98 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



one pound of seed will do on an acre, but twenty will do no 

 harm. It is a wonderful grower and will clean your land. Get 

 the land back to clover as soon as you can. Clover is the great 

 sheep hay. Turnips (rape is of the turnip family) are essen- 

 tially a sheep feed. 



If you have followed my directions you will have a few choice 

 ewe lambs to keep for breeders, the best in the lot, and will have 

 125 lambs that will weigh eighty-five pounds each by the middle 

 of November. From September 15th to November 15th, on 

 rape and the run of the field, they will gain thirty-two pounds 

 each easily, without a handful of feed except a daily ration of 

 salt, or salt kept in a box near the rape. 



Now if you have improved your buildings a little and have a 

 good bed in your sheep sheds you may breed earlier and get 

 your lambs well started before grass, but you must have some 

 turnips for the ewes and crushed oats for the lambs. Then you 

 may have 100-pound lambs by November 15th ; that is, the whole 

 bunch should average that. If you will do this you can get five 

 to six dollars through for them. Meanwhile shear as early as 

 you can, and shear the sheep yourself. Do not hire a man to 

 do anything. A few days after shearing, dip the lambs for ticks. 

 Do this within a week, as the ticks will be on the lambs the first 

 few days after shearing. 



Now let us see what we have to sell after a year or two of our 

 experiment. With the two mares we should have one colt each 

 year to sell. We shall have 150 fleeces, 125 lambs, and a few 

 fat sheep. If you have followed the rape, turnip, oat and clover 

 policy, the fleeces after the first year will average eight pounds, 

 and the fat sheep will bring eight to ten dollars each. 



I challenge any system of farming to make a better showing 

 and I have not said a word about the apples that are coming on. 



I have closely followed a case that I know of in my presenta- 

 tion of this experiment, except that the man had but one horse. 

 Now I want to say a word to the housewife. To you falls the 

 care of the food of the household. See to it that in addition to 

 the pig you have a couple of good, fat sheep for your' own use. 

 Kill them any time after the flies are gone. See to it that they 

 have nothing to eat for at least twelve hours before killing 

 (twenty-four hours are better) so you will get no bad flavors from 

 food eaten. When dressed, hang them in a cellar, unless it be 



