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143 



THE GENESEE FAEMEIL 



Stall Feeding Sheep. — Will you inform your readers what is the best mode of stall 

 feeding sheep, so as to fatten them readily? Some six weeks ago, I shut up some, and 

 fed them with shelled corn, ground corn, and good hay, as much as they would eat ; 

 and I believe they grow poorer every day. A young Farmer. — Napoleon^ Mich. 



Nothing is so good to fatten sheep as oilcake or peas and beans and good clover hay. A good sheep, 

 weighing about 150 lbs., will eat about 3 lbs. of clover, and 1 lb. of oilcake per day, and increase about 

 2-} lbs. per week. A few roots, either of ruta baga or mangel wurzel, are of great benefit. Corn is 

 not so good to fat sheep as oats or barley. But oilcake and peas are best, not only because they 

 fatten quickest, but leave much the most valuable manure. See the article on Peas in this number. 



Superphosphate of Lime and Mangel Wurzel — Can you inform me if the Shaker 

 seed marked " Mangel Wurzel or Sugar Beet," is the kind you recommend in the March 

 number ? Where can the superphosphate of lime, of good quality, be obtained ; and 

 what is the price ? Silas H. Meacham. — Richland, N. Y. 



The sugar beet and mangel wurzel are different roots, and seed of either can be obtained from any 

 respectable seedsman. The superphosphate of lime is being manufactured by the New Jersey Zinc 

 Company, and is for sale in New York City at 2^ cts. per lb. We think superpliosphate of lime is an 

 excellent manure for root crops, and were in hopes it could have been manufactured at a price suffi- 

 ciently low for its profitable use as a manure. It can be pin-ehased in England for $35 per ton, and an 

 article manufactured from Coprolites, or a mineral phosphate of lune, is sold for $24 per ton of 2240 lbs. 



Treatment of Sandy Soils. — Having much confidence in the correctness of your 

 opinion upon agricultural matters, I write to you for advice in regard to the treatment 

 of a sandy soil, which, at a depth varying from five to eight inches, is underlaid with a 

 mixture of sand and iron, usually hard, but sometimes in a pulverized state. This sub- 

 soil is sometimes of a very dark color, and sometimes of a reddish hue. Shall I turn 

 this subsoil to the surface, loosen it with a subsoil plow, or let it be as it is ? Would it 

 pay to apply lime at fifty cents per bushel ? This land, if treated with twenty-five or 

 thirty loads of compost, two-thirds swamp muck and the rest stable manure, would 

 yield from twenty-five to thirty-five bushels of corn. H. — Valley Farm, JST. H. 



A very little of the subsoU may be brought to the surface and incorporated with the sandy surface 

 soil. It will hardly pay to give fifty cents a bushel for lime to apply to land ; but a little may be 

 mixed with swamp muck to sweeten it before manure is added to it in forming compost heaps. Ashes 

 may also be used to correct the sourness of muck, or other vegetable matter. 



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Sweet Potatoes. — I made an attempt, last summer, and succeeded in raising a 

 reasonably good crop of sweet potatoes, but failed entirely in keeping them through the 

 winter. I packed them in dry wheat chaflf, and put them where they did not freeze. I 

 examined them about the 16th of December, and found them all rotten. If you can let 

 me know, through your paper, or otherwise, how to keep them, you would oblige me, 

 and perhaps others. A. H. Allebach. — New Bethlehem, Pa. 



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To Dissolve Bones. — As you give subscribers the liberty to ask questions, I wish to 

 ask how many pounds of potash will it take to dissolve one bushel of .bones, that they 

 may be mixed with other substances and applied to root crops in the hill ? or can it be 

 done by strong lye ? or what is the best and cheapest way to apply bones to the soil ? 

 We have no bone mill in these parts. Lott Parsons. — South Amherst, Ohio. 



Make a strong lye, as in soap making ; then boil bones in it till they fall to a powder — the lye 

 consuming the gelatin. We cannot give the exact relation that a pound of potash bears to a pound of 

 bones. This is one of the many things that an experimental farm would teach ; but we are nearly 

 discouraged in trying to get such an institution started in the United States. Anything designed to 

 increase our knowledge of rural economy, in a common sense practical way, is successfully opposed. 



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