’beep Snsbanirrjp. 
H. e. RANDALL, LL. D , EDITOR, 
Of Cortland Village, Cortland Coontv, New York. 
SUMMER MANAGEMENT OF SHEEP. 
We have received a very good article on 
the summer management of sheep from a cor¬ 
respondent at Barrington, Yates Co., N. Y. 
But having already prepared a more minute 
one, on the same subject, in answer to some 
persons about. t,o engagp in the business, we 
shall now proceed to give it. The topic is 
a hackneyed ode, of course, to experienced 
breeders; but every year or two brings its 
wave of new beginners, w ho desire instruc¬ 
tion in the ABC of sheep management,: 
and agricultural journals arc published as 
much for the benefit of such, as for any other 
class of readers. 
Tagging, Castration, Ac .—When this article 
appears, the lambing season will be mostly 
over, and sheep will have been generally 
turned out to grass. If they have not been 
tagged, it is best to attend to it at once, 
both to save wool, and for Ihc benefit of the 
lambs — which ought not to be compelled to 
thrust their noses into a mass of dung to 
obtain their food. Lambs should be docked 
and castrated by the time they arc three 
weeks old. 
Washing should not be performed until 
the streams become moderately warm, and 
hence the proper time will vary considerably 
in different regions. It should be done long 
enough before shearing to have the wool be¬ 
come perfectly dry, and acquire luster and 
softness by the infusion of new yolk — but 
not to become greasy or soggy. In cold, up¬ 
land regions, where the streams remain (fold 
quite late in the spring, it is better to shear 
without washing —though, on account of 
the prejudices of dealers, the. wool is less 
marketable at a fair price. 
Shearing should not take place until the 
weather becomes warm and settled, which, 
in the high regions of central New York — 
ten or twelve hundred feet above tide — does 
not occur until about the middle of June. 
Cold night; and cold storms are very injuri¬ 
ous to new shorn sheep, ami greatly dimin¬ 
ish the milk of suckling ewes. Wo write for 
farmers. If breeders of fancy sheep choose 
to shear a month or six weeks earlier, (for 
the purpose of making them longer fleeced 
at the. usual selling time in fall, and of mak¬ 
ing them coat over with yolk more com¬ 
pletely,) and then to protect them carefully 
from the consequences, by giving them warm 
shelter, they may find it profitable to do so; 
but the ordinary llock-master cannot afford 
to take this extra, and, to him, useless trouble. 
Selection .—The best time during the year 
to select out the best sheep to keep, and the 
worst to dispose of, is at shearing. Every 
fleece should be weighed and examined 
when taken off. The teeth should be in¬ 
spected to ascertain the age. The shape, 
appearances indicating constitution, nursing 
properties of ewes, Ac., should be carefully 
noted. It will suffice for the wool grower 
merely to mark the inferior and old ones, so 
they can at any time be divided out for sale. 
But the breeder should put numbers on all 
his sheep, and keep a register in which the 
particular characteristics of each are minute¬ 
ly recorded, to guide him, not only in sales, 
but in coupling rams and ewes together, in 
reference to counteracting their respective 
faults in subsequent breeding, 
Cutting Hoofs and Horns .—At or immedi¬ 
ately after shearing, (if it has not been done 
previously,) all hoofs which have grown out 
long or turned under should be cut down to 
their natural size. Horns that press the 
head should also be sufficiently cut away. 
Markin'/ should be done as soon as the 
shearing of the flock is finished. The best 
brand for the wool grower is an iron one — 
being the initials of his name in clear letters, 
some three ancl a half inches long. This 
stamped on with black paint, is readily dis¬ 
tinguishable at a considerable distance. 
Metallic ear marks are very necessary for 
the breeder, who is thus able at any time to 
identify each sheep described in his register. 
Tarring .—When the marking takes place, 
it is well to smear tar around the upper side 
of and between the roots of the rams’ horns, 
particularly if the horns grow near to the 
head. Some smear the noses of all the sheep 
with tar. It is not an unwholesome prac¬ 
tice, but is not necessary, unlesfs the sheep 
are snotty. 
Dipping .—For the purpose of killing ticks, 
dipping in tobacco water every year is not 
always necessary; but “ it pays ” by its 
wholesome effects on the skin. It tends, we 
are inclined to think, to prevent “picking,” 
and other cutaneous diseases. It should be 
performed by immersing the sheep all over 
except tlic. nose, in a decoction of tobacco 
strong enough to kill ticks. If the lambs 
are only dipped, it should not be done until 
about a fortnight after shearing, when the 
ticks have crawled into their long wool from 
their dams. 
Son Scald. —If the weather be very hot at 
shearing, the sheep should be turned out 
where they can find shade. Otherwise they 
suffer considerably, and thqr backs become 
scalded and sore. 
Storms. — Sometimes a cold rain or storm 
sets in at or soon after shearing, even after 
the proper season of shearing. When the 
fleece is first taken off, the sheep is intensely 
susceptible t,o cold, especially when accom¬ 
panied by vain, and we have known thou¬ 
sands of them to perish when thus exposed. 
On such occasions they should be more care¬ 
fully stabled than in winter — or if this is 
impracticable, they should be turned into 
dense forests which are the least exposed to 
the wind. 
Ham , even when they have been kept 
together, apparently frequently fail to recog¬ 
nize each other after shearing, and fight. If 
the skin on the top of the head is thus 
broken, and especially if blood runs about 
under the horns, maggots arc soon gener¬ 
ated, which, if neglected, rapidly lead to 
serious or fatal consequences. Therefore 
besides smearing at shearing, rams’ heads 
should be frequently examined afterwards— 
and always without delay if they are seen 
scratching them with their lent.. If tin; skin 
is found broken it should be freshly smeared 
willi tar and turpentine. If any maggots are 
found, they should be killed with turpen¬ 
tine, before smearing. Maggots arc some¬ 
times generated on other parts, owing to 
adhering dung or to souk; wound. This 
requires the same treatment. 
Salt. — For the purpose of keeping the 
sheep tamo, and ready to come when called, 
we prefer feeding this once a week in the 
summer, rather than keeping it accessible to 
the sheep at all times. They should be 
counted, if practicable, when salted, and 
carefully looked over to see if anything is 
amiss. 
Water. — Sheep will do without it in their 
pastures, but we think that they will do still 
better with it. We also think that suckling 
ewes having access to good water, yield 
more milk to their lambs. For this reason, 
if we had two otherwise equal sheep pas¬ 
tures, one with and one without water, we 
would separate out the nursing ewes of the 
flock and put. them in the watered pasture. 
Shade in Pasture is undoubtedly greatly 
conducive to the comfort of sheep in hot 
weather, and therefore it is fairly inferable 
that it is also conducive to their general 
thrift. Common rail fences supply some 
shade, but we regard a sheep pasture incom¬ 
plete without better shelter from the scorch¬ 
ing sun than that thus afforded. 
Weaning Lambs. —They should generally 
be weaned as early as at four months old. 
They should then be put on good old pas¬ 
ture which has been closely fed down and 
then allowed to spring up fresh and tender ; 
or on the fresh rowan or after-math of 
meadows; or on the new seeded grass in 
stubbles. They should be salted as often as 
grown sheep, and rendered tamo and taught 
to come at call by having two or three very 
tame old sheep placed in every flock of them. 
Ewes after weaning should bo put on dry, 
short pasturage for a few days, until they 
dry up. If any of their udders till full of 
milk, it should he drawn two or three times. 
We think it would pay, in a superior breed¬ 
ing flock, to milk out every udder about the 
time the secretion of milk ceased. Many of 
the bad conditions subsequently found in the 
udder, at yeaning, are probably due to a 
neglect of the above precautions. After 
drying up, ewes should be given first rate 
pasturage to .bring them again into good 
condition before they are coupled with the 
ram. 
Tegs or Lambs After Frost. -After heavy 
frosts, the grass becomes too innutritions for 
the sole feed of tegs, They should then 
additionally receive pumpkins, roots, rape 
ortho like, or, in default of these, a small 
daily feed of bran and shorts, the. quantity 
being somewhat increased, and perhaps only 
slightly sprinkled with oats, as the grass 
grows poorer. Wo do not think solid grain 
should be fed, in any quantity, to tegs in the 
fall, unless they are to be pampered sheep 
through life, and even then It is not. altogether 
safe, at least in the climate of central New 
York. Tegs high fed in the fall are very 
liable to do poorly in the winter, whether the 
feed is proportionably kept up or not. They 
ought to have dry, airy shelters in cold 
storms in autumn, and he put up and fed a 
little hay at night as winter approaches. 
Breeding Ewes Lute in the Fall, if they have 
not previously acquired good condition, 
should also receive roots, pumpkins or the 
like, and at all events, as winter approaches, 
should receive what dry feed (hay or corn 
stalks) they choose to consume. They are 
also much better for shelter in cold storms 
after the first of November. 
Preparing Hams for Coupling. — Rams 
should receive grain say a month before the 
coupling season, beginning with a small 
amount and gradually increasing it to say 
a pint of oats, or its equivalent, daily,—the 
amount being but slightly increased during 
service. Here oats are much preferred to 
corn — both as safer and less cloying feed, 
and as productive of muscle (lean meat,) in¬ 
stead of fat, and therefore, giving more 
strength. During this preparatory month, 
the ram should not. be kept confined in a 
stable, as is too often the case, but allowed 
to run out and take all the exercise he will. 
It is better that he also continue to have ex¬ 
ercise, so far as practicable, during coupling* 
and when it is over, that his feed be gradu¬ 
ally reduced and he turned out with the rest 
of the sheep. 
Pampering (many rams are taught to con¬ 
sume two quarts of oats a day or their 
equivalent,) the extraordinary amount of 
work required of them, and close confine¬ 
ment, have latterly been proving fatal to a 
great share of the best Merino rams in the 
country; and wo cannot believe any animal 
tints treated can get progeny possessing 
equal integrity of physical structure — equal 
constitution and stamina — with the get of 
hardy, thoroughly exercised, unpampered 
animals, 'whoso sexual functions have been 
but. moderately exercised. Conditions are 
inherited, to some extent, as well as struc¬ 
tures. Does any one believe that among 
human beings, for example, the offspring of 
idleness, gluttony and licentiousness — of , 
men whose bodies have become almost in¬ 
capable of discharging their muscular func¬ 
tions, and predisposed to every disease, by 
reason o! such indulgences — have equal 
natural vigor, equal natural capacity to be¬ 
come strong and tough, with the offspring 
of men whose bodily stamina has been de¬ 
veloped to the utmost by regular and suffi¬ 
cient exorcise, and who have never over¬ 
indulged either their appetites or their 
passions? Such is not the story of families 
or races which history tells. On the con¬ 
trary, history invariably shows that luxury 
reduces the standard of physical power and 
hardiness, and that the process of deteriora¬ 
tion i 4 cumulative in every successive genera¬ 
tion, until the most vigorous races of men rim 
out. It may appear to some repulsive, and 
to a degree absurd, to institute such a com¬ 
parison as the above between men and 
brutes ; but we think it brings home to the 
mind a striking view— “ a realizing sense,” 
—of the important fact we are attempting 
to illustrate. 
* We speak, of course, of rams which do not run 
with the flock, but which aro separately coulineil, 
ancl admitted to the. owe but once. 
jP* ptrfrsnt&n, 
<J tj 
MEMORANDA FOR HERDSMEN. 
To Keinovn Ghnff troin Cattle's Eyes. —The 
best thing- 1 know of is to take alum, burn it. 
and pulverize it, them take a quill and blow it 
into the eye; it will bo all right in twenty-four 
hours. 1 never knew it to fall.—C. Judd. 
Wm. Bowers, Mt. Vernon, 0„ writes;—“I 
have ion# used the following with the best of 
success;—! taka a lump of good, pure, well 
salted butter, about, the size of a hazelnut, or a 
little larger, and having the animal hold securely, 
so us to be perfectly rdill, with my fingers I rub 
the butter first gently on the edge of the eye¬ 
lids, then put the lump iu the eye. I do this 
once a day for several days, or until all inflam¬ 
mation is removed. I have never known this 
remedy to fail. 
A. M. Townsend, Ovid, N. Y., writes: “Put a 
piece of alum on the stove and let. It. burn till it 
stops blubbering; then remove it, add two- 
thirds as much pulverized white sugar, and mix 
them by taking a roiling pin and crushing tho 
whole muss, Got. an elder stick about four 
inches long and about us large as a pipe step, re¬ 
move the pith and dry it; then till it about half 
full of tho sugar and alum, put a rope around 
tho horns of tho animal, give it a half hitch 
around the nose, and tic it up to a post, as clone 
as yon can g-et it., and while a second person 
holds the eyelids open, blow t ho alum and sugar 
in the eye. Itopeat three! or four times a day 
till tho eye is free from film. 
“ This is a sure cun.!, if there is any chanco for 
a euro at all, for I bavo used this remedy for 
thirty years, and never knew it. to fall. Common 
salt thrown in the eye is very good. In case the 
elder cannot bo procured, take a goose quill. I 
have been quite particular in stating the method 
of burning the alum, for I find that some who 
lmvo cattle with chaff in their eyes do not know 
what burnt alum is.” 
Pteuro-Pneumonia. The Veterinarian says 
that pleuro-pneumonia is not rapidly widening 
the area of its existence in England, but is 
assuming a far more virulent type then of late. 
The disease has also very recently shown Itself 
in Scotland, many of the. outbreaks being clearly 
traceable to the introduction of fresh stock into 
the premises. Tho same authority tell- us that 
the cattle plaguo has greatly increased during 
the past month, both in Hungary and Poland. 
Tfr appears to have yielded for the time to the 
means employed for its suppression in Lower 
Austria; but no well-grounded hope can be en¬ 
tertained that the disease will not extend West¬ 
ward agaiu. 
-*-♦-♦- 
Lice on Cattle, —An Onondaga Co, correspond¬ 
ent drives the lice from his stock by sprinkling 
them with dry plaster once or twice. 
H. Mills, Pine Valley, N. Y., writes us that 
eight years ago ho tried ashes to destroy lice on 
cattle, as recommended by Mr. Wilkinson, 
(page 203 Rural, April 24,) on a heifer, and it. 
took tho tutir off wherever it touched. He has 
the cow now, and there arc three scars on her 
back. Nineo then he has used snuff and lard with 
good success. 
drarw (btonomti. 
FENCE FOR MARSH OR SOFT SOIL. 
Tuis improvement is designed for bracing 
the common board fence, built across low, 
marshy ground, that is overflowed at every 
considerable fall of rain. The work; or face 
side, of the fence is supposed to (and should,) 
front up stream; in the rear, and four feet 
from each post, is firmly driven into the 
ground a stake, (Iv,) left, projecting one foot, 
'C_^ 
6- 
mm 
or fraction thereof. This stake is connected 
with the fence post bv strip B, being firmly 
attached near top of the post, as indicated. 
The strength of the fence to resist the force 
of rushing waters and flood-wood that may 
come in contact, with it is increased ten -fold. 
Iu sections where high winds are preva¬ 
lent fences may be braced in this way upon 
the leeward side. •— i,. d. s. 
-- 
A FLOOD GATE. 
t herewith send you a description of a 
flood gate that I think is cheaper, more easily 
made, and better after it is made, than those 
that you gave in the Rural several weeks 
ago. A. is the pole placed across the stream 
to hang tho gate on ; (J is a joist, slab or rail 
with one Hat. surface five or six inches wide; 
B B are pieces of suitably sized wire passed 
through auger holes iu the joist, over the 
hole, and hooked together. The upright 
pieces are strips of hoard, or pieces of wood, 
split into strips three or four incites wide, 
and nailed on the. down-stream side of the 
joist. These strips can bo longer or shorter, 
as may be needed. These ga tes can be made 
in sections if the stream is wide. Two men 
can unbook them and carry to a place of 
safety, if desired. By putting the strips close 
enough together, letting them run down low 
enough, you can prevent geese from passing. 
I have one that is geosc-proof. Last winter 
and just now gorges of tee and flood-wood 
p issed under it that I think would have car¬ 
ried off any other form of gate that 1 have 
seen; and only u few strips are missing. 
The joist should he hung above where the 
ice will ever strike. Gates, with a piece 
across the bottom, are often lost, because ico 
or drift strike against that cross-piece, and 
tear the. gate away. n. u. s. 
Erie Co., Pa. 
SUBSTITUTES FOR FENCES. 
One of your correspondents is anxious to 
find a substitute for plank or lumber fence. 
The only proper substitute that can be de¬ 
vised, is a wire fence, supported on posts. 
For division, and all internal fences, it is just 
the thing, particularly in new prairie coun¬ 
tries, where timber is scarce, and where it 
must be hauled long distances when it can 
he got at all. 
A wire fence takes up less land than any 
other, anil never blows down, or catches 
snow-drifts, or burns up, or floats off in 
floods; and lasts the next thing to forever. 
It is as quickly and cheaply put, up as any 
common fence, and one wagon load of wire 
will cert ainly make as much as or more fence 
than fifteen or twenty loads of lumber. 
There is, of course, quite an art in putting it 
up. It is indispensably necessary that, the 
wire be perfectly straight, with no kinks or 
coil twists whatever in it. To take these 
out, it should be stretched by horse power 
around a heavy po3t or tree, and every pos¬ 
sible curl strained out of it. 
The “telegraph splice” is also the best 
for fastening the strands together. The ex¬ 
pansion or contraction of wire in a fence if 
put up properly, is not sufficient to loosen or 
to break it in any extreme of weather. But 
if put up slack, so that animals can get their 
heads through and once get it to swaying 
and giving, its destruction is only a question 
of time, and the owner is sure to declare, 
most positively, that wire fences will not do 
at all. No animal will ever venture to run 
against a well-built wire fence a second 
time, nor is it in the least danger of injury 
from them. 
It is extremely unfortunate that our poli¬ 
ticians and lawyers ever introduced the , 
Common Law and institutions of our heredi¬ 
tary enemy, England, into this republic. 
Why every American farmer should fence 
out everybody’s stock, to prevent them from 
trespassing on his premises and destroying 
his properly, is a puzzling question that can 
only lie answered by saying, “ because they 
have always done so in England.” This re¬ 
ply, too, is untrue, for English hedges have 
been mainly kept up by the landed aris¬ 
tocracy as preserves for their game, vermin, 
rabbits, pheasants, hares, Arc., which their 
tenant s arc forbidden, on pain of penal trans¬ 
portation, either to destroy or prevent from 
depredating on their crops. 
Of all substitutes for fencing, commend 
me to a. hedge as the worst nuisance of all. 
I am aware that, in saying this, I amtreading 
on plenty of tender toes, ready to rise up in 
dire anger to resent, the attack. For years 
I believed in Osage Orange and other hedge 
plants. Now, I would not have a hedge on 
my place if all the big hedge plant peddlers 
insisted on putting it there gratis and paying 
me for keeping it. Out of thousands ot 
hedges which I have carefully inspected 
within fifteen years, not one in a hundred— 
no, nor five hundred -are worth the setting 
out if the plants wero given away. Not 
that proportion will turn cattle. Not one 
in ten thousand will restrain hogs. 
At, first, it was said that, the. Osage plant 
must he kept, trimmed down low, and tho 
failures were all ascribed to neglect to do 
this. This, of course, was folly, and the 
hedgers soon found it, out. The Osage 
Orange is naturally a luxuriant young tree, 
everywhere, and to cut. it down thus, ruins it 
completely, and makes it look like dead 
brush set iu the ground. It is not to he com¬ 
pared to any of the thorns in this respect. 
The- plant, sellers then changed their base, as 
the, soldiers say, and now they declare that 
to get a hedge good for anything, the. plants 
must not be, touched with a knife al all for 
several years, at the end of which time they 
must be cut off close to the. ground, and laid 
down close, so that the new sprouts will 
grow up through the old growth. This is 
the new revelation of these gentry, discov¬ 
ered within a very low years. Have you 
ever seen such a fence, good reader? Well, 
if you have not, you need never want to do 
so. You may (rake the word of a disinterest¬ 
ed observer, who has seen hundreds of them, 
and who has no ax whatever to grind, that 
no farmer worth the name, who desires to 
keep his place neat, and in good shape, will 
ever have any such nuisance about him. 
They are harbors, like. Lite English hedges, 
for every imaginable species of vermin, who 
prey on the crops, and for at least twenty- 
five feet on each side, nothing whatever will 
grow that, is wanted to grow. 
Mr. Adam Rankin, Warren county, 
Illinois, one of the best farmers in the State, 
in giving a certificate in favor of somebody’s 
patent corn, which has been lately published, 
complains that the field in which it was 
grown was bounded on one side by a hedge, 
and that consequently the squirrels got as 
much of bis crop as he did, or more. 
Good render, wherever you may live, keep 
your farm clear of hedges. The West is full 
of them, and, strange to say, with myriads of 
failures everywhere, still the mischief goes 
on. It will be a happy day for the country 
when fences can be altogether abolished, as 
they arc, all over the continent of Europe. 
Till that good time comes, use wire, use any¬ 
thing else but a hedge, to keep your neigh¬ 
bor’s Cattle off your premises.— Northwest. 
-- 
STOCK ON HIGHWAYS. 
In Rural of April 3d 1 notice an article 
from G. L. Loomis, Midi., on stock in the 
highway. Now, Air. Editor, there is a han¬ 
dle to nearly every jug, and I think it but 
fair that we occasionally look to the side op¬ 
posite the one on which is the handle. I 
suppose Mr. L. will agree that mechanics 
and day-laborers are necessary in every well 
organized neighborhood. They have fami¬ 
lies and wish to keep a cow each. I do not 
know how it may be in Michigan, but in 
many sections it is hard to get a cow pas¬ 
tured for work or money. Farmers over¬ 
stock their farms, send their milk to the 
factory, have no butter to sell, Ac. The 
“ freebooters and lawless men” must sell 
their “ hungry prowlers," for fear that, such 
men as G. L. L. will combine to get, rid of 
this “ highway robbery system.” 1 f farmers 
will pasture their cows at a reasonable rate, 
they will have no need to shut gates, put up 
bars, Ac. If mechanics refuse to hire pasture, 
then, enforce the cattle laws. We annually pay 
thousands of dollars for printing and circu¬ 
lating the Session Laws. These volumes 
aro getting unnecessarily thick; but let them 
add one more leaf, in reference to the cattle 
laws, making some kind of provision for the 
“ hungry prowlers ” of these “ lawless men.” 
Dcuusvillc, X. Y. An Ousciiviai ok Tu inos. 
--»♦»■ — 
To Kill Canada Thistles.- A correspondent, o 
the Rural says lie has killed them hy coating 
I the ground freely with eider pomace. 
a at 
F-V L»V- jMT 
