00 STATE BOAKD OF AGEICULTURE. 



stronger than in April. The cause I attribute this to is, tliat eating old grass 

 with new irritates the bowels, producing a slight diarrhoea, weakening the ewe, 

 and hence weakening the offspring. 



Mr. Gumming exhibited a sample of the wool of his CotsNvold sheep, it being 

 Yory long, soft, and glossy. 



DISCUSSIOX. 



Mr, Munger. — Are ]iot long-wooled sheep more liable to be troubled with 

 ticks than the iine-woolcd? 



Mr. Gumming. — Did you ever see a good, fat sheep struggling with ticks? 



Mr. Munger. — I have ; the Cotswold you are speaking of. 



Mr. Gumming. — I know that poverty will cause ticks to work. 



Prof. Pairchild. — The Gotswold have been kept at the college for years, and 

 we have also a fine Lincoln ram. 



Mr. Gumming. — Don't you consider the Lincoln superior to the Gotswold? 



Prof. Fairchild. — He certainly is superior in appearance. 



Mr. Gumming. — I have never owned any Lincoln sheep myself, but some 

 friends of mine living in Ganada, who were among the first importers of long- 

 wooled sheep to America, have discarded all varieties except the Lincoln. 



S. R. Lewis, Ganges. — Is the fibre of the Lincoln wool f.ner or coarser than 

 that of the Gotswold? 



Mr. Gumming. — It is finer. 



Mr. Warner. — Does the gentleman regard Allegan county as a favorable place 

 for sheep-raising? 



Mr. Gumming. — I live within a mile of the village of Saugatuck, and I don't 

 consider it good for the Gotswold. My sheep have been afflicted Avith a sort of 

 catarrh, or running at the nose. AYliether it is caused by the dampness off the 

 lake I am unable to state. I have tended sheep since I was twelve years old, 

 and I never saw them so universally affected with this catarrh as in this county. 

 Still, they seem to thrive pretty well. I have noticed, also, that when my sheep 

 get to be five or six years old their avooI gets thinner. Whether it is the climate 

 or soil I am unable to state. 



Mr. Munger. — Is your land sandy? 



Mr. Gumming. — Mostly a sandy loam. In the summer time my sheep have 

 the run of a partially cleared portion of my farm. Part of it is what might be 

 called low ground. I claim that sheep want water just as much a? a horse or 

 any other animal. 



Spencer Marsh, Allegan. — I would like to ask the gentleman if he does not 

 think all sheep do better in a dry atmosphere ? 



Mr. Gumming. — I think they do. 



Mr. Loomis. — I would like to inquire if the gentleman has ever examined to 

 see if there is not some vegetable, such as Johns-wort, growing upon his soil, 

 which may affect his sheep? 



Mr. Gumming. — I have never discovered anything of the kind. 



J. A. Anderson. — Do you consider the Gotswold as hardy as the Merino? 



Mr. Gumming. — I can hardly answer that question. I know I never saw 

 sheep troubled with the catarrh until I came to the lake shore. 



Mr. Pratt, Allegan. — The Merinos are just as much afflicted with it as the 

 Cotswold. I lay it to the dampness. I know there are a great many people 

 troubled with the catarrh on the lake shore. 



