242 
April 8 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
and can tell from that how to regulate the feed.” 
“Do you consider ensilage better than roots for 
sheep ? ” 
“ No, there is nothing equal to roots for a succulent 
feed, but it costs too much to raise them with the 
high price of labor. Our land is so rich that we can 
grow them well, but ensilage is much cheaper.” 
“ How many times a day do you feed ? ” 
“ Only twice. We begin about 4 o’clock, morning 
and afternoon.” 
“ Do you sell any hay ? ” 
“ Yes, a great deal. We know how to make good 
hay here. If the weather prospects are favorable, we 
start the mower in the morning. We use the Eureka, 
wide-cut, the best mower made for level land like 
ours. Then we follow with the tedder, get the hay 
thoroughly dry, but not so that the leaves will all 
rattle off, and put it into the harn the same day. We 
can sell this hay for almost any price we may ask, to 
the horsemen in Allentown,” 
“ Do you use a horse fork ? ” 
“Yes, the double harpoon with a carrier.” 
The Good Points of a Dorset. 
“ How long have you been importing and breeding 
Dorsets ? ” 
“ For the past four years.” 
“ Why do you like them so well ? ” 
“ Because I think they are the grandest and most 
profitable sheep in existence. For early lambs they 
cannot be excelled. They will take the ram whenever 
empty, and so will produce lambs at any desired time 
of year. I had at Christmas at least 60 lambs that 
would average over 50 pounds apiece, and had * 
wished to sell them for butchering, they would have 
brought me as much per head as three of the same 
weight will bring the first of May. By selling the 
lambs when so young, say three months, the ewes 
get a good rest, and will get fat on good clover hay.” 
“ How are they for mutton and wool ? ” 
“They are as good sheep for these purposes as any 
I have ever had. They are truly the rent-paying 
breed, as they are called in England. - ’ 
“ Where do you sell the most Dorsets ? ” 
“ I sell them to breeders from the Atlantic to the 
Pacific, and now I make my largest sales to parties to 
whom I sold before. I have sold as many as 35 to a 
single buyer. Those who try them are soon convinced 
that they are the breed wanted.’ 
“ Why are they meeting such a demand just now ? ” 
“ Because of their special value in raising early 
lambs. This branch of sheep husbandry is attracting 
more attention in recent years.” 
“Do you raise many sheep besides those you import? 
“Yes; I also let out a good many to 
farmers around here on shares. I furnish 
the sheep and they give me halt the 
produce, while I reserve the privilege of 
buying any of their share that 1 may 
wish, at two cents per pound above 
the market price. In this way I make 
sure of getting all of the best lambs.” 
“ How much will such sheep as those 
now in the pens shear ? ” 
“ Probably about 10 pounds each. 
You see it is a fine long staple. It is one 
of the best of wools for the manufac¬ 
tories. ” 
“ Are the sheep prolific breeders ? ” 
“ Very ; many of these now here have 
two lambs, and they are always excel¬ 
lent milkers.” 
It was cold and blustering at the 
time of my visit, the day after the bliz¬ 
zard that passed over this part of the 
country. The sheep were confined in 
the barn, which, by the way, was well 
lighted with numerous windows. “ Do 
you keep the sheep confined all the 
time ? ” I inquired. 
“ No, we let them out into the yards. 
Sheep don't mind the cold, but must be 
kept from storms and high winds.” 
“ Do sheep need much water ? ” 
“Yes; they must have it. All our water comes 
from a spring through pipes. There are 32 hydrants 
on the place.” 
We went into the pens among the sheep. They were 
very tame permitting themselves to be handled by a 
stranger. There seems to be little or none of that 
timidity common among sheep. This is probably what 
renders them “ dog-proof,” as a sheep which runs and 
shows fear will often be chased when it would not be 
otherwise. F - H - 
R. N.-Y.—At Fig. 95 is shown a picture of the 
Dorset ram, Royal Windsor, No. 233, now used by Mr. 
Cooper in his flocks. As represented, he is a fine 
animal. We presume this represents the ideal Dorset— 
what the breed ought to be after years of skillful 
breeding. 
“TANKAGE” GOES UP HEAD. 
As “ the odor of guano is abroad in the land,” my 
mind reverts to an inquiry I made of The Rukal about 
a year since, which was, “Why are phosphoric acid and 
ammonia in tankage worth less than in other forms? 
I expressed my belief that, being derived from animal 
matter and pure bone, they would prove in practice as 
efficient as the same elements derived from other 
sources. Sustaining my belief by acts, I ordered a car 
of tankage and dried blood—11 tons of the former and 
1 of the latter. The tankage was as fine as any guano 
or chemical fertilizer could be ; indeed so fine and dry 
was it that I found it necessary to moisten it slightly 
when using it broadcast. It analyzed 7 to 1% percent 
of ammonia and 30 to 32 per cent of bone phosphate of 
lime. The dried blood contained 16 per cent of am¬ 
monia. Now for practical results : 
On Wonder beans I used 1,000 pounds to the acre 
broadcast, and the results were better than those from 
A Handy Sheep Feeding Rack. Fig. 94. 
60 two-horse loads of stable manure, costing $1 per 
load and hauling. On water-melons I used one pound 
to the hill, and raised far better melons than ever with 
the best stable manure and ground bone, though these 
latter cost per acre fully eight times what tankage did. 
With tankage alone and only two cultivations—one 
simply running the Acme harrow through the soil—few 
of the melons were under 40 pounds, while the majority 
went much above that, some reaching 56 pounds. On 
corn, tankage was 'equally good, while tankage, 1,000 
pounds to the acre on land planted in Salzer’s Farm 
beans made at the rate of 150 bushels per acre. Cante- 
loupes were as fine as ever gro wn. Pearl Cosmas yielded 
three times as much as ever before. Onions were all 
that could be desired. 
One fact was particularly prominent—there was not 
a fired leaf or plant on the whole place, though dry 
weather never failed to develop such when large quan¬ 
tities of stable manure and bone were used. Last 
year tankage was laid down here for something less 
than $22 per ton. Now, I am sorry to say, it is so 
highly appreciated that the price has been advanced 
so that it would cost $26.60 per ton. With the addi¬ 
tion of such percentage of potash as each might pre¬ 
fer, (I am adding seven per cent this year) and ground 
plaster to complete, we have a fertilizer good for cab¬ 
bages, onions, melons or any other crop. This tank¬ 
age in my practical experience was more beneficial, 
ton for ton, than chemical fertilizers bought in New 
York city costing $56.40 per ton laid down here. No 
one in this section has used the quantity of stable 
manure per acre that I have, and I have for several 
years bought hundreds of loads from livery stables, 
but this season I am using only what I make at home, 
and unless tankage should take a still greater rise in 
price, I will substitute it entirely, only buying 40 per 
cent of potash and plaster to combine with it. Why 
not use cotton-seed meal as a source of nitrogen and 
phosphoric acid in combination with ground bone, as 
the meal can be got at home and analysis shows it 
contains seven to eight per cent of ammonia and three 
per cent of phosphoric acid? Because, during four 
years’ use of it a week of dry weather never failed to 
show severe firing of all plants. So much was this 
the case that before I tried tankage, 1 had determined 
never to put another pound of cotton-seed meal on 
land cultivated by me. Theoretically it is all right, 
but practically, with me, it is all wrong. Tankage 
such as I used has so far proved the one particular 
fertilizer, I had sought, giving results never before 
attained and that at one-third the cost of other fer¬ 
tilizers. The tankage alone on beets, lettuce, cabbage, 
and other vegetables was equally desirable. A. w. s. 
Americus, Ga. _ 
THE FARMER’S GARDEN. 
A railroadman’s onion culture. 
At the Delaney farmers’ institute the question was 
asked whether onions could be successfully grown in 
that vicinity. No farmer present seemed to know, 
and Mr. Harris was called for. He made an eloquent 
plea for the farmer’s wife and garden, in which he 
said: 
“ Farm produce, in many cases, will not sell for 
half of what it formerly brought, and work cannot be 
done in the old way and leave any profit. Farmers 
cannot afford to buy fruits and vegetables The place 
to begin to do better is at home. Work in the garden 
is not a part of woman’s labor. Some men compel their 
wives to do all the work done in the gardens and then 
brag of having the best gardens in town. Choose a 
place near the house, free from shade trees, which 
slopes toward the south, if possibe. You will not have 
an early garden on a northern slope. In the fall ma¬ 
nure heavily with long, coarse manure and plow under. 
A cold, clay soil is always benefited by underdraining. 
Leave at each end a head-land on which to turn. Make 
a plan, some winter evening, and mark out in long 
rows of different widths, according to the crop to be 
grown, as this will help you the following season. A 
rotation should be practiced. Different elements of 
fertility are required by the different plants, and one 
should know what element each vegetable takes the 
most of. Strawberries and potatoes exhaust the soil 
of potash, and should not follow each other without 
special fertilizing. A hot-bed should be made ; from 
March 10 to 20 for this location, is a good time to start 
the plants. With good ones, we can have cabbages, 
lettuce, tomatoes, etc., from four to six weeks earlier 
by starting them in a hot-bed. Let the rows be wide 
enough so that you can drive a horse and 
harrow between them. Land is cheap?r 
than labor. This will save a good deal 
of work. Make provision for small 
fruits. There is nothing that will give 
you more comfort, save your wife more 
work, and preserve your health like a 
good supply of ripe, fresh fruit. As soon 
as the soil is in good condition, plow 
enough to plant the early vegetables— 
no more. Unless your soil is dry and 
gravelly, the less you get on it with a 
horse the better. Other plowings follow 
as you need the ground. 
Give a place to herbs and flowers. 
The first home God made for man was 
a garden, and ne made to grow trees 
that were pleasant to the sight, showing 
that our Creator wishes us to have our 
homes as beautiful as Nature can make 
them. We are told that when God cursed 
man he drove him from the garden, but 
I think it would be a curse to have to 
live in or near some gardens. At the 
home of one young married couple I 
saw a herd of cows, 40 turkeys and 50 
hens in the front door yard. Does such 
a place look like home ? Children leave 
such homes because they are such only 
in name. It is the parents’ duty to make home the 
one beautiful spot on earth. “ I have no time to make 
garden ” is often urged. The most successful farmers 
have the best gardens. There is no part of the farm 
that pays a better profit, and they know it. Seventy- 
five per cent of those who fail in farming have no 
garden. 
In common with others, I supposed that onions could 
be grown only on certain soils and in certain localities. 
This may be true as far as growing them largely for 
market is concerned, but it is wrong to suppose that 
they cannot be grown successfully by every farmer 
for family use. My poor cold clay soil did not seem 
a good place for them, but after reading the New 
Onion Culture I tried it. I started my plants in the 
hot-bed and when as large as a pipe stem I trans¬ 
planted. A spot which had been heavily manured for 
Imported Dorset-Horn Ram, Royal Windsor No. 232. Fig. 95. 
