THE CULTIVATOR 
Sheep Husbandry, 
Eds. Country Gentleman -Thinking it might 
not be amiss, I avail myself of the present opportunity 
of making a statement of the profits of sheep husband¬ 
ry, so far as I have been concerned for the last four 
years. And as hap-hazard statements and guess-work 
are not much to be relied on, I propose to give a few 
^ facts and figures. I have wintered on an average for 
the above four years eighty sheep, half to threefourths 
Spanish Merino. The average weight of wool per 
head has been from three and a half to three and three- 
fourths pounds per headand the price per pound ob¬ 
tained, has been from thirty-two to fifty-two cents. 
The average receipts for wool and increase, taking the 
amount from actual sales and retaining eighty sheep 
for the winter stock, have been, 
For three years of the last four, per head,...... $1,75 
For the last year,. 2,63 
Cost for wintering. 
100 lbs. hay por head,. 4 . 40 
1 peck of corn do...... 16 
Pasturage do. 50 
Attendance and shearing per head. 10 
Total annual cost per head,.. $1,16 
Which deduct from above, leaves for profits for the 
three first years, fifty-nine cents—and for the last year 
one dollar and forty-seven cents per head. I should 
state that my sheep through the winter have had ac¬ 
cess to the straw stack, or they would have consumed 
more hay, and which I have not taken into account as 
the main object is to have it converted to manure. 
My sheep feed from racks under shelter, and have 
access to pure water passing out and in at pleasure, 
having salt and ashes once a week. And here I should 
not omit to state that I have not lost a sheep with dis¬ 
ease to my knowledge for the four years above named. 
I do not publish this statement thinking the profits 
very great, for I think with better management much 
greater profits can be realized—in fact I know of flocks 
of three-fourths merino which yielded last year five 
pounds of wool per head. The greatest error that I 
committed, or that any wool grower can commit, is the 
disposing of some of the best ewes of the flock. And 
my advice now from experience is, if you are offered 
ten or even twenty dollars for your best ewe, don’t 
take it. 
Much difference of opinion exists in regard to the 
different breeds of sheep. So far as profit in wool is 
concerned I think the Spanish Merino the most valu¬ 
able as producing more pounds of wool to the food con¬ 
sumed, than any other breed, and being in this sec¬ 
tion perfectly hardy. And now I would inquire —has 
there been any experiments correctly and systemati¬ 
cally made in regard to the consumption of food by 
the different breeds, in comparison to number, weight 
of carcass, wool, mutton, &c.I If some one of our many 
able breeders, would institue a series of impartial ex¬ 
periments to this end, he might confer a lasting bene¬ 
fit to the farming interest. B. J. Harvey. Adrian , 
Mich ., Dec. 23, 1853. 
Stabling Cows. 
Mr. Tucker :—In the Country Gentleman of Dec. 
8th, I notice the inquiry of “A Subscriber,” as to how 
he can prevent his cows from lying in their manure 
when in the stable, saying he has tried various meth¬ 
ods and all to no purpose, &c. 
You have toid him that you find it necessary to have 
the^stables cleaned twice a day, and then bed well at 
night. With due deference to your plan, will you 
allow me to give the plan I use which only requires 
one cleaning a day and no bedding, and which I 
learned several years ago from the late Mr. Phinney, 
of Lexington, through the columns of the Cultivator. 
It is simply to confine my cows with stanchions upon 
a platform elevated four inches above the gutter im¬ 
mediately behind them. 
The platform should be just wide enough for the 
cows to stand upon and no more, and for ordinary sized 
cows 4 feet 6 inches is all that is necessary. 
My cows are stabled through the winter and never 
fed out of the stables. They are always dry and clean, 
and in spring look as clean as if they had not been 
stabled. 
I will here say that I have tried various ways of oon- 
fining cows in stables, for instance with bows, chains, 
ropes around the neck with a ring to slide on an up¬ 
right post—also with ropes around the horns; but for 
convenience, economy, safety, and comfort of the an- 
nimal, much prefer stanchions to all others I have ever 
used or seen. Yours respectfully, Dairyman. Rich¬ 
field Springs, N- Y. 
Messrs. Editors :—If “A Subscriber,” who, in the 
49th No. of the Country Gentleman, inquires how he 
can keep his cows clean when in the stable, will erect 
stanchions in which to fasten his cows, and lay a new 
floor of two inch plank, four feet five inches wide, upon 
his old one, the difficulty will be obviated, as the 
droppings from the cattle will fall below and behind the 
bed on which they lie. I have kept my cows for sev¬ 
eral years in stables made after the above plan, and 
they are generally as clean in the spring as when first 
put up in the fall. J. H. Smith. Fayetteville , N. Y., 
Black Leg in Cattle. 
In your November number, I noticed a remedy for 
the black leg in calves, which I doubt not is true ; but* 
I have pursued a different method from any given. I 
have practiced it with success. If the disease has 
gone too far before observed, the following remedy is 
not effectual. As soon as the first symptom of the dis¬ 
ease makes its appearance, go throtigh with the pro¬ 
cess of rubbing, punching and rolling, a thoroughly 
muscular action, with the animal, for fifteen or twenty 
minutes, and the cure is certainly effected without far¬ 
ther trouble. J. Winthrop. Montgomery , Nov. 17. 
. Breeders of horses are referred to the adver- 
ment, of Mr. Andrews, in this paper, who, it will be 
seen, offers for sale or exchange, an imported Cleve¬ 
land Bay horse. One of this breed, it will be remem¬ 
bered, was recently sold in Kentucky, for $2,800. 
