172 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



have and ever will give a good result. Who has not noticed the 

 remarkably fleshy condition of a few cossets, kept with a herd 

 of cattle, living mostly upon what would otherwise be a total 

 loss ? In what other way can meat be raised so cheap per 

 pound, after deducting the value of tlie wool, and what meat 

 commands a higher price than that of a fat lamb ? Taking into 

 consideration that the villagers are around about us in all direc- 

 tions, who can hesitate to avail themselves of the opportunity to 

 increase their income by furnishing the delicate ladies with as 

 delicious food as Palestine ever produced ? 



Raising sheep for the purpose of speculation has become so 

 common that its evil influence should be noticed. Its tendency 

 is to cause persons who have flocks of good sheep to become 

 dissatisfied with them, because some other person has sold a 

 difierent breed at a much higher price than they can obtain for 

 theirs, whereas very likely they were of less intrinsic value. 



Vermont is notorious for high-priced sheep. The consequence 

 is, the breeds considered less valuable are being sent to cities 

 and villages to be slaughtered and sold for what they will bring, 

 thus depressing the sheep-raising business in the lower valley of 

 the Connecticut for the time being. This state of things will 

 not last, as the Irishman remarked, in relation to the swamp 

 lands, that the Americans have yet to learn that their poorest 

 lands are their best. Possibly it may be found that the flocks 

 now considered of less value are actually the most valuable. 

 Manufacturers have learned that Yermont twenty pound fleeces 

 contain only four to six pounds of wool, and farmers will soon 

 learn that it is more profitable to raise sheep that will deposit 

 their fat inside than on the outside of their skin. The sheep 

 that produces a large amount of yolk on the surface cannot be 

 expected to produce a large amount of milk. The yolk-pro- 

 ducing sheep must therefore soon yield to a better breed. This 

 Yermont sheep speculation reminds one of a fool and a knave 

 at a mock auction, the former bidding upon the supposed judg- 

 ment of the latter until the fool and his money parted. Merino 

 sheep are not worthless — far from it ; they are valuable if crossed 

 judiciously with other breeds ; they have splendid constitutions 

 — an essential quality. Southdowns, for practical purposes, are 

 very much improved by being hybridized with Merinos, giving a 

 better constitution to stand our severe winters. A friend, who 



