Semi-weekly south Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1883-1889, 1885-08-07
SHEEP.


Their Value as Destroyers of WORTHLESS
Plants and rs Land Kenovators.
In the older settled portions of New
England and the Middle States there
are numerous farms which have be-
come so thoroughly run out that it is
difficult to make them produce enough
TO pay for cultivation. Many of these
farms were originally productive and
valuable, and might again become so,
could they be restored to fertility. To
purchase fertilizers or manure for rem
ovating these farms would cost so
much that few who own them would
feel that they could afford the neccs-
sary expense. 1t is desired to call at
tcntion to the value of sheep for reno
waiting WORKOUT land. Sheep can OBJ
tain their living from land so poor that
cattle could scarcely live, and the land
will become more and more productive
each year. Sheep exhaust the land the
least OF almost any product the farmer
can raise and sell. By comparing the
value of the fertil'zing elements re-
moved from the soil. and the market
value of various products sold from
the farm, it will be seen that sheep pos
saSS an advantage over most of the
others. One ton OF good hay removes
from the sol fcrt;lizing elements worth
over ten dollars, and sells for from if.
teen to twenty dollars; one ton o.!
clover removes fcrtili2ng elements
worth twelve dollars, and sells for
about the same; one toL of oats re-
moves nearly twelve collars worth,
and sells for about Twenty-Five or tn rty
dollars; one ton of corn ten dollars
worth, and sells Tor about twenty-five
dollars; win lie onc ton of fat live sheep
removes about thirteen dollars wort,
OF fertil,Zng elements and sells for
from one hundred to one hundred and
forty dollars. Thus it will be seen
that, in proportion to the market value,
fat sheep remove much less from the
soil than either hay or grain.
A few instances of what sheep VII
do in the way of improving and en-
riching land will be of interest in this
connection. In the report of the Maine
Board of Agriculture for 1870, it is
stated that II. g. Abbott of Vassalboro.
Ma ne, had u moving field OF fort ,
acres covered with white weed. vel.
low weed, and very much killed out
lie turned out ten acres of it for pas.
turc and placed fifty sheep upon it, and
allowed them to feed it two years. Tn.
third year he moved it, and obtain,.
the heaviest crop OF hay that he h,tt
ever grown with any amount of dress
ing. Timothy and redtop came in. and
in some places the clover was so hcav,
that the moving machine could not be-
used. 1t was moved several years.
and continued to yield heavy crops oil
hay. A New York farmer bought Il
three hundred and cighty-acre, worn.
out hay farm. which yielded only seven.
teen loads Of hay, forty acres of ryt
produced four hundred bushels of rye,
twenty-five acres of corn Yielded only
five hundrcd bushels. and the rest of thu
farm pasturcd span of horses, foui
oxen and COW. The land was toe
poor to produce red clover, The farm
was stocked with sheep, and in twenty,
six Years had become so much i'm
nroycJ that it produced six hundred
'ons of hay, forty acres of corn yielded
!ilty bushels per acre; thirty acres OF
wheat, fifteen bushels per acre; and
there were thirty acres in oats. eight
,cfes in roots, and three hundred sheer
| rAI,4 ~ sn Il mn II
the land had become rich enough to
produce red clover. that was sown, and
liter that the improvement was rapid.
1t IS said that there are cases in Yer.
mont where sheep farmers have been
compelled TO abandon one farm after
mother rs they became too fertile for
roIitable sheep growing. England, by
he a'd OF sheep husbandry, has beer
'nabled TO increase the productivencS,
If the soil so that the lands which in
,he tine of Elizabeth produced only
tx and Il half bushels per acre on the
lycrage, now average over thirty bush,
Els per acre.
Lands which ara already rich and
productive, by the presence of sheep
re made richer and more productive.
Ion. George GeddeS. whom Horace
irerley used to regard as the highest
authority on agricultural matters in
Jew York State, and who has RI scd
hcrp in connection with IA 's'ng wheat
or many years, says that with one
hccp to the acre of cultivated land,
,a'turc and meadows, he raised moro
,u>hclS of grair on the aN erage than he
Id before he had sheep to manufac-
IRE the coarse fodder into manure and
. enrich his pasture, preparatory to
he gram crop; that the land is CON
family improving and the crop in.
rcaSing, and that while producing
'rops on less acres and at less cost
han he did before he kept sheep. he
us, in addition, the wool and mutton
,roluced by the sheep. Even farmers
~ the rich farms of the West find il
ltaatageous to keep sheep for thcil
Hrovnting influence on the soil. A
Hiscon in farmer finds Chat by keeping
ieep he is able to raise twenty-five
! u'!iels OF wheat per acre, while the
vrage yield of wheat in the Stlte i,
al Y ten bushels per acre. WORKOUT
and in the South, by pasturing sheep,
an be renovated in few years so ~
20 become vciy product We. There are
Hw farms which would not be made
more fer lie and more productive by
sheep husbandry. In Holland, where
nearly all of the farms are rich as gar.
lens, sheep are kept on nearly every
one of them.
Sheep are very beneficial in the way
OF killing ont bushes and briers, be
sides increasing fertility. Many kind,
of plants which cattle and horses re.
fuse to eat, sheep relish; hence it is very
beneficial to pastures to have few
sheep in them, to keep in check the
plants which other stock refuse to eat
In report of committee of the Hou
satonic (Mass.) Agricultural Society
we find the following in regard to thu
beneficial effects of sheep: If judi
ciously managed they will improve oul
lands greatly and speedily. Whenever
n sheep lies down-if it has reason
able amount ofroom-the grass spring,
up. They furnish the cheapest mean,
for clearing up the old pastures which
under a system of exclusive cattle hus
bandry are becoming overgroYn with
briers, weeds and MOSES. They make
| short work Of such ruhhish and hyin,