Prescott journal. [volume] (Prescott, Wis.) 1861-1871, 1866-12-01
AGRICULTURAL
FARM, GARDEN AND HOUSEHOLD.

FALL MANAGEMENT OF SHEEP. Thu
advice of a farmer of long and success
full experience on a stock farm, to Civ,
your sheep q good run in the summer
get them In good condition during tina
season of the year when they gathe
their own food, is so simple and self-ev
ident that its repetition would almos
imply that the readers of this depart
ment were regarded as deficient il
good sense. The Importance of in
creas d care and attention through the
months of autumn, usually visited by
frequent storms of rain and snow, wher
the scarcity of heritage reduces the Wig
or and power of resistance to cold, il
equally apparent. Yet the too frequent
neglect of the flock at this season, by
many who are conscious of their loss,
must be the only apology here, as in
many other instances, for urging the
fiock-master to do what he cannot fail
to know is demanded of him by aregard
for his own interests, as well as the
SPECIFICS appeals for his protection by
the defenceless animals which fortune
has placed in his care, and for the hu-
name treatment of which he is respon-
sible.
1t requires much smaller expendi-
ture of feed to keep an animal in good
condition than to restore them after
they are allowed to fall away. Bring
your sheep to the barn in good order,
and with comfortable quarters and coed
hay, they can easily be made to thrive
through the winter. If permitted to
lose flesh in the fall, they lose also
something of vigor and energy, and
come up with apitites less keen and
healthful. 1t is difficult to make them
| fill themselves. A liberal feeding of
grain is necessary to bring them to a
good condition.
Keep them gaining throughout the
fall, If possible. BY all means do not
allow them to lose. When the feed be-
comes dry and short, little mess of
corn day will help. A bushel of grain
fed at this time is worth two bushels
late in the winter
Breeding ewes, especially, should be
attended to. Keep them thriving every
day, and they will bring large, well de
veloped lambs, and yield plenty of milk.
Let them grow poor now, and the loss
can not be regained; next fall you will
have a thin eve and a mean lamb.
Sheep should not be exposed to the
fall rams. They are very sensitive to
cold and wet. The evident discomfort
with which they submit to soaking
rains, even in the warm days of sum-
mer time, shows that it is, TO some ex-
tent, injurious. The falling rain is
usually cooler than the atmosphere.
The evaporation of water retained
by the fleece, iberates heat from the
body. A chill, cold, and often fever
is the result. If all these evils are es.
capped, the extra consumption of food
to sustain the animal heat is positive
and a considerable loss.
Do not leave them to seek shelter in
the woods. Bring them to the barn in
every cold storm. Give them a little
hay. The cost of few bushels of grain
and a few hours time at this season,
will be repaid four-fold in the improv-
ed condition of the sheep.
One of the incidents of fall manage
ment is the seasonable plan for the an
nual crop of early lambs There is
wide difference in the customs of breed.
ers, as to the time that lambs shall come,
ranging all the way from January until
the last of May and June.
An early LAM. dropped the last of
March or the first of April, 10 best. Tt
is large enough to make part of its liv-
ing on grass when first turned ont. 1t
is sufficiently developed in size and
strength to endure the hardships of fall
and winter. Its growth is more regular
and healthful. 1t makes better sheep.
1t is weaned early enough to allow the
dam to recruit in the early fall.
There is little gained In having them
cone in winter. The necessity for extra
feed and care is an objection. 1t is not
the season appointed by nature.-N,
II. Farmer.
PREPARING TREES To ENDURE THE
WINTER. As animals endure exposure to
storm aud cold, the better when well
fed and clothed, SO do trees. If their
shoots and buds are full and plump,
and well supplied with healthful ma
terial contributed from clean, healthy
leaves, the chemical movements which
attend growth, assist greatly in main
tanning the tree against cold by heat
which is developed. In thin, weakly
tree this force is wanting, A great aid
4
mulch or covering of the surface dur
ing the winter, with some vegetable
material in state of decomposition.
This shelters the roots and imparts
warmth, evolved by its slow combus-
ton, and the more If heterogeneous mat
ter is included, as in stable manure,
for this is better. This application is of
vastly more usefulness when applied in
the autumn than if left till spring, not
only on account of the shelter it affords,
but because of its advancing a strong
| growth early in the spring, which be-
comes we'll ripened before winter;
whereas manure applied in the spring,
especially if raw, often does not become
effective until late in the season, when
the wood should be ripening instead of
growing. For a ripe, ruddy, well var
nished and finished coat of bark, is to
| the tree what the coat is to the animal,
and something more, and the effect of
a very small break or rent in it shows
how very important its perfect condi-
ton is, especially that of its outer skin
or epiderm. 1t must be remembered
that the bark only ripens well in full
light. Trees, therefore, must have
their wood both well ripened and well
fed.-COuntry Gentleman.
| FATTENING Fowls. ALI summer long
the farmer and his family have fused
with the poultry; the young chickens
and turkeys need care in the long rain
storms, and protection against nocturn-
al depredators. just as they were fully
grown out of danger, the shrewd buck
| ota,. yoo aa hia opnaarauao buva fatfapo