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NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



Jui.f 



ing, and become a blessing to the world, should 

 purchase Breck's Book of Flowers, and present it 

 to them, now, when the world about us is glowing 

 with the delightful colors, and fragrant with the 

 jich odors of a million unfolding flowers. 



COWS, SHEEP AND HOGS. 



[Extracts from the Bi-Monthly Report of the 

 Commissioner of Agriculture.] 



Cows. — The general scarcity of butter and 

 cheese, and their very high prices at this time, show 

 that the home markets for them demand a larger 

 supply. The increase of cows since 18-39 lias 

 been 330,784 in the loyal States ; but with these, 

 as with other stock, the decrease in Kentucky and 

 Missouri shows that the increase for the rest of 

 the loyal States has been greater than this gener- 

 al increase indicates. The reported decrease of 

 Missouri is, however, less for cows than for most 

 other stock. The gener'al increase of cows from 

 1850 to I860 was 36 per cent., whilst our tables 

 show it to be not quite 6 per cent, in the loyal 

 States between 1859 and 1864. 



Tha table published in the last report, page 37, 

 shows that whilst the increase of butter last year 

 was but one-tenth, the increase in price was three- 

 ienths. The exports of butter to foreign markets 

 have been as follows : 



1801 $4,190,745 



1862 6,091,831 



1803 7,176,648 



And those of cheese as follows : 



1861 $3,181,171 



1862 4,673,889 



1863 5,603,884 



Surely, in all these statistics our farmers must 

 see that too much care cannot be given to an in- 

 crease of cows, and to butter and cheese manufac- 

 ture. 



Sheep. — There is no change in our agriculture 

 so gratifying as the increase in sheep. By our 

 table it is 9,242,119, or about 61 per cent., since 

 1859, most of it being in the last three years. 

 All the stock raising States have participated in 

 it, except Kentucky and Missouri. But the re- 

 turns from the first show a present increase ; and 

 in the latter, that the decrease occasioned by the 

 war has been arrested. The emigration of this 

 stock from one State to another has been unusu- 

 ally great, for the want of cotton created such a 

 demand for wool for home and factory manufac- 

 ture, that every farmer, great and small, sought to 

 have a flock of sheep, if he had none previously, 

 or to have his old one enlarged. 



The increase during this spring will add from 

 four to five millions to the number in January ; 

 raising the whole number to nearly thirty millions, 

 or double what it was in 1859 in the loyal States. 



But little need be said as to the future markets 

 for wool and mutton. Until a peace is conquered, 

 and a fair crop of cotton is raised, wool will be re- 

 munerative, even after it falls considerably in 

 price after peace and before the production of such 

 cotton crop, for the general deficit in textile ma- 

 terial is great, as shown in the last report. But 

 with peace will cease the government demand for 

 clothing, whilst the scarcity of beef and pork will 

 make the demand for mutton insure good prices 

 for it. Whether, then, the old ewes, now kept 

 longer for breeding purposes, should be fattened 



and sold for mutton, and such wethers as have 

 been kept longer than customary, on account of the 

 high pries of wool, is a question that will demand 

 the consideration of all farmers, and a careful 

 watching of political events. We shall keep them 

 well advised of every fact connected with these 

 subjects, and of such legislation by Congress as 

 may tead to more firmly establish wool produc- 

 tion in the United States. 



If, as our supplies of wool increase, the imports 

 of foreign wool shall be checked, and the intro- 

 duction of foreign woollen cloths be lessened, the 

 wool-grower may rest in better security, than if he 

 is to be subjected to the competition of these, as 

 he was prior to the rebellion. 



Hogs. — The great destruction of the corn crop 

 last fall by frosts, and other causes has caused a 

 decrease of this stock of 911,323. The high price 

 for hogs in 1859 and 1860 created a large increase 

 in the number during I860. The low price of 

 1861 caused a great English demand for our pork 

 and lard in '1862, and the advance in prices in 

 consequence encouraged increased production in 

 1863. But the scarcity of corn not only checked 

 it, but resulted in the decrease just stated. 



In determining the state of future markets for 

 pork, a reference to the present home and foreign 

 markets gives every encouragement. As already 

 stated, the number of hogs packed last season 

 was about one million less than in 1862-'6o, and 

 they were much lighter in weight. The active de- 

 mand and high prices for the products of pork in- 

 dicate that the market will be bare next fall. 



TO CATCH SHEEP-KILLING DOGS. 



The country is overrun with worthless dogs — 

 and this is one of the chief reasons why many 

 farmers do not raise more sheep. It is those men 

 who own but little else, who keep the greatest 

 number of dogs ; faring scantily at home, these 

 hungry curs roam the fields and make slaughter 

 among the neighbors' flocks. But while candi- 

 dates for office depend on the votes of these men 

 for an election to the Legislature, few of them 

 possess the independence to vote for any efficient 

 law for the protection of sheep against dogs. It 

 remains, then, for every farmer to employ such 

 means as will protect his own flocks upon his own 

 premises. To do this he has only to make a trap 

 in the form of a "rail pen," similar to that em- 

 ployed to catch wild turkeys, only in the case of 

 the dog, the entrance must be left on the top, in- 

 stead of the bottom. When your flock is at- 

 tacked, and a sheep has been killed, proceed at 

 once to lay up a pen, and with every course of 

 rails gradually contract it towards the top, raising 

 it until it is about five feet high, leaving an open- 

 ing on the top sufficiently large for a dog to jump 

 in with ease. Into the centre of the pen place 

 the carcass of the dead sheep, and remove the 

 flock to some other part of the farm. The first 

 or second night after the attack, the same dog 

 will be quite sure to return for another feast ; 

 finding the flock gone, but the carcass remaining, 

 he will enter the pen but will not so readily man- 

 age to get out. The ownfr of the sheep can then 

 satisfy himself as to his guilt or innocence, and 

 act accordingly. — Valley Farmer. 



It is calculated that the wool clip, of Minnesota 

 the present year will not be less than 500,000 lbs. 



