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TI-IE ILLINOIS FA.IIMEII. 



959 



themselves, and should always be driven 

 carefully through gates or bars; and not 

 allowed to croAvd — for lambs are often 

 injured in this way. 



The best mode of washing sheep is in 

 vats. The wool can be got in better 

 order, because there is no danger of get- 

 ting sand or muddy water into the wool, 

 in getting them out of the vat. Anoth- 

 er advantage is, that nearly every wool 

 grower can wash on his'own farm. The 

 common practice of driving to some 

 stream, perhaps 4 or 5 miles away is 

 very troublesome, besides expensive, and 

 generally at that season of the year, it is 

 very dusty, and when the sheep are got 

 back to their pasture again, with the 

 exception of the oil, which is taken from 

 their wool they are nearly as dirty as 

 when they left it. Dams can be made 

 across most any small stream, and suf- 

 ficient water obtained to wash 1,000 or 

 1500 a day. The water should be carried 

 through the dam in two troughs; of about 

 ten inches wide, and should have about 

 one foot fall. The sheep should be put 

 into the vat at the lower end, and then 

 soaked and washed through different 

 hands to the upper end, and there rinsed 

 off under the troughs, by experienced 

 washers, and put out upon a plank plat- 

 form to drain. And until shorn should 

 be kept upon clean grass pastures. 



It is supposed by some that sheep are 

 ready to shear as soon as they are dry. 

 But this is a great mistake. Shearing 

 should not commence until the oil begins 

 to strike into the wool again. For until 

 that time, the wool is dry and harsh, 

 and will cut hard, has not that soft and 

 lively appearance which will add so 

 much to its beauty, and also make it more 

 saleable. If the weather is suitable 

 they will be ready to shear in 6 or 8 days 

 after washing. 



Sheep are generally shorn upon barn 

 floors, which should be kept well swept, 

 and clean as possible, so that the wool 

 may be kept clean. After the fleece is ofi", 

 it is taken to a bench, where it is spread 

 out with the out side up and worked 

 together as firmly as possible. If there 

 are any burrs or tags upon it they 

 should be taken ofi*, then the ends and 

 sides thrown in so as to leave it about 

 two feet square; then all the lose locks 

 are put into the centre, folded together 

 over each way and tied. Wool should 

 be packed firmly in some clean suitable 

 place, where no dust or straw can get 

 into it, until it is put into sacks ready 

 for market. 



agement especially bclonp:s to her. To 

 some extent this is true. When the house 

 is made comfortable and the surround- 

 ings pleasant, it should be her business 

 as far as possible to keep them so. A 

 woman of ambition has some taste in 

 regard to the appearance of the outside 

 as well as the inside of her kingdom. — 

 She likes to see th» grounds about the 

 house kept neat, and this she cannot do 

 without the assistance of the men. Men 

 ai'e prone to carelessness. They think it 

 all right to lumber up the grounds about 

 the house with all the broken implements 

 of the farm. I know a neighbor who 

 has a fine yard if kept in order, that now 

 looks as though it was the general recep- 

 tacle of all the cast off articles of the 

 farm. In passing through it the other 

 day I noted that there was an old shed; 

 a broken wagon wheel; piece of an ox- 

 yoke; several parts lying in a heap; 

 some big logs of wood about, too big to 

 burn; a-large mass of rotting chips that 

 would make good manure for a garden; 

 and a little distance one side an ash heap 

 of ashes that had been leached — the very 

 thing wanted for the garden; an old bro- 

 ken stove pipe; old boots and shoes; bro- 

 ken crockery, and I can't tell what else. 

 Now these things show a great want of 

 tidiness, and too often are an index of 

 the state of things ivitJun the kingdom. 

 What woman will have ambition to keep 

 up a system of neatness and order in the 

 house, when every thing is so slovenly 

 without ? And this slovenly appearance 

 is due to the man ! With three hours 

 labor he could, put everything to rights ! 

 But he has no time, he says. Nonsense, 

 he has time. Does he wish his wife to 

 do it ? Does he expect her to do it ? 

 Is that her business ? When a stranger 

 passes a house in the country he can tell 

 very near what kind of people inhabit it 

 from the surroundings 1 Don't you 

 think so, Mr. Editor ? Don't you know 

 it to be so? MEHITABEL. 



Clean up! Clean np! 



Editor of the Farmer : — Most of the 

 articles in your paper are addressed to 

 farmers and about the business of farm- 

 ing. But you neglect somethings of some 

 importance. Every woman is told that 

 her house is her kingdom, and its man- 



Calves. 



Nothing is more important to the suc- 

 cessful rearing of stock, than that the 

 young animals should receive a "good 

 start'' in life, and it is idle to expect a 

 profitable return from an animal which 

 has been half starved and uncared for 

 during the first few months of its exis- 

 tence. . ;,'.;■ .'■■ 



When we look into a farm yard and 

 see the yOung calves cringing and shiv- 

 ering in the corners, their legs drawn 

 together under them as if they were 

 huddling together for sympathy, their 

 long, rusty, lifeless looking hair stand- 

 ing at right angles with the body, their 

 paunches stuffed with coarse, unwhole- 

 some, or inutritious food, until they are 

 swoUod to an enormous size, their eyes 

 dull, dreamy and listless, and the wliole 

 general appearance impressing one vivid- 



ly with the idea that there is indeed such a 

 thing as a state of serai-existence, we do 

 not require to be told that the owner is 

 a poor man. Such management will 

 make any man poor in a' short time. 



A large portion of the cattle raised in 

 the United States are born in this month 

 and the future thrift and value of our 

 herds depends much upon the manage- 

 ment of the young animals during the 

 first four months of their lives. 



When in a state of nature, the calves 

 are nourished during this period almost 

 entirely by the milk of their dams, and 

 there can be little doubt that when the 

 health and growth of the calf is the prin- 

 cipal object with the breeder, it should 

 be allowed to run with the cow. But to 

 very many farmers the milk is of too 

 much value to permit this, and the 

 calves must be artificially reared. When 

 this is done the calf should not be taken 

 from the cow before the second or third 

 day, or until the milk of the daoa is fit 

 for the purposes of the dairy. We are 

 aware that many breeders advise taking 

 the calf from the cow before it has been 

 allowed to suck, urging as a reason that 

 the calf will much more easily be taught 

 to drink if it is never allowed to get its 

 food in the natural way. Tbis may be 

 true, but there is very little trouble in 

 teaching the calf to drink after it has 

 been allowed to run with the cow a day 

 or two, and there is a very important 

 reason why this should be done. The 

 faeces that accumulate in the intestines 

 during the latter months of the foetal 

 state are dense and adhesive, and void- 

 ing the excrement is at first, often atten- 

 ded with some difficulty. By a wise and 

 admirable provision of nature, the first 

 milk of the cow possesses certain laxative 

 properties which materially assists in 

 establishing the healthy action of the in- 

 testines, and it is very important that 

 this milk should constitute the first food 

 of the calf. 



When the calf is taken from the cow 

 it should be removed as far as is con- 

 venient from her that it may not be 

 rendered unneccessarily restless by her 

 lowing. It should be fed entirely on 

 new milk for a few days until it becomes 

 accustomed to the change, when 

 '*skimmed milk'' can gradually be sub- 

 stituted for the new. 



If two or more calves are kept togeth- 

 er they should be separated for an hour 

 or so after they are fed, if not, they are 

 almost certain to contract the injurious 

 habit of sucking one another. This can 

 be accomplished either by feeding them 

 separately in small pens which can be 

 closed while they are eating, or they can 

 be tied. The latter is on some accounts 

 the better way, as the calf which has once 

 been thoroughly accustomed to the halter 

 never forgets it, and will ever after be 

 easily restrained in this way. 



