466 Transactions of the 



sheep do need water, and plenty of it. I would have water in the cor- 

 ral as well as on the range, when procurable by reasonable outlay; and 

 if it be running water so much the better. By means of the redwood 

 piping now made water can be brought at very reasonable expense. I 

 have been traveling with sheep toward the close of a hot day, when 

 both animals and men havo beeu nearly fagged out. On a sudden every 

 sheep in the flock would raise its head, and start in a brisk trot (as if 

 running for salt), and go to a pool, or stream of water, half a mile dis- 

 tant, that I know they never saw before. So acute a sense is not com- 

 monly, I think, observed in animals to whom it is of no special use. In 

 short, the notion that sheep can be stinted in water without disadvan- 

 tage is inconsistent with all observation of the habits and instincts of 

 the animal. 



BELLS. 



The advantages of having bells among the sheep are these: they help 

 the farmer to find his band, should they be in the brush, or during 

 foggy weather; they apprise the shepherd when the sheep are running 

 or scared at night. Some claim that bells tend to scare off dogs and 

 wild animals. It is better to put the bells on such individuals as are 

 observed to be leaders among the sheep. 



OUR WILD GRASSES. 



On most sheep ranges in California one sheep to the acre of average 

 feed will be found sufficient; or, if cattle or horses have been kept on a 

 range, it may be safely stocked with five head of merino sheep for each 

 head of neat stock previously kept. But this ratio I should say is as 

 large as can generally be eafely undertaken, on unfenced range, for a 

 sheep raiser is expected to keep his stock on his own range, whereas 

 cattle and horses are commonly allowed to go where they please. I 

 have only tried alfalfa in a limited way, and without irrigation. I find 

 it about the very best feed, and although I have no figures to offer as to 

 the number of sheep it is possible to maintain on this clover, I am pre- 

 pared to believe almost any of the big reports given of it by those who 

 have made it a specialty. Of the wild grasses, alfilerilla, or bur clover, 

 will undoubtedly keep the largest number of sheep to the acre. These 

 grasses cause a marked reduction in the price of the wool, owing to the 

 seed with which they fill it, and from which it is difficult, as the manu- 

 facturers claim, to free it. Still, when the amount of this reduction is 

 weighed against the increase in the number of sheep which these grasses 

 will maintain, the alfilerilla and bur clover ranges cannot be hastily 

 condemned. Their seed pods or burs are most relished by the sheep 

 after the rains have set in, and at the particular time when the grasses 

 on the ranges of Central and Northern California have had their nutri- 

 ment leached out, and are at their poorest as feed. On these alfilerilla 

 and bur ranges at times it is surprising to see how the sheep live at all. 

 Examine the ground of an alfilerilla range at a time when it is so bare 

 that there appears to be actually nothing at all on it. This grass re- 

 tains all its nutritious qualities, no matter how long it may lie in the 

 sun to scorch and bleach. It does actually dry up and blow awa}\ But 

 it is caught, much of it in the shape of dust, in the swales, sheep trails, 

 or cattle tracks, and on this the sheep will live and live well. 



