The Cook County herald., 1905-05-20
Shear Early.

Shear Early.
The practice, still so common, OF
postponing the shearing of the sheep
until late spring is relic of the days
when sheep were kept for the wool
alone. 1t was thought that by leaving
the fleece on until after considerable
amount OF hot weather had passed 1t
would contain much more grease and
thus greater weight of fleece would
be secured. Even if greater weight
or fleece were secured by this practice
there would be nothing gained so long
as the wool was sold on it's merits to
party who was a good Judge Of it's
securing qualities. There would be no
greater weight of clean wool; only
more waste matter to cleanse out.
On the other hand, it is very doubt
full if late shearing gives any greater
weight of fleece, even with the more
oily-wooled breeds.
There is more or less loss of wool
through shedding, particularly on the
part of the ewes with lambs, where
the shearing is not done until late.
Also there is less annual growth, as
with the heavy winter coat left on
after the weather gets warm, natures
effort is to remove this rather than to
grow more. With the winter over.
coat removed at the beginning OF
warm weather, there will be more
continuous growth throughout the
year. There will be more clean wool
| and it will be Of longer staple and
better quality.
Early shearing, before the sheep 60
| to pasture, is also conducive to a
brighter and better condition of wool
by avoiding the soakings from spring
rains. Also. the sheep do much bet
! ter if they have their coats off when
the weather gets warm. AS to expo
sure, if there are fairly warm sheds
| or barns for shelter in case of sud.
den change in the weather, the sheep
will not suffer as much from the loss
| of their natural protection at this time
| as they will by having it removed in
the spring and then be caught in a
! cold all-day rain in the pasture.
BY shearing before the field work
opens up, there is the additional ad.
vantage that it does not interfere with
other important work.. J. Edgerton.
| A Radish Bed.
! Every one considers it easy to grow
| radishes, but l have not always found
it so. It is one thing to grow radishes
and another thing to grow radishes
that are tender, crisp and really nice
to have on the table. To get a good
radish, it must be grown quickly. To
| get quick growth we must have both
a. rich soil and moisture.
| For my radish bed I prepare the
ground very carefully, working in ma
nure and fining the soil as much as
possible. When the seed is sown see
that the ground is warm enough tc
permit Of the termination of the seed
though of course radish seeds do moi
require as much heat for termination
as do some other seeds. The soil
should not be heavy clay, for in that
case it. cannot be worked fine enough
The Jumps prevent the seed covering
itself or of remaining covered and the
air dries out the soil so quickly around
the seed that the little sprout is killed
When the soil is largely of a sandy OF
lOamy nature the seeds are covered
enough to keep them moist and quick
ly send up leaves.
Later, when the soil gets very dry
use water to keep it moist. have 6
hose by which the water is supplied
to the radish bed, for of course one
could never afford to carry water IL
a pail for the supplying of the radist
bed. l believe that every farmer
should have an artificial supply O,
moisture for use in his garden during
the dry spell, which sometimes begins
in the middle of May.-Milton knight
Cherry Co., Neb.
IS Per Cent Low Enough.
The United States government made
a ruling about two years ago that any
butter found on the market containins
more than 16 per cent of water woull
be considered adulterated. A large
number of creamery buttermakers ant
few farm buttermakers had trouble
with government inspectors because