HThor 
IgULTuSg 
^ /sgriculturf 
\WHOLE NO. 718 
FOR THE WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, OCTOBER 17, 1863 
them had not half a pound a piece at shearing; 
and those which escaped this were very likely to 
have their fleeces half riiinod by cotting. But 
what of all this ? This was the way things were 
done in those days! 
Brought up under such traditions, many of our 
older farmers who consider L highly essential us 
well as profitable to give their cows, horses and 
other animals, artificial and extra feed a month 
before the winter sets in, consider every pound 
of fodder bestowed on sheep at that time, so 
much taken from the profits which these animals 
are bound, under all cirooinstances, to yield to 
their owners, - a total loss! A more absurd and 
pernicious notion could not prevail. If sheep 
could withstand the efiVets of such treatment 
with a3 little danger to life as the horse or cow, 
it would still occasion a much greater propor¬ 
tionable loss in their products. 1 * But they can¬ 
not. The former are capable of being raised at, 
any period of the year, from the lowest condition 
of leanness, without danger. The muscular and 
vascular systems of the sheep are so much 
weaker, that if they become reduced below a 
and If they herded 
has been submitted in this discussion, with tables 
giving an estimate of the value of each crop iu 
the series, or showing how much might be direct¬ 
ly sold, or how much profitably fed to stock, with 
a careful measurement of the increase in the 
manure heaps, it is recommended by the Society 
to the Executive Committee that prizes be offered 
for essays, based on experimental trials after the 
above methods, on the beat system of rotation to 
bo recommended to the farmers ot this State on 
their arable lands. 
to make for himself the profit, of raising that 
grain. While it is not the province of this Socie¬ 
ty, in its discussions, to discourage any such 
specialities In farming, it certtinly cannot under¬ 
take to give any encouragement to their future, 
or to any system of farming which discards the 
raising of Indian corn, the most profitable crop— 
the sheet-anchor of American agriculture. 
■1. The five-course system generally adopted in 
this State ou arable lands, of corn for the first 
year, oats or barley for the second, winter grain 
for the third, and hay for the fourth and fifth, is 
no longer productive of the largo returns sought 
lor In this question; for where the cash sales are 
increased—whether of grain, or hay, or even of 
straw— the manurial products are proportionally 
Thinks highly of 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
AN ORIGINAL WEEKLY 
RURAL, LITERARY AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER. 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORE, 
With n Corp> of Able Assistants and Contributor*. 
CHAS. D, BBAGDON, Western Corresponding Editor. 
The Rural New-Yorker is designed to be unsurpassed 
in Value, Purity itud Variety Of Contents, and unique 
and beautiful iu Appearance, its Conductor devotes his 
personal attention to the supervision of its various 
departments, ami earnestly labors to render the RcRALan 
emiuenUy Reliable Guide on all the Important Practical. 
Scientific and other Subjects intimately connected with the 
business of thou- who>» interests it Zealously advocates. 
As a Family .fottiufAt. it is eminently Instructive and 
Entertaining—being so conducted that it can be safely 
takon to the Homos of people of intelligence, taste and 
discrimination. It embraces more Agricultural, Horticul¬ 
tural, Scientific, Educational, Literary and News Matter, 
interspersed with appropriate Engraving*, than any oth^l 
journal,— rendering it the most complete Agricultural, 
Literary and Family Newspaper in America 
EALL MANAGEMENT OF SHEEP, 
[The following extracts from the Chapter on Fall Man¬ 
agement of Sheep, ill Randall’S " Practical Shepherd,” 
are both seasonable and valuable: i 
Sheltering Lambs in Fall.— Sheltering 
lambs from the heavy, cold rain-storms which foil 
for a month or a month and a half before the 
setting in of winter, lu our northern latitudes, is 
now beginning to be practiced by all the best 
flock-masters; and when the ground becomes wet 
and cold, and frequently freey.es, towards the 
close of autumn they should also be regularly 
housed every night. It. is well to have racks of 
hay ready for them iu their stables; and it is very 
easy to team them to eat. grain, etc., there. If it 
is regularly placed in troughs over night, with a 
very light dusting of salt,, but two or three days 
will elapse before it will be regularly and entire¬ 
ly consumed. (Setting the lambs accustomed to 
the stables before winter is in itself no inconsid¬ 
erable advantage. 
Fall Feeding and Sheltering Breeding 
i : —1; is a common r.nd very truthful saying 
among observing flock-masters, thit -a shi-c,. 
well summered is half wintered.’’ Breeding 
ewes should be brought into good condition by 
the time the first killing frosts occur. After that, 
they should not be suffered to fall off, but be kept 
rather improving by feeding them, if the condi¬ 
tion of the pastures render it necessary, with 
pumpkins, turnip-tops, and any other perishable 
feed on the form—and after these Are o.v- 
1 37* For Terms and other particulars, see last page, 
certain point iu winter 
together iu considerable numbers—their restora¬ 
tion to good condition is always difficult and 
doubtful, and, in unfavorable winters, impracti¬ 
cable. Their progress thenceforth is frequently 
about us follows:—If fed liberally with grain, 
their appetites become poor and capricious, or 
if they eat freely it, is followed by obstinate and 
enfeebling diarrheas. Low, obscure forms of 
disease seem to attack them and become chronic. 
The strength of the lambs and of the very old 
sheep, rapidly foils. They scarcely move about. 
The skin around fbe eyes neoouies bloodies* 
The eyes lose their f light, alert look, and yellow, 
I waxy 
THE ROTATION OF CROPS 
On the evening of the second day of the 
recent N. Y. State Fair, an interesting discus¬ 
sion was had on the Eoiation of Crops. The 
question announced was as follows: 
Suiukct.—T he bust rotation of crops united to the cli¬ 
matic conditions cf the middle tier of counties iu the 
State, on farms bavin? at least eighty acres of good arable 
land. 
[The question to be considered with the end in view of 
obtaining a maximum annual revenue in cash, and at the 
same time the largest amount of manure of the greatest 
fertilising value. The amount paid for labor, its proper 
application, aud the capital invested for stock, whether for 
sheep, cattle, horses, .Sc-, of one or more of these kinds of 
domestic animals, being the same in all cases, and the con¬ 
dition of the markets for the several products of the farm, 
being an average one ] 
The discussion was opened by Hon. T. 0. 
Peters, of Genesee, who remarked in the out¬ 
set that it was dlllicult to determine what we are 
to understand as the middle section of the State. 
The Chairman, Hon. A. B. Conger, said it 
waa not intended to confine, the discussion to 
the best system of rotation In the middle tier of 
counties, but to t,be c limalie conditions of the 
middle section of the State. 
Mr. Peters resumed, saying he wa.3 still in a 
dilemma. He believed the climate in the central 
counties of the State varied considerably. Poin- 
pey Hill, iu Onondaga county, was from 1,000 to 
1,200 feet above tide water, while the general 
level of the middle counties was not more than 
400 feet Now as 350 feet altitude are equal to- 
1° north, the temperature of Pompey Hill would 
be as cold as that ol Montreal. Portions of the 
central counties were well adapted to wheat 
growing, while others constituted the best butter 
and cheese districts of the State. The system ol 
rotation adapted to a wheat farm, would not suit 
a dairy form. On a dairy farm the great object 
was to get grass; and he thought that dairy 
farmers, the best of them, were paying more 
attention to making manure and applying it 
judiciously, than the wheat growing formers. 
Wheat growers, from the quantity of straw they 
have, cau make more manure than the dairy 
farmers—but be would not say that they could 
do it more profitably. The dairy farmers in this 
State have less competition than the gntiu grow¬ 
ers. Neither New England nor the West can 
successfully compete with them. The best but¬ 
ter on the Continent is made in the dairy dis¬ 
tricts of this State. In some sections of the dairy 
districts cheese is generally made, while in others 
farmers confine themselves to butter. Does not 
know the reason. Perhaps it was because the 
climate ol the butter districts was not adapted to 
grain growing, while that of the cheese districts 
enabled the formers to grow more grain to feed 
to their Cows. He could not say, but perhaps it 
required more grain to make cheese than to 
make butter. Mr. P. closed with a wish to hear 
from Col. Pratt ou the subject. 
Col. Pratt was unable to answer, as he did 
not make cheese. He kept fifty cows, but made 
butter only: did not understand the cheese busi¬ 
ness. H as seen no better corn this year than his 
own. He makes 500 or 600 cords of manure 
every year. He puts it into a heap, and pours 
the liquid from his pig pens over it. Applies it 
in the spring, and plows or harrows it in. If left 
on the surface and allowed to dry up, it is of 
little use. Horse dung dropped on the road arid 
live-course of the county ol unouduga, are re¬ 
markable. The latter, better adapted to this 
country, is, for the first year, corn upon a clover 
and timothy sod; for the second oats .or barley; 
for the third, wheat, with lix quarts of timothy 
and clover, each, aud 12 bushels of plaster; for 
the fourth, hay; aud for the fifth, pasture. Under 
such a course, where all the coarse fodder aud 
hay are consumed by sheep, and a few horses 
and cows are kept for form use, and only wheat, 
aud the produce of the fold sold, there is but 
little left for improvement, except in some regions 
in the introduction of roots, and the feeding of 
them to gheep, and with straw, to store-cattle. 
The advantage would be marked in economizing 
the feeding value of straw. 
7. One ton of good wheat Btraw, not over ripe, 
besides 34,8 lbs. of sweet oil of grateful odor to 
cattle, contains nearly 20 per cent, of good food 
and water, aud is about one-third of the feeding 
value of the best hay. Of the remaining 80 per 
cent, generally rejected or passing off into the 
manure heap, and treated as insoluble woody 
fibre, nearly 20 per cent is soluble in dilute buI- 
phurie acid, Ac. It is more than probable that 
the pectic acid, &c., of the turnip plays the same 
part iu rendering that portion of the straw, which 
is insoluble in water alone, soluble, and thus 
digestible. The Engtisli farmer keeps his store 
cattle fat through the feeding months of the year 
ou straw and turnips rendered fine, and allowed 
to remain long enough mixed together to produce 
a slight action of the acid of the turnip marked 
by heat. The severity of our winters forbids the 
copying of this method, unless the heat may be 
kept up artificially (perhaps by the process of 
steaming), and economically. 
8. The rotation of crops pursued in this coun¬ 
try has been easily departed from by the farmer 
who has not pursued 'he method of deep tillage 
ami high manuring, aud Is mostly a system of 
pliable adaptation to the state of the markets. 
In Englaud a system of rotation once adopted is 
rarely departed from. We may note that while 
the price of Ordinary farming land in this country 
has uot advanced more than 50 to 80 per cent., 
the rentals paid by the English farmer have been 
advanced in the past 30 years from Is. or Is. fid. 
sterling per acre to £3 10, and in some instances 
to £6. 
9. 11' a four, or six, or even an eight-course 
system, were adopted on an arable farm, say of 
120 acres, and once established, the annual pro¬ 
duct of such farm would be, say ou the six-Course 
system, 20 acres of corn, 20 acres of turnips and 
potatoes, 20 acres of flax, oats or barley, 20 acres 
of wheat or rye, 40 acres of hay; and the pro 
ducer could determine for himself how much he 
could profitably feed to his farm stock, sheep or 
store-cattle, Ac.- how much he could sell of grain 
and potatoes, hay and straw for cash, and how 
large increase in his manure heaps he would gain 
for the enrichment of his land, and the diminu¬ 
tion in expenditure for special manures. 
10. As no plan for such a system of rotation 
matter collects about and under them. A 
discharge frequently commences from the nose— 
perhaps the result of a cold, but how or when 
taken it is frequently difficult to say. The viscid 
mucus dries about the nostrils so that they cannot 
breathe freely without its removal. The evacua¬ 
tions become dark colored, viscid, and have an 
offensive odor. The strength foils more rapidly; 
the sheep becomes unable to rise without assist¬ 
ance; and it foils when jostled to the least de¬ 
gree by itH associates. It will taste a few morsels 
of choice hay, but generally the appetite is 
nearly gone. Some, however, will eat grain 
pretty freely to the last. Finally, it becomes 
unable to stand, and after reaching this stage, it 
usually lingers along from two or three days to 
a week, and then, emaciated, covered with filth 
behind, and emitting a disgusting fetor, it per- 
isheB miserably. 
Post-mortem examination shows that this is 
not the rot of Europe. Some American flock- 
masters term it the “hunger rot,” If to this 
could he added something to express the fact 
that the hunger which engenders it, usually 
occurs in the fall, before the setting in of winter, 
it,would be an admirably descriptive namelt It 
is true, that entering the winter poor does not 
prove equally destructive in all instances. Its 
effects doubtless may be materially enhanced or 
diminished by the regularity uud excellence of 
the winter management, the nice condition of the 
feed, etc., or the reverse of these conditions. 
And the character of the winter itself exerts 
a verv marked influence. 
green 
hausted, with turnips. If some of the oldest and 
youngest ewes remain thin, they should be sepa¬ 
rated from the others and fed rather better 
grain not being withheld, if It is necessary to 
bring them iuto plump condition before winter. 
Shelter from late, cold storms, though not as im¬ 
portant as important as in (he case of lambs, is 
very desirable, and there can be no doubt that 
with persons possessing convenient and commo¬ 
dious sheep stables, it will well pay for the trouble 
to put up breeding ewes nights whenever the 
weather is raw and the ground wet and cold. * 
In default of artificial green feed, hay or coni 
stalks shoulds be regularly fed to sheep—once or 
twice a day, according to circumstances— as the 
pasturage becomes insufficient for their full sup¬ 
port. 
A singular idea prevails among a class of our 
formers in regard to fall feeding sheep, which 
bas been handed down from those days when the 
two dozen gaunt, “native” sheep which belonged 
to a form and which roamed nearly 
as unre¬ 
strained as wild deer through field and forest, 
did not “come in to the barn ” before the ground 
was covered with snow. Iu coppices, on briars, 
and in swamps where the water kept the snow 
dissolved—and by digging In the fields— they 
even found subsistence until the snow became 
deep and 90 packed and enisled by sun and wind 
as to prevent their reaching the ground. They 
then retreated to the barn-yard, usually lank 
enough ! But every farmer knows the immense 
difference, whether in Iho fields in summer, or in 
the stable or barn-yard in winter, between .re¬ 
cruiting up and getting into condition two dozen 
or two hundred lean, reduced sheep. The little 
handful of “natives” choosing every morsel of 
their food over one or two hundred acres of land, 
through the summer, had high condition to fall 
back on, in the pinch of the early winter; and 
when put iuto the barn-yards with the cattle and 
young horses, they still chose all the best morsels 
of the hay—robbing the latter animals—so that 
t hey not only made a shift to live, but usually got 
round to the next spring in tolerable order 
True, when let out to grass agate, their condition 
began to change so rapidly that they frequently 
shed off - nearly all their wool—so that many of 
' My own flocks have generally Teen too Urge and spread 
over too ranch surface, to render housing from storms prac¬ 
ticable until the sheep tire brought into their winter 
quarter*; and if well kept they certainly do well enough 
•without it. Rut l housed a flock of iambs last fall, and I 
thought the be unlit was very obvious I have repeatedly 
observed the same thing in other men's flocks—particularly 
in Vermont In that State, lull housing is almost as com¬ 
mon, and is regarded as almost indispensable, as winter 
housing. This is probably somewhat a question of climate- 
Sheep thrive best 
when the temperature is comparatively steady- 
no matter how cold. A cold, blustering, stormy 
winter is preferable to one of greatly milder 
temperature, if its fluctuations are frequent and 
great—storm uud thaw, rapidly succeeding to 
each other. There comes occasionally what 
farmers terra a “dying winter,” when almost 
any adverse conditions become fatal—and when 
almost every disorder assumes an epizootic, mar 
lignaut and fatal type. 
Certain specific diseases, like cold, catarrh, 
pulmonary affections, diarrhea, dygentery, etc.— 
the most common ones which are of a dangerous 
description—are for more liable to attack sheep 
when in low condition. And it is surprising 
with wbat destructive effect ticics will work on 
very poor sheep and lambs. The latter are some- 
* I urge no “ petting” or enervating system of treatment 
I have riot live times within thirty yours fed hay or gram, 
or brought in the body of my store sheep from their sum¬ 
mer pastures, before tho tail of snow which generally 
occurs in this climate not far from the first of December. 
Uutl should have done i t in all cases,if they had not sufficient 
t feed in their pastures In this respect 1 would put. them 
on precisely the same footing with cows and horses. And 
I would sooner limit the feed of either of them iu the winj 
ter, than fluting tho month preceding winter. Unless the 
fall feed whs unusually abundant and good, 1 have always 
fed ray lambs and crones pumpkins, turnip tops, grain, etc., 
ami a little hay as soon as they would oat it 
t It might not inappropriately be termed the "fall- 
hunger rot.” 
