228 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



May 



tained if manure is drawn out upon frozen 

 ground, as we see some doing, or spread upon 

 a thin body of snow, if the ground is level , 

 enough to prevent the dissolved juices from [ 

 running away when the snow thaws. Water | 

 is very necessary to prepare manure for plant i 

 food, and when frost is coming out, the ground 

 will absorb the dissolved manure very readily. 

 W. L. Jameson said, that what sounded 

 well in theory, would not always prove best in 

 practice. His farm, though quite level, was 

 not level enough to prevent the juices of ma- 

 nure from running away with the melting snow 

 while the ground is frozen. He had found 

 that immediately after haying, is the best time 

 to apply manure to grass ground as top dress- 

 ing, lie had practiced it several years. When 

 he bought his firm it was bearing a fine wild 

 grass of inferior quality ; but scarcely enough 

 coarse grass to winter one horse. Now all his 

 upland produces good coarse hay, some of it 

 growing nearly as high as his shoulders. He 

 had never bought much manure, as he had 

 plenty of muck, which composted in various 

 ways proved to be of great benefit. One year 

 he bought a barrel of lime, slacked it with salt 

 water and mixed it with muck. This spread 

 upon the grass increased it three fold, and its 

 beneficial effects were obvious for six years. 

 His soil is somewhat clayey and bakes quite 

 hard in summer, but where the top dressing 

 was applied it did not become so hard. Ma- 

 nure applied immediately after haying pro- 

 duced a much better result than that applied 

 later in the season. It seemed to protect the 

 gi-ass roots from the scorching heat of the sun. 

 He had tried top dressing on sandy soil with 

 good results. 



Mr. Colton had top dressed new land among 

 the stumps, and believes it better to keep up 

 grass ground in that way, as it is somewhat 

 costly to plow and re-seed, as he sows four 

 pounds clover and from eight to twelve quarts of 

 timothy per acre. In applying manure to cul- 

 tivated ground, would harrow or plow it in 

 shallow. He does not fiivor very deep plow- 

 ing, and does not believe manure is lost by 

 leaching. Had often noticed the increase of 

 grass on Mr. Jameson's farm where it was top 

 dressed. 



Mr. Church had experience with diy and 

 sandy soil, and found it best to plow in ma- 

 nure. It lasted longer, and the neighbors re- 

 marked tlie improvement. If he was intend- 

 ing to top dress he would spread the manure 

 about the time of the fall rains, and not in the 

 dryest and hottest, nor in the winter season. 



W. L. Locke, Jr., had plowed in manure 

 on sod ground for corn, and at tlie next plow- 

 ing lu! went al)0ut thre(! inches deeper, thus 

 bringing the manure again near the surface 

 and making a rich seed bed upon which to 

 sow grass seed and grain. He had top dressed 

 when seeding to grass with good result. 



Mr. Brewster would not spread manure in 

 winter, but would draw it at that season, if 



more convenient, leaving a load in a place, 

 but on no account should the manure lay in 

 the yard through the summer. Upon plowed 

 ground, that he intended to sow to grain and 

 grass, he would spread the manure as soon as 

 the frost was out so it Avould harrow well, as 

 early sowing caused a better "catch" and 

 growth ; but for hoed crops would plow in a 

 large quantity of green, coarse manure. 



The Club voted to endorse the method of 

 W. L. Jameson for keeping up the fertility of 

 fields in grass ; and Mr. Brewster's plan with 

 grain and hoed crops. 



DISOWNING LAMBS. 

 Dr. Randall, of the Itxiral Neto YorJcer, 

 gives the following summary of the means 

 which are adopted by the'leading sheep-breed- 

 ers of New York and Vermont to make the 

 ewe own her lamb : — 



When a ewe disowns her lamb, ]Mr. Baker 

 places them in a pen, two and a half feet by 

 three ; or if the ewe is very refractory, fastens 

 her by a ring and staple to an upright stake — 

 the strap being so short that she cannot turn 

 round to butt her lamb. She is held for it to 

 suck frequently, and if she continues refrac- 

 tory after it is able and tries to help itself, she 

 is switched over the face and ears till she sub- 

 mits. Brown, Elithorp, Pitts and Sanford use 

 the pen, and the switch "persuasive" if ne- 

 cessary, — Elithorp turning the ewe's head so 

 she can see the lamb as it sucks. E. O. Clapp 

 uses the pen, the stanchions, the switch, and 

 sometimes frightens her by tying a dog in her 

 sight, to arouse her maternal instincts. A. H. 

 Clapp confines her head in stanchions, and 

 prevents her stepping about with her hind feet, 

 to get away from the lamb, by narrow bars — 

 placed close on each side — but releases her 

 and puts her alone with her lamb a short time 

 each day ; and he sometimes frightens her with 

 a dog or some unusual object. Gregory uses 

 a pen so narrow that the ewe cannot turn 

 round, and places the lamb under her. Ham- 

 mond uses a pen, separating the lamb from the 

 ewe about half the time, and placing it where 

 she can hear it bleat ; Heyne, a pen about five 

 feet square ; Pottle, a small box or pen, pre- 

 ferring a dark one ; Rich, Saxton and Wilcox, 

 a small pen ; Wright, a small Ijox-stall, tying 

 the ewe so she cannot turn round. It will be 

 understood, of course, that all assist the lamb 

 to suck freqrtently. Pitts thinks that early 

 success depends upon this frequency. 



AVe do not remember ever to have found the 

 switch necessary ; and not being very strong 

 advocates of "corporal punishment" have 

 never recommended its applic-ation to the recu- 

 sant dam ; but the above testimony in its fa- 

 vor is certainly very strong. The small pen, 

 made dark if it can conveniently be done, and 

 placed out of hearing of the Hock, with kind 

 treatment, has always sufficed in our experi- 



