114 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



and their fleece. Tl'.ey shonlcl be kept constantly 

 tiiiiving. Ewes, eBpecially in the spring and summer, 

 seed fresh herbage and an abundance ot it Much 

 also depends on their management in winter. At 

 this season they need not only to be kept quiet and 

 well fed, but to be protected from storms and inclem- 

 eat weather. It is a mistaken notion that they can 

 be left to shift for themselves at this seaaoii, to pick 

 their fi^od from the dry and frost-bitten herbage of 

 the field, and to iind a shelter behind the barn, or un- 

 der the fence, or any other object they may chunce 

 to meet, and jierhaps covered with the drifting snows 

 during the night. With such treatment the system 

 becomes chilled, they grow feeble, loose their appe- 

 tite, their wool falls oft; and many often die, and half 

 the summer is needed to recruit their wasted system. 

 Give them an ample range for exercise, but provide 

 a comfortable shelter, where, when the thermometer 

 ranges below zero, or the gtorm of rain, snow or sleet 

 howls without, they may be securely protected, and 

 fed. Let their shelter be dry and freely littered with 

 straw, and the manure obtained Avill compensate for 

 all the trouble of doing it Give them a supply of 

 good bright clover or other hay, and a little grain. — 

 And to compensate for the absence of fresh herbage, 

 let them have a supply of roots, turnips, carrots, or 

 rutabagas. Sheep soon become fond of these, and 

 thrive much better than on hay alone. 



It is desirable that sheep at all times have access 

 to pure running water. They will exist for a long 

 time without this, and this leads many thoughtless, 

 unobservant farmers to suppose that it is not neces- 

 sary. But when they can have access to it, you will find 

 them resorting to the brook or ypring much oftener 

 than other stock. The idea that they can satisfy 

 thirst by eating snow is absurd. l^iCt their owner ixf 

 this experiment, and see how he will succeed. Salt 

 should also be kept in boxes or troughs, where they 

 can have free access to it, mixed with a little tar, es 

 pecially in summer. 



Great care should also be taken of the health of 

 the flock. Too many should not be crowded togeth- 

 er, for in this way disease is often produced. Fifty 

 is enough to run together in any enclosure. And 

 when by careful watchfulness, symptoms of disease 

 are discovered, the invalid shoul^ be immediately re- 

 moved, least the infection spread. A great loss is 

 often thus prevented by a little timely precaution. — 

 The shepherd needs to be a minute observer, and to 

 keep watch over his fiock continually, if he would 

 nwet with success in his occupation. Hubert. 



Whex Does Wool Grow? — I answer, when it is 

 wanted to cover the sheep and keep it warm. From 

 the time the sheep is sheared untd the frost comes, 

 you can see the shape of every clip of the shears; 

 ■when the frost and cold weather comes it grows out 

 immediately. Now, if you vvish for a heavy clip feed 

 when the wool is growing. If you have any extra 

 feed then is the time use it. The wool draws very 

 hard upon the carcass and growing out fast deceives 

 almost every farmer. They think their sheep are 

 doing well when they are growing poor. I can make 

 an additional pound of wool with one bushel of corn, 

 and my sheep will afterwards winter one bushel of 

 corn easier. Let your sheep get poor while the wool 

 is growing and you cannot recruit them until the next 

 Kummer. J. D. Chamberlain. 



Waterford, Ohio. 



EXPERIMENTS ON INDIAN CORN. 



We plow as deep as we can, taking all things into 

 consideration, and harrow, if on sward land, length- 

 wise of the furrows so as not to turn up the sods, then 

 furrow it crosswise in order to have it mellowed deep 

 where the hills come, and mark the other way with 

 a corn marker. Seed corn M-et with tar water and 

 rolled in a mixture consisting of one part No. 1 Peni- 

 vian guano, and three parts pluiiter, will hardly be 

 disturbed by the crows, and the guano gives it an 

 earlier start, the plaster preventing it from burning 

 the corn, and it also attracts moisture in dry weather, 

 and by that means you get a more thrifty growth. — 

 Two years ago we tried an experiment on a piece of 

 worn out meadow — a sandy loam, dropping in each 

 hill about a tablespoonful of hen manure, as much 

 ashes, and half as much plaster, throwing a little dirt 

 over the hen manure and plaster, so it should not 

 touch the corn, and then dropjiing the ashes and corn 

 on it The after work done to it was once going 

 through it with a cultivator and once with a double 

 mould-board plow; it was also hoed once, but when 

 we cut it up the ground was covered with weedg 

 which grew after the hoeing; yet we harvested at the 

 rate of 160 bushels of good merchantable ears to the 

 acre. 



By an experiment made the last ?eason on the 

 white flint corn, I am satisfied that three feet ten 

 inches apart each way, is as close as it will pay to 

 plant that variety. We let out a piece to plant on 

 shares, to an old fogy farmer, who planted it three 

 feet apart each way, and plowed and pretended to 

 hoe it twice, while we planted another piece three 

 feet ten inches each way, plowing it once and work- 

 ing once with the cultivator both ways, but not hoe- 

 ing it and we harvested double the amount from the 

 same quantity of land, on the widest planted piece 

 that we did on the other. The larger the variety of 

 com the more room it requires to perfect itself. 



Myron E. Tanner. 



Clarkatown, Rockland Co., A'. Y. , 



On tiir Management ok Swine. — As soon as thi& 

 young pigs are old enough to drink, they should be 

 plentifully supplied with milk. Through summer 

 they should be allowed to graze in a good field of 

 clover, and should have a quantity of swill, mixed 

 with chopped grain, twice or three times a day. Be 

 sure and not keep more hogs than you are able to 

 keep well. When hogs have been thus kept through 

 summer, half the trouble of fattening is over. As 

 soon as they fail to get a good supply of food in the 

 fields, they should be shut up in a warm pen, with 

 plenty of nodding. Feed them three times a day. I 

 believe the best feed is corn, ground or chopped, and 

 then soaked or steamed, or made into mush. 



Ayers, Pa. W. II. M. 



CuT.TiTATiON OF POTATOES. — Tum over green sward ; 

 plant in drills three feet apart; drop whole, medium 

 sized potatoes, ten inches apart, in the rows; apply 

 half a handful of composition (consisting of two 

 parts ashes, two parts plaster, and one part lime.) to 

 each hill, at the time of planting, and the same quan- 

 tity on the hill before hoeing the first time. The last 

 two years I have phinted after the above method, 

 and have raised good crops of sound potatoes. 



ISheej)scot Bridge, Me. ^ , , G« 



