80 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ January 28, 1885 
market as speedily as possible, but to bring them there in 
the highest condition consistent with economy. In doing 
this we may inquire what has been our purpose in sheep¬ 
breeding, or, if we have had any special end in view other 
than that, of obtaining as many lambs as we could. Looking 
through an ordinary flock of sheep we generally find many 
inferior animals, and if we talk to the shepherd he will point 
out others with some blemish or fault that should have led 
long ago to their expulsion from the breeding flock. It is 
only by careful selection and equally careful breeding that 
we can gradually form a really good flock. The history of 
any famous flock shows this clearly, and it ought certainly 
to be our ambition to effect some annual improvement among 
our sheep. It is plainly our interest to do so, and in order 
to do this well we must be much among the sheep, especially 
on the approach of and during lambing. 
Debility should never be passed over lightly, especially 
when there is evidence of it in parturition. A ewe that is 
long in labour, suffers severely from straining, or cannot 
bring forth its lamb without assistance, ought not to be let 
breed again. The birth of a dead lamb is not altogether to 
he taken as an indication of debility on the part of the dam, 
the loss of the lamb being attributable to fright, or to some 
injury arising from over-driving or jumping. We have now 
several fine young ewes kept apart from the flock simply 
because of their propensity to jump over every fence, an 
ordinary hurdle being a trifle to them, and the shepherd 
assures us they can easily clear a five-barred gate. To 
attempt such leaps when heavy in lamb often leads to some 
catastrophe, and the tendency to jump over enclosures should 
be checked as much as possible in its infancy. This is best 
done by keeping “jumpers ” in some high enclosure till the 
habit is forgotten ; or rather to place would be jumpers there 
before the habit is acquired and becomes fixed. Debility 
often proceeds from a severe cold ; we have lost both ewe 
and lamb from such a cause. Surely the fact of severe 
coughs and colds being so common among animals having 
such a warm natural clothing as sheep points to an undue 
amount of exposure and a want of adequate shelter. If an 
entire flock became affected shelter would then be provided, 
yet why should some of the sheep suffer for want of due care 
on our part ? Or to put it in a more practical manner, why 
should the farmer run the risk of losses among his sheep 
from any cause which it is in his power to avoid ? It by no 
means follows, however, that weakly or half-starved sheep 
fail in lambing. The half-wild sheep on Ashdown Forest in 
mid-Sussex afford a remarkable example of this. In winter 
these sheep are in sorry plight, being kept in a state of semi¬ 
starvation ; yet there are plenty of lambs every spring, and 
though small they are active and healthy. 
Some ewes will not suckle their young ones, either push¬ 
ing them away or knocking them down whenever they ap 
proach the udder. With care this propensity may frequently 
be cured ; when it cannot be cured the ewe is condemned, 
and marked for draughting for the butcher. So, too, are all 
others with any serious defect, and it is by this careful weed¬ 
ing of the flock every year, and by additions of well-chosen 
young ewes, that much good work is done. The assertion 
that the progeny of ewe lambs come to maturity sooner than 
that of older sheep must be received with some caution, for 
we do not put our ewe lambs to the tups till a month or 
more after the older sheep, and an early February lamb, if 
well cared for, ought to be ready for market sooner than one 
born a month later. No doubt breed tells in this matter, 
but then care and pains in management tell also. Well-fed 
ewes give strong lambs, and highly fed lambs, suckled by a 
vigorous well-nurtured ewe, thrive apace. There must con¬ 
stantly be a full generous diet for the ewes, and a progressive 
well-considered one for the lambs. Let there be no sudden 
change from poor to rich food. As the ewes lamb they are 
gradually brought with the lambs on to sound and, if' pos¬ 
sible, an upland pasture. Lambs soon begin eating gra 
and with growth and age even before the weaning, they ta 
dry food, such as bran, crushed Oats, and crushed Waterloo 
cake. When they consume dry food freely and with evident 
relish they make rapid progress, the most forward soon pass¬ 
ing into the grade of fat lambs, and are early in the markets. 
Those intended for store sheep are not generally so well fed ; 
yet it is wrong to allow them to fall into poor condition. 
Ewe lambs well fed grow fast, and are ready for the tup in 
October, our generous treatment being well rewarded by an 
early crop of lambs. Wether lambs are also fed so well that 
by the time they enter the Turnip folds in winter as hoggets 
they have large and by no means badly nurtured bodies ; they 
then make rapid progress upon Turnips and trough-feeding 
in folds. We recently went to inspect some of our hoggets 
in such folds and found them progressing satisfactorily, for 
they were to remain on the land till March, passing on from 
fold to fold, and the ploughs were in full swing turning over 
the land closely after them, in readiness for the Barley 
sowing. 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
Much draining has been done, both with 2-inch pipes and bushes, and 
we have made arrangements for doing a few more fields. We came to 
this decision while walking over the land some twelve hours after a 
heavy downpour of rain, and found the soil so thoroughly saturated that 
we sank over our boots in the soft soil. Now this is what is termed 
“ good mixed soil,” having so many small stones among it that super¬ 
fluous surface water must pass quickly through it to the subsoil; but a 
clay subsoil must be opened by drains, or the water enters it so slowly that 
the soil becomes water-logged. We found the new bush drains answer¬ 
ing well, a full strong flow of water running freely from everyone of 
them. Bush drains are efficient for six or eight years, when they must 
be renewed. In a field where this is being done, the old drains were 
made diagonally, and by making the new rectangular drains across them 
we tap the old drains, and thus add to the efficiency of the new ones. 
We commend bush-draining to the attention of our readers both for its 
economy and efficiency ; the drains are 30 yards -apart, and about 30 
inches deep, and they answer perfectly to relieve all land quickly of sur¬ 
face water, but they are not intended to supersede deep tile drains, which, 
at a depth of 4 feet, have an important double action in draining the 
surface water, and in checking the rising of water to the surface by capil¬ 
lary attraction. In draining chalybeate springs pipes should never be 
used, for they invariably become choked by an ochreous deposit, which, 
though it adheres to the bushes, does not prevent the passage of water 
among them. This is another of the many instances which occur in 
practice to show that we cannot always go by line and rule, but must 
adapt ourselves to circumstances as they arise. Though a simple process, 
draining is by no means to be done without due thought, and we may 
add without ample evidence of its necessity. Light sandy soil upon an 
open subsoil is drained naturally—over-drained, it may be said to be, for 
crops suffer severely in it during drought. All soil containing many 
small stones or much hard gritty matter affords a free passage to surface 
water, and we bave to see that the subsoil has also sufficient mechanical 
division to allow water to pass away quickly through it; if not, we must 
open it with drains at such depths as appear best for each particular 
piece of land. Look closely into the condition of old drains. If ditches 
are not cleaned out regularly an accumulation of leaves and rubbish 
gradually gathers over the mouths of the drain, which thus become 
choked and useless. There should be a grating over the mouth of all 
pipe drains larger than 2 inches to keep out rabbits and other vermin. 
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 
Camden Square, London. 
Lat. 51° 32'40" N.; Long. 6° 8' 0" W.; Altitude, 111 feet. 
DATE. 
9 A.M. 
IN THE DAY. 
Rain 
1886. 
January. 
I Barome- 
1 ter at 82« 
and Sea 
Level 
Hygrome¬ 
ter. 
Direction 
of Wind. 
Temp, of 
Soil at 
1 foot, j 
Shade Tem¬ 
perature. 
Radiation 
Temperature. 
Dry. 
Wet. 
Max. 
Min 
In 
sun. 
On 
grass. 
Inches. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg 
deg. 
deg 
In. 
Sunday .... 
29.504 
34.1 
33.4 
s.w. 
36.8 
42.1 
32.5 
56.8 
27.0 
0.280 
Monday . ... 
29.033 
34.7 
34.4 
N.W. 
30.8 
42.2 
33.2 
60.6 
28.5 
_ 
Tuesday. 
29.330 
26.8 
26.3 
N. 
36.2 
35.2 
24.9 
45.6 
20.4 
0.010 
Wednesday . 
. 20 
29.532 
289 
28.4 
E. 
35.7 
34 6 
26.1 
515 
21.8 
0.086 
Thursday ... 
. 21 
29.341 
33.7 
33.4 
N. 
35.3 
35 2 
26.9 
40.8 
23.2 
0.08S 
Friday. 
29.556 
30.8 
29.8 
N.E. 
35.2 
34.8 
28.0 
60.2 
26.4 
0.084 
Saturday ... 
. 23 
29.44G 
33.9 
33.6 
NW. 
35.2 
367 
8.4 
46 9 
28.3 
0.117 
29.392 
31.8 
31.3 
35.9 
57.3 
28.9 
51.7 
25.1 
0.615- 
REMARKS. 
17i.h.—Fine pleasant day; dull evening. 
18th.—Fair morning, fine bright afternoon, clear cold night. 
19th.—Fine morning, freezing hard, but foggy; snow at noon. 
20 th.—Foggy ea ly, then fine and bright. 
21st.—Snow from early morning till 10 A.M., and at intervals till noon ; dull cloudy after¬ 
noon. 
22nd.—Overcast morning; fine afternoon, with a little sunshine. 
23rd.—Snow early, and sprinkling with slight rain all day. 
A cold snowy week, with constant low barometer.—G. J, SYMONS. 
