396 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[September, 
Merinos Then and How. 
It is not worth while for us to neglect our Merino 
flocks, even though the Government should admit 
wool and woolens duty free. True, indeed, there 
are parts of the country where wool-growing will 
not pay, hut we may console ourselves with the 
thought that mutton-raising will be remunerative, 
and that the wool of the mutton breeds will help 
to put the balance on the credit side of the ledger. 
England is supposed to import all the fine wools 
for her famous cloth and other manufactures; 
nevertheless the writer visited, a few years ago, a 
farmer at Grays, in Essex, and was surprised and 
pleased to find in his possession an excellent flock 
of pure Merino sheep, closely resembling those of 
the Atwood’s, of Connecticut, and the Vermont 
flocks, with which he was somewhat familiar. 
This flock, it seems, came into possession of the 
proprietor’s father directly from George the 
Eourth, and has since been carefully bred in two 
■or three families without taking any out-cross, 
and, as was understood, without the introduction 
of any foreign blood. The flock came originally 
as a present to the King, when Prince of Wales, 
and was bred by him, and increased largely in sub¬ 
sequent years. The accompanying engravings show 
the changes which have taken place in the course 
of ninety years’ breeding. The animals look very 
unlike. Figure 1 is a portrait by no mean artist of 
one of King George’s rams. The magnificent horns 
are his chief glory, in the ram’s own opinion. He is 
wrinkled all over, wooled clear to his hoofs, but not 
much upon the face and poll, as is now the fashion, 
and his coat is a fleece of fine wool without mistake. 
The other ram (figure 3) has smaller horns ; a deep¬ 
er carcass, shorter legs, and a straighter back. The 
Merinos have apparently been greatly modified. 
Utilizing Weeds. 
Weeds will grow after the standard crops, corn 
.and potatoes, have been cultivated for the last 
time, and some of them will go to seed and make 
work for another season, unless they are eradi¬ 
cated. Weeds have their uses, and this may be an 
additional motive to keep the fields clean in the 
fall mouths. The grasses, purslane, and many 
other weeds have nourishment in them, and make 
• excellent feed for cows, young stock, hens, and 
pigs that are kept in close pens. Hens will lay 
much better that have green food daily added to 
their rations of corn or other food. The fattening 
pigs will thrive much better with weeds thrown 
into their pens. Weeds of all sorts make good 
fertilizers, and may safely be drawn by the cart¬ 
load to the pig sty and the cow yard or barn 
cellar, to be mixed in the compost heap with head¬ 
lands, peat,- muck, and animal manures. Every 
weed that is left among growing crops diminishes 
the yield of the plant that is cultivated. Every 
seed that is scattered from neglected weeds makes 
work for future years. It sometimes pays to plow 
under the weeds, as the cheapest way of utilizing 
them. Let no weeds of any sort go to seed. 
Take Care of the Home Fertilizers. 
If horse dung is thrown into a heap at any time 
of year, it will hardly get cold at all, for the heat 
from fermentation will begin before the animal 
heat is gone. This will soon cause it to “ fire 
fang,” greatly deteriorating its manurial value. 
If it can be trodden down hard, as, near a stable- 
i door where horses and men constantly travel over 
it, it will remain almost unchanged for a long time. 
If kept moist and well compacted, it will not be 
injured; and, if very wet, even though not com¬ 
pact, it will undergo a slow decomposition which, 
while it improves the texture, causes no loss un¬ 
less the water flows away. Horse manure may be 
so treated that, though unmixed with other sub¬ 
stances, it will suffer little or no loss, and become 
fine and well decomposed. It is, however, much 
more easily brought into condition for use as fine 
manure, or garden compost, by mixing it with 
sods, loam, peat, swamp muck, or something of 
that kind. This should be done daily as the ma¬ 
nure is thrown out, and it is by far preferable to 
have it under cover than exposed to the weather. 
Whatever material is used, it should not be regard¬ 
ed as a diluent simply, for the action of the fer¬ 
menting dung is to develop some available plant 
food out of the soil, or peaty matter used to con¬ 
trol the fermentation, while at the same time the 
strawy or lumpy character of the manure is rapidly 
lost, and the whole becomes a homogeneous mass. 
The fermentation of the manure and the loss of 
valuable ingredients is not entirely checked by 
this mixing with soil, but, in a measure, only con¬ 
trolled. If it goes on too far, the mass will be¬ 
come poor in nitrogenous matter : ammonia will 
be formed, this will be absorbed, but the action 
will still go on. If the proportion of soil is not 
very great, after awhile we shall be forced to 
use something else to arrest and hold this volatile 
gas, the most valuable and fugitive of all the in¬ 
gredients of manures. Plaster (ground gypsum) 
is often used for this purpose, and is efficient. 
Sulphate of iron (green vitriol) is exceedingly con¬ 
venient, because it can be procured in small quan¬ 
tities, and will go a great way. It is dissolved in 
water and sprinkled over the heap every two or 
three days. The quantity to be used is determined 
by the amount of earth or peat used in the com¬ 
post. A pound in a pailful of water ought to be 
enough for a cart-load of the compost. 
The amount of earth used at first should be 
about half as much as the whole bulk of the ma¬ 
nure, and it should be spread evenly over the sur¬ 
face after the manure is laid regularly upon the 
heap. Cover each time only the last application. 
It is well to tread the heap down now and then, 
and after it has stood long enough to begin to 
heat, say two or three weeks, it must be shovelled 
over, with the addition of as much more earth. 
The heap should be placed where liquid manure 
may be collected and pumped or thrown over it. 
If this cannot be obtained, and the heap becomes 
dry, water must be used freely, so as to render the 
entire mass moist. A convenient way to watch 
the heating of such a compost is to have one or 
two pointed hard-wood sticks thrust three feet or 
so into the heap. When withdrawn, the sticks are 
more or less warm, according as the heap is heat¬ 
ing. After once heating and being worked over 
with more earth, there is little danger of the com¬ 
post heating injuriously for several months. It 
should, however, be carefully watched. 
Fig. 1. —A MERINO RAM OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 
