The South Downs seem to rank next to the Me- 

 rino, as having the next finest fleece, as aftbrding 

 excellent mutton, and as possessing a hardiness of 

 constitution, and a vigor and activity, which ena- 

 ble them to support and to thrive upon bleak and 

 barren hills, where the Dishleys would die from ex- 

 posure or starve. 



" Sheep should not be kept too high," says the re- 

 port, " unless intended for the butcher ; for it is be- 

 lieved to be a true maxim in regard to them, 'once 

 fat and never fat again.' , If they once become fat 

 and are suffered to fall away, it is difficult getting 

 them so fat as they were before they began to grow 

 poor." p. 27. 



High rocky pastures are nvich the best for sheep. — 

 " Nature, it seems, designed the sheep originally 

 for a moi|intain animal ; and although man has by 

 art changed its nature in a surprising degree, yet 

 he has not been able wholly to thwart her views, 

 and the sheep loves still to feed on the hill top and 

 cliff, where there is a pure and exhilarating breeze, 

 and where it cap shelter itself under the shade of 

 trees, or a projecting rock, during the heat of our 

 sultry dog-days. A high pasture should therefore 

 be devoted to your sheep." 



Salt and tar shoidd be given to sheep. — " A piece 

 of salt may be laid in a trough, and the sheep will 

 lick it as they please, and if some tar be added to 

 the salt, it will be a benefit to them, as tar is a very 

 good stimulant when taken into the stomach, and 

 it prevents annoyance from the different species of 

 flies." We would recall to the recollection of the 

 reader, the mode of administering these as practis- 

 ed in Spencertown, and published in our second 

 volume. A log is hewn upon one side, which is 

 then turned uppermost. It is then perforated upon 

 the hewn side with holes made by a largo auger, 

 two or three inches fcep. The holes are then 

 filled with salt, and the hewn surface smeared with 

 tar. In obtaining the salt, which the sheep are 

 permitted to do as often as they desire, their noses 

 become daubed with tar, which prevents the fly 

 from entering the nostril. 



Shelter during stormy weather, at all seasons, is 

 considered indispensable to the health of the sheep, 

 particularly after they have been shorn. " So ten- 

 der and delicate is the skin of the fine wooled sheep, 

 and so close are their fleeces, that there is great 

 danger of pelt-rot being occasioned by too great 

 exposure to the chilling influence of long and cold 

 storms." 



Sheep should be hiovght to the barn in autumn in 

 good order. — " They are thus fitted to withstand 

 the rigors of winter much better, and they will be 

 carried through this inclement season with much 

 less care and more economically than they can be 

 if they are poor and emaciated when winter sets 

 in." This is true of all farm stock. 



Sheep require the stimulus of distention — they 

 should be filled with something that they will eat. 

 When fed upon green grass, a sheep consumes 

 eight pounds a day. If this grass is converted in- 

 to hay, it weighs but two pounds, and the two lbs. 

 constitutes its winter ration. To ensure health, 

 the six deficient pounds should be made up in wa- 

 ter, vegetables or other food. 



Pine or hemlock browse, are recommended to be 

 given to sheep in winter. "I have for near thirty 

 years," says the writer of a part of the report, 

 "mad" use of hemlock boughs as the cheapest 

 green food." It may be added, that the resinous 

 qualities of these boughs, promote the health of the 

 animal and prevent disease. 



Sheep shoidd not be turned to pastitre too early in 

 the spring — " for it takes their appetite from their 

 fodder, and as they cannot graze enough to fill 

 them, they lose flesh fast." 



Sheep should not be crowded in sheds nor huddled 

 together in one spot too long — " as that," says the 

 book, " I am confident has produced disease in my 

 flock. In one instance, I have no doubt the pelt- 

 rot was thus produced, and nothing saved the whole 

 flock from the scab but a timely application of oil 

 to the sheep." 



Open sheds are the best shelter for sheep If kept 



dry, the wind is desirable, though cold. It pre- 

 serves the purity of the air, and promotes health. 



Under the treatment in March it is remarked — 

 ' Take good care of your sheep this month, that 

 they maybe able to bring forth their young the 

 better during the next." And under the treatment 

 for April it is urged, to " make the sheep eat as 

 much green food as possible each day. Grass is 

 the best if you have it ; next to that, potatoes. This 

 month tests all the rest, as regards ewe sheep, for 

 he who raises the greatest number of lambs from 

 a given number of ewes, is supposed to be the best 

 shepherd, all other things being equal." 



We pass over the second part of the work, which 

 treats of the diseases of sheep, and content ourselves 

 for the present with making the subjoined extracts 

 from the miscellaneous part. 



" Salt. — I have mentioned that salt was consid- 

 ered by tlie Spanish shepherds as essential to the 

 health of sheep, and this sentiment is very general 

 in every part of Europe except England, whose sit- 

 uation renders the air sufficiently salt. The same 

 consequence from similar causes takes place here. 

 Upon Long Island and elsewhere near the sea, the 

 cattle require no salt, nor manifest a desire for it; 

 whereas north of the Highlands, they eat it raven- 

 ously, and it is thought essential to their health. 

 The ancients also entertained similar sentiments 

 upon this subject. Aristotle prescribed one peck 

 every five days, during the summer, to one hun- 

 dred sheep. We should consider this a large al- 

 lowance, but it would be readily eaten. They al- 

 so observe, that, however good your pastures may 

 be, the sheep will tire of them if not changed, un- 

 less their appetites are kept up by salt." 



" Transitions from high to low food. — With all 

 stock it is allowed to be very dangerous to pass 

 very suddenly from high feed to that which is scant 

 and poor ; or from plenty of green food to that 

 whicli is altogether dry. Hence arises a very im- 

 portant maxim in respect to shsep ; which is, as 

 soon as the pastures fail towards the end of autumn, 

 to put them to turnips or cabbages, if we have them ; 

 and this will perhaps be found our best system with 

 respect to turnips — to sow a sufficient quantity for 

 our sheep, to be eaten after the grass fails, and be- 

 fore the snow falls, so as permanently to cover 

 the ground." — Cultivator. 



From the Genesee Farmer. 



METHOD OF USING THE CHLORIDE OF 

 SODA. 

 A translation of A. G. Labarraque's method of 

 using the chloride of soda, has been kindly sent us 

 by Jacob Porter, the translator. This chloride is 

 the most powerfully disinfecting agent known, and 

 has been found of great use in dressing ill-condi- 

 tioned sores, and as a means of purifying unhealthy 

 places, and disinfecting animal substances. It is 

 sold in a liquid form, at the apothecary's, by the bot- 



tle. It is used diluted with water. A bottle of 

 the liquid, which costs but a few cents, will serve 

 a family sometime, for disinfecting the air of vaults 

 and other foul places about dwellings, purifying the 

 air in sick chambers, in cellars, &,c. Its great util- 

 ity iu lazarettoes and hospitals and, in Asia, in 

 preserving from the plague, seems to have been test- 

 ed and proved by officers of the French government. 

 At this season, it is peculiarly beneficial. We 

 subjoin some of the directions for its use, 



"For ill-conditioned ulcers let a glass of the 

 chlorated liquor be mixed with five times its quan^ 

 tity of pure water, and in this mixture dip the lint 

 with which the ulcers are to be dressed. The 

 dressing should be applied twice a day. If the sore 

 become red and inflamed, this mixture should be 

 still further diluted ; if, on the contrary, the sore 

 does not change its appearance, it should be dress- 

 ed once or twice with some chloride with only half 

 its quantity of water, so as to bring on a slight in- 

 flammation, which is indispensable for causing aton- 

 ic ulcers to pass to a state of simple sores. The 

 healing will then go on rapidly. At the time when 

 the chloride is applied to the ulcer, the fretid smell 

 is destroyed. 



"Gangrene, hospital putrefaction, ill-conditioned 

 burns and scalds, old syphilitic ulcers, corroding^ 

 herpetic affections, and the like, should be treated 

 in the same manner. 



"Cancer in a state of suppuration may be disin- 

 fected with some lukewarm or cold water, contain- 

 ing a twentieth of the chloride of soda. 



" For ulcerations of the nasal organ, the throat, 

 the palate and the gums, the chloride should be di- 

 luted with eight or ten parts of water. I twill, never- 

 theless, be necessary to touch these sores with a lit- 

 tle lint moistened in some pure chloride. 



"For tl:e scald head, the chloride should be mix- 

 ed with only an equal quantity of pure water, and 

 the parts affected be moistened with this liquid 

 twice a day. 



" Great advantages have been obtained from using 

 the chloride very much diluted in water, for all the 

 purposes of the toilet. In a dose of from 25 to 40 

 drops [not to be taken internally,] it acts as a brac- 

 ing and preserving wash, prevents the spread of 

 herpetic eruptions, and cures certain diseases of the 

 skin. 



"The air of sick chambers, and the patients' 

 themselves, may be purified by mixing a spoonful 

 of the chloride and six spoonfuls of water in a plate, 

 and setting it under the patient's bed , indeed sev- 

 eral plates with the diluted chloride may be placed 

 in the same department if necessary. In this way 

 the exhalations may be destroyed as soon as they 

 are produced. It will be necessary to renew daily, 

 tlie chlorated water contained in the plates. 



" In all places where there is a crowd of men or,' 

 animals, whether sick or healthy, the air becomeB'i 

 corrupted, and acquires deleterious properties, 

 owingprincipally to the animal exhalations. These 

 exhalations may be destroyed by sprinklings of the 

 chloride, diluted in from 25 to 30 parts of water;, 

 or by setting in these places (and they may be out 

 of sight,) some vessels containing the chlorated wa-. 

 ter, which can never be in tlie least injurious, what- 

 ever may be the quantity. This method of purify-t 

 ing the air is indispensably necessary in lazaret-| 

 toes, hospitals, prisons, poor houses, manufactories^ 

 churches, seminaries, convents, halls of study, anw 

 dormitories in colleges and boarding-houses, cabinrtjj 

 of ships, court rooms, crowded theatres, saloonfl.il 

 filled to excess on great occasions and the like. 



