84 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan. 



selling in the autumn, I think if anybody wants to know 

 anything about sheep industry, he had better go to Mr. 

 Avery's farm and stay there until he has learned his lesson. 

 But we cannot all do that. Sheep husbandry is a good thing 

 as an adjunct to the farm. A farmer may not be able to 

 keep one hundred or one hundred and fifty sheep, but if he 

 is so located that he has protection against dogs, the addition 

 of sheep is always a good thing. It shows he knows how to 

 use his refuse hay, and that he is always sure in the spring 

 of the year of getting a little income from his sheep and 

 lambs that have not cost him a great deal of personal labor. 

 It is not like milking a cow, and feeding and cleaning her. 

 He is always sure of getting a little revenue from his sheep 

 and lambs, which is so handy to pay the taxes which are 

 sure to come in at that time. I think the sheep husbandry 

 stands where Mr. Avery puts it. And let me remind you, 

 wherever you see a first-class small farmer with a good home, 

 a good barn and nice outbuildings, you will be pretty sure 

 in the outlying regions to find that he has got a little flock 

 of sheep. Whether it is the taste or the thrift, or what not, 

 I have always found in these days, and surely in the older 

 times, that a few sheep always constituted an addition to a 

 farm that a wise and good farmer would always have. So 

 I would say, let us take heart on the sheep question. If you 

 want to go into it, go and learn a lesson from Mr. Avery. 

 If we want to teach it to the farmer, let us study the habits 

 of our ancestors, who always kept sheep in addition to the 

 cattle. The farmer's' work is of such a nature that every 

 opportunity should be improved, and all its strings pulled 

 for the profit of the owner. 



Now, gentlemen, pardon me for putting in my wisdom on 

 the sheep question ; but I have studied it carefully, and the 

 advantage of it is just al^out what I have stated to you. Mr. 

 Sessions has reminded me over and over again that it is time 

 to adjourn, and I have resisted him until I can resist him no 

 longer. Lwant to say, as I must go to Boston to-morrow, 

 I have enjoyed this meeting amazingly. It has reminded me 

 of the old time when I used to meet with the Board fifteen 

 years ago and twenty-five years ago, and it seems to me I 

 am returning to my youth. 



This meeting will now stand adjourned until 7.30 o'clock. 



