118 

 Our correspondent in Piscataquis County, Maine, writes as follows : 



Slieep are not yet out of v.'ir.tcr quarters, but look better than usual, owin<T to freer 

 use of gi-ain to make up the doficieucy in hay. There has been a marked improvement 

 in the condition of flocks witliin a few years. Vv'e have become convinced that, the 

 better the breed and the more the care bestowed, the greater will be the profit. 



The most unfavorable reports are from Oxford and Hancoek Counties, 

 Maine: In the former the loss of lambs dropped, up to April 1, was 

 placed at 15 per cent., while in Hancock many sheep have died from 

 scarcity of hay. But two other counties in the State (Cumberland and 

 York) show less than an average condition. From Kent County, Rhode 

 Island, we have the annexed statement : 



Sheep Avero in rather better than average condition si montli ago, but March has been 

 almost unprecedentedly severe, and, as it is usually the lambing month in this county, 

 there has Iv^on more than the average percentage of loss, both of sheep and lambs. 



But three other reports of similar tenor were received from 'New 

 England, while the expression "very line," "first rate," &c., are fre- 

 quently used. 



From New York the reports are favoral)le, with a single exception, i. 

 e., Warden County, where they are "poor from the long, cold winter and 

 scarcity of provender." Twenty-one counties return fair average con- 

 dition; other reports vary from "better than usual" to "first rate." 

 The season, nlthough cold, was generally dry; "not a single rain- 

 storm" in Livingston County, and in Sullivan "the ground bare most of 

 the winter," &c. 



In New Jersey, Pennsjdvania, and Delaware there has been very lit- 

 tle complaint of unfavorable effects from the unusually cold Avinter, 

 Cape May County alone, in New Jersey, reporting "very poor," the 

 others ranging from fair to very good, while out of forty -four counties 

 in Pennsylvania, but five make unfavorable returns, the causes assigned 

 in these cases being severe weather and scarcity of provender. 



The beneficial influence of the advance in price of wool is frequently 

 cited in the Middle States, as well as ISTew England. 



The reports from Maryland are not so uniformly good, especially from 

 the Eastern Shore ; the cause assigned is the severe Avinter and, in sev- 

 eral instances, scarcity of provender. There is much disparity' in the 

 climatic conditions of different sections : In Washington County the 

 condition of the sheep is not so good as last year, but the loss of lambs 

 less, from the dry weather, while much snow and great loss of lambs 

 are reported from Calvert. 



The foHowing is an extract from the return from Queen Anne County : 



Sheep are looking ■well. The great advance in the price of wool has made farmers 

 more than usually careful of their small flocks, all being now desirous of iucreasing 

 their uumbora — so much so, indeed, that I fear many will linally rtm into the other ex- 

 treme. 



In. Virginia the showing is still more unfavorable ; a small majority 

 of the sixty-one counties reporting place the condition below an aver- 

 age, the general complaints being scarcity of provender and the severity 

 of the Avinter-snows. Losses of lambs from these causes are reported in 

 the counties of Bath, Campbell, Fluvanna, Prince William, and Chester- 

 Meld; in the last-named county, in some good flocks, which AA-ere not 

 properly sheltered, almost every lamb perished. ' 



The follovv ing is from Buchanan County : 



Sheep are in usual couuidou. They are rarely ever fed, but run in the mountain 

 ranges all the year round, as the deepest suov.s generally thaw in two or three days 

 on the south sides of the mountain and winter fern is abundant. 



