496 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
June  7,  1900, 
them  now  do  very  little.  It  would  be  a  splendid  thing  to  inaugurate 
such  a  system  of  dipping  as  would  make  an  outbreak  of  sheep-scab  a 
practical  impossibility.  Nowadays  farmers  are  very  much  at  the  mercy 
of  inspectors,  and  only  very  lately  a  farmer  in  the  north  was  fined  for 
not  reporting  an  outbreak  of  scab,  which  on  appeal  was  proved  by  a  high 
veterinary  authority  not  to  be  scab  at  all.  We  have  ourselves  had 
personal  experience  of  a  similar  case. 
The  sheep  is  an  animal  of  such  great  adaptability  and  varies  so 
much  in  the  character  of  its  different  breeds  that  success  in  sheep 
breeding  and  grazing  depends  almost  altogether  on  two  points : 
1st,  the  selection  of  the  most  suitable  breed  for  the  soil  and 
climate;  2nd,  the  proper  and  intelligent  management  of  the  flock 
when  chosen. 
It  is  a  curious  fact,  but  it  has  been  noticed  by  many  observers, 
that  the  owner  of  a  small  flock  enjoys  very  good  fortune  with  his 
sheep.  He  generally  has  a  good  fall  of  lambs,  has  few  casualties,  and 
his  mutton  sheep  are  usually  bigger  and  fatter  than  those  of  his 
neighbours.  Some  people  account  for  this  by  stating  that  the  small 
flock  is  often  numerically  weak  in  proportion  to  the  size  of  the  holding, 
and  that  sheep  when  run  thin  on  the  ground  invariably  do  well.  There  is 
much  truth  in  this,  but  we  think  that  a  more  sensible  way  of  accounting 
for  the  success  of  the  small  flockmaster  is  to  acknowledge  the  fact  thal' 
he  gives  more  individual  attention  to  his  sheep  ;  he  looks  after  them 
himself,  having  a  personal  interest  in  the  welfare  of  each';  his  shep¬ 
herding  is  not  done  by  the  hour ;  in  summer  he  is  looking  round  the 
sheep  before  six,  so  that  he  may  be  ready  for  ploughing  at  the  usual 
time,  whilst  the  evening  again  sees  him  looking  over  the  flock.  Too 
many  of  the  paid  shepherds  make  the  day  a  short  one,  and  the  night  a 
long  one,  and  we  know  by  experience  that  the  morning  shepherding 
brings  to  light  many  more  cases  of  illness  than  the  evening.  The 
shepherd  has  to  face  all  kinds  of  weather,  and  in  storm  and  snow  he 
must  rough  it,  no  doubt,  but  generally  speaking  his  work  is  not  heavy 
and  he  ought  to  keep  both  early  and  late  hours  if  he  does  his  duty  in  the 
endeavour  to  earn  the  very  good  wages  which  his  services  usually 
command. 
The  prevention  of  lameness  is  one  of  the  chief  points,  success  in 
which  marks  a  man  as  a  good  shepherd.  It  is  much  easier  to 
prevent  lameness  than  to  cure  it.  Many,  too  many  shepherds^ 
neglect  looking  over  their  sheeps’  feet  at  sufficiently  short  intervals ; 
of  course  these  periods  vary  according  to  the  weather  and  the  character 
of  the  lair.  They  think  it  soon  enough  to  examine  a  sheep’s  feet  when 
it  is  turning  lame,  whereas  if  that  sheep  had  been  looked  at  two  or 
three  weeks  before  a  very  slight  use  of  the  knife  and  application  of 
ointment  would  have  prevented  the  lameness  altogether.  It  is  a 
remarkable  fact  that  some  shepherds,  and  also  some  farmers  who  are 
their  own  shepherds,  are  very  little  troubled  with  footrot  amongst 
their  flocks.  We  do  not  attribute  this  immunity  so  much  to  the  soil 
or  locality  as  to  the  reasons  we  have  just  explained. 
The  most  anxious  time  of  the  year  for  the  sheep  breeder  is  the 
period  of  two  months  after  weaning.  Unless  he  is  prepared  with 
plenty  of  change  of  food  for  his  lambs  and  ample  field  room  for 
them  after  they  are  parted  from  their  dams  there  is  often  serious  loss. 
Cabbage,  Clover-eddish  well  grown,  well  gleaned  stubbles,  and  well 
matured  llape  and  Tares,  are  all  capital  things  to  ring  the  changes  on* 
We  have  found  well  hearted  Cabbage  drawn  off  and  fed  to  the  lambs 
on  old  seeds  until  stubbies  are  ready,  to  be  as  safe  and  successful  a 
food  as  any,  and  a  good  education  for  Turnips. 
Work  on  tlje  Home  Farm. 
Warmer  and  more  summer-like  weather  has  given  all  vegetation  an 
altered  appearance.  Wheats  are  running  up  fast,  and  both  Barley  and 
Oats  have  made  good  progress.  We  have  had  one  nioe  rain,  but  could 
do  with  more,  as  sun  and  wind  have  dried  the  surface  soil  rather 
rapidly. 
Turnip  sowing  is  proceeding  generally,  and  the  seed  is  going  in 
well,  in  fact  as  well  as  it  could  do,  and  in  marked  contrast  to  last 
year  when  the  land  was  in  such  a  sodden  condition.  We  have  no  doubt 
farmers  will  push  on  with  sowing  as  fast  as  possible.  U  nfortunately 
where  manure  has  to  be  got  on  for  the  Swedes  the  labour  difficulty  is 
proving  a  hindrance.  The  filling,  carting,  and  spreading  of  farmyard 
manure  is  the  heaviest  item  of  labour  on  a  farm.  There  is  a  great  deal 
of  manure  still  to  get  out,  and  few  hands  to  do  the  work. 
The  late  frosts  affected  field  Peas  adversely,  and  put  them  back  a 
little,  but  they  have  grown  well  lately  and  will  soon  be  in  flower. 
Another  nice  warm  rain  would  do  them  much  good. 
Potatoes  are  coming  up,  and  many  fields  are  ready  for  horse-hoeing. 
Some  that  were  put  in  early,  before  the  land  had  thoroughly  dried 
after  the  wet  February,  are  inclined  to  be  heavy  and  short  of  mould 
between  the  ridges.  A  good  ohizel-toothed  horse  hoe  or  grubber  must 
be  used  to  thoroughly  break  up  this  soil,  as  it  is  of  no  use  earthing 
Potatoes  with  half  bricks.  Potatoes  are  coming  up  very  regularly 
this  year,  there  being  few  gaps  or  backward  plants.  This  will  enable 
the  farmer  to  get  them  earthed  in  good  time.  Now  is  the  time  to 
apply  the  top-dressing.  We  strongly  recommend  sulphate  of  ammonia, 
2  owt.  to  3  cwt.  per  acre,  as  is  thought  desirable  according  to  the 
nitrogen  required.  The  hoeing  must  be  got  through  as  soon  as  possible, 
weeds  are  more  easily  chopped  out  when  small,  and  the  young  fibres 
and  forming  tubers  of  the  Potatoes  less  liable  to  injury  by  the  hoes 
than  if  the  hoeing  is  postponed  until  the  tops  are  stronger. 
There  has  been  better  luck  with  the  later  foals,  and  we  see  some 
nice  ones  about.  As  it  is  found  convenient  to  work  the  dams  a  little 
during  the  pressure  of  Turnip  sowing,  care  must  be  taken  not  to 
separate  the  mare  and  foal  for  too  long  a  period,  especially  in  hot 
weather. 
- - 
Foot-and-lMouth  Disease. — We  regret  to  hear  of  a  fresb 
outbreak  of  foot-and-mouth  disease  at  Welwyn,  Hertfordshire. 
Fortunately,  only  two  cows  and  a  bullock  were  affected,  and  these  were 
at  once  killed  off.  It  is  supposed  theinfection  was  carried  by  an  aninaal 
bought  at  Hitchin  -Market,  but  there  is  not  the  slightest  clue  as  to 
how  the  disease  came  into  the  district.  The  Board  of  Agriculture 
have  issued  an  order  prohibiting  the  movement  of  stock  within  a 
large  area. 
Imports  of  Eggs. — A  Bill  has  been  introduced  into  the  Canadian 
Parliament  providing  that  all  eggs  intended  for  export  shall  be  sold  by 
weight,  and  that  the  standard  shall  be  1^  lbs.  per  dozen,  or  2  ozs.  each. 
It  does  not  apply  to  the  local  sales  of  eggs.  This  is  but  one  instance 
of  their  determination  to  capture  the  English  market  by  giving  them 
such  goods  as  they  want.  We  do  not  think,  says  a  contemporary, 
selling  by  weight  is  any  more  equitable  than  selling  by  number,  unless 
it  is  determined  what  proportion  of  the  egg  be  shell  and  what  shall 
be  meat,  but  if  buyers  want  them  so,  why,  produce  the  heavy  eggs. 
Exhaustion  of  Eand  by  Oats _ There  are  two  reasons  why 
the  Oat  crop  is  exhaustive.  One  is  that  its  grain  contains  more  of 
the  mineral  and  nitrogenous  elements  that  are  needed  by  crops  than 
any  other  grain  except  Wheat.  Besides,  the  Oat  plant  has  to  grow 
from  the  germ,  ramify  its  roots  through  the  soil  and  search  out 
this  plant  food  within  the  short  space  of  110  to  120  days.  Winter 
Wheat  makes  a  start  in  the  autumn,  then  goes  into  its  winter  sleep 
under  a  blanket  of  snow  or  fast  locked  in  frozen  soil,  and  it  is  then 
ready  to  make  further  growth  in  soil  mellowed  by  winter’s  freezing, 
and  therefore  having  more  of  its  mineral  plant  food  available  for 
present  use  by  any  roots  that  are  on  hand  at  the  right  time  to  take 
it  up. — (“American  Agriculturist.”) 
Dairy  Notes. — At  the  Cornell  Experiment  Station  they  tried 
making  cheese  from  milk  containing  various  proportions  of  butter  fat, 
and  they  found  that  of  milk  with  3  per  cent,  fat  100  lbs.  made  8  67  lbs , 
of  cheese.  That  with  4  per  cent,  fat  made  10  8  lbs.  of  cheese  to  the 
100  lbs.  of  milk,  while  of  5  per  cent,  milk  there  was  12’6  lbs.  of  cheese 
to  the  100  lbs.  of  milk,  and  a  milk  with  6  per  cent,  fat  made  14'6  lbs. 
of  cheese  to  the  100  lbs.  of  milk.  While  the  increase  was  not  in  exact 
proportion  to  the  amount  of  butter  fat  in  the  milk,  it  shows  at  least 
that  6  per  cent,  milk  makes  70  per  cent,  more  cheese  than  3  par  cent, 
milk.  This  furnishes  as  good  a  reason  why  those  who  take  their  milk 
to  cheese  factories  should  be  paid  higher  prices  when  the  milk  is  rich 
in  butter  fat,  as  there  is  that  they  should  when  they  take  it  to  the 
creamery.  And  we  would  wager  a  large  Apple  that  the  cheese  made 
from  the  6  per  cent,  milk  was  much  the  best  cheese  of  the  lot  when 
properly  cured ;  and  another,  that  the  cheese  made  from  the  3  per  cent, 
milk  was  not  much  better  than  some  of  what  are  called  partly  skimmed 
cheese. 
