\s 
SEASONABLE SHEEP NOTES. 
Suggestions in Care and Management. 
At this season it will always pay to keep the ram in 
the stable during the day, feeding him liberally on oats, 
oil meal and clover hay. This food will supply blood 
material, for which there is a great demand from his 
system, and which no pasture fully supplies. A 
strap about his neck for leading, and the knowledge of 
EARLY SPRING IN VERMONT. Fig. 374. 
the feed inside will, after a few days, make it an easy 
matter to catch him. 
Now is tiie time to cull out the ewes that proved poor 
breeders last season, as well as those that have broken 
mouths. No matter how good breeders they have 
been, they will cost much more to winter, and with the 
expensive feeds of all sorts that sheep, as well as all 
stock must consume the coming Winter, it will not 
pay to feed any but sheep that can turn it to best ad¬ 
vantage. There is always the danger that they may 
not winter at all, and each one whose only return is 
its pelt means a lessening of profit from 
the products in the flock. My father used 
to tell me, “Never let an old sheep that is 
fat, get thin,” and I have found it good 
counsel. Such sheep turned in good pas¬ 
ture will usually fatten quickly, and at 
present prices, will bring nearly or all they 
originally cost. 
Before the lambs go to market, select the 
best and strongest ewe lambs for breeders. 
Let the butcher have the weaklings and late 
ones. This is the only sure way to build 
up a flock. Give such lambs an extra 
chance with the ewes for fattening. These 
can be turned with the ewes, so as to drop 
their lambs at about one year old, and will 
raise a good strong lamb, and while they 
will not develop quite as soon, if well fed, 
at the end of the second year will make 
just as good sheep and will have paid their 
way and a profit beside. 
Now as the Fall rains come on be sure 
to house the sheep and lambs during such 
storms. It will pay. Nothing saps their 
vitality faster than to have their wool and 
skin saturated with water which must 
largely dry out from the heat of their 
bodies. A good dry stable to lie in will 
be much more to their health and comfort 
than even the highest knolls. 
If a lot of lambs are to be fed for the Winter it will 
pay to secure them early. Prices will not be lower, 
and a good thrifty Iamb is cheaper at even one cent 
per pound advance over a poor unthrifty one. Let the 
other fellow take the culls that are left. Then, too, 
they can get a start while grass is good before frost, 
that otherwise must be supplied by expensive corn and 
other high-priced grain. If feeding troughs are put in 
the pasture and a little corn and oats—what they will 
eat up clean—is given daily, it will be really economy 
of feed. Most feeding lambs never have tasted grain, 
and to wait until they come off the pastures when for a 
week they will often scarcely eat hay, and also have to 
learn to eat grain, means not only no gain for that 
time, but often an actual loss of weight. Just a 
sprinkling of grain at first with a little salt on it, being 
careful to take out the next day all they leave and 
sweep the troughs clean before putting in a fresh 
mess will scon get them to eating a moderate amount 
readily; thus they will come into Winter quarters 
without any setback. I have always found a pound 
of grain to sheep in pasture worth as much as a pound 
and a half in the shelter. Unless lambs are to be fed 
late, well on toward pasture, avoid laying in the open- 
wool, large-frame sort, even though they weigh more 
in the Fall. Such will gain in weight, but not in qual¬ 
ity, and the price obtained if put in market before they 
are finished, will be much below top quotations. The 
lamb that is expected to go to market in February or 
March should be one that at that time is round and 
fat. Such will top the market. 
Above all, don’t leave the sheep or lambs either, out 
long after the virtue has gone out of the grass, even 
though there is much of it in the fields; it will fill, but 
not feed them. There will be great temptation to do 
this with high priced hay and grain before us this 
Winter. It will really take more feed before Spring 
if the sheep do not go into Winter quarters in the 
pink of condition. 
A Concrete Silo. 
Can you give quotations for building a concrete silo large 
enough for 150 sheep and 10 cows? s. 
A silo large enough to supply 10 cows and 150 
sheep for six months would need to hold from 60 to 
70 tons. This would mean a round silo, 25 feet deep 
and 15 feet in diameter. Such dimensions allow for 
about 10 tons to settle. Forty pounds a day is a full 
ration for a cow, or 400 pounds for the 10, or 36 tons 
for six months. The sheep can be safely fed two 
pounds per day, or 300 pounds for the lot. For the 
same period this would mean 27 tons, or a total of 63. 
Better plan for a little extra, and call it 70. The walls 
should be not less than 14 inches thick above ground. 
A silo constructed of concrete can be more easily built 
square with the corners cut off, or octagon. The di¬ 
mensions I gave for a round one will not materially 
differ from one of the latter form, and approximately 
will not be much difference for a square one 14 feet 
across. J he cost can only be considered from a local 
standpoint and may differ in other localities. 
Portland cement cost more this Fall—$10.70 deliv¬ 
ered. I am only 12 miles from the works. I get a re¬ 
bate of $1.50 a ton for sacks returned, leaving the ce- 
A WINTER SUN BATII. Fig. 370. 
ment $9.20 net. Lime costs about $1.35 per barrel. 
If a silo of concrete, such as I described on page 551, is 
desired, it is easy to ascertain the amount required by 
getting the entire space to be filled depending on the 
capacity of silo, using the amount I used for wall 
given as a guide. To this must be added lumber for 
the frame, which will cost half as much at least as 
the cement and lime, and the labor. The latter is a 
local matter, and will depend on the amount paid per 
day and the efficiency of the workmen. It is hard, 
dirty work. The lumber, of course, can be used for 
other purposes, and need not necessarily be 
all charged against the silo. I am vkry sure 
such a silo, although costing more at the 
start, will be much the cheaper in the long 
run if properly constructed. It will pay 
to this end to secure the services of one 
skilled man in the construction of con¬ 
crete. Finally, I would emphasize the fact 
that such a silo should be constructed at 
once, as it must have time to harden before 
the pressure is put on from the silage. In 
fact, I think it too late to build one this 
year. Better put it up in June so that it 
will have ample time to dry out before 
freezing weather. edward van alstyne. ' 
PEAR BLIGHT ON APPLE TREES. 
About the middle of May, 1907, a very 
severe case of root killing and so-called 
“collar-rot” in one of the nicest commercial 
apple orchards in southern Pennsylvania 
was brought to the attention of the writer. 
In a block of vigorous looking 14-year-old 
trees which last year had produced 900 bar¬ 
rels of excellent apples, an unusual malady 
had broken out, which bid fair to sweep 
out of existence the work of years just as 
it was becoming productive. After two 
days of digging with pick, shovel and 
knife around numerous trees, the char¬ 
acteristics of the disease became clear. The trunks of 
the trees became blackened, and the bark sunken in 
areas of varying size, usually appearing to have begun 
just at the surface of the ground, and extending both 
upwards and downwards from this point, eventually 
forming a complete girdle of both trunk and roots, 
thus killing the trees. Rarely it occurred wholly 
above ground, and occasionally the entire infection was 
evidently in the roots. The attack was relatively shal- 
