888 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



flock of slieep. There is not so much in the breed, as caring for them and dividing 

 them into small flocks ; they will make a greater per cent, of profit than any other 

 animal. I cull my sheep very closely, taking out all the rag-tag and bob tails and 

 send to the stock yards; every sheep left U in good condition for mutton, and my 

 flock is in better condition now than I have ever had them. The trade is dull but 

 if you have good sheep you can get almost your own price. They will make you 

 more money besides keeping the farm in good condition than any thing else will ; 

 they can clean out an old fence row or briar patch better than I can. The price 

 of wool is a little off at present, but I never pay any attention to that; the wool 

 comes in about the time we pay our taxes and we are always glad to get it. Jt is 

 the mutton that I am after and I am running into that stock of sheep. An old 

 ewe is not worth more than a dollar, but you can .sell six dollars worth of lambs 

 from her. I have been letting my flocks out on the shares ; it makes me from fifty 

 to one hundred per cent. I could let out a hundred flocks if I had them. I fur- 

 nish the ewes and half of the increase and half of the wool is mine, and the ordinary 

 flock is mine the first day of September. 



Mi\ Darnell. You spoke awhile ago of culling your she^p out, selling the worst 

 ©nes because they would not winter over. 



Mr. Tomlinsov. The last time I culled only six out of fifty or sixty. 1 have 

 no thoroughbred Cotswold. I use only grades, breeding to Shropshire bucks. With 

 half-bloods and good mutton sheep I make my money. When the bucks get in 

 good shape I sell them; the ewes I keep over, some of them weighing 175 pounds 

 at two years old next spring. I keep all my sheep in good condition. 



Mr. . Do you have any of those l)ob-tai!8 that sell at 25 cents per 



head? 



J/r. Tomlin.^on. No, sir, I have not. I sold my ragtags for what I could get. 

 I sold five or six to a neighbor, and in a little while they were better than mine. 

 That convinced me that I had too many, as small flocks do best. 



Mr. Prewitt. I think all the different breeds of sheep are good if put in small 

 flocks. I never put more than forty head together. 



Walter J. Quick. W^e are breeding Cotswold and Shropshire, and are convinced 

 that they are good mutton sheep as well as wool sheep. We have had very good 

 success in selling, yet the Cotswold are not selling quite so well as formerly ; but 

 we shall hold on to them. While we have cut our flocks down, we are keeping the 

 best and breeding carefully as heretofore. Our grades are mostly Shropshire. We 

 should advocate small flocks; I think they are preferable to large ones. We don't 

 have more than forty in a flock. In the summer time I think it is very advan- 

 tageous to change our flocks from one field to another. Turning them in an old 

 field they will clean out old hedge rows an<l briar patches eflfeclually. I want to 

 say right here that few flocks get enough salt. I am favorable to this rock salt ; it 

 is splendid for stock; it is, perhaps, better than common salt. 



3L: Dunyan. Please give us the method of using it. 



Mr. Quick. It is not necessary to keep it dry ; put in troughs, it makes a brine, 

 which is not a good way to salt. If put in troughs it should be under ashed. A 

 good way is to cut a hole in a log and put some in there ; the brine will sink away 

 in the log, and the sheep will gnaw at it. We also use salt and tar a great deal. 



