The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1871-06-06 00:00:00

.;ariculturr.

:•Iltrib WASHING AND /AMAZING COMmOaCits in our
soothern contitii aalo it this time. Thisy.r it mvo, 1,,
rstlier later than usual owing to the we ,ther—frosty
sights being very ihjoriont to newly e limed sheep.
SOlllll fl •ektn•sters have washing pieces built of briek
of • siz. capable of washing one o:to re sheep at
s time accotding as the fi nik it smell or large. Wab r
1.0 on from a stream or pond by means of a pip or
rrolith, and the foul water removed by a drain below.
Olers dam • runnirg stream, the 'tiepin rds rash stunt
pg in • cask whilst washing. The older plan was to
drive the sheep through and through a pont in • river
until the worl was clean—• practice still in foie° in
waribioll mane Blacklaced and Clievidt ii sin molo.
tainous sheepwalks. As soon as the wool m eTy, shriving
commences. 800113 wash the n. wly shorn eh.,
prevent their catching cold. In the list ri loal
Exhibition there is a new machine shown for wasting
sheep.
THII COMING CSOPS.—Mr. J. HEM' writing from
Havendon on the b•rvest prooptc s siys—"A long
and e vi.tn Wl,r,i ii, p snow, in March, and three
tweaks of while f os! 'I in May, fJll.,wirig beery rains
late in April, hove ret.ide I vegetation by keeping the
soil at a low teniperature. .111 have oino.il the crops,
especially on the heavy, undrained lands, to look pale
and unthrifty. Many light lands and fsn lands have
lost the whole or. portion of their wheat plants by the
exiremewinter frost. Nature is making her gr•no
t !fort, and the wheat crops on drained, si. ply-rulti•ated,
and well.fartned lands are resuming their healthy colour,
crowing vigorously aid rapidly, and promising an
sbundsut yield. But is regards heavy, undrained,
sh.llow-plonghed, and poorly4armed earl, tho contrast
sttikinell unf•vourable, (So plants not having tainted
esti and the crops looking pale, the flog thin, narrow,
sod vertical. Lout year, owing to the great heat and
d,3n,a., the unimproved clays product d very good wheat
crop'; but the owe is entirely altered now. Last year
a fatally dry one for light lands and pastures, but
s season the light lands have the advent •ge, and
plows generally good (cops, both wheat and spring crops,
where there is a full plant. There is a promise of plenty
a %arms and peas, and the winter tares end rye are Met-
eor. Permanent ',Wpm. (23,000,000 acres, or half the
er,,pped laud of the United Kingdom) prom e an seeress
rrii, although somewhat defies:at in tie finer grasses,
phigh, being shallow-rooted, are supposed to have
perished in last year's drought. Clovers of last year's
sowing are patchy and indifferent, the young plant having
perished in last summer's drought. Mangle, where the
Lou has been properly prepare' before winter placts
well. Not many potatoes are grown in this neighbour-
hood. Fruit trees are mush blighted. All the mops
on this firm, both on the light and heavy land, promise
abundantly the only exception being • field of red
eu,,r. Altogether, I h ive an impression that the
quantity of human and aninial food (including meat,
butter, ebee-e. sod milk) will tagether, be greater this
year than last, but that the wheat crop on the heavy
;margined clays will be much less than that of last
Tror. Tiro r.. wall an impression that harvest would be
the usual,. but the crops on well-farmed land are
3.w reeking rapt' growth."