The Florida agriculturist., 1906-03-21

amount of capital required to start
small flock of sheep, the small outlay
necessary for shelter and labor in
caring for them, as well as the advanc-
ing prices for meat and wool, and it
may be safely said that no livestock
investment could well promise more
remunerative or safer results to the
Eastern farmers than flock of sheep.
Last year Great Britain imported
3S2, $40 sheep and over $500, 900 hum
dredweight of mutton, but the greater
production of the latter was supplied
by countries other than the United
States. Possibly our home markets
afford an outlet for all the lamb and
mutton Eastern farmers are raising.
Yet conditions of climate and soil in
the Eastern states are such as to
favor the growth and feeding to sheep
of crops on which could be produced
economically just that class of NUT
ton which would suit the British mar
ket and come more on even terms
with the best of that cOuntry's home
product than any sent by those cOun-
tries now supplying the greater part
of those 3,50O,UOO hundredweight.
Here, then, between home and foreign,
ton sheep raisers markets not easily
over-supplied.
The production of this kind of NUT
ton and lamb might be to some eX-
tent a new departure for Eastern farm
ers, but it would prove a profitable
one, both as regards immediate cash
returns and enrIching of fertility de-
pleted lands. 1t is claimed that 10
mutton has the same fine, juicy quality
and flavor as that possessed by the
British fed article, and this arises
from the system of feeding, largely
Oh roots and other Succulent foods.
Why should not we here in New
L Ork and other Atlantic states adopt
Il similar system of feeding lamb anu
mutton? Crops such as rape and roots
seldom fail. Rape appears to thrive
luXuriantly, and is OF easy culture.
Provided u fair dressing of manure is
applied to the land, rape grows rapid
~ and may be had i'll successive sup
ply from early summer to late fall.
IurnipS of early varieties and the
SWede, as rutaDaga, can also be raised
at small expense. For the purpose of
feeding sheep by folding them by
means of hurdles or movable fences,
Oh the land where these crops are
grown, they may be sOwn broadcast,
though my experience of rape tavOrs
drilling in rows and giving one to two
CIVILIZATIONS. On farms wnere there
are facilities for storing roots SO that
they can be used this winter few
acres drilled in rows, thinned and
cultivated, will provide large quantl-
ty of winter feed for sheep. In ad-
ditiOn to turnips another root, which
mas done well in some Northwestern
states, is khOlraDi. The bulb of this
root grows entirely out of the ground
and is very suitable for feeding sheep. |
1t will keep well through winter, and
has been kept in excellent condition |
i'll pits, covered by straw and soil. |
Though the obstacles of deep snow |
and very low temperature might ren-
der impracticable in most Eastern
states any extensive feeding of sheep |
under a system of folding in root and
other crops, yet every farmer keeping |
sheep will find it profitable to try |
such, at least in small way. With |
plots of rape and roots he could finish |
Tor the market, during late fall and
early winter, such lands as were lett
over on the pasture; also culls from
his eve flock. In time operations ON
these lines might be extended by buy
ing Western lambs and fattening on