412 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ November 7, 1889. 
THE FLOCK IN WINTER. 
SiffiEP folding in winter is so important that we turn from 
further details of ewe management for the moment to the work of 
folding crones and hoggets. Crone3, we may explain, are old ewes 
■that, having ceased to be useful for breeding, were withdrawn from 
the flock at weaning time last J une. They may then be purchased 
to advantage for folding if due care is taken to secure sound 
■animals in fair healthy condition. This is not an easy matter, for 
crones are frequently sent to market in a terribly emaciated con¬ 
dition, and hardly a flock can be seen without a few worthless 
ewes, upon which debility or disease have so strong a hold that 
profit is out of the question, and loss is almost a certainty. The 
purchase of such “ wasters ” can easily be avoided by the offer of a 
fair price for sound animals only, all others to be withdrawn. A 
little firmness and tact must be brought to bear upon this trans¬ 
action, for cattle dealers almost invariably make up flocks for 
■sale, enough really fine sheep being put in to attract the eye and 
take off attention from the inferior ones, which are certain to 
be present in considerable numbers. If there are enough sound 
healthy sheep to render an offer desirable they are generally to 
be had by giving a trifle more per head for the privilege of 
selection. 
Preference is given to crones for folding because they enrich 
the soil more thoroughly than younger sheep, but we do not mind 
whether it is hoggets or crones so that they are healthy. Old 
neglected pasture may be reclaimed by a clearance of all tall-grow¬ 
ing weeds, such as Thistles, Nettles, Docks, Broom, Ononis, Gorse, 
and Brambles, and following with folds, using a hurdle to a sheep, 
which determines the size of the fold, and turning into a new fold 
every twenty-four or forty-eight hours, according to weather and 
condition of the pasture. The folding may be repeated advan¬ 
tageously with certain modifications every winter, and there will be 
both vigorous growth and better herbage—many of the smaller 
weeds will disappear, to be replaced by really useful growth. The 
manner in which the sheep are fed in the folds is very much a 
question of expediency. A mixed dietary is undoubtedly best, and 
•it may consist of crushed corn from a half to a pound mixed 
with hay chaff in the troughs, pea or oat straw in racks, and sliced 
roots also in the troughs at the rate of about 20 lbs. daily. Oats, 
Barley, Wheat, Peas, and Beans are all good for sheep, and there is 
very little difference in the results from the use of any particular 
sort of corn. Last winter large quantities of Barley were used for 
hoggets simply because the grain was discoloured and the price so 
low that it answered better to use it for feeding purposes at home 
than to dispose of it to the maltsters. This season the Barley 
trade is altogether better, and it will answer better to use Oats and 
pulse for the sheep. The Woburn trials prove beyond a doubt 
that Wheat may be used to advantage for sheep, and it would be 
well to turn inferior samples to account for the purpose ; but fine, 
bold, dry samples will continue to find a profitable market among 
•the millers, no matter how prices may fluctuate. 
Silage on many farms will commend itself for our purpose as 
a valuable addition to the dietary either used alone or mixed with 
chopped straw. The use of mixed food is so beneficial that every 
wholesome change is desirable. A change of quarters, too, is often 
productive of good, and it can often be managed for the sheep 
by having folds on Turnips as well as on pasture at the same time. 
Then if the weather is dry and open good progress may be made 
among the Turnips ; if wet, then the sheep may be withdrawn to 
pasture. If kept p«rgistently in Turnip folds, in very wet weather, 
even hoggets do not make satisfactory progress ; foot rot is apt to 
spread too, and that always lowers the condition. 
The feeding of hoggets in folds also depends upon when they 
are required to go out for sale—forward hoggets having a full 
quantity of corn, and backward hoggets a lesser quantity of corn, 
with more of other food. The use of linseed or compound cakes 
for hoggets or crones is entirely an open question. If corn is 
cheapest, and it answers as well, of course it will have preference, 
but under certain local conditions, such as contiguity to a cake 
mill, and avoidance of cost of carriage and middlemen’s profits, 
cake may be used. But for farmers generally, home grown corn, 
or corn purchased at low wholesale rates, answers best. Whatever 
food is used it must be sweet, fresh, and wholesome, only enough 
being used each time for the sheep to clear up, with, perhaps, the 
exception of straw in racks, to which they should always have access 
in winter folds. 
(To be continued.) 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
Very little progress has been made with the Wheat sowing, except 
on light land farms, where a few hours’ fine weather is all that is 
required to render the surface dry enough for the drill. Glad indeed 
have we reason to be that we began sowing our heavy land early in 
September, for we have now an excellent full plant. But without 
such promptitude and timely sowing we might have now to wait 
indefinitely. This statement affords no help or comfort to those heavy 
land farmers who have fallen behind with their work, but we mention 
it simply to apply a useful lesson for the future guidance of our 
readers. 
The incessant rain has done much more barm than retard Wheat 
sowing, for it has spoilt thousands of pounds worth of Clover seed. 
This at best is a speculative crop, but the risk sinks to a minimum if 
the first growth of the layer is fed off by sheep, and then the second 
growth comes to maturity soon enough for the seed to ripen before the 
weather becomes much broken, and the seed is saved. That is precisely 
what has happened this year, and it is where the first crop was mown 
for stover that the second growth reserved for seed has been spoilt. We 
regret this all the more because the seed was so abundant, especially in 
the later heads. We deplore the serious loss greatly, although it is 
probably confined to the seed-growing district of East Anglia. We 
know a farmer who managed to save half the crop, when down came 
the rain day after day, so that the remainder had to be carted off 
the land to the cattle yards. Another declares his loss amounts to 
full £300, which sum would have been all to the good at the end of 
the year. 
A severe case of swine fever has been traced to its source, and it was 
found that it had been spread from farm to farm by sows driven from 
the one farm where the fever originated. No doubt the filthy condition 
in which swine are kept so generally renders them predisposed to con¬ 
tagion, and we can only repeat previous advice to keep pigs in as 
cleanly a condition as all other animals. All compact plump porkers 
may be disposed of now quickly as Londoners, but those with larger 
frames answer best if kept for “ jointers.” None of them should be 
fed carelessly, but each class of pig should be pushed on and ripened 
for market as quickly as possible with home grown corn. 
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 
CAMDEN SQUARE, LONDON. 
Lat. 61° 88' 40" N. ; Long. 0° 8'0" W.; Attitude, 111 feet. 
DATE. 9 A.M. I IN THE DAY. 
1889. 
October and 
.November. 
ip- 
j* h 
Hygrome¬ 
ter. 
Direction 
of Wind. 
Temp, of 
soli at 
1 foot. 
Shade Tem¬ 
perature. 
Radiation 
Temperature. 
a 
"3 
Dry. 
Wet. 
Max. 
Min. 
In 
sun. 
On 
grass 
Inches. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
In. 
Sunday.27 
29 m 
44.6 
44.3 
N.E. 
47.2 
54.3 
43.1 
55.0 
41.2 
0.189 
Monday.28 
29.772 
46 8 
46.8 
N.E. 
47.3 
52 9 
43.5 
64.7 
35.4 
Tuesday .... 29 
29 919 
4S.0 
48.0 
E. 
48 4 
54.1 
46.4 
578 
46.2 
O.O’O 
Wednesday.. So 
29.947 
48.4 
46.9 
s. 
48 7 
57 3 
45.4 
84.8 
39.9 
0.198 
Thursday.... 31 
29.9.57 
43 8 
42.2 
IV. 
484 
53.0 
42.1 
85 9 
37.9 
0.052 
Friday . 1 
29.615 
50.0 
48 9 
s. 
47.0 
55.7 
43.8 
88 4 
36.9 
0.028 
Saturday .... 2 
29.915 
42 2 
40 6 
s.w. 
46.2 
518 
381 
86.2 
31.7 
0.068 
29 830 
46.3 
45 4 
| 47.6 
54.2 
43.2 
74.7 
38.5 
0.545 
REMARKS. 
£7th.—Very wet from 4 A M. to 2 P.M., and dull and damp after. 
28th—Damp and foggy early, and occasional spots of rain thioughout the day. 
29th —Fog early; dull day, with occasional spots of rain. 
30th.—Bright pleasant day, rain at night. 
31st.—Rain in small hours ; bright pleasant day. 
1st.—Wet from 7 to 10 A.M., then bright and mild. 
2nd.—Bright and fine. 
Although rain was recorded on six days, much of it fell at night, and there were four 
pleasant sunny days. Temperature about the average, with little range.—G. J. 8YM0F3 
