8i4 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
November 25 
Congress from the district or one of the Senators. If 
he will endorse it and send it to the Post Office De¬ 
partment, a special agent will be sent to look the 
ground over, to decide whether the route can be car¬ 
ried out. If tie report favorably, the work will be 
started. Thus it will be seen that this is a matter 
which depends largely on the farmers themselves. 
They cannot expect the people of the town to work up 
the sentiment for them. They must be enterprising 
enough to get together, and show Uncle Sam that 
they desire the service. They are sure to get it if 
they call for it, for tne service is no longer an ex¬ 
periment. Only a strong demand is needed to bring 
about a rapid extension. The matter should be 
brought up everywhere. It is a very fitting subject 
for discussion at farmers’ institutes and other gather¬ 
ings. Speakers who understand the subject may well 
find a place on the farmer’s platform. Our advice is 
to talk it up everywhere. Words well spoken are 
wings on a sound idea. Free and open discussion 
will bring about free rural mail delivery. Talk it up! 
A WORD FOR THE SHEEP. 
A Better Partner than the Cow. 
The feeding and breeding of the dairy cow has 
been developed to such an extent that it is almost, if 
not quite, a science, and shows in an excellent man¬ 
ner what can be done by wise judgment in the breed¬ 
ing and feeding of any stock. While this building up 
of the dairy cow to such a high degree of perfection 
has put the sheep industry in the background, it has 
by no means killed it, but has resulted in pruning it, 
cutting it back, so to speak, that it may have a 
Stronger growth in the future. There have been a 
few farmers who, during these times of low prices 
for the sheep and her products, have for the love of 
them kept a flock, but these flocks have been weeded 
out during this time as never before, 
as it has paid to keep only the finest, 
so that 'to-day sees this country with 
a better quality of sheep than ever be¬ 
fore. They are waiting only for the 
same interest to be taken in them that 
is taken in the cow, to develop a qual¬ 
ity of mutton and wool superior to 
previous products. 
I am a great lover of sheep. I think 
it must have been in me, as my father 
before me made them a study and 
taught me many things about them 
Which he had learned from careful ob¬ 
servance and experience. With the 
exception of two years there have been 
sheep upon this farm for 50 years. My 
father kept the old-standard Merino. 
Which was the sheep for Vermont hills 
from 1850 to 1870, and they proved a 
valuable source of income. Later, as 
the value of wool began to drop, he 
began to cross-breed with some of the 
heavier or mutton breeds, using for 
some years a Cotswold ram, with very 
good results, as it kept a heavy 
shearer and increased the mutton value. Later these 
sheep were all sold out, and for two years there were 
none on the farm. In the Fall of 1898, I bought a 
flock of common grade ewes, Leicester and Shrop¬ 
shire predominating, weighing from 100 to 150 
pounds, and put at their head a registered Shropshire 
ram. I have started to build up another flock, for 1 
still believe that there is more money in sheep, well 
cared for, than any other stock. The picture alt Fig. 
300 shows the result of my first year’s work. These 
lambs were dropped !in April, 1899, and this photo¬ 
graph was taken August 2, a few days after being 
taken from the sheep, at which time they averaged 
in weight about 80 pounds. 
The ram lamb in the foreground, at three months 
and seven days, weighed 105 pounds, and was one of 
a pair of twins, but he himself had all the milk from 
one ewe. The wether lambs were sold at this time 
to the local butcher for six cents per pound. I re¬ 
served three rams, which I have sold for $10, $8 and 
$7 for breeding purposes. The ewe lambs I kept, and 
am planning to have my next Spring crop dropped 
about a month earlier, believing that I can get a 
heavier lamb August 1. This shows What can be done 
with a flock of common grade sheep, and I hope to 
do very much better in the future, as 1 build this 
flock up, for I believe that there is an increasing de¬ 
mand for good mutton in this country, especially 
among the wealthy, who can afford to pay us a good 
price for it. I use the Shropshire cross for the reason 
that, as a result of what I have read and seen, and in 
my own experience proved, they are the best mutton 
sheep on the market. 
As to the profit of sheep compared with other stock, 
it would vary much with different individuals. A 
person needs some experience and much common 
sense to handle a flock profitably, the same as with 
cows. In my opinion, on many farms which now keep 
only cows, sheep would be more profitable. They 
would surely bring an equal return at one-half the 
labor, and where labor costs money, ait much less 
cost. The average farmer who keeps cows only, and 
sends the product to a creamery, finds at the end of 
the year that be has had to put much costly feed into 
them, and that a large part of his monthly creamery 
check has gone to the grain dealer. Sheep require 
very little grain if fed the same good hay which one 
would feed his cows, and they will get much good¬ 
ness from fodder which a cow would not look at. 
They require comparatively little care, except during 
the lambing season; one-half pound of grain per day 
per sheep for three months is all most sheep need. As 
near as I can ascertain, a cash account with 10 cows 
and 100 sheep would be something like this: Value, 
equal; pasturing, equal; hay consumed, equal; value 
of manure, nearly equal, as sheep manure is so much 
richer. 
10 Cows. 
2,500 lbs. butter at 20c. $500 
10 calves at $7. 70 
Skim-milk . 60 
Total .$620 
Less grain fed. $200 
Total .$420 
100 Sheep. 
90 lambs at $4.$260 
800 lbs. wool at 15c. 120 
Total .$480 
Less grain fed. $40 
Total .$440 
This shows sheep ahead, and I think that the cows 
are given the advantage, for few herds of 10 cows 
will bring in $500 for butter, While $360 worth of 
lambs from 100 sheep is not so difficult a job. Some 
will say, “I get more than that out of my cows.” 1 
don’t doubt it. But with the same management, you 
could get more out of 100 sheep. Many do. One 
surely cannot get 250 pounds of butter per cow with¬ 
out putting into her $20 worth of grain. If any one 
can show that the 10 cows are more profitable for 
the average New England farmer with plenty of 
pasture, who has to hire much help, I should like to 
see how he does it. h. t. johnson. 
Vermont. 
Oregon salmon canneries intend beginning the export 
of frozen fish next season, which will reduce the amount 
packed at the canneries. It is thought that the canners 
intend to try this, in the hope of getting ahead of the 
cold-storage men. The fish will be packed in frozen 
sawdust. 
Keeping Apples. —Apples placed in bins, each layer 
covered with dry sand, should keep as well as in barrels. 
The amount of moisture should be slight. It would not 
seem practicable to keep apples on a large scale in the 
above way. Apples headed in barrels in a cool cellat 
usually keep satisfactorily, and I know of no better way 
of keeping them in good condition in a farmer’s cellar. 
Dutchess Co., N. Y. w. h. hart. 
Second-crop Potatoes.— Mr. Fred Brady, of Middle- 
town, Del., sends us a beautiful sample of second-crop 
potato, an Early Rose. He says that he planted the po¬ 
tatoes in the early Spring, and dug his crop about July 6. 
The small ones were culled out and laid away until Au¬ 
gust 21, and then planted in the same ground from which 
they were dug. They produced a crop which was dug again 
on October 24. The potato sent us is certainly large and 
fine. It has not the exact Early Rose shape, being flatter 
and more chunky than the true type, but otherwise, it 
is a fair sample of this variety. This shows what Dela¬ 
ware soil can produce, and Mr. Brady goes on to say that 
he now has a few sweet potatoes in his house cellar that 
have been kept there since October, 1898, or something 
over one year. They are still sound and in fair condition, 
except that they are not quite so sweet as when first dug. 
The glorious climate of Delaware seems to be able to 
produce a double crop, and then keep the product 
double time. 
SULPHUR FUMES FOR POTATOES. 
Go Slow With a New Thing. 
HOW IT WAS DONE.—Many letters have reached 
me asking for more information about Sulphur Fumes 
for Potatoes, page 735, of The R. N.-Y. Here is one: 
We have a cave 40x16x10, with 2,500 bushels of potatoes 
in it. How much sulphur would you burn to fumigate 
such a cave? What is your method of burning sulphur? 
Are the fumes heavier or lighter than air? How long 
a time would it take thoroughly to fumigate them; that 
is, how long would you keep the sulphur burning and the 
cave closed? Would you fumigate now or later? Will 
fumigating spoil potatoes for eating? 
My advice to all 'interested is to “go slow.” I do 
not claim to be able to give proper advice to others, 
except suggesting that they be careful, as they are 
liaible to overdo and lose by it. My storage room 
could be sealed up airtight. It had 400 bushels of 
seed potatoes in it, averaging four feet deep in the 
bins. We had a two-weeks’ cold spell in February 
that culminated in a temperature 60 degrees below 
freezing, or 28 degrees below zero. I had no flue in 
my building, but I set up a small coal stove, and had 
a little fire in it every day for about 10 days. I 
burned a small amount of native coal each day, and 
the sulphur in the coal could be smelled plainly. How 
much sulphur gas I burned in this way I have no 
means of knowing, but it gave me the idea of burn¬ 
ing the pure article, so I threw upon the live coals 
one-half 'teaspoonful of sulphur, and the fumes were 
instantly overpowering; so much so that my lantern 
went out, and I did also, and I had nausea and “bust 
head” for 3 2 hours after. 
THE RESULT.—Twelve hours after burning this 
sulphur I visited the cellar, and the air was clear, but 
a deposit could be seen on the potatoes that was 
probably caused by the sulphur gas. In all, my cellar 
was closed tight about 10 days, or 
about five days after the sulphur was 
burned. I beg all to go slow, and not 
to burn over one-half teaspoonful, 
which could be done in an iron kettle 
of live coals. I think that any amount 
of potatoes could be cured of scab 
germs if not over four feet deep, by 
treating in this way once. I picked off 
the two top layers of tubers, as the 
sprouts were entirely killed on them, 
and I sold them for first-class eating 
stock. There was no bad taste, yet 
one could detect something different 
from common, especially in the look 
of the tubers, as they looked killed. 
The picture on page 735 shows old 
potatoes, a year old, and I think that 
I have solved the problem of keeping 
eating stock over another year. A 
slight fumigation will destroy scab, 
say one-half teaspoonful of sulphur, 
while a larger one will destroy all life 
in the eyes, so they will never sprout, 
and as cases differ, it is very difficult 
to advise any one else, except to go 
slow. It would be a fearful thing to plant seed that 
had been killed by sulphur gas. It is a work for our 
experiment stations to solve. Sulphur fumes are 
heavier than air. I fumigated in February, but I 
suppose that any time would do as well. 
POSSIBLE DANGER.—The only danger is, as I see, 
that some may overdo this, and prevent good seed 
from sprouting, and thereby entail a heavy loss in 
planting. I sold a good many bushels of these treated 
tubers for seed, but I told all who bought that I would 
not warrant them to grow. I have taken the pains to 
inquire, and in every case they came up nicely, and 
the new crop was entirely free from scab, so much 
so, as to cause growers to ask me the reason why. I 
think that there is a great thing in this, but that no 
one knows at the present time, just how much or 
how often the sulphur should be used. In my own 
case, I shall use one-half teaspoonful in room 20x32x8, 
with potatoes four feet deep, picking off very care¬ 
fully the upper two layers of tubers. It is advisable 
to throw open the doors and expose the treated seed 
to light about 10 days before cutting, in order to have 
the eyes start, which they are very slow in doing in 
the dark. j. c. nokton. 
Kansas. 
A western man has designed a furnace for burning 
stumps. It is built up in conical sections around the 
stump, with drafts opening in each section, so that a fire 
started at the roots consumes the stump, instead of go¬ 
ing out. 
A writer in the Farmer says that broad-tired wagons 
work well on hard, well-drained roads, but that wherc- 
the roads are at all muddy, the wide tire will be found to 
carry whole acres of soil on the inside of its felloes. In 
soft meadows the broad wheels work well unless they 
happen to cut through. If this happen with a heavy load 
on, it will be necessary to call out the neighbors to get 
the wheels on top of the earth again. 
