No. 4.] SHEEP HUSBANDRY. 121 



of Dr. Beaumont, conducted more than fifty years ago, are 

 authority to this day. He found that lamb and mutton wore 

 more digestible than any other meats we are in the habit of 

 consuming, were assimilated more readily to the system, and 

 consequently are more nutritious. 



While mutton is regarded by medical men and physiolo- 

 gists as the most nutritious meat, it is also the most econom- 

 ical to purchase at the usual prices. English chemists an< 

 philosophers, by a series of careful experiments, find tha 

 100 pounds of beef in boiling lose 26| pounds, in roasl 

 ing 32 pounds, and in baking 30 pounds, by evaporation and 

 loss of soluble matter, juices, water and fat. Mutton lost by 

 boiling 21 pounds and by roasting 24 pounds ; or, in another 

 form of statement, a leg of mutton costing raw 15 cents 

 would cost boiled and prepared for the table 18| cents 

 per pound. Boiled fresh beef would at the same price cost 

 19^ cents per pound; sirloin of beef raw, at 16^ cents, 

 costs roasted 24 cents ; while a leg of mutton at 15 cents 

 would cost roasted only 22 cents. These facts have been 

 long known and demonstrated, and it is to be much desired 

 that our people should appreciate them and apply them to 

 daily use. The taste for and consumption of mutton will 

 increase according to the quantity and quality of the pro- 

 duction. Mr. Mechi, the celebrated farmer and scientist, 

 said he was convinced that beef must sell twenty per cent 

 higher than mutton to make it pay. 



In this connection it is pertinent to recall the statement 

 previously made before this Board by one of its most 

 prominent members, of the necessity, in slaughtering sheep 

 and lambs, to remove immediately the paunch and intestines 

 before skinning. If allowed to remain in only a few minutes, 

 they will impart a strong, disagreeable "sheep taste." 

 Probably ignorance and a disregard of this important fact 

 are largely responsible for the disgust in which the flesh of 

 mutton and lamb was formerly held. 



The keeping of sheep requires constant care and is full of 

 solicitude, but it is profitable, and, as farming goes among 

 the occupations of men, it is pleasant. This is the com- 

 mercial and prosaic view ; but there is an incident in our 

 history connected with this, poetical and solemn. In 



