THE GENESEE FARMER. 



205 



SHEEP IN ATJSTKALIA. 



A gentleman recently from Australia informs ns 

 that the number of sheep in that country in 1854 

 exceeded twenty millions. Nearly all of them are 

 of the fine-wooled breeds. Among them may be 

 found many flocks remarkable for the fineness of 

 fleece and purity of blood. The average yield of 

 clean washed wool is two pounds per head, but 

 some flocks yield more. Their numbers multiply 

 very rapidly, a flock of breeding ewes nearly 

 doubling every year; and at one time they in- 

 creased so that the supply exceeded the demand, 

 and good sheep were sold, after shearing, at 25 

 cents per head. Of late years, the scab has made 

 its appearance among them, and destroyed great 

 numbers. The advent of the mining population 

 has also largely increased the consumption of mut- 

 ton; so that in 1856 sheep fit for the butcher 

 readily brought $4 per head. 



Sheep farming in Australia is quite a pastoral 

 occupation. Grass grows abundantly throughout 

 the year, and the sheep require no shelter during 

 the mild winter. A shepherd, accompanied by 

 three or four well-trained dogs, looks after every 

 5000 sheep, and follows them in there wanderings, 

 folding them at night. He generally, however, 

 leaves his dogs to watch the flock and keep them 

 together while he snores away, fast asleep, under 

 , the shade of some tree, the dogs taking care to 

 keep the sheep from wandering too far away from 

 him. Australia may be called the paradise of 



sheep farmers. 



■ I fc 



Dkillixg Wheat. — A correspondent says that 

 drilling wheat renders it less liable to be winter- 

 killed, as the plants have a more certain foothold 

 in the soil, and the ridges left by the drill between 

 the rows of wheat will be gradually crumbled 

 down by the frost, and thus keep the plants from 

 being heaved out. He says, on rolling land the 

 drills should be run up and down the grades, to 

 carry oft" the water. 



Cabbages for Miloh Cows. — We would advise 

 onr readers to raise more cabbages for feeding 

 milch cows late in the fall. We raised 700 on a 

 small patch adjoining the barn-yard. They were 

 the Flat ButcJi, planted four feet apart, in the lat- 

 ter end of July, and averaged 20 lbs. per head. 

 One of them was a good feed for a milch cow at 

 night, and kept up their milk wonderfully. 



Plaster on Clover. — As a general rule, plaster 

 should not be applied to clover grown for seed. It 

 causes too great a growth of stems and leaves, 

 makes it late, and the heads do not fill well. 



ADVICE TO FABMERS. 



Me. Jacob Strawn, of Illinois, has earned tke 

 reputation of being the "giant farmer of the West." 

 Twenty-seven years ago he settled in Illinois, a 

 poor man. His operations were small at first, but 

 continued to increase each year, until he had re- 

 duced over 30,000 acres of land to a state of culti- 

 vation. He has one farm of 7,800 acres, and an- 

 other of 10,000. He has usually employed some 

 200 to 300 men, and a large number of horses. 

 Every year, until quite recently, he stalled from 

 5,000 to 6,000 cattle, and kept other live stock in 

 proportionate numbers. In this twenty-seven years 

 he has made a fortune of a million of dollars, arid 

 is still hale and hearty to enjoy it. He has one 

 corn field, in Morgan county, some six miles long. 

 Lately he has not been farming so much, having 

 converted some of his real estate into cash. He 

 writes the following items of advice to farmers, in 

 the Chicago Press : 



" When you wake up, do not roll over, but roll 

 out. It will give you time to ditch all your sloughs, 

 break them up, harrow them, and sow them with 

 timothy and red clover. One bushel of clover to 

 ten bushels timothy is sufficient. 



"Make your fence high, tight, and strong, so 

 that it will keep cattle and pigs out. If you have 

 brush, make your lots secure, and keep your hog* 

 from the cattle ; for if the corn is clean, they wU 

 eat it better than if it is not. 



"Be sure to get j'our hands to bed by 7 o'clock 

 They will rise early by the force of circumstances. 



"Pay a hand — if he is a poor hand — all yoo 

 promise him. If he is a good hand, pay him a 

 little more ; it will encourage him to do still better. 



"Always feed your hands as well as you do 

 yourself; for the laboring men are the bone and 

 sinew of the world, and ought to be well treated. 



" I am satisfied that getting up early, industry, 

 and regular habits, are the best medicines ever 

 prescribed for health. 



" When it comes rainy, bad weather, sO' that yon 

 can not work out of doors, cut and split your wood. 

 Make your tracks when it rains hard, cleaning your 

 stables or fixing something which you would have 

 to stop the plow for and fix in good weather. 

 Make your tracks fixing your fence, or a gate that 

 is off the hinges, or weather- boarding your barn 

 where the wind has blown off the siding, or patch- 

 ing the roof of your house or barn. 



"Study your interest closely, and don't spend 

 any time in electing Presidents, Senators, or other 

 small oflBcers ; or talk of hard times while spending 

 your time in town, whittling away on store boxes, 

 &c. Take your time, and make your calculations. 

 Don't do things in a hurry, but do them at the 

 right time ; and keep your mind as well as your 

 body employed." 



^ *-m^' — — — ■ 



The editor of the iVew England Farmer sayt* 

 two acres of his land, which he underdrained, "Las 

 been affected about as much as though the seasoii 

 bad been lengthened, three weeks." 



