364 



TIIE GENESEE FARMER. 



five years, and he finds no diminution in the crop, 

 while the quality of the grass improves. The large 

 crop of grass from the irrigated meadows enables 

 him to sell considerable quantities of hay, and yet 

 have enough left to make manure sufficient to keep 

 up the fertility of the farm. 



KEEP THE SHEEP AT HOME. 



The high price of pelts is inducing some farm- 

 ers to sell their sheep. We think they err in so 

 doing. Mutton is now comparatively low. The 

 only reason why sheep are high is on account of 

 the demand for wool; but as there is little reason 

 to anticipate any reduction in the price of wool 

 before the next clip comes in, and as there is every 

 reason to believe that mutton will be much higher 

 next spring than it is at present, we think it far 

 better to keep and feed the sheep during the winter 

 than to slaughter them now. 



Fattening sheep in winter, if properly attended 

 to, is one of the most profitable branches of 

 American agriculture. It is so not because the 

 sheep increase very much in weight, but rather be- 

 cause of the enhanced price of mutton in the 

 spring. If we had to depend merely on what .the 

 sheep gain in weight, it would hardly pay to fatten 

 them in winter. The increase in mutton would 

 scarcely pay for the amount of fodder consumed. 

 Thus a sheep, weighing 100 lbs., would eat 3 lbs. 

 of hay per day, or its equivalent, and increase say 

 H lbs. per week. From the middle of November 

 until the middle of March, such a sheep would eat 

 336 lbs. of hay ; and all that we get to pay for it 

 is 24 lbs. of mutton, worth, at 6 cents per lb., 

 $1.44, or $8.57 per ton for the hay. But suppos- 

 ng such a sheep to be now worth 3 cents per lb. 

 live weight, and next March 5 cents per lb., we 

 should get for the 336 lbs. of hay consumed $3.20, 

 or over $19.00 per ton. This is the proper light 

 in which to consider the question of fattening 

 sheep in winter, and we feel confident that it will 

 be found profitable. 



"Keep the sheep at home," then, we repeat. Do 

 not force them upon the market, and thus crowd 

 down the price of mutton, which is too low al- 

 ready. Mutton is now frequently sold by the car- 

 cass in New York at 3 cents per lb. True, sheep 

 command high prices, but it is on account of the 

 high price of pelts, and not because mutton is in 

 demand. 



We have said nothing about the value of the 

 manure, because, as yet, many farmers do not take 

 this into consideration. Fattening sheep in winter 



will pay without reckoning in the manure ; but it 

 is clear that in estimating the comparative profits 

 of selling the hay or feeding it cut on the farm, 

 the value of the manure ought to be taken into 

 consideration. 



THE HIGH PKICE OF BARLEY. 



Bakley commands an unusually high price this 

 season. In this city it is worth over one dollar per 

 bushel, and in New York over a dollar and a half. 

 In some of the Western cities the price is equally 

 high. 



It was thought by many that the war and the 

 tax on beer and ale would have a tendency to 

 lessen the consumption of barley, and doubtless 

 this is to some extent the case ; but the demand is 

 still greater than the supply, and prices are high in 

 consequence. 



The standard weight of a bushel of barley in 

 Illinois is 44 lbs. ; in Massachusetts and Vermont, 

 46 lbs. ; in Pennsylvania, 47 lbs., and in all the 

 other States and Canada 48 lbs. 



The standard weight of wheat is 60 lbs. per 

 bushel ; so that, by weight, a bushel of wheat is 

 equal to a bushel and a quarter of barley. In New 

 York barley is worth $1.50, and the very highest 

 quotation for the choicest samples of white wheat 

 is $1.65. That is to say, 60 lbs. of wheat are 

 worth $1.65, while 60 lbs. of barley are worth 

 $1.87i ; i' 1 other words, ordinary barley, weight for 

 weight, is worth 22^ cents a bushel more than the 

 choicest sample of white wheat! 



American barley, as compared to the English, is 

 of very inferior quality. It is not at all uncom- 

 mon to find ordinary malting barley in England 

 weighing 57 lbs. per bushel ; while our barley sel- 

 dom overruns the standard of 48 lbs., and fre- 

 quently is not over 44 lbs. per bushel. There are 

 two causes which have tended to produce this re- 

 sult: First. The malt tax in England, amounting 

 to 64 cents per bushel, is the same on poor barley 

 as on that of the highest quality. It is quite an 

 object, therefore, with malsters to secure the best 

 barley that can be raised. Comparatively high 

 prices are paid for good barley, while inferior 

 samples can not be sold to the malster at any price. 

 Under this stimulus great efibrts have been made 

 fry farmers to improve the quality of barley. They 

 have succeeded so well that English barley now 

 sometimes weighs as much per bushel as wheat. 

 Second. While the malt tax has stimulated English 

 farmers to great diligence in the cultivation and 

 improvement of this grain, our farmers have hith- 

 erto received little encouragement to improve the 



