388 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



•Aug. 



grass, oats and corn. The best Canada farmers 

 are mostly foreif^jners, and are somewhat preju- 

 diced in favor of breeds of sheep popular in Eu- 

 rope. They certainly have most beautiful and 

 magnificent animals of enormous size. They find 

 them profitable, no doubt, but no man can eat 

 them any more than he can eat a cake of tallow. 

 Have seen these sheep in New York and they 

 are bought by the keepers of large hotels, like 

 the St. Nicholas, to grace the tables, but only a 

 few ounces are eaten. The long-wooled sheep 

 need shelter, for the wool parts, and in wet weath- 

 er they get cold. They need grain in winter, and 

 some roots ; but in our climate, too many roots 

 are apt to scour. The climate of England is dif- 

 ferent, and there roots are a necessity. Here 

 corn takes the place of roots. They are beautiful 

 sheep, shearing from five to eight pounds of wool. 



BowEX, of Orleans Co. — 1 can hardly sit still 

 and hear such remarks about long-wooled sheep. 

 I live only about thirty miles from the last speak- 

 er. I have yearlings that weigh 150 pounds. 

 Don't know anything about the tendency of long- 

 wooled sheep to take cold, but know they are har- 

 dier than the Merinos. Have kept sheep all my 

 life. Long-wooled sheep in New York will bring 

 $8 to $10, while Merinos are seUing at from 

 $1,50 to $3. There have been long, gaunt, worth- 

 less, long-wooled sheep in Western New York, 

 and perhaps to these the objections stated will 

 apply. My sheep are called Cotswold, though 

 perhaps they are not purely of this breed. 



Allen. — I acknowledge the long-wooled is a 

 grand sheep, but it is not suited to all farmers 

 under all circumstances. When farmers live near 

 a railroad, where mutton sheep are in demand for 

 market, it is better to raise mutton sheep. But, 

 ■when distant from market, it is better to grow for 

 wool. I have fed and fattened a great number 

 of South Downs, and find it best to get them 

 pretty fat on grain. They mature earlier than 

 most any other sort, and bring more profit. At 

 my ])lace I find it most profitable to raise mutton 

 sheep. Can raise as many lambs from South 

 Downs as any others, and they make the best 

 mutton. 



Dickinson, of Steuben — Can you tell, by tast- 

 ing, the difference between mutton of the South 

 Down and the Merino sheep ? 



Allen. — I think I can. The fleece of the Me- 

 rino is oily. This oil comes from the flesh, and 

 gives it a bad flavor. In eating Merino mutton 

 you can almost taste the wool. The South Down 

 wool is dry, and the mutton beautiful. 



Robinson, of New York. — South Down mut- 

 ton brings the highest price in New York, and 

 next to that the Longworth sheep of Canada. 

 Still, there is not that nice distinction made that 

 should be. Samuel Thorn buys every fall poor 

 ewes coming from the VYest, breeds from them, 

 and fats both lambs and ewes, making a profit of 

 $7 on each ewe he buys. This would be a very 

 profitable business for the farmers in the vicinity 

 of New York city. 



last haying season, and have continued to do so 

 this season, and the opinion formed of it then, 

 is abundantly confirmed by our later experience 

 with it. A farmer getting twenty tons of hay, 

 had better pay $5 for it, than try to do without 

 it. Price $1,25, sold by Nourse & Co., 34 Mer- 

 chant's Row, Boston. 



Raking Made Easy. — Last summer, but rath- 

 er late in haying time, we spoke of a new Drag 

 Eake, made by Mr. S. HEYWOod, of Claremont, 

 N. H. We used it through the latter part of the 



For the Neu> England Farmer. 

 THE INJURED FRUIT TREES. 



I have been watching, Mr. Editor, with a good 

 deal of interest, for the full development of inju- 

 ry to fruit trees in this region by the severe frosts 

 of the first days of May. I think it was on the 

 morning of the second of May that the hardest 

 of these frosts came upon us. It was so severe 

 that ground spaded up the day before could be 

 walked on with scarcely an indentation by the 

 feet. 



I think the injury to some classes of trees is 

 much greater than is generally supposed. Look- 

 ing at the cherry trees, for instance, I find that 

 net only was the crop for this season entirely cut 

 off, but the numerous spurs from which the fruit 

 buds projected are nearly all killed. Consequent- 

 ly we can have very little fruit next season ; for 

 although numerous new shoots are being thrown 

 out on young and vigorous trees, yet it is well 

 known that these fruit spurs do not form on the 

 first year of the new wood. Old trees can scarce- 

 ly ever recover so as to come into full bearing, as 

 their vital energy is exhausted to a great degree, 

 while even younger trees can hardly be as prolific 

 as heretofore. The only complete remedy is to 

 commence at once the setting out of new trees. 



The same remark applies also to the plum. The 

 fruit spurs have been killed on plum trees to near- 

 ly the same extent as on the cherry. The trees 

 are throwing out vigorous new shoots, but they 

 will scarcely be available for fruit in less thaa 

 two years, and even then the crop must be small, 

 to say nothing of the danger that; in the mean- 

 time the fungus, called the black wart, will get 

 the upper hand. The prospect for plums is de- 

 cidedly bad, but it is too good a fruit to give up. 

 Perseverance may bring it round again to its old 

 standard. 



Quince trees are very badly killed — one-half 

 the shoots, at least, being dead. Unlike most 

 other fruits, the blow of the quince does not form 

 on a bud of the preceding year, but on a newly 

 formed shoot ; and although the crop of the pres- 

 ent year is nearly destroyed, and the trees very 

 badly injured, there is nothing now to indicate 

 that a fair supply may not be had the coming 

 season. 



Of pears there will be a few ; but the fruit 

 buds, and even many of the fruit spurs, have 

 been killed to an extent never known before in 

 this part of the country. Fortunately, the pear 

 tree seldom throws out fruit buds in all its little 

 spurs the same season, like the cherry, and con- 

 sequently, the leaf spurs having generally es- 

 caped the frost, may form fruit buds for the com- 

 ing year. Pear trees, so far as my knowledge ex- 

 tends, are making a very vigorous growth the 

 present season. Some kinds, as the Bon de Jer- 

 sey, have nearly escaped the efifect of the frost, 



