SHEEP. 225 



and South Downs, and Oxford Downs, and Leiccsters, looking 

 as if they had lazily luxuriated all summer in a superabun- 

 dance of food ? With the exception of a few flocks, not large 

 in number, of Cotswolds, a few of Leicesters, a few of South 

 Downs, and a few of Oxford Downs, kept with great care and 

 at very considerable expense, we have not seen on exhibition 

 anywhere in New England, well developed specimens of mut- 

 ton-sheep. The coarse-woolled sheep brought forward on such 

 occasions, and exhibited as part of the farm stock of the region, 

 often give evidence of skill in the selection, and care in the 

 breeding of the animals ; but tliey indicate too generally either 

 that they have had insufficient food, or that they have been 

 obliged to labor for their supply on rough and hilly pastures, 

 harder than their forms and their constitutions would warrant. 

 The condition of both fleece and carcass indicates that they have 

 not been fed up to their requirements, at some one season of 

 the year, either in winter or summer — perhaps in both. 



So, too, on our farms, the coarse-woolled sheep rarely give 

 evidence of good husbandry ; and it would be no easy matter to 

 select a choice flock of this description from any purely grazing 

 section of our State. That there are good flocks here and 

 there we do not deny ; but, after careful examination, we 

 are convinced that the average standard of mutton-sheep in New 

 England is far below the average standard of fine-wooUed. 

 Whether this is owing to natural causes, such as soil and 

 climate, or to the condition of our farms, or to the superior 

 care which fine-woolled sheep receive, others can judge as well as 

 ourselves. One thing is certain ; we must take our farms as 

 they are, in our attempts to introduce sheep upon them. That 

 we can feed sheep profitably there is no doubt, but they must 

 be adapted to our agricultural circumstances. We speak now 

 of our farms generally, and not of the few rare instances in 

 which the application of capital, liberally expended, has brought 

 land up to the capacity of feeding any animal, however large, 

 that may be placed upon it. This business is beyond the reach 

 of the great mass of farmers. 



In sheep husbandry, it is evident that wool is the primary 



and mutton the secondary object. It is wool, as the annual 



return which the sheep makes, that constitutes the revenue 



from this branch of farming. It rarely fails to furnish a liberal 



29 



