42 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[February, 
eight feet long. On the outward end of the 
guide-pole, a shoulder is cut, to enter a hole in 
the block, m, which is to serve as a marker. 
The block turns on the pole, when the latter is 
changed from one side to the other of the sled. 
A stout pin is set in the lower end of the block, 
at right angles with it, to make a distinct mark 
on the surface of the ground. Two pins are 
also placed in the top of the runners, to keep 
the guide-pole in place, when in use. 
In operating with the marker, the driver takes 
his place upon the sled, and marks the first two 
rows by following guide stakes, or the line of 
the fence. The guide-pole being swung over 
on the side of the unmarked land, the marker 
traces a line in the center of the space between 
the next two rows, and on reaching the end of 
the field, the horses are turned, the guide-pole 
reversed, and the team is driven so as to keep 
the guide-line exactly between the horses, and 
thus the rows are made parallel with those pre¬ 
viously mai'ked. 
Winter Management of Sheep. 
The old practice of leaving sheep to shift for 
themselves whenever the ground was bare, is 
now abandoned by all good flock masters. It 
is not denied that they can gather a good deal 
of nourishment from the meadows, if they have 
not been picked too bare, but the grass is of 
poor cjuality, frost bitten, and is insufficient in 
quantity. It interferes with the regular habits of 
feeding the flock, which is a matter of some im¬ 
portance with the shepherd, and a good deal 
more with the flock. After they are once yard¬ 
ed in the beginning of Winter, it is better to keep 
them in confinement, unless it be for a run of 
an hour or so, on very pleasant days. 
Sheep want shelter from the storms and pro¬ 
tection from bleak winds, and no man should 
attempt to keep them in the Northern States, 
unless he can furnish covers for them. These 
need not be expensive. The instinct of the sheep 
prompts it to seek high, dry lands, especially for 
lodging, and such a locality should be selected 
for the barn. They want protection from the 
snow and rain more than from cold. They will 
bear a very low temperature without inconven¬ 
ience, if their fleeces be dry. A barn-cellar in 
the side of a gravelly hill, with a yard attached, 
is a very good arrangement for them. If this 
is not upon the premises, cheap sheds may be 
built with board or thatch roof. The shed should 
be deep and open toward the south. It will not 
be expedient to confine more than fifty in a sin¬ 
gle shed and yard; and if the flock be not uni¬ 
formly vigorous, it will be better to reduce the 
number to twenty five, assorting them according 
to size and vigor, so that all may have an equal 
chance at the fodder. If this matter be over¬ 
looked, the stronger animals will pushaway the 
weaker, and take the choicest portion of the food. 
The barn-cellar, or shed, should have a good 
layer of muck or loam at the beginning of the 
feeding season, and should be kept well littered 
with straw or refuse hay; then the manure 
will not become prejudicial to health, and may 
remain until they are turned out to grass. The 
sheds should be furnished with convenient racks 
for feeding hay, grain, and roots. The sheep 
demands a greater variety of food than any oth¬ 
er domestic animal. It is said that Linnaeus, 
the distinguished botanist, offered a variety of 
fresh plants in succession in feeding horses, 
and found that they ate 276 species and refused 
212; cattle ate 276 species and refused 218; while 
sheep took 387 species, and refused only 141. 
This shows that a good many plants that are 
rejected by other animals, may be turned to 
profitable account in sheep feeding. We may 
save the small shrubs and weeds and coarse 
grasses which are often burned in clearing brush 
pastures, always taking care that the poisonous 
Low Laurel be not gathered with the fodder. We 
can safely feed them once a day with this coarse 
fodder, and it is perhaps better that it be given 
at night. In the morning they should have nice 
short hay, the best the farm produces, and all 
that they will eat up clean, and no more. The 
same rule is good for the noon-da} 1- meal, which 
should be of roots or grain. The grain should 
be given whole, as sheep are furnished with 
good masticators, doiDg their work as perfectly 
as any mill. Nearly all the grains and their 
straw may be fed, changing occasionally from 
one to the other. Turnips, beets, carrots and po¬ 
tatoes are excellent food for sheep. It is a mat¬ 
ter of a good deal of importance that they 
be fed Regularly. No animal knows better the 
appointed hour of feeding, or is more impatient 
under disappointment. The stomach must be 
kept quiet by regular feeding, if we wish the 
flock to thrive. They should also have the same 
amount of nutriment every day, as nearly as it 
can be calculated. Each animal wants about 
three per cent, of its live weight in food, a little 
more if fed upon hay and roots, exclusive¬ 
ly. If a sheep weigh a hundred pounds, it 
should have, say half a pound of corn or an 
equivalent in other grain, a pound of good hay, 
and two pounds of straw, the three being nearly 
equivalent to three pounds of good hay. A lit¬ 
tle observation will soon fix the quantity need¬ 
ed, and prevent over or under feeding, both se¬ 
rious errors. Water should be carefully supplied 
to the flock, and if it is spring water that never 
freezes, brought in a pipe to a trough in the yard, 
it is all the better. If a sheep falls off in flesh or 
grows Aveak, it should be immediately removed 
where it can have a full supply of food, without 
struggling Avith stronger animals. Salt should 
always be kept in the yard, Avhere sheep can have 
free access to it. By attention to these small 
matters at this season, the flocks will be kept in 
good health and come out robust in the Spring, 
with full fleeces. 
Lustre Wooled Sheep—The Lincolnshires. 
The term lustre wool, is applied to fleeces of 
long staple, possessing a bright or lustrous ap¬ 
pearance. The.Cotswold and Leicester breeds 
are the best known of this class, in this country. 
The avooI is in large demand, particularly for the 
manufacture of Avliat are termed alpaca fabrics. 
These derived their name originally from the 
animal (alpaca) producing the silky hair, that 
gives a lustrous appearance to the goods. The 
fitness of lustre wool for the above purpose, 
gives it a value above what it would pos¬ 
sess, if graded only by the standard of fineness, 
and it is worthy the attention of sheep breeders 
to inquire whether coarse-Avooled sheep of this 
class may not bring a better profit than the fa¬ 
vorite Merino and Saxony breeds, or even the 
middle-wooled South Downs. The latter breed 
is rapidly and deservedly becoming popular, par¬ 
ticularly for supplying superior mutton; but 
some of the coarser wooled varieties may be 
equally profitable by greater weight of carcass. 
In England, considerable attention is being at¬ 
tracted to the Lincolnshire breed, for which 
their advocates make special claims as lustre- 
Avooled sheep. A recent writer in the Mark 
Lane Express, gives figures Avliich will in¬ 
terest sheep-breeders. He states that the clip of 
six flocks of Lincolnshire long-wools, number¬ 
ing 2,289 fleeces, yielded 24,917.66 lbs., or a lit¬ 
tle over 10i lbs. per head, which at present 
prices of avooI of that grade would yield nearly 
$5 for the fleece of each sheep. These are said 
to be “ good clips,” but by no means the best to 
be met Avitli. As to weight of carcass, extraor¬ 
dinary instances are mentioned, of 261, 284,364, 
and 386 lbs. perslieep, of tAvo to three years old, 
and 50 to 75 lbs.per quarter is said to be common. 
The writer of the above statement is of opin¬ 
ion that the Lincolnshires can be successfully 
introduced, wherever good natural pasturage 
can be found, and good turnips, or good clover 
can be produced, but that it is useless to attempt 
their introduction into mountainous or even very 
hilly districts. They are particularly suited to 
rich valleys of those districts not subject to fre¬ 
quent changes of Aveather. 
Due allowance must of course be made for 
the enthusiasm of one who makes this or any 
particular breed of animals a hobby, but the 
facts set forth are Avorthy of consideration. IVe 
are not aAvare that the Lincolnshires have been 
tried to any extent in this country. If any read¬ 
ers of the American Agriculturist have experi¬ 
mented with them, we should be pleased to have 
their notes for the benefit of the community. * 
For the American Agriculturist. 
Improvement of Pastures. 
The condition of the pastures in many of the 
older dairying districts is a sad spectacle. Farms 
that would once carry forty coavs, and make 
eight thousand pounds of butter, will not now 
support half that number. In the familiar 
language of these districts, the land has been 
“ cowed to death.” The pastures have been fed 
by coavs from time immemorial, receiving only 
the manure dropped by the animals during the 
day. Three fourths of all that the land pro¬ 
duced was carried away to the yard, and none 
of this came back. The soil greAV thin, and 
the grasses died out for want of nourishment. 
What can be done to bring up such pastures ? 
An ounce of practice is said to be worth a 
pound of theory. It is, undoubtedly, if of the 
right kind. In the Spring of 1860 the writer came 
into possession of a two acre lot of run-doAvn 
meadow. It Avas used as a pasture because there 
was not grass enough upon it to pay for cutting. 
As it Avas convenient to the house, I used it for 
yarding the coavs at night. They were pastured 
elseAvhere a part of the time, and thus all the 
products of these tAvo acres, and nearly four 
more beside, were dropped upon the soil by the 
cattle. There has been a very great improve¬ 
ment in the yield of grass the past season, and 
the lot, if used for meadoAV another year, will 
probably cut twice as much hay as it did in the 
Summer of 1860. The Avhole secret of the im¬ 
provement is, that more has been returned to 
the soil than has been taken away. 
A similar improvement is Avitnessed in pas¬ 
tures devoted to sheep, if they are not fed too 
closely. Every thing the land produces is return¬ 
ed to it by the sheep, together with a good deal 
the land would not get, but for the intervention 
of the feeding animals. It is sometimes claim¬ 
ed that nothing is gained to the land by passing 
the crops through the bodies of animals; that a 
hundred pounds of hay rotted upon the land, is 
worth just as much as the hundred pounds fed 
out and returned in the shape of manure. But 
this can not be so, for the animal draws some 
elements of its body from air and water, as well 
