676 THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
bodily growth will make the most wool. 
This is so for several reasons. First: to 
have a good fleece the blood must be cool 
and well nourished ; that is to say, it must 
not be thin and lacking in nutritive ele¬ 
ments. These elements must be complete 
for feeding all parts of the body, including 
the skin and its inner coats. A dry, im¬ 
poverished skin will never support a good 
fleece. It must be soft and full of secretory 
life. When corn or rye or barley or other 
heat and fat-forming foods are fed, the skin 
is made dry and the wool is liable to be¬ 
come loose. I have known sheep fed highly 
on corn to shed their fleeces in midwinter. 
I conclude, then, that foods, naturally so 
disposed to produce fever are not the best 
for promoting the growth of wool. Second: 
to produce plenty of wool the body must 
be in the most healthy condition as regards 
its digestive functions, and all its physical 
wants must be fully supplied. Poor sheep 
always have light fleeces, but it does not 
necessarily follow that fat sheep will have 
large fleeces. It is true that the fleeces of 
fat sheep will exceed those of thin ones; 
but it is equally true that in the end the 
effort, to produce large amounts of both fat 
and wool may be overdone. A full-grow¬ 
ing and vigorous condition in the sheep is 
the best. The wool thus grown will be 
of the best quality and this is an im¬ 
portant item. I have obtained the best 
results in wool-growing by feeding a mix¬ 
ture of wheat bran, four parts; linseed 
meal, one part, and oats one part. In win¬ 
ter I have added as much corn as oats; but 
this was with an idea of improving the con¬ 
dition of the sheep, that is, making more 
fat. With sheep in good condition, I would 
leave corn out. This mixture, in proper 
proportions, is always safe for ewes or 
lambs. It is a complete food. When clover 
hay is fed, a quart, twice a day, is a liberal 
ration for ewes, and half of this quantity 
for lambs. When Timothy hay—(the 
curse of sheep) is fed, more of the grain 
ration should be given. Sheep will do well 
on good straw with this grain mixture. 
Good oat straw is equal to Timothy hay, 
especially if the hay is coarse and ripe. 
Sheep abominate filth and bad smells. Ev¬ 
erything must be clean when they eat, and 
the food must be fresh at each meal. Two 
full feeds are enough in a day. They 
should have access to water all the 
time and also to stilt. As soon as cold, or 
even chilly weather sets in, they should not 
be allowed to get wet. When they are wet 
or chilled the wool does not grow: the 
whole vitality of the animal is required to 
overcome the chill. Such exposure will 
spoil the fleece as it will cause breaks or 
weak places in it. The sheep is an every¬ 
day animal. It dislikes changes and ex¬ 
citement, and such disturbances all conduce 
to the production of shorter wool and a 
weaker fiber. 
Saratoga County, N. Y. 
iiutrtl topics. 
SOME MORE CROP ROTATIONS. 
FROM T. B. TERRY. 
Our rotation is clover, potatoes and 
wheat. Then clover with a little Timothy 
is sown on the wheat again. A few years 
ago the rotation practiced was: 
1. Clover and Timothy. 
2. Clover and Timothy. 
3. Wheat. 
4. Potatoes. 
5. Early potatoes. 
6. Wheat, seeded to clover and Timothy. 
The clover sod and good tillage brought 
as large crops of wheat as could stand up, 
without manure or fertilizer. Then all the 
manure was put on for potatoes. What the 
potatoes left and thorough tillage insux-ed 
another large crop of wheat. This rotation 
was followed for some time with paying re¬ 
sults. Clover was sown on wheat, and 
plowed under for the following potatoes, 
and rye on potato stubble and plowed un¬ 
der for next crop. But I consider the short 
rotation now practiced (three years) as best. 
In one l-espect it is necessary, as we cannot 
now keep land in clover two years in suc¬ 
cession on account of the clover-root beetle. 
Nor do I now want to.' The clover yields 
the largest crop of hay the first year. At 
the end of that year it has made the largest 
growth of roots possible; then is the time to 
end it and grow a large crop of something 
else, if one wants to make the most money 
possible. Again it is no longer safe for us 
to put fresh manure on land for potatoes, 
and I want to put it out before it rots. So 
we want the clover sod to grow the potatoes 
now instead of wheat. Also, it isn’t best to 
grow potatoes (or any other crop) two years 
in succession on the same ground. With 
our old rotation we only had to get off po¬ 
tatoes in time for wheat sowing from half 
the wheat ground, as half came after clover. 
This was a great help. But I decided to 
do the best way and take the straight three 
years’ rotation, although it gives us a hard 
pull to get the potatoes dug and stored in 
good season for wheat sowing. We put in 
the cellar yesterday 300 bushels of potatoes, 
making 1,200 now in, and there are some 
dreary days ahead yet, before we can ride 
our Cutaway harrow at our ease. I am 
writing this before breakfast, little by 
little each morning, as working hours are 
precious just now; so please excuse any 
lack of connection. 
Now with my new rotation the rub was 
where to put the stable manure. I took 
the risk last year and put it fresh on the 
clover sod for potatoes. I paid dearly for the 
job. We had to pick over by hand 1,500 
bushels of potatoes and take out some 200 
of the worst scabby ones. On a field with¬ 
out stable manure the potatoes were nice 
and smooth. I am done with that kind of 
business. But one of the strange things is 
that neighbors on each side put fresh 
manure on potato land and it did not pro¬ 
duce scab. Did my cement floors and cov¬ 
ered manure shed have anything to do 
with this? 
This spring I put the stable manure, 
early, on to six acres of newly seeded clover, 
where I had wheat last year. It was care¬ 
fully done with the spreader. Then the 
young clover was cut about the middle of 
May and left to dry up. The next growth 
made an enormous crop and we let it ripen. 
It is full of seed. I expected the manure 
would cause much trouble raking up with 
the clover (I cut seed with Eureka mower 
and rake with a horse rake, thinking it 
about as good a way as any); but I hardly 
saw a trace of it. There was a large amount 
of straw in it when I put it on ; but it seems 
to have decayed, giving the surface of the 
field a darker, richer look than it had in 
the spring. It would not have answered 
probably to have cut this lot for hay; but 
while handling the clover so as to dodge 
the midge and get a crop of seed, I got my 
stable manure nicely rotted on the surface, 
and I think without any loss to speak of. 
I am rapidly getting my eyes open as to the 
value of manure, or even straw, on the sur¬ 
face as a mulch aside from the amount of 
fertility it actually has in it; but I cannot 
stop now to give my experiences. 
Now, unless I am greatly mistaken, that 
field thus treated will give me a heavy crop 
of potatoes next season. The clover haulm 
after hulling will be spread back. The seed 
clover is stacked in the field. If 1 could 
have a four-year rotation and put in ensi¬ 
lage corn one year, then I could put xny 
stable manure on clover sod for corn, to be 
followed by rye to be plowed under in the 
spring for potatoes. I should like this, but 
cannot figure how I could feed out the si¬ 
lage to a dairy and do any better than we 
are now doing. It would necessitate an¬ 
other family, as we are crowded now to 
take care of everything on time on our lit¬ 
tle farm. 
My potatoes this year were manured with 
clover only, in the shape of a heavy sod (I 
mean just what I say—not a Timothy sod 
with a little clover in it) and second crop 
and haulm from seed plowed under. The 
potatoes are smooth and free from scab, 
and the yield exceedingly satisfactory, al¬ 
though no stable manure has been applied 
since the last crop of potatoes was grown. 
If I could let all clover and straw go back 
to the land directly, I would need no stable 
manui’e; but I need to use a part of it to 
feed out and for the comfort of stock, and 
I guax-d the resulting manure with zealous 
care to get it returned without unnecessary 
loss to the fields. But it must go on in 
some way so as not to make my potatoes 
scabby. 
Summit County, O. 
FROM FRED GRUNDY. 
The ci-op rotation most generally em¬ 
ployed by the best farmers in this section 
is corn, oats, winter wheat and grass. 
The corn is husked, and if the field is in¬ 
closed by a fence, the stalks are pastured 
whenever the ground is dry, or frozen hard. 
In the spx-ing the stalks are cut with a 
stalk-cutter drawn by two horses, the land 
is plowed very shallow and the oats sown. 
Some farmers who from lack of fence tire 
unable to pasture the stalks, cut, or break 
them down immediately after the corn is 
husked, and plow the land for oats, turning 
the stalks under. This enables them to get 
their oats in as early the following spring 
as a harrow can be drawn over the ground. 
Immediately after the oats are harvested 
the land is again plowed and allowed to 
lie until about the first of September, 
when it is pulverized with common har¬ 
rows, Disks, Cutaways, or heavy pole or 
railroad iron drags, whichever will do the 
best job. Some seasons the soil is loose and 
as mellow jus ashes at this time, and the 
clods will crumble at a. touch; in 
others it as hard as a road and the 
clods are like stones. A good shower at 
the right time makes everything lovely. 
The wheat is drilled in and Timothy is sown 
broadcast afterwai’ds. Clover is added, if 
desired, the following spi-ing. One or two 
crops of grass are cut for hay, or it is pas¬ 
tured a year or two, then plowed and put 
in winter wheat, or corn, whichever the 
owner thinks will pay best at that particu¬ 
lar time. Most of the farmers in this sec¬ 
tion aim to employ the above described 
rotation as nearly as the seasons will per¬ 
mit. The general sentiment is that it will 
average the best results—yield the greatest 
quantity of paying produce in a series of 
years. 
Christian County, Ill. 
FACTS FROM FARMERS. 
Buying Seed Potatoes.— Why is it that 
a majority of farmers in the Western 
States, especially in Illinois, import their 
seed potatoes from some Eastern or North¬ 
ern State; mostly from New York or Mich¬ 
igan, when we, here in Illinois, can and do 
raise just as good potatoes jus are produced 
in any other State in the Union ? I know 
to a certainty that millions of dollars go 
out annually from Illinois alone for seed 
potatoes. This money might be saved to 
the farmers of the State if they would only 
take a little pains to select the best of their 
own tubers for seed and keep them through 
the winter where they will not sprout 
much. I am cei’tain from my own experi¬ 
ence that sprouting injures their vitality. 
I believe that my potato crop has been in¬ 
jured both in quantity and quality by 
planting imported seed. I have now on 
my farm, grown this season, as fine Beauty 
of Hebron Potatoes as one could desire 
from seed grown year after year for the 
last six years on the same land by select¬ 
ing good potatoes of medium size and keep¬ 
ing them where they did not sprout much. 
My advice is that farmers should raise their 
own seed potatoes and plant them and keep 
their money at home. 
Wheat is making from 15 to 25 bushels 
per acre, and some extra pieces go as high 
as 35 to 40. Oats make 35 to GO bushels per 
acre. Corn on upland is a good average 
crop. Potatoes never we”e any better in 
yield or quality. Hay was a heavy crop 
but bad in quality. There was too much 
rain to allow it to cure well, and a large 
amount was damaged more or less. 
Shelbyville, Ill. E. J. M. 
Water in the Spading Fork.— The sec¬ 
ond year of a transplanted tree’s life, if the 
first year has been very dry, is a critical 
time. My pear orchard of about 800 trees 
planted a year ago last spring, came through 
the summer all right, with a loss of only 
two trees, though no rain fell during the 
season to wet the roots. The orchard was 
jxlowed early last spring; a strip of only 
about a foot and a-half being left along the 
rows. But the extreme dx-ought of April 
xmd part of May began to tell badly on the 
trees. I set a man at work with a spading 
fork, fining the soil four to six inches in 
depth, three feet in diameter. It cost me 
about three dollars, but I think I never 
spent money better. An improvement 
could be seen in the trees within 48 hours, 
and not half a dozen have died during the 
summer. Of about 100 trees set in a nur¬ 
sery row at the same time as the orchard, 
but neglected last spring, about one-lialf 
have been lost. w. F. B. 
Ann Arbor, Mich. 
£lje JJuitlin) liurD. 
CONFINEMENT OF POULTRY. 
P. H. JACOBS. 
The domestic fowl, like all birds, thi’ives 
best when at liberty. Of all things it de¬ 
tests most being confined in a building. 
Some bi’eeds have been bred to a form and 
disposition partially favorable to confine¬ 
ment in yards, where they can enjoy the 
open air, but no breed will willingly re¬ 
main indoors if it can be avoided. At night, 
however, seclusion is desirable, and the 
hens will also seek a secluded place for lay 
OCTOBER i2 
ing, but during the day the light and open 
air add more to the thrift of fowls than 
anything else. 
The difficulty of confinement within the 
building is easily met during the summer, 
or when the weather is favorable, but when 
the cold is severe the poultry man finds it a 
serious obstacle; as the fowls cannot exer- 
cise to advantage, they get out of laying con¬ 
dition, and become injured if exposed. As 
the winter is approaching all arrangements 
of poultry houses must be made in advance 
at this season, so as to be prepared in time 
for the change. 
No poultry houses can be constructed 
that will be suitable for all seasons, and it 
is a fact that no design of a poultry house 
nas been accepted as the best. A visit to 
large poultry establishments will show that 
opinions differ, and it is seldom that any 
two poultry establishments have buildings 
of the same design. In fact, it is not often 
that two buildings on the same poultry 
farm are alike. The “best poultry house” 
is still an unsolved problem. The cause is 
that houses built for winter ixse are too 
confining. No matter how comfortable 
they may be, the hens must be fastened 
within, or they will prefer the cold outside 
during the day. For this reason the cheap¬ 
est kind of poultry houses have sometimes 
given satisfaction where better houses have 
failed. 
But in the cold periods of winter the hens 
must not be exposed to the open air, if the 
wind is in certain directions, or they will 
have frosted combs, become subject to colds 
or roup, and fall off in egg production. If, 
however, some kind of covered run, or 
open shed, be provided, facing the south, 
forming a wind-brake, the hens will do 
well, pi’ovided they have litter in which to 
work. This is the seex-et of success with 
the farmer’s fowls. They are not so much 
exposed, as a rule, as may be supposed, for 
the wagon shed, barn sheds, or any covered 
location, will be appropriated by them, 
where they enjoy the open air without be¬ 
ing exposed too much. If they were cooped 
up in walls as closely as are some of the 
pure breeds they would perish, for the more 
active the fowl the greater its repugnance 
to confinement. A fowl loves a warm place 
at night, free from draughts, and it will 
seek the most sheltered and protected spot, 
even in the poultry house, at night, but 
during the day it prefers the lightest and 
warmest that admits of the nearest ap¬ 
proach to the open air. To turn them into 
the yard is no substitute, as they should be 
so situated as to be able to scratch and 
work all day without being affected by 
winds or rains. 
Leghorns, and other active bx-eeds, if 
kept within the poultry house, no matter 
how ample the floor room, will soon become 
addicted to feathei’-pulling, egg exiting, etc. 
They will also worry, and fail to lay. They 
are naturally busy, but they prefer to 
work in the full light. Brahmas will be 
found more contented, but they, too, will 
thrive better when they can be given a pro¬ 
tected location outside. The poultry house 
should x-eally be used for laying and roost¬ 
ing only, and not for confining the fowls 
during the day, in winter. 
CHICKS AS GARDEN ASSISTANTS. 
FRED. GRUNDY. 
When hoeing or raking in the garden I 
am constantly turning up numerous worms, 
grubs, bugs and beetles of various sizes, 
kinds and color, and if I stopped to slay 
each and evei*y one of them I should make 
very little progress. If I passed them gent¬ 
ly by they would continue to gnaw, uproot 
and destroy my favorite vegetables, wax fat 
and keep my wrath at a boiling point. 
How to compass their destruction expe¬ 
ditiously and cheaply was a problem I pon¬ 
dered much. But I have solved it at last, 
and now not a bug, grub or worm that my 
hoe or rake uncovers has time to be aston¬ 
ished before, presto! he finds himself amid 
the rocks and broken crockery in the inter¬ 
ior of a healthy chick, where he is soon re¬ 
duced to pulp. 
I never want less than five fair-sized 
chicks nor more than a dozen small ones with 
xne. If there are not enough they get full 
too quickly and retire. If there are too many, 
they get in the way and some of them meet 
with accidental destruction. It is amusing 
in the exti'eme to see half a dozen or so of 
them dancing about on either side watch¬ 
ing the progress of my implement, and 
when a choice morsel is exposed pitching 
over each other in their eagerness to get it. 
Occasionally one becomes too fresh and gets 
knocked over, but they soon learn about how 
near it is safe'to ventui’e. One lot I had in 
the early spring always followed along be- 
