44 



BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



he ought to have a wife that could do the work indoors, and he 

 should never hire a day's work. He should do it all. He 

 should not hire a butcher when he wants to kill any of his lambs 

 or some of the flock to take to market, nor should he hire a 

 sheep shearer when shearing time comes. If he wants to 

 make money he has got to work. He should build his own 

 buildings and take care of his own flock. Do it all himself. 

 Now, I am going into this more particularly because I am 

 exactly describing what I know a young man to have done. 

 Now, he must have a ram, and he should take more pains in the 

 purchase of his ram than he did in the purchase of the ewes. 

 The main thing is to get a strong masculine character. I do 

 not know of a better way of judging a ram, of deciding whether 

 a ram is good stock or not, unless you can have him for two or 

 three years, than by putting your hand on the back of his head 

 and giving him a sudden blow like that. If he resists your 

 blow well and strongly, do not question at all but he is a good 

 ram. That is the general rule. It has not always proven true, 

 but, as a general rule, that can safely be depended upon. On 

 the other hand, if he ducks his head or his back at the pressure 

 of your hand, do not touch him. Do not get too big a ram. 

 Also make sure to get one with a good chest development. I 

 should advise, in sheep and in the ram, that both should have 

 what is classed as " metal wool," because this young man has 

 got to do his own haying, and his sheep have got to rough it a 

 little. He has got to attend to his own crops, and do it all him- 

 self. He cannot drive his flock up every time it may be a little 

 wet. With very coarse wool it will lie down on the back, and 

 the water gets in and under it and into the skin, and the efifect 

 is bad. 



Now, as to the food on which to keep his sheep ; first, I 

 should put in at least six acres of oats. He can do it if he is a 

 worker. He should, also, put in at least three acres of rape 

 and three acres of turnips. That is the first thing. One man 

 can do it. The oats he should cut up when they are dead 

 ripe. Cut them when they are dead ripe, and feed them on the 

 trough. A poor man cannot afford to purchase a threshing 

 machine. 



Now, he has no shelter for his sheep, and he may have no 

 fences that are good against sheep. Of course, barbed wire is 

 the only thing he can use. There is more or less to be said 



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