inches wide, firmly welded to the main part of 
the sole. • 
The point, c, fig. 2 is also steel from the dot¬ 
ted line; the outer side of the flange is drawn 
to an edge and tempered hard to prevent wear 
and to enter the soil easily. The point is chisel- 
shaped, bevel side up, c, fig 1, and bent down 
about one half of an inch lower than the level 
of the bottom of the sole, to hold the plow 
down to its work. The sole is fastened to the 
the fleece is longer and rougher. A South 
Dowd lamb looks round and as smooth and even 
as if it had been planed down and sand¬ 
papered, but the half-breeds are looser-wooled 
and more bony. Yet they are good lambs. I 
weighed some yesterday. The heaviest is a 
January lamb, a wether now, and weighed 120 
pounds; the mother, that gray-faced ewe, half 
Cotswold, weighs 1(55 pounds ; both are nearly 
fat and will go to the butcher soou.” 
“ Do you sell off the ewes, them ?” I asked. 
“ Every one, excepting au odd extra-good 
young one. The ewes are our profit. These 
ewes were bought last August, and cost about 
five dollars each. I have had the fleece and a 
lamb from each, and the ewes will bring me, 
when fat, about six cents a pound for shipping 
; more. 
and thorough cultivation. Yet I am not an ad¬ 
vocate ot deep plowing except under certain 
circumstances. 
There are many soils that are made the 
richer by turning up a little more of the sub¬ 
soil every year. A large portion of the western 
prairies and river bottom lands, where the soil 
is made up of sediment deposited by overflow¬ 
ing waters in the centuries past, is of this class, 
but if from two to four inches of the subsoil on 
most of our upland farms should be turned up 
oil top, the result would be a lighter crop for 
one and perhaps two or three years. Many a 
farmer has believed in deep plowing until a 
trial has shown no benefit was derived from it. 
.yet there is no doubt as to the desirability of a 
deep, fine soil on any land except light sand, 
provided it can be secured without covering a 
good surface with a poor subsoil. 
The advantages of subsoil plowing, are:— 
first, that we may get a deep flue soil without 
uuy of the drawbacks of deep plowing, although 
I would at the same time turn the soil over 
as deep as would prove by experience to be 
beneficial to the crops grown, running the sub¬ 
soil plow also deeper each time. In a deep, 
fiiable soil the roots of plants make a stronger 
sheep ; that will average $8 each, if not 
We have nothing on the farm that pays better. 
You ought to have a flock of sheep on your 
farm." 
“‘That will come in time," I replied; “I 
want to hear how you keep them in winter, 
and why you have them here now." 
“ In the winter we keep them in the yard at 
the red barn, and give them the run of the 
barn floor at night and on stormy days. The 
yard is filled, and the barn floor is covered, 
with straw. We feed clover hay and all the 
turnips to the sheep and buy bran besides. 
They get a few oats or corn cars for a change, 
and we get a yard full of manure by the 
spring. That goes on to the corn. In the 
summer we bring them out here to one of 
these fields and feed them bran, oats and corn, 
and get them fat; aud alter two years’ pastur¬ 
ing, we can plow up the field andget a round of 
as good crops as from any of the other fields. I 
don't see but these are as good as any, even now. 
As soon as these ewes are sold others will be 
picked up and turned in here to pick their 
living uutil cold weather comes, with the help 
of a little corn and fodder, perhaps." 
“ How about dogs?” 
“ Well, we lose a sheep now aud then, but 
we keep a close watch and we shoot a dog now 
and then, aud that brings us square. The sheep 
are kept in a high rail peu at night and the 
dogs cannot get at them. Sometimes we trap 
u few dogs, by makiug a rail pen with the sides 
sloping inwards and pretty high, and putting 
a sheep that has been killed, when we have 
one, in it? The dogs can get In but cannot 
get out and then we have a little caucus with 
the neighbors, who have to own up and pay 
for the sheep among them. But we have never 
frame or standards, fig 3, by two half-inch 
lolls, d, d, fig. 1 , with the heads down and coun¬ 
tersunk level with the bottom of the sole. 
The sole is eight inches wide at the heel, from 
outside to outside, and the ends of both llange 
and main part are bent up one inch, as shown 
in fig 1. to lift the soil and break it up. The 
frame, figs, iswrought-iron, the front stand¬ 
ard 16 inches in length and the other enough 
shorter to make the heel one inch nearer the 
beam than tbe point The standards are each 
two inches wide and a half inch thick, the one 
before being drawn to an edge, e. fig. l , in front 
to cut the soil. The bottom of the frame, g, 
fig 3, is two inches wide and three-quarters 
of an inch thick, with holes for the bolts d d 
figl. ’ 1 
The greatest wear is at the point, aud when 
much is worn off. it will not hold itself down 
m hard ground; for this reason the sole and 
frame are made in separate parts, as it is then 
easier to lay on more steel as it becomes worn 
away. 
will he less evaporation from the surface, there¬ 
by making the soil much warmer, as the pro¬ 
cess of evaporation reduces the temperature, 
as auy one knows who has sprinkled a floor on 
a warm day. Breaking up the subsoil allows 
tiie air to penetrate, which helps to decompose 
the mineral and organic compounds, rendering 
them soluble, so that they may be taken up as 
plant food. 
It will probably pay well to use the subsoil 
plow in preparing ground lor both the large 
aud small fruits, also for all garden aud root 
ciops. 1 he best tiiue for subsoiling is during 
the latter part of summer or in falJ. When 
the ground is dry, it will do much better work 
Ilian in the spring, and the effect will be more 
lasting. Some of our garden land, where the 
subsoil plow was used last fall, was so fine 
aud mellow in the bottom of the furrows after 
the ordinary plowing this spring, that I could 
push my foot down out of sight; whereas 
where the ground had uot been subsoiled, it 
required some force to push a spade down. ’ 
There are several reasons why these plows 
have not come into more general use. They 
are seldom kept for sale at our implement 
stores, aud people kuow little or nothing about 
them. I have never seen one offered for sale 
iu any store in Michigan. Some men have 
given them a trial on wet soil, and, seeing no 
benefit from their use, concluded they were 
worthless. To get one, an order must bo sent 
to some far-off manufacturer, when the ex¬ 
orbitant price usually asked, with the added 
freight, makes it very expensive, and if any¬ 
thing breaks or wears out, it costs too much 
time aud money to have it repaired. For 
these reasons, a few years Blnce, after using a 
subsoil attachment on a conmiou plow I con. 
ixiuv ic*, laibt; iuuuuu UUU WOOI f IOr OUr OW11 
consumption at least, and buy a spinning 
wheel aud a few dozen knitting needles and 
let the girls spin their yarns, while the boys 
spin theirs. It would be a great help on many 
an interesting occasion, if the girls had their 
spinning wheels to provide them with occu¬ 
pation when conversation lagged, and their 
visitors were dull.” 
‘ ‘ That is true enough," 
mfr rejoiued our old neigh- 
* bor > “spinning our own 
wool is a good old do¬ 
mestic habit, and to be 
able to eat our own 
mutton is very conven- 
ient aud saves money. 
A dozen sheep might be 
kept without costing any- 
thing that could ever be 
found out. if it was not 
very closely looked for, 
and there are many 
wastes that are permitted 
that cost more and are never thought of.” 
“ v\ hat kind ought to he kept iu such a 
case ?’’ I asked. 
The South Down gives the most for the 
least; he replied. “Tbe mutton is the very 
best and the wool is just right for Lhe country 
cai ding mills to make up mto rolls for home 
spinuing ; or the mills will take that wool, and 
weave it into homespun on shares, but they 
won’t look at combing wool, because it is too 
long to be carded. That is the great fault with 
the long-wool sheep. Combing wool don’t 
sell so easy as carding wool, because it can’t 
be used at the eouutry mills; besides, coarse- 
vvool sheep arc too fat mutton for home use. 
Toucan put two inches of fat on their ribs, 
but that is only good to sell.” 
“ There are no other sheep so hardy as the 
South Down,” said William. “ On,- thnrmicrh- 
HISTORY OF A POOR FARM—No. 16 
“ I think I can get au idea or two that may be 
useful to me.” 
“Yes, you have some hill-sides grown up to 
briers and weeds, that would keep a few sheep 
and lambs nicely without costing you any¬ 
thing,” replied he. “ But this lamb busiuess 
is mine; grandfather looks after the South- 
Downs. The ewes in this field have each had 
one lamb, and some two ; we have sold most 
of them, aud the rest are with the pure-bred 
ones in the next field; you can tell the half- 
breeds at this distance; they are larger and 
to take into the wagon two fine dressed lambs, 
one of which was to be left for me and one 
taken to Mr. Martin. Fred had gone on to 
the Martin’s before I knew of this, and after 
a long delay, in which 1 suppose he was learn¬ 
ing some new ideas on dairy matters from 
Miss Martin, he returned and informed me 
that his father requested my acceptance of a 
sample of his cross-bred lambs. The sample 
was a spleudid specimen of a market lamb 
four mouths old, weighing, when dressed, 44 
pounds, or 11 pounds to the quarter. 1 had 
