252 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



PEBUtlART IS, 1S35. 



SHBEiP UV II.L,INOIS. 



T. G. Febsf.nden, Esq. 



Dear Sir, — The I'ollowing letter of Mr Flow- 

 er to the Editor of thg I!liMoi^^ Advocate is of 

 great practical value to the farmers of the West, 

 and many of his suggpstions are applicable to the 

 management of sheep in other parts of the country. 



The name of Flower is familiar to some of 

 your readers, as associated wilh IMr Birklicck in 

 the early settlement of Illinois, and his remarks 

 are entitled to confidence. I should, however, he 

 inclined to (jualify his opinion of the Com])arative 

 .idvantage in the culture of wool over that of beef, 

 pork, and grain. In Illinois it is no less the fact, 

 than in every other agricultural district of the 

 United States, that the interest of the farmer is 

 more certainly promoted by an attention to a va- 

 riety of ))roducts, which will in turn engage his 

 time through the year, than by an exclusive at- 

 tention to any one object ; — to say nothing of the 

 increased satisfaction that attends a reasonable di- 

 versity of employment. ,1 would scarcely allow 

 an exception from this rule, iu the case of the 

 Southern plantej-s, where the comfort of those 

 who perform the lahor is not a primary object ; — 

 since the impoverished and deserted condition 

 of many extensive districts is a satisfactory evi- 

 dence that no soil can sustain a culture of the 

 same unvarying crop without exhaustion. 



Mr Flower's settlement is in the southwest 

 part of fllinnis, and is perhaps less favorably situ- 

 ated for a market, than the fine districts which lie 

 upon the Mississippi and Illinois rivers. At Van- 

 dalia, Alton, and St Loui.'?, the price of corn is 

 from twenty to twentyfive cents a bushel, wheat 

 forty to fifty cents, beef and ))ork three dollars a 

 hundred. The farmers in tliat vicinity, are all 

 remarkably thrifty, without raising one poimd 

 of wool beyond the consumption of their own 

 families. 



I suggest these facts, not to detract from the 

 merit or the importance of Mr Flower's judicious 

 and praise-worthy enterprise as a wool-grower, 

 but to guard against the erroneous impression 

 which his statement is calculated to give, that this 

 is the only object or the most important one which 

 can engage a farmer's attention in Illinois. 



To show the advautage that Illinois yiosse.sses 

 ;is a grazing country, it is sufiicieiit to state that 

 not less than three fourths of its surface consists 

 of upland )nairie, which is generally dry and im- 

 dulathig. Cattle begin to feed upon them in 

 March and April, and the herbage continues fresh 

 through the severest drought until the hard au- 

 tumnal frosL'i coninieuce. The prairie grass 

 cut and cured on the last of September, and 

 sometimes as late a.s the middle of October, will 

 make good hay, although the earlier cut grass is 

 decidedly prcfera))le. With these advantages it 

 will readily be seen that beef can be better afford- 

 ed there at three cents a pound, than in ^few 

 Englan<l at three tinjes three. The .same advan- 

 tage holds good with regard to the raising of shcej). 



W. 



To the Farmers of the State of Illinois, on th<- import- 

 ance and practicability of producing iine Wool from 

 the wild herbage of tlie uncultivated prairie. 

 The produce of Illinois cl-.iofly consists of 

 corn, pork, and beef. As thes:; articles are raised 

 by every fai-mer in the Suite, they are reduced to 

 the lov.Tst possible price ; at a price too low to 

 allow of luiy hired labor in their productions. 

 <'orn ill many parts of the State is worth only ten 



cents per bushel. Hogs and cattle are raised to 

 consume this corn, which in its original state will 

 not bear the cost of five miles land carriage. The 

 pork and beef when m.ide, is only worth two or 

 three cents per pound, and it costs this per pound 

 to convey them to New Orleans ! Thus a farmer 

 must give one half of his manufactured produce 

 (for beef and pork are manufactured from corn) to 

 carry the other half to market I It is time then 

 to .seek out some other article of produce of more 

 value, into which to turn our grass and corn ; — 

 that article is found in fine wool. Fine wool, 

 washed on the sheep's back rates at about fifty 

 cents per poimd in the western markets of Louis- 

 ville and Cincinnati. The markets of France, 

 England, and the eastern States, are open to us 

 for Wool, and three or foiu" cents per pound will 

 carry it to either of these places. To those who 

 may tloubt if our rich soil, coarse herbage and 

 warm summers, will allow of the production of 

 fine wool, I will give the result of my experi- 

 ence, after close observation, upon a flock of four 

 hundred sheep, bred and tended by me in this 

 State, and upon this farm for seventeen years, I 

 am now enabled to present to the citizens of Illi- 

 nois, a nativebreed of fine wooled sheep, sound in 

 constitution, compact in form, and clothed with 

 wool as fine as any produced by Spain or Saxony. 

 These valuable animals graze in the prairie in the 

 Spring, Summer, and Autumn, and are fed with 

 hay, and a small portion of corn in the winter. 

 They endure the heats of summer far better than 

 any, of the coarse wooled breed. The numerous 

 advantages to persons wishing to breed fine wooled 

 Sheep, from having a flock to resort to like this, 

 within the State, can be suflicientlj' appreciated 

 only by those who have, like myself experienced 

 the weary toil and heavy expense of importing a 

 breed of animals so tender as sheep, from foreign 

 countries, and naturalizing them to the food, soil, 

 and clhnate of this State. 



I will now offer a few observations upon the 

 management of a flock by a Farmer yet unpro- 

 vided with some meadow and pa;^ture. I cannot 

 consent that our citizens should wait until they 

 have provided themselves with some grass, before 

 they begin to establish their flocks, when there is 

 more prairie grass burned and more corn sold at 

 ten cents per bushel than would yield an annual 

 revenue to the State of twenty millions of dol- 

 lars, if turned into sheep and wool. I,et a farmer 

 prOcm-e from fifty to two hundred ewes of any 

 breed in the best and cheepest way he can, then 

 put them to a fine wooled Ram, which will almost 

 double the quantity of wool the first cross. The 

 Ram should be put to the ewes in the last week 

 in October, and taken out before the first of Jan- 

 uary. The flock should be taken into the jirairic 

 by the first dawn of day, and there watched by a 

 lad until sunset. It will he well to buwi a piece of 

 prairie late, in order to jirocure green pasture, till 

 frost sets in. Shelter is necessary for sheep. A 

 shed twelve or fifteen feet wide and high enough 

 to walk imder, without stooping, is the best build- 

 ing for the purpose. This should be closed at the 

 back and ends, and left open to the South. The 

 lot in front of the shed should be an acre or more, 

 surrounded by a wolf or dog proof fence. A 

 rack should run down the back of the shed, and 

 a trougii should be placed under the racks to 

 receive the shelled com. Observe when the 

 sheep are feeding, if they can all get at the troughs 

 and racks at once — if they cannot, the weak 



sheep will be starved during the winter. The 

 hay rack-'^ should, for convenience of foddering, 

 be built a sclose as possible to the front of the shed. 

 A ton of hay should be saved for every ttn sheep, 

 and a half ])int of corn per day, should be allowed 

 to each sheep — if the corn is cracked, so much 

 the better. Sheaf oats cut rather green, will an- 

 swer the purpose of both hay and corn. When 

 grass pastures are reserved for fall and winter 

 food, but little hay or corn will be wanted. Until 

 then, the sheep must be fed with corn early in the 

 autumn, so as not to let them sink in condition as 

 winter comes in. 



The young sheep — land)s of the previous 

 spring, should be separated from the flock in the 

 FALL, and kept by themselves all the winter. 

 Care shoidd be taken that the ram does not get to 

 them till the following autumn, when they will 

 compose part of the ewe flock ; want of attention 

 in this particular, has ruined many flocks. Be 

 careful not to let the flock graze in the spring of 

 the year, in those ])arts of the prairie that have 

 been overflowed, whence green grass shoots first — 

 it will give them the rot. Take care not to drive 

 the sheej) fast, to and from pasture ; a flock driven 

 fast (that is, faster than their natural slow pace,) 

 will get poor even upon pasture — when a slowly 

 driven flock will get fat. The flock should not be 

 shorn before the last of May or the first of June, 

 and a week before shearing, the sheep should be 

 washed. Persons desirous of improving their 

 flocks, may obtain from the subscriber a single 

 Ram tor twentyfive dollars — if two or more are 

 taken by the same purchaser, twenty dollars 

 each ; and a few choice ewes for seven dollars 

 each. GEORGE FLOWER, 



JVcar Albion, Edwards county, Illinois. 



RAISING IRISH POTATOES. 



Perhaps it is not generally known, that the 

 Irish potato has within itself two distinct quali- 

 ties of vegetation. Yet such, we are informed, 

 by an experienced grower of them on the banks 

 of the Ohio River, is the fact. 



It will be remembered by every individual in 

 the habit of raising the Irish potato, that there is 

 great inequality in the time of their coming up, 

 Such as come np first, will have attained the 

 height of several inches, when others are just 

 peeping out of the ground. That in digging 

 early potatoes, some vines will have large pota- 

 toes, and others small ; yet all were planted on 

 the same day. This difference in the coming up 

 and growth of the potato, is produced by the 

 distinct germinating quality to be found in each. 



To ascertain the truth of our theory, we will i 

 direct how the proof can be made. On looking' 

 at a potato, it will be found that at one end is a 

 stem like that of an apple, which is where it 

 was attached to the fibrous root of the vine. The 

 opposite end will be found to be studded with 

 eyes. Ciit your potatoes in the middle between 

 these ends, and then cut each end into as many 

 pieces as you have eyes, or to the usual size you 

 are in the habit of cutting potatoes for planting; 

 leaving at least one eye to each jviece. lie careful 

 that you keep the cuttings of each separate. Plant 

 Ihem in .separate rows or drills. It will be found 

 that the |)lanting from the end where the eyes- 

 are, will come up and be fit for use at least ten 

 days before planting from the stem, although all 

 are put in tlie ground on the same day. 



This is an experiment easily tried. Wo have' 



