Vol. LIV. No. 2379. NEW YORK, AUGUST 31, 1895. 
A TALK WITH AN OHIO SHEEP MAN. 
BRINGING UP A RUN DOWN FARM. 
Drainage, Manure, Rape and Crimson Clover. 
It was on a cold day last winter, that I called npon 
II. P. Miller, sheep editor of the Ohio Farmer, and an 
expert in the details of sheep husbandry. While I 
was thawing- out, Mr. M. began to talk : 
“ When we bought this farm, which we have named 
‘ Wool Knoll,’ it was very much run down. The 
fences were nearly gone, the barn was strong mainly 
in the point of ventilation, and the fields had been 
mined of their fertility, or those, at least, that were 
tillable without underdraining. The pastures had 
been tramped and gnawed closely, and the meadows 
carelessly seeded. We had, in short, secured only the 
site for a farm. We have had it but five years, and, 
of course, have not been able to make more than a 
beginning on the scheme of development and im¬ 
provement that has been mapped out as an ideal. I 
simply let some things go until I can do them right 
For instance, the barn 
is pretty shaky ; yet 
I shall not put any ex¬ 
pense upon it because 
it is not yet worth it, 
and I can make it an¬ 
swer until I can build 
the ideal barn.” 
“ Have you that barn 
planned yet ? ” 
“ Yes, it will be a 
bank barn, with a 
Shawver frame. This 
is a balloon frame, 
made of 2x8 joists, in¬ 
stead of the heavy sticks 
of square timbers, re¬ 
quiring so much car¬ 
penter work. The joist 
frame is stronger, re¬ 
quires not over half the 
timber, and not one- 
fourth the labor ; there 
are no mortises or ten¬ 
ons. It will have a 
silo, a root cellar, and 
be supplied with water 
in every part.” 
“ What was your first 
work at improving ? ” 
“Underdraining; I be¬ 
gan by putting in some 
large mains. I found a 
good many division 
fences in unnecessary places. Along these were 
wide strips of brush and thorns. I removed the 
fences, grubbed out the brush, and cultivated the 
strips to exterminate the weeds and wild growths. 
I did the same with some of the boundary fences, 
where the neighbors would consent. Wherever I 
have found it necessary to have a fence, I have built 
a good, substantial one. I fence with wire principally, 
but use no barbed wire.” 
“What is the character of your soil ? ” 
“About half of it is, no doubt, the glacial drift, a 
rather infertile clay. The other half is black, filled 
with humus from decaying swamp vegetation. There 
are a few acres with too much of this vegetable 
matter for most crops. While I find the productive 
power of the soil quite unsatisfactory, I am rapidly 
increasing it, and have bright hopes for the future.” 
“ What is your principal dependence in bringing up 
your soil ? ” 
“ [Jnderdraining is the basis of improvement. I 
make and save all the manure possible by feeding 
animals, principally sheep. This is .supplemented by 
manure, hauled from town, for which I often furnish 
straw. I maintain the meadows and improve the 
pastures in this way. Perhaps I could bring the farm 
up by this system, supplemented with clover, but I 
find that chemicals help, and so use them freely on 
the wheat crop. You see, by the use of purchased 
plant food, I am enabled to grow more food for my 
animals, and so can keep more stock, make more 
manure, and thus hasten the work of soil regenera¬ 
tion. It is like rolling a snowball, you see. The 
larger the ball becomes, the faster it grows.” 
“ You are sure, then, that the fertilizer pays you ? ” 
“Yes, there is no doubt of it. Of course its use 
should be the last resort, after the manure has all 
been carefully saved and applied, and found insuffi¬ 
cient, which it will be on most farms.” 
“ What is your crop rotation ?” 
“At present, it is corn, followed by wheat and 
clover. I find that I can produce feeding value quite 
cheaply by growing wheat. Wo need not consider 
the low price of wheat an obstacle to growing it if 
we feed it. I find that I can raise a wheat crop with 
less labor than an oats crop ; it is a little better to 
seed with, and I prefer to have something growing on 
the fields during the fall and winter.” 
“ Will this be your rotation in the future ?” 
“I think so, unless we can succeed with Crimson 
clover. I shall experiment with it next summer. I 
have been hoping that your winter oats would be de¬ 
veloped for our latitude. I have worked the larger part 
of the farm into permanent pasture.” 
“ Do you grow any special crops ? ” 
“I grow rape and sweet corn for supplementing 
the pastures ; also a few roots and pumpkins. I farm 
to grow sheep feed. Rape grows well in swampy 
places that do not dry out early enough for corn, and 
on which wheat will not do any good. One stalk of 
rape last year weighed 24 pounds. I expect rape to 
be an important crop with us in the future. I think 
that rape might well follow Crimson clover, and be 
followed by rye.” 
“ I would like to see your sheep and lambs.” 
V I enjoy showing the sheep, but am not very proud 
of the lambs, as I made a mistake with them last sea¬ 
son. These ai-e ewes ; you see that I believe in giving 
them plenty of pure air and exercise. In dx-y weather, 
I feed at least once a day in the open field, allowing 
them to roam at will for several hoxxrs. I shed them 
only at night and during storms. I have been breed¬ 
ing for thirty yeai’s to establish a type of large, 
smooth-bodied Merinos. I have used blood fi*om my 
own flocks lai*gely, and have wor-ked to get a sheep 
that would have a good mutton cai-cass, yet be cov 
ered with a large fleece of Delaine wool, not too much 
saturated with grease.” 
“ What do they shear ? ” 
“ They avei*age about eight pounds. Here is the 
experimental flock, consisting of Oxfords, Lincolns, 
South Downs, and a like nxxmber of our own Merinos. 
1 feel that I may need to change my course a little to 
meet the incx-easing demand for mutton, and lessened 
price of wool. I think that my Merino ewes will be 
satisfactoi-y in raising mxxtton lambs from rams of the 
mxitton breeds, bxxt my experiment in this line is 
incomplete.” 
“ Why do you not try 
the Dorsets as well ? ” 
“I think that we 
shall try them another 
year. I feel as yoxi do, 
that there is a kinship 
between them and the 
Merino. -It should make 
a harmonious blend- 
ing.” 
“ What of the future? 
Can we continxxe to grow 
gheep in Ohio ? ” 
“ Yes, as profitably 
as anything. We must 
grow good ones, and it 
may be necessary to 
modify our breeding 
somewhat. Yet I am 
sxxre that as soon as our 
workmen are busy at 
their forges and benches 
again, and can afford to 
eat meat with their old 
time freedom, the profit 
of producing mutton 
will be quite as great as 
of any line of farm 
operations.” 
“ Do you think that 
we can continue to grow 
the small, wi’inkled, 
horned, wool sheep?” 
“ No; I think that the sheep, henceforth, must 
produce both mutton and wool. I confess that I do 
not see why the American people should deny them¬ 
selves free access to the cheap supplies of the world 
to perpetuate such a type as that.” J. k. wing. 
R. N.-Y.—Sheep farming exhausts the soil of potash 
faster than any other branch of live stock husbandry, 
and on a farm like this, the use of kainit or muriate 
of potash on the manure would seem to be very xxseful. 
We are glad Mr. Miller has shown something of the 
possibilities of i - ape for sheep. It is a wonder that 
this plant has been so slow coming into use in this 
country. Crimson clover sown in the standing corn, 
will in ordinary seasons, give fall and spring pasture 
and a crop for seed or for plowing in for corn. It is 
easy to see how winter oats woxxld help on such a 
farm as this—for the winter growing varieties yield 
heavier in every way, besides growing a good bite of 
pasture in the fall. There are dozens of things that 
may yet be done to cheapen the cost of raising sheep 
on American farms, and these are the things that 
sheep men ought to be considering. 
FORCING LETTUCE IN POTS. PLANT GROWN IN A TWO-INCII POT. Fig. 181. See page 589. 
