ROCHESTER, N. Y.-FOR THE WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, DECEMBER 
{WHOLE NO. 777 
MOOSE’S BUBAL NEW-YOBKEB, 
AJJ ORIGINAL WEEKLY 
RURAL, LITERARY AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER. 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORE. 
OlIAKLEl D. UUAOIMIN, A»oolate Editor. 
HHNBT 8. KANDALI* LL. D„ 
Editor Department of Sheep Husbandry. 
SPECIAL OtlNTJtlilDTOKS i 
P. BARRY, C. PEWKY, LL. D., 
H. T. BROOK3, L. B. LANGWORTHY. 
Thb Rural, Nkw-Yorkek is designed to be unsur¬ 
passed In Value, Purity, and Variety of Contents, and 
unique and beautiful In Appearance. Its Conductor 
devotes ids personal attention to the supervision of its 
various departments, and earnestly labors to render 
the Ritual »u eminently Reliable Guide on all the 
important Practical, Scientific and other Subjects Inti¬ 
mately connected with the business of those whose 
interests It zealously ad vocatcs. As a Family JOURNAL 
it is eminently Instructive and Entertaining—i*|jn. so 
conducted that it can l>e safely talten to the Homes of 
people of Intelligence, taste and discrimination. It 
embraces more Agricultural, Hortlcitltur.it, Scientific, 
Educational. Literary and News Matter, interspersed 
with appropriate Engravings, than any other journal,— 
rendering 1: the most complete Agricultural, Lrrit- 
KAitY AND Exactly N k wsrAPWt in America. 
SHEEP WOES IN DECEMBER. 
Sheep go into their winter quarters, in the 
Northern .States, in December,— that is to say, 
they go from the pasture to the barn-yard, from 
green feed to dry feed. Not more than one 
hundred should be kept together in one yard 
and stable if It can be avoided—and seventy-five 
wiH do better together than a hundred. Other 
things being equal, they are usually divided 
according to age, that is, tegs are put with tegs, 
yearlings with yearlings, middle aged with mid¬ 
dle aged, and crones with crones. But they 
should also be classed by size and condition, 
partly irrespective of age. Fleshy, strong 
sheep wiH crowd away from the racks and 
feeding troughs, and every other way get the 
advantage of smaller urd weaker ones, whether 
they are of the same age or not; and the latter 
wiH consequently continue to lose in condition. 
An . jt : i -' p of the size and 
appear' 
Sheep yards should be is roomy as it lS con¬ 
venient to have them, well drained, and con¬ 
stantly supplied with water, where the latter is 
'arried into the stable. It is far better for the 
Health and thrift of the sheep that their yards 
be kept well strawed down in wet or very cold 
Feather. Whether they -hould be closely con¬ 
fined to these small inclosiunes during the winter 
i* still a disputed question. We are decidedly 
of the opinion that breeding ewes, at least, 
should not be: and we will give seme reasons 
for that opinion in another article. 
Barns, yards, racks, water-works, <fec., should 
be put in thorough repair before the opening 
'f winter. We are aware it is easier to give 
jLs advice than it is to keep itl The scarcity 
f both labor and lumber renders even repairing 
rv difficult, and the erection of new structures 
i most impracticable. And now iNov 22) in 
be last days of November, many farmers in 
N w York have potatoes, buckwheat, turnips 
and unhusked corn still*in the field! There has 
t eon little fair-weather for months, and it is very 
1 :ificult to hire any extra laborers to- take ad- 
:tage of it when it comes. But our farmers, 
.h their usual energy md perseverance, will 
.rsdually bring up their work: and as sooh as 
f tijy can be reached, the repairs of the sheep 
* uctures wiU be completed. 
lany of our dock-masters have to prepare 
mselves for a winter of -hort feed. Hay is 
iree, and both it and grain wUl command high 
es. Everything, therefore, must be eare- 
!y economized. We "nave already attempted 
'■ -now how that may be done in several ways, 
i-e thing especially impolitic—viz., to waste 
i considerable quantity of hay and grain on 
cp, and then '-tan--' ':-m qr la>\ It is far 
ir to •■pelt” them at once. The judicious 
man will count ihe probable cost of wintering 
his sheep reasonably well. If, ill things con¬ 
sidered, he regards it as more profitable to do 
so than to sell otf the flock for whu: he can get 
for them, and also his hay and grain, he will 
adopt that course: and will keep or purchase aU 
the feed his sheep require to go through the 
winter Ordinary .-beep are compara¬ 
tively low in price now, on account of the scar¬ 
city of feed: but they wiU undoubtedly, under 
aU existing circumstances, command very high 
prices when they go out to grass next spring. 
Why then, if they can be wintered, sacrifice 
sheep to seU the hay and grain on hand at high 
prices, when the spring advance in the price of 
sheep will be equal — when wool promises to be 
at least a dollar a pound! 
If sheep are to be wintered, we do not believe 
in the policy of allowing them to run down in 
the beginning of the cold weather, expecting 
to raise their condition towards spring. If a 
sheep reaches the first of March thin and be¬ 
ginning to be weak, it is almost impossible to 
recruit it. or prevent it from continuing to grow 
weaker. If the season is an unfavorable one, this 
increasing weakness generally ends in death. 
gnfBltttial 
PORTRAIT OF AN AYRSHIRE BULL, 
Thorough-Bred Cattle for Milk. 
A CORRESPONDENT asks “ what thorough¬ 
bred cattle are the best for milk ?” As a breed 
there can be no question that the Ayrshires are 
the best milk-breed kuown. That is, there is 
no pure breed of cattle that will give so large a 
quantity of miUc in return for the food con¬ 
sumed. And yet there are families of other 
breeds hardly second to the Ayrshires as milk¬ 
ers, and really more valuable for the general 
purposes of a farmer who pursues a mixed hus¬ 
bandry. We often find wonderful milkers 
among the Short-Horns; and this characteristic 
is perpetuated through successive generations* 
among wheat growers, especially in 
prairie country, would secure testimony on th 
point that would be convincing. 
CURRENT TOPICS DISCUSSED. 
Industrial Matches. 
Communit y of Interest should induce unity 
of action. If there was more of this unity of 
purpose and action among the farmers in each 
neighborhood, greater progress would be made 
by them in their profession. The boys and 
youth Like recreation—they CBjoy active strife or 
competition of some kind, hence shooting 
matches, games of bail, quoits, cricket, &c., £e~ 
Why not utilize this spirit of friendly strife and 
competition? It has often occurred to us, as 
we have read of the laurel crowned victor in 
athletic games, how much might be doue by 
farmers, their wives and daughters, to render 
the profession more attractive to the young 
men of the country, if they would but use their 
resources to this end. 
We think we are offering here a suggestion j 
which, if practically enforced, will help to make 
the farmer's life less monotonous to the farmer's 
sons and daughters, and at the same time yield 
a practical benefit to those who encourage 
it. Let the farmers ol’ a neighborhood unite in 
giving prizes for the best plowing. Fix the 
day, place, appoint the judges. Jet them estab¬ 
lish the rules and determine who shall be eUgibte 
to enter the lists, and then men and women, 
boys and girls devote a day, or a half of one, to 
the enjoyment and excitement of this industrial 
strife. 
suppose there are a dozen boys in the neigh¬ 
borhood between the ages of 16 and 20 years, 
used to holding the plow. Let the young ladies 
of the neighborhood prepare a prize banner iWr 
“Profitable Cows.'' 
Mary of Geneseo, thinks her cows ai za 
of those belonging to Julia of Portage, 
correspondent says: — “Since the first oi ;a> 
April, from two cows, she has sold three h. 
dred pounds of butter, and made one bu. : 
pounds of cheese, besides supplying a f » 1 
averaging four with aU the butter, crear.. a 
milk wished for, and raising two calve- . 
ten pigs. And she is stiH making the hi .: 1 - 
priced butter.” This statement is a Uttl "... 
biguous, but we suppose it to be made in - ■ 
faith. 
•*A Subscriber from Allegany,” writes: *- 
saw Julia’s experience with cows, so I the 
I would give mine. From April 15th to th- 
of December, I 860 we made, from two e< 
lour hundred and ninety-two pounds of bu: 
besides supplying a family of five wither . 
and milk, raised two pet lambs on new n; 
ieeding one hog on skim milk. The cows a 
The most mi'.k from one cow in one day 
50 lbs.” 
Drawing Manure in the Fall. 
In answer to an inquiry, we say we had 
mueh rather manure should be drawn direct 
from the stables and -pread on the land in 
autumn or spring than lie in a yard under the 
eaves and leach and burn -ix months of the 
year. Spreading fermenting or burning manure 
on the soil arrests fermentation to a certain 
extent, and thus saves much that is valuable to 
the plant; while the soluble parts are quite as 
likely to reach, and do good to, plants, thus 
-pread, as when allowed to wash Into the ro 3 d 
drains and evaporate by the roadsides. So we 
advise our correspondent to draw out his ma¬ 
nure and spread it on his meadows or plow- 
fields this fall, if it lies in heaps in the condition 
named. 
the Champion Banner ” of the neighborhood 
or town, if you please, to be retained by the 
winner only so loug as he may retain hlg su¬ 
periority as a plowman, among plowmen of his 
age or class. Don t you suppose the boys would 
work for that banner’—would think of it every 
time they took hold of the plow-handles’-and 
would plow straight* and better furrows in 
consequence? We do 1 We know they would 
do so. 
But this competition ueed not be confined to 
plowing simply, nor to the boys. Let the young 
men offer a prize ring for the best loaf of bread 
made by the Misses of the neighborhood, speci¬ 
fying the kind of bread, size of loaf. &c., Ac,, 
fix a day aud place lor the decision, and have a 
pleasant re-union after the award*. Let the 
maiden who wins, wear the ring as long as she 
retains her pre-eminence as a bread-maker, aud 
no longer. Don't you suppose there would be 
more work done in the kitchen ? We do! And 
would not. the home-life of these farmer-boys 
and gilds be made brighter, more earnest? We 
are sure it would be so. Aud we would be glad 
to publish the names of such young plowmen 
aud bread-makers as might win ditzbr. 
.veiling Fall-Wheat 
“Would you roll fall-wheatSo we 
■ i re asked the other day. No. not in the faU, 
own broad-cast; yes, if sown in drills. But 
h vi* roiled it when sown in drills, we should 
not roll the entire surface. A beveled roUer 
should follow in the path of each drill tooth 
covering the seed, but leaving the ground high¬ 
er each fide the path of the tooth. A great 
deal of grain may be saved from winter-killing 
by putting in the seed in this manner, leaving 
the roots and plant protected by a ridge of earth 
on either side. Then the cold, sweeping winds 
w\U not destroy the vitality of the plant, nor 
will the lilting of the frost uncover the roots, 
out rather cover them deeper. 
We have seen broad-cast wheat covered with 
a light plow and the surface left rough in the 
fail. The crop was splendid—even on soils that 
the frost would act upon, this course almost in¬ 
variably insures good crops. It is well to roll 
such fields in the spring, when the surface has 
1 sawed, but before the bottom breaks up. But 
it is not a good practice to roil the ground smooth 
Ln the fall. The form of the roUers which fol¬ 
low the drill teeth merits the attention of drill 
makers—especially in sections where these im¬ 
plements are mainly used in putting in fall 
tops. We are confident that a little inquiry 
Ice-Houses For Farmers. 
M k me willing to guess that there is no' 
ono in ten amoug the farmers who read tin 
Rural, who lias not every year, regularly, re¬ 
solved that anothtr winter he would have ai. 
ico-house and have it filled. We kuow tha 
there arc few who need argument to couviuc 
them of the profit, convenience and comfort t 
such an institution on the farm. A recent in 
quiry induces us to call attention to this subjei 
in ample season. We gave on page 13, curreu 
volume of Rural an illustrated article on th 
subject, to which we refer the reader. We ab 
reprint herewith the substance of directions 
furnished us by a correspondent. We do not 
want you should have any excuse for neglecting 
this ice business this winter: 
Fall-Plowing Lands When Wet, 
We do not advocate plowing land at all 
when wet, but it is far better to do so, especially 
stiff soils in the fall than in the spring. And 
we are inclined to think that it is better to plow 
such soils in fall, even if they are wet. than to 
neglect to plow them -especiaUy if it is the pur¬ 
pose to seed with spring grain—oats, wheat or 
barley. The action of the frost upon soils so 
plowed compensates for the disadvantage and 
discomfort of plowing them when wet. Light, 
warm lands are much less benefited by faU 
plowing. We can not recommend it except 
when it is necessary for a more thorough disin¬ 
tegration of the soil. 
EXERCISE AND FEED OF EWES DURING 
GESTATION, 
When the number of ^heep kept on a farm 
is large, and the sheep barns are placed as near 
to each other ■ 3 is usual, it is very inconvenient 
to let them out of their winter yards without 
