Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1858-08-27
From the Rural New Yorker.
Notes by an Ohio Farmer.


Mopr or KEEPING SuErr. will give my
way Of keeping sheep. and Us Il is good
and cheap way, perhaps 1t will interc't
those OF your readers who are wool growers
I have my sheep IA, before winter sets In
by keeping them on good pasture. Through
the winter I give them as much good hay
as they will eat twice and II they can get
no pasture. three times day, There ap'
pears 20 be great difference Of opinion
with regard to the best kinds OF racks, or
the best mode Of feeding hay to sheep. l
have found that when the ground Is scovered
with snow. the best way Is TO put it In
punches on the ground. With ono or two
feeding, they will tramp the snow down
hard, aud after that, by being careful to not
give them more than they will consume,
they will eat II all M clean, without waste
but when background is not frozen, or has
no snow on !, there ought to be proper
kinds Of racks. With good warm house
and plenty Of good hay they will no,
need grain.
1 KEEP, flock Of 100 last winter in this
manner !; no, one died aud they kept fat,
while Others who fcd grain had not as good
sheep. The cause Of this was, | think,
their sheep were no, IA, when winter com.
mencod, and when this is the case II is no
easy matter to have them Fat in the spring
| also kept 2s lambs las, winter without
grain. aud they are rs nice ycarllng' as !
ever saw. They averaged I lbs. Of wool
some going as high a. 6 l'2 pounds.
MANURE, &c. In the Annual RePor,
Of the franklin Co. Ago Society occurs the
following passage: Prof LlEniG has taught
US, tha, in 1900 pounds Of horse manure
when rotted. there is but go lbs, or one
sixteenth Of real manure, the residue, fifteen
sixiectths having escaped IN the atmosphere,
I Common sense should teach us, that when
the manure is fresh we can save the ammo
MIA from escaping, by the application OF
Stacked limo, making such a compost tho
chcnrcs. and most valuable OF all manurcs
within our reach. except green crops. The
| least calculation will teach Us that we can
no, afford to purchase guano, bone du', &C.,
in Ohio. All thc-o practical matters we
can teach 70 our uncducated farmers, but
10 talk To them about analysis is sheer non.
sense" Now It strikes US that this is mol,
all according To the RrElL. lsitT
Tux RURAL, There is no paper that ever
came To these parts that Is like be,,or than
the RuR,L. l, i, me paper for farmers,
and as quick as money becomes plenty you
will hayea good many more subscribers
from here.
NuSHEK OF DAYS or RrS. In May 1857
there were 10 days OF rain. June 81 July
10. Angus, II 4; September IL : November
IS December .. In January 1858 there
were 6 March O April 10; ; May 81. Ma.
king total Of lGl days Of rain in IL
months, an average Of IL 7!1l days to the
month.
Leccyuillc, Ohio, 1853. f.
'REu,Rks. LiEBIo taught some things
about manures that arc not sustained by cH-
reriencc. Direct and carclul experiments
have shown that 100 weight OF fresh farm
ward manure are reduced TO so cwt., II al
lowed 10 lie until the straw is half rotten.
II allowed To icrmcnt until it becomes a
=" fat or chee.y" mas 1t Is reduced to 90
cwt. Ifit remains until It Is completely do
COMPOSED !, is reduced to less than 80 cwt'
This loss is partly water. aud partly OF the
mos, ieriiliIing ingredient OF the manure
nitrogen. Chemical analysis has shown
that 100 cwts. OF common farm yard ma
nurc contain about Of ~ lbs. OF nitrogen
and that during fermentation in the fret Pc
riod, 3 lbs. OF nitIogen arc dissipated in
the form Of the volatile ammonia; in the
second, 10 lbs. ia the third 20 lbs. Com
pletoly decomposed common manure has
thus lost abou, ons.hdT ofits most valuable
constituents. II mannre could be plowet
under fresh Of course this waste would be
saved. This however cannot DO done at
all times. and in the Rural Of July iTih, vi
spoke Of the hes, means Of preventing the
waste Of manure, in tho compost heap
Lime il about the last thing We would
think Of using.