THE GENESEE FARMER. 



119 



SUMMER MA!f AGEMENT OF SHEEP. 



I.N the sprinf:^ do not turn your sheep into the pas- 

 ture until it is well up, or until it i.^ ancle hij^h, so as 

 to have something to shade the ground; keep your 

 sheep close and feed them hay and grain of some 

 kind — they will eat it well if kept from grass. When 

 put upon pasture have three or more fields and change 

 them often so that their pasture may be sweet. I 

 have known n neighbor loose three hundred sheep 

 out of six hundred in one summer. lie divided them 

 into three parts, and put them into three large fields, 

 with no shade except what the fence on the soutli 

 eide of each field made. Xlie sheep lay along the 

 fence, and when the nose fly came the sheep were to 

 be seen running with their noses to the ground, fight- 

 ing the fly, and eating only just enough to keep life 

 in them. The sheep did not go more than eight or 

 ten rods from the fence and this was eaten close to 

 the ground when there was plenty of pasture on the 

 north eide of the field; as a consequence the sheep 

 poiganed themselves in their own filth. The fly laid 

 its eggs in the nostrils of the sheep and they soon 

 died in great numbers of " worm in the head." 



■ Now, you would ask, how should he save his sheep? 

 He should have put them nil into one field and forced 

 them to go farther from the fence; and about two or 

 thre d.iys after the first sliower he should have changed 

 th«m to another field. Whenever you see your sheep 



"run with their noses down to the ground, drive them 

 to your fartherest pasture; the fly will stay about 



. where the sheep have lain. Keep changing them 

 from field to field and you will not he troubled with 

 " worm in the head." J. D. Chamberlain. 



Tf'aierford, Ohio. 



CULTrVATION OF IKDIAN CORN m MAIKK 



Pi,ow in, eight or ten inche.s deep from forty to 

 sixty loads (hall a cord to the load) of new made 

 dung, per acre; harrow fine; furrow three and a half 

 feet apart; place a small shovel full of fine old rotten 

 manure, or a small handful of hen manure three and 

 a half feet apart in the rows; drop six kernels of corn 

 in each hill cover two inches deep; spat the hill well 

 down with the hoe — it serves to break lumps and 

 prevent the hills from drying up., After the corn is 

 op apply a handful of wood ashes to each hill; pass 

 through witli the cultivator; follow with the hoe. — 

 Hecond time of hoeing pull out all but four or five 

 etalks to the liill. Plant early and do not let it stand 

 out loo late in the fall. If you are troubled with 

 crows and other birds tar the corn and roll in plaster. 



Shcepscot Bridge, Me. S. K. G. 



and five at the r3ar; the upper edge being lined with 

 plate iron to prevent the horses from eating it. The 

 stalls should be from five to six feet wide. This will 

 allow the horse to lie down and get up with ease. — 

 Horses arc very often hurt in lying down and getting 

 in narrow stalls. 



Farmers should make it the object to keep their 

 stables neat and clean. There are more horse dis- 

 eases caused by a dirty stable and impure air than 

 by all other things combined. R. J. S. 



Clintonville, Ohio. 



Poll Evil. — I noticed sometime ago, an article 

 from one of your correspondents, asking for a remedy 

 for the oil evil. I cured a horse of th.al disease 

 last spring, of over a year's standing, with the follow- 

 ing recipe, and have heard of a number of horses that 

 were cured by the salfne, but cannot give the modus 

 operandi. The remedy, however, is based upon the 

 theory that the poll evil is caused by a hardening of 

 the ear tvax, thereby creating inflammation, &c. 'J'his 

 1 know is contrary to the usually received opinion of 

 the writers on the diseases of the horse, &c. The 

 receipe is as follows : 



Take of gun powder, blue vitrol and coperas, each 

 one once ; soft water one quart ; dissolve and wash 

 the poll and roots of th(5 ear with the above solution 

 warm ; then take common class, pulverized fine and 

 sifted through book muslin; four table-spoonsful fresh 

 butter melted, half pint — mix. Put a ball about the 

 size of a small hazlenut into the ear, once or twice a 

 week. Be ])articular to keep the sore washed clean. 



I confess 1 had no confidence in the aiiove remedy 

 when I commenced using it, but in less than two 

 weeks from the time of commencing the treatment., 

 to my astonishment the discharge had entirely ceased, 

 and the sore healed up. There can be no danger in 

 applying the above, provided the glass be perfectly 

 pulverized. \V. A. Sawyer. 



Earlville, III. 



STABLES FOR HORSES. 



Messss EniTOUs: — I agree with your correspon- 

 dent in regard to docking horses. Tl^ is one of the 

 most bcrbarou.? acta that was ever practiced in an 

 enlightened and civilized community. The horse is 

 abused in many other ways besides the one alluded 

 to. It is just as essential for the health of a horse to 

 keep him clean and away from filth, as for man. 



The stable should be about fourteen feet from the 

 floor to the loft, so that no hor.se can strike his head 

 against tho joist, and for good ventilatioh. The floor 

 •should incline at least two inches from the manger to 

 the rear of the stable. Partitions between stalls 

 should not be less than seven feet high at the bead, 



Best Means op Dertroyino Weeds. — ^There are 

 few weeds that can withstand the combined opera- 

 tion of the plow, the cultivator, and the frost. Plow 

 the ground soon after the preceding crop is taken off, 

 and as soon as the weeds get a good start cultivate 

 thoroughly, and deep enough to stir up another crop 

 of seeds. Repeat with the cultivator as often as 

 there is a green shade to the field, until winter draws 

 closely on, when the plow should go through again, 

 not deeply, but a little below the track of the culti- 

 vator, and sufficiently wide to leave the ground ia 

 small ridgee. 



The best and only means of destroying yellow 

 dock, is to pull them up before they blossom and 

 carry them into the road, where they will be trampled 

 to death. j) 



Gates, JV. Y. 



Aqetoultoral Papers — What the telegraph, the 

 railroad, and our excellent postal system is to the 

 business world, the agricultural paper is to the farm- 

 er. It records, heralds, describes, recommends, advisee, 

 cautions, announces, appoints, advocates, persuades, 

 advertises, urges, and improves the farmer to his ben- 

 efit; makirg him more prosperous, wealth}', wise, en- 

 terprisng, cautious, observing and industrious. But 

 to this end farmers must write for, aa well as read 

 agricultural paperg. J. S. 



