AMS 45 
544 
their racks filled with early-cut clover hay. 
At half past seveD, they are fed their grain, 
after eating which, the water troughs are 
looked after, cleaned, if necessary, and filled. 
A t 10 o’clock, they are fed roots, after which 
they are left until noon, when their racks are 
all filled with good, bright, barn-stored straw, 
either wheat, oat or barley straw being used; 
and they'pick this over and eat wbat they 
like, and the balance goes to litter the pens. 
It may be thought that sheep grained so high¬ 
ly and fed all the clover hay they care to eat, 
would not eat any straw: but we have found 
that the higher they are grained, the more 
straw they will eat, and unless it is put into 
their racks, they will even pick It up out of 
the yards. Again at three o’clock, they have 
a feed of roots. At half past four, they are 
again grained, and the troughs are filled with 
water. Then the racks are filled with good, 
bright corn stalks, and they are left for the 
night. The corn stalks arecontinued as long 
as the supply lasts, usually well along into 
January, after which clover hay is fed twice 
a day. 
Some may object to the number of times 
the sheep are fed, thinking less would answer 
as well. We have tried many experiments, 
varying the order and number of times, but 
ha ve always settled back to the above routine, 
as, all things considered, the best which we 
could adopt. If we feed the grain all in one 
ration, they will not eat enough, and the same 
is true of the roots. Were it not too much 
trouble, we even think they would do better 
could they be fed grain and roots at some 
time during the night. Regularity in feeding 
is among the most important requisites of 
success in raising winter lambs. Irregularity, 
though only slight, is among the most com¬ 
mon causes of failure to make any kind of 
stock feeding profitable. But if dangerous 
with other etock, in raising early lambs it is 
fatal. No clock will keep better time than 
the sheep’s stomach, and if the regular feed¬ 
ing time is allowed to pass, the shepherd will 
be reminded of it by such a chorus of Ba, 
Ba’s as will nearly deafen him, aud in 15 
minutes the sheep will fret off the gain of a 
whole day. We have often passed through 
the barns not more than 15 minutes before 
the time for grain feeding, aud found the 
sheep all lying down apparently half asleep, 
quietly “chewing ihe cud of contentment,” 
and oblivious even of our presence. In the 
next 15 minutes every sheep would he on its 
feet and impatiently waitirg for Its feed. So 
sensitive are they that a pen will become 
frantic if they are not fed in their proper rota¬ 
tion, aud there should be no variation, from 
time to time, from a regular order. 
FEEDING AFTER LAMBING 
should not vary in any particular from that 
already described, except that, as soon as the 
ewes have got over yeaning and their milk 
has begun to come freely, and the lambs are 
ready to take it, the amount of grain should 
be gradually increased uutil each ewe gets all 
she caD possibly eat and digest. It should be 
remembered that she must eat not only 
enough to furnish the lamb with a bountiful 
supply of rich milk, but she must add to her 
own weight from 20 to 40 pouuds of meat and 
fat, at the same time. This she can easily do, 
if healthy and of the proper age; but to do 
ho, she must have all that she can eat of the 
richest foods, so mixed as to contain just the 
elemeuts needed aud to be easily digested and 
assimilated. We once had a ewe which 
weighed in the Fall 81 pounds, that raised 
twins which weighed respectively 50 and 60 
pounds—makiug 119 pounds—and gained 86 
pounds herself. To do this required—as suc¬ 
cess in winter lamb raising always requires— 
the most generous supply of food and the 
best of care. But no business on the farm 
will pay more promptly and largely for these. 
ijeriss num. 
NOTES BY A STOCKMAN. 
The public should beware. A new boom is in 
progress and it hangs and swings about in the 
Western cattle grassing business. This profit¬ 
able industry pays when it is managed on 
business principles; but, like all other enter¬ 
prises, it is apt to fail when run by joint stock 
companies managed by paid employes. The 
present boom is for such companies, which are 
forming by the score, aud chiefly in Texas. 
On June 25th, 16 charters for cattle companies 
were filed in the State Department, and on 
the 30th, the officials were busy until midnight 
filing charters. This is not a healthy sign and 
indicates a feverish speculation. The haste 
itself is a questionable proceeding. In good 
time the newspapers will be flooded with ad¬ 
vertisements of stock for sale in these com¬ 
panies. There are already a large number 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
of these suspicious concerns afloat, and the 
Rural Eye-Opener might be turned in this 
direction with advantage. 
I The stock interest has grown enormously 
during the last few years. It is becoming a 
powerful factor in national politics, and it is 
this great interest which is so strongly advo¬ 
cating the purchase of the Northern States 
of Mexico as an addition to our already be- 
wilderingly large territory. The Southern 
cotton and sugar interests made great, efforts 
to load the country down with Cuba; and 
now the live stock interest wants to add a 
great but. wholly undesirable territory to our 
southern boundary. Every conservative 
man, who is interested in livestock and farm¬ 
ing, should be opposed to such a scheme as 
this. If the great cattle companies sigh for 
more territory, let them unite and club their 
capital, raise the *300,000,000 needed to pur¬ 
chase the territory, and form a State of their 
own. The trouble in the way is the native 
population who would make exceedingly 
undesirable citizens, and who are numerous 
enough to overpower the new element which 
would go into the territory. 
The great cattle trail is now the disturbing 
element of the Southwest. The dread of the 
Texan cattle fever is the cause of the disturb¬ 
ance. The only way out of this dilemma is a 
railroad tor the transportation of the stock or 
the discovery of some means of disinfecting 
the Texan cattle of the dangerous virus. This 
disease causes more trouble aud loss than all 
the imported diseases combined. 
Farmers and stockmen generally suppose 
the ranch cattle interest to be the leading 
element in the business. This is far from 
correct. The number of cattle kept on 
farms in 1880 was 30% millions, an in¬ 
crease of 12% millions since 1870, of 15% 
millions since 1800, and of 18% millions, 
or 100 per cent, since 1850. This leaves 
only less than six million cattle upon ranges 
on January 1st, 1884. It is an error to sup¬ 
pose that there has been a very large increase 
In range cattle since the recent excitement 
and speculation in this direction. It is a 
question if the sales and the losses have not 
more than made away with the increase. 
The ranges have been stocked with cattle from 
every quarter, and a stream has been flowing 
in every direction to the Northwest to make 
up the great herds there. There cannot be 
much increase while this movement lasts, for 
obvious reasons. 
The loss of cattle during 1883 by disease, 
stress of weather, and starvation amounted to 
nearly 2,000,000 head, equal to nearly five per 
cent, of the whole number of 42,547,807, as 
given in the report of the Statistician of the 
Agricultural Department lor 1884. These 
losses are almost precisely equal to the num¬ 
ber of cattle received at Chicago iu the same 
year—viz., 1,878,944. The value of these 
cattle may be taken at about $45,000,000. Most 
of these losses occurred in the West. Thirty 
thousand head actually starved to death for 
want of food in the Cherokee Nation, and in 
one county in Missouri alone 2,000 head per¬ 
ished from the same cause. 
One more note is offered for the attention 
of farmers and graziers not on the Plains, 
and for those on the Plains who are caring 
for their stock in a reasonably wise manner, 
it is this: In 1859 the value of the meats pro¬ 
duced and marketed was $300,000,000; in 1879 
the value had risen to $800,000,000. Last year 
a fair estimate of the value would be $1,000,- 
000.000. The increase in population alone is 
sufficient to justify this estimate. Moreover, 
the consumption of meat is larger in America 
by 50 per cent, than it is in what is often 
called “beef-eating England,” where an aver¬ 
age of 101 pounds per annum per head is con¬ 
sumed, while our average is 159 pounds per 
head. _ 
All the above facts are full of interest for 
farmers aud farm graziers. The price of 
meat is steadily advancing. It has been sup¬ 
posed that the great cattle coiupauies had 
largely added to the production of cattle; but, 
on the contrary, they have actually decreased 
the available suppily. In haste to make 
money, too, the ranchmen are getting rid of 
their cows as fast as possible and are keeping 
steers. This is clearly a suicidal policy, but 
it is a fact, aud that cows are lower thuu 
steers proves it. All these things show how 
farmers muy profitably turn their attention 
to rearing cattle, growing feeding crops, pur¬ 
chasing concentrated food, aud making as 
much beef on their farms as they possibly 
can. They can compete favorably with the 
ranchmen, for they have everything In their 
favor. _ 
But competition will be close, and so much 
the better. The more clear-headed stock- 
i men in the West are already building stables, 
and procuring fodder for Winter. One known 
to me kept 450 head under shelter last Winter 
with the loss of two head only, and the pres¬ 
ent season another ranch has contracted in 
New Orleans for 10 car loads of cotton-seed 
meal for next Winter’s feeding. Farm graz 
iers and stockmen may take a lesson from 
these facts. _ 
Some time ago a reader of the Rural ob¬ 
jected to the weights of Merino sheep given in 
a reply to a query, quite disbelieving that a 
Merino ewe could weigh more than 70 to 80 
pounds. 1 have mentioned in previous Notes 
that several Rambouillet Merino rams had 
been imported into Texas from France for 
improving the native Merinos. Here i» the 
result already. Some of the produce of these 
rams weighed, this Spring, after shearing, 
179 to 220 pounds, and they were in only fair 
store order. If fat. the sheep would have 
carried 25 pounds more with ease. This 
French Merino makes the finest kind of mut¬ 
ton and gives a fleece of fine wool 4% inches 
long. __ 
horticultural. 
FRUIT GROWERS OF ONTARIO COUN¬ 
TY, NEW YORK. 
CHARLES A. GREEN. 
Sandy and clayey soils for strawberries: su¬ 
perior advantages of the former. Favorite 
blackberries, raspberries and strawberries. 
Evils in haring strawberries too close in 
matted, rows, notation of crops with 
strawberries. Best comparative results 
from small plantations. Force of example 
in fruit growing. Outlay and income in 
strawberry culture, 
I recently visited the fruit farm of Robert 
Johnson of Ontario County. His farm is a 
lovely tract of laud generally saudy, some of 
it imperfectly drained, lying in an attractive 
country. Mr. Johnson is a well known fruit 
grower and propagator, and I was anxious to 
learn his methods of fruit culture. While be 
is cultivating several hundred acres in fruit, 
I found he was cramped for room iu which to 
place his novelties, as are most fruit growers 
who have a large number of varieties. 
He first showed me a small plantation of the 
Nemaha black cap raspberries, which he had 
planted in rows three feet apart, intending to 
take out every other row this coming season. 
I found most of his raspberries planted in this 
way, his object being to secure a large num¬ 
ber of young plants by close planting the first 
season, after which every alternate row Is 
taken out. He plants quite closely in the row, 
not over two feet apart. He reports that 
having both sand and clayey loam on his 
place, he finds that the clayey soil gives the 
largest crops and the finest specimens. While 
the sandy soil is much more easily cultivated, 
it requires more manure, and does not yield 
as much, but he can grow fruits at less expense 
on the sandy soil than on the clayey loam. 
This was a question of considerable interest to 
me, as our place is composed entirely of clay¬ 
ey loam, and 1 was anxious to learn the com¬ 
parative expense of growing small fruits on 
loam or sand. The clayey soil requires timely 
cultivation after heavy rains, or it becomes 
so compact or hardened the plants will not 
succeed. Sandy soil can be cultivated when¬ 
ever a convenient season arrives. Again, the 
clayey soil must be cultivated at intervals 
whether there are weeds or not, in order to 
keep it in good condition; but the main object 
of cultivating saudy soil is to exterminate 
weeds when they appear. A man will hoe at 
least one-third more plants on saudy ground 
than on clayey soil, even under the most fa¬ 
vorable circumstances. Notwithstanding the 
extra expense of keeping sand enriched, I am 
inclined to think that small fruits can be pro¬ 
duced more cheaply on sandy soil than on 
strong clayey loam; but not having had per¬ 
sonal experience with sand, 1 am not able to 
state positively. Plantations are more endur¬ 
ing on clayey loam than on sand. 
Mr. Johnson showed me hiB beds of straw¬ 
berries planted very late, and his beds of 
raspberries, all giving evidence that plants 
obtain a foot-bold on sandy soil quicker than 
on clayey loam, and are much more easily 
transplanted. If planted too deep on clayey 
soil, the plunt* smother or rot; but on sandy 
soil the air gains access if they are deep, ami 
the plants thrive; nine-tenths of the small 
fruits grown In this country grow in sandy 
soil, for the reason that it is more easily cul¬ 
tivated. There are, however, those who favor 
heavy lands, but I have not seen any one who 
would select a very bard, tenacious clay for 
the propagation of plants, as sandy soil is 
much preferable. Root cuttings of black¬ 
berries, raspberries, grapes, or currants strike 
root much more rapidly in saudy soil than in 
clayey. Sandy soil is not naturally inclined 
to grass, while in clay Timothy and other 
grasses spring up as fast as the hoe removes 
them. 
Mr. Johnson’s farm is laid out in large fields, 
often 20 or 50 acres, or larger, with frequent 
drive-ways leading through them. This ar¬ 
rangement permits the rows to be of only 
moderate length. While it is desirable to have 
rows of fruits of good length, it is not desir¬ 
able to have them too long, for the reason 
that in planting numerous varieties you often 
have very narrow beds, and if the rows are 
too long, it is not so convenient iu gather¬ 
ing the fruit. Mr. Johnson’s plantations are 
iu a flourishing condition with no indications 
of insects or disease. It is remarkable that 
small fruits are so exempt from iusects and 
disease, when other crops arc so seriously 
attacked. 
A fruit grower has criticised my statement 
in the Rural that the Gregg is not hardy. 
Mr. Johnson’s plantation of Gregg was a total 
wreck on account of injury by frosts the past 
Winter. There was not fruit enough on the 
canes to pay for picking. It was the worst 
case of winter-killing of blackcaps that. I have 
seen, and was largely owing to the undraiued 
condition of the land, although no water ap¬ 
peared on the surface. Shaffer’s, Tyler, Sou- 
hegan and Ohio were in good condition near 
by. Mr. Johnson said that the Tyler and 
Soubegan seemed to thrive better, if any¬ 
thing, on wettish laud than on dry. I noticed 
that on old beds of sx.ra wherries no hoe or cul¬ 
tivator had been at work this season. I asked 
Mr. Johnson if he thought the crop of straw¬ 
berries could not have been increased by run¬ 
ning a cultivator between the rows previous 
to fruiting. He said that he was sure the crop 
could have been increased. He has had the 
matter thoroughly tested in previous years. 
Plantations side by side were cultivated, and 
left uncultivated, and that part which was 
cultivated yielded a much larger crop, and 
the fruit was of a superior quality, yet mauy 
hold that no cultivation should be given in 
the fruiting season. 
I found large fields of the Dorchester and 
Kittatinuy Blackberries plowed under,numer¬ 
ous roots protruding through the soil in every 
direction. Mr. Jobnsou informed me that 
these varieties were no longer profitable with 
him. The more hardy varieties, such as the 
Suyder, Taylor’s Prolific and Western Tri¬ 
umph, being far more profitable. The Hau- 
sell Red Raspberry, Cuthbert, Shaffer’s aud 
the Marlboro were the favorites. The Tyler, 
Souhegau, Ohio aud Gregg were the favorite 
blackcaps as far as tested. He had a number 
of newer varieties which he was uot prepared 
to speak of at present. The plantations of 
strawberries were mostly Manchester, Sharp¬ 
less, Crescent, James Vick and Wilson, with 
many other varieties that were new. The 
new varieties that were being tested seemed 
to be very promising. Mr. Johnson lives near 
a village of perhaps 1,000 inhabitants, aud he 
markets a considerable portion of all these 
fruits in this small town and the surrounding 
community. As I rode out afterwards and 
saw the numerous fruit farms iu his vicinity, 
I remarked that it did uot seem possible that 
he and his neighbors could find a home mar¬ 
ket for all their fruits, but lie assured me that 
there had been very few shipments of fruit 
from their locality, it having been sold almost 
entirely to the near-by markets. The con¬ 
sumption seemed to advance iu proportion to 
the increased acreage of fruits planted. 
After dinner Mr. Johnson invited me to 
ride with him to the neighboring fruit farms. 
The country became very rolling as we left 
his place, and was us beautiful as the most 
critical could desire, und everywhere there 
was a full promise of the coming harvest. 
We first stopped at the fruit farm of J. 
W. Gilbert, who was formerly the fore¬ 
man in our packing house. He has con¬ 
fined himself to about eight acres, mostly 
planted to Ohio Black caps. About one-half 
acre was planted to Jersey Queen, Cresceut, 
Jam os Vick, Manchester, Kentucky, and 
Downing Strawberries. These were grown 
in matted rows, but were not permitted to 
take root too closely in the row. Usually the 
cultivator. In passing up anrl down, draws 
the runners so closely together that the plants, 
being set too closely, cannot yield the best re¬ 
sults. 1 presume Mr. Gilbert did considerable 
work by hand, spreading the runnel’s out so 
they could spread over a large surface. In 
this way there was a space of from four to 
six inches between the plants, aud they had a 
good opportunity to develop the finest fruit 
1 cannot remember seeing matted rows where 
they were so promising, j consider it desir¬ 
able, in growing strawberries iu matted rows, 
to place the rows far apart, and to encourage 
the runners to spread widely apart, and uot 
set too closely. Such varieties as Crescent, 
Capt. Jack, James Vick and Wilson, that 
make plants rapidly, are invariably set too 
closely for the best results. If the cultivator 
is used, dragging the runners together, it is 
