The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
539 
The Care of 0 r p h a n 
PUREBRED FLOCK. — The little 
lambs are coming, and so are the let¬ 
ters to me about how to care for the 
unfortunates. Let us commence at 
the other end first. The ills of sheep, 
other animals and humanity come chiefly from 
causes in the lives of their predecessors. A few 
troubles will arise under the most favorable condi¬ 
tions, but virility and consequent success are the 
rule where breeding and nourishment have been 
right along the way to the present offspring. Too 
many sheep have had neglect, far exceeding that 
with other animals. Try that on humanity and 
see the result. Again, mongrel breeding has been 
a curse with sheep. All the breeds are good, and a 
half-blood is all right, but no one knows how much 
damage will come from a further mixing of frac¬ 
tions. Take our own flock in regard to these two 
liabilities. Ours are pure blood, unregistered be¬ 
cause used for wool and lamb, for 60 years that I 
know of. and have had the best of care all along 
the way. There have been 140 lambs to date. Two 
were dead, and two 
were given away to 
get rid of bother, and 
they are doing well. 
LOSSES FROM 
POOR SHEEP—Earlier 
in life we bought every 
kind, principally the 
cheapest because fitting 
our pursb, and some¬ 
times had enough dead 
ewes and lambs to save 
corn for the hogs. It 
was a shame, but noth¬ 
ing could- save them. 
They were the product 
of parasites then and 
of weak constitutions 
from past neglect. 
Every .bred, or young 
ewe on the place now 
carries a good fleece on 
a healthy body. * They 
have, and now get, care 
like hearty horses, cows 
and hogs do. Most ad¬ 
vices for sheep ailments 
deal with the present 
only, but to get a ro¬ 
bust, intelligent, moral 
and useful man you 
must begin in former 
generations. I want to 
write this in the inter¬ 
est of sheep happiness, as well as for the future 
welfare of sheep owners. 
RESULTS OF GOOD CARE—Our ISO bred ewes 
would worry us to despair if they and their fore¬ 
bears had been kept like some are, but the work is 
a pleasure. Very few healthy ones will lose a lamb, 
and every healthy one can be made to own hers. 
The trouble is with disconsolate, weak sheep. Then 
if from some unknown cause a lamb appears like a 
“goner,” it can be revived with real warm water and 
then wrapped up in a basket set in a warm place, 
it will kick out in an hour or two and begin ba-aing 
for something. All this medicine is a mistake. All 
a lamb needs is nourishment in its inwards, from 
its mother, some other mother, or rich, new cow’s 
milk. The old shepherds in Vermont and Ohio used 
to keep a fresh cow in the ewe barn to dose the new¬ 
borns, and supplement the supply of those new, 
highly-bred, little greasy Merinos, but little cow’s 
milk is needed now with the largest flocks. Warmth 
and nourishment are all that is needed, and it is 
surprising to see how soon an apparent goner will 
hobble around and sleep as if he was glad to be 
here. A very few are liable to be too weak, or 
have twisted necks, or be malformed, and they 
should be put out of misery. 
FEEDING THE LAMBS.—The nearer pet lambs 
are handled to natural conditions the better. They 
need food every two hours by day, and four by 
night for two weeks. They should have new. warm 
milk, and a little sugar in it will help, because 
ewe’s milk is richer than cow’s milk.' They should 
never have too much. Pet lambs can be killed with 
kindness. Lambs with their mothers seldom bulge 
4heir sides. That is the cause of colic, dysentery 
and constipation. Poor animals suffer from the mis¬ 
takes and sins of mankind. When trouble comes, 
leave medicine alone. A lady tells me of giving 
spirits of ammonia to revive a lamb. Think what 
that will do in a stomach nearly tender as jelly. The 
Iamb needs warmth and food for reviving, and 
when trouble comes later like this colic and other 
ailments, linseed oil is a food, rich and alleviating, 
and will balance milk low in nourishment, while it 
heals the irritation. After the lamb is up towards a 
month old there will be little danger except from 
gorging. It should have new milk for another month 
and clover leaves or grass to nip. and some oats, 
corn, bran, linseed meal, or any two of them. There 
will be no trouble for the lamb, but enough for the 
caretaker, if methods as near natural as possible 
are followed. w. w. Reynolds. 
The Eight-hour Day 
H AVING all my life been in close touch with con¬ 
ditions that govern the pursuit of agriculture. 
I feel confident to express an opinion in regard to 
the eight-hour day on the farm, as compared with 
other callings. There is a distinct and indelible 
line between the calling of agriculture on the one 
hand, and all other business, of whatever nature. 
This is as distinct as that the Genesee Valley is 
divided through the middle by the river, and no 
law or custom of man can change this. All business 
activities other than agriculture are operated under 
man-made or artificial conditions, without regard 
to weather or season conditions. The man in the 
bank can close his books and turn the key; the man 
in the factory can lay down his tools, and in these 
and all others of like kind, this can be done at any 
hour in the day that is found proper, and in the 
morning everything will be found just as at quitting 
time, and work can go forward. The eight-hour 
day or any other hour day can be adopted. Agricul¬ 
ture, on the other hand, is carried on under the fixed 
and infallible laws of nature, and farming opera¬ 
tions must coniform to these. 
It is perhaps safe to say that under normal condi¬ 
tions the average day’s work on the farm will cor¬ 
respond in number of hours practically about the 
same as in other occupations, but there will be many 
times that the day will be around 14 hours, and 
this condition will always prevail in dairy sections. 
No custom or law can compel the cows to stop se¬ 
creting the lacteal fluid at a certain hour to suit 
man’s convenience. Nature with man’s co-operation 
has produced the grain or hay crop, but does not 
contract to hold an umbrella over it through the 
night, so that men may suspend operations from six 
o’clock until the next day. The pursuit of agricul¬ 
ture is the greatest and most satisfying occupation 
on earth, because we are co-operating with the 
greatest power on earth, the forces of nature. All 
Lambs 
kinds of plant growth is greatest during the hours 
of daylight, that is 12 or 14 hours, and the man is 
yet to be born who can persuade nature to change 
her laws. 
I have been much interested in the articles The 
R. N.-Y. published recently on this subject. They 
were excellent from the writers’ viewpoint, but I do 
not remember of seeing an article from the angle 
that is presented here. h. e. cox. 
Destruction of a Coin Certificate 
If I should have, say a .$20 gold or silver certificate 
in iny possession, and the same was accidently destroyed 
by fire, and I was able to prove by witnesses that it. 
had actually been so destroyed, could I recover by ask¬ 
ing the U. S. Treasury to reimburse me by paying me 
the coin? As I understand it, such gold or silver certi¬ 
ficates are backed up by coin or bullion in the U. S. 
Treasury. If the U. S. Treasury refused to pay to me 
the coin that had so been deposited in the treasury to 
back said certificates, who would get the coin? a. c. F. 
OTE the following extract from regulations gov¬ 
erning the redemption of currency: 
“United States notes, treasury notes of 1S90, frac¬ 
tional currency notes, 
gold and silver certifi¬ 
cates and national bank 
notes, when mutilated 
so that less than three- 
fifths. but clearly more 
than two-fifths, of the 
original proportions re¬ 
main, are redeemable 
by the Treasurer of the 
United States only, at 
one-half the face value 
of the whole note or 
certificate. Fragments 
not clearly more than 
two-fifths are not re¬ 
deemed unless accom¬ 
panied by evidence re¬ 
quired in paragraph 10. 
“Fragments less than 
three-fifths are re¬ 
deemed at face value of 
the whole note when ac¬ 
companied by an affi¬ 
davit of the owner or 
other person having 
knowledge of the facts 
•that the missing por¬ 
tions have been totally 
destroyed. The affidavit 
must state the cause 
and manner of the mu¬ 
tilation. and must be 
subscribed and sworn 
to before an officer qualified to administer oaths, 
who must affix his official seal thereto, and the char¬ 
acter of the affidavit must be certified to be good by 
such officer or someone having an official seal. Sig¬ 
natures by mark (x) must be witnessed by two per¬ 
sons who can write, and who must give their places 
of residence. The treasurer will exercise such 
discretion under this regulation as it may seem to 
him needful to protect the United States from fraud. 
Fragments not redeemable are returned. Blank 
forms for affidavits are not furnished. The depart¬ 
ment cannot make reimbursement for currency 
totally destroyed.” 
In answer to question as to who is the owner of 
coin held in the treasury to redeem gold or silver 
certificates that may be totally destroyed, technically 
and theoretically the government is the gainer 
thereby. The gold and silver coin held in the 
treasury against outstanding certificates constitute 
what is called a trust fund, and being held for the 
specific purpose of redeeming the certificates issued 
against them whenever they may be presented for 
redemption, the Treasurer of the United States is 
without authority to make reimbursement in the 
absence of physical evidence of the destruction of 
certificates representing the coin set aside for their 
redemption. f. .t. huei., Assistant Treasurer. 
Experience with a Flock of Ewes 
PEN-AIR LIFE.—We are wintering 55 grade 
Hampshire ewes. In December and first part 
of January the weather was so mild and very little 
snow that they were shut in the building only on a 
few of the colder nights; they preferred to lie out¬ 
side. About the middle of January the first lamb 
Jimmie and May and Their Pet lambs 
