ITEMS.-WESTERN CALENDAR FOR APRIL. 
125 
Merino bucks to cross with those flocks, than to have 
disposed of them as they have been disposed of. 
Depend on it those sheep will be missed during the 
coming season. The wool business is destined to 
increase in this country at a rapid rate, and to an 
enormous extent. The demand for wool, here and 
abroad, will be second only to the demand for cotton 
as regards the number of pounds, and I hesitate not 
to say that in value, in dollars and cents, the wool 
crop will, ere many years, surpass the cotton crop. 
All things considered, we can raise wool in this coun¬ 
try, and put it into our own and foreign markets, 
cheaper than it can be done by any other people on 
the face of the earth; and other nations must and 
will have it of us, because they cannot afford to raise 
it on their high priced lands as cheaply as we can on 
our Western prairies. If they will not take it of us, 
they must be content to be driven out of every mar¬ 
ket by the superior cheapness of our own manufac¬ 
tured article. Nay, our opinion is, that it will not 
be long ere we shall see some of those far-famed 
Saxony flocks turning their noses westward, to join 
their brethren already there. We can raise wool on our 
rairies at prices which even we ourselves at present 
ardly dream of. A finer soil, a sweeter feed, and a 
better air for them cannot be found; and raising wool 
there is, at present, and for years will be, the best 
business the farmer can follow. We have already 
gone at it; let us keep at it, and hear no more of 
slaughtering sheep for their pelts and tallow. T. 
Penning Hogs.—Corn and Cob Meal.—Ma¬ 
nure.—Growing Turnips.' —A valued correspond¬ 
ent thus writes us from Silver Bluff, South Carolina: 
I have a large stock of hogs with which I have 
not heretofore taken more pains than was barely ne¬ 
cessary to raise my own meat. I am now preparing 
to pen all of them, since I find that the same amount 
of ground corn and cob-meal fed to them in their 
range, will enable me to keep them fat in pens. This 
I have proved on trial. Penned, they make a vast 
quantity of manure, which is valuable for crops of all 
kinds grown here. I have never been able to grow 
turnips. 1 feel the want of them for my hogs at this 
season, and think with the aid of bone-dust and a 
little more pains, that I can produce them.” 
We have answered all our correspondent’s inquiries 
by letter, and hope to get a bone mill and all other 
things at a reasonable rate. We are glad to see him 
so judicious in his improvements. 
To Make Whale-Oil Soap for Washing Fruit 
Trees. —Take 18 lbs. potash and 30 lbs. of foot oil 
and put in a barrel. Every other day pour upon the 
mixture 12 quarts boiling water, stirring it every day 
for a few minutes. When the barrel is filled up with 
Water the soap will be fit for use. Now put about 
4 gallons of soap into a hogshead of 150 gallons of 
water, and apply the suds to the trees by aid of the 
garden engine. This application is one of the best 
destroyers of insects known, and at the same time it 
is an excellent stimulant to the growth of all vege¬ 
tation. 
To Kill Crows.— Steep a quantity of corn in 
arsenic, and place it in different parts of the planted 
field. Crows and blackbirds will eat it with avidity, 
which soon causes their death. 
WESTERN CALENDAR FOR APRIL. 
This is the busy month of the year. The residue 
of the corn crop should be planted as early in the 
month as practicable. Hemp may be sown through¬ 
out this month, but it would be better to complete the 
operation by the twentieth. If the sowing were com¬ 
menced the middle of March, and finished by the 20th 
of April, it would be in good time There would 
then be near four weeks from the ripening of the fruit 
and last sowing, thus allowing full time for cutting. 
It must be observed that early sowed hemp will not 
ripen in as shorf a time as that which is sowed later; 
and, therefore, there must intervene a longer time be¬ 
tween the first and last sowing, than between the 
time of commencing and finishing cutting. Hemp 
should be cut as soon as possible after it begins to 
ripen, as! it injures by standing only a few days, after 
it is fully ripe, which may be known by the male 
plants beginning to die. Hemp for seed should be 
planted early in this month. It requires very rich 
ground to make it produce well. That which has 
been manured answers best. It should be finely pul¬ 
verized! by plowing and harrowing. If plowed the 
preceding fall, so as to have the benefit of the winter 
freezing, it will be the better prepared. 
Plant sweet potatoes about the 20th of this month, 
having previously sprouted them in a hot-bed, made 
with stable manure. Gardening generally should be 
attended to early in this month; but beans should not 
be planted before the fifteenth, in latitude 39°, unless 
you are prepared to protect them from frost, by cover¬ 
ing them with boards. In that case they may be 
planted early in the month. If the thermometer (Fa- 
renheit) falls to 45° by 9 o’clock at night, the beans 
should be covered, as experience proves that they 
will generally be injured by frost, when the thermo¬ 
meter ranges below forty-five, at the hour mentioned. 
Barley may also be sowed early in this month. 
Spring wheat (if any should be cultivated) should be 
sowed early in March, or late in February, if the 
ground is in suitable condition. 
The crop being now pitched, most of the spring work 
done up, and a little leisure afforded, the sheep should 
be washed, late in the month, and sheared. Lambs 
should come in April, especially of the Merino breed, 
which are not sufficiently hardy to bear the cold 
winds and frosty weather of March. Besides, the 
ewes will now have good pasture, and will nurse their 
lambs so well that scarcely any of them will be lost. 
Sows may lifter in this and the previous month. It 
is best that pigs should not come too much together, 
unless you have separate lots for the sows. The 
garden should be put in complete order, the walks 
dressed, and every part of it cleared of weeds, prepa¬ 
ratory to working the corn. If this should have been 
planted as early as the 25th of March (early planting 
generally succeeds best, as not being so liable to be 
injured by drought), it will require plowing, during this 
month, and the plows should be kept running, while 
the sheep are being sheared, and the garden put in 
order. The corn should have at least one plowing 
before the hoes need to follow. It would be better to 
run first a single furrow, opposite to the way it was 
planted, then two furrows, with the bar next to the 
corn, when the hoes should follow. Let the mid¬ 
dles fie split a few days after. A. Beatty. 
Prospect Billy Ku. 
