134 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE ANB GOT!AGE GARDENER. 
[ August 7 1884. 
SEASONABLE HINTS ON SHEEP MANAGEMENT. 
The separation of ewes and Iambs is an important event in flock 
management, marking the end of a twelvemonth’s work, bringing us 
face to face with results, and warning ns to prepare for another cycle 
wherein the work awaiting ns, though but very much a repetition of 
that done in the past, requires due consideration and such alterations 
and improvement as experience has shown to be necessary and possible. 
Three flocks must be passed in review—the ewes, the lambs, and the 
tegs. Taking them in the order mentioned we have first 
The Ewes.— Here we have to draft out the over-age ewes, and it 
is unwise to continue breeding after the teeth become broken or are 
falling ; a close scrutiny is therefore made of all full-mouthed ewes, 
and none are kept Avhose teeth are at all in a doubtful condition. As 
a matter of course all that have shown signs of debility or which 
proved bad motbeis at the time of lambing were then marked for 
drafting. Occasionally it is found that nothing will induce a ewe to 
suckle its lamb, or it requires much watchfulness and pains to induce 
it to do so. All such troublesome sheep should be discarded, as also 
should any in which the slightest tendency to protrusion of the uterus 
was perceptible during parturition. If breeding ewes have to be pur¬ 
chased for the enlargement or formation of a flock preference should 
be given to “four-tootl g,” which means ewes three years old having 
four of the permanent teeth fully developed, and which have already 
had one lamb, and are at the best age for breeding fine lambs. We 
never go to a fair for such sheep, but to the Michaelmas sales of 
outgoing tenants or sheep farms. 
Lambs. —These are usually grouped for drafting into three classes 
—the best, seconds, and culls. If the home farmer breeds largely it is 
customary to select the best for sale, forcing them on as fast as 
posdble, so as to bring them into the market fat and ready for the 
butcher. It has been shown by careful computation that this may be 
done at a prime cost of Is. 2d. per week, or, including green food, 
shepherding, troughs, and hurdles a total of Is. 6rZ. per week, and for 
this outlay really fine well-bred Hampshire Down lambs improve at a 
money value of 2s. 6fh for the first six months. This statement of 
profit would probabl}^ be found somewhat beyond the mark this year. 
At a South Down fair in the last week of July we purcha>"ed a flock 
of excellent “seconds” for £1 7s. 6(7. apiece, and had the best lambs 
offered us at £1 18s. These prices are remarkable, showing as they 
do a decline of 6s. per head from last year’s rates. No doubt the reduc¬ 
tion was partly owing to the drought, and the subsequent showery 
weather may send up prices by the time this appears in print. The 
culls or weakly lambs are always saleable at prices proportionate to 
condition. 
Tegs. —Sbeep of a year old is literally the meaning of the term ; 
under it we include the killing flock of all ages from which the home 
farmer draws weekly supplies for home consumption. Under good 
management this flock should now contain enough sheep for the next 
ten or twelve months, but it must not be forgotten that the drafted 
ewes afford a valuable auxiliary supply of excellent mutton most 
economically used for home consumption, for the butebers will never 
give so much for old ewes as for tegs. Yet tbeir customers never by 
any chance hear of cheap mutton, the same high price being charged 
for all of it. By folding on grass the ewes are in condition for 
killing by winter. Care is taken to keep the carcases hanging long 
enough in the slaughter house to insure tenderness, and then the meat 
is of the daik co’our and high flavour so much valued by the connois¬ 
seur. '1 bis is a matter demanding personal attention, for if the 
carcases are handed over to a careless cook, say a day after the kill¬ 
ing, there will soon be complaints of tough mutton. Tegs may be 
purchased now, but they are sent to fair and market ripe for the 
butcher, and are proportionately high in price. Better would it be 
therefore to make up our quantity with ewes, of which there will now 
be plenty on sale till the end of September. This is only recom¬ 
mended upon emergency. It should be our aim to obtain enough 
lambs annually either by breeding or purchase to keep up the steady 
supply for killing without high feeding. We are now killing excel- 
b. iit two-year-old grass-fed sheep of an average weight of 70 lbs. 
that have had very little corner cake. We hope next week to tell 
why any was given them. 
(To be continued.) 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
Horse and Hand Labour .—During corn harvest horse and land 
labour is so generally combined as to be practically inseparable. Whea 
harvest began in Essex by the cutting of White Talevera Wheat at 
Malden on July 21st. On the same day at West Grinstead in Sussex 
there was a successful trial of a Hornsby’s light-draught string sheaf¬ 
binding reaper in a field of winter Oats, the work being done clean and 
well, an acre being cut and bound in an hour. For heary crops of 
Wheat a self-raking reaper, leaving the sheaves ready for tying, will pro¬ 
bably prove more generally useful. Wheat and spring Barley have also 
been cut in Kent, and with bright weather the harvest will soon be in 
full swing in all the southern counties. Wheat laid down by wind and 
heavy rain is liable to sprout, and must be w^atebed clofely, and not a 
day lost in cutting as soon as the milky period is past, squeezing a few 
grains being the test, and as soon as the milk-like juice ceases to exude 
from pressure the corn is ready for cutting. “ Cut early and thrash late ” 
is a safe maxim to follow with Wheat. In showery weather we prefer 
mowing Oats into swathe.®, turning the swathes once or twice, and carry¬ 
ing to the rick withont binding, our chief aim being to avoid excessive 
heating and subsequent mildew. Barley is a fine heavy crop, and it will 
be left uncut till the Wheat is secured, as it is all the better for being 
fully ripe before it is cut. Our silo has been filled twice with coar.-e 
herbage, cut and carried green from some poor pastures. It was put in 
in layers a foot thick, each layer being well trodden by the men. When 
so filled pressure at the rate of 130 lbs. per square foot w’as applied, and 
in two days the silage had sunk 4 feet. The pressure was then removed 
and it was again filled with grass, the same pressure applied, and it sank 
18 inches, which space will be filled later on. A peculiar and rather 
pungent odour is perceptible, but there has been no visible escape of 
vapour. 
Live Stock .—A gradual improvement is visible in the growth of 
grass, the recent heavy showers having rendered an abundance of green 
food a certainty during harvest. This will not be the case, however, 
upon poor grass land, and a daily supply of tares will prove highly 
beneficial to stock upon such land. The dairy cows are now living upon 
the sweet, fresh, succulent growth of the aftermath ; the butter is at its 
best both in colour and flavour, and potting for winter is being done 
twice every week. Care is taken to quite fill each jar or pot at once, 
and not gradually ; and, in working the butter for potting, to 22 lbs. of 
butter we add 16 ozs. of salt, a teaspoonful of saltpetre, a tablespoenful 
of best powdered white sugar. This excellent formula is highly recom¬ 
mended by Professor Sheldon in his great work on dairy farming. He. 
also commends a new agent for preserving butter, termed “ Glacialine,” 
claiming for it the merits of being tasteless, odourless, harmless, preserv¬ 
ing butter quite sweet for a much longer time than salt will, and entirely 
removing the bitter taste in winter butter. It is our practice to have a 
daily churning for the household supply with a box churn, and a bi¬ 
weekly big churning with the barrel churn. The second litters of pigs 
are healthy and unusually abundant. A litter of ten a month old now 
will prove useful for our home supply of porkers in autumn. The best 
of the early pigs were reserved for bacon. They are kept about thirty 
weeks from the birth, and weigh some 240 lbs., our object being the pro¬ 
duction of good sides of bacon and hams weighing 20 to 25 lb®. 
Bath and West of England Society. —At a Council Meeting held 
at Bristol on Tuesday, July 29th, Mr. Brown inquired if the Council were 
aware that there was a desire on the part of Bristol and the neighbour- 
hoid that the Society .should hold its annual meeting in that city in 
1886, and if such a proposal would be likely to be favourably received by 
the Council. Some discussion ensued, the general feeling elicited indi¬ 
cating that an invitation to hold the Show in that city would be very 
favourably entertained by the Council. Mr. G. Gibbons gave notice of 
motion to the effect that a sum of £100 be apportioned by the Society for 
the special encouragement of Dairy Husbandry. 
meteorological observations. 
Camden Square, London. 
Lat. 51° 32'40" N.; Long. 0° 8' 0" W.; Altitude, 111 feet. 
DATE. 
9 A.M. 
IN THE DAY. 
d 
d 
» 
1884. 
July 
and 
August. 
Barome¬ 
ter at 32« 
and Sea 
Level 
Hygrome¬ 
ter. 
a . 
O 
'Z d 
IS 
5o 
, c! 
o 
0)00 w 
Ph 
Shade Tem¬ 
perature. 
Radiation 
Temperature. 
Dry. 
Wet. 
Max. 
deg. 
63.3 
71.8 
68 7 
74.2 
7.5.7 
79.7 
81.6 
Min. 
In 
sun. 
On 
grass, 
deg. 
.51.8 
47.9 
54.4 
58.7 
48.8 
49.4 
51.6 
51.8 
Sunday.27 
Monday. 28 
Tuesday.29 
Wednesday .. 30 
Thursday .... 31 
Friday. 1 
Saturday .... 2 
Inche.s. 
20.817 
30.139 
30. h7 
30.217 
30.202 
30.110 
29.934 
deg. 
.57.2 
59.6 
6.5.0 
62.4 
6.S..5 
68.3 
73.8 
deg. 
65.1 
5.5.8 
62.0 
60.5 
62.0 
63.5 
66.0 
N.E. 
N. 
N.E. 
N.E. 
E. 
E. 
S.W. 
dea. 
59.0 
59.6 
60 2 
60.9 
61.0 
61.7 
62 3 
dec:. 
52.3 
52.3 
55 2 
60.3 
55.8 
65 9 
55.9 
dec. 
115.9 
12L6 
92.9 
102.5 
103.4 
107.4 
122.8 
In. 
0.191 
0.119 
0.003 
3U.0G8 
6.3.0 
60.7 
60.7 
74 3 
55.4 
109.5 
0.318 
REMARKS. 
27th.—Showery all day, at times heavy. 
2oth.—Fair day ; showery after 5 p.m. 
29th.—Dull all day. 
30th.—Very dull and oppressive. 
81st.—Rather brighter, hut very damp. 
August 1st.—Hazy morning, then fine and warm. 
2nd.—Brilliant and very fine daj'. 
Showery at the beginning of the week; fine and hot towards ts close.—G. J. STMOXS 
