149 



Stock. The other stock do not object to eating the grass 

 ujiun which the sheep June grazed. 



Yours iriilv. 



J. S. Keilnachan^ Florence, Ala. 



Alabama Experiment (Station. 



Dear (Sirs : — 



Ju January, 11)04:, when we bought our farm, the man of 

 whom we bought it had a small Hock of forty-eight head of 

 sheep and was very anxious to leave them with us on 

 shares, but we had always heard that sheep would ruin a 

 pasture, and so were unwilling for them to stay. But finally 

 Ave agreed to keep the sheep for him for eighteen months on 

 shares; we were to receive one-half of the wool and lambs 

 and bear the expense of pasture and the labor to look after 

 'them. 



The first year we raised fifty-four lambs and divided up 

 about July first. As he intended to sell his part of the 

 lambs he took the bucks and left ns twenty-se\-eu ewe 

 lambs as our part of the first crop of lambs. Now, it is 

 strange, but it is a fact, that the next spring every one of 

 these twenty-seven ewes had laml)s and some of them had 

 twins. When we divided up again the next year, about 

 July first, we had about seventy-five shee]*. and besides had 

 received some money for our ])art of the wool. Tn the 

 meantime we had watched pretty closely and found that, 

 instead of injuring our pastures, the sheep had benefited 

 them by eating weeds and other things A\-hich our cattle 

 would not eat. 



So far. we were well i)leased with our experiment and de- 

 cided that, by breeding up our sheep, we coul.i make some 

 money, so we ordered two l??outhdown rams from Ken- 

 tucky. We decided on the Southdown because, after read- 

 ing and making inquiry, we thought thev would snit u.<: 

 b^st as we prefer a dual purpose animal — one thnt wouTd 

 produce both wool and mutton. Wp hnve Imd no cnnse for 

 reor^t in makinir this selection, as they have been verr 



