20 
January  5,  1809. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND 
COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
lambs,  whether  they  are  to  go  ofE  fat  from  turnips  or  from  summer 
pasture,  or  even  to  wait  and  make  shearlings  for  Christmas  again, 
should  receive  more  forcing  treatment  than  is  always  advisable 
during  the  autumn.  Different  classes  of  sheep  arc  suitable  for 
different  purposes.  The  early  maturing  black-faced  breeds,  such  as  the 
Hampshire  Down,  will  stand  much  more  forcing  and  richer  food 
than  the  heavier  breeds  up  to  a  certain  age,  but  we  have  found  the 
latter  make  the  better  sheep  at  a  year  old,  because  they  keep  sounder 
on  their  feet. 
The  fact  is  sheep  are  like  horses  and  all  other  animals,  they  cannot 
stand  heavy  feeding  for  too  long  a  period,  and  wethers  which  are  to 
be  kept  to  twenty  months  old,  must  not  be  highly  fed  until  they 
have  passed  the  tentli  month  of  their  age.  By  high  feeding  we 
mean  the  use  of  foods  calculated  to  form  flesh  and  fat  rather  than  bone. 
The  mature  animal  must  be  built  up  first  before  it  is  fed  ;  the  young 
prematurely  forced  animal  must  be  killed  as  soon  as  ready  for  marker, 
for  if  alloaved  to  pass  the  ago  of  what  we  may  here  call  piemature 
maturity,  there  is  a  danger  of  deterioration,  and  a  possibility  of  never 
reaching  again  the  same  standard  of  excellence. 
It  therefore  lehoves  us  at  this  period  of  the  year  to  look  carefully 
over  our  docks,  and  see  that  we  are  not  carrying  over  too  long  sheep 
which  are  now  at  their  best,  and  that  those  which  are  capable  of 
more  improvement  are  pushed  on  to  a  profitable  sale  at  the  earliest 
opportunity. 
So  much  depends  on  the  staple  food  of  a  feeding  flock  that  it  is 
difficult  to  recommend  a  common  ration  of  artificials.  Where  Turnips 
are  plentiful,  and  form  the  chief  food,  a  fair  propoition  of  bulky  dry 
adjuncts,  such  as  dried  grains  or  malt  culm,  added  to  cut  (or  chaffed) 
straw  should  still  be  used,  particularly  during  perieds  of  sharp  frost, 
in  addition  to  a  due  allowance  of  oil  cake  and  corn. 
For  feeding  sheep,  with  Turnips  ad  lilitum,  we  think  the  following 
an  excellent  dry  ration  for  every  ten  sheep  per  day  : — 
2  lbs.  dried  grains  or  malt  culir.s, 
3  Its.  decorticated  cotton  cake,  ground  fine, 
2  lb?,  beanmeal, 
1  lb.  linseed  cake.  1 
As  much  cut  straw  as  they  will  consume  is  mixed  with  the  above  and 
2  ozs.  of  flowers  of  sulphur  jer  wetk.  This  ration  may  gradually  be 
increased  by  the  addition  of  more  oil  cake,  but  not  more  than  5  lbs. 
altogether,  and  perhaps  the  addition  might  le  safer  if  given  in  the 
form  of  linseed,  d  he  mixture  above  mentioned -works  out  to  0  8  lb. 
per  head  per  day,  and  the  5  lbs.  additional  would  bring  it  up  to 
1‘3  lb.  per  he.ad  per  day,  and  this  is  as  much  artificial  food  as  a  sheep 
will  pay  for,  except  in  the  case  of  pedigree  rams,  which  we  need  not 
consider  in  connection  with  feeding  for  mutton  only. 
The  artificials  may  be  given  all  mixed  together,  but  when  the 
amount  reaches  1  lb.  per  day  it  will  be  found  letter  to  give  it  in  two 
meals  instead  of  one,  ar.d  the  cakes  are  better  given  seprarately  from 
the  grains,  culms,  or  beanmcal.  These  latter  w'ould  be  very  useful  to 
scatter  over  the  cut  roots  left  in  the  troughs  in  the  forenoon.  The 
careful  shepDherd  likes  to  keep  his  feeding  sheep  in  a  quiet  and  sati.-fied 
condition,  and  when  after  lying  down  peaceably  for  an  hour  or  two 
they  get  up  and  go  to  the  trough,  if  they  find  something  attractive 
there  they  eat  for  a  few  minutes  and  then  lie  down  for  another  rest 
period;  but  if  they  find  nothing  to  satisfy  them  they  wander  about, 
disturb, others  which  are  resting,  and  soon  the  whole  fold  is  up  and 
on  the  alert. 
Some  shepherds  give  the  c.rke  ration  first  thing  in  the  morning, 
and  there  is  good  reason  for  this  when  the  animals  have  been,  as 
they  are  during  the  short  days,  wdthout  food  for  fifteen  hours;  but 
we  should  ourselves  prefer  to  give  it  as  the  last  meal  instead  of  the 
first,  especially  in  fine  frosty  weather,  for  the  solid  food  with  its 
percentage  of  oil  helps  to  keep  the  body  warm  during  the  night, 
and  besides  this  it  prevents  the  sheep  eating  too  many  roots 
tow'ards  the  close  of  the  day.  Roots  which  contain  such  a  largo 
percentage  of  water  cannot  be  good  for  animals  to  sleep  upoon,  and 
in  this  connection  we  must  advise  the  shepherd  or  some  efficient 
substitute  always  to  visit  the  fol  1  about  9  or  10  p.m.,  not  only  to  see 
that  none  are  on  their  backs,  but  to  set  all  up  on  their  feet,  and  give 
them  a  turn  round  the  fold.  Lying  still  the  whole  night  on  cold  or 
wet  ground  without  moving  is  a  fruitful  source  cf  ill  amongst  even 
such  hardy  things  as  sheep. 
We  have  presumed  that  Turnips  are  pdentiful  and  hay  compara¬ 
tively  scarce.  Where  these  conditions  are  reversed  the  dried  grains  or 
malt  culms  may  be  dispiensed  w’ith,  as  good  hay  will  answer  the  same 
purprose.  The  oil  cakd,  however,  should  be  a  necessity,  and  the  bean- 
meal  discarded  in  favour  of  Barley  or  Maize — f.e.,  if  the.stapde  food  of 
the  sheep  be  hay  consumed  on  grass.  To  sum  up.  The  more  roots 
the  more  nitrogenous  foods  and  fat,  the  less  roots  the  more  carbonaceous 
foods,  .such  as  Maize  or  Barley,  but  good  sound  cake  is  always  in  the 
right  place. 
WORK  ON  THE  HOME  FARM. 
The  weather  ia  still  open.  Christmas  promised  to  be  seasonable,  but 
the  frost  was  very  temporary,  and  insufficient  to  have  much  effect  on 
heavy  soil.  It  is  now  as  mild  as  ever,  and  ploughing  goes  on  merrily 
where  there  is  any  left  to  do.  We  are  ploughing  close  up  behind  the 
sheep-fold,  and  are  thinking  of  cross-cutting  fallows  soon  unless  we  have 
a  change. 
Of  course  there  will  soon  be  need  to  relieve  the  yards  of  a  little  muck, 
but  we  prefer  to  keep  that  work  in  reserve  for  frosty  weather.  The 
question  is,  Will  there  be  any  ?  I’erhnps  in  April  or  May,  just  when  it 
is  not  wanted. 
We  are  scotching  and  trimming  the  various  hedges,  those  next  the 
fallows  being  done  first  ;  we  can  then  plough  round  close  up  to  the  fence 
turning  the  furrow  from  it.  A  man  sent  round  the  field  with  a  fork  will 
soon  shake  the  sod  out  further  from  the  hedge,  where  it  can  be  dealt 
with  by  the  drag  and  harrows  later  on.  After  cleaning,  the  furrow  may 
be  ploughed  back  again  to  the  fence.  Field  corners  may  be  dug  now, 
which  could  not  have  been  easily  done  when  the  land  was  so  hard  and 
dry. 
Wheats  are  looking  fairly  well,  but  laiks  are  still  doing  mischief. 
We  are  afraid  Wheat  may  lose  root  in  early  spring.  When  walking  over 
it  we  find  the  land  not  solid  enough,  and  the  roller  must  be  used  at  the 
earliest  opportunity.  Though  it  might  not  suit  everybod)’,  we  should 
rather  like  a  good  covering  of  snow,  and  then  a  month’s  frost.  More 
moisture  is  urgently  needed,  for  springs  are  still  low,  and  very  unfit  to 
meet  another  drj’  summer. 
We  have  a  man  salving  the  ewes  ;  he  declares  them  to  be  rather  low 
in  condition,  so  we  shall  put  them  with  the  gimmer  hoggs,  and  give 
them  cut  Turnips  for  six  weeks.  Ewes  may  easily  be  overfed  before 
Christmas,  but  not  after.  If  an  ewe  has  a  good  back  at  lambing  time 
she  can  well  rear  lambs,  for  there  is  some  spare  flesh  to  milk  off. 
METEOROLOGICAL  OBSERVATIONS. 
Camden  Square,  London. 
Lat.  51°  32'  40"  N.;  Long.  0°  8'  0"  W.;  Altitude  111  feet. 
Date. 
9  A.M. 
In  the  Day. 
.5 
‘<4 
1898. 
December. 
Barometer 
at  32°,  and 
Sea  Level 
Hygrometer 
Direc¬ 
tion  of 
Wind. 
Temp, 
of  soil 
at 
1  foot 
Shade Tern, 
perature. 
Radiation 
Tempera¬ 
ture. 
Dry. 
Wet. 
Max. 
Min. 
Sun 
On 
Grass 
inchs 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
inchsi. 
25 
30-413 
44-0 
41-2 
S. 
40-0 
48-9 
35-6 
54-8 
31-3 
— 
26 
30-168 
47-2 
45-3 
s.w. 
41-3 
54-8 
42-6 
54-9 
34-7 
— 
27 
29-619 
54-6 
47-4 
s.w. 
43-0 
55-2 
46-7 
57-9 
44-4 
0-7,50 
28 
29  •,5,56 
39-1 
38-0 
s.w. 
43-9 
46-6 
38-8 
56-8 
33-7 
0-029- 
Thursday  .. 
29 
■29 -312 
46-7 
45-2 
s. 
42-0 
50-7 
35-7 
.55-8 
30-2 
0-092 
30 
-29-683 
37  -9 
34-8 
N. 
42-9 
40-0 
37  -6 
56-1 
32-0 
— 
Saturday.. .. 
31 
29-746 
37-9 
35-4 
S.E. 
40-8 
45-0 
•27-3 
45-5 
23-2 
0-212 
29-785 
43-9 
41-0 
42-0 
48-7 
37-8 
54-5 
82-8 
1-083 
REMARKS. 
25th.— Fair,  with  some  sunshine  in  morning,  and  bright  night. 
26th.— Fair  day,  milder,  with  gleams  of  sun  in  morning  ;  gale  at  night. 
27th.— flale  all  day  ;  fair  early  ;  spots  of  rain  from  11  a. M.,  anil  inces.sant  rain  frenn 
1  P..M.,  very  heavy  at  2.30  p.m. 
28th.— Rain  till  2  a.m.  ;  clear  sunny  day  ;  moonlight  night  with  halo. 
2yth.— Dull  almost  throughout  with  frequent  rain  ;  gleams  of  sun  between  2  and 
4  P.M. 
30th.— Almost  cloudless  throughout. 
gtst. — Fair  early  ;  dull  wdth  frequent  rain  after  10  A.Vt. 
A  mild  wet  week  completing  a  very  mild  December.— G.  J.  Symons. 
