1835.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



197 



sources for their own renovation. To point out the 

 means of accomplishing this desirable change is 

 the object of the following estimate. 

 Very respectfully, yours, &c. 



WM. H. FITZHUGH. 

 J. S. SKINNER, ESQ. 



Estimate for a Farm devoted exclusively to Sheep. 



A farm, containing 1000 acres of land, under a 

 good fence, having a dwelling house and all ne- 

 cessary out houses, together with two milch cows, 

 two work horses, (or four oxen,) two breeding 

 bows, one thousand sheep, a li^ht wagon, cart, 

 gear, ploughs, harrows, hoes, spades, axes, and all 

 other necessary utensils, may very readily be pur- 

 chased in convenient locations, either in Maryland 

 or Virginia for #12,000; which if it yields only six 

 per cent, on the purchase money, or #720 nett per 

 annum, would be a more profitable and safe in- 

 vestment than can be made in any stock in the U. 

 States. But it is susceptible of demonstration, 

 that with tolerably judicious management, it may 

 be made to yield nearly double that amount, and 

 be itself annually improved in value. 



The lbllowing is the system of management, 

 which, after long experience, I have no hesitation 

 in recommending. 



The farm and every thing appertaining to it, ex- 

 cept the sheep, being secured at the beginning of 

 the year, the first operation should be to throw it 

 into three divisions, viz: two fields for grazing, of 

 350 acres each, and one of 300 acres, comprising 

 the woodland, garden, house lots, and about 100 

 acres of open land for cultivation and improvement. 

 This arrangment and the necessary fences may be 

 completed during the freezing and wet weather of 

 January, February and March; while the dry and 

 open weather of those months should be devoted 

 to ploughing and harrowing about 40 acres of ara- 

 ble land; one-half of whicb may be sown in oats, 

 for a crop, by the end of March, and the other 

 half planted in corn between the 1st and 15th of 

 April. 



These operations being completed, there will be 

 time enough before the corn requires cultivation, to 

 plough, harrow, and sow down in oats, ten acres 

 more of the arable land for the purpose of improve- 

 ment, by folding the sheep and cattle in them du- 

 ring the summer and fall; after which, the chief 

 occupation of the hands till harvest, will be the cul- 

 tivation of the corn and attention to the sheep, which 

 ought to be purchased and brought on the farm as 

 early m May as possible, and together with the 

 cattle be folded every night on the oat grounds 

 prepared for them, in a pen containing about half 

 an acre of land. 



As this business of folding is to be the great 

 source of improvement and profit on a sheep farm, 

 it ought to be managed with the greatest care. No 

 danger need be apprehended to the sheep either 

 from dogs or disease, provided cattle be always 

 folded in the same pen with them, and care be ta- 

 ken never to put them up till after sunset, and al- 

 ways to turn them out before sunrise. With a view 

 to the rapid and permanent improvement of the 

 soil, I consider the following the best possible mode 

 of conducting this part of the system. 



When the first fold is sufficiently manured, 

 (which will be eight or ten days, the pen should 

 be removed, the ground ploughed, harrowed, and 



sowed down in oats, and ruta baga turnips; and 

 the same process be pursued with each succeed- 

 ing fold, till the first of August; care being taken 

 in the meantime to turn in all that portion of the 

 land prepared lor folding, on which the oats have 

 ripened before the folds have reached them. 



On ihe 1st of August, the sheep should be di- 

 vided into two flocks — one containing the breeding 

 ewes and stock weathers; the other consisting of 

 the lambs and such old ewes and weathers as it 

 may be desirable to prepare for market. At this 

 time too, the folds should be brought back to the 

 ground first penned and sowed in oats and tur- 

 nips, which will now be covered with a fine 

 growth, and be ready for a second penning. In 

 performing this operation two pens must be em- 

 ployed for the two divisions of sheep; the lambs 

 and the muttons being permitted to occupy each 

 pen, in advance, about four days, and the main 

 flock following for about the same time. 



Lands thus prepared will be brought to the 

 highest possible state of fertility. Such as are 

 penned before the first of September, may be 

 sowed down in turnips, for the use of the sheep 

 during the winter and spring; and the subsequent 

 penning of September, October, November and 

 December may be put in rye, wheat, kale, Hano- 

 ver turnips, or any thing that vegetates quickly, 

 for spring grazing. A piece of the poorest land 

 on my farm, treated in this way, (except that wheat 

 as a crop, was substituted for turnips, oats, &c.) 

 fattened me fifty of the best muttons I ever saw; 

 yielded 22| bushels of wheat to the acre, and is at 

 the end of three years, still covered with a fine 

 coat of orchard grass. 



We have now arrived at the period of the year 

 in which the sheep are to be put into winter quar- 

 ters. For this purpose, the fatted sheep ought to 

 be sold off as soon as possible, the breeding ewes 

 put to themselves in one of the grazing fields, and 

 the rest of the flock in the other. Jfcach parcel 

 should be brought up at night into a small lot near 

 the house, provided with uniform shelters, and 

 there led both night and morning, on hay, corn 

 tops, blades, or turnips. As the ewes begin to 

 yean, which ought to be in March, they should be 

 separated, or permitted to run on the ground pre- 

 pared for them during the preceding fall; and 

 their condition will be very much improved at this 

 time by feeding them night and morning with oata 

 in the straw, cut up to a proper degree of fine- 

 ness. 



The operations of the next and every subse- 

 quent year, will differ from the first only in this, 

 that instead of breaking up new ground for an oat 

 crop, oats may always be put in the twenty acres 

 of corn land and the ten acres of manured land of 

 the preceeding year; and the last should always 

 be sowed down at the same time in orchard grass 

 and clover. Ten acres of highly improved grass 

 land would thus be added every year to the re- 

 sources of the farm, until at length its quantity 

 would probably justify the introduction of a few 

 choice brood mares, as another source of profit, 

 on the farm. 



When the hundred acres first reserved for cul- 

 tivation, shall, by this process, be converted into 

 grass land, a farther encroachment, to the extent 

 of fifty acres, may be made on each of the gra- 

 zing fields, the same course of husbandry be pur- 

 sued on them as on the first division. 



