60 BOARD OP AGRICULTURE. 



found that a lamb raised under such circumstances, is a pretty 

 expensive luxury after all. 



While the breeds of sheep which have been referred to, have 

 degenerated as a general thing on New England farms, the 

 smaller, and hardier, and more profitable Merinos have improved 

 steadily on the original importations. Tlie Vermont Merinos 

 are far in advance of the Merinos of old Spain, and of all Europe, 

 as was shown at the exhibition at Hamburg. So also are they 

 far in advance of the Merinos brought here by Consul Jarvis. 

 They have found a soil and climate peculiarly favorable to their 

 growth and development. They are hardy, and easily kept in 

 large flocks, on scanty pastures in summer, and on an economi- 

 cal supply of food in winter. They have been wintered well on 

 oat straw and potatoes — food which would have failed entirely 

 to support the heavier and coarser breeds. Tliey produce heavy 

 fleeces at a very small cost, and they are fattened for the market 

 at a comparatively small expense. They, in reality, constitute 

 a large proportion of the mutton which is driven to market from 

 the north and west; and even when grass fed alone, they have 

 a compact and solid carcase, very heavy in proportion to its size, 

 and of excellent quality and flavor. It is generally conceded 

 by those who fatten mutton by stall feeding, that the Merino 

 whether is the most profitable animal that can be fed for such a 

 purpose. And he did not doubt that mutton might be 

 produced, as secondary to wool, in such a way as possibly to 

 remunerate the feeder. 



So much for the mature animal food which the sheep will 

 produce. In its best condition, it is well marbled, not loaded 

 with superficial fat, but abounding in well-flavored meat. The 

 Merino mutton of New England and the Northwest compares 

 favorably with the mountain mutton of Scotland and Wales — 

 that mutton, which the English breeder of Cotswolds uses on 

 liis own table, while he disposes of his own fat-laden animals for 

 the consumption of those who make an economical diet by using 

 an excessive amount of fat in soups and otherwise. 



Mr. Stebbins, of Deerfield, here asked the Doctor whether he 

 did not consider lamb highly nutritious and palatable ? He 

 replied that no immature meat like veal and lamb, is as nutritious 

 or digestible as the flesh of animals fully grown. Heat, suddenly 

 applied, coagulates the albumen and gelatine of such meats, 



