334 



THE GENESEE FAKMEE. 



used in the form of quick lime." We have seen 



the good effect of quick-lime thirty years after its 

 application. 



(J) Yery true ; and on this account it is better 

 t:> burn it. 



(<?) If applied every year in large quantities, it 

 might have this effect ; but farmers in this country 

 seldom apply too much — they certainly do not need 

 to be cautioned against the too frequent application 

 of lime. We have known 200 bushels per acre 

 used without any of the bad effects alluded to. 



(cT) The caustic power of lime is not lost by slak- 

 ing it with water — in fact, water-slaked lime is 

 more caustic than air-slaked lime. 



(e) This practice may be adopted when the lime 

 has to be in heaps in the field for some time during 

 excessive rains ; otherwise it is unnecessary. When 

 it imbibes too much water, it is diffcult to spread ; 

 but the water does not destroy its causticity. — [Eds. 



WINTEKING CALVES AND COLTS. 



Messrs. Editors : — Allow me to suggest to farm- 

 ers in my opinion the best mode of treatment for 

 calves and young colts. Provide a field of suffi- 

 cient size to afibrd grass enough to supply them 

 plentifully when the ground is bare during the 

 winter or feeding months, when they should have 

 comfortable sheds, say open to the south ; water, 

 &c., should be provided in the same field. The 

 object of this mode of treatment is to furnish room 

 for exercise, and green food to keep their bowels in 

 a healthy condition. Confinement and the absence 

 of green food through the winter, is detrimental to 

 the health and vigor of stock. It is said by many, 

 that when stock get to the ground in winter, they 

 lose their appetite for dry food, and don't do well. 

 I would say to those, provide a field with green 

 food enough to fill them, and they will need no 

 fodder. This may be done by letting the grass 

 grow from harvest till winter. 



Much stock is lost by close confinement in yards 

 or stables, on dry food all winter, and the change 

 in the treatment which takes place in the spring 

 frequently causes disease and death. They should 

 have from a pint to a quart each of malt, mixed 

 corn, oats, buckwheat or wheat bran, — any two or 

 UHire kinds of grain, not corn alone. What they do 

 get should be given regularly as to time and quan- 

 tity. They should also have the finest hay. Colts 

 and calves winter well together. A. F, B. — Sandy 

 Lake^ Mercer Co.^ Pa. 



We cannot endorse the views of our correspond- 

 ent about letting calves, colts, or other stock, get 

 to tlie ground for grass dui-ing the winter months. 

 They may get something to eat, but it will be cold, 

 frozen stuff, possessing not enough substance to 

 pay them for the labor of gathering. 



We agree with all he says about the necessity of 

 green food during the long months their principal 

 food must be dry hay ; but we should recommend 

 once a day a mess of carrots, beets, or turnips, cut 



into small pieces and fed in the barn where it is 

 warm and comfortable. We have for years be- 

 lieved roots would well repay all expense and 

 trouble, in the increased good health they are sure 

 to promote. We feel quite certain that if the grain 

 is ground, it will be best to cut the hay, and feed 

 the meal with it, — dampening it Just enough to 

 have the meal adhere to the c^t hay. If this is 

 done, it will answer every purpose of green feetJ 

 or roots. Who has a better method? [Eds, 



SHEEP AND WOOL. 



It has long been the practice of farmers either to 

 sell to the butchers or slaughter hiiadreds— yea., 

 thousands of sheep during the fall aad winter, be- 

 cause they thus avail themselves of some ready 

 money, and also for the reason that they seem t© 

 have little confidence in raising sheep for their 

 wool alone, as a paying business. By means of this 

 wholesale slaughter, the stock of sheep throughout 

 the whole country has been kept comparatsively 

 small, and "wool growing, except at some intervals 

 of unusual excitement, has been in a languishing 

 condition. 



In our opinion, no stock kept upon the farm, un- 

 less we except cows in the dairy districts, pays a& 

 well for the amount invested and the expense of 

 keeping as a good flock of sheep. True, wool is 

 often low and slow of sale, but at the low rates, 

 with the increase of flock, there can be very little 

 if any loss under unfavorable circumstances ; and 

 for a series of ten years they prove profitable, as 

 any one may know who will take note and consult 

 figures. 



If we can succeed in inducing the farmers of 

 Western New York, and other sections where tb© 

 midge has nearly destroyed the wheat crop, to turn 

 their attention to sheep, in part, we shall, accord- 

 ing to our view of the subject, be instrumental in 

 promoting their best interests. One reason why 

 fiirmers are averse to wool-growing is the difiieultj 

 of making satisfactory sales, as buyers are always 

 ready to decry the article when the clip first comes 

 to market, and quite as willing to hold it for a rise 

 after they have succeeded in getting it into their 

 hands. We do not now propose to offer any sug- 

 gestions to remedy this difficulty, only to express 

 the opinion that those farmers who have good 

 stocks of wool can quite as well afford to hold it as 

 those who often borrow the money to purchase for 

 that object. 



It is not our purpose now to discuss the relative 

 value of coarse or fine wool sheep, or the superior 

 qualities of any one breed in either class. We are 

 free to say, however, aside from the consideration 



