96 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTUHlST. 
[Aug 1, 1900. 
toered to shear theui if I got the wool to 
mvself and the agents gratefuUj'- consented 
to" this. I sent a Taitiby into the Pettah to 
hunt up a pair of shears for me, which after 
much trouble he succeeded in domg— an old 
hlunt and rusty pair, but which I promptly 
fot in working order— and next mornuig 
I polished off 28 of tlie sheep before 
breakfast, liuishing the remainder on 
the following morning. The appearance 
of the sheep was so greatly improved that 
tbev fetched excellent prices, averaging 4Ss 
each, and I shipped the wool home to London 
receivin"- in due course, upwards of £10 as 
the nett'" result of the sale. Sheep have al- 
ways been a specially attractive study to 
me and I have been exceedingly fortunate 
in my dealings with them. Some years ago 
J noticed that, in our local markets, black 
sheep alwavs fetched a better price than 
white ones,' and being ever ready to take 
advantage of any such fancy on the part ot 
the public. I determined to oreed black 
sheep At that time a pure Shropshu'a 
Down ram lamb was born on my farm, 
which could only be considered as a freak 
t)f nature, as it was jet black. This lamb 
I kept lov stud work and mated it with a 
lot of Shropshire Down ewes, the result of 
which was about 80 per cent of black lambs. 
As these lambs came to maturity, they not 
onlv proved larger than ordinary Shrops, but 
o-ive heavier fleeces, and the wool realized 
a better price. The sheep themselves sold in 
the market at extraordinary prices and my 
black Shrops have now, for some years been 
celebrated in t'le district. Need I say that 
I have continued to breed these ever since, 
although the original ram has departed this 
life long ago and one of his descendants 
reigns in his stead. 
No doubt readers of these notes wdl have 
remarked by this time, that my policy has 
always been' to avoid the beaten track, and 
to farm in my own way. An article that 
everyone has 'for sale cannot be expected to 
o-ive' other than a very ordinary price ; but 
that which only one man has it in his power 
to place on the market, brings as a geiier.al 
rule nothing short of a fancy price. While 
on the subject of sheep let me mention an- 
other operation in which I have proved most 
successful. About ten years ago farmers 
eot an awful scare from the reckless way in 
which Government permitted cattle suffering 
from tuberculosis and pleura to be landed 
from America and the Continent, spreading 
disease all over Britain. Like my neigh- 
bours, I took fright and promptly sold off 
all my cattle, as there happened to be good 
prices agoing at the time, replacing them 
by purchasing sheep, which are not liable to 
take the diseases above mentioned. Then I 
converted my cattle byres so as to feed sheep 
in thein, and' proceeded to fatten these during 
the months of winter and spring, sending 
them to ma' ket at a time when few fat sheep 
are for sale, and consequently, prices rule 
hi"-h and. l)y tiiis means I have been able 
to'burn oif 'M) to 400 fat sheep every winter. 
Aljout IS montlis ago the agricultur.al press 
went crazy on the subject of 
TUB HOUSE FEFDINCJ OF SHEEP, 
and since then the subject has been thrashed 
bare each one giving his experiences, none 
of which, however, appear to me to have been 
very successful. Lately it has come to the 
knowledge of the public that I have been 
engaged in this work for ten years, and with 
great success, so I have been receiving letters 
from all conditions of men, asking my advice, 
and how to go about the feeding of sheep 
in the house, wh.it food to give them, how to 
treat tliem, and in short, to tell them all I 
know on the subject, — so that they might 
go in and oppose me in the fat market. Not 
being a born idiot, I have succeeded so far 
in not giving myself awa.y, but merely writ- 
ing a few yjlatitudes on the subject, winding 
up by saying that the only royal road to 
success in the house feeding of sheep is to 
look after the jvork yoiirsdf Doubtless, in 
course of time, others will learn for them- 
themselyes, as I did, and feeding sheep under 
cover will become as general as feeding 
cattle, and when that day comes, 1 suppose 
I will be obliged to pull myself together, and 
think of some other » operation that my 
brother farmers ari not doing, and set to 
work again in order to keep a few years 
in advance of those agriculturists who stick 
to the beaten track and the rule of thumb. 

PLANTIN(J IN STRAITS SETTLEMENTS: 
SKLANGOK. 
The acreage umler European cultivation has 
been fully maintained in the face of a bad year 
and a large additional area has now come into 
be.iriiig. lb is to be feared that most of the 
native coffee plantationsj, whicii were started 
when prices were high and have since been 
abandoned, are now too far gone to l e capable of 
resuscitation. Planters have paid much attention 
to rubber, espeeiali> the Para variety {Hevea 
BraziUeyisis), of which a number of plants a|)- 
uroaeiiing one million were put out in 1899. The 
tree« have been in some places set out among 
the coffee, in others they are in plantations by 
tliemselves. The cultivation of the indigenous 
native rubber, Kambong Ficiis elastica, has al.so 
received attention. When tiie prospects of 
Liberian coffee were at their worst, the cultiva- 
tion of coconuts was resorted to as an alterna- 
tive source of profitable planting. The industry 
has been steadily continued, both by Europeans 
and natives, and a reliable source of future pro- 
fit thus brought into existence. The single 
estate upon which ramie has been grown is still 
in the experimental ?!tatre. The questions remain- 
ing for solution relate more to the nature of 
the maehineiy and the cost of preparation, than 
to the growth of the fibre. The proprietors are 
well satisfied so far as they have gone, and pro- 
pose to further extend their operations in the 
near future. 
As stated in an earlier paragraph, the European 
Planters have been striving against adverse 
market rates, as to whicii a measure of relief 
came only with the end of the year. That all 
should have persevered in the faceof on apparently 
hopeless outlook reflects great credit upon our 
pioprietors, and tliough it would perhaps be 
premature yet to predict that better time-s are 
ill store for coffee, it is satisfactory to know 
t'.iat the uitticulties which have had to be faced 
have created and fostered economical methods of 
woikiiig wliich will be of value to the estate 
owners for all time. Nor will the hardships 
which have been experienced be devoid ©f benefit 
if they have the effect of impressing upon thepro^ 
