DEG. 43 
THE BUBAL fi E W-V © B SCI B. 803 
time when lambs are reasonably safe; the 
wealher is mild, and if the lambs are attended 
to as soou as possible after they are dropped, 
they wi 1 soou gain sufficient strength to be 
out of dauber. 
We will presume that the buck has been kept 
from the sheep for some time; for if this is not 
the case, the lambs will be corning quite early 
and at all times. It is better that he should 
not only be kept separated from the sheep, but 
•aloo be fed for the season. It is a good plan 
to commence feeding a small allowance of corn 
■or oats about six or eight weeks before the 
season and increasing this amount to a quiie 
liberal allowance, which should he continued 
thr oughout the season. The buck should In 
no case be deprived of sufficient exercise, for 
it sueb were ibe case, and the stimulating food 
continued, he might commcuce the season with 
his vigor very much impaired. If it is found 
inconveuieut or undcsiiable to keep him away 
from the rest of the dock, ho may be fettered; 
that is, a tore and hind toot should be tied to¬ 
gether iu such a mauuer as to interfere with 
his freedom of aciiou. Another method which 
I have louud satisfactory—except that it does 
not prevent the buck chasiug the ewes—is to 
tic an aprou under his belly by cords passing 
between his fore legs and over his ueck iu 
front aud over his back behind. In this case 
the ram is perlcctly sate, except for Iris dis¬ 
position to worry the ewes. 1 have found no 
plan that would give as much satisfaction as 
separating the buck from the ewes. He can 
be fed properly aud the ewes are safe from 
auy dauger of being injured, or geltiug with 
lamb betore it is desirable that they should. 
The buck may be turned wilh the dock alto¬ 
gether - , or he may be allowed to go with them 
for a few hours at a time each day. Where 
there is a large number of ewes to be served, I 
cousider the latter the better plan. Where 
this plan is adopted, the buck, alter serving 
the ewes that may be iu season, is removed, 
aud is more apt to keep quiet, will go through 
the seasou to much better advantage aud will 
get much better aud stronger lambs ibau if al¬ 
lowed Lo run with the lloek all the time. If it 
is not convenient Lo attend to serving the 
ewes, then it wilt be louud a very good plan to 
mark the buck wilh fresh paint between the 
fore legs before turniug him with the ewes. 
By Adopting this device, it becomes an easy 
matter to keep a record of the date of the 
service of each individual ewe; or, if this is 
nut desirable, then it serves to satisly the 
farmer that all of the dock are served, it such 
should De the ease, or, it otherwise, to distin¬ 
guish those ewes that have not been served. 
This is bometiiues very essential to know, as 
the farmer might wish to turn off, during the 
winter, those ewes that are not with iamb. 
Three or lour weeks at the farthest is a suffi¬ 
cient Lime to allow the buck to remain with 
the ewes, alter which he sUould be removed. 
An old ouek is too apt to injure the ewes dur¬ 
ing ihc winter, it uUuvvtd to run wilh the 
dock, unit on no ueeouut should uu old buck 
be allowed to mu at largo, it the buck has 
beeu used for tbe last lime, theu he should 
be disposed of as soou as possible. If he is 
a young one aud it is desirable to use him 
duiiug another beusou, cveu then ilia a good 
plan to Keep him in a separate iuclosure. The 
breeding ewes should be well cared for dur¬ 
ing wiuier, as it is desirable to raise as many 
lambs as possible lruin the number of ewes 
kept. The ei cutest mistake, i think, that I 
evtr made iu keep mg slmep was to feed my 
brocdiug ewes Loo high. 1 had a dock of 2j 
large loug-svoul ewes, aud i led them pretty 
liberally ail winter on graiu. 1 kept my owes 
fat and feeling well, but i did not have very 
lhueu success wil.li 1uluus. 
Bhccp should be kept iu some place where 
they can always be well bedded with good, 
eleuu stiaw'. They should not be crowded, 
and they do not require as warm a stable as 
cows; and yet tbemdo of a straw-stack is not 
sufficient lor tueir eouilort. Sheep should be 
fed in me stable. Where they can have con¬ 
stant access to good, sweet hay, 1 have used 
a very serviceable rack for this purpose, liold- 
ibg a small quantity of hay, with no dauger 
of the sheep geltiug it uuder their feet- But 
a small quautily ut liuy should be led at a 
lime, as they eat it muen better if it is always 
fresU. At the base of the ruck there is a 
broad and sUuhow trough lo catch any seeds 
that might fall to the ground aud be wasted. 
Tnia LruugU also serves for salt aud roots, or 
grain, and by being placed iu the position I 
have described, it pruveuts the sheep rubbing 
agatusi the leed rack aud geltiug their wool 
fined with din. 1 do uot advocate high feed¬ 
ing of breeding ewes, but I do think that a 
small allowance of roots daily will be found 
beneficial. They should be allowed the ruu 
of a good yard duiiug a large portion of the 
day, but should nut be allowed to ruu with 
other slock. With judicious care, there is but 
little danger of sickness in tbe iloek; aud by 
treating my hock in tbe manner 1 have de¬ 
scribed, 1 have had uuitormly good success with 
my lambs, usually raising, on au average, 
three lambs to every two ewes, aud sometimes 
even more. Indeed, l now recall one season 
when I kept 10 breeding ewes and raised 21 
lambs. When sheep are kept In such a man¬ 
ner that the possibilities of tbe stock beiug 
profitable are realized, no farmer will abandon 
sheep-breeding for any other stock. There is 
a fascination about this occupation which few 
farmers can resist. Pay-day comes twice a 
year—from lambs and wool—instead of once a 
year, or once in two or three years. 
St. Lawrence Co., N. Y. 
Ijotnolagintl, 
BETTRRE BOSC. 
In this market Beurrd Bose meets with a 
ready sale during mid-autumn. Our sketch is 
that of a pear purchased at one of the thousands 
of “ Apple ” stands, one or more of which will 
be found upon nearly every corner of prominent 
thoroughfares. The price for the size repre¬ 
sented was ten cents each. The skin is quite 
smooth, of a deep-yellow color russeted iu 
patches. The flesh is juicy, rich, very buttery, 
perfumed, sweet and flue. This is one of the 
many sorts that fail on quince stocks. The 
growth is moderate on pear stock, but regular. 
Its origin is Belgium, and it has been found to 
succeed well in New York aud Massachusetts 
and fairly iu most of tbe Middle States, as also 
in Georgia, Missouri, Kentucky, Teunesee and 
Virginia. 
9 
PBOTECTION OF OBCHABDS AGAINST 
MICE IN WINTEK. 
Growing an orchard does not consist en¬ 
tirely in setting out trees and cultivating 
them; they demand constant care. “Eternal 
vigilance'' is the price of au orchard. They 
must be cared for from the time they are set 
out as long as they exist; from early spring 
until late in the autumn, and, indeed, there is 
no time, even in midwiuter, when It is safe to 
allow the orchard to take care of itself. That 
is something au orchard cannot do iu this 
section and climate. 
For instance, some of my neighbors lost, a 
great maujyoung trees last season by having 
them girdled by mice. One of them who had 
lost a large proportion of his young orchard in 
this mauuer, in speaking of his mishap, made 
the remark that the cause of the iujury was 
60 very simple that if he had only thought of 
it, he could have prevented all danger of loss 
from such a cause. When once he had met 
with the loss, he knew of auy number of good 
preventives. But it was locking the stable 
after the steed had been - stolen. A tree once 
girdled, is useless. True, it can be saved, but 
I prefer cutting it down at once. Having done 
this, you know straightway the extent of the 
loss, and there is no valuable time wasted in 
the perhaps fruitless nursing of an invalid 
tree. Let it be ouce understood that if a young 
tree has been badly girdled, it means a total 
loss of tlie tree, aud it then becomes much 
easier to impress on tbe minds of tree growers 
the importance of carefully guarding against 
this evil. It is not the trees of a single year’s 
growth alone that are in dauger. Trees of 
five, six and ten years' growth, are just as lia¬ 
ble to be attacked, and tohave the tender inner 
bark, destroyed in midwinter, as the j'oungest 
trees in the nursery. 
A young tree ju^t taken from the nursery, 
is not wot th more thau 2.)c. or 3oc.. for you 
can procure all you wish for this price; but 
after you have purchased the tree aud set it 
out, it becomes much more valuable. After a 
tree has commenced growing or perhaps has 
attained several years’ growth and commenced 
bearing, it is of course worth still more. A 
tree that has readied the size aud age which 
warrant a reasonable expectation that it will 
bear with moderate regularity, is worth shil¬ 
lings where a nursery tree is worth cents. 
Another thing:—when once an orchard has 
been set out, the trees are all of one size, aud 
while they remain so, the orchard presents a 
much more pleasing appearance than if some 
tr ees are smaller or larger than the remainder. 
If a few trees are lost annually by being gir¬ 
dled by mice, they must be replaced, and the 
beauty of tlm orchard is at onee injured. I 
have known orchards abaudoned for the 
simple reason that by losing a few trees annu¬ 
ally for eeverul years, they came in time to 
present such a ragged aud irregular appear¬ 
ance, that their owners lost all hopes of ever 
making anything from the money invested. 
This could alt have beeu prevented. It is not 
the proper way to set trees in the place of those 
destroyed, but rather not to allow any to be 
destroyed. If perchance a few should be lost, 
then, of course, they should be replaced. But 
the farmer is uoteutirely blameless who la not 
sutislicd the loss could not have beeu prevent¬ 
ed. From the leugtn and severity of OUr winters, 
nurserymen aud fruit growers iu this section 
are peculiarly liable to losses of this character. 
Iu nurseries a shallow trench between the rows 
of young trees is a pretty 6ure remedy, espe¬ 
cially if the truuks of the young trees stand 
in the highest places between the treuehes. I 
have used the same remedy iu a modified form 
iu a youug orchard of 200 trees, with perfect 
success. 
1 believe that trees will not grow unless they 
have sufficient plant-food. No farmer feels 
disposed to set out a youug orchard and give 
the young trees sole possession of the soil for 
the several years that mast elapse ere they 
commence bearing, and yet it is just this that 
the trees require. Inasmuch as the soil is 
bring constantly cropped, it becomes neces-® 
sary that the trees should be manured. Now, 
I practice manuring ray young orchard in the 
fall. Before it freezes quite hard, I scrape my 
barnyard and haul to my orchard the manure 
I succeed in gathering, and put three or four 
good shovelsful to every tree ; I do this in such 
a maimer as to make a sharp cone at the root 
of the tree. Since I commenced doing this I 
have not lost a tree from mice. The rea¬ 
son is simple:—mice when traveling under the 
snow, always turn aside at the least obstruc¬ 
tion ; they cannot burrow in the ground and 
thus reach the tree, and the banking around 
tbe latter is a certain protection. Iu spring, 
the manure Bhould be carefully spread away 
from the tree, and whether the orchard is cul¬ 
tivated or kept in sod, the manuring of the 
young trees in this manner will generally be 
found sufficient. 
Another method which answers very well, 
but one that is quite tronblesome, inasmuch as 
it requires constant attention during winter 
and especially after every snow 6torm. is that 
of keepiug the snow well tramped around the 
trees. In a large orchard and during a severe 
winter, this would be found a rather irksome 
task, and yet, if I had neglected all other pre¬ 
cautions, I should uot hesitate to adopt this 
method of protecting trees from mice. I have 
tried it and found it satisfactory, but not a 
pleasant job. Mice will not work at a tree 
unless they cau work under the snow. By 
tramping the snow around the tree, the snow 
tramped becomes too compact for the mice to 
penetrate it easily, and as they will not at¬ 
tack the tree above the snow, the result is 
that it escapes. 
Another very successful protection against 
mice, adopted by a friend who is a successful 
fruit grower, consists of taking sections of 
worn-out aud damaged stove-pipe, aud, after 
opening a section at the seam, clasping it 
arouud tbe tree and settling it in the ground. 
Wheu this has been once properly done, it 
will last for several years and is perhaps the 
safest protection that can be adopted. Pieces 
o£ old tin can be used iu the same manner, but 
usually damaged stove-pipe can be procured 
aud if used in tbis way, it will be fouud much 
better than throwiug it away. It is a perfect 
protection, for the reason that mice never 
attack trees while they can procure other food, 
aud when they cannot, the ground is frozen so 
that they cannot burrow uuder the pipe and 
they never attempt to go over it. 
I have only attempted to describe a few of 
the many remedies for this serious evil. And 
when we consider how important are the fruit¬ 
growing interests, we cauuot but conclude 
that it is a poor remedy for any threatened 
danger, and especially the dauger of having 
trees destroyed by mice, that is wholly unfit 
to be tried. Those who have small orchards 
and have occasionally lost a few trees aud 
have not taken the trouble to try any preven¬ 
tive, should test something that promises 
success, and npt run the risk of losing their 
entire orchards, as they do every severe win¬ 
ter. One prolific cause of mice working iu an 
orchard is cropping the orchard with com or 
grain crops. If root crops are grown, the dau¬ 
ger is considerably lessened. However, by 
resorting to any one of the methods of protec¬ 
tion which I have described, or any other 
which may suggest itself, any crop may be 
grown iu the orchard with impunity. 
St. Lawrence Co., N. Y. f, k. m. 
-♦-*-*- 
A VISIT TO A MAMMOTH PEAR ORCHARD. 
MRS- ANXIE L. JACK. 
“Where are we going?” I asked, one bright 
morning in early November when I was called 
to take my place in the carriage for a drive. 
The answer was given iu the cordial tones of 
my friend. “ Why, to Marshall P. Wilder’s. 
You said yesteiday you would like to see his 
pear orchard.” 
I felt, while iu Boston, very much as if in my 
case there was something real in the story we 
often read of a good fairy who is ready to grant 
us our wishes if wo just say the word—aud never 
more so than during that charming drive. At 
last, wheu we had passed through miles of a 
delightful country road, we came to what 
would he in summer time a shaded lane of 
great beauty. Our driver stopped—‘This is 
Mr. Wilder's place," aud we stepped out to fiud 
ourselves before a large house that, without 
great pretensions, seemed lo speak of comfort 
and elegance. The veteran horticulturist was 
iu his library aud though recovered from his 
recent indisposition, was notable to go about as 
usual—except lo drive, ills 6on, with an 
obliging air that I could not help admiring, 
kuowiug how much he must be tried by 
visitors, volunteered to show us the grounds. 
We went to the pear-house first, where in every 
stage of ripening were giant spcclmeus of every 
variety one could mention. We held our breath 
when he told us, with a very nonchalant air, 
that they had now only 800 varieties. Every ra- 
