SHEEP. 9$ 



one fact, and that is that a large amount of what many of our 

 farmers term long wool is not so, hut a loose, wild, hairy kind, 

 produced from the native sheep, and is only fit for blankets. 

 This class of sheep has been crossed to some extent with the 

 regular long-woolled sheep or their grades ; and while we admit 

 that these sheep produce good lambs and sell for good prices — 

 as, for instance, Mr. Kelley, who exhibits five ewes a cross 

 between the native and long-woolled sheep, one of which shows 

 traits of the Cotswold, says that from these ewes he raised eight 

 lambs, which, at four months old, averaged eighty pounds each. 

 Such ewes as these, when their productiveness is only concerned, 

 deserve an honorable place in any report ; but there is a large 

 quantity of such sheep which carry just enough of the true 

 long-woolled character to make the wool applicable to some of 

 the purposes to which the pure long wool is applied, and partic- 

 ularly so at the present time, when there is such a scarcity of 

 the pure long wool. This enhances the value of the native wool 

 with which it is crossed. But to keep these grades, it costs as 

 much time and food as to keep the best pure breed, and the 

 wool from the latter is worth from twenty to thirty cents per 

 pound more than the former, and their lambs would mature 

 quicker, and the ewes would be no less prolific, while in wool 

 alone they would yield from a dollar to a dollar and a half a year 

 more than the grade. But the wool from the pure breed is worth 

 from thirty-five to forty cents more per pound than the hairy 

 native, and will yield from two to two and a half dollars more 

 value of wool in a year. This is a consideration worthy the 

 serious attention of the farmers. 



We desire to call their attention to a few other considerations. 

 The first is one which is sometimes raised as an objection to the 

 long-woolled sheep, and that is, that they do not do so well in 

 large flocks as the Merino. Now, as Worcester County farmers 

 do not keep large flocks, these sheep are well adapted to their 

 use ; and being very quiet, they do not require as much fencing 

 in as many others ; and being so much larger, are not so liable 

 to be attacked by dogs as smaller ones. 



We desire also to call the attention of the farmer to a very 

 important point in raising long wool. Its value is greatly 

 enhanced or depreciated by the manner in which it is kept. 

 Neither the quantity nor the quality of the feed of the sheep 



