MOST PROFITABLE FARM STOCK. 59 



the kinds commonly sown in New England. The former is 

 comparatively short-lived under any circumstances, and the 

 latter is much less enduring than several other species which 

 afford better feed, as the Kentucky blue-grass, Poa pratensis — 

 (one of the species to which the term " June-grass" is applied 

 in New England) ; orchard grass or cocksfoot, Daclylis 

 glomerata ; meadow fescue, Festuca pratensis, &c. But in 

 the choice of grasses, either for hay or pasturage, close observa- 

 tion in regard, to the habits of species is required. It will not 

 do to adopt lists or tables of species recommended in English 

 treatises, or copied from them. Some species which are prized 

 most highly in Britain, as perennial grasses, would not here 

 survive the heat and drought of one summer and the cold of 

 one winter. 



Having decided that sheep are the stock for this section, or 

 for a portion of it, the next important point to be decided 

 is. What breed or breeds will succeed best ? The answer to 

 this question may be varied by certain contingencies. The 

 different breeds of sheep as well as cattle, differ widely in their 

 characteristics, and in their adaptation to particular localities 

 and purposes. What may be seen in older countries, particu- 

 larly in Britain, illustrates this. On that island, embracing a 

 territory not much greater than one of our larger States, 

 several distinct breeds of cattle and sheep are kept, and it has 

 been to some extent demonstrated that in the districts which 

 they respectively occupy, they cannot be advantageously dis- 

 placed. The breeds which are most profitable in the mild 

 climate of the plains and larger valleys, with an abundance of 

 nutritious food, cannot sustain themselves under the cold winds 

 and storms and less nutritious food of the^ mountain regions. 

 Hence there is a wide contrast in the animals which occupy the 

 different situations. In the lower and more fertile country we 

 find the massive, fat-forming, sluggish. Short-horn ox, and the 

 Leicester, or Cotswold, or Lincolnshire sheep ; in the higher, 

 ♦ colder, or less fertile regions, we find the active hardy High- 

 land cattle and Black-faced sheep, thriving, and apparently 

 enjoying themselves under a climate which the lowland stock 

 could not endure, even for a season. 



But besides the difference in the hardiness of different breeds 

 of sheep, they have other peculiar properties which greatly affect 



