Published by 
The Rural Publishing Co. 
333 W. 30th Street 
New York 
The Rural NewYorker 
The Business Farmer’s Paper 
Weekly, One Dollar Per Year 
Postpaid 
Single Copies, Five Cents 
Voi,. LXXVI. ■' NEW YORK, ^tEPTE.AlBER 1, 1017. No. 4415. 
How to Care for Sheep 
Talking Close to the Ground 
S CRIPTUI’vAL FEEDING.—Often I have queries 
from readers that are not of general inter¬ 
est. hut this one is. I do not know near all 
ahoiit sheep, hut we keep some very comfortably 
and it seems easy to ns. There is a stoiy of a 
young married woman who went to an old one to 
find how to hold her husband’s love, and got the ad- 
Avalking or riding to another field. Th(>y will fol¬ 
low an anto as fast as it can run in a field, but 
sometimes they are run away from on the road, to 
let them nl]) the roadside vegetation. *A little salt 
is given to please them and each individual is seen 
about twice a week. It only takes a few minutes, 
and if any skin is broken by injury of wire fence, 
or wool become foul, some dij) is aiiplied to keep 
flies away. They might deposit eggs, and as the 
hatching of them carries moisture, the maggots 
vice, ‘‘I‘>ed the brute.” That's about all we do Avith might spread and torment the sheep to death. We 
the sheep. Read the Twenty-third 
I’salm. There are more lessons in 
the Bible about good farming and 
the cai-e of livestock than are no¬ 
ticed. You Avill find the places best 
for sheep then Avere “pastures of 
greenness” by “waters of quiet¬ 
ness.” There is the ideal place, and 
should be their home, but their roA*- 
ing nature Avill take them along 
fences, among thickets, about yards, 
and anywhere that Aveeds. briars 
and trash springs. They Avant 
change. Imagine a hor.se on feed 
of Timothy hay and corn ahvays. 
I.et ns suppose that our good AA-'ives 
set us the same dishes of food eA ery 
meal, for a Avhole Summer. There 
are hundreds of A'arieties of plants, 
and sheep Avant some of all of 
them. Then imagine them shut in 
the same monotonou.s, barren old 
field all Summer. Watch a horse 
eating pasture and note hoAV he se¬ 
lects the different grasses and bites 
a Aveed uoav and then. Also some 
.say, “Sheep can live Avithout Avater.” Avhich is true 
the .same as they Avill liA*e aAvhile Avithout much feed, 
but they live very poorly Avith only the deAV or snow 
and scant feed. EA’ery -reader Avho has healthy, hap¬ 
py sheep Avill bear me out on this. 
INDIPFPjRENT CARE. —^I'he AAay not to care for 
sheep has made many say, “Sheep don't pay.” Not 
to care for them has loAA’ered their census, so some 
of the same people are uoav paying $10 to $20 a 
head for ordinary animal.s. If sheep are not as¬ 
sertive, and .suffer in silence, not like the hog that 
squeals and rants un¬ 
til noticed, and cattle 
that get crazy and 
break out Avhen food 
and Avater are Avith- 
lield, if sheep quietly 
submit, it is no rea¬ 
son they do not suf- 
fei’. A man in the 
North Avould be no¬ 
torious if he kept his 
hogs so they looked 
like the Southern 
“razorbacks,” but Ave 
Avon Id have that 
kind of sheep, only 
tliey lack hog vitality 
and die. If they 
could live, and prop¬ 
agate their species, 
Ave might have pure¬ 
bred s. 
T II E THRIFTY 
SHEEP, —We have 
seen more desolate, 
forlorn .sheep in Ohio 
than there are sori*y- 
lot>king hogs in any county in the .South, and there 
are plenty of men South that have hogs as good as 
our oAvn. These conditions depend entirely on the 
man. The Avay to groAV a thrifty animal is to let it 
to the things it needs, and the needs of a sheep are 
more A’aried and easier supplied than an.v. We 
haA’e nine head of hogs that call for more attention 
than 274 .sheep, and the trouble Avould also be 
.greater Avith one coav, and I can sIioaa' you. The 
regular ])asture is Ohio Blue grass, in AA’hich some 
Aveeds and briars .spring and flourish aAvhile, and 
there is spring Avater there. They are changed to 
other fields by opening a gate, giving a call and 
The Razorback at Work. Fig. 466 
had tour cases so far, Avhich, taken, in time caused 
little trouble, but neglect of a feAV days might liaA'e 
been tottil loss. Then there Avere a fcAv ca.ses of 
foul hoof Avhere filth has lodged until it caused a 
sore. This Avill annoy and interfere Avith locomo¬ 
tion, but .sometimes gets Avell itself. The cure 
comes by removing the cause. 
CARE NEEDED.—Success AA'ith sheep depends on 
letting them have AA'hat thej’ need, looking them 
over frequently, anticipating accidents and trouble, 
if it arrives, applying the remedy. There are 
things that infest boy.s. but foot-rot can only be 
cni-ed by removing filth and parts of hoof that coA’er 
the sore, and disinfecting the place that carries the 
germs to destroy them. . 
P.VR.VSITES.—'Fhen there are ])arasites, Avorms 
in the lungs, stomach and intestines, that sometimes 
.get too numerous, and volumes IniA’e been said about 
them, but it all began at the Avrong end. There Avas 
"Avolf in the tail” and “holhnv horn” in cattle Avhen 
they had IioIIoaa'’ stomach.s, and this runs me right 
back again to proper and sufficient feed for sheep. 
If ours ever had parasites they said 
nothing about them. It is the 
starved animals that have not the 
stamina to throAV off ailments that 
suffer. I h:iA'e bou.ght many sulTer- 
in.g flocks earlier, but feed got most 
of them past, or .some copi)eras solu¬ 
tion or turpentine helped the ones 
not too far gone. 
CARELES.S OWNERS.—Perhaps 
I am a little ultr.-) on the advocac.v 
of the care of .sheep. With a dis¬ 
position not too sAveet I IniA'e tried 
to bring more sunshine into the 
lives of others, and man’s inhuman- 
it.v to horses, and particularly to 
sheep, has provoked me often to the 
limit. The sight of a fat man driv¬ 
ing a bony horse, or sheep suffering 
in a field is too much. T can shi]» 
meat animals, becau.se I knoAV theii- 
liA-es stop suddenly, but I fear fo 
sell a horse lest it gets into the 
hands of a careless or cruel man. 
Both of these animals need an 
advocate, and Avhen occasion arises 
it is a jileasure to Avrite on their care. 
Ghio. w. AV. KEYNOr.DS. 
o 
and. 
Contented Sheep on an Ohio Farm. Fig. 467 
serious ailments Avhich ma.v be contracted if they 
associate Avith infected animals, as scab and foot- 
rot. and a man may bu.v them, q'he first is from a 
vile little insect that burroAvs under the skin anfl 
loosen.s it :uid the avooI. 1 am glad uoav that I 
cau.ght the itch Avhen a boy at the district school, 
because I underst.ind the .scab jterfectl.v. It is the 
same, and can be cured by killing the mites Avith 
an.v of the advertised dips. All lameness is not 
foot-rot. Yon must catch the real thing. It comes 
from a .germ and the multiidication makes the 
trouble. A foot may be foul, and I had that also 
Av4ien a boy, along Avith the itch, measles and other 
Treatment for Seed Wheat 
UR suggestion to Ea.stern farmers is to increase 
their acreage of rye considerabl.A% and to sow as 
much Avheat as they can properly fit the land for. 
We should do all Ave can to fit the soil and the 
.seed AVheat. Some farmers do their full duty to 
the .soil and then soav smutted Avheat seed Avithout 
treating it to kill the 
smut. Most farmers 
now knoAV the im¬ 
provement in the oat 
crop from treating 
the seed, but they 
are not so sure about 
the profit in doing 
the same to the seed 
wheat. 
The NeAV York Ex¬ 
periment Station has 
is.sued the folloAving 
.statement about 
AA'heat smuts. We 
think the treatment 
Avill pay—the same 
as for oats: 
There are three 
kinds of Avheat smut 
(a loose smut and 
tAvo stinking smuts). 
All occur in NeAV 
York, but loose .smut 
is the most destruc¬ 
tive. often causing 
losses of 10% or 
more. Ta)ose smut is conspicuous in the field at 
“heading” time. It attacks both the grain and the 
chaff, transforming them into a dust.v broAA'ii poAv- 
der. most of Avhich bloAvs aAvay by harvest time. 
The stinking smuts, on the contrary, are usually not 
detected until luuwest time. Only the grain is at¬ 
tacked and affected heads appear nearly normal. 
The disea.sed kernels contain a brown, fonl-smelling. 
greasy poAvder. The stinking smuts are readily 
controlled by dipping the ?*eed Avheat a feAV minutes 
in formaldehyde solution—one pint to 45 gallons of 
Avater; but for loose smut no good remedy is knoAvn. 
With loose smut the best that can be done is to 
