238 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



[Feb. 18, 



by the Committee on the subject. The ploughs 

 to be ready to start at 10 o'clock, A. M. 



The result of the last Ploughing Matches at 

 Brighton, and the satisfaction expressed by so 

 many of their agricultural brethren, will in- 

 duce the Society to continue these premiums 

 annually, in connexion with the Cattle Show, as 

 an efficacious means of exciting emulation and 

 improvement in the use and construction of the 

 most important instrument of agriculture. 



The trial of Working Oxen is to take place 

 en the first day at 11 o^clock. 



Persons intending to offer any species of 

 Stock for premiums, are requested to give no- 

 tice thereof, either by letter (post paid) stating 

 the articles, or (o make personal application to 

 the Secretary of the Show, [Jonathan Winship, 

 Esq.] Brighton, on or before the 18th day of 

 October, in order that he may enter such no- 

 tice or application, so thiit tickets may be ready 

 at 9 o'clock on the 19lh. Ko person will be 

 considered as a competitor, who shall not have 

 given such notice, or made such appli-calion for 

 entry, on or before the lime above specified. 



All articles of manufactures and invenlions, 

 must be entered and deposited in the Society's 

 Rooms, on Monday, the 17th of October, a"nd 

 will be examined b) the Committees on Tues- 

 day, the 18lh, the day before the Cattle Show ; 

 and no person but the Trustees shall be ad- 

 mitted to examine thetn before the Show. The 

 articles so exhibited must be left till after tlie 

 Show, fnr the satisfaction of the public. 



The applicants will bo held to a rigid compli- 

 ance ivith this rule relative to entries, as well 

 as to the other rules prescribed. 



The esaminalion of every Sjifcies of stock, 

 will take place on the 19th, and Ploughing 

 M.itch on the 20th of October. 



The Truste(>s also propose to have the Sale 

 of Animals and Manufactures, on the first day 

 of the Cattle Show. Besides, such animals as may 

 have been offered for Premiums, any others that 

 are considered by them as possessing tine qual- 

 ities, will be admitted for sale. Sales to com- 

 mence at 12 o'clock precisely. And for all An- 

 imals or Manufactures, that are intendcdifo be 

 sold, notice must be given to the Secretary, be- 

 fore 10 o'clock on the 19th. Auctioneers will 

 be provided by the 'I'rustees. 



Byorderofthe Trustees, 



R. SULLIVAN, 

 J. PRINCE, 

 G. PARSONS, 

 E. H. DERBY, 

 1825. 



Committee. 



Ja 



unary, 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



FRIDAY, FKBRUARY 18, 10'25. 



jFflrmrr's ©nlrnUnv. 



Ewes, Lamds, &c. It i-; recommended to give 

 ewes with lamb a somewhat more than ordinary 

 quantity of food for a month or six weeks be- 

 fore they are expected to yean. Not enough, 

 however, to make thorn fat, as dangerous con- 

 sequences might attend their being in very high 

 conJitioij at that period. Turnijis are "said to 

 be injurious to pwes with lainK, but may be w^ll | 

 given (hem after they Irive yeaiiod. If yoiirl 

 sheep, whetlierstore sheep or ewes with lami>, 



have good hay, about a nuart of potatoes a day 

 to each will, it is said, be very beneticial, and an 

 ample allowance. But when the object is to fat 

 ithem, according to a writer in Rees' Cyclope- 

 dia, about a gallon of potatoes a day with a lit- 

 tle hay, will be the proper qunntify ; but this is 

 dependent in part on the size of the animals, 

 and in part on the quality and quantity of the 

 hay, which is allowed them. Potatoes, besides 

 their use as food for sheep, are said to be verj' 

 serviceable as an article of diet, which usually 

 supersedes the necessity of medicine. They 

 have, when given raw, an opening or purgative 

 quality, which is thought to be of use, and an- 

 swer a similar purpose with sheep, which is ef- 

 fected with swine by brimstone an<l ant mony. 

 Potatoes, baked, steamed, or boiled, will Inrnish 

 more nutriment than those which are raw. 



Care should be taken to place in the stable 

 small tubs or troughs of water for the sheep to 

 drink in. They will do very well in summer 

 without water, as they feed when the dew is on, 

 but they need water in winter, especiallj' if fed 

 mostly on dry food. " When sheep have colds, 

 and discharge mucus from the no?e, good feed- 

 ing, together with pine boughs, given occasion- 

 ally, will cure them; or tar, spread over a 

 board, over which r« little tine salt is strewed, 

 will induce sheep to lick up the tar, and this 

 will cure a cold."* Half a gill of Indian corn 

 a day, given to each sheep during winter, is 

 recommended as keeping them in good heart, 

 preventing the wool from falling ofl, and ena- 

 bling the ewes to rear their young better than 

 they would if fed altogether on food of a less 

 substantial nature. 



" When several kinds of food can be procur- 

 ed, it is right to give them alternately to the 

 sheep at different meals, in the course of the 

 same day ; the qualities of one kind aid or 

 compensate those of another. At certain hours 

 of the day, dry fodder should be given, and at 

 others, roots or grain. If there be any danger 

 that the roots may decay, the winter should be 

 begun with them, mixing however, some dry 

 food with them, for alone they would not be 

 sufliciently nutritious. '"f 



Writers do not agree on the quantity of food, 

 which a given number of sheep will con-sume 

 to advantage in a given lime. Probably it 

 woidd be very ditficult to lay down any rules on 

 the subject, which would not be subject to very 

 nearly as many exceptions as coincidences. — 

 Some seasons would require more food than 

 others for the same sheep ; the same niimlierof 

 sheen of different sizes, ages, sexes and breeds, 

 would also consume dilTerent quantities of food 

 of the same quality. AVhen we add to these 

 causes of errour the consideration that food of 

 the same kmd is often very different in quality — 

 one ton of clover hay, for example, mowed at 

 the right period of its growth, and well made 

 and housed, may be worth two tons of the same 

 sort of hay grown and made under different 

 circumslai\i;cs. Nothing, therefore, can be 

 hoped fur in this inquiry except some approxi- 

 malinn to truth. We may, liowever, perhaps, 

 provide ourselves with materials for the exer- 

 cise of those tpialities for guessing, for which 

 New England peojile are celebrated. \Vhen a 

 man is liyniij in fodder lor his sheep or neat i 



* I.Uant^i iNtw !mi;^!uiicI fanner, 

 t 'i'cffii i-'s 'rrc,\li:e on Slic(p. 



cattle, it may be of great consequence to be 

 able to form a conjecture approximating the 

 truth, relative to the quantity and quality of 

 provisions for that purpose, which it m«y be 

 expedient to accumulate. 



Mr Lawrence says "sheep will eat, on an av- 

 erage, twenty pounds of turnips each in twenty- 

 four hours. An acre of good turnips in the 

 field, between November and March, will keep 

 one hundred sheep six weeks. One gallon of 

 rivv potatoes will su/iice a sheep twenty-four 

 hours, but some will eat much more. Fourteen 

 hundred sheep will eat up and spoil an acre of 

 good turnips in a night. Of the quantities of 

 hay and corn, [grain] which a sheep will con- 

 sume daily, I do not recollect any accurate ex- 

 periment». To feed libemlly one hundred 

 sheep with this precious article throughout the 

 winter season, ten tons at least would be requir- 

 ed; although 1 have lately been int'ormed by a 

 great sheep master, that he allows but that 

 quantity to a flock of one thousand, — his turnips 

 being excellent, with plenty of grazing ground. 

 '■As to corn [grain] a large sheep will eat 

 several pints or pounds [)er day ; and the com- 

 parison of quantity of food between the sheep 

 and the ox may be generally stated at one-eighth 

 or one-ninth part for the sheep." 



" One thing (says Mr Tessier) cannot be too 

 much recommended, which is to place the hay 

 in the racks, while the sheep are out of the 

 house ; by this precaution, the dust will not fall 

 upon the fleeces." Dr Deane observed that the 

 rack in which the hay is put should be u[)right, 

 so that in feeding, the seeds, chaff, &.C. should 

 not fall into the wool about their necks. Under 

 the hick should be a trough for catching the 

 seeds of the hay and feeding the sheep. 



With regard to giving salt to sheep, writers 

 liive disagreed. It is believed to be better not 

 to give them any, than to allow them too great 

 a quantity. M. Tessier says, " Sheep have been 

 known to be attacked by long and troublesome 

 looseness in consequence of having taken too 

 much sail; which has induced the belief that 

 <ea water is poisonous to them ; and that his 

 sheep have always been healthy though he had 

 never given them any salt. But he states that 

 it may be indispensably necessary in wet coun- 

 tries. And Dr Cooper, editor of the last edition 

 of the Domestic Encyclopedia, recommends one 

 tourlh of an ounce a day as a proper quantity for 

 sheep. Mr Grove likewise says, " salt is re- 

 quired by sheep at intervals during the whole 

 year, but il is often given in too great quantity 

 and almost forced upon the sheep; which is 

 otten injurious, and often injures the digestion 

 so that the best grain will pass through them un- 

 altered. The best mode, where rocln salt is to 

 be had, is to attach pieces here and there in the 

 stable or pasture, and let them lick il as they 

 ivish. The usual calculation is from one to In o 

 pounds yearly, per head, but 1 have usually 

 found that something less than one pound >vas 

 quite sufficient, and more than this is not given 

 in Saxony lo the best managed flocks." 



The same writer says "in the season for drop- 

 ping lambs the utmost care is necessary. The 

 birth is most commonly easy but often slow — 

 Ignorant shepherds are very apt on such occasion 

 to be aiding in the birth, which is always use- 

 less and often very injurious. 



It often happens, says Mr Grove, that ewe» 

 will not own their lambs, parlii-ularly the Grsl 



