1868. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



413 



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I , ' I ' ii I ' 1 1, fiii/,)i;ii I |I|'JiJj!i i(|ii'i!|r;'iili jii[fi!iii;i h'h i k h] i .\]M\ iim 1 1 , Mi 



THE PEBCHERON HORSE "ORLEANS." 



The above is a portrait of one of the two 

 stallions which wane imported by the Massa- 

 chusetts Society for Promoting Agriculture in 

 July, 1864, in connection with three mares of 

 the same race. "Orleans" is of a reddish 

 roan color, and at six years of age stood 16 

 hands high and weighed 1450 pounds, and is 

 considered a perfect type of the Percheron 

 Horse. For the use of the cut we are indebt- 

 ed to the courtesy of Chas. L. Flint, Esq., 

 Secretary of the .Massachusetts Board of Agri- 

 culture. 



For the New England Farmer, 

 NEW PLAN" FOR TOP-DBESSINO-. 



Last fall I tried an experiment with which I 

 am so well pleased that I take my pen in hand 

 to write a short article for your valuable pa- 

 per. 



For several years past I have been think- 

 ing about the amount of manure lost every 

 year by allowing my sheep to lie in the pasture 



nights. My pasture has been used for over 

 thirty years, and as the sheep occupy the same 

 resting places nearly every night, these spots 

 have become like a barn yard, and I deter- 

 mined to contrive some plan to distribute these 

 droppings over my mowing lot. 



Commencing as soon as I got through hay- 

 ing, — and I think no man ought to do any 

 haying after July, — I made a movable pen by 

 nailing three boards, fourteen feet in length 

 to three pieces of two-inch scantling, project- 

 ing at the bottom for stakes. For one hun- 

 dred and ten sheep, 1 found it necessary to 

 use two lengths of these boards for each side of 

 my pen, and one length for each end. I used 

 an iron bar to make the holes for the stakes, 

 and fastened the tops with straps. I think a 

 lighter and more convenient fence might be 

 made, but as mine is, one man will remove 

 the panels, one at a time, and set them in a 

 new place in twenty minutes. 



By keeping a small trough or two in the pen, 

 and putting into them a little salt or corn, the 

 sheep will learn in three days to run for the 

 pen as soon as let out of the pasture. 



