76 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan. 



that this morning I mailed a blank circular to be filled out 

 with statistics upon the question of the number of sheep 

 killed by dogs in the State of Connecticut, and the amount 

 of damages, and various other inquiries with regard to the 

 number of dog taxes enrolled in each town. I mailed them 

 to every first selectman in the State of Connecticut, request- 

 ing a prompt return to me, that I might have some exact 

 statistics and facts upon that subject in the State of Con- 

 necticut ; so that you see I was interested in this subject of 

 sheep and dogs before I came here to-day. 



I have been exceedingly interested in the discussion which 

 has taken place here. The very complete paper presented 

 here is simple and straightforward, and commends itself to 

 every one, and I would emphasize some of the points in it 

 While I do not believe sheep can tackle briars and bushes 

 and destroy them when the field is overrun with them, yet 

 there is no other means within our reach by which we can 

 control many of the noxious weeds that now infest our New 

 England fields We could better afford to pay something 

 for the use of a flock of sheep, when we want to eradicate 

 the white daisy, the ox-eyed daisy, the wild carrot, or some 

 other of those weeds. Sheep will not eat all kinds of weeds, 

 but some kinds are a choice morsel for them, and nothing 

 can be used so effectually to destroy them as a flock of sheep, 

 so that we must give the sheep credit if we keep them, and 

 one of the arguments for keeping them is their assistance in 

 cleaning out pastures. If sheep are turned out early and 

 kept there until the first of July, in two years they will clean 

 a daisy pasture so perfectly that you would not recognize 

 the field at all ; and the good grasses, the finest grasses and 

 clover, will be encouraged to take the place of the compara- 

 tively small-producing daisy. 



Mr. BowDiTCH. I will indorse that. 



Mr. Gold. This question of the dogs and the sheep is a 

 very troublesome one, and the best solution we can mahs of 

 it is to induce the farmers by some means to keep more 

 sheep. I believe that where sheep are kept in considerable 

 numl)ers, where there are a number of flocks about the 

 neighborhood or in a town, they are very much less liable to 

 ravages of dogs than where there is only a solitary dozen 



