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[Entered according to Act of Congress, In the Tear 1889, by the Rural New-Yorker, In the Office or the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.! 
VOL XLVIII. NO, 2056 
NEW YORK, JUNE 22, 1889. 
PRICE FIVE CENTS, 
$2.00 PER.YEAR. 
SI) ftp its h an't)rij. 
A GROUP OF SHROPSHIRE EWES. 
[HE sheep shown at 
Fig. 156 were 
awarded first 
prize at a recent 
English show. 
They are regarded 
as excellent speci¬ 
mens of the breed. 
Years ago, the 
South Down was 
about the only 
breed of sheep 
that was mentioned in connection with Eng¬ 
lish mutton. Ic may be said now that the 
Nhropshires have fairly divided the honors 
with the South Downs as mutton sheep. In 
this country, the great value of the Shrop¬ 
shire lies in its peculiar adaptability for the 
work of improving the mutton quality of our 
common sheep A cross of the Shropshire on 
common ewes gives an excellent lamb that is 
sure to sell at an advanced price. It is proba¬ 
ble that among those who are in the business 
of supplying this market with early lambs, 
the Shropshire is a decided favorite. 
farm Copies. 
USE YOUR 
BRAINS. 
the condition of his soil, etc. Then he must 
decide how he can get the largest yield with 
the least cost. The right kinds of crops being 
determined upon they should not conflict 
with each other, but should “dovetail” in as 
regards labor and other considerations. Last 
year a farmer in this neighborhood who had 
sold his early potatoes—which were small— 
for 80 cents per bushel, and could not get 50 
cents for his late potatoes—which were large— 
remarked that he did not think he would raise 
any more early potatoes: not bocause they 
did not pay, but because they interfered with 
his system of farming by taking labor from 
other crops when it could not well be spared, 
and the difference in price between the early 
and late potatoes did not warrant him to 
change his plan of farming. 
The labor question enters most largely into 
the matter of profit, and is a question that 
should be taken into most careful considera¬ 
tion. 
Is it good ? Is it cheap ? Then raise crops 
that require much labor and thus make a 
profit on labor as well as on the crops. Is it 
scarce or high ? Then raise crops that require 
but little labor, and buy every labor-saving 
implement that you hare the money to pay 
for, and if you, yourself, instead of the hired 
man, will use and take care of the tools, each 
one will pay for itself before it is worn out. 
A gentleman has declared in one of our West¬ 
ern papers, that among other things the self- 
binder must go. He has a large dairy farm 
and probably he may dispense with the binder 
and be better off without it, as he necessarily 
beeps considerable help and can afford to take 
the time to harvest his grain unbound. But 
ii ne uaa oeen arouna these parts during har¬ 
vest and seen some of our farmers paying two 
or three extra hands $1% a day, while others 
with no extra help, were doing the same work 
by means of their self-binders, I think it prob¬ 
able that he would have said that the self- 
binder must “ go ” from early in the morning 
till late at night. 
Having decided what crops to raise—and 
this can be determined only by personal ex¬ 
perience on one’s own farm, observation of 
one's neighbor’s, and the help of agricultural 
papers,—there is another urgent call for 
brains in raising the crops with the most 
profit. 
Let us, for example, see how the use of 
brains works in the wheat crop. What kind 
of fertilizer produces the largest yield with the 
least outlay ? You don’t know. Have you 
tried the different sorts side by side, noted the 
results, and calculated which was the most 
profitable ? Probably not. What quantity 
of seed per acre produces the best results ? 
You don’t know. Have you trie! the various 
quantities side by side and noted the results * 
Probably not. Do you make every effort to 
have your ground plowed, cultivated and 
sown at the right time, or do you work when 
it is most convenient! I am afraid most of 
us have given our brains too much of a rest 
on the above questions. Let us see how prop¬ 
er attention to these matters pan3 out in 
dollars and cents. 
We will suppose the difference in yield 
caused by varieties of fertilizers (the outlay for 
fertilizers to be the same, but the same priced 
fertilizers not necessarily to be used) quantity 
of seed, and time of plowing, cultivating 
Crops are easily 
raised, but brains 
are needed to 
raise them profit¬ 
ably ; they are 
needed in deter¬ 
mining the most 
profitable crops 
and in raising 
them at the lowest 
cost and in utiliz¬ 
ing labor ; extra 
profits from the 
use of brains in 
a decade. 
There can be no 
possible doubt about 
the fact that we 
have brains on the 
farm, but do we use 
them * Judging by 
results on a great 
many farms, we do 
not. We seem to 
think that raising 
corn, wheat, pork or 
butter is farming. 
But it is not. Any 
laborer can raise a 
crop of corn; but it 
takes a farmer to run 
the farm The ques¬ 
tion for the farmer 
to decide is what 
crops can he most 
profitably raise, tak¬ 
ing into considera¬ 
tion all the factors 
essential to the prof¬ 
itable raising of such 
crops, such as the 
quality and quantity 
of labor at his 
com maud, the 
nearness of markets, 
GROUP OF SHROPSHIRE EWES. Fig. 156. Re-engraved from the London Live Stock Journal. 
ttuu auwmg, oe two Dusneis per 
culating the price to be $1 per bushel and 
the average area of the crop to be 10 acres: 
then in 10 years the result in favor of brains 
is $200. This is only one crop. When we think 
of the other crops ana all the little odds and 
ends on the farm that need b rains just as 
much as this crop, we can hardly help saying 
that what the farmer needs is to use his 
brains first, last, and all the time. s. o. L. 
<Tl)e Hart). 
POULTRY NOTES. 
Gapes in Chickens.— This is the time of 
year when, iu many poultry yards, young 
chickens by the dozen may be seen gradually 
but surely choking to death with the most 
fatal disease to which young chicks are sub¬ 
ject. The cause of this disease is numerous 
small white worms which fill the windpipe caus¬ 
ing strangulation. The origin of these worms is 
a subject of much dispute. This is immaterial. 
The remedy is what we want. The chicks will 
be less liable to attack if kept on fresh ground 
where poultry have not been kept before, but 
this is not always practicable. Many “in¬ 
fallible” remedies are published every year, 
but still the chickens go on turning up their 
toes prematurely. 
The barbarous practice of fishing out.'the 
worms—or attempting to—with a horse hair 
or feather, with most operators will 
kill more than it will cure Many of the 
other remedies rec¬ 
ommended are near¬ 
ly as bad when given 
ignorantly or care¬ 
lessly. There is 
hardly a farmer but 
has a remedy within 
his reach if he will 
faithfully use it. 
Onion tops and 
onions chopped fane, 
mixed with the soft 
feed and fed twice 
daily, will prevent 
the gapes, will cure 
them if not too far 
advanced, and will 
greatly relieve the 
chick in all cases 
where it has strength 
enough left to eat. 
They must be fed 
faithfully, twice a 
day; once will not 
do. I have used this 
remedy for several 
years, and have 
never lost a chicken 
from this cause 
when it was given 
faithfully. Do not 
give the chicks slop¬ 
py feed: give plenty 
of pure water and 
shade, and they will 
repay the extra 
trouble. Bone meal 
and meat should also 
be fed, especially if 
the chicks are con¬ 
fined in yards. 
Kill, sell, or give 
away the roosters 
after you are 
through setting eggs 
for the season. You 
don't want to breed 
from them again; 
the hens will lay bet- 
