The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1904-01-21

L have not been at the barn, when
lambs was expected but it pays never
less. My per CT. of loss was less than
some OF my neighbors who knew a
great deal more about handling sheep
than | did, with their April lambs.
They should have a certain amount OF
at ention. Let them come when they
will and there is as much or more
time in February. as q yother month
in the year. 1t will be necessary to
arrange select feeds to make the
lambs do their best, but it will pay.
To make sheep valuable on the farm
it must be remembered that the
farm should not be overstocked, a
thing that is easy to do. 1t is intend
ed by sheep raisers to make the wool
pay the living expenses of the sheep
n the profit VIII be in the lambs
The low price of wool the past two
S ,asons will hardly warrant this but
there is no doubt but wool will ad-
vance within the next year and NUT
ton has already turned the scale and
by another year will no doubt show
good improvement. There is how
ever another element of value in sheep
husbandry which consists in the ad-
vanced position which they take in
the general advantages which farm
life has over any other method of liv-
ing under the sun
From the earliest history the keeper
of sheep has held an exalted position
as compared with all other occupa-
lions. In the first pages of the first
history ever written We find that Cain
as a tiller of the ground was compar-
ed unfayorably with Abel who was a
keeper of sheep. Many people con-
slider this story an allegory or parable,
and from the fact that the primitive
fashions of those days would hardly
create much enthusiasm on the price
of wool, it is probable that this is the
true meaning, but whether it is the
history of an actual occurrence or a
parable it teaches the same lesson, the
noble manhood and the amiable dis
position of the keeper OF sheep. COM
pared with the man WHO can only dig
in the dirt for a living.
But the most important of all con-
siderations of value Of sheep of the
farm is the least mentioned and quite
likely the least thought of. / refer
now TO the value To the boys growing
up on the farm. The father of every
son on the farm should take this idea
closely into his lists of improvements.
There is a great deal of talk now-a-
days about teaching agriculture in
our common schools and colleges, and
many farmers are trying to put a hun
dred dollar education in a ten dollar
boy. We are spending a great deal of
shot air" on the problem OF how To
keep the boys on the farm while sheep
husbandry presents a key if properly
used that will unlock the entire Sc
cret. Give to each Of the boys one
two or three sheep and tell them
that they are theirs in fact, and that
they must look after their welfare.
Don't give the boys the sheep while
you reserve the wool and mutton, but
make the gift absolute, and let. them
be sure of the fact. Assist them with
your advice as to breeding and care
and in a little while you will see an
interest budding in the young farmer
that will lead him into a life that has
been lying dormant and will create
within his mind new ideas and new
thoughts that little by little will land
him in a few years on a farm of his
own which he will never abandon. He
may not do this through sheep alone
but the sheep alone will be the infiu-
ence which brought it about. Instead
Of a desire for horse racing and base
ball games, he will be led into a nobler
manhood with higher aims and higher
ambitions than that with which many
of the rising generation are now sur
rounded.
The want of some such incentive as
this is keeping up another and very
undesirable element among the farm
ers. They are the latter day Gains.
/ mean the class that are forced to
be farmers yet have no love for the
business, rather All undying hatred.
With them the weather is always toe
cold or too hot. too wet or too dry, the
crops are always ruined or are SO
heavy that they cannot be sold for
enough to pay the cost OF raising.
They are a class of chronic grumblers
that are never suited with anything.
l have never believed that there was
a literal burning hell, but l am con-
strained to believe that there must be
some place provided where this class
"a 49, - bonnv md ooufoptod