330 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



July 



into our operations, and make our labors fuller of 

 satisfaction, as well as more profitable. 



We find to-day that all our barn swallows, five 

 pairs, have died from starvation, or cold, or pesti- 

 lence — which is it ? Some of ihem, when found, 

 were quite dead; others were just alive, but died 

 soon after. JoNA. DoOLITTLE. 



May 2lst, 1857. 



P. S. May 24:th.—We have a new supply of 

 swallows. They have come in and taken posses- 

 sion of the ne>ts,makin<i; themselves quite at home. 

 I noticed them about noon to-day. Are they a new 

 supply, or the old ones recovered from a tempora- 

 ry dormant, state ? The old ones appeared dead 

 on Thiiryday, and were put out of the way. Were 

 we deceived ? J. D. 



For the New England Farmer. 



MEADOW MUCK AND COTSWOLD 

 SHEEP. 



Messrs. Editors: — In a former communication, 

 I wrote you a few words in relation to swamp muck. 

 Believing that we are now at the commencement 

 of a new era, in relation to the manufacture and 

 use of swamp muck as an absorbent, and also as a 

 fertilizer, I had thought that a short article relat- 

 ing our practice in the manufacture of muck into 

 manure, might not be uninteresting to at least 

 some of your readers. I am fully aware, however, 

 that the agriculturists of Massachusetts are well 

 posted up on most of the subjects interesting to 

 themselves, as a portion of the communitj'. 



In almost every locality, there are beds of peat 

 muck in sufficient quantities to supply the wants of 

 the farming community for years to come, and with- 

 in comfortable distance of the farm yards. Among 

 us in Litchfield county, most of our good farmers 

 are beginning to appreciate the value of manure 

 manufactured from swamp muck, as a top-dressing 

 for meadows. To facilitate the manufacture of this 

 kind of manure, our barns are built with cellars un- 

 derneath, over which our horses and cattle are sta- 

 bled, and in which the manure, both solid and liquid, 

 is stored, and mixed from time to time, as necessity 

 requires, with dried swamp muck. Upon this, the 

 swine are placed, to work over and mix the whole 

 mass together ; ar.d for this purpose, I fully believe 

 an all-wise Providence designed the hog; for he 

 gives evidence of this in the happiness he seems to 

 enjoy in constantly working over filthy m.aterials. 



The swine required to drink the whey from a dai- 

 ry of fifteen cows, will, if kept constantly bedded 

 in muck, make thirty cart-loads of as good top- 

 dressing as any farmer need to have in one sum- 

 mer. Three horses and three hogs will make thirty 

 more loads, in the remaining six months of the year. 

 Around almost every farm-house, there is a ])lace 

 where the slops of the house collect, which in warm 

 weather becomes the most filthy place about the 

 ])remises. To prevent this, the wood-house, or a 

 building "rected for the purpose, should be placed 

 with a cellar underneath, ten feet deep, and filled 

 with muck, in which to absorb the suds, dish-water, 

 and other wash of the house; thus converting a 

 filthy nuisance into twelve, fifteen or twenty loads 

 of as good manure as can be produced on the 

 premises. A little attention to this method of 

 making manure, will soon double the quantity of 

 hay, the most valuable crop of the farm. In addi- 



tion to this, a hundred loads of muck should be 

 drawn into the yard, the fore part of winter, to ab- 

 sorb the liquid portion of the manure, which would 

 otherwise run to waste. 



The only bank a farmer should allow himself to 

 use, is a bank of manure. Such a bank needs no 

 corporation. To this stock should every firmer 

 subscribe. There, if he be liberal in making his de- 

 posits, he may present his draughts without fear of 

 their being dishonored ; and at the end of the year 

 he may make a dividend of a hundred per cent, on 

 the whole capital invested. 



My communication to you relating to the breed- 

 ing of mutton sheep, though not intended as an ad- 

 vertisement, to my surprise, brought me a shower 

 of letters, amounting, in some days, to four in a 

 day, most of them expressing much interest in the 

 perusal of that part relating to my Cotswr Id sheep. 

 I therefore, in accordance with my promise, beg 

 leave to answer them in a condensed form, through 

 the columns of your most valuable paper. And 

 first in regard to the qualiUj of their food. There 

 are none of our domestic animals whose nature 

 seems to require so great a variety of food as the 

 sheep. They will grow restive and uneasy if con- 

 fined, even in the best feed, if of one kind, and wil' 

 break out if possible, and roam over the dry pas- 

 tures perfectly contented, if they can get sufficient 

 variety to supply the demands of their nature. 

 No amount of grain or roots will compensate for 

 the want of variety. 



See that noble cosset running with the cows, 

 which never ate a particle of grain, and see those two 

 lambs weighing 110 to 125 lbs. each, brought up 

 by that sheep, and fat as pigs. Compare them 

 with those among a flock of fifty, weighing from 

 80 to 100, and why this discrepancy? Simply be- 

 cause the former have had the range of the whole 

 pasturage of the farm, and have been thus enabled 

 to obtain the very kind of food adapted to the 

 wants of the animal. For winter fodder, there is 

 no hay equal to early cut clover. To cure this, if 

 cut when the dew is on, the swaths should be turned, 

 and that cut when the clover is dry should be left 

 until it is thoroughly wilted ; then, with a hand 

 rake, the swaths should be rolled up into small 

 cocks, and allowed to stand several days, when it 

 should be opened to the sun, and when perfectly 

 cured, put into the barn. This kind of hay, {fal- 

 lowed to sweat in the mow, is very much injured. 

 Clover hay cured in this way, and fed to sheep 

 morning and evening, allowing them to feed at noon 

 on straw, corn-stalks, or common hay, is the most 

 natural food for sheep in winter; and they will 

 thrive much better than to be fed on grain, with a 

 poor quality of hay. Turnips fed in large quanti- 

 ties to sheep with lambs, are very sure to produce 

 abortion, and they should in no case be fed in ex- 

 treme cold weather. 



It is generally conceded that to f.itten breeding 

 animals is not judicious. I have had sufficient 

 proof of this in my experience in breeding Cots- 

 wolds. The largest two year old sheep I have in 

 my flock, weighed 181 lbs. in January, and of course 

 was very fleshy ; she lately brought a pair of twins 

 little larger than rats. I had an instance before 

 of the same sort ; the largest sheep I have brought 

 a lamb so small that it could not reach to suck, un- 

 til it was two weeks old ; and it had plenty of room 

 inside of a bee-hive a foot square. This lamb, 

 though always under size, grew up to be one of the 



