0©4 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
September 5, 
spreading by hand. One disadvantage of top-dressing 
I did not mention. On a large farm one often hauls 
the manure a half mile or more, and to make much 
headway it is necessary to haul good-sized loads. We 
use a “bed” 12 feet long with sides about two feet 
high. To draw such loads across a field after it is 
plowed we consider too heavy work for the average 
team. Where the haul is a short one one may draw 
smaller loads and top-dress his land. Top-dressing, 
especially with coarse manure, often prevents injury 
to the wheat crop due to heaving caused by freezing 
and thawing. 
Farmers as a rule not only obtain less wheat per 
acre than formerly, but they must content themselves 
with smaller hay crops and a reduced yield of corn, 
unless the land for the latter gets a liberal supply of 
manure. As already stated our experience and ob¬ 
servation convinces us that nearly always wheat pays 
liberally for the manure applied, and then the hay 
crop following in many cases is better by a hundred 
per cent. As our hay crop consists principally of 
clover with just enough Timothy to keep it from 
lodging too badly, manure applied to wheat ground 
means not only more wheat but more clover, and 
more clover means more corn, and the latter without 
any extra expense and less labor, for the better the 
clover the better the condition of the soil. 
We aim to plow our ground as early as possible to 
a depth of eight inches. We roll each afternoon what 
has been plowed during the day. If it is a little 
dry we harrow with the spring-tooth and roll the 
second time. Every few days we harrow and roll. 
If the soil is reasonably fine or wet we roll less, but 
if it is at all lumpy we consider the roller as essential 
as the harrow in securing a fine, firm seed bed. Many 
farmers maintain that wheat ground should be left 
pretty rough to catch and hold the snow. We have 
always found that a good covering of wheat will hold 
the snow pretty well. A good many farmers plow 
their fields in lands, first plowing the “head-land.” 
In this way the plowed strip at the ends of the field 
get considerably packed by the turning of the team. 
I have seen whole fields except these strips along the 
fence almost a failure. Ask the farmer to explain 
this and he will almost invariably reply that the great 
amount of snow along the fence protected the wheat. 
Since the advent of the wire fence, which does not 
cause any drifts to form, these little strips continue 
to produce better than any other portion of the field. 
Attempt to convince some of these farmers that the 
trampling of the team upon the freshly plowed strips 
resulted in a firm, fine seed-bed which gave the wheat 
a good start and kept it going right along, and about 
09 times out of a hundred you will simply excite their 
pity. Two years ago I offered to pay a farmer for the 
time necessary to give a strip through the center of 
his field a few extra harrowings and rollings while 
preparing it for wheat, to see how much difference 
if any it would make in the wheat crop, but he had 
so little faith in good resulting that he refused to 
“mix up in any book-farming foolishness.” 
By September 15 we usually have our ground in 
good shape. We roll just before drilling, as it crushes 
any clods that may have escaped previous rollings, 
besides leaving the surface in better condition for 
the drill. We try to have our drill marks as straight 
as our corn rows. We take special care to sow noth¬ 
ing but clean, plump seed. We use a little coarser 
screen and a little more wind than directions call for. 
The coarser screen gets rid of all small and many 
larger kernels, while the strong blast, though it may re¬ 
move much good grain leaves the rest almost absolutely 
free from any undesirable matter. However, the 
screen must depend somewhat upon the variety of 
wheat, as some varieties have much larger kernels 
than others. With good seed, a good seed-bed well 
fitted and manured, we feel reasonably certain of a 
good wheat crop. j. p. prickett. 
Fulton Co., Ohio. 
DEVELOPING WINTER LAMBS. 
As indicated in The R. N.-Y., page 657, the first 
requisite for profit in Winter lambs is to secure the 
sheep that will breed early enough, that the lambs will 
be in market when the highest price prevails. After 
that the matter is entirely in the hands of the shep¬ 
herd. Good or bad luck has nothing to do with the 
case. What is often assigned to “bad luck” is bad 
management, slackness or neglect. 
SUITABLE BUILDINGS.—These need not be ex¬ 
pensive. One of the finest lots of Winter lambs 
I ever saw were raised by T. H. King, of Trumansburg, 
N. Y., in a very unpretentious barn without paint, 
sided up and down with rough boards with the cracks 
battened down; but dry, light and well-ventilated. In 
my own barns, when it is extremely cold, the water 
freezes over at night. Yet I have had a half dozen 
lambs drop, in a couple of hours, when the mercury 
stood below zero and the wind howling outside, and 
not one that did not stand on its feet and nurse 
without assistance. It ought to go without saying 
that there must be freedom from draughts. Care 
should be taken that the ewes are not crowded, and 
that they are not allowed to jam through some nar¬ 
row space, or against sharp corners at feeding time. 
It is not necessary or wise to confine the ewes. They 
will do better if they have some liberty during the 
day, being shut up at night, in order that they may not 
get wet from snow or rain. They should have plenty 
of litter and the pens should not be cleaned out until 
the sheep have gone out in the Spring. This ac¬ 
cumulation under them supplies a warm bed for the 
lambs to drop on. If they lie on, or near the ground, 
they will often get a chill which is fatal. The pens 
should be arranged with a movable partition, so that 
when the lambs begin to arrive it can be divided in 
two, that the sheep with lambs may be by them¬ 
selves. Those without lambs do not need so heavy 
feeding, and it is much easier to watch and care for 
lambs just born when the mothers are separate from 
those with lambs by their sides. Then, too, there 
should be provided little pens at one side of the 
stable just large enough to hold the ewe and her 
young, where they can be confined for a time until 
the lambs get strong, and their mothers to know them. 
They can be easily looked after and properly fed, 
and the lambs cannot stray away. Of course the 
sides of the pens must be tight enough that the lambs 
cannot crawl through. It is also a good plan to 
keep a paint pot in the barn, and put a similar mark 
on each ewe and lamb. Thus it will always be easy 
to tell which lambs belong to any particular sheep. 
FEEDING.—This is a matter of building. The 
lamb is made up of blood, bone and muscle. Until it 
is born this material must be supplied by the mother. 
She must either get it from the food given her or 
if that is insufficient, or lacks these elements, supply 
it (if at all) from her own body. In the latter event, 
even though the lamb be born strong, she will be¬ 
come thin and weak, with little milk, which means 
often a dead lamb, always a poor one, none fit to go 
to market at two or three months old. Neither will 
she shear much wool. The above means then, the 
ewe must be fed with enough food, containing an 
abundance of protein or flesh and blood formers, 
with ash and lime for bone material. These are found 
in clover, Alfalfa, oats, oil cake and bran, also to a 
large extent in most of the foods we would give 
our dairy cows, both before and after calving. It is 
folly for anyone to insist that these must be fed any 
certain foods alone, excellent as they may be. As a 
matter of fact we usually feed our ewes much the 
same feeds as we do our dairy cows. For, with them 
we aim to get the food that contains the greatest 
amount of digestible protein for the least money. I 
would emphasize the principles, rather than any par¬ 
ticular feed. The ewes should be taken up, in good 
season, off the frozen grass, and given all they will 
eat of early-cut clover or fine hay; coarse Timothy 
never. There is no objection to a moderate amount 
of bright corn fodder, for variety, but at best it is a 
mean thing to feed to sheep. They must have some 
succulent foods, roots preferred, yet silage is an ex¬ 
cellent substitute, starting with one-half bushel to 25 
ewes, and increasing to at least twice that amount 
after the lambs are born. Just how much grain 
should be fed will depend on the condition of the 
sheep, the kind of coarse food, and how soon the 
lambs are expected. They should have grain at least 
six weeks before the lambs are born, say a gill a day 
of bran, oats or dried brewers’ grains, with a little 
nutted oil cake. Never corn or cotton-seed meal; 
both are too heating, and the former deficient in the 
building material required. 
After the lambs are born and are taking all the 
mother’s milk, the grain should be increased with 
half the ration by weight of corn, as their needs and 
appetites require. While care must be exercised so 
that the ewes will not secrete more milk than the 
lambs will take, yet nothing will make a young lamb 
grow as fast as its mother’s milk. The lambs will 
soon get to eating solid food. Then there should be 
provided a “creep” into which they can go by them¬ 
selves, in which there is a flat-bottomed trough with a 
board arranged over the top, under which the lambs 
can put their heads, but which will prevent them get¬ 
ting their feet in the trough and soiling the feed. In 
this trough can be fed grain. The first lambs will 
be slow to go in, and often need a little directing, but 
after a few have learned the way it is surprising how 
soon the younger ones will follow. At the start I 
find it pays to sprinkle a little brown sugar over the 
grain. The lambs like it, and we can well afford to 
feed five-cents-a-pound sugar to make a 25-cents-a- 
pound lamb. An excellent mixture is one part, by 
weight, of cracked corn (the lambs prefer it to meal), 
one-half part of wheat bran or oats, and one-fourth 
part of oil meal, nutted preferred. Care should be 
exercised that no more is put before them than they 
will eat up clean before next feeding. If any is 
left it should always be removed and never fresh 
feed put on top of it. If a little early-cut clover or 
rowen is put where they can get at it by themselves 
they will pick out the best of it and it will help to 
finish them. This method means a gain of at least 
five pounds a week, after they are 10 days or two 
weeks old. I have put on the last two weeks one 
pound a day. Thus a 40 or 50-pound lamb can easily 
be made in 10 or 12 weeks. 
I find it better not to give the lambs too much lib¬ 
erty, for they will run off too much flesh. I know 
some of my southern friends practice turning them 
out on the grain fields, apparently with profit. I have 
tried giving them a run, and the gain from the 
Winter grass or grain was more than offset by the 
loss from exercise. When the weather gets warm in 
Spring I know there is danger from too much blood, 
and what Dr. Smcad aptly terms, “lamb azoturia” 
follows; but I am speaking particularly of lambs that 
are born in early or midwinter, and at this time there 
is little danger. 
TIME AND MANNER OF MARKETING.— 
They must not only attain the weight mentioned in 
my first article but must be fat. They can be sent 
from nearby points alive, and for those sent late in 
the season where there is danger of the carcass be¬ 
coming sour this is to be preferred. Most will be 
obliged to “hog dress.” This it not difficult, and does 
not require an expert butcher. The Iambs should be 
hung up by the hind legs, the head taken off at the 
first joint in the neck, then they will bleed out well, 
and the blood not soil the wool. Remove the feet 
at the knees and gambrel joints, cutting so that the 
skin will cover the severed joint. With a shears clip 
the wool off the belly and between the legs. Then 
slit them down to the breastbone. It is not necessary 
to cut through the bone at either end. Remove the 
stomach and entrails, carefully taking off the caul. 
Then bring the sides back and hold in place with a 
stick sharpened at both ends, and sprung across the 
back. Cover the exposed parts with the caul, hold¬ 
ing it in place with pine skewers or bright wire nails. 
If the weather is cold, it is well to have some hot 
water in which to place the caul until nearly ready 
to spread it. Unless the weather is quite warm—when 
they should be shipped in ice—the liver, heart and 
lungs may be left. Then they should hang until cooled 
through before shipping. Then wrap in muslin cov¬ 
ered with burlap. If the journey is one where the 
lambs are transferred it is better to put them in light 
crates, three lambs side by side, with a partition above 
them, if there are more for an “upper deck.” New 
York is the best market and it is practical to send 
them there by express from 400 or 500 miles distant. 
Washington, Buffalo and other large cities annually 
use an increased number of these lambs. So long as 
people in the cities have plenty of money for luxuries, 
and men in the country are unwilling to expend a 
little extra effort, and most sheep refuse to breed 
before September or October there is little danger 
of the business being overdone. Edward van alstyne 
THE OLD FARMHOUSE. 
The house shown at Fig. 317 was built soon after 
Roger Williams came to Rhode Island, in 1649, some 
records say. This house is still lived in and looked 
upon as a home. At the left in the picture the back 
door goes into the original building, which is one 
story with attic. Here in the early days lived the first 
settlers, perhaps in terror of the Indians, for from 
the rooms below to the attic above is still in place the 
trap door where when they went to bed they pulled 
the ladder up after them. The giant elm which 
shows in the background was stuck in the ground 
about this time for a clothes pole, a position which it 
has outgrown these many years. What is now the 
main part of the house was built a few years later 
than the ell. It was used as a tavern in the old 
stage coach days, and at that time extended some 50 
feet farther to the right, making a good-sized hall. 
The story goes that one night the young folks for miles 
around came here to dance. Though snowing when 
they came they gave no heed to it until ready to de¬ 
part in the early morning hours, when they found 
themselves unable to do so. Nor could they for two 
or three days, the snow was so deep. The young 
men went out of the second-story window and cut 
branches from the trees for firewood. There can still 
be seen, in what is now a large closet, the casings 
where the slides were through which the fire water 
was served to those in the hall. The little diamond¬ 
shaped panes of glass which served as a window 
between the rooms are also there. Back of the house 
is a good-sized hill where they say the beacon fire 
flashed in the chain from hill to hill from Boston to 
Connecticut. How much of interest this house might 
tell if it could but speak! r. 
