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RAMBOUILLET BLOOD.
SnpcvnHftil Sheep ]lulinnilry on
Ahn ndonrd Kncland Krm.
Asa remit of six years of cnrefnl and
painstaking experiments with sheep
husbandry npon the abandoned farms
of New r England Hon. Frank P. Ben
nett of Saugus, Mass., president of the
New England Woolgrowers’ associa
tion and first vice president of the Na
tional Woolgrowers’ association, argues
that there is as much difference between
races of sheep as between races of men,
and that lack of success with a flock of
sheep is more often dne to the choice
of an unfit breed in the loginning than
to any other cause. By unfit ho mean*
ill adapted to the special conditions and
surroundings of the farm npon which
the sheep are to be maintained.
The domestic sheep now’ in the Unit
ed States are mainly descendants of the
flocks introduced by Spanish and Eng
lish colonists. Hence the so called “na
tive 1 ' sheep of all the New England
states as well as of Virginia, the Caro*
linas and in fact of the entire 18 origi
nal colonies had for Hieir progenitors
the Downs, Leicesters neid other English
races of sheep. The English colonists
brought their own sheep w’ith them,
and the Spanish brought theirs. The
Spanish sheep imported by Christopher
Columbus himself at the isthmus of
Panama and brother conquistadores in
Mexico and elsewhere have formed the
basis of the flocks throughout the west
ern section of the United States. The
essential difference between the Spanish
and English sheep may be summarized
in a single sentence —namely, the sheep
of Spanish origin can live together in
large numbers w’ith a minimum of care,
W’hile the English sheep will 'perish it
housed together in considerable num
bers. The “native sheep” of New Eng-
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UAMBOUILI.KT RAM.
land, being wholly of English origin,
contract fatal diseases of such certainty
if kept in large bands that the farmers
of Massachusetts and Maine are accus
tomed to assert in general terms that
sheep will not thrive if kept in flocks of
more than 30 or 40 head.
For sheep raising upon a profitable
scale upon the abandoned farms of New
England, Mr. Bennett recommends the
Rambouillet ram crossed upon “native”
ewes. A history of these sheep, of which
an illustration is presented herewith, is
as follows: In 1785 Louis XVI of
France, who two years before had
bought the domain of Rambouillet and
established an experimental farm there
on, obtained permission from the king
of Spain to purchase and take from the
last named kingdom a flock of pure
Merinos. The Spanish king gave orders
that the selection should be made from
the finest flocks of his kingdom.
The Rambouillet flock was put under
the care of an agricultural commission
at the beginning of the French revolu
tion. and through all the horrors of that
period it was preserved from danger,
and from the day of its foundation in
178(> to the present, a period of over a
cent try, this flock has been conducted
with the closest attention to feed, care
and selection. The common American
Merino ram tinlay weighs about 100
ponmls, but the best American Ram
bouillet ram weighs from 200 to 270
pounds.
The Rambonillets began to be im
ported into the United States some
years ago and are now largely domesti
cated in Ohio and Michigan. Mr. Ben
nett has had a considerable flock of
them at Freedom. Me. The Rambouillet
ewes make excellent mothers and un
der proper conditions will produce
lambs at any season of the year.
As to the theory that the difficulty
with sheep raising in New England lies
Ui the destructiveness of duxs. Air. Bea-
nett writes to a correspondent that this
is a great mistake. He has experiment
ed largely with sheep, both in Maine
and in Massachusetts, and has never
had any trouble with dogs, because he
uses a dogproof barbed wire fence, the
wire for which cost $07.20 per mile,
built of seven strands. The first strand
is very to the ground, so that
sheep and dogs cannot crawl under, and
they will not jump over, because a fence
of moderate height is never troubled by
a dog unless he can put his paws upon it
when jumping over.
As to the value of an investment in
sheep husbandry upon the abandoned
farms of New England, Mr. Bennett re
plies to a correspondent as follows:
Dkak Rill—The development in eheep hus
bandry which we are iujrßestlng is designed
for present or prospective farmers who get
their own living from the aoil rather than for
outside investors who propose going into the
industry in the same manner in which they
would invest a certain sum of money in rail
road or mill shares or bonds. Hut we have no
lesltation in asserting that a well managed
nvestment in sheep husbandry upon farms
which are now wholly or partially abandoned
in England would be entirely successful.
In the first plaoo, it should be remembered
that the first cost of these farms is exceeding
ly small, and that most of them can be pur
chased for the cost of the buildings, if any
buildings remain thereon. Ten thousand dol
lars would purchase 1,000 acres of such land
with the necessary buildings and leave some
thing over for quick capital. These should
maintain 1.000 sheep, which, with thorough
bred rams, should cost Sfi,UUO. All other ex
penses of the investment, Including tools,
fences, furniture, etc., should not bring the
gross investment above 120,000.
In the management of this investment there
should be no operating expenses to speak of
except wages of men. Everything else should
be grown upon the place, and one of the prin
cipal profits of the investment would lie in
the fuct that under the fertilizing influence of
the sheep the property would he constantly
increasing in value. In nearly all other in
vestments a percentage must be charged off
every year for deterioration of property, hut
in a steep farm of this kind the opposite
would be true, and a credit could be made
upon the profit and loss account every year
because of decided improvement of the prop
erty. Tills would appear in the growing pro
ductiveness of the farm, which, if it kept 1,000
sheep, handled with reasonable care, would
furnish 6,000 pounds of wool in the beginning,
which should be sold for $1,400, and 1,000 sheep
and lambs, which should bring $5,000, making
total earnings of $6,400.
But if the business were well and shrewdly
managed the production of wool should even
tually increase to ten pounds per head, mak
ing from 1,000 sheep 10,000 pounds per annum
of somewhat improved quality, which should
sell for more than $2,500. Then the flock
should be constantly bred in the production
of a considerable portion of thoroughbreds,
which should furnish each year a carload of
200 thoroughbred rains to be sent to the great
woolgrowing regions of the west and sold for
$5,000.
In such ways as this the annual gross earn
ings of the I,UOO acres should be raised to $15,-
000 per annum, exclusive of the iyiprovement
of the property. We have no hesitation in
saying that this kind of an investment under
proper management could he multiplied
almost indefinitely, and that an investment of
S‘2OO,tKX) could he made to eventually yield ten
times as great an income as an investment of
$20,000, and that the expense should not great
ly exceed the amount paid in wages to men,
ns nearly everything inquired should he raised
upon the farm. Frank P. Bennett.
GOOD STALLIONS.
Qnnllty nnl Action "Wanted ns Well
us Itulk.
There has been an active inquiry for
good draft and coach stallions all win
ter, says The Breeder’s Gazette, and
with the approach of the regular breed
ing season many sales are being con
summated. Since the “booin’’ days in
horse breeding stallion buyers have
learned many useful lessons. They
know now that a draft stallion must
have some breeding quality an.l action
as well as bulk. They know that high
class coach horses cannot be successfully
bred by the use of cold blooded sires
and dams They know that a trotting
bred stallion to be of any real service
as a sire must possess size and good
looks as well as a fair degree of speed.
The market calls for size joined to
quality and good action, whether it he
in “drafter” or “driver.” The time is
now here when every farmer can well
afford to own a few choice brood mares
to be mated to first class sires. The
“scrub” is dear property at any price.
Beware of breeding to grade stallions
or to those purely bred ones that are
unsound or of faulty conformation. Do
not patronize an inferior horse simply
because ho stands at a low service fee.
Pay a fair price for the service of the
best horse within reach. It is difficult
enough to attaiu the superlative in
horse breeding even where the best ma
terials are in use. Low bred, under
sized, cheap stallions are a curse to any
community, and we trnst that no Ga
zette reader will this spring be guilty
of giving such any encouragement. If
there is no first class horse available, it
is easy to form a little syndicate for
the purchase of a stallion likely to pro
duce the sort of stock buyers are now
so eagerly seeking. Big, fine draft geld
ings are scarce. First class harness and
saddle horses are not easily found. Of
“common horses” there are millions.
Escape their competition by breeding
for something better.
Get Good Bulla.
With any farmer or dairyman who
depends upon breeding and rearing
calves for the maintenance of his herd
and its improvement the choice of a
bull is of prime importance. That “the
bull is half the herd’' should not be for
gotten.
Good Habit to Acquire.
The farmer who gets interested in
any kind of stock and resolves to have
the very best of its kind that is to be
had soon sees the benefits thereof, and
t&is habit soon extends to all other
branches of his business.
SHEEP AND WEEDS.
Ctlllt)' of Vegetation Supposed to Be
Valueless.
A weed is said to be any useless or
injurious plant growing where it is not
wanted. But there are some plants com
monly thought to be weeds which may
be of service under some circumstances,
says Live Stock. This is the case as re
gards sheep pastures, in which there are
some plants which may lie of much use
as tonics or alteratives, which the sheep
will eat when instinct leads them to do
it. One of these common weeds is the
dandelion, the taraxicum of the botanist
and the herbalist. The extract of the
plant is a very useful bitter tonic, as
well as a laxative and diuretic. It is
not always eaten by sheep, but when
instinct seems to impel them they take
it freely. It has an excellent effect on
the liver, thus purifying the blood, in
creasing the appetite and preventing
bilious disorders. Parsley is another
plant having similar effects and is more
readily eaten by sheep than the preced-
ing. Yarrow is another useful plant,
which is purposely sown in laying down
pastures for sheep in England. Indeed
an English sheep pasture will be com
monly found glistening with what we
call weeds. Tho bntteicup is especially
abundant and is considered usefully me
dicinal. Wormwood is also so considered
and as a bitter tonic is certainly use
ful. The narrow leaved plantain, the
rib grass of the English shepherds, is
commonly sown in pastures for sheep
and is readily eaten. A species of grass
known as sheep’s fescue, a bluish green
kind with wiry and hardy and
productive, is also much liked by sheep.
It is certainly a weed otherwise, as it is
too small to be inown. Most of these
plants are nutritious as well as medic
inal, and as sheep should have a per
manent pasture, as they should also be
a permanent part of the farm stock, it
is advisable to stock the land with some
of these weeds if not all of them. Plants
generally grow most thriftily in con
junction. These -weeds in a pasture may
never decrease the amount of feed,
while they may serve a useful purpose
in preserving the health of the flock.
Animals mostly, by instinct, make use
of such plants ss these. They do not
feed on them, but take them as they
seem to need them.
Pare Water I’or Sheep.
We must always think of water as
being directly taken into tho blood of
an animal and whatever impurities it
may contain go directly to the very
source of life. Impurity of the blood
thus occasioned must inevitably pro
duce disease. At this time of the year
surface water of all kinds, especially
that which is stagnant, and even (but
less so) that of streams, contains a vast
proportion of impure matter, the drain
age of the land which is covered by de
composing matter, dead insects with
their eggs, and an uncountable quan
tity of various kinds of injurious germs.
If one desires to test this matter, let
him taste such water, and if the ap
pearance of it alone does not disgust
him the smell and taste of it will sure
ly do so. Sheep should never be com
pelled to drink water that the shepherd
would not use himself. And as we know
that the use of bad water at this season
is a frequent cause of fatal disease to
persons, we must think of this as re
gards the sheep. Here is an instance:
A friend living in Dakota lost many of
his lambs by diseases which seemed to
him to be produced by quite different
causes. The symptoms seemed to vary
so much that no one source of the dis
ease could seem to be sufficient. But it
was unquestionably the impure water
supplied from a pond and a brook which
fed it and which flowed from swampy
ground, to which every symptom could
be attributed. On advice the pond was
fenced off, and water from a well was
used. It was only a few days before ev
ery difficulty disappeared, and the flock
recovered without any special treat
ment. We must think of the easy sus
ceptibility of sheep through their very
weak physical organization to diseases
from which more robust animals would
escape. We cannot treat sheep as we
may safely treat pigs or even cattle,
but we are always to give them the
benefit of every possible care which we
know we must exercise for ourselves.—■
American Sheep Breeder.
Duration of Vounx Animnli.
Everybody knows that animals make
their most rapid growth while young,
most of those which reach their growth
in two or three years making more
growth, and we may add at less cost,,
the first year than they ever can again.
This is, we think, mainly because di
gestion the first year is better than it
ever is likely to be thereafter. Much of
this good digestion of young animals
is, we think, caused by the labor they
have to perform to slowly get their food
during the first few weeks by drawing
milk from the teat. It cannot be made
to come rapidly, and the operation of
sucking the teat starts the salivary
glands in the mouth to working, so
that by the time the milk does come it
is well mixed with saliva and is of
course easily digested. This is one rea
son why the butchers always prefer a
calf that has suckled its dam rather
than one that looks equally well that
has been fed by hand. But it injures
the milk giving capacity of the cow to
let her calf suckle and will soon dry her
off if long continued.—Boston Culti
vator.
“Pitts' —■*'
Carminative
Smvmd My Baby’a Ufa.”
¥¥
UMAR & RANKIN DRUG CO..
I can not recommend Pitts' Car
minative too strongly. I mast say,
I owe my baby’s life to it.
I earnestly ask all mothers who
have sickly or delicate children jvet
to try one bottle and see what the
result will be. Respectfnlly,
Jks. LIZZIE MURRAY,
Johnson's Station, Ga.
¥¥
Pitta * Carmlnatlvo
lm mold by all Dm try!aim.
PRICE, CERTS.
They Hide Free.
Senator Chandler, whose love for the
Boston and Maine railroad is exactly
opposite to the love "which Damon bore
Pythias, has scored a point against
that road by securing the publication
of the names of all the persons to whom
free passes have been granted. Mr.
Chandler started the trouble by making
a formal complaint against the road
last summer and compelled the inter
state commerce commission to bring his
charges to a trial. At this hearing the
railroad company submitted a list of
the persons to whom passes had been
issued, but the list remained buried in
the archives of the commission until
Senator Chandler secured the' passage
of a resolution directing that it be sent
to the senate. So now the list appears
in public document No. 63.
It is a list occupying page after page
of small type, and Mr. Chandler’s heart
is doubtless happy because among the
beneficiaries of the railroad’s courtesy
are the governor of New Hampshire and
nearly all other officials of the state,
while the railroad commissioners, not
only of New Hampshire but of all the
other New England states, are equally
well provided. The members of the rail
road committee of the Massachusetts
legislature are all provided with an
nuals, while clerks of corporations, ho
tel keepers and all sorts and conditions
of men are also to be found in the list.
—Washington Post.
Rich Perjurers.
The officials of the tax department
are secretive as to the question of
“swearing off,” otherwise called the
“sifting process,” by which hundreds
of millions of dollars’ worth of personal
'property escapes taxation yearly.
The World has obtained definite in
formation as to the methods. Customs
have sprung up in the tax department,
continued year after year, and now
are regarded as right and legal by some
of the officials.
That the law prescribed how personal
taxes shall be levied and collected is
violated thousands of times every year
by New York’s wealthiest citizens is
tacitly admitted in the official reports
of the department of taxes and assess
ments since 1871.
To the evil of “swearing off” taxes
justly and fairly levied is daily added
the crime of perjury.—New York
World.
Can Yon Wonder?
Do you know what the terror and
horror of industrial conditions are?
Think of going on day after day in the
same room, breathing the same air,
eating the same food! Can you won
der some high spirited girl flings her
self out of it and thinks anything is
better.—Bishop Henry C. Potter.
Kiot a Herman.
“Did you enjoy the german the other
night, Miss Daisy?” asked Tinkleton.
“He wasn’t a German, Mr. Tinkle
ton,” answered Daisy innocently; “he’s
an Englishman. ” —Harper’s Bazar.
HERE is a medical lecture
in a nutshell. The Kid
neys drain water and im
purities from the blood. The
Liver makes bile and helps to
drive off other waste. If these
organs work badly the body
becomes a cesspool and disease
sets in. You must get them into
healthy action or die.
folllflcLrans
LivffdKidneyßalm
Is an old and unsurpassed rem
edy for Backache, Debility,
Sleeplessness, Lost Appetite,
Foul Tongue, Palpitations and
all other symptoms of disease in
those organs. It cures as well
as prevents every serious trouble
in Kidney, Liver or Bladder.
At druggists, SI.OO per bottle.
THE OR.J.H.MCLCAN MEDICINE CO.
, ST. LOUIS. MO.
For sale by H. C. Poole.
The World
£ Almanac and
dt Encyclopedia
for 1899
Illustrated History
of the Spanish-
American War
READY FOR SALE
EVERYWHERE
JANUARY Ist, 1899.
Together with
[The Battle Calendar
of the Republic.
Compiled by
EDGAR STANTON MACLAY
Historian of the U. S. Navy.
THE STANDARD
AMERICAN ANNUAL.
PRICE 25 CENTS.
Podpaid to any address.
THE WORLD, Pulitzer Building,
NEW YORK.
Getting: His Money’s Worth.
Youth (to barber) —Cut me a little,
please, so that people will see I’ve had
a shave. —Journal Amusant.
Expectancy.
Life's not all romantic sweetness,
As the poets love to sing.
When they rhyme with grace and
neatness
On the blossoming of spring,
Yet a hope each song discloses,
And we all await the day
When the violets and roses
Scare these microbes far away.
Now they linger on the highway.
They are lurking in the hall;
There is grip in every byway
Where your footsteps chance to fall ,
We may scorn poetic poses
And all seriously say: ’
"Haste, ye violets and roses! ,
Scare these microbes far away!"
—Washington Star.
Cottonseed Meat.
Cottonseed meal cannot be fed to,
hogs, since it is almost sure to lead to |
disease if fed for more than five or six
weeks. Ido not know of any cases in 1
which, when cottonseed meal has been
used for steer feeding, that the drop- 1
pings of steers so fed have proved in-,
jurious to hogs. Begin with not over
two pounds per head daily, in addition
to corn and roughage, and at no time
allow the quantity of meal fed to ex
ceed five pounds if the best results from
its use are sought. The droppings
should all be carefully saved, as they
are very rich in the elements of fertil
ity.—W. A. Henry.
1
Good Rants.
By getting really good rams it is as
tonishing how quickly the quality of a
flock can be improved. We are not like
ly to see the high prices for wool that
once prevailed; therefore the more need
to give special attention to the mutton
qualities of the sire. A heavy fleece is
all right if it goes with the other.
—. :
A Valid Excuse.
“Please excuse William from school
today,” wrote the boy’s mother to the
teacher, “as he sat up late last night
studying his lessons and is too sleepy t 0
come today." Philadelphia North
American.
Sheep’s Hoofs.
See to the sheep’s feet and clip the
overgrown hoofs. The sole is to be
trimmed smoothly to avoid the irritat*
ipg effect of sand or gravel on it. >