SIIEEP. 97 



• 



t prudent and careful trials in the business of raising long-woolled 

 sheep ? They are large in size, quiet and domestic in disposi- 

 tion, requiring little if any more care than horned cattle ; in 

 fact, will run with them in small numbers like cossets. They 

 enrich rather than exhaust pastures. They fatten easily upon 

 roots which can be raised with great facility, the custom in 

 England being to sow turnips and rape late in the season, and 

 turn the sheep into the lots to help themselves. Your Com- 

 mittee favor such trials by all who can do it with facility and 

 proper skill. " Nothing is worth doing that is not well done." 

 It is not to be expected that all who may attempt it will meet 

 with equal success, any more than we may look for equal results 

 in any business. "With good planning and skilful attention, it is 

 believed the business may pay well. Great care and good judg- 

 ment is necessary in the selection of the best breeds for the 

 production of combing- wool and mutton, having an eye to hardi- 

 ness, quiet disposition and prolific tendencies. Skilful treatment 

 is the next study. Hurdles, which may be cheaply constructed, 

 are successful on many farms ; they are effectual at a moderate 

 height. The writer has seen the Cotswold kept in herds by 

 these fences not over three feet in height. They may be moved 

 about at a trifling expense of labor, giving opportunity to divide 

 lots, on one part of which there may be crops growing. 



The show of sheep at the fair was meagre in the extreme, the 

 Texel, or Mouton Mandrill, exhibited by Mr. Chenery, com- 

 prising nearly all worthy of notice. This is a new breed in this 

 country, and is yet to be proved in comparison with the Cots- 

 wold and Leicester. They are undoubtedly good for mutton, 

 and the wool is of the combing quality, which is in great 

 demand. They are awarded the first premium. Mr. Charles 

 A. Monroe, exhibited one ewe eighteen months old, which, 

 though a very small contribution, if taken with the statement, 

 is an exceedingly valuable one, for it strongly illustrates, as far 

 as it goes, the doctrine of this report. It was not Southdown, 

 as represented, but probably a cross between native and Cots- 

 wold. It had a fleece of long staple wool fit for combing, and a 

 good carcass for mutton. Ten to twenty of such sheep on most 

 of the farms in the county would show good results. Particular 

 attention is called to Mr. Monroe's statement. He is awarded 

 the second premium. 

 13f 



