1856, 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



55 



STALL-FEEDING OF SHEEP. 



THE PROFITS OF STALL FEEDING MERINOS AND SAX- 

 ONS FOR THE BUTCHER. 



Mr. J. W. Colburne, of Springfield, Vermont, 

 writes to the editor of The Country Gentleman, at 

 Albany, New York, that he, being stimulated by 

 ■what he had read in that paper of what one of his 

 neighbors had done in the way of stall feeding, had 

 tried his hand at it this past winter, and had kept an 

 account of the results. 



a southern or eastern exposure. Cattle are stabled 

 nights, and mostly stormy days ; sheep go out and 

 in at their pleasure ; pure aqueduct water in each 

 yard,with a box of St. Ubes' salt constantly supplied, 

 which I consider quite as essential in winter as 

 summer ; yards and sheds kept dry by straw and 

 other coarse litter. A large stable connected with 

 my sheep-yard enables me to shut them off when 

 putting hay into their racks, or grain into their 

 troughs, so "that they all go to their feed together 

 and share as equally as possible. I commenced this 



In^reajding the items of die cost of ^the feed given j flock of wethers with twenty quarts of corn per day, 

 ^"^ "^ " ' ' ' ' "' "'""'■ and from time to time increased gradually as they 



would bear it, without producing the scours, until 

 they would take 70 quarts per day, with as much 

 good hay as they would eat without waste. It ^^•ill 

 not pay the cost and trouble to grind any kind of 

 grain for sheep, though it always should be done 

 for cattle or hogs. No whole grain passes the stom- 

 ach of a sheep undigested. The ewes belonging to 

 this flock of wethers (those of the same year's 

 growth) were sold when two years old to go to 

 Western New York, where I have no doubt they 

 will contribute to the improvement in fine wool. 



by Mr. Colburne to his sheep, it will be seen that 

 he reckons the cost of his hay at $10 per ton, and 

 his corn at nearly double what it is worth in this 

 State under ordinary circumstances. But we regard I 

 the fact of these fine-wooled sheep being brought 

 to market in such fine condition, as proving that 

 they may be kept -with profit for their mutton as 

 well as for their wool, and showing that there is not 

 the least excuse for any farmer in this State to raise 

 a poor coarse-wooled sheep, unless he is so careless 

 and unambitious that he is willing to let every body 

 else get ahead of him. 



This intelligent Vermont farmer says : "I culled 

 one cow from my limited number of four, dried her 

 1st September ; fed with pumpkins and short grass 

 until 20th November ; then with corn-stalks, hay, 

 and corn in the ear (ground) until the 22d of March, 

 when I sold her to go to Brighton market, with the 

 following results : 



Value of cow on 1st September $15,00 



Grass $2, three cart-loads pumpkins, $2 4,00 



Hay and other coarse feed through the winter 7,00 



Corn with the expense of carrying three miles to mill. 24,00 



Total cost of cow when fatted $50,00 



Estimated to weigh 1,000 lbs. ; sale on foot at the 

 bam, $72 ; profits, $22. 



Her blood was three-fourths Native, one-fourth 

 Durham. She was large, and very fat ; worth at 

 Brighton, $7,50 per 100 lbs., which left $3 for 

 drift, by railroad — just a fair compensation. 



I also stall-fed 123 wethers, all of my own rais- 

 ing, four years old last May and June — a cross be- 

 tween the full-blood Spanish Merino and Saxony ; 

 very fine quality of fieece — a race which all wool- 

 growers know never attain to a large size. I was 

 offered $2 per head for them in November, and my 

 neighbors considered it a very generous offer : it was 

 all they could have brought at that time. I com- 

 menced feeding them with corn unground on the 

 24th of November, and followed it without change 

 (except in quantity) until the 29th of March, when 

 they went to Cambridge market, with the following 

 results : 



Sale 123 head at $6,60 per head $811,80 



Value of sheep in November $246,00 



20 tons English hay of good quality 200,00 



200 bushels of corn at 80c (the market price ).160,00 

 Cost of getting them to market by railroad... .44,28 



650,28 



Profit $161,62 



Or a fraction over $1,31 per head. 



It is a satisfaction to the grower to be enabled to 

 say, that these sheep, considering the superiority of 

 blood for wool-growing purposes only, the fineness 

 in texture of fleece, and the number raised and fat 

 ted in one flock, were deemed by the sheep dealers 

 at Cambridge, equal if not superior to any ever ta- 

 ken to that market, from any one flock in Vermont. 



And now a word as to the manner of feeding. 

 My sheep and cattle yards have open sheds, -with 



Forty Dollar Pear Tree. — Mr. C. A. Nealey, 

 formerly a resident of this town, but now a farmer 

 Eddington, in Penobscot County, hauled into the 

 rillage last Tuesday morning, forty bushels of pears, 

 and in one hour retailed all of them from his wag- 

 on at two dollars a bushel. The pears Mere of a 

 superior quality, and bought expressly for making 

 preserves. Mr. N. informed us that he gathered 

 twenty bushels of the lot from one tree. We should 

 think that the formers in this region might take the 

 hint — it costs but a trifle to grow the trees. — Ells- 

 worth American. 



BOYS' DEPARTMENT. 



LAWS AND RULES. 



[A few weeks since we gave notice of a little 

 32mo book, "A Public School Teacher's Letter to 

 a Pupil." The following remarks in this letter, on 

 the subject of rules and laws, we commend to the 

 attention of our young readers : — ] 



Now, young friend, in order that the school may 

 be thus pleasant and useful, there are various duties 

 for you to perform. I will mention two or three of 

 the more important ones. And 



1. You must carefully regard and cheerfully 

 obey all the rules of the school. 



You know there are, in every family, school, 

 society, town, State and nation, certain rules and 

 laws to regulate the conduct of the members. 

 There can be no happy family, school or communi- 

 ty, without such rules and regulations. And these 

 rules must be strictly obeyed to be of any ser^^ce. 

 To secure this obedience, there are always certain 

 penalties or punishments connected M'ith disobedi- 

 ence. 



We have certain regulations and rules in our 

 school, which must be cheerfully complied with, or 

 the school can be neither pleasant nor useful. They 

 are regarded as essential to the prosjjerity of the 

 school. They are all designed for the good of each 

 scholar and the whole school. They were adopted 



