SHEEP HUSBANDRY. 59 



depredations of dogs and wild animals, an average profit of $1 per 

 head is made here in keeping sheep. It may be remarked that 

 wool is now worth 50 per cent more than the sum I have allowed, 

 and that pelts alone are sold now for what I have computed the 

 live carcase to be worth. On the other hand hay is worth $15. 

 The calculation is certainly a safe one, judging from the state of the 

 market for the next ten years. 



Another advantage to accrue from keeping large flocks, is the 

 supply of the means of fertilizing and tilling more acres of arable 

 land, and thus adding to our grain and hay product. Whether the 

 excrements of sheep are richer in ammonia and phosphorous than 

 of horses- and cattle, or whether from their Qompact form and man- 

 ner of distribution they combine with straw litter and mould so as 

 to make a compost that absorbs all the valuable gases, and resists 

 the leaching of rains and evaporation of heat, I am unable to say, 

 but it is certain that agricultural writers unite in a high estimate 

 of this manure. Mr. Kennedy in his Condensation of the Census 

 says : "Sheep are a necessity of a good general system of hus- 

 bandry on even the highest priced lands, and amidst the densest 

 population. They afford as much food to man in proportion to 

 their consumption as any other domestic animal. They are 

 believed to return more fertilizing matter to the soil (than any 

 other.)" Baron Von Sternberg, in the statement to our Minister, 

 Mr. Wright, to which I have alluded, says : "Every day a little 

 clean straw is laid down, which being mixed with the excrement 

 of the sheep, is compressed by them into a solid mass, forming the 

 floor, which is perfectly dry and sweet. The consolidated manure 

 thus formed, is not the least of the profits derived from the sheep. 

 No other farm yard manure is equal to it, and for turnip crops, and 

 especially for rape seed it is the best fertilizer, as not being ex- 

 posed to the open air, and being well compressed, it retains its 

 ammoniacal properties." 



No increased fertility is expected in lands pastured by oxen, 

 cows and horses, but it has long been known that the keeping of 

 sheep upon land improves its fertility. Our accomplished Secre- 

 tary of the Board of Agriculture, Mr. Goodale, in his Report for 

 1857, remarks: "The sheep, of all domestic animals, is the least 

 dainty in its tastes and the easiest fed, eating freely, it is said, of 

 a hundred different species of plants which are refused by the 

 horse and the ox. They are thus of great utility in cleansing foul 



