THE GENESEE FARMER. 



23 



THOUGHTS FOE THE THOUGHTFUL, 



From various Sources. 



Most of the diseases of sheep are the conse- 

 quence of debility. 



Lambs should be separated from old sheep. Old 

 and feeble sheep, separated from the rugged. 



Sheep, as well as other animals, should have 

 access to fresh water, when fed on dry food, in 

 winter. 



Faemees who find it necessary to reduce their 

 flocks, should be very particular in selecting those 

 that they keep, and let none but the poorest go 

 from their farms. 



Sheep in Winter should have fresh air, shelter 

 from cold winds, a little exercise, occasional change 

 of quarters, dry^ clean lodging, and nutritious food. 

 A close, damp, low yard is their abomination. 



A CEOss between the South-Down and the Me- 

 rino makes a very useful and profitable sheep. 

 The wool will sell for nearly as much as the Me- 

 rino, and the lambs will bring more for the butcher. 



Sf'jiep are perhaps the most profitable stock on 

 suitable land, and with good management ; but on 

 unsuitable soil and ill-management, they are the 

 least desirable of form stock. " What the man is 

 w^orth the land is worth." What the shepherd is 

 worth the sheep are worth. 



All animals should, if possible, be housed, or 

 provided with shelter. Cattle require much less 

 food when stabled, than when allowed to run at 

 large, as they waste little or none, and comfort is 

 essential to their thrift. More manure is 'also se- 

 cured, an object of great consequence to every 

 farmer that understands his true interests. Sheep, 

 if housed, must not be crowded into close stables 

 or houses, as disease is apt to be the result ; and 

 all animals require to have their stables well ven- 

 tilated to prevent the effects of bad air. Horses 

 are better fed from mangers than racks, and sheep 

 should never have their food so that they draw it 

 from above, as the grass seeds and chafif fall upon 

 and fill their wool, injuring it materially. 



It must never be forgotten by the farmer that 

 there are works of charity and kindness, that more 

 frequently press their claims upon liini during the 

 winter, than at any other time. While his happy 

 family is clustered around the cheerful hearth ; 

 while his table is loaded with the bounties which a 

 kind providence, personal industry, and a fruitful 

 soil have given him ; while his wood-house is filled, 

 his granaries overflowing, and every reasonable 

 want supplied ; he must not forget there are other 

 less favored individuals or families around ; children 

 destitute of fire and wood; widows and orphans 

 distressed and destitute, all requiring care, and not 

 to be forsaken while the frosts of winter are upon 

 the earth. For the poor there must be employ- 

 ment; for the destitute there must be a supply; 

 and the honest -and industrious, or the unfortimate 

 poor, have claims on the more fortunate, that may 

 not be disregarded. Well directed charity is one 

 of the few acts of life in which both the giver and 

 the receiver are blessed; let no one then forget 

 the poor. 



Eveet drop of milk thould be drained from the 

 udder at each milking, for two reasi>ns, that the 

 last pint taken from the cow will make more but- 

 ter than the first quart, and that the cows will 

 afterwards fail to give just as much milk as is left 

 in the udder. 



HoESES should always have plenty of litter in 

 their stables ; it answers a double purpose ; first 

 by absorbing and retaining the salts of the urine 

 that fall upon it in a considerable degree, *and thus 

 rendering the manure more valuable ; and secondly, 

 by preventing in part that liability to swell, to 

 which the feet and legs of a horse are subjected 

 when standing on a hard or plank floor. 



Negligence and inattention is as inexcusable in 

 the winter as in the summer; and frequently is 

 productive of worse effects. How often do we see 

 farmers suflfer such losses in their flocks and herds 

 froiYi sheer inattention or idleness in the winter, 

 that a year of hard labor and privation will hardly 

 place them in their first position. If cattle and 

 horses were looked to as they should be, or if sheep 

 and swine were not left to get their living by hook 

 or by crook, we should not see so many walking 

 skeletons harnessed or yoked to the plow in the 

 spring, or so many carcases around the fields and 

 roads inviting the crows to their feast. The pru- 

 dent, careful farmer will consider the winter as the 

 trying time for his stock, and by shelter, and sulfi- 

 cient food, avert its rigor, and prevent its conse- 

 quences as far as possible. 



Land and labor are the principal sources of pub- 

 lic and private wealth. The more fertility we can 

 impart to the one, and the more intelligence we 

 can infuse into the other, the greater will be the 

 returns they make, and the greater our means of 

 happiness; for it is wealth, riglitly employed, that 

 enables us to multiply not only our own, but the 

 comforts and happiness of those around us. Yet 

 it is not a few very rich men, or very wise men, 

 be the aggregate of wealth and talent ever so great, 

 tliat give prosperity and greatness to a State. It 

 is the general diffusion, among a whole people, 

 among the rank and file of society, of property 

 and knowledge, and the industry, enterprise and 

 independence which they beget, that renders a 

 State truly respectable and great. 



Ceanbeeey Culture. — In reply to the inquiry 

 of S. R. S., in the November number of the Farmer^ 

 I would say, where there is a sod, pare it ott' to a 

 sufficient depth to remove all grass roots ; set the 

 vines, and keep them clean for two or three years ; 

 after which they will take care of themselves. 



Low swampy lands are best adapted to the cran- 

 berry. Nature teaches this, as you seldom, if ever, 

 see them growing on dry land. It should be suffi- 

 ciently moist to keep the roots well saturated. 



I consider the months of May and June the proper 

 time for setting. They should be set in drills from 

 eighteen to twenty inches apart; all long vines 

 covered every six or eight inches. Wild vines, if 

 they produce well, and the fruit of a good quality, 

 will answer every purpose. I have been east this 

 fall, and saw large meadows which have been trans- 

 planted, which are doing well and bearing large 

 quantities of fruit, I find it profitable to grow- 

 er anberries. — N. Hill, Caton, Steuben Co., N. Y. 



