SHEEP. 117 



And again says this writer : " Sheep husbandry will render 

 every variety of land most profitably productive, and at a less 

 annual expenditure for labor than any other branch of farming. 

 By reason of their rapid increase they will stock a farm well, 

 more expeditiously, and with far less outlay of money than all 

 other animals." In speaking of the value of their manure, 

 another writer remarks that "the manure of the sheep is far 

 more valuable than that of the horse or cow. It is not only 

 stronger, but it is better distributed, and distributed in a way 

 which admits of little loss. The small round pellets soon 

 work down among the roots of the grass, and are in a great 

 measure protected from the sun and wind, and rapidly 

 dissolving by the action of the dews and rains, they furnish 

 to it the best elements for its rich and abundant growth. 

 The winter manure is also of no less value, and where, an 

 abundance of bedding is furnished, a hundred sheep will, 

 between the 1st of December and the 1st of May, make at 

 least forty two-horse loads of manure ; and if fed on roots, 

 considerably more." "Their manure is of the most valuable 

 kind; and on high-priced land, requiring fertilizers, it cannot 

 be estimated at less than fifty cents per head per year, if not 

 still higher.. 



Harvey Wolcott, Esq., of Agawam, who has for many 

 years been engaged in sheep husbandry, in writing upon the 

 subject, says: "I have two pastures, twenty acres each. I 

 have kept sheep on one of them about seven years in ten, 

 and the other, three in ten. The one I kept sheep on the 

 most is worth twenty-five per cent, more than the one I pas- 

 tured with cattle. I have an orchard of four or five hundred 

 trees, of about five acres. When the apples are of the size 

 of walnuts I turn my sheep in. They pick up the green fruit 

 which has fallen to the ground, thereby destroying many 

 worms. I allow them to remain until the middle of July, 

 and I think they benefit the orchard more than one-half 

 the expenses of their pasturing through the season." 



It is evident, then, from these statements, how exceedingly 

 valuable is the manure of the sheep ; as a fertilizer it surpasses 

 that of the cow and horse, and for most purposes is superior 

 to the mineral manures ; and when we consider, if the soil is 

 to be kept up to a high standard of fertility, in an economical 



