VOL. LIII. No. 2314. 
NEW YORK, JUNE 2, 1894. 
M.oo PER YEAR.l : 
HAY AND OTHER FARM NOTES. 
HAY 8I.INOS, ALFALFA AND SHEEP. 
Fig. 92 illustrates the latest and eheapest way I have 
found of getting hay into the barn. The barn was 
built with especial reference to the use of slings. The 
door extending from the mow floor to the peak of the 
roof is 10 feet wide and 32 feet high. The carrier runs 
on a 4 X 4 oak track just under the peak, and is so con¬ 
structed that it holds the load at any desired height, 
and the great draught of hay—often as much as 1,000 
pounds—is swung in as soon as it will clear the mow. 
I unload the largest load in three hitches, and And 
the slings take up long, tangled bay, 
short slippery hay, chaff or corn 
stalks with equal facility. Of course 
two horses are used, the team being 
taken from the wagon for that pur¬ 
pose. This outflt was bought from 
Ricker & Montgomery. I flrst 
learned of them through an adver¬ 
tisement in The R. N.-Y. By the 
way, one may learn much through 
the advertising columns. I am al¬ 
ways watching them for new wrin¬ 
kles and help in my business. I 
brought into this county the first 
hay tedder, hay loader and slings, 
Aeromotor,which does a whole world 
of useful work for me, and is indis¬ 
pensable, and the flrst Dorset sheep; 
all of these things have paid and are 
fruits of newspaper advertisiiig. 
Alfalfa is specially adapted to hot 
and dry climates, yet it has generally 
an abundant irrigation in the dry 
countries, and its yield is directly in 
proportion to this copious irrigation. 
It will stand more frost than Red 
clover, both in spring and fall, with¬ 
out killing the leaves. It will endure 
the winters of central Ohio better 
than Red clover, and it will produce 
much more hay. Especially is this 
true of a dry season, when its deep 
penetrating roots feed in the subsoil 
where there is moisture. The hay, 
if cut early, is much superior to 
clover as a feed. As I give it to my 
lambs and cows, my enthusiasm 
grows—and I plan to greatly in¬ 
crease the acreage on my farm. The 
lambs do not touch clover, Timothy, 
or Blue grass hay while they can 
get at the Alfalfa. I have seen them 
leave troughs in which I had just 
placed corn and bran to c rowd 
around the rack as I put in the 
beautiful green Alfalfa hay. This 
item of taste for a food goes 
further than chemical analysis and 
I believe that shows Alfalfa to have 
some advantage over clover. 
A sight which I witnessed one day recently illus¬ 
trates the liking of lambs for Alfalfa. I had just put 
a fresh forkful in the manger and the lambs crowded 
around it, when I noticed that one of them needed 
“tagging.” My shears were handy, so I caught him 
and threw him down on his side as is usual. He 
struggled and gazed with some alarm and apprehen¬ 
sion at me, but maintained all the time his hold on a 
mouthful of Alfalfa, the long straws of which he 
vigorously munched from time to time in the ebbs of 
his fright till it was all drawn in ! I would have liked 
to have a photograph of that; it would have spoken 
volumes of the adaptability of Alfalfa to lamb feeding. 
Why is it not generally sown ? It requires good, 
clean land, careful preparation of the seed bed, and a 
wait of a year before it yields much. The seed costs 
three times as much as it should in most seedsmen’s 
catalogues, and the plant is not very sure to perfect 
good seed in this longitude. Clover is a lazy man’s 
crop; it may be sown on any land—rich or poor— 
without preparation, among the wheat or rye, and 
although I have not tried Alfalfa in this way, I very 
much doubt its success if so treated. It requires good, 
careful, intelligent farming, and we are just coming 
around to that. | ^ ^ 
I HAVE had a good deal of disastrous experience 
A Cheap Way of Unloading Hay. Fig. 92. 
with brood ewes fed on grain, and have lost more or 
less ewes. This year I have had better success 
through a new practice. Last summer I commenced 
haying nearly as soon as the corn was planted, and 
secured a lot of excellent hay. Part of it was clover, 
part Alfalfa and part Timothy and clover. I ceased 
feeding grain altogether, giving only hay and water— 
plenty of each, and each fresh. The lambs came 
much stronger, and the ewes had plenty of milk for 
them. This was where I feared failure—I was hap¬ 
pily disappointed. I believe that grass, green or dry, 
is the natural and proper food for a ewe. I cut this 
grass before it was fairly in bloom. The Timothy 
was not in bloom. It is amazing how much of this 
hay the ewes and lambs will eat. I am not prepared 
to say that it is actually cheaper than to feed less 
hay, and grain with it. I know that in my case it is 
better. I never could feed a ewe little enough grain 
for one thing. If I fed at all, I wanted to give plenty. 
t t t 
One day last winter I took an afternoon drive 
among my neighbors who are lamb feeders. They all 
feed yearling lambs for spring markets. Nearly 
every one was making the mistake of feeding too lit¬ 
tle hay. One man, who had 1,200 under one roof fed 
about a ton a day of ripe clover hay. His lambs—as 
all lambs here—had access to corn at all times. They 
did not look right to me. He told 
me that his man was not in the barn 
more than an hour or two at a time 
daily. I did not see any hope of a 
profit in those lambs this year. An¬ 
other man was feeding ripe Timothy 
hay—also with full allowance of 
corn. His lambs did not look right 
to me. Another man was feeding 
oats and corn mixed, with all the 
clover hay they would eat-^result, 
every lamb fat and lusty. One man, 
who is trying to fatten 400 lambs, 
seems of an economical turn of mind, 
and has made some very nice, neat 
racks, from which the lambs can not 
possibly waste a straw—everything 
must be eaten, and is eaten. Result 
—a sorry lot of lambs. He is feed¬ 
ing ripe Timothy hay. I really wish 
I had a few of his racks for my hay; 
but for general use, I believe the 
open-slatted rack that is spaced six 
inches between slats so that lambs 
can reach through and pick and 
choose among the hay, is best. I 
would rather waste some hay than 
to waste the fat. 
t t t 
Last winter I fed some thorough¬ 
bred Shropshire lambs. When they 
came a year ago last winter, they 
were put on “full feed” as soon as 
they were born, and given a mixture 
of ground corn, bran and linseed 
meal until they were turned out to 
grass along in May. Thus they got 
a fine start. They ran on pasture 
all summer, much of the time on 
poor pasture. When they were put 
on grain feed in the fall, not one of 
them was made sick or died—we 
often lose one to two per cent—and 
they are now about 30 per cent 
larger and finer than lambs fed with 
them all winter, that did not have 
the send-off in the spring. That 
feed last spring paid. I have also 
quite a number of half-blood Dorsets. 
They feed remarkably well. They 
get very heavy for their size, and are also of good size. 
They seem to be very hearty and not to get “ dainty ” 
or languid. 
I have a car-load, 250, of Chicago stockyard lambs. 
These are a coarse wooled lot—of mixed breeding. 
They weighed 59 pounds each when I got them home 
in November, and were looking so poor that I was 
afraid some neighbor would see them. They were 
covered with ticks and scab germs, but I gave them 
an effective dipping; they have had good feed and care 
since and to-day are as fine a lot of lambs as any one 
has in the country. 
On March 6 the shearers finished the clipping of 
the breeding ewes. The most of the ewes lambed in 
