602 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
September 9 
when we came down that hill this summer, but it 
pulls pretty hard on the flat.” 
“What’s the difference to 25 cows whether their 
hay is cut early or late in July ? ” 
“ Well, of course, that would depend a good deal on 
what else they had, but to me and my pocket it would 
be at least $4 a head, or SI00 on the herd—enough to 
pay for the whole job.” 
A word more about this method of “ roping hay.” 
It seems to be one of the lost arts of the pioneer 
period, but capable of being utilized in some situations 
to great advantage in the presence of costly and com¬ 
plicated “ hay loaders” at the present day. A man 
trots his light truck-wheeled cart to the farthest end 
of a big windrow of hay, lassoes a load and leads it 
into the barn forthwith, loosens one end of the rope 
and trots back. Sometimes a load will be 30 feet or 
more in length. The longer the better for the man 
who pitches it from the floor to the mow, as the pile 
will not be so big at the back end where he must 
begin to find his forkfuls in good order for pitching. 
Of course, a horse fork may be used. Two or more 
men stay in the barn and pitch continually, as the 
next jag comes in as they get the floor clear (as I have 
said the two ends of the rope are attached to the 
axle near the wheels). About 80 feet of rope will be 
needed and more does no harm. To begin the load, 
the end of the windrow is rolled up to make it thick, 
say enough for a hay cock. Stop the cart about 25 or 
30 feet from it. Take the loose end of the rope and 
carry it around the bunch of hay and back to its place 
on the axle and tie it there. Drive on ; now hold up 
the rope as it draws up to the hay about a foot high. 
Now jump on the pile, fork in hand, and as the hay 
accumulates stick the fork into the windrow, holding 
it down in such a way as to be caught and moved 
along by the growing pile on which you ride. The 
hay gradually works back by the con¬ 
stantly growing pressure, so that the 
rear is always the highest and largest, 
although the load may be 25 or 30 feet 
long. When the row is scooped up 
your work is done and you lie down if 
you choose, and ride to the barn. I 
forgot to say that a boy or man must 
drive the team as you will have to give 
the strictest attention to “ loading.” 
My son, who has worked my farm 
this season, tells me that he roped a 
windrow to the barn, and then had 
occasion to cock one of the same length 
right alongside, which made 18 cocks, 
or about 1,800 pounds, as he thinks, 
to one load. I am aware of the fact 
that such loads are not usually roped. 
Jlut by the use of the cart, which, so 
far as I know, originated in this neigh¬ 
borhood, such loads may be taken very 
frequently if the man who handles the 
fork is an expert. 
Mr. Connelly told me last night that, 
when roping tVas practicable, he could 
get in twice as much hay in a given time as he could 
by loading it on a wagon. 
ground was fit to work, I got a ‘ move on me,’ and we 
worked like tige*s to finish planting the Saturday be¬ 
fore the two months of wet weather came on. If I 
had missed that nick of time, as others did, I should 
have been more than $1,000 short of paying my debt 
this year. The ground was naturally pretty dry, and 
the crop grew right along and was out of the way of 
the blight. There was no mystery about it.” 
The Lady of the House Talks. 
“ And now, Mrs. Connelly, perhaps you will not 
object to telling how you have kept up your end of 
the evener ?” 
“ Certainly not, if there are any questions I can 
answer. I will say, that in the press of haying and 
harvesting I always tried to have my housework well 
in hand so that the hired girl and I could do anything 
necessary to facilitate the work in the fields. We did 
more than usual of the barn chores, such as milking, 
feeding calves, pigs, etc. Sometimes in an emergency 
I took the horse rake or the tedder.” 
“ Your girl was a good one ?” 
“On, yes, Susie was a treasure, and we had the good 
fortune to keep her six years. We have never spent 
much time hunt ng for hired girls.” 
Chautauqua County, N. Y. le roy whitfobd. 
SHEEP FARMING. 
Home Lambs for Market and Home Market for Lambs. 
Part III. 
General Management of the Flock. 
I have a few early lambs for the early market, sev¬ 
eral later, and a good many on grass from the middle 
of May to the middle of June, when they sometimes 
make wonderful growths. The early lambs especially 
must be well cared for. Sheep ticks, like surplus 
middlemen and interest gatherers living by the sweat 
Interior of a Connecticut Sheep Barn. 
Various Items of Work. 
“ One more very important question, Mr. Connelly ; 
how can you do as much work with one man as some 
farmers do with two ? ” 
“ I don't. That’s a mistake, as I can convince any 
hired man ip one season. In fact, I often hire a good 
man the second season. True, sometimes we have to 
push or be pushed, but we avoid lots of work. Don’t 
you see that when a man falls behind with his work in 
the spring, he has lost his right of way for the whole 
season, and you hear that ‘ the weeds got the start,’ 
and ‘ the bugs got the start,’ and ‘ the work all came 
in a heap,’ and, later on, the days got short and the 
fingers got cold, etc. With such management, it takes 
three men to accomplish what two might have done if 
the work had been kept well in hand ; and, then, there 
is worry that wears more than work—a fruitful source 
of dissatisfaction and discontent with the help.” 
“ What kind of stump puller do you use ? ” 
“ The old screw machine.” 
“ Do you consider that the best for heavy work ? ” 
“ Perhaps not for all cases, but it suits me, because 
I could get the stumps out alone. I could keep my 
team plowing in the same field, and call the man when 
I needed a lift from him or the team. One year I was 
stumping a piece for corn when my man was suddenly 
summoned as a witness to the May court. He was 
held there eight days, but I kept right on stumping 
alone. When he came back he said he supposed we 
must give up planting corn in that field. ‘ No, sir,’ 
said I ‘ those stumps are all out and the field is ready 
for the plow.’ ” 
“ I wish you would tell how it happened that you 
got such a fine crop of potatoes last year ; was it luck?” 
“ No : there was no luck about it. As soon as the 
of other men’s brows, must be got rid of if either 
sheep or men would thrive. As a general rule for 
feeding early lambs, I would suggest this: For the 
first six weeks feed the sheep, that is, for milk. For 
the next six weeks feed the lambs, that is, make 
them the special study, still keeping up the feed of 
the sheep. Young lambs can be most readily seen to 
just before turning the sheep to pasture. 
These articles are meant for those who do not have 
everything to their liking, and for the new winter 
lamb and its mother a high, almost tight box, large 
enough for the dam and her lamb and the shepherd, 
does splendidly for 24 hours where one lacks a well- 
warmed stall. Then, if the mother owns the lamb, 
they can be left for the night with little concern ; and 
in case she doesn’t, it’s a very good place to keep her 
till she does. A very little care at this time may mean 
$5 or $10 in your pocket a few weeks or months later. 
Good ewes of almost any breed, with good feed and a 
mutton-bred buck, will do, and one can even take 
poor ones, if necessary, to make a start. But the 
ideal sheep for early market lambs should be a good 
“ dairy” animal; and what is true as to the form of 
the dairy cow, doubtless, according to my own obser¬ 
vation, holds good in the choice of the ewes for early 
market lambs. Large hind-quarters indicate milk in 
the dam, and also bring the highest-priced lambs. 
A Large Field Open. 
The opportunities open to this farm enterprise are 
widespread. The field is the world and is almost 
utterly unworked. In Great Britain so rare is this 
sort of business as to cause comment when farmers 
begin to do it, though no doubt it may have been done 
here and there in both countries. Scattered all over 
our land are hundreds of cities and villages furnished 
now, no doubt, almost wholly through market-men 
with lamb and mutton, and to a considerable extent 
with poultry. The last census gives 3,715 of over 
1,000 each. These afford opportunity, then, for 
many thousand farmers to dispense with the middle¬ 
man and save his profits to themselves, as is done by 
so many dairymen who peddle their milk directly to 
consumers. With beef this is hardly practicable in 
these days of cellar furnaces in winter and disuse of 
salt meat at any time of the year. In the sheep we 
have a way of escape, however, from the knives of 
the middlemen; for sheep are themselves of conven¬ 
ient retail size. We count 8 to 10 sheep to a cow as 
to cost of keeping, and this is also about the equilib¬ 
rium as to weight. Especially here in New Eng¬ 
land is this plan feasible, and the sheep business 
seems bound to increase. Mutton and lamb are be¬ 
coming popular, and thousands are now brought 
yearly from elsewhere to supply even the present 
demand. 
If your market-man would pay eight or nine cents 
where now he pays six or seven cents, you could then 
afford to employ him to do your work. There is little 
likelihood, however, of his doing so until you teach 
him a lesson showing him the possibility of your in¬ 
dependence of him and that you personally have inde¬ 
pendence enough to make the most of your oppor¬ 
tunities. It has seemed difficult sometimes to sell 
a home-grown lamb hereabouts at any price, and it 
has been claimed that our butchers are under a con¬ 
tract to buy of the big Western dealers and to pay 
them a royalty (or fine) of one cent per pound for 
each home-grown lamb bought. If so, of course that 
cent a pound is taken off the price to the Eastern 
farmer and accounts for a decrease of one cent per 
pound in the price. There is a somewhat limited but 
growing market for fall and winter lambs. A local 
summer boarding-house keeper is quoted as saying 
of certain classes to-day that they want larks’ giz¬ 
zards and want them to sing going 
down. Luxury is on the increase. 
Other things being equal, and were 
it healthy, universal or equitably dis¬ 
tributed according to just desserts, it 
would be all right; but it is notably 
not so, and luxuriousness is enjoyed 
without labor or equivalent service to 
the world. However, while as a mat¬ 
ter of morals and of politics, we should 
seek to do away with it, as a matter of 
business we are compelled to cater to 
it, and the furnishing of luxuries in 
all lines is probably somewhat more 
profitable than necessaries and com¬ 
monplaces. The “ spring lamb trade,” 
or the furnishing of sucklings at all 
seasons, is worthy of attention. And 
right here, would it not be well that 
the form of our market reports should 
be changed in view of this new devel¬ 
opment, quoting sucklings, or fall and 
winter, as well as “ spring lambs ? ” 
The latter now often mean yearlings. 
By doing one s own marketing, he 
will keep more in touch with the world. It did David 
good (fresh from dealing with the dog nuisance in the 
form of the lion and the bear) to get away from his 
flocks for a time and meet and measure swords with 
the Philistines, as on the other hand it also did Moses 
good to get away from the Egyptians and out among 
the flocks, taking the anarchism out of him, and 
teaching him, as a reformer, to carry a steadier, less 
violent hand, and perhaps we may say, too, that 
living near to Nature’s heart, the tender, watchful 
and re flective life of the shepherd fitted him to at last 
become the greatest law-giver and grandest human 
character in all history. 
Be frank, fair, polite, but always self-respecting 
and never “small” with customers and they will not 
regard you as a mere peddler and a nuisance. They 
secretly rather like to come in contact, now and then, 
with the farmers—if at the back-door and never in a 
social way. They bring along with them something 
of the “freshness” of green fields, perhaps 1 Above 
all, whether sheep farming or general farming, let us 
not become so absorbed in the smaller details of the 
vocation—the raising, selling of produce, etc.—as to 
neglect our broad and higher interests. 
Sheep farming seems specially favorable to poetry, 
piety and politics. Around it cluster many of the 
most beautiful legends, incidents and memories of the 
past. Even the slaying of the lamb calls to mind the 
priestly office with its associations and typical teach¬ 
ings. “ He maketh me to lie down in green pastures, 
He leadeth me beside the still waters.” “ The heavens 
declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth 
his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and 
night unto night showeth knowledge !” Who could 
have written these but the shepherd farmer lad lead¬ 
ing his flocks to the river meadows in the morning 
and watching the heavens from the hills at night. 
And he again it was who, heedless of sneers uttered 
