AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[November, 
414: 
than their heads. The fluffy “ coverts” at the 
base of the tails are quite remarkable. Their 
wings are carried drooping, like several other 
varieties of bantams. The color of the trio 
shown was white, with black tails and tips of 
flight feathers. They are a sprightly, vigorous, 
hardy breed, at present rather a novelty, and 
likely to bring pretty high prices for some time 
to come. They should be bred to preserve their 
peculiarities of form in the highest possible per¬ 
fection ; their plumage in each flock should be 
kept true to certain definite markings; very 
small size should be a requisite in breeding-stock. 
Walks and Talks on the Farm—No. 83. 
We have now a good prospect of getting our 
creek cleaned out, deepened, widened, and 
straightened. We have done more or less work 
on it every year among ourselves, but nothing 
really effective. We would agree to do a cer¬ 
tain number of days’ work, but first one and 
then another would stay away until even the 
most enthusiastic got disheartened, and the 
work was abandoned. Finally we held a pub¬ 
lic meeting and every one present signed a pe¬ 
tition to the County Judge to have the work 
done under the new Draining Law, [Laws of the 
State of New York for 1869, Chap. 888,] and 
we are all rejoicing at the prospect of having 
our low, wet, swampy land converted into the 
most productive portions of our farms. I un¬ 
derstand that in Wayne Co., and in other parts 
of the State, the farmers are availing themselves 
of this new law to a most gratifying extent. 
The principle features of the law are these: 
When there is any low, wet land belonging to 
several persons that needs draining for the sake 
of the public health, or the benefit of agriculture, 
any freeholder interested can petition the County 
Judge to have the land drained, and have the 
expense assessed on the property benefited. 
The County Judge appoints three Commission- 
el's, one of whom shall be a civil engineer, and 
none of whom shall be personally interested in 
the work. These Commissioners shall examine 
the land, and, if in their judgment the work is 
necessary, they have power to borrow money 
and commence operations at once. I was most 
agreeably surprised at the meeting to find how 
willing every one was to have the work done. 
One intelligent German who owns only seven 
acres of land, declared he was willing to be 
assessed $100 as his portion of the expense, if 
it was necessary. I do not think it will cost 
him $10; for we find that the assessed value of 
the laud to be drained through is over $25,000, 
and it is assessed at not one quarter what such 
land will be worth after it is drained. We may 
meet with difficulties in carrying out the work 
that I do not foresee, but if so, they can proba¬ 
bly be overcome. The provisions of the law 
are just and equitable. When properly exam¬ 
ined it will be found that there is not an oppres¬ 
sive feature about the law. Those only are 
called upon to pay who are benefited by the 
work. But much will depend on getting good 
men to act as commissioners. 
There are very few people who know how to 
drain low land where there is apparently little 
fall, and yet it is one of the simplest things in 
the world. In cleaning out an old creek or nat¬ 
ural ditch, we must of course commence at the 
lowest point and work up stream. Then dig 
deep enough to leave the water on a dead level. 
In digging open ditches from the main stream 
up into the land adjacent, commence at the 
main stream, and work up through the lowest 
parts of the land and dig deep enough to make 
the water follow you from the stream up into the 
laud. In this way you are sure of losing no 
fall. When properly done there will be no shov¬ 
eling of loose earth. Let the spade be thrust 
down an inch or two below the level of the wa¬ 
ter in the completed ditch, and the few crumbs 
of earth that fall from the spade will settle to 
the bottom of the ditch in the water, and do no 
harm. “ But you are making the water run the 
wrong way. We want to get the water out of 
the land, not to bring the water from the stream 
up into the land.” True, but wait until the 
next rain comes, and then you will see the wa¬ 
ter run down this ditch with a rapidity that will 
astonish you. The bottom of the ditch is on a 
dead level, but as soon as the rain raises the 
water at the upper end it will begin to flow 
down to the stream and will not stop as long 
as there is any water on the land. I have dug 
a good many ditches in this way, and am sure 
that it is not only the best but the cheapest 
method. No matter how dry the land is, you 
have always water to level by and need never 
go an inch deeper than is necessary, nor ever 
feel uncertain whether you are deep enough. 
There is no after shoveling. You get all the 
fall there is, and when the work is finished there 
is nothing more to be done. A great deal of 
ditching is done on low land that is compara¬ 
tively useless from neglecting to observe this 
simple rule. 
A farmer in Illinois writes “I am thinking 
of feeding some sheep this winter. Can get 
stock sheep (that will dress from 35 to 40 lbs.) 
at $1.25 to $1.75 per head. Such sheep, well 
fatted, have sold in the Chicago market, (40 miles 
distant,) for the past three springs, at from $5 
to $7 per head, with the wool on. With bran 
at $15 per ton, corn 60c. per bushel, potatoes 
50c., oats 40c., barley (No. 2,) 75c., and oil-cake 
$35 per ton, will it pay to feed them, and which 
will be the best and cheapest grain to feed?” 
Corn at 60 cents per bushel (or $21.50 per ton), 
is by far the cheapest food , but the oil-cake and 
bran will make the richest manure. Mr. Lawes’ 
estimate is that the manure from the consump¬ 
tion of a ton of corn is worth $6.65; from a 
ton of bran $14.59; and from a ton of oil-cake 
$19.72. That is to say, if the manure from a 
ton of corn is worth $6.65, that from a ton of 
bran is worth $14.59, and from a ton of oil-cake 
$19.72. The manure may be worth less or 
more, according to the price of products and 
the value and richness of the land. When the 
land is naturally rich, and products low, this 
estimate would be too high, while in older set¬ 
tled sections it may be too low. The cost of 
food per ton, less the value of the manure, 
would be: 
Price ' Value of Actual cost 
per ton. manure. of food. 
Corn.$21.50 $fi.65 $14.85 
Oil-cake. 35.00 10.72 15.28 
Brail. 15.00 14.59 0.41 
Oats . 25.00 7.70 17.30 
Barley. 31.00 0.32 25.34 
I do not think there is much difference in the 
nutritive value of a ton of corn, oil-cake, oats, or 
barley, and consequently, leaving the manure 
out of the question, corn at the above prices, is 
the cheapest food, and, with the exception of 
bran, it is also the cheapest article to feed even 
after deducting the value of the manure. In 
regard to the profits of feeding sheep in winter, 
almost everything will depend on the judgment 
with which the sheep are purchased, and the 
skill with which they are fed. It will not pay 
to feed a poor sheep even if you get him for 
nothing. The most successful feeders in this 
section, where the business of fattening sheep in 
winter is carried on to a considerable extent, 
exercise the greatest care in selecting the sheep. 
We have known a farmer spend a month in 
picking up a flock of 200 sheep. His aim was 
to get sound, healthy wethers, three and four 
years old, well-formed, compact sheep, weighing 
100 lbs. each. It is rare that such sheep can be 
found. It is not often that in a flock of a hun¬ 
dred common Merino sheep, a dozen can be 
selected that will meet the requirements. Our 
feeders like to get a car-load of about 200 sheep, 
so that when fat they can be put into a car and 
shipped through to Albany or New York. 
Such sheep in the spring are usually worth from 
$8 to $10 per head. These figures have a pleas¬ 
ant look, and they can be realized provided you 
get the right kind of sheep to start with. 
Our sheep feeders have been to Canada this 
fall to buy sheep, but most of them returned 
without any, or with not more than half what 
they intended to buy. They all report that the 
price of good, long-wooled sheep there has 
“ gone up wonderfully.” They have now gone 
to Michigan to pick up large-framed, healthy 
Merinos. Last year nearly all the feeders that 
bought good Michigan Merino sheep early in 
the season, made money by fattening them. 
And yet it is true that later in the fall, say in 
November, sheep were cheaper than in Septem¬ 
ber. The reason they did better than those 
who bought later was that they were able to 
make a better selection. 
Mr. Bowles, of Hamilton Co., Ohio, writes 
me that he raised a large crop of clover hay this 
season [fortunate man], and proposes to fatten 
some sheep, but he adds: “You have the ad¬ 
vantage of me in fattening sheep, as New-York 
market is so much better than Cincinnati. The 
butcher who buys my sheep and lambs says I 
bring the best sheep that are brought to market, 
yet the highest price I ever got for sheep was 
7 cents per lb., gross, and for lambs, $4.33’| 3 per 
head. With hogs, Cincinnati market is equal 
to New York, hence the advantage of feeding 
hogs over any other kind of stock. But hogs 
will not eat clover hay, and as I do not own a 
river bottom farm I cannot raise corn every 
year on the same land.”-This is very true. 
We must raise clover or grass, in order to keep 
up the fertility of our farms; and the real ques¬ 
tion is, not whether hogs or sheep will pay the 
best, but whether it will pay better to make the 
clover into hay and feed it to sheep, returning 
the manure to the land, or whether it is better to 
plow it under directly for manure. I am in¬ 
clined to think that Cincinnati or any other 
large city will pay a good price for good mut¬ 
ton, and that it will pay better to raise and feed 
good sheep than to plow under the clover. 
Good beef and mutton are very high, and the 
prospects are that they will be still higher. Mr. 
B. says he has one field of corn that will yield 90 
bushels per acre of shelled corn, and his whole 
crop will average from 60 to 70 bushels. His 
crop of wheat 19‘| 2 bushels, oats (the best piece 
in the neighborhood), 30 bushels, barley 20 bush¬ 
els. Hay two tons per acre. “ It is a saving 
about here,” he says, “that if a farmer has a 
good com crop he can afford to lose all other 
crops.” 
Mr. Latyes has just thrashed his twenty-seventh 
crop of wheat from his experimental field. In 
1844, the produce of the plot having no manure, 
was 15 bushels per acre. Since then, wheat has 
been taken every year on this plot without mu- 
