The Montgomery advertiser. [volume] (Montgomery, Ala.) 1885-1982, 1904-08-15

raised the hogs on the place; fenced
me off five acres of johnson grass for
a bag pasture and let them eat the
roots. I bought 1000 pounds of corn
chops that was damaged in shipping
for SIS; 200 loaves of bread that was
left over from a barbecue for $lO, ana
SO was out $25 for feed for hogs, ieaV-
ing me $173.10, besides plenty OF meat
and twelve head Of hogs on hand
Who says COW wont pay?
Abilene, Texas.
why Sheep Decrease and Why They
Should Not Decrease.
A contributor to the farm columns
of a prominent ontario weekly gives
some attention to the matter of sheep
decreasing on the farm and the rea-
sons given are four or five In number.
They are said to be the ravages OF
dogs. the scarcity and cost of suitable
fencing, the reclaming of rough acreas
to cultivation, the substitution of hog
raising and dairying for grazing, and
sudden freaks of mortality among
sheep. The subject is handled with
considerable facility and 1t is no doubt
the case that these things have opera
ted against sheep expansion.
The fault in the arguments arises
from the writer having wrong atti-
tude to the sheep business and
| wrong conception of how 1t may be
most successfully carried on. The
dog nuisance has always been an ex-
asperating one. Dogs that kill sheep
do their work at time and in a way
that defeat the care of man. Their
instinct to avoid detection Is sharp
enough to outwit the art of. man and
q owners faith in his dog often pre-
vents him from taking precautions to
Keep his dog from wandering at night
and prevent him from entertaining any
supicion of guilt, but the dog nuisance
Is steady on the decrease, thanks to
public opinion and legislation
The question OF fencing Is not much
of a difficulty on the farm. There are
few farms run without hogs and they
require close fencing. With the de-
struction of timber the farm fence Of
the Page or Advance model. In new
countries the stringing of two or three
barbed wires answers to turn horse
and cattle stock, but so many cuts, ac-
oidents and blemishes result from Its
use on farms that 1t is bound to be
superseded. So that the most useful
and best fence generally is the woven
fence and is suited to all classes of
stock, horses, cattle, hogs and sheep.
The Introduction of hog-raising and
dairy farming does not necessarily
mean the banishing of sheep stock.
The substitution of hogs and dairy cat
tie for sheep takes place on the as
sumption that sheep are not concen-
trated products; that they are suited
only to primitive PASTORAL conditions
and not to intensive farming. The
natural tendency of farming is to give
greater and greater attention to con-
centrated products, but If 1t is mis-
take to suppose that sheep are not
suited to intensive treatment. 1t is
quite true that sheep can gather q
return for the farmer from rough or
waste lands better than any other class
of stock. The health and thrift of
sheep are likewise good in pastures
varied by meadows. rock, stump and
brush, but It is submitted that the
sheep is as highly improved as any
other class Of farm stock and will yield
quick and adequate returns on good
lands and with concentrated and gen.
erous feeding. If sheep were suited
only to rough and waste lands how is
1t that In Great Britain the tenant
looks on his sheep as the surest rent
payer, that sheep-keeping is the first
part of husbandry and that the aver
age sheep population so to speak of
England is three hundred per square
mile? 1t Is quite true that a great
many farmers stick to the laissez faire
system and look on sheep only as a
source of accidental and advantageous
proht-not very large. but involving
little labor and expense.
Farmers can count not only on the
capacity Of the sheep to yield good
proflts on farm lands, but they can
count on a we'll established and gen.
ePal demand for mutton products. Tho
primitive system of running sheep goes
along with the time of intermittent and
fv,,tf cd NJ h,tt
Improvement in the quality of NUT
ton from selective feeding among the
better classes of sheepmen, mutton has
become a staple. 1t has n place on
the table of opulence with critical APP
petite. and on the table of the laborer
as n cheap and nourishing meat diet.
At the same time mutton Is the handl-
est summer meat the farmer can have
owing to its being always available.
1t may be the case that sheep would
be too hard on pasture intended for
| dairy cows and that they could not be
run proflitably on the same ground,
especially If the area is limited. but
| they should not be regarded IS belong
| ing to a lower and more primitive state
| of agriculture, but as being on par
| with other special live stock interests.
Though 1t may be inexpedieut to run
| both on the same land a man may
| specialize In either on elther good or
| cheap lands.
Sheep may be run on the side with
| some profit under ordinary conditions,
but the farmer should look to specialize
| ing one them If he is a good sheep
man. One man turns his food pro-
ducts into beef, another into butter,
and n third into pork 1t would proba-
bly, be better If the farmer Is staying
with the sheep business to increase the
| care and feed and stock involved in
his sheep proposition. Instead of killA
| ing half a dozen lambs in a season and
selling a dozen. ne might as we'll handle
two or three times as much breeding
| stock and handle a couple of hundred
| feeders or more If his circumstances
| will permit. Sheep in summer will
| restore the fertility of exhausted dairy
farms and in winter will increase in
weight and fatten cheaply and convert
a great deal of rough stun into good
manure. When the dairy business has
run along for while there will be a
lot of fellows out looking for sheep
to yield them a profit and restore the
lowered fertility of their lands.-Amer-
lean Sheep Breeder
| Cotton Production.
Under the caption Southern Immi-
grafton and the Cotton Problem" The
Manufacturers Record speaks In most
| onti,1afSffn fnannar of the pOasfhfltty of