Grand River times. [volume] (Grand Haven, Mich.) 1851-18??, 1851-12-03
TO THE FARMER-SHEEp.

TO THE FARMER-SHEEP.
have long thought that the farmer who tolls
from day to day, and puts in his fifty and a
hundred acres of wheat, and thereby sees their
hopes blasted from year to year, only receiving
an average of about ten bushels of wheat to
the acre, will awake from stupor, and put his
farm in situation to raise sheep
Is there any good reason why the rich pas
lures of our hills and timbered lands and the
extensive prairies of the West cannot produce
as good tlocks of sheep, and as fine qualities of
wool, as similar regions in Saxony or England
or why the manufacturing skill and industry of
our country cannot successfully compete with
the artzans Of the world? This cannot be ac-
complshed at once. Time, capital and perse-
verence must and will be employed and exer-
ted, and it appears to me that there is an evil
dent waking up with some cnterprising famers
in Washtenaw County and the far West
The prices which all kinds Of wool, and more
particularly the higher grades, have command
ed for year or two past, have justified the at
tention which is about commencing in this
branch of farming operations, and is beginning
to employ capital.
The farmers who have been foremost in in
Producing the best breeds of sheep into our
growing State well deserve the thanks of this
community. 1t will generally be granted that
there are some sections of our country that are
better adapted to the production of grain--such
as sandy soils and the many plain farms and the
praries of the West; and other soils-such as
rolling timbered lands, which are most excel
lent for pasturage and the rearing of stock !;
and in such cases nature herself seems to have
pointed out the most proper means to be adop-
ted in the cultivation of the soil.
Too long have many Of the farmers in the
older parts of our state been engaged in the
cultivation of wheat and corn-so long, at least,
that they have exhausted their lands in great
measure Of the properties in the soil necessary
to raise these crops to advantage.
Tolerable crops have been raised in some
seasons, but as general thing for the last four
years, with the exception of the last year, the
grain system of farming has proved failure.
think, until grain commands higher price
than at the present, and is more sure crop, the
farmer should not undertake to force its growth
on the soil, without more general rotation of
crops, and every farmer ought TO know the soil
adapted to the different kinds of crops, and he
who with the present light of experience, and
the present prospects before him, will persist
in sowing wheat on lands without the nse Of
iiuic III HiS Soii, VI PIiiItiilS Coll oH tHc HiSh
clay hills when he might cover his hills and
plains with herds and focks, most clearly mis-
takes his true interest 1t needs but little skill
to show that where the average crop of wheat
does not exceed but about ten bushels to the
acre, that it cannot be raised with profit, and
it is my honest opinion that the best way for
the owner of timbered land, or the worn out light
sandy soils, is to sow herds grass and clover,
and convert his farm at once into grazing
farm. There is every prospect that all grades
Of wool will continue ut good price, since
it may be considered one of the necessaries of
life, and cannot easily be dispensed with.
With farm adapted to the growth of grass,
taking all things into consideration, the WOOL
grower and the dairy-man cannot fall far behind
the wheat and corn grower in nett profit as ma
ny farmers have imagined.
In selecting flock of sheep, much care and
attention is required, in order that the breeds
of sheep and the quality of the wool may be of
the kind desired. There is at this time quite a
controversy going on in Michigan, between the
friends Of the choice kinds of sheep-such as
Paular, Merino, South Downs, &C., and the
mixed breeds and common native sheep.
Cor Michigan Argus.