74 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



both wool and mutton, the raising of sheep cannot but be 

 profitable to the farmer who may prudently and intelligently 

 prosecute it. 



In the year 1855, there were within the limits of this society, 

 3,704 sheep, that produced 11,810 pounds of wool, a fraction 

 over 3 1-5 pounds per head ; while in England, where the 

 growth of sheep and wool has received the special attention of 

 the agriculturists, there were 55,000,000 of sheep, producing 

 250,000,000 pounds of wool, being a small fraction more than 

 4 1-2 pounds per head, which fact clearly proves the attention 

 given to the growth of sheep and the profit to be derived from 

 it. And it is for the farmers of this country to say whether or 

 not they will consent to the importation of more than one-half 

 of the wool consumed in the country, with such inducements 

 for its culture and growth before them. 



A well-known English agriculturist very clearly and with 

 force expresses the profit and advantage of the culture of the 

 sheep. He says : " The wealth and success of a farmer may 

 be pretty well calculated by the amount of his sheep stock. 

 Sheep are said to be animals with the golden hoof — they enrich 

 as they go. They not only enrich the master but the soil, while 

 you liave the mutton, probably as valuable per pound at the 

 end of the sheep's life as beef. It has given him, year after 

 year, the fleece, which is of itself so important, and which in 

 the progress of manufactures in this county I think we have 

 no reason to fear ever seeing at losing prices." What breed 

 of sheep — whether long or short wool, Merino, Saxony, or 

 Southdown — can be raised to best advantage, depends upon 

 the various circumstances of the farmer, and the state of tlie 

 market for wool and mutton. If the sheep is grown for mut- 

 ton, then of course the large sheep with its long wool and heavy 

 fleece is to be preferred ; but if grown only for the fleece, then 

 the question is determined by the demand for the different 

 qualities of wool and the prices paid for each, as both are indis- 

 pensably necessary in tlie making of woollen cloth. 



The farmer within the last two and a half years has had 

 sterner duties to perform, sterner trials to contend with, than 

 any which before had been known to our land since the foun- 

 dation of our government. Well and faithfully has he per- 

 formed them. The alarum of war broke upon our happy and 



