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iin2)rovement. Four years ago my stock consisted of grade sheep, av- 

 eraging, say, 7-8ths to 15-16tlis Spanish Merino, the remainder Native. In 

 1850, I purchased of John D. Patterson, of WestfieldN. Y., a half-blood 

 French Merino Buck, and have novf of his stock for three years in suc- 

 cession. I had before employed one of the very finest Spanish Bucks 

 I ever saw. I find that my French Merinos are increased in size, the 

 lambs stronger, the losses less, and the increase of the weight of fleece 

 veiy marked. Last June my yearlings averaged five pounds per head, 

 of clean washed wool ; whereas, before I procured the French Merino, 

 my yearlings had never clipped over 3 to 3-j pounds. It is indeed 

 objected by some, that although the fleece is heavier, yet the staple is 

 coarser than the Spanish. Perhaps so : the staple is longer and per- 

 haps not quite so fine. But the difference is not such as to affect the 

 price. I sold last year to a manufacturer, who pronounced it of the 

 very first quality, "precisely the kind of wool that is profitable to 

 work." And this, I take it, is the right kind to grow. Thus far, 

 therefore, I have eveiy reason to be satisfied with the new blood. I 

 summer my sheep upon an opening fai-m, eight miles distant, and win- 

 ter them on my farm at home, on Prairie Ronde ; thus, having the 

 benefit of a dry, sandy soil, for their summer range ; and of a rank, un- 

 fed aftergrowth, in fact the general range of a prairie farm, in winter ; 

 which, unless the winter is very severe, goes far toward wintering them. 

 I cannot omit to mention here, that in the summer of 1852, I sowed 

 about twenty-five acres of flat tumips among standing com, and in the 

 winter let the sheep run upon them. The season had been extremely 

 dry, which prevented the turnips from attaining to much size, but they 

 were thick on the ground and a rank gi-owth of tops ; the winter was 

 open and mild, and the turnips and a small meadow furnished nearly 

 the entire food for my sheep tlirough the winter, and I never saw a 

 flock in better fleph and condition. I think it highly important that 

 sheep should have access to green food of some kind, through the win- 

 ter. Nothing can be better than flat turnips, and if they will grow 

 with com, it is an easy matter to have them at aU times. I shall try it 

 again the coming season. I have allowed them to run upon early sown 

 wheat, the past fall and winter, but am apprehensive they have injured 

 the wheat. Rye, sown early for their especial use, would, no doubt, be 

 an excellent and cheap method. Cora fed to sheep will keep them in 



