tiU 



TlIE GENESEE FARMER. 



Select a good, dry, warm and rkh field, of two 

 7f?ars old dorer sod; javeit it sometime between the 

 miMle of Jnlj and the middle of Augost, with or 

 m^on^. tlie crop of clover, as job caa afford, (bet- 

 tier wjth, no dovjbt) to the deptii of from four to sis 

 iacbea — not Ycry deep, unless the soil is deep and 

 strong, because tbe eoid s«b?f>il will retard the starting 

 and growth of the plaals. This plowing can be done 

 ^€(B Of3d and }owerj days doriag haying time, when the 

 weather is ^inpropitions to mow or gather in, and not 

 to© wet to work the ground. After the ground has 

 bfjea nicely and everdy turned, and lain till the sar- 

 feee feas beeojse dry and warni, pat 025 a barrow and 

 ^jre \i a tboroisgh harrowing, arid then, if you have 

 ht, ^Iraw thereon ten or twelve loads of thoroughly 

 decomposed roasure, or osie bnndred and fifty to two 

 hnndrsd ponads of gaano, to the acre, and spread it 

 eyeriy and harrow in well. This will supply food for 

 tSi£! plant till it can support itself, and give it a good 

 st-sri Do not allow the harrow teeth to cut in deep 

 e5af>agh to disttsrb the sod. 



As to the seed, procure only the nsost hardy and 

 prodractJTe yarieties, combined v/ith good qnality. If 

 yon raise toh? own seed, so much the better. To 

 j>Tepare seed, select froni yoar growisg wheat a part 

 of the field where it will ripen early and well, (not 

 ja'Sffisttjrely, fronu a want of depth of soil or other- 

 Trise,} aad where the plant, bead and kernel will be 

 faOj deyeloped; from this, clean out all rve, chess, 

 cockle, or other vicioas seeds, and let this plant stand 

 8 week longer than that yoa cut for Jamily use, or at 

 lesst ■QEtil M fully maivres ; and when jou thresh it, 

 do it ^vith that old-fashioned threshing machine, to 

 -mi, the ^,aj7— then yon will have no cracked or 

 byciea seed. With a fanning mill, separate it trow 

 tlie chsiJ" clean the chaff from the floor, and prepare 

 t3>e miii for running the wheat through again; rei>eat 

 this operation till yon have reduced the bulk of the 

 wheat one half, and separated all the smaller and 

 ahriyeled se:d, leaving nothing at the tail erid of the 

 mill biit the largest, plumpest, healthiest and most 

 vigorons kernels of wheat. Of this, sow abont one 

 and a half bushels to the acre— some prefer more, 

 soiae lesa With a light plovr, plow it in vi^ith light 

 farrows, to the depth of two or three inches; and I 

 have knowa it c iltivated in with a corn cultivator, 

 ■»oth first-rate sncccsa Drilling, perhaps, would be 

 l>€tter, bat Tve are snacqnainted with that mode of 

 seeding. If it should be plowed in, do it in that di- 

 rection that "nill raost readily conduct the water from 

 ti« field ; if han^owed, ^p over it afterwards with a 

 good roller, and then, if there should be any hollows 

 or gpongy places where water would be likely to stand, 

 oat some shallow farrows throngh them often enough 

 lo prevent any possibility of water being left staad- 

 «3g. Sow from the 25th of August to the 5th of 

 September. 



The coltars of rye is similar, only an older god and 

 more impoverished soil can be sown. An old pas- 

 tare or meadow, with a crop of hay Srst taken ofC 

 will do. I have known au old pasture, probably of 

 thirty years' standing, so treated with excellent suc- 

 oess, and one, too, so flat that water on it did not 

 know which way to run, but throngh the wetter part 

 of the season stood npon the ground — that is, in the 

 isidJsad? and hollows. A good sod tends to keep it 

 above the water, while it serves as a " backbone " 

 s^gr-^lnst frost Sow from the first to the middle of 

 September. 



Something after this manner we treat winter grain 

 in this section, and I have no doubt the same method 

 would be beneficial in other parts where the soil and 

 obstacles to be overcome are the same. 



Susquehanna^ Pa. Unct.b Sak. 



KEEPING SHEEP ON GOOD LAND. 



Messes. Editors : — I have heard it said by many 

 for several years past, say at least for fifteen, that 

 sheep could not be kept profitably on our best lands, 

 and I hare heard the same in addresses by learned 

 and fluent speakers. But I have always dissented 

 from such doctrine. I have seen the beginning and end- 

 ing of many undertakings to keep sheep on our most 

 valuable lands, and believe I know why they did not 

 make them profitable, and have long had a wish to 

 publish my views on the subject, but they being so 

 much at variance with the opinion of some of our 

 moat learned men, I felt a diffidence in giving them. 



I never saw a farmer begin with a small flock of 

 sheep, in this neighborhood, who was not surprised 

 how much they paid him for their keeping; but when- 

 ever he increased them to hundreds, and still kept 

 hia former stock of cattle, then came the time that 

 they would not pay. They were turned into the 

 fields as soon as the snow was off the ground, to run 

 around to get their living, and often they would al- 

 most eat the surface of the earth; consequently, they 

 became very poor and overran with ticks, and the 

 ewes had no milk for their lambs, and, of course, few 

 lambs were raised. They sheared light fleeces, which 

 would not pay; for having been tamed out six weeks 

 before any grass began to grow, they ate ofi" all the 

 old wool, if there was any on them, and when the 

 grass began to grow, they picked it up as fast as it 

 appeared. Then they would be put on fallows, wood- 

 land and pasture, alternately, through the summer, 

 and after hay was cut, put in the meadows to keep 

 them alive, which will almost always ruin the next 

 bay crop. They went in to wint-er poor, and of course, 

 many would die during the next winter. The ownei~ 

 then concludes that sheep do not do well kept long 

 on the same farm, and he will sell them for whatever 

 be can get for them, and abandon sheep farming. 

 Now, I do not here state only one case, but I have 

 known a great many such cases during the last twenty 

 years. I have also heard learned men gay, that ow 

 low, rich land was not congenial to keeping sheep; 

 they wanted high, hilly land. Now, Messrs. Editors, 

 I never saw land too low to keep sheep, if dry; and 



j the bills, if icet, will not answer for sheep. 



j The way to keep them profitably on good land, or 

 any other land, is to keep them as gi>sd farmers keep 

 their cattle. Give them good-, dry yards and sheds 

 for shelter in winter, with feed enough to keep them 



[ thriving — ^yes, improving — all winter, keeping them 

 in the yards until there is a full bite of fresh grass, 

 and give them enoygh of it during summer and fall-, 

 and I have no doubt that every farmer on the best, 

 or worst farms, will find they will pay as well for 

 what they consume as any stock he keeps. It was 

 perfectly absurd for men to think they could begin 

 and keep from one hundred to two hundred sheep 

 over and above their usual stock, jet many, very- 

 many, undertook to do so some twenty to twenty-fiva 

 years ago; hence, sheep would not pay on -.cod land. 

 Seven or eight sheep should have as much feed aa a 

 four year old steer, and with that they are a safer ib- 



