THE 
Alls. f8 
1. To decrease the production of wool by 
one-quarter. 
2. To decrease the strength of the bones by 
one-third. 
3. To reduce the production of both fat and 
lean. 
Not one of these three important effects is 
desirable in sheep husbandry; hence we may 
conclude that corn alone is not the best food 
for sheep. 
In these experiments in feeding lambs there 
appears to be no evidence that the ration rich 
in nitrogen caused any marked increase of 
lean meat in lot 1 over lot 2. If younger 
lambs had been selected it is quite possible 
that the result might have been different. It 
is probable that common sheep will not 
respond to a ration rich in protein as do pigs, 
for the reason that they have not through 
long years of breeding“and feeding had the 
tendency to put on a large per cent, of fat 
bred into them. It is also probable that the 
Certainly every farmer should do so who has 
a large family and a wife who understands 
how to manufacture the wool into materials 
for the family and household. Where there 
is a large family it is a great means towards 
saving if no mittens, socks, blankets, under¬ 
clothing and even good, strong wearing 
clothing are bought out of the shop. I know 
many families where all of the above articles, 
and many more, are manufactured at home 
by the good housewife. When the wool is 
manufactured on the farm, the raising of 
Fig. 287. 
results would have been different had lambs 
been selected whose ancestors from remote 
periods had been kept excessively fat. 
These lambs were not fed with a view to the 
greatest profit, yet the debit and credit sides 
of the account are worthy of careful study. 
No account was taken of labor or manure or 
of use of barn and capital invested. The 
lambs, meal, hay, etc., are computed at their 
actual cost delivei’ed at the barn, and the 
products at the actual market value. 
LOT 1. dr. 
229!5 lbs. Oil meal at $20 per ton.$2.98 
145. “ Coarse bran at $18 per ton.. 1.- 0 
104.5 “ Cotton-seed meal at $23 
per ton. 1.20 
600. “ Hay at $10 per ton. 3.00 
137. “ Lambs, live weight at 4J^c. 
per lb. 6.16 
$14.64 
CR. 
10.11 lbs. Wool at 20c.$ 2.02 
118.5 “ Dressed M. at 11c. 13.3 
l 3 Pelts at 10c.30 
$15.35 
14.64 
Credit balance.71 
lot 2. dr. 
^ 341 lbs. Corn meal at $26 per ton.... $4.43 
494 “ Hay at $10 per ton. 2.47 
136 “ Lamb (live weight) at 4%c. 
per lb. 6.14 
$13.04 
CR. 
6.54 lbs. Wool at 20c.$1.31 
88.5 “ Mutton at 10)^c. 9.29 
3 Pelts. 30 
$10.90 
Debit balance. 2.14 
Since the above is a financial statement, it 
may not be out of place to add that late and 
inferior lambs can usually be purchased in 
the latter part of September for from one to 
one and a half dollar per head, and that if 
they are properly fed and cared for, there is 
a nice profit to be made from them. Had the 
lambs in this experiment been put on the 
market twenty days later they would have 
brought a cent a pound more than the prices 
given. 
SHEEP. 
Fig. 288. 
sheep is essential, and the wool :s of a far 
greater value than the market price. Aside 
from the value of the wool, the raising of 
sheep for their manurial value is of great 
importance on a farm where it is not con¬ 
venient to apply manure on many of the fields 
that require it. A flock of 30 sheep will bring 
a poor pasture lot of six acres up into a state 
Fig. 296. 
of comparative richness in one season. I 
know a farmer who owns 100 acres of tillable 
land, whose special crop is oats, and who has 
not manure enough for four acres annually* 
yet he has kept up the fertility of his land by 
the aid of sheep. He keeps from 30 to 40. 
He changes them from one pasture to another 
all summer, and it is surprising on -what poor 
pasture sheep will sul sist. I am of the 
Fig. 289. 
Fig. 290. 
Fig. 291. 
xoul Jtvryamsa 
Fig-292. 
SHEEP. DR. 
Interest on value of 17 sheep.. $2 25 
t Straw, 2 tons at $5. .$10.00 
Feed: -j x urn jp S> 50 b. at 15c.. 7.50 
Pasture. 10.00 
Care. 10.00 $37.50 
Total. $39.75 
CREDITS. CR. 
By 14 lambs at $2.$28.00 
“ 60 lbs. wool at 25c. 15.00 
“ 20 loads manure at 50c.... 10.00 
“ Droppings equal to pasture 10.00 $63 00 
Profit. $23.25 
This is a profit of 59 per cent., showing that 
sheep are financially profitable. 
When I say they were wintered on nothing 
but turnips and straw, some may think that 
they wintered poorly. Such was not the case. 
The very fact that only one lamb died, and 
that from a year-old, is evidence of their 
thrift. J. A. MACDONALD, 
Kings Co. P. E. I. 
opinion that on even moderate pasture sheep 
do not require any extra grain ration. They 
will rear their lambs well and thrive on pas¬ 
ture on which a cow would show a very per. 
ceptible lessening in her milk flow. I have 
come to the conclusion that the droppings of 
sheep will pay for their pasture, and if I had 
plenty of pasture fields I would pasture any 
number of sheep gratis all summer. There is 
a great difference m the breeds of sheep. I 
believe those of the Down breeds are the 
hardiest and make the best mothers, and they 
are freer from disease. When I kept Leices- 
ters they were never free from disease, and 
both sheep and lambs died in numbers. My 
FAILURE OF GRASS SEED. 
A family flock; usinc, ike wool at home; 
sheep as soil enrichers; the Downs the 
best; profit and lo .s in a small flock. 
I think every I aimer should keep sheep. 
flock now are high-grade South and Shrop¬ 
shire Downs. They are hardy, good mothers, 
and free from disease. Last fall, owing to 
the burning of all my farm buildings, 1 was 
obliged to cut down my flock to 17. These 
were wintered under a barrack, on straw and 
turnips. 11 j y did well, and from 14 ewes I 
have now 14 lambs bving. I should mention 
that the flock of 17 included a buck, and two 
year-olds that did not have lambs. I append 
the sheep account from my books: 
Here is a letter recently received from a 
subscriber in Genesee Co., N. Y. 
“ Owing to the dry weather my hay crop 
this year was a failure. The grass seed sowed 
last spring, on a lot from which I have just 
harvested a crop of wheat, did not catch. 
What is the most economical and best way to 
procure a substitute? What should I do with 
the lot? I raise on my farm, corn, potatoes, 
wheat, beans, and oats.” 
Here are answers from some of our corres¬ 
pondents: 
FROM PROF. I. P. ROBERTS. 
The best thing to do is to plow and prepare 
as for fall wheat; in fact, the ground should 
be better prepared as it is a principle that 
should always be observed, that the smaller 
the seed the better the ground should be fitted. 
Be sure and plow early in order to give time 
for “ weathering” and for the destruction of 
all weeds that may start. Sow about Sep¬ 
tember 1st from six to seven quarts of Timo¬ 
thy per acre and roll. One or two hundred 
pounds of high-grade superphosphate per acre 
broadcasted before the last harrowing will be 
likely to pay for itself in the first crop. The 
following March sow four quarts of Medium 
clover seed per acre. If the laud is fertile and 
a reasonable amount of rain falls, a heavy 
crop of Timothy hay may be expected next 
year and a fair second growth from the clov¬ 
er, which will be the better if it is pastured 
moderately with light stock. To piece out the 
short hay crop of this year,cut straw,of which 
I judge the inquirer has an abundance,twelve 
hours before feeding dampen with boiling 
water, and add bran, malt sprouts, oil meal 
or cotton-seed meal, in kinds and amounts 
governed by the prices and the uses to which 
the animals are put. * 
Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y. 
FROM HENRY STEWART. 
This very common experience seems to sho w 
that the old plan of seeding with grass and 
clover should be changed to meet the modern 
changed conditions of the soil. The wheat 
crop seems to need and to take all that is m 
the soil for its own use and to leave nothing 
for the grass to subsist upon, or certainly not 
enough to support it through the exigencies 
of the trying weather of winter and spring. 
“ Failure to catch on ” is now so common that 
it needs to be taken into account as a circum¬ 
stance to be provided for as a matter of com¬ 
mon practice. In my own practice I gave up 
several years ago all attempts to grow grass 
and clover, or even clover alone, by sowing 
it with fall grain. The condition of the soil is 
unfavorable. We are casting the seed upon 
stony ground, or ground in an equally un¬ 
favorable condition, and as in the parable, 
there is no depth of root and the weak plants 
wither away. The best methods of seeding 
that I have found are either with oats, on 
land prepared in the very best manner for 
this crop and manured and fertilized as it 
should be; or, later, with millet or with buck¬ 
wheat. The above is mentioned, not so much 
for the purpose of aiding the inquirer in an 
effort to get a substitute for his missing 
grass, as to advise for the future manage, 
ment of the land. As a substitute for 
the lost grass I would suggest that this 
land should be thoroughly well plowed at 
once, manured if possible, or if not 
fertilized with 500 pounds per acre of 
complete manure, or a mixture of 30 or 40 
bushels per acre of wood ashes and 100 pounds 
of nitrate of soda,and sown with 10 or 12 pounds 
each of clover and Timothy, with one pound of 
white turnip seed per acre at once. Under the|e 
circumstances I have had a fine stand of grass 
and clover strong enough to stand the winter 
safely, with large turnips enough to pay all 
the cost, and afford valuable fodder for winter 
feeding with straw. The small turnips are 
left in the ground as a shelter for the clover 
and grass, and as they decay they afford very 
valuable manure. There will be a good mow¬ 
ing next year, possibly better than if tbe old 
seeding had stood. To fill up any spots where 
the grass may be disturbed by pulling the 
turnips, I usually sow a little fresh seed as 
soon as the pulling is finished, but generally 
the loosening of the soil acts as a cultivation 
and stimulates the growth of the grass. If it 
were not so late, I would have advispd sowing 
millet and grass and clover with it. I have 
now a field of Timothy seeded with rye last 
fall as a forlorn hope, but the winter killed the 
grass, and the seed was resown in the spring 
with only partial success. A large field sown 
with grass and clover with oats, has made a 
fine catch, and another with millet sown early 
in July, shows a very excellent stand of 
young grass and clover. But in each case the 
land was most carefully plowed, and worked 
thrice with the Acme harrow. I consider 
this thorough working, and covering the grass 
and clover seed with a light sloping-tooth 
barrow as essential to the success of the grass 
seeding. The time has come now, when the 
most careful preparation for the grass and 
clover is indispensable for success. 
Macon Co., N. C. 
FROM F. D. CURTIS. 
I infer that the inquirer wishes to secure a 
seeding of grass on this wheat field for use 
next year. To do so the field must be re. 
seeded. This should be done as soon as possi¬ 
ble, and in this way, and there is no reason 
why it may not be accomplished: Plow the 
field as soon as possible and harrow it until 
the surface is fine and mellow. Before it is 
harrowed the last time, cover the surface with 
barn-manure and harrow it in. If there is no 
manure of this kind, then sow broadcast su¬ 
perphosphate at the rate of 200 to 500 pounds 
per acre, according to the strength of the 
laud. This should be harrowed in with a 
harrow with fine teeth; which will mix it 
thoroughly in the soil, On this seed-bed sow 
four quarts of clover seed and six quarts of 
Timothy, and then roll the land. If this seed 
is sown by hand, sow both ways, using half of 
the seed each way. This will secure an even 
scattering. If the land is lumpy it should be 
rolled before the last harrowing, and also 
after the grass seed is sown. If the field is 
carefully and well sown in this way, with 
grass seed alone, there will be a rapid and 
vigorous growth this season; it will stand the 
winter well and afford a good crop next year. 
It should not be pastured; but it may be cut 
for hay. It should be cut while entirely 
green, for then it will spring up and make 
good autumn pasture. If designed for a per¬ 
manent meadow, or pasture, Red-Top, Mead¬ 
ow Fescue and other hardy grasses should be 
added to the list with less Timothy. 
Saratoga Co., N. Y. 
FROM E. DAVENPORT 
I infer from the form of the inquiry that 
the writer wants a meadow as soon as possi¬ 
ble. In that case, I should advise fitting the 
ground well this fall, and sowing the grass 
seed alone. It should be sowed about the 
proper time for sowing wheat, and if the 
ground is carefully prepared, would yield a 
good crop of hay the next season. This plan 
is excellent for the tried grasses, and is about 
the cheapest way to get a meadow, but the 
ground should be perfectly pulverized. Thin 
spots that show in the spring, may be re¬ 
seeded with Orchard grass or clover. On 
good land such seeding has produced two fair 
crops of hay the first year. The first should 
be cut very early to kill weeds that are likely 
to appear ; but one is almost sure of one good 
crop. The seeding can be done in the spring, 
but all agree that the fall is preferable. 
Lansing, Mich. 
topics. 
BUCEPHALUS BROWN’S NOTIONS AND 
IDEAS. 
That Perfect Cow. —I am truly glad, if it 
be a fact, that the search after bovine per¬ 
fection is definitively abandoned. But I doubt 
the truth of the assumption that any intelli¬ 
gent farmer ever sought, or expected to find, a 
cow perfect in all ways, and for all uses. 
There are cattle perfect enough for anybody, 
for special uses. I have had butter cows that 
I would not ask to have improved, except to 
be immortalized as they were. The milk-man 
who wants a better cow for the can than some 
of the Dutch cows reported and boomed in the 
August Harper’s, ought to be taken 
out and shot. A man with a Lerd of 
% 
