88 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



April 



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the same cost of keeping. It has been found that on 

 a wheat farm of 100 acres, 100 sheep may be kept 

 and quite as mucli vvlicat raised with, as without the 

 sheep. There is no manure equal to sheep manure 

 for the production of wlieat. It contains certain 

 properties that enters largely into the composition of 

 the starchy portions of the berry and contributes 

 greatly to the growtli of straw. VVheat raising and 

 wool growing should be united, and its results would 

 be seen in better yields of wheat and in ihe constantly 

 improving condition of the farm. Let no more land 

 be kept under tlie plow than can be suitably fertilized ; 

 and let it be remembered tliat sheep manure is more 

 valuable than all otht-r barn-yard manures for the 

 production of cereal grains. The character of soils 

 is constantly undergoing a change by cultivation, 

 and impoverishment is the certain result unless it is 

 averted by the skill of tlie husbandman. 



Largo tracts of land in V'irginia, that were once 

 fertile' and productive, and yielded 30, 60, and 100 

 fold under the hand of the cultivator, have long ago 

 been abandoned as barren and dissert wastes. Of 

 late years these tracts of land are being redeemed 

 from the dominion of tlie wolf and other wild beasts, 

 and being restored and made available by sheep. In 

 time these lands will again be productive. Many of 

 the lands in Western Vermont were, thirty years 

 since, becoming unproductive and barren, but their 

 conversion into sheep pastures has made them now- 

 more highly productive. We are of the opinion that 

 if the farmers in the grain growing districts would 

 plow and sow one-half the number of acres they now 

 do, and keep double the number of sheep, their products 

 would be greatly enhanced, and their farms in 1 years 

 would be worth a third more and capable of yielding 

 returns commensurate with the labor bestowed. 



One advantage of combining wool growing with 

 wheat raising is, that the farmer has a crop of wool 

 in the spring, which is converted into cash at a sea- 

 son when money is often scarce and obtained at high 

 rates ; and further, his wool crop never fails him, 

 while often his wheat crop is blasted. The same 

 land will yield a crop of wool and lambs every year, 

 whilo it takes two years to obtain a single crop of 

 wheat. These two great leading branches of indus- 

 trial pursuit should go hand in hand, there being a 

 mutual benefit resulting from each to the other, "it 

 is now the prevailing opinion of tlie best judges, that 

 the wool interest must necessarily form the great 

 leading business for the next five or ten years. 

 There is now an actual scarcity of wool throughout 

 the wool-growing districts of the whole world. Pre- 

 vious to the last clip, it was all worked up, and it is 

 believed that before the next clip many factories will 

 run on short time for want of stock. There is raised 

 in the United Slates, 75,000,000 lbs. of wool, and 

 annually consumed over 140,000,000 lbs— showing 

 that we raise only about one-half of what we demand 

 for home consumption. About three-fourths of thi- 

 amount is imported in manufactured goods, and the 

 balance in wool. We make these statements t > 

 show that there is little danger of over-duing the 

 business of wool-growing. So long as there are 

 26,000,000 of people in Great Britain that do not ov.n 

 one foot of God's creation, and are under such op- 

 pression that during the late famine there perished 

 over 1 10,000 in a country having a population of only 

 30,000,000, and yet according to their best authori- 

 tie<s it is capable of sustaining in high comfort a pop- 

 ulation of 180,000,000. The 39,000 landlords that 



own nearly the entire landed property of England 

 Ireland and Scotland, are, by their oppressions, fast 

 driving their half-clad and famished millions to 6ur 

 shores. These must be clothed and fed. 



Aside from the foreign emigration, judging from the 

 past, our population in 1875 will number 40,003,000, 

 and in 1900 it will count 80,000,000. It now takes 

 (allowing sheep to yield 3 lbs. per head) 50,000,000 

 nf sheep to supply our present demands, and at the 

 close of the present century, it would require the pro- 

 ducts of 200,000,000 sheep to clothe the inhabitants. 

 To return to our first position, we say take away no 

 more than you restore to your plow lands, and if you 

 do not care to purchase plaster, salt, guano, or other 

 fertilizers, then put on a flock of good sheep, which 

 are sure to enrich both your farms and your pockets. 

 S. B. RocKWKLL. — Coniivall, Ft., Feb., 1851. 



WIRE - WORMS. 



Messrs. Editors : — The writer under the signature 

 of S. R., Mendon, N. Y., states his experience, and 

 asks for some information in regard to the best method 

 of getting rid of the wire-worm. In reply to S. R., 

 I will state a case — my own experience — if you 

 deem it worth inserting in your valuable paper. 



Five years ago last fall, I turned six acres of 

 sward which had lain to meadow about eighteen 

 years. Said I to myself, as I rolled the sod over, " I 

 shall beat the nation in the corn business next year" 

 — the land was so rich — so nice. Well, I planted in 

 good season the next spring. When I hoed it the 

 first time, the corn looked fine ; but before we had 

 finished the second hoeing, one-half of the piece was 

 destroyed by the red-jackets. I tried some experi- 

 ments to kill them, but all proved useless. I then 

 plowed up the corn, and found that the ground was 

 full of worms. I raised nothing on the land that 

 year. I plowed it again in the fall ; plowed again 

 and planted in the spring, and cultivated the land 

 thoroughly. I had half a crop that season. I fol- 

 lowed the same course the next season, and the third 

 year the worms troubled but little. I have fall-plowed 

 every year since, and cropped it to barley, and the 

 worm has disappeared. My barley has yielded 35 

 bushels to the acre. The result of my experience 

 is this, (in more than one instance :) If you put 

 three hoed crops in succession on your land affected 

 with the wire-worm, and fall-plow it thoroughly, 

 you will use them up. He that is an unbeliever may 

 try it. Eliho Parry. — Fan Buren, JV. Y., 1851. 



Remedy for Roup in Fowls. — Messrs. Editors : 

 Having notirel a letter from R. H. Foster, in the 

 March number of the Farmer, asking you a few ques- 

 li.)ns lespecting a certain disease in poultry, with 

 whicK his neighbors' fowls have been troubled, I 

 tike the liberty of writing to you of the experience I 

 have had in the same disease, which I callei the 

 roup. Last fall I purchased a pair of fowls of one 

 of my r.eighbors, which showed symptoms of dis- 

 t a.-e, which were tlio same as Mr. Foster speaks of. 

 It soon went through my flock of twenty fowls, and 

 f)r sometime seemed incurable ; but asa last resort, 

 I mix(d wit 1 about four ounces of fresh butter, one 

 lable-spoonlul of finely pulverized sage, one of rue, 

 and one of soot, and gave each fowl a pill of this, 

 about the size of a cranbcirr)-, once a day lor three or 

 lour days ; and within two weeks ihoy had all recov- 

 ered. L. RooKRS. — If'illowvalef *V. I'., 1851. 



