256 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Cuap. II. 



country might bo a liundrcd thousand doUars a year richer, if the people 

 could stock their farms with sheep. A man who keeps a worthless cur to 

 prowl through a neigliboi-liood, is neither a good Christian, moral man, nor 

 good neighbor. He does not do as he would be done by. A well-trained 

 terrier is the only kind of a dog that is useful to farmers in general. Of 

 tiiese there are several varieties ; the best is the wire-haired terrier, an ugly- 

 looking brute, but a ferocious enemy to 'rats. The black-and-tan terrier is a 

 handsome and Tnore agreeable-looking dog to have about a place, and a 

 good ratter, when trained, but does not have such an apparent natural pro- 

 pensity to destroy rats as the wire-haired one. He is also, for his size, a very 

 strong dog, and knows nothing about fear of anything, and is therefore a 

 very good house M-atch-dog. But we do not believe a farmer ever should 

 keep a dog for his services alone, as a watch or guard of his premises. A 

 dog to be worthy of a home upon a farm should have several good qualities 

 combined. No conscientious man can keep a dog when he knows that the 

 keeping of such dogs, ■whether his particular one or not, has a tendency to 

 prevent the keeping of sheep ; for sheep, of all animals, have greater adapt- 

 ation to the purpose of furnishing the poor with cheap food than any 

 other domestic animal in use in this country, and they are capable of con- 

 verting the coarsest herbage of the farm into the most healthful meat of the 

 shambles. 



2S0. Slifphf rd's Dogs. — "Whenever sheep are kept in such numbers as to 

 constitute a couiiderable tiock, the owner can well afford to keep a good 

 shepherd's dog. One who has never seen a well-trained shepherd's dog can 

 form no idea of their cxtraordiiuxry sagacity and usefulness. We have 

 riciilen leisurely across a wide prairie in a wagon, accompanied by a Scotch 

 coUey, half-breed slut, driving five hundred sheep hotter than three men 

 could have done without a dog. 



If there were none but such dogs in the country, there would be ten times 

 as many sheep kept. One man -would be entirely competent to manage a 

 thousand. He should have two dogs, so that they would be company for 

 cacli other, and so that, in case of accident to one, the other would remain 

 serviceable. 



The Scotch colley very much resembles a prairie-wolf, having a broad 

 forehead and pointed nose. The ears are short and upright, the fleece 

 shaggy and slightly curly, with a bushy tail. These dogs are very intelli- 

 gent, docile, and faithful, and possess an instinctive sagacity in everything 

 that relates to the care of sheep. In a pleasant little book called " Anecdotes 

 of Dogs," some wonderful evidences of the sagacity of Scottish shepherd 

 dogs are to be fomid, and they should bo read by all farmers' boys. 



The English shepherd dogs vary considerably in appearance from the 

 Scotch. The hair is smoother, and they do not appear so distinct a breed as 

 the other. Both are of medium size, perhaps about fifteen inches high. 

 Tlie Irish shepherd dog is larger and more ferocious ; some of them would 

 tear a man sadly, if he interfered with the flock at night while in charge of 



