1871. 



NEW ENGLAOT) FARMER. 



299 



Ewes now become heavy, and unless well 

 kept during the winter, will be weak, easily 

 Luit either by cattle or stronger sheep, or 

 fright from dogs or rude boys. The way to 

 avoid all this is to secure a place by them- 

 selves. Not only secure the ewes by them- 

 selves, with plenty of room if possible and 

 good ventilation, but sei)arate the weaker 

 from the stronger. 



When the lambs come weak, then is your 

 time to bestir yourself ; an hour at once is 

 worth a day afterward, for the weak lamb, 

 unless it get aid at once, will get weaker rap- 

 idly, unlike the strong lambs. See that they 

 get milk, if possible, from the ewes ; a little 

 nourishment in the start is a great help, often 

 the saving of the lamb. If chilled too much 

 it must be taken to warmer quarters, where 

 there will also be a chance to feed it. Let the 

 milk (if cow's milk) be warm and a little di- 

 luted. Thus, in a few hours from the start, 

 a lamb can be much helped and strengthene<l. 



See to your sheep at night. Many flocks 

 have been lessened in consequence of this ne- 

 glect. A weak lamb will come in the night, 

 cold and shivering, and in the morning be 

 dead or beyond recovery. We cannot afford 

 such a loss ; a lamb is too valuable. The 

 mothers also must have good care. Continue 

 good hay to them. AVe prefer clover cut in 

 due season and well cui-ed. A little grain, 

 almost of any kind, say a pint a day, is 

 of material help. A few I'oots, for variety, 

 are greatly relished. Do not fatten, but 

 feed so as to strengthen and flesh up well, 

 and prepare for the spring pasture. We 

 should say summer pasture, for we are apt to 

 let our sheep have the range of the fields too 

 early, when the season is yet uncertain and 

 damp, the ground soft and moist, and the 

 feed too tender and innutritions for much bene- 

 fit. The hay and the grain should not be cut 

 off till pasture is fully established and feed 

 abundant, and then not at once. 



The thing is undeniable that good care and 

 treatment, with food suflicient, will improve 

 the wool and give more strength and growth 

 to the lambs, preventing measurably the shed- 

 ding of wool and other difficulties depending 

 upon a reduced system. Remember a well 

 conditioned sheep does not require more food 

 than a poor one. And now, during this 

 changeable weather, is the time to take care 

 of the flocks. — Utica Herald. 



DESERTED PLACES. 



In the eastern part of the central portion of 

 Windham county, Vt., about six miles west of 

 the Connecticut river, and running nearly par- 

 allel with it, is a long range of hills, or rather 

 one continuous hill, stretching from Dummer- 

 ston to Rockingham, a distance of twelve or 

 fifteen miles, and rising from the valley on 

 either side from one mile to three. From the 

 summit is an extensive view, reaching far into 



New Hampshire on the east, and revealing for 

 more than fifty miles on the west, the promi- 

 nent peaks of the Green Mountain range. 

 The lull attains its greatest height between the 

 towns of Putney and Westminster on one side, 

 and Brookline on the other. Scattered over 

 it and along its declivities are the deserted 

 homes of a former generation. In every di- 

 rection we find the relics of an ancient house- 

 hold ; J, few decaying timbers, an old cellar 

 and the crumbling walls of a massive stone 

 chimney. The abandoned farms are turned 

 into out pasture for sheep and fattening cattle. 

 On some of them the houses are still standing, 

 and the sheep lie on the stone hearth and the 

 kitchen floor. 



A former resident of Putney, an octoo-ena- 

 rian and an old school teacher, says that when 

 a young man, he taught a school in one of the 

 districts on this hill, of seventy scholars. In 

 this district there is now no schools, no schol- 

 ars and only two houses inhabited. In an- 

 other district adjoining, in which there is not a 

 single house now standing, he taught a school 

 of sixty scholars. 



It is painful to think how many long days 

 and years of labor have been expended on 

 these deserted homes. Here are huge stone 

 walls inclosing nearly all the fields, standing 

 now after their weight has pressed the earth 

 for more than half a century, as high as a 

 man's shoulders. And like heavy old fences 

 enclose the old roads that wind up the hill — 

 old roads never to be traveled more. In win- 

 ter, the piercing winds that sweep here with 

 fury, pile the snow in those old tracks, and it 

 lies undisturbed. 



The lands that have been described are but 

 a type of the condition to which many of the 

 rough places of New England are approach- 

 ing. Half the towns of Vermont have simi- 

 lar deserted tracts. The bleak hills are aban- 

 doned, and residences are sought in more ac- 

 cessible places in the valleys or near the vil- 

 lages. While many towns have a smaller 

 population than in 1850, the villages in the 

 same towns have often doubled or trebled in 

 size since that period. A town in this county 

 that has lost thirty per cent, of its population 

 since 1870, has two considerable villages that 

 have grown up while the to^vn has been losing 

 this per centage of its inhabitants. The gain 

 in the State of 15,000 shown by the recent 

 census, is nearly made by the towns of Rut- 

 land, Burlington and St. Albans. If we com- 

 pute the gain in Brattleboro', St. Johnsbury, 

 Bennington, and numerous small villages scat- 

 tered through the State, it shows a loss in the 

 agricultural districts. Estimating the increase 

 in all the villages in the State at 45,000, and 

 deducting 15,000, the gain in the whole State, 

 a loss is shown in the remainder of the State 

 of oO,000. This estimate of the loss, outside 

 of the villages, is believed to be less than the 

 facts will warrant. — Cor. New England Home- 

 stead. 



