SHEEP HUSBANDRY. 393 



could hardly be devoted solely to sheep with profit, I think that 

 the devotion of a part of it to sheep must still be considered 

 profitable. 



One great enemy that we have to contend with, and which 

 in Connecticut is admitted to be the cause of the great de- 

 cline in sheep husbandry, is the immense number of dogs which 

 we have. We have dog laws there, but they are not suflBcient to 

 protect the farmer, and in many cases the discouragements which 

 those who have attempted to keep small flocks have met with from 

 this cause, have caused sheep husbandry to decline. But I must 

 say, that that has had very little influence with me. I have kept 

 from 50 to 500 sheep for twenty-five years, and I have lost but two 

 or three by dogs in the whole time ; so that I do not consider that 

 as very" much of an argument against this branch of husbandry. 



But just so surely as sheep husbandry has gone into decline, I 

 believe that just so surely it will be in as much favor again as ever, 

 and that those men who have sold their flocks to go to the trying- 

 kettle will be round looking for sheep again, and that those who 

 will continue to breed sheep, of the right kind, and good sheep, 

 (for it costs no more to breed good sheep than bad) will surely 

 meet their reward. They will again be in demand. 



Secretary Goodale. Have you ever had any experience in re- 

 gard to the value of sheep in eradicating from our fields and pas- 

 tures what we call "white weed," or the "white daisy," as you 

 call it ? 



Mr. Gold. Yes, sir, I have a case on my own farm, wliere it 

 has succeeded to my full satisfaction. I had a field of five acres, 

 which was perfectly white with these daisies. It had been given 

 up to them for years. About five years ago I put my sheep upon 

 the pasture early in the spring, and kept them there until the last 

 of June. They kept off every daisy ; there was not one blossom 

 upon the whole field. The next year I put them in in the same 

 way, and kept them there until about the same time. The result 

 has been, that scarcely a daisy has appeared in the field since. 

 There is no difiiculty in eradicating the daisy completely by con- 

 fining the sheep upon the fields wheije it grows. The same may 

 be said of other weeds. The rag-weed, which springs up in your 

 fields after harvesting, is greedily consumed by sheep. If cut and 

 dried it forms an admirable article for winter fodder for them, in 

 part. And so I might say of many other weeds. 



