LECTURES AND ESSAYS READ AT INSTITUTES. 153 



desirous of becoming acquainted with some of the characteristics of a variety 

 which is as well suited (I am drawing my bow very mildly) to meet all con- 

 tingencies as any we have, permit me to introduce for your kindly considera- 

 tion my woolly friends, the sheep. 



As we have been speaking of manure as being quite an essential factor of 

 successful farming, we might as well first consider that question in its 

 relation to sheep. That sheep upon feed of the same quality will pro- 

 duce manure as rich or richer in plant food as cattle, horses, or pigs, is a fact 

 which has been demonstrated and so many times proven in the practical test 

 of its application to so-called worn-out soils, that to intelligent farmers it has 

 nearly or quite ceased to be a question of discussion. 



Much has been said and written about John Johnson's sagacity in under- 

 draining his worn-out farm. While I would not decry underdraining (for I 

 heartily indorse it) or seek to detract anything from the honors so justly 

 bestowed upon him as the father of underdrainage in this country, yet from 

 those same uuderdrained lands, but for the aid of the clover seed which he 

 sowed and the rich manure made by the sheep he fed, or by the use of some 

 other fertilizer (which evidently he did not deem expedient for him to do), 

 John Johnson's "crockery" might have remained buried until doomsday 

 and never alone caused those sterile fields to bring forth the abundant harvests 

 which they did to their possessor. When sheep are properly housed and 

 fed in winter without the aid of elaborate arrangements of troughs, 

 pipes, and cisterns, we believe more of the liquid manure is garnered 

 up in the bedding and refuse fodder over which they pass, than from 

 any other of our farm animals. The reason assigned for this opinion 

 is that it is voided by sheep more frequently, but in less quantities, thus 

 giving the absorbents ample time to take it up and retain it for future use. 

 During the pasturing season no animal of the farm distributes its excrement 

 so thoroughly and in a manner which admits of so little loss of its fertilizing 

 properties to the soil or plant as sheep. Their manure is usually dropped in 

 pellets which form naturally causes them to scatter over the surface of the 

 ground, where by action of the rains they are driven down to the roots of 

 vegetation ; soon screened from the action of the sun and wind by the extra 

 foliage they have induced, they gradually yield their fertilizing properties 

 until those qualities are exhausted. If sheep are pastured in fields where 

 knolls abound, and upon which the soil is generally unproductive, that, 

 of all others, is the place sought by them to pass the night upon, leaving 

 an extra dressing of manure just where it is mosc desirable. In 

 contradistinction to sheep in pasture are cattle and horses. They usually 

 mass their droppings, killing all the vegetation underneath them. Exposing 

 the upper portions to the action of the elements, and, through evaporation, 

 losing a goodly portion of its fertilizing properties, and if they are ever found 

 lying on knolls, it is purely accidental on their part, and not from any fixed oi* 

 natural habit. No animal on the farm digests its food so perfectly as sheep ; its 

 mill grinds fine. No grain or seed can pass through its digestive organs and re- 

 tain sufficient vitality to ever germinate. There are three deductions to be made 

 from this fact. First, if its digestion is more complete than any other of our 

 domestic animals, it must assimilate its food more perfectly, and this would 

 go to prove that it required less food proportionately to sustain life than any 

 other of our farm stock ; second, all the nitrogen in its food, or very nearly 

 all, is made available, and this is one reason why the manure is richer in plant 

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