1907. 
TIIE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
59 
SEASONABLE DON'TS FOR SHEPHERDS. 
Those who are careful readers of the agricultural 
press cannot fail to have noticed the great number of 
questions relative to trouble with sheep that begin to 
appear in February and continue well into June. They 
are as varied in their scope as the localities from which 
they come. The majority of these troubles arise from 
exposure, lack of food or food that does not contain 
what the sheep need. Why are these questions so nu¬ 
merous during this period? From the first’ date men¬ 
tioned to the last there appear the fruits of neglect that 
began the previous Fall. After the sheep are in pas¬ 
ture they get food suited to their needs, have good 
water to drink and suffer little from bad weather. They 
have passed the critical period of bearing lambs. It is 
much easier to prevent these troubles than to combat 
them after they are seated; therefore: 
Don’t allow the sheep to run out and fill themselves 
with frozen grass if there is no snow on the ground, 
thinking it will save feed. This grass has little food 
value, and is positively injurious. Exercise is good 
for any breeding animal, but if the yards are too small, 
let' them out on the hard ground, or if in the stubble 
fields only when their stomachs are full. 
Personally I don’t want them in the stub¬ 
ble anyway. 
Don’t let the sheep stay out in the wet. 
At this season, this must dryout from the 
heat of their bodies, which is a heavy 
drain on their vital forces, and this means 
weak sheep, easily affected by disease. 
Should they get thoroughly wet don’t shut 
them up in a close pen where there is no 
ventilation, where their breath, with the 
steam arising from their bodies will create 
mo’rc dampness. They might better stay 
out in the open. If they can be put un¬ 
der shelter, where there is good ventila¬ 
tion and freedom from draughts, such 
shelter should certainly be given. 
Don’t put them in pens where there are 
sharp corners for them to run against in 
crowding in or out. They will often in¬ 
jure themselves, and misplaced or dead 
lambs result. When food is put into the 
racks, they should be shut out, that the 
hay seeds and chaff may not get into 
their wool; the feed can be more easily 
distributed than when the sheep arc 
crowding against one another and the 
feeder. 
Don’t neglect to trim off any over¬ 
growth of the horny part of the foot. 
Manure and filth will accumulate and 
trouble likely follow later. While exam¬ 
ining the feet don’t fail to have a sharp 
shears at hand, and trim off the tag 
locks that are an annoyance to the sheep 
and mean a loss of wool. 
Don’t fail to keep salt before them all 
the time. If it is given irregularly they 
suffer for lack of it, and then overeat 
when they get it. Sprinkle the salt with 
a little turpentine and it will in a measure 
rid them of stomach worms. Our fathers 
used to draw in green boughs for the 
sheep, knowing they were a benefit, but 
not quite why; doubtless it was the tur¬ 
pentine in the hemlock and pine. 
Don’t let them be without plenty of 
fresh water at all times. A cow will do 
very well if she has water but once a day. 
A sheep to thrive must drink at frequent 
Don’t expect the breeding ewe to keep strong, and 
bear a healthy lamb, if protein grain is withheld her, 
until just before or right after the lamb is born. Much 
of the trouble referred to comes from lack of such food. 
Corn is good, but fed alone is too heating and fatten¬ 
ing, and lacks blood-forming elements. Oats are fine, 
so is bran. I have found it usually profitable to give 
about the same grain to the breeding ewes as that I 
feed to my milch cows. A small amount per day fed 
early in the season will be worth twice as much later on. 
It is false economy to be niggardly in this. 
Don’t take out the manure and litter from the pens 
just before the lambs are expected. They will chill 
from the cold earth. The heat of the manure will help 
keep them warm. 
Don’t look for the sheep to do their best if they are 
full of ticks. In such cases we must feed the ticks 
through the sheep. If they are very had it ^vill pay to 
shear the sheep, and then dip them on a warm day; 
using some of the carbolic dips. Ordinarily, the dip 
can be made with warm water, and if the sheep are 
placed on their backs, with the feet in the air, then the 
wool parted along the stomach, and the dip poured 
on from a watering pof or an old teakettle, it will 
GROUND PLAN OF A SANITARY DAIRY BARN. Fig. 26 . 
STANCHIONS AND STALLS IN A DAIRY BARN. Fig. 27 . 
intervals. If the drinking box is allowed to become 
foul with hay seed, litter, etc., the water will be taint¬ 
ed, and the sheep will not drink what they should, and 
often such water will cause sickness. 
Don’t neglect to provide some succulent food. There 
is nothing so good as turnips, they seem to be as nat¬ 
ural and necessary for the sheep as oats are for the 
horse. Many apples arc wasted every year that might 
be fed to sheep with profit. Small potatoes arc much 
better than nothing; but should not be fed in large 
quantities, as the raw starch in them is very indigestible. 
1 know of nothing that is so good a substitute for tur- 
n ps as silage. 1 wo or three pounds per day may be 
fed with profit. While the sheep will not eat it as 
clean as will cows, they become very fond of it. 
Don’t neglect to remove all feed left in the racks 
or mangers before fresh food is put in. They will often 
go hungry if food which they have breathed over is 
left mixed with the fresh. I have known sheep to grow 
thin that had too much food before them. 
Don’t feed coarse Timothy hay; it is lacking in the 
things the ewe must have to grow her lamb, keep 
herself in good condition and make a fleece of wool. 
< )ften the ends of the coarse stalks will pierce the walls 
of the stomach. I would prefer good barn-housed straw 
for roughage. 
penetrate to the skin, and destroy the ticks. If put on 
from the back it will follow the wool as nature intended 
it should, and very little will get to the skin where 
the ticks are. 
Don’t think that any one of these tilings will insure 
freedom from .all trouble, but attention to all will do 
away with most of the difficulties that sheep arc heir 
to; and are bound to arise if they are ncgected. “Little 
things arc little things, but faithfulness in little things 
is great.” edward van alstyne. 
THE RURAL SCHOOLS OF INDIANA . 
I he average Hoosier takes pride in the schools of his 
State, and a few facts in reference to the rural schools 
of this State may be of interest to many of your read¬ 
ers, In 1816 the act which made Indiana a State pro¬ 
vided a section (640 acres) of land in each township as 
a foundation for a public school fund, and also pro¬ 
vided for free tuition. But at this time the State was 
almost a wilderness, and the isolated settlers had 
neither time nor ability to make free schools an estab¬ 
lished fact. Tti truth education was much neglected at 
this time, but' as the number of settlers increased the 
interest in education grew rapidly, and the establish¬ 
ment of school buildings, though at first they were 
rude log structures, made it possible for the frontier 
children to attend school. About the year 1856 the 
interest had so increased that many substantial oitc- 
roorn frame houses were built, and as the law required 
the township trustee to "locate conveniently” a suffi¬ 
cient number of houses to educate the children of the 
township the houses became so numerous that the 
schools were too small to be of interest. Our school 
officers have long known that the small schools stood 
in the way of substantial progress, but no active meas¬ 
ures looking toward the centralization of the rural 
schools were taken till about 12 years ago. Since that 
time a large number of small schools have been aban¬ 
doned, but quoting from the superintendent’s report for 
1904 we find that there arc in Indiana at present 2,006 
schools with fewer than 20 pupils, 1,085 with fewer 
than 15 pupils, and 243 with fewer than 10 pupils, and 
44 with fewer than five pupils. 
When the trustees began to abandon the small schools 
they realized that larger buildings at central points 
must take the place of the ones vacated. The new 
buildings are usually large enough to accommodate all 
grades from the primary to the high school, and are 
substantial brick structures. The law still requires 
school buildings to be located conveni¬ 
ently, and also compels the attendance of 
all children from six to 14 years of age, 
thus making transportation to and from 
school a necessity. The report of 1904 
indicates that 679 schools had been aban¬ 
doned, and that the 5,356 pupils from 
these schools are being taken to school 
each day by 374 wagons at a total cost of 
$603 per day. The centralized system 
gives rural children the advantages of 
graded schools, and puts them in touch 
with the high school, thus encouraging 
many to take the high school course. 
Transportation almost entirely does away 
with tardiness, and encourages regular 
attendance. The schools of Indiana had 
no reputation outside of the State till 
1876, when Superintendent Smart pre¬ 
pared a very elaborate educational exhibit 
for the Philadelphia Centennial; since 
that time many educators have had their 
eyes turned toward Indiana. The foun¬ 
dation of the present system of rural 
schools is the State Normal School. 
The Legislature of 1865 passed a law 
creating a State Normal School, and de¬ 
fined the object of the school to be the 
“preparation of teachers for teaching in 
the common schools of Indiana.” The 
school was opened January 6, 1870, with 
23 students on the opening day, and this 
number increased to 40 by the end of the 
term. The attendance has increased 
steadily since the opening of the school, 
and during the year ending June 28„ 1906, 
1,441 students were enrolled. Ninety 
counties of the State have had represen¬ 
tatives in the school during the past 
year; as there are only 92 counties in the 
State this enrollment shows that the 
school is really a State institution. The 
total number of different students en¬ 
rolled since the organization of the school 
has reached the grand total of 27,030. 
This army of trained teachers has made a 
wonderful impress on the schools of our 
State. Professors Parsons and Sandison, 
who are now at the head of the school, 
were students in the class of 1870, and 
they still think that “the preparation of teachers for 
teaching in the common school of Indiana” is t’he true 
mission of the State Normal School. f. vv. 
Indiana. _ 
NEW YORK POULTRY SHOW. 
The 18th annual exhibition, January 1-5, was one of the 
most successful on record. The interest in purebred poultry 
Is on the increase, and considerable business In fancy priced 
stock was reported. The- entry fee at. this show is so high 
that only the l>est birds nre shown, and there is probably no 
pxhibition where the cream of all breeds may be seen to 
better advantage. Orpingtons are gaining in favor, though 
prices are still too high to encourage their use in farmers’ 
flocks. The display, of R. T. Reds was large, but it. is evident 
that several years of careful selection will be needed to get 
the desired uniformity of color. The variations now nre 
too great. One pen of Seven Castle Rare Necks was shown. 
These are white, with no feathers on their necks; said to 
be hardy and good layers, according to one city newspaper 
reporter, often laying four eggs per day! High prices were 
put on some birds. $500 and nn. Two roosters, an Orping¬ 
ton and a Barred Rock, were valued at $2,000 each. The 
owner of the latter claimed that, if the rooster lived he would 
soon make even more than this out of his progeny, selling 
eggs at $25 per sitting and young cockerels $100 each. There 
was an interesting exhibit of bees and honey supplies. The 
A. I Root Co. put up an attractive pound package of “gran¬ 
ulated honey," wrapped in wax paper in a carton. The 
paper easily peels off. and there is the brick of honey about 
the consistency of butter, convenient to use and keeping 
well. b 
