THE FARM.
Scotch. Sheep Farm-
mg. (The Field.)
Sheep farming forma a much larger feature in the agriculture of Scotland than most casual observers would be prepared to believe. In Ireland there are actually more cattle than sheep by nearly a million head ; in England there are about three and a half times a 3 many sheep as cattle ; while in Scotland there are rather more than five sheep for every beast of the bovine race. According to the agricultural returns for 1887, there are in Scotland 6,765,901 sheep, about one sheep for every three acres of the entire area of the country, land and water, and nearly a sheep and a half for e\ ery acre of arable land. In England the sheep stock numbers 16,452,505, about one sheep for every two acres of the total area, and one sheep for every acre and a half of arable land. In Ireland there are about five acres of land and water, and nearly tbree acres of arable land, for every sheep in that country. There has in recent years been a good deal of discuasion as to tho extension of dear forests. A very considerable area of mountain land, which formerly carried stocks of sheep during summer, are now under deer ; yet, notwithstanding this, the proportion of sheep to cattle in Scotland is on the increase It cannot be said that thiS is due to any exceptional run of prosperity for sheep farmers, for it is only too well known that they also have had a Bevere turn of depression. In all kinds of farming there are many vic : ssitudes, but it has been contended, with some degree of reason, that sheep farming, especially in the rigorous climate and high alt tudes of Scotland, is particularly liable to severe losses from bad seasons and other influences beyond the control of the farmer. A well-known extensive sheep farmer once assured the writer that he belie\ed that, on an average of the past eighty or hundred years, sheep farmers lost, through bad sea* sons and death among sheep, from these and other causes, a sum equal to their entire capital every fifteen years. This may perhaps be an extreme view of the hazards of sheep farming ; yet it is undeniable that the risks associated with it are very On the other hand, mutton has maintained its price better than beef in the recent depressed times, so that the renewed growth of sheep fanning is not altogether surprising. The great extent to which sheep farming has developed in Scotland is indicated by the growth and magnitude of the sales of rams which take place at various centres every year. The following figures show the number of rams of the various breedß sold, and the prices obtained for them, at the public sales throughout Scotland in each of tbo last three seasons ;
No of rams sold Average price Total Value. 18S5 10,637...£4 1 7...£43,431 8 1 ISS6 10,031...£4 5 7...£42,55S 8 0 1887 10,356...£5 3 11...£53,811 15 0 It is thus seen that while there were 281 fewer rams sold last season than in ISBS, the total receipts exceeded those of 1885 by £10,350, an increased average of £1 2s. 4d. This is very satisfactory, and should tend to encourage breeders of sheep. Alongside the £53,511 realised publicly for rams in Scotland in ISS7, it may be interesting to place the total sum received for shorthorn cattle at the leading public sales in England, Ireland, and Scotland in ISS7, namely £37,373. The great importance of the sheep farming interests of Scotland thus becomes manifest, and it is gratifying to be able to note the above upward tendency in prioes. It repre seats a very substantial increase in the in come of those breeders who sold their rams by public auction last season. The majority of the Scotch ram sales were decidedly more encouraging last season than in either of the two immediately prece ing years, yet to some breeders the results were very disappointing. The inequality of the prices has been observed as one of the peculiarities of the year’s sales, some lots realising an increase of £2 to £3 a head, and others sustaining almost as great a decline. The better class of rams met a relatively better sale than the secondary animals, and this encouraging characteristic was manifested in regard to all varieties of farm stock to a greater extent this year perhaps than ever before.
As usual, the majority of the rams sold were of the black-faced breed, which largely predominates in Scotland, and is steadily on the increase. There were r in all 575 more black-faced rams sold last season than in the previous year, this increase being due mainly to the great increase in the number of ram lambs that are now sold. The use of ram lambs for tupping purposes has greatly increased in recent years, and so far it seems with satisfactory results. Early breeding, no doubt, promotes early maturity ; but it does not also encourage strength of constitution and hardiness, so that this practice might very easily bo carried too far. Within proper limits it is useful. The prices obtained for black-faced rams, notwithstanding a greater proportion of lambs, exceeded those of 18S6 by £1 4s. 9d. per head. For Border Leicesters a still larger increase was obtained. There was a decrease of 82S in the number of rams of this breed sold, but the average price was no less than £2 3s. lid. in excess of that realised in 18S6. Of Cheviots there was an increase of 125 in number, and the average advance in price wa3 19s. Id. Half-bred rams were fewer in number, but they ako rose in price by 345. 9d. per head. By degrees some of the leading English breeds, notably the Shropshire and Oxford Down, are making their way into Scotland. By not a few farmers who have given them a good trial they are much esteemed, yet they are not gaining in popularity quite so fast as might have been expected. There were fewer of them sold this year, and in the average price there was a slight falling off.
Tt>e highest price last season was obtained for a black-faced shearling ram, for which Mr Howatson, of Glenbuck, gave 75gs. to Mr Murray, Parkhall; and the same gentleman gave 50gs. for one of the Duke of Argyll’s shearling rams at the Edinburgh sales. Mr Howatson likewise gave £SO each for two other shearling rams, from Mr Woddrop and Mr McCracken respectively. The highest average for black-faced rams was obtained by Messrs Archibald, Overshiels, £l2 18s. a head. The Duke of Argyll got an average of £l2 10s.; Mr Hamilton Woolford, £l2 3s. Id. ; and Mr Fleming, Ploughland, £ll ss. Lord Polwarth obtained the handsome average of £26 15s. for his fine lot of twenty-seven Border Leicester rams, one realising £7l The Messrs Clark, of Oldhamstocks, obtained an average of £l9 4s. 4d. for their Border Leicesters, the highest individual price being £67. For Cheviot rams the highest individual price was £42, realised from a ram from Upper Hindhope, whose lot averaged £l3 2s. 6d. The Hindhope Cheviot rams averaged £ll 55., and those sold by Mr Robson, Newton Bellingham, £ll 6s. each. The highest price for a Down ram was £ls 10s.
The following figures show the number of rams of the various breeds sold last season, with the total and average prices : No. of rams sold. Average price. Total.
The blackfaced ram lambs included in above, and numbering 1330, realised an average of £1 15s. 6d, the highest being £ll. It should perhaps be explained that these numbers of rams sold do not afford anything like a correct indication of the relative numbers of the different breeds of sheep kept iu Scotland.
LEARNING FARMING IN AMERICA.
Sir,—As I have been a farm pupil fora year, and a hired man for nine months, out in Minnesota, the next state to lowa, I have been interested in reading the letter of 4 Equinox ’ iu Saturday’s Field. All he says about agents, and the uselessness of paying a big sum to learn farming, is true enough. It 13 money wasted, in great part; and if a man has a little experience on a farm at home, and knows his way about, he could quite well go out and get hired straight off', as 4 Equinox ’ advises. But if he has no experience, and has only lately left school, he is none the worse for paying a farmer, he knows something good of, to teach him a bit, and show him around, beforo he hires out. I was just sixteen when I landed in America, and this was what I had to do : 1 went to a farmer for a year ; my father paid 50 guineas to him to board and teach me for a year. I went out with him, as he was home buying cattle ; I had a very good time with him. I soon gob into the kind of work wanted, managing the horses and cattle, ploughing, seeding, thrashing, and so on. At the end of my year I hired out, after going round and seeing who gave most wages best board. I got lSdoI. a month and my board to start with. Some time after that, l my wages raised, and as the boss
would not agree, I left. The same day I got another berth, and had 22d01. a month and my board. If I had stopped during tho winter I could have got lGdol. a month ; but as I had saved up enough to buy my clothes and pay my passage home, I preferred putting in the winter at home. When I return in the spring, I expect I shall get work at once. . The work is pretty rough at times. In the summer we are up at 4.30 a.m., and worked till 7 and 8 p.m. The food was good, and plenty of it on the farms I have been on, and so it is generally around where I was. The climate is good enough when there is not much wind blowing ; when there is, it is cold and no mistake about it. But with stoves iu the houses and the clothing worn, one can manage to stand a blizzard without much grumbling. On oalm days during the winter one does not feel the cold so much as here at home.
Minnesota is a better state to learn farming in than lowa, because lowa is mostly a corn (maize) growing state ; while in Minnesota farming is mixed; wheat, oat 3, bar ley, corn, flax, and potatoes are grown, and some of the finest cattle are raised in it. If a fellow is willing to work at anything, and does not mind a mild sort of roughing it, farming out in Minnesota is very pleasant work, but it will not do for fellows who are not pretty strong, or who expect to have everything in the way of comfort that they have been accustomed to. Francis L. Pope. Tunbridge Wells, Dec. 20.
WHY CULTIVATION INCREASES RAINFALL. At an agricultural fair recently held in Nebraska, almost in the centre of what used to be set down on the maps as the 4 Great American Desert,’ General Morrow delivered an address in which he undertook to account for the large increase in the annual rainfall. His explanation is interesting to California farmers, and we reproduce it. 4 I have always thought that there was an abundance of moisture in the clouds of thi3 interior section, but that conditions favorable to its precipitation in the form of rain and dew were wanting. The earth and sky were reciprocal in their relations. They give and take from each other. A parched desort having nothing to give in return, receives no moisture from the passing clouds. For count, less ages these ptairies have been scorched by fires, pelted by storms of rain and hail and trampled upon by innumerable herds of wild animals. The effect of this has been to pack the earth until it has become as compact as a roc c. The beating power of rain or hail is far greater than the ordinary observer comprehends. When the rain falls on a primitive soil the larger part runs off in torrents and finds its way to the sea. The baked, storm-beaten and trampled earth, like a sick mao, refuses its nourishment. Beyond doubt this is the reason why you have so many physical proofs around you of enormous devastations committed by running water. When the land is tilled this will cease. Cultivated ground absorbes a large portion of the water that falls upon it, and retains it like a sponge. It thus becomes a reservoir of moistnre for the nourishment of crops in seasons of drought. The turning over of soil in large tracts of the country presents to the atmosphere a vast absorbing? surface. The soil gives this absorbed moisture back to the atmosphere by evaporation. Thus, year by year; as the cultivation of the soil is extended, more of the rain that falls is absorbed, to be given off by evaporation, or to remain in store to nourish plants and grasses. —Fresno Expositor.
FILLING THE ICE-HOUSE-If good clear ice, free from snow, maybe had four inches thick, it is not safe to wait for tkieker. When good ice of that thickness may be had, secure it, and do not wait. In some years there is no ice fit to cut after December. Take pains t> have the ice cub in uniform cakes, and in handling avoid breaking. Provide an abundance of sawdust, if it is easily procured. Where sawdust must be brought a long distance, it may pay to lay down a platform of boards and dry some of the sawdust already used, provided it has not begun to decay and has a bad odor. A NEW FORAGE PLANT. Last spring Herman Springmeyer, a Carson Valley, Nev., rancher, sent to Germany for the seeds cf the asperset, a famous forage grass of that country, which grows best on dry soil. He remembered that when he lived in Germany the grass was considered superior to all forage plants, and by way of experiment he secured some seeds and planted them in the barren hillsides near Genoa. He also planted some in his moist garden. The results satisfied hi 3 most sanguine expectations. Tho seeds planted among the rooks of the hillside never received a drop of water, and grew a foot and a foot and a half high in the summer, and at the present writing the plant is green and flourishing. The seeds plauted iu the garden barely made a life of it. Day befote yesterday Springmeyer came to the Land Office and took up several sections of hilly, rocky land. The clerks were somewhat astonished, and asked him if he knew that the land ha was taking up v\ as nothing but sand and rocks. He smilingly replied that he had lived near the land for some years, and knew all about it. Yesterday he described tho asperset : ‘ It is a plant which looks like clover, and grows about eighteen inches high. I am convinced by actual experiment that it will grow on the rockiest and barrenest hillside in thi3 State. The meaner the soil the better it flourishes. You can cut two crops a year. It is euisidered much better than alfalfa in Germany. It fattens cattle faster and makes cows give better milk. No one would think of using alfalfa in Germany when lie could get asperset. Yes, I took up considerable land. It wa3 all hilly, barren land, that no one wanted, probably, but once let this forage plant get a foothold here, and every foot of that land will be in demand. It will make all these hills green. The drier the land the better. It flourishes among rocks, and a limestone formation seems about the best place tor it. It comes early in the spring and 3tay3 green until the snoyy coyera it, I haye sent tn Germany for
more seed. 2t is the coming plant for eatti® and horses, and stookmen can get rich hera in Nevada if they never have a drop of water. It will not grow in moist land ; too much moisture kills it. The hotter and dryer the reason the better. Our dry eliniate is exactly suitable for it, and the ranchers will not be long finding out what it will do.’ ■ Carson Appeal.
Black-faced .. .4952.. .£4 5 6.. .£21,362 15 0 Bor. Liecester 3225.. ..7 5 0.. . 23,375 5 0 Cheviot 1314. .. 3 15 0.. . 4,427 10 0 Downs .. 448.. . 4 11 0. .. 2,040 0 0 Half-bred ...417.. . 6 5 0.. 2,606 5 0
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New Zealand Mail, Issue 838, 23 March 1888, Page 19
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2,809THE FARM. New Zealand Mail, Issue 838, 23 March 1888, Page 19
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