1870. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



31 



passes away with the excrement of animals, 

 the dunor produced by stock fed upon cotton 

 cake will be found particularly valuable. 



In comparison with linseed cake, there is 

 much less mucilage and other respir tory mat- 

 ter in cotton cake. This deficiency is com- 

 pensated, to a certain degree, by the larger 

 amount of oil in cotton cake. The propor- 

 tion of indigestible woody fibre in decorticated 

 cotton cake is small, and not larger than in 

 the hest linseed cake. Lastly, it may be ob- 

 served that the ash of cotton cake is rich in 

 bone material, and amounts to about the same 

 quantity as that contained in other oil cakes. 



THE WOOL INTEREST. 



A stock dealer, who is engaged in buying 

 and shipping sheep to the Cleveland slaughter 

 market, informs us that there is but little, if 

 any, better satisfaction among wool growers 

 in the pursuit of sheep husbandry now than 

 there was a year ago ; and that thousands of 

 sheep are weekly slaughtered in Ohio for their 

 pelts. 



Flocks of common stock sheep are bought 

 readily at prices ranging from fifty cents to 

 one dollar and twenty-five cents per head ; 

 superior lots of fat wethers bring only about 

 $2.50 per head. Very many flocks have 

 suffered much during the past season with loot 

 rot, and such are now thrown upon the market 

 with slow sale at fifty cents to one dollar each. 



Ohio does not appear to be alone in the 

 panic, for the wool growers in other States 

 are losing heart, and also in other countries. 

 The Kansas Bulletin asks : What is the mat- 

 ter with our wool interest? Is our climate so 

 far modifying that we require fewer woolen 

 fabrics to protect our bodies through the day 

 and keep us warm o' nights ? Or is mechani- 

 cal invention going to supersede the necessity 

 of raising fleeces ? The ladies seem to have a 

 rage for underclothing made of paper, and 

 some inventive genius has applied this material 

 to the manufacture of carpets. 



Sheep farmers of Vermont and ]\Iichigan 

 and other States are losing heart in their prop- 

 erty, and contemplate a wholesale slaughter 

 this fall, as only the best grades of wool pay 

 the expense of raising. Indeed the case has 

 grown so bad that a writer in the North Amer- 

 ican Review declares that the millions of sheep 

 which figure in our agricultural returns as con- 

 stituting so much wealth, ought to be erased 

 from the tables, as they form an element of 

 actual impoverishment. 



A correspondent of the New York Times 

 also, writing from Brazil, mentions that an 

 inevitable crash awaits the heavy wool interest 

 of that country. "Sheep are going down in 

 price rapidly, and wool is also declining, and 

 it is believed by some that the sheep in that 

 country will go unshorn, as their wool will not 

 pay the expense .of shearing and marketing. 

 All the sheep raisers are trying to get out of 



the business, while thousands of carcasses are 

 every month boiled down, the p^lt scarcdv 

 paying the cost of the animal. Many sh' ep 

 farmers who paid two dollars per head for 

 their stock, now cannot sell for one-fou.'fh of 

 that sum, and, as a consequence, sheep arc re- 

 garded as most undesirable property at all." 



Foreign wool interests have been aff.-cted 

 by the protective duties passed by Congress, 

 and although the tariff was what this country 

 needed, farmers got their expectations loo 

 high, and so multiplied the number of sheep 

 as to over-do the business and bring on a panic. 



The number of sheep in the Union more 

 ttian doubled between the years 18G0 and 

 186G, and increased about two millions be- 

 tween 1866 and the time the wholesale slaujih- 

 ter began. 



The Western States were filled up while the 

 excitement was high, and every available 

 sheep used to increase numbers without par- 

 ticular regard to quality. Farmers in New 

 England and the Middle States also lost sight, 

 in a measure, of their future interests, and 

 dropped the proper rules in the principles of 

 breeding and looked only to the multiplying 

 of their Hocks ; for anything bearing the rame 

 of sheep was quick sale, and at prices before 

 unknown. The result of all this is now fully 

 realized, but this reverse will have its end. 



A level will be found in the wool market 

 sooner ot later ; and we still admonish the far- 

 mers to be cautious how they sacrifice their 

 flocks. Sell off the old scrubs at whatever 

 they will bring, for there is no profit in winter 

 feeding any inferior animal. But selling good 

 sheep now for a song may prove as unprofita- 

 ble as did the buying of inferior flocks a few 

 years ago at big figures. — Ohio Farmer. 



Sheep- Skin Mats. — I\Iake strong soap- 

 suds, using hot water, and let it stand till cold ; 

 then wash them in cold water till all the soap 

 is out. Next dissolve half a pound each of 

 salt and alum in a little hot water, and put 

 into a tub of cold water sufficient to cover the 

 skins, and let them soak twel\ e hours ; then 

 hang over a pole to drain. When well 

 drained, stretch carefully on a board to dry. 

 Stretch several times while drying. Bif>re 

 they get entirely dry, sprinkle on the flesh 

 side one ounce each of pulverized alum and 

 saltpetre, rubbing it in well; then lay the 

 flesh sides together and hang in the shade f >r 

 two or three days, turning them over every 

 day till perfectly dry. Finish by scraping the 

 flesh with a blunt knife to remove an\ n niain- 

 ing scraps of flesh, and then rub the \\y'A\ side 

 with pumice or rotten stone and the hands. 



Very beautiful mittens can be made of 

 lamb skins tanned as above. — Wedtra liural. 



— Mining has ceased to be the loadinj? interest 

 of California, and wheat is now King. The present 

 years' crop is estimated at twenty million bushels. 



