The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
1231 
A Talk About F 
1 n e 
S h 
e e p 
I saw in Tiie It. N.-Y. a picture of a flock of sheep 
on the farm of W. W. Reynolds, and would like to know 
the kind of sheep they are, if hardy, and how much wool 
to a fleece, also how much do they dress? I like the 
looks of them from the picture. p. J. p. 
Mayfield, N. Y. 
I HAVE so many letters about that sheep picture 
in the July 26 issue that I will answer all of 
them from the easiest inquiry. 
The sheep on the cover page are “C” Delaines. 
“A” is very wrinkly, “B” more or less, and “C" 
smooth, or nearly so. We have no ailments, partly 
on account of the breed, and also good care by 
sufficient food Summer and Winter. It is the hardiest 
breed known to me. 
Coarse sheep are not so muscular as fine, and will 
not stand hardship as well, nor thrive in large flocks. 
We had 147 ewes and their lambs on 20 acres of old 
Blue grass from May 15 to July 15. and they have 
since been on another of 25 acres. The sheep nearest 
in the picture are yearlings and two years old, select 
ewes, unbred. It is a mistake to go after the "near 
dollar” by making a ewe have a lamb until three 
years old. The sheep farthest away are the 147 
about a month before lambing. 
The flock sheared from nine to 20 lbs., and the 
young selects from 10 to 20 lbs. The average of all 
was a little over 1114 lbs., and I am offered SOc for 
it, but will hold. I tried to tell every grower that 
“this is the year to hold wool.” and few men in the 
United States or Canada missed hear¬ 
ing me, and I want to toll them later 
I sold mine for * * * after they 
handed theirs over at 70c and under. 
All sheepmen, writer included, have a 
whole lot to learn yet. Wool must ad¬ 
vance. There is a wool famine and a 
dearth of textiles. If you don't believe 
itr run out and buy a suit made from 
virgin wool, if you can find it. Wool 
will be good property for years. 
Delaines dress away nearly or fully 
one-half. They are not as easily fat¬ 
tened as coarse wools, but when fat 
the meat is as good. We sell no breed¬ 
ing stock. Ours are kept for wool and 
“clipped lambs,” and the yearlings 
weigh about SO lbs. after early shear¬ 
ing. They bring lamb prices. None of 
the flock are registered except the rams 
we buy, because we do not need pedi¬ 
grees after 50 years' selection of pure- 
breds. 
To keep up the flock, the best four 
yearling ewes that shear above 10 lbs. are selected, 
and at shearing time all the mothers who go under 
that get a mark on them for fattening the next Fall. 
Age does not cut much of the figure with us. A 
few old friends with “broken mouths" give us 12 
lbs. of wool and their lambs are valuable visitors. 
Our iucrease in average of wool is from half a pound 
to a pound yearly, and our mark is 14 lbs. More 
than that, we believe, 
will militate against the 
constitution, but we 
don't know until later. 
Nothing in the above 
must be construed to 
mean that anything is 
said against the coarser 
breeds. This class of 
sheep is the best for us 
with our experience, 
and there is as much 
profit in other breeds if 
wisely kept, but never 
forget one fact, a mon¬ 
grel ram is a calamity 
on a farm. No man 
should use anything but 
a registered sire of any 
animal, especially of 
sheep, w. w. hey Norms. 
Treasurer Ohio Wool 
Growers’ Assn. 
A Combination Lawn Scat. Fig. 378 
sumer, and at the same time obtain for the farmer 
an efficient, quick and cheap means of moving his 
food supplies from the farm, is that of the rural 
motor express. There are thousands of motor trucks 
owned by tbe War Department being turned over to 
Motor Truck with Load of Berries for the Conner)/. Fig. 879 
the Postottice Department for the purpose of extend¬ 
ing a network of motor truck routes all over the 
country. The success of the movement is assured in 
that plans have already been made to carry mail 
between the termini. 
In March of last year, the l’ostotlice Department 
made its first experiment with the motor express. 
A truck was loaded with 18.000 eggs in crates and 
1.000 day-old chicks at Lancaster, Pa., the start 
being made at six o'clock in the morning for New 
York City, 180 miles distant. At the same time, the 
same kind of shipment was sent to the same con¬ 
signee by train. The truck arrived in New York 
only 12 hours after it left Lancaster. Four of the 
chicks were dead and nine eggs were broken when 
the goods were delivered at the consignee's door. 
The train shipment was four days in reaching Jersey 
City. Another day was lost sending a notice to the 
consignee that it had arrived. lie was then obliged 
to send his own truck over for the shipment, and 
when it finally reached his door, thousands of eggs 
had been smashed and half the chicks were dead. 
While this train shipment may have fared possibly 
with less luck than the average, yet the comparison 
serves to show features of the utmost value both to 
the farmer and the city dealer. 
The New York State Reconstruction Commission 
in recommending immediate action by the State of 
New York to encourage the establishing of motor 
truck lines, says: 
“The local truck lines will take one milk can or a 
dozen ; one bushel of apples, one crate of berries, or of 
eggs, or of chickens, a pound of nails or a piano. And 
tliey will deliver these goods promptly. For example—a 
Maryland farmer had been feeding his cream to the 
pigs because he did not have enough to ship by the 
railroad, and couldn’t afford to haul it to town himself. 
A truck line was started that passed near his farm, 
and he immediately sent his cream to market at a good 
price. lie was the gainer and so were 
the people in town, who wanted that 
cream. The pigs were fattened on a less 
expensive diet. Twenty-two of these lines 
are now operating in Maryland. 15 out 
of Biltimore alone. Thirty trucks cover 
a total of 1.574 miles a day on these 
routes. Some of them run in and out of 
Washington, and it is said that, but for 
these trucks, there would have been an 
absolute milk famine in that city. The 
Baltimore trucks carry a hundred tons of 
food into town every day, and hundreds 
of patrons along the routes were served 
regularly all last Winter regardless of 
weather conditions.” 
The commission cites as typical the 
shipping of potatoes between two towns 
of Iowa: 
“The farmers around St. Ansgar, 
Iowa." says the report, “raised potatoes 
which they sold for 90 cents a bushel 
to buyers, who shipped them out by 
rail to the large cities, where many of 
them were reshipped to other points. 
At Mason City, only 25 wiles from St.. 
Ansgar. but not on the same railroad, 
people were paying $1.75 a bushel for 
potatoes, which were shipped there from 300 miles 
away. A rural motor express line was started in 
Mason City. Among other things it brought in pota¬ 
toes from St. Ansgar farms, paying the farmers $1 
a bushel for them, instead of 90 cents, and selling 
them to the Mason City consumers for about $1.25. 
instead of $1.75 a bushel.” 
More than 600 motor express lines are already in 
successful operation, 
there being 150 in Cali¬ 
fornia alone. Iowa has 
been divided into dis¬ 
tricts and dozens of 
lines are running and 
making money for them¬ 
selves, besides serving 
the farmers, the little 
villages and the centra- 1 
cities. a. h. i*. 
The Rural Motor 
Express 
NE of the recent 
movements taken 
up to lower the cost of 
living to the city cou- 
A Combination 
Lawn Seat 
COMB I N A T I O N 
lawn seat and 
lunch table, such as any 
carpenter can easily 
make, is shown in Fig. 
378. When used as a 
seat the table part serves 
as a back rest, and its 
conversion into a per¬ 
fectly rigid table is ef¬ 
fected by simply letting 
down the table bed. To 
make it extra secure, 
wooden pins may be 
used to fasten the top 
down. A storage box 
Army Truck for Rural Express Service. Fig. 380 
