1863. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



213 



tion and frequently hoeing and otherwise stirring 

 the soil. The Genesee Fanner makes some useful 

 remarks on this suhject, as follows : 



"We must, more than ever before, realize the 

 fact that 'tillaffe is manure' — that the literal mean- 

 ing of the word 'manure' {tnanns, hand, and 

 oi/rrer, to work,) is hand-labor. To manure the 

 land is to hoe, to dig, to stir the soil, to expose it 

 to the atmosphere, to plougli, to harrow, to culti- 

 vate. The ancient Romans made Stcrcutius a 

 god, liecause he discovered that the droppings of 

 animals had the same eflect in enriching the soil 

 as to hoe it. We can leave the modern method 

 of mnnn-ing land to our Western farmers, while 

 we go back to the original method of stirring the 

 soil. Mr. Lawes has raised a good crop of wheat 

 even/ s'ea.son for over twenty years on the same 

 land by simply keeping it thoroughly clean by two 

 ploughings in the fall and by hoeing the wheat in 

 sijring by hand. The Rev. S. Smith, of Lois- 

 u'eedon, has for years raised successive crops of 

 wheat by a process of trenching the land with a 

 fork and by hand-hoeing. We do not advocate 

 this system, but the principle is applicable to our 

 case. We can maimre our land bv better tillage." 



WOOL BEPORT TO THE BOAKD OF 

 TRADE. 



This Report, made to the Board of Trade by 

 Messrs. Gko. Wm. Bond and Geo. Livermoke, 

 we have read with interest, as it is intimately con- 

 nected with one branch of our great manufactur- 

 ing j)ursuits. It appears that, under ordinary cir- 

 cumstances, we raise but about two-thirds of our 

 supply of wool, and depend upon importations for 

 the balance. 



A singular fact is stated, and one very different 

 from what most people anticipated, that there has 

 been in no part of the ivorld any perceptible advance 

 in wool traceable to the effect of the scarcity of cot- 

 ton 1 



In the course of the report it is incidentally sta- 

 ted that "the French army exj)enses during the 

 year ending March, 1802, were S«5, 150,000. The 

 French army is about 030,000 strong. On the 1st 

 of January, 1860, it had under arms 5.30,994 men ; 

 on furlough, 64,471 ; in reserve, 11,017 men; to- 

 tal strength, 620,482 men. The report adds : 



"Never has the wool business of this city been 

 more prosperous than during the past year. The 

 quantity of domestic growth received here for sale 

 has been much larger than in any former years. 

 Several new houses have been established, and 

 the trade, heretofore scattered, has now centered 

 itself in a portion of the city convenient to the 

 manufacturers, in commodious warehouses, well 

 adapted to the liusiness, which, as a whole, are su- 

 perior to those occujned by the same class of trade 

 in any city of the Union. The imports of wool 

 from abroad have been considerably above the av- 

 erage in Boston, wliile those into New York have 

 been far above any i)revious year. A considera- 

 ble portion of this was for Boston account, and 

 found its way here for sale. 



The total import into the United States cannot 

 have been less than 60,000,000 pounds, the largest 



portion of this being in the unwashed state, makes 

 it equivalent to not more than 40,000,000 pounds 

 of domestic growth. 



• ••••• 



In 1861 we called attention to the importance 

 of the California wool trade, and to the enterprise 

 of Messrs. Gliddcn iK: Williams in establishiui; a 

 line of packets from San Francisco to Boston. We 

 are hn])py to say that we arc realizing the full ben- 

 efits which we antici])ated. 



The clip of that State, then estimated at 3,000,- 

 000 pounds, has now increased to nearly 6,000,- 

 000, and in l-SOo will not probably fall short of 

 8,000,000. Of the clip of 1802, 43 per cent, found 

 its way to Boston in the ships of this line. 



If California increases in wool growing as she 

 has done, the next census will show her to be the 

 leading wool growing State of the Union. 



For the iV«r England Farmer, 



retrospective notes. 



"Winter Fki-.ding of Sheep," and Summer 

 Preparations for it. — March No., pa</c Ho. — • 

 As every item of correct information in regard to 

 slieep husbandry is of special importance during 

 the ])resent sheep fever, and as the article referred 

 to above not only contains some information which 

 may be made of value to those who may keep 

 sheep another winter, but presents, also, one or 

 tAvo jieculiaritics of practice upon which a few 

 words of comment may be made with hope of ad- 

 vantage to some brother sheep-keeper, it has 

 seemed worth while to notice it, although the sub- 

 ject of winter feeding of sheep may seem, at first 

 glance, an unseasonable one. To be as well pre- 

 ])ared as possible for carrying his sheep through 

 the next winter in the best manner possible, the 

 man of forethought will take note of every valu- 

 able hint he may find before winter comes, in or- 

 der to derive from them, if possible, sDme im- 

 provement upon his previous modes of managing. 

 Perhaps there may be some of this modtl class of 

 men who may find something worth remembering 

 for the formation of jilans for next winter, espe- 

 cially as a supply of ruta baga will have to be 

 grown this summer, if our remarks on the utility 

 of this root in the winter feeding of sheep should 

 comend themselves to the judgment of those con- 

 cerned. 



It is in summer, moreover, that provision must 

 be made for the winter feeding of sheep. If they 

 are to be fed on oats, rather than on corn ; or if 

 they are to have potatoes to as large an extent as 

 Mr. Baxter has been in the habit of feedin;; them; 

 or if they are to have all the ruta bagas that would 

 be good for them; then it is in summer that these 

 tilings must be ])rovided. According to this way 

 of looking at the mat'er, it is quite as sctsunable 

 to be thinking about the winter feeding of sheep 

 now as at any other season of the year. What 

 will be wanted for them, and which of many things 

 will be best for them and for their owners, the 

 owners should be thinking of now, and should 

 have their plans as to what cro])s, and how much 

 of them, they must raise for their flocks, all thor- 

 oughly matured and settled in their minds, long 

 before winter, yea even before the season of plant- 

 ing and sowing shall be u])on us. We can lay out 

 our plans, and proportion our crops to our wants 

 much more wisely and judiciously now, than we 



