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98 



:n the barn or the yard. This might be conducted on many 

 farms, I believe, with signal profit ; and one very prominent 

 advantage which would come from it, would be the abundance 

 of manure, to be made in this way. 



I will not pursue this subject in this place, having already 

 devoted a large space to its consideration ; but, with one ob- 

 vious truth, those who fatten cattle for the market cannot be 

 too strongly impressed, which is, that in fattening a young an- 

 imal, the farmer has not only the advantage of the gain of the 

 animal in fatness, but likewise his actual growth ; the latter 

 may, in many cases, be considered as equal to the former. 



10. Sheep. — The next portion of live stock in the county, 

 which deserves our notice, is sheep. Of sheep six months old 

 and upwards, there are returned to the last Valuation Commit- 

 tee, 50,141, and, in respect to numbers, Franklin stands third 

 in the Commonwealth, containing, however, only about five- 

 twelfths as many as are found in Berkshire county. The num- 

 ber returned by Benton and Barry in 1837, amounted to 55,975. 

 These amounts, it is presumed, refer only to store sheep. Be- 

 sides these, large numbers of wether sheep are purchased an- 

 nually to be fatted for the market, few of which are kept over 

 six, and many not more than three and four months. 



The largest flock of sheep kept by any one farmer in the 

 county within my knowledge does not exceed nine hundred. 

 Few flocks exceed two and three hundred, and many farmers 

 keep only a small number. The sheep are kept almost entire- 

 ly in the hill towns, where pasturage is abundant. Ashfield, 

 Coleraine, Charlemont, Leyden and Conway are the towns in 

 which the sheep husbandry prevails. 



The kind of sheep principally kept are of fine wool, and, 

 generally, three-fourths and seven-eighths blood of the merino. 

 The Saxony have been introduced, and the wool of some of 

 the flocks is of remarkable fineness. The Saxony, however, 

 do not prevail to much extent, as most of the sheep are bred 

 without an extraordinary expense of care or pains in the se- 



