FAKMERS' INSTITUTES. 345 



in bringing out the better qualities of wool. I think that the sample of wool 

 shown by the essayist proves that liousing tends to better the quality and appear- 

 ance of the wool. Sheep houses should be well ventilated and well littered. In 

 such houses tiie sheep will be benefited in health and constitution as much as a 

 man would be to sleep in a well ventilated dwelling protected from the storm. 



Unknown. — Is it desirable that sheep should have running water in summer? 

 Some years ago I had a flock of sheep running upon a summer-fallow all sum- 

 mer without water and in the fall they were fat. 



Unknown. — Is it desirable to commence feeding sulpliur now to kill ticks on 

 sheep? 



Mr. Dryer. — Yes. 



Mr. Caruss. — I sift dry sulphur into the wool to kill ticks, and it never fails. 

 I began keeping sheep without housing, then followed au open shed, — shed with 

 doors, and for the last three years I have used the basement of a barn, since 

 which time the yield of wool has increased 1| pounds per head, and I can safely 

 raise lambs in February. 



Mr. Lyons. — Has the wool grown the length of the white wool exhibited since 

 tlie sheep were taken into the barn, or has the housing drawn the color towards 

 the surface? 



Mr. Dryer. — What I object to is housing in warm weather. I keep my sheep 

 out of cold storms in spring and fall, but do not shelter them from rain in warm 

 weather when they do not need it. Summer housing and sweating is what has 

 caused prejudice against the merino. Hair grows in the wool of our best sheep, 

 but not on the legs, 



Mr. Harrison. — What is the reason tliat wool on the wi'inkles is coarser than 

 elsewhere ? 



N". S. Anthony. — I do not believe that housing is the main thing that injures 

 the sheep. I once bought a flock of sheep that had been fed high and under 

 the same treatment as my other sheep they run down rapidly. I purchased 

 another flock of a neighbor who housed but did not feed so highly, and these 

 when treated as mine were did well. It is not housing, but high feeding that 

 injures the sheep. We might as well stay out in the storms ourselves if it will 

 make us healthier. The same rule holds good with sheep and man. Horse- 

 men house and blanket their horses and are not condemned for it. 



M. Miles. — Some of the differences of opinion arise because people are talk- 

 ing of different things. People talk of merino mutton as poor ; this was true 

 of the -old Spanish sheep that had to travel 300 or 400 miles to their summer 

 pastures and return in the fall. They had no fat. The present American 

 merino, with better feed and less travel, makes very fair mutton. The fiber of 

 the merino wool has also been changed. Youatt says the Southdown fiber is 

 1-500 of an inch in diameter; the merino 1-800 of au inch ; and the Saxon 

 1-1000 of an inch. Present measurements make the American merino fiber 

 only 1-1000 of an inch, and tlie Silesian 1-1300 of an inch. 



Mr. Eoss. — I do not believe that housing hurts sheep if they are only given 

 plenty of ventilation. I kept some sheep in an open shed and afterwards in a 

 sheep barn with these results: First year, with open sheds, 110 ewes gave me 

 12!^ good lambs; second year, with close sheep barn, 132 ewes ga,ve me 36 poor' 

 lambs ; third year, with well ventilated barn, 122 ewes gave me 111 good lambs. 

 The feed during the three years Avas the same. Housing gives more and better 

 wool. 



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