1870. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



373 



The Golden Pheasant. 



back is a deep gold color, the tail covert 

 feathers being laced with crimson ; tail-feath- 

 ers brown mottled with black. The hen is of 

 a more sober tint, being of a general brown 

 color with dark markings. 



Pheasants are naturally wild, and require 

 great freedom and seclusion and much care in 

 breeding. The eggs are often hatched under 

 common hens. They are bred for beauty, not 

 utility. 



COARSE WOOL SHEEP 131 liABQE 

 PLOCK3. 



All young, growing animals, other things 

 being equal, need more food and that at 

 shorter intervals than animals that have at- 

 tained their growth. And the great secret of 

 success in lai&ing improved breeds of stock, 

 is (0 furnish the young animals all the food 

 they can digest and assimilate. As long as 

 they are growing rapidly there is little danger 

 of their getting too fit. The popular notion 

 that we cannot keep Cotswold, Leicester, or 

 Southdown sheep in large flocks arises from the 

 f ict that when so kept the young sheep and 

 lambs do not get the extra food and attention 

 that they require. I have a flock of over 

 ninety thoroughbred Cotswolds and about two 

 hundred and tif:y Merinos. And I am satis- 

 fied that with the Cotswolds a given loeiglit of 

 mutton can be kept in a smaller space than 

 with the Merinos. A neighbor said of the 

 Cotswolds: "You cannot keep so many. You 

 ought not to have more than a dozen or so- 

 These sheep are not like Merinos. Y''ou can. 

 not keep them in large flocks. So-and-So 

 tried it and the sheep pined away." Now 



all this is sheer and unadulterated nonsense, 

 I happened to know the history of the flock 

 he alluded" to. Many of them were im- 

 ported sheep, brought over at different times, 

 by an English farmer who gave them good care 

 and plenty of food, and they did remarkably 

 well, although they had no "roots" — only 

 good pasture in summer and plenty of good 

 clover hay in winter. Bat by-and-by the 

 farm and the stock passed into the hands of 

 some young men who did not work the land as 

 well, nor give the sheep the requisite atten- 

 tion, and both farm and flock run down rap- 

 idly. My father used to keep a large flock ot 

 Southdown and Leicester sheep, and I spent 

 two years on the farm where one thousand 

 splendid Hampshire down sheep were kept ; I 

 never heard the first intimation that there was 

 any objection to having large flocks, provided 

 they had plenty of food and the requisite care 

 and attention. — /. Harris, in American Ag- 

 riculturist. 



Failure of Cows to Breed. — In the 

 summer of 18G8 I purchased an Ayrshire co'^ 

 that for two seasons had failed to ■ breed. 

 During her first heat she was with the bull all 

 day ; she came in heat again, was served and 

 left alone; the third and last time I was ad- 

 vised to bleed her; she being rather fleshy 1 

 took tix quarts of blood from her ; she was 

 then served by the same bull; in. due time she 

 dropped a calf, and is now with calf again. 

 When I have a cow left at my yard that is 

 troubled as above, if low in flesh I take two or 

 three quarts of blood from her and let the bull 

 cover them once, and have not had one of 

 taem fail as yet. — H. W. C, Derby, Conn.y 

 in Country Qentleman. 



