1 74 Soiling. 



Mr. Youatt, an English author, says : " It is of the 

 utmost importance that the ewes should have abun- 

 dant food, in order to produce a flow of nutritious 

 milk while they are suckling, and that the lambs 

 should have plenty of good pasture or other succu- 

 lent green food when they are weaned. " 



Speaking of the. Lincoln breed of sheep, Mr. 

 Stewart says, " In connection with a system of farm- 

 ing in which heavy crops of roots and green fodder 

 were the chief production, this improved breed be- 

 came fixed in its character as the heaviest producers 

 of wool and mutton in the world." 



During the early part of the season, when vege- 

 tation is putting forth vigorously, sheep do very 

 well in pasture, but, by the time they have over- 

 come the effects of winter, the pasture begins to 

 fail. The ewe must eat to sustain herself and sup- 

 port a lamb, often two ; at the same time she is also 

 expected to be growing wool for the farmer. If she 

 is not well provided with the best of food to produce 

 milk, wool and flesh, the wool is first affected, then 

 her offspring comes late to maturity, sometimes 

 never ; then her own body becomes a ready prey to 

 parasites and disease, and she goes into winter quar- 

 ters poor. A few years of such life hang her hide 

 upon the fence, and give her carcass to the crows. 



There are many farmers keeping sheep who have 

 no interest in their improvement, for the reason that 

 every two or three years the rotation of the fields 

 shortens the supply of pasture, and the flock goes to 

 the butcher. They pick up a few culls after a year, 



