FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 257 



in no way so effectually as by making every acre of his farm produce as much 

 as possible. AV'here there are waste places, subdue them; where nothing grew, 

 grow something; if wet, undcrdrain ; if poor, enrich it. And in no way can 

 this be so cheaply and profitably be done as with a certain number of good, 

 well-kept sheep. In breeding no grade ram should be used, however good he 

 nray a])pear or however much he may shear, for there is no certainty in what 

 he may get. If grades will answer then thoroughbreeding is practically a fail- 

 ure. 



All writers on the subject of breeding, no matter whether cattle, horses, 

 sheep, or any other stock, advocate the use of thoroughbred males, and practice 

 and experience prove the soundness of the theory. The time is not now when 

 sheep have arrived at that state of perfection and profit that they need no more 

 improvement. It is not too much to say that in the course of a few years it 

 will be as common to shear an average of eight or ten pounds of washed wool 

 per head as it is now to shear six or seven, and wool worth as much per pound. 

 We must breed to gradually increase size of carcass, thickness of staple, and 

 have all parts of the sheep covered. By the way some sheep are kept, it would 

 look as though the notion that ''something could come of nothing by the gra- 

 cious aid of sheep," is still believed in, and I cannot make my ideas any plainer 

 than by quoting the remarks of a practical sheep breeder, who says: "We 

 frequently see absurd statements that the sheep's foot turns all to gold, and 

 there is no steadier or surer way to fertilize a barren field than to put a ilock 

 of sheep to pasture upon the briars and weeds in it; that, in effect, sheep will 

 live upon the poorest food and make the richest manure, and thus the very 

 best stock a farmer can keep on his farm. But those who have been there 

 know better. * * There is no other domestic animal that needs better care 

 or food for profitable thrift than sheep; that out of their finely-grinding ma- 

 nure mill comes nothing that is not first put into the hopper; that yet, with 

 proper care and skill, a well selected flock of the right kind of sheep, in the 

 right place, can be made to pay one hundred per cent on their cost every year. 

 It is true that a flock of sheep will clear a field of weeds, briars, and rubbish, 

 and will enrich it, but it will not live upon these. To relish this rough herb- 

 age, the sheep must be fed liberally with some supplementary food, such as bran, 

 cut clover, grass, or green cornfodder, or some grain food. Then with this 

 alloy the sheeji's foot may take on the golden tinge and will edge with gold the 

 farmer's pocket by making his poor lands rich ; giving him, at the same time, 

 a lamb or two and a fleece every year. The fact is, sheep are manure spread- 

 ers rather than manure makers. We feed them with the material, they take 

 their pay out of it and give us back the remainder, transformed into a substance 

 of equal value (because it is more available), with that Avhich they receive, and 

 they get fat meanwhile in doing it. Just as we give the mint a bag of gold 

 dust and we get back exactly the same weight of gold dollars while the coiners 

 are fed upon it, but without the dust we get no dollars. So with sheep. If 

 we do not feed them with the materials needed, to make fat for themselves and 

 rich manure for us they will prove as unprofitable as Pharaoh's lean kine." 



Connected with sheep-breeding and wool-growing is sheep-washing. The 

 practice of putting sheep into the water for the purpose of cleansing the wool 

 is of doubtful expediency, and open to serious objections. The practice is 

 cruel, both to men and sheep, besides being dangerous to health. Nature has 

 so adapted herself that proper covering is provided for the different animals in 

 different latitudes and climates. In the more southern and warmer portions 



