210 Missouri Agricultural Report. 



minds of all that in all my experience the one essential and most 

 important thing to remember to make the sheep business profitable 

 is care. Care will make constitution ; care will ward off diseases ; 

 care will make size ; care will save feed ; care will make fat, and fat 

 makes more and better wool. Yes, and with care will convince 

 any man that the sheep is the one hundred per cent profit animal. 

 Now in conclusion let me say, that the aim of every farmer in our 

 State should be to keep a small flock of sheep, and it can be shown 

 by figures of the most truthful character, and that can not lie or 

 deceive, that this can be done on what is now wasted on thousands 

 of Missouri farms and the profit from the flock well cared for will 

 be one hundred per cent, if not more. 



ADVANTAGES OF PURE BRED OVER GRADE SHEEP. 



(J. W. Boles, Auxvasse, Mo.) 



In the discussion of this question, whatever may be said in 

 favor of pure bred sheep may be applied to almost any other pure 

 bred stock, so, if I get off the question, you need not be surprised. 



I am glad to know that the sheep industry is becoming more 

 interesting in Missouri, and hope the time will soon come when she 

 will rank where she should in the production of good sheep. 



Sheep are nice to handle; they are the cleanest stock on the 

 farm; they are the best weeders we have. Sheep can be kept more 

 cheaply than any other stock ; they will come as nearly making one 

 hundred per cent a year as any stock kept on the farm. 



Now the question arises, "What kind shall we raise?" I say 

 the best, for we all know the best is the most profitable and gives 

 the most pleasure. 



In starting in the sheep business, then, shall we lay a founda- 

 iton with pure breds or with grades? Without a solid or sub- 

 stantial foundation we can not build a permanent structure. Good 

 seed must be sown in fertile soil in order to reap a bountiful 

 harvest. The purer the seed the more perfect the offspring. Per- 

 fection gives value and appreciation. 



The breed of sheep that distinguishes itself from all other 

 breeds by its type, form, markings and general make-up is a pure 

 bred, for in pure breds only of all classes of stock do we find such 

 marked distinctions. 



