782 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 



December 8 



Tti6 Domestic SHeeD--' 



lis Culture and General Management. 



BY Henry StewVart. 

 AN UP-TO-DATE BOOK ON SHEEP. 



Thb Most Scientific, Practical and Useful Book ever published on this sublect. Endorsed by th. 



World's highest Authorities. Press and Sheep Public everuwhere. It contains 372 pages 



ot "boiled down" knowledqe and \6^ plates illustrating the recognized breeds 



and everij department of sheep life. Price $1.50, post paid. 



Hon. James Wilson, Secretary of Agriculture, says : 



"I do not know that we have UQVtliiii^ on sheep as tjond. This hni)k should lie* in the liands of every 

 sheep man in the country. The more I look tlirouj^h it the more I Jiin pleased with it. I shall certainly re- 

 comiiieud it to eon-eapondenta of the United States Agricultural Department asking for works on sheep feed- 

 ing, sheep-breeding, ete." 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



(•IIAPTHR I. 



The Natural History of the Sheep. Antiquity of the Sheep Husbandry— Lessons to be Learned from AneienlShep 

 herds— The Aniitomy ut ihe Sheep: ha Mouth and Teeth ; Its Stomach; Its Intestines and their functions. 

 Pages 7-21. 



CHAPTER II. 



'The Varieties and Breeds of Sheep. The American Meriuo — Points of Escellence in a Merino — Sub Breeds of the 

 Merino ; The Dickinson, The Standard Uelaine, The National Delaine. The Improved Delaine, Tlie Black Top, 

 The Improved Black Top— The Saxony Meriuo— The Rambouillet Merino- The French Breeds— The British 

 •ftreeds— Short- wuiiia; Tlie Southdown, Shropshire, Hampshire, Suffolk, Oxford. Dorset. Long wools': Tlie Lin- 

 coln, ('otswold, Lpicpster, Ronuipy Marsh and Wenslevdale. Mountain Breeds: The Cheviot, The Biaek-Faced 

 Highland, Welsh— Other Varieties of Sheep: The Tunis, ete. Pages 22-102. 



CHAPTRU in. 



■The Science and Art of Breeding. Breedins an Art Based on Sirictly Scientific Principles— What is a Breed?— 

 Breedine by Aneient Shepherds— Heredity a Special Function— Selection a Special Feature — Climatic Intiuences— 

 Cross Breetling — Influence of Soil on Health ut Sheep. Pages i03-i26. 



CHAPTER IV. 



The Science ajtd Art of Feeding. Feedingtbs Most Important Part of Agriculture— Character of Food and Composi- 

 tion of Animal — Tlie Nutritive Ratio — Feeding for Lambs — Table Nutritive Value of Food«— Rules for Winter 

 Feeding — Feeding ('rops for Shefp — Feedin-r Roots — Kneilage — Filling the Silo— Feeding LambN — Feeding Lam hs 

 in a <'orn Field — Rearing House Lambs — Feeding Crass Lambs — Kxperiments in Fet^dine Lambs, and Pnhsihle 

 Gain m a Year's Orowth— Winter Feeding for Wool— Scientific Experiments in Feeding Lambs for Market, 

 Pages 127-200. 



CHAPTER V. ■ 



Bams and Stables. Best Arrangement of Buildings— Octagonal, Square and Round Barns— Shed for Soiling Sheep 



with Floor Plan— Handling Sheep— A Texas V'atch Pen for Sorting and Dipping A Manitoba Sheep House— 



J. E. Wing's Barn— Mr. Vestal's Barn— Shepherd Dogs. Pages 201-225. 



CHAPTER VI. 



Wool: lis History, Uses, Etc. On the Diflerence in Wools-Wool Growing a Science— The Nature of Wool— Cross 

 Breeding for Wool — The Culture of Wool— Unifoimity in Wool— Washing Sheej)- Slipej) Dips and Hipping 

 Shearing; By Machine and Hand — Sorting Wool — Pulled Wool — Care of the Sheared Sheep. Pages 226-291. 



CHAPTER VII. 



Minor British Breeds of Sheep The Herdwick- The Ryeland— The New Ryeland— The Lonk^The Roscommon— 

 The Radnor- The Sheep of North Wales— The Exiiioor— The Limestone or Crag Sheep— The Devon Long- Wool 

 -The Dartmoor— The Glamorganshire Sheep— The Clun Forest Sheep. Pages 292-3*^4. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



XHseases of Sheep : Prevention and TYeatment. Parturition of the Sheep: Ret^ention of the After-Birth Bleeding 

 from and Inversion of the Womb. Inflammation of the Vagina. Garget, Abortion— Internal Parasites: Tnmat 

 Thread Worms (Anemia}; Tape Worms (Tenia Marginata, Tenia Coenurun,TeniaFimbriala. Tenia ExpauMif 

 Stomach Round Worms' (Strongylus Contortus); Intestinal Roundworms; Nodular Disease of ihe lutesUui-a 

 (Eaopbagostoma Colnmbianum); Fluke Disease; The Sheep But-Fly (Estrua Ovis)—Albuminaria— Anthrax— 

 Anasarca - Bronchitis- Carbuncular Erysipelas -Catarrh — Colic— Diarrhea— Foot Rot--Impactinn of the sinm- 

 aeh— Inflammation of the Brain— Imflammation of the Spinal Cord (Myeletis)— Pleurisy— Imflammatiim ot the 

 Udder (Mamrailii? -Imflammation of the Lungs (Pneumonia)— Imtlammarion of the Ski'n (H^rjies)— Partnririon 

 Fever in Kwes—Poisoninsr— Porcupine Grass- -Red Wh1er--Kedness of the Eyes— Small Pnx of Sheep— Re'ent Inn 

 of the Dung in Lambs -Inflammation and Castration of Testicle. — External Parasities; The Scab, the Maugott. 

 The Louse, The Tick. Pages 31)5-368. A Most Valuable Chapter giviug the Prominent Symptoms of Common 

 Diseases and a List of Remedies and uses Especially for Sheep. Pages 366-370. Plan of Sheep Bum, Yards and 

 Shed, adapted to the South. Canadian Sheep Fold, Pages 370 371. 



Our Offers nn the Above Great Sheep Book! ?eTflnl%aper.pos%^Ii°$L5°o° 



or with the Bee Journal for one year— both for $'2. 20; or we will mail a copy of the book as a 

 premium for sending us Foiir New Subscribers to the Bee Journal for 18ri9 i at 81.00 eachi, 

 and will throw in the last three months' copies of this year free to the new subscribers. Now 

 surely one of the lore^roing offers you will accept if you are at all interested in sheep-raising. 



Address. GEORGE W. VORK & CO., 118 Micbieau Street, CHICAGO, ILL. 



horizontally, from which grow the shoots, 

 which in time make regular stumps, from 

 which year after year the long stalks grow. 

 The root adds one ring every year, just like 

 a tree. The root also starts to decay in the 

 center first. 



The willowherb commences blooming in 

 July; new buds form continually, while 

 the blossoms give way to seed-pods, till a 

 killing frost comes. 



I know it grows on the same place for at 

 least 13 years, and perhaps forever, if it is 

 not choked out by other plants, like young 

 trees. It tries its best to grow higher than 

 other plants, as it needs sunshine. I meas- 

 ured one stalk 1.3 feet high . The evergreen 

 trees, spruce and hemlock, will in length 

 of time, aided by their shade, overtop and 

 kill the fireweed. 



To make the seed grow is as hard as to 

 make the seed of sweet clover grow, but 

 the root will grow with me every time. 



The nectar gathered from that plant is 

 thin, but quickly ripens in the hive to a 

 good body. It is the mildest honey I know 

 of; is clear white, not a shade of color if 

 pure and very sweet. 



I have kept bees for the last six years, 

 and secured boney from the fireweed every 

 year, ISltT excepted. Herman Ahlers. 



Clatsop Co., Greg., Nov. 14. 



[The roots which Mr. Ahlers sent us prove 

 his statements regarding the roots of the 

 ■willowherb or fireweed. No doubt there 



are many of our Michigan readers that 

 could give considerable information con- 

 cerning the rich nectar-yielding plant under 

 consideration. — Editor] . 



Honey as a Food. 



I had expected to have heard something 

 of an answer to the. question I raised last 

 spring, which was. To what particular ex- 

 tent can honey be called or clast as a food ? 

 I gave my belief, but my object was, and 

 is, to draw out the best authority to eluci- 

 date this point. I stated then that it honey 

 is to be considered or accepted a food it 

 could only belong to hydro-carbon ele- 

 ments, but while I had formulated the 

 question — Does honey or any saccharine 

 matter produce fat in the animal system ? 



Now I know there are some authorities 

 that hold to the positive, and I. as well as 

 many more, hold to the negative side. I 

 do not see why this question would not be 

 a suitable one to write on. and valuable to 

 everybody. While I admit honey is of very 

 great use to the consumer as a health pre- 

 server, it needs no change by way of diges- 

 tion, but enters the circulation and under- 

 goes a fermentive process resolving itself 

 into lactic acid and water, and while this 

 process is going on. heat is evolved, which 

 is of course the great boon involved. 



I was much interested in the account 

 given of the Omaha meeting, on page 6lil, 



on the food value of honey, as per Mr. 

 Wbitcomb, as he says, " I think we entirely 

 underrate the food value of honey," etc. I 

 consider he is beside himself when he says 

 that one pound ot honey is of more value 

 as nutriment than two pounds of pork. Of 

 course, pork— that is. fat pork — is only for 

 the same purpose, to produce heat, but not 

 direct, but is stored up in the animal tis- 

 sues as fat to be used when needed as a fuel, 

 while honey is made available direct, and 

 does not require the exhaustive powers of 

 nature to change it somewhat and assimi- 

 late it. Honey is, therefore, ot greater 

 value as a heat-producer, because the pro- 

 cess is accomplisht with much less effort 

 and taxation of the animal strength, but I 

 would not go so far as to hold with Mr. W. 

 that one pound ot honey is more than equal 

 to two pounds ot pork. 



But let that be as it may, I am surprised 

 at Dr. Miller, that he didn't tell us more on 

 the line I have pointed ont. I would feel 

 greatly obliged if he will write out a chap- 

 ter and enlighten us ; there is no doubt 

 he can do it, and I am going to take the 

 liberty to say that there shall be no peace 

 till he redeems this pledge, and many will 

 vote him all the thanks he could pos- 

 sibly ask. 



1 trust that we have not heard all of this, 

 or the last ot it, but will get the real gist of 

 the matter as soon as possible. 



C. WCRSTER. 



Ontario, Canada, Oct. 26. 



Not a Big Crop. 



Bees are in good winter quarters on the 

 summer stands, with plenty ot bees and 

 plenty ot ripe stores. My honey crop was 

 l.SOO pounds ot comb and extracted from 41 

 colonies, spring count. This is not a big 

 crop, but it is ripe and of good flavor. 



My Alsike clover seed crop is 34 bushels 

 and IS pounds, from !5t; pounds ot seed 

 sowed. There was the most honey from 

 Alsike this year. C. G. Mattson. 



Chisago Co., Minn., Nov. 2'j. 



Frame-Spacing; Perforated Separators 



I wish to thank Mr. A. P. Raymond for 

 his splendid suggestion for spacing frames, 

 found on page 73S. The " wire nail, and V 

 groove in the rabbet." beat staple spacing, 

 or any other, of which I have any knowl- 

 edge. It disposes of the objection to staples 

 when uncapping, and, also, obviates the 

 danger of marring the comb while lifting 

 the frame from the hive. 



I also wish to thank Mr. Pettit for the 

 idea ot ''.j-inch holes through the separators 

 in the production ot comb honey. I exper- 

 imented the last season with over 100 sepa- 

 rators thus perforated, using them on the 

 standard " bee- way " sections, and finer, 

 truer comb I never saw, and without a 

 single exception. They are good enough 

 tor me. Wm. M. 'Whitnet. 



Kankakee Co., III. 



Nuts for Dr. Miller to Crack. 



As it seems there is an expert "nut- 

 cracker " in the bee-fraternity, I wish to 

 send a kernel or two tor his hammer. 



I had a queen-cell I was watching and 

 waiting for, as it was in a hive ot tine bees. 

 I waited till the time for her to emerge had 

 past some days, and she had not yet put in 

 appearance. I opened the end of the cell 

 and found a fully-matured queen, but dead, 

 and some shrunken. I pulled her out. and 

 hanging to her came another complete bee, 

 but very small, like a dwarf. 



At first I was somewhat entranced, and 

 more surprised than I can tell ; and wonder 

 was greatly enhanced, to find two queens 

 within one cell. But on closer inspection I 

 found it did not look like a queen at all; 

 the wings were as long as the body; just 

 like a worker on a small scale. 



Later, in a nucleus hive I had a frame 

 with three nice queen-cells. I placed a 

 wire-cloth cover over two to protect them 

 from the first queen out; the oldest one, 

 too, emerged all right. I took them out 



