2-40 



NEW ENGLAND FARJiIER. 



JIay 



best conditioned and apparently the most 

 healthy sheep are most liable to its attacks. 



Having had tlie care of sheep somewhat ex- 

 tensively I'rom my boyhood, if my experience 

 is worth anything to the public, I most freely 

 give it. 



As to the cause I am somewhat uncertain ; 

 but should give it as my opinion, that a plenty 

 of green fodder, such as bright, early cut 

 clover hay, ruta bagas, or potatoes, with a 

 free supply of salt and wood ashes, will prove 

 an almost infallible preventive ; and as the old 

 proverb says, "an ounce of preventive is bet- 

 ter than a pound of cure," I would recom- 

 mend lirst in all cases the preventive. I once 

 knew a minister who had a sick cow, and he 

 applied to an old flirmer for a remedy. The 

 old farmer with a sober face told him 'that a 

 certain weed grew on a neighbor's intervale, 

 that given freely to the cow, would cure her in 

 a few weeks. When asked to name the weed, 

 he replied "clover hay." The minister fol- 

 lowed the prescription and his cow got well, 

 and he ever after praised clover hay as a cur- 

 ative agent. 



But if a sheep does have the stretches, 

 what is to be done ? Some tell you to give 

 castor oil — very good ; some say oil and spirits 

 of turpentine — sure death ; others use a strong 

 decoction of thoroughwort (boneset) which is 

 an excellent medicine, and easily procured, as 

 it grows on all low wet ground. But my 

 remedy, and one that never yet failed me, 

 when tried in the first stages of the disease, is 

 tobacco : Take a piece of plug tobacco, as 

 large as the thumb to the first joint, put it in 

 thejnouth of the sheep and hold up its head 

 until it is eaten. Sometimes the sheep will 

 eat it with avidity, but not often. If one 

 does not eat it readily, don't give it up, but 

 stand by and hold up the head gently, and 

 there will be no trouble.- 



The first practical knowledge I ever had of 

 this remedy was in l^io. I sold some sheep 

 to J. H. Lovejoy, of Albany, N. Y., and was 

 to deliver them in a few days. Soon after I 

 sold them, one of them was taken sick and I 

 was afraid it would die ; so I tliought I must 

 try and doctor it. I was but a boy; my 

 father was gone, and I hardly knew what to 

 do; but I happened to think that I onceheard 

 an uncle tell of giving a sick sheep some to- 

 bacco, and it cured it. So I concluded to try 

 it, and in an hour's time my sheep was eating 

 as well as any of the rest, and from that time 

 to this 1 have had sheep taken with that dis- 

 ease, and used no other medicine, but have 

 never yet lost one. In 18G4, this disease was 

 very prevalent all through this section. The 

 previous season had been unfavorable for hay, 

 and much of it was hurt or badly ripened be- 

 fore it was cut. One of my neighbors told 

 me that three of his sheep were sick — the best 

 be had — and wanted to know what to do for 

 them. I asked him how long the)' had been 

 sick: he told me one of them had been sick 



one week, and the other two were taken the 

 day before he came tome. I told him to give 

 them all some tobacco, and how much to give 

 them ; but remarked that the one first taken 

 will die. while the others will come out all 

 right. The next day he told me the one you 

 said would die, is dead ; and the other two are 

 well, and went to eating hay in an hour from 

 the time of giving the medicine. 



Yesterday morning I found a nice sheep 

 stretched out, and kicking. Its nose was dry, 

 ears drooping, neck extended, and every ap- 

 pearance was indicative of great pain. I 

 made her take a (juid of tobacco, and in two 

 hours she was chewing the natural cud, and ap- 

 parently well. I do not advise folks to go to 

 chewing tobacco because it is good for sick 

 sheep. Tobacco is a rank and deadly poison 

 to the hog. Geo. H. Browx. 



Mason, Me., March 11, 1868. 



For the JSTew England Farmer. 

 ■WOBKINQ A POTATO MELD. 



In the fall of the year I turn over a piece of 

 grass land, with a swivel plow, laying the fur- 

 rows all one way. If on a hill side, the fur- 

 rows are turned up hill, so that the after 

 cultivation will bring it about where it was 

 before. After the furrows have dried a few 

 days the ground is worked over with a culti- 

 vator, which pulverizes the soil about four 

 inches deep, or one-half the depth of the fur- 

 rows. 



The ground is then smooth enough to cart 

 over, and is ready to receive the manure, 

 which is drawn on and evenly spread any time 

 during the winter or spring, as convenient. 

 If hauled on while the ground is frozen, it 

 will be easier for the teams and much packing 

 of the soil is prevented. 



After the ground is well settled in the 

 spring, it is again worked over with the culti- 

 vator, and the manure is well mingled with 

 the soil. A horse plow is then used to make 

 furrows about four inches deep and three feet or 

 a little more apart. In these furrows, pieces of 

 potatoes are dropped about fourteen inches 

 apart, rather carelessly and (juite rapidly, not 

 minding •whether they fall one side up or the 

 other. The cultivator is then run between 

 the rows, and the potatoes are well covered ; 

 much better than if done by a plow, and a 

 great deal quicker than if by a hoe. 



As soon as the weeds begin to show them- 

 selves, the cultivator, which is also called ahorse 

 hoe, having the outside teeth reversible, is run 

 between the rows, with the teeth set to turn 

 the dirt from them. After two or three days 

 it is run- through again, to finish any weeds 

 that e^caped the first operation. Just as the 

 potatoes begin to break ground, a garden rake 

 is worked rapidly back and forwards over the 

 drills, nearly as fast as a man would walk. 

 This kills \that weeds arc'in the drills between 

 where the horse hoe went. After potatoes 



