The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1892-09-29

dred acre pasture with forty or fifty
head of sheep in it will support more
cattle than it would without the
sheep. When sheep owners used to
affirm this proposition 1 thought they
were lying, because it was to their in
terest TO do so, but l now beg their
pardon for having thought so.
Wherevere you see pasture with
sheep in it you will see no weeds, and
the ground closely matted with grass
es of the most t. nutritious varieties,
while in an adjoing pasture in which
there are no sheep, on account of the
weeds absorbing SO much of the mois.
ture in the ground and shading it,
there is hardly any grass. These con-
ditions may be seen in almost every
neighborhood and find several far
mers have taken in the situation and
now want a small flock of sheep. If
more partition fences were built and
cotton planted separate from corn and
small grain, at this season of the
year the corn could be gathered
and the sheep turned in the
field, greatly to the benefit of both
the sheep and the field. A email
bunch of sheep, say Of fifty or 100
head, kept about a place Will shear
from one to four pounds more per head
than they will in large heard undtr
ordinary treatment. have seen old
culls and drays out of large herd
seem to get young again when put by
themselves on a farm. They would
raise better lambs and larger per
cent of them than their younger sist-
ers in the big herd, and they would
shear as heavy feeces as they did in
their younger days.
L suppose your readers will conclude
1 have some sheep to sell, but have
not. 1 wish 1 owned some. The
thought of writing this occurred to me
one day between Round Rock and
Pf1engerville, where 1 found some
cuckle burrs and sun flowers so large
they startled my horse and came near
upsetting my buggy.
1 believe you wanted something
horticultural, but if this isn't horti-
cultural, what is it? f. T. RAMSEY.
MAHoMET, Tex.
am glad to have Mr.. Ramsey's
timely remarks about sheep on the
farm. 1t is true he was asked for a
horticultural contribution, as his
opinions and experience in matters
pertaining to the orchard are valued,
but as he says, if his contribution is
not horticultural "what is it?"
Sheep raising on the farm means
more than growing wool and mutton.
These alone pay much larger profit
on the capital and labor employed,
than can be had from any other
source on the farm; and in addition
the fields and pastures are benefited
to an extent that can only be fully
appreciated by those who have made
the experiment, or closely observed.
Sheep will eat little or no grass when
they can secure palatable weeds, such
as abound in Texas. These weeds
now hinder the growth of grass, so
that q flock of sheep will not only
live on weeds, avoided by
cattle and horses, but in remov-
ing them, give the stunted grass
a chance to grow and spread, so that
a pasture with proper number of
sheep in it will be more valuable for
other stock than if no sheep were al
lowed in it.
In addition to the radiance of Mexi-
can weeds, there is the advantage of
a plentiful supply of manure evenly
distributed. Some who claim to know
estimate the manurial value of sheep
at 81 a year. Be that as it may, there
can be no question about the wisdom
of running small flock of sheep on
the farm. There's money in it.