204 AUTOBIOGRAPHY 



yard was distinctly freer from bacteria than the 

 milk room. 



The sheep quarters on the third floor, where 

 winter lambs were reared, was practically frost 

 proof. The lambs which yeaned in December and 

 January were highly fed and, when from six to 

 seven weeks old, were hog-dressed and expressed 

 to New York City where they found a market at 

 prices ranging from five to ten dollars per head. 

 We learned among many other things, for this was 

 an experimental as well as a commercial undertak- 

 ing, that if the ewes were not shorn before going 

 into winter quarters, the high feeding and mild 

 temperature made it very uncomfortable for them, 

 although such conditions were ideal for making 

 the lambs grow rapidly. I may as well mention 

 briefly here my only attempt to establish a flock of 

 superior fine-wool American Merinos for instruc- 

 tional purposes. About the time this barn was 

 built I bought thirty fine-wool sheep, paying for 

 them about twice the ordinary price. The dogs 

 chased several of them over a precipice, wounded 

 others and practically destroyed the usefulness of 

 the flock for the purposes for which I had designed 

 them and so ended that experiment. 



