424 HOW TO MAKE THE FARM PAY. 



should be divided after coupling, into lots, not to exceed one 

 hundred Merinos, or fifty South Downs, or twenty-five of the 

 larger mutton breeds. The sheep in each flock should be 

 nearly uniform in size and strength. Feeble sheep and lambs 

 should be put in a hospital by themselves, or disposed of at any 

 price they will bring. 



Winter Management of Sheep. Sheep should have 

 winter shelter in whatever portion of the countrj;- they may be 

 kept. It saves the lives of some, it saves loss of fat from expo- 

 sure in all. There is also a saving in food ; for sheep sheltered 

 during cold storms will not consume as much food, and will 

 consume it more economically. Wet and dried, hay loses not 

 only much of its palatableness but some nutrition. In the 

 South these shelters need only be of poles or slabs covered with 

 turf or straw. Set up crotched poles, ten feet apart and four 

 feet high ; lay long poles in these crotcher, and set up slabs 

 slanting against this frame. In all States south of forty degrees, 

 open sheds are sufficient, and the sheep will flock to them on 

 the approach of a storm. But north of that sheep barns with 

 open yards are much to be desired. The plan {Fig. 85) will 

 give an idea of an economical structure for a good sized flock. 

 It consists of three two-story buildings, the one across the end 

 eighty by twenty, the other two one hundred and twenty by 

 twenty feet. These are divided on the first story into eight 

 stables, a, a, a, each twenty by forty feet, which will accommo- 

 date sixty Merinos, though fifty each is the largest number 

 tliat has been wintered in them. The stables are all connecied 

 by doors, e, e, e, and a door, d, d, d, opens from each into a com- 

 mon yard, C ; each stable has also its separate yard, extending 

 for two hundred feet on each side of the buildings, and entered 

 by the doors, b, b, b. The lower end of the common yard is 

 fenced off by a movable fence, indicated by the dotted line. 



