86 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



or animals of no known breeds may be better liked, each breed 

 being applied to the use for which it is best fitted. Local 

 circumstances will often govern the farmer, and a proper regard 

 to his own interest will lead him to select and raise animals 

 best adapted to his wants. 



Li the mean time efforts are needed to raise up, from our 

 present stock, as a basis, a race that shall be sufficiently distinct 

 to be called a breed, and shall be adapted especially to the 

 wants of our State and climate. This stock is far better than 

 that with which Bakewell and other distinguished breeders 

 began, and offers great inducements for the application of 

 science and skill. 



While labor continues to be so high, it will be for the interest 

 of the farmer to keep a few superior animals, rather than many 

 of a poorer class ; and, when a change is made, animals of fine 

 shape and color, other things being equal, will cost no more 

 than those inferior in these respects. In addition to the greater 

 pecuniary profit derived from them, fine animals give a much 

 greater interest to the labors of farming, and are in themselves 

 a source of pride and pleasure to the possessor. The condition 

 of the farmer may often be judged of by the appearance of his 

 stock, and his manner of keeping it. Inferior animals, worn 

 out by labor, and showing the effects of hunger and neglect, 

 lead one to look at the implements of the farm, the buildings 

 and the general mode of management, and even if they do not 

 show the plain signs of mortgages, they will be very likely to lead 

 the beholder to fear that if the meadows are not drained, some- 

 thing else is. It has been said that the man who neglects his 

 animals, and the means of improving them, does not deserve to 

 thrive. It is a sentiment the justice of which we may all admit. 



Sheep. 



The number of sheep in this Commonwealth in 1840, was 

 343,390; it decreased at the average rate of 16,396 annually, 

 till, in 1850, it was only 179,428. They are kept principally 

 in the interior and western parts of the State. 



The competition of the Western States has, undoubtedly, 

 been one of the most operative causes which have produced the 

 decrease. Large flocks range freely over their vast prairies, 



