The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1871-11-09
FARM AND HOUSEHOLD.


BREEDING FOR Wool AND BREEDING
FOR MUTToN.--7he Liye ,StOcb Journal
says; Now that sheep are again attract
ing attention, the advocates for the diff
ferent breeds are waxing warm. When
either one confines himself To setting
forth the merits Of particular variety,
he generally does not overrate the good
points of his favorite but when he in
stitutes comparisons with a view to
prove that under all circumstances o par
ticular breed is better than all others,
he seems to us to go wide of the truth.
We believe there are few localities in
this country where improved stock of
this class can be grown at all, in which
either of the better breeds, in the hands
of thorough shepherd, would not for
series of years prove reasonably re-
munerative. At the same time, we ell
tertain little doubt that some varieties
would, under certain conditions of soil,
climate, and accessibility to market,
prove more profitable than others. 1t
seems highly probable that both mutton
and wool can be grown on the great
central plains of the United States, in
open competition with the production
of South America, Australia, or else
where; and at the same time there is
no more reason to suppose that sheep
husbandry in the older States will thus
be rendered Improbable, than that the
sheep husbandry of Germany, France, or
England, will be suspended, and become
@ thing of the past from the same cause.
The incidental benefits of sheep raising
to general agriculture are such as to
insure the continuance of that branch
of live stock husbandry, and, as soils
are more and more imperative, the va
rieties to be grown may be safely left to
local conditions, and the individual pref
erence of each shepherd or farmer.
FATTEN1NG CATTLE ON GRAss.-In
Great Britain and Ireland the wealth.
lest and most Independent farmers are
those who occupy large farms of good
grass land, and who fatten and sell an
nually large numbers of cattle. This
they keep very little of the land in
tillage, do not winter large numbers of
cattle, but buy two or three-year-old
heifers and steers in the spring, keep
them on choice pasture during the sum-
mer and autumn, and sell before the
animals begin to lose flesh late in the
fall. The vast herds of Texan cattle
are sometimes managed in a similar
way, being purchased when in low
condition, and drive on the rancho and
succulent prairie grass until they have
become nearly fat. Farmers who have
good grass land should devote at least a
portion of it to fattening stock; good
two or three-year- heiters and steers,
kept on a rich pasture for six months,
would probably pay better than inferior
tillage. The money would all come to-
gether, and the cost of transportation,
compared with that of cereals, would
be trifling. Every farmer should fatten
all his young stock that are not requir-
ed for the dairy or yoke. Selling stock
of any kind before they are properly
made up for the market is very bad
management, and great deal of money
is lost by farmers every year in this way.
Colnnan's Rural World.
ECONOMY OF LONG FURRows IN
PLowINa.-A German agricultural Jour-
nal observes that farmers usually pay
very little attention to the length of the
burrows to be plowed in field, and
yet great waste Of time and labor is the
necessary consequence of unsuitable
arrangements in this respect. The
turning of the plow and the commenc-
ing of new furrow requires more
exertion in the plowman and the team
than continued work on straight line,
and how great may really be the loss OF
time from frequent Interruptions in
short turns may be shown by the fol-
lowing calculation: In a field 225 feet
long, five and half hours out of ten are
used in redirecting the plow; with a
length of 575 feet, four hours are sufi-
cient for the purpose, and when the plow
can proceed without interruption for
500 feet, one and half hours of the
daily working time are consumed
Hence the rule to make the burrows as
long as circumstances will admit.