SHEEP HUSBANDRY. 391 



successful prosecution of sheep husbandry, and in Saxony, with 

 its still more dense population, the number of sheep raised is 

 vastb' greater than in aViy other part of the world. There, where 

 agriculture is carried to the highest degree of perfection, and all 

 the products of the soil are utilized to the fullest extent, we find 

 more sheep than anywhere else. I lay it down as a proposition, 

 that in the future development of our New England agriculture, 

 the sheep must play a prominent part ; and it is as necessary in 

 that light as the cow, the horse, or the hog. Each has its proper 

 place ; and as a destroyer of weeds, and as a consumer of certain 

 products of the farm that otherwise would go to waste, the sheep 

 comes in as an indispensible aid to us. In addition to the con- 

 sumption of certain food that would otherwise go to waste, the 

 sheep is said to have a golden foot. The elFect upon certain light 

 lands of the tread of a flock of sheep, in addition to the manure 

 which they deposit, is found to be invaluable. It is put forth as a 

 proposition, that Great Britain could not raise as much grain as 

 she does if her sheep were entirely driven from the soil ; that it is 

 with the aid of sheep that Great Britain has attained to such enor- 

 mous productiveness in the growth of grain and other staples. 

 The tread of sheep upon certain light lands is found to be an indis- 

 pensible means of bringing them to their highest degree of 

 fertility. 



The causes of the decline of sheep husbandry have been numer- 

 ous. We frequently go to extremes. We are in haste to get 

 rich. The Merino brings big prices, and we rush into the raising 

 of Merinoes, and get a kind of slieep not fully adapted to our 

 wants. As a wool-bearing sheep, that is undoubtedly' the best we 

 could have; but our numerous villages, and our farmers, located 

 far from the butcher's stalls, demand a different kind of sheep ; 

 and when the mutton of the South Down and the Cotswold is 

 found to be not onl^'^ the most healthful, but the most palatable and 

 the most economical meat Ave can furnish, there is a strong argu- 

 ment in favor of the culture of sheep. And such is the fact. 

 There is no way in which the farmer can furnish himself and his 

 family with so healthful and so palatable flesh, during the summer 

 .and autumn months, as by the culture of a flock of mutton sheep. 

 He may enjoy in this way what would be a great luxury to others, 

 and at a very cheap rate. 



With regard to the merits of the different kinds of sheep. I 

 have spoken of the M9rino as the wool-bearing sheep. If we wish 



