Nevada County picayune., 1888-08-01
Making Sheep Profitable.

fears that we cannot compete with foreign wool-growers if the tariff is taken off of wool; that they can sell their wool in our markets cheaper than we can afford to raise il here.- While advocating high tariff and all needed home protection, vet l can not see why we can not grow wool he re as cheap as foreign nations, if we take proper care of our sheep We have quite as many verdant hills and rich plains, and surely can be as energetic if we will. My observa- ton shows that farmers do not take proper care of their hocks and oth- erwise manage them to make all the profit they might make. Raising sheep is very profitable branch of farming, yet few farmers give it thought enough to see whether they are making profit or that branch is an expense. Many farmers give no more attention to their sheep than to feed them little corn through the winter season. A few blades of fodder scattered on their back or little hay composes their feed, and many focks are without shelter more ,..Io of shed. As soon as spring sets Tn these farmers turn their sheep out to get their living in the woods, or some will turn them into an old field to renovate the soil, with nothing to eat but briar and sassafras leaves.
 In May, when a rainy spell comes, to save time in clear weather, they are brought out and their fleeces ta- ken off just when the poor animals need their coats. They are then turned back into the old field to con- tinue fleece growing, killing out the briars and bushes and enriching the soil. l have heard farmers remark that sheep needed nothing more than an old field with plenty of briar and sassafras leaves to eat; that sheep loved this, and would soon free an old field of these pests and improve the soil. have seen sheep at this so-called renovating the soil. turning old fields into fertile gar dens, half frozen, so to speak, look ing similar to the soil they were ren- ovating. To think sheep can live, furnish fleece and make mature to improve old farms, living principal, on briars and sassafras leaves, is an absurd and cruel idea. l believe il takes hungry sheep to eat briai leaves, and the stomach of hungry shepr is proving too strongly on tht general system to make wool or ma nure of any value.
 l believe sheep are very profitable to renovate old farms if they art properly managed and cared for, but to rcnovatc old fields is not all the profit derived from raising sheep. II mutton and wool is where lies tho most profit; still. to gain all tn, profit that may he realized, sheep must be well fed and otherwise treat ed, and all their products properl, cared for and disposed of. Mos every farmer is aware of the fact tha sheep must be fat to make the bes mutton. But few conceive the idle; that properly fed sheep produce more and better wool than poorly fed one. The skin of the sheep i: the soil, so to speak, that the woo the richer this soil. In this wa, wool is a product from feeding, tn, same as fat and flesh. Many farm CTS lose half the profit, or make none at all. from neglect to feed properly with view to the growth of woo and mutton. Sheep, when wei cared for and of good breed, are as profitable as any stock that he longs to the farm. A sheep should have dry clean quarters. sheltered from cold rains and storms. certain ly after the fleece is taken off -- Nothing injures wool more than filth or more effects the health of sheep especially if their quarters are damp Many times fine fleece is credited to the breed, when really there i, more in the feed and care the sheer receives than in the breed. Cor Southern Cultivator.
 
 Radishes may he had in success