403 HANDY-BOOK OF HUSBANDRY. 



Common mutton is and has been for some time very low, and 

 the low price to which wool has fallen, owing to the extra pro- 

 duction that high war prices induced, has made the prospect very 

 gloomy. As a consequence, hundreds and thousands of sheep 

 have been slaughtered for their pelts, and sheep-farmers are, in 

 many parts of the country, turning their attention to other branches 

 of industry. 



At the same time, the markets are very poorly supplied with 

 good mutton, and really fine carcasses are in demand at paying prices. 

 Whether wool-growing will become profitable is largely a ques- 

 tion of tariff, and of the extension of woolen manufacture, and 

 this is too much a matter of speculation for a sound opinion to be 

 given. 



All that it is safe to say is, that well-fattened mutton of the larger 

 breeds is sure to remain, as it now is, sufficiently in demand at 

 high prices to leave a good margin of profit for the farmer ; — as 

 much, probably, as in the feeding of beef cattle. Early lambs, 

 also, — wherever the cost of transportation to the larger markets 

 does not interfere, — may be produced at a good profit, under 

 careful management. 



There is no branch of husbandry in which more depends on 

 dose attention to details than in the raising of sheep, and no one 

 who is not experienced in their management should undertake the 

 business without first making a special study of the subject, which 

 it would be impossible to treat fairly in a limited space. Any 

 attempt to condense the necessary instructions, so as to bring 

 them within the limits of the plan of this work, would surely be 

 unsatisfactory. The reader is referred to Randall's excellent 

 treatise on Sheep Husbandry. 



Swine hold an exceedingly important place in agriculture, — 

 the stock of swine in the United States in i860 havmg numbered 

 30^354,213. 



So far as the agriculture of the more improved parts of the 

 country is concerned, swine have three important uses : First^ 



