296 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



One such sight as a couple of savage dogs tearing the 

 throats, and mangling the bodies, of a flock of sheep, settles 

 the question of raising that profitable animal in the minds 

 of a whole neighborhood; and hundreds of farmers who 

 never have ventured on this branch of industry would do so 

 if they could with any safety. 



In the year ending May 1, 1875, there were reported 11,489 

 dogs as having killed 1,673 sheep. 



In 1878 there were about 10,000 dogs taxed, and sheep 

 killed to the amount of $10,584.53. 



Sheep breeding and growing in Massachusetts have, in 

 recent years, been pretty distinctly divided into wool-growing 

 and meat-producing. Formerly the growth of the wool-crop 

 was the most important. First, as the necessities of a newly- 

 settled country without commerce required, and afterwards, 

 as the separation of the Colonies from the mother-country 

 threw them upon their own resources for clothing, wool- 

 growing was necessary and profitable. Encouraged by the 

 manufacturers, by wealthy individuals, and by legislative 

 enactments, this continued for many years, till in 1840 the 

 sheep amounted to 378,226 in number, and the pounds of 

 wool to almost 1,000,000; in 1875 the sheep numbered 

 58,873, and the wool amounted to 206,935 pounds. A very 

 remarkable fact, and one which should have great weight 

 with those who consider this matter wisely, is, that the price 

 of the wool from both kinds of sheep has approached very 

 nearly the same value ; while the average of fleeces has 

 increased in weight from two pounds and a half of the fine 

 wool to over four pounds in the improved varieties of larger 

 breeds. 



Formerly flesh was a secondary consideration with the 

 farmers, fine wool commanding so high a price, that it paid 

 farmers for raising that alone, calling the mutton nothing. 

 Thousands of sheep were slaughtered for little more than 

 the pelts that covered them. But the case is now very much 

 altered. Very fine wool is by no means so much in demand ; 

 habits are different ; men do not generally wear so fine cloth 

 as formerly. The war had much to do with the change ; and 

 fine wool is grown so much cheaper in the West and South- 

 West, that the result from the operation of all these causes 

 is, that coarse and middle wools are worth almost as much 



