350 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



[May 27, 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



FRIDAY MORNING, MAY 27, 1825. 



FARnXER'S CALENDAR. 



INSECTS. 



It is now time to be on the alert (o g^iiard 

 your garden vegetables against bugs, flies and 

 other insects without name or number. There 

 have been recipes tor the purpose published in 

 this, and other agricultural works, such as de- 

 coctions of elder, of aloes, of tobacco, snuff, 

 quick lime, lime water, brimstone, unleache(l 

 ashes, tar water, water impregnated with tur- 

 pentine, plaster of Paris finely pulverized, de- 

 coctions of walnut leaves, ami other bitter or 

 ,-.crid substances. No doubt all these matters 

 are useful, and may answer the purpose if ap- 

 plied often enough. But they are liable to be 

 washed oflf by every shower, and the insects, 

 always on the alert, will be sure to take advan- 

 tage of every circumstance of that kind, and 

 will now and then take a little [>hysic rather 

 than suffer tor lack of food. Besides some of 

 them" ensconce themselves," as Shikespeare 

 has it, under the leaves, where you c;int\ot at- 

 tack them with any success. We, therefore, 

 are inclined to think that the best, if not the 

 only safe guard which can be relied on. in order 

 to secure water melons, cucumbers, squ«'sbes 

 &c. against bugs, 6ies or any insect, ivliich as- 

 sails them above ground is some sort of fence 

 which will exclude the insects, but admit sun, 

 air and mnjsliirr. Perhaps nothing of the 

 kind will be found more cheap and convenient 

 than a thing of the form and mode of structure 

 which follows : 



"Take a strip of pine boart^ (about three 

 fourths of an inch in thickness is m»st suilal)le) 

 eight or ten feet in length, and four or five inch- 

 es in width — plough one edge of it, with a car- 

 pentei's plough or match plain— then mark off 

 an equal number of side and end pieces ; be- 

 fore sawing the side pieces, run a brad awl 

 fhiough where you want to drive your nails, as 

 it is not so likely to split, as after it is sawed. 

 The side pieces eleven inches long — ends eight 

 inches long. They must be of this particular 

 size, because one yard ofmillmet will just cov- 

 er nine boxes ; or a third of a yard will make 

 three covers. After having naifed vour boxes 

 and ilivjded your millinet, have some thin strip? 

 or tongues, as the carpenters call them. Press 

 these with the edges of the covers into the 

 groove — which fasten* them much cheaper and 

 more expidiliously, than small nails." 



The al'ove directions we have republished 

 from the N. E. F.irmer, vol. [I. pa^e ii05, lor 

 the use of such of our readers as may not be in 

 possession of that volume. 



WASFiiNr, AN-n SHEAP.iNG sHFEP, &;c. — The Farm- 

 er's Guide says, u ;„ washing sheep, to prevent 

 danger trom exposure, sink a tub or barrel for 

 the person to slaml in. The water must be 

 warm as can be had, and perfectly clean. It is 

 necessary to keep sheep, some days previous to 

 shearing, in a clean pastur.-, lliat their wool 

 may imbibe some of the oil which is let bv 

 waslinig, which will render the shearing more 

 easy and require less oil al'leivvards." in liue 

 weather it requires about three days to dry the 

 wool oil the back of the sheep. The; wool of 



Merino sheep is rarely washed till after shear- 

 ing, as the closeness of its texture renders the 

 process difficult. 



Lemuel \V. Briggs, Esq. of Bristol, R. I. in an 

 article published in the N. E. Farmer, vol. iii. 

 page 271, states the advantage of shearing sheep 

 as early as the 1st of May, as manifested by the 

 practice of Mr. Rouse Potter, of Prudence Isl- 

 and, Narraganset Bay, who keeps O.'iO sheep. 

 Writers in general, however, have recommend- 

 ed late shearing. In Dr Deane's N.E. Farmer, 

 page 381, (Wells k Lilly's edition,) it is stated 

 that " We shear our sheep in general tao early 

 in this country. In England, where the spring 

 is more forward than in this country, the ap- 

 proved time is from the middle to the latter end 

 of .lune." Both these authorities may be cor- 

 rect, though apparently contradictory. If you 

 have sheds or other shelter for your sheep, and 

 will take care that they shall not be exposed in 

 the opoji air to cold storms, and chilly nights, 

 Mr Potter's practice will no doubt be best. But 

 if they have no protection from the cold and 

 wet, Dr Deane's is probably to be pieterred. 

 Besides, Mr Potter does not wash his sheep be- 

 fore shearing, which makes a great difference 

 with regard to the proper time tor shearing. — 

 The waters of our climate are too cold for 

 washing sheep in Mayor the fore part of June. 

 The judicious sheep-owner will pay attention to 

 these circumstances, and govern himself accord- 

 ingly. But, perhaps, it may be as ivell as soon 

 as practicable, to construct sometliing to protect 

 your sheep from our mutable and sometimes 

 sftvere weather. Alexander Reed, Esq. of Wash- 

 ington county, Penn. who has written well, and 

 frequently on agricultural topics, says, " In onr 

 climate 1 consider sheds indispensable. St<"ong 

 wethers may do well without shelter; but 

 breeding ewes and lambs cannot bear our se- 

 vere and chflngeable winters. 



" We build our sheds on a simple and che:ip 

 plan : eighteen feet I find the best width tor 

 double stalls. We plant three rows of [>osts, the 

 centre ones ten feet, and the outside tour feet 

 above the surface of the ground. Where the 

 ground is dry and firm, and on no other ought 

 sheep to be kept, and the posts need not bo sunk 

 more than two feet. 



" To save valuable young timber, we split 

 our posts from trees from 2 to 3 feet in diameter. 

 The po^ts need not to be much larger than 

 those used in common post and rail fences. — 

 Three active men make one of those sheds. 100 

 feet long, thatched with rye straw, in a week. 

 We place the racks in the centre. A log ol' IS 

 or 20 inches in diameter, split into two equal 

 parts, answers for the bottom of a douMe rack, 

 and a trough on each side. The trough is form- 

 ed by nailing strips along the edges of the logs. 

 ri-;iiigsuthciently above to prevent the food from 

 faliiug out. P>y this plan none of the seeds of 

 the hay are lost. 1 find about four inches from 

 centre to centre is the best distance to place the 

 roimds of the rack. A shed of this kind, one 

 huniired feet long, will hold, without crowding. 

 'iOi) sheep ; but 150 are quite as many as should 

 be kept in it ; as room and air are very essen- 

 tial to their health." 



We should be apprehensive lest a structure 

 ot this kinii should not he sulficifullv substanti- 

 al to withstand the high winds with whicli 

 we are visited in .N^ow J'.njlaiid. The posl«, 



however, might be larger, and the roof so 

 strong and well secured as to be as safe as any 

 other farm buildings. , The plun appears to us 

 lo be judicious ; ar.d may supply useliil hints to 

 those who may not think proper to adept it in 

 all its details. 



It has been long the practice in CIreat Brit- 

 ain to smear sheep, immediately alter shear- 

 ing, with a mixture of tar and butter or oil. 



Mr. Luccock, an English writer, says, "The 

 oil which this mixture contains is most certain- 

 ly useful, but the tar, a dirty and tenacious sub- 

 stance, adheres to the wool so closely as fre- 

 quently to corrode the hair rendering the part 

 to which it was immediately applied thin, rough 

 •ind weak.'' But Mr. Bakewell, whose author- 

 ity is entitled to great weight in ail agricultural 

 questions, in a " Treatise on Wool," observes " 

 that in Northumberland, where the fine wooled 

 <^heep have received the benefit of?rea«iuo" 

 with a mixture in which the pro[>ortion of tar 

 was merely sufficient to give it due tenacity, 

 the wool was greatly improve I by the pro- 

 cess ; but the ignorance and se.tishness of the 

 wool-buyers for a long time prevented the ac- 

 knowledgement of the fact, it gives the wool 

 a dirty appearance, and some poopl<jjudge of 

 every thing by appearance only. 



A writer in Rees' Cyrlopaedit, (ouoted page 

 252 of the current volume of the New England 

 Farmer) says much in favour of this composi- 

 tion, and gives the following receipt for it as 

 prepared in Northumberland ; " From sixteen 

 to twenty pounds ol' butter are placed over a 

 s;?ntle fire, and melted ; a gallon of tar is then 

 added, and the mixture is then stirred with a 

 stick until the tar and butter are well combined, 

 and form a soft tenacious ointment." Some 

 skill is required in its application. The locks 

 should be divided, and the ointment applied di- 

 rectly to the skin. It does no good to apply it 

 to the outside of the wool, but it must come m 

 contact with the skin. This is best effected by 

 opening the wool along the neck and back, and 

 applying the ointment with the finger. In short, 

 you must apply it in such manner that it will be 

 the most likely to spread over every part 

 of the body. The quantity laid on each animal 

 differs in different districts. In the lighter mode 

 of greasing, one gallon oftar and twenty pounds 

 of butter, will be sufificient for tifty sheep. In 

 Scotland, where greasing is applied merely to 

 preserve the animal from the inclemency of the 

 climate, a much larger pro[iortion ol tar is used. 

 This would be very injurious to the wool were 

 it any other but the very coarsest kind. To 

 derive the greatest ailvantage Irnin the oiut- 

 ment, both to the wool and the sheep, it should 

 be npplied immediately al'ter shearing, and again 

 ou the approach ofvvinter. Py the first greas- 

 ing, the wool will be kept soft and moi^t during 

 the sultry heats of July and August and the top 

 of the staple will not become harsh and discol- 

 oured. One acknowledged advantage of greas- 

 ing immediately alter shearing should not be 

 overlooked ; it destroys the sheep tick, and has 

 a tendency to prevent cutaneous distempers and 

 to |)rotert the skin against the hi'e of the fly.'' 



Mr. J. Nelson ot'Meckl'?nlnir<r. \iig. has pub- 

 lished a recipe similar to the above as a cure tor 

 the rot ond srab. in shei p ; widch is aj follows :^ 



Take three gallons ol tar and three do. o«' 

 train oil. hoi!ed together, to which aild three 



