56 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
and the time fixed for feeding should be about 
sundown, after which they can retire to the 
shelters, should the weather require it. At 
this time, a little hay should also be given 
early in the morning, which may be pursued 
until circumstances demand a change wholly 
to fodder. 
About the middle of December, or before, 
let the feed be somewhat changed, by mix¬ 
ing with the oats a portion of pea-meal or 
wheat shorts ; at all events, let it be meal 
of some kind which they may fancy, for in 
order to induce them to eat potatoes it will 
be necessary to cut them into delicate pieces 
and sprinkle the meal well over them. If 
sheep are wholly unaccustomed to potatoes 
their aversion to them will not be overcome 
without the adoption of this course. Beets 
and rut-baga may be substituted for the po¬ 
tatoes ; but the reader has been informed 
that they are better adapted to the purpose 
of the sheep-fattener. If it is our wish to 
grow wool and not fat mutton, it will be wise 
in us to use those means which will afford the 
argest returns. Half a bushel of potatoes 
given at intervals of twice a week will be the 
right quantity, which it will be well to con¬ 
tinue to sprinkle with meal, as well as with 
a small quantity of salt. On other days the 
pea-meal and oats may be fed. 
The hay given them should be of fine 
stalk, andof the choicest quality ; but in its 
place may be substituted once or twice a 
week, for a single foddering, oat or barley 
straw. If the lambs are thus provided 
through the winter, and have the benefit of 
warm shelters, their size at shearing time 
will equal the majority of two-year olds, 
whose treatment has been only ordinary. 
Remarks. —The foregoing from Morrel is 
timely and should be attended to by every 
farmer. We, however, will venture to add 
the result of our own experience on the same 
subject. If you wish to keep your lambs in 
good health and condition, get some of the 
large round oil cakes, the larger the cakes 
the better, though they are generally of 
about twenty-five to forty pounds weight 
each. Take a slab or plank and put short 
legs into it say a foot long. Bore an inch 
hole through the cake and plank and put in 
a good strong pin, and place it under the 
sheds where the lambs run. About ten 
such cakes to a flock will do very well. If 
the lambs do not begin to lick them within a 
day or two, put a little salt on, it will not be 
long before you will find them at the cajte, 
and they will work at it until it is all con¬ 
sumed. They can not get oft' enough to in¬ 
jure them, but they will get enough to make 
a manifest improvement m their condition. 
The cakes must be renewed, of course when 
used up.—Wool Grower. 
Buckwheat Cakes. —Buckwheat cakes ! 
One buckwheat cake “ differeth from another 
in glory,” yet not one in a thousand is made 
right. Yet of all things it is the easiest to 
cook, if the meal is made rightly. To every 
three bushels of buckwheat, add one of good 
heavy oats ; grind them together as if there 
was only buckwheat; thus will you have 
cakes always light and always brown, to say 
nothing of the greater digestibility, and the 
lightening of spirits, which are equally cer¬ 
tain. He who feeds on buckwheat may be 
grum and lethargic, while he of the oatmeal 
will have exhileration of brain and content¬ 
ment of spirit. 
CLAY FOR LIGHT LAND. 
At a late agricultural discussion in Eng¬ 
land, Mr. H. S. Thompson said : “ For the 
last fifteen years he had farmed some land 
which was bought for £& 10s. an acre, and 
was let for about half-a-crown an acre for 
many years afterwards. That land is now 
let at 50s. an acre, and was as good arable 
land as any in his neighborhood. When let 
at the low rent it was a blowing sand, but 
by a course of improvement it was now 
capable of producing five quarters of wheat 
per acre. There was no royal road to farm¬ 
ing ; and, if they wanted to get their land 
into a really first-rate state of productive¬ 
ness, it must be by patient steps of improve¬ 
ment carried over a considerable number of 
years. Some people thought it was mad¬ 
ness in him to put 100 loads of clay per acre 
on to his light land ; but he was of opinion 
that every load of clay he put on had been 
extremely well laid out. He had lately vis¬ 
ited one of the best Norfolk farmers, who had 
told him it had been the custom there to put 
on the light land thirty or forty loads of clay 
per acre, and to repeat that about every 
twelve years. The land had, in consequence 
so altered in quality that it was almost im¬ 
possible to recognize it again. This farmer 
was a great Protectionist a few years ago, 
and he said he would not care for free trade 
if he could grow what he liked on his land. 
By the means to which he had alluded, blow¬ 
ing sandy soils have been converted into 
fertile land, and he believed much more 
might be done in this country than had ever 
yet been attempted. They might cart their 
clay or marl in winter, or at other times 
when their men and horses had little to do. 
It was a permanent improvement if they put 
clay on sand when pretty level; and it was 
one which tenant-farmers might introduce 
with advantage. He believed that if they 
set to work with their land to put clay or 
marl on the light land, and sand on the clay 
land, or burnt or deepened it, combined with 
a thorough exposure to the atmosphere, 
after a few years they might bring such land 
into a more productive state.” 
A Profitable Crop. —Mr. Sidney H. 
Owens, who purchased Winchester’s Island, 
containing 80 acres, for $6,000, a few 
months, ago, has realized half that sum from 
his crop of broom corn this season. Mr. O. 
had sixty acres under cultivation from which 
he realized 40,000 pounds of broom straw, 
and sold it at prices varying from $7.50 to 
$10 per hundred—averaging full $8, which 
makes the gross sum of $3,200. In addition 
to this he has gathered about three thou¬ 
sand bushels of seed, worth 25 cents per 
bushel, or $750 for the lot, which makes 
almost $4,000 for the produce of only sixty 
acres, and expense of cultivation was about 
$1,000 which leaves $3,000 net.-Fredericks- 
burgh (Va.) Herald. 
REGULARITY IN FEEDING CATTLE. 
Stephens, in his “Book of the Faim,” 
gives the following illustration of the neces¬ 
sity of regularity and method of agricultural 
duties: 
In thus minutely detailing the duties of the 
cattle-man, my object has been to show you 
rather how the turnips and fodder should be 
distributed relatively than absolutely; but 
whatever hour and minute the cattle-man 
finds, from his experience, he can devote to 
each portion of his work, you should see 
that he performs the same operation at the 
same time every day. By paying strict atten¬ 
tion to time, the cattle will be ready for and 
expect their wonted meals at the appointed 
times, and will not complain until they ar¬ 
rive. Complaints from his stock should be 
distressing to every farmer’s ears, for he 
maybe assured they will not complain until 
they feel hunger, and if allowed to hunger 
they will not only lose condition, but render 
themselves, by discontent, less capable of 
acquiring it when the food happens to be 
fully given. Wherever you hear lowings 
from cattle, you may safely conclude that 
matters are conducted there in an irregular 
manner. The cattle-man’s rule is a simple 
one, and easily remembered— Give food and 
fodder to cattle at fixed times , and dispense 
them in a fixed routine. I had a striking in¬ 
stance of the bad effects of irregular atten¬ 
tion to cattle. An old staid laborer was ap¬ 
pointed to take charge of cattle, and was 
quite able and willing to undertake the task. 
He got his own way at first, as I had ob¬ 
served many laboring men display great 
ingenuity in arranging their work. Lowings 
were soon heard from the stock in all quar¬ 
ters, both in and out of doors, which inti¬ 
mated the want of regularity in the cattle¬ 
man ; while the poor creature himself was 
constantly in a state of bustle and uneasiness. 
To put an end to this disorderly state of 
things, I apportioned his entire day’s work by 
his own watch; and on implicitly follow¬ 
ing the plan he not only satisfied the wants 
of every animal committed to his charge, 
but had abundant leisure to lend a hand to 
anything that required his temporary as¬ 
sistance. His old heart overflowed with 
gratitude when he found the way of making 
all his creatures happy, and his kindness to 
them was so undeviating, they would have 
done whatever he liked. 
Time of Putting up Hogs to Fatten.— 
The best time to commence fattening your 
hogs, will necessarily depend upon your 
supply of mast in your woods—if your hogs 
be there. While they find enough in the 
woods to keep them in good thriving condi¬ 
tion, the hogs may be permitted to remain 
there. But we desire to impress the fact 
upon your consideration ; hogs take on fat 
much better in weather moderately warm 
than they do when it is cold ; that in cold 
weather much food is required to keep up 
the heat of their bodies, hence, that all ab¬ 
stracted for this purpose is a tax upon flesh 
and fat. # 
All countries are a wise man’s home. 
