Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1902-05-07
HOT HOUSE SPRING LAMB.
Mode of Raising "A Delicacy That Sells
Now ut 81 Pound.

Now ut 81 Pound.
Spring lamb is for sale now at ST.
pound or thereabouts.
I'VE don't sell much of it," said a
butcher; I'VE pay wholesale from S14
to $40 carcass for it, and a carcass
weighs from fifteen to twenty pounds.
That makes the cost to us almost 81
a pound.
Retail dealers do not like to handle
much OF it because we do not have
much call for it, and the wholesale
price being SO high We are able to
make only few cents pound On it.
If by chance anything happens to
what we have On hand the loss of
one carcass knocks the profit off a
considerable consignment.
"All spring lamb now in the market
is known as hot house lamb. In the
last dozen years sheep raisers have
discovered means of forcing their
products just as the vegetable fruit
and flower growers have discovered
how to give us strawberries, peaches,
cAerries and radishes and other deli
cacies in the midst of winter.
THE season for the hot house
lambs is from about this time until
the last OF March. Before their in
PRODUCTION those VINO like good food
and have the money to pay for what
they want were satisfied to eat their
first spring lamb about Easter time.
How to raise hot house lambs was
first discovered by raisers in New
Jersey. They had a monopoly of the
market for a while. Then the bust.
ness was taken up by sheep raisers
In Kentucky, Missouri ami southern
Kansas.
Within the last two years several
raisers on the eastern end of Long
Island have started in, and l under
stand they have made money at it.
But by far the greater amount of the
lamb that comes into the market here
comes from Kentucky.
THE natural mating time of the
sneep in temperate climates is just
after cold weather sets in. The
lambs are then born in January and
February. They are ready for market
about Easter or little before.
But the Kentucky and Missouri
ralsers along in June and July pack
up their breeding ewes and ship
them north to l-lchigan and Canada to
Craze. The cold nights there hasten
the mating, and the sheep are brought
south about the first of December.
Shortly after this the lambs are born.
The sheep when they are brought
south are kept in hot houses. These
not houses are usually long rambling
buildings with a southern exposure
having in most cases glass in the
sides and roof.
This glass permits the ewes and
the lambs to get a good supply of So
lar heat on clear days. They are.
kept from the cold winds, and this
helps fatten them.
These buildings must be large, for
you cannot confine sheep in a small
enclosure or they will get restless.
Did you ever notice how a flock of
sheep ramble about when they are
grazing? So in the hot houses the
sheep must have plenty of room.
"The Kentucky raisers have also an
interesting way of getting good food
Cor the ewes. Wherever possible they
have small streams on their places.
These streams are banked up so that
The water will overflow the grazing
land.
after the water has covered the,
land for a day or two it IS run off,
and then soon after the young grass
springs up fresh, green and tender,
just as in spring time. This grass
is then cut and fed to the ewes. They
are not permitted to Craze on 1t or
they would overeat themselves.
This grass gives the ewes rich
milk, and it nastens the growth Of
The lambs. The lambs are most suit.
eble for market when they are three
months old, though some raisers send
them when they are a week or two
younger. New York Sun.