ten years' experience in Nortliem Illinois, I 

 have found that sheep live well on grass or on 

 what they find on the prairies in the fall, even 

 till snow comes, provided always, that they 

 are not covjincd to the same piece of ground. — 

 Give them a new range every day, or give them 

 English " grass or roots, or both combined." 



Prairie may be well set with grass by sowing 

 the seed in the spring, and pasturing close after- 

 ward It is better to han-ow on sowing the 

 seed. Or sow on wet ground, mow in June, 

 and pasture close through the remainder of the 

 season mow the next year in June, and pasture 

 as bcfoi ■. The third mowing will bo principal- 

 ly Enffli h grass, especially if timothy and red 

 top are si ved in equal quaiitities. Or you may. 

 if the seao^ra is vi-et, burn a piece of prairie on 

 which a good coat of old gra?s remains in June. 

 Sow on plentj- of seed, harrow well with a sharp 

 harrow, feed close through the summer, and the 

 next season the tame gra.ss will be found very 

 well set. If the v\ee(!s and wild grass are likely 

 to overrun it, mow it in June, and your stock 

 will keep the wild stuff' down and allow the 

 tame grass to get a good hold. If for pasture, 

 blue-grass should be mixed \vilh other seed. 



If I had a large flock of Sheep and my range 

 was limited, I should in June break a piece of 



prairie proportioned to my flock. The last of 

 July I would sow turnips and grass seed on the 

 sod, harrow wi;h a light, sharp han-ow feed off 

 the turnips in tlie fall, and expect a good crop 

 of hay the next year. And so I would f roceed 

 until I had sufficient lajid stocked win tame 



gras 

 Avon, Kane Co. 1845. 



[Prairie Farmer. 



t^ Sheep raising on these tcnns, requiring 

 so much plowing and sowing of seed, and reap- 

 ing, and turnip culture, could hardly compete, 

 one would think, with sheep husbandry in 

 Georgia, and Mississippi, and Louisiana, and 

 Texas, where, it is said, they will live and do 

 well through the whole year, without such ex- 

 pensive preparation and provision of food. By 

 the bye, we con.sider it a sort of duty to make 

 known that on trial, by a gentleman of experi- 

 ence, who was induced to embark in sheep 

 husbandry, in the neighborhood of A.sheville in 

 North Carolina, that country does not, by any 

 means, po.ssess the advantages it was supposed 

 to do for that object. [Ed. Farm. Lib. 



TH^ SHEPHERD'S DOG. 



WITH SKETCHES AND ANECDOTES. 



Extract of a letter from G. W. Lafayette — Chava- 



niac,* Nov. 5, 1845— to the Editor of the Fakmebs' 



Lns RAJIV : 



" I am here in a place very dear to me — the 

 house in which my father was bom. I will re- 

 main until December, the time at which I will 

 have to attend the Chamber of Deputies in Paris. 



" You must not think I have forgotten the 

 Dogs. To send useful animals so far, it is ne- 

 ccssarj" to choose them -with di.'^ccmment. I 

 hope to be able to send you two dogs from Brie, 

 well broken ; the one to remain near the shep- 

 herd, the other on the outside of the flock. I 

 will send you, al.«o, two dogs from Auvergnc, 

 equal to those of tlie Alps or Pyrenees. You 

 will receive, at the same time, instructions as to 

 the employment of each." 



' Chavaniac— the birth-place of General Lafay- 

 ette, inherited by George W. Lafayette from hie 

 Aunt, Madame de Lusignac. The Shepherd's Dog 

 of Brie is about as large as a medium-sized Setter — 

 with long, rough, wiry hiiir, generslly, though not al- 

 ways, black ; bright, intelligent, but rather wildlook- 

 in" eyea ; in form loose and gangling, for action and 

 endurance incomparable. With different and suit 

 able training, he ia also of great use to the drover. 



In the mountainous parts of France, the tcoltee are 

 frequently forced by the snows into the valleys and 

 plains, where from their size and voraciiy, they be- 

 come exceedinjly dangernua to both man and beast 

 —not unfrequcntly destroying both, in the verj' midst 

 of the villages. In these regions, the flocks are pro- 

 tected by large mastiffs — dogs of the largest size, of 

 great intelligence, and of magnificent appearance — 

 two of which are considered more than a match for 

 any wolf. The breed cxista in its grealeat purity in 

 the Pyrenees. 



(905) 30 



The disposition which exists to establish large 

 sheep farms in the mountainous and other por- 

 tions of the Southern States, so far south as not 

 to require cultivated food in winter, can never 

 be carried out successfully until some legislative 

 provision is made against sheep-killing dogs, 

 and until there shall exist a more general con- 

 viction of the indispensable services of Shep- 

 herd's Dogs, and provision be made for a more 

 general supply of them, with the knowledge of 

 the manner of raising and using them. It is with 

 a view to all the.se objects that we wrote a 

 friend on whom has descended, in all its force, 

 his father's love of America, and it is with the 

 same views that wo shall endeavor to familiar- 

 ize our readers with all the bearings of the sub- 

 ject. For shepherds, we are inclined to be- 

 lieve that, where they can be had, the Indians 

 and Mexicans will make the best. There is in 

 their nature and habits something pastoral, 

 quiet and solitary, that serves to adapt them to 

 the care of flocks. If the Alpacca is ever to be 

 acclimated in this country, it must be in high, 

 dry and warm regions, wherever they are to be 

 found. Wc may be mistaken, but — tve shall see. 



The danger is, on the first introduction of 

 Shepherd's Dogs, that their use may be aban- 

 doned in disappointment and disgust, from want 

 of reflection on the part of the sheep-owner tlat 

 the sheep, as well as the dog, will require to be 

 trained. In our countrj* no sight is more tern- 

 tie to sheep than that of a dog. All their asto- 



