FAEMEES' INSTITUTES. 27"^ 



labor. Those of ns who in an early day of merino shee]) speculation in this 

 State yeutured to invest, know something of the conduct of speculators by deal- 

 ing with them, — in many cases having paid pretty dearly for our information, — 

 for while many good and valuable slieep were sent to Michigan from the New 

 England States and from the State of New York, thousands of inferior ones- 

 have been fixed for the western market by pampering and painting and stubble- 

 shearing, and have been hawked about the country by unscrupulous speculators, 

 victimizing those who put confidence in their highly-wrought stories. These- 

 things were discouraging, but are now outgrown by tliose who have persevered 

 with a fixedness of purpose in the enterprise. 



I must say a few words about sheep with regard to their comparative value 

 with other farm stock. With us a mixed husbandry is the prevailing order of 

 things. I would not change it if I could, and could not if I would. Situated 

 as we are with a soil adapted to the production of all kinds of grain and vege- 

 tables, the grasses in abundance, with the dairying business successful in many 

 localities of the county, the fruit interest continually becoming more and more 

 important important, and our suitable adaptation to the production of good 

 cattle and horses, it would be the height of folly to advocate one distinct hus- 

 bandry at the exclusion and sacrifice of all others. We must have our bread, 

 beef, pork, our butter and cheese, poultry and fruit, for home consumption at 

 least. But while I advocate mixed husbandry as a rule, there are preferences 

 among farmers with regard to the kind of stock most profitable for them to 

 keep, which is very projier, for while one man can see certain success in the 

 future from breeding good horses, another can see it much more clearly in the 

 production of good cattle. The man who Avould go aside to kick a sheep has 

 no business with the care of that inoffensive animal. Sheep give quicker 

 returns than cattle or horses. Suppose, for illustration, that a farmer pays 84 

 per head for twenty-five good shee^o soon after shearing, consisting principally 

 of grade merino ewes and full-blood rams — $100 ; and that he also pays the 

 same sum for four steers, say fifteen months old, and keeps them on his farm 

 for a period of two years and three months. Now at the end of the first year 

 his sheep will produce six pounds per head — 150 pounds of wool — and that at 

 forty cents per pound, which is below the average price for the last twenty 

 years, would be $50, and during the next three months he sells the increase, or 

 a part of the original stock and a part of the lambs, as he shall deem best, sa}7 

 fifteen in number, at $3 per head, which would be 145 ; this, added to the |G0' 

 received for wool, makes 1105. Continue the experiment another year, with 

 the same result, and we have S210 received for wool and sbeep sold, and the 

 original stock worth SlOO — altogether $310. Now the steers are three and 

 one-half years old, and vre will estimate them at 1,300 pounds each, at five 

 cents per pound, or 8G5 per head, making for the four 1260, or $50 in favor of 

 the sheep, allowing the interest on the $105 first received to pay for shearing,, 

 tagging, etc. The question I leave for solution is, which has cost the most in 

 time and feed, the twenty-five sheep or the four steers? Never having demon- 

 strated an experiment of the kind myself, am unable to say, but from general 

 knowledge and observation should think them about equal. Another point in 

 favor of sheep is they do not usually die in debt to the farmer, for we see from 

 above calculations that they are a sort of pay-as-you-go investment, which sys- 

 tem ought to have a prominent place in all business transactions. 



In this county we recognize two distinct classes of sheep, — the fine wools-and 

 the long or combing-wools. The former have greatly the advantage in num- 



