202 
V? 
of immigration began to roll towards and 
stop around me. 
Again, for the past five years I have been 
wholly incapacitated for performing manual 
labor, and sometimes not even able to see 
our stock for weeks at a time ; yet through 
hired help have kept them together, and even 
made some headway. 
Ours has been and till is a mixed business ; 
therefore it will be impossible for the an¬ 
swers to bo strictly accurate in every item. 
INTERROGATORIES ANSWERED. 
1. The breed is Spanish Merino, and will 
average throe-fourths blood ; some are full, 
some only one-half blood. 
2. The proportion of ewes is about one- 
third. 
3. The “care and shelter” has been very 
rough, indeed. For shelter, rough sheds set 
into a steep bank, boarded in front, open at 
each end, hay roof, is our best, and is re¬ 
served for breeding ewes and weak lambs. 
A few of the. ewes and most of the lambs had 
only the lee side of a hay-rick for shelter. 
The wethers had t he lee side of a board fence 
and the further protection of a few rows of 
cottonwood trees four years old. All had 
free access to pure running water. They 
were kept in the yards from the middle of 
October to the middle of May—seven months 
—four to six weeks longer than usual. Their 
food consisted of blustem hay, wheat, oat 
and barley straw, and shelled corn at the 
rate of one bushel a day to the hundred. At 
least such was the order. 
4. The “yearly cost per head of keeping” 
averages about 00 cents—last year 04 cents. 
5. The “ rate of natural increase annually ” 
is about 25 per cent. [This evidently means 
25 per cent, upon the whole flock, one-third 
only of wliich, it will be recollected, are 
ewes.—Con] 
0. “ Net price of wool per pound ? Where 
sold ?” Has ranged from 21 to 20 cents. 
About half the clips sold here ; the others 
sold in Boston. 
7. The “ cost per head of sheep originally” 
ranged from $2.50to $7—average about $4.25. 
“Where bought?” In Jackson county, 
Mich., and Wyoming and Livingston coun¬ 
ties, N. Y. 
S. Shear but once a year. 
9. Our range at first wub wholly upon the 
public lands, now wholly upon our own 
lands ; but the grasses are the same—native. 
We have clover, timothy and Kentucky 
blue-gross growing, but not iu sufficient 
quantities to use for hay or pasturage. All 
varieties do well so far. 
10. “How many sheep to the acre?” 
About five sheep for our average prairie 
grass in this section. To stock much heavier 
would soon eat out the bluestcm portion of 
the grass. The bunch and grama grasses 
appear to improve under the sheep’s foot. 
11. “ What is the usual average mortality ? 
From what causes ? ” The first year about 
twelve per cent., last year two and a-half per 
cent., and for the whole time five per cent. 
Causes : debility from so long a drive in the 
worst possible weather; lack of proper 
shelter; lack £of grain first three years, 
wolves, wildcats, drowning ; and, lastly, bad 
handling. We cannot procure help that un¬ 
derstands sheep, or wishes to. 
13. Since 1855 sheep have been in such bad 
repute here that really good ewes would 
scarcely sell at all ; now they are worth 
about $-1 per head. For best bucks about 
dressed. A frame should be mode, the /A* t \ 
boards or slabs fixed, and then well puddled rv!FlCl(l (!!'V 013 , 
with clay bottom, and sides about twelve to ^^ H. 
eighteen inches, to prevent the escape of the - . - ~ 
stuff. To economize the liquid lot the dip or BERMUDA GRASS FOR STOPPING WASH 
tank bo narrower on the bottom than at the 
top—say two and a half feet wide at the 
bottom when four feet at the top. Avoid all 
dragging when dressing and on any other 
occasion ; construct yards, with pens handy 
and easy to fill, and 2,000 sheep may be passed 
through within a few hours. A platform 
pen on a swing is a quick way to plunge in 
the sheep. Have the stuff prepared before 
yarding and penning the sheep ; dip at 100* 
Fall. The animals need not stay any time in 
the tank ; an instant will do, provided they 
become properly saturated, head and all. 
Let them go out into a draining yard, in 
order that the stuff running off them may 
return into the tank, which has to be refilled 
from time to time, as may be required, and 
is easily done by measuring and marking the 
tank before. The tobacco should bo boiled 
and kept simmering. Much time is gained 
by soaking it twenty-four hours before boil¬ 
ing. Tf a steam pipe can be laid on to keep 
up the proper heat., all the better. The sul¬ 
phur should be made iuto a batter and then 
put into the tank, and the liquid stirred well 
about. The tobacco effects the cure, while 
the sulphur is added to prevent infection; 
but be it understood that scale insects are 
sometimes found on sheep in spite of the 
sulphur, but it is of rare occurrence ; the 
sulphur disagrees with them. 
I would advise that the Sheep, before dress¬ 
ing, should be picked. The most infected, 
upon whom the skin has become hard, should 
be on those spots well rubbed with stuff of 
double strength; ami that the stuff may 
easier penetrate, the application of,a hard 
brush, or even currycomb, in order to remove 
the crust, is all the better. These sheep 
should then stand in a pen and be passed 
through the dip last; when the sheep, thus 
THE SHEEP WALKS OF THE GREAT 
PLAINS. 
A writer in the Rural Sun says :—In an¬ 
swer to your correspondent who wants to 
know if setting it (his clay hill) with Bermuda 
grass will be of service in stopping the wash¬ 
ing, etc., I would say, that without u doubt 
it would. It forms n most perfect sod, the 
roots permeating the soil most completely; 
and the spears of grass stand so thickly that 
they hide from view every inch of the sur¬ 
face. A hillside once well Bet with this grass 
before washing into gullies, could never be¬ 
come so washed, however steep it might be. 
As a proof of its usefulness for tiffs purpose, 
it is used further South for preserving rail¬ 
road embankments and the levees on the 
Mississippi river. 
Where the seed in sufficient quantity could 
be obtained, I am unable to say. I read an 
article lately on this grass maintaining that 
it did not perfect its seed in this latitude. 
This, I am satisfied is a mistake. But it is a 
shy bearer of seed. My opinion is that the 
surest and best way to got a stand of this 
grass would bo to plant small portions of the 
sod about ten feet apart each way, or closer 
if desired. This done and the weeds and 
bushes being kept down, the grass would 
soon occupy the ground, and form a sod to 
the exclusion of all other grasses. It throws 
out runners like the Btrawberry plant, which 
will grow several feet in one year. These 
runners have joints at about every inch or 
two, at which roots penetrate the earth and 
spears of grass grow up. 
LETTER FROM A TRANS-MISSOURI PASTORAL PIONEER. 
To the Editor ok the Rural. New-York¬ 
er A recently published pastoral para¬ 
graph, to the effect that a Nebraska flock 
master, Mr. Moses STOCJuho, had Rheared 
from sixteen hundred sheep the handsome 
amount of ten thousand pounds of wool, ar¬ 
rested my attention, and I accordingly wrote 
to el mcestro de los rebanoa, propounding 
certain specific inquiries as to details. He 
has just kindly answered in the interesting 
letter which I send you. 
Harrison Gray Otis. 
FALL OATS IN THE SOUTH 
The Rural Carolinian for September says : 
“ We believe in the early sowing of fall oats, 
but the exact time must depend upon the 
state of the weather and the soil, and the 
exigencies of the other plantation work, as 
well as upon the degree of latitude ; but in 
our own experience, oat s sown in September 
have generally proved decidedly bettor than 
later sowings. It is a mooted question how 
it is best, to cover oats, the general practice, 
however, being to plow them in. Running 
the plow very lightly, this does tolerably 
well; but a better way, we think, is to cover 
with a harrow, and then pass a roller over 
the field. The Red oat is the best kind to 
sow, as not liable to rust. It is known by its 
brownish red husk, and has a thinner and 
more floxihle but strong stem. The Black 
Poland oat is u very heavy and very valua¬ 
ble kind, but not so safe from rust as the 
Red. By the middle of tiffs month, or at 
latest by the end of the month, rye for win¬ 
ter grazing should be sown ; also, barley for 
the same purpose. The ground should be 
well enriched, especially for the barley. Both 
should be heavily seeded—rye two bushels to 
the acre, and barley from three to four. 
CKUFA OR EARTH ALMOND 
Being one of your subscribers 1 wish an 
answer to a few inquiries through the Rural 
New-Yorker. 1 saw an extract from the 
Southern Cultivator in your paper of Mav 
31. relative to the Spanish Chula or Earth 
Almond ; and what I could gather from it, I 
must think it is just the thing we need here 
for pasturage. Now, I wish to know some¬ 
thing about it, and would like to have the 
following questions answered as early as 
convenient through your columns, viz.1st. 
Where can the seed of tho Chufa be had and* 
at what price? 2nd. What time of the sea¬ 
son should it be planted, and how much seed 
to the acre ? 3rd. How should it be planted, 
and how cultivated ?— H B. Ansell, Curri¬ 
tuck Co., N. C. 
W E shall be glad if any of our Southern 
readers, who have cultivated the Chufa, will 
answer these questions through our columns. 
effect upon it. 
Within an hour after dressing it may be 
assumed that thu scab is dead and the eggs 
destroyed. Many hold that a second dressing 
is required in about fourteen days after the 
first, out there io no need for it if the proper 
course is taken by the first application. Of 
course I presume that all the sheep are prop¬ 
erly dressed—none left out and afterwards 
to join—or all expense and labor would be 
to no purpose. If sheep run in a paddock 
they should be watered in a day or two 
after the dressing, and if any be found which 
have not passed through the dressing they 
should at once be picked out and properly 
dressed. No infection will take place during 
the first lew days after dressing, even if 
dipped in tobacco alone, but care should be 
had and no neglect allowed in any way. 
Those not dipped are easily distinguished, as 
tobacco and sulphur color those dressed. 
SCAB IN SHEEP 
FIELD NOTES 
A California correspondent of the San 
Francisco Record furnishes the following on 
the treatment of tiffs disease :—The best and 
safest application is tobaeoo and sulphur in 
equal proportions—one pound of tobacco and 
one pound of sulphur to each four gallons 
(some allow five gallons, wliich I do not 
approve of) of water. I may mention here 
that in Australia, by Legislative enactment, 
any tobacco imported for the purpose of 
sheep dressing passes duty free, hut the 
Custom-house officers destroy the .tobacco 
for smoking purposes by touching it with 
spirits of tar—an example which should he 
copied by this Government . The most simple 
process, less expensive and quickest, is to 
construct a dip or tank into a hole dug in 
the ground, of any size, as may be required, 
according to complement of sheep to be 
Keeping Sweet Potatoes. —The Fruit Re¬ 
corder says :—Sweet potatoes are best kept 
in very dry sand, and in a room where tem¬ 
perature does uot go below 40*. We usually 
take sand from bridges and roads in a dry 
spell and carry it to the rooms where we 
keep the potatoes. The potatoes we dig and 
let lie in the son a day or so, turning them 
over once or twice. We then carefully put 
them in boxes or barrels and take them to 
the Btoreroom, where we put the sand in, 
knocking on the ban-els until sand settles all 
through them. In damp weather keep a fire 
in the room, and as winter sets in keep a 
slow fire going, just sufficient to not let 
mercury fall below 50’ to C0°. Duhlias can 
be kept In same way, also any kind of bulbous 
roots. 
Anqora Goats Again. — B. C. D. asks : 
“ Would you advise me to purchase Angora 
goatB with ti view to profit from the sale of 
the fleece ?” We reply, No ! We have known 
several enthusiastic gentlemen who have in¬ 
vested in Augora goats in this country, and 
finding the market for the fleece was not ade¬ 
quate to pay them the expense of keeping 
their flocks have tried to induce us to create 
a furore for the stock. This paragraph is an 
index of the way we have aided them 1 The 
only profit, to be derived from them is in find¬ 
ing credulous people enough to buy and pay 
for their progeny at fancy jiricee' But the 
agricultural papers are not likely to aid such 
a swindle. 
i 
