this means your puller gets his hands full from each 
side, and can proceed quicker, losing no time in going 
empty-handed. They will also be out of the way of 
the huskers, and out of the way of the teams in haul¬ 
ing in the stalks, and when neatly laid up they look 
well. Gerald Howatt. Newton, New-Jersey. 
m 9 9 * 
Value of Sheep to the Farmer. 
Sheep are profitable to the farmer, not only from the 
product of wool and mutton, but from the tendency 
which their keeping has to improve and enrich his land 
for all agricultural purposes. They do this : 
1. By the consumption of food refused by other ani¬ 
mals, in summer,; turning waste vegetation to use, and 
giving rough and bushy pastures a smoother appear¬ 
ance, and in time eradicating wild plants so that good 
grasses and white clover may take their plaee. In this 
respect, sheep are of especial value to pastures on soils 
too steep or stony for the plow. In winter, the coarser 
parts of the hay, refused by horses and cows, are readi¬ 
ly eaten by sheep, while other stocks will generally eat 
most of that left by these animals. 
For these reasons, among others, no grazing farm 
should be without at least a small flock of sheep—for 
it has been found that as large a number of cattle and 
horses can be kept with as without them, and without 
any injury to the farm for other purposes. A small 
flock, we said—perhaps half a dozen to each horse and 
cow would be the proper proportion. A variety of cir¬ 
cumstances would influence this point; such as the 
character of the pasturage, and the proportion of the 
same fitted and desirable for tillage. 
2. Sheep enrich land by the manufacture of consid¬ 
erable quantities of excellent manure. A farmer of 
long experience in she6p husbandry, thought there was 
no manure so fertilising as that of sheep, and (of which 
there is no doubt,) that none dropped by the animal 
upon the land, suffered so little by waste from expo¬ 
sure. A German agricultural writer has calculated 
that the droppings from one thousand sheep during a 
single night, would manure an acre sufficiently for any 
crop. By using a portable fence, and moving the same 
from time to time, a farmer might manure a distant 
■field with sheep, at less expense than that of carting 
and spreading barn manure. 
The value of sheep to the farmer is much enhanced 
by due attention to their wants. Large flocks kept to¬ 
gether are seldom profitable, while small assorted floeks 
always pay well, if fed as they should be. To get good 
fleeces of wool and large healthy lambs from poor neg¬ 
lected sheep, is impossible. It is also true, that the 
expense of keeping is often least with the flocks that 
are always kept in good condition. The eye and thought 
of the owner are far more neeessary than large and 
irregular supplies of fodder. Division of the flock and 
shelter, with straw and a little grain, will bring them 
through to spring pastures in far hetter order than if 
kept together, with double rations of hay, one-half of 
which is wasted by the stronger animals, while the 
weak of the flock pick up but a scanty living, and 
oftentimes fail to get that through the whole winter. 
We commend this subject to the consideration of our 
correspondents—it is one which needs greater attention 
on the part of the farming public. 
Bead not books alone, but men, and above all read 
thyself. 
Soiling 1 vs. Pasturing. 
Soiling, or the practice of cutting green fodder and 
supplying it to cows, cattle, horses, &c., in summer, in 
distinction from the more common practice of pastur¬ 
ing them, is probably neglected more than it should be, . 
and more, also, than it would be, if its advantages and 
conveniences were more justly and generally consider¬ 
ed. When the question comes up before the farmer’s 
mind—shall I pasture all my cows, cattle and horses, 
or shall I take some of tiie land that would be needed 
if I pastured, and raise thereon larger crops of grain 
or some marketable crop, which I could do if I adopted 
the practice of soiling them 'I—when the choice between 
pasturing or soiling presents itself in such a form as 
the above, or in some other forms, which will readily 
occur to our readers without our occupying time and 
space in specifying them, then the first thing usually 
thought of is the expense, trouble, or other inconve¬ 
nience or disadvantage of soiling. These very prompt¬ 
ly suggest themselves,—much more than the counter¬ 
balancing advantages—and unless some effort has been 
made to find out the latter, or unless they have been 
made evident and brought strikingly under observation 
by the manifest success of some neighbor or friend who 
has practiced soiling for some time, the former will ob¬ 
tain more weight in the decision than they may be 
justly entitled to. If the other side of the choice— 
viz, the advantages of soiling—were as readily thought 
of or as palpably manifest, it seems highly probable 
that the decision to adopt or at least make a trial of 
soiling, would more frequently be made. We are per¬ 
suaded that if some one well acquainted with all the 
details and advantages of soiling were to visit for con¬ 
sultation all the farmers of a county, township, or dis¬ 
trict, he would find a great number of cases in which 
he could recommend it as altogether superior and more 
profitable than pasturing, and that he would succeed 
in demonstrating this to the satisfaction of many. Be¬ 
ing thus persuaded, we feel it as a duty which we owe 
to our readers, to make a column of our paper a sub¬ 
stitute as far as possible for such a consulting agricul¬ 
turist, and to present for their consideration that side 
of the question which they are most apt to overlook 
and under-estimate, when deliberating upon the re¬ 
spective merits and advantages of depending upon or¬ 
dinary pasturing, and of making provision for summer 
feeding, in whole or in part, by the practice of soiling. 
Let it be distinctly understood that we are very far 
from considering soiling preferable to pasturing in all 
cases ; and we would not willingly lend any countenance 
whatever to such an absurdity. But we are firmly 
convinced that there are some eases in which soiling 
would be superior in profit, &e., to ordinary pasturing; 
and as the superior practice is neglected in several of 
the cases in which it might be adopted with advantage, 
we are moved by the hope of benefiting such persons 
to lay before them some of the considerations which 
should be duly pondered when a decision is to be made 
as to the best mode of providing food for cows, &c., 
duriug summer, or in other words, between soiling and 
pasturing. 
The time consumed, and the trouble and expense in¬ 
curred, in cutting and carrying grass or other green 
fodder to the cows, &c., in their yards or stables, are ^ 
usually the first thing that presents itself when soiling \ 
1 is proposed or taken into consideration as a substitute \ 
