FARMS. 87 



And in this way an important addition may be made to 

 the income of any farm, and to the aggregate wealth of the 

 county. Winter rye, — which is a common and most profita- 

 ble crop in this part of the State, — is said to be " essentially 

 benefited, by depasturing it with sheep in the spring as 

 well as autumn. By treading the moist earth about the roots 

 of the plant, they aid in preserving the crop from the dangers 

 of the season. Sheep, feeding upon rye, also promote an 

 expansion and more vigorous growth of the roots ; the number 

 of sprouts from each germ is much increased ; the luxuriant 

 vegetation of the crop, which, by lodging and heating beneath 

 the snow, often endangers the grain, is consumed, and affords 

 a most valuable food to the animals ; light and thin soils are 

 considerably manured, and rendered, by the pressure of their 

 hoofs, a more firm and compact texture." " One of the most 

 successful cultivators of rye, I ever knew," says the writer, 

 " habitually allowed his sheep to range upon the crop until the 

 first of June." 



We did not intend to go into the subject of the proper food 

 for sheep. The opinion of another, who is better qualified to 

 pronounce one, has been presented, because the raising of rye is 

 very general, and the practice alluded to is worthy of consid- 

 eration and experiment. Pasturing in summer, and a mixed 

 diet of hay, roots and grain in winter, is well known to be the 

 general food of sheep. 



The census of 1850 represents the number of sheep, in the 

 country, to be nearly twenty-two millions, and their value, at 

 the average price of two dollars each, nearly forty-four millions 

 of dollars. Of this number, Massachusetts, (having fallen 

 off nearly fifty per cent, within the ten preceding years,) 

 furnished less than two hundred thousand ; and Norfolk 

 County only five hundred and eighty, — fewer than any other 

 county in the State, except Suffolk. And from the best 

 information we can obtain, there are not at the present time, 

 three hundred sheep in the county. 



The causes of this marked change in the sheep husbandry of 

 the State and the county may be attributed, by different per- 

 sons, to various circumstances ; but the fact and its consequences 

 are patent to all. If the opinion be capable of proof that an 

 equal number of sheep and cows can be kept on the same farm 



