348 SHEEP INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



and December. Many are now beginning to feed tliem on into the winter months, 

 when much better prices can be obtained for them. 



The growth of rape to provide pasture for lambs in this country is rapidly on the 

 increase. Our experiment station has given this mattef much attention during the 

 past three years, as also the fattening of lambs in winter. In 1890 we pastured 

 37 head of lambs and 17 head of steers upon about 50 acres of rape, for two 

 months. In 1891 we pastured 660 lambs upon 40 acres of rape for two and one-half 

 months. One acre will feed from 12 to 15 lambs for fully two months, and in that 

 time they should gain from 16 to 24 pounds in weight. In the winter season we feed 

 the lambs upon a ration of clover hay, turnips, mangels or corn ensilage, and grain 

 unground, as oats and peas. The grains per month run from 8 to 11 pounds per head. 



Feeding lambs in the winter season is likely to become a very profitable industry 

 in this country. When preparing them for shipment to Great Britain we have them 

 shorn in the early part of October. They are then in the best form for shipping in 

 the early spring to meet all the variations of weather. In 1889 we purchased lambs, 

 October 4, at $3.76 per head, and sold them the following March at $7.71 per head. 

 In 1890 we put 20 lambs under experiment, which were bought in October at an 

 average of $3.76, and refused the following March an offer equal to $11.64 per head. 

 The offer was refused because the lambs were being prepared for the English market. 

 In the autumn of 1891 lambs were brought to this station from Prince Edward Island, 

 a distance of 1,100 miles. They were laid down here at an average cost of a little 

 more than $3 per head. A car load of these lambs are sold to go to Halifax in March 

 (1892), within about 100 miles of where they were purchased, and after all expenses are 

 paid we feel quite sure in reckoning on a fair profit on the lambs. Had we sold our 

 lambs last November or December we would have lost money upon them, but by 

 carrying them on into the winter months we are making a good profit. There is room 

 for great enlargement of the sheep industry in Canada. The maritime provinces in 

 the east have much land that might be turned to excellent account in pasturing 

 sheep in the summer season, and the provinces of the Canadian northwest are capa- 

 ble of sustaining sheep by the million where now they are found only in very limited 

 numbers. 



The Canadians follow the English system of sheep husbandry and 

 find their profit in it in the advance price received for their mutton in 

 the markets of the principal northern cities, where the demand for it 

 is steady. Butchers in Boston and New York make a specialty of it. 

 Boston consumes annually from 70,000 to 80,000 Canada sheep, and about 

 3,000 are daily shipped from Canada to all parts of the American 

 Union. 



