1907.] DISCUSSION. 271 



make it better for farming purposes, and there is no reason 

 why Connecticut farmers should be debarred from raising 

 large flocks of sheep simply because they are unable to suc- 

 cessfully protect them from ravages of despoiling dogs. 



I do not wish to take any more time. It is a matter that I 

 have felt deeply upon for a great many years, and when you 

 consider how many millions of dollars of taxable property 

 there would be in this state in addition to what we now have 

 if you could have caught about two-thirds or three-fourths 

 of the dogs and cut their tails off behind their ears it is a 

 matter for astonishment that we have such a sentiment as 

 exists in Connecticut on this dog question. I have no doubt 

 if that could have been done it would have increased the value 

 of the agricultural interest in Connecticut many, many mil- 

 lions of dollars. It would have had a great effect upon other 

 business interests in the state. If that could have been done 

 they would have found it out pretty quickly too. I want to 

 see everything done that can be for I believe it is a most im- 

 portant matter. There is no more reason why a dog should 

 be allowed to worry or kill your sheep, or kill somebody else's 

 lambs, than that I should do it myself. If I did they would 

 prosecute me for damages. I hope that the day is not far 

 distant when we shall see a radical change of sentiment in this 

 state on this question. 



Mr. Barber. One of the greatest difficulties that the- 

 farmer has to contend with in raising sheep is that he is only 

 paid for just exactly what he finds to have been killed. The 

 situation is something like this. Out in our back country 

 districts, where most of the sheep are raised, the farms lie in 

 rough land, much of it woodland and rocky isolated places 

 that are not fenced at all. Now dogs chase the sheep and 

 drive them into those wild mountain places, and the trouble 

 is you never can find the sheep that are killed. The select- 

 men say when they come to pay the price of the sheep, that 

 they will pay you for those that you have found dead. In my 



