FINE WOOL SHEEP HUSBANDRY. 93 



its own weight daily of good hay in winter, and an 

 equivalent of green food in summer. The Saxon 

 sheep of 1840, then, consumed about two and a half 

 pounds of hay daily, and the American about three 

 pounds a difference of 75 pounds in favor of the 

 former during the 150 days of a New York winter. 

 Hay then cost about $5 a ton at the barn, and pastur- 

 age a cent a week for a sheep of either variety through 

 the remaining 225 days of the year, making the cost 

 of keeping an American Merino less than 20 cents 

 most a year. 



The Saxon required much more care and attention, 

 and better winter shelter. In ordinary hands it 

 reared 20 per centum less of good lambs.* Finally, 

 the American Merino fatted as easily as the Saxon, 

 made as good mutton, and produced more of it. 



In the interior and wool growing regions proper of 

 'New York, hay for the last few years has usually 

 averaged about $6 a ton in value at the barn, and 

 pasture costs through the season about two cents a 

 head per week for sheep. "Were the prices of both 

 doubled, it is obvious that the American Merino 

 would continue vastly the most profitable sheep, par- 

 ticularly if the increase in its fleece since 1840 is 

 taken into account. 



The French Merino spread with great rapidity 

 throughout the Northern States, and is disappearing 

 as rapidly. Our farmers have obtained the impres- 

 sion that it produces less wool in proportion to size 

 and consumption, than the American Merino, wool 



* I say " good lambs," because many of the small and feeble lambs 

 of the Saxon sheep perished during their first winter when eight or 

 nine months old. 



