THE GENESEE FARMER. 



139 



■heat in flower, thougli it is said the honey is not 

 3 good as from clover, &c. 

 There are several varieties of buckwheat, but the 

 ne commonly cultivated {Polygonum fagopyrum) 

 ( probably the best. We annex a cut of the plant 

 3 flower. 



BUCKWHEAT. 



We throw out these hasty remarks this month 

 in order to elicit the experience of our correspond- 

 ents in time for the June number. Let us hear 

 from you early. 



— ■ m 



Sowing Oats avituout Plowing. — Mr. S. E. 

 McCoNSKix, of Chester county, Pa., writes us that 

 he has practiced sowing oats on corn ground 

 without plowing, and finds the practice very ad- 

 vantageous. The oats can be sown earlier in the 

 spring tlian if you have to wait till the ground 

 is in proper condition to plow. Last year, when 

 die oat crop in his section was nearly a total 

 .ailure, he had fifty bushels per acre from oats 

 sown early on unplowed land, and merely culti- 

 rated in and then rolled. 



DOES IT FAY TO W ASH SHEEP? 



A WRiTEE in the list nuHiber of the Amerk^in 

 Stocl Journal thinks the practice of washing sheep 

 should be given up, for the following reasons : 



First, It is of no conceivable advantage to tho 

 sheep ; but, on the contrary, often proves exceed 

 ingly injurious. Severe colds and coughs almost 

 always break out in the flock immediately after 

 washing, and often lay the foundation of other and 

 more serious disorders. 



Second, Kothing is saved to the manufacturer by 

 \he washing; for washed and unwashed wools arc 

 alike subjected to the same cleansing process. 



Third, If sheep are washed, they must necessa- 

 rUy carry their fleece weU into hot weather, which 

 is very uncomfortable and unnatural. 



Fourth, Much wool is lost by being pulled out 

 by bushes and briars in the pastures, and by the 

 slivers of the fences. There is also considerable 

 loss from the legs and beUies of the sucking ewes. 

 He thinks, "from several years' experience in 

 shearing sheep early in an umoashed state," that it ^ 

 is conducive to their health. "The proper time- 

 for shearing," he says, " is before the sheep go to 

 grass in the spring. They should be weU sheltered 

 for some ten or fifteen days after the wool is taken 

 I off; after which time no storm will injure sheep 

 that are in good flesh. Every wool-grower should 

 have comfortable sheds for his sheep during the 

 winter ; and with them there is no danger in shear- 

 ing as early as the first of May in New England, 

 and much earlier in the South and West." 



This question is worthy of consideration. That 

 the health of sheep often suffers from careless wash- 

 ing, there can be no doubt. The sheep are some- 

 times driven three or four miles in a hot sun, and, 

 while prostrated by heat, are plunged into cold 

 water. Such a practice must be injurioi5S. On the 

 other hand, sheep can be washed without mjury to 

 their health. They should not be washed till the 

 water is warm enough to bathe in comfortably. 

 Then, if the sheep have not been hastily driven, 

 they will not suffer by the process. 



The principal reason for washing sheep is to re- 

 move impurities and reduce the wool to a more 

 general standard. True, it has to be washed over 

 a-^ain by the manufacturers; but if it was not 

 washed at all on the backs of the sheep, there 

 would be much less uniformity in regard to the 

 impurities than when washed. Flocks that had 

 been carelessly wintered would aftord dirtier wool 

 than those properly managed, and. the good flock- 

 .masters would suffer for the carelessness ot ..>-- 



