Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1864-03-10
FARM and ClRDEy,
SREEP HUsBANDRY.-Judge French in an
article for the Country Gentleman, has!the fol-

become manifest to observing men, that all
over the country, on the prairies and on the
small farms of New England sheep husband
| ry would m future prove most profitable
branch OF agriculture. Those who were IA
miliar with English farming, and knew that
its whole system depends upon the sheep, as
the enrlcher of the soil, and that their system
was permanent and improving system, while
ours, if indeed We have any system, is tenn
porary and exhausting, they especially were
advocates for the introduction of sheep upon
our old farms. .r.
/ 1t was argued too, that breeds of mutton
sheep, such as are approved in England, ia
stead of the fine woods common in this coun-
| try, might be found most profitable, especial
| ~ near large markets, where the freight
| which is so much greater in proportion to
value upon the meat than upon wool would
be of small account .'.-.-
All these considerations have still their
F! weight, but the war, with the high price of
| cotton, has added new reasons for increased
! attention to the subject. We have hereto
| fore used cotton because it was cheaper than
| wool Now, taking all things into account,
with about equal prices per pound of the raw
| material, wooden fabrics are even cheaper
than cotton. The clothing of soldiers is al
| most exclusively of wool, and it is so, because
/ it is the only material that sufficiently pro-
| tects those exposed to great hardships and to
sudden alterations of heat and cold. To fit
out a million of men, and maintain half that
! number constantly in the field, has consumed
vast quantities of wool.
1t may be assumed that cotton will not for
many years be reduced to its former low price
| and it may safely be assumed too, that wooden
/ fabrics, after having been thoroughly intro
/ duced into general use, will always be pre-
| ferred to cotton or linen, except for special
| uses
| We rapidly finding out too, in this
! country, what has long been known abroad,
especially in England, that mutton of really
| good quality Is not inferior as food, to any
other meat. Before the war, Boston used TO
get some Of her best mutton from Kentucky,
and the British steamers furnished the Astor
| House and Fifth Avenue Hotel with choice
South Down. 1t is easily demonstrated that
a pound of good mutton be produced
| generally cheaper, than the like quantity of
| beef The sheep pays large interest annually
both in the fleece and in lambs, while the
| bullock take three years credit before he
| repays at all.
| The report of the Department of Agricul-
ture for 1862, contains capital article, COW
ering 43 pages upon the Condition and
Prospects of Sheep Husbandry in the United
States" ..-. -~
Inc authors name uOes not appear, but
for guess, we will attribute it to Mr.. Grin
nell, the chief clerk Of that department
1t is well considered and exhaustive, giving
the statistics of sheep husbandry in the
States, the imports of wool and WOODEN fab
RIGS, the comparative prices of wool in differ
ent years, since 1924, the wool supply of
Great Britain, with we'll considered remarks
upon the different breeds of sheep and their
management, and the profits of raising NUT
ton, wool and lambs. In Short could the
reader have access to the article in question,
we should recommend him not to spend much
time in reading our remarks on the subject,
| which have only the merit of breyity, which
is imposed upon writer's for weekly papers.
| One fact is worthy of special attention,
namely, that long woods in the fleece com
niand about the same price now as short woods.
| Without presuming to even intimate op;u-.
! ion IN favor of any particular breed which
we we'll know would call down wrath and in
| dignatiOn from the breeders of every other
sort, ii may be said in general that the long
woods or middle woods are more hardy, more
prolific, better nurses, and bear heavier
fleece than the fine woods. The improved
Leicester or Dishley sheep, which in England
is priced because of its early maturity under
the most luxurious feeding with turnips and
oil cake, is an exception to this rule. An
English friend in a letter, says that his flock
of nine hundred improved Lincolns averaged
9 l-2 pounds per fleece at the last shearng
which is perhaps greater than any equal num-
Der of any breed ever yielded in our coun-
try.
Again, it is said that the silky luster which
belongs to some wool, and which is now much
priced in ladies' dress goods depends not on
fneness Of fiber, but is found in greatest per-
lection in certain breeds Of long woods. 1t is
a quality so valuable, that it occasions a diff
ference of 25 per cent. over other woods of
equal fneness
On the whole, we believe that the pros
poets of sheep husbandry were never so
good as at the present time, whether upon
the rough old New England farms, which de-
mand renewal that no other treatment can
give, or upon the vast praires where guard
ing and slight protection are the only requis-
ties to abundant success. .T
THE TINE TO PLANT-We are frequently
asked if Spring OF Fall is the best time to
transplant shrubs, trees, evergreens, &c. Our
answer is for this latitude and North, the
Spring. Especially is this true if the trees
are not perfectly hardy, and if not done quite
early in the Fall.
There are several reasons why the spring is
the best. One Of these is that quite frequent
" simply hole hes to be dug in which to
plant This in retentive soil, in the fall will
Gil with water the first rain, and the roots re
main in perfect puddle. A great many will
say why not alter this the ground, if pro-
perly prepared, will not stand in puddles.-
This is true enough, but we fear, in our own
country, if no tree was planted until the gar
dener had pronounced it well prepared fewer
still would be planted, which would be pity;
when, as is we'll known, if planted in the
spring, just before the expanding OF the leaves
they would go on and flourish finely. We
have seen trees planted at almost all seasons
of the year, and have an example short dis
lance from where we write of quite an extern
sive plantation of large evcrgreens, say ON
s to 10 feet high, planted last summer, and at
time too when no rain was falling. The new
growth had pushed some six inches more or
less, and was perfectly soft, so much so that
the effect OF removing was to PROSTATE these
branches entirely, much of it dying off, some
of the shoots lived but entirely stunted in
appearance, although not over six died out
right out of some one hundred trees. We
also recollect last summer of some magnificent
specimens of Norway frs being shipped by
rail from Mendoza to this city. These were
ten feet or over in height very wide base, yet
| they did not all die, and with the lot before
| spoken of, we quite believe will mostly wealth
, er the storm and ultimately make fair trees.
| They make no such appearance, however,
as they would have done had they been plant
| ed Just before the shoots bursted into new
| growth, say the last two weeks in April in
| this latitude The effect of removal might
| have been check to ex1berant growth, but
/ what was made would be healthy and the tree
in condition to push with full vigor the en-
! suing summer.