OCT. 31 
them before shipping them to market; the wool will pay 
for their feed, and In this way one could reserve a few ewe 
lambs each year to keep up the flock, j. horatio earll. 
Pres. N. Y. State American Me r ino Sheep Breeders. 
We shall all be the better off in food, clothing and 
health when our waste high grounds generally are turned 
into well managed sheep walks; our rapidly increasing 
human population calls for a great deal of increase in our 
supplies. Good mutton is very scarce here where it ought 
to be plenty. It is the best of all meat food, without ex¬ 
ception, for summer use in our climate. I write from 
among the foothills and parallel ridges of the Alleghany 
Range in central Pennsylvania, but here the ridges are 
narrow and stony with scant covering of mostly dwarf 
trees pinched at the roots by the prevalence f rock and at 
the top by stones and parching winds. Even the ravines 
are fall of moraine stones of all sizes, the 
corners rounded by the rubbings which 
they received when frozen fast in glacier 
ice, and lying now doubtless just where left 
when released by a final thawing out 2 000 
centuries ago or more. Further south the 
ridges become broader and their soil pro¬ 
duces full grown, handsome trees over 
large areas. In that section there are 
chances for sheep raisers to clos< ly follow 
lumbermen on such land as is not reserved 
by the State or by some lesser competent 
power to supply the wood that will be 
needed—as w<ll as wool and mutton— 
by the generation* that are to come after 
will get up at 5 A. M. and stay out until after dark to milk 
a lot of cows, many of which are eating their heads off 
and making the owner poorer every year of bis life. There 
isn’t a cent, however, in sheep husbandry for slipshod 
shepherds, and the difference between good profit and 
actual loss depends on the man. In going through 100 or 
more flocks last winter, I could tell what the owner would 
say about the business as soon as I looked over his flock. 
Sheep do not need very much or very expensive food; but 
they want it at the right time and under favorable condi¬ 
tions of yarding and sheltering. A common fault is over¬ 
crowding. It costs but little to make more pens and ODly 
a line of fence to make two fields out 
of one, and with these precautions there 
will be a wonderful saving in feed WT7 
and a great improvement of the flock. I [w/, £ 
think we shall try the Pays’s woven wire 
fence; it seems to be all right, but a cheaper 'ly /\ 
fence can be made from bar bed wire, or every J / > 
alternate wire can be plain twisted. We 
have used this kind of fence with satisfac¬ 
tion so far as the sheep are concerned ; but 
we use woven wire as an extra precaution 
against dogs. 
In regard to the best breed of sheep for 
S. S. A., it is a hard matter to decide im¬ 
partially. Every breeder has his notion 
and probably some reason for it; but I 
think it is pretty generally conceded that it 
must be both a wool and mutton breed and 
that the Shropshire and its grades are all 
of that, and that they adapt themselves to 
all climates, are easy keepers and mature 
early, while their mutton is of superior 
quality. A good ram with good square 
common ewes will make a start; but better 
yet would be good grade ewes which can be 
obtained at a little advance on the prfces 
for common stock. I am Inclined to think 
that the farmers’ sheep of the future will 
be a grade with a pure Shropshire father with a little 
Merino blood—say one-fourth to one-half—to put weight 
into the fleece and facilitate closer herding. 
Rensselaer Co., N. Y. “englewood.” 
Larce High-grade Merino Ewes. 
If hill and mountain land, on which the timber has been 
cut. while the brush and briers remain and if enough land 
has been cleared for pasture, it could be profitably rented 
for keeping sheep at from 50 cents to $1 per acre, provided 
the person who engages in the business is a practical sheep 
breeder, and a good care-taker. Whatever breed of sheep 
one keeps they demand proper care both in winter and sum¬ 
mer. By this I mean that the shepherd’s own eyes should 
be upon them and the oftener the better. He will then 
discover at once whether they are thriving or if they need 
a change, especially in the case of the ewes and 
lambs. The latter must be kept growing from 
birth. “Plenty of water” is quite essential for 
ewes suckling lambs. The old saying was that 
sheep would do without water ; but I know they 
will do much better with a pure supply. I clean 
the vats from which the sheep drink, quite often, 
as sheep are particular where they drink. 
The sheep will greatly aid in clearing the land 
of briers and bushes, but one should not depend 
wholly on them to do it all. One must keep the 
burrs cut and also cut and burn all the brush he 
can, and let them give all the assistance they 
please. The more land seeded to grass the better. 
I would advise building a shelter if only for the 
summer season. A cheap shed could be erected 
by setting poles in the ground and covering them 
with rongh boards. There are many cold storms 
late in spring and early in summer when the 
lambs are small and when the sheep have re¬ 
cently been shorn. The animals should be kept 
out of rough weather; one heavy storm some¬ 
times affects both the sheep and lambs for weeks, 
and many failures in sheep husbandry are due to 
lack of proper shelter when needed. If the sheep 
are to be wintered in the same place, better build¬ 
ings, with access to water, etc., should te pro¬ 
vided. Hay can be fed profitably at say $6 to $7 
per ton. To feed it properly, racks must be pro¬ 
vided, and one should never allow them to be half 
full of hay only picked over. For sheep to do well 
they should be fed only what hay they will eat 
clean; they should always be able to eat a little 
more. Never leave hay in the rack and then throw 
The South Down not Forgotten. 
I have neither the experience nor the information neces¬ 
sary to enable me to advise in the case. Sheep-ranching, as 
a rule, is neither profitable to the ranchmen nor beneficial 
to the country, while the competition it opposes to the 
business of legitimate husbandry is one of the chief causes 
of the serious depression experienced by the most useful 
“HOW’S THE GOING THIS 
FALL ?” 
Does Your Road Need a Doctor? 
Isaac B. Potter of this city, has pn lished 
a very important and thoroughly interest¬ 
ing pamphlet, entitled “The Gospel of Good 
Roads.” Mr. Potter is the publisher of 
the League of American Wheelmen, an 
organization that is trying to interest 
farmers and others in the improvement 
of our country roads. Many farmers seem to be pre¬ 
judiced against this league, because its members only 
want a track for riding bicycles. If they would read 
this pamphlet and study it, they would find that not a 
word is said in it about bicycles. It contains some of the 
soundest arguments we have ever read why wagon roads 
should be improved. The R. N.-Y. regards the road ques¬ 
tion as second only in importance to the drink question, 
and we are therefore glad to spread the circulation of this 
really valuable little book. The pictures shown in this 
issue are all taken directly fram photographs made “on the 
spot.” Be honest now and say if they are not true to life 
and if they don’t indicate a very pretty state of affairs. The 
book doesn’t pretend to show you how to make a perfect 
road, but its author nopes to make you angry with your¬ 
self and your road, hoping that when you are once “ roused 
up” you won’t settle until something is done- 
A photograph can’t tell a lie. Those we print 
this week are as true as they can be. 
In Fig. 271 stands a load of hay. A New York 
State farmer one spring day, when the mud would 
“pack and roll under the wheels,” hitched up his 
big horses and hauled that load to town. Of 
course he got into a deep rut and broke a whiffle- 
tree—who hasn’t done the same on a muddy 
road ? He went to the blacksmith’s shop for re¬ 
pairs and this is what was left of his load. It is a 
true picture because it is an actual photograph. 
Now at Fig. 272 is another photograph—a scene in 
France. This French farmer is on his way to 
market nine miles away. There are about four 
tons of hay in that load or about IX ton per 
horse. See how easily they move along! That 
road is smooth and hard ; it slopes both ways and 
thus has good drainage. The tires on those wheels 
are nearly three times as wide as yours are. They 
make no ruts and really act much like rollers. 
Would it pay you to have such a road between 
your farm and your market ? How much would 
it be worth ? Are you ready to pay that amount 
as your share of needed road Improvement ? “ If 
not why not ? ” 
Now let us take another view. Look at Fig. 273. 
Here is what Mr. Potter has to say about that 
picture : 
“ You live on the main road in an Important 
county. I saw you one day last spring trying to 
drive your best horse through the pasty depths of 
that mysterious streak of public territory, and 
while the patient beast was pulling the harness in 
2. two, in his efforts to lift you and your scant load 
on to the little bridge near the mill, your photo¬ 
graph was taken, and I have it copied at Fig 273. 
It is an honest picture—as honest as the sun; let us sit 
down together and look at it. You will notice that your 
face is turned the other way, and I promise not to tell 
anybody who you are ; for I feel that the day is soon 
coming when every American farmer will look upon that 
picture with some regret, and I have no desire to humiliate 
a friend ; besides, it is not your fault alone that this road 
is bad, nor is it this road alone that presents a sea of 
slush and slime throughout each rainy season. 
“There were 10,000 farm horses in your county on the day 
when this photograph was taken, and for about four 
weeks all the county roads had been in just this condition. 
Teaming was out of the question; to haul a load to town 
was impossible, and the 10,000 farm horses stood in their 
stalls ‘eating their heads off.’ At what cost to the 
farmers? Assume that the cost of keeping each horse is 
25 cents per day, including labor, food, and all other items, 
and in half a minute we compute that it costs $2,500 per 
day, $17,500 per week and exactly $70,000 for the four 
AN AMERICAN LOAD OF HAY. Fig. 271 
industry of sheep husbandry during the last few years. 
In case the young man should buy or rent a portion of 
this hill and mountain land, where would he reside? In 
case a man Intends to live in the country, the very first 
point to consider in the selection of a location is the char¬ 
acter of the neighborhood; if this is not satisfactory it 
would seem that no other advantages would be worth con¬ 
sidering. When it is said that this is good grass land, is 
it to be understood that it is such as would be considered 
good in Chester County or Washington County, Pa.? 
What is the character of the grass ? Is it Blue Grass 
(Poa pratensis) or native grass of the mountains ? The 
best breed of sheep would be the hill sheep of West 
Virginia and eastern Kentucky, crossed by South Down 
rams. The South Down is the hardiest of the improved 
mutton breeds. Barbed wire is not to be recommended for 
sheep fencing. From the brief statement furnished in re¬ 
gard to the character of the growth of brush, briers, etc., 
on this land, I should infer that the expense of clearing it 
off, might be nearly as much as the land is worth. 
T. c. JONES. 
If Grass Will Grow on the Land. 
By way of comment on S. S A.’s inquiries about sheep 
ranching on mountain land of northern Pennsylvania, I 
would say that there can be no doubt of the possible profit¬ 
ableness of that business where a range f mostly upland 
can be had on the low terms mentioned if grass will grow 
and live on it. Any Northern soil that is soil at all and 
not mere stone (rock or sand) will grow grass if nothing is 
allowed to shade the blades through the growing months; 
and the sheep will do a full part to prevent the shading 
after the ax and mattock have done theirs. The lower 
wires of the fence should be smooth two strand—or single 
wires with occasional attention to their tautness—with 
barbed wire above to keep cattle on their own side. 
