1905. 
TIIE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
895 
FACTS ABOUT “AVERAGE SHEEP.” 
Profits Under Ordinary Conditions. 
Can some of your readers give me some facts about sheep 
on the farm, in the East? What does it cost to feed a 
sheep for a year? What would an average sheep shear in 
wool, just the dirty unwashed sheep? What has this wool 
brought in market in iast year or two? What are ordinary 
farm sheep and lambs worth? j. m. m. 
Nampa, Idaho. 
An average sheep would probably mean one weigh¬ 
ing about 100 pounds, to keep which for a year in New 
York State means about five months’ stable feeding. 
Such a sheep will need in this time about 500 pounds 
of hay or its equivalent, in other roughage. This hay is 
worth from $1.60 to $2. If there are some bright corn¬ 
stalks, bean straw, roots or silage (as there should be), 
the value of the forage should not exceed $1.25. Such 
a variety will also he better for the sheep. Then they 
should have at least 150 pounds of grain, worth say 
$1.50. The pasture for the sheep and her lamb should 
be worth not less than $1.50 more. If it is valuable 
tillable land, it is worth more. This will bring the total 
minimum cost to $4.25. Of course a sheep may be “got 
through’’ on much less, but it will be at the expense 
of income on the other side of the ledger. In fact, my 
own sheep cost me a good bit more; but they are larg¬ 
er, and yield me more than I am estimating from the 
kind of sheep mentioned. 
What about income? Such a sheep should give a 
lamb that will sell for $4, and shear from five to six 
pounds of unwashed wool, worth from 20 to 30 cents 
per pound, or in other words the lamb should pay the 
cost of keep and the wool be profit, which is not a bad 
return for a $4 or $5 investment. I maintain that there 
is no more labor in feeding the sheep than there would 
be in carrying the produce to market. With the stalks, 
straws and roots, the sheep creates a market that would 
not otherwise exist. If we take the chemist’s value of 
the manure we have over $5 more. I think it safe to 
say, allowing for some un¬ 
avoidable waste — that a 
well-fed sheep will return 
to the soil at least $2 worth 
of fertility annually. 
It will be readily seen 
that with a better sheep, 
that costs $6 a year to feed, 
a greater return may be ex¬ 
pected, from a larger num¬ 
ber of lambs, and at much 
more than $4 each, and 
shearing seven or eight 
pounds of wool. As inti¬ 
mated above, wool has been 
worth for several years 
back about 20 cents- per 
pound unwashed. This past 
season it brought 30 cents. 
Ewes are worth in the Fall 
from $4 to $5. This year 
fat mutton of all kinds is 
unusually high, which of 
course enhances the value 
of "store sheep.” Good 
lambs have sold in the New 
York City market for $8 
per 100. The w'riter knows 
of several sales at home 
right out of pasture at seven cents per pound, which 
would bring an 80-pound lamb to $5.60. The ques¬ 
tioner speaks of “the dirty, unwashed sheep.” Let me 
add. they should not be dirty; with clean places to lie 
down, the litter kept off their backs, with the "tag 
locks” kept cut, there is no need of their being so desig¬ 
nated, all of which will enhance the health of the 
sheep, and the value of the wool. 
EDWARD VAN ALSTYNE. 
TOOLS FOR TILE DRAINAGE. 
As my experience and observation go, most ditchers 
handle more soil than necessary. My first Winter’s 
work along this line was most costly, because I did not 
know how to economize labor. The outfit I would pur¬ 
chase now for the work would be two spades; for top 
cut. an 18-inch one with square point about six inches 
wide at the point; for the second cutting, a narrow 
round-pointed one, also 18 inches long. I would buy 
the best article I could get, and as light in weight as 
possible, for muscle is more costly than steel or wood, 
or both. Then a round-pointed long-handled shovel 
to shovel loose dirt out after first spading. If shovel is 
a little wider than necessary, the sides can be cut off to 
make it the desired width. Then to clean out after 
second spading, would buy a scoop that has a reversible 
handle, so that it can be used as a push or pull scoop. 
If much three-inch tile is to be laid, would buy a scoop 
for that size. Before the cutting commences, some 
thought must be had as to grade, for this is the first 
important point. 
Ditchers that grade by water aim to grade the bottQtn 
of the first spading. But water is not always present, 
and not of the same volume day after day; hence it is 
necessary to hit on some device to work by at any time 
the ditching is to be done. Very much that is to be 
done shows plenty of fall without use of a level. Such 
has been a good part of my work, but I wanted the grade 
of each line, or ditch, even throughout, from end to end, 
and hit on the following plan, which works equally well 
where there is little fall. The plan is to stretch a line 
above the ditch at one side, on stakes to represent the 
grade of the bottom of the ditch. If the ditch is to be 
cut 30 inches deep, and the stakes are two feet high at 
side of the ditch, then a measuring rod must be used 
with a vertical arm about 18 inches long nailed on 4 T A 
feet from the long end of the measuring rod. The rod 
should extend a foot or 18 inches above this vertical 
arm, to use as a hand hold when taken up to stand in 
bottom of ditch to turn the arm under the string 
stretched on top of the stakes that represent the grade 
of the ditch. 
Now to go back to the setting of these grade stakes 
and line. I never set them till after the first spade is 
cut, and I usually stake in 100-foot sections. With the 
measuring rod, and spade as a measure, I can easily 
tell how to set stakes at upper and lower end of each 
section. When these two are set, I put a third one be¬ 
tween them, putting it in line by eyesight. Then I take 
the line or string (chalk line) used to cut by, and stretch 
over the top of these stakes, and tying to stakes driven 
back from the end stakes at a convenient distance. To 
take sag out of line between the stakes, put a weight 
of some kind on it, on the opposite side of the center 
stake from which the workman is cutting. It is very 
hard to stretch the slack out of a line, but this weight 
plan will keep it all right. If the whole line of the 
drain is to be the same grade, the remaining stakes after 
the first section can be set by the eye sighting the tops 
of the first ones. In cutting out the second spading, the 
workman soon learns how deep to cut; he should meas¬ 
ure with the rod every foot, and keep the rod standing 
in the ditch directly in front of him in easy reach. Then 
he wants the pull scoop lying on one side of the ditch in 
easy reach, so he can clean out the loose dirt frequently, 
while he can reach it each time with the scoop. 
The workman, if skillful, will soon learn how wide to 
cut each time in the bottom to allow the sized tile to be 
used to fit in nicely between the sides or walls of the 
ditch. When the workman has finished the cutting as 
well as he can in this way, in my soil he commences 
at the lower end to lay the tile, first using the push 
scoop to finish up the bottom and cut a groove for the 
tile to lie in. Then, as the tile is laid, he walks on 
them, using the push scoop to finish the bottom as he 
goes along. If the bottom finishing is done in a ditch 
before commencing to lay the tile in my soil, the work¬ 
man’s feet will lift out soil and spoil the finish of the 
bottom. By walking on the tile and finishing the bot¬ 
tom as he goes, this trouble is avoided. After a line is 
laid, if the ends of some of the tile are a little out of 
line, they can easily be put back by using a stick or 
spade to press or push them in line. As soon as a 
line is laid take a spade and cut a slice of clay off the 
sides of the ditch, and let it fall on the tile, walking on 
this as it is being done. This clay will settle down 
around and about the tile and will not wash into the 
tile, like soil from the top of the ditch. 
JOHN M. JAMISON. 
R. N.-.Y.—Ditching that is carelessly done is only a 
waste of money, as the drains soon fill up and need re¬ 
pairs. A well planned and carefully carried out job pays 
much better both in money and satisfaction, and in many 
cases will last a lifetime. 
EXPRESS OR PARCELS POST. 
It is not often I get a chance to read, let alone com¬ 
ment on the contents of your paper, the most practical 
I get. But several things this week struck me. I ’phoned 
the Silver Company for quick shipment by Adams Ex¬ 
press on a designated train of repair parts needed on a 
breakdown while filling my silos. They delivered it at 
Salem Station, 56 miles from me, and no change of 
express companies, as in your case, and it took over 
six months to get to Edgeworth. They could not find 
a roll of carrier chain two feet in diameter and 16 
inches wide sooner. They tried to make out I had 
received it. The agent knew I had not. Fortunately 
the Silver Company duplicated the order in a day or 
two. Another case, in shipping a yearling bull, the 
helpers in taking out of one car for another, upset the 
crate, threw him out on his back, but by good fortune 
did not seriously injure him. Keep after them and 
make them come to time; they will make you, and in 
your pepper case you were entitled to damages in de¬ 
laying or losing your crop. r. f. shannon. 
Allegheny Co., Pa. 
R. N.-Y.—As to “damages,” when we got the price of 
the pepper plants we felt much the same as the minister 
did. He preached hard and then sent his hat around 
for a collection. It came back empty, and his com¬ 
ment was, “Thank Pleavens, I have my hat back.” 
To my mind “A Story of an Express Package,” on 
page 855, is the best article I have ever seen to help 
along a parcels post. Actual facts like that article (ex¬ 
perience with railroad and express companies) will go 
much farther to right wrongs than arguments. I am 
having experience similar with the Boston & Maine R. R. 
Co., only they don’t even show the courtesy that the 
Adams Express Company did. They don’t even reply 
to a letter. Last July a shipment of butter to Spring- 
field, Mass., arrived soft, and dealer refused to take 
it. (The shipment was made in ice car and car ar¬ 
rived with no ice in it.) The 
railroad company sold the 
butter, and as their agent 
says, money went to general 
auditing office, in Boston. 
Now I suppose I ought to be 
thankful that every ship¬ 
ment does not go the same 
way, but one thing I have 
learned, viz., a corporation 
does not do business on the 
square, while any one of the 
corporation is considered an 
honest and square dealing 
man. d. j. camp. 
Will you let me tell you 
and your readers what a 
man and his wife think of 
your story of an express 
package printed on page 
885? They think that if any 
business farmer has failed 
to take it in, he should at 
once read it and ponder 
the lesson well. They say, 
moreover, that they are in 
favor of the parcels post, 
such as the so-called effete 
monarchies of the Old World 
are now enjoying, but which boon we are denied, because 
the express companies oppose the project. They want 
it immediately and sooner if possible. They insist upon 
having it, and will keep up their demand for it until 
they get it or die! That’s pertinacity for you. They say 
the story of the lost peppers should be circulated broad¬ 
cast through the land in tract form, in order that the 
exposure and agitation may help to hasten the day when 
our demand for a parcels post will be heard and the 
needed relief granted. 
Last night my wife, for more than 40 years the faith¬ 
ful partner of my joys and troubles, sat opposite me at 
the table “with the lamplight gloating o’er,” darning 
a big pile of holey stockings. All through the years 
of our wedded life she has invariably tackled the un¬ 
darned socks with a cheerfulness and celerity worthy of 
unstinted praise, and she surely is a boss darner. Then, 
too. while I am about it. I may as well tell you she is 
a good all ’round helpmate, making her own dresses and 
hats and, if I do say it. she is certainly a good cook and 
as good a nurse in sickness as ever bathed a weary 
invalid’s aching brow. 
“Quite a pile of stockings, ain’t it. Father?” she re¬ 
marked, as she tackled the formidable job. 
“Sure enough,” I answered, “but to interest you at 
the work, let me read to you this touching story of an 
express package.” 
She nodded assent and I read it. 
Well, sir. she laughed and laughed out loud with a 
youthful ringing infectious laughter. We had been 
anxious about certain things and not a little worried, so 
I let her laugh and joined in occasionally, and the hearty 
shaking up did us good. I have not heard the dear 
woman laugh so for many months. Then she dug up 
out of the memories of her school davs this: 
“Peter Piper picked a peck of pickling peppers. If 
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickling peppers ivhar’s the 
peck of pickling peppers Peter Piper picked?” 
Glad you got your $10. but we cannot help but wonder 
what became of the pepper plants. j. y. p. 
New York. 
