COMMUNICATIONS. 93 



dred Lambs wintered on turnips and straw, (without either hay 

 or grain), and, at a year old, shear in the aggregate, eleven hun- 

 dred pounds of wool, and sold to butcher the following autumn, 

 from grass, being then about 18 months old, when the whole 

 flock averaged 120 lbs., each, of dressed meat. I have known 

 single Sheep dress more than 160 lbs., at the same age. 



The Leicester appears to be rather too fine in bone, and too 

 light in muscle to be as hardy as the Cotswold ; and too light 

 both in wool and carcass to be as profitable. Crossed with a 

 Cotswold Buck, the produce is a coarse-wooled mutton Sheep, 

 which I think is hard to beat. 



The most serious obstacle to Sheep-farming here, is the neces- 

 sity of yarding them at night, to protect them from the depreda- 

 tions of wolves and dogs ; and even then my losses from that 

 cause, (i. e. either dogs or wolves) the past summer, amount to 

 five per cent. During the hot weather Sheep Avill rarely feed in 

 the heat of the day, and by the system of yarding at night, the 

 hours of feeding are considerably curtailed in the evening, and 

 the poor animal compelled to fill himself, if the too often scan- 

 ty pasture will allow it, before the dew falls, and then if the 

 flock have only to cross a road to reach the yard, frequently to 

 be almost choked with dust. In wet weather, I consider the 

 evil worse ; as whether the flock crowd under shelter, with their 

 fleeces saturated with rain, or prefer to weather the storm, in the 

 yard, now become more or less muddy, they almost invariably 

 take cold and discharge at the nose; an unfavorable state of 

 health for the acquisition of either fat or wool. I have noticed 

 not only in large flocks, but in small ones, of less than 20, that 

 Sheep yarded at night, during the summer, are more subject to 

 colds during a rainy season, than those left in a field, whilst 

 the latter thrive better whether wet or dry. My imported Ewes 

 having become very fat this fall and my whole flock being in 

 good condition, I have concluded to winter the breeding Ewes 

 without grain. 



I am, Dear Sir, yours, sincerely, 



JOHN P. ROE. 



