418 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[November, 
above laid with matched boards, which will 
prevent any dust falling through, and to have 
the beams and under side of the floor white¬ 
washed. Ventilation may be provided by 
spouts through which hay or straw could be 
thrown down below, and which should ter¬ 
minate in grated openings beneath the eaves. 
Fig. 1. —CROOK. 
Fig. 2. 
NOOSE. 
him. 
Fig. 3. —SCALDING-TUB. 
Aids at Slaughtering Time. 
The slaughtering of hogs is one of the most 
disagreeable labors of this season. It is made 
much more 
nnp 1 e a s a n t 0=1 
than need be 
by the complete absence of any organized 
methods of going to work. Generally it is 
postponed to the latest moment, notwithstand¬ 
ing the fact that the earliest pork 
in the market rarely fails to bring 
the highest price of the season, 
and also that the colder the 
weather is, the less rapidly a hog 
fattens. As a rule, this business 
ought to be over before the winter 
has commenced, so that the pork 
may be made as cheaply as pos¬ 
sible, and the slaughtering may 
not be more disagreeable than 
necessary. When a hog is to be 
killed, the first job is to catch 
This is very easily done by the use of 
an implement shaped somewhat like a shep¬ 
herd’s crook, shown at figure 1. The handle 
of this should be 
about five feet long. 
The animal is caught 
by any part of one of 
the hind legs, and the 
noose in the looped 
rope shown at fig. 
2, is slipped over the hock of the other one. 
He is then led to the slaughtering place or 
slaughter house, where 
by means of a hoist, 
the hook of which is 
placed in the loop of 
the rope, the animal is 
raised in a moment to a 
hight that brings him 
into a convenient po¬ 
sition for the butcher. 
The blood may then 
be caught in a barrel or other vessel, and 
made use of in the manure heap instead of be¬ 
ing wasted upon the ground as 
is usual. The animal is then 
lowered into the scalding-tub 
shown at fig. 3, which should 
be kept close by, and when 
ready is hoisted out and lowered 
on to the scraping-table. This, 
which is shown at figure 4, is 
made of bars of wood fixed in 
a frame so that all the water Fi 5 . SCRAPER> 
and hair drops through into a 
heap, from which they may be easily removed. 
A scraper which we have found very useful is 
shown at figures. It is 
made of a piece of 
scythe bent into the 
shape here shown, and 
fastened by means of 
tangs made at each end 
into a wooden handle. 
With this the hair is re- 
ig Ci. tt b on legs. move( j w ith great ease 
and rapidity. The animal is then hoisted once 
SCRAPING-TABLE. 
more over a wheelbarrow, or a square tub set 
upon legs as shown at fig. 6, into -which the offal 
is received. The offal is thus kept clean, and 
the lard may be removed without being soiled. 
The whole arrangement is very simple, and one 
that may be modified to suit any circumstances. 
How to Make a Halter. 
A very serviceable halter is here shown. It 
may be made for a few cents, and in a few mi¬ 
nutes, out of a piece of leather, a buckle, and a 
few copper rivets. It may also be made of 
rawhide that has been well worked in oil and 
rendered pliable and soft. The safest way of 
fastening an animal is by means of a halter. 
To fasten a horse or a cow by a rope around 
the neck is to invite an 
accident by which the 
animal may be injured 
or even lost. Calves, 
colts, cows, and horses, 
should all be secured 
with halters, to which is 
attached a rope weight¬ 
ed at one end, passing 
through a ring bolt 
securely fastened in 
the stall. It is almost 
impossible for an animal fastened in this man¬ 
ner to get thrown, and if such a thing should 
occur it will not get choked as when fastened 
by a rope around the neck. To make the hal¬ 
ter, it is only necessary to measure the animal 
with a tape-line to get the proper length of the 
separate pieces, and to cut the strips at least 14 
inch wide, and 2 inches wide for horses, oxen, 
or cows. If the halter is needed extra strong, 
it may be made double, and the strips held to¬ 
gether by a few copper rivets and burs. For 
the cost of a few dollars every animal upon the 
farm may be supplied with a secure halter. 
The pattern of this halter is sufficiently given 
in the illustration without further description. 
The rings there shown may be omitted, and the 
strap under the jaws maybe made to directly 
connect the nose-band and the throat-strap. 
Sheep Raising in Virginia. 
Lying west of the valley of the Potomac, 
there is a broad belt of poor land stretching 
nearly to Gordonsville on the west, and almost 
to Richmond on the south. This region is 
crossed by the Orange and Alexandria Rail¬ 
road, and the Chesapeake and Ohio. For eighty 
miles southwest of Alexandria, the country is 
desolate, the depots are few, the villages small, 
the farm houses very scattering and poor, much 
of the land is without fences, and growing up 
to brush and forest trees. There is hardly 
a good piece of corn in sight of the rail¬ 
road from the valley of the Potomac to the 
Rapidan. The principal timber in this re¬ 
gion is oak, poplar, or whitewood, paw¬ 
paw, and pine—of small growth. The dis¬ 
trict has never been thickly peopled, as the cen¬ 
sus returns show. There has been no increase 
in population since 1800, and a very steady de¬ 
cline since 1830—some of the counties having 
lost from one-third to one-half of their popu¬ 
lation. Land in forest can be bought for five 
or six dollars an acre, and old fields with build¬ 
ings for about the same price, or a small ad¬ 
vance. In a recent trip from Washington to 
Richmond, we passed across this district by way 
of Gordonsville. We learned from an intelli¬ 
gent farmer who lives upon its outskirts, that 
the region produces cattle, swine, and sheep, 
but is generally a poor country, quite unprofit¬ 
able for ordinary farm crops. He was a Vir¬ 
ginian, working a 400-acre farm, and making it 
pay reasonably well. He had a well digested 
plan for raising sheep which is applicable to 
this whole region, and, if anything can be done 
to redeem this waste from its present desola¬ 
tion, it is sheep husbandry that will do it. 
There is no doubt that good farms can be made 
in this region by large expenditures for manure 
and labor, but the problem to be solved is to 
make the products sold pay for the improve¬ 
ment ©f the land, and the capital used in the 
improvement. The great objection to raising 
sheep in Virginia is the destruction of flocks 
by dogs. He would remedy this objection by 
keeping a shepherd to give his constant atten¬ 
tion to the flocks, and fold them at night. 
Nearly all the damage caused by dogs is done 
at night, and if the flocks were folded securely 
then, there would be no loss. Sheep in fair 
condition can be bought in this region for 
about a dollar and a half a head. He would 
buy 200 ewes in good breeding condition, for 
say $300, and four Cotswold rams for say $100, 
making an outlay of $400 for his flock. He 
would put the rams with the flock Sept. 1st to 
bring early lambs. Sheep do well in these pas¬ 
tures until late in December. As soon as snow 
begins to fly he would feed with hay, straw, 
turnips, and as the sheep approached yeaning 
time, would add meal or grain. He would 
have a piece of winter rye ready for them to 
feed upon early iu the Spring. By the time 
the rye was gone, the pastures would be green, 
and the sheep would take care of themselves. 
Sheep thrive very well in the climate of Vir¬ 
ginia, and the excess of births from twins, he 
calculated, would make the lambs equal the 
number of ewes kept, if there should be occa¬ 
sional losses. There is a ready sale in the Wash¬ 
ington and Baltimore markets for all the fat 
sheep and lambs that can be raised. He 
would send his lambs to market in May and 
June, and get for them by the wholesale an 
average of $3.00, say 200 lambs, $600. The 
ewes he would sell in July and August as fat 
sheep at $3.50 each, say $700. He would get 
at least $1.00 worth of wool from each sheep, 
making $200 for wool. The receipts from the 
flock for one year would be $1,500. He would 
then buy another flock of 200 ewes and begin 
the year again September 1st. He calculated 
the sheep would benefit the pastures enough to 
pay for their keeping. The small plots where 
they were hurdled at night would be made very 
rich, and bear large crops of turnips, rye or 
hay. The principal expense would be the 
wages of the shepherd, and not more than half 
his time would be required in the care of the 
flock. From what we have seen of the influ¬ 
ence of sheep in pastures, we have no doubt of 
their great value in improving the soil, and of 
their special adaptation to these old fields in 
this district. There are large tracts of lands, 
like these, in ail the older States, that can be 
made valuable by sheep husbandry. The coun¬ 
try needs more wool, lamb, and mutton. 
The Pekin Ducks as Layers. 
The sensation made last fall among the fan¬ 
ciers at the poultry exhibitions, by the extra¬ 
ordinary size of these new ducks, is likely to 
be equaled this season by their remarkable re¬ 
cord as layers. Two of the imported birds 
