February 23. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
405 
enthusiastic cultivators suggested that the slates being 
made movable they might be slipped out and placed 
behind the tree that had been denied the all-important 
benefits of sunshine; whichever of these ways were 
adopted, it was expected that an advantage would 
accrue from such a dark body as slates absorbing so 
much solar heat, but it was forgotten how cold a substance 
it was at other times, and that if it speedily received heat 
from the sun, it quite as quickly parted with it; besides 
which, the trouble and expense of moving such an intri¬ 
cate piece of mechanism put it beyond the wishes of those 
who might have adopted a more simple and efficacious 
plan; at all events, the plan never became popular, and 
but few were erected on this rickety principle, yet, it 
doubtless afforded a good hint to those who have since 
carried out the idea of having two tier of trees in a 
narrow enclosure, which they designate a “ glass wall; ” 
for the trees I speak of, being planted and trained back 
to back, with the slate between them, it required no 
great amount of ingenuity to adopt another substance 
for slates, and to place it on both sides of the trees it 
was intended to protect, but as these are merits attached 
to glass coverings, which slate has no claim to, it is 
only proper to observe, that at the time the latter was 
adopted glass was too expensive to meet the wants of 
every one, but it is now, perhaps, the cheaper article of 
the two, while its utility, in many ways, is so great, and 
so varied, that I must leave for another time *he task 
of detailing the uses it is applied to as forming a part 
of the “ garden fence,” to which this chapter is devoted. 
I must, also, leave the other descriptions of boundary 
lines for a similar paper, as well as the upright, arched, 
and hanging trellis, and the other mode by which a 
division is made between one part and another, and as 
such form important features in a garden, a few notes 
to enable the amateur to choose the one most adapted 
to his wants, will, probably, be useful. 
J. Robson. 
THE FATTING OF SHEEP. 
(Concluded from par/e 386.) 
Hay is also a most valuable and important material 
in the fatting of Sheep; it is, however, with the excep¬ 
tion of straw, the most bulky of all our dry kinds of 
food in use, compared with the nutrition it contains; 
and in the case of feeding ruminating animals its use is 
very desirable, the bulk being requisite to assist diges¬ 
tion in animals of this class. The sort of Hay which 
may be designated as Sheep Hay, is that composed of 
all the finest and most nutritious of the grasses; and as 
the selection of these varieties of grass, and the method 
of making the Hay, is a matter upon which the value of 
it will depend, I beg to refer my readers to the article I 
inserted upon the subject in The Cottage Gardener 
for the month of June last. It may be shortly stated, 
however, that the White Dutch Clover and the Trefoil 
or Hop Clover are the best, and of the grasses no sort 
can be compared with the Italian Rye grass for the 
making of first-rate Sheep Hay. 
After having gone through the whole catalogue of 
feeding materials commonly used for Fatting Sheep, and 
somewhat in detail, it is now time to treat of the mode 
of feeding, for although this part of my subject may be 
considered by many a very plain and simple process, yet 
my experience has shown me that ignorance or gross 
neglect prevails to a great extent in connection with the 
detail of feeding fatting Sheep. It is not only necessary 
that all the best feeding substances should be prepared, 
and ready at hand, but it is also essential that the 
animals should receive their allowance of the different 
kinds of food with great regularity, and at a particular 
time of the day; at the same time, the quantity given 
should not be in excess of their requirements, otherwise 
great waste must be the result. 
In commencing the fatting process with a lot of Sheep 
which have been kept previously only in store condition, 
it is not right to allow them a full quantity of rich 
feeding substances at the onset, but they should be 
accustomed to it by degrees, in order that they may 
make gradual progress, and that the material used in 
feeding may afford the most profit, as poor Sheep will 
not yield a good return for a full allowance of rich food, 
nor will the constitution of the animals endure it 
without great risk and loss of health. 
Upon farms containing mixed soils, the warmest and 
driest land should be selected during the winter months, 
but generally after the middle of March, Turnips may 
be fed upon cold or clay soils with advantage. In 
feeding the varieties of common Turnips upon dry land 
in the early part of the season, and before the Sheep 
are far advanced in condition, they may be allowed to 
eat the roots upon the land. Tegs, or two-teeth Sheep, 
when they commence feeding the Swedish Turnips, and 
which they ought to do in the months of January or 
February, should receive their food cut and placed in 
troughs, this being requisite not only for the purpose of 
consuming the crop without waste, but inasmuch, as 
about this time they usually shed their teeth, they 
cannot, therefore, be made to eat their roots uncut ad¬ 
vantageously. 
The preparation of food is the next point to be con¬ 
sidered. When Turnips are prepared in readiness for 
the cutter, it should be done with care, and in order 
that the roots may be consumed without waste they 
should be entirely free from earth. This work is often 
done in the most imperfect manner—large chips of the 
Turnip being cut off with the rootlets, as also the 
stem or neck of the bulb, which, being left on the 
laud, are trodden under foot and left unconsumed, for I 
find, when Sheep are well-fed at the trough they will not 
eat anything off the land. It is, also, necessary that a 
provision should be made against a period of severe 
frost, which, in case it occurs at all, usually happens in 
the month of January; and when the system of pitting 
the whole crop is not adopted, a sufficiency of Turnips 
should be heaped and prepared to feed the stock through 
that month. In preparing Oil-cake for feeding, it should 
be broken fine, with as little dust or meal as possible. 
When any of the pulse or grain crops are used for 
feeding they should never be ground into meal, but 
merely crushed—this will prevent waste; nor should 
they bo used in the whole or entire state, because any 
of the grains being dropped on the land may vegetate 
and mingle with succeeding crops. 
I am now arrived at that part of the subject which 
relates to the manner of feeding, but having omitted 
