®t#sp 
VOL. XXXVII. Ne. 8, 
WflOLK No. 14U5. 
PRICE SIX CENTS 
*‘2.30 PER YEAR. 
[Entered according to Act of Congress, in the rear 1878. by the Rural Tublisliiny Company, in the office of the Librarian of Cunpresa at Wbahinjrton.] 
their dropping lambs at whatever season the 
owner may wish. 
There are in England, Wales and Scotland, 
other breeds, also, of horned sheep ; but they 
are much smaller in size and are, some of them, 
almost as wild as deer, and, like them, generally 
found in forests; while others, like our own 
Bocky Mountain sheep, are extremely active, and 
can climb almost as well as goats. The flesh of 
some of them—notably of the Welsh Mountain 
sheep—is sold at a high figure, and is said to 
have a flavor in some respects more palatable to 
the epicure than that of Down mutton, because 
it savors in somo measure, of the taste of game 
or venison. Indeed, a saddle of mutton from 
one of these semi-wild sheep, is said to be second 
only to a haunch of the best venison. 
weeks old. Should the treatment be as good as 
heretofore, the nutritious diet be continued, 
and the other fifty-two ewes have as good luck 
as those which have yeaned, there will be a fine 
show of lambs; for at the present time not one 
has done amiss, every ewe having had a lamb or 
two. 
These will have the genuine flavor of prime, 
first-class lamb, and will not look like the poor 
miserable creatures so often to be seen banging 
at the butchers’ with the “ kells ’’ of old sheep 
wrapped around the skeletous to make believe 
they belonged to them. If farmers would feed 
some oil-cake with some oats and bran, too, the 
ewes would require much less hay and they 
would be able to send to market mutton and 
lamb as ripe and palatable as it is in England. 
This would induce the upper class aud the 
publio in general to consume so much more 
mutton in comparison with beef that the de¬ 
mand would increase and the price would be 
always remunerative. 
If these ewes had been given Borne stimulant 
in August, they would all have had lambs in 
January, and these would have been worth 
from f 10 or $15 each when they were eight 
wpoUs i 'Id, The English lanibB coming first of 
an it-To market 
lamb had tasted anything beeideH milk. Wha 
is called lamb by second-class butchers in the 
United States is in reality young, washy mutton. 
The Droprietor of this farm is feeliug his way 
and experimenting with good, common stock 
preparatory to procuring such pnre-breds as hi8 
experience with the present animals shall prove 
will be most suitable for his purpose of inaugu¬ 
rating a new era in agriculture. 
January 20th. Geo Gardner. 
KOBEED SHEEP 
There are several varieties of horned sheep 
still extant, but all the most renowned breeds 
which are eagerly sought after in every part of 
the world for their mutton and wool combined, 
have long since lost all trace of horns. Indeed, 
it is not at all improbable that by the close of 
another century, few choioe cows will bo fonnd 
with these useless and dangerous appendages. 
The Dorset sheep is probably the best horned 
sheep in existence at the present day. In the 
neighborhood of London, Eugland, they are used 
for raising lambs at seasons when it is un usual 
for other breeds to have young. Animals of this 
strain, however, will breed the year round at any 
time that may be selected, and will drop lambs 
twice every year. A few farmers in Dorsetshire 
and a few in Somersetshire are, we are inform¬ 
ed, now brooding animals of this horned variety, 
with a view to their improvement so as to estab¬ 
lish them as a standard breed. But had it not 
been for their great fecundity, and their capacity grade Merinos with a few nure-bred South- 
for breeding again immediately af .cr yeaning, Downs. A pure-bred Dowu ram was with the 
and so producing lambs at any time of the year whole of them, and there are already about 
when desired, so that very early lambs can be sixty lambB, while others are coming daily, 
had with certainty, they would probably have by Some of those which camo first are now as fat 
this time been unknowu. The recent improve- and plump as possible, the ewes being very 
ment eflected in them, however, has made them healthy and giving abundance of milk. They 
valuable for wool and mutton, independently of will be fit for the butcher when they arc eight 
GROUND BONE-BONE MIL^S, 
In the Rural of Dec. 29, several questions 
are asked, aud others suggested, that are of 
much interest to farmers generally at this time, 
and need to be more fully answered or discussed. 
The value of ground bone as a fertilizer, and 
how it compares with superphosphate—on what 
soils and for what crops is it most valuable, and 
by what means can bones best be pulverized or 
made available as plant-food?—are questions 
that hundreds of our farmers in this north-east- 
evu section of Ohio, are seeking to gain light 
upon at this time, and topics that are frequently 
discussed at meetings of Farmers' Clubs and 
Granges. 
It has come to be quite generally admitted 
that the fertility of the soil in these old-settled 
districts, has gradually declined, and something 
BREEDING EWES 
are, a good deal of them, not 
more than six weeks old, but they are very fat 
and have the exquisite taste peculiar to tie 
meat when the lamb has had all the milk it 
could take and has eaten no food besides what 
it sucks. First-class butchers would buy 
neither veal nor early lamb if either calf or 
