1876 .] 
379 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
proves that breeding ewes brought here from 
Northern States do not seem to do well, or give 
satisfactory returns either in increase or wool for 
the first season. A flock of well selected Mexican 
ewes, from one to three years old, will cost, de¬ 
livered at San Antonio, one dollar and seventy-five 
cents per head. A mixed lot of all ages can be 
bought for §1.40 to §1.50. These selected ewes 
will give from 80 to 90 per cent increase, as they 
are good breeders and nurse well. They will give 
from two and three quarters to three pounds of 
wool after the first clip, or after being here one 
year. If they are brought late in the summer from 
the Rio Grande, they will not give over two pounds 
of wool the next spring, as they will lose most of 
the summer’s growth by driving through the 
chaparal on their way up. If purchased after 
October 1st, they will be shorn of their summer 
fleece, as the custom in Mexico and southwestern 
Texas is to shear their sheep in March and October, 
but fall shearing is discarded now by most of the 
flock masters around San Antonio. A safe estimate 
of cost for one flock, or 1,500 head, taking ac a 
basis Mexican ewes, will be about as follows: 
1.500 selected Mexican ewes, @ §1.75.§2,625.00 
30 head good rams, South-Down or Merino, 
@$10. 1,200.00 
One good Mexican shepherd, §12.50 per month.. 150.00 
Supplies for shepherd, §7.50 per month. 00.00 
Extra hand during lambing time. 25.00 
Shearing and sacking 1,500 fleeces, @61. 93.75 
Salt and Sundries. 100.00 
Total.$4,283.75 
This will cover all outlay for the flock for one 
year, except the corrals, and there is such a wide 
range of expense in this item, that it can only be 
properly estimated on a knowledge of the proposed 
future operations. The expense of a corral would 
be about §600, all complete, and is ample for from 
three to five thousand sheep. As to the grazing 
lands—there are plenty of locations to be rented 
for a term of years at a cost that would not be 
more than the taxes on the land. The estimate for 
shearing and sacking is full. My Mexican shearers 
worked for three cents per head this spring, and I 
furnished them rations. After keeping the sheep 
here one year, if they have been well selected, they 
will give full three pounds per head, and the half- 
blood yearlings will shear full as much as the 
original flock, and the wool of course of a much 
better grade for market. Mexican wool, unwash¬ 
ed, in the San Antonio market, sold this year at 
from 13 to 15 cents per pound. 
A beginner should have his arrangements so 
as to carry on his operation—the purchase of orig¬ 
inal flock and the payment of all expenses for the 
first year’s business without using the income from 
his first crop of wool. This should be left to go 
toward payment of the second year’s expenses, and 
he can then calculate on meeting all his necessary 
expenses connected with his flocks from the pro¬ 
ceeds of wool. After the third year he will have 
an annually increasing surplus of income over ex¬ 
penses from wool alone, leaving the increase of the 
flock to be the main basis of profit. 
% 
Fifteen hundred head is considered about the 
average number for one shepherd to take care of 
here, with help for one month in lambing time. I 
would prefer to have lambs come from October to 
December, so as to have all docking and trimming 
done in January, and have the lambs out of the 
way at shearing time. The grass in the winter 
months is fresher than in the summer, but the 
principal reason is, that during the summer months 
it is almost impossible to either dock or castrate 
lambs in this climate, as the screw worm is one of 
the most troublesome and fatal of all pests, and 
this will apply to cattle and horse stock as well as 
sheep. Sheep here have an abundance of grass the 
year round. The enforcement of our State Law 
in regard to cutaneous diseases will effectually pre¬ 
vent the spread of scab, and with ordinary care it 
is easily eradicated from the flock by the use of 
tobacco and sulphur. 
The annual expense of keeping sheep in this 
country need not exceed thirty-three cents per 
head—after corrals and pens are once established. 
Eighty per cent increase and five per cent per an¬ 
num loss in all flocks from one year old up to six 
years old is a safe calculation to make ; from six 
jears old the estimate for loss should be doubled. 
As to the best cross to make upon the Mexican 
ewe, there is a variety of opinions. Most flock 
masters prefer the Merino. My own views are in 
favor of the South-Down as first, and Merino on 
the produce of this first cross. Any inquiry not 
already satisfactorily answered, I will take pleasure 
in answering by mail upon application by letter. 
•-*•-« - - *•-«- - - 
A Self-Feeding Corn Crib. 
In parts of the West, where the chief use of corn 
is to feet} it to stock in the open field, a crib may 
be used that will not only store the corn, but will 
supply it to the stock as they may need it, without 
any further handling, than merely filling the crib. 
Corn being very cheap, and labor dear, it is an ob¬ 
ject to save labor at the expense of the corn. But 
as hogs are always kept along with cattle under 
such circumstances, no corn is lost; what is drop¬ 
ped by the cattle, is picked up by the hogs. The 
crib may be made of logs or plank, but should be 
built strongly. It is of the ordinary form, but open 
at the bottom, where it is surrounded by a pen, 
reaching a foot above the open bottom. The pen 
is larger than the crib, so as to give room for the 
stock to reach the com, and is of a convenient 
hight, or about 30 inches to 3 feet. The pen is 
planked over about a foot below the bottom of the 
crib, and if the space below is filled with earth, it 
will enable the building better to resist, when it is 
empty, the heavy winds of the prairie. The en¬ 
graving on the next page shows the form of one of 
these feeding cribs, which may be made of any 
suitable size, or of any convenient material. 
■-—-- 
A Cool Cellar with a Weil. 
The space above an ordinary well is not only lost, 
but frequently gives opportunities for the admis¬ 
sion of vermin or of surface water, with whatever 
impurities may be contained in it. There is no ne¬ 
cessity that a well should be open to the air, on the 
contrary, the more closely the water is confined, 
the better it is. The best of all wells are the driven 
wells, which are simply enlargements of the under¬ 
ground water-channels, having no connection with 
the surface, except through the pump tube. In 
some places it is a common practice to use the up¬ 
per part of an ordinary well as a milk cellar, having 
steps to go down into it, and shelves upon which to 
place the milk pans. This is a dangerous and un¬ 
cleanly practice. A correspondent from Pennsyl¬ 
vania, who has come into possession of a farm hav¬ 
ing a well so arranged, asks how to improve it at 
the least cost. As we know of several such cases, 
we have prepared the engraving on page 380 to 
show a plan for their improvement. The well 
should be arched over solidly with brick or stone, 
and cemented upon the top. It may then be cov¬ 
ered with earth, leaving a space at one side for the 
pump tube to go down. The excavation may then 
be enlarged, and the walls bricked or stoned up, 
making a cellar. The floor may be cemented or 
bricked. A low shed may be built over the cellar, 
as a roof, or a complete building having a floor may 
be erected, and serve for a store-room, or an outer 
kitchen in which the pump is situated. In this 
case a doorway into the cellar and steps leading 
down are made. The well will then be cut off from 
the surface, and the space above it properly utilized. 
Except in cases where, as sometimes happens, 
quick-sand works into the well and gradually fills 
it, requiring an occasional removal, the lower part 
may be covered as here recommended. 
Value of Leaves as Litter.— The very com¬ 
plete and thorough investigations of German chem¬ 
ists at the Experiment Stations, into the composi¬ 
tion of forest leaves, have given as one result the 
knowledge of the value of leaves as litter to be used 
finally as manure. The following table of the con¬ 
stituents of beech and pine leaves, is taken from 
some published reports of investigations made in 
Bavaria. For comparison we add to it the quantity 
of the several matters contained in a ton of wheat 
straw, from which it will be seen that while beech 
leaves are at least worth as much as straw, pine 
leaves are not much inferior in value to it. 
i 
Annual Produce of an Acre of Forest, in pounds, and its i 
Composition compared with that of a ton of Wheat Straw. '■ 
Dry 
’.alter 
g 
Beech leaves. 
Pine leaves. 
2,972 
2,842 
2,683 
165.5 
41.5 
121.3 
Spruce leaves. 
Wheat stmw. 
2,000 
85.2 
| Potash 
Lime. 
Phos¬ 
phoric 
Acid. 
o . 
a. 
8.81 
73.08 
10.90 
9.32 
3.23 
4.32 
16.84 
4.28 
3.28 
1.51 
4.30 
54.37 
6.20 
5.72 
1.87 
U.8U 
5.20 
2.20 
4.60 
2.41 
-- 
Farming Without Stable Manure or Stock 
We have previously referred to the successful 
farming of Mr. Prout, an English farmer. His sys¬ 
tem is to grow continuous crops of grain, roots, and 
clover, entirely by the use of artificial fertilizers. 
He keeps no stock except the work horses, and the 
crops are sold upon the fields when ready for har¬ 
vest, the purchasers harvesting and carrying them 
away. This exceptional manner of farming is made 
profitable by Mr. Prout, and some of the crops sold 
this season are the eleventh iu succession upon the 
same fields. Although the season has been re¬ 
markably unfavorable, the yield and prices of the 
crops were satisfactory. Barley was sold at an 
average price of §40 per acre, the purchaser to cut 
and carry it away. The wheat crop brought from 
§43 to over §54 per acre. Oats realized §33 for a 
crop damaged by wet weather, up to §48 per acre 
for those iu better condition. For 11 acres of man¬ 
gels §117 per acre was bid, and §115 for 8 acres, but 
they were not sold. As these last prices were the 
values in the ground, unharvested, the [root crops 
seem to be more profitable under this system, than 
even the grain crops. 
The Good Points in Light Brahmas. —Of the 
four leading varieties of Asiatic fowls, the Light 
and Dark Brahmas, the Bull and Partridge Cochins, 
the Light Brahma is unquestionably the most popu¬ 
lar. We see this not only in the poultry yards of 
the villagers and farmers, but at the Agricultural 
Fairs and Poultry Shows. The most numerous 
coops, and the largest birds, are always to be found 
among the Light Brahmas. The American passion 
for great things is gratified by the size of these 
birds. Cocks weighing 14 to 15 lbs. are not uncom¬ 
mon, and, in exceptional cases, they have reached 
16 and 17 lbs. Cockerels weighing 13 and 13 lbs. 
are shown every season. Ten lb. pullets are brought 
out frequently, and 13 lb. hens flourish in every ex¬ 
hibition. We have found all these varieties fair 
layers of large eggs. The Light Brahmas are 
hearty feeders, and grow quite rapidly. The chick¬ 
ens make early broilers, and the pullets lay well 
through the first season. They make very hand¬ 
some yellow-skinued poultry, and the flesh is of 
good quality and sells well in the markets. 
- —- 
Fall Weeds. —Spring weeds stand a chauee of be¬ 
ing eradicated. There is the planting, and the culti¬ 
vating, and hoeing, which leave the fields so clean 
at the commencement of the hay season, that hard¬ 
ly a weed is in sight. The peril begins just there. 
Weeds grow apace among the shading corn and 
potatoes, and long before harvest many plants ma¬ 
ture and scatter their pestilent crop. There is 
nothing a farmer pays dearer for than the rest that 
allows them to thrive. These seeds will be right in 
the way of cultivation the next season, and for 
years to come. They injure the succeeding hoed 
crops, and the grain and grass crops. It is a nui¬ 
sance to leave charlock amid oats or barley, and a 
fraud to sell grain with foul seed in it. It is a nui¬ 
sance to have to pull dock out of your winrows of 
hay, and something worse to sell hay with dock in 
it. Few farmers are awake to the economy and 
honesty of absolutely clean fields. We want to keep 
up the good fight in the fall months.—It will pay. 
