102 



under favorable circumstances, as likely to do as any branch 

 of husbandry which is pursued It is attended with as few 

 risks as any, and the care of no live stock is more agreeable to 

 a person interested in domestic animals. 



Of the different kinds of sheep among us, in selecting those 

 which are to be reared, regard must be had to the circumstances 

 of a farmer's location, and the objects for which he raises 

 them. At present among us, the demand for the very finest 

 kinds of wool is not so great as for those of a medium quali- 

 ty ; nor does the price, which is paid for it, bear so fair a pro- 

 portion to the expense and difficulty of raising it. The yield 

 of the finest Saxonies is not more than 2^ lbs. ; and notwith- 

 standing the extraordinary success of some persons in raising 

 them, it must be admitted that they are more tender than other 

 sheep ; and more likely to suffer from the severity of our win- 

 ters. At eighty cents per lb., which would be much beyond 

 present prices, the yield would be one dollar and eighty cents ; 

 but there is little prospect of the price of wool being so high 

 again very soon. The Saxony sheep being more common, 

 and the price of wool being reduced, there is, of course, much 

 less demand for the lambs, which were, at one time, readily 

 sold for ten and fifteen dollars each. The inferior size of the 

 Saxony sheep renders them unsuitable for mutton. 



The next kind of sheep common among us is the merino. 

 The Saxony may be considered as an improved merino. The 

 true merino, formerly introduced into the country from Spain, 

 is a sheep of considerably larger size than the Saxony, and its 

 wool inferior in point of fineness, yet more adapted to general 

 use. Of the pure merino, very few flocks exist in the coun- 

 try ; the seven eighths and three fourths blooded, are the most 

 common. These, in general, give a clip of three pounds; and 

 when the finest Saxony brings a price of eighty cents, this 

 may be expected to command fifty to sixty cents. At fifty 

 cents, it would produce one dollar and fifty cents ; at sixty cents, 

 one dollar and eighty cents, which would be equal to the yield 

 of the Saxony at eighty cents, with the advantage on the part 



