458 



I have said before, that my sheep are all numbered by making notches 

 in the ears. For this purpose, I have a pair of instruments resembling 

 a shoemaker's punch. With one, I make a round hole, and mark the 

 age ; and with the other, a notch, thus A, the number of the sheep. 

 These notches and holes have a permanent meaning in the ditferent 

 parts of the ears. A notch in the upper part of the left ear means 1. 

 A notch in the lower part of the same ear, means 3. A notch in the 

 upper part of the right ear, means 10. A notch in the lower part of 

 the same ear, means 30. With these figures you can mark from No. 

 1 to 99. A notch in the end of the left ear, means 100. With this 

 additional notch, you can mark from No. 1 to 199. A notch in the 

 end of the right ear, means 200. With this additional notch, you can 

 mark from No 1 to 399. Two notches in the end of the left ear, means 

 400. With these additional notches, you can mark from No. 1 to 499 ; 

 or, instead of two notches, cut off the end of the left ear, and you can 

 express the same number. Two notches in the end of the right ear, 

 means 500, or, cut off the end, and add one notch in the end of the 

 left ear, and you have 600, and can mark as high as 699. You can go 

 higher by making the end of the left ear cut off mean 600, and of the right 

 ear, mean 700. But by the time one gets a flock of sheep large enough 

 to raise 699 ewe lambs, and as many ram lambs yearly, it will be found 

 that he has got over 4,000 sheep, and the sheep establishment becomes 

 so unwieldy, that it will be necessary to organize a new one. But 

 few flocks in Germany having attained that number are kept on one 

 farm. I know of none in this country. 



The age of my sheep I mark, by making holes in the ears, when they 

 are one year old. A hole in the left ear, means 1. A hole in the right 

 ear, 3. Thus, if a lamb is born in 1838, it gets 2 holes in each ear. 

 One that is born in 1839, gets three holes in the right ear, &c. &:c. 

 Lambs that are born in 1840, 50, &c., do not receive any holes. And 

 after a sheep reaches the age of ten years, she is generally unfit for 

 further service, though I have had several ewes that reached the age of 

 13, 14, and 15, and raised lambs. If, however, you retain any ewes 

 over 10 years old, you can easily distinguish them by their general ap- 

 pearance, and note them in the general remarks. 



I intended to give you a more accurate description and more in de- 

 tail than I have done, and answered the other questions which you pro- 

 pounded, but want of time forbids me. 



Yours, &c. 



H, D, GROVE, 



