222 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
[June, 
filled with clean gravel, and thus reduce the quanti¬ 
ty of liquor needed. Instead of this tub a large 
trough, such as is used for scalding hogs, will 
answer. At one side of the tub is a sloping table 
of boards, upon which, after having been dipped 
in the manner shown in the engraving, the sheep is 
laid, and the excess of liquor squeezed out. In 
this way, if everything is properly prepared, 20 
sheep may easily be dipped in an hour, or if there 
is sufficient help to bring up the sheep, one may be 
dipped every minute. A barrel of hot dip should 
he kept near by, to replenish the tub. This matter 
has been often referred to, but the almost univer¬ 
sal prevalence of the tick, and the serious annoy¬ 
ance it causes to both sheep and lambs, which is 
really a loss in wool and mutton, of thousands 
of dollars yearly to farmers, makes it necessary to 
again present it at this seasonable period, and urge 
its observance upon all, whether their sheep may 
be many or few. 
The Shooting Nuisance. 
With the return of summer days and singing 
birds, comes that chronic nuisance, the callow 
sportsman with dog and gun, to hunt birds and 
astonish the natives with his prowess and the smell 
of gunpowder. He has none of the instincts of sports¬ 
men, to whom we are indebted mainly for our game 
laws, and for the fines and penalities that are laid 
upon their willful violators. The chap we have in 
mind, is generally an idle, ignorant vagabond from 
the city, who wants the fame of a mighty hunter, 
and so dresses in sporting jacket and long-legged 
hoots, invests in shot-guns and metallic powder 
flasks, in setter dogs and whiskey. He can hardly 
tell one bird from another, and is more likely to 
shoot domestic ducks and geese, than the wild wa¬ 
ter-fowl that visit secluded spots at this season. He 
shoots birds upon the nests, birds feeding their 
young, and all birds alike, whether they are the 
farmer’s friends or not. This great nuisance, which 
was formerly confined mainly to the suburban dis¬ 
tricts, is now widely scattered almost everywhere, 
like thistle-down along the lines of our railroads. 
Every depot far inland is haunted with these ver¬ 
dant and downy youth, who come to kill and to 
destroy. They by no means confine their destruc¬ 
tion to wild animals. They stroll over your farm 
with as much freedom as if they owned it, shoot 
chickens in the absence of woodcock and quail, and 
broil them under your nose, worrying with their 
dogs your sheep’and poultry, throw down your 
fences in digging out rabbits and woodchucks, 
shoot into your notices to sportsmen, or tear them 
down, run over the growing crops, and if interfered 
with, treat you to the foulest slang and curses of 
the grog shops. This is a great evil, and extends 
much beyond the personal inconvenience of the 
farmers, that are most exposed to the depredations 
of these vagabonds. They greatly reduce the num¬ 
ber of birds, and so multiply insects that prey up¬ 
on our crops, and reduce the profit of our gardens 
and fields. It is settled, so far as anything can be, 
by the studies of men best acquainted with the 
habits of these birds, that almost all of them at 
some season of the year, live largely upon insects. 
They are the conservative force in nature, designed 
to keep insect life in check. If the birds eat some 
fruit, they save a great deal more, by devouring 
the various caterpillars and “ worms ” that prey 
upon the bark and leaves of fruit trees, and upon 
the fruits themselves. It is only in exceptional 
years that we are able to get fair fruit in the older 
parts of the country, where there has been the 
greatest destruction of birds, and where insects 
most abound. Our finest displays of fruit come 
from the newer states, where there arc fewer in¬ 
sects. The promiscuous slaughter of birds, so 
prevalent in the early summer, is a nuisance that 
ought to be abated. We need more stringent legis¬ 
lation, and a better enforcement of the laws against 
transgressors. With very few exceptions the birds 
should be protected from early spring to autumn. 
They are the farmer’s best friends. 
Curing Green Fodder. 
Important Experiments. 
Experiments in preparing and feeding fodder of 
various kinds are being made in France and Ger¬ 
many, most of which are of great value; their ob¬ 
ject is to econo¬ 
mize the use of 
cattle food. In al¬ 
most every depart¬ 
ment of industry 
it is the savings in 
labor and material 
that are cheapen¬ 
ing the cost of pro¬ 
duction, and at the 
same time increas¬ 
ing the profits of 
the producers. In 
every form of agri¬ 
culture there is 
a vast scope for saving in both labor and ma¬ 
terials. Our method of feeding stock is very 
wasteful; the greater part of the fodder fed every 
winter is expended in merely keeping the cattle 
alive. A loss of weight or condition in all kinds of 
stock equal to from 10 to 60 per cent is suffered 
every winter. The extremes show the averages of 
the best and poorest keeping. There is no necessity 
for this ; stock may be kept increasing in weight 
during the winter if the fodder is of the right kind 
and the stock is properly housed and protected. 
The feeding of poor unpalatable fodder is the chief 
cause of this loss. The appetite needs to be stim¬ 
ulated at the season when the greatest draft is made 
upon the physical condition of the animal; and to 
meet this need there must not only be palatable or 
enticing food, but there must be plenty of it. Corn 
fodder is largely depended upon as food for stock 
over a great extent of country, and its use might 
be made well nigh universal, as no forage plant is 
so easily grown as corn. Could it be preserved 
fresh and green for six months or more, instead of 
curing it and using it dry, its value would be greatly 
increased. That it may be so preserved has been 
shown by experiment, and the process is claimed 
to be easy, and very profitable. A correspondent 
in Hungary gave us his own experience some time 
ago, (see Agriculturist for Aug. 1874). Of late years 
a great number of French, Belgian, and German 
farmers have adopted the plan, and some extensive 
stock-feeders have used it largely with the most 
favorable results. 
Several communi¬ 
cations by promi¬ 
nent farmers and 
professors of agri¬ 
culture in farm 
schools, have been 
made to the Jour¬ 
nal of Practical 
Agriculture , of Pa¬ 
ris, from which the 
following facts 
have been con¬ 
densed, and by the 
aid of the illustra¬ 
tions, the methods in use, with the cost, may be 
learned. In figures 1, 2, and 3, are shown the pits 
or silos, as they are filled with the cut corn-fodder, 
then covered with 
earth and pressed 
down with its 
weight, and finally 
as the cut fodder 
hasshrunkthrough 
fermentation to 
less than half its 
original bulk. 
These pits are 
about 75 feet long, 
9 feet wide above, Fig.3.— pit after six months. 
6 feet wide at the 
bottom, and 6 feet deep. The sides and ends are 
built up of masonry laid in cement. In these pits 
the corn-stalks are laid evenly with care in layers 
of about 8 inches thick, after having been cut and 
exposed to the sun for two or three days. During 
this time the stalks lose by exposure to the sun 
two-fifths of their weight when first cut. A quan¬ 
tity of salt is scattered over every layer equal to 
about 66 pounds for each pit. The three pits hold 
about 80 tons, (75,000 kilos), of green fodder. The 
fodder is heaped up as shown in fig. 1, to a hight 
of 6 feet above the surface of the ground, and then 
covered with earth to a thickness of two or three 
feet. On the 14th of September, 1872, this work 
was finished. On the 15th of April following, one 
pit was opened and the fodder was found in perfect 
Fig. 1.— PIT BEFORE COVERING. 
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Fig. 5. —SIDE VIEW OF PIT BEING FILLED. 
Fig. 2.—PIT AFTER COVERING. 
