THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
JUNE 4 
METIS-MERINO SHEEP. 
The accompanying illustration—Fig. 282— 
represents a group of Metb-Me.rino elieep, the 
properly of M. Paul Bitaille, and winners of 
the first prize for this breed at the recent live 
stock show at Paris, France. M. Bataille farms 
over a thousand acres at Fasey-en-Yaloi*, and 
is one of the most FueceBtful breeders of Metis- 
Merinos, the formation of which breed was be¬ 
gun about 60 years ago by his grandfather, by a 
careful selection of rams of the purest Merino 
blood. From the first no other blood has 
been permitted to mingle with the Merino, al¬ 
though some time back, owing to the width of 
the chest of sheep of this breed, it was reported 
that at some time an English dash of Leicester 
or Cotswold blood had been introduced. To 
settle the question, M. Gustave Heuze, a 
French agricultural inspector, was charged to 
examine the animals and their pedigrees, and 
pronounced them to be perfectly pure. 
At present M. Bataille's flock is composed of 
over 1 200 sheep, and 200 rams are either sold 
»r let every year. At their first appearance 
at the Paris live stock shows they obtained the 
medal of honor, and they have maintained 
their high reputation ever since. The follow¬ 
ing technical details will enable amateurs to 
judge their respective merits:— 
1876. First prize for 3 sheep, weighing 683 tbs. 
1878. “ “ •• 15, same inm, tbs. 
1377. “ r '* 3 ewe lambs, 14 months, 607 lbs. 
1878. Second prize for 3 sheep, 18 months, 618 lbs. 
1878. First prize tor 15 ditto, 2,738 lbs. 
1878. “ “ “ 8 ewes, 588 lbs. 
The three last were retained for slaughter¬ 
ing, that the commissioners might verify the 
meat producing qualities.- Each heart was 
found to give an average of 04 per cent, of 
meat. With regard to the wool, the sheep pro¬ 
duce 13 pounds per fleece, and the rauiB from 
15 to 17 pounds, of vejy superior quality. Our 
illustration has been re-engraved from the 
Live Stock Journal (England). 
AN ARRANGEMENT FOR DIPPING BHEEP. 
The arrangement for dipping sheep here il¬ 
ia straled l have found very convenient. A. is 
the heater which can be made of inch-and-a- 
half plank closely fitted and strapped across 
with hoop-iron. The bottom should be of 
sheet-iron, and the heater should be placed 
on a furnace a foot and a half high, so as 
to leave room for a brisk fire. Strips of iron 
should run across under the pan to support 
the weight. B, is the dipping vat, twenty feet 
long, five deep and three wide at the top and 
one at the bottom which slopes upward to the 
draining pen, so that the sheep can walk out. 
This vat should be set on a level with the 
ground. C, is the draining pen which should 
be on sloping ground, or be raised near the 
the chute. D, is a form of chute that is much 
used in California and maybe elsewhere. It 
should be 16 inches wide for Merinos. The 
best material for it 1 have tried, iB smooth wire 
three inches apart supported by posts at inter¬ 
vals of from four to six feet. E, is the catch 
pen. 
F. is a gate which swiDgs bo as to close the 
catch pen and let the sheep run out of the 
chme, or swings and catches, closing either 
way. G. i6 a partition used in crowding the 
sheep close to the dipping vat to save time in 
catching. L. is the gate way through which 
the sheep should always be driven except 
when they are to be driven through the chnte, 
D. The continuation of the line from the 
gate L. is a dividing fence between the two 
main corrals and should be made of some¬ 
thing that will prevent the sheep in one cor¬ 
ral from seeing those in the other. M. and 
N. are the main corrals. 
®jjt Utrfosmatt. * 
NOTES FROM MY BARNYARD. 
“Sheep will live and do well where other 
animals starve,” but Seth Bays there is no ani¬ 
mal that repays you so well for extra care as 
the sheep. We have from a one-year-old 
ram over 15 pounds of wool; from another 
12. Last year one of these just bought 
from a farm flock, sheared about six pounds. 
They had, besides their hay, an occasional 
handful of oats; and were most of all greedy 
for a share of the boiled vegetables thrown in 
twice a day to the hens. They were also 
housed very comfortably. Daring the Sum¬ 
mer they’ are changed eveiy two weeks between 
two small half-acre lots that open into each 
other ; into these lots we throw additional feed 
of beets and sowed corn. The one thing above 
all others that a sheep delights in is beetleaveB. 
I doubt if any one can show a better record 
than 26 pounds of wool from two Bheep. 
Seth says he doesn’t like animal profan- 
ily. “ An ugly animal always bellows as if 
she were swearing,” he says. “There, that 
Ayrshire will never lie down after a good meal 
and enjoy herself. ’Ti6n'i in her auy more 
than a Yankee can sit still in a chair. She’s 
always on the look-out for a bit of mischief; 
and her low is as profane as Tim Burn’s exe¬ 
cration. 1 like gentle-spoken beasts.” 
The other day Seth and I went out to buy 
sheep. “Ltt me see their faceB,” he said ; "I 
can learn all I want to know from their faces. 
If the face is pinched, or coarse, or wild, or 
stupid, the body and habits will correspond.” 
Look at five cows in the faces and see for once 
how character looks out. Let a painter draw 
an Ayrshire head and a Jer ey head and a Dnr- 
1870. He by “ Bergamie ” (44). winner of first 
prize at the Highland Agricultural Society’s 
Show, at Kelso, in 1863 He by “Johnnie Cope” 
(417), by “ Mulrcock” (550) by “Clyde alias 
Glancer ” (158). by ‘ Broomfield Champion" 
(95), by “ Glancer 21 ” (337), by “ Glancer 1st” 
(336), by “ Glancer, alias Thompson’s Black 
Horse ” (S35) that IU ied about 1810 and 
A GROUP or MKTIS-MBRTNO SHEEP.— FIG 282. 
ham and a Holstein, and any good judge could 
construct the rest af the animal all right to fit. 
He would Dot get a Durham on a Holstein. 
More than that, every cow has her individual¬ 
ity in her face. Seth says this is increasingly 
true of animals that have long associated with 
roan. Bad men degrade stock; good men en¬ 
noble them ; so that while wild animals of a 
species average much alike, domestic animals 
of the same species widely differ. “Cats are not 
all cats,” he adds. 
“ Talk of heredity," Seth says, “ that’s some¬ 
thing ; bat it’s very early education that does 
the thing in the barn-yard. There’s that mare, 
she never was unharnessed in her life without 
pretending to want to eat you up. She learned 
it when she was three years old—she’s nineteen 
now. Can’t cure her. People fool with colts 
and barn-yard stock that are young, just as they 
do with babies, and then try to whip the tricks 
out of them. You see the time to begin train¬ 
ing is as soon as they are born.” 
®{)i Jjorsnnait. 
BRAW LADDIE. 
This bay Clydesdale stallion was foaled May 
was the most noted of all the great founders 
of the Clydesdale breed. 
Braw Laddie’s dam “Jean " was winner of 
the following prizes : In 1872 second prize at 
the Northumberland Show ; first prize at West 
Lothian; first at Erst Lothain United; sec¬ 
ond prize at the Highland Agricultural So¬ 
ciety’s Show for district of East Lothian ; and 
first prize at Dalkeith Agricultural Society’s 
Show. In 1S73 first at United Eist Lothian 
Show : first at Highland Agricultural district 
•8how; first prize given by town of Haddington 
(as one of a pair) ; first at Berwick, with foal 
by her side, prize worth £25 ($125) ; at same 
show a silver cup valued at .£35, bb best cart 
mare at the show; first prize at Richmond- 
shire show, also first prize as one of a pair: 
first prize at Crook; first at Stocberlay; 
first at Darlington; first at Colborn; first 
at Barnard Castle; first at Malton, and 
first at North Allerton, and several other 
first prizes. She was by “Campeie” (119), 
winner of fiist prize and gold medal at the 
Highland Society's show at K-lsi in 1863 ; the 
Fife and Kinross premium two years in succes¬ 
sion ; the Shotts and Whitburn premium four 
years in succession, and the Ayr County pre¬ 
mium in 1868. He by “Johnnie Cope” (416), 
winner of first prize at the Highland Society’s 
14, 1877, and imported from Scotland in 1880 
by Powell Brothers, Springboro. Crawford Co., 
Pa. He was sired by “ Tam O’Shanter ’’ (851) 
winner of first prize at the Royal Agricultural 
Society’s Show at Bedford, in 1874. He by 
“ Iiantin Robin ” (685), winner of first prize at 
the Highland Society’s [Show at Dumfries, in 
show at Glasgow in 1857. He by “Justice 1 ’ 
(420) by “Prince alias Prince Charlie” (003), 
winner of second prize at the Highland So¬ 
ciety’s show at Glasgow in 1856; was Brechin 
Premium Horse in 1851, and Lanarkshire in 
1652, He by “ Clyde alias Prince of Wales" 
(155), winner of first prize at the Highland 
Society's show at Glasgow in 1844. He by 
“Clyde alias Glancer ” (153), by “ Broomfield 
Champion" (95), by “Glancer 2nd” (337), by 
“Glancer 1st" (336), by “Glancer alias 
Thompson’s Black Horse” (835). 
To Pbevbnt a Horse from Chewing the 
Lines. —Referring to the query on this matter 
in the Rural of April 30. our friend, M. B. P., 
writes from Brookston, N. C. that a good pre¬ 
ventive is to soak the lines in pepper tea, or to 
wet some ground Cayenne pepper and rub it 
well into the ropes or straps. The same appli¬ 
cation to the mane and tail of the clam will 
prevent a colt from biting either. The only 
effective remedy for a horse’s wickedness in 
eating his blanket is ti place it beyond his 
reach—on some better-mannered horse. 
CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL EXPERI¬ 
MENT STATION. 
BULLETIN NO. (XI. MAT 12, 1881. 
Fertilizer Analytics. 
608. Muriate of potash, from stock of Mapes 
Formula and Peruvian Guano Co. 
609 Muriate of potash, from stock of Wilson 
& Burr, Middletown. Both the above sampled 
and sent by Charles Fairchild, Middletown. 
Potash....,....,... 
608. 
5:t.tu 
609. 
50.16 
Equivalent muriate of potash. 
Cost per ton.. 
Actual potash costs ; er 10U lbs. 
85.3 
$38.00 
3.62 
79.4 
$42 50 
4.24 
586 E. Frank Coe's phosphate. 
from stock 
of Simon Banks, Soathport. 
587 Forrester’s special manure, from stock 
of 8. B. Wakeman, Saugatuck. 
58S. Forrester's special onion manure, from 
stock of S. B. Wakeman, Saugatuck. 
Nos. 586, 587, 5S8 were sampled and sent by 
George P. Jennings, Green’s Farms. 
589. No. 1 standard Peruvian guano, from 
stock of F. Ellsworth, 44 Market Street, Hart¬ 
ford. 
590. Ammoniated bone phosphate, made by 
Rafferty & Williams, New York, from stock of 
F. Ellsworth, Hartford. 
592. Export bone superphosphate, from stock 
of Mapes Formula and Peruvian Guano Co., 
Conn. Valley Branch, Hartford. 
593. “ A ” brand Mapes complete manure, 
from stock of Conn. Valley Branch, Hartford. 
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* In New York, 
t $4.90 per bit* of 200 lbs. 
The Station is advised by several firms whose 
:haracter stands high as producers of fertiliz; 
jrs, that the present wholesale cost of the ele- 
nents of fertilizers is as great as,or greater than, 
,he Station values for 1881; that accordingly, the 
Ration valuations of certain fertilizers, as re- 
:ently published, are lower than the articles 
:an possibly be made for, and that therefore 
,heee valuations are unjust and injurious to 
,he manufacturers, or at least are likely to be 
nterpreted to the prejudice of the latter. 
The “ Explanations ” which accompany the 
manuscript reports of analyses, and which are 
printed in the Annual Reports, are believed to 
t>e sufficient to forestall such a result. Since, 
however, the Bulletins may he read by those 
who do not see those Reports, some passages 
From the latter are here reproduced 
“Nearly all of the leas expensive fertilizers have 
variable prices, which bear no close relation io 
their chemical composition, but guanos, super¬ 
phosphates and other fertilizers, for which $30 to 
fso per ton are paid, depend cbletly for their irade 
value on the three substances, nitrogen phosphor¬ 
ic acid and potash, which are comparatively costly 
and steady in price. The money value per pound 
of these ingredient a 18 easily estimated from Hie 
market prices of the standard articles which fur¬ 
nish them to commerce.” 
“These trade values of the elementaof fertilizers 
are not fixed, but yary with the state of the mar¬ 
ket, and are from lime to time sueject, to revision. 
They are uot. exact 'o the cent or Its fractions, be¬ 
cause the same article sells cheaper at commercial 
or manufacturing centers than In country towns, 
cheaper in large lota than in small cheaper for 
cash than on time. These values are high enough 
to do no Injustice to ihe dealer, and accurate 
enough to serve the object of the consumer 
*■ 'the uses of the ' Valuation ’ are. first, to show 
whether a given lot or brand of fertilizer Is wortn. 
as a commodity of trade, what lt costs. If the sell¬ 
ing price is no higher than the estimated value, 
the purchaser may be quite sure that the price is 
