RAISING LAMBS FOR MARKET. 305 



sheep in the Commonwealth was $246,217 ; the number of 

 sheep, 58,773 ; the wool was 184,563, and the lambs 115,000, 

 the two amounting to $199,563, showing a return of nearly 

 $3.50 for keeping each sheep. The mutton sold amounted 

 to $55,374. 



This is the showing of the whole State, including all sheep 

 of every description. Our circulars from farmers make even 

 a better showing. 



The profits of raising early lambs, as shown by arranging 

 and averaging the figures as given us by some thirty or forty 

 of our correspondents, — the most successful of whom in this 

 branch are decidedly from Franklin County, — are somewhat 

 as follows : — 



For a moderately small flock of, say, fifty good graded ewes, 



at $4 $200 00 



One good ram, $25 25 00 



Pasturing, salting, washing, shearing, &c., at $1 per head . 50 00 



Winter feed for ewes, — hay, meal, and roots, — at $2.50 . 125 00 

 Winter feed for lambs dropped in January or February, at 



$2 100 00 



$500 00 



RETURNS. 



Fifty good ewes will have at least sixty lambs, of which forty 



will fetch $6 $240 00 



Twenty lambs, later and smaller, at $4 80 00 



Two hundred pounds wool from ewes, at 30 cents . . . 60 00 



Five cords of manure, worth $5 per cord .... 25 00 



$405 00 

 Deduct fifteen per cent on cost of original flock, which you 



still own .......... 33 75 



And you have for your care and feed of your flock of fifty 



sheep $371 25 



This showing supposes the lambs to be dropped in January 

 or early February, in a warm place, and to be fed with some 

 grain or meal the last two months or more before being 

 sold, never having eaten grass. Another plan practised by 

 many farmers is to have the lambs dropped later, — say the 

 last of March or April, — that they may be strong, and well 

 able to go to pasture with the ewes. These receive no meal 

 nor grain, and are sold from the pastures in July or August, 

 for from three dollars to four dollars per head. The first 



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