28 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



looking out that all wet places were open to air and light. 

 In cold weather mutton will keep indefinitely, if the room 

 is dry, — temperature matters little ; if it is dry enough so 

 that bread will not mold, nnitton will improve each day 

 and week. 



He never used expensive rams, but most often those de- 

 scended from the Canadian coarse wool, a most excellent 

 sheep for lamb raising, keeping in view, when selecting his 

 rams, quality coupled Avith fair size, rather than an over- 

 grown animal. 



In winter he fed his ewes twice daily, once on hay — being 

 careful never to feed timothy — and once on his mowed oats. 

 When these are ripe the loss from shelling is almost nothing, 

 and they eat it pretty nearly clean, too ; the grain being rijie, 

 the oat stem or peduncle is tough and fibrous and will not 

 break easily ; again, the feeding quality of the oats seems 

 better when ripe and unthreshed. I have followed the prac- 

 tice, and have never experienced any loss from shelling or 

 from mice. Towards spring he began to feed his turnips, — 

 whole always to a full-mouthed sheep, unless yon have to 

 make a feed of straw or corn stalks, then yon can cut them 

 both and mix to advantage ; always cut turnips for lambs, — 

 they do not have teeth to slice them with. 



He never gave water to his sheep, — and a sheep will die 

 quicker for want of water than any domestic animal that I 

 know; but our man had no yard, even, his shed opened into 

 the pasture, so that in winter they always had access to clean 

 snow. Unless sheep have been educated to drink water, they 

 will eat snow in preference ; but let the snow be the least bit 

 dirty or foul, and they Avill not touch it. Yon will readily 

 see that the question of water is important ; unless your sheep 

 have a clear run, they must have fresh water at all times. 



Let us look over the essentials : they must have a dry place 

 to lie in; they must be out of a draught (a tight board fence 

 is better than a barn cellar) ; they must be fed at exactly the 

 same time every day, — whether you feed once, twice, three 

 of four times a day matters little. I feel inclined towards 

 twice a day ; but do not vary the time, — if you can't feed 



