1889.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 4. 83 



of the female was perfect, and their thrift and condition were 

 as fine as any flock I ever saw. He said to me, " I have 

 just lost a young ram which was gored by an ox, and I was 

 offered the day before I lost him, eight thousand dollars for 

 the ram." I said it was a great loss. It was in the height 

 of the merino fever, I should say in 1864 or 1865. He said 

 it was ; " but," said he, " that lamb cost me three dollars." 

 Now, you can judge what it cost to raise a lamb in that State. 

 He was a careful and accurate feeder, always kept his sheep 

 in the best condition. He was in Vermont, where hay and 

 grain were comparatively cheap. I state tliat fact to answer 

 the question put by the gentlemen who asked the cost of 

 keeping sheep. The cost diifers according to the locality, 

 according to the place where hay has a market value, and 

 where grain is of value. 



Now, I think the business of sheep husbandry may be 

 carried on profitably. I think so because the essayist says 

 so; and, if that is not a good reason, I would like to have 

 some other reason and a better one given me. He has just 

 told me that the sheep business is the main business of his 

 farm, that he has a flock of two to three hundred sheep. He 

 has told you that they are middle- wool sheep. He says that 

 he pastures some of them twelve or fifteen miles away from 

 home, and on a farm of three hundred and fifty acres he 

 makes the caring for two hundred and fifty sheep a profitable 

 thing to him. Now all I can say to the farmers of Massa- 

 chusetts is, what one man can do another man can do in the 

 same locality, or in an equally good one ; and, if the essayist 

 is not a specimen of a successful and wise farmer, I Avould 

 like to have the people bring up one that is. [Applause.] 

 I consider him a pretty good-looking agricultural youth in 

 the State of Massachusetts ; and, as he was reading his essay, 

 I remarked to the secretary he was a specimen of the kind 

 of farmer that I want to see all over this Commonwealth. 

 [Applause.] And I think he is entitled to that compliment 

 for the presentation of the sheep question in the way he has 

 done it ; and, when he says he has kept himself in the con- 

 dition he is in, and got his farm in the condition it is in, and 

 that he has done it with a flock of two hundred and fifty 

 sheep, with the addition of a small amount of cattle which 

 he pastures in the summer season, buying in the spring and 



