338 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[Novembek, 
made by the sheep. Sheep are fattened fre¬ 
quently when the feeder receives in return bare¬ 
ly an equivalent for the fodder consumed. 
To some, it appears discouraging to tend a 
flock for six months, or more, and receive no 
remuneration for faithful services. The good 
feeder looks to the manure heap for his profit. 
He has given, perhaps, three or four hundred 
dollars worth of feed. The cost of the sheep 
and the feed, nearly equal their present value. 
Saving and applying judiciously all the 
manure that the flock is capable of making, 
the amount of the next crop of grain will be so 
much augmented by the manure, that a fair 
compensation will be realized for the care of 
the sheep. It will be difficult to make feeding 
mutton sheep pay, unless this plan of feeding 
coarse grain is adopted. If the manure is al¬ 
lowed to waste by evaporation, or to be carried 
away by rain, the most important source of 
profit is cut off, and feeding mutton sheep will 
be abandoned as unprofitable. Nevertheless, 
many of our most successful farmers find this 
branch of farm labor the most profitable man¬ 
ner of using the coarser products of the farm. 
After the sheep have been selected, arrange 
them in flocks of not over one hundred each, 
putting those nearly equal in size and strength 
together. Whenever ten, or more, small or 
weak sheep, rather thin in flesh, can be se¬ 
lected, confine them in a small enclosure where 
they can receive extra care, otherwise the 
stronger animals will rob them of their allow¬ 
ance; and instead of fattening, they lose flesh 
daily, early becoming “spring poor.” If no 
sheds have been provided and one has straw, 
let sides be made of two courses of rails, each 
course laid up like a straight fence, set two feet 
apart, and filled between and over head with 
straw. Sheep will endure intense cold if only 
kept dry and shielded from the winds. 
Next make straw-racks and grain-troughs. 
When straw is scattered on the ground, nearly 
one-third of it is soiled and rendered unfit 
for fodder. It is always better to feed a little 
hay and corn stalks daily, in addition to straw, 
than to confine a flock to only one kind of fod¬ 
der ; and they will eat more straw in a da}', 
when fed a few mouthfuls only of hay or corn¬ 
stalks, than when they receive straw only, 
and thqy will consume a much larger quantity 
of straw when fed one pound of grain with the 
straw. It cannot be expected that sheep will 
eat straw clean as if it were hay, even when it 
is bright. They will reject at least one-fourth, 
anff sometimes more than that. It is essential 
to provide suitable racks so that they can select 
the best portion of the straw. The remainder 
should be removed at every foddering. 
Grain should be fed regularly, at stated times, 
and every animal should receive not less than 
one pound daily, which may all be fed at once, 
thougli it is better to give half the amount at 
two different times during the day—say the first 
thing in the morning, and the last at evening. 
Unground Indian corn and barley may be fed, 
though it is better to grind any kind of grain, 
when it is not necessary to haul it a long dis¬ 
tance and allow too much for toll. The best feed 
for fattening sheep is equal quantities of Indian 
meal and oil meal. When unground grain is 
fed it will be good economy to soak it at least 
24 hours previous to feeding. The most conve¬ 
nient way of doing this is to provide two or 
three tubs, each capable of coi^aining one feed¬ 
ing. When a tub is emptied of grain, enough for 
another feeding is replaced. By this means 
none of the grain will be in the steep too long. 
In addition to the grain, every flock should 
have free access to pure water, without being 
compelled to obtain it at a distance. Roots are 
also conducive to the health of sheep, that are 
fed upon dry straw and grain. Apples are 
a good substitute for roots. Pine or hemlock 
boughs also will sometimes be eaten with great 
avidity, and tend to prevent the stretches. Free 
access to salt is another item that should not 
be neglected. If all these directions be care¬ 
fully observed, making mutton will furnish a 
paying employment for those farmers who are 
accustomed to do little or nothing in winter. 
To Husk Indian Corn Quickly. 
Husking Indian corn is an operation that re¬ 
quires not so much strength, as a nimble motion 
of the hands. It is a slow hard way to husk while 
standing, and to stoop down and pick up one 
ear at the time. Sitting in a chair is allowable 
only for the lame, and the laz}’-. The best posi¬ 
tion is the one that will bring a person nearest 
to his work. After the stook has been pulled 
down, a busker should drop on his knees, on 
that side of the stook, which will bring the right 
hand towards the huts. Then take a lapful, 
and settle back on his heels. A relief position, 
equally good, is sitting on a block, or bundle of 
straw, and extending the legs. Place the basket 
at the buts of the stook. It is desirable to keep 
all the husks attached to the stalks; and those 
that are broken off, should be gathered in among 
the stalks, and bound up with them. Every 
husk and the silk should be stripped clean from 
the ears, as they look slovenly if left among the 
corn, and furthermore silk and husks are very 
choice materials for mice nests. The hands and 
fingers of a busker should always move rapidly. 
While one hand is tossing an ear to the basket, 
the other should reach another stalk, or gather 
up the husks. Two twitches and a jerk, made 
so quickly that a bystander can not discover 
how the ear was husked, is all.that a good 
busker requires to strip an ear, break it off, and 
put it in the basket. It is just as easy, in fact 
far easier, for a neat busker to keep the buts 
of the stalks even, and the loose husks and 
leaves, which make the best fodder, all gathered 
in the iifside of the bundles, than it is to have 
the sheaves long and misshapen. 
When the husks tighll}'> enclose ears, it is 
necessary to tear them open. If this is done 
with the thumb and finger nails, the fingers 
often become very tender, and a laborer will 
not be able to husk so much by a number of 
bushels in a day, as he otherwise would. To 
obviate such a difficulty, a husking pin is em¬ 
ployed which is here represented. It consists 
of a piece of hard, tough wood, or iron, about 
five inches long, and three-eighths of an inch in 
diameter, pointed, as in the figure, having a 
strip of leather on it, about three-fourths of an 
inch wide, put on when the leather is wet. Two 
grooves are filed in the pin, for holding the 
leather. The leather should be just long enough 
to slip over the two middle fingers. If the 
leather is too large, it will be constantly drop¬ 
ping off. We have usually made the pins of old 
fork tines, by filing. The point should not be left 
too sharp, lest by some inadvertent motion it 
wound the left hand; it should extend about 
an inch beyond the forefinger. In using the pin, 
hold the ear with the left hand, and with the 
right hand thrust the point through the husks, 
at the tip, and grasp them on one side of the 
ear with the thumb and pin, and strip them with 
a quick jerk to the but. As the right hand goes 
down, the left thumb should pass over the tip 
of the ear, taking the silk and the remainder of 
the husks; jerk them to the but end of the ear, 
when the left hand should grasp the stem, and 
the right hand the ear, and break it off. The 
husks should extend above the left hand, in 
order to protect it, for if the corn is broken off 
against the bare hand, the flesh will soon be¬ 
come tender, blistered and sore. Some buskers 
wear a leather band, or glove, or mitten, with 
the end cut off, to give the protection which the 
husks thus held afford. The chief difficulty 
with slow buskers is, they husk without any 
system—in a kind of a hap-hazard way; and 
will often pass their hands up and down an ear 
several times before they get it husked. Their 
baskets and ears are too far from them, and 
while throwing an ear to the basket, and getting 
readj’’ to husk another, an expert hand would 
have an ear or two husked. Beginners should 
be instructed in correct manipulation when 
husking. Then, if ears do not break off hard, a 
boy will husk as many bushels per day as a 
man. It is justas important to show boys how 
to excel in such kinds of work, as it is to teach 
them how to use the cradle, scythe, or plow. 
For the American Agriculturists 
Fattening Turkies. 
With turkey at forty cents a pound, it is a 
matter of interest to the farmer to get as much 
of that commodity as possible into market. 
This used to be one of the best of farm crops 
when the birds were thought to be well sold at 
Christmas and Thanksgiving, for twelve and 
fourteen cents a pound. It can not be any 
thing else, when the price is multiplied by three. 
Turkey is at the top of the scale of high prices, 
and must be about the most profitable meat we 
can raise. Corn can be bought for a dollar a 
bushel, and it was frequently at that price when 
poultry was worth only a shilling a poupd. 
Corn will make just as much flesh now as ever. 
One great advantage of this Idnd of stock is, 
that they mainly take care of themselves, and 
do their own foraging. After the young broods 
are fairly started, say a month old, they shift 
for themselves until the cool nights of autumn 
come on, when the fattening process should be¬ 
gin. Those make a mistake who put off the 
feeding later. At this time tlieir feed of grass¬ 
hoppers, crickets, and other insects, which has 
so largely supplied their wants, begins to fall 
off. There is no objection to their roaming still 
and gathering what they can; we do not ap¬ 
prove of shutting them up. This will do very 
well for ducks and geese, but the turkey is a 
more enterprising bird, and it chafes his restle.ss 
spirit to be confined in a pen, no matter how 
well he may be fed. The flocks will gather a 
good deal from the woods and fields, all through 
October and November, especially if mast is 
abundant. What is wanted, is that they should 
go to their roosts every night with full crops. 
As the insects drop off, their other food should 
be increased. At first they need only be fed at 
night. This will not prevent their excursions 
in the morning. They will make for their fa¬ 
miliar pastures as soon as they leave tlieir perch- 
