278 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
April 20 
class of sheep. The farmer needs to be improved be¬ 
fore he touches any of these improved sheep. He 
needs to know that, no matter what the breed, it can¬ 
not make a nice, juicy chop from Timothy hay and 
com stalks for forage and corn for grain. That lean 
meat is made only from nitrogenous food and juici¬ 
ness is given by that which is succulent. With this 
lesson well learned, he can use some of the mutton- 
breed sires on his Merino ewes, and by properly caring 
for and feeding the lambs, will astonish himself and 
neighbors with the excellence of the mutton which 
will result from the cross and his changed methods, 
and will have no desire to go out of the sheep busi¬ 
ness. j. s. WOODWARD. 
THE SHEEP INDUSTRY IN OHIO. 
The Old and the New of It. 
Did you ever know a boy who had a fortune left 
him, and who, because of his superior advantages, 
became careless and indifferent, until some other boy 
with much poorer advantages, being spurred on to do 
his best, knowing that his success depended on his 
own efforts, finally passed the one having the best 
natural advantages to begin with ? The rich boy is 
not necessarily stupid or vicious either; he merely 
lacks the stimulus of knowing that he must do his 
best. It is very likely that he is naturally brighter 
and stronger than his poorer neighbor. 
I defy any one to show that the boy in question, the 
sheep breeder of Ohio, was naturally a child lacking 
in intelligence or that he began life in an unfavorable 
environment. No, Ohio’s hills are carpeted with 
richest grasses and clovers. Springs of sweet water 
gush out from shady banks ; the valleys grow mighty 
stores of corn, and the climate is as good as can be 
found on this earth for the purposes of the shepherd, 
if only he will give shelter when needed, and for this 
there are provided forests of timber in abundance 
and no lack of skilled workmen. It would seem that 
all these advantages were nearly enough to spoil our 
boy ; but perhaps he could have endured it very well 
without getting careless and indolent, had not his in¬ 
dulgent Uncle Samuel dropped in on the scene and 
tried to encourage him in well doing by making him 
a present every time he would show a little enterprise, 
making it a little easier for him to get along, a little 
less necessary for him to try to do his level best. 
Unfortunately (for him) he had an old maid sister 
living on the next farm, on less fertile land, and under 
less genial skies. She was under the care of a stern 
guardian, too, and she had no friendly boosting toward 
success, but must achieve it by pure force of merit. 
She did achieve it. Her fat sheep and lambs are 
the despair of our Ohio shepherds. 
There is an old and a new to the sheep industry in 
Ohio. I present these pictures (see first page) as 
speaking illustrations of the two types. Fig. 85 shows 
the old. The owner of these sheep knows that “sheep 
take less to keep them than any other stock; there is no 
need to feed them as long as they can get to the 
ground. They do not need water when they are run¬ 
ning out. There is so little profit in sheep any way 
that it will not pay to go to the expense in getting 
new blood or improved sires. A penny saved is a 
penny earned, and this applies to saving feed as well 
as to anything else. What we need and demand is aid 
from our government to help us carry on the business 
in the good old way.” 
In Fig. 86 we see the new sheep industry of Ohio, 
the one that is not asking aid of any kind ; that does 
not fear competition from Canada, Mexico, New Zea¬ 
land, or any other spot on earth. What does it mean ? 
It means better sheep. It means sheep with a mutton 
carcass as well as a good fleece. It means the use of 
good sires. It means good care for the lamb from the 
day it is conceived until the day when it is sent to 
market. It means succulent pastures of rape or Crim¬ 
son clover or Alfalfa during the droughts of August 
and September. It means death to ticks, to lice and 
scab. It means shelter from cold rains and storms. 
It means abundant food stored under shelter for use 
during winter. It means equal parts of energy, 
brains and good sense, mixed with a generous part of 
hope and courage and perseverance. It means success. 
We, who represent the new sheep industry in Ohio, 
are very much in earnest. Already we see success 
but a short distance ahead of us. We shall stay with 
our chosen profession. We ask no aid from any legis¬ 
lation. No bank notes held before our eyes could 
shut out the view of the shivering poor beyond, ill- 
clad because of our short-sighted selfishness. 
Woodside Farm, Ohio. j. e. wing. 
R. N.-Y.—While there are many farmers who will 
not agree with Mr. Wing in his allusion to the tariff 
on w r ool, few will deny the advantages to be gained by 
better care and better blood. In our opinion, the cry 
against sheep has been overdone. We look for improve¬ 
ment in the business of mutton production. We hope 
to see the time when sheep will be grown with no more 
reference to wool than is now made to a cow’s hide. 
DWARF ESSEX RAPE FOR SHEEP. 
IT WILT, MARK CHEAPER MUTTON. 
Dwarf Essex rape is a forage plant which very 
closely resembles what the farmers of Canada call 
turnips, and what the farmers of this country call 
rutabagas. The leaves and stems only, are good for 
food. It is an excellent food for sheep, swine, cattle 
and poultry, but more especially for sheep. It will 
produce 12 tons of green forage per acre on good land. 
It has twice the feeding value of green clover, and is 
even more palatable. The sheep may be turned in 
upon it lean, and two months later taken out of the 
field fat. They may be allowed to stay upon it during 
all the days of sunshine from the time that they get 
used to the new diet, until they have eaten it right 
down to the ground. And when it has been eaten 
off, the ground is in a magnificent state for growing 
a crop of grain. 
There are many ways of sowing it. These include 
the following : First, sow about one pound of seed 
per acre along with spring grain, to furnish pasture 
in the autumn after the grain has been cut. Second, 
sow about three to five pounds of seed broadcast on 
good, strong, well-prepared land, and when about a 
foot high, feed it off, and then later feed it off again. 
Third, sow it in the same way about the end of June, 
and when fully grown about two months later, feed 
it off. Fourth, sow broadcast on a summer-fallow 
and feed it off. Fifth, sow in drills about two feet 
apart, using one to two pounds of seed per acre, and 
cultivate as corn is cultivated, and in so doing clean 
the land. Sixth, sow after a grain crop has been 
harvested, if there is moisture enough in the land. 
Sow on good soil, preferably a black loam, or a muck 
soil, and if.the land is not rich make it so before sow¬ 
ing the seed. 
I have grown it by nearly all of these methods and 
with success; but the method which may be best in 
one place, may not be the best in another. The very 
best way of growing it for each locality can only be 
ascertained by actual trial, and this is what I am 
asking the farmers to find out. 
The growth of the Dwarf Essex rape will, without 
any doubt, exert a powerful influence on the sheep 
industry in this country, and because of this, it 
should be tried. It is one of those factors that will 
help to wash from the butchers’ wagons of New York 
the inscription, “Canada mutton’'; that will help to 
furnish this country with a class of mutton that will 
be eagerly sought in the markets ; and that will tend 
to arrest that unjustifiable slaughter of sheep in this 
country during recent years, because it will help to 
cheapen the cost of production. 
The decimation of the flocks of this country during 
the recent past is enough to make a lover of sheep 
sick at heart. When one thinks of it, he cannot re¬ 
frain from saying, “ Farmers, who hath bewitched 
you ? ” How long before our people will learn that 
the sheep has a golden hoof ? For the past two 
years the farmers of the Northwest have apparently 
been running a race to see who could get out of 
sheep first. Instances may be cited in which flocks 
were sold at less than $1 per head. It has been com¬ 
mon to sell lambs at $1.50 per head and less. The re¬ 
frain has gone from the Mississippi to the Rocky 
Mountains, and the echo has come back from the 
Rocky Mountains to the Mississippi, that there was 
no money in sheep, and while the echoes have not yet 
died away over the prairies of the Northwest, what 
has been going on? Why, 40 lambs raised in Minne¬ 
sota, and fed for a little more than four months at 
the University Experiment Farm, were sold at St. 
Paul in March, when not yet 12 months old, for more 
than $6.25 cents each. When finally disposed of in 
Chicago, they brought six cents per pound live 
weight. In more respects than one it is true that the 
people perish for lack of knowledge. Rut, farmers, 
do not allow this moralizing to draw your attention 
away from the Dwarf Essex rape. Re sure to grow 
some, more or less, and be equally sure to let every¬ 
body hear from you next fall. tiios. SHAW. 
Univ. Exp. Farm, St. Anthony Park, Minn. 
PLANTING WHOLE POTATO SEED. 
TRIAL OF THE FRENCH METHOD OF SEEDING. 
Early in 1894, considerable interest was taken in the 
intensive method of potato culture advocated by M. 
Amie Girard, a French scientist. The striking features 
of M. Girard’s methods are deep plowing, heavy ferti¬ 
lizing, early planting, using whole tubers of medium 
size for seed, and planting closer than is usual in this 
country ; and particularly in selecting for planting, 
tubers taken from the most productive hills of the 
previous season's growth, thus gradually building up 
a strain of unusual productiveness. Last year I tried 
these methods on a small scale. The drought was ex¬ 
cessive, lasting practically from early in June until 
well into September, the few showers that fell during 
this time being very light and not sufficiently heavy 
to saturate the ground ; in fact they seemed, if any¬ 
thing, to make matters worse. This prevented a 
phenomenal crop, but the yield compared handsomely 
with crops on neighboring fields, and the results, 
although small, nevertheless are of value as indicat¬ 
ing what might be expected under more favorable 
conditions. Of course it was impossible to obtain the 
highly-bred seed tubers used by M» Girard; those 
planted were such as could be obtained from neigh¬ 
boring farmers, and differed from those usually planted 
only in being of larger size. 
The plot selected was almost one-eighth of an acre 
in extent; the soil was the stiff clay that prevails 
throughout the hill country in all this section. It had 
been used for two or three years as a farmer’s garden, 
and was in a fair state of fertility, although far from 
being rich. In 1893, it had been cropped with pota¬ 
toes and cabbages in a somewhat careless way. This 
plot was plowed eight or nine inches deep, and the 
subsoil was broken some six or eight inches deeper 
with a subsoil plow, thus stirring the ground to a 
total depth of about 15 inches. After plowing, 200 
pounds of high grade potato fertilizer were applied 
broadcast, and thoroughly harrowed in as deeply as 
possible with a heavily weighted spring-tooth harrow. 
The fertilizer contained about four per cent of nitro¬ 
gen, derived in part from nitrate of soda, the rest 
from organic ammoniates ; six per cent of available 
phosphoric acid, and eight per cent of actual potash 
derived from the sulphate. No manure was used. 
This was a departure from M. Girard’s custom, as he 
advocates the use of both manure and chemicals. Fur¬ 
rows were struck with a double mold-board plow, two 
feet apart. There were 20 rows, 18 of which were 135 
feet long, the others being a little shorter. Ilills were 
made 20 inches apart, and one medium-sized whole 
potato was planted in each hill. The tubers were 
soaked in corrosive sublimate solution tD destroy pos¬ 
sible scab germs—an American custom that the French 
do not appear to understand. 
Three varieties were planted, Reauty of Hebron, 
Early Everett, and one locally known as White Rose, 
and claimed to be very prolific on clay land. The 
name, White Rose, is evidently a misnomer; the potato 
was white or skin-colored, poor in quality, with few 
tubers in the hill, but these were widely scattered ; 
in ordinary seasons, the tubers grew to a large size. 
Its only virtue was its reputed productiveness. Nine 
rows were planted with the White Rose, about 2 % 
rows with Early Everett, and the rest with Ilebrons. 
The latter proved to be badly mixed with Early Sun¬ 
rise, fully 10 per cent being of that variety, and the 
difference between the two was very striking during 
the summer. The Early Everett tubers were some¬ 
what smaller in size than the others, the average 
weight being about 2)4 ounces each, as compared 
with an average of about three ounces for the Ilebrons 
and White Rose. Altogether it took about 5 y 2 bushels 
to plant the plot, being at the rate of about 45 bushels 
per acre. The White Rose were planted April 28, the 
others May 2 ; this was about a month later than the 
time advocated by M. Girard, but the delay was un¬ 
avoidable. Had the planting been done early in April, 
it is fair to presume that the results would have been 
better. Such unusually close planting and heavy 
seeding at once aroused the interest of neighboring 
farmers, to whom it was a most amazing proceeding. 
During May and the first few days of June, the 
weather was cold and cloudy, much rain falling. 
Nevertheless, the crop came up in due season, and 
made a magnificent growth. In June, scorching hot 
weather set in, and the advent of this excessive heat 
was so sudden that the tips of many leaves curled up 
and browned, and for a time I feared an attack of the 
“early blight.” Rut the crop soon adjusted itself to 
the changed condition, and no damage resulted from 
this cause. However, the Rordeaux Mixture was 
added to the Paris-green when spraying for the bugs, 
which was done several times. lockwood myrick. 
(To be continued.) 
PLANTING POTATOES IN THE MUD. 
GOOD RESULTS FROM “COMPACTED SOIL.” 
In the spring of 1893, we had a few days of very fine 
weather the last part of March and first part of April. 
On the last day of this good weather, I plowed three- 
quarters of an acre, intending to plant potatoes the 
next day. That night it rained, then it rained the 
next day, and the next. It kept on raining harder 
and more frequently. We had pourdowns and floods. 
That piece of potato ground was beaten down fully 
as hard and tight as before plowing. The ground 
was heavy clay with good surface drainage. On May 
2 , it had not rained for a day. The water had run off 
and the ground looked solid ; but when I drove on 
with a team and plow, the horses went down in mud 
to their knees and the plow rolled up mud marbles as 
big as a pumpkin. I got out at the other side of the 
patch, but I didn’t make any more furrows. The 
