The Russellville Democrat., 1880-06-24

flesh and fat formers to any ordinary crop except potatoes. When hogs have free access to them in fall and spring they are uniformly healthy and entirely free from the ravages of hog cholera: and if brood sows are freely supplied with them they and their pigs invariably 1 do well. The tubers are quite hardy in the Northern States, and if not needed one year they will remain in the ground and fall crop will be produced the fol- lowing season, 50 cultivation being re- quired after the first year. Land too poor to produce profitable crops of po- tatoes or corn will yield paying crops of artichokes
 SHEEP RAISING IN LOUISIANA.
 For twenty years kept a flock of 150 Shutdown sheep on farm ill the blue grass region of Kentucky, and for ten years have had a flock of thesame breed and about the same number on plan tation in the lowlands of Louisiana.
 In reply to your questions concerning the comparative expense and profit of raising sheep in the two sections of country, my experience justifies me in saying the advantages are in favor of Louisiana, for sheep with light feeces, such as the Merino and Southdown.
 In Kentucky, with every precautien, many of the very young lambs perish during the indictment spring weather, while in this climate a less proportion IS lost, with little or no care.
 have never had any fatal disease among my sheep, either in Kentucky or Louisiana, but where pasturage IS limited | the flock should not be allowed to | increase too rapidly, and have found | that under no circumstances IS 1t safe to | have in one flock over 150 sheep. In | larger hocks there is always danger of disease. ze4+.-
 During the winter months in Ken food; here the wild grasses, weeds and young reed canes are quite sufficient to keep them in good condition.
 I abandoned the raising of sheep in Kentucky on account of the trouble with dogs, having as many as twenty killed | in one night. Here, where there are twenty or thirty dogs on the plantation, the sheep have never been molested. The mutton is quite equal in quality to any thing I ever ate anywhere-in fact l have often thought it was more delieatn in flavor.
 The fleeces are not so heavy as colder climates. but we shear twic year-in September and March, and a ready market for any amount of and at prices quite equal to those tained elsewhere. A flock of sheep decided advatage to any plantation; besides being very fruitful source revenue, they keep down weeds in fields, pastures, the roads, and after cane is "laid by" they will keep the fields clear of "tie vine," and in no injure the cane.A
 CARELESS FARMING. fs
 Not only is necessity the mother invention, but also of providence thrift. Waste not, want not, is a maxim and one which the Ameri farmer does not very generally ht He may not waste time or money or uable material, but he certainly wa magnificent opportunities. There is inertia in human affairs that make feel that what we never had we nt lost, and so we proceed, year in and out, reaping only half of what oppo nity has sown for us.
 Careless farming is the trait whio foreigner most observes i'll this couI A failure to raise all or even a S fractional part of what the soil is ble of yielding is fault of wide pr lence. If man by inpei feet break or slovenly sowing, or insufficient W ing, raises only half what his grouI capable of producing, how much b, of is he than if he spent half his tin idleness? Indeed, in one sense h worse off, for personal idleness ma limited to personal consequences, ,wht the unused resources of the cou remain as blot on the national ch ter and tend to produce and inl habits of shiftlessness and sloth. l.N. ta,, h, ings. Philosophers show us that orr nature has wonderful aptitude for forming its character to that of the ronment. Hence careless habits ar alone vicious for the direct loss the, tail but likewise for the positive II they infiict on the community, they are as insidious as malaria, a hard to eradicate as the Canada tn
 By contrast with American farl European husbandmen are models. a spot of ground is wasted, not an that the ground IS capable of yiel that is not laboriously and pati, drawn out and not a measure of rel ishing the soil is neglected. Ina an American farmer planting the aI of the fields at corners which blow can not reachl But such is in Europe, and more soil is carried below and plastered on the ledges ol hills to form a spot of tillage. manure heap in such countries bect an object of tender concern, and wo will quarrel and fight on the public over an apronful of horse-manure, answer to the question why we d. do so here, it may be sufficient to the slang phrase, "We do not hay, this may be satisfactory, while the plenty of land, but those who live enough to grow up with the countr, discover when the latter has reacl respectable stature that "many make muckle" and that trities perfection, but perfection is no tritl
 UNUSUALLY large crops of corn, C and tobacco have been planted thi son. aa g
 CoAL ashes are always good, and seem to delight Tn scratching and ing them over.
 THE guinea fowl is a native of 4 There are five species known to na ists, and only one is domesticated.
 ONE drop of sulphmic acid il heart of plantain or other weed destroy them completely. Care be exercised in it's use.
 AN experimental shipment of barrels of Spitzenberg and Rhode Greening apples was lately made | San Francisco to China.