340 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



Fis. 29. 



the cut, of -|-inch round iron, drawn smaller toward the point — and the 

 point made safe by a knob. The other end is furnished 

 with a socket, which receives a handle six or eif^ht feet 

 long. The manner of using it is thus described in Mr. Ste- 

 phens's admiralilc "Book of the Farm": 



" The hind-leg is hooked in at a, from behind the sheep, and it fills up 

 the narrow part beyond a, while passing along it until it reaches the loop, 

 when ihe animal is caught by the hock, and when secured, its foot ea- 

 sily slips lhro\igh the loop. Some caution is required in using the crook, 

 for should the sheen give a sudden start forward to get away, the mo- 

 ment it feels the crook the leg will be drawn forcibly through the narrow 

 part, and strike the bone wiih such violence agninst the bend of the loop 

 as to cause the animal considerable pain, and even occasion lameness for 

 some days. On first embracing the leg, the crook should be drawn 

 quickly tovvm-d you, so as to bring the bend of the loop against the leg as 

 high up as the hock, before the sheep has time even to break oft', and be- 

 ing secure, its straggles will cease the moment your hand seizes the leg." 



No flock-master should be without this implement, as it 

 saves a vast deal of yarding, running, &c., and leads to 

 a prompt examination of every improper or suspicious ap- 

 pearance, and a timely application of remedy or preven- 

 tive — which would often be deferred if the whole flock had 

 to be driven to a distant yard, to enable the shepherd to 

 catch a particular sheep. 



Dexterity in the use of the crook is speedily acquired by any one ; and 

 if a flock are properly tame, any one of its number can be readily caught 

 by it, at salting-time — or, generally, at other times, by a person with whom 

 the flock are familiar. But it is at the lambing-time, when sheep and lambs 

 require to be so repeatedly caught, that the crook is more particularly ser- 

 viceable. For this purpose, at this time alone, it will pay for itself ten 

 times over in a single season, in saving time, to say nothing of the advan- 

 tage of the sheep. 



SHEPHERD S 

 CKOOK. 



Summering Manure. — Notwithstanding all that has been said and written showing that 

 fresh maniu-e immediately applied to the land, or such as is presen'ed in tanks or under 

 cover, or by a mixture with straw or eaith, is at least four times the value of that left in the 

 barn-yard all summer exposed to sun ayd rain, wasting its richness in the air and drenching 

 its fertilizing salts away ; yet many fanners still believe, or act upon the principle of behef 

 that manure is lilie cider, growing better with age ; and thus their dung is safely kept in 

 the yard till August or September, a great nuisance to all around, and a sad loss to the grow- 

 ing crops. We are well awai-e that rotted maimre is considered indispensable for certain 

 crops, and therefore may say they prefer to sustain the loss of its rotting to the inconvenience 

 of usin" it in an unfei-mentcd state. Let thtjse who thus think consider that when manure 

 has become i-otted it is then mere humus or vegetable matter, such as decomposed leaves of 

 trees, sti-aw, hay, coni-stalks, muck, tmf, peat, road and ditch scrapings, which may be had 

 on every fami to answer the Fame purpose as rotted manure. How many farmers let all 

 these substances go to waste, thus subjecting themselves to a double loss — a depreciation in 

 the value of their manixre, and a neglect of the vegetable matters on theii- premises and 

 around them. 



Chloride of Soda. — Chloride of soda is said, in the London Lancet, a medical work, to be 

 an effectual cure for a burn. It is stated in tliat journal, as an example, that an attorney, in at- 

 tem"tinf? to put out llie flames that had attacked die curtains of liis bed, got Ids hands burned 

 and 'blistered, but not broken. He scut for a couple of quarts of the loUon, fourouuces of the solu- 

 tion to a pint of water, had it poured into soup-plates, wrapped bis bauds in lint, as no skin was 

 broken, and so kept them for some lime. Next morning be was so perfectly -well that only one 

 email patch of burn remained, yet an hour bad elapsed before the application. It is added that 

 the same remedy is sufiRcieut to" heal scalds and black eye. 

 (660) 



