Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1895-07-27
Sheep as Restorers Of Fertility.

As stated in former article. one of the
greatest reasons for the decrease of the
better class of vegetation and the increase
of weeds In New England is the great loss
of fertility, by tho constant removal of the
same in the crops, and by the COWS that
have for SO long been pastured upon the
then they are to be restored to their form
or productiveness the fertility must In
some way be put back. Not that those
soils have no element of plant growth left,
but what now remains is SO combined
with other elements as to be unavailable
to the plant for use in building up the
structure. So far as the plants are con
cerned it might just as well not exist as
to be there unavailable. OF what use Is
the ocean of water surrounding boat
load Of shipwrecked people floating upon
Its bosom and dying of thirst so long as
no one can drink of the abundance? OF
course nature is slowly rendering por-
ton of this fertility available but her
processes are so slow and mans needs so
great and his exhaustion so rapid that he
must in some way furnish portion of
what is required or be content to reap but
a scanty crop
To supply the needed quantity in the form
of stable manure Is practically out of the
question because of the steepncss of the
hills and remoteness from buildings To
put it back in any form of commercial
fertilizer now available will cost so much
as to render this method Improbable at
present cost of fertilizers and price of
dairy products
If COWS be pastured on the land and fed
supplemented food their droppings are not
left in sufficiently scattered condition to
be of the most use to the soil.
If now sheep are studied in the way of
food needed and the way in which they
leave their exorements 1t will be found
that they are peculiarly we'll fitted for
this purpose. The meat of the sheep is
largely lean, which requires heterogeneous
diet for its production. The wool is also
of the same character and requires q SINH
lar food, so that to thrive best sheep must
have food containing large proportion of
the albumenoids or heterogeneous elements.
Most of the available foods of this nature
are also quite rich in potash and phospho
ric acid. When sheep are fed any food
they take from five to Is per cent. of the
fertili ty but the most taken Is from Fl
nitrogen. If the sheep are full grown
and merely kept as stores, or are being
fattened they take practically none of
the fertility from the food In other words
what they take to supply the waste of the
system Is compensated by what is thrown
off of the worn out tissues, and which Is of
just as much value to the growing plant as
If not used by tho animal If a lot of lambs
are being grown then of course the nitro
gen. potash and phosphoric acid necessary
for their growth are abstractcd from the
food and Is at the expense of its fertility.
So 1t Is safe to estimate that at least 90
per cent of all the fertility contained in
food given to sheep will be deposited BY
them In their excrements upon the soil,
and unlike cattle droppings are scattered
all over the surface.
Another point wherein sheep are
superior to other stock as re storers of fer.
tility is the fact that while COWS after eat
ing their fill will get into some pool ar
stream, II one is available, and there stand
and waste all their droppings, sheep
always seek the highest knoll on hill ton
to lie and ruminate, and as these are
always the poorest parts of the fields their
excrements are left most thickly whe,
most needed. The difficulty with most
farmers is they only put as many sheen
into pasture as they think can get a liv-
Ing from the grass that grows thereon
not stopping to think that the sheen can
return nothing to the soil but what IL
has taken therefrom, unless 1t be given in
supplemental food. What should be dono
is to put at least twice as many sheen
INTO the pasture as can subsi.t on the
growth of grass and then feed sufficient
food besides to keep them thriving. IF
flock Of sheep be fed a ton of bran. for
instance, after tolling 1t 10 per cent.
they will leave sufficient fertility to nro-
duce at least two tons of the best bav or
live or six tons Of grass, and this would
enable the keeping of more sheep and the
feeding Of more extra food.
II any one with poor worn out pasture
VIII follow this plan he will soon be sur-
prised at the change in character of the
herbase and added luxuriaDce of the
grass. j. S. WOodw lrd In Mt,