The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1871-07-08

RAISING LAMBS FOR NJ ARKET-FrOm
Walks and Talks in American A gri-
culturist The the Deacon never gets
excited about anything; at any rate, he
never shows it. But he is quite enthu-
siastic in his praise of my grade Cots
void lambs. Il always told YOU" he
says, "that cross-bred animals arc
more profitable than thorough-breds."
The truth is, l told the Deacon so;
and it is so far complimentary to find
that he has adopted my views, in part,
even though he claims them for his own.
l say in part, because he does not
clearly understand the point l insist
upon in crossing. | want a thorough
bred ram to cross with common, hardy,
vigorous ewes; whereas the Deacon can
hardly get rid of the idea that cross
bred ram, provided he is as large and
well-formed as the thoroughbred is just
as good, whereas | know that such is
not the case. We have got, up to this
time, 81 lambs from so common Mcrino
ewes from a thoroughbred Cotswold.
They are the healthiest and hardest
lambs ever saw We havo had not
the slightest trouble in any way, and
have lost but one lamb in the whole lot.
One of them weighed, when dropped,
- l-2 lbs, and we had many nearly, or
quite, as large, and the shepherd says
some that were larger This afternoon,
April Cpd, we weighed five of these
grade lambs that are from eight to nine
weeks old They weigh respectively so,
1912, 80 l.2, 47l-2, and 46 l-2 lbs, or
an average of - lbs. each. Is not that
pretty good for ewes that at years old
only weighed so lbs, and that | bought
for cents per lb. The ewes have had
nothing but dry feed, and as soon as
they get some grass, l expect the lambs
to do even better still. We allow the
lambs all tho corn, meal, and bran they
will eat, in small troughs separate from
the ewes; but they do not eat half as
much as l wish they would-not to
exceed 10 lbs, day among the whole
lot. This is the only fault l have to
find with them. | think lambs from
Canada ewes would eat more meal, and
consequently fat better; but some of my
neighbors who have Canada ewes, have
no better lambs than these of mine from
Merino ewes Liberal feeding, and
thoroughbred ram, is the secret in rals-
ing good lambs for the butcher
RENovATING OLD ORCHARDs.-Sev-
eral modes are recommend how this can
be successfully done; but we do not sec
how it can be more effectually done than
by the one we have frequently recon-
mended. That is to cut out all the
dying wood, and three-fourths of the
suckers, scrape the trunks of the trees
completely, removing all the old hard,
broken bark; wash with a preparation
of whale oil soap and water, pound of
the soap to bucket of water; and give
the orchard, not merely under the trees,
but every part oft, heavy top-dressing
of good barnyard manure If there is
any life or productiveness left in the
trees this will bring it out
The suggestion that the trunks of the
trees should be shorn of all the boughs
and allowed to sucker, and some of these
when large enough grated, will prove
failure The grating of the ordinary
suckers growing from the trunks of old
trees can rarely be done with success.
We tried this several times and the
gratis all died at the end of the second
or third year. Far better to graft the
old trees whenever there is any smooth
barked wood near enough to main
bough. They will not only grow, but
in most cases fruit the second year, and
always the third year.
Germantown Telegraph,