W"JW»)!H^J|pil|. 



270 



THE ILLINOIS FAKMER. 



Septembeb 



per cent, a year ; the carcasses of any sheep are of 

 trifling vahie, and at the same time, as the value 

 of wool is greater, the comparative expense of 

 transportation is less. 



We will therefore dismiss the Merino, reminding 

 the reader, however, that the suggestions made 

 have no application to those who breed fine stock 

 for extraordinary prices. The beginner who has 

 concluded to adopt some one or more of the mid- 

 dle or long wooled sheep wants to know how to 

 choose among them. Of these, among many oth- 

 ers, there are the South Downs, the Cotswolds and 

 the Leicesters. There are also of recent importa- 

 tions, the Oxford Downs and the Shropshire 

 Downs. These last two are large, beautiful sheep 

 of coarse wool and finely developed bodies. There 

 is also a variety of English sheep called the Lin- 

 colnshires, which are said to yield a lustrous wool, 

 in considerable request for imitation of lustre fa- 

 brics. But none of these last three have been 

 thoroughly tried in this country ; and they should 

 be left in the hands of amateurs and men of wealth 

 until their characters have been further tried. 



The choice is therefore to be made among three. 

 The Leicesters have their admirers. They were 

 refined, and for this country spoilpd, by Bakewell. 

 They lay on clear fat under the skin like a hog. I [ 

 have seen this layer of fat three or four inches 

 thick over the shoulders ; and we are told that the 

 English graziers sometimes produce it five and 

 even six inches in thickness. This is too fat for 

 American tastes, and in my judgment ends the dis- 

 cussion of this sheep. — Maine Farmer. 



Flax Culture. 



A writer in the Bureau Co. RepuhUcan, thus dis- 



courseth on this subject : 



It is enough for the farmer to raise the crop and 

 remove the seed. Here the producer should stop ' 

 and the manufacturer begin. The flax straw should 

 then be purchased by some one prepared with ne- 

 cessary conveniences, machinery and skill, to rot 

 the fibre, break and hatchel — changing the straw 

 into lint — when it is ready like cotton or wool to 

 be baled and sent to the next grade manufacturer. 

 These lower grades of manufacturers for preparing 

 the lint should exist in every neighborhood. The 

 lint when prepared should be shipped to such 

 points, paper mills or flax factories as would pay 

 the best. 



ESTIMATE OF PBOEIT. 



The value of the flax is in its seed and straw. It 

 has been considered a paying crop when raised for 

 its seed alone. The yield of seed is from ten to 

 twenty bushels per acre, and it is now worth about 

 $3 per bushel. Call the seed twelve bushels to the 

 acre and the value will be, 



Seed .$36 00 | 



And one ton of straw 10 00 



Total per acre $46 00 



This estimate is believed to be moderate, very 

 much under what the real value is, where manufac- 

 taring establishments exist. 



SOIL AND PREPARATION. 



A good corn soil, free from wee-ds, is a, good flax 

 soil, though rich bottoms and a too sandy soil are 

 not good. New land and old pastures are prefera- 



ble. But as few farmers may have these, I pro- 

 pose to prepare stubble land for next year's crop 

 as follows : 



As soon as the field is clear of grain plow shal- 

 low and let the weeds and grain grow till late in 

 the fall, when ph/w again quite deep that the sub- 

 soil may be acted upon by the frost of winter. — 

 Cultivate shallow in the spring as early as the 

 ground is fit, and then let the ground lie two 

 weeks for the appearance of more weeds, which 

 must be killed by thorough harrowing. If inclined 

 to lumps the ground should be rolled and then har- 

 rowed. Sow one bushel or a little more per acre, 

 and cover lightly. Finish by rolling. , :• . 

 «•• 



Gapes in Chickens. 



We cut the following from the doings of the 

 Farmers' Institute, as reported in the N. Y. Trib- 

 une : 



T. A. Goodwin, Indianapolis, gives a better plan 

 than all that have been devised for curing this dis- 

 ease. He would prevent it. He writes as follows : 



"In the transactions of the Institute, June 7, 

 you discussed gapes in chickens. Not having seen 

 a case of gapes for nearly ten years, I had suppos- 

 ed them about extinct. I have nothing to say 

 againt the learned disquisition as to the origin of 

 the worm which canses the gaping. Whether it 

 ever was a louse or not I cannot say, nor is it ma- 

 terial. Ten years ago when Changhaes were young 

 I tested an infallible cure. Take a grain of black 

 pepper, put it in the end of a goose quill so cut as 

 to receive about one-third of the grain, hold the 

 chicken's legs between your knees, open the mouth 

 gently with the left hand, and thrust the quill, 

 loaded with the grain aforesaid, about four inches 

 down its throat ; withdraw the quill and the chick- 

 en never gapes but once more. It kills the worm 

 nineteen times out of twenty, and the chicken 

 about nine times out of ten ; but I never discover- 

 ed that it pays. In short I long since concluded 

 that in a yard infested with gapes, raising chick- 

 ens is unprofitable. Some one said new yards are 

 less affected with gapes than old ones, and thereby 

 hangs the preventive. To cure gapes is impossible 

 — to prevent them is easy. You want no sulphur, 

 no grease, no chives, no onions. It consists sim- 

 ply in giving the chickens access to plowed ground. 

 You never see gapes in the yard of a new settler, 

 around the cabin in the corn field. Gapes are pe- 

 culiar to a high state of civilization and refinement, 

 which deprives the young ©f its appropriate food. 

 You want no coops with plank bottoms to keep 

 their little feet dry. Put the hen in a movable 

 coop in your garden, and while the young ones 

 will destroy a thousand insects which would injure 

 your garden, they will never have the gapes, I 

 don't pretend to give the philosophy — I only state 

 the fact, and I wish to state it strong — chickens 

 having constant access to plowed ground never 



have gapes." 



«■> 



A Blackberry Freak. — Some Lawton blackber- 

 ry bushes in our garden, have been in bloom for 

 over two weeks; berries in all stages of growth 

 may be found upon the bushes, from berries just 

 forming up to dead ripe. But the most singular 

 thing is that the wood is all new, grown this spring 

 — the old canes having all frozen out last winter. 

 — Decatur Chronicle. 



