238 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[August* 
hirn out of the stall, in one night’s time, have him 
so that he won’t pull the hat off of your head. 
We teach how to tell, by looking at a horse, 
whether there is any thing the matter with his 
head, neck, or lungs. How to cover up the heaves 
so effectually that you may work, ride or run 
him, and they can not be detected ; this will last 
from 12 to 24 hours—long enough to trade him 
off We teach how to put a young countenance 
on a horse. We teach how to break a horse 
from sucking wind. We teach how to nerve a 
horse, so that he will walk on the hardest road 
or pavement, and not limp, in 20 minutes’ time. 
We also teach several other tricks, such as learn¬ 
ing a horse how to answer questions, &c., &c.” 
Supposing this were not all humbug, the man 
svho would impart such knowledge to a miscel¬ 
laneous class, for money, is worthy to occupy a 
high position on the list of convicted felons, and 
is in a fair way to attain it. Give all such impos¬ 
tors a wide berth. Two or three dollars invest¬ 
ed in reliable works on the horse, will be of more 
value than all these mountebanks can impart. 
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To Make a Cow give down her Milk. 
A subscriber complains that he has a fine cow, 
which has twelve quarts of milk to spare at each 
milking, yet she will not let him have any until 
her calf has had his supply. He wants to know 
the reason of this. He strongly suspects there 
is something in his looks, his hat, dress, or mor¬ 
al habits, or his way of milking, which has so set 
his dumb beast against him. He is in great trib¬ 
ulation. Fie, fie, Sir! just try milking one teat 
at a time, as the calf does, and see if that 
won’t make her give down. We have known 
this to answer the purpose, many a time. If 
that wont do, along with it try the practice of 
giving her some favorite food, just to divert her 
attention when you begin to milk. 
Sheep Husbandry.III. 
CHANGE OF PASTURE. 
The old proverb that “ a change of pasture 
makes a fat sheep,” needs to be received with 
Borne qualification, perhaps, yet if the pastures 
are good, there can be no doubt of its advantage. 
Sheep are even more fond of variety of food 
than the horse or the cow, and unless they have 
a very wide range with a considerable variety of 
soil, they should be occasionally changed from 
one pasture to another. Even if the new pas¬ 
ture has some weeds and brush, it will not be ob¬ 
jected to. Many plants that the cow will not 
touch, are greedily cropped by the sheep. The 
daisy and white weed which flourish upon hill 
pastures, are highly relished and where these 
weeds abound, they may be subdued by close feed¬ 
ing with sheep. They should be turned in early 
,n the Spring, while the plants are tender, where 
you wish to eradicate them. Dock, milkweed, 
vervain, and many other troublesome weeds may 
be subdued by sheep. This incidental benefit is 
not to be lost sight of. The natural instincts of 
the sheep lead them to prefer elevated land, and 
by this kind of stock rocky hill pastures, remote 
from home, may be turned to good account. 
Care, however, should be taken to eradicate 
laurel and other poisonous shrubs from the 
pastures. Both the high and the low laurel yield 
one ol the deadliest poisons, and flocks that 
have access to these shrubs are often injured 
or killed. The wild cherry is also injurious, but 
is less dangerous, as its limbs are generally above 
their reach. In case of poisoning, a strong de¬ 
coction of white ash buds or twigs, will afford re¬ 
lief, if seasonably administered. A teacupful of 
the tea may be given to each animal. 
Separation of the flock .—The rams should be 
separated from the rest of the flock at shearing, 
or at least by mid-summer. It is safest to do 
this at the earlier period, for some sheep which 
have had no lambs, or lost them at yeaning time, 
may be in season even in June. This is partic¬ 
ularly necessary with the fine wooled sheep. 
The long wools do not usually come into season 
until cool weather. Lambs dropped through the 
Winter, are a great tax upon the time and pa¬ 
tience of the farmer. They are like winter chick¬ 
ens, requiring a great deal of nursing, and seldom 
paying for the care bestowed upon them. The 
better way is to regulate the yeaning of your 
flock by your own precaution. As a rule, the 
lambs should not begin to come until the Spring 
has fairly opened, and the whole flock should be 
through with yeaning in the course of a month. 
This will bring the proper time for coupling in 
this latitude as late as November. It is true 
that early Iambs, if they do well, are more sale¬ 
able, but it should be remembered that a much 
larger per cent of them die. 
The flock needs constant observation at this 
time, for, ordinarily, the sheep owner has not only 
to guard his own rams but those of his careless 
neighbors. A single visit of an inferior, coarse 
wooled ram might damage the increase of the 
flock to a large amount. 
The lambs also should be separated from their 
mothers about the first of August, to give the ewes 
time to recruit for Winter. If they be put in lots 
so far apart that they can not hear each other’s 
bleating, they will very soon become quiet. The 
lambs can be put in with the yearling ewes, for, 
if you do not wish the yearlings to bear lambs at 
two years old, they also should be separated from 
the rest of the flock. The more common prac¬ 
tice is to let them bear the second season, but 
we think the size and stamina of the sheep are 
depreciated by the practice. To get the best re¬ 
sults in wool and flesh, and to keep the flock con¬ 
stantly improving, many think the better way is, 
not to let them bear lambs until their third 
season. Of course, if one is looking at immedi¬ 
ate results, and makes his market for the surplus 
of his flock with the butcher, rather than with the 
breeder, this will not pay. 
The ewes, when separated from their lambs, 
should be kept in short pasture until the milk is 
dried up. About a week after they are turned 
off, they should be examined to see that their 
udders are not caked. It is a good plan to strip 
the milk ftom all. This will guard against ob¬ 
structions at the next lambing season. After 
they are dried off, they should be turned into 
good feed, and be allowed to restore the flesh 
which has been reduced in raising their lambs. 
The lambs also should have fresh, tender pasture, 
that they may not fall away after they are 
weaned. In Summer, as in Winter, the whole 
flock should have full feed, and the profits on 
mutton and wool will be found to hinge mainly 
upon this fact. 
Fall Management .—It is almost the universal 
practice in this country to let sheep run in the 
pastures until they are covered with snow, and 
necessity compels them to the dry hay. The 
change from grass to hay in this sudden way is 
always accompanied with loss. Indeed the loss 
begins some time before the change, when the 
frosts turn the grass, and it loses its sweetness. 
The feed depreciates in quantity as well as in 
quality, and it is thought the flocks are doing well 
enough as long as there is a blade of grass to be 
seen. The wool in some measure conceals the 
condition of the flesh, and the loss is not detected 
so soon as in the horse or ox. But it very soon 
appears after they enter winter quarters. This 
neglect is very bad husbandry, for it uses up the 
gain which the sheep have made upon the flush 
feed of Summer, and brings them to the yard with 
decreased stamina. 
As soon as the fall frosts and storms begin to 
come on, sheep should be provided with shelter, 
sheds or hovels to which they may resort at 
pleasure. These shelters are a good provision 
in a sheep pasture at all times, and should be put 
up as a permanent arrangement. They become 
indispensable in the long cold storms of Autumn, 
when the sheep are liable to have their fleeces 
saturated with rain and to contract disease. 
This system of shelter in stormy weather is rig¬ 
idly followed in Europe, and is considered a ne¬ 
cessity of good management. While every good 
shepherd is opposed to their confinement, he 
wishes to have shelter at hand where the sheep 
can reach it when their instinct prompts them to 
seek it. Many of the diseases of sheep—as rot, 
scab, dysentery, colds, etc , are mainly owing to 
the neglect of this precaution. 
The sheds, too, render feeding much more 
convenient. As soon as the grass begins to fail, 
and they can not get a good bite, they should 
have a little clean, sweet hay fed to them daily, 
or what is better, sliced turnips in such quantity 
as they will eat up clean. The root crops are 
matters of great importance in connection with 
sheep husbandry. A very largo part of the mut¬ 
ton of the British Islands is made of roots. With 
these the flock can be passed over from the short 
pasture of Autumn to the dry hay of Winter, 
without loss of appetite, and be kept constantly 
gaining. They give the farmer the means of 
changing food at pleasure, and furnish a full sup¬ 
ply of succulent fodder when it is most needed. 
With suitable shelter and food at this period, the 
flocks will enter upon the Winter in thriving 
condition, and will show the advantage of the 
care bestowed upon them in heavier fleeces and 
carcasses, if they are fed for market, and in 
larger and healthier lambs, if they are kept for 
breeding. 
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Sheep—Description of Breeds. 
We commend the following description of the 
characteristics of several leading breeds of sheep, 
to the attention of the general reader, and espec¬ 
ially to those who may be called upon to act as 
judges at our various Agricultural Exhibitions. 
If some member of each Committee on Sheep 
will carry with him these notes, and refer to them 
in deciding upon the animals worthy of prizes, 
there will be less occasion for the usual com¬ 
plaint that premiums are awarded to the largest, 
fattest animals, without regard to good points. 
The descriptions we take from the Prize Report 
of Robert Smith upon the Live Stock exhibited 
at the Warwick Show of the Royal Agricultural 
Society of England. 
LEICESTER SHEEP. 
The leading qualities of the Leicesters are ear¬ 
ly maturity, lightness of offal, aptitude to fatten, 
and small consumption of food ; producing con¬ 
sequently a larger amount of mutton per acre 
than any other breed. As improvers of other 
breeds they are invaluable ; indeed, there are but 
few (if any) long-wooled sheep that do not owe 
something to the Leicester... .The real essen¬ 
tials, as combined in a good Leicester, are :— 
Head well set on, wide across the forehead, but 
not too short; fine bold eye ; neck very muscu- 
