THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
March 17 
166 
clover lie on the ground until it becomes perfectly dry. 
Then it is loaded on the wagon and hauled to the 
huller or stack. I prefer hulling as it comes from 
the field, as it is less work. When stacked it must be 
capped well with the other hay to keep it dry. 
I find that the hullings are excellent feed for stock. 
I have some calves that have not had anything this 
winter but the clover hullings, and they are in good 
shape ; if anything they are in better shape than 
when taken off of the pasture. f. j. 
Merriam, Ill. _ 
THE FUTURE OF SHEEP FARMING. 
FOOD AND CABK VS BLOOD. 
Free Trade Has No Terrors for Mutton. 
THK SUBJECT CON8IDEBED. 
1. The future of the sheep industry. 
2. Sheep fitted to the conditions. 
8. Food and care v$. blood In its production. 
Sheep have always been an impDrtant factor in the 
development of this nation. More than nine-tenths of 
our clothing is second-hand from their backs, and mut¬ 
ton has formed a large part of our food. The time 
was, and not very far in the past, when the principal 
income from the flock was from the wool. When un¬ 
washed wool sold quickly at 40 or more cents per 
pound, according to its fineness, the whole energy of 
the sheep owner was devoted to the production of the 
heaviest fleece of the finest staple. As the belief was 
common that the yield of wool was in proportion to 
the area of skin, the craze for wrinkles was carried 
to such an extent that in some cases as much as two 
full skins were found on a single carcass. 
But a change came over the sheep industry. By the 
settlement of Australia and other countries and the 
stocking of cheap lands with innumerable sheep, the 
production of wool so increased as to give the world 
an over supply. Down, down, went the price until, 
in spite of the protection to the American grower by 
the provisions of the McKinley Bill, our finest grades 
of American Merino wools, unwashed, sold for from 
18 to 22 cents per pound. Happily for the future of 
the industry, as the price of wool has gone down, the 
consumption of mutton has increased. Our people are 
becoming aware that it is the freest from disease, the 
most nutritious and healthful, of all animal foods. 
Careful experiments have demonstrated the fact that 
a pound of mutton can be produced at less cost than 
flesh of any other kind. While wool is lower than ever 
before, it is an encouraging fact and one that should 
stimulate the sheep owner, that prime mutton is now 
selling for more money than either beef or pork; and 
its consumption is increasing much faster than the 
growth of population. Sheep owners, then, should 
not be discouraged, but look the situation squarely in 
the face. Realize that conditions have changed; that 
in the future mutton must be the chief end and aim of 
this business. While he should not wholly ignore the 
growth of wool, the breeder must recognize the fact 
that fashions change even as regards the kinds of 
wool wanted. What is now most in demand are not 
the fine, heavy fleeces, but the lighter, coarser wools 
—the mediums. In the future, to get most profit from 
the flock will require the largest growth of the best 
mutton, that carrying the best fleece of medium wool 
and which shall be produced for the least money. 
Sheep to Meet This Want. 
It would be quite natural here to drift into a dis¬ 
cussion of the breeds, but nothing is further from my 
purpose. It is types, not breeds, that I shall consider. 
We must not lose sight of the previous conclusion that 
mutton is of the first importance. The mutton now 
most in demand is that which is lean and j uicy, not 
over fat. Another very important consideration is the 
fact that the more rapid the growth, and the quicker 
the animal arrives at maturity, the less food it eats 
and the less its cost of production. And last the wool. 
We want a good fleece with staple from 23^ to 5 
inches long, soft and of close texture, free from gum 
and yolk and of good luster. This class of wool is now 
most in demand and will sell for from 25 to 30 per 
cent more than the fine, heavy wools. We want, then, 
a sheep that combines in the highest degree, early 
maturity, largest development of meat on the best 
parts, and that gives the most pounds of the most 
desirable wool. How shall we secure it ? 
Food and Care vs. Breed in Producing What is 
Sought. 
No domestic animal is so susceptible to change as the 
sheep. In looking over the field trying to find or pro¬ 
duce the ideal sheep to meet our wants, it may not be 
unprofitable to glance at the moat available breeds. 
In this country the Merino is the most distinct breed. 
Being a fine-wooled sheep, and the demand being 
for fine wool and wool alone, so much care was 
used in developing them on this line as to result 
in producing a breed of the heaviest shearers, 
in proportion to weight, and of the finest wool 
of any in the world. Aside from these, all others 
have been kept in a hap-hasard way; more as scav¬ 
engers than anything else, and we find very little 
variation. In England, we find a very marked con¬ 
trast. There, although all sheep may be included in 
one of the two great classes, “longwools” or “middle- 
wools,” almost every shire has its distinct breed, and 
each with very marked peculiarities. We see the long- 
wool type, with their massive bodies well covered 
with long, glossy wool, and their abundance of fat 
laid here and there in lumps and chunks. The middle- 
wool types with smaller bodies, shorter staple and 
more compact fleeces, and with their flesh and fat 
nicely mingled, and the little Welsh mountain sheep 
with their scanty fleece, deer-like form and venison 
quality of mutton, and remember that they all, 
undoubtedly came from the same stock ; from a com¬ 
mon blood. Seeking the cause of these great varia¬ 
tions, we will surely have to look for something 
besides blood. j. s. woodwabd. 
do be continued,) 
HOW MUCH SEED? 
DO SEEDSMEN ADVISE TOO MUCH? 
What the Practical IjLea Say. 
On page 84, a reader stated some of his troubles in 
following the advice of seedsmen as to the amount of 
seed to the rod or acre. We have presented his state¬ 
ment to a number of practical men and here we have 
their answers: 
Peas, Beans and Beets. 
In a square acre, 12x133^ rods, there are, with rows 
30 inches apart, 79 rows, 133i rods long. Two and one- 
half bushels of peas of the O’Rourke type will seed it 
nicely, making a small fraction over a quart of seed per 
row. With larger seed, like Black-eyed Marrowfats, it 
would take three bushels. A quart of common wax 
beans will seed a row 20 rods long. An ounce of 
Early beet seed will sow 10 rods of drill. I have trans¬ 
planted 4,300 plants from one ounce of Jersey Wake¬ 
field cabbage seed obtained from Henderson. I find 
the Planet Jr. seed drill is gauged to sow too much. 
It will sow four bushels of D. O’Rourke seed per acre. 
With all kinds of seeds I have to set it for less than 
the marks indicate. l. b. biebce. 
Practice of a South Jersey Market Gardener. 
The custom here in planting peas is to sow in rows 
far enough apart to allow a crop to be started between 
them, which will eventually require the whole 
ground, such as early tomatoes, egg plants, citrons, 
cucumbers, etc. The peas are sown in March in 
rows five or six feet apart, and the tomatoes or other 
crops are planted in May, between the rows of peas, 
which are picked as soon as ready, and the vines 
plowed under to make room for the other crop. The 
peas answer a double purpose ; besides being a valu¬ 
able crop in themselves, they protect the tender 
tomato and other plants from wind storms and driving 
sand, and also attract the cut worms from the space 
where the more valuable plants are to be set. In 
planting in this manner, 1 to 13-^ bushel per acre is a 
sufficient quantity, which would require about a quart 
to 180 feet of drill. 
In planting seeds of cabbage, tomatoes, etc., we 
sow about five or six seeds to the inch of drill, and 
sow two or three times as much as we think we will 
need. If we have too many plants, we sell or throw 
away the surplus. Frequently, owing to mice or 
other mishaps, we do not have enough and have to 
buy. In buying such seed as cabbage and tomato, it 
is not a safe rule to buy only enough to produce the 
number of plants required. There are so many dis¬ 
turbing influences at work, that it is far safer to sow 
three times the quantity needed, as after a failure is 
discovered, it is often too late to remedy it by a new 
sowing. chables pabby. 
New Jersey. 
Actual Hesults With Cabbage. 
There is no doubt that seedsmen place too low an 
estimate on the number of plants which an ounce of 
seed will produce. I would consider seed of almost 
any kind except celery to be very poor if less than 75 
per cent of it germinated. 
In some germination tests that we conducted while 
at the Geneva, N. Y.. Agricultural Experiment Sta¬ 
tion, using 1,000 or more seeds of each vegetable, the 
following figures give the average number that germi¬ 
nated in each hundred seeds of a few of the kinds 
tested: Beets, 71; cabbage, one-year-old seed, 86; two 
years, 75; three years, 62, four years, 54; carrot, 86; 
cauliflower, 86 ; celery, 40 ; cucumber, 84 ; lettuce, 84; 
seed, six years old, 29 ; melon, 89; onions, 74; seed, 
three years old, 28 ; pea, 87 ; radish, 77; rutabaga, 99 ; 
tomato, 79 to 88; some 10 years old seed, 84 ; turnip, one 
to four years old, 85 to 94 ; seven years old, 47. While 
I can give no further data from practical experience 
in regard to the number of celery plants from an ounce 
of seed, I am confident that more than 40 per cent of 
celery seed will produce plants. 
The last few years that I was practically engaged in 
market gardening and small fruit growing in New 
York State, I made a specialty of cabbage growing. 
In the spring of 1883, cabbage seed of the Drumhead 
varieties was procured from three different firms. The 
seed from one firm was grown in the vicinity of Puget 
Sound, the balance was Eastern grown. It was sown 
in rows in beds, one ounce of seed to each bed. When 
the plants were removed from the beds for transplant¬ 
ing in the field, a careful count was kept of the num¬ 
ber of plants produced by each ounce of seed. In 
every case the Eastern grown seed produced a few 
more than 4,000 plants per ounce, while the other seed 
produced 7,500 plants per ounce. We have never 
grown less than 4,000 plants of cabbage from an ounce 
of seed. We have kept no record of the number of 
plants produced by other seeds. 
In ordinary garden culture I generally use one quart 
of peas to 200 or 250 feet of row. Last season I planted 
one quart of Henderson’s First of All in six rows that 
were 33 feet long. There was only room for six rows ; 
otherwise I would have planted eight rows with the 
same amount of seed. Late peas are larger, but I use 
about the same amount of seed, as the plants do bet¬ 
ter if not planted so thickly as the early varieties. I 
have had no experience in field culture of peas, but 
have been told by several growers chat from two to 
three bushels per acre is the quantity sown. 
Del. College Ag’l Exp. Station. m. h. beckwith. 
Actual Count of Seeds in an Ounce. 
I have just counted the seeds in an ounce of several 
lots we have in stock, all of them showing a vitality of 
at least 80 per cent, with the following result: Beets, 
sample 1, 1,320 fruits, sample 2, 2,460 fruits; cabbage, 
sample 1, 5,144 seeds, sample 2, 8,480 seeds; cabbage, 
sample a, 5,144 seeds; sample h, 7,440; celery, sample 
1 , 64,594 seeds; sample 2 , 94,624 seeds. Cabbage, 
samples a and b, are of the same variety, grown by 
the same man : a being the 92 crop, showing 82 vitality 
and b of 93 crop, 78 vitality. With such a range of 
difference in size of seeds of different varieties, or 
even different samples of the same variety, would not 
the estimates of seed needed to plant a hundred feet 
necessarily vary ? Again, if we plant a sample of 
celery showing 85 per cent vitality, 25 seeds to the 
inch of drill in soil which will pack hard over the 
seed, and seed equally thick in light, friable soil, 
which will not pack at all, we would get nearly the 
same number of plants from each. But if the seed in¬ 
stead of being planted 25 to the inch is put in only 
two or three to the inch, so they cannot help each 
other, we would get scarcely any plants from the 
heavy soil and nearly as many as before from that 
which is more friable. The difference coming partly 
from the shutting off light and air and partly from the 
hard crust around the seed. Knowing that the amount 
of seed needed to give a certain number of plants 
would vary in this way according to the soil used, 
would any two men be likely to give the same quantity 
as the desirable one for all cases ? I might refer to 
other conditions which would influence the amount of 
seed desirable, but I think the above will show that it 
is quite impossible to give any definite quantity as the 
proper amount of seed for 100 feet, or for a certain 
number of plants. will w. tbacy. 
How Much Onion Seed to the Acre P 
To raise a crop of onions we plant all the way from 
33>^ to 50 pounds. The difference in the quantity will 
depend on what we are after, whether onions to mar¬ 
ket dry, and if so, whether we aim for large or medium 
sized bulbs, or whether we seek a crop to bunch while 
green, or plant to obtain sets; the quantity of seed 
will vary with the sized sets we aim to grow. Again, 
the quantity planted for either of these objects will 
vary somewhat with the size and plumpness of the 
seed, which differs more or less fr*m year to year, 
however carefully it may be winnowed or sunk. 
Again, the degree of preparation the ground has re¬ 
ceived and the character of it, will affect the quantity 
needed, for the finer the seed-bed the better the seed 
will come. For this reason, it is wise in planting 
onion seed for dry market bulbs, and indeed for any 
purpose, to sow more liberally on land that is in 
onions for the first time than on old land, for old land 
having, been cleared yearly of stones, and been well 
stuffed with manure, is more friable and will make a 
finer seed-bed. Another matter to be considered in 
deciding the quantity of seed to be used, is the 
quantity of manure the land is to receive ; for land 
very heavily manured will bear thicker planting and 
yet yield onions that will average as large as those 
raised on land manured but moderately well, where 
from half a pound to a pound less seed has been sown. 
Under all these conditions, I have assumed that the 
seed has equal vitality, but occasionally there occur 
seasons so unpropitious for seed growing, that with 
the greatest care in winnowing and sinking, it will be 
impossible to bring the standard of vitality within 10 
per cent of that of average years; as when seed is 
thu? lighter there are proportionately more to th 
