322 



XEW ENGLAND F.YRIMER, 



July 



practical surveyor and engineer as well as a 

 scientific man. 



The new dormitory is to be ninety-six by 

 fifty feet, about the same size -as the present 

 one, but with greater architectural beauty. 

 The old barns and tobacco sheds are to be 

 removed near to the north line of the farm, 

 and will be used for the stowage of crops un- 

 til the more permanent buildings can be pro- 

 vided. 



OBSTRUCTION IN A DRAIN TILE. 



Our readers who are interested in the sub- 

 ject of drain tile will remember a statement 

 by Mr. M. Pratt, of Concord, Mass., of a 

 "slimy fungus mass" that he found in ^a^ge 

 quaniities in some of his pipe, which he feaied 

 would eventually stop the flow of water. 

 No allusion to accumulations of this kind could 

 be found in any work on drainage at hand. 

 A correspondent of The Circular describes a 

 case in which a drain was effectually choked 

 by such obstruction, although for a time it op- 

 erated in a most sati>factory manner. But 

 this spring while "crossing the fieM full of en- 

 thusiasm for commencing business on the rap- 

 idly dr}'ing soil," lie was "utterly shocked at 

 Seeing the water rising in holes right over the 

 main drain." He then went to work to find 

 where and what was the cause of the overflow, 

 of which he gives the following account: — 



In the first hole that I made the water hur.«t up. 

 With the second, that I diij; further down, I had 

 the same luck. In the third liole, still fuithcr 

 down, there was le-s water, and I .sm-cecded in 

 taking out a tile, when, to my utter dismay, I 

 found it nearly full of a slinij', "jelly- like mass of 

 stuff, and there was every indiL-ation that a consid- 

 erable length of tile was tilled with it. 



1 then foil into a hruwu study, endeavoring to 

 find the cause of this nncanny ijhcnonicnon. I 

 soon discovered it. Two drains from ilie liarn 

 cellar terminated in thi.s tik-drain; and alihough 

 the dark liquid that flowed in them coiit.uned no 

 solid materiil, it favored the growth of this fun- 

 goid jelly. I iiavc oliserved the same vegetation 

 growing on the stones of the open diteli wheie 

 sink-water and sometimes soap-suds flows. 



FATTENINQ SHEEP IN ENGLAND. 



We recently copied from the Coiintn/ 

 Genilanan a statemetit l)y an English corres- 

 respondent that yearling sheep were sold at 

 $12 to $14.50 per head at his market for mut- 

 ton, and that a cross of the Down with the 

 Lincoln, Leicester or Cotswold was preferred 

 for this purpose. From a subsecjuent commu- 

 nication we coi)y the following account of the 

 management and mode of feedinij which is 



there practiced to fit them for the market, 

 and for the high prices they command. It 

 will be remembered that English farmers use 

 the word "corn" to express what we mean by 

 the word "grain." 



My plan is to let the lambs run through a 

 hurdle away from their dams as eai-ly as possible ; 

 supply them wiih a few cabliages or turnip tops; 

 at the same time let them have low troughs, in 

 which we always keep fresh broad bran, and, if 

 po!-sibli', a little sweet leafy el(>ver Imy, eiit into 

 ehatr, and mixed with the bran. They will begin 

 to eat this when very young, and it will then in- 

 duce them to eat a few Inans or peas, ground and 

 mixed with the bran ; but I do not find thej' eare 

 much for the corn until they get several wetks 

 old. 1 have begun to give some .of my oldest 

 laml)s a few beans, the last day or two, but they 

 do not care to eat them, ami L think the bran and 

 chaff is quite as good for them. I like them to 

 have the most corn when they liegin to eat a large 

 quantity of young green food or nwnqel n-tirzef, 

 and I generally begin to reduce the corn when on 

 good sound fresh green feed, which they usually 

 are on before thi y are weaned. After tliey are 

 wear.ed, I give them a little more for tlie first 

 week or two, unless they are on very good feed, 

 such as cinque-Coil, or a variety of seeds; I like, 

 if possible, to keep some mangel wurzel for them 

 alter they are weaned. 



I very rarely give my ewes any corn, either be- 

 fore or after lambing, (except a few old broken- 

 mouthed crone ewes,) but if very short of turnips, 

 I sometiiues give the ewes with twins a fi;w oats, 

 especially if I have not much hay or chaff, and 

 when oats are cheap, which they certainly are not 

 now. 



I generally take off all the rorn from my ewe 

 lambs a short time after they are weaned, but con- 

 tinue it w ith the ram lambs, and some or all the 

 wethers; after the rams and wethers begin rape 

 or turnips in the autumn, I i)egin to increase their 

 corn ,and dry food, uniil iLey liavi.- a pint of corn 

 and cake each per day, which 1 think is not too 

 much, espec-iaily as they are kept on the turnip 

 land all the winter, and some of my land is heavy, 

 bad feeding ground. 



/ always try to avoid letting any of my sheep or 

 lambs hare any sudden change of food; and 1 have 

 no doubt a variety of food is l:esi when it can be 

 obtained, and, in summer, with good water to go 

 to as they like. 



Salt in Compost. — I once tried an experi- 

 ment in planting corn. I hatching been using 

 barn manure,, ashes and plaster, mixed in 

 etpial <iiianlities, in the hill. 1 read some- 

 where that salt was a good fertilizer to add to 

 the compost. I thought I would try part 

 of a field. To twenty bushels of compost I 

 added 14 bushels of cattle salt, well mixed in. 

 The result was, as far as I used the salt mixture, 

 the seed all failed to germinate. 1 planted it 

 over ; the same result followed. I planted 

 the third time by the side of the hill, so that 

 the corn did not come in contact with the ma- 

 nure, and it all came up this last tinre first-rate, 

 — the seed each time being from the same corn. 

 In the in.-<tance of the planting where the same 

 manure was used without salt, corn came up first 

 bet. My advice is to use no salt in the hill 

 Ibr corn. But a small (]uautity, mixjed with 



