?E0. 7.] 



SUEEP HUSBANDRY. 



93 



of the coarse-wool sheep of Mexico. It is estimated that a fourth of a 

 milliou of Mexican slieep liave crossed the line into Texas since the first of 

 1859, and the number is constantly increasing. These Mexican sheep are 

 crossed with Northern stock, and make a valuable progeny, both for wool 

 and mutton. "We shall expect before many years more to see Texas mutton 

 sheep in the New York market more frcijuently than we now see Texas 

 beef-cattle, and that they will be much better liked, both by butchers and 

 mutton-eaters, than the bullocks are. 



A Massachusetts corresjjondent wants to know more than we do about 

 sheep-farming in Texas. We commend him to Wm. Wilkinson, Comal 

 Handle, near New Braunfels, Texas. 



We don't know " what part of the State is most suitable for sheep 

 husbandry," but we do know that part of it is, as above indicated, for there 

 George W. Kendall and others have succeeded. 



'• What breeds of sheep are to be chosen V We can answer : All breeds 

 that have succeeded in the Northern States have succeeded in Texas. 



" What are the pecuniary advantages ?" This question we can answer by 

 stating that the first cost of land for a location is very small compared with 

 the cost in Massachusetts, while there is a boundless range of open country 

 upon which great flocks can be grazed, in charge of the shepherd and his 

 dogs ; and as for winter feeding, that is not worth mentioning, and the rudest 

 shelters — mere earth walls — to break the force of the wind, will answer at 

 lirst in jdace of costly barns. Subsistence, too, for hirelings, is also quite 

 inexpensive, and, taken altogether, Texas certainly appears to have many 

 advantages for sheep husbandry. 



There are, to be sure, some drawbacks. It is a long way from the great 

 center of commerce to which wool must be transported, and so far as we can 

 see, it is so far away from mutton-eating communities, that the meat is nearly 

 valueless. We very well remember, however, when the same thing was 

 true of Ohio, where thousands of sheep have been slaughtered for the pelts 

 and fat, and the meat fed to the ]iigs. Now, sheep are worth in Cihio within 

 a dollar what they are in New York. Time may work a similar change for 

 Texas, and then it will rival all other States as a sheep-producer, for that is 

 a business that can and will be conducted without slave labor. 



125. Producing Twins. — A large sheep-breeder has declared ''that sheep 

 highly fed with meal or other gpod provender, about the time the buck is 

 with them in the fall, will almost invariably have two lambs apiece, and that 

 these may nearly all bo raised by proper attention to the mothers. The 

 great mistake in regard to sheep is in not keeping them well enough. If 

 you wish them to be ])rolific or jirofltable, give them plenty of the best hay 

 through the winter, and meal daily, and for shelter a warm barn-cellar, 

 wherein is an open tank of pure water. No kind of grain need be ground for 

 feeding sheep — the hardest is thoroughly masticated and digested by them. 

 The inqtortance of good feetling is uiupiestionable."' 



It is by no means an unheard-of thing for all the owes of a flock to average 



