The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-12-14

one of the best of fertilizers, containing nearly, if not all, the necessary elements of plant food
 To make the sheep industry success, there are few essentinals that must be observed. Before doing so, 1 want to state here that I have made more clear money from sheep than from any other stock I ever handled
 Large focks of sheep must not be con fined any length of time in small quar- ters or small pastures They should have plenty of range, an abundance or good pasture and plenty of pure water. They should be changed frequently from one field to another. When the ewes are drop ping their lambs, they should be Kept in sheds, barns or in small lots Tor few days until the lambs are strong enough to stand up and follow the eve. Ordinarily, when the lambs are three days old, they are strong enough to lol- low the mother and they may then De turned out with the flock. Some of the weaker lambs may require more time. When the ewes are left out in large pas lures when dropping their lambs, they want to keep with the flock, and Tn lol- lowing after the flock, they often leave their lambs which are too weak 10 1ol- low and in many cases the lanps are lost and this greatly reduces the pronts of the flock. Just little care and at tention at this time Is all that is needed in saving lambs that will bring good revenue a little later on in the season.
 Worthless Ours.
 When and wherever I go and talk sheep- growing, the first thing l meet Wlth III the way of objections Is that the dogs de- stroy and kill every sheep In that sec tion I often wonder, how long we are to continue losing millions of dollars annual ba cba industry. SllnDlY De- cause some poor white man or worthless negro in every community will keep lot of worthless CUTS, which they do not or can not feed, and these CUTS have to get their living by preying upon focks or sheep It Is astonishing how many doss the poorer classes are keeping. asked one of these fellows how many dogs he had. He answered, q have one for my self one for my wife, and one apiece for each of my children and have seven children" This may be an extreme case, vet one Is surprised at the great number of dogs that Is seen everywhere In Okla- homa. and the Indian Territory. Most of our southern states are also well provided
 with dogs.
 | Of course. it is not always the poor dog nor the poor mans dog that kill the sheen for sometimes the most valuable and well fed dog will take to killing sheen. There is something in the taste of
 the sheep's blood that suits the dog, and
 once a dog gets the taste of sheep blood,
 there is no breaking him from killing sheep only by killing him. Iowa has d dog law which taxes all dogs and this tax is set aside to pay damages and losses of stock killed by dogs. At the end of the year. if the sum of money is not all paid out for these damages and losses. the remainder goes to the public school fund.
 But dogs should not keep our farmers
 out of the sheep business. for with small 1 expense under a fence that no dog can
 get through or over. I had neighbor
 who became rich from growing sheep
 and he provided a corral and the sheep
 were driven up every night and put in
 this yard. The price of fat lambs and
 wool will pay to furnish a shepherd to
 look after the sheep through the day and
 night.
 Awards Won by Doty.
 I have a report of awards made on
 sheep at recent fair at Dallas, Tex.
 This report shows fourteen awards. and
 one exhibitor, c. R. Doty received thir- 1 teen of these This shows one of two
 things; that there are but few farmers I in Texas who are breeding fine sheep, or | that Mir Doty is an expert in the sheep
 business l also have the following report
 concerning the sheep industry in Texas
 The condition Of the sheep industry in | Texas on January l. 1904. number of sheer ] 1 .667 lS9 and value of sheep. $3,2S5 iSl Jan uary 1, 1905, number of sheep l.617125 and
 value of sheep s3,356 344; 50,014 less in num- Der and s70,91S more in value. These con-
 ditons are the result in advanced prices 1 in wool and ready sale for all market
 able sheep at good prices
 1 Alabama farmers should have more
 sheep. Much money can be made by rais- l ing sheep for the wool as well as mutton i Now I also have the late government report on crops and stock, which is a 1 surprise to me. for this report gives to swine and sheep combined, only s2S3, 900,
 OOJ. while the dairy products are given
 $625. .OO0, 900 and poultry $500 0O0, ,000 So we | see that the sheep and hogs combined fall l in value $217 100000 below that of poultry l and S342 ,000, 900 less than our dairy prod ucts. This should not be- and is not prop | erly balanced. We should have to our credit not less than $250,000,O00 in sheep | value alone, while in swine we should
 have s5OO,OO0OO0, sum equal to that of l our poultry. Here is an opportunity for l farmers and the farmer who is wise l enough to stock his farm with fine sheer | and hogs is the man who will be at the | front in prosperity.
 1 Only a few weeks ago while attending | the Missouri state dairy convention, | chanced to pick up few valuable points l from successful sheep grower of Mis- souri. and these will apply to all sections | of our country. These notes were SC timely and valuable that filed them SC