1869. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



£69 



them liberty but require them, by some means 

 or other, to take daily exercise, after they are 

 brought into winter quarters. We do not en- 

 tertain a shadow of doubt that the weakness 

 of lambs at birth, their want of constitution, 

 and many of their modern diseases, are in a 

 great measure due to the pampering and dose 

 contint ment of tlieir sires and dams, the for- 

 mer during coupling and other poitions of the 

 season, the latter more especially during preg- 

 nancy. And we have just as little doubt that 

 if the same causes are kept in operation from 

 generation to generation, the stock so treated 

 will gradually become permanently depreci- 

 ated in the health and hardiness natural to the 

 Merino race. 



WiXTEii Feed. — While we strenuously pro- 

 test, as we always have done, against pamper- 

 ing, we recommend no high feeder to rush 

 precipitately into the opposite extreme. As 

 we have already said, keep the sheep plump 

 and strong. But to accomplish this, sheep 

 that have been habitually pampered require 

 more and better feed than those which have 

 been unused to high keeping. Two Arabs 

 accustomed to the short fa.e of their deserts 

 would subsist on an amount of nutriment on 

 which a previously wdl fed Englishman would 

 starve. Sheep, in like manner, become accom- 

 modated to circumstances ; and the kind and 

 even the amount of n'.itriment they demand is 

 to a considerable extent regulated by habit. 



We have seen healthy and thriving flocks of 

 Merinos which were kept every winter on 

 straw of all the kinds furnished on the farm, 

 and a very moderate amount of grain. Sheep 

 that have had a full supply of good hay with 

 a liberal supply of grain, or grain and roots, 

 would dwindle and run down on hay alone, or 

 on straw Vv-ith an equal amount of grain. 



Fine, early cut and greenly cured hay, 

 ought, so far as sustenance is concerned, to 

 support any flock of grown up Merinos with- 

 out any addition of grain or roots ; though it 

 would be better, fo far as health is concerned, 

 to exchange a portion of it for a nutritive 

 equivalent in some kind of green feed, espe- 

 cially in the case of breeding ewes. The 

 amount of such hay that a sheep will eat up 

 dean we regard as the normal and most pro- 

 fitable measure of nutriment to supply it with 

 when kept for breeding and growing wool. 

 But it does not necessarily follow that it can 

 be most profitably kept on this food exclusively. 



KEEPI^'G Sheep in Show Condition. — 

 This includes pampering usually, and hous- 

 ing from rain and snow in all cases. The ob- 

 ject of the latter is well understood. It pre- 

 serves the yolk in the wool, thus vastly in- 

 creasing its "unwashed" weight; and it gives 

 the dark exterior color to the sheep so highly 

 prized by the two extremes — fancy breeders 

 and greenhorns. It is of no utility to the 

 wool. It probably does not increase its quan- 

 tity or quality — at least to any sensible ex- 

 ten*. It is of no benefit to the sheep. If 



kept up year after year, it must necessarily 

 render them less capable of withstanding those 

 exposures which all sheep must incur in the 

 ordinary mode of treatment, and which ought 

 to be innocuous to them. We desire to speak 

 with all kindness on this head, for we know 

 that a large proportion of the best breeders 

 and of the best men engaged in breeding 

 sheep, countenance the practice. We know, 

 moreover, that it is no more artificial and in- 

 jurious than various fitting processes applied 

 to other kinds of stock by breeders of charac- 

 ter. Being known and avowed, it is no fraud. 

 But what really sound and sensible reason can 

 be given for it, and for incurring the trouble 

 and expense of it, (no small items.) unless it 

 is to enable one breeder to get the advantage 

 of another who does not fit his sheep but who 

 sells as good or better stock in every respect ? 

 — Dr. liandall, in Rural Neto Yorker. 



THE WAY TO BLANKET HOBSBS. 



But few persons comparatively understand 

 how to apply a blanket to a horse to prevent 

 him from contracting a cold. We frequently 

 see the blanket folded double across the 

 rump and part of the animal's back, leaving 

 those parts of the body which need protection 

 entirely exposed to the cold. 



Those parts of the body of a horse which 

 surround the lungs require the benefit of a 

 blanket, in preference to the flanks and rump. 

 When we are exposed to a current of cold 

 air, to guard against any injury from contract- 

 ing cold, we shield our shoulders, neck, chest 

 and back. If these parts be protected, the 

 lower part of the body will endure a degree of 

 cold far more intense, without any injury to 

 the body, than if the lungs were not kept 

 warm with suitable covering. The same thing 

 holds good in the protection of horses. The 

 blanket should cover the neck, withers and 

 shoulders, and brought around the breast and 

 buttoned or buckled together as closely as a 

 man buttons his overcoat when about fo face 

 a driving storm. Let the lungs of a horse be 

 well protected with a heavy blanket and he 

 will seldom contract a cold, even if the hind- 

 most parts of his body are not covered. Many 

 of our best teamsters protect (he breasts of 

 their horse by a piece of cloth about t^o feet 

 square, hanging down from the lower end of 

 the collar. This is an excellent practice in 

 cold weather, as the most important part of 

 the animal is constantly sheltered from the 

 cold wind, especially when travelling toward 

 a strong curren' . The forward end of horse 

 blankets should be made as closely around the 

 breast of a horse as our garments fit our bo- 

 dies. Most horses take cold as readily as 

 men, if not blanketed while standing, after 

 exercising sufficiently to produce perspiration. 

 So long as the horse is kept in motion, there 

 is little danger of his suffering from cold ; but 

 allow him to stand for a few minutes, without 



