 

 in the water ; after which the sheep are washed, 

 laying them always on their backs, with their. 

 heads up, in a tub of clean water ; and lastly 

 there is pouied on the sheep standing on the 

 ground a sulKcient quantity of water, which is 

 as much as possible squeezed out of the wool." 

 Alier the sheep are washed they are driven into 

 a clean green pasture, where they remain until 

 they are dry." 



In Silesia the method usually practised simply 

 consists in making the sheep crop a running 

 stream after obliging them to plunge in, from a 

 pretty high bridge. 



In Saxony they are made to cross a brook or 

 river ; the next morning they are again made to 

 cross the river, in which they are dipped that the 

 fleece may be unilormly penei rated ; after which 

 they are stroked or pressed down with the hands, 

 beginning at the head and proceeding thence to 

 their extremities. 



After the sheep are dry they are sheared, and 

 the " improved method consists in cutting circu- 

 larly round the body of the animal, the beauty of 

 which is, in consequence of this, believed lo be 

 increased, while the work is more uniftrmily and 

 closely executed. The shearer holds the sheep 

 under him, either with his knee or left arm, and 

 clips the woo! wiih spring shears, which he can 

 manage with (ine hand, and thus perlbrms the 

 operation without assistance, unless the sheep are 

 unusually strong and restive. The entire fleece 

 is stripped at once and rolled up together, and the 



