14G 



The present bleed of horses, or ponies, are not generally of an extraordinary 

 character. Only a few very great travellers have been found among them. I 

 lia\'e, however, seen one of but moderate size, Avhich is said to have travelled 

 before a light train on the ice, from Mount Trompelau to this place, 120 miles, 

 between sun rise and sun down, in February, and that without any visible injury. 

 But whether any of such bottom can be now obtained I am unable to state. Our 

 stock of horses has greatly improved of late from immigration. 



The horned cattled in this country, originally came from the States of Illinois 

 and Missouri, and were not of the first quality. Some few of a good quality 

 were obtained from the droves brought up, but generally they were of the ordi- 

 nary character. Immigiation has lately brought some of good quality among us, 

 but I know of none of the imported breeds of the day; though, no doubt, we 

 have some of mixed bloods, which are quite valuable. 



Sheep have done remarkably ■well, so far as they have been tried ; they are 

 very hardy, and produce good and heavy fleeces. To show their hardiness and 

 the adaptation of the climate to their growth, I will give the following fact : — 

 In 1837 a drove of sheep was brought to this place for slaughter. One of them, 

 a wether, strayed fiorn the flock and took up its abode in the liiHs east of this 

 prairie, and within three-fourths of a mile of my house; and strange to tell, but 

 nevertheless true, he escaped notice of men, dogs, and wolves, through two win- 

 ters, and was discovered and killed in spring of 1839, in good eating order. His 

 hoofs were so worn by travelling over the rocks, that they were but square stubbs. 

 We know that he must have straved from the said flock, because there had been 

 at that time no other such drove on the Prairie from which he could haxe strayed. 

 At this time there are a few small flocks of sheep which do exceedingly Avell, and 

 show, most conclusively, that our hilly and healthy country is well adapted to 

 raising them on a large scale. I have never heard of any disease among them. 



As for Hogs, we have some Berkshires, but they have become so mixed and 

 crossed with other kinds, that but few of them can be distinguished. Poultry of 

 of all kinds do well. 



" The adaptation of the country to grazing, as compared with tillage," is a 

 question I am not as well prepared to decide as are those of more experience. A 

 few facts, howerei', may serve to show the gi-azing qualities of the country. The 

 French here who usually own large droves of horses, seldom, and some of them 

 never feed them in winter, except such as they use; and, in the spring, they are 

 in tolerable order. In our low bottoms and ravines, where the wild grasses gi-ow 

 high and rank, they are sometimes beaten down by the fall rains and snow; in 

 which case the snow usually covei^s a large quantity of green substance which 

 the hoises reach by pawing away the snow, if snow is thei"C. If the grass is not 

 beaten down by the tnow, but stands up and reaches above if, then they eat oflf 



