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as from one quarter to one third, that is, one iamb raised to every 

 fom- or three wintered, incUiding all kinds. The losses, under 

 indiscreet or negligent management, are sometimes very great. 

 Sheep are sometimes suffered to lamb too early ; the ewes are, 

 in some cases, very poorly kept ; there is a want of provision, 

 as it respects warmth and comfort of the ewes in the season of 

 yeaning ; and no provision of succulent food is made for them 

 where they come in before the season of grass. The fine- 

 wooled sheep require particular care ; they are more tender 

 than our native sheep or the mixed bloods ; but there are, with- 

 in my knowledge, individuals, whose management is so excel- 

 lent, that they would think almost as much of losing a lamb 

 through neglect, as of losing a child ; and with flocks of the 

 very finest-wooled Saxony sheep, I have known one hundred 

 and one lambs raised from one hundred ewes. Such are the 

 results of superior skill and carefulness, which never fail to 

 bring with them an ample reward. 



The cost of keeping a sheep is, of course, differently esti- 

 mated in different parts of the country. In a report made some 

 years since to a committee of Congress, the cost was put down 

 at one dollar per head through the year. There is no part of 

 Massachusetts where this will nearly meet the expense. Many 

 farmers are in the habit of rating the keeping of ten sheep, as 

 equal to the keeping of one cow. This is an equally loose 

 mode of estimating it. It may not be amiss in this case, to 

 refer to some actual trials of the amount of food consumed in 

 a given time. 



Bordley states that a ton (2,240 lbs.) of hay was eaten by 

 700 sheep in a day, which was equal to 3 2-10 lbs. each, and 

 the supply was scanty. Featherstonhaugh, dating from Duanes- 

 burgh. New York, says : — " The winters here, average about 

 135 days of foddering ; and I know, by actual experiment, 

 that 7 healthy sheep during that period, will eat a ton of hay, 

 which, valued at seven dollars, leaves each sheep charged with 

 a dollar per head for wintering. This would be at the rate of 

 2 10-23 lbs. per day. Fifty-two sheep in a trial of 23 days, be- 



