STOCK AND SHEEP HUSBANDRY. ]^47 



D. J. Briggs of Androscoggin. If a young man starts 

 farming with a very small capital and makes sheep husbandry 

 his aim, he is sure to be successful and a rich man in time. 

 For the last thirty years it has been more profitable than any 

 other branch of farming. Wool from 1850 to 1860 was forty 

 cents ; from 1860 to 1870, forty-nine cents. Buy sheep when 

 you purchase not only for wool but of good mutton qualities. 

 The Hampshire Downs are very handsome sheep, hearty, 

 quick to mature, good bearers of wool. The Cotsw^old is. 

 one of the leaders of the kind, large sized sheep, with thick, . 

 heavy fleece, well adapted to living in this climate. They 

 will succeed well in almost any situation and will produce a 

 good amount of wool. They sometimes reach the weight of 

 eighty pounds. 



The Oxford Downs are a class of sheep a cross with the 

 Cots wold. They are rather delicate sheep, on account of 

 wool being open on the back. Sheep must not be cheated 

 out of their feed. It is well understood that w^e must obey 

 the laAvs of want and demand. I was talking with a hotel 

 keeper in Boston, a short time ago, and he told me they used 

 four carcasses of mutton now where they used one fifteen 

 years ago, and if that be the case we ought to raise twenty- 

 five thousand more mutton sheep in the State of Maine for 

 the consumption of large cities. We can raise tw^enty-five 

 thousand more as well as not, and I believe that we miirht in 

 ten years liquidate the State debt by so doing. Farmers are 

 too apt not to select the best sires as they should. I think I 

 can tell by the looks of the sheep whether the best sires are 

 used or not. Every man going into sheep husbandry has got 

 to make his own flock by cross breeding. 



Wm. Houlton of Aroostook. Some srentlemen have said 

 we raise the best sheep in our county for mutton. It is a 

 fact that we can raise good ones. I find, however, where we 

 flock them together they are not so good, say forty or fifty in 

 a flock. If sheep can run with cattle and have first-class feed 

 they are always fat and nice. But yoij separate them and let , 



