56 AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. [February, 
Jlpman fed 66 sheep for six months upon 
aa;di acre of ground thus irrigated. He. had 
©instructed a quantity of hurdles of a peculiar 
description. They are 12 feet long, and are 
made of a stout pole bored with two series of 
holes 12 inches apart. Sta_ .es six feet long are 
put into these holes, so that they project from 
them three feet on each side of the pole. One 
series of holes is bored in a direction at right- 
angles to that of the other, and when the stakes 
are all properly placed they form a hurdle the 
and of which looks like the letter X. The en¬ 
graving below shows how these hurdles are 
made and the method of using them. A row of 
these hurdles is- placed across the field. The 
field in which they are used consists of six 
acres. A strip of 10 feet wide is thus set off 
upon which 400 sheep feed. They eat up all 
the grass upon this strip and that which they 
can reach by putting their heads through the 
hurdles. The hurdles are then turned over, 
exposing another strip of rather more than four 
feet wide at each turn. When this is fed off 
the hurdles are again turned over. The 
ihevaux-de-frise presented by the hurdles pre- 
I vents any trespassing upon the other side of 
| them, and by using two rows of hurdles the 
| sheep are kept in the narrow strip between 
them. Their droppings are therefore very evenly 
spread over the field, and it is very richly fer¬ 
tilized by them. At night the sheep are taken 
off' and the grass is 
watered. The growth 
is one inch per day 
under this treatment, 
and when the field 
has been fed over, the 
sheep are brought 
back again to the 
starting point and 
commence once more 
to eat their way along. 
As to the practica¬ 
bility of this method 
with us under our 
circumstances there is some question. The 
I cost of the apparatus for irrigation is very 
! large. The yearly interest, on the cost and 
I the maintenance together, is $57 per acre in 
I England. It would not be much more than 
that here. The labor of attending to 400 sheep 
so closely fed would be at a minimum of cost. 
The feeding of 400 sheep a whole summer 
should be worth $1.80 each at one cent a day 
per head, which is the usual payment for pas¬ 
turing sheep in flocks for drovers. This would 
be equal to $118.80 per acre. These figures 
would seem to leave a margin for profit even 
for us. They seem honest; but although fig¬ 
ures are said to be perfectly trustworthy and 
truthful we have in practice so often found 
them to belie their general character, that we 
would not in this case pin our faith upon them 
without some experiment, nevertheless we 
feel sure about the value of the hurdle and this 
plan of using it in many cases. Some few far¬ 
mers here grow rape for late summer feed for 
sheep, and many thousands might well do so. 
For penning sheep upon rape these hurdles are 
very much better than the ordinary flat ones 
which have to be firmly set in the ground and 
tied together, while these are self-sustaining 
and instantly turned over. This great advan¬ 
tage should make them very acceptable to us. 
Covered Stalls for Cattle, 
The use of covered stalls for feeding cattle 
and preserving manure is becoming very gen¬ 
eral amongst the better class of English farmers. 
Occasionally they are made use of by farmers 
in this country with the best results. That 
they may be the more generally known we have 
prepared the accompanying engravings to show 
their structure. Fig. 1 shows the ground 
plan of a shed containing fourteen stalls, 
each ten feet square with a passage way 
in the center of four feet wide. Fig. 2 
shows the elevation of the building with 
the arrangement of the doors. It is of 
two stories, the upper one being used 
for the storage of straw, hay, or roots or 
the preparation of the feed. Fig. 3 
shows the interior of the building, with 
some of the stalls upon one side. With 
these views the following short descrip¬ 
tion will be more readily understood. 
The shed here described is 70 feet long 
by 24 feet wide, having seven stalls upon 
each side. It is built of plain boards 
and scantling, and one of the cheapest 
character will answer every purpose as 
well as the most costly building; the 
shelter and preservation of the manure 
being the chief objects in view. There 
is a door at the rear of each stall divided 
into upper and lower halves so that the 
upper one may be opened for ah - and 
ventilation. There is a large door at 
each end of each row of stalls, and the 
divisions between the stalls are made 
of movable bars. These bars being 
| taken away a wagon may be driven through 
I the building from end to end for the removal 
Fig. 1.—INTERIOR OF COVERED CATTLE STALLS. 
SHEEP HURDLES AND MANNER OF USING THEM. 
Fig. 2 .— ELEVATION OF COVERED CATTLE STALLS. 
